Brenda was a female Crank from Canada who aided the Gladers on their quest to cross the Scorch. Thomas refers to her before being formally introduced as being, "A pretty, older teenager with long hair that was suprisingly clean".
Brenda was first introduced in The Scorch Trials.
The Scorch Trials
Brenda once lived in Canada with her parents and three brothers until the Flare struck. Her father and brothers were killed by the organization WICKED shortly afterwards. Sometime later, Earth was baked by the Sun Flares and Brenda was apparently taken to the Scorch after it was discovered she was infected with the Flare. Brenda's mother was also killed by the Sun Flares. Two years later, the Crank leader Jorge introduced her to a group of teenagers who escaped WICKED called the Gladers and had her accompany him and the Gladers to a safe haven in the mountains beyond the abandoned city where the Gladers were told they would be given a cure to eradicate the Flare. When she went with the Gladers to a tower to feed them, Brenda expressed interest in Thomas, one of the Gladers. After lunch, Brenda heard an crash coming from the lower levels of the tower and she rushed to evacuate, but she and Thomas were separated from the Gladers during the evacuation. They made their way to the remains of an underground area beneath the city. they began to search for a way out of the tunnels. While searching, Thomas and Brenda were attacked by Cranks fully succumbed to the Flare. Thomas and Brenda ran through the tunnels while being pursued by the gone Cranks. They eventually found a hiding place and took cover where the leader of the gone Cranks searched for them to no avail. Thomas and Brenda, hoping they had left, emerged from their hiding place, only to be attacked by the leader. The leader knocked away Brenda's knife and Thomas grabbed it and stabbed the Crank, killing him. Shortly afterwards, the two teenagers found a hatch leading to the streets where they took refuge in an alley and slept in a car. When she woke up, they decided to search for Thomas's companions. Before they could, however, two Cranks showed up and told them to attend a celebration. In a ruined apartment, a Crank told Thomas and Brenda to drink fire juice, which knocked them unconscious. When they awoke, they found themselves locked to chairs, and were questioned by a Crank nicknamed "Blondie". Before they could bite their fingers, however, Blondie heard chaos erupting froom the upper floor and ran upstairs to stop it. When Blondie left, Thomas and Brenda were reunited with Minho, Jorge, and the Gladers who rescued them and the Cranks surrendered. As the Gladers and Jorge left with Thomas and Brenda, Thomas was shot by a persistant Blondie. Minho attacked and knocked Blondie out and carried Thomas back to a tent established by the Gladers. There, Thomas had the bullet removed from his body and slowly recovered. Minho told Thomas and Brenda that Jorge led the Gladers through the cities and Frypan spotted Thomas as he was taken to the apartment, which angered the Gladers and they eventually ambushed them. After telling Thomas and Brenda what had happened, the Gladers packed up the tent and left the abandoned city with Jorge and Brenda. Later, Brenda and the Gladers confronted a Group of female Gladers called Group B led by Thomas's best friend, Teresa, who was corrupted by WICKED. Group B took Thomas hostage and warned the Gladers if they tried to rescue Thomas, they would open fire with arrows. The Gladers had no choice but to continue on through the mountains to reach the safe haven. After reaching a valley, the Gladers made an alliance with Group B to confront WICKED. Thomas and Teresa, now free of her corruption, regrouped with the combined group and finally reached the safe haven. Suddenly, canisters emerged from the ground and released monsters to kill the Gladers. Brenda helped fight and kill the monsters after they discovered their weak spots. A flying transport called the Berg arrived after the group overcame the monsters. Brenda, along with Jorge and the rest of the Gladers, climbed onto the Berg and escaped the valley. On the Berg, the Gladers and the two cranks celebrated their success. Hours later, the Berg landed at WICKED's headquarters where Brenda, Jorge, and the Gladers were given the cure. She and Jorge disappeared shortly afterwards.
The Death Cure
Four weeks later, Brenda was found to be WICKED agent when she encountered Thomas, Minho, Newt, and a bunch of other Gladers taken to have the Swipe removed from their brains. Upon noticing Thomas, she warned him not to trust WICKED, but was ordered back to her post by Janson, the leader of WICKED. Janson also warned the trio not to escape WICKED's headquarters when they refusd to have the Swipe removed and ordered three WICKED guards to take them away, which they did and Brenda watched as the three Gladers were dragged away by the guards. Thomas was later taken to Brenda for treatment after he, Minho, and Newt were subdued by the guards. The guard observing them attempted to attack, but Thomas knocked him out and stole his gun while Brenda stole another gun from another guard and the two fled to find Minho and Newt. They eventually found the two Gladers, but were cornered by Janson and three guards. Thomas, Minho, and Newt quickly fought the guards and Minho and Newt stole their guns while Thomas forced Janson to give up his key card at gunpoint. Janson did so, but taunted him that he would never escape, as many guards were on their way. Thomas responded by shooting Janson and knocking him unconscious. Brenda and the three Gladers began to head for the hangar after killing a small group of guards. They also attempted to find the other Gladers, but were unsuccessful. Brenda and the thre Gladers eventually came across a room with the door locked and the guards tied up. Brenda suggested interrogating them, but Thomas refused and they moved on. Thomas and his friends eventually reached the hangar only to find one of the three Bergs missing and Jorge injured. When Brenda questioned Jorge, Jorge told them that while he was in the hangar, he was approached by Teresa and the other Gladers, also with stolen weaponry, and was knocked out. After that, Teresa and the other Gladers hijacked one of the Bergs and escaped. Before they could get inside a Berg, a dozen WICKED guards stormed into the hangar and opened fire on Thomas and his friends. Minho told Jorge to start up a Berg while they fight the guards. Jorge complied and ran off to power up a Berg while Thomas, Minho, Brenda, and Newt fought the WICKED guards. The guards, unaware of the stolen weaponry Thomas and his friends possessed, were easily underestimated and quickly beaten by the Gladers. At the same time, Jorge had powered up a Berg and shouted at Thomas and Brenda to get onboard, but before they could reach the Berg, however, one of the WICKED guards shot Brenda in the back and Thomas, Newt, and Minho rushed over to help her. Seconds later, Jorge emerged from the Berg with a flamelauncher and incinerated many of the WICKED guards. Minho quickly grabbed Brenda and carried her to the Berg as the hatch closed and Jorge took off and Thomas, Minho, Newt, Brenda, and Jorge finally escaped WICKED's headquarters as Thomas passed out. When he woke up, he talked to a recovered Brenda who told Thomas that Jorge piloted the Berg for ten hours before he landed in a clearing. When Thomas asked about whether or not the rest of the world is like the Scorch, Brenda explaind that only the area near the equator is desert and there are still many intact cities around the world. Then, Thomas asked Brenda if there was a way they could pinpoint the location of Teresa and the other Gladers. Brenda replied that Jorge used the Berg's tracking system to pinpoint their location in the city of Denver in the mountains. Brenda also revealed that Cranks are prohibited within the city and that she first met Jorge when her father died and he adopted her. Thomas reveals that nobody cared for him after his mom and dad perished, which Brenda reassured Thomas that Minho, Teresa, and Newt as well as the other Gladers all care for him in the same way to ensure Thomas sees the end of the Flare epidemic and that his parents had died proud of him to be alive risking his life to do the world a favor to save mankind. She also revealed that Teresa did what she did in the Scorch since she had no choice. Upon realizing what Teresa did was for his safety, Thomas told Brenda they should start heading for Denver, which Brenda agreed to do and told him that besides the other Gladers, there is something more important in Denver. Brenda then told Thomas about a doctor living in Denver named Hans who is immune to the Flare. He was once a scientist working for WICKED, but when he discovered how WICKED removed the Swipe, he warned them it was too risky and escaped before he could be disciplined. Brenda also tells Thomas that Hans was a genius on knowing how to remove the Swipe from their brains in a harmless way and he is no friend of WICKED. Thomas quickly deduced WICKED had implanted the Swipe within their brains to not only prevent them from remembering things, but to control them for brief periods of time as well, such as manipulating Gally to kill Chuck. Brenda then left to wake up, Jorge, Minho, and Newt to discuss their trip to Denver. After a meetng with them, Jorge reactivated the Berg and flew off, heading for Denver as Thomas fell asleep. When they had another gathering after Thomas awoke, Minho asked why Brenda was with WICKED, but she explained that she was never with them and that after surviving so long in the Scorch, she sees a chance. Brenda then mentioned Hans and WICKED's manipulation skills and that there are many people after them. Newt, however, cared little about the Swipe's removal and angrily told his companions not to persuade him to enter Denver and stormed off. Thomas realized that the right time to read Newt's message to him was coming closer and began wondering what it meant. Later, the Berg arrived in Denver and Thomas, Jorge, Minho, and Brenda disembarked and left Newt on board the Berg. When the four went through security, Jorge used fake last names to gain access to the city. When the four finally got access to the interior of Denver, a man approached Thomas and told him that a group of people have escaped WICKED's headquarters and he believed that Thomas and his companions were part of the group and handed a message to Thomas and told him to accept the advice the message contained ithin the messag and walked away. Thomas opened the message to find out that it was from his former nemesis Gally telling Thomas to meet him in apartment 2792 and that he is with an organization called the Right Arm. Thomas and Minho had a hard time believing it was Gally, but later came to understand that Gally was being used as a puppet by WICKED, was taken into custody, treated of his injuries and set free and somehow made it to Denver and suggested they see him before finding Hans when Jorge had told Thomas that the Right Arm is an organization with the goal of sabotaging WICKED for good. They took a taxi and reached the apartment, where Gally greeted them and told them that the end of the world is upon mankind. He let them in and Thomas apologised to Gally for fighting him and Gally apologised for killing Chuck. Gally told Thomas and his companions about the Right Arm taking action against WICKED, but it doesn't have enough resources to disrupt their activities. He revealed that a bunch of spies took him to Denver from WICKED's headquarters and after a few weeks, they heard about the escape from WICKED's headquarters through a netblock message. Gally also told Thomas that the Right Arm has two problems to deal with: the Flare is spreading slowly through Denver despite the city's official's attempts to cover it up, and many citizens who are immune to the Flare, called Immunes, have been disappearing and an informant told Gally that they were taken by WICKED and imprisoned them somewhere he did not know, but he assumed it was to continue the Trials. Thomas then questioned Gally if he knew about Teresa's supposed escape along with the other Gladers the same day. Gally replied that he was well aware of both escapes and that the Right Arm also found them and that Teresa was his informant, making Thomas think she went through the removal of the Swipe along with the others and possibly triggered the truth about WICKED's true intentions. Gally also informed Thomas that Teresa herself is searching for him and that Hans, the doctor who Brenda mentioned earlier, has a large bounty placed on his head and that WICKED wants him dead because they believe Thomas came to Denver for Hans. Afterwards, they left, and Thomas promised Gally that he would return and Gally responded that the Right Arm will take action soon and they need as many people and informaton as they can get and also warned Thomas that there is not much time, but there is still hope. Thomas and his frinds eventually found Hans in his apartment and Brenda told hm that someone has placed a bounty on his head and that Thomas and Minho need the Swipe removed. Hans left to prepare. While waiting, Thomas began to lose control of himself and said he can't allow Hans to remove the Swipe. Thomas also unintentionally attacked his friends as he struggled to resist, which Brenda told Thomas that WICKED is closing in and he must fight the manipulation. Hans stormed into the room and attempted to stop it. Minho quickly subdued Thomas and pinned him to the floor and Brenda told Hans to remove the Swipe. Thomas eventually broke free and attempted to attack Hans, but was pinned down again by Minho and Hans attempted to remove the Swipe again. When Thomas attempted to break free a third time, Minho knocked him out, giving Hans enough time to rmove Thomas's swipe and eventually Minho's swipe. Thomas eventually woke up, now in control of himself. A second later, Brenda, Hans, and Jorge entered the room and Brenda informed Thomas that Hans is leaving Denver with his wife and that he successfully deactivated and removed the Swipe and also permanently disabled Thomas's ability to speak to Teresa through telepathy. Before leaving, Hans wished Thomas luck in doing what he does not have the courage to try. Thomas replied that if they defeat WICKED, he and his friends will come back for Hans. After Hans left, Brenda asked Thomas what they do next. Thomas told his companions that they needed to find Teresa and the other Gladers and return to Gally with them in order to help the Right Arm and also mentioned that WICKED had created the Flare through a failed experiment and vowed that once the Gladers were together again, they would stop WICKED's operations and prevent them from putting the Immunes they've taken prisoner through the Trials like they once have.