"It's a girl." 

A voice hit Ada's ears from a short distance. She had no clue what was going on, but she kept her eyes firmly shut as her heart began to pick up in speed and as her brain flicked through the possibilities of what could be happening to her.

Her body was firmly pressed into the ground, sprawled quite uncomfortably on what felt like cold steel. She remained as still as she possible could when the floor shook and vibrated at a set of footsteps making contact with it. She tensed up as the footsteps came towards her, and then her eyes flew open out of fear.

She was met by a tall blonde figure looming over her, his features a little blurry, and she figured she must have been asleep for a while. The boy frowned down at her, running a hand through his hair and then rubbing his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. He looked about sixteen, his face sculpted innocently and looking angelic. 

"She's awake." He called, twisting his head to the side and angling it upwards, as if informing someone.

Her eyes wandered to where he was looking, and then realised where she was. She was lying in what seemed to be a steel box situated in a long elevator shaft. There were a number of wooden crates inside with her and the boy, all brandished with the same four letters; WCKD. 

She hadn't yet said a word, and as she continued to stare up at where the box was situated, she noticed a line of boys circling it, all of them staring down at her. The sky was dark - pitch black in fact - telling her that it was the middle of the night. However, she couldn't see the moon in her eyeline.

Why am I in a box in the middle of the night?

Her thoughts were messy and skewed, and she found them also quite unhelpful, as she took a few more quiet moments to herself and realised that she could remember nothing about herself or her life. Her heart immediately sunk and nausea rolled through her stomach and climbed her throat.

"I've got amnesia." She spoke aloud, shifting so she was propping herself up on her elbows.

When she spoke, the laughter previously filling the air from the boys all silenced. The boy stood in front of her suddenly turned quite pale as whispers rose up around her.

She scrambled up from the floor, a feeling of dread beginning to build in her stomach. She took a step towards the boy, who didn't flinch, but for some reason looked quite wary.

Is there something wrong with me?

She glanced down at herself; her skin a soft shade of coffee and her hair in thick brown wisps stretching down her lower back. She was wearing a plain set of clothes; slim black trousers and a burnt orange v-neck shirt.

I look fine to me. Maybe it's my face...

She was jolted out of her spiralling by the boy's reply. "No, you haven't." He talked quietly, almost as if he were suspicious of her, and she then noticed that their voices - although different in pitch - were quite similar.

They shared the same accent.

This wasn't weird to her. Since she hadn't heard anyone else talk, it was her assumption that all of the boys - and only boys - looking down at her had the same accent.

But, they didn't.

"Why's it a girl?" A boy yelled down to the blonde, who spun around quite suddenly, letting out a harsh laugh.

"Y'know Minho, I thought you were a little sharper than that. How the hell am I supposed to know why it's a bloody girl?" 

Minho let out a scoff at the blonde's words, the boy himself not visible to Ada in the dark. She could tell from his voice that he too was about sixteen or seventeen. 

However his accent had a twang to it. It was completely distinguishable from Newt's and Ada's, who's were much more softer in tone.

"She." Ada spoke, suddenly breaking into the conversation of the bickering boys. The blonde turned to her, blinking slowly. She raised her eyebrows and folded her arms across her chest to explain. "It's 'she', not 'it'." 

The boy's cheeks flooded with embarrassment despite the fact she spoke quietly and almost reluctantly. The boys glaring down at her - she couldn't tell how many there were of them - were making her feel nervous. She squirmed under their gaze, suddenly feeling quite trapped.

"You gonna get her out of the Box, Newt?" Another voice came from above, a little harshly, and then a string of agreement came from the others, all talking over one another.

The blonde is called Newt.

He moved over to the side of the Box, grabbing a wooden rope and tugging it taught so he could be sure it would sustain a good amount of weight. Climbing up and out, he left the girl standing in the Box rather confused, before he leaned over the edge again. Beckoning to her, he lifted his head up again, and she moved over to the rope.

Clenching it between her hands, she lifted herself up from the Box and onto the grass the boys were stood on. They seemed scared of her. Like they hadn't seen anyone that looked like her before. The boys all looked exhausted; dark rings under their eyes, some even stifling yawns. 

They must've been woken up by me.

They didn't crowd her too much - probably because of their irrational fear of her - and although she was glad about this, she was a little agitated that no one was explaining what was going on. She whirled back around to look at Newt. He was stood with a shorter Asian boy, who had dark hair, dark eyes and a scowl present on his face.

"Why has she shown up in the middle of the night?" The Asian boy asked Newt, his voice edging on a whine. Newt laid a hand on the other's arm but before he could even respond, Ada butted in.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Her focus was firmly on Newt, who was still watching her with that same suspicion.

"Shuck Newt, she sounds just like you!" The Asian boy's lips had turned up in a smirk and he nudged the blonde's arm, grinning as if it was wildly amusing. Newt rolled his eyes, but it was clear he was intrigued by the same thing.

The other boys around her had now begun to chatter, streams of conversation overlapping one another, the scene quickly descending into chaos. Most of the questions seemed directed at Newt, although mainly about the girl.

Newt looked like he wanted to be far, far away from it all at that moment. Ada was getting the impression that he was the leader of the group, and he seemed overwhelmed by it all at that very moment.

"Can everyone shut the hell up?" A bossy voice came from deep within the crowd of boys, and Ada silently corrected herself.

So Newt isn't the leader, this guy is.

He pushed through them all to reach her, and stood his ground a foot in front of her. Shining a flamed torch in front of himself, he inspected her carefully with inquisitive eyes. Ada could see him as well as she had seen Newt due to the torch, and could see he had dark skin, short buzzed hair, and although he didn't reach Newt's height, he was still rather tall.

"You remember your name?" He asked her bluntly. Behind his tone, there was a soft intent, as if he were angry because he was sleep deprived, but still felt bad for the confused girl.

She pondered the question for a moment. Searching through her empty brain for a piece of information rather than a question was difficult, and the effort it took to try and figure it out was tiring her. It felt like her name was just on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't recall it.

"Cat got your tongue?" The boy spoke again, impatiently, and her eyes widened a little, irritated by his short temper. 

She was more of the quiet type though, she could tell that in herself. She simply just shook her head, clearing her dry throat to say, "No. And no, I can't remember." She didn't have to ask him why she couldn't remember for him to know that that question was at the front of her mind.

"That's perfectly normal." He replied, flooding her with relief. "And you don't have amnesia. Your name should come back shortly, but you should get some sleep first." He advised, looking over her tired figure.

"What's your name?" Her lack of energy didn't fully stop the urge to ask the hundreds of questions on her brain. She only just refrained from asking a string of questions, deciding that the boy's name would be simple enough.

"Alby. I'm the leader around here." He glanced back to the blonde, indicating him with his index finger. "That's Newt, my second."

Explains why he seemed like a leader before Alby showed up.

He then spun in a slow circle, and having captured the attention of all the boys, addressed the whole group. "You should all go get some sleep, you can meet the Greenie tomorrow."

There was audible grumbling and wistful looks shot to the girl as the boys all reluctantly wandered away, back to wherever they slept each night. Ada couldn't see her surroundings well in the dark; only able to make out the rough silhouette of some trees and a few wooden shacks.

She still had no idea where she had ended up. But she had a feeling it was not good. The nature in which she had arrived, led her to thinking that wherever she was was not a desired place to find yourself. 

But for the moment, she put it in the back of her mind. Drowsiness was beginning to take over, and she could even feel her eyes drooping closed as she took a few steps across the grass.

All the boys had disappeared except for Alby, Newt and another lanky boy. He approached Alby, glancing to her quickly, and then back to the boy. But then he did a double-take. His eyes seemed to fixate on her, as if he was mesmerised. 

The girl shifted uncomfortably, just because she couldn't inspect him in return due to her limited vision. The boy clenched a torch like Alby, but was holding it at an angle where it didn't light his own face.

"What do you think this means Alby? They'll keep sending girls now?" He asked the leader, his eyes still on Ada.

Alby shrugged exaggeratedly in response, turning to shun the boy away. "Gally, get your ass to bed, you shank."

The group seemed to have some sort of weird slang incorporated into their communication with one another; with Ada having caught words such as 'Greenie'; in reference to her, 'shank'; to one another as an insult, and 'shuck'; in replacement of swear words.

Gally hesitated, sending the girl another look before turning on his heel and disappearing towards one of the wooden shacks. Despite the fact she hadn't even seen him properly, she was distracted by his retreating figure as Newt and Alby shared a few words.

"Right Greenie," Newt rested his hand on the girl's shoulder and began to steer her towards the same wooden shack Gally went in the direction of. "You can have my room. I'm gonna have to bunk with bloody Minho." Although the last sentence was supposed to be meant in a bad way, Ada could hear the way Newt's breath hitched after he said it.

He led her into the structure, up a creaking staircase, and took a sharp right turn at the first door in the corridor. Opening it, she was met with a modest room; a single bed pushed up against the opposite wall, a bedside table with a few belongings, a small chest of drawers.

Newt spoke to her, but it was like she was some place else, because she didn't take in a single word he said. Instead of telling him that, she simply just nodded so he would disappear from the room.

And then all at once; she felt a surge of anger. 

Why was she in this place? Why was no one explaining anything? Why couldn't she remember anything?

Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and her tiredness prevented her from stopping herself from crying. She stifled angry sobs as she crawled into the bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin. Lying still for a moment, she could only hear her uneven breath and sniffles.

She was still in the same clothes, which were starting to feel gross as she realised how sweaty they were. She had kicked off her shoes beside the bed, and despite the fact she was wearing socks, her feet felt cold. Nestling down into the bed, her crying only subsided when a thought emerged in her mind.

Ada. My name is Ada.