Darkness.

Pitch black darkness.

She woke up coughing, and the floor jolted and moved upwards, carrying her with it.

A spine-chilling screech of metal against metal; she must be in an elevator. Her head felt heavy and dizzy, like someone had just banged it on a wall. She looked around to see red lights peering at her from every direction. The elevator was moving real fast towards the top.

Suddenly, she realized she didn't know anything about herself. Except...

My name's Marie, she thought.

It bugged her, knowing only her name and nothing else. She seemed to know what movies were, and that movies developed from books are never satisfactory. Yet, she didn't know which movies she liked, and what books she read.

It's like she knew about life, but just not hers.

"H-hello?" She called out uncertainly.

No response. Just as she expected. There was nothing she could do except wait for it to screech to a halt.

After what seemed like ages, the elevator dinged and stopped, and the blaring red lights turned green. Unexpectedly, the ceiling swung open outwards, and sunshine shot through, almost blinding her.

Marie's eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden exposure of light, and looked up to see an army of teenage boys leering at her. A wave of fear washed over her as she heard the boys' voices boom overhead.

"It's a girl!"

"Woah, she looks like klunk."

"You're the klunk, shuck-face."

"Damn, she's smokin' hot!"

"Hope you enjoyed the one-way trip, Greenie."

"Ain't no ticket back, girl."

Someone let down a rope ladder, and she contemplated for a minute whether to climb or not. Finally, deciding that she had nothing to lose, she climbed up, despite the throbbing pain in her head.

Just as Marie set her feet on solid ground, a low voice talked over the noisy chorus of the others, and she knew the words he was about to say would haunt her for life.

"Nice to meet ya, shank," He said. "Welcome to the Glade."

"The what now?" Marie asked, already getting fed up of the noise.

"The Glade. That's what we call it here." The dark-skinned boy answered.

"Oi, Alby! Which Keeper's she getting?!" Someone called.

"I call dibs!" A voice yelled and there was a good deal of snickering at this.

"Shut up, klunk-head." Another voice yelled back.

"Keep yapping, and your next break'll be cut in half!" The dark-skinned boy snapped.

Must be the leader, Marie realized. She looked around, taking in every detail she could about this Glade.

The place was standing on seemed to be made from stone blocks, and there were a few funny-looking buildings scattered over the place. The nearest one looked very cozy, like the place where they sleep, and near that, there was a garden?! And by the looks of it, there were tomato plants, corn and fruit trees and grape vines.

Across from the gardens, there was a shed surrounded by animal pens, and Marie immediately felt a rush of guilt and sorrow for the animals. In the opposite corner of the shed and the pens, there was a dense vegetation of thick trees. And right across from the courtyard she was currently stationed in, there was a big, rectangular room that radiated an aura of importance.

But what caught her attention, was the gigantic walls surrounding the entire freaking place, with large openings in the middle of each one. They seemed ominous to Marie, like she should be grateful those walls exist, blocking God knows what from attacking them. She shuddered at the very thought of it.

She brushed it off, and turned her attention to the boys. The dark-skinned boy looked expressionless, like this happened quite often to them. A black-haired boy was gaping her shamelessly, in a way Marie didn't like.

The leader stepped forward and said, "It's a long story, shank. Piece by piece, you'll learn - I'll be taking you on the Tour tomorrow. Till then... just don't break anything." He stuck out his hand. "Name's Alby." He waited, clearly wanting to shake hands.

Marie shook them, and continued gaping around at the place. A sudden fear gripped her.

What's going to happen to her? Is she going to stay here for life? What is this place?

"Where am I?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even, her body slightly shaking from fear. Alby gave a faint smile.

"Don't worry, shank," said Alby. "You'll understand everything by the end of this week. Till then, I'll assign someone to help you around."

There was a chorus of voices at the last part, everyone wanting to be that person to help Marie out. A boy stepped forward, playfully slapped the back of Alby's head, and said, "Not here, ya bloody shank!".

The boy was shorter than Alby, and a year or so younger. He was a bit lanky, and had curly brown hair, and big ocean blue eyes. He offered Marie a warm smile and introduced himself.

"I'm Chris, nice to meet ya, Greenie." He said. He seemed much more friendlier than Alby. Marie managed to crack a grateful smile, and Alby shooed everyone away to get back to work.

Marie just awkwardly stood there, as the boys hesitantly went back to their 'work'.

"C'mon, Greenie, we'll assign someone to help ya out." Chris called, walking over to Alby.

Marie nodded, and followed the boy over to the leader.

"Alby, the Greenie." Chris said shortly, and Alby nodded, apparently understanding what he said.

"How about Newt?" Alby asked, his tone suggestive, but his eyes showed finality.

"Alby, you know he's a Runner. He can't take the Greenie with him into the Maze." Chris reasoned, but Marie was more focused on what he said.

A Maze? A freaking Maze?

She might as well die on the spot.

"A maze?!" She exclaimed before she could control herself. "We're in a maze?! Are you fu-"

Chris cut her off by saying, "Alby'll tell ya on the Tour."

Well, she couldn't wait for the tour.

"Chris, show her to the Homestead, and get her a secluded corner." Alby said.

Chris nodded, and gestured for Marie to follow him to this 'Homestead' thing. But, as they went on, Marie realized that it was that cozy-looking building she'd spotted before from near the elevator. Once they reached, Chris opened the door, and led her in.

She looked around to see pillows, blankets and hammocks scattered everywhere. Chris took her to a lonely hammock in the corner of the room, and said, "Um, this is going to be your hammock, and I think you understand why it's in the corner."

Marie nodded, signaling she did. Chris, noticing this, continued, pointing to a door on the opposite side of her.

"There's the showers. If you need anything, just come find me in the gardens. And there's going to be a bonfire tonight, I'll come get you then."

Marie smiled warmly, and nodded again. She wasn't sure why she wasn't speaking. After almost half an hour of pondering over it, she came to the conclusion that she just didn't like the way she sounded.

*a few hours later*

Marie had successfully whiled away her time by fiddling with the hammock strings. Now, after quite some time, she heard some commotion outside, decided that she'd stretch her limbs and headed for the door. She opened the door, and stuck out her head, checking if it was worth leaving her hammock for.

And funnily enough, it was.

There were people actually coming out from the large openings on the wall.

Why would anyone in their right minds go out there?, Marie wondered.

She decided it was time to go back to her hammock, and was just about to close the door when she heard someone exclaim, "Is that a girl?!"

She sighed, shut the door and went back to her hammock. Nothing was more important to her now than her hammock. Nothing.

"Alright, I'm gonna go shower." She heard a voice with an oddly familiar accent say, and she immediately shoved her face into the hammock and stretched out, in an attempt to 'blend in with the hammock', but obviously it didn't work, because after the person had come in, she heard him say, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah." She said, her voice muffled by the hammock.

"Oh, uh, alright then." The voice said uncertainly, and shuffled away.

Hi! Hope you liked this first chapter! Sorry for this, but there's going to be slow updates, because I have some other books to write as well, and I'm also currently on a reading slump, (may or may not be bc of Newt) but anyways, hope y'all are good! Love ya shanks, and stay safe!

~ Skylar