Chapter Text
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Noise.
That was the first thing that hit her when she came to- a horrible, groaning, screeching sound that grated against her ears. She shot up into a sitting position and gasped.
She was in a cage- that was the only way to describe it. Metal bars enclosed her, scraping against the sides of a concrete shaft as the cage continued to rise- and now, the girl realized that it was rising. Every few seconds, a light flashed to give her a glimpse of her surroundings, bathed in red, before growing dark again. She was soaked to the bone- her clothes stuck to her skin and sent goosebumps down her arms, but she was too disoriented to mind the numbing cold. Panic gripped her as she tried to remember how she'd gotten in this position- then found that she couldn't remember.
She was stuck in a cage, on her way to who knows where, and she couldn't even remember her name.
And the noise continued.
Full-blown panic. She scrambled to her feet and immediately regretted it- her head collided with the ceiling of the cage, throwing her face-first onto the cold metal floor. From there, she could see that below the box was a very, very deep hole, so deep that she couldn't see the bottom. Other noises reached her ears- panicked squealing and clucking from shadowed boxes piled against the walls. She scrambled away-- her back hit something solid. A heavy object crashed down onto the metal floor next to her. It narrowly missed her fingers. The squealing grew louder; the scraping noise was deafening; the girl covered her ears and screamed-
Everything jolted to a stop. The red flashing light turned green and solid, and silence encompassed the shaft.
Wherever the girl had been going, she'd obviously arrived.
Voices drifted in from somewhere above- they were harsh, unfriendly.
She had two options.
Option A: Stand and fight.
Option B: Hide.
The girl rushed to the closest corner of the cage and leaped behind a metal barrel. Something was happening: a mechanical whirring noise. Light flooded in, bright and golden, as a pair of doors opened above. The voices grew louder. There was laughter.
The girl desperately grabbed onto a tarp and yanked it over herself. She cowered there as the whirring noise stopped, watching through a gap in the hidey-hole she'd created. She could hear the voices quite clearly, now.
"Where's the Greenie?"
"Probably hiding, the dumb shank-"
"Aww, is the little baby scared?"
"Bet he's klunked his pants-"
"Come on out, Greenie!"
The cage shook with a heavy thud. The girl hugged her knees and shut her eyes tight, her heart throbbing in her ears. Boys continued jeering from above as footsteps drew nearer to where she hid. They stopped short just in front of her- she heard him laugh- she held her breath, silently pleading that he'd pass her by-
The boy pulled the tarp away and leaned over the barrel to sneer at her. "Rise and Shine, Greenie!"
The girl's head shot up. She pressed herself into the corner, as far as she could go, and stared up at the boy. He was large, tall, with arms that looked like they could easily snap her in half.
He stared at her. She stared back, heart pounding, breath ragged.
A voice called out from the others. "Alright, what's the holdup, Gally? Greenie make a mess or somethin'?"
They laughed and jeered in response.
The boy, Gally, stayed stock still, his blue eyes wide. "I- I, uh-"
He was interrupted by a shrill, bloodcurdling scream.
The boys immediately covered their ears, crying out at the unfamiliar noise. They crowded around to Gally's side of the box to see what was going on. The girl continued to scream, kicking her legs, pushing herself further into the corner.
"Alright- alright- hey, calm down!"
"Holy-"
"It's a girl-"
"Shuck-"
"I got dibs!"
"No, I do-"
"Hey, Greenie, slim it, would ya?"
"A girl-"
"No shucking way!"
The cage shook as another boy jumped into it. He came up alongside Gally- this new boy was even taller than the former- and held his hands up in surrender, wincing as the girl's screech raised an octave. "Hey- hey, calm down! Calm down, everything's okay-"
"SHUT UP, WOMAN!" One of the boys shouted from above.
The girl stopped screaming. The two boys looked relieved for a moment, but the calm was short-lived. The girl suddenly lunged away from the corner, hurdled over the barrel, and sprinted across the cage, knocking Newt and Gally over in the process. There were shouts from above as she scrambled up a pile of boxes and barrels and pulled herself up onto grass and dirt. The crowd of boys circled her on all sides.
She was surrounded.
She stood up on shaking legs and took it in- they stood in a grassy field, with trees in the distance and a couple of rudimentary huts near the middle. The sky was blue. No clouds. Warm wind. Four large stone walls enclosed the entire space. Even without her memories, the girl knew the walls were out of place. She put her hands over her ears and panted heavily, trying to process all of the visual and auditory information, but there was just too much, all flooding in at once-
"Hey, hey hey!" An older boy with dark skin stepped forward. He did his best to look non-threatening as he approached the new Glader. "Hey, there. Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt ya-"
Her eyes swept over the whispering crowd. As the boys she'd knocked over climbed out of the cage, she suddenly came to a terrifying realization- they were all boys. There wasn't a single girl in sight. She turned around in a circle, searching their faces for another female, but there was none. For some reason, this sent her panic into overdrive- she got the notion that being the only she in a group of he's was very, very dangerous.
"Now, I know you're scared." The dark-skinned boy tried for a reassuring tone. "But don't worry- we're all-"
She wasn't listening. She pulled on her long, wet hair and turned around in a circle again. Her heart was pounding in her ears, telling her to run, run, run, run-
"Shuck!"
"She's running-"
"Don't let her into the Doors!"
"Shuck, shuck shuck-"
The boys gave chase. The Runners hadn't yet returned, but there were plenty of fast boys still in the Glade- Newt, even with his limp, pulled ahead of the rest and ran up alongside the girl, herding her away from the Maze Doors and pushing her course sideways.
Her panicked legs carried her across the field- something entered her peripheral vision- one of the boys, tall and fast, matching her pace as he herded her into a corner. She didn't dare look back, but she could hear the shouts and stomps of the other boys' pursuit. Her only thought was run.
But where could she run to? The Walls towered higher and higher with each stride- maybe she could go into the forest, climb up a tree-
That idea was quickly forgotten as the boy beside her edged closer. He steered her away from the grove and further into the corner. She had to lose him, somehow, do something unexpected-
She made a sudden turn and banked around the trunk of a large tree, sprinting in a new direction. Newt, not anticipating this sudden change in direction, skidded to a halt and toppled into the dirt. The girl's new course led to a large building of some sort, set into a corner where two of the giant walls met.
"She's headed to Council Hall-"
"Whew, she's fast-"
"-Someone cut her off!"
But it was too late. She whizzed through the doorway, slammed the door shut, and threw down the thick plank that served as a locking mechanism. She pivoted on the spot- somehow, she could tell that the room was solidly built. Several central poles stood near the middle to evenly distribute the weight of the roof. Two of the walls were made of woven branches, whilst the other two were made of the same stone as the giant Walls outside. One way in and no way out. She only hoped that the door would hold.
No sooner had she thought this when the sounds of banging fists resounded. The boys pounded on the door, shouting all the while; their shadows shifted through gaps in the boards and branches.
"Hey, let us in!"
"We can help you-"
"Come on, we know you're scared-"
"Wh- where am I!?" She screeched. "What's my name!?"
"It's okay, Greenie, just open the door and we'll explain everything-"
"Why can't I remember anything? I'm supposed to remember- I- I can't-"
"Greenie, if you'll let us in, we can explain everything-"
"NO!!!" She shouted. "No, I'll only speak to a girl- send a girl!"
The pounding stopped.
"Uh-" someone coughed. It sounded like the first boy, Gally. "There's- there's not another girl, Greenie. You're the first one we've ever gotten."
Fear rushed up inside her. "I- I don't- please, don't hurt me!"
"Alright, that's ENOUGH!" Alby's voice roared. "Boys, get back to unloading. No one comes near here, understand? She needs time to calm down."
The boys protested, but the authoritative voice cut them off. "I said, scram! Don't make me say it again, shanks!"
The girl tried to get her breathing under control. She kept her back pressed against the far wall, taking heaving gasps, fighting the darkness that encroached her vision. I will not faint.
"We ain't gonna hurt you," the boy promised, his voice muffled through the door. "Now, we'll leave you alone for a while, and when you're ready you can come on out. Okay?"
The girl didn't answer. She blinked back tears as Alby sighed and walked away, his shadow disappearing from the door.
What was she going to do?
♾
"What are we going to do?" Newt asked.
His back was pressed up against a tree. Every now and then, he would peek around the side to check on Frypan's progress. Alby shook his head thoughtfully and watched as Frypan tiptoed towards the door of the Council building, a bowl of soup in hand. Frypan set the soup down, knocked twice, and bolted, huffing as he ran to leap behind a tree.
All of the Gladers held a collective breath, peeking from their respective hiding places as the door to Council Hall opened a crack.
A pair of brown eyes appeared. They flickered nervously around the clearing. A thin arm slowly reached out from behind the door, grabbed the edge of the bowl, and dragged it inside. The door slid shut and the lock thudded back into place, and then it was quiet again. The boys jumped out from the trees and high-fived each other triumphantly, smiling at their success. Their happiness was quickly dampened by a sudden rumbling- the doors were closing for the night.
Uh-oh. Newt and Alby shared a knowing glance, bringing their hands up to their ears for what they knew was coming.
"Ah- AAAH!"
The girl started screaming again, higher and shriller than anyone could remember hearing before. Obviously, it was a girl thing. The Gladers groaned collectively and plugged their ears.
Alby sighed. "We need a Gathering. Tell everyone to meet in the Homestead in five minutes."
The rumbling came to an abrupt stop. The walls clicked into place, and the girl's screams faded into sobs.
♾