Chapter One
The air was cold and the scent was disgusting. It smelt like vomit and machinery had a baby. The sounds of chains and pulleys filled my ears. I hated the sound more than I hated the scent. Every now and then, my metal enclosure would jolt up. I didn't know where I was going or why I was in this metal thing, but all I knew was...nothing. I couldn't remember a thing except my name, Eleanor. I felt like I remembered a lot, but it was just out of my reach. Like, something in my mind was blocking me from remembering about my life. I screamed, feeling the box thing move again, this time, faster. A blinking red light shone in the corner of my eye. Below it was a sign saying, "W.C.K.D". Suddenly, the crate stopped and the top started to uncover. A bright light flooded the crate, forcing myself to cover my face. I started to hear whispers, as a felt something drop into the crate I was in. Preparing myself to fight, I waited for the thing to get closer to me.
"Are you ok, greenie?" I looked up to find myself staring into the eyes of a boy. A human, thank goodness. However, the boy looked as confused as I was. "Who are you?" I asked, as I started to find my feet. "Who are you, where am I, and why can't I remember anything?" The boy didn't answer me, instead he held out his hand. "Come on," he said in a thick accent. "Let's meet the whole crew before you start to ask any questions." I scoffed at his outstretched hand, and climbed out of the crate myself. I was taken aback when I reached the top. About 30 teenage boys surrounded me, gawking at the fact that I was amongst them. I don't know who was more in shock, them or me.
I could tell by the looks of these boys that they haven't seen a girl in a long time. Their hair was messy, faces full of dirt, and sweat trickled down and stained their shirts. Forget a girl, these boys looked as if they haven't seen shower in a long time! A dark skinned boy step towards me. He looked even more scary every step he took towards me. Scared for my life, I took a step back, forgetting that the crate was behind me. Losing my balance, I started to tumbled back into the crate, falling into the arms of the boy. He gave a small laugh as he helped me back to my feet. "Careful greenie. We don't want you getting hurt on your first day now do we?" His accent made me sick. Forgetting him, I turned my attention back to the dark skinned boy. He outstretched his hand towards me. "The name's Alby," he said. Hesitantly, I shook his hand. "Eleanor," I responded. "My name is Eleanor. However, I can't seem to remember anything else and I want an explanation now." Alby let out a chuckle. "Please," he managed to say after his laughing fit. "If I knew I would tell you. You'll find out more about the Glade later."I didn't like it here. I didn't like it one bit. I started to look past Alby and saw a huge concrete structure with a crack in the wall. An exit, finally. I pushed my way past the boys and made a break for it, running as fast as I could for the crack in the wall.
The boys behind me started to scream and chase after me, but I was too fast to catch. As I reached the walls, I looked inside the crack, hoping to see an exit. What I saw was a dark, creepy place that had no chance of being an exit. What the hell is this place? All I knew was that it didn't look promising. I started to remember the boys screaming at me. There must have been something in there that was dangerous. However, thoughts of that subsided when I saw two more boys run from around the corner. How come they are allowed in there? The two boys stopped abruptly when they saw me. As all the other boys acted, they were highly surprised to see a girl. "I prayed to God that this day would come," an Asian boy said, putting a flirtatious smile on his face. "Hello greenie, the name's Minho." Aggressively, I tried to push past him and exit this stupid place, but it stopped me in my tracks. "Woah, you can't go in there." Finding my voice, I spoke. "Why not?" I asked, eager to learn what was out there. Minho opened his mouth to speak, but shut it, reluctant to answer my question. "I'll ask again, why not?" This time I added a little more force into my voice, as if to tell Minho that I meant business. The boy next to him laughed, as I turned my attention towards him. "Looks like we got ourselves a hostile babe for a greenie. Am I right Minho?" My gaze turned into a deadly stare down between him and I. Approaching him ever so carefully, I spoke in his face. "What did you just call me?" I asked through gritted teeth. But before the boy had a chance to answer, I kicked him in the groin, causing him to fall to the ground. "You better watch your mouth boy. I am not a babe, my name is Eleanor. Get it right or I'll seriously hurt you." Minho started to laugh, along with the other boys outside of the crack. I forgot that there were more. I started to walk back into the Glade, where all the other boys stood.
Alby had a menacing look on his face. "Don't you ever go in there again," he screamed in my face. "Do that, and you'll be banished forever. Don't be a shank." What the heck was a shank? As Alby started to get louder, the blonde boy stepped in front of me. "Lay off her Alby. You have to remember that she isn't like on of us. She is new here so let her be." I felt cowardly next to Alby, and the blonde boy only made me feel worse. I was so pathetic, that he had to stand up for me. "Thanks," I said quietly. "But I can handle myself." The boy just laughed. "Obviously, you can't. Welcome to the Glade Eleanor."
The Glade was basically just a huge field surrounded by concrete walls. Some shabby and unstable looking shacks were planted every here and there. Where did these supplies even come from and who even gave these boys supplies? A list of questions was forming in my head, but I wasn't allowed to ask questions until the end of the tour. Alby was taking me on the tour of my new home, or at least, that's what he called it. He told me that he was one of the first people to arrive here and that he has been here for 3 years. 3 years! I don't even want to be in here for a day, let alone 3 years. To me, it seemed like leaving the Glade wasn't an option. "Keep up Greenie," shouted Alby.
I was learning what type of jobs there were, where I was to go when I was hungry, or when I had to use the bathroom. However, my sleeping arrangements were still to be decided. I DID NOT want to sleep outside and Alby DID NOT want me to be near those boys when I did fall asleep. "Let's just say I know these shanks too well." I didn't know what Alby meant by saying that, but I could tell that it wasn't good.
As the tour went on, I began to feel a strong urge to go back into the large structure. As if I was, somehow, connected to the it. But I would never know that because all of my memories were gone. However, tonight I planned to go inside the place and find out what was going on. Although I knew that I would probably get into trouble, my curiosity won. If something really dangerous was in there, then it must be guarding something valuable like an exit or our memories, or our family.
Alby led me to the building called the Homestead. In here, both Alby and Newt slept. It was also a place where some Gladers, (that's what they called themselves due to the name of the place) hung out and relaxed. Inside, we sat down at a little table as Alby went over the rules with me.
"Rule number one," said Alby, his facial features showing me to listen up and pay attention. "Do your job. No slacking off. We need to survive here and if you slack off, then we don't get any work done. Don't think that just because you are a girl or just because you are new here makes you any better than any of us here."
"Rule number two. Don't harm your fellow Glader. This place wouldn't work if we didn't have trust. Heck, we would all be at each others throats if we didn't trust each other. We all think of each other as brothers, we are family."
"Rule number three. Don't go in there." Alby was pointing to the large crack in the wall. "There are dangers in there that you cannot possibly imagine. Only Runners are allowed in there."
Though I was sure if the tour was over, I started to ask questions. "What's in there that is so bad?" I thought Alby was going to yell at me for asking questions, but instead, his face harden, as of it was too painful to say. "Out there is the Maze," he started, not really wanting to continue. "A Maze that has no end. For three years, runners have been running in and out of that maze, mapping each and every turn, but still, we haven't found an exit. Reasons why is because the maze walls change every night, opening up new sections of the Maze that the Runners have to track. Not only that, but those doors close every night. There are four doors: North, South, East, and the West door. They close every night at exactly 7:00 sharp to keep the Grievers out."
Well there went my plans for entering and searching the Maze tonight. I wouldn't be able to get in there even if I tried. "What are Grievers?" I asked. Alby scowled. "Didn't I say hold all questions until the end of the tour?" He sighed. "If you would shut your hole and let me finish, maybe I could get to the part about Grievers. A Griever is a machine creature of trouble and pain. Get stung by one of these things, and you will remember some things. Its called a Griever sting and it hurts like hell. We have a medicine to treat it, but sometimes the medicine doesn't work and people die." On that dreadful note, Alby concluded the tour. My only question was where did I get supplies. He told me to write whatever I needed on a piece of paper and give it to him. I didn't want to ask him any other questions about who sent us here and all that junk because he made it completely clear to me that he didn't know and that no other shank around here knows either. As for my job, well, Alby said that I would have job tryouts tomorrow morning. For now, he had to find out where I was going to sleep. After going on the tour and learning more about the Glade, I concluded that maybe my life here wouldn't be so bad and terrible. There were no parents, no responsibilities, no worries. What was I to feel upset about?
