Light. Blinding light.
Then, a sickening lurch in the pit of my stomach as I roughly shot upwards.
As I sat cowering in a tight ball, I was aware of chains rattling and machinery creaking with the effort of dragging both it and myself skyward. Although what awaited us in that direction was a question still unanswered to me.
After a mind numbingly long time (or what felt like it) I caught the rabble of voices - deep and foreign. Instinctively, I pulled my knees even closer to my chest and tried to adjust my light-blinded eyes to my surroundings.
Where am I?
I wearily acknowledged a cage-like box pulled by rusting chains through a vertical underground tunnel. Not surprisingly, this didn't slow my racing heart.
Thankfully, I noticed my cage begin to slow its bone rattling speed as it gradually shuddered to a halt. As before, the foreign voices continued to rabble annoyingly and I was unable to make out more than a few random words, not enough to gather helpful information.
During this time however, my eyes apprehensively took in what they could from above me:
The sky was bright blue so it was obviously a sunny day, although I couldn't see the sun. Also, my cage had risen out of a hole which was circled by long grass, continuing for several yards - as far as I could see.
I however, was surrounded by twenty or so humans - teenagers, maybe? - all gawking at me like we came from a different species.
Also, it hadn't escaped my notice that ALL of them were male...
Just then, one of them (I'm assuming the leader) manages to shut the rest of them up, so fortunately, I was able to understand something;
"It's a girl!"
Wow, I thought. You don't say genius.
Then my initial feelings of disdain vanished - and were replaced with those of wariness. These boys sounded far too surprised and shocked that I was a girl. What was going to happen to me here?
"What does she look like!"
"Is she alive?"
"Is she HOT?!"
At that, I began to shrink away from the voices, praying that they wouldn't join me in the cage. (Part of me wanted to leap out and demand to know what was going on, but I sensed that would be unwise..).
As I stared wide-eyed up at them, I started to make out individual faces: the boy whom I had assumed as leader was tall and dark-skinned with strong features and a heavy brow. He glanced at the crowd behind him;
"Shut up, the lot of you! If anyone of you shanks touches her, I'll personally feed you to a Griever!"
What on earth? I thought. I was completely baffled - but slightly satisfied by the boys reactions to their leader's outburst. However, that didn't stop the curious, open looks they were all giving me. I shivered and moved further into a corner.
The sound of someone clearly their throat sharply brought me back to reality;
"Need a hand there?"
I followed the sound to the source of the voice - a tall, blond haired boy had climbed down a rope from the top of my cage and was smiling faintly, a hand stretched out towards me.
I eyed the hand with distrust, simultaneously thinking that this boy wasn't rough or creepy - not to mention leering at me like many of his peers.
As a result, I cautiously accepted and he easily pulled me up towards him, all the while wearing that tiny smirk of his.
"Name's Newt, Greenie. Welcome to the Glade."
I stared blankly at him, slightly annoyed by the random nickname. Oddly enough, I couldn't remember my own name - never mind anything else. So I decided upon the polite approach as I mumbled, "Thanks".
To my surprise, Newt's grin widened - mine probably wasn't the standard response around here.
"Hey Newt, get your shuck ass back out here, we're all kinda curious too!" someone yelled.
The foreign voice sounded uncomfortably loud after our subdued exchange of words.
Newt rolled his eyes and pulled me towards the pair of ropes he'd bought with him.
"This here's the only way out Greenie, so follow my lead and Alby'll pull you up, 'kay?" he explained, glancing at me
I didn't know who this 'Alby' was but I was tired of the cage - and also slightly curious - so I decided to play along.
I hoisted myself up one of the ropes and imitated Newt as he used his legs to shimmy up its narrow length. About three-quarters up a pair of strong arms appeared in front of me and pulled me from under the arms, as if I weighed next to nothing.
So Alby's the leader boy then, huh? I nodded my thanks towards him and took in my surroundings eagerly:
The first thing I noticed was the sheer size of the place - open and green with different areas like farmland, crops growing in the sunshine and a cluster of huts opposite the grassy fields.
Its like a little community, I thought in awe. Here I realised there were even more boys gawking at me - around 50 or so. I warily shifted my gaze.
Next was the fact that we were enclosed within massive concrete walls covered in ivy - which spanned three sides of the perimeter. I immediately felt puny.
Finally was the equally massive set of concrete doors which obscured my view of the forth side of the perimeter. I wonder where that leads to...
"Pretty massive, huh?", confirmed a voice I recognised as the one which had told Newt to hurry up.
I turned to face a muscular Asian boy with dark eyes and silky raven hair, smirking at me with folded arms.
"Definitely", I agreed, my voice cracking from disuse. "But what exactly is it?"
He laughed, nodding behind me, "That's not my place, Greenie"
I frowned as leader Alby turned to me,
"This Greenbean, is the Glade", he announced. "As you've probably already gathered, I'm Alby and you could say I keep the rest of these shanks in line. There's a klunkload to explain and I bet you're feeling a little more than a bit confused, so I'll be takin' you on the tour tomorrow right? And 'till then, I'd get some shut-eye if I were you - shuck knows you need it".
He offered me a faint smile, but his tired face could barely manage it.
"But its a GIRL", someone whined helpfully. "Why would they do that after this long anyway?"
"Hey i dunno 'bout you Callum, but I'm, shuckin' pleased; maybe they finally felt sorry for us..?"
The second idiot trailed off after a death glare from Newt, who I'd noticed, was still standing beside me.
"For the last For the last damn time", Alby threatened, "None of you shanks will lay a finger on her or you'll have me and a week in the Slammer to answer to." He paused. "And I dunno why its a girl, but we're gonna make her feel welcome and treat her like the Glader she is".
He muttered a few indecipherable words to Newt, who nodded, then told the group of mumbling boys to scram, shows over. Finally, he turned on his heel and marched towards the cluster of huts further down.
I gaped at this, feeling more lost and confused than ever, dangerously close to my breaking point. I'd just been thrown into this place with a memory wipe and these guys were arguing over me? I still couldn't remember who I was or anything before waking up in that damned cage. I wearily dragged a hand through my grimy hair, which felt like it had been in a pleat before being furiously abused. I vainly spared a thought for the rest of my appearance before discarding it, not really caring.
Something of my troubled thought must have shown on my face because Newt faced me with gentle brown eyes and smiled,
"Its alright, love, we've all been through it - we've all had a bloody First Day in the Glade. But it's gonna get better, eh? Trust me".
I blushed at the 'love' but thankfully my tanned skin successfully concealed it from the three remaining boys. I realised with a jolt, that Newt's warm words had actually made me feel better - slightly. I smiled faintly at him and as he grinned back the Asian guy behind him stepped forward, hand outstretched;
"I'm Minho by the way. Pleasure to meet you".
"I, uh don't remember my name", I said thickly, shaking his hand.
"Haha! Fair enough, greenie. Like Newtie here said, we've all been through it" laughed Minho.
Another boy came to greet me, agreeing;
"Yep, although it'll come back to you in a couple of hours - always does" he assured me with a friendly grin, his eyes crinkling at the sides.
"Oh, uh, I'm Harry" he added, running a hand through his sandy hair. "I'll probably bump into you tomorrow during your tour, but I gotta run now!". Harry waved us goodbye.
"Righto greenie, to business ", declared Newt, clapping his hands together. "I'll be showing you the female quarters - lucky for you, you're the only one and you'll also be spared from any sweaty, snoring male humans", he added with a wink.
"Hey speak for yourself, shuckface!" complained Minho as I giggled, becoming more comfortable with these strangers and their strange words.
Newt and Minho kept up their banter as we walked leisurely towards the huts. I continued to attract curious glances from passing teens, but I tried to ignore them - instead focusing on my surroundings.
The Glade was a noisy place, but in a homely, comfortable way (if you ignored the walls). My stomach grumbled as we walked towards a large open hut which released the mouth-watering smells of tomato and herbs - presumably dinner in progress.
"Well greenie, we're right on time", Newt told me, gesturing towards the smells. "Frypan's just about ready to dish up"
"You wouldn't find the equal to Fry's cooking if you tried", added Minho.
"Wow", I mused, "That good, huh?"
The two boys enthusiastically convinced me of Frypan's high quality cooking as we walked over to the serving surface. Behind it stood a smallish round-faced boy of around sixteen cheerfully chatting as he handed out plates of spaghetti. The boys milling around him all seemed to respect him a great deal. I thought, he wasn't just their serving boy, but their friend.
"You must be the new Greenbean!", he exclaimed, waving us over. Newt urged me forward, flanked by Minho - who glared at anyone who stared at me too hard.
"Hi erm, Frypan?", I began.
He laughed, a loud booming sound that made me smile too.
"That's me, greenie. You make sure to head this way if you're feeling peckish - but that special treatment'll only last a couple days, you've been warned", he told me with a mock stern expression, handing me a full plate.
We spent the next hour or so joking and making easy conversation with Frypan, who I found was really fun to be around. Gradually, a couple more boys joined us and I got to know their names. It seemed that teasing me was a common interest of theirs, I grumbled to myself.
After a while, I felt a huge yawn creep up on me which I attempted, and failed, to stifle sufficiently. Newt glanced at me,
"Alright love - time to go" He took my hand and I blinked, surprised as he lead me out into the open. Minho, who was in deep conversation with Gally (intimidating, yet friendly towards me) didn't notice us leave.
"Sorry" Newt said, letting go of my hand, "I forgot you'd probably be bloody shattered out after today" He grinned at me sheepishly as we walked across the grass.
"Mmhhh, it was nice to meet them" I said as I tentatively studied his face and confirmed his honesty and determination. He was sort of beautiful for a boy, I thought, blushing again. His hair was a fluffy mop of dark blonde framing his usually serious face, which always seemed to have a smile for me. I could see the sharp lines of his jaw clench as a couple of boys whistled after me as we walked towards the dorms.
"They'll stop soon" he assured me as I ducked my head. Or immediately if I convince Alby to let me punish them..." he mused, thoughtfully.
I smirked, considering the idea, "That's okay. I sort of expect it - you guys haven't seen a girl in a while".
He grunted, "Still, the bloody shanks ought to have some respect".
We walked along in silence for a while, him playing with a machete off his back, me with my arms around my waist. Newt walked with a slight limp, I noticed vaguely, wondering what had happened.
I had a thought then - quite an obvious one, but important all the same.
"What do I look like, Newt?" I asked quietly, glancing at him.
He stopped with a twinkle in his eye as he looked at me. I mean PROPERLY looked at me - from bottom to top. I squirmed, uncomfortable under his probing gaze.
"Well, you're fairly tall - for a girl" I threw a glare at him, which he returned with a laugh
"You don't look weak, but you're still quite slim" His eyes travelled up to my face and I blushed (this had to stop).
"Your skin is tanned - a bit darker than Minho, but not so much as Alby - like caramel", he nodded to himself.
"Your hair is the darkest brown, long and wavy, down to your waist maybe?" he guessed, crossing his arms.
"And your eyes are pretty - almond shaped and warm hazelnut brown", he finished, smiling at me.
"Oh, and I'd say you're about seventeen, like most of us here"
Wow, I thought. That was unexpectedly detailed - and quite nice too, I admit.
I raised an eyebrow at him, "You've been paying attention", I said playfully.
He smirked, starting to walk again;
"It's hard not to, love"
I stood looking after him, mouth open. I ought to be annoyed, but I couldn't...
When I caught up with him, he was standing at the door to the Dorm Hut.
"This here's where we sleep, yours is this one", he pointed at a space between two hung sheets (for privacy, presumably).
"It's no luxury cabin in the woods, but we make do" I smiled to myself at his defensive tone, nodding in agreement. "Its made of two parts, sleeping and washing".
I noticed with alarm how close I would be to the other rooms and part of me was slightly apprehensive. Newt smirked that customary smirk of his as if he could read my mind,
"Oh, and I'll be in that room across the hall if there's trouble, 'kay?"
Before I could help it, my shoulders relaxed obviously and I let out a relieved sigh, "Thank God for that"
He laughed at me then, leading me into the room.
It was quite spacious, with a single hammock hanging from the rafters and a torch-holder above a small shelf for my womanly essentials, I guessed. Apparently, a bag came with me in the cage with clothes and anything else I'd need.
"It's great Newt, thanks", I say, shooting him a smile.
"No problem", he tells me, waving a hand and leaning against one of the beams. "So maybe you'll want to get cleaned up before heading in then?" He nodded towards the end of my room - wash room, I remember.
"Ughh, yep definitely", I confirmed, glancing down at myself with a cringe. He stifled a smile and started to head out again.
"So I'll see you sometime tomorrow, during your Tour" He raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded back absently, something tugging at my mind.
Its a word, I realised, blinking to clear my mind. But what does it mean?
As he walked out through the sheet, I called out, "Wait!" He turned with a curious frown.
"Resa...", I started hesitantly. "My name - it's Resa", I discovered.
Newt stared at me intently, hand on the wooden beam.
"Resa..." rapid blinking, "Well, it's bloody nice to know that, greenie" he grins.
I smile back, glad for that small piece of myself. But hold on;
"Wait, why are you calling me that? I have a name now" I protested.
He laughed again, louder, "Yeah, but you're not getting out of that one so easy. Greenbean is Glader slang and you'll be the greenie 'till a new one arrives" he smirked. "you'll get used to the buggin' words after a while - no worries"
I scowled at him, but couldn't put too much effort into it. "Yeah well, fine then" I huffed, turning away.
Newt subdued himself to a grin and walked out again, "G'night, Resa"