~The Nightmare Begins~

Chapter One: Arrival

He opened his eyes, but all he could see was darkness. It consumed him, taking his breath away. Where am I? He thought. Who am I? Then the tears came pouring down from fear.

"Is someone there?" a voice whispered from the darkness. A shiver ran down his spine. He was not alone.

"Yes," he replied, trying his hardest to sound brave as he wiped the tears from his cheeks, "who is there? Where am I?"

"I wish I could tell you," the voice replied, "but I don't remember squat, well except my name. The name's Minho. What about you?"

"I don't…"

Alby. My name is Alby.

The voice in his head frightened him, he almost jumped.

"Alby…I think…" he said, the shock clear in his voice.

"Well, 'Alby I think,'" Minho responded, "is it just me or does it feel like we are freaking moving?"

Almost on cue, the ground beneath them shifted, sending Alby crashing against a nearby wall. He tried to compose himself, seem unfrightened, but it was hard. They were traveling upwards, but he didn't know where.

Alby and Minho continued to go up in silence, both to scared to say anything. The ride stretched on for what seemed like hours to Alby, although deep down he knew it couldn't have been longer than a half-hour.

"Look!" Minho said loudly, almost shouting, "at the ceiling!"

Alby looked above him and saw exactly what Minho was talking about. Over head was a small square of light. They had almost reached the surface.

"What is up there?" Alby asked.

"How the heck am I supposed to know?"

The ride continues slowly. Alby's anticipation ate away at him as the light got bigger and bigger overhead. As they approached, he could make out the blue of a sky overhead.

"Almost there man!" Minho whooped as he stood up. Alby could see him clearer now. He was obviously Asian, muscular, was around 5'8", and had short, cropped hair. He looked to be about fifteen years old. Alby stood up to join him and turned his eyes on the sky above him.

A face popped above them, causing both boys to jump out of their skin.

"It's another two!" the person screamed behind him. Even more faces joined him.

"Here grab this!" a voice boomed, throwing down a sturdy-looking vine.

Alby grabbed a hold, and started to climb up, Minho right behind him.

As he reached the top, he had to take in a sharp breath. His surroundings took his breath away. He was inside a wide expanse of land, almost five times the size of a football field. A pile of supplies lie on the right side of the land. Before him were about twenty boys, all staring at him and Minho.

"Well that makes twenty-five," a voice sounded from behind. Alby turned to find its source- a tall, very muscular boy with mousy brown hair that went past his ears and cascaded across his forehead. He looked to be the oldest of those around him, maybe seventeen or eighteen.

"The name is Stephen," the boy said bravely, "do you two remember yours?"

"It is about the only thing I remember," Minho said gloomily, "Minho."

"It's the only thing any of us remember," the boy said flatly. Then he turned to Alby, giving him a questioning look.

"Alby," he said glumly. Everyone seemed to be in as bad a shape as him.

"Well good that," the boy said, "welcome to…well I honestly don't know where we are. All I know is that me, and these two," he pointed to the boys on his right and left, "we're the first three to arrive. Every five minutes an alarm sounds and two guys have been coming up on this elevator thing."

"Great," Minho mumbled sarcastically.

Alby looked around at his surroundings once again. Everything was so…barren, empty. There was nothing but grass and the pile of supplies. He pointed over to it.

"What's that?"

Stephen followed Alby's gaze over to the supplies.

"Food, wood, weapons, lots of stuff. It was here when we arrived."

"Wait a sec…weapons?" Minho asked, a hint of nervousness in his words, "why in the heck do we need weapons?"

Stephen shrugged. "Protection?"

A shiver went through Alby. "From what?"

The boy shrugged again. "Not sure I want to know."

"Good that," the boy next to Stephen said with a curt nod. He was smaller than Stephen, maybe fourteen, with freckles covering his face and spiky blonde hair.

"Hey Stephen," a voice called out from the crowd. Alby craned his neck to see who was talking, but he couldn't see through the crowd.

"Yeah?" Stephen responded. Alby was getting the feeling that this boy was already dubbed leader.

"It has been way more than five minutes…this everyone?"

Stephen looked carefully at the box in the ground. "Maybe. How about we go check out them supplies?"

With that the crowd moved towards the pile lying towards the west wall. Mass hysteria broke out as everyone struggled to look around. Stephen yelled for everyone to shut up. In his hand he held a small piece of paper. From the look of terror clear as day on his face, whatever it was, it wasn't pretty.

"What's that?" Minho asked.

"A letter," the older boy said grimly.

"Well read it!" a voice shouted out.

Stephen looked around, seemingly unhappy. He cleared his throat and began to read.

"Welcome to the Glade. Before you are enough supplies to last you for a while. New supplies will arrive once a week. A new boy will arrive once a month." His voice began to shake as he read the end, "you may or may have not noticed the openings in each wall around the Glade."

Alby looked around. Sure enough, a wide opening lay only a few yards from where they were.

Stephen continued, "Outside these walls lay a maze. You can feel free to explore it, but keep in mind that the doors close each night. Good luck."

The air inside the "Glade," as the letter-writer had said the place was called, was tense and quiet. Someone had put us inside a freaking maze! Alby's mind shouted. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sniffles arouse from the crowd. Alby had to fight to refrain from crying out of fear. What is happening to me? And why can't I remember a single thing?

"Well if it's a maze, there has to be a way out, right?" a voice asked hesitantly.

Stephen looked up, with a hint of concern on his distraught face.

"I don't know," he said, "but we are going to find out."

Well there you have it! Chapter one! Please review and tell me what you think! I have a lot of plans, so be ready for it! (:

Thanks for reading!