I woke up wheezing and coughing, a splitting headache burning through my head. Suddenly, my stomach dropped as the floor lurched upwards. I clamped my hands over my mouth to keep from throwing up on myself.

Rene, snap out of it.

That was me; Rene, the girl half trying not to vomit on the ground and half trying not to pass out from panic. As easily as the name came to me, it was quickly followed by the realization that nothing else was. I couldn't remember anything.

I swallowed and held my head, shivering as I took in my surroundings; I was in what looked like a cage that kept going up and up. There were boxes and crates full of different types of supplies, all labeled and stacked almost to the ceiling. I slowly crawled towards one of the crates and tried to read one of the labels. 'WICKED' was spelled in big chunky letters.

Before I could wonder about anything that was in front of me, a blaring siren rocketed into my eardrums and the room jolted to a halt, the ceiling opening up. I curled up in pain, shielding my eyes from the light, and covering my ears at the same time.

Great. Just great. I'm gonna die in a freakin' box all alone in the dark. FANTASTIC!

The siren stopped and I heaved myself up onto my knees. I was able to see what I was wearing- a huge white sweater with triangle and circle patterns zig-zagging all across the front with off-white shorts a little above my knees, now imprinted with the fenced flooring of my temporary home. I looked back at my feet and saw simple black boots with white laces.

Footsteps sounded above me and after a moment all I could do was stare. About thirty boys stared back, with expressions of confusion and shock. I felt a little embarrassed to be in short shorts in front of them, but I shoved that aside. I wiped the sweat and dirt off my forehead and got up, all fear swept away like it had never come to me in the first place. Thankfully, I thought of some that could get their attention off of my body and took a deep breath.

"Could someone help me out?" I ask. I was holding my arm over my eyebrows trying to sound strong, but my cracked voice wasn't helping. I hadn't talked in a while, so I cleared my throat and looked back up.

Some of the boys started whispering. I could make out some of what they were saying.

"What is a girl doing here... I don't get it."

"Move, I wanna see her!"

"Hush, she could hear..."

"I call dibs!"

"Maybe we should tell Alby before we let her..."

"Is she hot?!"

"I'd leave her there to rot if I were you guys..."

That last one offended me.

"I asked for assistance on leaving this cage, so I would be delighted to be getting out." I said, irritated now, but still nervous and my throat hadn't fully cleared out. I coughed.

They looked at me then. I felt a bit uncomfortable after that outburst, so I crossed my arms slowly and looked towards the supply crates, holding my stare with fake confidence.

One of the boys sighed and signaled to another to grab something, and he jumped down, giving a wary smile.

"Hello there, Greenie. I'm Newt. You are?"

I stared at him as if he had sprouted antlers out of his dirty blonde hair. His thick accent surprising to me as well. Was everyone here so straightforward? I thought to myself, trying to not think about the boy standing over me.

"Uh, Rene." I said, trying to sound certain. "My name is Rene."

He stuck out a hand and I shook it hesitantly.

"Well that's unusual…" he chuckled pulling away his hand and rubbing his chin like he was caressing a beard, smiling.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I retorted back, pleading that I sounded tougher than I knew I was.

"Don't worry about it, love," He said, ruffling my hair a bit, laughing with the other boys as I gave him a 'seriously?' sort of look. "You'll soon learn everything you need to know about this bloody place."

He flung his hands up in the air for emphasis. I nodded, still displeased with how my hair now felt like a nest.

"Well, Rene." He said, looking up at the sky with his hands on his hips. "Walls will be closing soon. About time we leave this lovin' box and show you around before it gets late."

As if on cue, a small ladder was lifted up and placed so that it was propped on the wall of the Box. Newt walked over to it and held it firm.

"After you." He teased, smiling as he moved his arm upwards. I rolled my eyes and started for the ladder and climbed up, bracing myself against the sunlight trying to block out the stupid comments and teasing from the boys above me.

When I got to the top of the ladder, a pair of hands pulled me up from my armpits and placed me on my feet. Either I must have been super light or whoever picked me up was body builder. I looked up towards an Asian boy of about sixteen with a black quiff to my guess, who was smiling like an idiot. But he did look like a body builder, I had to admit that.

"What are you looking at?" I asked folding my arms.

"It's just that, you're very pretty." He said, poking me in the ribs.

Ugh, boys.

"Uh, back off." I joked, blocking out the oohs from all around me. The boy just gave me a fake offended look, putting his hands over his chest. But then he smiled and put out a hand.

"The names Minho, Greenie." I shook his hand. "I can tell we're gonna be good friends."

He winked and jogged through the crowed until I could no longer see him.

"Well, that happened." I said, chuckling a little. I looked around at the boys again.

"So," I said, standing on my tip-toes and looking around." Where are the other girls?"

Newt, who had been standing by the ladder still leaning against the metal cage, sighed and walked up to me, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Well, at the moment, greenie you appear to be the only one."

I stared at him, confused.

"Huh? You mean to tell me that I'm the only girl in this...whatever it's called,"

"Glade," a dark skinned boy cut in.

"Yea, that." I continued. "The only girl surrounded by, what, thirty, forty boys? Teenage boys?! You've got to be kidding me."

He just stared back. This time a well build dirty blonde boy cut in.

"Your exactly right, Greenie. Hoped you enjoyed the one-way trip. There's not going back." He spat unkindly and gave me a dirty look, shoving past me and out of the circle of boys. I just looked at the back of his head, feeling like if I looked hard enough, I could burn a hole through his skull. I knew right off the bat not everyone here would be friendly.