Chapter 1

Welcome to the Glade

Tessa dove past the guards, slamming her hands into the chest of one of them, and punching another.

"Someone stop her!" someone yelled but no one was getting in the way of her. She had to see him again. She had to before everything was over. Diving into the Box, Tessa landed with a grunt and fell blood pouring out of a cut on her arm. She did her best to ignore it as she felt the Box start to rise and up to the Glade. But before she could do anything else, everything went dark, and Tessa fell back against the hard box without another sound.

She finally woke up after a very long time. She was no longer in the Box, she could tell that, but she couldn't remember anything either. What was her name? What was going on? She let out a breath and tried to grasp onto something. Tessa.

"My name is Tessa," she whispered and then opened her eyes. She was in a strange hut with two boys standing at the edge of the bed she was laying on. They weren't facing her, but she knew that if she made any other noises, they would kill her. Tessa moved her head to the side, taking in her surroundings and saw a syringe about three steps to her left. Silently creeping forward, she grabbed the syringe and dove at her captors. The larger one, who was African-American spun around with surprising speed and caught her arm. But she had been moving too fast and the boy still tumbled down.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down!" the boy cried out, but Tessa only rolled to the side, sweeping the other guy's feet out from under him. She sprinted out of the strange hut and found herself in a grassy area with other huts and a lot more boys.

"What…what the...?" she muttered and nearly dropped her syringe. Before Tessa could do anything, someone tackled her to the ground and ripped the syringe out of her hand. She struggled and normally would've one in a fight but she was too weak and surprised. Her arm was bandaged and her head felt like someone had pounded it with a hammer several times.

She looked up to see an Asian boy grinning at her, his deep brown eyes mischievous and his dark hair was perfect. "Hey there," he winked at her and helped her up. In a flash, she turned and kicked him in the face.

"Hey!" someone yelled. "Stop!" Tessa ignored them and started to run again. But the Asian boy hadn't been knocked out entirely and he started to chase her. "Hey stop! We're not going to hurt you!" But Tessa wasn't that stupid. No way in hell was she going to die. She slowed down enough for the boy to get right behind her and she somehow managed to fly backwards through the air and land behind the boy. She tackled him to the ground and pinning his arms down, she punched him in the face. But she was disoriented and exhausted, and he shoved her off of him. He tackled her and wrapped a strong pair of arms around her.

"Calm down you shank!" he growled, trying to control her.

"Get off of me!" she screamed and stomped on his foot. The dark skinned boy that had been in the weird hut jogged up to them with a worried expression. The other guy that had been in the hut was right behind him. She flung her head back and hit her captor in the head.

"Hey! Calm down!" the dark skinned one shouted and put his hands up as if he was saying he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Tessa screamed and drove her elbow into the Asian's boy's chest. He yelped and loosened his hold on her. She took advantage of that and leapt past him and started to sprint away. She could see that there were openings in the strange stone walls that surrounded her, but there was something very dark and almost scary about them. Tessa noticed a vast stretch of clustered trees, and she raced towards them.

She stumbled past trees and managed to avoid the roots that protruded in and out of the ground. Gasping a bit, Tessa crumbled to the ground and shuddered. The strange forest was dark and the shock that had come with her was slowly going away. But Tessa was frightened more than anything. Where was she? Why couldn't she remember anything? What was going on?

Tessa groaned and decided that it would be best to find some sort of concealment; she was so tired and felt that she would collapse if she didn't rest. Pushing herself up, Tessa stumbled past a couple trees until she found one suitable enough for her purposes and scrambled up it. Pulling her hood over her head, she fell into a deep slumber.

It was way to bright when Tessa finally woke up and opened her eyes. Disgruntled and still sore being tackled to the ground, she noticed that there was a torn bandage on her arm; though the pain in her head had gotten worse. Had she hit her head on anything?

Tessa was just jumping down from the tree when she heard voices coming towards her, "Alby, where do you think she is? We can't spend all our time looking for her. What if she's dead?"

"Quiet, Gally. She's a Greenie, even though she is a girl." Tessa tensed up and cautiously took several steps back, praying they wouldn't hear her.

"Just listen to me! Don't you think it's a little strange?"

"Yes, yes, but we're in the shucking Glade, surrounded by walls and a Maze. What isn't strange?" the other boy replied. Tessa, who's eyes were filled with fear, decided that she had had enough and sprinted away before they could catch her. But as she ran, she couldn't help but wonder, what was the Glade? What Maze were they talking about? And then, who were they? Who was she?

But of course, before Tessa could find another hiding spot, someone tackled her to the ground and then everything, for what seemed like the thousandth time, went dark.

Her vision was blurry and her arms and legs felt like smushed jelly. Groaning, she almost screamed when she saw where she was. It was a badly made structure that seemed like it was supposed to be some sort of cell. Criss crossed sticks and ropes surrounded her and the air smelled of dirt and sweat.

"Help!" Tessa started to scream, her voice was croaky and her throat sore. She probably sounded like a dying frog. "Somebody! Help me!" Her voice had shrunk to a low whimper and her whole body shook.

A boy appeared; his blonde hair was curly and down to his chin, his clothes were dirty, and scariest of all, there was a sword strapped to his back.

"Get away from me!" Tessa hissed and scooted back as far as she could go.

The boy sighed and knelt by the cell, "I'm not going to hurt you, love. Okay? Just bloody calm down, and I'll explain everything." His kind face smiled at her, and Tessa felt herself relax. She was still tense but, she nodded slowly and sunk to the floor.

"This is called the Glade. Each month, a new Greenie, a new person, is sent to us, along with supplies that keep us alive. We've been here for a year. You're the twelth Greenie that we've ever had and the first girl. Nick's our leader and Alby's the second-in-command. I'm a Runner," the boy said slowly, as if he was explaining multiplication to a three-year-old.

Tessa sighed in exhaustion and gazed at his face. There was definitely something familiar about it, but she couldn't figure it out. Just like everything else, Tessa couldn't remember anything, not even her own family. Did she have parents? Did she have a brother or a sister? Were they looking for her?

"Pay attention," he said. Tessa rolled her eyes but returned her focus to him. "We're surrounded by a Maze. We've tried to look for a way out the whole time we've been here, but we've had no success. That's what a Runner does; we look for a way out."

Tessa stood up, brushed off the dirt and pieces of grass and plants that had clung to her shirt, and said, "I don't suppose you could let me out of this hell hole?" The boy laughed and pulled open the door.

"We call it the Slammer. Hopefully, you won't have to spend anymore time in it again," he smiled at her. "My name's Newt." He stuck out his hand, and she shook it. "Have you remembered your name yet?"

Tessa nodded feebly and said, "Yes. It's Tessa."

"Well, Tessa. Welcome to the Glade."

Hello everyone! This is my second TMR fanfic; check out my other one, Gone, if you can, please! Please review and tell me what you guys think!

Quote: "Pass the damn ham, please." -To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)