All I can feel is pain. The warm blood seeping out of my chest, killing me ever so slowly. I want to kill those people at wicked for sending me here. They should die, I will kill them…one day. I open my eyes slowly, and a sudden jolt makes them open wide. I'm in a square box of sorts, filled with supplies and such. I'm moving upward with the box. Am I going to die? The wound on my chest seems to throb in response. The box comes to a stop and I'm greeted by blinding light. I shrink back into the corner, terrified of what I will meet. I hear gasps and male voices. As my vision adjusts, I see about 50 boys between the ages of 13-17. I narrow my eyes at them. One of them, a boy with tousled blondish hair, jumps into the box. I shrink back more against the wall and my face fills with fury.
"Stay…away from…me." I hiss. He ignores me and scoops me up. He climbs out of the box and begins walking away, me still in his arms. Terrified and furious, I role out of his arms and back away.
"I said…s-stay away from me!" I whisper-yell. His face looks shocked. Still clutching my wound, I run away from them. I don't have to turn back to know that they followed me. I keep running. And running. And running. I run into some forest thing, not bothering to look behind me. I stop in front of a giant tree and proceed to climb up. There's a pretty wide branch that looks hard to get to, but I remember how to climb thankfully. Once I'm up there, I look down at the crowd of boys.
"What's her problem?"
"I can't believe we've got a girl!"
"Dibs!"
"Would everyone just shut up for a second!" the same blonde haired boy shouts. He then started to climb the tree. He was only about a foot away from me. Going to the absolute end of the branch I begin to sob.
"Leave me alone! Please d-don't kill me!" I plead. He stops. A look of utter shock is on his face. He puts his hands up in surrender.
"I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Newt." He says giving a half-smile.
"Can you tell me anything about yourself?" he asks, hopefully. I nod.
"M-my name is Isabella. I was born in New York, my parents were scientists for WICKED and I was sent here by them." I say. His jaw drops a little.
"Y-you remember things?" he says in disbelief.
I nod.
"I wouldn't succumb to the memory-drug. I fought so it didn't work on me." I say plainly.
"Wow, you're the first one to remember. Anyways, welcome to the glade." He says holding out a hand. I reach out with the hand I was clutching my wound with, and shake it. He feels the blood, then looks at his hand, then to me. The blood has now soaked through the shirt I was wearing. His face drops. He calls down to the boys below.
"Med-jacks! Someone get the med-jacks!" he yells. I look down at the wound and laugh.
"Yeah, I didn't go into that box easy." I say. Newt ignores me and scoops me into his arms. When we get to the ground, I feel woozy.
Isabella!
I hear my name and panic. Oh no not again. I think to myself. I fall out of his arms as the screams begin. I clamp my hands over my ears as if that would help. I scream bloody murder. Hands are on me in an instant and a needle goes through my arm. My eyes glaze over and everything goes black.
"She keeps thrashing in her sleep. Can we trust this? She's the first one ever to remember more than her name." Gally says irritated.
"When she wakes up, we'll have someone watch and detain her. Newt, she didn't throw a punch at you so you do it." Alby commanded. Newt nodded solemnly. They'd had to tie her down because she would thrash around and scream. One of the med-jacks came running into the gathering.
"She's up."
My eyes shoot open and 3 faces are staring down at me. I thrash around, but I'm restrained to some wooden table. I realize I'm topless but gauze is wrapped around my chest, a red stain in the middle of it.
"What the hell?!" I say gesturing to my arms and legs.
"You were thrashing around, you could've hurt yourself, greenie." A boy says. He was radiating an authoritative vibe.
"That's no reason to tie someone up Alby!" I scream. The boys gasp simultaneously.
"How do you know who I am?" he says, furious.
"I remember all of you. That's Minho, that's Gally and he's Newt." I said pointing to the boys in front of me.
"Get her up." Alby gestured to Gally, clearly the brawn in this operation. He untied my arms and stood me up, his hands looking my wrists behind my back. I glare up at Alby. He takes my throat and pulls me so my face is inches away from his.
"I don't know who you are, or how you remember anything, but you're gonna listen to everything Minho, Gally, Newt and I say, clear?" he spits.
"As a bell." I say sarcastically. He lets go of me. He nods his head to Gally and he shoves me along.
"C'mon greenie move along." He says condescendingly.
"Call me that one more time and I will eat you like a green-bean." I glare up at him. His eyes widen and I think I see him gulp. I smirk. They lead me to some sad looking excuse of a building and throw me in. Before I can get out, they tie twine around the door.
"Damn you all!" I hiss after them. I pace around for a few minutes watching it get darker when I realize: this prison is made of fucking twigs. I laugh. I go up to the door and begin to untie the twine. The door opens and I quietly get out. Night has fallen so it will be easier to sneak around. I avoid fire at al costs because fire means light, and light means people can see me. I crawl away to the doors of the maze. Of course they're closed. Great, just fucking fabulous. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I whip around so fast my head spins. Newt is standing before me.
"How did you-"
"You shouldn't make holding cells out of leather rope and twigs." I say cutting him off. He smiles. I blush automatically.
"I'll take to Alby about letting you go. You must be starving." He says thoughtfully. As if to mock me, my stomach growls.
"Actually yes." I say. He gestures for me to follow him. I do so willingly. He sits me on a log in the outskirts of the 'town-square' as I would call it. He brings back a bowl of what I think is soup, and a glass of water.
"Thank you." I say staring at it hungrily.
"Anytime." He says smiling. My heart skips a beat. Damn you feelings I think to myself. I chug down the soup and the water.
"When can I become a runner?" I ask expectantly.
"Woah woah, you just got here. And besides your still injured." He points out. I wave my hand dismissively.
"Injured sminjured. I'm as fit as a fiddle my friend." I say standing up.
"Here let me help you set up a bed." he says standing up. As we walk towards the inner circle, I hear a few shouts and grunts. I turn to see some guy being pushed towards me. He fall on top of me and I hit the ground. I can see Gally laughing behind me.
"What d'ya say greenie? You're a girl so I guess I'll go easy on ya." He said cracking his knuckles. I felt newt's hand on my shoulder, pulling me away but I shrug it off. I hear a few jeers from the crowd and a couple of encouraging statements.
"Anytime your ready…Girly Gally." I say taking a fighting positon. I hear a bunch of cat-calls from the audience. Gally looks pissed. He lunges forward and lands a punch on my cheek. I fall backward but arch my back and flip around, not once hitting the floor. He lunges again. At the very last moment, I side-step him. Before he goes flying into the crowd, I grab his shirt and land a kick square in the nuts. As he falls to the ground, I pick him up and swing him over my head, slamming him into the ground.
"Well Gally, you just got beat by an injured girl." I say scoffing. I look over at Newt, who looks like he just shit his pants. I walk over to him and clap a hand on his shoulder.
"So, I ask again. When can I become a runner?"