The box crashed to the top of the shaft, at the ground floor of the Glade. The boys huddled around the opening as their leader, Alby, stepped forward and looked down to see the unplanned arrival of a new Greenie. He gave the body a quizzical look before turning to his right and gesturing for his friend and advisor, Newt, to come over.

"Something wrong?" Newt asked as he limped closer.

"Look for yourself," Alby said. Newt stepped closer to the box and looked down. At the bottom of the floor was a body, with pale skin and drying blood streak across her face and neck. Newt jumped back at the sight.

"That's a shucking girl!" He exclaimed loudly. The surrounding boys perked up and shuffled in closer with excited whispers and territorial remarks. Everyone's toes hung over the hole so they could get a closer look down into the box and see the body.

"Get the rope," Alby muttered to him, "we'll pull her out. Can't leave her down there."

Newt nodded in agreement and returned a moment later with a long, beaten rope and two other boys by his side. "In case she's heavy." Newt said, eyeing the girl while Minho and Gally got their first look.

Alby took one end of the rope and hopped into the box. He tied her securely around the waist before giving Newt the go ahead to pull her up. The collection of boys waited anxiously, still craning their necks to get a better look as the body began to rise.

The whispering and eager shouts of dominance died down once Newt and Minho each grabbed an arm and hoisted her on to the grass of The Glade. Newt shot Minho a wary look than awkwardly wiped his hands on his pants, trying to rid himself of any germs that might come from a girl.

Everyone was quiet, waiting for the verdict. A bubble of distance formed between them and the girl, in fear of the unknown. Alby climbed out of the box and pushed his way through the thicket of boys and stood next to Newt. "She dead?" He asked simply.

Newt shrugged, "Greenie's breathing. Head's probably jacked though."

Alby looked around at the group of boys surrounding them. "No one touches her, except that Med-jacks!" He bellowed firmly at them.

Poppy heard his words through the thick haze in her mind, and started to stir. Like waking up from a long nap on a hot day, Poppy drowsily felt the grass under her fingertips. The touch bringing back an empty memory with no pictures or noises, just a carefree feeling. She tried to pry her eyes open but was met with both the intense glare of sunlight and a searing pain in her head. A low groan echoed from her throat, as she propped herself up on her elbows, then to a sitting position, and then up to full height. Poppy swayed unsteadily on her legs, trying to shield the sun from her eyes with one hand.

Squinting, she was finally able to grasp her surroundings and quickly began panicking. In front of her were the boys. Boys she knew she had seen somewhere, but couldn't quite place, eyed her suspiciously. Each face screamed at her to be recognized, but no memory ever came. She turned around in the circle, scared and afraid of them all looking at her. Her feet tangled together, and sent her body into the surrounding audience. Alby caught her before she fell, and in her fear, Poppy stood quickly and punched him square in the jaw.

A collective gasp rang through the group, and Poppy knew that was her cue to leave. She turned and ran out of the cluster of boys. Poppy's long stride carried her quickly over the grass land and towards a far wall with a large opening.

"Someone catch her!" Gally yelled from behind.

On his command, the herd of boys started their chase. Poppy's paced quickened and she flew closer to the exit. Her head throbbed in pain, fresh streaks of blood started their decent down her face, and each breath sent a sharp pain down her side. But Poppy knew she couldn't stop. She couldn't be caught by the boys she's seen, but never met.

On they ran, with a set of three boys, led by Minho, setting themselves ahead of the pack. Poppy was ten feet from the opening in the wall when she felt a firm hand grip her shoulder and pull her down. She slammed to the ground.

Minho hopped on top of her and pinned her wrists next to her head. "Cool it, Greenie," he huffed, trying to catch his breath. "Just cool it." He looked up as his friends gathered around them.

"Get off me!" Poppy screamed, getting nervous as more boys surrounded them. "I don't belong here!" She pleaded.

The frantic look in her eyes was one Minho had seen so many boys come into the Glade with. He felt a sudden pang sympathy for the girl he was holding down.

"Relax," he said a little calmer, "We're not gonna hurt you. But you can't go around punching shanks in the face, Greenie." He laughed lightly.

Poppy didn't know how to respond to his nonchalant attitude. Instead she just stared at him, trying to scratch away the curtain holding back all of her memories. You know him. Her mind echoed in its own confusion. You know him.

"Alright! Alright!" She heard the deep voice of Alby boom once more. She twisted her head around on the grass to look in his direction. "Everyone but the Keepers, slim it and get lost!" The hurried feet of approaching boys came to a whining halt in front of Alby. Moans and groans started to echo across the disappointed crowd. Most of the boys kicked the grass and turned halfheartedly, some lingered. "I mean it!" Alby said, "If any of you klunkheads are here in the next 10 seconds, I'm sending each one of you into the Maze."

The non-Keepers hurried away from the area a little faster, leaving Poppy pinned under Minho and Alby in charge.

"Get off her, Minho," Alby huffed.

Minho gave her a wink and hopped off, "She's just jacked outta her mind, Alby. We all were. Go easy on her." He stepped aside and let Alby crouch next to Poppy.

"Do you know who you are?" Alby asked bluntly, not entirely pleased with the ache in his jaw.

Poppy sat up and dragged her forearm across her eyes to wipe away sweat, but was confused when she pulled her arm away and saw blood.

"Poppy?"

"I don't know, Newbie, is that your name or not?" Alby said sternly.

"Y-yeah, I think so." Poppy looked at him and tried to place his face. His dark complexion and harden features wanted to bring forward a memory, the time and day where she had met him, possibly, but the memory was stuck on the other side of her confused mind.

"She needs the med-jacks, Alby, look at her."

Poppy's eyes followed the voice up past Alby's shoulder and into the small group of young men looking down at her. Standing next to Minho with his arms crossed was a boy that made Poppy's heart stutter. Newt. The name rang in her head as her mind gave a sigh of relief.

"Good that." Alby sighed. Forgiving her punch to the jaw reluctantly, he stood up to extended a hand down for Poppy.

"I know you," the words came out of her mouth before she could stop them.

The boys unanimously took a step back from Poppy as her statement sunk in. She realized that she might had made a mistake confessing it, but she stood up and said it again. "I know you," Newt. Poppy wanted to say his name, to hear it out loud. She had said it so many times before, even if she couldn't remember doing it.

Newt laughed, "We've never met, Greenie, your head is just jacked."

"No." Poppy said firmly, eying the crowd. "I know you. I've seen your face, I've heard your voice. I know you." Newt's smile faded at the confidence in her voice.

"Where from?" Gally interjected before Newt could respond.

Her confidence dropped, and she gave a sharp sigh. "I don't know," Poppy mumbled. "I recognize all of you. Like," She looked up at the sky and furrowed her brows to try and think of an example, "It's like we've all shared a class or something, but you all sat behind me. I've heard your voices, and seen your faces, but I can't remember what class it was."

The boys gave each other troubled glances. "I'm not supposed to be here," Poppy sent out a weak plea. "Please, you have to listen to me, I need to get out of here. I wasn't supposed to be in that box."

Gally pushed his way to the front of the group and rose to full height, "Yeah, well, when we find a way out, you'll be the first to know, Greenie. Until then," Gally turned to the group of boys, "I say we lock her up. She's already hit Alby, she says she knows all of us like some sort of jacked Griever, she can't be left alone."

Griever. The title sent a shiver down her spine. Don't say a word about your Grievers, her mind whispered.


Chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know if you did. Sorry if I did a poor job introducing the boys. I figured that all of you already have a preference for who plays each character, so I skipped the lengthy descriptions and hopefully did an ok job of transitioning in the characters.