Pain.
That was the first thing she felt when she regained consciousness.
Then, panic.
She couldn't see a thing, all she could feel was the cold hard floor beneath her hands.
She sat up, feeling around trying to gain information. She could feel certain objects but she soon stopped touching around, afraid of what she might find. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears supressing any option to think clearly.
Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise was heard.
She raised her hands up to her ears covering them and screamed loudly along with the screeching, the sound making her dizzy.
What was happening?
She felt nauseous then, as the floor started moving up beneath her, ascending painfully slowly. She tried remembering how she got there but she came up empty. Then, tried to rememeber something... anything. The sound made her think she was in some small room, probably an elevator.
Her breaths started to come up faster, her lungs feeling empty as she gasped for air. All she could rememeber was a word, so clear. So she focused on it, trying to steady her breathing:
Eleanor.
Unsure of how much time had passed, she laid down again, curling into a fetal position. Fear paralysed her yet again. She could feel wet tears runnning along her cheeks and falling down on her hair. She clossed her eyes tightly, tensing her whole body, just whising, hoping for it to be over.
Finally, the place screached to a halt, her ears buzzing at the sudden silence. But it didn't last long. A new mechanical noise was heard as light started to fill the space, blinding her.
She recoiled back, hiding away from the blinding light afraid of what was next. Her back collided with the wall behind her, knocking the air out of her lungs. She could hear voices but at the same time it seemed like her world was on mute.
The sound stopped and she was aware that the whole top of where she was in was suddenly gone.
She could see silhouettes cutting against the light, human silhouttes. She could hear their voices but couldn't make out what they were saying. Her heart was pounding, deafening in her ears. Her sight was starting to adjust to the change of light and she could see she was in a huge metal box surrounded by smaller boxes.
A thud.
She snapped her gaze to the spot, a rope lay on the opposite wall. She did not know if it was meant for her to climb up or for someone to come down. She didn't move, too terrified to do anything. Her heartbeat was deafening her.
A few seconds passed, she knew they were talking to her but she couldn't make out the words, terrified out of her mind. She bit her lip drawing out the metalic taste of blood. Frozen in place, she was unable to do anything other than stare straight ahead at the rope.
Two big brown boots descending the wall entered her vision. She quickly hid her head down, her hair cascading down in the process. She could feel her body shaking, someone was coming to get her. But, even when the steps stopped in front of her, she didn't look up.
"C'mon Greenie, or I'll shucking drag you out myself." A strong accented voice said.
Still shaking Eleanor raised her head, her eyes slowly coming in contact with dark ones. He supressed a gasp.
"Bloody hell, it's a girl!"
Some kind of conmotion went up outside the box that Eleanor could not hear properly so she focused her attention on the person before her. His fairly long hair was dirty blond contrasting with his strongly tanned skin, his eyebrows were put together in confusion. His strong cheekbones and defined jaw giving him a hard look, authority. He scared Eleanor.
Who were these peple? What did they want from her?
His eyes were moving, scanning her. He then extended a big hand towards her still shaking form. She flinched, once again, hiding almost entirely behind her hair.
"C'mon, you wouldn't want to stay here forever, would ya?"
Seeing no other choice, she sucked in a deep breath and took his hand.
When she was out every other person present started hovening over her, making her flinch back, almost falling into the box. The blonde protectively stood in front of her, while another; dark-skinned shorter but bigger and more menacing; tried to calm them down, mostly by yelling. It wasn't really working.
Eleanor covered her ears, trying to block everything out.
They calmed down slightly, but she didn't focus on their conversation. She stared around, curious, her heart still pounding loudly. She noted there were around forty boys, all male. They were all in the middle of a field where a giant opening stood, the place she had just gotten out of. Several wooden buildings rounded the field. She could also see a large stretching of woods by her right.
But the thing that stood out the most, making her jaw drop, were four impossibly tall walls surrounding the whole place. Those gave her the impression of being in another box but bigger.
The males hadn't stop talking and she felt tired and very scared. All she wanted was peace a quiet, and a place to curl up an be alone. She was extremely wary of speaking but what else could she do.
"Where am I?" She said quietly, her voice slightly raspy like she hadn't spoken for a long time.
The blonde turned around, she wasn't sure if he had heard her.
"Sorry girlie, what did you say?" He spoke loudly.
Silence fell then, she could feel all eyes on her. She inwardly cringed.
"What is this place? Why am I here?" She tried to control her voice, so they wouldn't notice how terrified she was but she didn't do a very good job of it.
"Questions for tomorrow, Greenie. Name's Alby." The dark-skinned one said, "Newt will be in charge of you."
"Hey, you ok?"
Eleanor snapped her head to the sound of someone's voice. She had been so wrapped up in her own mind she hadn't even heard his footsteps approaching.
He was a blonde boy, not younger than seventeen. His short hair shone with the light filtering throught the leaves of the trees.
She had gone there wishing for some time alone. No one had given her any explanations or responded to her questions and her nerves were about to explode. That Newt guy had simply showed her where she was supposed to sleep and told her where to go when she got hungry and nothing else.
Was that how boys acted all the time? Intimidating, scary and downright rude? And why wouldn't they tell her anything?
They had just said she would understand with time. That they had all went through what she was going through. As if that made any sense at all.
Wondering once again what was wrong with these people she looked up to her visitor. His blue wide eyes gazing at her, showing some form of concern.
"Um yeah..." She replied shrugging, "I guess."
She was obviously lying, they both knew it.
"Not really, no." She added, ducking her head down. "I'm confused out of my mind."
"Hey, it's okay." He said sitting down next to her.
She visibly flinched, uncomfortable.
"Sorry." He said, quickly scooting a few inches away from her. "I'm not used to having girls around."
"It's ok." She replied with a small voice.
He had actually apologized. He was definetly nicer than anyone she had met so far.
"We all had our first day here, I get it." He said smiling, trying to make her feel better.
She looked down at her wrecked trainers. She wore long jeans, slightly too big for her and a loose fitting grey t-shirt. She wondered who had dressed her. It didn't look like anything she would pick.
How would you know? You don't even remember your favourite color. she thought bitterly.
She stared at the dirt around her shoes and started tracing patterns with her foot.
He didn't seem to enjoy the silence, "So, what's your name? Sure you remember as much."
He spoke eagerly.
"It's Eleanor." She said still not looking up, "...at least, I think it is."
"Gally."
He kept smiling and looking at her. She wasn't sure what to make of him yet but he was the only friendly face she'd seen so far. So, she told herself not to screw it up.
However, she really wanted to be left alone. She got up without a warning.
"So, I get that you're not allowed to show me around or whatever. But, I can still walk right?" She said a short smile playing at her lips, brushing the dirt of her jeans.
"I guess." He replied still sitting, "As long as you don't go beyond the walls."
"Well, see you later Gally." She walked slowly backwards. "And thank you."
"Sure," he said smirking, "and welcome to the Glade Green- I mean Eleanor"
She smiled slightly, as he had actually refered to her by her name, while turning away.
When she finished walking around, the stares never leaving her, she had apparently missed dinner. Not that she had any appetite after watching those doors close.
She had been avoiding getting too close to those enormous walls, specially to the huge openings in them. She noticed how everyone else avoided them subconciously, so she followed their lead. She definetly didn't like them, the loud rumbling noise of those doors closing could be enough to fill her nightmares for weeks and had her clamping her hands to her ears even moments after they had finished closing.
She was glad she had missed dinner though, that meant less curious and mocking glares.
The girl got to a seemingly round building with a small door. She could trace the beginning of the roof with her hand if she extended it, which made her believe the inside was built slightly underground, probably a cellar or a storage room of some sort.
She tried the door but it must had been locked even though she couldn't see any lock or doorknob for that matter. Laying her head against the cold flat surface of the door seemed to calm her a bit.
Suddenly, the door left her forehead and she stumbled forward, closing her eyes out of reflex.
She fell into something, not something, someone. Eleanor could immediately tell because it was high enough not to be the floor and soft enough not to be the door. Or maybe it could've just been the male voice exclaiming, "What the hell?"
She immediately blushed crimson red and tried to get back to her feet. That task seemed impossible given her feet were one step higher than the boy's which was making her knees bend awkwardly.
"I'm so sorry." she started apologizing quickly, "Sorry."
His arms helped her get back on her feet, she noticed his muscles flexing as he did so and mentaly kicked herself for being so stupid as to notice that.
Back on her feet she did look at his face, hers felt boiling hot. He was a fair skinned asian boy, around seventeen, maybe eighteen. His black hair seemed to shine as it reflected the dim light from inside the room on his back. His eyebrows were raised and creased at the same time. But he was smirking slightly which confused Eleanor.
"If I'd had known you were so eager to get into my arms I would've gone to greet you long ago." he said, a joking tone on his voice.
She blushed even redder. She noted how tall he was. Even at their position, he was still taller than her.
"You can't come in here. Sorry, Greenie." He was still smirking at her.
She felt ridiculous under his gaze. She didn't know how to react.
"Sorry, I was just walking" she said looking down, "Sorry..."
She hated herself for being so fearful, why couldn't she stand up to them. She felt like they kept messing with her and she could do nothing but tuck her head down and apologize.
Idiot.
She kept feeling like a child being reprimended with the manners with which they were treating her. Her cheeks felt hot and she had the urge to cry yet again. She gritted her teeth, forcing everything back, feeling stupid and childish.
"Well, better learn your rules, girlie." he said seriously. "Or we'll have to kill you."
Her eyes widened slightly, not sure if he was being serious or not. But then, he laughed and the blood went back to her face as if it had never left.
"I'm just kidding, greenie." he said, that stupid smirk still on his face.
She felt humiliated as she felt tears coming to her eyes. She hated it, she absolutely hated it.
Anger crept up screaming louder than her fear for the first time. Without a word she turned on her heel and started walking back where she knew she was supposed to sleep, out of the tree line.
"Hey, hold on a minute!" His voice called from behind, it didn't take long for him to catch up. "You need to find your sleeping place, it's already late."
"Leave me alone." She said, tears still threatening to spill out of her eyes.
The boy jogged slightly and stopped in front of her, cutting her path.
"C'mon, I'll help you." He said extending his hand to her.
"I don't need your help, thank you very much." She told him angrily, rounding him and continuing her walking.
He just laughed and followed, walking alongside her. She kept looking straight ahead, her face in a scowl.
"Name's Minho." She heard him say but she remained silent. "Oh, c'mon! If you don't tell me yours I'll keep calling you greenie."
She scoffed angrily but gave up. "Eleanor."
He nodded but otherwise didn't give any other sign that he had heard her.
Outside the main building, Eleanor could see many of the boys already sleeping on their sleeping bags. She knew she wasn't going to be the exception and cringed at the idea of having to sleep next to all this rude and loud boys.
She quickly spotted the sleeping bag that Newt had pointed out to her and dragged it with her, trying to get as further away from everyone else as she could.
Minho was still following her. She was about to turn around to tell him to get lost when a figure approched her. She tensed but immediately relaxed as she noticed it was Gally.
"Hey Eleanor." He said cheerfully. Then, towards Minho, he added. "Don't worry slinthead, I'll take it from here."
The latter scoffed but nodded.
"I don't need a baby sitter." She said, but the boys ignored her.
"Behave." was the only thing Minho said to Gally, who laughed at that. Turning to Eleanor he added, "Don't trust him, he's full of klunk."
And then, he sprinted towards the open door of the closest building.
"Hey!" Gally shouted after him, gaining some protests from the boys trying to sleep and Eleanor found herself snickering.
When Newt woke her up the next morning, Eleanor felt like she couldn't have slept for longer than 5 minutes. So, she was surprised that, although the sun hadn't come out yet, there was a faint light covering the sky.
Her wide confused eyes questioned the boy in front of her but he simply said, "Follow me" stood and started walking away. Eleanor was left to catch up to him.
She reluctantly followed, her legs feeling heavy and numb. She felt she could fall asleep whilst walking but she managed to stay awake enough to tag along with Newt.
He was walking fast, the slight limp she had noticed the previous day barely noticeable. He took gigantic steps which made Eleanor do a ridiculous trotting in order to catch up with the taller boy.
When she was finally at his level, she looked up at his serious face. The bags under his eyes did not look extremely inviting, so she swallowed her questions knowing they probably wouldn't be answered.
Focusing on keeping up with his excruciatingly long steps, Eleanor noticed how hungry she was. She didn't remember the last time she had eaten. She thought that maybe that was why she felt so dizzy. But it could also be the fact that it was dawn and she had just woken up. So, she didn't dwell on it for longer.
When they finally made it to one of the concrete walls, he stopped. Eleanor did too.
The wall was so large in comparison to them. She felt very insignificant. She wondered how those things could even exist.
Newt did not waste any time and proceeded to brush aside some ivy on the wall, uncovering a small dirty window that was almost completetly opaque. Eleanor wasn't even sure anyone could see through it.
Newt beckoned her forward and she slowly obliged. She had to step too close to him for her own comfort in order to see through the glass, if you could even call it that. Newt's body radiated a warmth she wasn't aware a human being could.
She then, stopped thinking about her companion and focused on what she was supposed to be looking at... Which was absolutely nothing.
After a while, she could see some silhouetes. It looked like a room with an opening on the side. The walls were made of concrete, and were covered in ivy. She couldn't see the ceiling so she figured that just like in the glade, there wasn't one.
They spent a few minutes in silence. He kept staring so intensely at the glass that Eleanor was sure she was supposed to be seeing something. But she was getting sore and tired of standing there.
"What are we-?" Just when she had decided to speak, she saw it.
The words got stuck in her throat. A huge mechanical insect-like creature had just rounded the corner. Her heart started pounding against her chest and drumming loudly in her ears.
Though it was impossible to hear it from there, Eleanor could've sworn she heard the screeching and moaning of the creature. It was something robotic, but she felt like it was alive. Its various arms looked silvery and mechanic but it looked more like an animal than a robot somehow.
Eleanor was so grateful for the walls at that very moment. Sure, they trapped them in but they kept those things out.
The moment she had that thought, the gigant spider started climbing the wall oppsite from the window.
Eleanor let out a loud gasp and Newt spoke "Don't worry, they don't climb all the way."
She hadn't noticed he had been looking at her the whole time, but she didn't have time to feel self-concious. She kept her eyes on that thing until she couldn't see it anymore, so she pressed herself further against the glass to see it again.
Just then, the creature jumped so fast towards them she didn't have time to react.
Eleanor was aware of three things at once.
One, the loud boom of the creature colliding with the window that she was sure was going to break but, surprisingly, didn't.
Two, how extremely dizzy she felt as she fell to the floor.
And three, Newt reaching out for her, his fingertips gracing her arms.
Then, everything turned black.