3rd Person POV
She awoke with a strangled gasp. Her tongue was extremely dry yet sweat covered her body.
Where was she? Who was she?
She felt sick. Terribly sick.
She dry heaved for a few moments. But nothing came up. She hoped that trying to concentrate on something other than the fact that she couldn't remember anything about herself, she might feel better.
She could barely see around her. But from what she could see, she was in a metal box, filled with a few large wooden crates.
She felt around her, the coolness of the metal gave her a sense of comfort. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. After a few minutes or so, she felt better, but the pit in her stomach was still there.
She tried to speak, hoping it would help her think. Maybe help her remember something about herself. When she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She couldn't feel anything wrong with herself. Everything felt fine physically. So why couldn't she talk?
Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes. She felt so helpless.
Soon her breathing became labored, she tried to calm herself down again, but it did not work. She began to feel faint. And she knew she would pass out if she couldn't calm herself.
Yet she couldn't calm herself.
Darkness greeted her once again.
XXXX
She woke up this time to a loud blaring sound. It sounding like an alarm. But more ominous. Like a warning.
She didn't know how long she was out. But that didn't matter right now. The small amount of lights she had flashed red and she began to panic again.
She felt the cage that she was in begin to lift itself. Higher and higher. She was going to die.
She tried to scream. She really did.
Before she could smash into the ceiling above her. It stopped.
The blaring stopped after two minutes or so, and she could now hear voices. Masculine voices.
She shoved herself into the back of the corner, not knowing what to do. She was scared and hopeless.
She patted her pockets, hoping to find something, anything, that would keep her safe. She found nothing in her pockets, or in her thin jacket.
She truly was defenseless.
The top of the cage thing was now open and light burst into the cage. She could here the voices much clearer now.
"I wonder if the greenie has klunked his pants yet."
"You think he's going to run?"
"I hope he isn't another slopper. We need another builder."
If there was one thing she knew, was that she was not a he. So they obviously weren't expecting her to be a her.
"Let me get down there." She heard a deep voice. "Move out of the way, ya slintheads!"
She felt the cage shake as the man dropped down into the cage with her.
"Where ya at, greenie?" The person asked.
He loved around a few crates until he got to the one that was hiding her. He moved it out of the way and blinked in surprise when he saw her.
"What the-"
He stopped himself from continuing. The girl herself stared at him, her dark eyes looked lost. He was very tall. His sandy blond hair was trimmed and he had blue eyes and a nice build.
"What is it Gally?"
"Yeah Gally?"
The man, Gally, she presumed, looked back at them after a second. "It's-it's a girl!"
Gasps and murmurs immediately broke out amongst the group.
"A girl?"
"Dibs!"
"You think she's hot?"
"Back off! She's mine!"
After hearing these questions, she pressed herself further into the wall. What were they going to do to her?
"Move out of the way, ya shanks. No one is going to touch her. Ya hear? Not unless you want to end up in the pit for a week with no food." Another male jumped down into the cage and came into view.
He looked much nicer than Gally. He seemed to be of African American descent and had a decent build.
"Hey there, ah, greenie. I'm Alby, how about we get you out of here?"
His words sounded sincere and she felt as if she could trust him. She nodded after a second of thinking it over.
Alby smiled at her and offered his hand. She hesitantly took it and he helped her into her feet. She tripped over herself a bit, but he steadied her out.
"Gally, get up there so you can lift her out. I'm going to give her a boost." Alby stated, to which Gally nodded in agreement.
They hoisted her up, and she felt many pairs of eyes on her. Someone wolf whistled, causing her to blush and look at her feet. Which she just now realized were in tan combat boots.
"Hey! Don't do that! You're gonna make her uncomfortable! No one touches her without her consent or even thinks about doing something to her, good that?" Alby asked.
There were a few murmurs of agreement and a few groans here and there.
"Come on, greenie," Alby said, "Ill show you around and answer your questions that you probably have."
She nodded, thankful to have someone who seemed to be on her side.
XXX
"Do you remember your name?" Alby asked after the tour.
She shook her head.
"Don't worry, that happens to all of us. It'll come back after a few days." He said reassuringly.
After a few more moments, he said, "Not much of a talker, huh?"
She stopped walking, making him stop as well to turn and look at her. She looked at him with tears in her eyes before placing her hand on her her throat. She shook her head.
His eyes widened. "You can't talk, can you?"
She nodded. She's so weak she can't even talk.
He rubbed his face with his hands, thinking about what to do with this new information. He was quiet for a few seconds before he sighed out loud.
"We can work this out. How about we give you a pen and paper to write down what you want to say. Sound good?" Alby asked, smiling at her.
She nodded, smiling at him in return.
He left to go grab the pen and paper and told her to stay there. The Glade really was a beautiful place. The green grass looked healthy along with the bright trees. The smell of fresh air was pleasant, even though the slicers place was nearby. The only thing about this place that gave her an eerie feel was the walls.
Four huge walls surrounded the Glade, keeping them inside. Alby told her that past the walls was the maze. A dangerous place with a never ending twists and turns and dead ends. Alby explained to her that they had runners who ran the maze everyday, looking for a way out. But the maze changed every night, so it's been hard to find a way out.
She sat down on the warm grass and looked at herself. She had a slight tan and a skinny body. She wasn't short, maybe 5' 7" or 5' 8" Her hair was a dark brown that had some waves.
She was wearing a ruby red shirt and grey jeans along with her boots. She looked at her hands, noticing how they looked soft and well taken care of. She looked at her left hand and noticed a ring on her ring finger.
Was she married?!
She would've remembered that, right? But if she couldn't remember her own name how is she supposed to know if she's married?
The silver ring was medium size in width, the top half of it was circled in small diamonds, the bottom half said, True Love Waits.
She didn't know how to feel about this new development.
"Here ya go, she-bean." Alby said, drawing her out of her thoughts.
She took the notebook and pencil from him with a questioning gaze, wondering what was with all of the nicknames.
He chuckled. "That's what we call all of the newcomers, along with greenie and green bean. She-bean is special though because you're the only one to be called it."
She nodded. She didn't really like being called that, but it would have to do, she supposed.
"Now there are three rules that everyone has to abide by. One, do your part. We won't be having any slackers here. Two, don't harm any other gladers, we cannot be turning on each other. We are all we got. And three, never go into the maze, unless you are a runner." Alby listed off.
She nodded. She could follow these rules. She didn't really want to go out beyond the grey walls covered in ivy anyhow.
"The runners will be back soon and then we can have your bonfire." Alby said.
'My bonfire?' She wrote down, showing him her question.
He nodded. "Every greenie gets a party to welcome him, or her now, to the Glade."
She nodded.
"The sun will be going down soon, so the runners should be back any time, when they come back, I can introduce you to my second-in-command."
She gave him another smile, not really knowing how to respond.
As if Alby knew it was going to happen, she saw a group of boys emerge from the opening of the maze. They were shoving each other around, laughing as they began to jog over to the kitchens.
"Tomorrow you will begin to try out for all the jobs we have available. I don't know how many jobs you can do without a voice, but we'll see." Alby said as they began to walk to the kitchen themselves. "Who knows, you might be more capable than you think."
She gave him a pointed look that begged to differ and he just laughed.
When they got to the kitchen, the boys that were in there stopped talking immediately and turned to look at them. The new greenie blushed and shuffled on her feet.
Alby noticed her discomfort and glared at everyone. The other boys immediately stopped staring and went back to eating. She could still feel their glances on her though.
Alby led her over to a tall, buff man who was handing out food. He had a huge smile on his face when they made eye contact.
"Hey there Alby, little lady." He nodded at her. "I can't believe the rumors are true: the new greenie is a girl."
She smiled at him and waved.
"This is Frypan, greenie, or Fry for short. He's in charge of cooking around here." Alby explained.
Fry nodded. "Yep. And I make the best stew around. Want some? I bet your starving!"
Suddenly shy, she nodded. She mouth, "Thank-you," to him as he handed her a bowl.
Fry looked a little confused and Alby told him her predicament. Fry flushed, looking a bit embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry-"
She waved it off. She didn't really need any pity.
"Thanks Fry." Alby said as he pulled her away from the cook. She waved goodbye to Fry as they walked away, Frypan enthusiastically waved back.
Alby led her over to the table where the runners were. There were only a few that really stuck out to her. An Asian boy, with dark black hair and a lopsided smile, a brunette, with dark blue eyes and slight scar on his neck, and lastly, a dirty blonde haired teen. He was lean and had chocolate brown eyes.
The boys were laughing when they got over but stopped soon after they noticed Alby and the greenie arrived.
"Boys, meet the new greenie. Greenie, this is Minho, Ben, and Newt, they are the top runners we have." Alby introduced.
She nodded, placing their names with their faces. Minho grinned at her.
"They weren't lying when they said there was a girl greenie, huh?" He said.
Alby shook his head. "I don't know what's changed but the creators apparently thought we needed a girls touch."
They laughed for a few seconds before Minho shook her hand.
"Nice to meet ya, greenie." Minho greeted.
She nodded her head and mouthed, "You too."
The boys looked confused before shifting their gazes to Alby. Alby sighed, "It's going to get old telling this to people. She can't talk. Don't know why, but she can't. Creators probably did that to her."
Who were the creators and why did it seem like everyone hated them?
Ben shook her hand next. "That's too bad. Those shucking creators need to stop playing with us."
She silently agreed with him. If the creators did this to her, she didn't like them as well.
"It's wonderful to meet you, greenie." Newt said, a genuine smile on his face. She knew she was going to get along with him instantly.
He went to shake her hand as he was saying, "I feel bad for ya, having to deal with all-"
Their hands touched. She felt a horrible pain shoot down her arm and her head began to pound horrifically. She let go of her stew, clutching her head as it fell onto the floor.
She could hear Newt groaning in pain.
"Greenie!" Ben shouted.
"Newt! What's wrong with them?" She heard Minho ask.
She swayed, not being able to focus on staying upright as felt a tear slide down her face. She fell into someone's arms, and she found herself staring at Alby as he yelled for the med-jacks.
Why is she constantly passing out?