The Key to it All (Newt)

Welcome to the Glade

A loud, jarring sound caused Artemis to awaken. It took a little bit since she had been passed out against a metal and concrete floor for an unknown amount of time. Involuntary groans left her as she moved around, popping and moved joints and muscles that she didn't even know she had.  

On top of not knowing how long she had been asleep, Artemis couldn't remember anything. She could recall some words but was surprised to see that she had blue shoes on or how she got that scar on her knee. She didn't even know her name for the first few seconds. "Artemis" She said, though it felt foreign in her tongue.

She took in her surrounding. Nothing but boxes and tools. There was a rope and a shovel next to a red tool box. As she examined the rest of the space, it abruptly stopped, causing her to go slamming into the crates behind her, hitting her head and giving her another reason to be sore. 

"Fuck." She muttered. The only relief was the obnoxious sound from earlier had stopped. Like most good things, it only lasted for a few seconds before an even louder alarm that was obviously intended to be some sort of warning sounded. As the alarm sounded, the top of the cage began to open, revealing a beautiful blue sky. 

Artemis started stacking some of the boxes in the cage in order to reach the top. Artemis was moving a particularly heavy one when a strange sound came from it. She screamed; she hadn't been expecting anything alive in these boxes, although looking closer she could see holes poked in the side. Carefully opening the top, she saw some animal with feathers. The name was right on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't seem to remember it until one came charging at her face. "Fucking chickens. Oh. That's what they're called." 

Once Artemis finally created a climbable tower, she wasted no time in scaling it. She opened the door at the top of the cage and crawled out to find herself in the middle of a large field of grass. She slowly turned to take in her surroundings.

The first things she noticed were the massive walls on all sides of her. They were covered in ivy, but not even that reached the top part of the wall. Some parts of the wall were missing, which was an interesting design. Behind her stood a forest whose trees all had bright green leaves, signaling summer. Next came the buildings, about three spread out in the large area. One was about two stories tall, one was long but skinny, and one looked like a barn. All were in desperate need of repair. These were the only signs that anyone had been living in this place prior to Artemis. 

Artemis turned her attention back to the cage she just crawled out of. There were at least twenty crates and boxes in there, but she had no way to get them out. Some, like the goddamn chickens, were really heavy. There's no way she would be able to lift them out of there; she needed some sort of pulley system or a ramp to push them up. 

Artemis looked around and spotted a bunch of wooden planks tucked conveniently into a corner of the cage. She could set those up like a ramp that would probably take up almost the entire cage and some wonderful engineering. Luckily, Artemis's intelligence has always been part of her. She jumped down and pushed her way through the boxes. She leaned the planks up on a the lightest yet sturdiest boxes, so that she could lift those out with some rope when she needed. 

The sky had gotten dimmer since Artemis began. After taking out all of the boxes, the next problem was opening and sorting them. This was top priority since Artemis was starving, and none of the boxes had been labeled as she had discovered with the chickens. She hadn't eaten anything in the hours she had been working, and her stomach was in a contest with the chickens for who could be the loudest. The chickens were winning, as they always do. She'll teach them a lesson. Therefore, Artemis took a break to search for a crowbar or some knives to pry open the crates. 

She had just found a bunch of knives wrapped in a blanket when something caught her attention. There was a blanket covering a box, and from that corner came a very quiet whimpering sound. The chickens were also quiet to begin with, so Artemis armed herself. With a knife in her hand, Artemis tore off the blanket. Under it was a cage, and inside that was a black lab. Artemis immediately dropped the knife and opened the door for the dog. 

The lab came running straight at her face, which momentarily scared Artemis, who was scrambling back to get away from the charging creature. A dog was a little harder to deal with than an angry chicken. But the dog was anything but vicious, it just came up to her and started licking her face. Never judge a book by its cover--one of the first lessons always learned in life. 

"Good boy, good boy. Stop. stop it! this is gross!" Artemis was laughing at the dog, who was evading any attempts by Artemis to get it to stop. She rolled onto her stomach and the dog pounced on her back. Counting to three, Artemis lifted herself up onto her knees and the dog jumped off.

Through her laughter, which was the first time she had smiled all day, Artemis began talking to the dog, as one happens to do. "That was fun. What's your name?" The dog didn't say anything., as dogs tend to do.  "You don't have a collar. What should I call you?" Artemis looked at the dog, who just tilted its head. "now that's adorable. Maybe I should call you bark." Artemis chuckled to herself. Humor, unlike intelligence, was a learned skill of hers. The dog hadn't barked a single time in the hours Artemis had been in the cage, so the name was top tier in Artemis's mind. It was likely a combination of the fear and exhaustion, but it caused Artemis to burst out into laughter for the second time that day. It was official, Artemis had a new best friend: Bark the black lab. 

Artemis opened eleven boxes before she found some food. Despite her internal threats, Artemis didn't have what it takes to kill and cook a chicken. So she made due with nothing but bread and raw vegetables, but Artemis would've eaten tree bark if she could have. Bark happily ate some with her with the chickens continued their tirade around, begging for food and receiving none. 

Artemis didn't have enough time to explore, open the rest of the boxes, or unpack any of them after eating. It was impossible to see. She curled up right there with Bark beside her, deciding the dog would be great company. As she began to relax however, the ground beneath her began to rumble and a loud screeching noise pierced her ears. 

Whoever designed this place must be deaf. She thought. It wasn't hard to locate the source of the disturbance: the parts of the walls that were open weren't open anymore. They were sliding shut as if they were doors. But it was too dark to do anything about it, and Artemis was exhausted. Bark was curled up into her side, and she was quite comfortable. Exploring would be a job for tomorrow. As well as unpacking everything. 

Yet Artemis couldn't shake the unease from her stomach. She didn't enjoy being here, and she didn't know how much longer she would last. She was shaken to her very core, and she didn't like it.