Like Ashes We Fall

Teaser for Prequel

I knew my name and that was it.

I sucked in a single shuddering breath like it was the first time I'd ever tasted the air. It was pitch black all around me but I was moving. I could sense it. And hear the squeaking and groaning of the metal crate around me. It was going up.

My legs felt heavy, her movements sluggish. My tongue was thick and swollen like cotton. The shirt I wore felt dirty and sweaty, clinging to me like a second skin. At least I was wearing shoes. Boots from the feel of them.

All at once, the box stopped moving. It was so sudden I was thrown to the floor. The breath knocked from my lungs, I scrambled to my feet once more. I braced for whatever was about to happen next.

The minutes seemed to tick by slowly, an eternity. Then the sky split into two pieces above me. light splintered the dark, causing me to throw an arm over my eyes. I heard voices then. The box shook as a figure jumped down, backlight by the sun. A boy.

His eyes widened, blond hair shaggy and sweaty. "Holy shuck." An odd accent minced his words. "Holy shuck, you're a girl."

I stared at him. "Yeah, no shit."

His eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. He looked skyward. "It's a girl!"

There was a clamoring. More heads appeared, and much to her chagrin, she noted they were all boys too.

"A girl?"

"Why would they send a girl?"

"Move- let me see-"

"Newt." A taller, dark-skinned boy appeared past the rest. "Get her up, come on."

The blond boy- Newt- turned to me. "Ya heard him, Greenie. Up ya go." He held out a hand as if to help.

"I got it," I said. I jumped up, hands reaching the lip of the box just a few feet above my hand. The metal dug into my flesh but I ignored it and heaved myself up and over. Then I was standing in a semi-circle of boys.

There weren't as many as I'd originally thought. Only maybe ten or so. But my attention was dragged past them to our surroundings. A massive wall stood in front of me. And behind me. And on both sides. Boxing us all in. To my left was a forest, a smudge of dark green in the swaying grasses of the meadow.

Adjacent to the forest was a rickety-looking house, nearly on the verge of falling apart. Scattered between that and the forest were makeshift canopies, hammocks, and another building that might have been the bathrooms and showers.

There were small trees, looking just planted that were growing in crooked lines like the start of an orchard. Beyond that was a field with what looked like corn and other vegetables. A small pen with a few goats. Maybe a pig. It all looked like a farm that was slowly being put together.

Behind me, a few of the boys had started pulling out the crates from the box I'd been in and dumping them on the floor. Newt had climbed out, brushing off his clothes. But the rest of the boys were still staring at me. Most were bewildered and confused.

"Greenie-" The dark-skinned boy appeared once more and clapped a hand on my shoulder. I fought the urge to flinch away. "Welcome to the Glade. I'm Alby."

I looked at him. "The what?"

Alby gestured around them. "That's what we call this place. For now at least."

"And what is this place?"

"Our home." Alby began to lead me away from the group of boys. "I know it's a lot to take in."

"Why am I the only girl?"

"No clue." Alby shrugged. "But you're doing better than most of the guys. Usually, they come up screaming and wailing their shuck faces off. Wet their pants. Try to run away. You're... oddly calm."

So many unfamiliar words. But I chose not to question that now. "Panicking gets you nowhere." I felt surprisingly calm like Alby had mentioned.

Alby nodded. "Good that. Well, I'm gonna dump the information on you then. You're only about our twelfth to come up in the box. We're still working on a... system. A way to run this place. But I'm in charge around here, I was the first to come up."

"Come up?"

Alby nodded. "Once a month that box comes back to us with a new Greenie and supplies inside."

"Greenie? I have a name. It's Ari."

Alby raised an eyebrow. "Alright then, Ari. You're taking no shit, I can see that."

I straightened. No, I supposed I wasn't. But the tone, the words, it had come naturally. I wasn't prone to panic, I could tell at least that about myself.

"Anyways," Alby continued. "We're trapped here. I mean literally. Those openings in the walls you see? They close up every night. Sealing us in and keeping everything out there."

I stared at the massive gaps in the stone. "What's out there?"

"Well, as far as we can tell, it's a maze. A really shucking big one."

I turned to him incredulously. "A maze?"

"Yep. Guess whoever put us here has a sense of humor. But it has to be the way out. Out there, somewhere."

"How... how much have you explored?"

"Not enough," Alby said grimly. "Not enough. But enough about that. We'll get you set up with a hammock, your own space. Then you can figure out which job you want. So far, I've only got two rules. 1) you do your part. We all work here. And 2) don't go into the Maze. We have certain people for that. At the beginning over half of us died out there. Not fun. Got it?"

I certainly would not be following that rule. But Alby didn't need to know that. "Got it."

"Good that." He let out a shrill whistle and waved a hand in the air. "Newt!"

The blonde boy from earlier jogged over. "Yeah?"

"Can you get the Greenie- sorry, Ari- some of her own stuff? The Box came up late today so I'm going to help..." he paused like he was trying to remember the name of the kid... "Frypan! I'm going to help Frypan with dinner." He jogged off without waiting for an answer.

I turned to Newt. "He's in charge but can't remember the cook's name?"

Newt chuckled. "Frypan was the greenie before you. We just called him Greenie, never really used his name. Guess now we have to. Follow me."

I followed Newt to the rickety-looking shack and then around the back of it. There was what looked like a lean-to built out of sticks. Newt ducked inside. "We call this the Homestead. And back here's where we keep out supplies."

I glanced across the rows of food, packs, blankets, tarps, tools, and everything else I could think of. Newt yanked out a dirty look tarp and a scratchy blanket. "Here ya go." He grimaced at the dust. "We're still brainstorming a better way to store all this crap."

I didn't care, everything seemed dirty here anyways. "Thanks." I took the tarp and blanket. Newt looked at me apologetically now. "All we've got is boys' clothes."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. Just give me the smallest size you've got."

"Aight," Newt turned back, digging through the piles. He found a black shirt and turned back around, handing it to me.

I took it, adding it to my pile. "So, who goes out into the Maze? Alby said there are specific people for that."

"Oh, yeah," Newt said, now rifling through endless pairs of pants. "They call us Runners. Because we literally have to run the Maze, it's so big. I do. A few other guys. Not many- we lost a lot before you came up."

"Yeah. Alby told me." I took the pants he handed me.

Newt raised an eyebrow. "Huh, he really just did an information dump on you. He said he was gonna be working on his 'introduction skills'." Newt shook his head. "Stupid shank."

A bell sounded somewhere above our heads. Newt sighed, dusting off his shirt. "Come on, I'll show you where to deposit that stuff, and then we can grab some dinner." We exited the lean-to, and I followed Newt to the edge of the woods where the rest of the hammocks were fluttering in the breeze. "We all sleep here," he told me.

I eyed the rows of hammocks, some nearly on top of each other. Then I walked a healthy distance away from the grouping and stopped. Still clearly within seeing distance but not so... close to the rest of the guys.

Newt gave me a shrug. "Yeah, I don't blame ya. Shanks smell." He helped me tie the tarp up, securing it with thick twine. I shoved the rest of my things into it, tucking them in so if it rained they wouldn't get too wet.

A massive boom echoed across the Glade, drawing my attention. I spun toward the nearest opening and watched in fascination as the walls began to move, huge gears grating. The opening began to shrink, the doors literally closing until we were sealed inside. An uncomfortable feeling settled in my gut. Trapped.

I looked at Newt. "Any idea why they close every night?"

Newt gazed at the walls. "Not a clue. But... we do know that there's something out there. No one has ever survived a night in the Maze."

I wrinkled my brow, his statement already taking care of the next question I was going to ask. "What? Why?"

Newt shrugged again. "We tried in the beginning. No one lived. We found their clothing scraps scattered through the Maze the next morning. And blood. Lots of blood. So- something is out there. And my guess is the Doors closing keeps it from getting to us."

A chill snaked through my body at the idea of that. But before I could ask any more questions a kid came sprinting toward us. He skidded to a stop, chest heaving. His brown pants were ripped and torn at the knees and his green shirt was soaked through with sweat. He bent over on his hands and knees, looking up at Newt through a tangle of hair. "He's still out there!"

Newt frowned. "What? Who?"

The kid panted, the words choppy. "Andrew! He didn't come back before the Doors closed."