Beyond the maze

Chapter 1: Darkness

The first thing Felix felt was cold. Then the sensation of several bodies pressed against his own. He felt a shiver down his spine as he blinked rapidly for a few seconds and realised he was in complete darkness, surrounded by people he couldn't see. All he could hear was rapid breaths and some sort of steady machinery. The noise seemed strained, as though the mechanism ( which he had realised was an elevator ) was carrying more than its capacity. This detail made Felix feel especially uneasy, the thought of plummeting who knows how far into the abyss gnawed at his mind.
"Hello?" A shy, timid voice shattered the quiet atmosphere.
Before Felix could respond the machine they stood inside of ground to a halt. Above them, a rusty, creaky noise emirates from what appeared to be doors. The sunlight above poured into Felix's eyes, making them water and hurt. He looked away and blinked for a second before he looked up again and his eyes slowly adjusted to the light.
Before he could even begin to process what he was seeing, a robotic voice seeming to come from inside his head announced
"Welcome to the glade"
Felix reacted quickly to what he had just heard. The word glade sounded familiar but he couldn't place where he had heard it before. He looked at the other people in the box, noticing now that they were all boys, around his age, and saw that they had reacted too.
"Did you guys hear that?" He asked inquisitively
"Yeah" replied a tough looking boy on the other end of the box.
Slowly, boys started clambering out of the box and helping others up. The tough boy had climbed out and held a hand down towards Felix. He grabbed the boys hand and with his help, managed to make his way onto the grass above. He slowly turned around, 360 degrees and saw all around him: four enormous walls stretching to the sky, covered in vines and moss. he also noticed several small buildings and forests. He was broken from his trance by the boy who had helped him out of the box.

"Who are you?" asked the teenager

"I'm not sure.." he replied, a confused tone in his voice. 

suddenly, somebody yelled out.

"Theres a piece of paper in my pocket! It says... Atticus?" the boy announced.

"I have one too!" came another voice.

Immediately, everybody began digging into their pockets and pulling out slips of folded paper. Felix unfolded his, and reading the printed text, realised that it was his name.

"I think my name is Hugo" said the broad boy to Felix. He had  slightly dark skin, with a pale element and a well kept curly mullet. He extended a hand for a handshake. Felix took it happily.

"I'm Felix" he introduced himself in a friendly voice.

"So.. the glade huh.. seems a bit dead around here to me"  

As he heard that word again, Felix continued to wonder about where he'd heard it before. his thoughts were soon interrupted when another boy shouted out.

"hey! We need to organise ourselves and find out whats going on. I say we have a meeting.. a gathering, in that building over there" as he said this, he pointed at a building over in the distance, Felix had a strange sense that this building had a name. he didnt know how, but he knew this building was the homestead. 

As the group of boys walked through the soft grass towards the building, Felix caught up to the boy who had suggested the meeting. 

"Hey, the names Felix" he said as he stuck out a hand.

"I'm Theodore. But I think I'm going to go by Theo." the boy replied as he shook Felix's hand. Theo had dusty brown hair, so thick and curly it almost formed dreadlocks on his head. His eyes were a dark shade of blue and his skin was smooth not unlike a pebble. Just as Theo finished talking, the group reached the door of the building, and sure enough, on the door there was a single crudely etched word: HOMESTEAD.