I'd Give You My Life

Into the maze

My eyes wouldn't open. Mouth dry and head pounding, I hesitantly eased my eyes open, waiting for them to adjust to the scene before me. It was a blur of flashing lights, from somewhere a mans voice was calling out numbers. Stuck in this place and I could never escape the numbers: each member of staff had numbers; I had a number; the boys in the maze had numbers; computers had numbers; rooms had numbers (well, obviously); all I was surrounded with for the duration of my day was numbers. 

My eyes shot open: I needed to escape. That was the one thought on my mind. Not Ava's apparent betrayal, or what her plans were from here- although they would probably silence me forever and I was not okay with dying this young! As I got to my feet, the world seemed to spin and I could feel the nausea rising in my throat. Oh great. 

I blacked out again.

                                    *************************************************************

"WAIT!!! STOP!!" But the shutters closed and I was moving upwards, "No! WAIT!" I hollered, but my voice was drowned out by the sound of the rusty lift making its way higher and higher. I screamed, shouted, kicked but nothing happened. I would go into the maze, forget about everything- I hadn't even said goodbye to Teresa. My eyelids felt heavy and my limbs hung like dead weights from my sockets. Tiredness overcame me and I fell to the floor in an exhausted heap. My last thought being, 'The drug's kicking in.' The drug being the serum they injected into each boy before he was sent up to the maze. The one that made him forget. I knew exactly where I was and what the pain in my left arm meant...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke to the smell of mouldy-dampness and greasing oil. My back was being grated by the cold metal rods beneath me. Boxes rattled around me and I could feel a lifting sensation. Wait, WHAT?!? I sprang to my feet, almost toppling over. I grabbed onto the side of whatever I was in; it was also made of metal rods. Looking round in the little light that was provided, i could see that i was in some kind of box made from strips of metal. I was trapped in an animal cage. Sh*t. The cage rattled and I was thrown backwards. My attention turned to a pile of crates, burying a cage with some sort of creature in it. Although it was hard to make out what it was through the dark, it was definitely alive. I leaned forward to get a better look but the created lunged forward, growling, sending me scurrying back to my safe corner.
All at once, the cage stopped moving, just before I hit the ceiling. It swum open, bathing me in light. I could hear voices from above. Boys voices. I cowered as the harsh light hit my pale skin. A crash came from my side; one of them must have jumped in. 

"Hello Greenie, the name's Newt." A heavy British accent spoke and the supposed 'Newt' tugged me to my feet. 

"Excuse me please. EXCUSE me!" Came a deeper voice and, sheilding my face with my hand, I made out the figure of another, darker skinned, boy. He was muscular, tall and daunting. "Hello, Greenie. You've come along way, you must be tired." He stretched out a big hand, " I'm Alby."

I just had time to take in his appearance and how quickly everything seemed to be happening, as if the world was in double-time.

He lifted me out of the cage and into what looked like a massive pasture, surrounded by high grey walls. 

"You've obviously come a long way and you must be very tired, but I have one question to ask you; what do you remember?" 

At first, I seemed a pretty dumb question but then, as I tried to scower my brain, I realized that it was blank. I didn't have a single memory. "N-no." I replied, anxious that it wasn't the reply Alby wanted.

"Ok, just think ok, concentrate. Let's start off with something basic: what's your name?" 

"I don't-" but then something came to me, "I-it...It's...T-t..."

"Yes..?" Probed Alby, expectantly

I shut my eyes and focused, "It...It's... Thomas." 

"Ok then Thomas, let me show you to where you'll be sleeping. You probably want to get some rest before you have to meet the inhabitants you'll be living here with." And, placing his hand on the small of my back, he lead me towards a sleeping area situated only a few hundred meters from the shaft-pit. 

"Thanks Alby." I said as he lead me to a low shack that stood under the shade of trees that twisted up into the air, shadowing all that lay around them.