Elite ~ a Newt love story

Chapter 1

The first thing she did as she returned to consciousness was lean over, violently coughing up mouthfuls of water.

Chest heaving, the girl took in several, deep breaths, intense vertigo making her head spin even though she wasn't standing up.

Opening her eyes, her vision flickered in and out of focus as she tried to determine where exactly she was, making her head pound with the strain.

The girl was laying on her side, in some kind of metal box that seemed to be moving rapidly upwards, rattling violently at times.
The sound of metal screeching and whining grinded against her eardrums, a strong smell of metal and oil assaulting the girl's senses.

Blinking several times in an effort to force her eyesight to clear, the girl ignored her throbbing head and managed to pull herself up, sitting against a crate in the metal lift.

It was dark, with only a faint red light coloring the shadows, providing a kind of half light with which the girl could assess her surroundings.

Where was she? Why was she in this place? What had happened?

As quickly as her mind tried to scramble for the information, the faster the memories seemed to fade, until all the girl was left with was a foggy memory of a boy, and a name not her own.

Desperately, she held onto these faint scraps, afraid that they, too, might disappear. But they didn't feel as if they were going away anytime soon.

Shivering, the girl was soaked to the bone, like someone had dumped buckets of freezing cold water over her head.

Why couldn't she remember anything?

What was her name?

The metal cage groaned loudly, slowing in its ascent, which meant that it would be reaching its destination soon.
Which was where? Did she want to know?

A bolt of fear went through her before the girl pushed it aside. There was no time for complicated emotions. Soon the cage would stop, and there was no telling what would happen when it did, or who or what would be there to greet her.

And she needed to be ready.

Almost on instinct the girl began searching the dim gloom for anything that could be used as a weapon.

A thought trickling into her mind, and almost entirely on her own, her right hand reached into the pocket of her thin sweatpants, fingers wrapping around a small, hard object.

Pulling it out, the girl held it close to her face, so she could try to examine the object.
Its surface seemed to be made of a smooth, wood like material, and on one side was a small, shiny, round metal button.

On a hunch, the girl pressed her left thumb on the button, and with a metallic shwink a silver blade about the length of her index finger slid out.

Pressing the button again made the knife blade retract, and the girl let out a relieved breath. Now she had at least something to defend herself, should she need to.

Box roughly jerking to a stop, the girl gasping as she fell back onto her rear end, having been crouched on her knees before.
Ow...

She forced herself up, back onto her knees, then pulled herself up to standing using a metal barrel by her elbow.
Closing her fist over the small knife, hiding the tool, the girl prepared herself for whatever she could be facing next.

A loud but short alarm blared, then a red light flooded the area, then green, before the doors on the top were pulled open.

She raised her arm to block the bright light that briefly blinded her.

"Bloody hell! Its a girl!"

"What's she look like?"

" Oh, I don't know. You have eyes. Use 'em for shucks sake!"

"Dibs!"

"Slim it slinthead!"

The girl slowly lowered her arm, blinking to get her eyes used to the brightness.
Boys, teens, maybe around twenty or so stood around the opening of the box.
One of them jumped down into the cage, coming towards her.

She narrowed her eyes, body tensing.

"Hiya greenie." A hand stretched out towards her own.

"Who are you?" She left her hands by her side, clenched into fists.

The boy retracted his hand. "The name's Gally, shank. Welcome to the Glade."

Studying his face, she tried to see if she could gauge the boy's true intentions. He appeared genuine.

Her gaze then briefly glanced around at the boys gathered around the top edge again.

She froze as she spotted one face in particular.
The foggy half memory resurfaced again, and her body relaxed some, the girl's face taking on a slightly puzzled expression.

"Newt?"