Saudade // The Maze Runner // Thomas [IN EDITING]

Chapter 1

This story is based off of James Daschner's The Maze Runner. All characters other than a select few including Thalia and a few others are of James Daschner's creation, and all credit goes to him!

The plot will be a mix of both aspects of the book and the movie, so bare that in mind when reading! :)

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She began her new life in cold, oppressive darkness. The ground lurched violently, she fell to the floor. Her grasping fingers scraped along a metal grating that made up the unforgiving floor beneath her. A loud metallic grating noise drowned out the sounds of her panicked breathing, and her long hair clung to her face, sticky with sweat.

Despite her wide-open eyes, desperate to catch a glimpse of her surroundings, she saw only blackness. The screeching of gears grinding continued, and as the floor began to lurch upward, she fell back against a smooth wall. Air whipped past her face, and her hair stung her face as it swirled in the onslaught of wind.

Just when she thought she might vomit from motion sickness, a faint red light began to shine above her, steadily growing closer. The sounds of chains and a pulley system continued to echo, and she realized she was in a box ascending upwards in a passage similar to a mine shaft.

My name is Thalia, she thought.

She knew she should know more. A last name, at least. Memories of a family that shared that same name. Yet, she couldn't seem to grasp the memories tightly enough to fully remember them. Her mind felt like a book that had been thoroughly combed through and the pieces of critical information redacted.

The red light, which she now realized was hanging from the ceiling of the passage, was racing closer now. She pushed herself against the wall with anticipation, lacing her fingers through the metal grating of the floor to brace for the impending impact.

With a screech the box slammed to a stop, and she was thrown roughly to the other side of the box. Pain lanced through her as she landed awkwardly on the edge of a box, and she cried out. Knowing a nasty bruise on her arm would form with time, she stood up slowly, crouching due to the low ceiling.

For the first time since she had awakened, there was silence. Thick, suffocating silence. She waited with baited breath, reaching out for the wall of the box. Feeling with her hands, she searched for an exit from the room – a door, anything. Blackness suffused her vision, and her ever more panicked breathing punctuated the silence.

"Hey!" She shouted, banging on the ceiling of the box. "Is anyone there?"

No one answered, and silence swallowed her once again. Frustrated and afraid, she began to scream.

"Let. Me. Out!" Thalia hollered, her vocal cords becoming hoarse as she punctuated each word. After screaming for as long as her voice could withstand, she gave up. Sliding to the floor of the box, her face in her hands, she attempted to calm her beating heart.

Suddenly, a deafening alarm blared throughout the box and the mine shaft. She leapt to her feet as blinding light pierced the blackness. She held up her arm, shielding her eyes from the light. The ceiling of the mine shaft had split down the middle, and light was pouring in. As she watched through squinted eyes, two metal doors that had composed the ceiling opened outward, revealing a blue sky. The metal grating of the box followed suit, leaving Thalia standing in the box, now open to the elements.

Without hesitation, she clambered out of the box, and stared around, bewildered.

She was in the middle of a large glade. A thick carpet of grass covered the ground, and a forest lay behind her. A cool breeze tickled the sweat on her neck, and the air smelled of grass and rain. On all sides, towering stone walls loomed over the meadow, forming a box around her. The glade must have been nearly half a mile across, shaped in a perfect square by the surrounding walls.