Saving Grace

Dizzying Arrival

A loud screech of metal on metal wakes me up from my unconsciousness. Head pounding, I hear an alarm going off. Make it stop. My body aches all over. I groan in pain and try to open my eyes. I squint at the lights flashing around me. No. Not flashing. Moving. I was going up. The cold surface I was laying on rattled below me. Slowly, I rolled over feeling dizzy and looked around. Wooden crates and cages filled with animals. As I looked up, I saw I was in a metal cage heading towards a metal ceiling very fast. I knew 1 of 2 things. Either I was going to die hitting the metal at that speed, or the cage would stop.  Either way there was no point in standing up. Where was I going? Who am I? Why can't I remember my name? I was so confused, but I tried to stay focused, tried to clear my mind of the fog. I must have been drugged or something. I rested my head back on the metal. If I was going to die, I might as well get comfortable. As the cage got closer to the ceiling, a screech of metal caused the box to shake as it slowed down. The cage jolted to a halt and my head bounced on the metal grate and slammed back down. Ouch. I squeezed my eyes shut in pain as warm ran down the back of my neck. I hear metal clanking and I feel light on my face. Whispering and muttering reach my ears. My head is pounding as fear courses through me. A loud thump resounds as something lands beside me.

"What the shuck!" A voice exclaims from beside me

"What is it?" Someone from father away, probably outside the cages asks

"It's a girl!" The voice beside me says and I slowly open my eyes. A large, dark skinned boy is standing over me. I try to scoot away from him, panicking.

"Don't worry! I'm not gonna hurt you." The boy says putting his hands in the air, " My name's Alby."

I looked around and saw that the ceiling had opened. A way out. I saw the crates had formed a kind of stairway out. A movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. The boy called Alby was getting closer.

"What's going on down there?" A voice asked

"Yeah! Where is the Greenie?" Another voice questioned and there were mutters of agreement.

I made a split second decision and before Alby could grab me, I pushed past him, climbed up the crates and out of the cage. I was immediately overwhelmed by about 40 boys surrounding me in a circle. My sudden arrival must have startled them, because they jumped back leaving a small opening. I took the chance and bolted out of the circle. I heard howls of protest and some laughing. As I ran away from the boys, I saw a group of trees and headed towards it. I could hide there. I heard footsteps running behind me. I wouldn't make it. He would catch me before I made it to the trees. Thinking quickly, I slowed my pace and when a hand reached to grab my shoulder, I spun on my heel and gave my attacker a right hook to the jaw. When he went down, I took off again, faster than ever. Reaching the trees, I went up a slight hill and found a nice tall tree that would be easy to climb. I started working my way up it, slowly but surely till I was about 25 feet off the ground. If I stay quiet they won't find me. As I caught my breath, my hands stung and I looked down to see they were all cut up. I hiss in pain as I wiped the blood off on my cargo pants. I leaned back against the tree as my world started to spin once more and tried to remember who I was. When I opened my eyes, it seemed almost impossibly darker in the already murky forest lighting. I heard voices below my tree.

"Greenie!" A voice cried

"Girl!" The voice I recognized as Alby shouted. They were looking for me. For how long was I up here?

"We don't want to hurt you, I promise!" Alby explained, "I know your scared and confused. Everyone who gets out of the Box is, but I promise we just want to help you."

I was hesitant to come down. Hesitant to say anything, but he hadn't hurt me so far. At least, not yet.

"Where am I? Why am I here? Why don't I remember anything?!" I croaked out my voice hoarse from lack of use and water. I saw Alby through the trees whirl around trying to find where I was.

"You're in what we call the Glade. The creators put us here but we don't know why." Alby explained, "Everyone who comes up in the Box has no memory. The creators only let us keep our names. We don't remember any other personal memories."

I wouldn't remember anything? Ever? What about my family?

"If you come down, we won't hurt you! We'll get you something to eat and a cool drink. How about that?" Alby offered, but I was still hesitant. He may not be bad, but what about the others?

"I haven't given you any reason not to trust me. Would you please come out?" Alby asked

"What about the others? How do I know they won't hurt me?" I questioned thinking about the boy I had punched. Would it be safe to come out? Was the risk worth it? I probably would need food soon and I definitely needed water.

"I'm in charge here so no one will hurt you as long as I say so! I give you my word, you will be safe." Alby promised.

I was so thirsty and I knew I couldn't survive out here without food and water. I would need his help. I slowly started to climb down. When I got to the last branch, Alby and two other guys were standing there one with a huge bruise forming on his jaw. Alby placed a had on my back to steady me as I jumped down.
"That wasn't too bad huh?" Alby smiled

"Not yet at least." I replied with a half smile. I could almost trust Alby, but the other two made me nervous. Alby lead the way and we walked in silence towards wooden buildings on the other side of the Glade. The boy beside me with the bruise was very tall with a muscular physique. He caught me looking at him with an eyebrow raised and I looked away blushing.

"Uh... I'm sorry for punching you...I was just frightened." I tried to explain, "I was afraid that whoever was chasing me was gonna hurt me. That you all would hurt me."

The boy looked surprised, kinda hurt, and relieved.

"Well no hard feelings." The boy replied, "I understand you were frightened, but don't let it happen again."

The boy then winked at me and chuckled when I blushed.

"I'll try not to go around punching people if I can help it." I joked trying to make my nerves go away

"Nice hook by the way!" The boy on my other side jested with a grin, "My name's Newt."

"I'm Gally." The boy I had punched smiled.

I waved awkwardly and said, "Nice to meet you! I will tell you my name as soon as I remember."

I wiped sweat off my face that was dripping into my eyes. Man it's hot out here! I went to tuck my hair behind my ear when I felt something sticky. Inspecting my hand, I saw red blood that was apparently running down my neck. My head throbbed and I clutched it, pausing in my footsteps.

"Hey Greenie, you all right?" Gally asked putting a hand on my arm and Newt looked concerned

"Alby?" I croaked and he turned around confused. He saw that I was stopped, staring at my hand.

When he saw the blood, Alby turned to Gally and said, "Get the Med-jacks now!"
My legs gave out and Newt who was on my left caught me. I was lowered to the ground as my vision started going black.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Newt spoke holding me in one arm, caressing my cheek with his thumb,"Focus on me. You have to stay awake."

Scared of my growing exhaustion, I looked deeply into his brown eyes in as my vision slowly faded.

"Stay awake." Alby said firmly squeezing my right hand, but it was no use. His figure grew more and more blurry until my eyes slipped shut and I faded into unconsciousness.