Enter the Glade

Chapter 1

With a sudden jolt, his life restarted. Coarse air and darkness overwhelmed his senses, constant scraping echoed around the room. Slowly he crawled, arms extended, before the coolness of metal made contact with the sweaty palms of his hands. The boy rested his back against the wall, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the area around him.

Another lurch knocked him off-balance, the room began moving upward. The scraping noises joined the low hum of an engine, the floor vibrated violently. The smell of burning gasoline and the sudden stops caused the boy to dry heave in the corner, leaving him gasping for air and disoriented. He looked down at his hands, double vision blurred the barely visible outlines.

A singular thought entered his head, Percy, my name is Percy. Nothing else came, this was the only sure thing he knew.

"What the hell." He muttered, his hoarse voice bounced around the imposing walls. Confusion racked his brain, he could identify the smell of gasoline, the sound of the engine, and the surface he leaned on. Images of a waterfall, eggs sizzling on a frying pan, and the stars in the night sky raced through his mind.

The rest of his memory was an incomplete fill-in-the-blank puzzle. His mind was like a vortex, places and faces appeared, but he couldn't connect them with a word. He didn't know where he was, how he had gotten here, and where he was going.

The grinding of metal slowly faded from his consciousness, becoming a dull buzz. His vision adjusted to the dark, curiosity replaced his fear as he assessed his situation. The room still moved upward, a perfect cube, probably two of his lengths for each side if he laid down. How long had he been here? His gut told him that he had been in the room for close to an hour. Unknowingly, burning tears trickled down his cheeks.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind, his heart still raced rapidly. The room finally stopped, the motion tossed his frail body against the floor again. The sound of the engine sputtered and died, the creaking noise was replaced by an eerie silence, the only noise came from his heavy breaths.

Darkness still permeated the room, he got to his feet and felt around the room, searching for a point of exit. Nothing. The still silence was driving him insane, "Hello?… Is anybody there!?" he screamed to the ceiling above. Nothing.

The sound of grating metal returned, multiple thuds shook the remaining dust from the ceiling. Suddenly, a line of light appeared, the ceiling folded outward like double doors. Percy collapsed, shielding his eyes from the intense glare.

His heart stopped when he heard voices above.

"That's a good shank right there."

"Man, I wish we got more food instead."

"Haha look at his shirt, he's stained that orange with his tears."

"Oh shut up, you were worse."

"How old do you think he is."

"Hope you enjoyed that Greenie, you aren't coming back."

The words flowed through his ears like a blender, his brain latched on to the familiar remarks, the others held no meaning. He forced himself to look back up, and squinted at the outlines of heads that looked down at him.

His sight finally adjusted, and he stared back at the collection of faces. All of them were guys, some looked older, but they all seemed to be around his age instinctively. Some of them extended their arms as a rope dropped down.

Percy grabbed hold to the third knot and crossed his legs, and was wrenched up. Hands clamped his flimsy shirt and pulled him over, the boys chuckled when he collapsed again on the rough dirt. He dry heaved again, the sudden rush of colors and faces overloaded his brain. Someone picked him up, and threw Percy's limp arm over his shoulder.

"Easy there shank," the bigger boy said. "Welcome to the Glade."

Author's Note:

Hey guys, it's Conrad here. I got inspired to write this after reading TheWritingManiac's if all's fair in love and war (then what are we fighting for) which is a Percy Jackson-Harry Potter crossover. I'm not sure how often I will be updating this, but since Dashner's chapters are structured somewhat short, I should be able to pump out chapters consistently. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to James Dashner and Rick Riordan