The Glade is a nice place, as far as it goes. What it lacks in indoor plumbing and cable television, it makes up in ambiance. Green and fertile, it offers its occupants land enough to grow crops and raise goats, shelter enough to sleep and eat, space enough to walk and wander … until you hit your nose on the towering gray walls that surround the place. But if you contentedly stay within those walls, you'll be as comfy as a cat in the sun—as safe as a baby in a large, leafy womb.

Or cage.

Thomas' first impressions of the Glade are much like everyone else's when they arrive: confused. Drugged into a state of amnesia and zapped into the Glade via underground lift, he arrives not even knowing his name. Glade residents call him "greeny," just like they do everyone at first—assuring him that he'll remember his name in a day or two. "It's the one thing they let us keep," longtime Glader Alby says.

With no memories to tell them what they were or should now be, the boys have created new lives in this strange world. Those lives are governed by just three rules set down by Alby: Do your part. Never hurt another Glader. And never go beyond the walls.

There are exceptions. Appointed "runners" dash through a slit that during daylight hours appears in a giant gate, exploring what lies beyond—a maze, it turns out. They're looking for a way out of its tangle, but it's dangerous work: The maze is full of twists and drops and worse, and the gate closes up tight at night. They have to return to the Glade before that happens.

Because no one who's ever been trapped in the maze overnight has survived.

Thomas is still learning about this new reality when something goes wrong: Alby and a runner named Minho went into the maze and are late getting back. A storm comes and goes and still no runners. The sun begins to sink and still no runners. Then, just as the maze gate begins to grind shut, Thomas sees them—Minho dragging the injured Alby. But they're moving too slowly.

Thomas leaps through the opening and dashes to Minho in a desperate bid to help. It's too late. They're trapped. The night has come. They're sealed in the maze.

"Good job," Minho says. "You just killed yourself."

And they begin to hear the skittering.