"I think we should go out and check this place out," Ken suggested after contemplating for a moment.
Because, as though the number of similar incidents they experienced before coming here weren't enough to entwine their situation, the three were thrown into the same room.
And, according to Rob and Jax's answers, he concluded that they woke up almost at the same time.
The oddity of the situation left them baffled.
They were clearly from different places that were scattered super far from each other.
The other two readily agreed to his suggestion and walked out of the room.
"It seems we are on the second floor, which means each of us have one floor to search. I'll go for the ground floor." Jax traced his steps to the stairs after voicing out his thoughts.
"I'll go for the first floor, then." Rob followed suit Jax, leaving the second floor to Ken to explore.
The three newly acquainted 'contestants' immediately set off to explore the place to search for any other person or any clue that would lead them to the reason for them to unexpectedly find themselves here.
It took them about twenty minutes to gather in the living room of the building, finishing these self- delegated tasks.
However, they didn't find any useful information except for the time of this place from the antique clock in what seemed like the living room in this building. It was the only thing that seemed to be working correctly in the whole building, with at least fifteen or so rooms, scattered in three floors.
No fans or any appliances were in working condition. And, the lights could be counted as the next functional things, but they were also kept flickering at every other second.
According to the clock and the complete darkness around, it was evident that it was 8.00 'o clock in the evening. That was too, if the clock was actually working correctly.
"I couldn't find anything useful here." Rob reported to the other two.
Jax and Ken replied back with a 'same here', and once again silence fell over them.
The three of them couldn't understand what kind of situation they were in.
If they were kidnapped, their instigators wouldn't simply leave them alone to fend for themselves, right?
But, the variable of the presence of the systems in each of their heads, made them think that this was something related to the 'Quest hunt' subconsciously.
"Let's go out then." This time it was Rob who said this before taking the initiative to walk out of the creepy building.
After they confirmed that nothing in there was useful, Jax and Ken also walked out of the almost falling apart wooden three storey house and then past the wrought iron gate, which faced a muddy road. And, this left Jax wondering.
Muddy roads still exist in the current era?
There was nothing, not even a single hut, near this dilapidated house.
"Which way should we go?" Ken asked once they stepped onto the pathway, glancing at the other two before shifting his gaze from one side to the other of the road.
"I can see lights in that direction," Jax pointed to their left, where they could see what seemed like a window of a house, with light flowing into the darkness in the shape of a rectangle.
Rob immediately moved his feet in that direction, silently confirming their next path of trajectory.
It wasn't completely dark outside, unlike when they were still in the rickety house, but only sparsely scattered moonlight was available to support their ocular senses. The half moon in the pitch black sky was providing as much as light it could.
And walking along the underdeveloped road, they didn't find any houses nearby.
Strange.
They walked at least one mile before they finally reached the house that served as their light house, leading them to what seemed like a small neighborhood.
But, only few houses were visible to their limited line of sight.
The houses were not as bad as the one they were thrown into. Actually, they seemed to be in a pretty good condition too.
But, they were spaced rather spaciously. It seemed like a remote village in a rural area.
So, the place they came from could be considered as the outskirts of this small village, right?
Even after strolling further, and deeper into the place, they did not encounter much people along the streets. To be exact, they did not see a single soul.
If not for the well maintained yards and lights that were flipped on in some of the houses, Jax would have thought that this place was an abandoned village.
They could clearly hear the people bustling about in the houses too, and from this, they could confirm that this place was not haunted either.
What kind of place would not have people bustling about in the streets at the prime time of the night?
It was too strange for their liking but they didn't feel creeped out at the situation either.
So, it could be said that it was rather comforting to them.
"Should we knock on anyone's house to at least ask where we are?" Once again Ken thought of something for the three of them to ponder about.
"Something is off. I feel like they were already getting ready to sleep," Jax said after seeing some of the people around bringing their beddings outside to lay in the open, in their yards.
Only then, did he notice that the weather was rather warm for a night, that too when it was already past summer.
But, he didn't think much of it.
Well, it could be said that something happened before he could think about it any further.
As they walked deeper into the neighborhood, they came across a small telephone booth, which Jax could only remember of seeing one in pictures.
And the phone inside was ringing consistently, making him wonder what exactly was happening.
Because the next thing he saw was, Rob walking toward the phone box before taking the receiver into his hand to answer the call.