/Shit my head is killing me./

As I opened my eyes I squinted them shut at the light of the ceiling lamp.

/Ceiling lamp? But I was just outside, wait-/

As I looked around my fear rose, the only thing I could focus on was my quickening heartbeat. To my right was a long hallway lined with identical doors that were the only thing in sight. It was all reminiscent of an older hotel's guest floor. While the unfamiliar setting was startling, the silence of it all was truly unnerving.

/Was I alone?/

I tried to stand up, my anxiety growing at the realization that my legs were asleep, I couldn't help but think of how long I might've been asleep. I've never been kidnapped before, how was I supposed to figure out a way to escape? As I pushed myself up against the wall my head bumped against a door handle. Why was I in front of a door, seriously, how did I even get here in the first place? There was no sign of another person but as I turned to the door I had been previously sitting against I couldn't help but notice the stark white numbers against dark wood before walking down the hallway.

/220/

I tried my best to be cautious, not to make any loud sounds. One wrong move and that was it. My hands were shaking as I raised one to my mouth in order to make my silence certain. I checked one of the pockets on my jacket, it was empty.

/…Fuck./

No phone, no ID, no wallet. A terrible start, whoever did this was thorough, I had nothing. I kept walking. every step made the distance feel longer, as I made it closer to the halfway point there stood a largely out-of-place desk, it appeared almost secretarial. On both sides of the weird desk, there was an elevator. The closer I came to it, I found out that opposite of the elevators were a couple of couches and a low table. If not for the situation I could've seen it as a pretty nice lounge. It was a well-decorated space, unfortunately, that had to be brushed aside. Getting out of here was the number one priority. I reached for the elevator button but before I could press it a loud 'ding' sounded and the doors slowly opened, their blueish fluorescent lights revealed quite the group. Among them was a boy who looked like a high school student, an older woman who was likely in her mid to late 50s, a middle-aged woman in teal scrubs, and an elderly man who despite looking old seemed to be somewhat physically fit.

They definitely didn't look related but they didn't appear to be my kidnappers, however, I wasn't willing to test that theory. I backed away quickly, bumping into one of the couches on the opposite end of the space. The boy seemed to brighten at my presence and ran over to me, nearly matching my pace.

"You finally woke up!" He said, a little too excitedly.

"Who are you?" I asked, wearily.

He snorted and shot me a looked that I could irritatingly make out as pity

"Ah, don't worry, miss. A lot of the others woke up and had similar reactions to you."

/Miss?!?/

Never mind irritating, this kid was starting to piss me off, but he mentioned others, were there more people who were taken?

"Others? What do you mean?"

It was then the older man walked up behind the kid and looked down at me.

"There's a load of us. Would it have made you feel better if you had been taken exclusively?" He spoke sarcastically, did he get something out of trying to provoke me?

"Hey! Axel said that we were supposed to be nice to her when she woke up!" The younger boy shouted frustratedly.

/Who the hell is Axel?/

"Who's Axel?"

The teen looked at me as if he'd just remembered something he had just forgotten.

"OH! I forgot to introduce myself, you just woke up so this is probably super confusing," he started, "I'm Arlo," he then pointed at the man standing behind him, "This is Ace, I'm pretty sure he's only like this 'cuz he's old and grumpy."

The older man, Ace, hit him in the back of the head.

"You better show some respect, brat," he said.

Arlo shot him a resentful look, holding it for a few seconds before turning to point at the two women still by the elevator.

"That one over there is Shawna, she's kinda grouchy but really funny," The older of the two looked over at us at the mention of her name.

"D'ya need sumthn?" She said too loudly.

Her words seemed to slur, /Was she drunk?.. No./ She sounded rather hungover.

The boy, Arlo, shook his head and then pointed to the younger woman in the scrubs.

"That's Priya, she's super nice, she shares her food with me," he seemed to think the statement was funny.

You could tell which one he liked more but amazingly he still didn't answer my initial question.

"So who's Axel?"

The same 'oh no I almost forgot' look reappeared on his face and I sighed internally... This was why I didn't have children.

"Axel is like the coolest! Super cool, and super smart! He's downstairs with the others eating!"

/What./

"What?"

The boy sighed "I know you just woke up but you were seriously asleep during the announcement too?" he looked over to the woman Priya, "Is her food still downstairs?"

Priya nodded and walked up to the two men and proceeded to push both of them to the side to look at me.

"Hi! It's nice to finally meet you. You've been out for a pretty long time."

She reached her hand out for me to shake, it didn't seem too weird so I reached out and took it.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Well if I thought about it hard enough you could say roughly three days…?" she looked over to Ace as if she needed a second opinion.

"Probably, the damn girl was out for so long you'd think she was dead." He looked at me and reached out his hand.

"What kind of person sleeps for three days when nothing's wrong with them?"

I brushed his rudeness aside and tentatively shook his hand as I tried to get my thoughts together. Based on what they had told me there were quite a few people here, a group that had apparently been here for a few days. How were they acting so calm, what kind of place was this? Why were they talking to me as if we weren't all kidnapped?

/Why?/

I wanted to ask them, I really did, but if I tried to blend in I might figure out more. Based on our current conversation I could assume that these four people were likely my kidnappers. Their use of 'others' probably meant that they had taken more people. Strangely enough, they weren't hostile, instead, they were quite responsive. Hopefully, they continued to be that way until I had enough information I could use to my own advantage. Axel was likely their ringleader and meeting him could either help or hinder my escape in a big way. Right now though, being aggressive probably wouldn't help me with these people in any way.

I watched as Priya turned around and started towards the elevator, Ace followed her and Arlo grabbed my arm so he could bring me with them. I tried not to flinch at the action.

I guess the older woman, Shawna, had already pressed the button as it arrived before we could make it over there. When I stepped inside it was more spacious than I had expected it to be. I watched as Shawna pressed one of the buttons, the doors closed, and we went down. It was a quick ride, the blueish lights gave a nice contrast to the warm-toned decor of the hallway. When the doors reopened we were faced with what looked to be a similarly sized hallway but this time, instead of being opposite a lounge space we were facing two large double doors. The doors were a dark brown with fogged glass windows, you could see the shadows of movement but not enough to tell exactly what was going on. Arlo, who still had a hold on my arm, looked up at me, then at Priya, then back at me.

"Axel told us to check and see if you had woken up yet. If you were, we were supposed to bring you to the cafeteria," he said, rather confidently.

/This place has a cafeteria?/