Keeping one hand against the wall, Irina slowly shuffled forward through the hallway. Since leaving her room, Irina was lost in the pitch black darkness and couldn’t make out much more than the ground in front of her. From in the distance, she heard muffled voices. Irina’s grip on the mattock tensed and she slowly inched forward. Straining her ears, she tried to hear anything from the conversation, anything to figure out if the voice was a threat or not. Or maybe there were two voices? Irina couldn’t really tell. Her breathing was ragged, the events of the past half hour had left her drained, and all she wanted was to wake up from this nightmare.

"Any idea what this means?”

Irina heard a voice, getting louder with each step, announce. She let out a breath of relief to herself. The man in the darkness knew just as much as she did about this situation. She leaned against the wall for a moment, letting the cool dampness of it sooth her warm skin. Just as she was about to announce her presence, a piercing white light blinded her.

Irina stumbled backward, one hand flailing to shield her eyes. She had grown accustomed to the darkness, so the sudden flash of light nearly blinded her. “W-wait! Please.” She shouted out, holding her arm in front of her face for a moment, and raising the mattock up in fear of the strangers. After a few seconds her eyes adjusted and she lowered the hand covering her face. Keeping the mattock up just for good measure, she stared at the two men. “I-I don’t want any trouble,” her voice was surprisingly steady, given her situation a few minutes ago. “I don’t know what’s going on either.” Keeping one hand up in a defensive manner, she slowly lowered the mattock to her side.

Austin started to relax just as Justin’s stance returned to its usual position. So it seemed that despite having a phone almost identical to his, the little bauble that it came with was a different shape. Now, did that difference mean something? He had a skull on the end of his versus the half-heart at the end of Austin’s.

“Hey man; no harm, no foul,” Austin grinned while his hands found their way back to his pockets, “If you got a phone, then I’m guessing you probably got a similar message-“

He was trying to access more information when he realized that Justin’s light had lit up. Austin had to squint just to see past it. His eyes had just grown accustomed to the dark dwelling, and the blinding light was not doing much for his vision. But when Justin made a tiny yelp and his position moved, Austin swung around to see the girl with the mattock. One hand was blocking the light from her face as the other lifted the mattock above her head.

At first, Austin braced himself for whatever plan this dangerous intruder had, but it only took a moment longer before he realized that her positioning was not aggressive. The way she stood, and the shaking of her voice suggested that she was protecting herself, if anything. Survival of the fittest didn’t necessarily mean a direct jump to an offensive. Just by looking at how she stood and talked, already he could tell that her emotional and mental values were pretty high on his ranking. The fact she was willing to use a heavy object like that one suggested that those values were probably a 6 or 7 out of ten on his own scale.

That wouldn’t be a problem. He was more worried about what the presence of the mattock was doing to everyone’s psyches. Already Justin had proven to be somewhat fragile in his current state, ready to lash out with large amounts of adrenaline if people violated his personal space. Who knew what would happen if that weapon stayed around to agitate everyone.

But as she talked, her voice slowed down, and her weapon lowered to her side. She was proving to be pretty reserved. Honestly Austin couldn’t blame her for the self-defence. If he had a mattock, he would’ve brought it with him too.

Instead all he got was an expensive paper weight.

Again, Austin found himself revealing his hands. The sooner he could present both himself and Austin as victims of a similar fate, the better it would be for all three of them.

“Look, we’re in the same spot as you. It’s been a rough few hours for all of us,” he nodded, “Did you get that axe with a box? And if so, did you have a phone and a mission?”

He was getting quickly to the point. His questions had to be rapid like a hornet sting if he was going to retain any sense of sanity or order between this triangle.

As it stood, both of the other humans in this circle were wild cards, but Austin couldn’t believe that either was malicious. Both were just as lost and confused as he was.

“If we’re going to figure this all out, we should pool our resources. If you got the same thing as us, what did your phone say? Are we wiling to at least work together to figure out what happened?”

"Damn it!" Rhiannon hissed as she tripped over the rubbish. There was an almighty clatter and clang as her fall distributed various debris across the hall. She trembled as the silence of her prison returned, fearing an assailant appearing from the dark. Nothing occurred and so she focuses on steadying her breathing, slowing it and breathing out more than in as her therapist had taught her.

When she felt ready, she tried to regain some confidence. Her quiet approach was utterly ruined now so she made a show of standing up and brushing herself off, as if she hadn't been trying to sneak through the shadows.

No one came running although she was sure she'd heard a thump, one not caused by herself. Feeling distinctly that there was at least one pair of eyes on her now, Rhiannon forced herself to walk in the most visible part of the hall at a measured pace but with every step her fear-swamped mind picked out assailants and untold horrors in every unmoving shadow.

"That's it!" She shouted suddenly, her voice wavering with fear and frustration. She threw her hands up in exhaustion, trying to make her wrist wound as visible as possible as well as showing her distinct lack of a weapon. She wasn't sure whether she was being watched fir certain but it wouldn't hurt to pretend to be more aware than she was.

"I know someone's there! I've got no weapons and I've got this weird thing on my wrist and I'm scared half to death!" The words tumbled from her mouth, her measured attempt to communicate lost as her fear took the reins for a moment. "If you're the same as me then come on out and let's talk, please?" Her voice was pleading, quiet.

She waited, hands up and starting to feel stupid for talking to no one she could see.

@drewccapp Outside of Room 16

While you spoke, the phone chimed twice.

yepper! (≧∀≦ゞ forgot to tell everyone~ gotta do one a day to stay in shape!

your arm?("￣∇￣) i didn't do anything~ im tired. going to sleep now~ bye! (ーoー)

The phone seemed to turn itself off. It didn't quite like being questioned, so it appeared.

As you opened the door to your room, it would appear as if the door across from you was in terrible shape. Along the dark halls, the figure you saw holding a hatchet didn't move at all. As you got closer for a look, it appeared as though they were levitating. Upon looking up, you saw the reason for the sudden magician's act. A noose suspended the person's neck and body on a hanging lamp. The hatchet had been taped up onto their hand, as if their fingers couldn't hold onto it properly.

It appeared that they took the easy way out.

---

@KahleenCuthald Outside Room 14
The wall you encountered was not quite a wall. It would be more aptly described as debris piling up, forming a giant barrier. Still, it formed an object that was, for all intents and purposes, a wall. As you traversed the shadowy hallways that could only be described as an abyss, you saw something rather interesting; three people, all speaking to each other.

---

@RedXCross, @Darkwolfsoul010 & @tatszico 7...12 Hallway

The bright flash of light gave you an exceedingly large amount of sight. Despite not being able to see extremely far, you were able to see most of the hall with a clear light. Along the sides of the hallway, trash. All of it appeared to be unsalvageable. Most of it were broken wooden handles, dust, empty and crushed water bottles, and destroyed cans. You could easily see that there were a set of adjacent hallways between the three of you. The roof wasn't much of a better sight. Most of the florescent tubes were unpowered; very few were actually broken. At the very top were vents. Judging by the dust collecting all around it, it appeared nobody had opened the vents in a long time.

---

@Write Room 13
As you awoke, you noticed that box. Within your box were two cans of soup. Both of them seemed to be in healthy order; no bursting at the seams of the can. Besides the cans of soup, there lay a single litre of water. It was in a large plastic bottle and there were no impurities within the water. Under the food was a small toolbox. Upon opening the toolbox, it revealed an (albeit heavily used) claw hammer and many old and rusted nails.

Finally, there was the phone. The smooth appearance of it was nice, along with a tiny figure of a cup of water hanging from the corner. It turned itself on and gave a quick chime, as if getting a text message. The screen was filled with words.

Hiya sleepyhead! Ill be your guide! Nice to meetcha! I see youre new here so lets start with an ez mission! Hmm hmmm hmmmm... Found one. Find the unhappy womans keys! (੭ ˃̣̣̥ ω˂̣̣̥)੭ु⁾⁾ you should start to hold your breath~

---

Tim nearly jumped when the girl threw up her hands, asking to talk. Tim noticed her hand was also injured, and wondered if this was some strange symbolism in his dream.
Not a dream, gently chided some part of Tim. Either way the girl looked unarmed. If this was a nightmare, he doubted she was a monster.

Feeling safe and eager to get out of the washroom with the thing behind him, Tim popped out of the door, mirroring the girl by throwing up his hand to show he was harmless.

"Sorry, I'm here! My name's Tim and I'm an accountant. When I woke up I thought I fell asleep on the toilet, but there's this weird message on a cell phone and there might be a dead body in the room behind me but I don't know cause I didn't check and I'm trying to stay calm."

Tim knew he was babbling, but what else could he do? The smell and the stress were slowly creeping up on him.

Aedin lowered his hands as he noticed that the person was hanging from a noose. Subconsciously, he scratched his neck with a grimace. The body told him stories about this dark place all without saying a word. This whole place was sick, but he was going to do whatever he needed to survive and escape. While this wasn't his first experience with a corpse; he felt that this was pretty bad. The first time, he had definitely thrown up, but this time in order to avoid it he turned his back and counted to three in his head. One. Two. Three.

He then turned back around and pulled the tape gingerly off of the body's hands so he could grab the hatchet. He knew he'd have to take every advantage he could to survive. He then started to check the body's pockets while doing the best he could to not smell the body, maybe he could find something else useful here. Occasionally he spoke under his break. "It's okay Aedin, just a body. Just a body."

He then untied the body and settled it down onto the ground as leaving it hanging felt just wrong. Next he did the best he could to get the rope. Once he was done with all of that he took a breather a few steps away from the body.

Justin's heart was still pounding in his chest even though his mind had already began to realize that the young woman in front of him was not at all a threat. At least, from what he saw so far. That mattock in her hands, though...his eyes lingered on it before flicking upwards to nervous face of the woman in front of them. Austin had already popped most of the questions that Justin had been wondering about, and relief began to settle his poor, thumping heart. From her reactions, it seems like she too was placed in this predicament without having the slightest idea of what the fuck was going on. On the bright side, Justin now knows he is not alone - it was great to have some allies to think this through. However, on the other hand, it just proves to him that this is no ordinary kidnapping, and he was convinced that their situation would get much, much worse if they cannot find a way out soon. There was a reason why he was not the only one captured...and still alive, for that matter. He was placed in this shitty building, along with a few others, for a specific reason and he can guarantee it's not for a social get-together to make new friends...despite what his "mission" text said. Screw that stupid cellphone and whoever sent it.

For now, however, he needs to just take in one thing at a time. No use in further stressing the unknowable.

Letting out a ragged breath, he quickly diverted the beam of light from the girl's face and onto a nearby wall. "Sorry about that...you just gave me a fright, is all. Wasn't expecting a girl roaming in the dark with such a gritty weapon...er, tool, in her hands. Judging from every horror movies I've watched, you'd be some sort of vengeful spirit going on a murderous rampage looking for her ex-lover that betrayed her, so...pardon me for being so startled. Glad to see that you're not some ghost." Justin grimaced. "Welcome to the Clueless Club, though. My name is Justin, and as Austin here mentioned, any info that you have would be much helpful."

The young man let out a weak smile, and although it was burdened slightly with exhaustion, it still held a gleaming sense of sincerity behind it. Seriously, Justin was glad that he was not alone. He just hoped he could trust them...and for slight sense of doubt, he steeled himself to become cautious and alert. But for now, at least, it seems like working together would be a better plan until they knew exactly what was going on.

So letting the girl gather her thoughts, Justin began to investigate the hallway in which they occupied. With the help of the built-in flashlight, he scanned the long corridor and noticed that further down, he could see that it was intersected with other hallways and paths. More importantly, Justin saw more doors along the walls. Could there really be more people than just these three? How many of them are there, exactly? The Asian-American man shook his head as a new barrage of questions attacked his mind.

But then, something caught his eye: the trash on the floor. Though they looked quite old, he noticed that the majority of them were...crushed cans and water bottles. Were they similar to the ones that he, Austin and potentially the girl have...? His heart skipped a beat as he realized another possibility. Whoever sent them here had done this before to another set of individuals. If that was so...then what happened to them...?

Justin closed his eyes and let out a slow, quivering sigh. When he opened them again, they glinted with a slight sheen of resolve. Alright, no more heart-stopping and depressing thoughts. Even if he was correct with his new theory, there was nothing he could do about it except for staying alive at this very moment. So he decided to keep it to himself, since he figured it might hinder their morale. Besides, if he was wrong, then he'd just embarrass himself and that would just make his day even worse.

"Hey guys," Justin suddenly whispered in a gentle tone, as if not wanting to cause any more tension in the air between the three, "I'm going to turn off my lights now. Looks like it's quite taxing on the phone, so we'll need to use it sparingly." And with that, Justin switched off the app, and they were once again swallowed by the damned blackness of the building. It took awhile for his vision to become accustomed to the visibility provided by the useless lights that hung from outside their rooms.

"Any thoughts on what we should do now? I say we check out those rooms that are immediate to us, and then plan a route to explore the area. The more we know about our surroundings, the better chance we can find a way to leave this place."

“Uhm, yeah! Yeah I got this with the other box of stuff back in a separate room. I had a few..” Irina hesitated. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t worried that these two men, which could clearly overpower her if she wasn’t paying attention, could loot her and leave he alone to suffer whatever fate this maze had in store for her. She looked at the two men, trying to expel any negative thoughts from her mind, and let out a shaky breath. “The box also had two cans of soup, and some water. But I left it all back in my.. er.. the room.” Irina slid the phone out of her pocket and dangled it in front of the two strangers. “Yea I got this too, it asked me to help someone today.. I don’t really know what that means.”

She listened calmly to the second man’s apology and let out a meek smile. Waving one hand on front of him, Irina tried to lighten her mood, “No, not see through, not here to kill you, can’t walk through walls either.. unfortunately.” She stopped for a moment, and made eye contact with the two of them. For the first time she took a moment to actually scan their faces and… she didn’t find anything all that terrifying, or out of ordinary. Just two people, as scared of their situation as she was. She nodded at the two of them, “My name is Irina, I’m glad I found you.” Her Russian accent was clear through her voice, it made her words hard and calloused, and sometimes she had to think for a few seconds before speaking. English was obviously not her first language.

A blanket of darkness fell upon them as Justin turned off his light. It weighed heavily on Irina’s shoulders and she suddenly got light headed. Leaning against the wrecked mess of a wall, all Irina could see was the girl that lay in front of her door. All at once the smell came rushing back, and Irina’s hand dropped the mattock, her stomach almost retched again. The axe clattered to the floor, and the noise startled her out of her memory. “I.. I’m sorry,” she scrambled to pick up the weapon. Her words were jumbled, and she struggled to tell the two what happened. “There’s something you should know.. I uhm.. Outside of my room, just that way,” Irina pointed towards the way she came, although she didn’t know if they could see her hand, “There’s… It’s uhm.. There’s this dead girl? Her.. her intestines had been.. ripped.. right out of her. Someone.. or something, killed her.” Irina put a hand over her mouth, the thought of it making her nauseous.

Cleo left her hand on the wall to have at least a little guidance while she walked through the pitch dark corridors, as she suddenly stopped. Those wall was not made of smooth cement or bricks. It felt more like... debris piled up. For a moment she wondered why there were debris piled up instead of a solid wall. There has to be a reason.

Just as she was considering trying to use the screen-light of her phone to have a better look at the 'wall', she heard a voice, not far away from her. Cleopatra tensed and didn't move, her hand still on the 'wall' and not breathing. She could make out three persons only a few steps away from her. A light coming from a phone was turned on. A phone.

The voice was male. And according to his words, he was just trapped here, exactly like her. There were others? Did they have the same phone with the same text and the same bandage on their arm?

The second voice to speak was female, and again it sounded rather like she was also trapped in this dark place. Cleo wasn't sure if one of them was only playing victim but instead was the kidnapper or whoever sent this text.

She could either stand and hope she didn't get seen by those people or she could approach them. The third option, leaving, was already out as Cleo wouldn't do that. She didn't even know where she was and by her luck she was already lost and wouldn't even find back to the room she woke up in.

With the hatchet in her hand tightly, she was ready to lift it up whenever someone attacked her. Knowing enough ways to defend herself, she didn't think lowering the hatchet when she approached them would give her any less chances of coming out as the victor in a possible fight. After all swinging a dull hatchet from above was not the only way to get a strike on the enemy. And with the hatchet lowered she had less chances of looking like a crazy murderer.

The girl braced herself for any kind of attack and spoke. "Hello?" She didn't dare to step closer yet. "My name is Cleo and I am trapped in this place. I am confused and according to what I overheard - I'm sorry for that by the way - you are only trapped victims in this weird unreal situation too."

Gray Cièl – Room 13 – Outside Room 13

She picked up her many new affects in unabashed horror. She looked for something familiar, but nothing revealed itself to her. This room was new, the hammer though warn was new to her, the phone was not hers. She read the text message over, probably ten times one line in particular stood out, more than the other. Hold your breath. Without thinking, she did. Her fingers quickly flew across the keypad hammering out a reply.

‘Why?’

She could’ve been sweeter about it and she was going to follow the advice anyways, but she felt as though maybe if she knew she could figure something out. As for the toolbox she took note of what was there and stuffed the nails into her pocket, placed the hammer securely in a belt loop on her jeans and walked over to the door. She opened it preparing for the worst. She knew that holding her breath wouldn’t be something she could do for as long as she would like, however she knew that running wasn't a fair option either, it would make her feel the need to breathe in deeply, filling her lungs with... She couldn't bring herself to think about it. Upon exiting her room she would run along the hallway, ball up a fist and hit the side of the wall. Creating a noise she hoped would draw in the ‘unhappy woman’. In her other hand she desperately clutched the cell phone – which she prayed would receive a response.

Austin went pale at the mention of ripped intestines. If he was being honest, all the ingredients were there to turn this into a visceral disaster, but it all seemed to surreal to believe it was possible.

But he had to keep his composure. Panic was a sure-fire way of turning this all into his worst nightmares. Especially when he was staring down a girl with a mattock dangling carefully from her hand. He paused, re-evaluated the situation.

Sources of panic: The darkness that claimed them, the trashed atmosphere, the presence of a weapon, their combined residual discomfort.

That placed them all around a 5 or a 6 before he did individual calculations. God, he really wished he could have his notebook at this moment in time. He could use the phone, he supposed, but there was only limited battery as Justin was saying. He just used his for light, and they might all need lights later. For now, the most important thing was trying to keep everyone calm, and keep everything normal.

“Justin, that’s a good idea. Did everyone see their room numbers on the doors? We can probably rule those out,” he paused, “or it might be a good idea to move all of our stuff into one room. That way we can all access it easily without too much splitting up.”

Then, with a breath, he decided it was best to come clean about what was hiding. No more secrets for now. Everything needed to be open if he was to generate any sense of trust. Sure, they were friendly now, but there was nothing to cement that relationship. At the moment they were only strangers in a similar situation.

Seeing Irina was good too. The more the merrier, even if it could have greater disasters long-term. If Austin could find ways to keep stress levels down, then they could probably all make it through this alright.

“So… I didn’t get a mattock, but I did get another item.”

He licked his dry lips.

“There was an empty revolver with spots for two bullets… I think.”

He turned to Cleo who was coming down the passage, greeting her with a kind smile as he brushed fading pink hairs out of his face. With all the group assembled, he cleared his throat and added one final piece of advice.

“I think our best chance to get out of this is if we can all work together. So, if it is okay with you, I think we should tell each other what our ‘mission’ is, and then do it. We don’t know who captured us, we don’t know why we’re here, and whoever put us here definitely has the upper hand. Let’s play by the rules for now and then find a better way out of here later.

As for my mission: I’m supposed to find my ‘soulmate’ who could be pretty much anybody for all I know.”

Rhiannon nearly jumped out of her skin as the man appeared from one of the doors further down the hall. Despite her plea she had doubted anyone would actually respond to it and suspected a trap. Taking deep breaths she kept her cool, her hands still up and visible rather than try and antagonise the first person she met in this waking nightmare. She looked the man up and down, or at least what she could make out of him in the dim light, and decided he looked the bill for his story. Than itself could be part of this trap, she reminded herself.

"I'm Rhiannon. I own a farm, my family are... in trouble with the law so I run it for now. Well, ran it. I guess one of the farm hands will take care of it while I'm away..." She hadn't thought of what ramifications her absence might have for her livelihood back home; with a sinking feeling she realised she hadn't even considered getting home as an actual possibility. More like a dream, an unachievable goal to keep her going in this sick place.

"It's the same for me. I got a phone but I was in a room by myself. There was a box with water and soup and... a knife. I lost it somewhere in the rubbish when I tripped though." The lie rolled smoothly off her practiced tongue. Now was not the time to reveal she had part of an advanced weapon in here. A knife? That sounded less scary and easier to lose. Made her look harmless.

The part about a dead body caught her attention though. Unless this person was a really practiced liar, better than her which was not completely impossible, then his apparent confusion added to his supposed innocence. The smell she had been aware of for some time made some sense now, although not like the corpses she had come across but there was no telling how long that one had been there.

"Maybe... we should go away from here. Whoever killed the person might still be about and there might be others like us here... not killers, I mean." She half-turned but kept a weary eye on the man with her water bottle clutched tightly, ready to bludgeon him if he rushed her. Despite her fear, she doubted this bewildered and terrified accountant was a killer and his story seemed plausible but she suspected that nothing here was as it seemed.

And who the hell is supposed to be my soul mate?

The girl seemed harmless. What had been her name? Rhiannon? What a pretty name. It reminded him of a pop star from Barbados that he rather liked, not that he would admit it to anyone. Anyway, he was glad he hadn't picked up that pipe. Why would he even need it against a defenseless girl?

Her family situation, or what little of it that she had revealed, didn't bother him. Growing up, a couple of Tim's friends had gotten in trouble of the law. At the time, Tim had only had three friends, so he felt that their punishment had been undeserved regardless of their crimes (one had gotten in trouble hacking computers, the other hit his third strike selling crack cocaine).

"Um, I think there were some supplies back there. With...the, uh, body." He gestured sheepishly behind him. Now that he was actually talking to someone, Tim felt his panic going down. No need for a meltdown. Yet. He took a deep breath, though the air still smelt awful, and felt his pulse go down. The dull thud of a headache still pulsed, but he could deal with that later.

"I thought I heard some shouting a couple minutes ago. It was really muffled, but there must be more people down that way." Tim looked down the hallway, trying to squint so he could make out anything weird in the shadows. He wanted to ask for a sip of Rhiannon's water bottle, but from the defensive way she held it, he suspected it was better to ask later.

"I'm up for some exploring I guess. I feel better now that I'm not alone. This is all really weird. Must be a prank if it's not a dream."

@drewccapp - North Hallway above Room 16

As you left the body behind, you could barely make out the paths that you could take. There was one ahead and one to the left. On the crossroads of these paths seemed to be a decently sized rectangle, as if cut out of the concrete wall. A sheet of metal was inserted on the inside of the wall, blocking access to it. It seemed to be important.

There was a large pile of trash underneath the opening. However, it was too dark to see anything specific inside.

---

@RedXCross, @KahleenCuthald, @Darkwolfsoul010 & @tatszico - 7...12 Hallway

As each of you spoke, a chime sounded. The same one from earlier, when you got the first message. However, it was a single chime. The only phone that lit up was the one with the plastic skull dangling from it.

dingdingding, we have a winner~ (*＾-‘) 乃 knew you could do it! swing by a dropoff to pickup your treat! nice job making friends, too~ i thought you would just make 1, but 3? !Σ（￣口￣；； really shocked me~

---

@Write - Outside Room 13
As you rushed the unknown, you found nobody else. You simply found a wall on the other side. However, to the East of you was a giant pile of debris that was large enough to block the large hallway that seemed as if it was a road. The hallway that you were in had the occasional light turned on. Luckily, it was enough for you to see everything in the hallway.

Very little trash remained on the sides. Most of it was dust. A few footprints could be seen in the dust, but most of them had been covered by more dust. To the end of the hallway was a wall, along with a path North and a path South. While you could not see anything, you could barely hear murmurs coming from the North.

---

@Jinxer & @Teaistasty - The Washroom

As the two of you spoke, an extremely noticeable creak sounded from inside of the washroom. Everything was silent; then, as if in rhythmic succession, another creak. More silence. Creak. Silence. Crea- silenc- cre. It was getting faster. Then, the silence was removed all together. Crack, crack, crack. It sounded like something was breaking. Then, bang. Finally, flowing.

Upon investigating the sound, it became apparent that one of rusted old pipes leading into one of the urinals had burst. What seemed so terrifying was actually just a way of making sure that private business was done properly. Water flowed out of the pipe, filling the room with even more of a salty smell. It seemed like any smell that the corpse nearby had had had vanished.

---

After he caught his breath from looting the body, Aedin made his way down the hallway. The only things worth mentioning from the corpse were the hatchet and the rope and the hatchet was in just as poor condition as the box cutter in his pocket. He wasn't about to complain though as he slipped it through a belt loop on the left side of his pants. For him it was just another tool. The rope was barely enough to hang yourself by, maybe all of five feet, but it was something. He tied it around his waist like a belt as he walked down the hall.

He came up to a curious rectangle of sheet metal cut out from the concrete of the wall. Whatever it was, the difference told Aedin that this was probably an important place. He banged his palm a couple times on the metal to see if the sound was hollow or if it had a solid feeling behind it. Then he tried turning on the cell phone to use the light it created to use it to inspect the garbage underneath it. After all, the greatest of tools could be found in garbage.

As he searched the garbage he began to wonder where the other people here were. He had a bad feeling about not meeting his mission to borrow something from someone.

Gray's breath was limited as she believed for whatever reason she had to hold her breath, she began walking towards the intersection as she couldn't see anything else in the hallway that would be of use to her. She slowly approached the bend before a tight pain in her chest made it clear that she would have to breath to continue onward. Regrettably she stood and took a deep breath, rapidly her chest rose and fall and the oxygen she breathed in carried with it a putrid smell that wafted over everything that she could smell, replacing any scent that may have accompanied the dusty hallway. She immediately covered her face and nose in an attempt to block out the smell. While it was faint as though it hadn't originated from around here, it was definitely putrid.

However, the smell was also a gift - for all she knew there was no toxins just a horrid smell. As such she immediately began calling out as she walked towards the murmurs to the north. Not too loud, but from what she could tell louder than anyone was speaking to the north. She knew that even approaching people in a place like this was incredibly risky. But she also knew that she was not going to escape this place alone, perhaps whoever had texted her had also kidnapped others. She attempted to carry that optimistic hope within her heart as she continued on down the hallway forward unto the unknown. Once she had walked to the point where the murmurs were louder and she could tell they were close she called out.

"Hello? Anyone?"

Justin let out a long sigh, closing his eyes as Irina voiced her discovery and concerns. Remember, he told himself. Keep your damn wits together. Slowly he opened them and let his hazel eyes linger on the faces of the two before him. Even in the dark his irises managed to somehow to stand out, with their contrasted mixture of copper and emerald. Though he was quite exhausted, mentally and physically, his determination did not waver in the brightness of his eyes.

"So it's like I thought. There were people here before us." He indicated to the trash scattered around them, to the crushed cans and dusty water bottles. "Something bad is going on here, guys, and like Austin said, if we don't work together and find a way out, then maybe we'll soon find ourselves to be in the exact predicament as the person Irina mentioned..."

As soon as he finished what he was saying, a third person emerged from the melancholic shadows. Another girl, and this one had a hatchet in her hands. "Please don't tell me that you're the ghost," he humored at her and glanced at Irina with a raised eyebrow. He then cursed to himself - now's not the time to be seeking out recognition for a stupid inside joke, you ass.

"Hi Cleo. It's okay, we're all in the same boat as you. Matter of fact, we were in the process of discussing a plan of action to try and figure out what the hell we should do now. I have a feeling that there are still some of us out there, too." Justin hesitated at the thought. Could it be too late for some of them...? He shook his head, then turned back to Austin. When the other man revealed the existence of his "gift", Justin didn't know what to expect.

"What do you mean a revolver with only two spots for bullets? It only has two working chambers?" Justin cocked his head slightly to the side. A defected weapon, with no ammunition either? That was quite a peculiar thing to give to someone...and speaking of peculiar things...

Justin cleared his throat, his lips pressed into a thin line. He eyed everyone again, then gave a heavy sigh before reaching to the box kept safely locked between his feet where he was standing. He pulled out the two smaller boxes and gingerly opened them up and revealed its contents: the syringe and the seven bottles of unknown chemicals, though each bottle was marked. Two had caduceus rods, two had skulls, two had Zzz's, and the most ominous label of all - "You Monster".

When everyone had a chance to peek, he slowly boxed them back and put them away. "The hell if I know what I'm suppose to use these for," he whispered, eyeing the ground gently. "This is so fucked up, guys." Another sigh. But Justin raised his head and nodded when Austin suggested to show each other their respected "missions".

"Well," Justin began after Austin stated the contents of his text message, "you do find love in all the wrong places. And if this is not the wrongest place to be, then please let me be a bachelor forever. As for me, my mission is-"

dingdingding, we have a winner~ (*＾-‘) 乃 knew you could do it! swing by a dropoff to pickup your treat! nice job making friends, too~ i thought you would just make 1, but 3? !Σ（￣口￣；； really shocked me~

After recovering from almost throwing the phone down the hallway, Justin slowly raised the phone to his face. You could hear his heartbeat pounding through his chest and echoing down the deadened hallways. Finally, he turned the phone to his peers, and eyed all three with a solemn expression.

"Well. I guess I just completed mine. Thanks for being my friends, I guess."

Just then, another female voice could be heard and this time, it was from behind them, around the corner towards the south end of the T intersection where Austin and Justin's room were.

"Um, hello. We're all friendlies here, and if you're not planning to murder us all, feel free to join us." Still, he eyed the rest of them and in a lower voice, asked "So, what do you guys want to do once everything is sorted out between us? Look to see if there are still others?" He gestured at where the new voice was coming from. "Or should we start finding this...dropoff point thing?" Justin eyed the phone warily, noticing how gloomy the skull charm looked in the non-existent lighting. "If need be, I can go alone. Don't want to drag any of you into a potentially scarier place since it's my 'treat' but... whatever it is, I think it could bring us some important clues."

Rhiannon felt more confident around this man, maybe because he slight sheepishness appeared to give her the upper hand. The situation and the place still scared her half to death but at least if she was trapped here in some kind of death or survival game then it looked like she might have the advantage. Assuming that the man wasn't putting up a facade.

"Let's have a look at the supplies then. Anything might help us here, so far all I've found outside the room is a lot of rubbish. Quite literally." She walked past him, back straight and trying to force confidence into her voice as she tried to take charge. The room he had come from had a powerful odour seeping out of it, the same one she had been smelling up until then. She began to push on the door, taking a deep breath before she faced the corpse he had spoken of, when the creaking sounded from inside stopped her.

He did say the body was dead, right?

The creaking continued but to her it sounded distinctly non-human and then the sound of rushing water from beyond the door assured her the corpse had not in fact come back to haunt them. Heaving on the door she pushed into the room to see a broken pipe gushing water across the floor. Swirls of red discoloured the salty-smelling water as it began to clean away the dark dried blotches of blood across the room. The corpse itself disturbed her, the weapon a brutal thing, but it was no worse than she had seen.

Nothing like someone who's been a harvester a few times.

"Where are these supplies then? Let's get them and get away from here, it gives me the creeps. Maybe we can search for anyone else in this place, see what we can find out."

Getting a hold of herself once more, Irina steeled her shoulders and nodded. “Yeah, I think moving all of our stuff together is a good idea. We could take turns keeping watch when we’re tired. If I remember correctly, I was in room 9. But I don’t think that’s the one we should gather in…” She looked around uncomfortably, before letting out a puff of air through her lips. As Austin mentioned the gun that he got, Irina’s first instinct was to curiously question him. She'd used guns before, but had never heard of one getting it's chambers sealed. "Thanks for being honest. Revolver, right? What type, if you know?"

Irina couldn’t help but jump at the sudden voice directly behind her. Turning around, she saw another girl and sighed in relief. It wasn’t a monster, or their captor (whomever that happened to be), which was good enough for her. She introduced herself, yet again, with a small smile. Looking at Justin, she couldn’t help but give a quiet snicker at his joke. “You’ve got some obsession with ghosts,” she muttered under her breath. Within moments he had also reached into his pockets and pulled out what appeared to be found in his box. Irina leaned close, examining the small vials and furrowing her brows when she couldn’t figure out what one of them meant. “What is this Monster one?” She wondered if it was just an American thing that she wasn’t understanding. Despite being good at English, she wasn’t well rounded in slang or some short-hand words. English jokes often flew right over her head as well. She eyed the trio around them, hoping one of them could explain the ominous label.

“I think our best chance to get out of this is if we can all work together. So, if it is okay with you, I think we should tell each other what our ‘mission’ is, and then do it.”

Irina nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Rereading the message, she glanced up at them before answering, “Mine says I have to help someone. That’s all. But help them with what?” Scratching her head, Irina showed her new ‘friends’ her phone before pocketing it once more.

Another voice called out from the darkness and Irina let out a sigh. “How many of us are there?” Shaking her head, she tried to ignore how fucked this situation was. After Justin, she called out as well. “There’s 3 of us, please don’t be scared! Grouping together would be better than going alone.” Her thick accent echoed off the walls and bounced back to her ears. Irina swallowed, staring into the darkness in hopes of seeing another friendly face. So far, they had been very lucky in not running into anyone, or anything, crazy. She wondered about this drop off point that Justin had mentioned, but whatever it was it could provide valuable hints about their situation. “I don’t know if going alone is a good idea. At least take one of us with you. Just in case? The others can start gathering all of our things into one room… Or we can all just stay grouped up.. I don’t know.” Irina realized that she had started to ramble, caught herself, and quickly stopped talking.

Gray breathed a sigh of relief, one that caused a thought in the back of her head to call her idiotic after receiving the instructions that she had gotten. Two voices had called out to her, one a male’s voice and one a thickly accented female. She walked towards them with her hands raised, a relatively universal sign indicating no foul intentions were present. She almost made sure to make it clear that she had the hammer in her belt loop turning in order for it to be facing them and motioning down towards it. “Do you guys know what’s going on?” Gray asked.

Upon examining the fellows she was pleasantly surprised to find that they all seemed to be rather normal young attractive people, Gray’s thoughts immediately went to her kidnapper – whoever it was. Did they have a type? Was she that type, how did she fit in with all of these people? She had many questions, most of which would have to stay unanswered for the time being. Once she thought the others would have adequately understood the hands-raised message she reached into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone, raising it up to face the group. “I got told to find the sad girl, get her keys, you guys have any idea what the hell that means?”

She glanced at her phone and then back at the group before remembering the all-important final sentence. “It also states that I am to hold my breath, but” Gray took a deep sigh. She almost laughed – maybe she would have if she wasn’t in this fucked up situation. “As you can see, there’s no way I can do that until I find the sad lady.” Gray tousled her hair in an attempt to clear her mind and see through the illusion, but she couldn’t she didn’t know enough about this place, or these people. “So unless you’re feeling blue, I’m shit outta luck.” Gray said motioning towards the girl with the accent.

“Ah shit,” she said taking a step backwards. “I’m Gray, never introduced myself.” She said motioning to all of her. “Oh I also got this hammer, some shitty nails, food and some other stuff in the room I was in.” Gray said motioning behind her towards the way she had walked.