Chapter Text
Your eyelids fluttered open. You shot off the floor and bolted upright, a sharp groan tearing from your throat. Your skull throbbed in time with the harsh, rhythmic buzz of a dying fluorescent bulb overhead.
You looked down at your hand. The skin across your knuckles was scraped, smeared with a thin sheen of fresh, dark blood.
“What happened…?”
The deep, gravelly voice cut though the quiet room from right behind you. You let out a sharp shriek, you heels digging into the floor as you scrambled backward in the opposite direction, spinning around to face the sound.
A man was slumped against the corner of the small cabin, you noted his long legs bent at awkward angles. He was clad in dark, tactical clothing, his fingers clawing desperately at a black blindfold tied around his head. He ripped it off, his chest heaving as if he’d been suffocating.
“Who are you?” He asked, his eyes locking onto you in the dim light.
With a shocked expression, you stared back at him. “I am…”
The word hung in the air.
“Uh…”
You brought your bloodied hand up to your face, narrowing your eyes as you desperately reached backward into your mind. Nothing. Just a vast, terrifying void.
“I don't know…I don’t remember my own name,” you admitted, the confusion thickening your voice.
The man blinked, looking around the closed elevator. He pressed the heel of his palm tightly against his temple, closing his eyes as if he were trying to force a memory though a solid brick wall. After a long, tense second, his hand dropped back down. He looked at you, his expression hardening.
”Me neither.”
He took a slow look down at himself, examine the heavy fabric of his jacket, then looked over at your clothes. “Looks like me and you are on some kind of mission.”
You hummed softly, looking down at your own attire. He could be right. You were both wearing the exact same style of sleek, dark uniform. It felt intentional.
A pause.
“Are we supposed to know each other?” You asked, looking back up at him, the utter lack of context making your chest tighten.
“I’d be surprised if we weren’t,” he said, his tone dropping into a calm, steady rythm. He suddenly grimaced, baring his teeth as he gripped his head again. “Fuck. My head is splitting. Its like im seeing way too much at the same time. Everything is blinding. I can’t focus.”
You looked up at the ceiling, bewildered. “What do you mean? The light is flickering and barley working.”
“Huh?”
Before he could answe, a heavy wet scraping sound echoed from directly above the ceiling hatch. You shrieked, the raw terror overriding your brain. You scrambled blindly across the filthy floor, grabbing him tightly by the shoulders. “We’re going to die!”
“Nah. Calm down,” he muttered.
Then, the elevator dropped.
You screamed as a violent wave of adrenaline exploded in your stomach. The cables shrieked, and the elevator plummeted a sudden terrifying few feet before catching with a metal on metal thud. The impact threw you completely off balance.
THUMP.