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Between an Air Duct and a Metal Wall of Death
TW: a little bit of gore.
You open your eyes to a blinding fluorescent light, flickering gently. Your head feels ready to explode, your mouth is dry, and you ache all over. You close your eyes again and try to gather your thoughts.
Where are you?
Why do you feel like crap?
Then you suddenly realize you can't remember anything at all, even your name. You quickly sit up in a panic and immediately regret this, as it causes your head to pound terribly and your stomach to churn. You groan and put your head between your knees. When the wave of sickness passes, you lift your head to inspect the room. It is maybe five by seven feet and is composed of smooth, bare cement walls and floor, with one of the longer walls made of shiny metal instead. On the wall opposite is an air duct, covered with a flimsy metal grate. There doesn't seem to be a door. And you're not alone. Laying next to you is an unconscious black-haired girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, with high cheekbones and very light skin. She is dressed in a ugly gray jumpsuit, same as you, and seems to have a faint bruise on one cheek. You get up, braving another wave of sickness, and take a good long stare at her face: do you know her? You give her a good shake to try and wake her up, but nothing. You wonder if she's dead, but you check her breathing and pulse, and yes, she's alive.
With nothing better to do, you sit and stare at a wall while trying with no success to regain your memory. Suddenly you hear a loud scraping noise coming from the metal wall across from you. You leap to your feet and find yourself instinctively assuming a defensive position, with fists raised. Suddenly the wall begins moving toward you, at about the pace of an old snail. You cautiously touch the wall and then push on it, but it continues advancing.
What if it doesn't stop?
What if it eventually crushes you?
You look at the air duct. You and the girl could probably escape out of it. Probably should have tried that earlier. The headache must be clouding your thinking abilities or something.
You move over to it, and you can reach it on tiptoes. The...
You open your eyes to a blinding fluorescent light, flickering gently. Your head feels ready to explode, your mouth is dry, and you ache all over. You close your eyes again and try to gather your thoughts.
Where are you?
Why do you feel like crap?
Then you suddenly realize you can't remember anything at all, even your name. You quickly sit up in a panic and immediately regret this, as it causes your head to pound terribly and your stomach to churn. You groan and put your head between your knees. When the wave of sickness passes, you lift your head to inspect the room. It is maybe five by seven feet and is composed of smooth, bare cement walls and floor, with one of the longer walls made of shiny metal instead. On the wall opposite is an air duct, covered with a flimsy metal grate. There doesn't seem to be a door. And you're not alone. Laying next to you is an unconscious black-haired girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, with high cheekbones and very light skin. She is dressed in a ugly gray jumpsuit, same as you, and seems to have a faint bruise on one cheek. You get up, braving another wave of sickness, and take a good long stare at her face: do you know her? You give her a good shake to try and wake her up, but nothing. You wonder if she's dead, but you check her breathing and pulse, and yes, she's alive.
With nothing better to do, you sit and stare at a wall while trying with no success to regain your memory. Suddenly you hear a loud scraping noise coming from the metal wall across from you. You leap to your feet and find yourself instinctively assuming a defensive position, with fists raised. Suddenly the wall begins moving toward you, at about the pace of an old snail. You cautiously touch the wall and then push on it, but it continues advancing.
What if it doesn't stop?
What if it eventually crushes you?
You look at the air duct. You and the girl could probably escape out of it. Probably should have tried that earlier. The headache must be clouding your thinking abilities or something.
You move over to it, and you can reach it on tiptoes. The...
