Riddle Middle Two

Chapter 5: The heat

Zack (1st person)

I woke up in a chair. My hands were cuffed behind my back. There was thick rope tying me to the chair, as if handcuffs weren't enough. "H- Hello?" I asked. I was in a plain white room. It looked similar to the one I had woken up in when I was kidnapped by those humanoid things. It clearly wasn't a normal room; it's walls and ceiling were perfectly smooth and glossy, while the floor had a bit of texture. I couldn't burn through the rope because I couldn't twist my head down that far. "Oh, you're awake," someone said. I looked up. A humanoid a few inches taller than me came through a door that I didn't know existed and walked towards me. "Where am I?" I asked. My voice came out quieter than I'd thought it would. They sounded slightly feminine, so I decided that they must be a girl. Rather than answering my question, she touched the side of my face. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Do you have anything on you?" She asked. "No," I said. "Mm-hmm," she said, sounding skeptical. She lifted the rope and dig in my pockets. I didn't wake up in the future with my phone. I was wondering if I was dreaming, if my friends were here, and if I was still in the future.

"What's this?" They asked, pulling out a crumpled wrapper. "Oh, I forgot about that..." I said. "Yeah, sure. I know you're prone to lying," she said. She went behind me and slide her hand down the back of my shirt. Without thinking, I tossed my head back. She winced, then backed away from me a bit. "Oh, I see how you are," she said. I didn't know how to respond. She kicked the back of the chair, and I fell forward smashed my face against the cold floor. She stepped on my back and pushed down. "Listen, I'll untie you and take off your handcuffs if you cooperate," she said. "Okay, okay, just get off of me!" I said. She stepped off of me and untied me, then she took my handcuffs off, like she'd said.

I saw that the door was still open. "Alright. Now, if you could just-" I didn't hear the rest of what she said because I bolted to the door. "Hey!" She called. I turned the corner, but I didn't get very far. Something pulled to the ground. A net. It had weights all around the edge, and they were so heavy that I couldn't get out. I rolled over, and the weights moved. They all slid towards each other. Like magnets. They all clicked together, and I was trapped. The net was made with thick black rope. One that didn't ignite. It was sticky, and it clung to my body. "Well, you're pretty stupid," the humanoid said. I didn't respond. She dragged me back to the room I was in before. "After I get this off of you, you need to change into this," she said, holding out an orange jumpsuit. Like what you wear in prison.

Phil (1st person)

A masculine humanoid grasped my arm and pulled me after him. We were going down a hallway, on the way to my 'cell'. This humanoid didn't talk much. I was wearing a stupid jumpsuit thing. I wanted my hoodie back, but they'd taken that. I had a lot of questions, but I knew better then to ask any. We got to a door, a secure-looking metal one. My handcuffs were removed and I was shoved inside. The door slammed shut. I looked around. I didn't have pockets in this suit, and all of my stuff had been taken anyway. There was a barred metal bed frame with a thin mattress, a seatless toilet, and nothing else. I guess I didn't deserve a sink or toilet paper. My cell was a bit dirty, but nothing too bad, besides a large stain on my mattress. I had no idea why I was here or where my friends were. I paced my cell for a while, having nothing else to do.

The door opened. I turned. A humanoid, shorter than me, stood with a tray. They set it down. It had some clear gelatinous blob on it. "Hey, can I-" they left and the door slammed again. I went up to it. It had an odd rubbery smell that made me gag. I poked it, and it jiggled. I didn't get utensils, so I just pulled of a small piece with my hand. I put it in my mouth. It was flavorless. I swallowed it. It easily slid down my throat. I was hungry, so I ate the rest of it. It seemed pretty watery. I paced my cell, stared at the door, and used the toilet. I mean, not at the same time, of course. The humanoid came back later with more food. I ran at the door, which they didn't seem to expect, as I knocked them over. I pinned them to the ground and leaned over them.

I shoved them into my cell, and the door closed by itself. I looked around. There were two doors in front of me. One said 'sec. room' and one said 'clothing'. I knew what clothing meant, so I went in there. There were rows and rows of suits, the ones that the humanoids wore. They were all the same size. I grabbed one. It was way to big for me, but I slid it on anyway. Before I even fully got it on, it sort of vacuum-sealed onto me. Now it fit perfectly, clinging to my body. The head was sort of like a hoodie, except it was more like a helmet, it just hung on the back of the suit. I pulled it on over my head, and it did the same thing. It didn't have any immediate special features like I'd hoped. I thought I'd at least have like enhanced vision or something, but everything looked the same. There was a large mirror, and I went in front of it. I looked exactly like one of the humanoids. I was starting to wonder what they looked like under the suits. I went back outside. I assumed 'sec.' meant security, so I went to the door. It was also a secure metal one, and I wasn't sure how to get in.

There was a small rectangular pad next to it. It was plain black. I did the first thing I though of; I put my hand on it. The door made a series of clicking sounds, then it opened. I went inside. This room's walls were grayish. There were a few computers, a paper, and some TV like screens. I looked to the screens. My friends. Well, more than just my friends. There was footage of other cells. I would've expected the footage to be fuzzy, put I could see it perfectly. My friends, including Smiley, the variants, including Lauren's variant, but also 5, Joy, and Lila. It didn't make sense that Lila was there if my other siblings weren't. Honestly, none of this made any sense. I looked down to the paper. A map. There were four buildings in this place. This was building C. It had the security room and clothing room labeled, along with about twenty holding cells. It was hard to navigate since we were all labeled E with a number after it. I knew where my room was on the map, so I used a pen that was there and wrote my name where that box was. I looked to the cameras. They were laid out the same way as the map. I filled in the rest of it so I'd have a reliable map. I didn't pay any attention to other buildings yet. I decided I'd go check on some of my friends, since I could open the cells with the humanoid suit.

Pico (1st person)

I had nothing to do in my cell, and the only thing I had to look forward to was the food, which didn't even taste like anything. I noticed an air conditioning vent to my left. It was near the base of the wall, rather than near or on the ceiling. I bent down and put my face in front of it. There was a small noise from inside. "Hello?!" I called. I guess it could've been the whirring from fans or whatever, but I figured it was worth a try. "Hello? This is Lauren!" Lauren shouted. Why was Lauren here? "I'm Pico! Why are you here?! What happened?!" I called. "I don't know why I'm here! I was at home, then-" she was cut off by what sounded like a gunshot. I waited a few seconds. "L-Lauren?!" I called. No response. The door to my cell opened. "Well, you've lost your cool air privilege," a humanoid said, coming in and closing the door behind them.

"Wh- What?" I asked. They were around the same height as me. They kicked me out of the way and tore the grate off of the vent. They shoved what looked like a cement block inside, then they lay something over it so it looked like the rest of the wall. They left without saying anything else to me. The room got very hot very quickly. I was sweating like crazy, and I tried to scrape off whatever was on the wall, but I couldn't even dent it. I got so hot that I took off my jumpsuit. I still had underwear on under that, so I guess that was better than being completely naked. I don't know if that was the right choice, because I started feeling lightheaded. I didn't know why it was so hot in here; were we still in the desert? My vision blurred, and my headache got worse. I wanted someone to bring me food so they'd see me and help me, but that didn't happen soon enough.