This Reality

5: The Escape

Awkward author's note:
Not a lot happens in this chapter, but in the next chapter a lot is revealed, and I will publish that either later this evening or tomorrow.
If you are liking the story so far, please leave votes/comments/follows and feel free to recommend this story. Thank you so much for reading!
Enjoy,
Kori

Gold and silver. They seem familiar. Of course, the people from her dream! But there were three people, right? What about the one... the one with the password? What is the password even for? In all her confusion, she looks to Jax and Milla, hoping for answers.

Jax and Milla introduce themselves, telling Astrid their names for the first time. I have known their names since the dream, but Astrid never did until now.

Astrid takes a moment to look around. The trapdoor is in the middle of the floor, the three of them standing around it. The room she is in now is a sort of utility room. There are several sinks dotted around the room, and in one corner a boiler stands, a soft low humming sound coming from it. Empty cardboard boxes litter the room, and scraps of paper are strewn all over the floor. Pipes and wires run around the grey brick walls of the room and a single light bulb hangs from the ceiling, giving the place an industrial feeling.

"You're Astrid, right?" Milla asks. Astrid nods in agreement, still dumbfounded by all that had happened.
"Good to meet you," Jax continues.
"Who are you?" Astrid demands, "and why were you waiting for me to get out of that place? And who kept leaving the food?"
"Well," Milla explains, "the food was us. We had to leave you some so you would stay healthy. We sent it down through a chute that you probably didn't notice. We need you, you see."

Oh no. Here it comes. They'll say they need her on their side, then she'll join them in fighting and there's little chance she'll come out alive.
See, this is why I didn't want her to escape the room.

"You need me?" Astrid is puzzled. "You don't even know me!"
"We knew your parents," Jax hints.
None of this is making sense to Astrid at all. What parents? She doesn't have parents! At least, she doesn't remember having any parents. All the confusion and unanswered questions are getting to her, and she begins to get panicky.

Milla speaks softly and kindly this time. "We know that this is a shock to you. But we do need you. We can get you out of this place and go somewhere where we will explain everything to you, okay?"
Astrid nods. She doesn't know what else to say. She is so happy to be finally out of this place, but also apprehensive after just meeting these people.

They lead her out of the room through a door in one corner of the room. She is taken through a complex of echoing tunnels and corridors. Finally an exit is seen.

The sudden light hits them all like a smack in the face. They haven't seen daylight for six days.

They walk across town for about twenty minutes. It's not a town that Astrid recognises. They eventually arrive at a hotel. The hotel has an accompanying restaurant that is open to the public. Milla gets them a table, orders some drinks and sits down.

"So..." Jax begins speaking, "how much exactly do you remember?"