Escape Games

Chapter One

Mac blinked several times before fully opening his eyes. He felt unusually tired for what he'd thought was a good night's sleep. As he raised his hands to rub his eyes, the sound of something rattling nearby registered in his brain. He looked down to find a chain wrapped around his right wrist, held by a small padlock. 
     "Finally awake, are we?"  A voice spoke from beside him, a few feet away.  "I was beginning to think you were dead."  The voice sounded slightly sarcastic and had a partial accent.  Mac turned and lifted his head to see who it belonged to. 
     The other young man sat about a yard away, as far as the chain allowed him to be.  His skin was so pale grey that it was almost white.  He looked about as tall as Mac, but wasn't quite as muscular in build, though Mac still wouldn't have wanted to mess with him in a dark alley.  The pointed, humanoid ears marked him as a non-human, even before Mac saw the black sclera in being's mint-green eyes.  He would've bet the creature had sharp teeth, too.  The being pushed back his long, silvery lilac hair as he met Mac's eyes.
"What?" The humanoid asked after a couple seconds. Mac blinked and shook his head once.
"Sorry," he said. "Scanning." The monster's head tilted to one side slightly.
"You're a psychic," he observed. Mac nodded. He noticed the monster eyeing the pistol and knife at his side. Apparently whoever had put the two of them there hadn't thought to disarm him. 
     "I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me," he told the humanoid.  He got no response except for a gurgling sound in the being's throat.  Mac took a moment to look around the area, sitting up as he did so.  They were in what appeared to be a large jail cell, seemingly carved into a cave or mountain because three of the four walls were made of rough stone with the fourth being metal bars and the cell door. The floor was also stone, and Mac spotted his backpack half a foot away, laying on its side.
He reached for it and opened it to check inside. His first aid kit and other supplies were still there, seemingly untouched. Mac sighed in relief. Apparently, whoever nabbed him had felt generous enough to leave him with all his shit. At least they could survive a couple days while the two of them tried to find a way out. Mac sensed the humanoid draw a little closer, probably curious what was in his bag.
"It's just my hunting supplies," he told the being. There was no need to tell him there was a third weapon and Mac's wallet inside too. Mac turned to look back at the humanoid, but the being huffed and scooted back, the chain straining and rattling as he reached the end of it.
"Easy," he told the being. It occurred to him that the humanoid could've smelled the food he'd packed. He dug in the pack for the salmon jerky he liked to have on hand.
"Is this what you were curious about?" He offered a piece, and the humanoid huffed again before cautiously taking the strip of dried fish. He took a massive bite once he realized it was fish, and finished the jerky in about four seconds flat.
"Someone's hungry," Mac said, trying to fill the silence as much as he was trying to make conversation. "How long were you here before I came along?" The humanoid gurgled again before huffing.
"What?" Mac asked. "You only talk when you want to, is that it?" The being just made more noises. He seemed less agitated now, but he seemed in the mood to test Mac a little bit.
"At least give me a name to call you," Mac suggested. "So I don't have to call you 'Hey You' all the time." The humanoid blinked but stayed silent, gazing at him with a deadpan expression. Something swished across the rock floor, and Mac realized there was a long, fuzzy, tufted tail twitching and writhing behind his unwilling companion, the fur matching the being's hair.
"Not gonna make it easy, are you?" Mac asked. "Fine. I'll go first. I'm Mac." He held out his hand to shake, but the humanoid only let out a loud breath and swished his tail faster.
"Okay, then," Mac dropped his hand and began looking around the cell again. "Do you at least have any idea who put us in here?" The humanoid shook his head quietly. Mac sighed. His eyes settled on the cell door, at this point just thinking about trying to get out.
"Let's try to get this door open," he said. "We won't figure anything out by rotting in here." He stood up and started walking towards the bars, dragging his backpack, but the chain pulled his arm back as the humanoid stayed seated. Mac turned back to him. 
     "Come on," he said.  "We can't examine the door if you stay on your ass by the wall."  The humanoid looked unphased by his words.  Mac sighed and walked back over. 
     "Come on," he said again, taking the humanoid's arm despite a grumble of protest.  "Up you get."  He gently pulled the humanoid up, but he growled, showing his sharpened teeth, and immediately tried to fall back into a sitting position. 
     "What?"  Mac let the humanoid sit, kneeling beside him.  "Are you hurt?  Is that what you're trying to tell me?"  He could normally sense of someone was in pain, but either this guy had insane pain resistance, or he couldn't feel it to begin with.  The humanoid pointed towards his feet.  The left one was bare, the other was completely missing.  The wound wasn't bleeding, but the flesh and bone were exposed and it looked painful.
     "Oh shit, dude!"  Mac was so shocked that he just said the first thing that came to his mind.  "Why didn't you say something sooner?  Here, let me get something to cover that at least."  He dug in his first aid kit and brought out a square of gauze and a wrap bandage. 
     "It doesn't look like the flesh was cauterized," he said as he wrapped the bandage around the gauze-covered injury.  "If we can find your missing foot, we should be able to reattach it.  Right now, let's focus on getting out of this cell."  He finished tying the wrap securely and moved to put a hand on the humanoid's lower back. 
     "I know it must hurt a lot," he said.  "Just put your hand on my shoulder and brace against the wall with the other.  I know it'll be slow going but I have you.  We don't have any choice but to work together if we want to get out of here, wherever 'here' is."  The humanoid didn't protest, he just huffed and did as he was told, and once Mac had him standing he slowly walked to the front of the cell.  The bars rattled slightly as the being gripped one to support himself when the wall ended. 
     "It looks like the lock can be opened with a key," Mac observed.  "If we find the key, we'll be able to get out."  The humanoid huffed loudly. 
     "There's a key ring on the wall next to the cell," he apparently wanted to talk now.  "I heard someone put it there yesterday before they tranquilized me to bring you in."  Mac tried to reach the ring with his free hand, having put his backpack on the floor beside him.  His fingers touched metal, but the awkward position of his arm prevented him from grabbing it. 
     "Do you think you could reach if I got you close enough to the wall?"  Mac asked as he pulled his arm back in.  The humanoid huffed and moved his hand a few bars closer, trying to hop over.  Mac scooted over to let him get as close as possible.  The being stretched his arm through the bars and managed to snatch the metal ring and bring it into the cell. 
     "Nice," Mac took the key ring and slowly moved a little closer to the large metal lock, the humanoid holding onto him with both hands since he couldn't reach the bars very well. 
     "Watch the grip," Mac told him.  "You're going to break my shoulder if you hold on too tight."  The being loosened his grip, but leaned more heavily on Mac until he was able to grip one of the cell bars again.  The first couple of keys didn't fit into the lock, but the third turned and the cell door swung open.