Alt Shift

Chapter 7 - A Tempest Brews

I awoke in an unfamiliar room and felt rather cramped in as it was a little pushed for space. I found myself lying on top of a futon, wooden slats poking out either side of the blue mattress, duvet and pillow. The bed was surrounded by lots of the things from my room, my laptop was there, as was the brand new PC, my Xbox, e-reader, printer, a few of my more valued books, a pile of CDs, headphones, mp3 player and annoyingly enough, my new bike. My first reaction was pure confusion: How did they get all my things to this room, this clearly wasn’t my bedroom, how did they know these were the things I wanted most, but mainly, where the hell was I?

I got up, stepped over and around my things and tried the door to no avail as it was locked from the outside, so I was obviously the prisoner of whoever brought me here since this room didn’t have any windows either, although it did have the feeling of natural lighting rather than harsh artificial lights. Looking around the room I saw a few basic components, an empty desk, a desk chair, bean bag chairs (yes!), a set of drawers and a wardrobe.

Damn, I thought, do they have my clothes too? I opened the wardrobe, and sure enough lots of my everyday clothes were in there but strangely enough the wardrobe also had a few strange outfits, like a lightly padded black full body suit. What on Earth was that for?

I collapsed onto the bean bags to try and formulate some kind of escape plan but before I could come up with anything I heard a knock on the door followed by someone tentatively saying “You awake yet Mike?” I couldn’t quite place the voice, it didn’t sound feminine yet it had a softness to it that I couldn’t make sense of.

“Umm... Yes?” I replied cautiously to the unknown voice.

“Good, cos I’m coming in, I’ll expect you have some questions about all this. You dressed yet sleepyhead?” The voice sounded playful this time, like it was teasing me.

“Yes I do have a lot of questions, for a start, who are you? And of course I’m dressed, I’m wearing the same clothes as when I was kidnapped. At least I assume that’s what happened.”

“That’s a shame; I was hoping to catch you at an opportune moment. I’m Tempest by the way,” he said as he opened the door to reveal a fairly well dressed boy about my age, a little taller but just as thin me. The first thing that grabbed my attention was his bright yellow shirt bearing pink typography saying “This Is Me.”, which may or may not have set up my mind set for the rest of his appearance , but anyway. He had fairly short, brown, feathered  hair with a bit of a spiked up fringe, leaving his ears exposed, which was probably to show off his onyx studded earring on his left ear, which he was currently fiddling with awkwardly until I realised I was just staring at him.

“So, do I pass?” He said jokingly, spreading his arms to the side slightly with a little flair.

“Ummm... You have nice... eyes?” I suggested, which wasn’t entirely a lie, they were a shocking light blue.

“Glad you think so,” he said as he sprang over to me and sat on the bean bag next to me. “What do you want to know first?”

“Are you really Tempest? I thought you were a girl, no offence intended.” I said, trying to begin the questions on a light note to lower his guard.

Cheerily he replied without once breaking a smile, “Yep, my username is Tempest, no worries I’m not offended, in fact I’m used to that one.”

“Okay then, do you mind if I ask what your real name is?” I asked cautiously.

“Haha, I can’t tell you yet, not until we can trust you.” He announced, giving me a sly wink.

“Who’s we?”

“Oh come on, I thought you figured that one out already. ‘We’ are Zerco, and more specifically I work for the advanced technology department. To think, I used to be an intern.” He said and chuckled a little with his last comment.

“Right. So why am I here and why are my last memories of me falling unconscious in a corner shop?”

“Well, I think the Director would rather tell you why you are here, and those memories are because you said no, but then went nosing around. I wasn’t too pleased with it, but need’s must as they say.”

“So I was kidnapped because I said no? That’s just not right. I’ve heard of pushy businesses but this takes the biscuit. How long was I asleep for anyway?”

After a pause Tempest replied, “...2 days.”

“WHAT? Why haven’t my parents tried to find me, is there no missing persons report or anything?” I said, my voice rising from the shock of this news.

“Mike, please calm down? Your parents know you are here, they signed the contract.”

“What contract?” I asked as desperation consumed me.

“Well, you know that PC you got for your birthday that was really awesome,” he said pointing to it on the other side of the room. I nodded,, so he continued, “How much do you think that costs? It’s really high spec, yeah? Your parents couldn’t afford it, and Zerco wanted your talents, so they offered your parents a deal they couldn’t refuse. Zerco would pay for the PC so long as you came to work for their tech department. Zerco promised to give you accommodation at the site along with unique job training. Since you dropped out of college, your parents were worried about you, so they saw this as a brilliant chance for your future. Don’t blame them Mike, they had your best interests at heart.”

“I don’t blame them, you’re right about how they thought. But why did you have to freakin’ kidnap me? Surely you could have just explained all this to me?” I said, as I felt depressed that I was sealed into this.

“Surprisingly enough the Director thought this was the safest course of action.” Tempest stated, whilst shrugging his shoulders earnestly. “Speaking of which, I think we should go see him now you’re awake and responsive.”

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Sorry this took so long to upload, just haven't written in the past few days.

Thoughts on what Tempest's name should be?

I am seriously not looking forward to writing the meeting with the director XD

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, vote, comment, blah blah blah, this is the part where he kills you. (PORTAL 2 REFERENCES, LOVE 'EM)

See ya next chapter!