Mirror

Kidnapped

Waking up was slow. The scent and feel of my straw mat drifted in and out of awareness between what I eventually recognized as dusty cement. When I finally managed to orient myself completely in Earthly reality, the intense throbbing in my head was almost enough to make me retreat back to Mirror. Except that I had to find Kya and that thought was enough to break out of my half-conscious state.

I threw a panicked glance over both shoulders before catching sight of her right beside me, not moving. She lay on her side, bound by smooth rope at the wrists. I reached out to her and found myself similarly restricted with my arms behind my back. Twisting my arms against the ropes only served to pop the joints in my wrists and elbows. I threw my head back, breathing hard from the pain, and then realized that was the only sound in the room. Nobody else was here- if we were in real danger, it wasn't immediate.

Feeling suddenly calmer, I lowered my gaze to Kya and watched the steady rise and fall of her breathing. When I had watched long enough to be absolutely certain she was unharmed I let my attention wander to our surroundings.

Between enormous piles of white, black, and gray metal junk I could see gray brick walls standing a good six or seven meters high in all directions. There was nothing but sky above me and the sunbeams, peaking through the overcast, highlighted clouds of dust lingering in the air. A few of the junk piles contained easily identifiable objects: a washer and dryer, a wing from a small plane, long rods of rebar. Others just seemed a mess of metallic ribbon, curly and fine. They looked like a ton of fun, those soft masses of metal twine, but more likely it would have been like jumping into a pile of razor blades. I shivered at the thought. It would be a slow death.

On the other hand, I realized after a few long minutes doing nothing productive, razor blades were pretty handy with cutting rope and the ones that rendered me less mobile than I liked were not overly thick, just too tough to break by tension force alone.

It didn't take long. The metal ribbons were tougher than they looked and as sharp as I'd hoped. The moment I was free I shredded Kya's too but even as I worked away at them, occasionally shaking her with the effort, she did not wake.

I allowed myself a moment to regain my balance as waves of fear pulsed through my veins. Kya was still breathing, though, and her skin still had a healthy flush to it, so I convinced myself it was okay to leave her for a moment while I tried to get a better view.

Some junk piles reached well over the brick wall. I chose the one that looked most stable- though with my ignorance in all things climbing I might as well have skipped that step- and began scaling old playground slides and tin roofing. All the while I prayed that a fall would result in only one missing hand or foot. I wasn't sure how well I'd cope with losing both.

Long after I'd reached a point where avoiding downward glances became an absolute necessity, yet way before I reached the top of the brick wall, the creaking of a rusted door sounded from somewhere within the walls. I clung hard to a car shell and peeked at the opposite wall towards the ground. A man had come through a door I had failed to notice. I estimated I was perched a good three meters above his head and immediately began planning a quick, albeit precarious, route to the ground. I couldn't let him get too close to Kya.