The swift kick from behind connected violently with the stranger's genitals, bringing the medium-built young man down on all fours. Without a moment's hesitation, Ruth charged at the open door and leapt over the stranger's back into the other room. The landing was perfect, but her speed was dismal, and the iron grip around her ankle dropped her to the floor. Luckily for Ruth, she had armed herself, but unfortunately for her, all she could find in the dark room was an unopened box of soap. Twisting around quickly on the floor, she used the momentum to launch the small package at her assumed captor. A sharp point jabbed into his eyelid, and the man recoiled in pain with a curse. Ruth, released from the grip, scrambled quickly to the door to her right, marked with a "2" on the surface, and pushed. It would not budge. She pulled on the sliding bar, but to no avail. She pounded on the door with both fists and cried for help.
"Stop that," the man demanded. He sat on the floor leaning against the doorframe with his hands shielding his eye. She persisted. "Stop! They'll either ignore you or come for you."
She turned to face him then. "Who are you? What do you want from me? What is this place?"
He sighed. "I don't want shit from you. Whoever put me here probably did the same to you." He stood up slowly and walked towards her.
"Stay where you are," she ordered.
He stopped, and raised his hands to chest-level. "I just told you I ain't responsible for none of this."
"I don't know you. You could be lying."
He held his hands up. "Fine. Whatever. I'm Huck." She chose not to offer hers, and he did not ask for it. "Have you seen anyone else in here? I was with someone last, and I don't know if she was taken, too." Ruth shook her head. "Well, I'm gonna look for her and a way out. Is there a light in the other room?"
"I don't know. By the door, probably."
"Hold this open for me while I go flick it on?"
Ruth considered the risks of doing so. Her strikes against him likely aggravated him more than they did damage, and there was nowhere to run to if things took a dire turn, so she ultimately nodded, and walked over cautiously. As she approached, she bent down to retrieve the soap.
"That thing hurt, yo," he remarked, "but I'll let it slide. Are you a nurse?"
The truth was close enough. The scrubs she wore held more weight than her words anyway at this point. "Yeah."
"You sure know your vital spots."
"Those aren't the only ones I know."
Ruth held the door open as Huck stepped slowly into the darkness, his eyes darting around cautiously. With a click, a singular light bulb lit up gradually to a dim peak, suspended on a wire from the centre of the ceiling.
This room was identical to the previous in dimension, construction, and lack of decoration, but the contents were vastly different. There were two rows of shelving units at the centre of the room with three mismatched units in each row, all facing inwards. They were cabinets, stacked drawers, and wardrobes constructed of different materials but all painted black with the same brush in careless strokes. It was a poor attempt at interior design, if at all. Huck quickly rummaged through the contents for a practical weapon, but all he could find were clothes of different styles and sizes, bathroom essentials, and other miscellaneous items. At best, he could arm himself with shaving razors, but the blades were dangerous to wield on their own, and at such a close range, Huck would much rather just throw punches.
He then proceeded to open the door on the wall to their left. The door through which he entered was marked "1" from this side, the one he now attempted to open was marked "5", and the final door was marked "7". Each of these doors had the same locking mechanism, and Huck could not open "5" even though the sliding rod was out of the wall socket.
"Looks like this whole side is inaccessible," Ruth observed. The door marked "5" faced the same direction as the door marked "2" in the previous room.
"How about this door?" Huck asked as he walked towards the last door in the room, which was opposite door "1".
"I didn't try," she replied after a moment's hesitation.
He picked up on the delay, and stared at her. "Something you're not telling me?"
"I don't know what's on the other side."
Huck's brows furrowed. He sensed that something was amiss. "You're hiding something."
"I honestly don't know what's on the other side," Ruth insisted.
"Listen, uh..." He paused, but Ruth would not fill in the blank for him. "Listen, 'you', I get that you don't trust me. I don't trust you either. But if there's something behind this door, you have nowhere to hide from it."
But she did, and that's why Ruth stayed by the unlocked door. At the same time, that would be a terrible predicament for her, being trapped in a room with nothing but an old bed.
"Someone tried to open the door from the other side earlier," she finally revealed.
"Who was it?" Huck asked.
"It was locked from this side, so they couldn't get through."
"Maybe they're trapped like us, and tried to open it."
"Or they were making sure it was locked."
"Only one way to find out."
Ruth kept the other door open and stood in the doorway. Huck looked back at her, and they exchanged a nod. Huck slid the bar out of the wall cavity, and the door burst open with a heavy kick.
