I pull my head away, trying to put space between me and the leering person. The fingers gripping my arm keep me in place, no matter how I twist and turn.
I can’t tell how many people surround me in the darkness, but I can count at least four hands clamped on my arms.
I call out, trying to seem braver than I feel, “Who are you?”
My question is met with a low chuckle. The leering face moves closer, so that I can see in clearer detail. Icy fear pierces my throat.
It’s a boy.
They’re dangerous. That’s the reason we aren’t raised or allowed to socialize together. I’ve never seen one before, and I’m thankful for that. They’ve caused many wars and are ruled by greed.
I may as well be dead, standing next to a boy.
The boy catches the fear in my eyes, cackling again, “I, my dear, am what everyone calls The Distress.”
The name alone sends chills down my spine. Is that a nickname he gave himself or just what people have taken to calling him?
The Distress continues, “I am your worst nightmare, here in the Unknown. You haven’t heard of me or my gang?”
I slowly shake my head, unsure of that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
The Distress growls, “Why not? Tooth. You said that the rumors were spreading well.”
Someone behind me clutching my arm, most likely ‘Tooth’, stutters, “I thought they were.” His words come out slurred and muffled.
Before I can dwell on his strange speech, The Distress demands, “Can you explain, then, how this girl doesn’t know who I am?”
I quickly explain, “I just got here, only a couple of minutes ago.”
The Distress’s face turns sour, “When you address me, you will call me sir.”
I press my lips together but don’t say anything more.
The Distress leans forward, his nose inches from mine as he snarls, “You will call me sir.”
I glare into his eyes, “Sorry. Sir.”
The Distress backs away, becoming only a silhouette, “You will call me that until your own disappearance.”
I question, “Um…disappearance?”
Even though my heart pounds out of my chest, I try to act as nonchalant as possible. I can’t let them know that I’m afraid. I don’t know what these people want from me, but I need to make myself appear brave. Besides, they’re men. They are certainly dangerous.
I don’t want to live simply because of my own cowardice. I want to live because of my own strength.
“You are in the Unknown for a certain amount of time, you see. The length is different for everybody. There’s no way of telling time in the Unknown, so we couldn’t even give you a basic estimation of your time of suffering.”
“How long have you been here?”
“I already told you, there’s no way of telling time here.”
“I know, but just take a guess. How many hours or days?”
The Distress grins, “Here’s what you don’t seem to understand. This is the Unknown. Here, time simply doesn’t exist. Everything you thought was essential to your survival in the Complex no longer exists. There are no manners or quiet obedience here. If you want to survive, you need to fight back and fight for you and only you. You can’t think about morals or anyone else here. You know those nicely scheduled and on time meals of the Complex?”
He waits for my nod. I hesitantly bob my head.
“Even those don’t exist here. You have to search through the hallways. You’ll find little pieces of bread or a cracker littered here and there. Hygiene, time, Teachings, kindness and courtesy, none of the matters here. None of that even exists here. The only thing that is important is your simple survival. Once again, I welcome you to the Unknown.”
The hallway is completely silent after his little speech. Every single word makes me want to shudder. This is my future until I ‘disappear’. My death?
Everyone is too affected by The Distress’s chilling lecture to focus completely on me. I take advantage of the moment, jerking away quickly.
I slip and twist through their surprised fingers, taking off in a run. I hear their pounding footsteps behind me, but it only encourages me to sprint faster. I turn down the nearest corner, darting across the hall and turning to another one.
I take twists and corners in the maze of halls, going anywhere but away.
The footsteps behind me slowly fade, confused shouts ringing out behind me.
Even after I hear nothing, I force myself to continue running. I want to put as much distance between as us possible. Being attacked by a boy is one of the worst things that could happen to me.
Maybe that’s who attacked me earlier, when I was tied up and blindfolded. They certainly seemed violent enough.
My breath is too short to continue running. I keep going in long, quick strides.
I turn down every hallway I come across, hoping to make myself completely untraceable.
My fast pace eventually slows with my pulse. I haven’t heard anything for several hallways. I think I’ve lost them for now.
My stomach begins to ache with hunger. My thoughts click back to what The Distress explained. There are no real, perfectly timed meals here. There’s only food scattered across the floor that you have to find.
My eyes shift to the floor. The entire sheet of steel beneath my feet is a pale white, glowing to give the only source of white. My feet are nothing but dark silhouettes against the light. The food shouldn’t be too hard to find. The black shadows of it lying on the floor should stand out against the white.
I haven’t noticed anything yet.
I turn a few corners and see a small, dark shape placed on the floor. I run forward and discover a small vial, as long as my pointer finger to my wrist, only slightly thicker than my thumb. It’s full of water.
I rip off a rubber cap topping the vial and tip my head back. The water splashes inside my mouth. I gratefully swallow, running out of water too soon.
My stomach still rumbles.
I stride down the hallway, another black shadow registering in my vision. I hurry forward, tripping over my own feet in my haste.
It’s less than a handful of thin crackers. I quickly stuff them in my mouth, my stomach still begging for more food.
Is this all there is to my future until my ‘disappearance’?
What happened to Christina and Grace? Did they abandon me on purpose?
Light, tapping footsteps echo down the hall.
It can’t be The Distress. Their footsteps are pounding, demanding attention. These are the footsteps of someone who is trying to be undetected.
Grace mentioned something about joining alliances with someone, to protect each other. I guess you must need to help each other against The Distress or whatever attacked me when I first arrived.
Maybe I can meet up with them and talk about the alliance. Even though this is better than being captured by The Distress, the hallways seem ominously dark. I would like some type of friendly company.
I wait as the footsteps become louder.
I freeze in horror. What if it’s someone from working with The Distress? What if they were sent after me? What if I’m standing completely vulnerable and still while I’m about to be captured?
Should I run? What if it is just a normal person who was sent to the Unknown and would be willing to help me? Maybe it’s Grace or Christina? What if it’s Marie?
I force myself to wait. If it’s someone from The Distress, I might be able to fight them off or run away again. I can tell by the footsteps that it’s only one person.
A figure rounds the corner, barreling towards me quickly. I can’t tell from their silhouette whether they’re friendly or not. What are they running from?
I take a risk and say, “Um? Hello? Who are you?”
A high-pitched inhumane screech that sends shudders racking through my body is my response.
My brain screams for my feet to move, to run, to get away from whatever this thing is that can make that type of noise. My feet freeze, glued to the ground. They manage a hesitant shuffle, before freezing up again.
The thing runs straight at me, not slowing its pace in the slightest. The closer it gets the more details I can see. The bare feet running against the glowing floor appear to be a pale, pale white.
My brain finally gets a clear message to my feet, my legs bursting forward, away from the creature. I sprint in the opposite direction. The thing lets out another earsplitting screech.
My arms pump, my lungs already low on breath. We didn’t get much exercise in the Complex, certainly no running. We just spent one agonizing hour slowly walking around the track during Free Hour.
This is my third time today where I’ve worked myself up to a full out sprint.
Sharp fingernails grip my shoulders, throwing my forward. My left foot catches the back of my right leg, sending me tumbling down.
The second my body slams to the ground, I twist away from the creature’s tight grip. I realize it’s the same thing that attacked me earlier today.
I roll, the creature still gripping my shoulders. I pin it down to the ground, staring at in terror as the light from the floor lights up the thing’s features.
It’s a young girl, maybe only a nine or ten year. Her hair is snarled around her neck, thin, wispy, and entirely white.
Her skin is freezing beneath my fingertips, numbing my fingers. Where my nails have pierced her skin, thick, dark blood oozes slowly out. She opens her mouth in another chilling shriek, revealing pointed teeth.
She twists beneath me. I’m caught off guard, completely unfocused by her horrifying appearance.
She yanks my head to the floor, pinning me to the ground with her bony, sharp knees on my stomach.
The glow lights up her eyes, a scream of my own escaping my mouth. Her eyes are entirely white, no pupil inside. Just blank slates of paleness.
I jam my knees into her back, shoving her off of me with my hands. She doesn’t show any type of reaction to the pain, but loses her balance. I slip out from under her, climbing quickly to my feet. I kick her in the stomach, trying to keep my eyes away from her petrifying appearance.
She screeches one final time before scampering away, disappearing into the darkness of the hall.
Tears slip out of my eyes from fear and pure exhaustion. What have I done? Why did I have to get myself sent to the Unknown? I lean against the wall, trying to steady my breathing.
I freeze as slow, mocking applause rings out into the hall.
I scan the thin hallway, trying to locate the source of the noise. I can make out nothing in the darkness.
Someone moves out into the light. They call out in an arrogant, sickly sweet voice, “Great job with the Thing. Truly impressive.”
That’s the second time I’ve heard someone refer to those creatures as ‘the Things’. Grace and now this person,that must be what they are calling them.
I warily call out, “Who is it? Who are you?”
A laugh rings out, “Oh my, did you really think you’d escape The Distress so easily?”