Sam opened her heavy eyes and squinted at the bright light. She let out a moan and shielded her eyes until they adjusted to the light. She slowly sat up and looked around. Martin, Vivian and Danny were lying still on the floor, and Jack was slowly getting up and stretching.
"What happened?" He yawned, "Hey guys, wake up.
"I'm up, I'm up," Danny moaned as he rubbed his eyes and stretched.
Martin opened his eyes and blinked a few times before lifting himself up into a chair.
"Hey Viv, nap times over", Danny smirked, nudging Vivian who was swatting Danny's hand away.
"Sam, you're bleeding," Martin said worried as he noticed the blood on her head.
"I'm okay. I just bumped it on the table, that's all," Sam explained.
Martin moved closer to inspect Sam's head., it was only a small gash on her forehead but it looked deep and Martin was worried.
"I'll go get the first aid kit," said Martin, getting to his feet.
"No, honestly I'm fine," Sam protested, not wanting to make a big fuss over nothing.
Martin gave her an "I'm getting the kit no matter what you say" look and left.
"So what time is it?" Danny asked, running a hand through his hair.
Vivian looked at her watch and replied, "10:17 am"
"Whoa. Does anyone know what happened here," Danny asked everyone.
"Well," Jack said walking across the room, " I'm not rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure the five of us fainted.
"Na-uh," Sam said shaking her head but wincing in pain, "Martin and I saw Dave and Wendy faint before you did Viv"
Martin returned with the first aid kit in his hand.
"Uh, I think the power's gone out," Martin informed, "None of the lights will turn on"
"No way, seriously?" Vivian asked.
Sam picked up a phone and brought it to her ear.
"Phone's are dead," She choked out, shivers running down her spine.
Danny ran to the elevators and pressed the button. Nothing happened. He pressed it again and again but nothing happened.
"Damn it," he yelled in frustration.
"Relax," Martin said calmly, tending to Sam's head," We can use the side stairs"
"Where'd you learn to be such a good nurse," Sam teased as Martin cleaned up her cut and covered it with a bandage.
"I'm full of surprises," Martin said cheekily.
"Thanks," Sam said getting up and giving Martin a sweet smile.
"So," Jack said," The power's out, the phones are dead, and someone's messing with the coffee"
"Want me to go check the power box?" Danny asked.
"Sure. But I don't want anyone to be alone right now. Take Sam with you. This guy might still be here," Jack informed.
"Sure. C'mon Sam," Danny called.
"Yep," she replied and the two walked out the door to the side stairs.
"There's gotta be a million camera's in this building, we should've got at least something on tape," Martin informed.
"You're right. Take Vivian and go up to the security room," Jack ordered.
Martin nodded and thought for a moment before asking, "Uh, what about you?"
"Excuse me"
"You said no one should be by themselves, what about you?" Martin repeated nervously.
"I think I'll be fine by myself but thanks for the concern," Jack replied and sat down at the table tidying papers.
Martin didn't move a muscle. He just stood staring at Jack with suspicious eyes. Jack felt eyes on him and looked up to see Martin staring at him.
"Is there anything else?" Jack asked gruffly.
"No, nothing" Martin said finally, and followed Vivian out the door.
"Why does this building have to have so many stairs?" Danny complained as he and Sam walked down another flight of stairs.
"Stop complaining, exercise is good for you," Sam teased.
"So what's up with you and Martin?" Danny asked cheekily.
"What? Danny I have no idea-"
"Sam you can quit pretending. I've seen the way you act around each other, the way you look at each other"
"Oh. Well then yeah, we're together"
"Ok, that's cool. I just can't believe you choose white collar boy over me"
Sam chuckled.
"I can't explain what I feel for Martin, it's… it's different than I've ever felt before"
"Does he make you happy"
"yeah"
"Then I'm happy for you. Cos you know all I want is for you to be happy"
"Thanks"
"And you should know, for when you get hitched, I throw great bachelor pa-"
"Wait!" Sam stopped walking.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Did you hear that?" Sam whispered, looking in all directions.
"Hear what?" Danny mock-whispered back.
"That noise. I think it came from up there," Sam whispered, pointing up the stairs.
"Sam it was nothing," Danny said reassuringly and continued walking.
"Do you have your gun on you?" Sam asked seriously.
"No. Relax would ya," Danny replied.
When they got to the first floor they went to the main entrance to get outside.
Danny pulled on the door but it was locked.
"Use your key," Sam whispered.
"Sam stop whispering," Danny ordered as he fished around in his pocket for the main entrance door key.
He inserted the key into the lock but it wouldn't turn. The door was scratched and damaged around the lock.
"Sam," Danny said letting out a shaky breath, "Someone's changed the lock. We can't get out"
"So Vivian," Martin said as they climbed up the stairs, "How long have you known Jack"
Vivian looked at him curiously.
"A while," she replied, "Why?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Martin replied. He opened the door and walked into the security room. There were no windows so the room was pretty dark. The monitors were off which was weird because they had back up electricity.
Andy, who was sitting in front of the monitors, had his head hunched over. Martin approached, lifted his head up, and saw that his throat had been slashed.
"Oh God," Martin whispered, raising his hand to his mouth.
Back on the 4th floor, Danny and Sam came running through the door.
"Jack, Jack someone changed the locks, we're trapped," Sam said panicking.
Seconds later Martin and Vivian came running.
"Jack Andy's throat was slashed," Vivian said shakily and out of breath.
Jack just stood, looking at the white board, which had been covered with a cloth earlier.
"What are yo-" Danny lost his voice as he saw what was on the board. Everyone was looking at the board, too shocked to speak.
There were pictures of Jack, Vivian, Danny, Sam and Martin stuck on the board. And beneath them was a timeline leading up to their day of disappearance.
