Chapter Two - Hello and Welcome
Co-written with Renegade Vic
The weight of the word chilled the room even more, the air thick with fear and horrified realization.
Kidnap. That's what this was. Someone had kidnapped them all and thrown them into this room. That was why they couldn't remember anything.
"We were all…all drugged," Ava said quietly. "God…"
"He spent nine years in that room!" the man in the white shirt continued, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.
"Nine years?" Xavier spat. "Man, that's nothin'. Get over it!"
"What do you mean 'get over it'?" Laura cried, the first strong sentence she'd spoken since her awakening. Ava glanced over her shoulder and saw that the other woman's eyes were filled with tears. Past panic and right into misery. Typical behaviour of a kidnapped person.
"I mean, stop bitching about it and let's do something!" Xavier was getting panicked, too- it wasn't difficult for Mike to see. The prospect of being stuck in the room, with no hope for reprieve or rescue, was definitely bleak.
Only if they let it be.
"I think we should all just calm down-" Jonas began, but Addison cut him off abruptly.
"Shut up! Shut up! I hear something…" she murmured, head pressed against the door. The wild-eyed corporate greaseball- since he didn't seem to have a name, all Mike had to identify him by was a description- pushed up against the door, craning his neck to listen closer.
"What is it?" he asked, in all likelihood too freaked-out by his own paranoia to listen closely enough to hear anything, anyway. Stupid fucker….Mike lamented. Whoever this other guy was, he was about as useful- and had about as many redeeming qualities- as a crushed tin can.
"It's ticking. I can hear ticking," Addison replied, visibly recoiling from Xavier as he approached the door as well.
"Ticking? Like a b-" A sharp groan cut Mike's cold attempt at banter abruptly short. The girl in the blue had woken up- and was having what looked like a nervous breakdown, clutching at her head as if something were latched onto it.
Aw, shit. She was a mental case- and didn't react well to whatever their captor had used to drug her, either, if the sudden coughing-up of what looked like stomach acid were any indicator at all.
Jonas was the first to move over to her, his hands clamping down on the woman's shoulders as she backed into the wall, her breathing heavy and labored.
She screamed as he touched her, her eyes wide and terrified, but she didn't try to fight him off. Perhaps the blood had not totally returned to her limbs yet.
"Hey, hey! Calm down, calm down. What's your name?"
She seemed to managed to get a hold of herself for long enough to speak, her voice so quiet Ava had to strain to listen.
"Amanda…" She whimpered. "Where am I?"
Another question, albeit the same one they'd be asking themselves since they got here. Ava wanted to say something, but she held her tongue, having learned from experience that it was unwise to aggravate someone in the middle of a panic attack, not to mention when there were drugs in their system.
"I don't know. Nobody knows. We all just woke up here like you."
There was a pause, the look on the woman's face morphing into one of absolute pain and horror.
"NO!" She smashed her fists against the wall with a shriek of agony, tearing down the torn curtain and throwing it down. "NO! NO!"
Panic. Anger. Misery. On this chick, it was a potent if not deadly combination. She struck Jonas in the chest as he attempted to calm her and fell to her knees, beating at the sides of the safe and tugging hard on the handle, sheer desperation showing in her face.
"FUCK!"
"What?" Jonas and Mike asked simultaneously, the former watching her frantic searching with alarm as the latter sidestepped Amanda's search routine. She stopped in front of the bricked-in fireplace, pulling a ruined and indecipherable painting from its hanging above the mantle. "What are you lookin' for?"
Amanda didn't respond- merely continued her desperate exploration of the room, kneeling in front of the fireplace and testing the bricks. A pang of embarrassment struck Mike as he realized he had been over the same spot already, but had found nothing- a pang which intensified as he watched Amanda pull bricks aside and unearth a tape player.
She was a lot smarter than her panic attack had suggested- if she could keep her head on right, she might be their ticket out. It was a pretty big 'if' though…
Jonas clasped his hands on her shoulders again, drawing back slightly as Amanda whirled to face him.
"What is this?" he half-demanded, gesturing to the tape player; after a moment's hesitation, Amanda replied, her voice still shaky, but under infinitely-better control than she had been moments before.
"Everything you need to know is on this…" She thumbed the "Play" button down.
"Greetings and welcome…" the voice on the tape rasped. "I trust that you are all wondering where you are. I can assure you that, while your location is not important, what these walls offer you IS important. Salvation, if you earn it."
Mike felt the blood in his veins chill suddenly as their captor's message continued to play. This sounded way too familiar…
News reports. The entire city had been in an uproar about some 'Jigsaw Killer' who was abducting people and killing them off in all sorts of inventive and brutal ways, but so far, he- or she, or they- hadn't been found. It was the stuff of horror movies…and that fact did not sit well with Mike. He had seen enough such movies to know just what the odds of surviving were.
Not fucking much, especially if you didn't think.
"Three hours from now, the door to this house will open. Unfortunately, you only have…two hours…to live." Ava felt all the blood rush from her face and her body began to shake. It was Jigsaw. It had to be. There was no other fuckin explanation. This is what he did. Kidnap, 'test'…and kill.
"Right now, you are breathing in a deadly nerve agent," the voice on the tape recorder continued. "You've been breathing it since you arrived here. Those of you familiar with the Tokyo Subway attacks will know its devastating effects on the human body. The only way to overcome it…and walk out that door…is to find an antidote."
Ava's heart leapt into her throat, a mixture of terror and joy coursing through her. There was an antidote? "Several are hidden around this house. One is inside the safe in front of you. You all possess the combination to the safe. Think hard…the numbers are in the back of your mind. The clues to their order can be found…over the rainbow.
"Once you realize what you all have in common, you will gain a better understanding…of why you're here. X marks the spot for that clue, so look carefully. Let the game begin."
Laura was crying now. Amanda was quaking, her breath coming out in short gasps as she white knuckled the device in her hand. The other occupants of the room seemed confused, scared, angry or all three.
Jonas grabbed the tape, as Amanda began to slide down the wall.
"What does he mean, 'gas'?" Addison demanded.
"And how did you know where to find this?"
Amanda's only response was a whimper as she curled up against the wall.
"This is bullshit," Xavier muttered, snatching up a small, white envelope that had apparently fallen out of the same alcove the tape player had come from and tearing it open. "Do not attempt to use this key on the door to this room," he read aloud, holding a small key between his fingers and examining it. "Fuck this, man." He strode toward the door, followed closely by the paranoid-greaseball-guy, who echoed his sentiment.
"Yeah, fuck this! That's a good idea." Mike's stomach flopped over itself in disgust. Fucking brown-nose. Whoever the guy was, there were infinite copies of him running around in the world, all slaves to their cubicles with the same meaningless lives, just as interchangeable as cogs in a machine.
"No! No, that's not a good idea," Amanda protested. Mike found himself agreeing with her- there hadn't been an explanation as to what would happen, but he had a sinking feeling it would be something tremendously bad. What if Xavier got them all locked in the room, permanently? The thought of starving to death, or dying of dehydration, was not a pleasant one to Mike- even if the gas was just a ruse. There was no way he was dying because of Xavier's stupidity.
"So what are we gonna do, huh? Sit here?" The drug dealer seemed hell-bent on doing things his way, heedless of reason.
"The note said not to use the key…" Amanda warned, burying her face in her knees.
"Who gives a shit about the note, all right? This is all a big goddamn joke- and I'm about to end it."
"Dumbass…" Mike muttered to himself, watching with mounting dread as Xavier fumbled with the key for a moment before sliding it into the lock. He turned the key-
-BANG. The unmistakable sound of gunfire rang out, its source unknown- until the greasy-looking man in the white shirt slumped away from the door, his eye socket all-but hollowed out by the force of the bullet that had blasted clear through his skull.
"FUCK!" Mike shouted, realizing with disgust that the sudden warm wetness that streaked down his torso was, in fact, brain matter from the now-dead man who lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
Ava screamed, stumbling away from the slimeball's corpse, her face splattered with his blood. Laura batted at her chest, her upper torso covered in blood and bits of brain, howling in terror.
"FUCK! Fuck, he's fucking dead!" Ava was moments away from a full blown panic attack, her hands furiously wiping away the blood, inadvertently smearing it over her nose and mouth in an attempt to rid herself of it.
Jonas seized Amanda by the arms and slammed her back into the wall, still looking over his shoulder at the corpse on the floor.
"You better start talkin' right now!" he demanded, turning to her. "What is this?"
"It's a game…" Amanda whimpered, her voice shrill.
"Ain't no fuckin' game!" Jonas shouted. He was quickly losing whatever was left of his patience to panic. "My man just got his head blown off!"
"He's testing us!"
"Who's testing us?!"
"Jigsaw…"
So it really was him. The notorious murderer the police had been following since the discoveries of his 'victims', the most recent of which had been…fuck…she couldn't remember. She'd stopped watching the news after Lawrence disappeared.
"Who the fuck is Jigsaw?" Jonas shook Amanda, receiving no response.
"Don't you watch the fucking news?" Addison snapped, her hands curled into fists at her sides.
"No, who is he?"
"He's a serial killer," Ava said, her voice sounding cold and hollow to her own ears. Her defence mechanism had begun to kick in…
"No, he's not!" Amanda had moved out of Jonas' crushing 'embrace' and now stood next to the safe. And she was glaring at Ava. "He's testing us. He wants us to survive this. But you have to play by the fucking rules!"
There was a momentary pause, her words impacting the group hard. Testing…rules…serial killer…Jigsaw…
"I'ma ask you again. How do you know all this?" Jonas asked.
Amanda turned, looking at the ground. Her eyes were misty, as if she was remembering something that she desperately wanted to forget, something that still kept her awake some nights.
Something terrible.
"Because I've played before…"
Mike could hardly believe his ears. Amanda had done this before? How did it- any of it- work? What did she have to do? Could they do it again? The more questions he found himself wanting to ask, the less he knew which one to start with.
"Whoa, whoa. Back up. You did this before?" It was as good a start as any. Amanda nodded in response, backing away from both Jonas and Xavier, who seemed intent on keeping as little distance between themselves and her as possible. She wasn't going to be able to take them constantly breathing down her neck- and she was now their best bet at surviving at all.
"He…he helped me," Amanda stammered, fear and uncertainty rising in her voice. Mike stepped toward her- and then took another half-step forward, placing himself directly between Amanda and her newfound "followers."
"Hold it. You're freakin' her out, getting up close and personal like that," he warned, shifting his gaze from Jonas to Xavier and back again. "I get it's important to know what she knows, but scarin' the shit out of her isn't gonna help anyone." Jonas nodded, taking a step back; Xavier glared, a sullen scowl forming on his face.
"Yeah? And who made you mister high-and-mighty, punk? If you know what's good for you-" Xavier jabbed his finger into Mike's chest.
Whatever happened, it was over before it began. One second, Mike and Xavier were staring one another down- and the next, Xavier was on his knees, his arm pinned behind his back, with Mike standing behind him, torquing the drug dealer's wrist brutally.
"What? You'll try and lord it over me 'cause you've got the muscles, meatbag? Here's a tip next time," Mike hissed, shoving Xavier to the floor and sidestepping the kick that never came. "Don't fuck with the guy who knows three different martial arts styles. I'll run rings around your sorry ass."
At least he knew, now, that Xavier was less of a threat than he had been made out to be by Dave, Mira, and the others. He was all force, with no skill other than brutality- and Hapkido, Judo, and Aikido all emphasized ways to bring brutes like Xavier down without breaking a sweat.
"You know your shit, kid. What's your name again?" Jonas asked, his voice betraying obvious wariness.
"I'm Mike. Nothin' fancy to it."
"Remind me not to fuck with you on the outside, then, Mike."
Even in the room they'd most likely die in, the male testosterone levels had already skyrocketed before exploding like a firework. Ava groaned, running a hand over her face in exasperation.
"Can we not fucking do this, please?" she shot at Mike, who was still glaring at Xavier, who had since gotten to his feet and was looking murderous. "You stupid fuckwits can beat the shit out of each other all you like, it's not gonna help, okay? We just need to figure out how to get out of here!"
Now all the attention was on her, and she was certain she wasn't imagining Xavier's hand balling into a fist. If he had been pissed before, it was nothing compared to now. He practically had steam gushing from his ears.
"She's right…" Daniel wouldn't look at anyone, but he'd spoken up at least. "Fighting's not gonna help."
Sending an appreciative look the kid's way, Ava nodded.
"And how the fuck are we meant to do that?" Addison demanded. "I think we established that the key was a fucking bad idea, so what now? Wait for Jigsaw to just open the fucking door? Is that it? Fuck that!"
The hooker was getting pissed, the colour rising in her otherwise pale cheeks but no one would rise to her bullshit. Ava had a hunch the drug lord might have, had he not been nursing the rather deep wound to his pride and glaring at Mike as though if he concentrated enough, the rocker might burst into flames.
Wishful thinking.
"Don't you fucking get it? He's testing us! He's not just putting us here to die, so the door has to fucking open!" Amanda shouted, glaring venomously at Addison.
Mike couldn't help but agree with her logic. If this was a "test," they wouldn't just have been dumped here with no way out. Something had to happen…right?
"Maybe it's just that key. Somethin' about the lock mechanism tripped the gun," Mike suggested, stepping toward the ruined couch that sat against the wall and ripping one of the cushions from its rotting frame. The fabric, weakened by age and the elements, all-but came apart in his hands. Nothing came of it- except the emaciated body of a rat that had curled into the stuffing and died. Mike kicked it aside, grateful for the steel-toed boots on his feet. He couldn't feel its weight against his foot, at least.
"Someone, help me with this. We've got to find another key, or somethin' to get that door open. Worst case scenario, we break the couch apart and use the frame to beat down one of the walls," he instructed, ripping another cushion away and searching beneath where it had been, seconds before.
Most of the others preoccupied themselves with searching along the walls for another hidden compartment of some kind, but Amanda half-shoved him aside, shredding through the remaining cushions and tossing them aside. The fact that they seemed to be on at least something of the same wavelength was reassuring to Mike; if she had survived, and he was thinking like she did, he could probably survive too.
Ava swallowed the bile that threatened to rise past her throat as she looked over the dead man dispassionately. Such a waste. A bullet to the brain was hardly the most dignified way to go, in her opinion. And so quickly. Amanda was right. They were being 'tested' for some godforsaken reason and she didn't want to think about the possible results, and the means, for passing.
She knelt on the rotten floorboard and dug her nails into the gap between two boards and attempting to yank it loose. It wouldn't budge. Gritting her teeth in irritation, Ava pulled harder, which accomplished nothing except for a new layer of grime getting under her fingernails.
She glanced over at Amanda, who was going through a decrepit looking chest, throwing torn pillows and moth-eaten blankets over her shoulder and she searched for…whatever it was they were searching for. A key? A map? A way-out?
"…you all possess the combination to the safe…"
Jonas was listening to the tape, rewinding it and listening to it again. Over and over, he did this and the sound of 'Jigsaw' calmly explaining their dire situation was beginning to get on her nerves. The serial killer's voice had an uncanny ability to make her shiver.
"…think hard…the numbers are in the back of your mind. The clues to their order can be found…"
The voice stopped as Jonas thumbed the stop button…and the heavy door began to creak. With a ticking, metallic sound, it began to open.