In the darkness your consciousness begins to stir. There could possibly be a slight crick in your neck or a pain in your back from an uncomfortable sleep. The air around you smells...different, fresh, though a bit stale, as if you've locked in a tomb, or placed underground. You hear laughter, child-like and jovial, though you feel watched.

You open your eyes and realize that you're in a dimly lit room with earthen walls and odd spindly wooden wall supports running through the walls and along the ground. There are others around you as well, strangers. You realize that the pains in your body is most likely due to the fact that you have been laying on what appears to be a slab of stone. The eight other strangers in the room also rested on beds of stone, all arranged in a perfect circle around a dais in the middle of the room that glows an eerie white.

Slowly opening his eyes, giving them a chance to adjust a bit, Zane's forehead wrinkled. Nothing around him looked familiar. A million possible reasons rushed through his head, the worst of them being he was dead. He pushed the thoughts away. There had to be a reasonable explanation as to why he woke up in a seemingly barren room with a bunch of strangers. Groggily, as if he were getting out of bed in the morning, he sat up. Though, that did surprisingly little as he felt a sharp pain climb up his back.

What had happened to him? He remembered he was studying to get into the same college his brother attends. Which he was both excited and hesitant about. Even though it was supposed to be a good college, his sibling, along with the rest of the family had gotten extraordinarily close. That made it iffy. Being together was good and all, but a teenager needs his space. He didn't know if his brother went along with the whole 'Don't take life for granted' thing, but he didn't want to find out. A different college is just the thing needs -or needed, that is if he didn't like the college. What about his parents and little sister? They would be worried sick when they found out he had vanished.

He took another look at the strangers in the same predicament as him, he was the first one up. He also noticed something weird. Something glowing. Squinting his eyes, he leans forward to get a better look at it. Better yet, he thought, it would be easier to see if he gotten up. He rushed to his feet and slowly treaded closer.

Kassidy woke suddenly, her eyes flying open to reveal that she was no longer in her home. Unnerved, she wrestled for control of her arms and legs, slowly standing to her feet. She gingerly massaged her temple as she looked around, though there wasn't much to take in. She was in a small room, with a sort of glowing platform at its center. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Kassidy was able to make out the forms of more people arranged in a circle around the chamber. Where in blazes was she, and how had she gotten here? As far as she could see, there were no entrances or exits. The girl's thoughts were interrupted as a small, rectangular piece of paper fell from her sleeve and fluttered slowly to the ground. She stooped to pick it up, her nerves gradually rising. It was a playing card, a nine of diamonds.
Kassidy stopped for a moment to calm herself and think, considering how and why she might be here. One possibility in particular stood out. Perhaps some group of fanatics mistook her illusory magic for the genuine article and kidnapped her. As she noticed that nearly all of the people in the room were her own age, though, that prospect began to seem less likely. Still, she didn't rule it out. The girl looked up and was surprised to see somebody's face glowing in the light of the dais. So, someone else was already awake.
"Hey, you! Where am I?" She demanded, as if the boy would know the answer.

His gaze at the dais was cut short by someone's voice. Presumably a girl voice. He wasn't the only one up anymore. "Uhh..." He began on reaction, "I don't know. I shortly woke up before you." He says in a geniunely innocent tone. If they were going to be locked up down here, they should at least be aquatinted with one another. He stuck his hands in his pocket. His phone came with him. He didn't take it out though. "My name is Zane. Yours?"

Startled awake by talking, Kayla immediately sat up, seconds later regretting the action as she grimaced, feeling a jarring pain in the back of her neck. Her eyes widened as she realized she was no longer in her dorm room, looking frantically from one end of the room to the next she saw that there were others in her predicament, a few of them awake, a few of them asleep, though all of them strangers to herself.

She slid her feet off of the stone slab and rested her head in her hands, quickly trying to rationally piece together how and why she was wherever she was. Was she on tv? Something like the prank shows she watched at home to unwind. Had she been kidnapped? What did she have that anyone else would want to kidnap her though. Standing up she reassessed the room, taking note that the stone slabs that she had been resting on were arranged in a circle, and that a glowing dais stood in the middle of the room.

"What the hell?" she breathed out while Zane and the other girl chatted and then she placed her hands on her hips "What kind of cult s*** is this?! I want out. Now."

Kassidy was completely dumbfounded. How this boy could think to give away his name so freely in such a situation was beyond her, and he was a fool if he expected her to do the same. Instead, she simply crossed her arms and scowled.
"What kind of cult s*** is this?! I want out. Now." The girl looked over to see that another of the strangers had awoken. Though Kassidy agreed wholeheartedly with her sentiments, her demeanor was highly unpleasant.

Pierre lay there, his eyes closed as he breathed in and out slowly. First things first, get his bearings. A cold and hard bed, damp foreign air and not a lot of light. Other, human, sounds reached his ears. No he was not alone and unless he opened his eyes, he couldn't tell if they were friend or foe. Best to keep his eyes closed for now, if only so they could adjust to the dimness of the room.

The strangest thing was perhaps that he was not restrained. He was sure the unconsciousness that he was in before he woke up was somehow connected. But why? Why would anyone abduct him? He was sitting at his computer at home. The voices grew louder, they were surprise, and general discontent. They spoke English, thankfully, but so far they seemed youthful. Another oddity, Pierre wasn't what one exactly considered young. Or maybe they were abducted for tests and they needed variety. It'd be obvious that the young ones would wake up first.

Might as well get up, the chill was starting to get to him. Opening his eyes suddenly, Pierre raised his upper body stiffly without using his arms. Aside from swiftly checking the surrounding for immediate threats, there were none, he noticed that he was in the same clothes he was wearing at home, old green forest camo pants and a white wifebeater-style undershirt. In his lap lay his Thompson Contender that he was in the middle of cleaning. It was unloaded. Picking it up, snapping the barrel together he stuffed it behind his back and slid off the slab of stone. Finally noticing the eerie glow from the centre of the room, he slowly backed away from it, looking to keep the bed he slept on between him and it. All of this was done without uttering a sound though his movement was probably noticed by the others in the room.

Jacks eyes opened, rather dazed, his vision clearing up very slowly, he looked around without moving and could tell he was not home. "What the f***?", he spoke silently. As he heard others talking in the room he sat up and felt a sharp pain in his spine "AGH damn!". He quickly realized this was no dream as he had felt pain so he looked around and there was people, strangers who had also woken from concrete beds. There was also a light in the room glowing in the center, this seemed like some cult stuff which one girl exclaimed she wanted no part of. Jack thought the same, he wanted no part in this so he looked around for an exit.

Zane frowned. "I understand if you don't trust me. For all you know I could be a serial killer." He said in a light tone, not phased at all. He turned to the other girl. "Hmm, could be a cult and we're forced to join," He started, "but, you know, we could be held hostage. Drugged and knocked unconscious. Honestly, I have no clue." In fact, that had been one of his reasons. He noticed two people also got up. One was more older then the rest. The other, apparently wanted no part in whatever is going in. He hoped the older one wasn't tight up and secretive like the people who were currently up. Or, he was being too open like this, it was a habit. Perhaps both.

Consciousness slowly started to reach Sydney. Slowly, she started to take in her surroundings. The lighting was nothing like her dorm room, the smell was completely different and the "bed" she slept on was not comfortable at all. The last one was further reinforced when she tried to move her neck, leaving a sharp pain which caused her to wince in pain for a brief moment. Hearing other human voices a small bit reassuring but not enough to make her feel safe.

When Sydney did bring her upper body upright, all she heard was the sound of people in the background shouting out of confusion. Confused herself, she retraced her steps, in an attempt to figure out what happened. Starting her day, she woke up like normal, got breakfast, went to class, then came back to study. Everything after that was a complete blur. Curling her legs in towards her, she started to think even harder. Her dark blue shirt was free of any damage, and aside from some dirt from the stone slab she slept on. No reasonable explanation came to Sydney's mind sending her further into shock.

She curled her legs in further, just noticing now her laptop bag. It had her laptop in it as well as a few pens and pencils. Pulling it close to her, she placed her head in between her knees and a slowly tears started to roll down her cheek.

Akira opened her eyes. And then closed her eyes again. It wasn't like she wasn't interested in her new location, but she still felt a bit groggy, like every time she woke up. The slab of stone she was on was a bit uncomfortable, and she heard other people as well. There was light in the few moments where she had her eyes open, but it was still dark. Either way, it didn't feel like she was kidnapped. She remembered riding her motorcycle, on a empty road where she could've seen anyone attempting something sneaky. If anything plausible, she probably died in a accident and this was the afterlife.

That seemed silly too, so she focused on resting before doing anything else.

The faint laughing that was heard before the participants in the room had woken earlier could be heard again, this time earlier. The laughter did not seem ominous, it had an innocent quality to it, though it was fairly evident that it was enjoying the present predicament of the occupants in the room.

"Whoever's out there better cut this out now!" yelled Kayla angrily at no one in particular though directed at the laughing "This ain't funny you damn sick creeps!"

The laughing did not end however, and the walls began to rumble showering dirt and small bits of stone onto everyone inside the room. Eventually an opening in the far corner of the room behind Pierre opened up. A sudden rush of fresh air from what was perceived to be outside entered the room, and the light within the room increased slightly as sunlight stretched into the room from the newly opened doorway.

"OH THANK GO- I mean," Zane had to admit he probably made the room awkward, and he could tell no one expect him to act like this, "Ask and ye shall receive." This time he said to no one in particular. His eyes were on the door. The breeze that blew in felt pleasant and the sunlight brightened the dull room. He had to wonder who was that laughing. Was the owner of that laugh responsible for gathering them? And why? This was a mess. Almost absentmindedly he makes his way towards the door.

Kassidy raised an eyebrow as the sound of laughter filled the small room, as if some sadistic clown was looking down on the group's plight in s****. The very thought made the girl livid. She clenched her fists until her knuckles were white, though her expression remained neutral. She had to keep a cool head, especially at a time like this.
For this reason, when the wall receded to reveal an exit, she remained perfectly still. If this was a trap, she would certainly not be the one to spring it. Besides, the boy from before seemed more than eager to test the waters. He was as naive as he had been half a minute prior. In the meantime, Kassidy spun the card she was holding around in her fingers before tucking it inconspicuously into her sleeve.

"Drat. How I wish I hadn't eaten those donuts." Chris muttered, as he slowly bent upwards. Immediately after getting up, Chris noticed two things: an open door, and more people. The majority of them seemed to be as young as he was, which to him, indicated that there was something in common between all of them. The light continued to shine brightly, but Chris shielded his eyes. "The only way that I could end up in a position like this is if I'm dead, or I've been kidnapped." Chris muttered, suddenly realizing what may have happened. "What's happening, people?" he shouted out. "Am I dead?"