Episode 1 - Group 1

    Alaire slowly raised herself from the floor.  Her head was swimming and gravity felt annoyingly more powerful than usual.  The knuckles on her small hands were bloody, but not fresh.  She couldn't recall hurting herself.  Although, she couldn't recall falling asleep or blacking out either. 

Where was she?

    The room was dim and neutral in temperature.  There were four plain walls forming a perfect box with no picture frames or windows.  Everything appeared to be blank and empty, except for the one black door with a light overhead.

    Oh, and four bodies on the ground.

    Alaire hesitantly crawled towards the closest body to her.  It belonged to another girl with long blonde hair covering most of her face.  Alaire placed two fingers on the girl’s wrist.  A pulse.  The rest of them had to be alive and just unconscious too.  

    This could be a basement, Alaire thought.  She couldn't hear the sound of cars or people or commotion of any kind.  In fact, she couldn't hear a water heater or air conditioning either.  What kind of a place was this? 

    She managed to stand up and attempted opening the black door.  It was locked. Duh, she'd expected as much.

    “Hey…”

    Alaire jumped.

    One of the bodies staggered to his feet.  He had a Gears of War shirt and short spiky hair.  The look on his face was a mixture of rage, fear, and utter confusion. 

    “Where the hell am I?”

    “If you figure it out, let me know,” Alaire replied.

    Gears of War snorted, “Ha. But seriously…”

    “I seriously don’t know either,” she said, “I woke up just before you.”

    Now the blonde girl started to stir.  She groaned pathetically, rubbing one side of her face.  As she stood up she almost fell backward and decided to sit back down.  Alaire heard her quietly start to cry.

    “Hey,” she approached her, “We just woke up too, don’t freak out.”

    The blonde girl’s eyes were huge when she looked up, “Don’t freak out? How can I not freak out!”

    “I meant… never mind.  Looks like you were hit in the head,” Alaire pointed towards the girl’s left eyebrow. 

    There was a small gash with dried blood soaking part of the brow and a small bruise forming close to her eye.

    “That’s what hurts…” the girl pouted.

    “You have any wounds?” Alaire asked Gears of War, who was now wandering around the room touching the walls.

    He looked intent on finding something.

    “Wounds? Besides my hurt ego, not really. I feel a bruise around my neck, but nothing like Harry Potter over here.”

    The blonde glared at him.

    Before anyone could make another move, a blinding light took over the entire room.

“Welcome.”

    The three revived people all protected their faces with their hands. 

    “What the…” Blondie squeaked.

    A voice spoke like it was over an intercom.  It sounded distorted, recorded, and edited to sound unrecognizable. 

“You are amongst the fifteen participants of The Thanato Project.”

    “What is this!” Gears of War shouted.

    “What’s The Thanato Project…” Alaire said.

    Blondie sniffled.

“Enter the door in front of you to begin.  Survive and escape.  Failure is not an option.” 

“Depending on your performance you will be rewarded with a hint.  Locate the one in your room now.”

    “What does that mean?  Failure isn’t an option, how? I didn’t sign up for any freaky game show!” Gears of War fumed.

    The two remaining unconscious few were waking up from all the excitement.  A red-haired girl with blue eyes and a somewhat stocky blonde haired man.  Alaire gaped.  What were the chances that he would be here?

    “Cole?”

    “Alaire?  What in the…”

    “You two know each other?” Gears of War asked.

    Alaire nodded, “He’s my brother.”

    Cole looked like he was suffering from a mighty fine hangover. “Alaire, where are we?”

    She shrugged, “We’re in some kind of project.”

    All five of them stood in a circle, dazed, and perplexed, like newborn puppies.  None of them spoke.  The silence was waiting to be interrupted by the voice again or for something else random to happen.  

    Alaire spoke first, “Ok.  The weird voice thingy said to leave through the only door,” duh “-and to escape we have to survive.”

    “Survive what?” Blondie sobbed.

    “I don’t know.”

    “Maybe it just leads outside,” Cole suggested, “Maybe this is a weird TV show prank.”

    “They wouldn't drug us and dump us here!” Blondie snapped.

    Cole looked like he was about to say something, but rolled his eyes and gave up.

    “Ok, shut up!” Gears of War said, “The voice also said there’d be a hint somewhere in here.”

    They all stupidly looked about the room, but everything was the same.  Plain walls surrounded them, minus the one black door.  The ground was solid concrete with no sign of cracks or dirt for anything to hide under.  

    Since the floor was useless, everyone started feeling the walls with their hands.  Again, no cavities or hidden compartments or buttons to be found.  

    “Wait a second,” this time the redhead spoke up.

    Everyone watched as she reached into her jean pocket.  Her hand drew out a crumpled piece of paper.  Trembling, she unfurled it.

    “I-it’s only part of something.  All it says is ‘get’.”

    Alaire reached into her pocket next.  She had one too.

    “I’m betting no one has their cell phones either?” Gears of War went through all of his pockets.

    “Nope.”

    However, a piece of paper was in everyone’s pockets.  

    “Mine says ‘to’ and that’s it…” Alaire said.

    “Let’s put them on the ground,” red head suggested.

    Everyone placed their paper down.  “To” and “get” were already discovered.  The other three had the words “each”, “know”, and “other.”

GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER

  

    “Get to know each other?” Blondie mumbled, sounding exhausted. 

    “Why would that be a hint?” Cole asked.

    “I’m betting it’ll be important once we leave this room,” Alaire said.

    “I don’t really care,” Gears of War said, “I want out of here, and whoever kidnapped us is dead.”

    “Agreed,” Cole huffed.

    “Well then,” Alaire started, “Let’s get each other’s names at least.  I’d like to know who I’m sharing captivity with.” When no one responded, she went on ahead.

    “So, I’m Alaire.  I’m currently a freshman in college, studying video production.”

    “You are? Me too!” Blondie said excitedly.

    “Yeah?”

    “Well kind of,” like night and day, the blonde was suddenly in a better mood, “I’m trying to get into acting, but I’ve done some stage production stuff too.  Oh… and my name is Taylor.”

    Gears of War’s face was red with frustration, and Cole didn't appear to be pleased either.    Taylor’s chipper voice trailed off into a sad squeak when she noticed their indifference.

    “What about you?” Alaire asked the stubborn group.

    “I’m Cole, Alaire’s brother.  Football scholarship, etc. etc.”

    “It’s weird you two were kidnapped together…” Taylor said, “I don’t know anyone here.”

    Alaire noticed that too.  Out of the five of them, they were the only ones who knew each other.  Although, the voice said they were amongst fifteen other people and Alaire didn't know who they were or where they were. Cole attended the same college as Alaire, but they rarely saw each other or socialize much.  Not for any begrudging reasons.  They just didn't have a lot in common.  Never did until now, Alaire considered.

    “I’m Blake,” Gears of War said lazily, “Part-time architect student, part-time auto mechanic.”

    “Really?” Taylor said.

    Blake raised an eyebrow, “What?”

    “N-nothing,” she chirped, “That’s cool.”

    He smirked. 

    “I’m Jessica,” redhead said, “I’m supposed to start student teaching this week.  I want to be an English teacher.”

    “Alright,” Alaire clapped her hands together, “Looks like we know a little now.  Should we try getting out of this place?”

    “Wasn’t the door locked?” Blake asked.

    Alaire forgot she’d already tried the door earlier.  She approached the door a second time, but this time, the light above the door made a clicking sound and turned bright green.  It was unlocked.  For some reason, it made her stomach uneasy.

    The light switching made everyone fall silent again.  A chill ran up Alaire’s spine, the kind that makes all of your hair stand straight.  There could be nothing beyond the door, or there could be something dreadful.  The only way to find out was to go through.

    “Let’s go.”