The girl and I shared a look before making toward the door. After leaving the room I was able to take in the majesty of the building we resided in, in a way I missed in my tired stupor the night before. Its vast walls were covered with decorative black iron sconces, each holding its precious bounty of fire, chasing the darkness away. I looked to my left and right and saw that the entire tower was punctuated at irregular intervals was doorways and alcoves. It was reminiscent of a bee-hive and all along it, I could see people leaving the room and moving like zombies toward the courtyard. Not because of any built-in charisma that Carl possessed but because of a lack of purpose. Drowning people will cling to anything.

But then who was I to judge, I was as desperate as the rest of them for a purpose, something to do. Someone else to figure this out for me. And so I once more merged into a faceless horde. Yet this time instead of bullets picking us off it was hopelessness. It could see clearly on some faces where it had already landed and taken root.

I studied the face of my companion and was surprised to see her wearing a completely different and starkly opposite expression to the men and women that walked beside us. She was hopeful, and even with the wounds on her face, I could discern an optimistic expression.

It took us several minutes to descend the vast tower in which we were housed. In that time I did a lot of thinking, primarily about the girl next to me. She was an enigma in my otherwise crazy life. The strange in a crazy situation, I was curious. And just as the cat my sense of paranoia was soon overridden by this baser instinct.

"So... Do you like jazz?" I asked before going red and falling behind in step, not what I had meant to say. "Um, I meant what's your name?" I asked again picking up the pace and falling back into step with her.

She looked at me like I was mad and wore a small contented smile on her face, placating the otherwise harsh expression. Her smile was contagious and before long I had let out a small chuckle, the first I had in a long time.

Her smile grew after making me laugh and she let out a long guffaw of her own before answering in her Spanish accented American accent.

"Viviana. My name is Viviana." She finally spoke through smiling lips. The people around us looked on with dead eyes and for the first time since coming here, I didn't feel the same as them.

I was about to press her about the incident that led to our meeting but was cut short as we entered into the morning sun. It was annoyingly bright and the light scalded my dimly adjusted eyes. I shielded them as I stumbled into the courtyard, banging into someone before my eyes finally allowed me to see once more.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I blinked several times as I looked at the mass of people that had come out to see what Carl and others had to say. We stood in a shapeless crowd and at the head of it was a raised platform. On said platform stood a man at a lectern and from his voice I recognised him as Carl. Slightly behind Carl but still on the platform above the masses were a row of chairs and their various occupants. People whom I couldn't make out from the distance. I looked to my left and found Viviana still there.

"So yeah, that's basically it if you have anything you want to share or say, you can come up here and say it as long as it's constructive. I think we've all had enough doom and gloom for a lifetime." It was then that I recognised the clipped English accent that Carl spoke with. It helped to refine my mental image of the man.

From my spot at the back, I could see a figure rise from a chair and move to the lectern making me think. How had a chain of command already have been set in one day? I then berated myself for sleeping through its foundation. Pride makes monsters of us all.

The figure walked to the centre of the platform before picking up where Carl had left off.

"Alright everyone, I know you all want to get out of the sun so I'll keep this brief. I want to clarify the information we know. I think it'll help to ground ourselves so can everyone bear with me?" She spoke with an expectant tone, I was also able to discern the gender of the speaker. Female. After the crowd mumbled the affirmative she began to speak once more.

"So around 8:00 am EST last night we all went missing from wherever we were at the time, yeah?" We all nodded the affirmative, I wasn't entirely sure of the time when I went missing but trusted everyone and nodded along. "Alright so then we appeared in a random environment and we were told by some voice what was going on. For anyone who wasn't listening when it happened, I'll tell you now. We were taken from the earth by some strange phenomena that the universe knows as 'the disappearing'. Apparently, this happens to balance out the plenty that the other three-quarters of the world live with. Like it or not we have an important job to play because they can only have that for as long as we survive. For when the last one of us dies so too does everyone in the outside world. We hold the fates of the world in our hands. Let's not let them down." She said with enthusiasm as if she was trying to liven up the dead staring crowd.

She probably said more but I wasn't listening. Fuck I wasn't even standing anymore, I had collapsed to the ground in a sitting position and was silently coming to terms with what was happening. Am I going to be forced to fight and die for no gain of my own? I began to cry. It wasn't fair. There was no balance to this. Why me?