--James, Mysterious Location(?)--
“...have arrived” a voice fading into my consciousness. Did I fall asleep?
I groggily lifted my head from the car door. It was miraculous that I lifted my head when I did because the car door popped open. Gingerly stepping out of the car I popped my back and stretched my stiff neck. Other than the horrible sleeping position I was in and the general queasiness that accompanies sleeping in a moving vehicle, I felt fine.
It was after a bout of stretching and popping joints that I noticed I was completely surrounded by men in black, which would have given me a heart attack if not for the fact the memory started to catch up with me. It was clear they were just transporting me somewhere, I just didn't know for what nefarious purpose. Looking around, it seemed we were parked at the back of a giant building with trees and other buildings nearby. From this angle though, it was difficult to know where I was given that there was no discernible landmark to even clue me in on the functionality of this facility. Where did these fiendish bastards take me?
While I was starting to get tense again, another vehicle, black, pulled up next to the one I rode in. Stepping out was more men in black, a guy in a white lab coat and a geezer in a plaid dress uniform, quite tacky. Strangely I couldn't identify his species by sight alone, as he only had two nubs left where ears should be.
As the lab coat man and the geezer approached he snapped his fingers and one of the featureless thugs handed over a stack of papers. While marching over he gave a quick glance at the documents.
“Name: James, no family name, orphan?” He looks up but doesn't pause long enough for a reply, “Age: 18, Education: high school graduate. Species: Tiger-kin, and achievements: none noteworthy.” He looked back at me then back at the paper as he came to a halt just out of arms reach.
Getting a better look at this lab coat wearing marauder, he seems to a bear-kin of some sort, not sure which since it's only his black ears poking out of his black ponytail. He readjusted his glaces on his sharp face before looking me over. I felt my ears fold back a little. I do not like being under the gaze of this man.
It's been awhile since I threw down, I'd be happy to scrap with this man, I could take him... but we were surrounded by what seemed ten of his lackeys that were close to body builder proportions. I guess, I'll let him live. I smirked to myself.
He glanced at my tail and ears respectively, “Ah, perhaps a Toyger? Lynx? Tabby, no, not enough orange fur.” He grasped his chin, “Filthy mix-breed? Bah, matters not, you look close enough, plus we are out of time. Walk with me.” My smile dropped.
He deduced I wasn't a Tiger-kin... well not that I can actually prove I am or not, but my ears should be a dead give away... I was kind of forced into his pace but I didn't have to like it. “Who are you? Where are we? Why am I here?” I demanded.
While walking behind the Lab coat man, he seemed pleased with my response as he nodded to himself, “At least he has guts, no brains but guts.” He cleared his throat before addressing me, “It seems fair you are privy to this situation. I am Markus Greyplain, Lead Population Engineer. Forty-seven years experience in my field. And this,” he motioned to the old geezer to his right, “is Dean Jakob Rivers, and we are at his college, Azlon's Pride University.” My mouth fell open. This, this is APU? “The rear entrance to a dormitory anyway.” Ah... why? I tilted my head.
Feeling my chance to speak again, “Why are we here? Why the dorm? Population? Dean?” I felt ridiculous for the one word questions at the end, but my head was spinning, maybe a lingering effect from the motion sickness.
Markus pushes open a door that looked an awful lot like a fire escape exit, while the dean spoke, “Well,well young man. You barely scraped by on your test results I had to unreasonably-gladly grade an hour ago. You are fully qualified to be apart of APU's family, though this is an expedient request from the government, your tuition shall be taken care of as long as you pass the classes.” The dean pulls a handkerchief from his blouse pocket to wipe away sweat, and mumbled, “can't believe my school gets targeted for a Pop-uff!” The dean seemed to receive a sharp elbow to the ribs.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The dean gave a nasty glare before straightening up and smiled at me, “I just ask you follow the guidelines, and welcome to Azlon's pride. Glasses over there will fill you in the- no, I guess he won't...” He shook his head, while turning to walk away from us and threw a key over his shoulder, “Your room is 100, technically you didn't have to be here for another three weeks, so this is orientation time for you. Your roommate will give you a tour. I guess the government really wants to keep tabs- goodbye for now, if you have any questions I'll be at my office during more reasonable hours.” He mumbled the last bit as he walked off into the night.
With a soft clank and squeal the door open behind me and I was ushered into the building before the door was promptly closed behind me. A soft thump at my feet made me look down to see a familiar camping bag. They even had my belongs prepacked. I turned around and realized I was alone. With another clanking sound that reassured me the door was shut, I heard the fading footsteps from the other side of the door. I am now alone, huh.
Well, I guess the silent treatment kinda prepared me for this unceremonious abandonment, then again it is at an ungodly hour.
Turning around, I faced a long hall way with a few doors on either side. I didn't see the front entrance straight ahead so I assumed that it was around the bend. To my right was a stairwell and a plaque. Getting closer to the plaque it told me the basic layout of the building, this floor held all the room numbers that started with a one, the next floor contained all the rooms that started with a two and so on, so forth. Simple, but where is #100...
Having no other choice I followed the windy hallway. It might just be me, but it seem that the tile beneath some of the doors was way colder than others. Beneath one such door was a puddle of water, seemed like a hazard. After wandering the hallway one way and back the other way because the room was no where to be found. I gave up and looked at the plaque in the stairwell again...
500-525 5th Floor
400-425 4th Floor
300-325 3rd Floor
201-225 2nd Floor
Looking down the plaque, I couldn't understand what I was missing..
101-125 1st Floor
100 B1 Floor
200 B2 Floor
Then I realized my mistake... I was too caught up in the simplicity of the structure that my mind made some assumptions. Damn. Glad that it was lights out and the that this blunder would be a secret kept between me and whomever watched the security cameras.
Pivoting to face the stairwell, I center my self on the top platform and leap to the next platform, gliding down all thirteen steps in a single bound. Sticking the landing with grace, hardly a sound was made even if I nearly screwed up the landing, need to perfect that. Realizing that my emotions went from self praising to self depreciation, I remind myself that I need to return to sleep soon. Instead of playing with the stairs, I lightly jog to the last platform that put me in the absurdly small hall that had only a single door on it reading #100 on the door plate.
Letting out a sigh, I assumed the floor below me was exactly the same but with #200 instead. Seriously, how long did I search for this room? If I had a timepiece, I'm sure it would have been nearly half an hour at least. I am such an idiot.
I placed the key into the locking mechanism and triggered the tumblers to unlock the door. Opening the heavy door, I marvel it's thickness. The door was nearly as thick as my fist and seemed made of layered metal with a rubber seal on the outer edges of the door as if to attempt air tightness. I heard certain doors in restaurants were like this. I then shift my attention to the room beyond I could only freeze in awe. To put it simply, seemed they put a forest in a huge room. I stepped into the dark foreboding room and locked the door behind me. The first thing I did was march up the nearest tree and place a hand on it.
A fake. It was some kind of light stone? Paper mâché? Looking up The 'tree' met the ceiling and it appeared that the ceiling had been painted to look like leaves. A soft glow that imitated moonlight shone through the painted leave... actually light, huh. Otherwise it would be pitch black even to my heightened senses. Looking around it seemed like endless pillars touching the ceiling to become the illusion of a forest. However the dirt beneath my shoes felt real.
I was still hovering at the threshold and so I took my shoes off at the entrance and studied the wall. Despite having excellent vision at night, subtle differences in color was not discernible. I figured the only thing that broke the illusion of being in the forest was the large metal exit door. I can't imagine every room being like this in the building, this room felt gigantic without even exploring it, no wonder the landing platform for this floor seemed steeper and further down.
I leave my bag at the door along with my shoes, as I let my bare feet dig into the dirt, yep real. Hearing the far off chirping of insects, I could only guess that those were white noise recordings and not actual bugs. Strangely, it felt soothing. A few more steps forward and I breath all that I can through my nose while closing my eyes. Yep, a very earthy smell made it's presence known, definitely dirt. With, something else...
Smelling again, taking a deeper breath of that pleasant scent. The scent that mingled with the dirt was musky and kinda sweet at the time. The smelled kinda made my head a little light. Other than that pleasant smell and the scent of Earth, there was nothing else. I was told I had a roommate, so I will just sneak off and rest in a corner. I might not actually have a grass nest yet but that won't stop me from enjoying the rest of my treasured sleep. Shame, but the dirt should be fine for one night.
Scouting out a place within this forest, I spot a few pillars that were a little closer together than the rest. Looking at the indention of the dirt mound between the 'trees', it seemed as if there was a grass nest here before. Washing my clothes will be a pain, but it was a worthy cost to sleep.
Closing my eyes, I kind of smelled the faint traces of the that somewhat sweet musky scent. It didn't really bother me so much, it definitely put my head in space where drifting to sleep was easier. And so I curled up into a ball, and let sleep claim me.