Abduction

“See you next week.” I hear behind me, but I don’t stop as I know it is not said to me. I don’t have any friends here, and I don’t really care to have any to be honest. In college you either find your pace or you fall out, and I don’t like to study in a group. I am rather introverted and- exchanging with people is not for me.

I am walking home, still thinking about the lessons of today and those I need to remember. Once home I will need to study a bit more, you can’t just pass a master of medicine without effort.

It is a long walk, around 40 minutes, and I walk quickly. It is a 4 and a half km walk (2.48 miles), and it gives me time to calm down and organize my thoughts. I can’t really do that when I take the bus or the tramway, people are noisy and cramped in your face in those.

Once I arrive it will be between 6:10 and 6:15, I will study until 7:30 and then eat, but what will I make though? I could do rice or pasta, I also have cans to microwave… I will see when I need to eat.

I am passing in the park when something unusual happens, I hear whispers. But when I look around I don’t see anyone, and the worst of it, the whispers come from everywhere. That is spooky as hell, I am in the middle of a park, in winter so it is already dark, it is also somewhere I know nearly nobody ever passes through. Said blandly: it would be a great spot to do illegal stuff.

The whispers are becoming louder, I don’t understand the words, and I don’t care enough to try. I just resume my way through the park, trying to ignore the stress inducing sounds coming from all around.

I would have been running already if it was not for my legs feeling like soft pudding right now. Why the hell am I feeling this tired? I think to myself before looking at my legs. Was I drugged? Is my next thought when I see my feet plunged in the ground up to half my shin.

I don’t stop walking though, and I fail to understand what I see. My feet are both on the ground and beneath it. I can feel the wood sticks I step on as if I was just walking normally, and the worst is that I am sinking.

A passing thought makes me think of quicksand, but it is not that. Quicksand is, as its name implies: sand. Not grassy dirt with roots passing in it, no, what is happening to me is something I know should not be possible.

Despite my legs feeling weaker and weaker, and my speed slowing down even if my legs are not, I think about what could be happening. The sinking is abnormal: My legs don’t seem to be in the ground, if they were I would not be able to walk at all, I would be stuck in place. I would also not feel the ground like I currently do, and sticks would not break when I pass on/through them.

The only explanation I find is that I am somehow experiencing some non-Euclidean or 4th dimension interaction. The height of my vision is sinking along with me, meaning I really am sinking. But my body is still upright and I would not be able to move with my head at this height without crouching.

I slow down against my will, my legs are sore to a point it is beginning to hurt to move them, I still walk, but slowly. I can see an intersection in the track, but at the rate I am sinking, I won’t get there before I am entirely underground. I am at my waist right now.

My heart is banging in my ears now, I am sweating hard too, my breathing is quick and does not bring any comfort. I am out of breath, I know how to tell, and it means I can’t continue to move or I might lose consciousness because of overexertion. It happened before, and the cramps and headache are… Are they worth it if it makes me survive? Is my life in danger?

The whispers are so loud now, I still don’t understand them, but despite my inability to know their meaning, I feel like I can glimpse a bit of their purpose. I don’t like that at all, what the hell is this bullshit?! Am I being summoned by demon worshipers or something like that?!

I feel my breathing speeding up, I don’t know how I can breathe like that, but I don't think my heartrate is viable right now, I am easily above 180 bpm. I don’t know if it is because of over exertion or if I am having a panic attack.

I can’t move my legs anymore, the pain they give back when I try to move is not helping either. My shoulders are begging to sink under too, I try to touch the ground with my arms, but they just sink through it like it is air. No resistance whatsoever.

I try to move around, to keep my head above the ground, but nothing works, and after agonizingly long seconds I am entirely submerged. The whispers change after that, and I feel myself being dragged. The sensation is strange, it is as if someone attached a rope to my core and began pulling me through a very thick liquid.

My heart hurts, I feel each beat hurting a bit more. My breathing is ragged, my lungs are on fire. Nearly all my body hurts actually, and the more time passes, the sorer it gets. I can’t tell how much time passed, but I lost consciousness.

*Incomprehensible gibberish* I hear talks when I awaken, I think I understand some words at first, but fail to actually understand as it is not German. The sonority is similar, but the words are different, and the grammar seems too if I am not mistaken.

At first I am confused, I have no memory of falling asleep in a decrepit cell built with stone bricks and an iron gate like a medieval cell. Then I remember my sinking experience and more or less understand my situation.

I am positively jumping to assumptions here, but as I feel it I should have been abducted and placed in a cell here. I could also be tripping on some hard drug or mentaly damaged and suffering from hardass hallucinations, and in reality I am in a padded room…

Fuck that, I am insane, yes. But not this kind of insane, I will need to find what my situation is, and how or if I can survive this ordeal. I moved a bit when I awoke, but not much, so as long as I stay immobile and keep my eyes closed I should not raise suspicion.

First: what condition is my body in? I feel a bit, contract muscles while moving as little as possible, and I am happy to find that even if my legs feel a bit sore, I can probably run as long as I warm-up first.

Second: Do I have my belongings with me? I know I still have my clothes on, as well as my overcoat. I am getting hot, but I can ignore that for now. I slowly peel an eye open to look around, I already did when I woke up, but now I am searching for details. There is a lock at the iron gate, so I am probably locked in.

My school bag is there though, lucky me. It is open though, and not how it is intended to be. Instead of the zippers being opened, it looks like someone used a knife to create openings. I’ll use a knife on the first guy I find here if I have the opportunity.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

I try to appease my anger, it won’t do for me to be hysterical in such a situation. I will kill in the name of self-defense if I need to, but my objective should be to get the fuck out of here first and foremost.

My cell is really small, I am lying on a bench bed thingy, the kind you see in prisons in films. Except there is no padding on mine, it is just a wooden plank not even long enough for me to stretch my legs. The walls are close enough for me to touch opposite walls at the same time if I stretch my arms.

Staying laid down like that is not the best position now, I can’t do anything without moving. I sit down and look through the iron gate’s bars to see if I can spot something, but the only light here is coming from a torch attached 10 or so meters from here. If my vision was not already adapted to darkness I would not be able to see my own arms.

My cell is placed alongside a corridor, I can’t see well to the left or right from my cell, but if someone comes I will hear them. So I quietly go to my bag and look inside. Fuck. They took my books and notes, my pencil case is nearly empty too. I still have some pens, but my pencil is gone.

I look inside the front most pouch of my bag, and I am pleased to find my screwdriver in it. I thought I would have to use my pens as stabbing tools, but they are fragile, but a screwdriver? If I aim for the ear, neck, heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, major arteries or anywhere mortal, I can’t without a doubt re-use it without a risk of it breaking inside someone.

I place it in my coat’s front pocket on the right side, if I must use it, I must be able to grab it quickly. If they had not taken my scissors I would have a second weapon, just in case, but will have to make do.

I begin to stretch my legs, back and arms. I warm up just a bit, enough to not risk a cramp or muscle strain. I try the iron gate, in case it is not locked, but it is and I don’t know if I can use my screwdriver to pick it. The keyhole is big, but I doubt a screwdriver and pens can do much on it.

The bars are too close to one another to pass between them, and they go in the ground and the roof. *inaudible* I hear something in the corridor, to my left. I make as little noise as possible to try and hear what it is, and after a moment it seems to be coming closer.

Thirty seconds later it is evident the noise I heard were footsteps, thirty more seconds and I am faced with a man in robes. He has a sword in his right hand, and a key in the other. I can’t see his face because of his hood and the angle of the lighting.

*foreign language* He says something but I don’t understand him. It is apparent to me that I am a prisoner to them, but communication should be possible if I can find a language we have in common. “Hello? Do you understand me?” I ask as the man opens my cell and takes me by the neck to guide me out and through the corridor.

I try to speak in several languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and even Danish, but to no avail. The only reaction I get are looks from the other people in robes like the one holding me behind the neck.

And what I see makes my hopes to get out of here safe and sound quite unsure. I was not the only one abducted, we must be dozens, if not a hundred or more. The meaning of which is that we all got abducted by an organized group. Which also means they have a plan of action in mind, and without knowing it I have very little I can do to anticipate the way I should act to survive.

I must have been one of the firsts to awaken as when I pass, pushed by my guide, I see many being woken up or dragged out of sleep. I do not resist though, I am not tied, meaning I could grab my screwdriver, turn myself and plant it in the skull of my guide. But the number of robed people is too high for me to have a chance of surviving if I do that. Even if they did not have swords I would probably be pummeled to the ground without much effort from them.

I walk to where I am pushed, exiting the cell corridor and then taking turns to end up in a big room with sand on the ground. And that is a horrible thing, not many would understand that, but when there is sand on the floor in a sect, that is for one thing: to mop up blood and/or feces.

In other words, there will probably be deaths here. Plural because I am not alone in here, there are 6 others looking at me. But my attention is on my surroundings, the sand is a thing, but the fact that it looks like we are in an arena is justifyingly stressing.

I look behind me, two robed guys are guarding the only entrance, and the one I look in the face seems to tense a bit. I am 193 cm tall (6”4’), and when I am stressed, my face goes to the default poker face. Which does not look friendly at all.

I won’t be able to exit this arena with the guards there, the best way to get out would be to have the others charge with me to get out, and avoid being blocked. But it is easier said than done, and there are not just 2 of those kidnappers. I will have to wait and see what they want to do with us, I still have my screwdriver on me.

We are 7 here, and nobody speaks, which can be bad in many cases. So instead of waiting without doing anything I try to begin talking with them. English seems to take the attention of everyone, and the woman of around 35 years answers my question. I asked their name, and she’s called Bethany.

A black man tells us to shut up, and I glare at him. He and I nearly have the same height, so the size intimidation probably doesn’t work with him, but the look in my eyes sure has an effect. Just not the one I would have wanted. He approaches me like some kind of a thug, the kind I hate to the core, and when he is just in front of me he asks if I have some kind of matter with him.

I have no time or patience to deal with him, so I finish his problem in two seconds. I headbut him in the nose, hard. I hear as well as feel it break, it makes him take a step back with his head slightly tilted back. I punch him in the throat as hard as I can, and I feel something break, not my hand, but his throat.

I broke his Hyoid bone and crushed his Thyroid. He is now on the ground, gripping his throat while gurgling and spitting blood. I did not think… how did I?! I am filled with remorse, why the fuck was it so easy to break his throat?! I did not want to kill him!

I- wait, I can save him. I took a pen from my bag, I take it out of my pocket and disassemble it. I rush the thug to prevent him from moving, and place myself on him and execute a tracheotomy. He doesn’t understand what happened, nor what I am trying to do, and I hear the two guards coming this way. But I get the tracheostomy done just in time to get up and look at the guards that were rushing me.

They stop and brandish their swords, their look at the coughing but now breathing thug I nearly killed. He is now breathing through a tube, which is my pen, but he is alive. His broken nose and Hyoid will make him bleed, but nothing too high up the lethality scale.

The guards exchange words while staying focused on my movements, and after some back and forth they withdraw to return where they came from. The thug still has some difficulty breathing through the pen, but he will live as long as he can be fed through that broken throat. The others are distancing themselves from me, I am sure they don’t want to associate with a thug, and they won’t associate with a violent unknown person.

I move to get away from them, where I can keep an eye on them and the entrance. I don’t sit though, I regularly contract my muscles to keep them warm in case I need to move. I don’t make it obvious though, I just contract opposite muscle groups so my limbs shake a bit. While doing so is not the most simple or efficient way to warm up, doing so is discreet, which is what I need right now.

After some time, around 5 minutes, other robed people bring 3 more prisoners inside the arena. One has a bleeding lips and a blackening eye, he must have resisted and got beaten up. The other two are women, I take a quick look at the others. Four men and five women without computing myself. As many men as women, what do they want to do? I ask myself, trying to guess the purpose of why they took us here. all the while the seats above us are filling with robbed individuals.

The more time passes, the more it is evident that we are in the pit of an underground arena filled with fanatics that can somehow use magic or some kind of reality warping machine to abduct victims. I don’t want that to be the case, I nearly killed someone minutes ago, meaning I will be a priority target if we end up in a free-for-all.

*Unknown language talk* A voice booms through the whole arena in the same language the guards use, which I don’t understand. I look at the entrance to see a wall descending to close it. Is my fate sealed now?