Hall of Infinite Doors
You start walking in the direction he indicated, the barrel of the shotgun nudging you in the back as you make your way to an open door in the kitchen. A narrowly walled stairway leads down into the dark depths of the cellar. You reach for the light switch but his hand smacks yours.
"Nice try, asshole," he says. "Now start walking."
Shaking your head in confusion you begin your decent into the cool and musty air of the basement. By the time you reach the bottom of the stairs you are virtually blind, able to make out only the vague outlines of the homeowners' clutter. Your head bangs into duct work and low hanging pipes on more than one occasion while the gun behind you nudges you on impatiently.
After forty-some paces of your blind journey, you reach a damp wall. Your captor steps past you and knocks on the wall oddly, as though using a top secret code of some sort. His knocks ring hollow.
It isn't long before the wall opens inwardly like a door, a massively heavy, stone door.
On the other side of the door is a dim passageway, lighted just barely more than the basement in which you stand. There appears to be a dim and eerie glow in the distance, a light source that you are unfamiliar with. A short and nervous looking man in his early forties stands before you. The gun nudges at your back again, prompting you to move.
The new guy steps aside to let you and your captor pass. After ten paces or so, the wall closes behind you with a heavy scraping sound.
"Where are you taking me?" You ask.
The barrel of the gun smacks you in the back of the head and you lose your balance for a moment, crashing into a wall. "Shut your fucking mouth," he says.
You regain your footing and walk on, your head light and a sharp and burning pain in your head nagging at you as you move.
Soon, you pass the light source, a glowing paint of some sort. You don't really have time to inspect it with old friendly at your back, but whatever chemical technology is behind it is completely unfamiliar to you.
Eventually the passage ends at a wall, seemingly a dead end. Your captor knocks at the wall to your right, that same secret knock. A section of the wall swings inward, much like before, but this time there is a staircase leading further down into the earth.
A woman descends the stairs, apparently the person who opened the door for you. You are nudged forward again and, having no option but to comply, you follow the woman down. You can hear the other two behind you, and listen as the heavy stone wall-door slides across the floor and closes.
There is a dim light source on the walls to either side of you, that same strange eerie glow. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, the woman touches a portion of the wall and light erupts from under her hand, activating whatever chemical is in the glow-paint.
You are soon lead into a large chamber room where the walls are glowing in more areas, shedding light on the enormous room and the inhabitants. Some twenty men and women are inside, all of them staring, and none of them pleased to see you.
The woman joins the others, as does the nervous man who opened the first door. Only your friendly gunman remains at your back.
From the crowd a middle aged woman steps forward. She is a hard looking woman, her jaw set firmly and her eyes showing a keen intellect coupled with contempt. She is of average height and weight, her hair appearing to be brown with a few grey streaks (but you can't quite be sure in this odd lighting). The only truly notable aspect of her appearance are her broad shoulders.
"Who are you?" she asks bluntly.
So much for the welcome wagon. "I don't know," you tell her. "I was walking down a hall and opened a door and..."
"You don't know who you are?" she interrupts. "Did you hit your head?"
"Well I was knocked on the head by Mr. Friendly on the way down here," you mention. You regret your words almost immediately as the barrel smacks you in the back of the head again. This time there is no wall to catch you and you fall to the ground, your jellied legs unable to support your weight.
You try to stand back up, but the dizziness overtakes you and you crash back to the ground. After a few moments, you attempt to stand once more. Again the dizziness overwhelms you and you fall to your hands and knees. A hot and acidic vomit retches forth from your throat to splatter on the hard stone floor.
"Help him stand," the woman orders.
One of them comes to your side and lifts you roughly up. Your vision is swimming to much to recognize who is helping you, but you are pretty sure that your friend with the shotgun is still behind you.
The woman fixes you with a level gaze while you try to focus on her in return.
"I'm going to try this again," she tells you. "And this time you are going to cooperate." Her voice sounds distant and muffled, as though she is speaking to you from the other side of a wall.
"Who are you?"
You tell her your name.
"And what are you doing here?"
Answering with honesty, you tell her that you don't know.
The shotgun comes in again, and again you fall to the hard and unforgiving floor, your world going completely dark.
"Nice try, asshole," he says. "Now start walking."
Shaking your head in confusion you begin your decent into the cool and musty air of the basement. By the time you reach the bottom of the stairs you are virtually blind, able to make out only the vague outlines of the homeowners' clutter. Your head bangs into duct work and low hanging pipes on more than one occasion while the gun behind you nudges you on impatiently.
After forty-some paces of your blind journey, you reach a damp wall. Your captor steps past you and knocks on the wall oddly, as though using a top secret code of some sort. His knocks ring hollow.
It isn't long before the wall opens inwardly like a door, a massively heavy, stone door.
On the other side of the door is a dim passageway, lighted just barely more than the basement in which you stand. There appears to be a dim and eerie glow in the distance, a light source that you are unfamiliar with. A short and nervous looking man in his early forties stands before you. The gun nudges at your back again, prompting you to move.
The new guy steps aside to let you and your captor pass. After ten paces or so, the wall closes behind you with a heavy scraping sound.
"Where are you taking me?" You ask.
The barrel of the gun smacks you in the back of the head and you lose your balance for a moment, crashing into a wall. "Shut your fucking mouth," he says.
You regain your footing and walk on, your head light and a sharp and burning pain in your head nagging at you as you move.
Soon, you pass the light source, a glowing paint of some sort. You don't really have time to inspect it with old friendly at your back, but whatever chemical technology is behind it is completely unfamiliar to you.
Eventually the passage ends at a wall, seemingly a dead end. Your captor knocks at the wall to your right, that same secret knock. A section of the wall swings inward, much like before, but this time there is a staircase leading further down into the earth.
A woman descends the stairs, apparently the person who opened the door for you. You are nudged forward again and, having no option but to comply, you follow the woman down. You can hear the other two behind you, and listen as the heavy stone wall-door slides across the floor and closes.
There is a dim light source on the walls to either side of you, that same strange eerie glow. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, the woman touches a portion of the wall and light erupts from under her hand, activating whatever chemical is in the glow-paint.
You are soon lead into a large chamber room where the walls are glowing in more areas, shedding light on the enormous room and the inhabitants. Some twenty men and women are inside, all of them staring, and none of them pleased to see you.
The woman joins the others, as does the nervous man who opened the first door. Only your friendly gunman remains at your back.
From the crowd a middle aged woman steps forward. She is a hard looking woman, her jaw set firmly and her eyes showing a keen intellect coupled with contempt. She is of average height and weight, her hair appearing to be brown with a few grey streaks (but you can't quite be sure in this odd lighting). The only truly notable aspect of her appearance are her broad shoulders.
"Who are you?" she asks bluntly.
So much for the welcome wagon. "I don't know," you tell her. "I was walking down a hall and opened a door and..."
"You don't know who you are?" she interrupts. "Did you hit your head?"
"Well I was knocked on the head by Mr. Friendly on the way down here," you mention. You regret your words almost immediately as the barrel smacks you in the back of the head again. This time there is no wall to catch you and you fall to the ground, your jellied legs unable to support your weight.
You try to stand back up, but the dizziness overtakes you and you crash back to the ground. After a few moments, you attempt to stand once more. Again the dizziness overwhelms you and you fall to your hands and knees. A hot and acidic vomit retches forth from your throat to splatter on the hard stone floor.
"Help him stand," the woman orders.
One of them comes to your side and lifts you roughly up. Your vision is swimming to much to recognize who is helping you, but you are pretty sure that your friend with the shotgun is still behind you.
The woman fixes you with a level gaze while you try to focus on her in return.
"I'm going to try this again," she tells you. "And this time you are going to cooperate." Her voice sounds distant and muffled, as though she is speaking to you from the other side of a wall.
"Who are you?"
You tell her your name.
"And what are you doing here?"
Answering with honesty, you tell her that you don't know.
The shotgun comes in again, and again you fall to the hard and unforgiving floor, your world going completely dark.