Chapter 2: First Steps

As the door opened behind us, everything began to slow down, and a slight ringing began in my ears. The four of us turned to leave at what seemed to me a frame-by-frame speed. The task of taking three steps out the door felt like three minutes. I was closest to the door, so I was the first to leave the room, only to be suddenly blinded by bright white lights.

It may have only been a split-second glare, but at my current speed, it was a slow sting into my eyes. As the glare faded, I found myself in a pure white corridor. It seemed to go on for a few yards before hitting a wall, with no door in sight. I began to turn around to find an exit, but a few degrees from the other three, there was a sudden slam from the door we just went through, the ringing stopped, and everything sped back up to normal.

We all seemed to need a moment to collect our senses. Then, as if he read my mind, Heckler said, "I'm just gonna say it. Did anyone else feel that? Like, like everything was going in slow motion. Or am I just nuts?"

"No, I definitely felt that."

"Same here." said Walthers.

Heckler then turned to Colt, "Did you feel it, or are you stoned right now?". He laughed while Walthers rolled her eyes. All Colt did was glare at Heckler. He probably should've shut up after that, "Well, if you're not gonna share your stash, share your shades." Colt slapped Heckler's hand away when he reached for his sunglasses. "Come on, you weren't blinded just now, and this hallway is bright as hell."

Colt finally spoke again, "You ARE nuts." I thought it was funny. I also thought I saw Walthers smile. Then I noticed she was wearing sunglasses just like Colt's.

"Where'd you get those?" Once I asked, she walked over to me and reached inside my jacket. For a moment, I thought she was gonna grope me. Then she retracted her arm, holding a pair of sunglasses, and said, "Felt these in my pocket after we left."

As I took them from her, our hands touched for a second, and everything seemed to slow down again, right up until I was yanked back to reality, again. Heckler smirked, "Are those the only thing you felt in there?" As I put on my glasses, it was another instance of my mind being read when Colt elbowed Heckler swiftly in his side to shut him up.

"Colt, you're not so bad." He seemed to smile when I said that. "Heckler... nuff said." Their expressions seemed to switch after that, which made Walthers laugh. Such a lovely sound it is.

Heckler put on his shades and said, "Let's just get outta here, that guy said there was a car waiting." Then we realized there was no way out, nowhere to go except where we came from.

"Maybe we weren't supposed to go this way."

Heckler then responded to me by saying, "I'm going to point something out, and I don't want to be hit. That was the only door in the room."

"It can't be." I opened the door, only to see the room was gone and replaced by a large area of cubicles, the walls some 7-feet high. "Guys... this way."

Once we all got through again, we turned to find the door was gone. I think that's when Walthers had enough, "OK, I'm guessing we all know that this sort of thing is usually something we do to humans, so who's doing this to us?"

"Wait," Heckler intervened, "we aren't human?!" Colt reached for his gun, when "Gotcha! Ha ha ha, you guys should've seen the looks on your faces." Heckler was bent over laughing. I think we were all thinking the same thing when I grabbed Heckler by his shoulders and gave him a knee to his chest. He groaned and fell to the ground.

Colt then said, "You're not too bad either Winchester." That made me smile, ok so Colt isn't a total stiff. But Heckler might be a total dick.

Walthers smiled saying, "I call the next shot."

Colt replied, "Fair enough."

"Just to be clear, are you talking about fists or guns?"

Walthers said, "Both." And we all laughed, except for Heckler, "Oh that's nice, I'm really feelin' the love here."

Colt told him, "Oh, lighten up, you stiff." As he helped Heckler to his feet. By the time he got up, he was laughing too and said, "Not to ruin the moment, but what now?"

I looked up and saw it, "Exit sign, that way."

"No way." Heckler was starting to piss me off at this point.

"You obviously want to get hit again." Walthers made a fist as she started towards Heckler. Being a total wimp, he decided to hide behind Colt.

He quickly tried to defend himself, "All I'm saying is 'Exit' means stairwell. I can see the top of an elevator from here."

Colt said only one thing before heading for the stairs, "Lazy ass." Walthers followed close behind, bumping into Heckler on the way. He pointed out we had to be at least 30 floors up. So I made the smartest decision.

"I won't take the stairs, but I definitely won't take an elevator with you." I made a run for the elevator, leaving Heckler behind, as I made my way through the maze of cubicles.

"Hey," Heckler blurted "Bitch, no way" as he pursued me.

The elevator just arrived, and I hit the button for the first floor. The doors were only a few inches apart when Heckler jammed his arm in.

"Nice try bitch," Heckler just made it and squeezed his way in like a...

"Pathetic worm."

"You're a real dream too honey." Heckler puckered his lips at me, and that's when I finally snapped and reached for my gun.

"Kiss this." As I took aim for his fucking head, he threw up his arm and pushed my hand aside for only a second. But that's all the time he needed to draw his weapon.

"Alright, so we officially don't like each other."

Heckler slowly holstered his gun, "What makes you say that? I'm just defending myself, reflex action."

"Then I fucking just don't like you." I pressed my gun right to his temple.

"Okay, first, ow... just ow. That's rude," he used his index finger to slow move the barrel off his temple. And I put it right back. "And second, you know that won't kill me."

"I know, but it'll make me feel better."

"Wow. That is... so hot. And also petty." I swear this guy is definitely missing something upstairs, and I was willing to blow out what little brains he had.

"Don't act like you're so superior."

"To who?" he asked, "Not you. Colt, maybe? No... Walthers. It's not very subtle from my perspective..."

"Fuck you." I pulled back the hammer.

"No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, " he apologized. I still wanted to shoot him the same. "Okay, look, just hear me out. I was saying it wasn't subtle from her." Ok, that saved his ass.

With the ding of a bell, the doors opened, I holstered my gun, and we stepped out into the lobby. Nothing too fancy, but a nice marble layout and design.

"Ok, look, you have until Colt and Walthers get here to save yourself."

"And after that, you shoot me, right?" Heckler straightened his glasses and tie. They were already straight, you ass.

"Wrong. After that, I push you outta the car into traffic once we're on the freeway."

I could hear the gulp he made in his throat. Not gonna lie, I wish he would have swallowed his tongue.

"Little much don't you think?" Heckler shrugged.

"Not at all. Talk fast."

"Alright, back in the corridor, when Walthers reached into your jacket..." I immediately cut him off.

"And you made a joke about coping a feel. I'll give you a chance right now to shoot yourself."

"Let me finish. When you asked about the glasses, she made an effort to make contact with you. Even the way she held them in her hand. She could've just said where they were. You know I'm right."

"I'm not an idiot. Is that really the best you got?"

"Well, considering the fact that we've all known each other for the same 15 minutes... Yeah. But you think you might be reading a little too much into it, right?" I think what I hate about him isn't that he's an ass. Well, not entirely an ass. It's the fact that he's right.

"You're safe... for now."