???, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:12 AM?

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‘Are… are they all just sleeping?’

Devin did not know how many bodies there were around him, there were so many.

‘How many people are there… one thousand… one and a half… maybe two thousand people?’

The only thing that comforts him about this situation is that there is no blood in sight.

‘Well at least we’re not the victims of some war crime…’

Looking around he notices another odd thing.

‘Why is everyone lined up perfectly?’

The sleeping bodies around him were lined up perfectly, organized as if they were larvae gestating in honeycombs, and it was just a matter of time before they ‘hatched’ and woke up.

But while they have been organized in an OCD-esque manner, the way in which some of the people are sleeping is less than ideal. Some of the people were lying face first into the ground, others seemed like they were doing yoga.

‘Well, they sure cared about putting us in a nice orderly fashion, but they definitely did not care for how sore we would be when we woke up. I guess I’m lucky to not have woken up in such a bad position...’

*groan*... *GASP*... “AHHH!”

‘It seems like the others are waking up. Though the manner in which they wake up is quite different.’

From some groggily getting up as if they were rudely woken up from a great night’s rest, to others who get up screaming like a war veteran who remembers the horrors of war, to even more who… are still sleeping, it seems as if everyone is getting up in their own manner. Though none of them have been as noisy as Devin’s awakening.

‘At least no one saw me have a breakdown.’

Getting a better look at everyone, it seems as if people from all different backgrounds and races. Some of the people are in dapper suits that are a bit ruffled up after taking a nap on the grass. Others are just in regular clothing, most likely taken when they were out on a casual trip or when they were home when the red pillars rose. Though the pitiful part of the group are in semi-states of undress, with some not having a shirt on while wearing pants and shoes, while others have a shirt and undergarments on, but no shorts. Though luck is on the group’s side when Devin does not see a single person who is buck naked, the group won’t be scarred by that today.

However, the people in the group start to get up, and a question pops into Devin’s head

‘Uhh… should I go and greet someone, make sure that they are ok? No, that would be weird wouldn’t it? Argh, what should I do… it’s most likely that none of these people know where we even are, which leaves them as confused and scared as I am. But also, I don’t even know who any of them are… what if I go up to them, try to talk to them, and they freak out at me? Maybe… maybe some of these people know each other… yeah… someone has to know someone here.’

While Devin is standing around, looking like a chicken with its head cut off, the others start looking around to see where the hell they are and then proceed to ask the question, “Where am I?” None of them know where they are, so they proceed to try and ask the people around them if they know.

‘It seems like there are some people talking to each other.’ *Phew* ‘Seems like it was a good idea to wait and see what the others would do. Oh, it seems like everyone is up now. Guess I’ll just wait then.’

Satisfied with how things are unfolding, Devin leaves it to the others to try and organize the confused group.

*Poke*

“Gah!”

However, his peace has been rudely interrupted by someone lightly poking him in the side, scaring him and causing him to jump away a little from where he was originally standing.

Quickly turning around to see who had approached him, he sees a woman.

The woman has a fair complexion whose head is adorned with nearly jet black hair that goes down to her back and is very unkempt.

‘With her brown eyes and the freckles on her face, I think it would be a good guess to think that she has a European heritage.’

As for the rest of her body, which Devin took a quick glance at, she is only a little shorter than him, maybe about a 2 inch (5 cm) difference between the two of them. And while she is also on the slimmer side when it comes to her stature, she is not underweight or malnourished.

However, her clothes leave questions with Devin that he is definitely not willing to ask. She is wearing simple clothes, a plain hoodie, t-shirt, pants and shoes that are a bit too big for her. However it is the state of her clothes that causes the questions. They are worn, with tears being very common and soles of the shoes looking like they are about to fall off at any moment.

While Devin wanted to ask A LOT of questions about how she ended up in this state, there were more pressing matters, like why the woman approached him.

“Um, hello…”

The woman just stares at him, not saying anything.

“Can… can you understand me?”

Nodding her head, she affirms that she can, in fact, understand what Devin is saying.

“Cool, cool… well I’m guessing you have no idea where we are either?”

She nods again, quickly looking around at the people surrounding them before returning her attention back to Devin.

“Well that was to be expected, umm… well I’m Devin… I guess we should get to know each other since we may be stuck together for a while.”

Raising her head and tilting her head, she looks quizzically at Devin before making motions with her hands.

‘Why is she making hand gestures? Is she…’

“Are you mute?”

She nods.

‘Oh great, while everyone else seems like they are having panicked conversations with each other, I’m stuck with the one person who is unable to speak. Worse, I don’t even know sign language!’

“Ok then, well I guess I’ll be straight with you, I don’t understand what you are trying to say with your hands, I can’t speak ASL.” (American Sign Language)

Another confused look comes on her face as she starts to sign again, before quickly realizing the futility of it and sighing in defeat.

“Are you… not speaking ASL?”

She shakes her head.

‘“So what are you signing then… ah forget that, I wouldn’t understand anyways.”

The woman looks at Devin with annoyance, clearly frustrated with the way this conversation is going.

“At least you can understand English then…”

Giving a belated sigh, Devin gives another look at the others. The people around him and the mute woman he is with seem to be getting more organized, with small groups of people merging with other groups. However, when he turns back to the woman, he sees that she is clearly confused, looking intently at him.

“What?”

Using VERY simple hand gestures that everyone would be able to understand, she attempts to tell Devin what is wrong. She first points at Devin before making a talking gesture with her hand. Then she proceeds to point at herself and shake her head.

“Um, when I’m speaking… you can’t do something?”

The woman repeats the same gestures, however she points more distinctly at her ear when pointing at herself.

“You can’t understand me? But you just said you understand what I am saying.”

Frustrated at the point, the woman repeats the gestures but with more intensity.

“You don’t… understand English?”

Relieved, she nods her head frantically.

“Wait… then how can you understand what I am saying? I’m speaking English…”

The woman’s eyes wide, she looks around at the others seemingly coming to a realization that Devin hasn’t come to yet.

Looking at Devin again, the woman motions for him to look around and listen to what the others are saying.

‘Ok then, but all I hear is… wait… all I hear is people speaking English. But she said that she can’t understand English but can seemingly understand what everyone is saying too. How is everybody understanding each other?’

Before he can voice his suspicion to the woman though, he sees a gray mist coming from the horizon. The mist quickly spreads before anyone can react to it though, completely covering the sky.

‘What the hell?’

Everyone has noticed too, looking up to see what is covering the sky. They continue to look at the sky for a few lingering seconds before a voice starts to talk in Devin’s mind.

“Greetings shells, you do not know who I am, and that is to be expected.”

Frantically looking around, Devin looks to see who is talking, but only sees everyone else doing the same thing.

“To cut to the chase, since I shouldn’t bother spending any more time than needed with you, I own you all, and you have been lacking in true faith, which is a big no no.”

‘Faith? What does that have to do with anything with us being kidnapped? Is this a trick for us to believe in their God or something?’

Devin does not understand what the voice is talking about, misinterpreting what the voice is referring to.

“And since you don’t produce enough true faith, you have been given another purpose. As entertainment!”

Murmuring starts to take hold among the people in the group as they are confused as to what the voice means by that. However, the woman next to Devin has a very different reaction and starts to frantically look around before tugging on Devin’s shirt.

“What’s the matter?”

Looking at the woman, Devin sees that she is clearly nervous and most likely scared. She then proceeds to start tugging harder on Devin’s shirt, trying to tell him that they need to move.

“Since you have this new purpose, I have decided to grace you with telling you your goal, which is simply, SURVIVE. Nothing more to it, all you need to do is survive in this new, unblemished world that we- I have found for you…”

At this point the woman has stopped tugging on Devin’s shirt and is now pulling on his arm like her life depended on it. She wanted them anywhere but here and she was doing her damn best to achieve that.

“Ok, ok, I’m following you lady, so stop treating my arm like it’s an object!”

The two of them move through the group, with the woman seemingly intent on getting away from the rest. For the woman, the voice speaking is a race against time, for the rest of the people though, the voice is merely giving introductions to what is going on.

“I don’t care what you all do to try and survive, sacrifice each other for all I care, all it would do is make it more interesting for me. What I do care about though, is that there is no one that tries to… give up. Because if you do that, I’ll be sure to give those who do attempt to give up a fate worse than death.”

By now, the two are at the edge of the group, but while Devin wants to stop and wait, the woman continues to pull on his arm, urging him to get more distance from the group. Confused by the woman’s desperate persistence, he continues to let her lead him.

“Now that that is done with, let us start with an opening ceremony of sorts because I don’t want a boring beginning to the fun I shall have!”

Suddenly, around two dozen lights appear in and around the group.

Confused about the lights appearing in his peripheral vision, Devin stops and looks to see what is going around in the group. This does not go well with the woman leading him though, as she is also stopped by him. The woman quickly looks at the group before focusing on tugging Devin’s arm, urging him to keep following her.

“Hey we already have some distance from the group, we should be fine.”

The woman ignores his reasoning and continues to tug.

The mist and lights then start to fade away, with the mist clearing from the sky and one last word coming from the mysterious voice.

“Make sure to give me lots of entertainment!”

With that, the mist is gone and the lights have almost disappeared, revealing something that was in them.

Wolves.