Facility 1.D
"Ugh... Fuck..."
My head hurt like hell when I came to. It wasn't pleasant, and neither were the bright lights, blinding me with their intensity, that only seemed to make the pain that much worse. Whoever thought it was a good fucking idea to put me in this spot needed to get slugged. And that was before I realized I had been shoved into some cramped box, barely able to even move my own arms! What the hell was going on here?
After my head stopped feeling like it had a gun pressed against it, I sat upright to try and find out where I was. Much like the lights, the room itself looked just as sterile, with only a desk and a mirror above it in the large room. Well, except for the graffiti that was on the wall, spouting some bullshit like "Would you like to fix your mistakes?"
Of course, it ended up making me realize something that set me off into a rage almost immediately. How the fuck was I supposed to fix any supposed mistakes I made if I didn't remember anything about myself!? It was enough to make me want to punch a wall, but considering each wall seemed to be made of solid metal, I figured it wouldn't be worth it to break one of my paws. Instead, I decided to just walk over to the mirror. That looked far more breakable.
My steps were slow as I balled my paw into a fist. Just as I was about to throw the punch, I noticed a slip of paper on top of the desk, with a single line written on it.
Seek your past, Damon Grants.
I suppose it was more helpful than the graffiti on the wall. At least I got a goddamn name to attach to myself. Looking into the mirror got me a face. I suppose I was glad I hadn't broken it. Yet.
A badger stared back at me, wearing something that looked like a metal band's outfit and shredded jeans. I apparently had a bit of a gut, enough to make me look a little round. My face had small wrinkles around my eyes and muzzle. It seemed that scowling was a favorite past time of mine. Hell, I was doing it now, wasn't I?
Really, the only thing that seemed odd was the watch-like thing on my wrist. It was way too bulky for a watch, and to be honest I kinda wanted to take the thing off. It weighed a ton! It only showed four digits in green, all zeroes, and without any buttons on it I doubted that it told time. Or if it did, I had no way to set it. Regardless, it was more of an annoyance than an accessory.
As for the paper, with nothing else on it all I could do was throw it back on the table. I felt slightly better, but considering there didn't seem to be much of a way out of the room, odds are I'd probably feel like breaking the mirror again sometime soon. Anything if it meant doing something other than pacing around the room like a goddamn fool. If I had to wait, doing something as boring as that would be my last resort.
Thankfully, I saw one section of the wall slide away, on the same side of the room the mirror was on. If there wasn't someone on the other side to explain to me what the hell I was doing here, I'd lose it. I had fucking amnesia! If anyone else were in my situation, they'd probably be running around like a headless chicken! With nothing to lose, I stepped out, my paw balled up into a fist and my teeth bared. I wanted to let whoever did this to me know that I really wasn't going to put up with their shit.
I was about to let out a loud shout, but then I saw four other furs coming out of their own rooms. They were, from left to right, a lion, a horse, a wolf, and a rabbit. Each of them seemed to have a clueless look on the face, except for the horse, although I doubted she was as calm inside as she looked.
Of course, each one of them could've been the bastard that sent me here. With that thought in mind, I snarled at each of them. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now.
"So what the fuck's going on here, huh? Who the hell are you people?"
I glared at each and every one of them. To be honest, I was surprised that it was the lion who felt like addressing my question, taking a few steps closer to me. Looking him over, he seemed old. Really old. What was a place like this doing with a fossil like him anyway?
"I would say it is more polite if you were to introduce yourself first, if you are planning on asking us for all our names."
His words snapped me out of my thoughts, and really made me feel like punching him. Why would I have to be the one who introduces himself first? I wasn't a kidnapper. I wasn't a potential murderer either. Considering he wasn't backing down, he was probably as stubborn as old fuckers tended to be.
"Tch, fine. My name's Damon Grants. What about you, gramps?"
It was difficult to not just spit out the words at the lion. I hated doing it, but since we weren't getting anywhere otherwise, I didn't have much of a choice. Glaring at him, I waited for him to finally answer my question.
"Ah, my name is Anton Brandt. Feel free to call me whatever you like."
Anton. Right, that sounded pretty foreign. Could we be out of the country? Maybe this is some sort of sick experiment done in some third world country, and this fucker's to blame. It was a possibility, but I was probably getting ahead of myself. As much as this pissed me off, I needed to think calmly and logically about this situation.
The rabbit and the horse introduced themselves immediately after he did. Elizabeth and Sandra. Whatever. I wondered what kind of secrets they were hiding. There's no way Elizabeth could be this happy to wake up in a place like this. And Sandra was the exact same, but for the opposite reason. Were these two fazed at all about getting kidnapped? Or maybe all three of them were in on it.
No, what did I just say about getting ahead of myself? Goddammit. Who in their right mind would take us to a place like this? And why? I was pretty certain we were kidnapped. I mean, there's no way I would want to willingly live here. No food or water seemingly available, the only clothes I'd have are the ones I was currently wearing, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have as much knowledge of the outside world as I did if I was born and raised here. No, I was definitely kidnapped. And, in all likelihood, so were the other four furs in front of me.
It was then that I realized our last person, the wolf, had yet to introduce himself. It seemed kinda suspicious. Glaring at him, he seemed kinda cowardly. Or perhaps it was caution? Either way, I wasn't going to let him get away with being more of a mystery than the others. Fortunately, I didn't have to say anything for him to speak up.
"Uh, I'm Richard Lyte... I think."
'I think', he said. As in, he wasn't sure. He probably had amnesia too, considering the details on my own name were foggy at best. All I had to base it off of was a piece of paper, and who said that it could be trusted? I thought about voicing my thoughts, if only cause it seemed no one else was going to, but the lion beat me to it.
"You... think? What do you mean?"
"Well... I'm not really sure of anything about myself," Richard answered, "the only reason I knew my name was because of that sheet I found in the room I woke up in. So whether or not that really is my name..."
Figured. The rabbit chimed in immediately afterward, hyperactive as usual, and gave us the same answer. That made three of us with amnesia. Could we all have had it? Once again, Anton was on the ball, looking at both Sandra and myself with a curious look.
"Well, it's good to know my own amnesia isn't merely forgetfulness from age. Am I correct in assuming you both don't recall anything either, Damon, Sandra?"
I shook my head. Since everyone else seemed to be in the open about it, I figured I might as well be too. Sandra did the same, although she looked quite irritated with the matter. I couldn't blame her; I personally wanted to beat the shit out of whoever did this to me. The fact that he did it to others only made it that much worse.
"So we all have amnesia... I doubt anyone knows exactly why we're here then?"
No, definitely not. How could we? Whoever this Elizabeth was, she probably wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. The fact that we all had amnesia should have told her exactly whether or not we knew what we were supposed to be doing here.
I didn't bother paying much attention to them as they continued. My eyes pored over the cylindrical room we were in, trying to find something we could do other than sit around like dumb fucks. Still, I could hear the little snippets. The graffiti and the note... It was true that they gave us instructions, but what could we even do with them? A simple look around the room showed us that there was nothing we could even do. With a grunt, I interrupted them.
"And how the hell are we supposed to do that? Do they expect us to just sit around until our memory comes back like magic? What a load."
It appeared everyone got my message, even Elizabeth. Maybe she wasn't as much of a moron as I thought she was. She started to walk around the room, checking out the walls while Richard and Anton followed her. It left Sandra and I to check out the floor, though I doubted we would find anything. I pretty much let her do all the work while I simply walked around in circles. I needed to at least look like I was doing work.
When they all came back from their searches, I was pretty sure they didn't need to tell me anything about whether or not they succeeded. I would've heard it if Elizabeth found something. She seemed rather prone to shrieking in excitement over the most banal of things.
Of course, it also meant we were trapped like rats. Just fucking perfect. Not only were we unable to remember anything about ourselves, there was nothing we could do to even get them back. I could feel my frown turn into a snarl, my teeth bared. Oh, you could bet I was angry. Naturally, I spoke up.
"There's fucking nothing in here! What the hell are we supposed to do!?"
Almost as if it were a cue, the ground beneath us began to shake violently. Losing my footing, I fell to the ground with a loud thud, landing right on my right arm. Pain shot through it immediately, enough that I let out a curse, though the anger was quickly replaced by a bit of a panic, one that was noticeable on the faces of everyone else.
Just what the hell was going on now?