The Human Experiment

Frying Pan to the Fire

Chapter 3

            Glancing around the foreign room she couldn’t help feeling apprehensive.  There was no telling if or when the strange man would show back up.  The smart thing to do would probably be to get away from where she was as soon as possible.  However, without knowing the construct she had no idea what lay beyond the exit.  If she left, would she be less safe?  Would she play right into his hands by walking out the door?  For all she knew he could be waiting on the other side of it.  She wasn’t sure which to choose. 

            As she was debating her options the door opened allowing a stranger entrance.  Even though it wasn’t the same man as before, her nerves didn’t settle.  Taking a few steps back she kept her eyes on him as he looked around in confusion.  Perhaps he had been dropped here just as she had.  Until she knew for sure she made a point of keeping a fair amount of distance between them.  It would have been better had she been the closest occupant to the door but that couldn’t be helped now.  In truth he didn’t even seem to notice that she was even there yet.  He was too preoccupied with looking around to even see her.

            “Excuse me but who are you?”  Her voice wasn’t as strong as she had wanted it to be.  Under the circumstances she should be forgiven a little shakiness.  The strangers head whipped up in her direction taking a step back himself.

            “I’m sorry is this your room?”  Should she answer him honestly and give too much away or should she keep the cards in her hand?

            “Who are you?”  His features scrunched in dismay briefly before his face relaxed once again.  It was enough of a tell to make her glad she hadn’t simply confided in him.

            “My name is Vincent, but you can call me whatever you like.”  She almost gaged at the line wondering what kind of a person felt like this was the proper time to charm someone.

            “How did you get here Vincent?  The constructs are single participant only.”

            “I have no idea really.  One instant I was minding my own business in my program and the next I was standing outside the door to this room.”  His explanation sounded believable enough.  If it wasn’t for the anger, she saw flashing in his green eyes when she refused to call him anything other than his name that had her shrinking back.  There was something about this man that didn’t sit well with her at all.

            “Not to sound rude but you haven’t exactly introduced yourself yet.”  Sighing she figured if she gave bare minimum information, he would be less likely to be on the defensive.

            “I’m Scarlett.”  A broad smile stretched across his face as he moved to take her hand.  Again, she moved away from him.  He was aware of the distance this time simply because he now knew she was in the room with him.  His brow furrowed slightly creating a crease with his scowl.  Whatever he was playing at, it was clear he hadn’t expected her to rebuff his touch.  Reaching up he flicked an errant strand of hair so black it shined blue.  The strands appeared to have slipped the confines of the tie he had holding his hair in place.  He raked his eyes over her form as if deciding the best way to approach her.  She did not appreciate his gaze as it lingered a little too long in areas he was never going to see.

            “I’m sorry if I’ve frightened you Scar.  That was not my intention.  I was overcome with relief to find another person here.”

            “The name is Scarlett not Scar.”  She didn’t believe a word that was coming out of his mouth.  If he hadn’t come off as such a creep to begin with, she might have fallen for his act.  It has been her experience though, that actions speak louder than words.  His leer spoke volumes.  As did his reactions to not getting his way.  This was not a man who liked hearing the word no.  He was a decent looking guy that was for sure so perhaps he had never been rejected before.  Whatever the case she wasn’t planning on sticking around him any longer.

            “Sorry to cut this short but I have things to do.  If you’ll excuse me.”

            “Where are you going?”  She had hoped to brush past him to the door after bidding him adieu.  Vincent wasn’t ready to part yet apparently.  As she had barely made it past him, he turned to grab her arm.  It wasn’t simply a halting motion either as his grip was sure to leave a bruise.  She tried to pull her arm back to no avail.  Not even shaking it would dislodge his hand.  He smiled with triumph as he pulled her in closer.  Leaning down his eyes hooded as if he was to begin a seduction.  If she hadn’t been shaken before she surely was now.  They were the only two people around as far as she knew, and she was trapped inside a bedroom with this stranger on top of it.  There was no way to call out for assistance.  With the wristbands not working she couldn’t simply pull herself out of the construct either.  Things were not looking good for her at all.  With his free hand Vincent took it upon himself to remove the hair sticks holding in the bun she had envisioned.   Light brown curls fell over her shoulder as the rooms lighting glinted off the blonde highlights.  He ran his hands through the strands releasing the fragrance of her shampoo into the air around them.  He took a large breath breathing it in and sighing upon release.  She knew she was in trouble if she didn’t manage to get away from him now.  As quick as she could she bent down to bite the hand that still held her arm.  His grip let go in response to the pain.  While she still had the element of surprise, she balled up her fist socking him as hard as she could in the face.  She really didn’t aim simply hit and ran.

            Throwing the door open she careened through it only to run into what felt like a solid wall.  Taking a step back she was met by the wide-eyed shocked face of another man.  Hearing the cursing coming from the room the man seemed to snap out of his daze a lot faster than she had.  Reaching behind her he slammed the door shut.

            “We need to get out of here.” 

            “How do I know I can trust you?”  The question made him pause as he looked her over for injury.  She appeared to be more shaken up than anything which was a little relief.  Usually, the system kept harm from coming to any human occupants.  With whatever was currently going on however that was no longer a surety.

            “We really don’t have time for this.  Everly, we need to jump to a new construct pronto.”

            “What’s the rush?”  Scarlett was taken aback by the disembodied voice.  The man paid little attention as he settled in to argue with thin air.

            “I’m guessing we need to get out of here before whoever is in that room comes out.”

            “I know I’m flying a little blind here but I’m not reading any other humans in that construct.”  The man looked back at the closed door speculatively before glancing back down at the scared woman beside him.

            “The construct has never acted with malicious intent before.  Are you trying to tell me it is now?”  The man’s question was met with silence as if whoever the woman was at the other end of the conversation was also unsure.  The longer they stood there the more uneasy she felt about the whole thing.

            “Not to sound ungrateful here but who are you and what is going on?”  The man turned sheepish as her rubbed at his dark buzzed hair.  Reaching out his hand he shook hers firmly as he introduced himself.

            “Sorry about that.  I’m Ian and my partner is Everly.  We work for the company that runs the fantasy program.  We’re usually called in when the system is malfunctioning.”  Scarlett took a moment to gather her thoughts.  She stared at her hand held solidly in his larger one.  Her skin took on a lighter hue next to the much darker coloring of his.  A yin and yang contrast.  She wasn’t sure she could trust him.  However, his tone and body language had been genuine.  It also explained the voice as well.  Sighing the tension in her shoulders eased.  The sound of the door handle of the room turning had her meeting his gaze in fright.

            “Now Everly!”

            The sound of the door opening was met with the darkness surrounding her once again.  The only thing that steadied her was the solid hand still held within hers.