Chapter four: Trapped

CHAPTER FOUR - TRAPPED

  It was dark and cold, she could feel the cold floor on her skin 

“Roxanne” a voice like a whisper sounded in her ears

“Roxanne” she opened her eyes and found herself in a confined room like a box, from the look of the room the length and breath would all measure equally making the room a square box. 

   She sat up then looked around the room, It was empty and cold, the floor she felt was made of metal, she got up and touched the walls it was all made of metal everything was made of metal 

“Help! Somebody help me!” she yelled out but the voice didn’t leave the box, she sat down crying

   It was like in a movie, she had no idea what to do, could this be the end of her? 

She got up and began touching the walls maybe she could find a push button or something like an escape but the walls were plain metals and no escape. Checked the floor, touching the edges of the floor round, she felt something wet touch her hand, she moved back and felt that part of the floor, it was liquid metal (Mercury), she dipped her hand into it and felt some kind of handle, she pulled the handle the top of the metal box opened and water began filling up the box quickly and in seconds half the box was full, looking straight up all she could see was a long metal tunnel stretching vertically upwards to an open sky, the box was filling up quickly as water kept flowing forcefully from spaces in the vertical tunnel, she tried to stay afloat although she was a good swimmer she had to struggle to stay afloat. Just then the box top appeared to be closing up, she quickly swam upwards and managed to get passed the closing metal, the water had fast filled the long tunnel, she had to swim out fast or risked drowning, as she swam upwards she noticed another metal ledge closing above her she struggled to move faster in the water, it was difficult but she kept struggling to and she managed to get passed the closing metal before it shut, above her was another closing metal ledge, she was exhausted and running out off oxygen in her lungs, she pushed herself and managed to reach the metal ledge it almost crushed her but she went passed it, just above her was the sky, she kept swimming upwards, her limbs already ached and she was out of oxygen, she automatically slowed down and began drowning, she was passing out into the after life when suddenly water force from underneath the water pushed her slowly upwards to the surface, she gasped for air deeply as her face reached the open sky, she grabbed onto an edge as she breath heavily, she looked around to discover she was at the top of a building and in the distance was forest all around her, she climbed out of the water and fell on the concrete ground, she laid there flat still catching her breath and suddenly she fell asleep… 

    Opening her eyes again it was sunset, she got up and walked to the edge of the building and looked down there she discovered it was not a building but a long metal box standing at about 50feet high, there were no buildings in sight just forest. While standing there she noticed a guy walking through the bushes 

“Hey!” she called out

“Hey! Help me” she yelled, the young man looked up at her then immediately ran away into the forest like he saw a ghost, she looked confused, she looked around, she needed to get down, she walked around the tall box then found metal bars that led to the ground she immediately climbed down onto the grasses, she looked around and saw no one

“Hello” there was no human response just the wind blowing softly on the trees and grasses, she began walking towards the bushes but suddenly stopped, what if it was a trap? The question dropped in her head. She heard movements in the bushes–the sun had gone out of sight but it’s orange rays still touched the sky with dim brightness, the bushes were getting darker and from the look of things she knew she was at a vulnerable spot because she couldn’t see into the dark woods but whatever was in there could see her, she moved back towards the tall box, she tried to climb up back to the top where she could see all around her but all the iron bars suddenly slides back into the metal box; at this point she knew something was about to unfold, something she wouldn’t like, she heard movements in the bushes again

“Is anyone there?” she said, her eyes moved rapidly. She noticed something moving and slowly it came into sight, she froze at the sight of a huge bear, the growling sound of the bear scared the hell out of her but what freaked her the most was the fact that the growling bear had words coming out of its mouth with the growl, each growl was accompanied by her name Roxanne 

“What the hell are you?” she moved backwards, and to her left another bear came out the dark bushes, the blue in the sky had seriously darkened and she couldn’t see the beasts clearly. They continually moved closer to her, she looked around for something to scare them with, she picked up a rock and threw it hard at one of the beast, the bear growled angrily and ran towards her ready to tear her to pieces but from nowhere arrows were fired multiple times at the beast right on the head, it fell down and slides close to Roxanne, the other beast growled and charged at Roxanne and got the same treatment as the first causing it to drop dead. 

   Roxanne looked confused, there was no one in sight, where did the arrows come from? Not long a group of five persons came out of the woods, two held torchlights as they ran towards Roxanne 

“Are you okay?” a guy asked

“I’m fine… who are you guys?” she asked 

“I’m Keith… I am the leader of the camp”

“This is Alfred, he is our marksman”

“That is Peter also a marksman” 

“That is Amberjill she is my assistant”

“And that is Fortress, a combatant” Keith introduced, they all stared at her

“Who are you guys and what is this place?” Roxanne asked 

“At least tell us your name?” Keith asked

“Roxanne”

“Roxanne you have no idea how long we have waited for the fire to burn at sun set at the top of mercury tower” Keith said 

“I don’t Understand what you are talking about, what fire?” she asked

“You are the fire”

“Look I have no idea what you are talking about… I just want to leave this place” Roxanne said

“Come with us” Keith said and she followed them back to the camp

   At camp there were people moving around like a small village, tents and small open top jeeps. People stared at Roxanne as she walked along with Keith and the others, some smiling and mumbling words to each other

“Why are they staring at me?” she asked Keith 

“You are the hope out of the time trap” he said 

“What time trap?” she asked, he led her into a large tent then handed her some black clothes

“The bath space is over there” he said

“I want out of here not a bath” she said

“I know… We all do but you should get our of those clothes and let’s get your arm treated” he pointed to the injury on her arm, she looked around the tent, there were bows and arrows placed on a table, there was a bed, clothes, bags. She walked towards the bath room, she had a bath and changed into the new clothes then walked up to him while he sharpened an arrow

“I want answers please” she said, he looked at her then moved closer to her then looked at her arm

“It’s already healing” he said then sat down on the bed but she stood staring at him

“Come on have a seat” he signaled her to sit beside him

“Just like you we were selected to be here” he said

“I wasn’t selected, I watched 100s get killed and I barely survived it all” she said 

“You didn’t survive by luck Roxanne… We were selected for this experiment”

“What Experiment?” 

“A secret American Organization discovered how to go back and forward in time, in order to be sure of its perfection we were sent into the future to discover how the third world war started so we can stop it from the past but the project was not a complete success”

“How?” 

“We discovered how it started but going back into the past we got trapped in this time flush… through dreams can we only communicate with the past which is our present and there we learnt that the fire will burn on mercury tower at sunset… You are that fire” 

“What company is behind this?” she asked 

“Sky Experiments aka Sky-X” 

“I have never heard of such company” she said, he looked puzzled

“How is that possible?” 

“I don’t know, I don’t Care, I just want out of here” 

“At sunrise we will head east to the capital”

“What is there?” she asked 

“Only the fire knows” he said

“I don’t get… What fire? Wait me?” she asked 

“Yes you”

“So you have been waiting all these while for me to take you there?”

“Yes we have because we tried accessing the door but couldn’t because only you can”

“What if I can’t” she asked

“Then we all die”

“What!?” 

“We have died multiple times but keep coming back here, it’s a time trap here” he said, Roxanne got up and walked about, so that means I am stuck here 

“No, you are the key” he walked to her, she looked scared

“What if… What if I am not who you think I am” she said doubting but he held her still

“Listen to me, you are the key… Nothing has ever come out of the mercury tower before, just you, you are the girl with the fire” he calmed her down, she walked back to the bed and sat down

“Would you like something to eat?” he asked 

“Of cause, I’m dead hungry” she said and he smiled and walked out