The Cage
"..ehm...ot"
"Let...eh..ot"
"Let me out."
"Let me out. Let me out" Continuous noise woke up Safo Nur. It was not the voice of one person, several, mixed men and women called for help and begged to let them go.
Coming back from slumber followed by headache, sleepiness, and dizziness, he felt like he would throw up any minute. Disorientated. It took him a couple of minutes to fully wake up.
Safo Nur jumped on his legs when he remembered what had happened to him back in the parking lot. He was poisoned with something that caused him to lose consciousness.
"What... is this place? Why am I here? That girl did something to me." He twisted his head shocked, he was inside of the metal cage, like some animal.
He wasn't alone though, there were about a hundred people with him. Men, women, children, and elder people. Some of them were shouting for help banging the silver bars of the cage. Others, those who lost their hope apparently, just sat by the wall-hugging their knees. All of them had grim faces.
Safo Nur looked around to locate where he was. The whole place looked very simple: old and new at the same time. It felt strange when he, actually noticed it. Cage occupied half of the room, while the other half also had a cage of sorts but it was constructed of glass. Separated by 5 meters wide space between them. Metal slide doors were the only exit from the room if he managed to exit the bar doors of the cage.
Walls had faded white color, some places were yellowish resembling an abandoned hospital or lab. That was the strange part, the glass cage, its door, and main doors looked very high-tech, with a bunch of blinking lights and unfamiliar sensors or buttons. But on the other hand, the cage, floor, walls, and whole interior were in poor condition. The room was heavily used, one could see scratches on the walls and floors, lots of stains different in color and shape. It was obvious that these people were not the first ones here.
"Sit down for a while, sleeping drug that she shot at you will take some time to completely go away." Safo Nur heard a voice from behind, it was an old man with an almost bald head.
"Where am I," asked Safo Nur, hoping to get some intel from an old man.
"Who knows?! We can only guess. Some say it is an American research lab, some claim that it is Russians who put us here. Some crazy and desperate ones say that we had been kidnapped by aliens or a serial killer." The old man said those terrifying things with ease, like someone who has already accepted the inevitable, regardless of the truth.
"Anyway nothing good can be expected, I'm here for a week, I think. I was one of the first ones here. The girl in black tosses fruits and vegetables to us to eat like we are some animals for them. But at least they didn't leave us to rot here." The old man continued. "So far she just brought new people and didn't change the message."
"What message?" Safo Nur.
"Over there." He stretched out his hands pointing inside the glass cage. There was a huge monitor with text:
"Please remain calm and wait for further instructions. Thank you for your cooperation."
"But how we can stay calm, we are humans, they can't treat us like some cattle." Then he lowered his head, gesturing for Safo to come closer, and went on saying: "If you want to help, go and talk to Sher. He and other young boys are trying to get us out here." And tilted his head pointing to a guy in a blue shirt.
Safo Nur nodded and went towards Sher at the opposite end of the cage.
The cage was packed with people, only now Safo Nur could fully grasp the awful situation that he was stuck in. The constant noise of crying or nagging people made things even worse.
They had been kidnapped by unknown people, maybe terrorists, maniacs, or anything in between. They could die anytime, the crowd was scared.
Even if it wasn't his last moments, Safo's whole life ran through his mind like an old-time videotape. It took some time for him to gather his strength to move on towards Sher instead of crawling someplace and waiting for help. He suspected that probably it will be hard for someone from outside to find and save them if they didn't do it in a week.
When he came close to Sher, who was surrounded by boys of his age or a bit older, they stopped their whisperings. It looked like he caught them in the middle of a hot discussion.
Sher, a tall, handsome, and good-shaped young man about 20 years old raised his hand to transfer their attention to Safo Nur.
"Show us your phone, we need to check pictures, messages, and calls." Demanded Sher.
"Why?" He asked, genuinely confused. He checked his phone earlier and there was no signal, so he turned it off to save energy in case of an escape.
"We have some guesses about this place. Just checking if you are a spy or intruder. I know you will say that if you were their man you would make sure to delete everything that connected you and them but anyway give it to us so we can trust each other." Said with seriousness Sher.
After searching his phone for 10 minutes they gave it back and invited him to join their group.
"The best thing we can hope for is that all these are some kind of sick prank. So we thought maybe they will send someone who will act like a victim amongst us. This theory is fading away though." The guy explained.
"My name is Sher, these are people who volunteered to help to save us and everybody here. If you wish to join we will share our plan with you and you will choose what you can do to help." Sher said with a tough voice. He was trying to be tough, he had been chosen to be a leader by others and much responsibility and expectations were on his shoulders. It was the lives of real people that were on the line.
"My name is Safo, I'll do what I can." Safo hadn't much of a choice. "Do you know where we are?" Safo knew the answer to his question but he asked it anyway.
"We do not, no one knows. So far we know that we are all from different regions of Uzbekistan." Answered Sher.
"One thing I know for sure, they are too confident. And we will prove them wrong." Then he explained why he said what he said.
It was because whoever did this to them, didn't take their belongings from their pockets or bags. They had a bunch of different stuff to make use of.
Currently in their possession were: two knives, one fully charged stun gun, a couple of pens, and one screwdriver. These tools could be used as a weapon in extreme situations.
He also mentioned that there were two gang members, one soldier, and he, a black belted Captain of the National Taekwondo Team. He was confident that they at least have a chance to escape the cage or take that girl in black as a hostage to trade her life for their freedom.
'Taekwondo master, gang members, soldiers, old men, and I amusement park worker, do not have anything in common. Why are we here?' Safo Nur pondered about the core of the problem. If he could detect the link between victims he could understand why and where they are.
But at that time Safo Nur needed to focus on what "Sher and co" were trying to pull. They definitely should have a plan and more knowledge, what was critical is that they possessed what Safo Nur lacked - bravery.
Safo Nur had never been in a serious fight, didn't practice any martial arts therefore he had no idea how to oppose others. He wasn't completely pushover or a loser, it is just he wasn't physically developed.
Safo Nur considered himself as soft - almost weak and cowardly. Where others saw wisdom and emotional maturity he saw passive and inertness. He wasn't fixed on this though, he always has been honest with himself. He was able to accept both sides and live with it. To respect different opinions - avoiding confrontation, thinking first - not acting ruthless, justify other people - search an issue in himself, two sides of the same coin.
"I'm in, but I don't have any fighting experience, don't know if I will be useful. I'll try my best." Safo, really, wanted to help no matter what.
"Glad to hear it, guys will introduce you to the plan. We will break free today." Sher left to make other men, who wished to fight, get prepared.
"This guy is an alpha, I should follow him." Safo Nur was happy that he met a person like Sher who he looked up to. Even being near him Safo began gaining confidence in their future.
Right after Sher left, the big guy with a big smile approached Safo. "Hi my name is Akbar, and I need your belt," the chubby guy said with a grin.
And they revealed to him "The plan".