Awakening

*Groans*

"Am I alive?"

Vain had just woken up and took a look at where he was at. The room was what looked like the center room he had seen before except it had been heavily modified for living comfortably.

After looking around for a bit longer to clear up his vision, Vain tried to stand up but immediately faceplanted into the floor. He originally had been laying on a table off to the side away from everything but more of the tables. His feet were tied with only enough room to not cut off his circulation. His hands were also tied together behind his back.

Groaning Vain felt all the pain of his wounds all over his body. While painful, what Vain was more afraid of was his wounds opening up and bleeding even more than he already had.

Although having his face shoved into the floor was uncomfortable, what it did give was a clear view of a man who was asleep on a chair next to what appeared to be a comically large satellite dish that looked like it shouldn't fit at all in the room. The sleeping man had a small black beard and short black hair. He was wearing a grey sweatshirt and regular blue jeans.

Vain knew the best way out of his binds was probably the regular-looking man in front of him. So with whatever strength he had left he opened his mouth to yell, but all that came out was a soft croaking until the words finally formed to make a raspy, "hhhey..."

Vain could hear that more air was coming out of his mouth than actual sounds, so without a choice, Vain closed his eyes right there and then to sleep a little longer. Now there were four men all asleep with one asleep on a chair and one face first into the floor.

Four hours later Vain woke up and tried to get up until he was reminded why he was laying face down into the carpet. With a loud sigh, Vain looked to the man who was sleeping in the chair once again in hopes of seeing him awake. Unfortunately, all he saw was a man who was nearly falling off a chair and drooling in his sleep.

After sleeping for so long Vain now finally had a clearer mind which only allowed him to feel his thirst more than anything. With a clearer mind, Vain was also now able to think of all the ways out of his binds.

Taking a clearer look around the room Vain now noticed how this group had organized their supplies, and they left their weapons out in the open. Only beginners here might try to hide their weapons since having to defend yourself at a moment's notice is far more important than anything else. Only the swordsman had his sword sheathed and was hugging it in his sleeping bag.

Usually, people here need some type of small utility knife and a melee weapon as a backup plan, so after finding where the group most likely keeps the sharp objects Vain decided to inch his way over to it.

After 30 minutes Vain had only reached the supplies, but that didn't stop him especially since he spotted his torn-up bag and his strange glowing vine. After a quick thought, Vain decided that if they put the vine and his bag together, then it was likely they put his small dagger somewhere nearby.

Twenty minutes later Vain was searching the bag behind his back and indeed found his dagger after cutting himself on it. It was only after five minutes of struggling did he finally free his hands from the rope that bound him.

Finally after a full hour, Vain had finally freed himself from the rope and after freeing his feet as well he got something to drink and a bit of food so as not to starve. After finishing his small meal Vain sat in a corner against a wall away from the group.

Three hours later a soft groan was heard in the room, then a loud yawn. A person hugging a sword in its' sheath got out of the sleeping bag and slowly got up off the floor. Vain who was lightly sleeping immediately opened his eyes. The man also had Black hair and a beard, except his beard was cut off as if he shaves regularly except recently. Instead of a sweatshirt, he had a dark green shirt with a generic design and he also wore black pants.

The man who had just woken up rubbed his eyes and walked to the man in the chair. Looking at the man for a moment he grumbled, "You should have just gone to sleep."

After a while, he shook the man awake this time speaking loudly, "Jason wake up. you need to move to a more comfortable spot if you want to go back to sleep." The man called Jason groaned and nodded his head at the man waking him up.

"Sorry I guess I was so tired I fell asleep before I could warn you to take guard."

"No problem. Go get some good sleep now."

Vain who was sort of hidden decided that this was the best time to speak up.

"hhhello..." A soft airy hello came out of Vain's mouth. Despite it being quiet it was still loud enough to make a big impact on the two people who thought they were the only ones awake.

The man who had just woken up got rid of all his drowsiness and pulled out his gun without any hesitation and pointed the gun in Vain's direction. The other man stopped talking softly and unsheathed his sword and yelled, "WHO'S THERE!"

Vain had already been prepared and had his hands above his head and walked out directly into the open.

The man with a gun who went by the name of Jason yelled, "HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF YOUR RESTRAINTS?!"

The man who was sleeping before had also gotten up and pulled out his own gun and had it aimed directly at Vain's head. "You lost so much blood. How are you awake already?" Compared to the two who had started to yell at the top of their lungs the man with dark bags under his eyes had a calm demeanor.

Vain smiled shyly and spoke to the best of his ability, "I-I-I can't speak v-very clearly." Out of his mouth came slow and raspy words.

Still, despite his inability to speak clearly he still spoke as clear as he could, "*cough* I... couldn't wake anyone... After some time... I crawled to your supplies... to free myself... As for your question about blood loss... I have no idea how my body works..."

Despite Vains slow words, the group took the time he spoke to recollect themselves. Jason spoke up once again, "Then tell me how long have you been awake and why didn't you wake us up when you freed yourself."

After talking for a while Vain could now talk without long breaks in between, "I knew if an unfamiliar person tried to wake you up, you most likely would attack first and ask questions later. I also waited till two people woke up since then you would both feel safer not to shoot first and think about who you shot later. As for how long I've been awake... probably about four hours."

Jason frowned at his answer since he could feel that the man in front of him had truly thought of all possibilities and chose what he believed to be the best one for survival.

"So you also planned to come out into the most vulnerable spot in our point of view but you already had a plan to do if we shot first and asked later, right?"

Vain was stunned by being seen through so easily. "I have been through a lot and I know that there were two possibilities in this situation. Either escape further into the hallways of this level which would allow me to escape, but with my wounds, I wouldn't survive much longer without food or water and a place to rest, so convincing you all that I mean no harm is best.

You all obviously don't trust me or wanted to sell me because you are slavers, but then I don't know if saving me and then selling me is worth the effort. There are only two things I can say is true. I don't want to harm my saviors, and... I want to live."