Derek POV
"What is this place??" I think to myself as I slowly open my eyes. I was no longer in a cave of blinding lights but in some kind of cell lit only by a candle hanging on a wall as I sat on cold concrete. My head swung from side to side and two other people were inside this place with me, a man lying flat out on the dusty floor and an old man clipping his toes with his teeth in a corner but there was no sign of Max.
I stand on my feet and grab a hold of the bars and peer through them. A man was sitting by the cell holding onto a sharp pole sleeping as he held onto a pair of keys.
"What the hell," the sleeping man that laid on the floor woke from his sleep to sit up. "Where am I?" He looked around as if he was scanning. There was no use in asking him anything as he was just as lost as me.
"Oh, kid you're awake," the weird old man says crawling out from the corner making me back up. He wasn't talking to me but the dude on the floor. "I was thinking you died before your execution," he casually says, and I read panic all over the guy's face.
"Execution?" he parrots as his voice trembles, and I try to mind my business.
"Don't tell me you forgot why you're here boy," the old man laughs before shooting me a look in the corner as I nervously look around straight out the cell bars. "And you too kid in the corner," he says and my heart stops. "Everyone in this cell is doomed for execution," another cackle escapes his lips before he starts to walk backwards in his corner then vanishes into thin air.
"Executed? I can't be executed. I need to find Max," I mumble under my breath before cuffing my face in my hands.
"You're looking for someone too?" he asked, and I nod looking at him. "You wouldn't happen to know why we are in this cell," he asked, and I shook my head.
"I just woke up and I was in here," I say, and his eyes widen as he makes his way towards me. "The same happened to me," he says, "I just woke up here after some kind of hole appeared."
We were really going through the same thing. No one knew anything about getting executed as we both just sat by the bars and waited for death to come.
...
Hours had passed and I started to doze off when I heard a door open from the outside. The guy seemed to hear it as well, turning to the opening to peer out.
"Alexander are you here," a girl's voice yells right before she approaches the cell. "Finally, Alexander, we found you," she sighs in relief, and he looks at me in confusion. He acted as if he had no clue who the woman was in front of him. I stuck my head out the bars to try and find the sleeping guard, but he was gone, replaced by a guy in all black holding a set of keys.
Next thing I know they opened the door to the cell and Alexander grabbed hold of my wrist pulling me out with him. I guess he didn't want to be with these strange people dressed like ninjas.
"Who is he?" the guy in black asked but with a little aggression in his tone. I didn't like the way he came off, so I didn't even attempt to give away my name.
"He is someone that kept me company in the cell," he says, letting my wrist go as I nod. "Why don't you introduce yourselves to him," he says. I found it a bit weird as he could have just introduced me to them, but I shrug it off.
"I'm Nora, Alexander's girlfriend," she says, pulling off her mask and letting her long brown hair flow down her back. I just stand there and nod as Alexander stares at the side of my head as she would not let go of him.
"And I'm Liam," the guy says, pulling his mask off only to eye Alexander. He hasn't looked at me once and it was pissing me off. He seemed to be a rude piece of shit. "Anyway, we are here to get Alexander so you may go," he continued to speak.
"That was unnecessary," I say, and he finally looks my way. "I had no intention of staying with you so you trying to dismiss me was irrelevant." I begin to walk away but Alexander grabs my wrist.
"Actually, he doesn't have a place to go," he says which was true, but I don't know how he knew this. "I was thinking he could stay with us for a while," he mumbles and Liam glares into my eyes. It was like fire roaring within them. I did need a place to stay so I didn't say anything. At the end of the day, I had no intention of staying too long. I needed to find Max.