When she opened her eyes, she was inside a dark, sealed room.
On the far wall, she could faintly make out the number 30. A sharp, ringing sound pierced through her muffled hearing.
Someone once told her that this was the sound of auditory cells dying… But who? When she found herself thinking that what she was hearing was the shrieking of dying cells, the sensation of slick dampness at her nape suddenly came back rushing towards her.
"Hah… hah…."
She could see other people in the dim room as she gasped, air tearing out of her lungs. There were six people, herself included, seated three on each side with their seatbelts strapped on. There was an emergency exit nearby, and for a moment she wondered if this was what it was like to be in a private jet.
Who are these people? Why are they all asleep?
She strained her dizzy mind for a reason, any explanation for why she was there, only to be met with nothing but blankness: a stark white emptiness where her memories should have been.
—even including the memory of who she was.
Once she came to that terrible realization, an icy tremor slid down her spine.
"Do you remember anything?"
Just then, a low voice sounded beside her. She jerked her head up.
A man with short ashy hair set a flashlight upright on the floor and dropped heavily into the empty seat next to her. As he repeatedly clicked his blunt lighter to life, his side profile flared into view with flickers of sharp light and shadow.
Who is this?
"...No. I don't. I can't remember anything. What about you?"
She blinked a few times before asking back honestly.
"Absolutely nothing."
The man answered with indifference before turning his head towards those asleep.
He must be a soldier. That was the first thought that crossed her mind when she saw his cold, impassive gaze. Though they were all dressed in the same navy blue-colored uniform, his tall, broad build and unreadable features set him apart from the rest.
"Were you the first to open your eyes?"
"I assume so. Unless someone's pretending to be asleep."
The man beside her tore his eyes away from the others and answered in a low voice. He looked as though he wanted to say more, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. His gaze settled on her, heavily and insistent, as the rhythmic click of his lighter came to a abrupt stop.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
She asked, puzzled, but it took a while for the man to break the silence.
"I just feel like I know you from somewhere."
It was a strange way of speaking. The wall of unfamiliarity between them crumbled in an instant.
He had dark blue eyes that reminded her of the deep sea. Looking into them made her feel strange, as though her blood began to move faster through her veins. She drew in a slow breath, and his eyes trailed from her lips to the curve of her throat, lingering before sliding lower.
"Riella."
Her heart dropped to her stomach.
"I thought you didn't remember anything. How do you know my name?"
"It's written there."
His glance fell somewhere below her face. Only then did she notice the name engraved on her left chest. She hurried to check his in return, but he had already stood up.
"Please assist me in waking the others as soon as your dizziness subsides."
His name tag caught the light for a second before slipping back into darkness.
Aslan.
She rolled the name silently off her tongue, but nothing about it felt familiar. Meanwhile, the man had begun waking the sleepyheads around them—a narrow-chinned man with sharp eyes, a bald woman who looked like she belonged to some kind of religious order, a short woman with braided hair, and a middle-aged man with glasses and a pronounced beer belly. One by one they stirred, groaning as if recovering from a violent bout of nausea. Three women and three men. Riella counted each head before carefully shaking the last person on her other side awake.
"Excuse me. You've got to wake up."
Out of everyone, it was clear that the outlier was seated beside her. Dylan was his name, with shaggy black hair falling to his shoulders, piercings lining his ears, and tattoos running down his neck. Though she had no memories of him, he certainly wasn't the type she would mingle with. The man squinted at her through unfocused, sleep-heavy eyes before letting his head drop again as if to drift off again. Bewildered, when she gave his shoulder another shake, Dylan shot her an irritated scowl.
"Ugh, stop bothering me. What do you want? Who the hell are you?"
"Um, that's a very good question."
Dylan looked her up and down in disbelief like she'd lost her mind, but she merely shrugged in response. As he opened his mouth in a wide yawn, she could see he even had piercings on his tongue.
"I hate troublesome crap, so go ahead if you're gonna sell your organs. Just leave me out of it. But fuck man, half my liver is gone and I'm down a kidney, so what next, huh?"
"How does your corneas sound?"
The man's eyes were about to flutter shut again, but snapped open at the calm interjection. Ignoring the glare Dylan sent him, Aslan confirmed everyone was awake before sweeping his gaze over the group.
"Does anyone remember the events prior to falling asleep here?"
Those who had been clutching their heads or groaning all turned to him at once. Even Dylan furrowed his forehead and rolled his eyes around. Silence fell upon the room for a few moments.
"...."
Flashes of shock and confusion akin to what Riella just experienced flashed through everyone's faces. There aren't many people in this world who can keep a perfect poker face. Seeing how everyone failed to conceal their expressions, Riella became certain they were all in the same situation.
"Given the current situation, it seems we were involved in some kind of accident that resulted in memory loss, leaving only certain knowledge intact. Immediately after regaining my consciousness, I have found oxygen masks in the overhead compartments and survival kits under the chairs.
Deafening silence settled across the room. What a thing to hear, after having just waken up. An accident? Memory-loss? Survival kits?
"I've also confirmed that these seats are equipped with emergency ejection systems and parachutes. Therefore, it is likely that we are inside a fuselage."
That seemed like a plausible explanation. Riella too, had thought they were inside an airship or spacecraft.
But where were they heading to? A vehicle must have a destination. They were all dressed in the same clothes, heading towards a certain place….
Riella studied the woman sitting opposite her, with hair cropped very close to her scalp. The gaunt woman was gasping for air, her complexion ashen like that of someone ill. Unlike Aslan, she didn't strike Riella as a soldier. The same applied to the bespectacled middle-aged man beside the woman, his beer gut heavily protruding. Well, he looked like he did well in school… but more the kind to handle paperwork than anything else. Everyone on the ship seemed different—in gender, age, and occupation.
On what criteria were they brought together for?
"If we've been through an accident, and this is inside some kind of fuselage…."
After a moment of thought, Riella raised her hand and spoke.
"Then shouldn't we hurry outside? The lights don't seem to be coming on, so is it really safe for us to remain here?"
The group's uneasy gazes flitted over towards the new voice. Aslan too looked at her—no, not quite. Upon closer look his focus was slightly off, fixed somewhere beyond her. The window that was just behind her head.
"That's what I had thought as well."
"...."
"But there was a strange entity outside."
The fine hair at the back of her neck immediately stood on end. Riella went still, her arm frozen in midair.
Maybe it was the way he spoke, the lack of inflection in his tone, or this sinister and eerily quiet atmosphere. A 'strange entity'. He had only uttered these simple words, but it was enough to evoke a prickle of foreboding sliding down her spine.
"It's also why I covered the windows."
Only then did she notice the windows, all the covers pulled down. The man with the narrow and sharp chin cast a glance behind him and urged for an explanation.
"Um, so what exactly do you mean by 'strange'?"
A faint crease formed between Aslan's eyebrows, less out of hesitation than as if choosing his words carefully. Just then, Dylan—who had been bouncing his leg up and down—undid his seatbelt and stood up.
"All this jabbering, and you all are just going to wait around for some random dude you've never seen before to explain everything? Why not go see for ourselves?"
"Wait, it could be dangerous. There's no need to actually open it."
Riella instinctively rose after Dylan and grabbed his arm.
"We could gather more information first. It won't be too late to open afterwards."
"You sure? How do you know that bastard isn't lying? What if he's drugged us all for some twisted scheme of his?"
Dylan sneered.
"Do you really think he was the first one to wake up? Who knows, he might've been awake the whole time."
That was also a plausible explanation. Wasn't Aslan the one watching her right when she woke up? Besides, no matter how much she thought about it, this situation was beyond absurd. Doubts had a way of spreading, and she could practically feel it sweep through the others like a plague.
It was just then, when Riella had let go of Dylan's arm after some hesitation.
"There was a corpse."
Aslan spoke the words in a flat tone.
"...Huh?"
"As soon as I turned on the lights, a human with half their head melted approached the window and peered inside. It looked like they were drawn to the light, from wandering out there in the dark."
"...."
Chilly silence thickened in the room. Mouths fell open in astonishment. The mere image of someone emerging from the darkness, staring unblinking at the back of her head, sent instant chills sweeping through her entire body.
"...Ha, ahaha. Holy shit, do you guys hear this guy? Forget all that about him drugging us, he must be the one on crack."
Dylan burst into loud, almost deliberate laughter as his eyes glinted with sharp malice. His laughter sliced through the heavy silence in the room with an eerie ring.
"Jeez, and here I thought it was something serious. You said it was a corpse, but that was just a person. They might've come to check out the crash. And you're telling me you tossed that chance aside and closed those covers with your almighty judgement?"
Dylan's laughter dragged on for a while before it cut off abruptly. He sauntered forward, all confrontational and defiant. Aslan didn't so much as raise a brow, meeting Dylan's gaze straight on as he came to a stop around his eye-level. It was impossible to read Aslan's expression, like he had been trained professionally to give nothing away. Then, it was only for a split second, what had that fleeting look he'd given her been? Riella sucked in a deep breath and prepared to step in at any moment.
"Now, be honest here. You. Are you some part of human trafficking ring? You've struck a good deal and so you've kidnapped us all. No wonder you look a bit familiar. I bet you've been lurking around me like a creep before all this."
"How creative."
Impassive expression still unreadable as ever, Aslan dropped his formal tone.
"Sure, if I were to sell anything, I'd start with your empty head and hand it over first. It'd make a decent decoration."
"You fucker, what did you just s–"
Squeak.
The unusual sound cut Dylan off mid-sentence, his grip still twisted in Aslan's collar. Everyone's heads turned at the same time.
The window cover was open.