We were ten adults. Not kids. Not teenagers. Four women in our early 20s. Six men in our late 20s. We had jobs, rent, responsibilities. We were not supposed to end up in a locked, abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.
But we did.
It was a corporate offsite. "Team Building Retreat for Young Professionals," the email had said. Our company, Apex Solutions, had booked a resort. Teena from HR had organized it. Anjali from Finance, Ishani from Design, Neha from Marketing, and me. Then there was Karan from Sales, Veer from IT, Rahul from Operations, Vijay from Legal, Satwinder from Accounts, and Rajveer from Client Services.
We barely knew each other. Office colleagues. We said "hi" at the coffee machine. That was it.
The bus driver was not from our usual vendor. "Last minute change," the email had said. He gave us water bottles when we boarded. "Complimentary. It's a long drive."
I remember Teena saying, "This tastes weird," and then nothing.
I woke up to the smell of rust and damp concrete. My head was splitting. My hands were tied in front of me with plastic zip ties. Not tight enough to cut off blood, but tight enough to hurt.
It was not dark. A single bulb hung from the ceiling, buzzing. And I was not alone.
"Is anyone else awake?" I whispered. My name is Nisha. I mean, my name in this story. I'm not using real names.
A groan. Then another. One by one, we came to. Ten of us. On a dirty floor. In a huge, empty hall. The windows were boarded up. There was one metal door. Closed.
"Teena?" That was Anjali's voice. She was curled up next to me. Her zip ties were already cutting into her wrists. She was 22, the youngest of us.
"I'm here," Teena said. She was 24, HR. She was trying to sound calm. She was failing. "Is everyone... is everyone okay?"
We did a roll call. Like a cursed attendance sheet. Karan, 27. Veer, 28, his glasses were broken. Rahul, 26. Vijay, 29, the oldest. Satwinder, 27. Rajveer, 26. Ishani, 23. Neha, 21.
Ten. Four women, 20+. Six men, 25+. All kidnapped.
"Why?" Ishani asked. She was a designer. She noticed things. "This isn't random. They took our entire team. They knew who we were."
"Ransom," Vijay said immediately. He was from Legal. He thought like that. "Apex Solutions is a big company. They want money."
"My parents don't have money," Neha said. Her voice was tiny. "I pay my own rent. I'm on EMI for my scooter."
That shut us up. Because most of us were like Neha. We were 20-something. We were not CEOs. We were people who checked our bank balance before ordering dinner.
Day 1 was panic. Karan tried to charge the door. He's 6 feet tall, works out. The door didn't move. It just hurt his shoulder. Rajveer tried to scream for help. His voice echoed and then died. The factory was in the middle of nowhere.
Satwinder was the first to be practical. Accounts. "Stop," he said. "Shouting wastes energy and oxygen. We need to think. How many of them are there?"
We had seen three men when they came to give us water. Once a day. They wore masks. They didn't speak. They just opened the door, threw in two bottles, and left. The door had three locks. We heard them click every time.
Day 2, Veer tried to cut his zip ties on the edge of a broken concrete pillar. He got his hands free, but his wrists were bleeding. He then freed Anjali. Anjali freed Teena. In one hour, all of us had our hands free. Small victory. But we were still locked in.
"Ishani, your phone?" Rahul asked.
"Gone. All our bags, phones, wallets. Gone." She held up her hand. Her engagement ring was gone too. She had been crying about it silently.
Day 3 was when Neha broke down. She wasn't crying. She was shaking. "I can't do this. I have a dog at home. Who will feed Bruno? He'll think I left him."
It was Rajveer who went to her. He was 26, from Client Services. He was used to calming angry clients. "Hey, hey. Look at me. What's your dog's name again?"
"Bruno."
"Bruno is a strong name. For a strong dog. He'll wait for you. Because you are strong too. We are all getting out of here. Together."
That was the moment we changed. We stopped being ten colleagues. We became ten people with one problem.
We started planning on Day 4. Vijay, Legal, knew about law. "If this is ransom, they need us alive. That's leverage."
Karan, Sales, knew about people. "The guy who gives water. He's the youngest. He hesitates before he locks the third lock. I've been watching. He's scared."
Veer, IT, knew about buildings. "This factory is old. The boards on the windows. They are not nailed from outside. They are screwed from inside. If we can reach one..."
The window was 15 feet high. Too high to reach. Too high to climb.
"But what if we make a ladder?" Anjali said. She was 22, Finance. She was used to making things work with limited resources.
We had nothing. Except our clothes. Our belts. Veer's broken glasses. And ten desperate brains.
Day 5, we worked. We tore our shirts into strips. We tied them together. We used our belts as anchors. Karan and Rajveer, the tallest, stood on Satwinder and Rahul's shoulders. They tied the cloth rope to a rusted pipe near the ceiling.
It took 6 hours. Our hands were raw. But we made a rope that reached the window.
Day 6, the water guy came. He was careless. He was 20 minutes late. He was on his phone. He threw the water, turned to leave, and only clicked two locks. He forgot the third.
We waited. We waited 3 hours. Until night. Until we were sure the snoring from the other room was real.
Karan went first. He climbed the cloth rope. He was 27, strong. He reached the window. He used Veer's broken lens to unscrew the board. One screw. Two screws. The board fell inside with a soft thud.
He pushed the window open. Cold air. Real air. It smelled like freedom.
One by one, we climbed. Karan and Rajveer pulled us up. Veer went last. He made sure no one was left behind.
We dropped 12 feet to the ground outside. We ran. Ten of us. Through fields. Through the dark. No one let go of anyone's hand. Teena held Anjali. Anjali held Neha. Neha held Ishani. Ishani held me. I held Vijay. The chain didn't break.
We found a highway. A truck driver stopped. He called the police.
We were free.
One month later, we met. Not at office. At a dhaba. All ten. Teena, Anjali, Ishani, Neha. Karan, Veer, Rahul, Vijay, Satwinder, Rajveer.
We didn't talk about the factory. We talked about Bruno, Neha's dog. We talked about Vijay's upcoming wedding. We talked about Satwinder's new accounts job.
We were kidnapped as four women and six men who shared an office.
We came back as ten friends who shared a secret. A secret that said: when the door locks, you don't wait. You build a rope. And you climb. Together....
CONTINUE....
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