The Misfits

Elias

Two other men had joined the two from the back of the van, all dressed similar, and one of the two men who joined them pointed around the side of the van.

Elias didn’t really want to make this easy for them, but the man pulled out a stun gun from his belt and pressed the button.

Electricity crackled from the two metal prongs at the end.

Elias didn’t want to make this easy, but he also wasn’t into pain, so holding onto the end of the chain that was still attached to the handcuffs, he walked in the direction the man had pointed.

Coming around the van, he saw a large house – more like an old mansion or plantation house – there. From the architecture, he figured he was somewhere in the South.

The men who walked beside Elias didn’t talk, but simply pointed in the direction he wanted him to go.

Before coming up to the main walk, the man directed Elias to the left, away from the house and towards an outbuilding not far from the house itself.

Elias wasn’t really an outdoorsy person and wasn’t sure what the building could be used for. Several things came to mind, like a torture chamber, holding cells for human traffickers and the like, but he knew it probably wasn’t any of those.

While nothing was really close, the building was a little too out in the open for something like that. The place was small, but the big double doors reminded him of an equipment shed for a riding mower or a tractor, or even a small barn.

As they arrived, the man in front opened one of the doors so they could enter easily, but no more than necessary, before going through first.

Elias paused outside and the only man who had spoken said, “Go. No fully stuff.”

It wasn’t like he had considered it. He could run, but he figured that he would be shot before he got too far. By the dart gun or by a real gun didn’t really matter, either would be bad.

Just to be a nuisance, he counted to five before he walked through the door. Inside was dark, but lit several places by single lightbulbs, giving the place a medieval torture chamber effect.

The man who entered before him hadn’t gone but a few feet before waiting for him. He waited a few seconds – for Elias’s eyes to adjust to the darkness before pointing to a far corner.

Elias slowly walked, following the man who moved once he saw Elias walking.

The place they were heading to had what looked like stalls lining the wall. Three on the side they were headed, and two on the opposite side. They were eight feet tall, the last five feet from the bottom all solid wood and the top three feet were metal bars like you’d find in a jail cell.

Elias thought that maybe they weren’t quite that thick. More likely just thick enough that a horse couldn’t push through them.

There was some scattered hay on the ground as well as what looked like grass or something similar. The fact that it didn’t smell like horses in here gave away the illusion they were trying to project. Sure it looked like horses should be here, but it didn’t smell of horse.

Maybe these guys weren’t as smart as he gave them credit for. The man in the lead opened the door in the last stall and walked into it.

Elias stopped outside of it and the talker behind him said, “Keep going.”

Again, Elias counted to five before starting to walk, just to tick the guy off.

Inside the stall was more hay on the ground, but not much. Just enough to give the illusion that at times a horse was in there.

The others followed behind Elias and the last man closed the door behind him. Once it was closed, the lead man opened a box on the wall.

To Elias it looked like any junction box he had seen. Although he hadn’t seen many, he had to reset a few circuit breakers in recent years thanks to his electronic tinkering.

The man at the box then did something that he didn’t catch, and the inside panel swung open, revealing a black panel behind it. Once that was revealed, the man put his hand on it. A green light was emitted in a horizontal line started at the top, working its way down and then back up again.

While it reminded Elias of a computer scanner or a photocopier, he knew it was a biometric hand scanner. He was hoping it would reject the guy, but it didn’t surprise him much when he heard a click and the floor of the stall started lowering almost silently.

Elias sighed and thought these guys had watched one too many spy movies. He slowly counted, figuring they were moving about a foot a second. It wasn’t too hard to gage since he could see all four walls as they went down. At around 30 feet he saw a set of double doors with red wording on them that said Level 1.

They kept going another 20 seconds (and another 20 feet) when another set of doors, this time saying Level 2. The floor stopped flush with these doors as if by magic, and that same magic opened the doors.