Chapter 3 - Taking Stock

The words hung on the screen in front of him as though it was the computer's last words. He tapped the ESC button to see if anything happened, but to no avail. The words did not change or disappear, and the display remained the same.

Puzzled, he pushed away from the desk and took another look around the room. His gaze was drawn back to the large metallic cupboard.

He carefully got to his feet, his legs feeling slightly stronger now, and began shuffling over to the cupboard. He glanced back at the wall opposite and spotted the kitten poster above the sofa, which seemed so out of place here. A tiny speck of kindness in the harsh, metallic environment.

Finally his unsteady legs carried him to the cupboard. Upon arrival he noticed that the first two of the three doors seemed built to open a single, wide cupboard space, and the third handle appeared to conceal its own section. He reached out for the handles of the two doors on the left and grasped them firmly before pulling backwards.

The doors swung open effortlessly, belying their heavy appearance, revealing that the cupboard was, in fact, a wardrobe.

A single rail spanned the length of the wardrobe at eye level, from which were suspended several t-shirts, jumpers, cargo trousers and thick coats. All the clothes had camouflage designs, a mixture of grey, dark brown and white.

Some materials were visible sticking out over the edge of a shelf right at the top of the wardrobe, the rest hidden from view from this angle. Below the suspended clothes were three thin drawers, the first containing underwear and socks, the second containing what appeared to be vests and thermal underwear. The bottom drawer, slightly larger than the other two, had two pairs of thick boots, two pairs of running trainers and some fluffy pink slippers.

Although he did not recognise the clothes, the fact remained that he was naked, so he decided to borrow them until he found his own later. After pausing to check whether they were clean, he pulled a pair of boxer shorts up to his waist, carefully edging them up to support his still tender genitals. He slid a pair of black socks over his feet and climbed into some cargo trousers.

He pushed his arms and head through a dark brown t-shirt from the rack. It was tight but not uncomfortably so, the outline of his toned muscles visible through the material. Finally, he pulled a pair of trainers over his feet, and then suddenly realised that all the clothes fit him perfectly.

"Guy must be the same size as me," he muttered. Feeling more solid on his feet now, he walked back to the desk and wheeled the office chair over to the wardrobe. Standing on the chair he could see the contents of the top shelf. He found a rolled up sleeping bag, a neatly packaged two-person tent and a large rain poncho, all of which also had camouflage designs.

"Guy must like army stuff," he mused.

He climbed down from the chair and pushed it away to the centre of the room, then closed the two open doors before opening the third one to reveal a cupboard space made up of four shelves, each within easy reach, so no need to fetch the chair again.

He inspected the first shelf, which was at eye level, and found a multitude of camping equipment: a heavy duty torch with several spare batteries, a Swiss army knife, a portable camping stove with five disposable gas canisters, several pocket lighters, two compasses, and a map of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A set of keys hung on a hook on the right above this shelf, with a small key fob of a smiling yellow face.

The next shelf down looked like a miniature pharmacy, with band aids, bandages, gauze, disinfectant, medicinal alcohol, aspirin, sunscreen, antibiotic cream, tweezers and a tiny sewing kit. To the side of the shelf was a green zip up bag with a white cross on it, presumably meant to hold all the medical equipment on the rest of the shelf.

Next he inspected the third shelf. On it were some rope, wire, a fishing line and lures, a flare gun, sailing life jacket, what appeared to be an inflatable dinghy packaged into an impossibly small bag, and a fishing net.

The fourth and final shelf at the bottom held a large back pack designed for camping and hiking, and what seemed to be a large piece of tarpaulin. The back pack looked heavy but spacious, the kind you would see being carried by people climbing Mount Everest.

Having finished his inspection, he went back to the medicine shelf and helped himself to a couple of aspirin, which he dry swallowed.

"If that doesn't fix this fucking headache, then I give up," he told himself.

He walked over to the padlocked cupboard and gave it a cursory tug to check if it was actually locked. The padlock didn't move. The cupboard itself looked much tattier than it's neighbour, with scrapes and dents on both the door and the frame of the cupboard.

Stepping back from the cupboard he turned and focused his attention on the large door with the keypad. It appeared to be a very heavy door with no visible hinge from this side. He looked at the box to the right of the door which contained a small, LED display and a numeric keypad. The only way to open this door was through the entry of the correct code, which he definitely could not remember. He couldn't remember ever being in this room, or any details as to how he got here.

He still couldn't remember who he was, either. He was able to recognise objects and how to use them, like the computer and the aspirin, but he couldn't remember anything about himself. It was an odd sensation, a mixture of confusion and fear, like he had been stripped of everything he was without any known reason.

He wandered over to the wooden door on the other side of the room and tried the handle. It opened easily, so he stepped through the doorway to find himself in a narrow corridor. The right side of the corridor had three separate doors, spaced about two metres apart. Each door appeared to be of the same wooden design as the door he had just opened.

He tried the handle on the first one but it did not budge.

"Bugger, locked," he said. He pressed his ear against the wooden frame and could hear a buzzing noise, much like the one he had heard whilst laying in the metallic box.

He walked further down the corridor and tried the other two doors, but they also seemed to be locked. He couldn't hear any noises from behind either door.

He trudged back through the doorway and stood in the centre of the room. He couldn't see any way out. There was no telephone to call someone, no windows to look through. He was stuck in this unknown place by himself.

Then he remembered the set of keys he saw in the cupboard.