The clock on the wall read twelve fifteen when the group of virtual strangers gathered again in the round room at the center of the Nest. Micah stood in front of the group with the dogeared rulebook tucked under his arm while he waited for the others to get settled. Ethan and Zoe sat together on the loveseat, far more cozy than you would expect with each other given that they all barely knew each other. Sloane spread out on one end of the couch and Olivia settled uncomfortably next to him, making herself as small as possible at the other end. Jade could have squeezed onto the couch between them, but she wasn’t sure she felt comfortable enough with any of them to get that close. She opted to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch instead.

  Other than the odd mutter or quiet comment, they all made very little noise. Micah cleared his throat when he noticed that they had all turned to look at him, as if just now realizing that he had set himself up as the leader by remaining standing. “So, what have we learned about our new home?” he asked with forced cheer, rubbing at the back of his neck as if hyper aware of the camera fixed on the back of his head.

  Exchanging glances with the others, Zoe asked, “Were we supposed to be learning something? I spent most of the time in my room trying to get my nerves under control.” She seemed calmer than she had been earlier, but she still had a nervous energy to her movements.

  “And I was with her during that time,” Ethan said. “This has all been quite a shock, so it seemed best to come to terms with the situation first before getting too wrapped up in questioning anything.” He shrugged. “We’re here for our own safety, after all.”

  “According to the video,” Olivia chimed in quietly, drawing annoyed looks from the pair on the loveseat. But Jade smiled, nodding at Olivia in silent assent. Better to question than to be a complacent sheep.

  “Right. The video, which we have no reason to doubt,” Zoe snapped. “If you’re so worried about what it really means, why don’t you write your questions down and shove them through the correspondence slot? They said they would answer our questions.”

  Olivia blinked in surprise as if this possibility hadn’t occurred to her, but she didn’t speak.

  “As if they’d give us straight answers even if we asked,” Jade said coolly. “I’m assuming they’re up to no good because this whole thing is shady as shit.”

  “We have no reason to actually think that,” Zoe protested.

  “You mean, other than the fact that our memories are gone and the only reassurance we have that we volunteered for this process is a lame-ass note?” Jade retorted.

  “And there’s that picture of all of us together outside,” Micah pointed out. “There’s something strange going on for sure.”

  “That picture could have meant anything,” Ethan pointed out. “We could have taken it before signing up for this… Whatever it is.”

  “What picture?” Sloane asked, sounding annoyed and reflecting Jade’s feelings on the subject. Micah had told her about the image when she ran into him in the kitchen and she was pissed that she had missed seeing it, especially when Micah explained that it had somehow disappeared from the video. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head as Micah patiently explained the image to Sloane.

  “So what are the possible interpretations?” Olivia asked, her gaze casting about as if she was looking for something to write on. Micah seemed to read her mind, because he rummaged around in the cabinets for the paper and writing utensils the video had claimed could be found there. “One,” she said when he’d handed her the items, scribbling over the paper as she spoke, “we all know each other but chose to forget. Two, we are strangers who all came here at the same time coincidentally. Three, some combination of the two.”

  “But why did we come here in the first place? Why would we want to forget?” Micah mused.

  Jade scowled at the way the two of them were acting almost excited about their predicament as if it were a puzzle to be solved instead of a situation they were trapped in.

  “Well, the picture made the outside world look sort of dystopian,” Ethan admitted reluctantly. “Maybe we came here to shelter from something so terrible that we chose to forget everything to escape reality.”

  Olivia shook her head, nibbling on the end of the pen. “I don’t know. I’m not sure there was enough information in the photo to jump to that conclusion. It looked ominous, yes, but it could have been a storm brewing, and the overgrowth could have been because this place is located somewhere off the grid.”

  “If that’s the case, then why would we come here?” Jade demanded. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can tell I’m a city girl. I’m not going off the grid for any reason.

  “Maybe we all came here for our own reason,” Zoe offered quietly. “Maybe we all have our own reasons to want to forget.”

  “Some of us could have come here to hide from someone or something,” Sloane pointed out. “Maybe we’re all laying low because of some threat outside.”

  “Are you saying we might be criminals or something?” Zoe asked with a pinched expression.

  Sloane rubbed a finger over his chin. “Maybe. Or just people on the run from criminals. It could be anything, really.”

  “You’re right,” Olivia agreed. “We have too many questions and not enough answers.” Flipping the page on the notebook, she began scribbling something quickly over the page. “Did we all come here for the same reason?” she said out loud while she wrote. “Are we here to escape something or someone? What is the state of the outside world?” Ripping the paper off the pad, she folded it in half and hopped up, bounding across the room to stuff it into the correspondence slot before anyone could protest.

  Zoe gasped and leaned forward on the couch as if she wanted to stop her, but when the slot snapped shut again, she sighed and sat back uneasily.

  “These questions will drive us all insane, so maybe we should focus on the Nest and how we want to adjust to these living circumstances,” Olivia suggested.

  They all stared at the slot for a few minutes, but when nothing happened, Micah turned his attention back to the rest of the group. “Several of us have been exploring the Nest. Maybe we should share everything we found.”

  After comparing notes, they concluded that the bunker offered just enough room to spread out and be comfortable with two bathrooms, washer and dryer, a closet with various clothes in a variety of sizes, a recreation room with a pool table and board games, a fitness room and a supply closet with personal items, linens and small appliances. The kitchen had an ample supply of packaged food and a large table and chairs for everyone to sit together if they wanted. Jade had even found some painting supplies in the closet that she decided to claim as her own even though she had no idea if she was actually any good at making art. Somehow it had just felt right.

  “It feels a little like being back in college,” Ethan commented, again attempting to lift the mood. His optimism was already getting on Jade’s last nerve.

  “Do you remember being in college?” Sloane asked with an arched brow.

  Brow furrowing, Ethan shook his head. “No, not specifically, but it feels familiar anyway. Like living in a frat house or something.”

  “A co-ed dorm,” Jade suggested instead.

  “Or that, yeah.”

  “Maybe it’s better that we think of it that way for now,” Micah said thoughtfully. “If what the video said is true, we’re stuck here for a while yet.” He held up the rulebook as he continued, “This had a little more information about the mandatory transition period. It looks like it lasts five days.”

  “Five days before we can ask to leave,” Jade said, adding it all up. “A lot could happen in that time.”

  “Or nothing at all,” Zoe countered. “We’re in an enclosed space with all the creature comforts of home. Why not just relax and act like it’s a vacation?”

  No one seemed to be able to think of a response for that, so they all remained silent.

  “Is anyone hungry?” Olivia asked. “According to that clock, it’s lunchtime.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Jade and I had a little snack earlier,” Sloane admitted.

  Zoe looked away. “I don’t really have much of an appetite.”

  “I could eat,” Sloane said with a shrug.

  Jade decided eating was better than doing nothing, those greasy, salty potato chips calling her name. “And I could eat again.”

  And with that, their first group meeting stuttered to an end. Olivia, Jade and Ethan wandered off to the kitchen, while Zoe returned to her room and closed the door. Jade didn’t pay attention to what Sloane and Micah decided to do, because at that point her stomach was growling and she was too focused on quieting it to pay attention.

  ///

  Sloane fiddled with his watch absently while the others filed out of the room, flipping through the various screens and studying the data more closely. It was unnerving to have a visible record of events and time that you couldn’t remember experiencing. The activity history showed that he was dedicated to his fitness routine. He worked out at least once a day for at least an hour, alternating strength training and aerobics, and some days he clocked two workouts before the day was done.

  According to the dates, it was November. But the picture the others had described seeing appeared to be from spring or summer judging by all the green on the ground and the trees. Maybe they were in a part of the world where the seasons didn’t change much, or even the southern hemisphere where seasons were reversed. But he was pretty sure they were all from America given their accents.

  “What is that?” Micah asked, sitting down on the loveseat across from him.

  “A fitness device,” Sloane said, looking up at the other man. Micah had a laid back air about him that Sloane could appreciate, even if he was a pretty intense thinker judging by the way he’d run their little meeting.

  “Huh. Weird that they’d let you bring that with you since none of us have any personal items.”

  “They didn’t give me my phone,” he pointed out. “And this is supposed to sync with it. Maybe they didn’t know what it was.”

  “What kind of tracker is it?”

  “Dunno. It says...Motiv8 on the side. When I think about that name, it feels important to me, but I don’t know why.”

  “Weird. Does it have anything interesting on it?”

  “A lot of health stats like you’d expect. And clearly I’m a bit of a fitness nut.” He flexed a bicep to show off the shape of his muscles which visibly flexed even through the fabric. “But the thing that’s really interesting is this goals section.” He unfastened the watch from his wrist and handed it over to Micah.

  “Eat lean,” Micah read from the watch. “Unplug an hour before bedtime, Make time for boo.” Looking up, Micah grinned. “Sounds like you’re in a relationship”

  “Yeah,” Sloane replied sarcastically. “And I take it so seriously that I have to remind myself to make time to make time for her. Pretty sad, huh?”

  Micah chuckled and returned his attention to the watch. “You have a to do list in here too. Interesting. Write post for tech blog. Review new marketing concepts. Work on new product line. Sounds like you’re an entrepreneur.”

  “That’s hard to believe,” Sloane replied. “Wannabe maybe. I’ve never been good at follow through. At least I think that’s the case.” He shook his head. “It’s so weird how I can blurt things like that out about myself and not know I know it until I say it out loud.”

  “Yeah. I know what you mean.” Sighing, Micah handed the watch back to Sloane.

  Sloane wrapped the device around his wrist with a movement so natural and fluid that he was sure he had been wearing the thing for a long time. “Maybe. Who knows. I’d hate to get my hopes up about anything and be disappointed when I get my memories back.”

  “Do you think that’s part of the plan?” Micah asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Our memories. Do you think that we’ll ever be able to get them back?”

  “That video said they’d been suppressed, right? Sounds reversible to me.”

  Micah nodded, regarding Sloane with surprise as if he hadn’t expected him to come up with something like that; Sloane was used to being underestimated—or at least he got the sense that he was—so he didn’t take offense.

  “Want to play a game of pool?” Micah asked.

  A slow smile spread over Sloane’s lips. “You bet your skinny ass I do.”

  Tossing the rulebook on the coffee table, Micah stood up. “Race you to the table!”

  ///

  “These are actually pretty good,” Olivia said, nibbling on a waffle chip while managing to balance on a chair with her feet on the seat and her butt on the back. For some reason, Ethan was surprised by the odd sitting position. It seemed rather precarious and Olivia didn’t strike him as a real risk taker. Jade, on the other hand, didn’t seem to think even a second beyond her next step.

  Lounging in the chair beside Olivia with such a slump that Ethan was surprised she hadn’t slid to the floor, Jade stared up at the ceiling as she nibbled on a cheese cracker. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stand being cooped up indoors. If they really planned this place as a new home, you’d think they would have thought about that.”

  “There are plants everywhere,” Ethan pointed out, putting the finishing touches on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He nodded at the nook on one side of the room where herbs were overflowing their hydroponic planter. The nook had a light inset into the back wall that had a frame like a window and gave a sunny atmosphere to the room.

  “Yeah, but the ceilings are so low. And all the air’s recycled. It’s stifling!”

  “It doesn’t seem to be too bad considering we’re underground.” Ethan said.

  “Are we underground?” Olivia asked thoughtfully. “I mean, we don’t have to be. We might just be sealed off in some building. We could be up really high for all we know. Or in space.”

  Jade gave her a squint-eyed look. “I think we’d know if we were in space.”

  Shrugging, Olivia slid down into her chair, but kept her feet on the seat so that her knees were pressed against her chest. Ethan was impressed by her flexibility. He wondered if she was good at yoga. “I know we’re not in space. I was only trying to make a point.”

  Jade threw a cracker at her.

  “Hey! That’s rude. And wasteful.”

  Jade proceeded to stick her tongue out at Olivia. To Ethan’s surprise, this made Olivia cackle with laughter. Considering the pair of them, Ethan wondered if they had known each other before. They seemed to have formed a rather quick bond despite their differences. Sort of like how Ethan and Zoe had hit it off. Nibbling at his sandwich, he wondered how Zoe was doing. He’d seen her slip away into her room after the meeting. She was not adjusting to these circumstances very well, it seemed.

  “So what’s your deal?” Jade asked out of the blue, and it took Ethan a moment before he realized she was talking to him.

  “Huh?” he asked after forcing down a bite of food.

  “You seem pretty uptight,” she said lazily while still chewing on her food. “I mean look at the way you made that sandwich.”

  He looked down at the sandwich on his plate, uncertain what she meant.

  Leaning forward over the table, she pointed at the plate. “You took forever smoothing the peanut butter out so that it was perfectly even. And the jelly… you were so careful spreading it on top that you didn’t make a ripple in the peanut butter below. You lined up the bread so precisely that every edge was perfectly perpendicular to the slice below. Then you cut it exactly in half diagonally as if you were getting ready to put it in a display case or take a picture for a menu or something.”

  Olivia started giggling again. “She’s right,” she said with an apologetic tone when he glared at her.

  “I don’t know. It’s just how I make a sandwich, I guess. I’m sensitive to aesthetics.”

  Jade arched her brow. “Did you notice there are art supplies in the closet? Don’t bother looking for the paints because I already grabbed them. But there’s a sketchbook and some colored pencils.”

  He shrugged, taking another bite of his sandwich. “Take them. I don’t have much interest.”

  “I thought you were speculating about being a designer earlier.”

  Licking jelly off his fingers, he nodded. “Right. And as such, I don’t think I prefer to be that hands on. Don’t ask me to draw a portrait, but if you want a magazine laid out or an ad designed, I’m your guy.”

  “Which is why you hate this logo,” Olivia said, looking down at the embroidery on her shirt.

  “That logo is an abomination.”

  “Why? What makes it so awful?” she asked.

  Pushing his plate aside so that he had more room for his hand gestures as he got into the topic, he said, “It’s derivative first of all. Do you know how overused the radioactive symbol is? And a starburst is almost as bad. Besides which, the two are similar in shape, so combined they just make a muddy mess. You see how they had to reverse the starburst out where it intersects the other symbol? It’s almost impossible to interpret. The visual equivalent of vomit.”

  “Wow. Tell us how you really feel,” Jade said with a snicker.

  “Wait,” Olivia interrupted. “Radioactive symbol. That’s weird, isn’t it?”

  Ethan and Jade looked at each other in puzzlement.

  “I mean, do you think it gives some credence to your theory about the world outside?”

  Ethan didn’t like the sound of that. He had just started to feel less concerned about why they were there and how long they would be trapped. But thinking about leaving lost its appeal when you imagined that the world outside might be a disaster zone.

  “Or they’re just hack designers,” Jade said dismissively. “I thought we all agreed to give that sort of thing a rest for a while.”

  Olivia sighed, but remained silent.

  But Ethan’s appetite was already ruined. He pushed his plate away in disinterest.