The women crowded around Lucille, lifting her up and helping her onto the bed. "Are you alright?" one of them asked. "What do you remember?"
Lucille rubbed at her eyes. "My head hurts," she said muzzily. "I was at one of those...'Speed Dating' things...they took me aside, asked me to fill out a feedback form..." Her vision cleared a little bit, and she looked around the room. At first, it was all just a big pink blur, but as she blinked away the pain, she saw that it was just the decorating scheme.
She was on a gigantic bed in the center of a large room; there was a table in the corner, and a few cushions and chairs scattered about, but the room was practically dominated by the bed she was lying in. It looked like it could sleep ten comfortably, and in fact, it was holding quite a few people right now. They were all staring at her with a concerned look on their faces.
She took in five other women, each one wearing lingerie of some sort. Two of them were white--one a short redhead, the other a tall blonde; one was black, with café au lait skin and long, dark hair; one was Asian, petite, but with disproportionately large breasts that nearly overflowed her bra; and the last was Hispanic, tall and muscular, her body language radiating tension. "They said it'd only take a minute...where am I?" She looked down at herself, and noticed with a start that she, too, was dressed only in lingerie that left very little to the imagination.
The blonde woman turned to the others. "Same way they got us, then." She turned back to Lucille. "I'm Anne. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but the speed dating service was a front for some sort of kidnapper. We all went there, and we all woke up in here, just like you. We think they used the service to profile us, make sure we wouldn't be missed. Do you have any friends, any family that could notify the police about you?"
"No, I..." It suddenly sank in that nobody even knew where Lucille was. She was new in the city, hadn't had much of a chance to make friends yet, and the job she'd moved to Cleveland to take had vapor-locked out from under her after only a month. The temp service she was using to make ends meet wouldn't miss her; temps came and went all the time. She was down here, nearly naked, in the clutches of strangers, and nobody would ever come looking for her...
Anne must have noticed the panic in her eyes, because she put her hand on Lucille's shoulder and said, "What's your name?"
Lucille tried to ignore the emotions crowding in, and said, "Lucille."
"Alright, Lucille. I'm Anne, like I said, and this is Gina--" the redhead waved, "Tammy," the young black girl gave a tiny smile, "Yan," the Asian girl nodded, "and Nita." The Hispanic girl also waved, and for a moment she seemed a little calmer. But she continued to watch the entrance to the room like a hawk. "We're all in the same situation as you. You're not alone."
"How--" Lucille couldn't quite believe that the terrified voice she heard was her own. "How long have you been here?"
"Yan's been here the longest, three weeks. Nita and Tammy were taken about two weeks ago, within a day of each other, I was nabbed last week, and Gina was taken two days ago. Assuming that we're actually keeping track right. They darken the lights for us to sleep, but we don't know if that's actually a day's worth of time, and with nothing to write on, well...there's no way to sure we've kept an accurate count."
"And you're all sure nobody's going to come looking for you? None of you have any friends, any family, anything?" Lucille tried to hide the panic in her voice.
"My parents died a year ago," Yan said quietly, her Chinese accent strong. "They'd saved quite a bit of money, and I sold the family business; it could be a long time before anyone notices I'm missing."
Tammy put her arm around Yan's shoulder, comforting her. "My parents will notice, but I don't think they'll suspect anything. We had a fight, the night before I...the night before I was kidnapped." Just hearing it put like that, so matter-of-factly, sent an icewater chill through Lucille's gut. "They thought I was neglecting my schoolwork, partying too much. I threatened to drop out--I didn't mean it, but I was just so mad! I swear, I ever get out of here I'm never looking up from a book again."
Lucille hugged herself. "My friends are in another city," she said, letting the situation finally sink in. "They might wonder after a week or two if I don't email them, but..."
Nita flexed her fists. "My friends are in the Corps. It might take 'em a while to find me, but these SOBs are gonna regret the day they did this."
"You're in the Army?" Lucille asked, hope suddenly welling up.
"I'm in the goddamned Marines, kid. My tour ended three weeks ago, and I just got back to the States. Hadn't had a chance to settle in and get a job yet, been living off my hazard pay."
"You went to a dating service before you got a job?" Lucille knew it sounded rude, but she couldn't help herself.