From Five to One

I awoke with a sharp pain searing in my right temple. As I began to awake, I took in my surroundings.
Concrete... I was lying on concrete.
White Light... There was fluorescent lighting on the roof, meaning I was in an enclosed room.
"Get up!", a stern voice above me said. I noted the English accent in his voice.
My eyes haven't adjusted to the lighting and I could not see what the voice was. My mouth felt loose and I can only muster a measly sound of confusion.
"I said get up!" , came the voice again. This time sounding more frustrated.
"Let him be!", a second voice called. The voice was feminine and had a tremble and desperate tone in the sentence, with a hint of a German accent.
"Here get him on the chair", a third voice called. This one was also feminine but was less frightened and had a French accent.
I heard the metal scraping on the concrete as the strangers pulled the chair towards me. They stopped and hoisted me onto the metal chair.
"Get him some water", said the third voice.
The top of a cold metal canteen was stuffed into my mouth and I drank the cool liquid. I looked up and saw who was giving me the water. It was a man, bald and well built leaning over me. He wore a camo green shirt with matching pants and barefooted.
I looked around and began to retake in my surroundings. It was a small room with a table, chairs, and a hatch on one of the walls. It smelt old and musty and the walls were also concrete liked the floor and looked very worn. There were four people in the room.
The second voice was a hysterical twenty-something-year-old woman with her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth in one of the chairs at the table, mumbling under her breath. Her face looked tired and her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying for hours. She wore a flannel grey and white shirt with matching pants. She too was also barefoot.
The source of the third voice was a black woman with an afro and glasses. She had on a beret, white shirt with a blue overcoat and brown pants.
"Where are we?", I finally managed to get out.
"We're in a bloody room! That's where the fuck we are!" said the soldier.
"Hey!" yelled the black woman.
"Well, what the hell am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to give out latitude and longitude?"
"At least give him a break, he just woke up."
"Can you guys just shut the hell up?" came a fourth voice. This voice sounded Russian.
I looked behind me and noticed a man in a corner with the same position as the woman on the chair. He had a loose-fitting suit with a tie and an unshaved beard.
"Well excuse me for sounding a bit frustrated, but right now all I can remember is the bloody number two."
"And is that an excuse to take it hard on the guy who just woke up?" said the black woman.
A period of silence ensued. I tried to think back to what happened before I woke up, but I can only think of the number five. I heard what the woman on the chair was mumbling.
"Threethreethreethreethreethreethreethree..."
"Wait, so," I looked at the man in camo, "your number is two? And hers," I nodded at the woman on the chair, "is three?"
The black woman stepped in front of me, "And I'm four and that guy in the corner is one."
"Is it our names?" I asked.
"I think so" responded Four, "So you must be five, right?"
I nodded. I looked around and noticed that there were no doors or windows or anything else except the table and the five chairs.
"So can you guys remember anything?" I asked.
All four shook their heads, looking a bit disturbed about the fact.
"What about the year?"
Again all four shook their heads.
"So let me get this straight. We're four strangers stuck in a room with no windows, doors or anything for food and water and we have no fucking idea about anything?"
"No, I woke up and saw you four lying on the floor." One said behind me.
I looked at the strange group in front of me. I stared at them with the intent on trying to find clues in the persons themselves. I tried to examine the past fifteen minutes or so and look for clues in the memories.
A big thought entered my mind with such force I fell off my chair. The others looked around me with concern and confusion. Three stopped rocking and was staring at me with confusion.
"When I woke up, I noticed where your accents came from!" I said in excitement.
"What are you saying?" asked Two.
"Your accents can tell us where you're from! One has a German accent so you are probably from Germany, Two has an English voice so you are from England, Three also has a German accent so you are probably also from Germany, and Four is from France based on her accent"
" Okay. Lovely. Now how does that help us get out of here?" Two said agitatedly.
My rush of excitement was crushed as I realized that knowing where we came from won't help us get out of here. I stood up and walked around the room trying to think of what else I can figure out.
"Well if we know where we came from, it might help us figure out why we are here," said One, "Think! What could've happened in the home places that might have let us in here."
I began to resume pacing the length of the room, racking my brain on anything that could be of any help, but I couldn't think of anything passed me waking up.
"Train. Bad men. Cramped. Scary. Muddy. Rainy. Scared. Very Scared..."
We turned to Three who had resumed rocking back and forth in her chair.
"What she doing?" asked Four,
"... Cramped, scary, rainy, scared, very, very scared, big building...?"
" She's been spouting nonsense forever. I can't get her to shut up. Mainly because my tactics are 'unethical' according to Four over here. It's not like that lump of lard is of use of anything. Plus we don't have any food." said One. Four spun on her heels and grabbed One my is collar and pushed him up against the wall.
"Shut the hell up you motherfucking cunt! I will fucking tear your fucking eyes out if you even dare touch her."
One and I grabbed Four and threw her against the wall. I turned around and held Two to the wall to keep him from going after Four, while One did the same to Four.
"You fucking cunt," screamed One, "I will fucking beat your ass into a tup of fat lard until you start saying random gibberish like Three over there!"
He reached into his pants behind his back and pulled out a long bayonet knife. He swiped at me and I let go of him to dodge his attack. He charged at Four with determined evil in his walk. I grasped onto his arm and tried to pull, but he slashed me on the back of my hand and continued to pull One from Four.
Two grabbed One by the neck and threw him into the wall with such tremendous force that One crumpled to the ground until he looked like a pile of cloth.
He pinned Four's arms to the wall with his arm and raised the bayonet over his head, but before he could bring the knife down, Three had grabbed her chair and swung it at Two's head. The knife fell and so did Two.
"Leave her alone," said Three.
She took the knife and put it in a pocket of her and helped Four off the ground. I checked One who was passed out against the wall and was still alive.
"Is he dead?" asked Four.
"No, just passed out," I replied.
"What about him?" as Four nodded at Two.
I carefully approached Two and rolled him onto his back. His left temple where the chair struck him was visibly dented. Blood leaked from the wound, his ears, and mouth. I put my head against Two's chest.
No rise.
I grabbed his wrist and rolled back his sleeves to check his pulse.
No pulse.
"He's dead."
"Good," replied Four weakly.
"What was he going to do to Three?" I asked.
" He said she was mentally defective and was no use. He said that there was no food in the room and he can use his knife to cut her up for food," replied Four.
"That's sick"
" It is," agreed Four.
I approached Three who was still staring down at Four with the look of a mother looking at her child if they had hurt themselves badly.
"What were you saying before the fight Three?"
"There were bad men who put me on a train and took me to a faraway place. I was scared."
"Do you remember anything else?"
"There was a big group of people. The bad men were looking into the group and pulled me out."
"Did you see anyone else they pulled out?"
A big gasp came from behind me. I screamed and punched the noise behind me.
"What the fuck!" yelled One, "What the fuck was that for?"
"I am so sorry One, I didn't know you had woken up. Why had you gasped?"
"I remember"
All of us stared at him with anticipation.
"I remember the big group Three was talking about. I remember I was pulled out as well. And you, and you, and him. They brought us into a room with some fancy soldiers. They said they were trying a new "experiment" that day on us. He pointed at us five individually and read a file in front of him. He said I was a politician who opposed the Nazis, Two was a captured British soldier, Three was a mental retard, and you were a captured French resistance fighter and Five was a captured US soldier "
We looked at each other and suddenly our memories were returned like a switch had been flipped.
"The Nazis captured us, didn't they?" I asked.
A weight plunged into my gut as all the reality came crashing down on me. I remembered my family.
"I had a family!" I yelled excitedly, but the excitement was torn instantly as I remembered the situation I was in.
I had family, yes, but I will never see them again. Ever. I was doomed in this Nazi camp to die.
We looked at each other with the same look of despair that we were all in. We realized that we were never getting out. We were to stay in this room to die.
"Two was sent in here with us to kill us. He had rage so they decided to use that on us. He was supposed to kill us." Four said sadly.
We were never meant to live. None of us.
"I will never get to see my mommy." cried Three.
She fell against One and began to weep into his shoulder. One tried to hold back his tears, but couldn't and also began to cry. Four and I joined and we all collapsed against the wall into a weeping, sobbing mess.
"What do we do?" asked Four.
I pulled the knife out of Three's pocket and held it up.
"Is that what we have come to?" asked Four in between her cries.
One took the knife and looked at each other. Knowing that we would be the last people we see. Not surrounded by family or friends, but by strangers in a single concrete room.
"Before we do this, what was your names?" asked Three.
"Ely," said One.
"Alecia," said Four.
"Andrew," said I.
"Thank you," replied Three, "mine is--"
A big explosion boomed in front of us as daylight poured in. Our eyes were blinded by the sudden light and our ears rang from the explosion. Debree struck our faces as we did our best to cover our faces.
Shadows loomed over us as there was commotion behind them. I opened my eyes and saw they were American soldiers. A soldier grabbed us and yelled for a medic and for five stretchers. They hoisted us and carried us to a truck.
I looked up and saw a concrete barrier where we were with a giant gaping hole where were freed. I looked around and saw the Nazi soldiers being held at gunpoint by the arriving army and the rest of the soldiers handing out food, water, and other provisions.
A medic must have seen the look on my face.
"Don't worry, sir, we're taking you to a hospital. You're going to be just fine."
He smiled down at me and I smiled up at him. I heard the other medics telling the same thing to Ely, Alecia, and the other girl who I didn't get her name.
We were loaded onto a truck with other injured people. I looked at Three.
"I never got your name Three. What was it?"
She smiled at me, "Claudine, it's Claudine"
I nodded and drifted into a deep sleep. Knowing, I would soon be home.