Mathias Køhler had been having a horrendous day. First thing in the morning, he woke up and stubbed his toe on the first piece of furniture that had gotten in his way. Then he made coffee and immediately proceeded to spill the scalding drink all over his lap. Then he got in his car for work, only to realize that he had a flat tire. Once he fixed said tire, he got in the car and tried to turn it on, but it refused to start. Apparently, he had left his car door open the entire night and it had drained the car battery. So, deciding he had no other option, he walked to work. He was two hours late, on the second day.

FIRED. 

So on Mathias Køhler's long walk back to his house from his second, and last, day of work, he didn't expect that his day could get any worse. But then again, he wasn't the luckiest fellow. Mathias had just started his job as a museum tour guide at the natural history museum, which he could easily walk to by cutting through some alleyways and marching onward for an hour or so. After getting fired, Mathias had hung around in the cofeeshop a little ways away from the museum until it had closed, which was around 10pm. The only problem was that Mathias had never walked home in the dark before. He wasn't exactly scared of the dark, but he was a very paranoid person when it came to walking alone at night.

So, when Mathias saw the same black van past him three times, he started to get nervous. The first two times he saw it he had just figured the person driving was lost and was just switching directions trying to find out where to go. But the third time, his subconcious was blaring sirens in his brain to run. But Mathias didn't listen. Mathias figured if he ran, he would look even more suspicious. So instead of deciding to run, he decided to hide.

Looking up the desolate, dark street, Mathias made sure he couldn't see the van before slipping into one of the alleyways between the buildings on the way back to his house. Sneaking into the dark alley as far as he could, Mathias took a moment to breathe before crouching down and curling himself into a ball behind one of the overfilled dumpsters belonging to whatever business's alleyway he had just snuck into. The Dane watched the street from the entrance of the alleyway and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the black van for the fourth time, except this time much slower than the first three times. The van was lurching onward, but only at less than 5mph. Whoever was driving it seemed to be searching for something.

It wasn't until the van came to a complete stop that Mathias's adrenaline started kicking in. He had a feeling that the thing they were searching for was him. What were they looking for though? Were they just trying to rob him? Was he about to get jumped? Was he about to get murdered? He didn't know. All he knew was that his heart was pounding harder than it ever had before, and his body's fight or flight response had kicked in to maximum power.

Mathias felt his knees begin to shake as his curled-up body trembled behind the dumpster. He hoped to god whoever was in that van could not see him. Mathias watched on in horror and paranoia as whoever was driving the van parked and stepped out. There were two men, both wearing surgical masks over their noses and mouths, and both wearing white lab coats the same color as fresh snow. Matthew listened as he heard the men speaking from less than 100 yards away from him. It wasn't hard to hear on the empty street. It was nearly midnight and no one was awake that late on a Tuesday.

"Where did he go?"

"Look for him"

"But- he's not here."

"He's here."

"How do you know?"

"Look for him."

Mathias had a feeling that he was "him" and that whatever these men wanted from him was not something he knew of. He didn't even know any surgeons! Maybe Mathias just looked similar to the man they were looking for. The two looked like doctors or scientists of some kind, so they must've been pretty smart. Mathias figured if he talked to them directly they would understand that he obviously wasn't the man they were looking for. Either way, they would eventually find him if he stayed cowering behind the dumpster. He really had no other option.

So, mustering up all the courage that he had, Mathias stood up, his heart and his mind racing like a horse on a track. As slowly and quietly as he could, Mathias walked out of the alleyway and revealed himself to the two scientists discussing his wereabouts in the middle of the lamp-lit street.

"Hey- uh, are you two lost? Because if you are I can help you find your way! I'm new here and all but you two are literally standing in the middle of the street so I figured I could give you some sense of direction." Mathias spoke, trying to act innocent and naïve as the two men who were looking for him turned in his direction. The two immediately looked at him, then back at each other, and back at him. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation with their eyes.

Mathias noticed the shorter of the two, an old,  grey-haired man, move his hand around in his pocket, but he thought nothing of it. It was a few seconds of awkward silence before the taller of the two, a bald-headed man who Mathias figured was in his 50s, pulled his surgical mask down to his neck, revealing a strangely friendly smile.

"Thank you! We're actually incredibly lost. It's kind of embarassing. We were trying to find someone to ask where the local hospital is but we couldn't find anyone!" the man replied, his voice sounding paternal and comforting to Mathias's paranoia-filled brain.

"Oh, really?! Okay well if you drive your van-" Mathias began.

"Wait son, what's your name? I wouldn't want to take directions from a stranger!" the man interrupted, adding in a chuckle as he stared into Mathias's eyes with his beady, shark-like slits.

"My name is Mathias Køhler" Mathias responded, growing slightly wary at the man's gaze.

"That's the one." the man suddenly stated, looking over at the other man beside him. Mathias tilted his head in confusion at the strange response before he noticed the grey-haired man fiddling with whatever was in his pocket again. Mathias suddenly realized the two men weren't actually lost.

In less than a milisecond, the bald man pinned Mathias onto the concrete and the grey-haired man punctured a syringe through Mathias's skin. Mathias screamed but nothing came out and he flailed his arms, succesfully wrestling himself away from the two men on top of him. Ripping the needle out of his arm, Mathias ran as fast as he could away from the two men, who, to his surprise, did not chase after him.

Matthias sprinted for a a few more seconds before black dots appeared in his vision. Not wanting to give into whatever the men had just injected him with, he continued running. It wasn't until he couldn't feel his legs anymore that he stopped. Without having control of his legs, Mathias was forced to drop down to the concrete, hitting his head as his knees gave out on him. Lying face first in the concrete, Mathias realized he had made a mistake. It only took him a few seconds of lying on the ground before everything went black.
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This is my new Dennor story that I'm really excited about because its going to be a bit more serious... But lol look at me with these new stories when I haven't even finished the old ones. I'm the worst. Anyway, I'm really excited for this story so thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed.