Jim ran as fast as he could down a dark tunnel.  Beads of sweat dripped down his face.  His heart was racing quicker than he could ever remember.  His chest heaving deeper with every breath.  The sound of dripping water on either side of him.  How long had he been running, how far had he run? The tunnel seemed to stretch forever.  The occasional light every 20 feet or so flickered at random.  Was he still being chased?  He wasn't even sure who was chasing him, just that he'd heard ungodly screeches. Then the loud bassy thumping almost as though a giant had been slowly approaching.  This tunnel stretched on for seemingly forever, but he wouldn't slow his pace.  People talk about survival instincts kicking in when danger is sensed, now Jim fully understood the emotion.

Jim stopped for a moment to catch his breath.  Listening carefully from the direction he had run.  Admittedly, it was difficult to hear anything over the sound of his own heavy breathing.  Jim struggled to control his breathing in an effort to hear better.  He couldn't hear anything anymore.  

There he stood in the dim light. He looked around him but found nothing unique.  

Surely, there must be something around here! He thought to himself.  His mind was racing.  Where the hell am I? He was beyond confused, unnerved, plain terrified.  He just had to gather his thoughts.  

What did he remember?  Everything was a huge blank.  All he could remember was waking up on the ground in a dark circular room to a hissing sound, a snake maybe? He wasn't sure, he couldn't see anything.   He had crawled out of the fetal position and got to his feet.  He had taken but two steps when that ungodly screech happened.  It was by miracle he had found that old gate along the perimeter in the darkness.  He opened it with a nasty creak, and that's when he could hear the large footstep thumping sound, and he just took off running.

Now he stood in the near darkness.  He had finally begun to catch his breath, he could feel his heart rate returning to normal.  He stood there, and just listened.  Maybe thirty seconds passed by and he could no longer hear what he heard before.  Perhaps he had run far enough away to be in the clear.  He couldn't be sure.  He couldn't be sure of anything right now.  All he knew was that there were two ways he could continue.  Back the way he came toward whatever the creature was, or continue forward and hope to find something.  The choice was more than obvious.

Jim began walking cautiously forward, trying carefully to keep quiet so he could listen for any sign of anything.  He continued walking, trying to both keep quiet, and remember anything at all before that dark room.  The more he tried to remember, the less luck he had.  It was futile at the moment.  Obviously he had some kind of amnesia.  He just wished he knew why.   The question of why would continue to plague him unless he stopped trying.  He had to focus on where he was, where he was going, and finding a way out of this tunnel.  

Twenty more minutes had elapsed, and still nothing.  Same setting, same surroundings, same dim lighting. 

What is this place?  He was more reservedly curious than scared at this point, but fear was far from out of his mind.

Finally, in the distance, he saw something.  Maybe a door or an entry was or something.  He wasn't sure.  All he knew is there was something other than what he'd seen since he started running. ‘Different’ was good.  He got closer, and the unmistakable shape of a metal door came into being.  Twenty more feet and he was there.  He could barely see anything in the lighting, but he struggled to find any real detail to it.  There wasn't even a knob to turn.  Was this all there was? Just a piece of smooth metal at the end of the never ending tunnel?  It couldn't be nothing.  He studied it to the best of his ability.  He was feeling around every corner.  There! Dead in the center of the door was some kind of faint emblem.  Age had taken its toll on the print of this image.  He couldn't make out any real distinguishable features other than what appeared to be a hand in a circle.  Jim pressed his hand to the image, matching fingers and thumb exactly with his right hand.  He could feel that the hand was slightly elevated compared to the rest of the door. That's when it happened.

A green glow appeared under his hand and the sound of mechanics inside this door began.  The door started moving upward, as it did, another room began to appear.  Jim walked through the entry way and the door slid down behind him.

This room was also dimly lit like the hallway, and circular like the first room.  He prayed there wasn't something else in here like the first room.  He stood there for a minute, just looking around.  He could barely make out anything.  The room did seem larger than the first, but he had no real comparison.  He felt the wall around him and couldn't find much.  He noticed a single dot about six inches from the door frame. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a fingerprint.  He touched it with the same logic as he used for the door.  Another green glow under his finger appeared.  The room suddenly came alive with light.

The room's light level change was so dramatic, it forced Jim to blink and squint.  Going from no light to powerful light was not something he was prepared for.

His vision slowly came to him as his eyes adjusted.

The room was fairly large.  Every square inch was brushed steel, the shape was that of a dome with a single vent at the top, and a vent in between various other doors along the perimeter.  They all looked like the one he had come through except for one.  One door against the opposite of the room was very unique and ornately designed.  The floor had a few circles in its own circle around the center of the room.  There was a single pedestal in the center of everything with a metal box.

Jim, not wanting to trigger anything else, walked slowly around the room, looking down at the circles, there were shoe prints in the center of them. They were all like this. He approached the ornately designed door and took notice of the Celtic-like craftsmanship.  

Four Celtic-crosses were in the corners, and they all came together in their parallel weaving line design to form the roman number for the number one.  He pressed his hand to the roman numeral.  Nothing happened.  No glow, nothing.  He removed his hand, almost disappointed.  He turned around and walked toward the center to see what the pedestal had to offer.

Jim was careful to step between the circles on the ground. He approached the pedestal. The metal box had a dome like shape to it as well. He studied it and noticed a fingerprint on the side.  His curiosity was strong. He touched the mark and the dome quickly retracted, causing a brief startle in Jim.  There, revealed, was a single button.  Jim stood there looking at the button, unsure of what might happen if pressed.  This button could do anything, could be anything.  Was it worth the risk of pressing?  What was the worst thing that could happen?  What was the best thing that could happen?  Jim couldn't even begin to fathom.  What were the doors? Where did they go? What was the ornate door? Where did that one go? Where was he even?

To hell with it. Jim thought. He couldn't be in much worse of a bleak spot than he was currently in.  Jim pressed the button.  Nothing.  He stood there baffled, confused, not knowing what to think.  He pressed the button again, nothing.  He stood staring at the button.  He looked around at the doors, at the ceiling. Nothing was happening.

He pressed the fingerprint on the side of the dome box and it closed.  As he did so, a hissing sound occurred on his right, he quickly looked in the direction and saw a door begin to open.  Someone stood on the other side. A woman stood in the doorway looking very disheveled and out of breath.  She walked through the door weakly, the door closed behind her.  Her terrified and confused eyes met Jim's who was also looking fearful, but concerned.  

"Who are you? Are you okay?" Jim was very concerned.  She only got out a two word response.

"Help me." out of breath, she collapsed on the ground.