It was about that time that the guy in the other chair woke up. I had almost forgotten that he was even in the room, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard him speak.
"Where am I?" he asked in a slightly slurred voice.
It must have scared Chris, too. He spun and pointed his gun at the man. In that moment, everything I had experienced in the past few weeks screamed at me to seize the opportunity. Before I could think, I threw my whole body forward and slammed into Chris, bringing him to the ground. The gun slipped out of his hand and slid under one of the counters. Within a couple seconds we had both gotten up again. I knew I couldn't beat him in a hand-to-hand fight, but, now that his gun was gone, he couldn't hurt me as long as I stayed away from him.
I ran across the room, near the chair that the other guy was tied up in. As soon as I saw him up close, I remembered where I'd seen him before. He was the guy called Bert from the cabin I had been taken to when I was first kidnapped! I was very confused, but I didn't have time to try to figure it out. Chris was running towards me, and he looked very angry. I dodged him and ran back to the other side of the room. I tripped halfway and fell to the ground.
My leg was hurt, and I couldn't stand back up. I looked up to see Chris still rushing towards me. He was about 2 steps away when I heard the door slam open.
A voice hollered, "Chris, don't make another move!"

I thought about the message that had flashed accross the computer screen.
If only I knew what was going on, I thought to myself. If only I knew who I can trust.
I stood there for what seemed like ages, holding my hand over the scanner. I could feel Chris watching me out of the corner of his eye. My face felt hot and I started getting dizzy. Somehow everything important seemed to depend on what I did next. For once I wished somebody would knock me unconscious.
Whether it was because of that wish or because I had decided to stall for time, I don't know. Either way, my knees gave out and I fell to the ground. I felt like I was paralyzed, but I didn't try to move anyway so I didn't know for sure. I just laid there, pretending that I wasn't aware of anything that was happening.
"Sam, get up," said Chris. I heard him walk over near where I was. "I know you can hear me. Get up. I told you, this will be much easier with your cooperation."
I stayed completely still.
Things were quiet for a few seconds. Then I heard the click of a gun being loaded.
"Sam, this is your last warning. Get up."
I figured he was bluffing, but I didn't want to take that chance. I tried moving and, surprisingly enough, was able to stand without much difficulty. Chris was standing in front of me holding a gun. I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I just said the first thing that came into my mind.
"What happened?"
Chris just stared at me. I stared back at him.
"Put your right hand on the scanner," he said.
I slowly turned around and started moving my hand towards the scanner again. I was right back where I'd started.
At least I gained some time, I thought, realizing that I didn't even know what I needed to gain time for. Hopefully it had done some good.