“Hurry, everyone, hurry!” yelled Mrs. Scrambles from the open train door, ushering the students inside.

It was a windy, cloudy spring day, and the seniors of Birchwood High School were on their way home from a class trip. Their home town, Birchville, was right by the railroad, which gave them a convenient way of travelling to the nearby city. This time around they watched a play at a theatre, and now they were already in the mood of after-school freedom.

The group arrived at the station at the last possible minute, just in time to catch their train; or so it seemed at first. But after the automatic doors closed behind the panting, giggling group of teenagers, and the headteacher counted them all, she had to realise that two of her students – a boy and a girl – were missing.

“I can't believe it,” Katherine said as she watched the last wagon drifting away from them, gradually speeding up. She was a good looking, popular girl, she had expressive brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair with side bangs. She was bookish but athletic too, an overachiever who took her studies quite seriously. Never did she imagine purposefully causing such trouble, but here she was.

“Relax! We are gonna be fine,” said her partner in crime, Jay. He was relatively short, about the same height as the girl. His light-brown hair was shaved to a buzz cut, his face was round, his eyes blue, and he had a bit of acne. In temperament, he was quite different from Katherine: he was jokey and lazy, not a particularly good student, nor the most energetic, although he liked to skateboard, and he too was kind of popular amongst his peers. The two of them knew each other since kindergarten, and they have been dating for half a year at this point.

“Okay, now what?” the girl asked.

“How about... there!” Jay pointed at the other side of the rails, at a line of trees, a wire fence, and an abandoned looking, three-story building beyond them.

“Are you serious? There?” Katherine looked at the boy disapprovingly.

“Why, what did you expect?”

“A hotel room? Or something.”

“I mean, if you have the money for it... You know I'm always broke.”

The girl took off her backpack and grabbed her wallet, counting what she has.

“So you don't have ANY money on you?” she asked.

“Sorry, Kate!” the boy grinned awkwardly.

“I can't believe it...”

“Hey, there are more important things than money!” Jay put his hand on the girl's hip. “And our train tickets are valid all day anyway.”

“Oh why, why did I listen to you?!”

“But this is our chance, right? I thought you wanted this too.”

“Sure, but not like this!”

“Why?” Jay kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. “We already stayed, so let's just explore that place! It will be fun, I promise!”

The girl sighed. “Well, since we already stayed...”

Despite Katherine's annoyance with the situation, as they walked up the overpass while holding hands, she had butterflies in her stomach. And so did Jay. Finding some privacy was an issue for the young couple, and so this was a long awaited day for the both of them.

Jay came from a lively, but not very well-off family, and he shared his room with his little bro. Katherine's parents on the other hand were fairly strict, and they were on the opinion that she shouldn't be messing around with boys just yet, so her home was off the table too. While they had some time to hang out after school, even then they were usually surrounded by their friends, so they rarely went further than holding hands and flirting lightly. Initially, they were both fine with that much. Their relationship started off slowly and awkwardly, but as they got more and more used to each other, their eagerness kept growing. Jay got quite expressive of his desire for more intimacy, and Katherine too was excited about that, especially in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps the sudden arrival of spring had to do something with it. Either way, lately they have been kissing quite intensely when they managed to be alone, and the boy's hands wandered around his lover's body more and more daringly. Katherine was a bit flickery, but she still agreed to progress things further when the opportunity comes along. And now it did, even if it wasn't quite how she imagined it.

Jay found a cut on the wire fence surrounding the property. Inside, on the cracked concrete ground, there were a couple of bottles lying around: evidence that other people have been trespassing the place too. On the side of the building, there was a door, a fire exit, which was left wide open. The boy started walking towards it without hesitation, but Katherine pulled him back.

“Wait! What if someone is in there?”

“There is no way, Kate! This place is obviously abandoned.”

“How about homeless people? Or racoons?”

Jay shrugged. “Worst case scenario, we run away. Or no, I'll protect you! Of course.”

Suddenly, it started to rain, which cut their dilemma short. They held hands, Katherine sighed loudly, and Jay did his best to appear cool. They walked in.

It was an abandoned warehouse. Pieces of rubble and old wooden planks were lying on the dusty concrete ground, and on one side, iron stairs lead to the upper levels.

“Hello?” Jay yelled. “Anyone here?”

“Shush!” Kate replied nervously.

But the boy kept yelling as they walked through the large warehouse room, his voice echoing off the walls.

“See? There are no homeless racoons here, not a single one,” he grinned at the girl.

“I suppose...”

They still ended up checking out many of the building's rooms out of precaution, as per Katherine's request. In a bathroom, Jay opened a rusty tap, which slowly squeezed out a single drop of water. They then walked up the boomy iron stairs, exploring some old office rooms. On the top floor, in a shady corridor, they came across a door with a sign saying “broom closet.” They peeked inside: it was empty, except for an upside-down bucket with a red X drawn on its bottom for some reason. Through the room's small window, they could see branches of a tall tree swaying in the storm outside. Jay turned to his partner.

“I have an idea! Once we make a family, we should move in here!”

The surprised Kate let out a bit of a chuckle.

“There is plenty of space, the water is still running... And look, if we end up having kids, we could just lock them in here when they are acting up.”

“Very funny...”

The boy abruptly grabbed Kate's arm, pulling her inside the broom closet, and pushing her against the wall. They threw off their backpacks and began to make out intensely. As much as the girl felt nervous about their circumstances, knowing that they have all the time for themselves still made her feel liberated and excited. Kissing without inhibition was a lot of fun, but when Jay's hand wandered under her skirt, she pushed him away and turned her head, blushing. She then faced the boy again with a cutely stern look.

“You know how consent works, right?”

“Yea! We talked about it before.”

“But even if... let's say we are in the middle of it, and I suddenly ask you to stop. Would you?”

“Of course, of course! Don't worry!”

“And... do you have the condoms?”

“In my backpack.”

They continued kissing, and Jay's hand slowly returned to Kate's crotch. He too was nervous, but as he found the girl's pussy, he could feel her wetness through her panties instantly, which was reassuring. He started to rub it, watching Katherine's reaction closely. She was avoiding eye-contact, but she was definitely enjoying herself, she looked very cute. As her breathing was speeding up, the boy sped up with the rubbing too, but suddenly Kate grabbed his arm, making him stop.

“Could you close the door at least?”

“There is no one here, Kate!”

“I know, but still!”

The boy looked at the open door, then he smelled his fingers. “Wow! It's so smelly!”

“Jay!”

“I mean, it's smelly in a good way! In an amazing way!”

“Just... just close the door, please.”

And jay did. But the moment he let go of the doorknob, something happened. Through the window, and beneath the closed door, a very strong, red light was coming through for a few seconds, then everything turned pitch-black. Katherine's heart skipped a beat. “Jay?” she tried to say, but she barely heard her own voice – there was a rapidly growing, loud noise surrounding them, it kind of sounded like the storm outside morphed into some angry, cosmic lifeform. The girl extended an arm, but she couldn't even feel the room's walls, as if she was standing in nothingness. And then as suddenly as it all started, things quieted down, and the darkness went away.

“What the fuck...” jay muttered as he sat up.

The bucket with the red X was spinning on the ground, gradually coming to a stop. Their backpacks were there too, but the room they found themselves in was obviously different from the one before. It was somewhat bigger, some hay was spread out on its metal floor, there were no windows, and the room's only door was made of iron bars. A glitchy, yellow, surprisingly round lightbulb was hanging from the ceiling, and they heard a quiet, but constant buzzing sound. The whole place was vibrating a little bit, as if they were inside some machinery, or a vehicle.

After Jay quickly looked through the bars of the door (there was a dark, empty corridor outside), the young couple sat on the floor side by side, holding hands.

“What is going on, Jay? Is this a dream?” Kate asked.

“Who's dream? Mine or yours?”

“Ew!” The girl abruptly jumped to her feet. “They are climbing on me!”

“Oh shit!” Jay stood up too, shaking the 'things' off of himself. What they initially thought to be hay was actually some small, thin, yellow worms.

“I fucking told you it was a bad idea! I fucking told you!” Kate cried.

“Hey, how could have I known this will happen?” Jay argued while he was sweeping the worms into one corner with his foot. “It's not like...”

The door suddenly opened, and a strange creature walked in. It was short, round, and it had so much brownish-green fur that its legs were barely visible, but somehow it felt like it has more than two. It had a pair of small arms with many fingers on both, a wide, toothless mouth and several eyes – again, it was hard to tell how many due to all the hair.

“BAGWABAGBAD! GWAB!” it yelled, pointing a round object (must have been a gun) at the two terrified teenagers.

Jay stood in front of his girlfriend, spreading his arms out, even though he was on the verge of passing out. But the monster only picked up the bucket, then it backed out of the room and closed the door again. Jay fell to his knees.

“The day has come...” he whispered. “I'm actually abducted by aliens.”

But they couldn't catch a break from all the confusion. As Kate was about to comfort her boyfriend, they heard a series of loud noises from outside: it sounded like a mix of gunshots, yelling, and running around. The couple exchanged a startled look, then they curled up in one of the corners (in the opposite one from where the boy piled up the yellow worms), waiting. The ruckus lasted for a few minutes, then suddenly everything went silent. Even the buzzing sound and the slight vibration from earlier stopped.

“We got abducted by aliens... and then they murdered each other?” Jay mumbled.

“Y... you think they did?”

Footsteps were heard from the corridor, distinct footsteps, so the boy once again stood up, almost mechanically, stepping in front of his girlfriend to protect her. Kate wished to tell him he doesn't have to do that, but she was too anxious to raise her voice. In seconds, two figures stopped right in front of their door. These ones looked much more humanoid-like, in fact they looked pretty much like astronauts, but their suits were black. One of the guys pressed a button on the side of his helmet, which opened it up, revealing his face: a pair of bright, blue eyes, blonde hair, stubble, angular chin. He was an actual human being, and a handsome one at that.

“They got human prisoners, Dan!” he said to his partner. “What are the chances, right? Don't worry, my friends, the one and only Mack Thomson is here for the rescue!” He pointed his thumb at himself as he said the name. “You are safe now. We are taking this whole ship back home with us.”

“Oh, thank god!” Jay sighed.

The other guy pulled down his own visor too – he was an older man with a large, grey mustache. He pressed something on the wall outside, and the iron bars of the door lowered into the floor. Katherine stood up. “Can you tell us what is happen...”

“Wow wow wow!” yelled the handsome guy, Mack, as both him and his friend backed away. The confused Jay looked around in the room, half-expecting that some monster appeared next to them. Kate's eyes wandered to the swirling yellow worm-things in the corner, thinking that must have been what startled the space-men.

“What are you doing, boy? Get out of there!” said the old guy.

Jay blinked. “You mean...”

“Just him?” Kate asked.

“I'm terribly sorry, ma'am! We will give you privacy right away.” Mack grabbed Jay's arm, and attempted to drag him out of the cell, but the girl held onto the boy's other arm.

“No! He is my boyfriend!” she screamed.

The blonde guy let go of Jay and stepped back again, exchanging a confused look with his partner, just like Kate with her own partner. A few seconds of awkward silence followed.

“Can you just explain what on earth happened to us?” the girl asked.

“What on... where?

“Why am I and my boyfriend here?”

“Oh of course, ma'am!” Mack straightened his posture. “You two have been abducted by Bagawian slave traders. Scummy little buggers they are, setting up multidimensional traps for all kinds of exotic, intelligent beings. They see us humans as exotic, of course. We have been after this group for weeks, and we just managed to finally ambush them. Once we sneaked on their ship, it was just a matter of patience and waiting for the right moment... it was a piece of bread, wasn't it, Dan?”

Piece of bread, Jay chuckled. The older guy with the mustache, who was staring at the hand-holding teenagers like he is seeing a ghost, now slowly turned to his partner. “Mackie guy...”

“I told you not to call me that!”

“...Are you sure these really are humans?”

Mack scratched his chin, giving the young couple a long, concerned look. “Ma'am, are you sure you want to stay with this young man for now?”

“Yes, I am sure!” Kate declared.

“Me too!” Jay added.

“They just wanna do it, Dan,” Mack faced his partner again. “Just let them slip one out real quick! Nobody will find out.”

“You serious?” Dan looked baffled.

“Slip one out?” Kate looked baffled too.

“They got abducted from their home, Dan!” the blonde space-guy continued. “They got really unlucky, so why not let them be lucky too? I know it's weird, but... I think we can overlook it.”

“Well... if the young lady insists...” shrugged Dan.

“Just what do you think we are gonna do?” asked the affronted Kate.

Mack snorted. “A boy and a girl, staying in a room together... oh, what could it be? Hehe! Or wait, are you serious?”

“We just got abducted by fucking aliens! There are yellow worms in the corner! We are not thinking about sex, or... whatever perversion is in your heads!” The girl's face reddened, and she was tearing up too.

“Yea, seriously guys?” Jay was shaking his head as he put his hand on Katherine's shoulder.

Mack and Dan put their heads together.

“Vessivian shapeshifters? Raddleborg puppeteers?” Dan suggested.

“It wouldn't make sense for them to act so strangely in either of those cases.” Mack turned back towards the teenagers. “Say, where are you from? What is the name of your homeland?”

“Planet Earth,” said Jay. Kate nodded.

“Earth? Really, it's called Earth?”

“Never heard of it,” Dan shook his head.

Suddenly there was a loud, clanking sound, and the whole room shuddered.

“That's our friend latching onto the ship with our own,” said Mack. “We will be on our way back home... well, to our home.”

“Can you not take us back where we are from?” asked the girl.

“Unfortunately, no, at least not yet. We will for sure request it with the council, but the issue is, these Bagawians use some really weird methods for their multidimensional traps, it's hard to track them back. So it might take a while for us to locate your home, and even then, getting you back might not be simple.”

“It's gonna be okay, Kate,” Jay said. “These guys seem kind of cool, don't they? I'm sure they'll figure it out. I wonder what their home is like.”

Mack straightened his back proudly. “We are really cool, you got that right, boy! I'm sure you won't be disappointed. However, as long as you are in our home, you will have to adapt to our ways. You can... uhm... hang out together for now if that's really what you do, but once we get there, it's back to normality, okay?”

“What you mean, normality?” Kate asked.

“Oh it'll be a shocker, young lady...” Dan mumbled as he began to walk down the corridor, back where he and his partner came from.