Denise's eyes fluttered open slowly.  She had no idea how long she had been asleep as she took in her surroundings: she was in a room that to her resembled a large doctor's office because of how bare and clinical it appeared.  There was a table on in the center, with a laptop on it.  Against one wall were three large plastic bins, two covered with lids and one without; the lid for the third one was propped up against the wall next to it.  

Denise looked up as much as she could - her wrists were cuffed together, pulled over her head and attached to something above.  She was still completely dressed in her cheerleading outfit, and her toes were just touching the floor.  There was something over her mouth preventing her from speaking or screaming.

"Mmmm," she mumbled, and realized that was the extent of the sound she could make.  "MMMMM!" she tried again, a little louder.  She looked around again, and wondered where her friends were.  The last thing she remembered was being in the trunk, the four of them all piled up, bound and gagged.  She remembered feeling very betrayed, and then it all started flooding back.

Kim had sold them out! She had set this whole thing up because she was jealous of them, jealous of her! Denise shook her head as she realized that putting this girl on the squad was a big mistake.  They could have kept searching for a fifth senior to be on the squad, or tried to change the rule to only have four, but Kim was persistent and Denise had given in, silently vowing to make this girl's life as miserable as she could all year long.  What did that kidnapper say about karma? Denise gulped.  Maybe she had been a little harsh on Kim; but then how could she have known Kim would do something like this? She couldn't. She would have never in a million years thought that someone as cheery and desperate to fit in as Kim would be capable of something like this!

She hung her head, looking down at the floor, silently wondering again where her friends were and what this was really all about. If it was some kind of prank then she was going to make Kim pay when it was all over, that was for sure!

She looked up as she heard a sound like footsteps approaching. "Mmmmm," she mumbled as a man walked into the room from the other side and approached her with a sense of purpose.

"You're awake.  Good."  Her eyes were wide, wondering who he was and what he wanted with her.  He reached up, unhooked the cuffs from where they were attached to the ceiling, and then removed them from her wrists.  As her heels found the floor, Denise thought for a moment about running but didn't. As her arms fell back down to her sides, the man pulled her wrists behind her and held them together.

"Over there, by the table, there's a mat.  You're going to kneel on it and read the Rules. Once you're done and you understand them, I'll take the tape off your mouth."

Denise shook her head side to side a bit, confused about what was going on as he led her over to the table and then put one hand on her head, guiding her to her knees.  Taped to the end of the table in front of her, printed on a piece of paper were the 'Rules for New Arrivals':

1. Remain silent. Speak only if given permission.
2. Do only as you are told. Nothing more, nothing less.
Failure to comply with these rules will result in immediate tagging for disposal.

Denise looked over them twice.  Suddenly this didn't seem like it could be a prank anymore.  She trembled a bit as fear gripped her.

"One of your friends had a problem with the rules.  She's not with us any more."

Denise swallowed hard.  She wanted to ask which friend, what happened, but her eyes found the rules again.  She remained silent.

"I want you to keep reading them, over and over. In a few minutes I am going to ask you to recite them so I know you understand them." He moved around to the table and sat down in the lone chair next to it, picking up a piece of paper and making some notes.

The paper he was holding was directly in her line of sight as she looked towards the table.  She saw the words 'Field Sheet' at the top and underneath that was 'Acquisition Data' with a date, time, location and team.  The date, time, and location he had written down corresponded to their arrival for the 'photoshoot', and the team was 'Faye/Delilah'. There were a bunch of other lines on the form but only a few were filled out: 'age' was 18, 'hair color' was brunette, 'hair style' was pigtails, 'outfit' was cheerleader.  There was a big line for 'Temporary Designation of Specimen' and it was blank, as was 'Height', 'Weight' and 'Shoe Size'.  Denise gulped hard as she realized this paper was for her.

He sat the paper next to the open laptop to his left and then stood up, walking around to her and grasping her wrists which were still behind her, easily pulling Denise to her feet.  He guided the stunned cheerleader over to a wall with a ruler.  "Five feet three inches."  Then he led her over to a nearby scale, motioning for her to step up onto it. "One hundred twenty pounds."  

In the center of the floor, between the table and where she had been hanging earlier, was a small raised square platform, as white as the floor and walls.  He led Denise up onto it, then let go of her wrists.  He reached around and carefully peeled away the tape over her mouth.  Then he walked out in front of her, a few feet away.  "Recite the rules," he commanded.

Denise swallowed hard again, her voice cracking a bit as she started. "Remain silent. Speak only if given permission.  Do only as you are told. Nothing more, nothing less.  Failure to comply with these rules will result in immediate tagging for disposal."

"Nod if you understand."

Denise nodded, her eyes looking at the floor.