Sorry about the kidnap during dialogue! That was a rare condition we didn't have time to fix.
The idea behind the strangers is to talk to them if you're unsure whether or not they're kidnappers, pre-emptively hide if you don't want to talk, or trust them and walk past them, hoping they're not kidnappers (last resort). Sorry if that gameplay wasn't fun/wasn't intuitive! I'll do better next time.