If there wasn’t a sign that they were watching us, the destruction of Miguel’s tablet, our former hope, was it. After the incident, the students dissolved into small groups, talking amongst themselves, and I perceived they were now realising that things wouldn’t be that easy. If not for the riddle, I would have mentioned it, and though I wasn’t happy about Miguel’s tablet because that would have helped if it hadn’t been destroyed, I was glad everyone was beginning to see the gravity of it all. We had been lucky to find the wall and the hidden door, but I didn’t think we would be allowed to see further things. I felt they were only giving us a glimpse of the workings of the building. Now, we have five days more to the next day and one more day to my riddle. If I couldn’t get the answer today, that would be it. I was so desperate that I had even gone to the library, searching through books, hoping to glean something or come across a hint, but my efforts had been futile. Still, that w
“What will happen next?” It was a question on people’s lips; people living far away from the building, their whole lives now filled with watching the show and their money on their favorite players. Each day the show ended, they would break into different groups, talking, speculating, and arguing about what might happen next. For the last one, the fervent watchers believed that Everett’s plan might work, given that she was smart and some of her plans had been successful. They were confident in their thinking until someone mentioned how Ande had looked at her suspiciously. Some believed that he was only jealous he hadn’t thought about the plan first, and others thought his suspicions were natural, given that the idea seemed risky. How would the students survive if they were to pollute the air? It was a question no one had an answer to and were eager to know. Something that also kept them on their toes, eager to watch the next scene, was Ande’s riddle. When he was given it, some vie
There was no sleep for me that night. Not when the other students began working on Everett’s plan, just as it fell off her lips. A sudden wave of excitement and strength moved over them, and I didn’t think they would heed any logical advice. Everett’s group, overseeing everything, began fleshing out the idea, working on the loopholes, and finding solutions. They also grouped the students so that everyone could have a task. The goal was to have the coup that night, which was too fast for me, but I kept my thoughts to myself before I got lynched for having a different thought. Their excitement was contagious, except that I had mixed feelings about it. I had nothing against Everett or her attitude toward always wanting her idea chosen. It was fine as long as it worked in my favor. All I wanted now was to survive. The only issue I had about the whole thing was how rushed it was. It was great they considered the next game, but I wished we had more time. I’ve had experience with things
Through the smoke, I saw students running in all directions, screams echoing through the hallway.“What happened?” I yelled, grabbing a girl by the arm.“The guards!” she gasped, her eyes wide. “They’re… they’re attacking!” As another ran past us, she screamed, “Everett said we might fight! Let’s go!”She would, as she never ran away from trouble. If I didn’t join them, they would think I was a traitor, and also, I had a feeling the ‘first hour’ had begun, and whatever peace we had enjoyed was over. Now, we had to fight for our freedom. With no choice, I ran back to the room, grabbed my gas mask, which I wore, and ran towards the mayhem. Ahead, I saw the students carrying tables and chairs, using them as a makeshift barricade against the guards, clad in black body armour, their faces covered by their helmets, which wouldn’t allow the gas to work. But the students didn’t stop. “I need help here!” It was Valerie crouched beside a student lying on the ground. Running towards her, I sa
After the cheers died, the voice continued, "You'll be free to leave, and no one will stop you. Not a guard or a teacher. You can leave them in the room. We'll only attend to them when you're all gone.”Another cheer went up, louder than the first, but I only felt unsettled. I should be happy that we'd be leaving this hellhole, but instead, there was a sense of unease in my gut. This somehow felt too easy.They would leave the door open, and we'd be allowed to leave without an obstacle. Then, what about everything we've passed through? What was the point? What was the end of the other games? Of the balls, walls, and the maze that caused people's deaths? What was the point of making us go through this? Was this it? Could they see us as less important than the guards and teachers? Did it even make sense?"We need to leave now,” a boy shouted, shattering my reverie, "before they change their minds." "And hold on to your weapons too!" a second person said. Everett waved a hand and, in a
For the umpteenth time, we were cornered. It wasn’t unusual since we’ve always felt this way since the beginning of the game. We were the prey with nowhere to go and no one to help us. Even when we tried being our saviour, the tables always turned against us. I didn’t want to think we had no hope, but reaching this stage and still having the school have a hold on us made things more frustrating. Though I hadn’t trusted that we would get to leave as quickly as the others thought it to be, I had hoped I would be wrong. I had half-hoped that the Principal would have a change of mind and we could escape, but we were back to square one. “What do you think the next game will be?” Ethan asked beside me. “It was supposed to be in six days, but they want us to play it now, which means it has been ready since.”“I don’t know.” I sincerely didn’t. At that moment, I needed a good sleep, and the others likely did, but not anyone left the hallway. The mood had been subdued since the Principal’s
In the end, we couldn’t just run. It was as though the whole horde of destitute had been released, and as a result, there were many of them from which we could only escape. We were luckier than the rest behind, who were slow runners and whose screams were louder every passing moment. I didn’t dare look back. The walls were already stained with blood, and there were body parts strewn in different directions. It was a horrific display of gore and violence. There was no stopping us from running. It was either that or we hid, which didn’t work. Somehow, the destitute seemed to sense them, and more screams were heard again. Soon, our number began to lessen, and we all realised that running wouldn’t work anymore. We had to fight. Thankfully, we still had our weapons. Turning back, I noticed the number of needy people hadn’t yet reduced. I quelled the urge to stare at the blood around us and instead focused on the incoming destitute. With all my strength, I thrust the spear forward, th
It was no surprise. There was no shouting or shock at the guards and teachers’ disappearance. It was as though everyone had thought the same thing while we had been walking down the hallway. If the teachers had been there, it would have confirmed the suspicion that they weren’t necessary, but now, this clearly showed that they were.But when it came to us, there was no escape. “This whole thing was just a diversion,” Zane said, looking at each of us. We were now seated in a circle in an empty classroom, free of the bloody carnage outside. Everett suggested we all thought about what to do. Zane was still talking. “They wanted us out of the way so they could take the guards and teachers.” “A good trick, though,” I said, “They knew we wouldn’t want to release them, so we were left to fight off the destitute while they went about it.”“What’s more important is what is going to happen now.” Everett crossed her arms, her expression pensive. “Since the guards are on their sides, they co
"We're not your enemies. We're students, too. We escaped the school just like you." I hesitated, my grip loosening. "Prove it," I demanded. "How do we know you're telling the truth?" At last they took off the mask from their faces, they looked nothing older than eighteen at most, but I wasn't going to be fooled, definitely not by their appearance especially. We pointed the guns at them, cold sweat dripped all over my face but that wasn't enough to make me tremble, at least I wouldn't allow myself to fall victim to such trickery. “No problem, no problem, I'll prove it, I'll show you that we mean no harm I swear,” the female of the group yelled. “Please, just back off with the gun a bit, that thing's dangerous and I doubt you even know how to hold them properly which makes it more dangerous.” Was she mocking us or what? I couldn't make due with it. I took a quick look at her and her colleagues behind us. They didn't seem to have any sort of weapon on them and they didn't retali
I could hardly believe my eyes at first, but that was the honest truth apparently, and just like that, we had finally escaped the school, but freedom felt like a distant memory as we trudged through the arid landscape. Where we would go from here, that was the next question. Amid the celebration and excitement from my classmates I looked around, something didn't feel right, not in the slightest, but what was it? Suddenly, it occurred to me to look ahead as if I surveyed the land. "Does anyone have a binocular?" I asked. "A binoculars? I think I got one while we were escaping, it was amongst the staff gadgets," someone said. At once it struck me. Why exactly would they need such in the first place? The more I puzzled about this uneasy feeling the more restless I felt. The girl handed over the device with a bothered look on her face. I grabbed hold of the device and peered through. Scanning- Scanning- The coast looked clear, crystal clear however, what was this cloud of dus
(Diego's POV)I dart through the shifting corridors of the maze, my heart pounding in my chest as I try not to lose sight of the others. The disorienting twists and turns of this twisted landscape make it difficult to keep my bearings.And I'm finding it harder and harder to keep on going.As I watch my classmates struggle to cross the swaying platforms, a seed of doubt begins to take root in my mind. Something about this whole scenario doesn't feel right. The way the walls shift and the floors move - it's almost as if it's an illusion, a trick of the mind.I take a step back, studying the maze around us more closely. The patterns on the walls seem to shimmer and distort, and the very air feels charged with an unnatural energy. Narrowing my eyes, I focus my senses, trying to pierce through the deception.Suddenly, a flicker of movement catches my eye, and I whirl around to see a shimmering figure in the distance. It's the teacher, I'm sure of it. A wild surge of anger rises within me
(Ande's POV)We wait patiently for Ethan in the game room, the few of us that are still free, trying to cross check if we have everything. It was almost….. peaceful.Alas, things were not meant to be, as the world around us suddenly shifts and distorts.I grip the railing as the building contorts before my eyes, the once familiar corridors and classrooms twisting and distorting like a kaleidoscope. The floors seem to shift beneath my feet, and I struggle to maintain my balance as the world around me turns upside down. "What's happening?" I shout, my voice laced with panic as I glance at my teammates. Ava clings to the wall, her eyes wide with terror, while Chris braces himself against a doorframe, his knuckles turning white.A sinister chuckle echoes through the disorienting space, and I feel a chill run down my spine. "Did you really think you could escape me so easily?" The teacher's voice, dripping with malice, surrounds us.I whirl around, searching for the source of the sound.
(Ande's POV)After washing out the blood from my clothes, I looked down with a heavy sigh of disbelief, I could not believe that this was what I had been reduced to. A monster, perhaps. "We have to go," Chris said to me, his hand upon my shoulder. Yes, there was somewhere we had to be and I refused to let anything come in the way of my freedom, not even myself. Chris and I rejoin the others. The students from the lab are gathered, their faces etched with a mixture of fear and anticipation. They couldn't possibly reject me and I knew that, I was one of them and they were just like me, we had the same substance or whatever it was that was put in me running through their veins, they couldn't possibly bail on me. "Ande," one of them says, her voice tinged with relief. "We've been trying to make sense of what happened back there."As I explain what I found in the lab and the chip I retrieved, their expressions shift from confusion to horror."So they were trying to turn us into desti
(Ande's POV)I shake my head, refusing to believe what they're telling me. "No, I can't have done this. There must be some mistake." I couldn't accept that in the slightest bit, how could everything turn out this way, we had come so far and yet this was supposed to be the result?No, it couldn't possibly be this way. "Ande, listen to us," Ethan says, his tone urgent however I looked away from him, the last thing I wanted on my plate was someone to interfere with how I felt but he was persistent an attribute that I had hated for quite a while now. "We all felt... different, after what happened in the lab. And now, with what's happened here... we can't risk staying any longer. For our own safety, and for yours."I want to protest, to demand answers, but the fear in their eyes gives me pause. I took a deep sigh, surely this wasn't the end of everything, I knew there had to be some sort of way but the opportunity seemed difficult to come by. "I understand but I'm sure there's a cure
(Ande's POV)Ethan's head snaps up, his eyes wide with fear. "No, please, Ande! I swear, I won't do anything like that again. I'm with you, all the way. You can trust me, I promise.," he said, while desperately leaning to us for trust. I hold his gaze, searching for any hint of doubt or deception. After a long moment, I nod slowly. "Alright, Ethan. I'm going to hold you to that promise. We can't afford any more risks, not when we're so close to freedom."Ethan nods, his shoulders slumping with relief. "I understand, Ande. I won't let you down, I swear it."Before I can say more, Jay suddenly interrupts us, his gaze strangely vacant as he clutches the sleeve of my shirt. "Ande," he says, "Ande…""Jay, what's wrong?" I ask, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You seem... different."Jay turns to me, his eyes clouded with an almost otherworldly intensity. "We need to go back to the school," he says, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's important, Ande. We have to leave go back now."I'
I'm in my office when a guard bursts into my office, breathless and wide-eyed. "Sir, there's an urgent joint summit being called. You're expected to attend immediately."I let out a frustrated sigh. These summits always mean more demands and red tape to deal with. "Can't they handle this without me for once?" I grumble.The guard shakes his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. They've specifically requested your presence."I groan in frustration, slamming the files shut. The benefactors - those stupidity wealthy elites who oversee the Games - are the bane of my existence. "Unbelievable. Can't they see I'm up to my neck in work here? We're still recovering from the disastrous events of the last Games."The guard shifts nervously. "I'm afraid they won't take no for an answer, sir. They said it's non-negotiable."I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a migraine coming on. "Fine, fine. Tell them I'll be there momentarily." As the guard scurries off, I mutter a string of curses under my breath.
There is a dismembered hand lying on the floor, partially obscured by the doorway. My stomach lurches at the gruesome sight, bile rising in my throat.The skin is pale, the fingers contorted, and there's still fresh blood pooling around it. I freeze, my eyes fixed on the grisly scene.Ethan and the others hadn't noticed it by the looks of things, their focus probably only on getting into the school undetected. But I can't tear my gaze away. Something about the hand catches my eye - it appears to be clutching a small electronic device, a tablet of some kind. Swallowing hard, I slowly approach the severed limb. I need to get a closer look. Crouching down, I carefully pry the fingers open and retrieve the tablet, wincing at the sticky, warm sensation of the blood on my skin. My heart is pounding as I examine the device, realizing it's emitting some kind of frequency. An idea struck. Quickly, I pull out my jammer and connect it to the tablet, grinning as I gain access to the video.