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
Two more people joined us to decode the symbols. They were experts like Barry, though they claimed he was much better than them. We didn’t even have a choice because if we wanted to leave, we had to work with what we had. Except that there was a problem. “Two of them are identical,” Barry said, pointing to two specific symbols. Since it was my drawing, I felt I was to blame. “Maybe there was a mistake—” “No,” Barry said. “There has to be a reason for this.” “Maybe for emphasis,” one of the boys who joined us asked. “What is the problem?” Everett asked, walking towards us. Though we were in the class, we had taken a secluded spot where we could work without distractions. But now, we needed other ideas. The boy told her, and soon, the others surrounded us. Some argued that the door might be the key to our escape, and others believed we should avoid it. I sat aside, wondering what to do. Since I already had a hint about the doors, I could tell them, but I didn’t know how to do t
Once again, we faced the doors. One more time. One last try. I was sure they were the words ringing in everyone’s ears as we stood in the room, staring at the doors that would tell our fate. It was funny to think that a non-living object had that power, but that was just the case. I wished the doors could say to us what lay inside the room, but they were silent, waiting for our moves. “Okay, we are going to split ourselves into a group of six,” Barry said, standing before us. “We’ll follow the code, and each group will open each door until we reach the final door. We don’t have any try after the seventh door, so make sure you listen to what I say.” We split into six, with Dale being with me. Then, Barry began to call the numbers, and each group did as he said until we reached the number with two doors. Yesterday, we agreed that Barry would choose a door since he was an expert on the code, but things took a turn at this point. He seemed slow to decide, and the rest began to panic a
The control room wasn’t a large one.It was a small, cramped white room, but its atmosphere lacked warmth, instead exuding the personality of a bland, sterile object. The furniture within was scattered. A massive screen dominated the wall at the end of the room, its surface blank. Rows of tables, each lined with about six computers, stood in uneven rows, their screens dark and inactive. The drawers, too, seemed stuck, refusing to budge no matter how hard we tried.As I surveyed the room, a sense of unease washed over me. Everything felt off, as though the setting was nothing more than a caricature of its authentic self. Perhaps that was why it was empty. “He won’t starve us here, right?” The girl that had argued for the second door asked, her voice tinged in fear. “There’s no way he will keep us here forever.” When no one answered, she added, “Right?”“Mia, I think if we all knew that question, we wouldn’t be scared shitless,” Everett said, a frown on her face. The boy who had argue
Unknown to the students, the chaos they were facing was also affecting the watchers, particularly the ones in the VIP section of the building. The people had been divided into three fractions thanks to the events that had unfolded, and it was getting more challenging to get them to calm down, especially when they were of critical status. "How are the viewing centres taking this?" The principal asked. The man by his side did not look like he had anything positive to say. He did not. Tightly hugging his pad, he rushes forward to give his review. "Not so well, sir. Their reaction is just like our VIP clients. It's a good thing they're of lower status and hold less importance. We've been able to handle them well, thanks to that. With a sigh, the man watched all the drama and uproar escalate without being able to control the crowd this time. The room they were situated in was less calm than usual, as the current events have shaken things up. Everyone had questions, and as each was a