WELCOME TO OUTLIVE

Shane

Hours later, light started to come to Bella’s eyes and when she opened them fully and looked around she was in an office; an office that was well put together and the size of a decently sized apartment, with a large window overlooking the view of a vast rain shadow desert and a chubby suited man sitting behind the desk with four goons standing behind him, suited and armed.

Bella rolled onto her stomach and then got up onto all fours; breathing heavily and with her chest moist from sweating. She tried to get up and even stood for about two seconds but then fell back down to her fours, still woozy from the shot.

“You just got sedated with a dose that could knock out a baby elephant, you should take it easy,” the man seated comfortably back in the chair said. He was about sixty years old and had a Van Dyke beard. “Hello Ms. Knight, lovely of you to join us.”

“Who are you?” Bella asked.

“You don't know me but I know you. I’m Mr. Kingman and I am the president of the King Company. It is your absolute pleasure to meet me.”

“What is this? Why am I here?”

“Five years ago you took someone out. She was a nice woman and she meant a good lot to me and one night BANG! A bullet went right through her head and just like that she was gone. A bullet from your gun, a gun whose trigger you pulled. Ooh I’m not even going to lie, that one got me. That one really got me. And as I stood by her coffin at her funeral, I promised her that I was going to do everything in my power to find who did that to her and make them pay, that I was going to avenge her death and here I am,” Mr. Kingman said as Bella just knelt there frozen; she knew exactly who he was talking about. She remembered her face, the exact time it happened and even what she was wearing. Her memory along with the memories of all the others haunted her; like a bad movie she just couldn't turn off. “Do you even remember her name?”

“I remember all their names.”

“She was a very special woman and you took her from me and now . . . I am going to take something from you.” He snapped his fingers and into the room burst two more goons strongly holding a man in their arms who had a black bag over his head.

They pulled him towards the table and sat him down on one of the two chairs by Mr. Kingman’s table. One of them then pulled the bag off of his head and seeing who it was, Bella’s heart sunk as tears immediately began to build in her eyes.

He had a thick tape around his mouth and had been roughed up a good bit. He yelled out her name and even tried to go forward to her but the two goons held him down.

“Shane,” she softly said as the tears that had built in her eye began to stream down her face.

“You were hard to track down but still I vowed to find you. I didn’t care how long it took I was going to find you and when I did I was going to make you pay and I will. Sweetheart, I am going to make you wish you had never been born,” Mr. Kingman said and got up and walked out from behind his table. “And as fortune would have it, I didn’t just find you but I found him too. Talk about taking two targets out with one bullet. I saw an opportunity and man did I seize it.” He sat on the edge of his table. “He’s a very handsome man I can see why you picked him and with the photos I had taken of you two on the beach last month, I can tell you're quite fond of him too. Is he the reason why you quit the game? So that you can be with him and live happily ever after together? How sweet? Delusional but sweet because people like you don’t get happily ever afters. You can’t just walk away from the things you’ve done, from what you did to her, no, you have to pay and you are going to pay.”

“What do you want?”

“You want to know what I want Ms. Knight . . . I would like you to play game,” Mr. Kingman said.

“What game?”

“It’s called OutLive. It’s a new project of mine that’s about to launch worldwide in t minus 3 hours and you’re going to be a part of it.” He signaled one of his goons to prepare him a drink and he got right to it. “It’s a simulation game in which players have to fight for their lives to survive. It involves them going through a series of levels where they will be tested by a great many things that they have to overcome in order to move on to the next level. Twelve players will start but I guarantee you not all of them will finish; I assure you more than half will die and the interesting plot twist is that if any player dies in the game . . . They die in real life too.”

“Excuse me,” Bella got up onto her feet and said.

“That’s right. If anything in the game claims a player’s life . . . Then that player is dead."

“No.”

“Yes,” Mr. Kingman said as he was handed his drink and even took a sip of it. “Those are the terms of the game and you’re going to play.”

“No I’m not.”

“Do you not see where you are Ms. Knight? You are in no position to refuse anything.”

“I’m not playing your stupid game,” Bella said.

“Then your boyfriend dies.” He snapped his fingers and both the goons holding him down pulled their guns out and pointed them to the back of Shane’s head.

“No! Wait! Wait! Please wait.”

“If you don’t play, I’m going to have his brain’s blown out right here right now,” he said. “With what you have taken away from me I will not hesitate to take him away from you, so go ahead say no again, make my day."

Bella dropped her head and broke down; trying to not show weakness in front of him but failing too. She loved Shane more than anything in the world. He was the reason why she had quit the business so that she could try and have a life with him. They lived separate lives and were only going to actually be together in about a years’ time when things had quieted down and it was somewhat safe but all that was about to change because if she didn’t play Mr. Kingman’s game, Shane was going to die and it would all be her fault. She knew what she had done. She knew that trying to escape her past was going to be something close to impossible but she was willing to give it a try because that was how much she loved Shane; that she was willing to fight the world for the rest of her life just so she could get to be with the man she loved.

“So what say you Ms. Knight? His fate is in your hands? Does he live or he dies?” Mr. Kingman asked.

“He lives,” Bella responded and raised her head. “He lives.”

“Now isn't that a good girl."

"Please don't hurt him."

"You don't have a say in anything," he said.

"I will play your game just please don't hurt him."

"Oh look at that, the cold blooded killer is in love. You don't deserve love, with the pain you left me in, you deserve nothing but death and that death will be yours. Mark my words assassin, you will enter that game and the only way you're going to be leaving it is dead. So please take this moment to bid your lover farewell, it is going to be the last time he sees you alive." Bella's heart sunk. Mr. Kingman meant business. If he had gone through all that trouble to find her then what he was saying had to be true. The game and the possible death that came with it and never seeing Shane again; everything had her shaken. What was happening was clearly because of her and if Shane died in the midst of all of it, it would all be her fault, and so she needed to do everything in her power to fix it and that meant playing Mr. Kingman's game. She had no idea what to expect all she knew was that both their lives were literally on the line and that was all the drive she needed.

"What if I win?" Bella asked.

"The level, then good for you, you'll get to die another day."

"Not the level, the game . . . What if I win the game?"

"You're not going to win," he said.

"What if I beat the odds and I do? What happens to him? What happens to me?"

"If by some miracle you win then you both will go free. You would have earned your freedom and can leave."

"Just like that?" she asked.

"Just like that."

"And you won't come after us?"

"Come after the love birds, I would never," Mr. Kingman said and he and his goons chuckled.

"You didn't mean any of the things you just said did you?"

"No I didn't. You know why?"

"Because I'm going to die in the game," Bella responded and Mr. Kingman raised his drink to her.

"That's right. You're going to die in the game and after he watches you die I am going to shoot him in the head just like you shot her. And then we'll be even." She just stood there with her fists clenched wanting so bad to bust her skills out but she just held herself, he had all the power and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. "Take him to his room and take her to get suited up. We’re going live in three hours and I want the premier to be a absolute killer.”

All over the world people had logged onto the OutLive website and were waiting for it to go live; a live real-life game stream that had been advertised as the experience of a life time and had people so eager they couldn't wait for the countdown to reach zero so that they could see just what this OutLive game was.

Everyone was waiting; students in their dorm rooms, teenagers in their homes, people working late in their offices and even top class businessmen sitting comfortably in their chairs tuned in.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

OutLive was live and everyone logged in couldn’t contain themselves. They were promised the best experience ever and it was starting.

“Dude I am so psyched right now,” a boy watching with his friend said.

“So psyched,” his friend responded and they roared in each other’s faces and shared a double high five.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, it is time,” a female computerized voice said and everyone that had tuned in cheered to themselves. Her name was Lora. “The King Company brings you the live-stream role playing video game that is sure to be the best experience of your entire lives. We promise to keep you on the edge of your seat at all times with breath taking graphics, out of this world monsters, interesting characters and intriguing missions that will surely put the players to the test. Players have been specifically selected to bring the most out of the game and you are at liberty to choose your favourite and bet on them to stand a chance to win big.”

“That’s right,” a boy watching on his computer said.

“The game will begin with 12 players and they must work together to fight and stay alive whilst being tested by the elements and battling against beautifully designed creatures you will see nowhere else. They will be pushed to the limit but they must endure and they must survive. If they die, their death will be their elimination and if they live until the end of the level they will move on to the next one.”

“Sweet,” a girl watching on her phone said.

“Each level will have its own mission and in order for that level to be passed the mission must be completed. When the players complete the mission they will light the flare signaling the end of the level and the broadcast will end to be resumed the following day for the next level.”

“Awesome,” a man watching on his laptop said.

“Rules? The game only has one rule . . . To survive and if a player or players manage to survive all the levels then he/she or they will be crowned the winners and will be awarded the super grand prize of $10 million dollars,” Lora said and everyone around the world hailed.

“Ugh yes baby, show me the money!” one of three boys shouted and they all laughed.

“People of the world, welcome to OutLive,” she said and the credits of the game started rolling; showing epic graphics of modified mythical monsters from all over the world. An intro that had everyone so hooked they couldn’t dare tear their eyes away; like the opening credits of a monster movie that people had been waiting to see for months. The title came on the screen, and just by the way the bottom half of the words were dripping with blood, the audience knew that what they were about to watch was something that was going to knock their socks off. OutLive was live and on.