“… William?” Slowly walking up to the gate, Larah shoots a worried look at the bloody texture of the gate; and William… was nowhere to be found. Ryder sat on his knees still, gasping for air as he holds his legs tightly of his cramp. Evelyn helping Channe get up and Sine pacing around the room they’re now in. Larah however, held her chest as she looks at the bloody gate; her eyes wide open as she slowly turns to Ryder on the ground still trying to get his lost air, “Where… where is William?” asks Larah in her worry.
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Ryder slowly stands up as he holds his chest and legs, he turns his head to Larah and saw the blood of the gate behind her head. He stutters to speak, trying to wrap up his mind from the long run, “H-h-he was just behind me!” said Ryder shakingly.
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Her surprised face changed into something sour, Larah’s eyes was not only wide open, but her eyebrows suddenly flared up. Her hands clenching and her teeth loudly gritting. Suddenly, she quickly walks up to Ryder and punches his chest repeatedly while he grunts in pain from his legs and lungs.
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“Why didn’t you help him?!” Larah screamed at Ryder’s ear while she keeps punching Ryder’s face and chest, almost making him fall down again.
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Evelyn lets go off Channe’s hand and runs between them, pushing Larah away from Ryder, but Larah kept trying to pounce at Ryder with her fists flying everywhere. She screamed longer than she was running away from the bugs, her eyes glittering with small tears and her mouth dripping spit from her constant shouting.
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“Calm down, Larah!” shouted Evelyn as she holds Larah’s arm, preventing her from hurting Ryder any further.
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Ryder however, began coughed and bang his own chest after Larah punched him multiple times; suddenly falling down on his knees and coughing some more, his vision beginning to blur. He shakes his head while his eyes close, trying to regain composure; but it only got worse. He opens his eyes again; he falls down on his hands, and as he moves his eyes in front of him; his vision becoming blurrier every minute. He sees a figure, drenched in black coming out from like an opened door; blinking to try and see, but it was too late. He finally falls to the ground, lying dormant before his eyes forced him to sleep.
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He hears a faint bickering, and somebody calling for his name and the others before passing out on the ground. For minutes he stood in darkness, with low lights flickering from time to time until he slowly opens his eyes. He was standing up at somewhere different, he looks around only to see there is no else besides him; he was standing on the middle of a hallway, different from the room he passed out in, but then again, he was too tired to see the whole place. He begins to walk slowly towards the direction he was already facing, glancing behind him as he takes a step.
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Flickering lights as he passes through, in an unknown place; but felt familiar. The floor embedded with sheet white vinyl flooring; the doors made from dry birch wood; and the lights were florescent and kept turning off and on. The hallway felt endless as he kept walking, with the door at the distance messing with his eyes as it keeps backing away every time, he gets close to it. But luckily, it wasn’t endless after all. He reaches the door at the end of the hallway, gripping the door knobs with both of his hands before opening it wide. He passes through before the door closes behind him; he stood now in another hallway, but it was dark; all of the florescent lights were off, with only one that seemed to be glowing inside one of the rooms on the side.
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It was ominous, he thought; that there was only one light coming from in a room. With nowhere else to go, he begins to walk towards the lit room. The ominous darkness, the uncomfortable silence, and he still kept walking; and despite all of it, he was calm — maybe… too calm. He kept heading towards the door, but it felt like it was backing away like the door before, or the floor began to extend while he walked. He looks to the floor, and it seemed… off; it was moving in his eyes; but his heart remained still. He turns his head to his hand, and suddenly a bouquet of flowers appeared out of nowhere; he had no memory of grabbing it, but his heart remained unusually still, yet he still dropped sweat.
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His footsteps now echo through the hallway as he gets close to the door, everything seemed to slow down; his sweat slowly dripping, his ear couldn’t even catch the sound of his beat. He arrives outside the room, about to turn the corner, but when his head came into view; the lights instantly blind him from the seeing the inside. But he didn’t stop walking, he continued like nothing happened; his legs felt like it was not his own. He finally enters, and it was all white; a scream went along with it, slowly and carefully sipping into his ear; until the very scream covered all of his head, making everything ring aloud. It was nonstop, the screaming only became louder as he kept walking into the white abyss of nothing; he tried to stop but he couldn’t, like somebody pushing him from behind to keep going forward. Then, in his shock, a bed laid in wait for him — a white sheet bed, with someone laying down.
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He can hear his own breath now as he stood still, watching in sweat; the body laid covered in white sheets and bandages, seemed to be dead, but… at his dismay, it moved. Ryder flinched, but couldn’t move; he was forced to stare as the body moves his hand. And it pointed at him, shaking as it slowly moves his head towards him.
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“…This… IS YOUR FAULT!” the body screamed and shouted and Ryder, making him screamed also as the white light of the room turned dark, quickly closes his eyes and let’s go of the bouquet to cover his ears from the shattering sound. Then, as he opens his eyes; his head jumps up, he was finally awake — truly awake.
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He breaths heavily while sweat came down on his forehead, he tries to calm himself down; he sits up straight and rubs his head with both of his hands while it was lowered. He steadies his breath, wiping the sweat with his elbow. Then he realized, he was in a room made of metal; with everything made with the same material. He touches his chest only to realize that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but his jeans still remained. He looks around the room to see if his shirt was hanging around, but instead, he found a different shirt, along with a gray jacket; both hanging on the sink, but they were dry. He stands up and grabs the clothes, quickly slipping them over his head and onto his chest. He turns his head to the metal door and stares it, pinching his hand for precaution before opening it and going through.
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He closes the door behind him, entering a hallway with similar appearance to the room. Not only that, he sees a bunch of people turning a corner, walking in hurry to the end of the hall, “Why are we going back there again,” said one of the people walking; a woman at that.
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“It’s probably another team that exited the maze… or the host has an announcement,” said a tall man with the group.
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“Finally, I don’t want to be near that damn maze any longer!” said a bald man as they walk through the double door of the hallway.
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After the group of people exited the hallway, Ryder walks up and turns his head to look at where they just came from: A big hallway with many doors similar to the room he was in, “This must be a dormitory,” he thought. He continued to look around to see if anyone else was coming, but he guesses that all of them were already in the place where the group was headed. He soon follows the path the group went, walking towards the double door of the hallway end. He thinks of Evelyn and the others of where they were, and… William, “I guess… he didn’t make it,” he said to himself sadly.
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He goes through the doors, and he was met with something unexpected. He entered a large room, enough for maybe all of the contestants of the game, because they were all there; filling the room with loud noises and constant arguments to bickers. His eyes wide open by the sight, all of the contestant in one room; mostly everyone had bandages on one or many parts of their body, maybe because of them tripping or because a few bugs bit them. And there was an unusual large screen on top of the room, overlooking the entire heads of the contestants.
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Ryder tries to look over the countless heads of the contestants, trying to find anyone who he recognizes: Maybe Evelyn, Channe, Larah, maybe even Sine. But they were nowhere to be found amongst the many heads, like finding needles in a haystack. He tries to take a step towards the people, wanting to go through, but then, “Mr. Zean!” somebody shouted.
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Ryder quickly looks around towards the voice, only to see a familiar he hasn’t seen after the start of the game, “Oh hello, you’re alive!” said Ryder.
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A familiar face walks up to Ryder, but his head a part of his head was covered in bandages, “Oh I’m glad to see you Ryder!” said Drew as he shakes Ryder’s hand.
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Ryder shakes his hand back only weaker; his eyes catching the sight of the bandages so he asks, “What happened to your head?” He points at Drew’s head.
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“Oh this?” Drew touches the bandages, “A rock fell on my head, probably because of the bugs crashing on the walls or something.
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“… So, I guess everyone experienced the same thing in the maze,” said Ryder in a low tone.
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“That looks like it,” said Drew looking towards the other contestants, “This… wasn’t in the description!”
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“Well, it did say games; we just weren’t told what games they were going to be.”
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“I just hope there aren’t any m- “
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A loud ringing suddenly echoed throughout the room, like a mic just turned on. Ryder and Drew went silent, as well as the other contestants. Then, a static mouth appeared on the giant screen above them, speaking in a somewhat robotic and deep voice, “Attention all contestants, please make your way to the first rest lobby for the announcement of our beloved host.”
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After the voice talked, a number of bickers and complaints began to surface amongst the contestants, while Drew and Ryder stood listening to the annoying noises, “Come on, let’s go to the middle; we’ll get a front seat view of the screen,” said Drew as he motions his hand for Ryder to come with.
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Ryder hesitated for second due to the thought of them in the middle of the noise, but he went with Drew anyway. The two passes through crowds of contestants until reaching the very middle, just in front and below the giant screen. After a few minutes, everyone was gathered in the room; all noisy until the screen started to light up again and displays the static mouth. The voice was different from the previous one, older and articulate but it was still deep and robotic, “Good time to all of you fellow contestants, I assume that all of you are well.”
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A wave of angered noise ran through the contestants, all of them shouting at the big screen, “This isn’t what I signed for!”
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“How can you be so cruel to leave this out!”
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“Let me out of here!”
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Then the loud ringing sound echoed again from before, silencing the complaints of the contestants, “Now… now everyone; let us be civil about this whole endeavor,” said the voice from the screen, “You are all here for one thing, to complete the games and walk home with your pockets filled with gold; and with so much of mine to give away, the games are of equal difficulty similar to the extent of the value. So, forgive me for being not keen about the details, but this is what all of you have signed for: the possibility of a richer future, and it will not be achieved by constant noise.”
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Then suddenly, a door opens from the left side of the room, “If you truly wish to give up that future, feel yourself free to go through that very door.”
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Everyone looks at the door, including Ryder and Drew, but they stood still. For a moment, all of them were quiet, until one of the contestants quickly stands up and exits through the door; then a few followed soon after. Ryder looked at the door with a little sense of temptation, his foot wanting to step forward towards it; but he knew he couldn’t, he knew there was no choice. So, Ryder stayed, even Drew stayed but he was sweating heavily while he looked also. After a few contestants left, the voice spoke again, “75 dead and 21 leaving,” said the voice, “Out of 500, all of you are now 404.”
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“Now let us continue.” Three large gates suddenly open at the right side of the room, which showed three rooms similar to the one they were in, but smaller.
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Everyone looks and starts to whisper to each other, “Is there food? We’re starving,” said many of the contestants.
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“Oh… there will be food soon, and all of you get to choose what to eat, “said the voice somewhat strangely, “Now, all of you must enter one of the rooms; 20 is the maximum of each room and all that is left must wait their turn to go in.”
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Without any thought, all of the contestants began to stand up, and some were already entering the rooms. Ryder and Drew went with the crowd that were heading towards the 1st room of the three. Contestant after contestant entered, then after it reached the 20 number limit, it suddenly closes. All of them waited for a minute, then the gate opened again, but the contestants that entered were nowhere to be found. They were shocked, but continued to enter anyways. Ryder’s eyes were wide open after he saw the very room empty, without any trace of the previous; Drew breathing heavily as he holds his chest from the empty sight. Then after they were pushed by the crowd, they were about to enter; but then the gate closes again, with the metal gate almost chopping Ryder’s head off. But instead of being still, Ryder carefully places his ear against the gate, trying to hear the other side; Drew followed suit.
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“Can you hear anything?” Ryder asks.
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“…Strangely… no,” said Drew.
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Then the gate opens again, both of them hesitated a second but they were forced to enter quickly by the rushed crowd behind them. As Ryder entered, he looks around the room; seeing nothing but metal walls and some small speakers on the ceiling, “This doesn’t feel right,” Drew said as he was shaking
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Then finally, the gate closes behind them; leaving them isolated by the other contestants. Ryder and Drew kept sweating and breathing heavily, while the others with them were eager for the food the voice told them. After a few seconds of standing, the speakers suddenly turn on and said, “Have fun… hunting.”
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The floor beneath them opens, making many of them scream as they fall to the ground. With the others falling first, then Drew fell while he screamed, then it was Ryder who fell on the last second.
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“HELP!!”
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