Chapter 8 Let The Games Begin

I finished my lunch quickly and decided to leave the dining hall earlier than the others. They asked me what the man told me earlier but I told them it was nothing. I will tell them when I know for sure this place isn't safe.

I got inside the elevator and pressed on the second floor, not knowing what I'll find there. When the elevator stopped, I almost rolled my eyes when I was greeted with a white hallway again.

I roamed around, trying to find Ms. Faith, but the hall was empty. There were a total of 6 rooms and each room was gigantic. I peeked in the bedroom windows and saw that inside, there were bunk beds.

When I found no one, I went to the elevator again and pressed on the ground floor to join my friends back in the dining hall. That was when I realized that third is the last floor level I could go to, since the rest are locked and can only be accessed with use of key cards. The building goes up to 10 floors, so I found it odd that only the first three are accessible.

Just then, the elevator door opened, and standing there was the person I was looking for. "Ms. Faith," I called, glad that I found her.

"Hello, Asteria. Happy to see that you're in a good mood today," she let out that annoying giggle again.

"I was wondering when we can leave?" I watched her smile drop as I said that. "I mean, obviously we're not staying here forever. We need to go back to our home."

"No." She put on her fake smile again as she declined with her angelic voice.

"Excuse me?" I asked, surprised at her answer.

"I said no, sweetheart. In fact, I am on my way to the dining hall right now to ask you all to join us. It will be you and your friends' first game," she was so excited, she even clapped her hands, but I just thought all of this was weird.

"What game?" I asked, but she didn't answer because the elevator opened, and we both walked out to the dining hall.

I was shocked to see that there were guards, holding a rifle in their hands. I would panic and get scared but everyone else in the hall looked calm, as if the guards' presence was normal.

"A pleasant afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As you all know, we are joined by 10 more lovely people. There they are, smile my darlings," Ms. Faith announced as she pointed in the direction of our table.

I had just joined my friends back there, and all eyes were staring at us. "To welcome the new members of this growing community, let's have our first game with them," whispers echoed inside the room, as if the announcement was disturbing. "We are all so excited for the newbies to play their first game. Please come join us on the sixth level today." Sixth? That's one of the locked floors.

Ms. Faith turned away and left, and that was the signal for everyone to stand up all in perfect timing, so we stood up as well to look like we fit in. The guards approached every table and asked us to fall in line, as they assisted us to go to the sixth floor.

"Excuse me, do you know what we're doing today?" Hayden asked the girl beside him, but she didn't answer, didn't even bother to look at him. "Or maybe not," he awkwardly said.

"This is bad," Michelle whispered, quietly but enough for us to hear. "I don't think we'll be playing a good game. Look at everyone's faces." They all looked nervous and scared, no one looked excited to play. Just what kind of game awaits us on the sixth floor?

My eyes looked for the man I talked to in the dining hall, and when I found him, I saw that he was staring at me again. Though we didn't say anything to each other, I could see in his eyes that he was warning me.

"Listen, whatever game they'll ask us to play, promise that we'll stay together no matter what." I practically begged them.

"I think you're overreacting, Asteria. It's scaring me," Hailey said, frowning, fear can easily be read all over her face.

"I think we should be scared." Rafael, who was quiet the whole time, joined the conversation.

"I agree," Ryle spoke. "We should stick together. We don't know who these people are."

We entered a door that led to the sixth floor, but once all of us went in, the guards locked the door behind us. We looked at each other, confused, but the others didn't look as puzzled as we were.

"Welcome, players." I was startled when a computerized voice suddenly echoed from the speaker installed on the corner of the ceiling. "To honor our 10 new members, our game for today will be hide and seek."

"Everyone will be the seekers. Your mission is to kill as many new members as you can within an hour and 30 minutes. Please take note that there are secret rooms in this area so the new members can hide well. If you kill less than five new members, one person will be killed for each group and they will be chosen randomly." We were too stunned to speak.

"New members. They want them to kill us?" Damien asked with his voice trembling.

Everyone was staring at us as if they're memorizing our looks. They were either looking at us like they're excited to get rid of us, or looking at us with pity in their eyes.

They want them to kill us all. The target was to kill five or more members, and with 50+ seekers, it's not impossible for them to succeed in their mission.

"We'll give 30 minutes time for those who will be hiding so they can pick a great spot, or even search for the secret rooms so they can stay safe. You can now start hiding." After the voice was done speaking, it was followed by a loud sound of a siren, which we took as a signal that the game had begun.

We exchanged looks first, nodding at each other before sprinting as fast as we could. Other than the sixth, we can hide on the seventh floor as well.

They mimicked a dark academia themed hotel for this floor's design, which I'm guessing they had made specifically for games of hide and seek. The place's dimmed lights, vintage furniture, and dark wallpapers makes the atmosphere scarier than it already is.

"Maybe we should do a meeting first," Serena suggested with dried tears on her cheeks.

"We don't have time to talk, we only have 30 minutes so we better spend it wisely if you have the desire to live." Rafael answered furiously.

"So we know that there are secret rooms all over the sixth and seventh floor, right? And the rest of the floors are locked so we can't go there," Axel dried his sweaty palms on his shirt caused by tension. "I know some of you are going to disagree with me, but I think it's smart to split up." We all had different reactions from what he said, some saying he's crazy, some thinking he's right, and some not answering, still not having enough time to process all this in their heads.

"As much as I am scared to go by myself, Axel's right," Damien spoke this time. "Their goal is to kill us, we need to stay hidden until the time is up. If they find us all in just one hiding spot, then that would be the end of us and the end of the game. It would be easier for them. If we hide separately, there's a chance that some of us may live." We all looked at him with gloomy expressions. He was the first one to talk about the fact that it's impossible that all of us make it out here alive.

Though parting ways is hard, and even though we promised earlier to stay together, we did what was necessary to stay alive.

As I ran up to the seventh floor, I kept wiping my tears with the back of my palm, and I couldn't think of anything other than my strong will to live.

The short talk we had already took up about half of our time, so I assume we only had 15 minutes remaining. How the hell can anyone find secret rooms in a span of 15 minutes?

I was busy looking around alone, some of us went in pairs, but I thought I'd work better when I'm by myself.

I don't think the secret rooms were easy to find, otherwise they wouldn't be much of a secret. I looked for basic places such as closets and bookshelves but I got no luck. I can only hope that my friends are more fortunate than I am.

"Fuck," I whispered under my breath when the siren alarmed again, meaning it's time for the seekers to enter the scene.

I am literally standing in the middle of a hallway right now, fully exposing myself, but I think I still have time to look for a hiding spot. If not, then I better defend myself from them. They gave them weapons so I need to fight good, even if I'm unarmed.

I entered one of the bedrooms to search for secret rooms, but I suddenly heard sounds of footsteps. I looked at the door, staring at the small opening at the bottom of it where light pierces through.

When I saw a shadow blocking the light, I immediately crawled under the bed to hide. I held my breath as I heard the bedroom door open and close again. I peeked under the bedding to see how many people came in, but I only saw one pair of feet. Maybe I shouldn't be scared, maybe I can beat this person.

I was planning how to ambush the man in my head, thinking of clever ways I can kill him without making too much noise so I won't draw attention when I feel strong hands on my foot, pulling me out. I gasped loudly, but avoided making any noise louder than that so no one would enter.

I was about to punch the man in the face but he grabbed my fist to stop me. He clutched it very strongly, it hurt a little. I realized it was the guy I talked to earlier, the one who warned me.

I stopped fighting him when I suddenly felt safe, and he also let go of my fist.

"Are you that desperate to die? You were given 30 minutes to hide and you chose to hide under a bed?" He sounded annoyed, which I didn't really understand why because obviously it won't matter to him if I die or not.

"Are you gonna kill me?" I might be imagining things, but despite his strong, powerful, and scary face and aura, I could see compassion and softness behind his fiery emerald eyes.

We heard quiet but audible footsteps, so he swiftly grabbed me by my arm again as we walked to the bookshelf beside the night stand. He took out a book and I was surprised when he opened it, revealing it to be a secret storage and not a book. Inside was a small key.

The footsteps are getting louder, meaning they're slowly approaching us. He took big steps and walked speedy, forcing me to walk fast too in order to catch up with him. He opened the door to the walk-in closet and pushed me inside, he looked a little tense and he wasn't talking.

He has no reason to help me, he owes me nothing so his actions are really confusing me right now.

"Climb up the shelves," I was surprised when he suddenly spoke.

He was talking about the shelves where shoes were neatly stored. I gave him a questioning look, but he held me and forced me to face the shelves so I had no choice but to climb it. I thought it was stupid and I don't know why he's making me do this.

The shelves don't go all the way up to the ceiling, there is a small space on top of it where handbags are lined up, very organized. He pushed my butt upwards, helping me to climb and fit myself to the narrow space between the shelf and ceiling which was used for bag storage. I had to give him some of the bags so that I could fit up there.

He asked me to crawl towards an air vent on the wall. That was when I realized he's leading me to a secret room. How come he knows there's one here even though he just got here? Has he been here before? I didn't have time for questions because I was scared of being caught.

He handed me the small key he took from the book earlier and I realized there was a key hole in the air vent where screws are supposed to be in. I inserted the key, twisted it, and popped open the vent.

I looked at the man one more time and he signalled me to go in with furrowed eyebrows, probably thinking I was an idiot for pausing instead of rushing inside to hide. I smiled at him before finally entering, closing the air vent behind me.

I peeked outside and saw that he's now carefully placing the bags back to where they belong in order to cover me. I looked behind me into the vent and saw that it goes deeper than I thought. It was small, so this is not for claustrophobic people but I can handle this.

When I heard footsteps entering the closet, I hurriedly crawled away. I try my best to not make loud noises as I crawl, so I'm moving like a turtle right now. Although I am very eager to see the end of this, I am more eager to live, and I can't risk people knowing that I'm hiding in the ducts.

The end of this duct is visible to me now, and I can see that it's just an air vent that leads to another room. I was gonna ignore it and just stay hidden in here until the game is over, but I could hear the sound of a person struggling.

I continued crawling until I could take a peek of what's outside the vent. I covered my mouth to stop myself from gasping loudly. Inside the room was Hayden grunting as he gave all his strength trying to stop a guy from plunging a knife into his chest.

I knew he was losing and I needed to interrupt. I took a deep breath. My spot right now is perfect for hiding, but I can't be selfish. This murder attempt is happening right in front of me and I'd be damned if I let Hayden die without trying to stop it.

I carefully lifted the panel up to remove it and slowly glided my way out, landing my feet gently. I can see Hayden's eyes widen at my sudden appearance, luckily the guy had his back turned from me.

I took a finger in front of my mouth, making a "shh" sign. I then grabbed a blanket, ran towards the guy, and strangled him with it. I moved so fast, he didn't even get a chance to turn around when I lunged at him. Hayden let out a breath out of relief, no longer fearing his life.

I continued strangling the guy, choking him to death. He held my hands to try to loosen my grip, and I felt his grasp get weaker and weaker as his eyes rolled due to difficulty in breathing, until he died.

I know it's not my first time to kill, but I can't help but feel guilty thinking that he's just like the rest of us, forced to join this brutal game. He's trying to survive. And that's also how I justify all the killings I did. I'm just trying to survive.

Hayden took the knife from the guy who tried to kill him, even checking his reflection on its blade. I rolled my eyes at the idea that even in dangerous situations, he's still concerned about his looks.

"You look great. Now can we please come up with a plan to survive?" I joked.

He smirked at me, "I always look great. Hey, why don't we just hide in the cabinet and stab everyone who enters this room? Good idea?"

It was an incredibly stupid idea and I was about to tell him that when we heard a loud scream outside. "What was that?" I whispered. I know exactly what it was, but I needed to be sure.

"Someone was caught." He answered with a quavering voice.

I searched for something - anything - that could be a weapon. There really was nothing, so I ended up with a vase in my hand.

Hayden approached the door and I followed just behind him. He slowly opened it to not make any noise, but when I saw Avrey, Ryle, and Damien surrounded by a group of seekers who intend to kill them, my fear sunk deep in me and I was hit with a rush of adrenaline which forced me to attack with no fear recklessly.

I smashed the vase I was holding to a man's head, causing him to bleed, but I know it wasn't enough to stop them. Hayden swung his knife, slashing the seekers with no particular target parts, his goal is just to hurt them.

Everything happened so fast. The next thing I know, I was stabbed on my arm, but that didn't stop me from cutting them with a shard of glass from my broken vase.

Just then, the man who saved me earlier appeared out of the blue. He jumped at the guy who had a knife pointed at Ryle's throat and chopped his head off with a cleaver. He did that with the rest of the five seekers attacking us. Blood splattered on my face and all over my white T-shirt dress, and I just stood there, frozen, unable to fully process all the gore around me.

Six decapitated bodies are now laying in front of us, blood splattered on the wall and ceiling of the hallway. The man gave me an intense look before fleeing away, covered with the blood of those he brutally murdered.

It all happened in a snap. One minute, we were struggling to defend ourselves, and if I may say so myself, I was ready to die, and then the next, he appeared out of nowhere and was able to kill all of them so quickly, he didn't even get a single scratch.

The sound of the siren blazed again, and we all sighed in relief that all of this was finally over. I looked at my friends with me right now. Hayden, Avrey, Ryle, and Damien, all covered in blood, standing there with no reaction. They're probably shocked with what just happened, I know I am too.

What makes me curious the most is why the man was so eager to help us.

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