Zero sits on his bed staring at the “Game of Sin” paper, ‘It’s been half a day since talking to that man, why can’t I get this out of my head?’
He looks down to see Ars sleeping and turning in his bed. Zero looks at Ars, clenches his fist, takes a deep breath, and opens his mouth to talk and then
*WEEEEEEE*
The alarm starts blaring startling Zero and waking Ars up.
‘ASSEMBLY IN MAIN HALL. ASSEMBLY IN MAIN HALL.’
The cell doors open, and a few confused and drowsy prisoners make their way to the main hall.
Zero leaves the paper on the bed and walks with Ars to the Main Hall which is a massive room on the first floor that is mostly detached from the main prison but connects due to a long hallway.
All prisoners are packed into the room with everyone looking around confused and some of them sleeping.
Zero looks around and notices people he has never seen before in all his time at the prison.
There is a stage in the far side of the room with all the lights focused onto a single point like a spotlight.
A few minutes of confused and angry mumbling pass and a person walks onto the stage, the first thing everyone noticed is the bright pink mohawk… it’s the same man that Zero met before.
The man puts his hand up and the crowd sudden goes quiet.
He is handed a microphone from a guard and tests it out, ‘Wow that’s the best response I’ve seen. Well good morning everyone how are you?’
*CRICKET NOISE*
‘Well, I understand you guys are nice and sleepy thanks to the good food I brought right?’
Some of the prisoner’s eyes widen.
A random person in the crowd shouts out, ‘Whatta mean food you brought?’
The mohawk man smiles, ‘That’s an excellent question sir, well as of yesterday I own the Metro City Prison.’
The prisoners look around at each other in disbelief.
‘I wanted my takeover.’ The man laughs, ‘Excuse me, I wanted my acquisition to go over smoothly so what’s better than a giant feast?’
Some prisoners start clapping and cheering him on.
‘Thank you, thank you. With seeing all these promising faces.’ He stares down at Zero his smile fades for a second, but he recomposes himself, ‘I believe that all of you shouldn’t be trapped here, wasting your potential and your youth in this prison. THAT’S NO WAY TO LIVE!’
The man starts getting excited and raising his voice. More and more prisoners are cheering the man on.
‘Under my new management, everyone has a chance to rehabilitate and go back into society better than ever, being able to do the things they love without the criticism and stigma of being a “prisoner”. WHO IS WITH ME?!?’
He drops the microphone, and the crowd erupts in shouts and cheering with the prisoners jumping. As Zero is being bumped around by the crowd he notices a very grim expression on Ars’ face.
With another hand raise the crowd calms down and waits for the man to speak.
He picks up the microphone and adjusts his glasses, ‘Sorry about the theatrics, I just get a bit excited when talking about this stuff. But we are starting this new transition right away and unfortunately that means I must update your profiles, starting with another blood test.’
Everyone groans.
‘I know, I know. Sorry, but it’s a legal requirement. It’s going to be super easy though, I’ll have everyone come up one at a time and backstage we will run the test quickly and the guards will lead you to the back door where you’ll be in the outside area for outside time.’
The prisoners grumble as they climb up onto the stage one by one, with Ars and Zero is pushed all the way to the back of the line.
After two and a half hours of waiting goes by and Ars finally makes his way to the backstage. Once he’s there he sees a lady wearing a lab coat and a surgical mask sorting through an arrangement of syringes.
The pink mohawk man waves Ars to sit down on a stool.
‘Prisoner 210, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’
Ars looks at and the man then the doctor and back to the doctor frantically, ‘You know who I am?’
The man smiles, ‘Yes sir I make sure I know all the people of the prison.’ He laughs and holds up a clipboard with a paper on it that shows Ars’ mugshot and information, ‘I also have this, we will start the blood test shortly but how’s your cellmate Prisoner 019?’
The doctor turns around holding a giant syringe with a clear, viscous liquid in it.
‘Well, he’s uh…. He’s a uhh.’ Ars has trouble talking as he stares at the doctor getting closer and closer. His hands clench and tighten as he starts to sweat.
The man looks confused, ‘Are you uncomfortable? Do you not like needles?’
The doctor is on Ars’ side waiting for the man’s cue.
‘You’ve read my sheets, right?’ Ars grits his teeth
The man nods to the doctor, ‘I did, and it didn’t mention any fear of shots.’
The doctor injects Ars’ forearm and pushes the liquid in.
‘That’s not what I- wait isn’t a blood test extracting my blood, not inject something?’
His vision starts to blur, and his eyes start feeling heavier until
*THUD*
Ars falls off the stool and onto the ground asleep.
The man pats Ars on the shoulder with his smile completely gone.
He leans over and whispers into Ars’ ear, ‘You disgust me.’
The man talks to the guard who guided Ars to backstage, ‘Alright last one, bring him here and don’t bother moving him.’ He kicks the unconscious Ars.
‘Understood.’ The guard leaves.
While pointing to the doctor the man says, ‘You can go now, you did a good job.’
The doctor blushes and bows, ‘Thank you, Game Master.’ She walks out of the back door.
Game Master, the pink mohawk man, reaches over and grabs the syringe and fills it back up with the liquid.
About ten seconds pass as the guard walks in with Zero slowly following.
Zero enters the room and freezes in his place when he sees Ars on the ground not moving.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Game Master walks up to him, ‘Yeah, I guess he didn’t like the… Oh forget it.’
He grabs Zero’s arm before he could react and injects the liquid into it.
Zero stumbles and passes out almost immediately.
As Zero falls asleep he has the same dream he has every night.
A child sits alone in the ruins of what used to be a house, the boy is wearing ripped clothes and is covered in dried blood, dirt, and filth.
The boy’s stomach growls loudly, his body is deteriorating with his skeleton showing underneath his skin.
The boy’s skin is burning under the intense sun, the boy looks up showing his black eyes with dark bag underneath… it’s a young Zero.
A few moments later a person walks throw the rubble, walking over pieces of rock and glass.
‘Hey *BLAAHHH* (When they say the name the dream blurs and the name couldn’t be understood) I got everything we need let’s run away now we can do it together.’
Young Zero looks up at the person talking and sees a boy around the same age as him, he is age as him, the boy has long white hair with ragged ends that look like he cut himself with dull scissors.
The boy is in the same condition as Zero with him covered in dirt and shows signs of starvation.
The boy reaches his hand out to Zero, ‘You can’t keep living like this.’
Zero reaches his hand to meet the boy’s and as he looks up the boy’s face is blurry.
Zero wakes up in a violent sweat.
Zero looks around and sees that he is chained down to a chair as he looks around, he sees other prisoners chained down too.
‘Where am I? Wait that loud noise it couldn’t be are we in….
We zoom out and see that Zero is in an airplane.
A guard walking down the isle notices Zero and talks into his radio, ‘We have Prisoner 019 up, how would you like me to proceed?’
A pause then Game Master’s voice cuts through the radio, ‘Of course, inject a smaller dosage we’re almost here.’
‘Understood sir.’
The guard pulls out a syringe from a bag and injects it into Zero’s arm.
He starts drifting off and finally falls asleep.
We see the prisoners lying down in a giant field with nothing around for what seems like miles.
Zero wakes up holding his head, ‘Where am I.’
He notices everyone slowly waking up and having the same confused expressions as his own. Zero scans the area looking for Ars.
Zero spots Ars five feet away waking up, they make eye contact and Ars quickly makes his way to him.
‘Hey, Zero are you alright?’ Ars asks with his voice shaking.
Zero nods.
‘This might be a stupid question, but where are we?’
Zero’s voice cracks, ‘I don’t know I just remember getting injected and all the prison guards with that loud man pink hair man.’
Suddenly a giant screen appears in the sky like a movie theater screen in front of all the prisoners.
The screen has static showing with a voice that was all to familiar to the prisoners, ‘Dang how do I get this working again? Oh, I push this and…’
The static goes away and appears Game Master with his signature mohawk looking like he’s on camera.
‘There we go.’ Game Master looks at all the prisoners almost like he can see them.
‘Sorry for the slow start, but there were real legal problems I had to go through to set everything up.’
A prisoner with spiky black hair with a long slender build shouts, ‘You drugged us that’s not a legal problem you’re just as bad as us.’
Game Master looks down at the prisoner and smiles, ‘Oh Prisoner 111. I was actually talking so...’
*SNAP*
He snaps his fingers and Prisoner 111’s left arm instantly twisted with the sound of breaking bones surprising the crowd. His arm turned purple with bones sticking out.
The prisoner howls out in pain as he falls to the ground rolling back and forth.
*SNAP*
With another snap the prisoner’s arm twists back to normal with no sign of what happened.
The prisoners all look terrified, they are all too scared to move or speak.
Game Master scratches his head, ‘Alright I hope I don’t get any more interruptions; I want to explain fast so you guys can play as soon as possible.’
‘Play?’ The thought popped into both Zero’s and Ars’ mind at the same time.
‘I’ll start by saying that everything I talked about while in that prison are my true feelings, I think everyone deserves a second chance if they prove themselves and rehabilitate. But that’s so boring if done the normal way.’
Game Master throws his hands up and the screen expands.
‘That’s why I created this place that will serve to as a fun way to ease your way into society and to show how much you all have grown. It’s just like a game so you can just call me the Game Master.’
Game Master holds three fingers up.
‘There are three things that I’ll tell you that will help in your journeys. Number one, the whole goal of the game is to truly rehabilitate that’s why a person can win the game if they find the Jail Key. Whoever finds the Jail Key will immediately be released from prisoner no matter how long the sentence, it proves how far you’ve come.’
Everyone gasps and mutters at that statement. Some prisoners are more excited than others, but the mutters quiet down as they remember what happened to Prisoner 111.
‘Number two, this is basically a game so there’s some abilities and things you have that is much different from the real world. For one don’t be afraid of dying.’
Game Master uses air quotes when he said dying.
‘When you die you just teleport back to your prison cell and live out the rest of your sentence, no harm done. There are two voice commands, “Status” and “Store”, that you can call out that will show pop-up boxes like the big screen you see me in now but a lot smaller. You’re not babies so I’m not going to explain everything to you. You also have other things you can do, but I won’t spoil anything.’
The words Status and Store can be heard from many people in the crowd. Zero has a look of apathy while Ars has one of curiosity and intrigue.
Ars whispers, ‘Status.’ A blue screen appears in front of his face about the size of a laptop.
Zero slyly looks over and reads the screen and is immediately horrified and disgusted by what he sees:
Name: Ars Wholl (Prisoner 210)
Crime: S*xual Harassment, S*xual Assault
Sentence: 50 years
Ars looks at the screen and his head drops not making eye contact with anyone.
Zero feels sick to his stomach, ‘How can he do something so revolting, he doesn’t even seem to have any remorse by the way he acts.’
Zero takes a slight step away from Ars without him knowing.
After a few seconds the blue screen disappears.
‘And finally, number three, make sure not to rely on the tactics that got you in prison in the first place that’s not rehabilitating at all. Also, because I, for some reason, get this question a lot, your clothes will change to how you identify yourself when we start the game don’t think too much about it.’
Zero is barely paying attention with his mind full of thoughts of Ars and who he truly is.
‘Alright with that have fun, I’ll always be watching. And welcome to the Game of Sin.’
The screen disappears, a giant light flash and…
Zero and Ars with a couple of other prisoners appear in front of what seems like a town from medieval times or a completely different era. There are no skyscrapers, no roads, nothing that looks like they’re in the world as they were previously in.
Zero looks over to Ars who has completely changed from his prisoner’s jumpsuit and is now wearing skinny blue jeans with a black t-shirt with a skull on it and a bright red jacket on with sunglasses.
Ars sees Zero’s confused face and looks down at his own outfit, ‘Oh wow I remember these clothes and my sunglasses… I missed them so much.’
He also notices that Zero is wearing the exact same black jumpsuit, ‘So I’m guessing that’s what you feel most comfortable in?’
Zero nods slightly, not really wanting to talk to him.
Ars starts walking closer to the town as he looks around, ‘I don’t know what to do, but standing around here will help nobody.’
Zero hesitantly follows with the other prisoners talking with one another not following the two but going in the opposite way.
As the pair get closer to the entrance of the town a lady with bright blonde hair, a cowboy hat, and casual clothes appears from behind a wall and makes her way to the two.
Zero notices that Ars avoids eye contact with the woman as he tries to pass her and make his way into the town.
‘Hey blue eyes.’ The lady waves and giggles at Ars making her way closer to him, ‘You look pretty strong, want to work with me? We can easily find the Jail Key; I also know you’re new here so it’s a win-win.’
‘I…I… I’, Ars is completely frozen and can’t get any words out. He starts to sweat, and his hands are shaking.
Zero looks at Ars’ reactions and looks at the girl who is now all over Ars touching his muscles and looking him up and down.
The girl turns to Zero and her smile drops, ‘Can I help you kid?’
Zero shakes his head and looks away.
The girl continues to talk to and touch Ars who is now shaking even more.
‘P…Please sit down.’ Ars mutters out. At that moment he gets a quick and slight headache as the girl immediately sits down.
Her face becomes one filled with anger and shock, ‘THERE’S NO WAY YOU USED YOUR SIN ON ME?!’
‘Sin?’ Zero thinks to himself, ‘The situation is escalating quickly, there’s nothing I can do.’
Ars backs away from the girl as he starts hyperventilating, ‘You’re ok, she’s ok. You’re ok, she’s ok.’
‘HEY! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE, RELEASE ME!’ The girl is trying to move, but her body won’t listen as it stays seated.
Ars is confused, ‘You… you can leave if you want.’ Another small headache hits him as the girl shoots up and runs away.
A ball of fire rockets towards Ars as it hits him right in the chest pushing him to the ground.
Two more fireballs come and hit the downed Ars. Ars starts panicking, throwing off his jacket as it starts to catch fire.
A man walks from the entrance of the town, ‘You dare use your Sin on a helpless woman? That is unacceptable, I will bring justice.’ His voice sounds young and a bit higher than what Zero expected.
The man is wearing a black robe with a huge collar over a grey hoodie and wears an eyepatch over his right eye with bandages wrapped around his hands. He has long unruly red hair that went down his back with rich brown skin and red eyes.
Without a second of hesitation, Zero thinks that he looks like a kid who was left at home and asked to dress himself.
‘What kind of anime sh*t are you on?’ Ars stomps on his jacket to put out the fire, ‘What did you do? How do you have a flame thrower?’
The anime kid walks closer to Ars while unwrapping the bandages, ‘Tell me your Sin or show me your status or I will have to assume you’re going to attack.’
Zero speaks up, ‘We mean you no harm to you, I believe there is a misunderstanding.’
‘Please step aside soft-spoken boy this doesn’t concern you.’ The anime kid holds up his hand up and a ball of flames grows and radiates heat that hits Ars like a heatwave.
He raises the fireball and before his hand goes down Zero jumps in-between the kid and Ars with his arms up trembling.