Priscilla Simmons scanned the grey card that was handed to her, doubt and unease flitted through her. She had listened to the explanation and signed the papers, forced in both instances, but she didn’t have much choice. Her aging parents, husband and barely 5years old child would have met an unfortunate end otherwise.
Mentally beating herself up for being careless, her eyes shifted back to George, willing her stare to convey all the hatred and anger she felt.
“Say I succeed, what’s the guarantee that New Life will keep its promises? Willingly surrendering to the authorities is the last thing any criminal organisation would do.”
George chuckled at the question, his smile only growing wider.
“New Life Inc prides itself in delivering any promises made! Though in your case, I guess you will just have to trust us, not that there’s much of a choice for you here.”
“I must say though, it is a huge stroke of luck that you were discovered. All of these… information that you managed to record on your phone, tsk tsk, it would have been a very troublesome matter indeed. Well, that’s just too bad isn’t it, Detective Simmons?”
George’s grin has transformed into a sinister sneer at this point. The detective’s intrusion had certainly not been great for his heart, and now he was taking out all the accumulated stress on her.
“Fret not though, while all your previous hard work has already been disposed of, you now have a chance to gather new ones! As a very willing, and I’m sure active, participant for our lovely game.”
George nodded to the man standing behind Priscilla, indicating for him to proceed. Feeling the prick of the needle in her neck, indignation raged through her.
Priscilla mustered whatever bravado she could, hurling curses and insults at her captives, as the anaesthetic quickly robbing her of her consciousness,
Watching the detective slowly lose consciousness, George only continued to smile at the detective’s ramblings.
…
The pounding headache was what woke Priscilla up. That and the soreness in her neck and back from having sat in an awkward manner for too long. Habitually cursing, she took stock of the situation only to find herself chained to the chair with an unknown grey bracelet around her wrist.
Then came George and his god-damn, hateful smile, a reminder of her very recent and costly mistake. Watching the madman parade joyfully on stage made the anger boil within her. As much as she wanted to curse at the man, she knew better to draw unwanted attention. She was at a complete disadvantage, and she was very much aware of it.
Although, the sudden and brutal death while grim, at least gave Priscilla an idea of where to start. One person has been added to her previously empty list of targets, and from some of the reactions, it seems like she may not be the only sane person involved in the game. That knowledge gave her some comfort. The only question was if they would be of help.
When George finally ended his clown show, and everyone else released, Priscilla found herself in front of the corpse. Instinctually, she riffled through the dead man’s pockets. Her hands found a plastic card. Giving it a quick glance, she recognised that it was similar to the card George had handed her, just that it was black, not grey. Glancing at the black bracelet on the dead man’s wrist, she confirmed the correlation between the card and bracelet’s colour.
Without checking the contents, Priscilla surreptitiously kept the black card and stepped away from the body. Priscilla’s actions were swift and covert, completing within a minute. Checking around her, she found that no one had noticed her actions. Rather, it may be that everyone had subconsciously decided to ignore the dead body.
Next came making some friends. Helpful friends. From her initial analysis, Yellow and White seemed the safest to interact with. At the very least, their reactions to Blue’s actions suggested that they weren’t used to these sorts of violence. Although, whether they plan to, or must, commit something like that is a different story. One that Priscilla intends to find out of everyone.
Glancing at her grey watch, she stepped towards Yellow who happened to be closer.
“I’m Grey…”
…
“Hey boy! White! Stop staring into space!”
It was the woman who had been seated beside him. Glancing at her wrist, Ethan mentally noted the yellow bracelet. Confused as to what Yellow wanted, he opened his mouth but wasn’t given the chance to speak.
“Can’t you see everyone else leaving the room? We should find out more about where we are. Also, Grey here says she’s a detective, that’s great, isn’t it? We should stick together with her, it’ll be safer and she can protect us from that crazed maniac.”
Yellow pulled another woman over while surreptitiously glancing at Blue who was exiting the room alone. Looking over at the newcomer’s wrist, Ethan saw what he expected, a grey bracelet. A small red smear on Grey’s hands also registered in Ethan’s eyes, who immediately associated it with blood and the incident that just occurred. He paled and stumbled back slightly, unsure if the red smear was really blood from the corpse, or something else entirely unrelated.
Feeling the gaze of both women on him, Ethan flushed with embarrassment and quickly agreed to forming a team. He agreed with the idea of having strengths in numbers, and being in a group would definitely help him make better sense of this unknown, and possibly hostile, environment that he had been thrown in.
Stolen story; please report.
Following the 2 women out, Ethan was greeted by an empty courtyard. All 4 sides were walled off by 4 buildings, with each having their own flight of stairs. Scanning the walls, Ethan saw windows scattered uniformly throughout each wall, with a dull grey and brightly lit ceiling at the very top. Said ceiling blocked off the sun, sky, and any hope of escaping through there.
Ethan could see the other participants milling about, slowly taking in their surroundings, and surveying the area. The trio started off their own exploration, heading through every door they found.
A rough breakdown of the rooms in the area included a dining area, a kitchen, a storage facility, gymnasium, a showering area, a library, a small medical ward, and the theatre-like area they had woke up in. In addition to those, one building housed 13 identical bedrooms throughout its 4 floors.
Each bedroom had a simple bed, table, chair, attached to a toilet. The door could be locked from the inside but knowing that failed to bring Ethan any sort of comfort or security. He had already planned to set both the table and chair against the door before he slept.
Although, I don’t think I will be able to fall asleep tonight…
The dining area was on the smaller side. There was enough tables and chairs for 13 people, and one corner held host to a few vending machines. These provided a range of items, from snacks to pre-made, ready-to-eat meals. All free of course, seeing as none of them had retained any of their personal belongings.
If one was averse to pre-made meals, there was a kitchen right next door, stocked with various fresh vegetables and meat, all available for anyone to prepare themselves a warm meal. How would one prepare these ingredients? With the array of kitchenware made readily available of course. With the array of pots, pans and inevitable sharp, steel knives, anyone will find themselves at home, comfortably preparing a home-made meal for themselves.
And easily commit murder… Was the only comment that Grey had.
It wasn’t only the kitchen that had made dangerous tools and objects readily available for the participants. A medical room was also found, similar to that of a medical ward found in schools, the only thing out of place were the cabinets that were stock full of both medical supplies and unknown chemical compounds. A few of which Grey had identified as lethal poison, and instantly removed by pouring the contents down the nearby basin.
There was also a medium sized room that was house to various items, which the trio had dubbed as the “Storage Room”. The things of note, or of concern, were the items which could easily become instruments of harm in the wrong hands. This had included a saw, both electrical and otherwise, long steel pipes, and surprisingly a huge sledgehammer. Items which Ethan had commonly seen at construction sites, or in gardens, but never would associate them as tools for murder. This dissociation in viewpoints was disconcerting, which only served to heighten the stress and anxiety that Ethan was struggling to keep down.
The only room that did not seem to promote any sort of ill-intentions was a library. The only thing present in it were rows upon rows of books, haphazardly arranged on the bookshelves.
Although… This dim lighting would make it easy to ambush someone, or hide a body. Was the intrusive thought that Ethan could not dismiss.
At times the trio would pass by other participants and may exchange a word or two. During their interactions, Ethan could not help but perceive them as ordinary people. If he had passed any one of them on the street, they would not have made any sort of impression on him. However, with the situation they were in, and Blue’s very out of the ordinary actions, Ethan found himself analysing every word and action. Whether it the lack of eye contact, shifting body movements, etc., Ethan noted them all, but with only the limited knowledge he had obtained from detective shows, he quickly found himself unable to come to any sort of conclusion.
For instance, there was Red, who gave off a very warm and friendly vibe. The faint smile on his face seemed genuine enough, and Ethan had found himself trusting the man. But then again, Ethan had watched shows where the nicest, friendliest character had turned out to be the villain. With this “experience”, Ethan then felt himself shuddering as he imagined Red stabbing him in the back, except now with the previously friendly smile somehow turning sinister.
All in all, Ethan found himself going round in circles trying to read the others. With only a mild headache to show for all that effort, he quickly gave up on the fruitless task. Or rather, he had decided to focus on the other 2 in the team, Grey and Yellow. If he was going to stick with them, he should first try to figure out if they could be trusted.
Only 2 hours had passed when they were done exploring the area they had been confined in. As the time passed, Ethan found himself adapting and adjusting to the bizarre scenario he had been thrown in. As his nerves settled, he simultaneously felt the complains that his stomach had seemingly been making for quite a while.
It seemed that the same applied to the other participants too, as when the trio entered the dining area, they found most of the participants now gathered in the room. The tables and chairs were pushed towards the centre, allowing for those gathered to converse.
Except for Blue of course, who no one wanted to interact with, and who was happy to pack his table full of food and enjoy them in solitude.
Not wanting to be left out of the discussion, Ethan had instinctively joined the group after taking some food.
At one point, Purple had brought up the topic of escaping, claiming to have been misled into participation, but with the less than enthusiastic response and no potential methods of escape, that topic was quickly shut down. Out of naïve curiosity, Ethan had asked Purple what his goal was, thinking that it would be like his. However, Purple hesitated to answer, opting to mutter something incomprehensible before retreating into his seat.
Seeing that awkward reaction, the atmosphere around the table had turned tensed. It was then Ethan realised that the rest either had given up on escaping, or most likely never planned to do so.
Ethan recalled what was mentioned during George's fancy introduction. Fulfill their given conditions and their problems would be solved.
Unlike himself, most of the participants were probably here willingly, aiming to accomplish their personalized task in exchange for whatever deal they have made.
If their tasks are anything close to Blue's, I guess the lesser that is known, the easier it will be for them..
Ethan found himself becoming even more reserved and tight-lipped, once again eyeing everyone with suspiscion. Although his task only required him to survive, he worried that this may earn the ire of others. It was better to avoid unnecessarily painting a target on his own back.
The same went for the others, anyone who spoke did so carefully and with measured words. Ultimately, this had resulted in everyone purposefully withholding information, ending in an uneventful and fruitless discussion.
With the discussion halted and the group disbanded, Ethan retired to one of the many bedrooms available. He chose the one closest to the flight of stairs, reasoning that if anything were to happen, it would be best to be closest to an exit.
Upon entering the room, Ethan immediately locked the door, and stacked the table and chair against the locked door. Having achieved some sense of security, Ethan laid down on the bed. It was then that Ethan felt his nerves finally unwinding.
While he knew he was in a constant state of vigilance, he did not realise how taxing it had been for him both mentally and physically. Only now realising the slight pounding in his head, he closed his eyes in an attempt to soothe his headache. Soon after, helped by the overwhelming fatigue accumulated through the day, Ethan found himself quickly drifting off to sleep.