Chapter One 

Place: Earth  

Day: October 31st  

Place: Roxy’s front yard  

I poked and pushed the mud until it went squish between my fingers, all slimy and cool. This was the good kind. Not like when Mommy leaves my GoGurt out and it gets all warm and bleh. "Dinner!" I said, and I made a mud pie as big as my plate at home. I plopped a smaller, bumpy one with acorns next to it. Hmm. I made a face. "Wait. Salad. Dessert has to be, like, super-duper big. 'Cause it's dessert!" I grabbed some leaves and smooshed them on top. Perfect.  

Muffin was on a mission, nose glued to the ground. She'd shove her snout deep into the grass, inhale dramatically, then erupt in a sneeze that sent her stumbling back. Each spot earned a sniff-and-sneeze, then a dismissive flick of her tail before she zoomed off to investigate the next promising clump. 

I hummed and sang while I worked, but only part of the song I knew, which was five words. The rest I made up, mainly. I threw some "la las" and "doot doots" in for good measure, and I sounded terrific. Probably.  

"I should open a mud pie shop," I told Muffin, Roxy and Muffin’s House of Mud. I pushed a stick into the side of one for decoration. "But only for people who understand that mud pies aren't for eating. Like a fancy museum. With rocks. And, like… some worms. But not too many, or it'll get weird."  

Muffin ignored me.  

I sighed and wiped my hands on my shorts. "You're a bad helper."  

Orange and purple were fighting with the sky as it started to get dark—Halloween! Down the street, little ghosts,  superheroes, and blow up T-Rexes were popping up like mushrooms. Tonight was my turn! Mommy and Daddy were taking me trick-or-treating! Any second now, Daddy would be home with my costume… I bounced on my toes and peeked out over the garden fence, stretching my neck like a giraffe. Was that his car? Come on, Daddy! Every minute he was late was a minute less for filling my bag with candy, mountains and mountains of candy! And that's when I heard the buzzing.  

Zzzzzzip! Something buzzed past my ear, way too close and sounding super grumpy. A bee! But I didn't do anything! I jerked backward then ducked down so far my nose almost went splat right in my mud dinner. "Noooo!" I squeaked, stumbling backwards. "Muffin! Bee! Help me!"  

Muffin? Statue-dog. She just watched, tail giving a little thump-thump on the grass, while I waved my arms like a crazy windmill and ducked my head down to my knees. This bee acted like I stole its honey!  

Zzzzzzip! It zoomed past again, doing a little air dance before – wha-? It landed right on my best mud pie!  

"Hey! No way, Bee-brain!" I hissed, pointing. "That's dinner! Go find a flower! Or, um… a soda can! Don't you guys even like soda?"  

Mr. Bee? Didn't care. Just wiggled his legs on my mud pie.  

I took even bigger steps backwards, just in case bees held, like, super-long grudges or something.  

Muffin finally noticed me, sniffing at my ankles, tail still wagging like she was watching TV.  

"MUFFIN! DO SOMETHING!" I yelled, pointing at the bee-bandit. "Bodyguard! Remember?"  

Muffin? Nope. Still not helping. Except… uh oh. She was squatting. Right there. In the yard. Pee-squatting.  

My jaw dropped. "Muffin! You gotta be kidding me. Seriously?! NOW?!"  

She wouldn't even look at me. Just stared way off into space, like she was thinking about important stuff, while… you know. Peeing. Outside. Like a total animal.  

"Oh, great," I huffed, crossing my arms tight. "Just pee right here for everyone to see! What if someone from school comes by, huh? Then what?" I shook my head. "That is so not lady-like, Muffin."  

Done peeing, she kicked dirt and blades of grass like she was trying to bury something super embarrassing, then trotted over and plopped right on my foot.  

I scrunched up my nose. "Ewwww. Gross, Muffin. Gross."  

Muffin’s nose was twitching like crazy, shoved way deep in Mommy’s azalea bush – whatever was in there must have smelled like the most amazing thing ever to her. Then, whammo – she froze stiff. One moment, she was nose-deep in flowers; the next, she was stone-still. A line of fur stood straight up along her spine, prickling from her neck all the way to her tail tip.  

Her ears flicked – tick, tick – then clamped flat to her head like she was trying to hear secret whispers. Tail tucked tight, and a tiny whine slipped out, low and rumbly, not like her usual "gimme treat" whine. This was a scared sound. My tummy squeezed up tight, like when I sneak extra cookies and wait for Mommy to find out.  

“Muffin?” I wiped my muddy hands harder on my shorts and stood up straighter, watching her like she was about to do a magic trick.  

She didn’t even notice me. She kept staring up at the sky, her whole body doing this tiny shiver-shake-dance. Then she started walking in circles, tight little loops as if she was chasing her tail but forgot where it went. Her paws scratched in the dirt, and her breath came in little huffs and whiny puffs.  

I took a step closer, quieter. “Hey, girl? What is it?” I’d never seen her act that way before.  

She jumped like I’d yelled, scooting back, her big brown eyes darting between me and… up there at the sky .  

Something was wrong. Way, way wrong. I could feel it now, too. The air felt… thick. Like it was holding its breath. Everything went quiet. Even the birds shut their beaks.  

My throat felt tight. I tilted my head back, way back, following Muffin’s stare.  

Then – RRRRRRRRRRIPPP. A sound like giant cloth tearing – but HUGE, like the sky itself was getting ripped open.  

My eyes squeezed shut for a second, then bang! – it happened.  

One second: blue sky. Next second: a jagged crack, black as night, ripped right across it, getting wider and wider like some giant zipper in the air was being pulled down.  

Light blasted through the sky-rip – not sunshine-yellow, but OW-bright white, sharp and blinding, like the world flipped inside out and the ugly insides were showing.  

And then. Ships. Spaceships.  

Too many to count, zooming into the hole. Just whooshing in, one after another, filling up the blue-gone outer space. Some came in pixel by pixel, like a video game. Others whoooomped into being with a low hum that tickled my stomach and made it feel all twisty.  

No two the same. Not even close to one another.  

One, ginormous, flat, and round, like a giant metal pancake flipped in the air. Another, pointy-side down, like a melted ice cream cone someone stuck up there.  

They weren’t only over my house or street. Not only over the town.  

Everywhere. Look up? Ships. Look way up? More ships. Sky? Nope. Just… them.  

Watching. All of them. Watching us.  

Could. Not. Look. Away. Some, okay, kinda normal-ish – you know, for alien spaceships. Slick silver metal, rotating lights, like in the cartoons. Seen those before.  

But those other ones?  

Scary. Way scary.  

One was… an eyeball. Immense, veiny red, floating up there with metal wings stuck on the sides like someone took a giant eyeball and glued airplane wings to it for an art class project. The black dot in the middle, the pupil-thing or whatever it’s called, swiveled around, jumpy and huge, like it was hunting for something.  

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Another throbbed, glowy blue and bits of purple, like a giant jellyfish made of lights and slime, its see-through body puffing in and out, slow and creepy. Stringy, see-through tentacles dangled down, not moving in the wind, but just curling and un-curling like they were feeling for something…. And then? Seriously? A flip-flop ship. A giant. Flying. Flip-flop.  

I stared…. Kept staring.  

It was exactly the shape of a flip-flop. No joke. A giant, floating, sandal-spaceship, way too big, with cannons strapped onto the… straps. I had seen cannons when we went to the museum on a field trip, so I’m pretty sure that’s what they were. And it was blasting fire where the heel should be.  

KABOOM went the air, like mega-thunder, but the sky was just… ships. No clouds. No rain. Only thunder.  

And that when the sky started talking.  

HELLO… MEAT THINGS! 

A slow voice blasted from everywhere all at once – earsplitting loud, scratchy and crackly like an old, busted radio, all echo-y.  

SMACK! My hands clamped over my ears, hard. Too loud, too much noise.  

Muffin yelped, a real scared sound, and flattened herself to the ground like a rug.  

CONGRATULATIONS!… YOUR PLANET… HAS… BEEN… CHOSEN… FOR… THE… PRIX… ENTERTAINMENT… GAMES! 

The words punched through me, rattled my teeth, and the ground went all shuddery under my feet, even through my sneakers. The air got thick and heavy, pushing down so hard it squeezed my lungs tight. Hard to breathe, hard to think.  

When I could focus again, the voice came back, slower now, like it was bored already.  

TRY… NOT… DIE… TOO… FAST. THE… AUDIENCE… HATES… THAT. 

Everything went still.  

Then… screaming and crying. It started everywhere. All at once.  

The sky-voice came back again, smooth now, all slick and salesman, like a TV guy selling you something you really, really didn’t want.  

ALL… HUMANS… WILL… PARTICIPATE. NO… EXCEPTIONS. NO… ESCAPE. 

Each word hit like a kick in the gut. No exceptions. That meant… everyone. Mommy. Daddy. Me. Muffin. Everyone.  

A zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound ripped across the sky, like a million buzzing bees all at once. Then the voice again, slow and mean, drawing out the words like they tasted good.  

THERE… ARE… SIX… LEVELS… TO… THE… GAME. EACH… ONE…  A… MASTERPIECE… DESIGNED… TO… ENTERTAIN… THE… GALAXY. 

My feet stuck to the ground. I couldn’t move anything. My heart went thump-thump-THUMP so hard it hurt. Hands felt all wet and sticky-icky, but was it mud? Or… sweat-mud? Gross. Didn't know. Didn't care.  

Muffin squished herself right up against my leg, flat ears shaking like she was plugged into the shaky machine where daddy got paint for the porch from the hardware store.  

EACH… LEVEL… IS… A… CHALLENGE… WONDERFULLY… ENGINEERED… WONDERFULLY… ENTERTAINING…  

The sky-voice, all smiley-sounding now, but not a nice smile. A mean smile.  

My tummy did a flip-flop-sick feeling.  

The voice waited, like it was waiting for us to clap or something. No clapping.  

YOU… WILL… FIGHT… OR… YOU… WILL… DIE. 

Short words. Ugly words.  

Then, like it almost forgot to say it: 

OH,… YOU… WILL… LEARN… MORE… IN… ORIENTATION… GOOD… LUCK… MEAT… THINGS. 

The Sky-voice gone and everything was oddly quiet.  

The world… broke.  

A lady-screamed, high and loud. Then another lady-screamed. Then everyone began screaming. The inflatable  T-Rexes were stampeding.  

Doors and gates banged open all down the street, and people poured out like water rushing out of a tipped-over cup. Kids dropped their candy bags – plink, plink, plunk went candy, apples, and oranges rolled down the sidewalk. A car screeeeeeeched its tires, stopping right in the road as a whole bunch of people ran right in front of it, not even looking at the lights, not looking at anything but running. Running where?  

Nowhere to run. Car horns blaring. Ships everywhere. Still there in the sky. Watching.  

Muffin barked, little yippy scared barks, ears flat-flat-flatter, spinning in circles like a puppy chasing its tail but really, really scared. I couldn’t even hear her, there was too much screaming.  

A man bumped right into me, oomph, almost knocked me down. A tiger-costumed kid yelled “MOMMY!” super loud, crying. An old man and woman, I recognized as Mr. And Mrs. Brewster from down the street, hugged each other tight, whispering-talking but couldn’t hear words, only scary sounds.  

Bzzzzzzzzzzzz went a loudspeaker, somewhere far away – someone trying to talk-talk-talk. Didn’t matter. No one listening.  

THE… AGONIZER… ELEVATORS… ARE… ON… THEIR… WAY… DOWN… AND… WILL… TAKE… YOU… TO… THE… FIRST… GAME… LEVEL… TO… MAKE… THINGS… MORE… INTERESTING… ENCOURAGEMENT… WILL… NOW… COMMENCE…! ENTER… THE… AGONIZERS… AS… SOON… AS… THEY… ARRIVE… DON’T… DAWDLE. 

 The Sky-voice became bossy now.  

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Air shook so hard my teeth rattled. A white-hot light-beam, like sunshine turned into a laser, shot down from a ship and SPLAT – right in the street. Where people were.  

Not there now… they were gone. Poof as if the never even existed.  

The screaming got even louder, if that was even possible.  

Muffin whined and pushed harder against my legs, shaking-shaking-shaking, and I grabbed her tight, without even thinking about it.  

Sky-voice said no escape. No escape for anyone. Not even eight-year-olds? Not even puppies?  

No way. No escape? No escape ever? My eyes got all blurry-watery. "MOMMY! I WANT MOMMY!" Voice came out all squeaky and loud, but I couldn't move my feet, stuck to the sidewalk.  

A BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR sound, deep down in my chest, like a giant motor was starting up inside me. The sky-ships hummed louder, making my bones buzz.  

Then… falling.  

At first, just black blobs falling down, down, down, way too fast, like giant rocks from space.  

SMASH! One landed a street over, making the ground jump and shake under my feet. CRASH! Another one thumped down in someone’s backyard, and I saw a swing set go crunch and disappear. WHOOSH! A third one landed super close, and the air went all wavy past my face like when a big truck drives by too fast.  

When the dust-smoke cleared away, I could see them real good.  

Big metal boxes, like giant elevators, but taller and square and gray. They hummed all over, with red light glowing along the edges, creepy red. Each one had something similar to a TV screen over the door, and words glowed on them:  

ENTER HERE  

The Sky-voice said finally:  

ENTER… THE… AGONIZER… ELEVATORS… NOW! 

For a tiny bit of a second, everyone stayed exactly where they were. 

Then… numbers popped up on the TV screens. All of them the same:  

10:00  

Sky-voice again, still happy-mean, still laughing-sounding underneath.  

YOU… HAVE… TEN… MINUTES… ENTER… AGONIZER… ELEVATORS. FAILURE… TO… COMPLY… MEANS… IMMEDIATE… CULLING. HAVE… A… HAPPY… HAPPY… DAY. 

Culling. Yuck word. Didn’t know what it meant, but it sounded like a monster-word, a super-scary word.  

Numbers counted down.  

9:59.  

9:58.  

Then – zoom! – a person ran. Right at one of the boxes. Then another person ran. Then everyone started running, all at once, running for the glowing box-things.  

Some people just… stopped. Standing still in the street, staring at the box-things like if they didn't look, the boxes would disappear. A man in a suit shook his head hard. “No,” he whispered, voice all shaky. “No, no, no. Not real. Not going in.” A lady grabbed his arm, pulling. “Come on! We have to—”  

BLAM! 

White light, blinding white, flashed from the sky. And then… empty space where they had been. It was just like they never were there. A few little gasps went through the running people, but mostly… quiet. A scary quiet, like the whole world held its breath and forgot to let it out.  

Someone screamed, a long, loud wail. A lady ran so fast her feet tripped her up and she went down to the ground. People pushed and shoved, hands reaching, grabbing, like they were trying to climb into the box-things, all bumping and tripping and desperate. Hands grabbed at me. “MOMMY!”  

Her hand grabbed mine back, tight, and we ran too, pulling Muffin along, her little legs scrambling-scrambling to keep up, yipping little scared yips.  

8:45. The numbers blinked down again, faster now.  

Running got faster, pushing got harder. My heart was BOOMPING so hard in my chest. People bumped me and Mommy, elbows jabbing, arms swinging, yelling-crying-begging all mixed together. A far man, WHOOSH, cut right between Mommy and me, and her hand was yanked from mine. Lost Mommy. Right there. Not in the yard anymore. Nowhere. Just… gone. More people pushed, a wave of bodies crashing all around me.  

YELP! Muffin!  

I twisted around, just in time to see her get knocked sideways, little legs kicking in the air, then gone under feet. So many feet. Stomping feet. “MUFFIN!” I reached down, lunging, but someone shoved me that way, then that way, all twisty-turny. Could hear Mommy yelling my name, far away, but couldn’t see her, just legs and backs and running people. Ooof! Someone slammed into my back, hard. I stumbled forward, arms waving trying not to fall down, and then… Mommy’s voice was swept away by the ruckus.  

YELP! Muffin again, a tiny, sharp, hurt yelp that cut right through the screaming-noise, like a needle-stick in my ear. Saw her go down-down-down, little legs folding up as a giant shoe came CRUNCH right into her side, and she fell in the street.  

“NO! MUFFIN!” I yelled, fighting, pushing, arms swinging like windmills, trying to get to her, pushing through legs and bodies. Feet all around us, too many, too fast, not caring. A big heavy boot came WHUMP down, almost on her head. She tried to get up, paws scrabbling-sliding on the dirt, but people just kept coming, pushing-pushing-pushing, everywhere-running. Reached for her, grabbed her fur, held on so tight, felt her legs grab me back, little claws digging in.  

Suddenly – GRAB! Something clamped on my arm, hard. A hand, scratchy and strong, snatched me from behind, yanked me backwards. Twisted around, tried to pull away, but whoever had me was too big, too strong, pulling too fast. Then – flying!  

Just a tiny bit of a scream came out before WHOOSH – body flying forward – right into the box-thing. The Agonizer.  

And then… dang it!  

Pain words? Didn't have enough pain words. Sharp, dull, burny, stabby? All of them. All at once. Times a bazillion.  

Skin peeling off like a sunburn, but worse, every nerve screaming fire. Muscles twisting-shrinking-unwinding, then growing back all wrong, then melting-drippy, then starting over. Bones snapping, then put back together crooked, then CRUNCH to dust, then back together again, then snap again, just for fun-mean. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Was I even… me anymore? Just… pain. Only pain, and I somehow experienced all of it with passing out. 

I screamed. Maybe I died? I heard Muffin yelling-howling-crying somewhere far away.  

Then… it stopped.  

I fell on the ground, hard, body twitching-jumping, every nerve wire sparking-zapping like a chewed-up electric cord.  

Way up high, a voice, all mumbly. “Huh. This meat-puppet and the animal-thing didn’t die.” Then several feet rolled me onto my back – “Neat.”