The atmosphere had become cold, the self imposed leader, turned out to be an old veteran. He saw it as his own duty to help everyone survive, which was admirable, but also rather disappointing.
Before long a plan was formed and everyone was stuck with a partner and/or a dead weight.
Jason, Mike, Hera and Krysa were the rear guard, Jason and Mike were in charge of protecting the other two, whom would run and inform us if something bad happened at the rear in case of emergency, especaily since they were the most loud screamers in our group.
Nick and Georg were put in the front, they would be our guides and since Nick was the only one with a gun, it was the safest position to be in.
The rest of us were the Main party, Chris and Jonas were at each side and the old man and teenage girls were in the middle. The reason for this was because the old man wanted us to become a group, he wanted everyone to survive, not just this mission, but the rest of them as well.
"I'm Tsiao"
The asian teenage girl said, speaking rather fluently as if she were a local, she's probably a third generation of immigrants, there are lots of immigrants that come to find a better life and in time their children stop learning their native tongue and use the language of their new homeland.
Now that he looked at her she wasn't too shady herself, although her body wasn't as well developed but her face was somewhat cute and her voice wasn't bad at all, other than the somewhat slit eyes, which weren't exactly his type.
"Chris, nice to meet you"
He said as he extended his hand in greeting, only to find it empty as the girl went to introduce herself to others as well.
The old man punched his shoulder and laughed.
-You youngsters are too uptight, in my times when we liked a girl we would go and hit on her even if she said no
-Whatever, it's not like I'm some sort of catch or anything, especialy with that guy in our team
The old man Looked at Nick, whom was being surrounded by the women and then at Jason, whom seemed enraged by it, but Hera the self introduced housewife seemed to be more keen on staying with him now after all the girls had shifted to the other side.
Chris however was shocked on how uncomfortable Nick seemed to be around the 3 women, making it evident that he wasn't gay. That was when George came to the rescue, his average looks and oversized belly, caused them to feel awkward instead.
George had nothing to offer in the department of looks or even uses, his stats were abysmal and his best stat was Cell Vitality since he was young, he wasn't stupid or weak, by any means, but he wasn't much better than the women in the department of physical strength, since Muscle Density counted both arm and feet strength and his weight although might give him a sort of advantage in a physical struggle, it impended his speed.
Time passed by and everyone begun to chat as if they had accepted their new reality. It felt weird but Chris wasn't one to judge them, at least they had shoes, he felt his feet freeze as he sat down rubbing them with his hands.
The place was cold, but not to a freezing degree, the problem was that he was the only one without shoes on, everyone else had at least slippers. As Chris was sitting down he could clearly see three groups forming inside their small team of 11 people.
Nick, George and the Old Man were one group, they were probably the most trustworthy group with good leadership and survival chances.
Jason and Jonas were the second group, they weren't trustworthy at all and had a really bad attitude towards Nick and anyone else that would try ordering them around.
The rest were the third group, or as Chris would call them, they were the Sheep, the other two groups would manipulate in order to accomplish their goals.
Nick was looking at his clock as he was taking with George and the Old man, their discussion had somewhat taken a dark turn somewhere as Nick explained how after the first mission, everyone threw morals out of the window and they had an Orgy, everyone who heard him right felt disgusted, Chris also felt weird about that, but nobody understood why they would do so.
At a dark corner one could barely see Jason and Hera Kissing, it's been about an hour and the two had already forgotten all about their precarious situation, or they understood it all too well. After all they weren't the only ones making out, Mike and Chrysa, whom were supposed to be a divorced couple also were remembering the past, in this god forsaken place.
If you ask why they would do so, it was because we had found out that we couldn't escape, the place we were in was cursed or something, if you entered into the darkeness you would find your way back to this place, it was as if we were trapped in some weird horror game with an 8 hours long loading screen.
The wait was killing them, they would all have prefered to just be thrown into the action instead of having to wait there, forced to hear the grim stories of how Nick was the only survivor and even worse he even confesed not being good at this death game.
Telling how others got themselves Ak-47 assault rifles and rocket launchers, while he only had a hand gun, how he was literaly carried through the missions by the grace of having strong team mates and better luck than others, whom were no better than himself.
The atmosphere in the dark room was getting more and more asphyxiating and grim, it was as if every word that came from that man's mouth was a sentence to death for them. The more they knew of what happened to the past participants the more they dreaded the mission to come, Chris looked at the weird device on his wrist, the timer was still at 6:30:59 and it was slowly ticking down as the seconds were flying away.
At some point Hera and Jason were the only thing worth watching as the two had begun to shamelessly mate on the floor, causing everyone to feel uncomfortable.
I don't know what they found more awkward, the fact that she was married or the sounds they made as they were half naked on the floor.
What were the others even supposed to do as the two were mating like wild animals on the floor, forgetting about everyone and endulging in a primal desire of species preservation.
The two teenage girls were agasp, as they were too shaken to think that, that woman would go so far in order to push them away from the big guy. All they wanted was someone to protect them in the upcoming deadly trials to come, but the only two candidates were Nick and Jason, the rest weren't even worth a glance in their opinion, it wasn't that they were looking down on them, but they were doing exactly that.
Nick was handsome and had a gun, the problem however was that he felt too distant from what people would call humanity. The more they heard his stories the more they understood that he wouldn't protect them, they would be lucky if he doesn't throw them into a bunch of monsters as bait.
Jason was the different, he was a lustful but predictable idiot, it would be too out of character for him to let them die and run away screaming, that only happens in comedies, in the real world those tough guy will act acordingly.
Of course that would be the case in the real world, not however this twisted death game, where they now looked as two human beings devoid of shame were fornicating on the floor for everyone to see.
Only two people didn't find it weird, one was Nick, whom was the main instigator of what happened with his stories of how everyone would die and his new best friend George, whom was now eyeing the girls and then looking at Nick for approval, whom however looked at him and negatively shook his head before whispering something into his ear after which George's eyes shone with newfound purpose.
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The old man was the most annoyed by the two's actions, but he was check mated by Jonas, whom begun to explain to him that this was consensual and that his clients were Innocent.
The old man spit to their direction as he turned away defeated towards Nick and George, whom by that time had resumed talking about the mission and stuff that George had to know in order to survive.
Nick was really serious in having him survive the mission, but what he was really after was George's knowledge about horror movies and classics, to Nick the info in George's head was like a treasure trove, he was sure that with his knowledge and Nick's experience they could form a team that would be even better than his last team, as for the old man, Nick didn't give a shit about him, he was sure that the old man wouldn't make it through the mission.
Chrysa whom was Mike's ex, stood next to him now, throwing dirty insults at the couple on the floor, while Mike seemingly irritated stood next to her and nodded in agreement. Fulfilling their own sense of pride as they didn't break up due to adultery, it was more about him being a mommy's boy and living with his parents and her being unable to do the simplest of house work, it was a mutual decision that they took after living together for 2 years and their dissatisfaction with each other was mutual.
Hera whom was married however was different, in their eyes she was the greatest of sinners and deserved to be stoned with words and venomous comments.
At some point however they begun to gulp after seeing some tricks and stances they themselves had never done in bed, it was like sex ed for adults. The problem was that both of them weren't nearly as good looking as the couple on the ground and Mike was getting harder and harder as time passed.
It was inevitable that there was now a second couple trying to outdo the first one, not caring at all about the onlookers, as if some curse or wicked spell had overtaken them.
All who remained now were Jonas the lawyer, an old man and a homeless looking person wearing dirty pajamas. The two remaining girls didn't even look at the creepy duo of Nick and George, especialy since the second was undressing them with his eyes.
Dawn and Xiao were both university first years, they both didn't have time for romances as they were in two rather demanding universities. Although they had boyfriends during High school, but nothing too serious and they were just playing around at the time.
The two felt afraid for themselves after seeing Mike literaly raping his ex, causing the old man to snap only to be pushed back by Mike and the victim Chrysa, whom had begun to enjoy it.
The Dark room was like a curse for the weak, as the people trapped had discovered that they were suddenly completely free from all outside influence, deep inside they knew that nobody would come save them.
Even worse they might even die during the next mission, the old man was probably the safest bet, but he was now grovelling at the floor with the beggar trying to give him a hand as his old bones weren't as hard as he had made them to be.
Chris was now inspecting the old man, to see if he was alright, only to become the old man's target, whom took out his frustrations at him, but it was evident to everyone that the old war veteran cared too much about face.
Chris sighed as he discovered that there was probably no hidden injury, he might not looke like it, but Chris knew some first aid and was sure that he was right, the old man however had no way of knowing that the beggar looking guy used to be a medical university student, alas a failed one.
It was an hour later and the Orgy had ended, with the two couples now tidying themselves as best they could, cursing out loud the lack of a bathroom. The worst however thing was that there was no toilet and Nick wasn't making it easy for them, especialy not for the girls.
"Just piss or crap on the floor, it'll all disappear once the mission begins"
Nick said as if it was evident or something, but he wasn't being helpful at all, George's eyes were now even more lively as Xiao was the one asking for a toilet, the asian looking girl was now in a pinch, but the other females were also angry, because they had 6 hours before the mission begins, whom could tell if they would need to go in six hours.
In the end everyone was forced to turn around as the poor girl had to shit in the darkness, barely visible anyways, the lack of toilet paper and the smell of excrements was rather evident as she finished.
Only after the deed was done, did the girls begin to ponder where to get toilet paper or anything that could be used as paper. It was then that George threw them a bunch of packet of tissues, some of them missing, but it was a life saver and the end of a rather stinky sitution.
After it all finished, they thanked him and the whole situation was defused, the unfounded fear they felt towards him had disappeared, with a single gesture of goodwill the group had now become united and the leader wasn't Nick but George.
Nick agreed that as long as George didn't ask of him anything unreasonable, he would follow his lead. Jason wasn't happy with the decision, but Hera at this point had turned him into her pet dog, all she had to do was tell him that being being a leader was tiresome and he lost all interest in the position.
Jonas was the only one that was disatisfied with the situation, but he didn't make some grand move he just stood by Jason's side, trying to persuade him that they should fight for "the position of power" as he called it.
His words however fell on deaf ears, as Hera already had Jason in the palm o her hand, all she had to do was tell him that after 10 missions every would be out of this place, so why bother with small things like positions in a game? All he had to do is say the same thing as Nick said and he didn't even have to listen to George's orders, what's even the benefit of being the leader? Is there any?
Jonas was lost for words, he could begin explaining the significance of speaking from higher ground in terms of authority in decision making, but would the two idiots understand how democracy works?
The one speaking from a higher platform is always deemed as more important in the eyes of the public, if they let now George stand on the platform, it would be extremely difficult to take him down afterwards, it was basic logic, especialy with Nick by his side.
Jonas sort of regretted siding with Jason now, but George already had two guys by his side, both more experienced and useful than himself. The old man and Nick were far more useful than himself, the old man knew how to shout the loudest and Nick had a gun. While Jason had him and Hera by his side, both of them being pretty useless when it came to fighting, but he was sure that Hera was rather intelligent, otherwise she wouldn't be trying to hog Jason all to herself.
Right now was not the time to fight for the leadership, Jonas would have to see a mission first and make sure that he survives and for that he would have to listen to orders, especialy when the ones making the plans were more experienced in the field than himself.
Chris sat on the floor as everything was moving into place, he felt as if he was enlightened by the interactions that took place or that he was irrelevant to the larger order of things, he could see the good and the evil in people's hearts and he could tell that he didn't like how things were right now.
"I'm not going to take anyone's orders, In my opinion we don't even need a leader"
Chris said only so silently that nobody even heard him, as if speaking to himself. He then gave up as the habab went on and lay down, looking at the device, 5:59:47, time didn't seem to pass.
"You the Beggar, what's your name?"
Suddenly George shouted towards him, as if it was the first time he had even noticed his existence.
-Chris
-Stop talking to yourself, I asked you for your name, or do you want us to just call you beggar?
-It's Chris!
-See it wasn't so difficult
-I told you so the first time
-Stop mumbling stuff to yourself, we've decided to make groups of 3-3-5, you're in the large group of five thus you have to make sure to at least know their names,
-As if I care
-This is Mike, Chrysa, Xiao and Dawn and this it Chris, you'll be in the same group, so get along, Jason, Hera and Jonas will be the forward team, while Me, Nick and the Old man will guard the back, the five of you will be in the middle, so lets all survive this and get back home safely!
George shouted as if he was giving some motivational speech, did he really expect some sort of clapping or sign of encouragement, truthfuly it was pathetic, but what can one say.
After the first clap from Xiao, everyone else followed suit and it became a moment to be remembered, as the team was ready and everyone begun to chat as if they were all the bestest of friends.
Chris sat there lost in thought as everyone was all cheerful and happy, not caring that there was still around 5 hours before the mission begins, as if they had forgotten Nick's dreadful stories of how the past groups had at least 2-3 loses after each mission and only the strongest were sure to survive.
Of course for a useless person like Chris you would expect him to not care if he died, well this is where you're wrong. Even a blind beggar on the streets will still cling to life with his bony fingers, life is precious and nobody is willingly taking their own lives, you have to force them to such a state where they refuse to live on, there's tons of people that do it without even understanding they are pushing a person towards a cliff, that's how society works.