The entity refused to speak further and left the two alone. They stood in silence for what felt like an hour until Albert finally spoke.

“I’ve never said anything like that to anyone before. I’ve always avoided conflict rather than initiate it.”

“Oh really? And how did it feel?”

Albert grinned. “It felt good. I was proud of myself for once.”

“Good for you.” Manny smiled, patting him on the back. “Next time use your brain but good for you.”

“I used my brain. I did what I thought you would do.”

“I would never say that.”

“I see. What would you say then?”

“I don’t know.” Manny scratched his chin. “Maybe some form of a greeting? That’s how conversations usually start if I recall correctly.”

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A few subjective hours later, other humans began appearing in the white room at an inconsistent yet rapid pace. Occasionally, they showed up in groups but mainly popped up individually.

Manny and Albert watched in surprise as the number of people increased in number. Soon the white room was filled with hundreds of confused faces. Together, they seemed like a random sample taken from the human population. There were men and woman, teenagers and the elderly, and several ethnicities. The diversity of clothing was almost comical, ranging from pyjamas to school uniforms to tailored suits.

“Where are we?” a girl said, who had just appeared right beside them.

“We don’t know,” Albert replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Chatter and panic fuelled conversations filled the room. Manny found himself reluctantly describing what he already knew in front of a group of people while Albert partially hid behind him.

Once the room was completely filled, the entity finally spoke. Its voice was calm and smooth with natural inflection, nowhere near similar to the vibe produced by its unearthly appearance. It sounded normal. Human.

“Greetings, contestants.” Its red eyes beamed with excitement. “First, I must congratulate every single one of you. You have won a very special prize, one very few humans get to receive. All of you have been given the opportunity to recover from a terminal health condition.”

Gasps filled the room. Manny raised an eyebrow.

“Currently, all of you are in a coma. Think back and all should make sense. Have you recently been involved in an accident? Well, I’m afraid it was fatal. All of you are hanging onto life by a thread solely because of my abilities. If you want to wake up again, you must win The Half-Dead Game or The Half-Dead as my friends like to call it.”

Uproar ensued instantaneously.

“I don’t remember any accident! Get us out of here!”

“This is bullshit!”

“This isn’t heaven?”

“Wake us up! We don’t want to play any game!”

Manny’s heart sunk as he connected the dots. There was only one logical explanation for why he was in a coma. The fight against Flavio must have resulted in some form of internal injury, most likely caused by the illegal blows. Maybe the consistent damage received over his career also had a part to play.

The entity didn’t respond to the outrage, instead waiting for the crowd to quiet down.

“The core idea of the game is a simple one,” it continued. “To win, you must live life again in another world and become the last contestant standing. Additional rules will be revealed later on but for now I encourage you to look around. Everyone in this room must be dead for you to return home. They are your enemies. Of course, you have free will and can choose whether or not you want to participate in the game. However, your second life will be granted regardless of that decision. Enter the following gateways to begin the introductory phase. Good luck contestants.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A row of portals materialised in front of the entity.

“Champ! Champ, where are you going?”

Manny ignored Albert’s yelling and weaved his way through the crowds, taking full advantage of his honed dexterity. An obsession which he assumed had died after the title fight flared at the back of his mind.

The champion clenched his fists. He needed to have a little talk with the entity.

A hand gripped Manny’s shoulder. He whipped around, planning to shoo Albert away, but found himself frozen in shock. It was a familiar face, one that he had not seen in over two decades.

“Lennon? What the hell are you doing here?”

A dark-skinned man who nearly matched Manny’s monstrous height grinned and shrugged. “An accident of course. You heard the alien. Let me guess how you ended up here. You got hit in the head too many times in a boxing match.”

Manny smiled sheepishly. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“How’s boxing and life?” Lennon asked.

“It was going quite well to be honest. I actually just retired.”

“Nice man. I would say congratulations but I guess I can’t say that anymore.”

“Not to worry. I’ll get back to retirement soon enough. I have to get going.”

“Hey, what’s the rush? You don’t want to catch up? It’s been so long!”

“In almost any other circumstance, yes, I would, but right now I need to focus on getting home. I don’t have time for this.”

“You know, this could be some twisted dream. Maybe we’ll all wake up any second now.”

“Come on, you don’t believe that.”

“You’re right,” Lennon admitted. “But my point still stands, old friend. What’s the rush? Do you see any time limit? The alien doesn’t seem to mind that we’re still chilling.”

Manny glanced at the entity, then sighed.

I’ll wait until everyone’s gone. Then I’ll confront it.

“Alright, fine. Let’s talk.”

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The last time Manny saw Lennon in the real world was when he was 16 years old. They had graduated high school and said their goodbyes with an awkward fist bump.

Lennon had never been a super close friend to Manny but he was cool. They had got along in class and played basketball together after school with a group of friends.

The more the two discussed, the more Manny realised how similar yet different their lives were. Being an aerospace engineer, Lennon spent most of his time using his brain rather than his fists but he, too, had a 12-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter. He wasn’t a fan of boxing but also struggled to balance work and family.

They covered a multitude of topics, both of them talking in a lot of detail about what they had been up to in the past twenty years. They freely talked about the hardships they had faced, the best moments of their lives and even past relationships. It was one of those conversations Manny didn’t know he needed.

“I’m going to win,” Lennon said abruptly mid conversation.

“What?” Manny questioned, although he knew exactly what he meant.

“I’m going to win the game and come back home. My family needs me and I still have dreams to chase.”

“What dreams are we talking about? World domination?”

“No. More personal.” Lennon smiled, a sparkle of determination in his eyes. “You will find it silly but for the past five years I’ve been working on a video game in my spare time. I’m very close to independently publishing it.”

“I don’t find that silly at all. It’s kind of wholesome. You’re like a child who desperately wants to complete their fortress on Minecraft.”

Lennon cackled. “Screw you man.”

“Unfortunately, you won’t be winning. My family need me and there’s still things I need to do.”

“Oh, really?”

Neither of them were smiling now. The truth of the situation sucker punched them both square in the jaw— one of them was not going to wake up from the coma.

“Let’s make a promise,” Lennon finally said. “We don’t kill each other unless we’re the last ones left.”

“Deal,” Manny replied. “I wouldn’t want to crush your ambition at the last hurdle but sure. Why not?”

They shook hands too tightly, as if testing each others strength.

“Don’t worry, old friend. I doubt we’ll both survive until the end. The chances are slim.”

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Manny waved at Lennon as he entered a portal. Everyone in the white room was gone apart from Albert. The boy stared up at him with curious eyes.

“Why aren’t we going in, Champ?”

“You go. I need to do something first.”

“Okay, I’ll wait.”

Manny covered his face with one large hand. He thought very carefully on what to say to the young man.

“Albert?”

“Yes, Champ.”

“For me to see my family again, you must die. We won’t be friends in this next life but, right now, I will treat you like one.”

*Whack!*

Manny slammed his chest with such force Albert flinched. “Here are my final words for you. You’re stronger than you think! Continue to display courage like you did in this white room. Embrace the fear and act anyway. You said you never initiated conflict in your life until entering this place. If you want to survive in the game, that must change from now on. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes,” Albert said quietly.

“I said do you understand?” Manny roared.

“Yes, Champ!” Albert cried.

“I can’t hear you! Louder!”

“Yes, Champ, of course, Champ!”

“You’re going to be a proud warrior worthy of champ status! What are you going to be?”

“I’m going to be a proud warrior worthy of champ status!”

“And you’re going to confront your fears head on, no matter the obstacle! What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to confront my fears head on, no matter the obstacle!”

“That’s the spirit. Now go and start your next life as someone everyone can look up to!”

Albert charged into one of the many portals with a surprising speed and a battle cry too high pitched to be impressive. Manny grinned.

He wished for either Albert or Lennon to win.

While cracking his knuckles, Manny walked towards the entity who looked down with a smirk. Truthfully, as soon as the rules of the game were outlined, he never intended on participating in it. He preferred to bet everything on the one skill that never seemed to fail him.

“Square head, let’s have a boxing match. If I win you wake me up. What do you say?”