“Rule number three,” I told myself as I stared up to the ceiling of my room. “Don’t open the maintenance door on the fifth floor. Or any maintenance door for that matter. Probably.”
Despite just having been blown to pieces, and having died for the seventh time, I felt good. Although small, I was making process. Bit by bit, death by death, I was unraveling the rules and mysteries of this building.
I flipped over my bed, grabbed the axe and made my way to the hallway. I got more than once concerned look thrown my way as I made way up the stairs and for once I didn’t have to push and weave my way through the crowd. For some reason, couldn’t tell you why, the others just parted for me.
I whistled as I walked, which probably didn’t help me looking less threatening, and eventually made my way up to the balcony of the tenth floor. The screams and chaos had already begun by the time I was on floor six, but I wondered if anyone would even come up this high in the first half an hour.
I blinked as I saw someone, a woman, on the opposite side of the tenth floor’s balcony. Now that was interesting. Was that…? Yeah, she was definitely holding a bow. And was that an arrow-filled quiver on her back? Where did she get those? Only one way to find out.
“Hey you!” I yelled out. “Where did you get…?”
I ducked down as her answer arrived in the form of an arrow. It crashed into the wall and clattered down accompanied by piece of dust and rubble.
I stood back up. “What the fuck!?” I yelled. “I just wanted to ask…”
Again, I ducked down below the balcony’s fence as a second arrow came flying my way. I hated to admit it, but she was a remarkably good shot. “Fine,” I grunted to myself as I crawled along the fence towards the closest hallway leading away from the balcony. “No use in arguing here.” If she wanted to just shoot at me, there was no use in trying to convince her to do otherwise. I blinked as I stared at the axe in my hand.
Alright, she had a point in shooting me.
Different approach next time. For now though, exploring the tenth floor was the main course of action. On hands and knees, axe clattering on the ground with every movement, I slowly made my way over to the closest hallway and made sure I was out of sight from the woman before I stood back up. To my surprise, the newfound hallway was only about twenty meters long and ended in a singular wooden door.
A panel showed above the door, the word Lounge displayed on it. Cautiously, the memory of the maintenance door was still vividly playing in my head, I opened the door. To my relief, it opened without any resistance and revealed a rather large room. Sofas and couches in all shapes and sizes, empty coffee tables, cushions and pillows both on the floor and on aforementioned sofas… And strangest of all, there was a mellow, jazzy tune playing from invisible speakers.
“What the fuck,” I muttered.
I made my across the room, turning over every single piece of furniture I got my hands on. This building was getting weirder with every corner I turned. Why was there a relaxation room in a building that holds more than four hundred people who have to kill one another? Was this a trick? Was there something hidden here that would give a clue about any of this?
As I finished rounding the room, not a single couch or sofa showing me anything out of the ordinary, I sat myself down on one of them and took a deep breath. So far, I had discovered three types of rooms. The numbered rooms, one for each of the people in this building, the lounge and the maintenance room. Well, I couldn’t be sure if there was a room behind the maintenance door, but I kept the thought. How many more rooms would I find in my infinite lives here? And how long would it take to find the exit?
A concerning thought popped up. What if the exit only showed itself once only three people remained?
I shook off that train of thinking immediately. I had only explored a fraction of the building so far, what’s to say what the countless other hallways were hiding from me. So far though, the tenth floor had proven the most interesting. A strange woman carrying bow and arrow, a hallway with only one door and a lounge room that played soothing jazz.
This was my favorite floor so far, I decided. No axe maniacs, no crazy 17, no doors exploding in my face. I stood back up and walked back towards the door. As I opened it, I was greeted with the bow-wielding woman.
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Ah, right.
The bowstring snapped and the arrow sang through the air straight through my skull.
And I woke up.
“Wait!” I cried out, hands up in the air. I had wisely decided to not take my axe along this time. “I’m unarmed.”
“That makes you an idiot,” the woman yelled back, arrow pointing straight at me from the top of the stairs. I had my way up on the other side of the balcony, bringing me much closer to her once I got up to the tenth floor. From this distance, I could see the number two hundred and four on her clothes.
“I just want to ask you something, 204.” I said. “About the weapons you’re holding. Where did you get them?”
“What’s it to you?” she asked, not taking her eyes off me. “Why would I even tell you?”
I shrugged. “So we can work together. To survive.” It was a solid argument.
Or so I thought.
“No thanks,” came the answer and she let go of the bowstring.
Fuck.
I woke up.
The annoying thing was that the woman, who had killed me twice now, was probably my best bet on being part of the final three. She was more than competent with her bow, but her confidence that she would survive barred her from considering a team-up with a random stranger. I would have to find a way to convince her.
Luckily I had an infinite amount of attempts.
“I just have a question,” I said, hands still up in the air. “How about teaming up? There’s some crazy people down there with axes and swords.”
“I’ll shoot them before they make it up here,” she responded. “Just like this.”
I sighed as the arrow pierced my skull and I woke back up in my room.
“They’re coming up this way!” I yelled, trying to sound as frantic as I could. “Men and women with knives and swords! They’re killing everyone!”
204 scoffed at me. “What’s to say you’re not part of them?”
The arrow whizzed my way. By instinct, I moved my head sideways and nearly dodged the incoming projectile. It scratched my cheek and left a trail of blood flowing down my face and neck. For a second, the woman seemed surprised and… was that approval? Before I fully realized what I had done, a second arrow came flying my way and found its target.
How many times had I died now? I counted back. Eleven times? That seemed about right. Something had been different though last time. There had been a change in 204’s eyes when I dodged the first arrow. Was that something I could work with? That was the advantage of this death loop I was stuck in. If I held to the same pattern every time, I could predict what was coming next.
I felt more confident this time over as I faced 204 and her all too familiar bow and arrow. She scoffed at me. “What’s to say you’re not part of them?”
I was ready this time. Holding my ground, I moved my head to the left as she let go of the arrow. It whizzed past me and again, I saw that change in her eyes. Than the second arrow came, which I dodged again. It clattered harmlessly to the ground behind me and I grinned and her expression.
“Not bad,” she said approvingly. “You move well, 83.”
I nodded in thanks. “So how about that team-up I suggested?”
She smiled. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Something hit me from behind in the neck. Something sharp and painful.
I woke up.
She smiled. “Thank, but no thanks.”
The second she finished her sentence, I bent through my knees and turned around. My attacker, the number twelve on his chest, lost his balance as the swing went wild. I swept his legs and grabbed hold of the knife I had hidden in my sleeve. An arrow pierced my throat before I could counter attack properly.
This was going to take a while.
I ducked and turned around, sweeping 12’s legs and sending him tumbling to the ground. An arrow struck the ground where I just had rolled away from. 12 regained his footing and charged at me. No arrows made his way towards him, and I had figured out why a few deaths ago. They were a team, 12 and 204. He was hiding, waiting to strike in case 204 had trouble dispatching of any adversaries.
And now they faced me, the one person who was learning their attack patterns bit by bit. Every new loop had some small differences and required me to adjust by instinct each time. It was impossible to repeat the same sequences of defense and attack every single time, so there were a lot of variables to keep into account.
Every death, every new loop, taught me something new. The longer I went on, the less I kept track of the amount of times I had died and started over again. Even the main hall and 17’s antics that kicked of the chaos had become somewhat of a distant memory. My focus had turned solely on convincing 204 and 12 to team up.
That, of course, meant I couldn’t kill or hurt them.
And, oh boy, did I want to kill them.
I jumped back to avoid the fourth arrow and then jumped forwards again, ducking underneath 12’s swing and punching his elbow. The sword clattered to the ground as he yelled out in paint. Fine, maybe I could hurt them a little. I kicked the sword away and then dodged again as another arrow whizzed by me. I didn’t even have to look at 204 anymore to be able to predict her attempts at killing me.
I buried the instinct to use 12 as a shield – she always found a way to shoot me without hurting her partner – and instead focused on the final step. I had tried this well over a dozen times now, but had been too slow thus far. I planted my foot in 12’s chest and sent him flying backwards. Next, I turned towards 204 and readied myself.
She didn’t hesitate, and let loose of the arrow. I reacted to the twitch in her fingers, the subtle sign that she was letting go. The timing had to be perfect. In a heartbeat, I brought my right hand in front of my face, closed my eyes and tightened my fist. For the first time since attempting the trick, I didn’t wake up in my room. Instead, I opened my eyes to the arrow firmly stuck in my enclosed fist. The metal head was mere hairs away from my face.
I shook of the initial surprise at my own success and grinned at 204’s and 12’s shocked expressions. “Can we talk now?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible. “I’m growing tired of this.”