“I hate this,” Brian said, holding a wet wad of graph paper up to one of his nostrils to soak up the blood.
There weren’t any napkins in either The Left Room or Right Room, and the bathroom didn’t have toilet paper or paper towels. The toilet used has a cold water jet in place of toilet paper and next to the sinks were a couple of hand dryers. So Brian made due with what was around.
“Eh, it’s growing on me,” Zed said with a shrug as he slid the completed puzzle forward.
Turns out both Andy and Alex were able to figure out the puzzle, and potential variations, a lot quicker than Brian and Zed could (working together). It still took them time, so they let Zed and Brian work on a single one.
“Alright,” Andy said, “we tried as many variations we can think of and this is what we got.”
“A steering wheel, I think, a bell maybe, and a rectangle with missing a square,” Alex listed. “That last one might be a door,” Alex quickly added.
“You sure these aren’t anything,” Brian asked as he looked at discarded yet completed puzzles that didn’t form a coherent image.
“Not that I can think of, but they may come in handy later on,” Andy replied.
“These the ones wit’ two different list sizes?” Zed asked. The group had created nonogram puzzles using various combinations of the list.
“Mhmm,” Alex nodded. “The ones that actually formed images are the lists with the same amount of numbers.”
“The steering wheel is probably the video game, you know: karts...steering wheel,” Brians pointed out as he mimed driving with his hands in front of him, fingers griping an imaginary steering wheel.
“The rectangle might be the exit,” Andy said, to which the other three nodded, “assuming these are what we think they are.”
“What about the bell? I haven’t seen anything shaped like a bell,” Alex said.
“Might not be a bell, but something like it. You know, like an alarm or a cell phone ringing,” Zed pointed out.
“Yeah but aside from the countdown in the game, the only thing we all hear is the…the....” Brian trailed off. Just as he did-
VA-RMMMMMM
-he quickly looked at the other door, the one that sucked him into the room. He turned to find that he wasn’t the only one doing so. “...No, that, that can’t be it. Right?”
“I mean,” Alex began with a shrug, “we can always hear it.”
“No matter what room you’re in,” Zed added with tight smile.
“Almost like an alarm or a bell,” Andy finished as he stared at the door with interest.
“Yeah, I get that, but they’ve got to run out of people at some point. That guy, Lester, he said they just bought us on like a list or something,” Brian explained.
“Plus there were times where you could hear the door open right after the other,” Alex added.
“Yeah I remember that,” Zed said. “As far as an alarm goes, it’s not somethin' to rely on.”
“Yes, but again,” Andy began, “that depends on whether or not our assumptions are correct, and if it is, how do they fit together?”
“I dunno, is there an order, like: play game, stop when ya hear a new person c'm-in, then head to the door?”
“But the people I saw were in the bathroom,” Andy said, “and I’m fairly sure that people would still notice those pad doors open,” he pointed out.
“So maybe it’s one of the pictures in the bathroom,” Brian suggested.
“Eh doesn’t explain why the rectangle has a missing space,” Alex pointed out.
“Alright, what if it’s bell, game, and then door,” Zed asked.
“Collect a new person, have them play a game, and then head to the exit, which might be the bathroom,” Brian asked while Zed shrugged.
“Mmm, seems a bit backward when you consider how we got the hint, ” Andy said with a slight shake of his head.
“Wait…”Alex began, gnawing on a thumb, “I think we made the wrong assumption.”
“Probably, but which one,” Brian asked, really there were many ways they could be wrong, ways he probably wasn’t even aware of.
“Brian, that hint in the game you saw, what made you think it was a hint,” Alex suddenly asked.
“Um...” Brian paused for a second, “nothing really. I just noticed the squares, saw the numbers and thought ‘hey this might be something,’” he explained. “Wait, are you saying we did this for nothing?” He asked, hoping that was not the case.
“A Red Herring,” Andy asked.
“What?” Alex said in confusion. Even Brian was confused, so that probably wasn’t due to being from a different reality.
“Itsa phrase,” Zed said, “something meant to mislead us.”
“No, I mean. Let me explain. We know that magic, or, something like it, makes it so that it takes a number of people find different clues. The hint Brian found, maybe it was there the whole time. Though, I would think we would see more people walking around trying to figure something out. You said you found the clue on a map right?” Alex asked Brian.
“Yeeaaaaah,” Brian nodded, not seeing where Alex was going with this.
“As far as I know, there’s only four maps,” Alex said.
“Ditto,” Zed said, “I counted that much, dunno about the number of items or characters though.”
“So you think that clue appeared because Brian showed up to watch the game,” Andy asked with interest.
“No, the opposite,” Alex said, “what if the clue wasn’t meant for Brian or us in general. I mean, it’s natural to assume the clue was there because of Brian; we have the numbers that fit the puzzle Brian found, but what if the clue was meant for somebody else?”
All three men paused as they thought about that possibility.
“...when I was there, only the winner didn’t have to give up the controller, everybody else did. I think that was the system they went by,“ Brian said.
“So that person musta won a ton of times,” Zed began.
“Or enough,” Andy added to which Zed nodded to.
“And got a clue,” Zed continued. “So, assuming we’re right, it’s somethin’ like,” He tapped the steering wheel, “win in the game enough times,” then he touched the bell, “get a bell or alarm,” then his hand landed on the last image, “then head to the exit. Or something like that.”
“Huh, that...makes more sense, I guess?” Brian said, sort of seeing the picture.
“So...either we unknowingly skipped a step for a set of instruction we just found out about, or we found an entirely different method of getting out of here,” Andy stated while holding his chin between his thumb and fore finger finger
“It could also be that there’s more than one way to leave and that the clues work well with each other,” Alex suggested.
“Still though, shady magic crap ’side, this is supposed ta be a company that rakes in da dough, right? How does gaming factor inta that?”
“I dunno,” Brian said as he shook his head, “anyone find out what operators are supposed to operate?”
“Total mystery,” Alex said.
“How do you make an expert?” Andy suddenly asked, catching the trio’s attention.
“Whazzat?” Zed asked.
“How do you make an expert,” Andy repeated with a wry smile, “How long does it take for you to learn to do what you need to do?” Andy expanded. “An hour, a day, a year?”
“It honestly depends on the job,” Zed replied, “Simple things like packaging at a set pace; less than hour.”
“Learning to drive a forklift, significantly longer,” Brian contributed.
“Art and graphic designs, takes a long time,” Alex also added.
“Right,” Andy said with a smile, “You can’t instantly create a professional, especially one for a wide range of tasks. From the very beginning this puzzle required at least two people with different interviewers to complete. Two people could have lucked into the numbers and figured out the puzzle and realize they need someone to win that kart game,” he thumbed the gamers. “Now, the two could do it themselves, but how long would it take for them to get a turn, much less win a game enough times.”
“Oh that’s how it is,” Zed said with a smile. “Whoever set this up wanna see if we can do what we gotta do. Either beat the game enough times or find someone who did.”
“It kind of makes sense,” Alex said and Brian nodded.
“Though I don’t think they would be willing to hear us out,” Brian said as he looked at the group of gamers. Some of the gamers gave him, and probably the entire group, the stink eye.
“Yeaaaaaah, you burned that bridge pretty good,” Zed said as he too watched the gamers. He sent them a smile and a friendly wave, they flipped the bird in turn.
“Lucky for us all,” Andy said, “there’s two rooms with games set up and I know a girl who won quite a few times.”
“...That her?” Brian couldn’t help but ask.
“Eyup,” Andy said, but he was looking around searching for something instead of watching the spectacle.
“Well, she’s...a fighter ” Zed said with a shrug before he winced.
“She has blood on her clothes,” Alex commentated also wincing at the scene, “ugh, that’s gotta hurt.”
In The Right Room, where the videogames are set up, there was a girl punching the ever living crap out of a white bald person. Brian assumed it was a guy based on the chin. The girl was naturally tanned, similar to himself, but where Brian was closer to white, she was a good deal darker. There was blood on her shirt and from his vantage point he could tell that she has a black eye. Her shirt was also torn around her midriff, exposing the naval and bruising.
Brian swore to himself, he was sure that he would have noticed a girl like her when he was just wondering around earlier or when he was looking for numbers, but this was honestly his first time seeing her.
Three other people noticed what was happened and quickly leapt at the girl. There was a struggle before they were able to tear the girl off the poor guy she was punching. And soon after she started punching the trio.
“...If I don’t make it, tell everyone I was brave,” Brian joked before he approached the fight.
“Ey, I’m coming too,” Zed said following behind.
“Good luck,” Alex said.
Andy grunted something but he was more engrossed with whatever he was searching for.
Brian felt a bit more confident with Zed beside him. He wasn’t scared of fights. He’d had gotten into plenty before, admittedly though, most of those happened when he was shitfaced. That said, he was not exactly in great shape for a brawl either, what with being turned into a skinny kid and all. So having some backup was actually very much appreciated. Especially since the girl was handling three people on her own without any difficulty.
As soon as both Zed and Brian got close to the fight,
“-UCK YOU!”
“He-WOAH-HEY!” Brian shouted. As soon as he tried to talk to the girl, she instantly turned and threw a punch his way. He backed away before it could hit. “Easy! Easy!”
“Ey! We’re cool,” Zed shouted, not at the girl, but at the trio she was attacking, “We got this!”
“You fuckas want some!” She shouted fist.
“Hey, we’re not looking for a fight,” Brian said, “we just wanna talk.”
“Talk to the fist!”
“WHOA!” Brian dipped back to avoid the the fist. “Why are you trying to hit me!”
“Ey, girl, we just wanna-EY!” Zed leaned back.
“Bah, fuck it,” Brian said and reached to grab her fist. It buried itself in his stomach. “Ooph!” He let out, but he managed to grab the fist.
Taking that as his cue, Zed walked up and grabbed her other fist that was aimed for Brian’s head.
“C’mon calm down, we just wanna talk!” Zed said.
“Oh yeah then why are you grabbing my hands,” she asked while trying to wrestle her hands out of their grasp and trying to kick them at the same time.
“Alrigh’ we’ll let go….now!” Zed let go and Brian did too. Zed put his hands up while Brian nursed the area he was punched. “See we’re cool.”
“Yeah,” Brian forced out.
The girl had her hands up but she put them down. She turned to see the other people walking away.
“Whachu fafus want?” She asked as she turned back to look at them
Brian scrunched his face, fafus?
“So you need me to figure out what to do next?” The girl asked after a quick explanation.
The group all replied in their own way.
“Eyup,” Andy said.
“E-ssentially”, Zed answered.
“Pretty much,” Brian Shrugged
“Basically,” Alec stated.
“Alright, alright,” she nodded, “I’m in,” she said with a toothy smile, a bit of blood clinging to her teeth. “One thing, though.”
“What?” Brian asked.
“You three,” she motioned with her index finger, “show me your tits.”
“...Sorry whazzat?” Zed asked, his eyebrows raised.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Show me your tits,” She said with a smirk while crossing her arms.
“Our-our tits?” Brian repeated.
“Mhmm,” she nodded as Alex slid right beside her with arms crossed with a very amused look.
Brian looked at Zed who glanced at him with while trying to hold back a laugh. He then looked at Andy who also looked a mused, he just shrugged. Looking at the two holding in their laughter had sparked Brian’s own amusement, which he was now holding in.
“Alright/Sure/’aight,” the trio let out somewhat simultaneously. They grabbed the hem of their shirts and lifted it up to their necks to reveal their skinny frames.
“...Meh,” the girl said with a shrug.
“Ouch, dat’s cold,” Zed said, letting the shirt fall down. Brian did so as well while chuckling and Andy, also letting his shirt go, let out a breath of amusement while shaking his head.
“In my defence, I didn’t do this to my body,” Brian defended.
“Yeah-yeah, whatever,” she said with grin. She jerked a thumb at herself, “I’m Drix,” she announced.
“I’m Andy,” Andy introduced himself, moving forward to give a handshake. Drix countered by putting a fist out. “Oh,” Andy let out as he folded his hands into a fist and bumped Drix’s fist with a small smile.
“Brian,” Brian introduced, fist bumping Drix.
“Zed,” said person said while also fist bumping Drix and getting a little fancy with it, though Drix seemed to appreciate it.
“Oh, Alex,” Alex followed up with an awkward fist bump.
“Alright, now wut?” Drix asked.
“Now we go to the bathroom and figure out what the bells are.”
Drix grinned and open her mouth but Alex quickly said: “that’s not a euphemism!”
“A wut?” Drix asked.
“We think we need to find a bell or an alarm in order to leave this place,” Andy clarified, “we think the exit is in the bathroom.”
“Ohhhhhh, I thought you guys were trying to get freaky,” Drix said. “I mean that’s the best part of about this whole thing, the guys actually put out.”
“...Sorry what?” Brian asked.
“Hey, I got I nothing against guys trying to be chaste and all, but I mean c’mon life’s short. We’re here for a reason, so what’s so wrong with a fuck or two, amiright,” she nudged Andy with her elbow before heading to the bathroom.
“...different reality?” Brian asked, already imaging what kind reality Drix must be from.
“Yea,” Zed replied with a little nod with a light smile as he trailed behind Drix, Alex and Brian walking beside him.
“Or she could be joking around,” Alex said, the two men nodding to that with light verbal agreement. The trio looked at Drix and the way she eyed a skinny a guy with a decent skinny build.
“...she’s not joking,” the trio said aloud at somewhat the same time.
“You alright, Andy,” Brian asked, Andy still seemed to be looking around.
“Huh? Oh yeah-yeah it’s just...” he trailed off, “remember those two girls I told you about?”
“Um,” Brian thought back, “the morse code girls, right? Didn’t trust anyone?”
“Right, well, these girls, for some reason, they wrote on their shirts. One had writing, I can’t remember what it was, the other drew on a pattern made of lines.”
“I don’t see anyone like that,” Alex said while looking around.
“Same,” Zed said.
“And I didn’t see them in the other room,” Andy said with a tight smile.
“...Ohhhhh,” Brian let out as Andy nodded at his realization.
The two girls were gone.
“Washrooms,” Zed said, already guessing what was happening though he was smiling, the only one smiling in their group. “C’mon. If people are still leavin’, that means there’s a shot we can too.”
“Right, right,” Alex said though with not as much optimism.
The group turned to head to the hallway to find Drix waving at them.
“So, how do we bust outta this crazy bin?” Drix asked as the group entered the bathroom, not seeing anyone else.
“Ah, that’s the question,” Andy said as he walked forward to look at the pictures.
“Has somethin’ to do wit’ bells,” Zed said.
“What? You mean like the buttons for flushing,” Drix asked.
The group turned to look at Drix.
“What button?” Alex asked.
“Wait there’s buttons?” Brian asked.
“Ohhh,” Zed said, “everything was automated, I didn’t think to watch for buttons.”
“Same, I honestly didn’t give it a second thought,” Andy said.
“Uh yeah, the mandrains all got one on the side,” Drix repeated.
“Sorry, the what?” Brian asked.
“Ahhh, the mandrains,” Drix said while giving them a puzzled a look, she motioned at the urinals.
“Oh, wall-toilets,” Brian said.
“Is that what you guys call them?” Alex asked.
“Where I’m from anyway,” Brian shrugged.
“Oh hey, they do,” Zed said as he inspected a nearby urinal. “How did you notice that?” Zed asked Drix.
“Oh, I always thought about using the mandrains, but guys always get their boxers in a twist if you go in their crappers,” Drix explained. “But everything’s together here, so I thought I’d try it out. Saw the thing on the side.”
“That...makes sense?” Alex said in an unsure tone.
“Wait, what about the toilets,” Brian asked, “they have any buttons on them.”
“Yea-sea shells,” Andy said coming out of nearby stall.
“So...do I press the bells?” Drix asked.
“I guess,” Zed shrugged, his urinal flushing, “nothing working for me.”
BEEP
Everyone turned to look at Drix.
“Um...” she let out, “it did that and it’s glowing.”
“Like, in a color?”
“Um yeah, Red,” she moved to the next urinal and moved to press something.
BOOP
“Same color?” Andy asked.
“Yup, glowing red.” Drix then proceeded to press all the buttons that was used to flash the urinals. Each one let out a different tone that slowly filled Brian with dread. Part of him thought that they were spots taken, another part told him it was most likely another puzzle. When she was done...nothing happened.
“They’re all still glowing red,” Zed said. “The one near me, anyway.” Brian ran to the other side and checked the urinals, each of bell shaped buttons on the side still glowed red.
“Same on this side!” He shouted.
“Well now what?” Drix asked.
There was suddenly another sound.
BUM!
“It makes a sound when I press it,” Andy said, “the button also flashed green when I did,” he added.
Brian looked at the urinal in front of him. He pressed the button.
TANG!
“Huh, how about that,” Brian said to himself. As Andy said, the buttons flashed green before going red as noise went silent, he went around the small wall to where the other four were.
“Looks like we got another puzzle,” Zed sighed.
“Wait,” Brian said, “what happens if we hit all the buttons at once?” Everyone turned to look at Brian. “I mean it’s ten wall-toilets, five on each side, five of us.”
“One of us can press two,” Zed said.
“What about the last two?” Alex.
“Got it,” Drix said with her footwear in hand. She put a foot on the urinal and climbed up the wall dividing the two sides. She sat ont he wall with her legs on either side. Brian could only see one leg and he saw her awkwardly press the button with her toes.
TING!
BING!
“See? I got this shit on lock!”
“Alright, she’s got it,” Andy said, taking a position between to urinals. Alex followed his example, Brian went around the other side with Zed, he gave a Brian a nod as the two positioned themselves.
“Um, on three?” Alex suggested loud enough for everyone to hear.
“THREE!” Drix shouted. Everyone took that as their cue to press the buttons.
Instantly all the sounds the urinals let out was loud and deafening, yet no one let go of the button.
Then the next instant it just disappeared. There was no transition, the sound just vanished.
“Did it work?” Drix asked.
“Nothing changed,” Alex said loudly.
“No it did, the buttons I pressed are green,” Andy announced.
“Same!” Brian said looking at the buttons.
“So does that mean anything?”
“WHOA!” Zed let out as he backed away from the urinal he was at.
“You alright?” Brian asked.
“Yeah it’s jusss...touch the urinal,” he said.
“Um.”
“No seriously,” he egged on.
Brian shrugged and touched it.
“WHOA!” Brian let out as he too baked way.
“Wut’s up,” Drix asked as she jumped down and walked beside Brian, Alex and Andy walked to their side.
“The thing was vibrating,” Brian answered.
“Yup,” Zed agreed.
“Oh it is,” Drix said putting her hand on a urinal, “it’s like putting your hand on a speaker,” she said.
“Hm, it could be that it’s still letting out the sound even if we can’t hear it,” Andy suggested.
“Makes sense, we can’t hear other people talking unless we’re close to them,” Alex said, “the buttons flashed green when you press it lets out a sound. Right now the green and the urinals are vibrating.”
“Great, so, they’re letting out sound, but we can’t hear it,” Drix said, hand still on the urinal, “how do we get out?”
“...No way,” Alex let out disbelief, catching the group’s attention. “Um, before I ended up here, a friend of mine forced me to watch a show with them. Um, Stardoor, basically a syfy show about these portals to other worlds in the galaxy. This was like a sequel or something set in different galaxy. There was a scene where two scientist had to press, like, four buttons on the wall that let out a different sounds that um...harmonize! The combination of sounds caused the molecules of wall to vibrate, um there’s a term for it.”
“Resonance frequency,” Zed said, “sound making things vibrate a certain way the right frequency,” he explained.
“So the walls vibrate?” Brian asked.
“In the show, it did, like, enough for a person to walk through it.”
“Then that means,” Brian turned to look at the printed paintings hanging on the all. “We all saw the painting right. Win the games, hit the bells, and then door. What if we have to go through the wall underneath the paintings we saw?”
Before someone could answer, Brian took a deep breath and walked to the wall, specifically, the area underneath the image of the dragon, the knight, and the princess. He walked into the wall...and kept walking through!
He felt icy air as he walked forward, it reminded him of the time he worked at a food processing plant. The entire work area was practically one big freezer. It wasn’t the greatest job in the world, but the surplus product he got to take home helped with groceries. Not something he’d do again unless he had to.
In just a few steps he made into another room, a smaller one. The icy air was gone but he was still cold from the short walk. He quickly rubbed himself for warmth as he took the room in.
It was a square room with a door directly across from Brian, the door had a display on the right.
“COLD!” Drix shouted as she walked into the room on Brian’s right.
“WHOA!” Alex let out while shivering.
“Oh boy!” Andy let out with a laugh as he rubbed himself as he walked in.
“OH! That-that was cold!” Zed laughed as he shivered.
Brian couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“Holy shit!” Drix said catching everyone’s attention. “ECHO!” she shouted, her voice echoing around the room.
“Oh man,” Zed said, shaking his head while smiling, “we’re out of those sound bubbles.”
“Yup,” Brian.
“So that’s the door?” Alex asked while pointing at the door.
“Appears to be,” Andy said.
“Well then let’s-WOAH!” Zed said as he backaway. Andy, Alec, Drix and Brian did too.
The floor suddenly fell with little fanfare. It broke apart loudly with pieces falling down a dark abyss. By the time pieces of the floor stopped falling, huge chunks were left, some were large enough to hold a large amount of people, others a single foot.
“Of course,” Alex muttered.
“Oh c’mon,” Brian whined.
“Guess the fun’s not over yet,” Andy said.
“Okay, now what,” Zed asked, “like we pulling a Mario now or-”
“Ah guys,” Drix said as she stepped onto the empty space. She even jumped, the sound echoing in the room they were in. They just stared at her, dumbfounded.
Brian stepped forward on empty space, it felt like he was standing on something. It felt smooth through his slippers but his feet didn’t slip or feel like slipping.
“...guess not,” Andy said.
The group walked to the other side.
“Huh,” Zed let out, “guess they were just fucking with us.”
Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking filled the room, the dark abyss became green, and then fell down to the abyss. Zed happened to be on the very edge but he managed to fall forward.
“Whoa!” He shouted. Brian quickly helped him up.
“You alright?” Brian asked.
“No! The hell was that!?”
“Well either ya jinxed yourself or some one’s fucking with you,” Drix laughed.
“Or it was a timed thing,” Alex suggested.
“Hm, something like ‘not wasting time to reach your goals’ or similar,” Andy added.
“That’d be great if didn’t almos’ kill me,” Zed snapped. Drix just laughed.
“Alright, so now what,” Drix asked as she turned to look at the door.
The door itself is the same the other doors Brian had seen, though this one has the addition of white television screen and and some sort of electronic pad without a hand outline.
“I guess you just press the the pad-thing.”
“Cool,” Drix said dryly as she did just that with her right hand.
Words instantly appeared on the screen.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: DORIS FUENTES
STATUS: DO NOT HIRE
Brian’s brow went up.
Before anyone could say anything, some of the text changed.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: DORIS FUENTES
STATUS: ADVANCE TO PRACTICAL TESTING
The door opened.
“WHOA!” Drix let out before she was sucked inside, the door closing behind her.
...the group was silent.
“Doris Fuentes,” Zed said aloud, “heh, no wonder she calls herself Drix.” He stepped forward and placed his hand on the pad.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: EZEKIAL HART
STATUS: ADVANCE TO APTITUDE TESTING
Like before, the text for the status changed.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: EZEKIAL HART
STATUS: ADVANCE TO PRACTICAL TESTING
“Oh sweet,” Zed said before the door opened and he too was sucked inside.
Brian shared a glance with Alex and Andy. Alex put her hands up and Andy just gestured for him to go ahead.
Brian shrugged and walked forward. He took a deep breath and pressed his hand on the pad. Like before, text appeared.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: BRIAN SOSA
STATUS: DO NOT HIRE
Well then, was all Brian was able to think before the status changed again.
PROSPECTIVE HIRE: BRIAN SOSA
STATUS: ADVANCE TO PRACTICAL TESTING
The door opened and before he could think to walk through, he was sucked into the other side, the door snapping shut behind him.
“I hate that,” he said.
“You me and me both,” Zed said.
Brian looked at him then behind him to see a set of stairs.
“Drix already left,” Zed said as he lazily motioned at the stairs.
“Think it’s another puzzle?” Brian asked.
“Well-”
The door opened and a yelp could be heard. Alex was sucked into the room. Both Brian and Zed helped Alex avoid falling down.
“Easy,” Brain said.
“Thanks,” Alex said. She looked around, “where’s-”
“She bounced,” Zed said jerking a thumb up the stairs.
“Ah,” Alex let out.
Once more the door opened and Andy was sucked in.
“Oh,” he said as Alex and Brian helped him from failing. “I really hope that’s the last time we get sucked into anywhere,” he said.
“Yeah I think hate those now,” Brian said.
“Ditto,” Zed said. “Drix already left,” Zed explained before Andy could ask.
“Up that way?” Andy asked.
“Yup,” Zed confirmed.
“Well, unless anyone wants to stand around here a bit longer,” Andy said.
Brian shared a look with everyone, no one said anything.
Without saying a word, the four moved up the stair.
Step by step, they slowly crept up together. Maybe they all had the same worry, that they’d be flung into another series of absurd tests and not be told why. Maybe that they somehow fucked up where about to get murdered. Maybe this and maybe that, each and every thought involving a horrible maybe.
When they made it to the top, they were in another room.
The color of the room was still white but it was a lot more spacious, there were tables set up with white chairs that have cushions. Brian spotted a ton of white couches that looked comfy, some of what had people sleeping. There was an area where-
Brian had to shake his head and blink his eyes.
There was an area with food coming down a conveyor belt, some sort of sort of meat drumstick with greens and potato in various iterations.
Brian began to move forward without even thinking, his mouth watering and his stomach rumbling. Then his vision was blocked by a floating screen.
“What?” Brian let out.
Hello Brian Sosa,
We are happy to have you advance to our final round of testing, the Practical Examinations. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to inform you what this test will entail until the time of the examination. We apologize for any and all inconveniences and thank you for understanding.
Please wait in the Prospective Lounge until the time of the presentation. Food and refreshments will be available along with many entertainment opportunities in the Prospective Lounge. Everyone is allowed 1 meal and 1 bottled beverage. We understand that this is a difficult time for you and we appreciate your efforts to embrace this new change to your life.
Good Luck!
Sincerely,
APEX SOLICITATION SENTINEL inc.
“Is...is that a screen?” Alex asked while looking at the same blue square with text Brian is.
“Oh good, you guys see it too,” Brian said.
“Okay. That’s dope,” Zed said.
“Interesting,” Andy said with a smile. “You know, I might be early in saying this, but I think we’re in the clear.”
“For now at least.”