He's gone, isn't he? BOOK 1 - Espressleine - EspressoxMadeleine

Red Light, Green Light.

"Tik.. Tok.. Tik.. Tok.."

The digital clock on the wall struck, time was slowly running out. The fields they stood on were dry, a somewhat dusty platform thats built to when you walk a bit of dust gets all up in your eyes. Or perhaps that was because it was windy, most likely. The starting line was crowded with cookies, that were scattered. Some in the front, some in the back, and some in the middle. Whilst others put their focus in the rules when the woman spoke over the announcements, Espresso was observing his somewhat odd surroundings. Its like the set up of the game was designed for people to not be able to indicate where exactly they were. The walls surrounding the courtyard were painted a baby-blue color with clouds. Almost as if was trying to replicate the sky, which the color hues didn't quite match and it was annoying the Professor a tad. When he looked up at the sky, he could see the clouds, and the sun. It was so pretty, and thats when he snapped out of the trance. People were walking forward, so thats when he walked forward.

"Red Light!"
The doll's childish voice spoke, turning its head around to look at the crowd.

Popcorn Cookie was the first, she accidentally tripped on a little rock but she caught herself. "Whoops.." She spoke, turning around laughing, about to walk out.

Sadly, you can't really carry yourself out of a room when you get shot in the head, her left eyeball falling out of socket. She fell to the floor, dead as blood slowly flushed out of her limp body.

Since she fell forward, nobody could quite tell she was dead. Other Cookies assumed she fell again, but Carol Cookie being a dear, slowly walked over to check on Popcorn. She got on one knee, and slowly turned her face around. Her eyes widened, as she didn't peep a sound. She got up and began running back to the crowd, but was shot in the back of her head. The crowd was quiet for a moment, before screaming broke out and people became idiots and ran.

Madeleine rushed over to Espresso, squeezing him tightly in his arms almost as if he was trying to become a shield for the male. Thankfully the Paladin wasn't sighted moving on Camera, since other people that were rushing past him guarded his sight. The Professor somewhat flinched when he was hugged, but all he could here from the Paladin was a shushing noise. The two males closed their eyes, as gunshots, the metallic smell of blood, and screams filled the courtyard. It felt like the scene wasn't ending, like everyone would end up dead when the gunshots finished. Countless of Cookies were dying, banging on the gates pleading for their lives.

The what seemed to be everlasting death, only had actually lasted about a minute or two. But still, even a minute of screams and gore would seem like ages to any normal person. Especially when gunfire was going off constantly, the sounds of lungs puncturing and hearts being pierced apart weren't so pretty. It smelled horrible in the courtyard, not even the fresh air was fresh anymore, and the Paladin had his well built arms tightly wrapped around the slim Professor. Almost a bit too tight, thankfully his bones didn't crack to pieces.

When the Woman over the announcements spoke again, she began to reread the rules. Madeleine peeped his eyes open, looking around at all the dead bodies in horror. Though he wasn't surprised as much as when Carol Died, his first instinct was to get to the Professor as soon as possible and make sure he was safe. The digital clock on the wall stopped ticking whilst she was talking. Espresso soon opened his eyes, looking around with a semi-blank face, deep down he was just as horrified as Madeleine but all of his life he had been too busy focusing on work he never displayed much emotion other than annoyance or exhaustion.

"You can let go now, Commander." Espresso looked up at him, examining his scared expression. For a moment, he was going to do something to attempt comforting him but hesitated and dropped it. This whole game was an absolutely diabolical scene, a tragedy that instead of game pieces, substitutes that with real Cookies. Espresso was disgusted by this, as fresh blood dripped off the bottom of his pants from a nearby corpse.

The clock began to tick once more, and everybody took this death-game with all seriousness now that the consequences were set out. ' You dare move when that doll observes you, and the next moment your whole life will be set away from a mere children's game. ' is what Espresso noted the meaning as. He was yet to dig out the true meaning for this monstrosity of a game.

Since they only had 5 minutes left on the digital clock, adrenaline was rushing through all the remaining player's veins. Some ran, some sped up, some walked.

A Gunshot went off once more, there went Rockstar Cookie.

Professor Latte flinched at the death, continuing to make her way through the fields. Ah Yes, the other Professor survived the mini-massacre a moment ago because she actually had a brain unlike other cookies.

Time was running out, and people were shaking as some Cookies were still in the middle of the blood filled courtyard. The putrid stench scattered across the yard, as when "Green Light" was announced people practically began running. It wasn't smart as a few people were shot dead because of it, Blackberry Cookie being one of those few. She was a kind soul, how unfortunate to see her go.

It was down to the last minute, Madeleine made it but Espresso was still taking his time on the field, his eye's countlessly switching back from the clock and to the finish line. He also noticed that everytime he didn't get to the finish line, the Paladin would begin to look even more worried.

At the last ten seconds, Madeleine ran out and grabbed the Professor. Throwing him over his shoulder and dashing for the finish line, thankfully everyone else made it. Although a few unknown cookies that they had never met passed away from not making it in time.

Heavy breathing, the two males hugged eachother out of relief.