Hidden Fear

Dying to Win

I looked at Tommy dancing to the solemn back story as the intro played. His body bounced with joy as if he were a small child again. "Is the main purpose of this game to get through the intro?" I asked seriously. "Would you just watch the screen please." Tommy's eyes illuminated with glee as the game placed the avatars on the decorated map. Our controllers buzzed to let us know we could start and off we went. I jumped over the other players and ran to the first transformer to help keep the map lit. Once i finished with that one i moved onto the other.

"Danny where are you?" Tommy's avatar searched for me through tunnels as i moved on. "Danny?!" He was yelling. I turned my head to answer. "I'm right he...Tommy where are you?" I put down my controller searching for him through the house. "Danny I'm in here!" I looked at the screen to find Tommy's avatar had been taken over by Tommy himself. "What the hell." I whispered. I crept closer to the screen trying to make sense of this when I was quite literally sucked into the game.

I looked around frantically, "What the hell just happened !?" Tommy rushed to me in a panic, "Danny! What the hell is going on man." I shook my head and scanned the area around us, "We're in the game, like literally in the game." Do not panic, there is no time to panic. "What do we do? " Tommy asked as his eyes frantically scanned the buildings hoping to find a way out . "We play the game, "I said directly. My brother looked at me as if I were crazy. "We stick to the plan, Tommy. We play the game and win." The sound of a transformer cutting off caught my attention. "Shit, come on! We have to keep the transformers running." I ran in the direction of the sound with Tommy right behind me.

We were getting close to it when another player came out of nowhere and turned it back on. "Shit," Tommy whispered beside me. The player turned their head to us. Slash. We watched as the player's body dropped to the ground in a puddle of blood. "Holy shit, we got to move. Danny, we got to move like now!" I could feel my brother tugging at my arm. I was frozen to the spot, my eyes glued to the giant axe wielding man before me. "Danny! Move! " Tommy yanked me back and I forced myself to run.

We moved through the map hearing other players scream. "Don't look back Tommy," I yelled. "Tommy!!" I turned, hoping he was still behind me. "Over here! I found a med pack and extra fuses along with a knife and pistol." We sorted through everything not wanting to leave anything behind. Bang. Our ears were ringing from the shell shock of an air attack. "There are helicopters with BOMBS?!" I struggled to find the bullets i had thrown from the booming sound.

"Shit Tommy, I can't find them!" We searched through the loose dirt for a minute. "Danny did you hear that?" The sound of footprints came closer. "Go. damnit! Go, go!" Tommy threw the backpack over his shoulder and ran with me following behind him. A small house could be seen through the thick trees ahead. "Over there!" I yelled. We darted to safety as gun shots went off, hoping to make camp at the abandoned residence.

I locked the door behind us. Hoping no one had followed us in. "Just what kind of damn game is this!?," I shouted at Tommy, "Axe wielding killers and now BOMBS!" I paced back and forth in the small dusty ole living room. "I don't know! I ...I do not know man, "Tommy kept his eyes glued to the front door. "We have to keep the transformers running ," I stated. Would you like to buy ammo? Yes or No. the question blinked endlessly above our heads. "Click yes you moron," Tommy shouted. I chose yes and a small box of bullets fell onto the hard cemented floor. I loaded the pistol and put the rest in our backpack. Tommy began crying. "I want to go home Danny. I thought this was a game. I don't want to die." I saw the fear creep into his eyes as he opened the rule book.

Welcome to Survive or Die. Please follow these instructions listed below:

"All players must keep transformers running to avoid map outages, all players must avoid being caught by the selected onsite killers , collect all item necessities and equipment along the way to regain health and fight off onsite killers ," I listened carefully as Tommy read on , " players must navigate to the designated safe spot without being killed , the player or players left standing at the end of the game are declared the winners ." I froze as he said the last part," All players must fight to stay alive, any player that loses their life in game .....loses their life entirely."

His eyes were sobbing. "Are we in a safe spot?" He did not answer. "Tommy, are we safe?!" I walked over grabbing the map from his bag. A sigh of relief passed my lips. "We're ok. for now. Get some sleep Tommy. We have to keep fighting tomorrow." I picked him up and guided him to a small damp bedroom. The bed was barely big enough for a dog. "You take the bed. I'll take the floor." Tommy nodded and drifted off to sleep. I stayed awake listening to the sounds of bombs, guns, and screams. I grabbed the map from beside me.

The numbers in the corner were changing. Was this the number of players? Would you like to see the total number of killers? Yes or No. I quickly chose yes. If we were gunna win, we needed all the help we could get. I placed the map beside me and covered my body with an old newspaper so I could fall asleep. Knock. Knock. My body jerked awake as the stranger continued. Knock. Knock. I crept to the window being careful not to make a sound.

"Please help! I got shot, I need to a place to hide out to recover," the stranger painfully choked out. I peeked out the window to see a man holding his bleeding shoulder. What If I help this guy and he turns out to be killer? I cannot risk mine or Tommy's safety. "Please, please help me." The man continued to knock rapidly on the door. "Please don't leave me out here to die, I don't want to die," the man sobbed. He eyed the area behind him with fear in his eyes. "Open it." I turned to see Tommy staring at the door. "What if he tries to kill us," I asked my brother. Tommy stood there; his brows knitted in deep thought as he stared at the door.

"Tommy, you read what it said. We must stay alive. If we take a chance and let this guy in, we would be risking our lives," I sneered and looked back out the window. Keeping a close eye on the stranger. "We can't let him die, Danny. What if he got sucked in the game to like we did? His life would be at stake as well, literally." Tommy shifted his eyes to look at me, "we are not killers, Danny. Let's help him." I bit my bottom lip and looked around the room. What if he is right? What if this guy is just as much a victim of the game as we are?

Before I could decide, I heard the door unlock. "Thank you! Thank you so much." I quickly locked the door back and turned to face my brother with fury in my eyes, "What the hell, Tommy!?" My brother shrugged his shoulders and dug around for a med pack. "They came out of nowhere; I was lucky to get away." I watched as the man took a seat at the wooden table. "Whose they?" I asked suspiciously as I watched my brother tend to the man's wound. "Killers, there were three of them. I was working on a transformer when they just appeared out of nowhere." I eyed the bullet wound in the man's right shoulder. "You're lucky they shot you in the arm, arms can be mended but internal organs not so much," Tommy joked. Something about the man's story did not add up, I slowly reached behind my leg for the knife that was secured in a strap around my thigh.

Number of players: three. Number of killers: one. "I knew it." My body jerked up from the table. I swung the knife out aiming for him as he charged towards me. He grabbed my hand and threw the weapon behind me. My stomach turned as the sound of the knife hitting flesh rang in my ears. "Tommy!" I screamed. It had embedded it in his head. I watched Tommy fall to the ground lifeless as tears flowed from my eyes. Would you like to end the game? Yes or No. I could not stop. Tommy's death needed purpose. I clicked the blinking no above my head and charged towards the stranger. His Eyes got wide as he saw my decision. After what felt like hours of tussling, I was able to corner him. "Please no I have a wife at home! She needs me" I proceeded to walk forward. "She's pregnant!" his shrill voice screamed through the silence. I grabbed the rusted fork that sat on the table. My footsteps were heavy as I gave a devilish smile. "I don't care." I took the rusted fork and jammed it in his eyeball. His body rejected it like a hologram. "Neither do I, "he said. I watched his eyes glow as he stabbed me with a serrated knife from his pocket. "Thanks for playing, "he snarled.