Elemental

Chapter 23

I wake up in a cold, dirt coated cave.
Startled, I sit up.
The cave's opening isn't far so crawl to look out. I'm in a flat snowy biome, with no trees.
"Zack," I whisper cautiously. I slowly get up and begin to walk out of the cave. Right outside the cave I see Zack, buried in the snow.
I shake him and get up.
"Zack!" I say. He gets up and looks at me, confused.
"Zoey!" He calls.
"Shush!" I say. I pull him into the cave and he fills me in.
"I found the snow biome not that far away from the grass lands. I found this cave near the beginning and tossed you in and gave you some snow as water. But then someone chased after me so I buried myself in snow and pretended to be dead or something. The person left and I was already asleep, I guess, so that leads us to now," he says quickly.
"Wow," I whisper. "So can we, uh, go. I'm kinda cold,"
He laughs.
"Yeah, of course." he begins to leave the cave and I follow behind.
We walk south, attempting to reach the middle of the course. Soon enough, we get to the giant mushroom fantasy land.
"Yay!" I cheer. "This calls for celebration!" I dig into my bag and take out a broken, crummy, chocolate chip cookie that was one in the Kelly Boxes. Zack laughs and takes a small piece.
I take a slightly bigger chunk.
We sit down on some cold, wet rocks.
"This is a good cookie, but I can't take this anymore," Zack says.
"What do you mean?" I ask, still munching on the cookie.
"This game. I am tired, dirty, and very,very annoyed with virtual reality. I just want to leave," he mutters.
I am shocked.
"Well. I could...nevermind," I say.
"Do it, please," he whispers. I don't know why I'm so reluctant. I could easily do it. And if I did I would still see him back at school.
He was being so dramatic. I was actually getting mad. Why was he making such a big deal?
"Why are you being so dramatic? It's not a big deal," I say, clearly annoyed.
"I'd be leaving you,alone," he says, trying to be sensitive.
"And? I can do this alone. Maybe even better than I am with you! Heck, I got a freaking knife and food without you!" I yell angrily.
"You got stop yelling," he whispers.
"NO, I won't stop yelling, ya know why? Because I don't care!" I pull out the switchblade and flip it out. I quickly calm down.
"Want me to do it?" I ask, firmly.
"Go ahead," he mutters.
Cautiously, I lunge forward and the knife touches his stomach and goes in. He explodes into millions of small pixels and drops his bag. I snatch his bag before it hits the ground and open it. Inside there is some food, rope, and a small lock box. In the very bottom of the box there's a key. I insert the key and turn it. The box opens with a satisfying 'click'. Inside, there is a small,folded up piece of paper. I look behind and around me and then proceed to unfold it. Written in very dainty handwriting it says:
Hello cutie. I hope all is well wherever you may be. I miss you bunches. Hope to see you soon, I know it'll be long but I'll wait months just to be with you!
Love, Missy
I read the note again and again. I thought he was single? He kissed me! Missy? She is obviously not our age, she's not here. Months? Why would she wait months? It's only been two weeks! I quickly crumple it up and toss it into the river beside me, along with the lock box.
Well now I have to show him I don't need him. I shake my head and begin walking towards the middle of the map.
Leaves crunch under my shoes.
Suddenly, I'm in the open with the tall tower right in front of me. No one is around. I wonder how many people are left.
And then as if someone was reading my mind:
"Attention Final Five. At the break of dusk tonight, you will all be teleported to the center of the world to fight to the end. The remaining five include,
Kelly-Death
Ember-Fire
Zoey-Water
Evan-Earth
And finally
Luis-Life
Please plan accordingly. Thank you, and good luck to you all," the speaker says.
Ember?? I thought she...? What?
I shake my head in disbelief. I start to walk back to the woods, just in case other had the idea to come here.
And until dusk, I sit in the river, getting ready.