A Collection of my Writer's Games Entries

Mayhem: Task 1 (Rosella Monty)

** Task - Dead on Arrival **

My body froze as all the doors simultaneously around us. I grabbed onto Murphy's hand in fright. There weren't many people trapped with us. Definitely under 30. I could already feel my heart rate rising. A crackle - from a microphone - echoed into the mall.
"You know the rules," the voice crackled, "You do as you're told, you fight for your life and you are given the opportunity to stay safe in the real world. Good luck - you'll need it," the microphone clicked off and the doors opened. A girl, around my age, ran to the nearest exit and tried to open the door. She screamed in frustration and ran off, yelling curses to the world. I looked around at the rest of us. Was this real? Murphy was looking at me strangely. I used sign language to tell him what was going on.
"What should we do?" I asked him. I'm thankful that he can lip read, I'm a bit rusty on sign language and talking to someone made me feel normal. Normal was what I needed.
"Just do what we're told, you don't want to end up like your cousin," he shrugged. I knew he meant no harm in saying it but it felt like a slap in the face. I feared what happened to Maxine. She was like my sister. I check my pockets for my lucky coin - a gift from Maxine. Is this what Maxine had felt like when she was trapped? Helpless, confused and lost. I knew that she had killed people, they did autopsies on the bodies. This wasn't something I wanted to go through. Murphy was staring at me. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.
"I'm scared Murphy," I wiped a finger under my eyes to stops some tears. He hugged me quickly and waved for me to follow him, I took his hand like a small child. He led me through the few people who were still confused - like us - and instead of going up the escalator, he went to the normal stairs. It didn't bother me, I knew Murphy had a weird thing with them. When I first met him, he was freaking out and hyperventilating about the thing. We first went to a food place. Murphy got some bottles of water and handed one to me. I sipped small bits at a time. I sat in the corner of two benches, rocking back and forth. Murphy disappeared and came back with some packets of chips. He opened one for us to share, I smiled and took one. I was lucky to have a god friend in here, but only one would make it out - maybe Murphy didn't know. I wasn't going to spoil his hopes if he didn't. We should all be happy while life lasts.
"We should find some stuff," Murphy said. He was right, if we were to survive we needed food and water. I thought about a hiking trip I went on last year with Maxine. I was too forgetful to take a back pack, I remember complaining to her. I nodded to Murphy, this time I took the lead. We went up to the next level - by the stairs - and I found a backpack inside a camping store. I put our water bottles and food inside. I went to put it on but Murphy took it and put it on instead. I smiled a thankyou. Murphy isn't very nice to other people, I've learnt, but I know he always likes to take care of me. I'd do the same for him any day. Next we went to a homeware store and found a blanket for the night, I would imagine it will get cold in here at night time. We went into a grocery store, half the people trapped in here were there. The place already looked like a tornado had swept through. We went and got some packaged stuff that we could eat straight from the bag, we filled our bag up to the middle. I saw some chocolate. May as well live the good life and reached out and pulled but someone was pulling on the other side. I yanked on it and fell down onto the floor. I cursed under my breath and got back up. I peered through the gap. A boy, well young adult, with one green eye stared back. His other eye was covered by a black fringe of hair, I think if the beanie wasn't there he would be a mop head.
"Give me my chocolate back!" he said through the gap,
"You let go first," I argued,
"Don't be such a cow, hand it over," he disappeared, I looked around and spotted him coming up the aisle, "Just hand it over," he stopped a meter away from me. He held a skateboard in one hand and he looked like a bit of a messed up kid. He sort of reminded me of someone I'd seen on TV,
"Hand us the chocolate," he held out his free hand. I hated my personal nature. My instinct was to give him the chocolate but it's.. well...... chocolate. I was a kind person, in general.
"We could share it?" I suggested, he raised an eye brow.
"God, who thought the goths would want friends? I think I'll just get it elsewhere," he turned to walk off but no one called Murphy and I goths and got away with it. I let out a yell a did a huge leap in the air, I tackled him to the ground and rolled around.
"I," I hit him in the chest, "Am not," I hit him again, "A goth!" he grabbed both my hands. Murphy came over to me and pulled me off him, I'm not sure he realised what was going on but he normally knew that it was bad if I got angry.
"Woah, kitty cat. I'm leaving, don't get all psycho.." he mumbled so quietly I couldn't hear the rest. It hit me like a train, he was on TV.
"You're Morgan's brother," I whispered. He must have heard because he stopped. I relayed my thoughts to Murphy and he nodded in realisation.
"Yeah, and now I'm like Morgan because I'm stuck in this stupid mall with crazed psychopaths like you," he spat. I let the words go in one ear and out the other.
"I was Maxine's cousin, but we were more like sisters," I said, I don't exactly know why, "You're lucky he made it,"
"Maxine?" he said thoughtfully, "Morgan mentioned a girl called that. He was friends with three girls in there," his voice was quiet,
"Well, despite you being a horrible rude person who doesn't care about anyone's feelings, I wouldn't mind if you tagged along with us.." I trailed off nervouly. Murphy had obviously lip read me because he was staring at me with his piercing blue eyes. Murphy grabbed me and walked off.
"Why?" he asked seriously, in a low voice,
"I don't know," I shrugged. I watched Drew come up to us.
"Well I guess it wouldn't be that bad to tag along with some losers," he mumbled, "Mind you, that punch was pretty mean," I blushed, Murphy gave me a knowing look. I smiled at him and started walking. I focused myself on the task ahead - a place to stay. I go to a store that Murphy and I had been to earlier that day. I inhaled as soon as I stepped in. Books. I loved the smell of books. I had only just noticed the voice then.
"Why do you think I'm here?" it whispered, then "That's why I'm asking you!" I walked around the corner and saw a girl with messy brown hair, that hung above her shoulders. She turned to me, her eyes were a strange silver colour.
"Umm, who were you talking to?" I asked, a little creeped out. I couldn't see anyone else. Her eyes went a little wider.
"Never mind, you wouldn't get it.." she mumbled, then suddenly screamed. I jumped back.
"Don't do that?' she hissed into the air. It took me a moment to realise she wasn't talking to me. I shook my head.
"Are you going to be staying her?" I asked, making her jump a little. Her eyes darted around, as if she was looking for something that couldn't be seen.
"Yes. It's where my friends are," she replied. I knew that I wasn't her friend, "I'm Tove by the way,"
"Okay, I'm Rose and a few others are here, so maybe lighten up on the screaming, yeah?" I suggested. She seemed content with whispering to herself, so I left. I smiled as I saw Murphy had set everything up and was talking to Drew. Drew looked up as I came around the bookshelves.
"Your friend doesn't understand much,"
"He's deaf," I shrugged, "So don't be mean,"
"It wasn't intended to be mean," he held his hands up defensively,
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and took a sip of water, then looked to Murphy, "Lucky there's stuff to read, otherwise it'd be Hell,"
"I don't think you'd get to read a page of every one of them," he smiled back at me,
"Wanna bet?"
He nodded vigorously, "Sure thing. 10 pounds," we shook on it. Suddenly a crashing noise came through the back room, I hadn't checked in there. A boy with messy blonde hair crashed out of the storeroom.
"Do you guys mind? Sleep is hard to get," he put on a dumb smile, "I'm Alex. Nice to meet you on such a lovely occasion,"
"I'm Rose,"
"Drew," Drew inclined his head in a greeting,
"Murphy," Murphy smiled, he had one of the best smiles in the entire world,
"A girl called Tove is in the back," I told him,
"She's the screamer, right?" he sighed. I nodded, "How am I meant to get any sleep in here?" he mumbled and walked back to the storeroom, shutting the door. Well five is safe enough. They always say that there is safety in numbers, hopefully we will all be fine.