Enter iF You Dare

Task Two

Tyler Burns of Writer Games: Video Games. Task two:

A Life in Hell

Video Games: 2nd Entry.

My eyes felt as though they were on fire when I woke up the next day. I hardly knew what happened, but I had a slight recollection. Like an awareness, not really anything definitive, but an overall sense. I'd been kidnapped by some chick half my size, I should've been able to take her. But that's the other thing; I'd been drunk off my ass, of course she bested me. My head pounded like a thousand miniature drums resided in there, my palms were sweaty and as I ran my fingers through the thickness of my black hair, it felt soaked with the stuff as well. Groggily I glanced around the small space I was in; the room was bare, stripped of whatever wallpaper used to line the walls, the cement now exposed. A single bulb dangled precariously from the ceiling, directly above my head. A chain hung from it, presumably the switch for turning it on and off. The floor, also cement, felt bitterly cold as I swung my feet over the edge of the bed.
"Ahh!" I promptly brought my legs back up to the safety of the cot, holding my knees against my chest. I sat there for a bit, cold, concerned. Whatever mess I'd gotten myself into, would have to wait. My head was about to explode, and that single light bulb brighter than 10,000 suns wasn't helping one bit. Very angrily, I got up on my knees, wobbling a bit as I still hadn't gained all of my stamina back, and reached up to pull the string. Darkness enshrouded the room I was in. There were no windows, only a single door made of metal or something similar, positioned across from me. I didn't even bother checking if it was unlocked. Most likely it was not. These people must have been really sophisticated, professionals in their job description. What's the point in resisting when you're outnumbered and outranked?

The whole encasing myself in darkness and shutting my eyes worked for a little while. But then there was a rustling at the door, a ring of keys jingling in someone's fiddly palms sounded beyond it, and the shrill of its hinges, probably years old, penetrated the silence. I pressed my palms hard against my ears, attempting to protect myself from a much worse headache. A big, black silhouette stood in the doorway, the light outside filling the room and causing me to press my eyes shut again. The figure entered, and upon entering, pulled the chain and illuminated the room. My eyes were still shut when he grabbed me, yanked me off the bed and ordered something like "get up off your ass and come with me." Reluctantly, I followed, ears still ringing as my hangover worsened. Outside my room was this really long, moist hallway. The cement floor was freezing cold, the walls not any better. The only sounds were that of the other prisoners, in rooms lining the walls, coughing or crying or just generally moving about. And of course the occasional drop of water in the distance splashing down into a puddle created over a long period of time. I began to question everything at this point. My headache lightened a tiny bit as I followed the big man down the hall. I wondered, where were we? As in, which state? Did we cross state lines when we were captured in the back of the van? After I blacked out yesterday, did they ship us off somewhere? And most of all, was anybody looking for me? Right now Danny was probably waking up in some cheap hotel room surrounded by garbage and women's underwear he somehow confiscated from a few girls next door, head throbbing and puking on the floor, but happy as can be. He most likely would not be concerned with me and my well being at all. He might call later, but I never really answer the phone anyway. He wouldn't care. Today is my day off from work, those who might miss me know not to bother me on my days off. I work tomorrow, by then someone, my employer most likely, might start asking questions. The question I needed to ask myself then, was, would I survive long enough for a search party to be formed? Hey, I figured I might just be lucky and someone else here had like, really concerned parents and they'd have us out of here by nightfall.

We reached the end of the hall just as my thoughts began to fade out, and the headache returned. Bright lights met my eyes as Mr Incredible here pushed a two-ton metal door in, and gestured for me to go forward. After my eyes adjusted, the head-throbbing increasing, I stepped into the room and the giant door swung shut behind me. Out of two other doors came a couple more teens, but other than that, the others were already here. Blinking rapidly to clear up my vision, and hopefully my hangover, I glanced around to find a bunch of desks at which the captured teens sat. There were computers in front of them, but nobody was using them yet. The familiar Minecraft logo and play button presented itself on every screen. I attempted taking a seat at one of the desks, which seemed like the thing to do, but apparently I was doing it wrong. The Hulk, who stood behind me watching my every move like a hawk, gripped my shoulder, jerking me backwards. He pointed to the numbers placed above each desk. I nodded slowly, recalling a number on the door of my cozy cell. Mine, I thought, was 2. I searched the tops of the desks for the corresponding number. At last I saw it, beside number one of all places, and took my seat. There were these thick walls or wall-like structures between each player, so nobody could screen-peek. Not that it mattered anyway.
The Hulk-man at the exit cleared his throat, directing all our attention to him. I noticed a couple girls in the room were sobbing, either carelessly or to themselves. The guys just looked full of rage. I'd of rallied them all up to fight our way out, but Hulk had a few buddies guarding the other doors that were nearly as big as he was, so I figured a revolt would only cause chaos and pain, to us mostly.
"Everyone turn to your computers. Once you press play, you'll enter a world already created for you. There, you will build your own unique house."
House? Did I hear him correctly?
"You will have thirty minutes maximum to complete this project. Once you've finished, please sit tight and wait for the other players to finish as well. Begin." At once Hulk, for lack of a better nickname, clicked a remote which set the big timer into motion. It was like a giant stopwatch, counting down the minutes, seconds, and thousandths of a second. Immediately a bunch of the players were clicking and building, and some girl protested the insanity or impracticality of what they were making us do. She was promptly slapped, and made to go on the computer. After that she shut up real quick. But this look of rage just lingered on her face throughout the game.
So, first thing's first. Ignoring my immense headache and occasion urge to vomit, I set to work right away. But what kind of house should I build, I asked myself. At first my mind screamed castle, blow these bastards away with my architectural skills. But that would take too much time and it would be impractical. So, on to my next idea it was. I kind of wanted to screen peek now, just to get some inspiration. But the fear of being slapped by Mr Hulk shuddered me into coming up with my own inspiration. I had spawned in a sort-of hilly area right beside a river. Hmm. If this were any other situation, I'd like to walk around a bit, find the space that's perfect or that speaks to me. But since we were crunched for time, I decided to hell with it, I'm going practical and invisible. If we had to connect to each other's worlds and duel it out, I wanted my house well hidden. Maybe it was cowardly to hide from my enemies, but I figured at least then I'd have a nice, quiet, safe place to sleep at night.
So, my first priority was getting to higher ground, and sniffing out a safe location to begin building. Once I'd scaled the hill under which I spawned, I gazed out as far as my visibility range was set. Looking north, (judging by minecraft compass) I gazed over the river where I spawned. There were pine trees as far as the eye could see, the river trailing off to the left of them. Spinning a 180 to the right, east, there was a cliff-like structure, with pigs grazing along it, a waterfall flowing down from the bottom of it into another river, trees both coniferous and deciduous lining the river and spreading out into the distant horizon, and finally, another mountain further to my right. Alright, I said to myself. Better get moving.
Figuring I'd need the water at some point or another, I decided I better not stray too far from it. First, I headed south, making my way down the hill I was on. After traveling several blocks (as opposed to yards or feet) I decided to hell with it, I was on creative, and double-clicked the space bar to fly. It was a much better view from up there. After I got my bearings, I headed down into the deciduous forest next to the large body of water and began construction. I'd be building underground, a nice, big man-cave I could call home in my little virtual world.
First, there was the matter of finding the right place to dig. I spotted a birch tree and figured no one would suspect a home to be built under it. So, began my construction. At once I began digging; one block was removed from the earth, and I dug six blocks down. The time had already run one minute seventeen seconds. I was making good progress. At three minutes forty seconds I had cleared a pretty good space. Four blocks in, like, twice that across. I hoped I'd have enough time to at least make my man cave a good one.
After I'd nearly cleared the entire space, it grew dark out, so a few torches were needed. I put up a couple of temporary ones on either wall to my left and right, and continued my work. I had a little less than twenty-six minutes remaining. Confidence swelled in my mind. I could do this.
I caught several glimpses of the moon outside when I cleared away the blocks that formed my roof. I had to replace them of course, I couldn't risk someone seeing too big a hole in the ground and guessing my strategy. It was just past midnight, the moon, which got me to wondering what time it was real time. Was it day or night? I was so disoriented that I couldn't even hazard a guess. The few places I'd gone down here didn't have any windows, I had no way of knowing the time.
Alright, next thing's next. I lined the walls with stone brick, just for insulation and to make it look neat. Sometimes I know I could get carried away, imagining the game was real life and planning how to make it livable. It was fun actually, pretending it was real life. But not so much when you have three guys made entirely of muscle staring down your back, forcing you to play some game even if you'd rather be doing something else. I'd never been kidnapped before, so I didn't know the rules or anything, but it seemed pretty weird for the kidnappers to force the kidnappees to play PC games to pass time. I mean what was wrong with calling up a few of your buddies to play Minecraft with? Why kidnap, what, twenty kids to do it? I had no clue what these guys motivations were, but they were strange to say the least.
Alright, so, lining the walls with stone bricks took a couple minutes, but I still had plenty of time. At the entrance, a one-block hole at the northernmost wall, I placed two torches about a block down at either side of this wooden ladder leading up and out. This provided plenty of light at the north wall, and most of the rest of the cave. I didn't bother placing stone bricks under the torches. so they were kind of level with the rest of the walls. This created a cross-like shape in which was the ladder to go out. I liked the look of it, and so kept going, with no time to waste.
So, with the ceiling and the floor being dirt and a mix of stone in a few places, I began decorating. Well, I say decorating, but it's more like making the cave more homey. First I wanted a kind of ledge where my bed would go. This would leave more floor space if I ever needed it and give my sleeping space a cozy atmosphere. So, I carved a little space two blocks deep and two blocks high into the south wall, and placed my bed. I felt like leaving the wall behind it dirt made it feel weird, so replaced the dirt with the mossy stone brick. That way it was a little more diverse. It wasn't the same as the other walls exactly, but it still went well with the house. I placed a single torch on the wall nearest the foot of the bed to give the little nook some light. At this point, I was feeling satisfied with myself. Things were coming together. So, next I supposed I needed some storage space, known as 'chests' in the Minecraft world. I placed two in the west wall, separated by one stone brick. Because the cave had little space, I wanted most things to be actually in the walls, to create a bigger floor space. I placed two more chests right beside each other on the east wall, linking them together to create one big chest. Then, I could really decorate. I figured I'd need some tools if they turned the creative mode to survival and made us duel. So I placed several pick axes, diamond swords, shovels, regular axes, and much more in one of the chests. In another, I placed some armor. Plenty, of armor. I figured I'd probably need a crafting table, and placed one by the large chest on the east wall. A furnace might come in handy, I thought, and placed one in the wall beside my bedroom-ledge. Beside it I put a jukebox, because you never know when you need one of those. And what if I needed books? You never know if you need books. It might get boring down here with nothing to read. I placed a three-brick high bookshelf in the corner between the south and west walls. I also placed a few music discs in a chest, for entertainment, as well as a couple clocks and compasses. And finally, for the finishing decorative touch, a painting of a three-headed, grey-guy-thingy occupied the empty space on the north wall. At last, I was finished. The next few minutes were spent with me tapping my fingers across the desk, wondering what to do with the next fifteen minutes. Maybe I'd build a secret tunnel even further underground, with an escape route in case I needed it. There we go, that was my plan. I got started right away, not quite sure how long it would take me exactly. I decided the tunnel would begin in my bed-loft. So, at the foot of the bed I dug a single hole leading down to a tunnel. About three blocks down it went, and then I began to dig straight out from there. After going for about ten blocks, I halted, and changed direction. But first I had to make a quick run above ground, to make sure my tunnel didn't strike water. That would not be very pleasant. After a quick scan of my surroundings, about where the tunnel went, I decided I was far enough away from the water, and ran back to my house. This left me at 15:55.0, I had time.
Alright, so I was back in the tunnel. I changed direction, heading to the right for about ten more blocks. About there it became too dark to see, so I lined the deeper walls with torches. At the end of ten blocks to the right, I wanted another change in direction, and so turned it to the left ten more blocks. Here is where I ended the tunnel, breaking through the top one block and leaving a very un-suspicious trap door to cover it. Alright, with the timer at 18:10.9 I could see I still had a little ways to go. What else should be in my little man-cave? Think Ty, think. I repeated the slogan in hopes that it would bring some ideas to mind. 18:41.6, I still had time. What to build...
Then it dawned on me. I should go explore my surroundings! You know, get to know the terrain. So, off I went. At 18:59 I was sprinting down the forest floor, heading for the river. I figured I'd just follow that for a little while at first. At 19:26 I was flying through the skies, but not too far from home, getting a lay of the land. After a bit I made a map, so I wouldn't get too lost. I saw chickens, rabbits, caves, plenty of water, an abundance of trees, mountains with caves, mountains with snow and caves, et cetera. By the time I explored every inch of land within the map our timer had sounded. I quickly returned to my home before they could pull me away from the computer screen.
"Everyone, this way." Hulk's assistant, who was definitely less scary but not at all smaller than he was, yelled at us. I saw the one girl who protested earlier wearing a look of hatred. As we were leaving they were shutting off the computers, but not before I caught a glimpse of hers. She didn't build a house, from what I could tell. Instead she'd lined up a bunch of gold blocks and spelled something with them. Unfortunately they'd shut it off before I could read what she said. But I guessed it was pretty bad, based on the looks of disappointment in the men's eyes, and the way she was shoved through the door into a hallway.
We emerged from the underground room to meet intense sunlight. I was again reminded of my previous night's shenanigans, pressing my eyes closed against the harsh yellow light. At least now I knew it was morning, and that I'd never drink again.
We were escorted to a series of vans much like the ones they captured us in last night, and split up evenly into them. I ended up in the one with the sad rebellious girl who refused to build a house. She crawled into the van and sat by the doors, knees pulled up to her chest. She rested her brunette head on them after awhile, probably crying I guessed. She was very pretty to look at, in a small, girly kind of way. Despite her height she had curves and a face that made her look like a woman. She had short hair in messy strands reaching about her jaw. The whole ride she just sat that way, arms around her legs, head on her knees. Not once did she move.
After an hour or so we were transferred from the vans to helicopters, which made me worry a bit. Were they going to drop us off into the ocean or something? Did they only want our Minecraft house ideas, nothing more? Well, that would've been lame, I decided. They could just Google ideas for their Minecraft dwellings. And anyway, they didn't look like gamers to me at the time. They just looked like crooks.

The helicopters flew us for hours over land and ocean alike. I dared not peek out the windows any longer, when it became clear where we were headed. I just wanted to pretend I was at home or something, sucking on candy and watching TV. Perhaps I'd try to beat the high score for Five Night's at Freddy's. That one chick really had me beat. Finally, something was happening. Aside from me and a couple of girls, there was the pilot, co-pilot, and two body guards with guns. Maybe they were real, maybe they were fake, I wasn't about to find out for sure. Someone was yelling for us to jump, while someone else was handing us backpacks. I discovered as I took mine that they weren't backpacks, but parachutes. Gulping, I pulled it over my arms hesitantly.
"Do we have to?" I questioned apprehensively. The guards nodded simultaneously, tapping their guns in a taunting manner. I gulped once more, glancing to the girls beside me. We shrugged, and prepared ourselves. Maybe they were letting us go, but that seemed unlikely. Finally I got up the nerve and just to hell with it -- I jumped.
I was flying rapidly toward the ocean; my cheeks were being forced toward the back of my head, my eyes were drying out but the thing that made me panic the most was the fact that my fellow kidnapees had disappeared. We jumped together, but they as well as the helicopter had completely vanished. It was a bit disarming. And then land came into view; there was an island directly below me. That must be where they wanted to send me. Once I reached the correct altitude, I yanked the red string on my shoulder strap and poof! - my parachute exploded behind me. I landed safely in some forest, but everything looked weird. They were obviously trees, but they looked sort of, cartoon-like. My head began spinning and I thought, maybe I'm hallucinating. Maybe they put something in my beer last night. Whatever this was, it felt real, and I had to figure this out.
"Hello?!" I yelled before halting in my tracks. I recognized the terrain. Just ahead I spotted the Minecraft-birch tree with a hole in front of it. The only difference was, it looked slightly more realistic. Great, I told myself. I'm going insane. I sighed, removing my parachute and heading down to my underground home. Inside everything was just as I had built it. What the heck was going on? Everything was so incredibly twisted. I felt lost; however, soon I'd discover the ultimate reason why everything was the way it was; soon I would discover I was about to run into a deadly game no one should ever be prepared for. For now, though, I climbed the tiny ladder to my loft and flopped down on the bed, thankful for some peace and quiet at last.

(sorry it kind of ends quickly. I didn't know how to end it.)