I handed the gun over to the nearest body; they seemed to be as confused as each other. The man in black stepped in front of me in my attempt to leave. He was tall. Like really tall. I know men say 'height isn't everything, and they're right, but by god. His mask both intrigued and frightened me. Unlike the other workers, he showed more of a face than just a circle, triangle, or square. It was the way I could feel him looking over me. There were no eyes I could look at, but I got nervous and I could no longer look up at him. So I admired his clean shoes compared to my dirty white ones.
"Take her back to the main room," wow even his voice made my legs quiver.
I bowed, and two workers grabbed my forearms and forcefully dragged me away and back to the room. I wouldn't blame them if he were their superior. I would say they were just a little softer than that black-masked man would have liked.
I met up with Ari back in the main room. She was curled up in my bed, her face was red and puffy. She had made me want to tackle any guy that doted on her and roundhouse any woman who hurt her. I pulled the thin blanket over her shoulders and pecked her cheek.
"Attention players, I will now announce the results of the second game."
The lights turned off and the trilling of the piggy bank filled our ears. "Out of the 187 players who participated, 79 players were eliminated. The prize money accumulated in this round is 7.8 billion won." I shook my head as I watch the player count go down and the money count goes up.
Like everything else I got bored and didn't know what to do in the meantime.
I tried to talk to the other players but they weren't interested, instead, I decided to head to the bathroom so I could attempt to wash off this blood. I had gotten annoyed at the smell of dried blood on my face. Some were still smeared across my left cheek over my lips and back up to my right. A few spattered droplets were printed around my temples and forehead, it really wasn't flattering.
I knocked and asked to come in, the worker let me in but when he shut the door behind me I heard a very...definable...sound. Two players were having fun in one of the stalls and I don't think they gave a crap about who heard. (1)
Slowly looking up at the worker I could almost see the embarrassment and pleading look. "Oh no, you poor thing" I leant the crown of my head against his chest trying to stifle the laugh threatening to come out. I looked at the end of the short hallway to see the second worker looking defeated. I doubled over in laughter, I was on the floor crying as I could only imagine how long this had to be going on. I watched as the workers huffed in silent laughter as they watched me lightly hit the first staff member's calf. I was trembling, I felt so guilty but it was the best thing that happened so far.
It stopped after 2-ish minutes and the guilty stepped out into the short hallway. The worker standing at the second door stepped aside to let them through. I still wasn't finished laughing and by this point, I couldn't prop myself up, so I sat against pinky's legs.
Heavy footsteps came up to where I was, fair as I was just stationed in front of the door, there was still plenty of room for people to walk through.
"What are you laughing at? Huh" he didn't see what was wrong, I held my breath and waved my hand between the two workers.
"We could hear and-" I lost all composure, no sound came out as my stomach was too tense to let air in or out. "Oh, so you're a pervert are you?" He bent down and grabbed a fist full of my shirt, his breath stank. "What's funny is my fist through your skull"
I smirked "What you smiling at now" he spat at me, yuck. I just pointed upwards. When he looked up he fell back letting go of my shirt. He came face to face with a gun, pointed right at his head. His fling grabbed him by the arm and pretty much dragged him out.
When I stood up I felt a little woozy, I waved to the second worker and giggled "I hope that didn't scare you too bad" he just shook his head a little, poor guy ha. "Thank you, probably your job but still" I pat his arm before leaving.
The PA system voice came out loud, "Attention, your mealtime begins now, all players please line up in the centre of the room." 4 circles and 1 square walked in with 2 tables, a cloth-covered the contents but it was quite obvious it would be food. Being closest to the front I was one of the first ones to be handed my food. It was a singular hard-boiled egg and a bottle of fizzy bubbly. Not sure what drink but it was liquid. I said my thanks and got out of line quickly. Ari didn't seem to be up to grab hers so I went over to go wake her.
I called her name while shaking her awake, she was groggy but got up anyway.
"Hey, babe, what's up" I rubbed her back as she slowly made her way up the line. "I don't like dead people" my heart ached to make everything better for her. "That's all we get?" I guess some people are used to having larger food portions. I don't blame them either, this won't satisfy me either. I fazed out and began thinking about the man in the crowd I saw yesterday, I felt kind of drawn to them. I want to know his or her story.
We were about 5 people from the front of the line when someone noticed everything was gone.
"We didn't get any! See, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6! 6 people didn't get their food, That's not fair!" A man at the front had started yelling at the pink workers.
"We made enough food for the exact number of players" this went on for a little before a girl piped in,
"It was them, they pushed in and got seconds, I saw it" she pointed over to the 'tough' group. It was the guy who had too much fun in the bathrooms only a few minutes ago, he and his gang would have done it.
"What's the matter, everybody, never seen a guy eat before" I just rolled my eyes, his head was shoved up his arse too much.
"Who do you think you are! That's my food you ate!" Player 271 stormed up to 101. I don't think would end well, he used his confidence at the wrong time.
I was leaning up against the table and forced Ari to stand in front and face me. I handed my drink to her as I peeled the egg and gave it to her. Turning back to ask where I put the shell, the square had his hand held out before I spoke. They are so polite.
We all watched as 101 beat the life out of 271. His blood covered the floor. 271 backed off and tried to salvage any liquid from the remaining broken bottle. Nobody was going to check on the passed-out man, so I did.
"Stay facing that way," I told Ari. I knelt down and shook him a bit. He wasn't responding. I tried to feel for any pulse, any small quiet heartbeat but there was nothing. I looked back up at the soldiers and shook my head, letting them know that he had passed.
I flipped him onto his back, waiting for them to do something. The doors opened to show two more pink suits carry in a coffin with a large pink bow on top. I moved out of the way so they could pick him up.
I'm just happy I could shield Ari from death, that may not be enough for the hundreds she has already seen but one can do a lot right?
"Player 271, eliminated" Ari hugged me, she could barely drink just knowing another person died.
I brought her up to my bed and sat on the edge. I overheard some groups talking about attacking to lower the number of players. I just hope I've laid low enough I'm not anyone's hit list, 101 did come to mind. I'm definitely on his. Shit.
I promised Ari I would watch over her. Everyone had made their way to their beds. "Lights out in 30 seconds" if anything does happen, please don't think to come up here. I repeated my prayer, I didn't believe in a god. If I did I would have to believe that he made my ex kill my baby, I would have to believe he made us live in such a horrible place. I would constantly be in hate if I believed in a god such as him. (2)
The timer hit 0 and the lights went out, nobody made a sound, no cough, no sigh, no snore. In 5 seconds a blood-curdling scream ripped the air in half, it triggered everyone and the fighting began. The lights began flashing, making it hard to focus on what was going on and where people were going.
I could feel Ari's hard breathing against my neck, I just wish this mattress could swallow us whole. I had to stay brave for Ari but I was scared more than anything. The bed shook violently. People shouted and screamed, I could smell the blood. I could hear people being pushed off the bunk beds and hitting the stairs or the floor with a crack.
"I don't want to be here, please take me home" Ari whispered in my ear, I was scared to lose her too, I couldn't go through another heartbreak.
The beds shook more heavily, and the ones next to us toppled over at the fight below us, we couldn't stay up here.
"I'm going to open the bathroom door when I do, I want you to run to me as fast as you can." She just nodded, her eyes were so wide.
I avoided climbing down just in case someone was in the bed under waiting for us. I jumped from the top, the balls of my feet felt like they were on fire and my knees hurt but my ankle felt like it snapped, it hadn't but damn it felt bad. I ran to the bathroom jumping over bodies on the way, everyone was so preoccupied they hadn't heard me knock or seen the door open just a smidgen.
I turned back to Ari, her head peeking over the bunk bed rails. I quickly motioned her to run to me.
I saw someone start running up to me but before he could land a hit I kicked his junk, I made sure to do it twice so he would be on the floor for a while.
Ari made it down ok, she began running in my direction only to be tackled to the ground by a bigger man. He had a metal bar.
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(1848 words) Edited
1. My apologies to any religious people, Please don't hate me if this offended you in any way. This isn't meant to hate on your religion, my family is religious so I understand.
I am also sorry for not posting earlier, needed to clean and it got out of hand. hope this is good enough for you. if not stay tuned because it gets much better!!! promise!
In previous chapters, I listed random numbers either to be eliminated or passed the game. I did not reference it from the series so it may contradict some players. don't look too much into it.
2. I did make this a more 'intimate' chapter in the sense when we the reader touch the workers they don't get offended or angry and push us away. is it bad or do you guys like it?