-Kara's POV-
Aitsuki Kara
16 Years Old
High-school Student
I immediately slipped from the trap they made specifically for me.
"Such a fool!" One of my classmates bursted out. "Laughs, Idiot!" Another spewed.
They quickly fled the scene with laughs on their faces knowing that they would be in-trouble if a teacher saw them.
I, on the ground, desperate to get up, struggled as one of the ingredients brewed in this trap was soap and detergent.
Few people saw me. But none of them minded to help me. As I tried to get up, a person approached me. "Need a hand?" She said while offering her hand to raise me up.
I struggled as I raised but I was able to get up. "Don't mind them, they envy your gorgeous smile." she said.
Our eyes locked together. She's as tall as me with curls on her hair. Her lips glowed like ruby red. Her eyes shimmered as it met my poor little eyes.
"Uh... Th-thanks..." I uttered, she replied, "I'm Mishika... Mishika, Kaede"
I felt my heart pounding as I still felt her hands still holding onto mine.
She freed my hand right as she said, "So... What's your name?"
"Kara... Kara, Aitsuki" I mentioned
"Let's be friends," she added. She reached into her pockets grabbing a hand-made bracelet. She gave it to me generously and I accepted it with my two hands.
"Thank you very much Miss Mishika, I kindly accept your offer." I said as I bowed down in front of her.
Borderlands
Shinjuku Ward
During the 4 of ♤ Game
Aitsuki Kara
18 Years Old
High-school student
I glanced at the bracelet she gave me. "I'll never forget our friendship..." I uttered as another shot from the sniper nearly caught my body.
The others waited for the elevators to lift them. While I on the other hand knew the elevators were a trap. I quickly rushed through the other hallway where the emergency exit is.
I opened the emergency doors and I ran through the stairs that stood right in front of me.
-Hiroko's POV-
Akihiro Hiroko
20 Years Old
Media Student
My body, still shocked in fear, stood in front of the lifeless corpse.
The blood on its head spilled over creating a puddle.
I was shocked...
My mind raced and remembered the time where shock ran through me just as my parents crashed right in front of me.
My body felt the adrenaline, blood rushed through my veins and fierce through my skull.
I slowly handled myself pretty well right after. The death of a person does not matter to me anymore. All I thought of was myself. Myself and I only.
My feet slowly moved back from where I came from still deafened from the bang of the gun and the noise coming from the people running.
Another shot was taken by the sniper as my mind quickly got over. I stood up and quickly ducked my way further inside the building.
There were 3 corridors, one that leads further inside the main building, the other leads to the crowd where most of the people ran. The other was a dead-end hallway leading to the fire exit.
My mind had been rushed. I quickly cleared my thoughts in front of the crisis.
'Uh... The goal? Is... To climb up!' I uttered. I then quickly rushed myself towards the hallway that leads unto the three corridors.
My eyes glanced towards the dead-end hallway and I saw the same girl I approached earlier. She's planning to go up through the emergency exit. My body stumbled as I second-thought to myself if I were to follow her or not.
My body slowly walked towards her just when I quickly stopped in front of the crossway.
I glanced in the main hallway, at the end of the hallway are elevators.
'It's quicker than climbing the stairs!' My mind murmured. I then immediately changed my mind.
I ran towards the group of people who were fleeing for their lives.
Another shot has been taken. Everyone ducked down just as a person reached the end of the hallway.
He called the elevators and shouted "I already called it, everyone duck!"
There were five people running towards the elevator. One of them is elderly, two were middle-aged while the last two were the same age as me.
We all ducked while running, covering our heads while we sprint towards the elevator.
The two middle-aged men were impatient to wait. They quickly rushed up through the main stairs that ran behind the elevators.
Both of them disappeared from my sights as I came nearer to the other group.
With chills down my spine, sweat through my head and blood stains on my uniform, I immediately ran towards the group of people who were waiting for the elevator to come down.
"Is that a sniper?" I asked them. The old man said, "It's a tank rifle. It pierces through solid walls and concrete."
"As long as we duck, we can't be seen due to the high windows of the building," He added.
Another shot can be heard but no following bullets tried to hit us. We, however, waited for what seemed like forever outside the elevator doors.
"What... is this madness?" I asked them. They all looked at me with fear still imprinted on their eyes.
"There's no end in this meaningless world..." The other man said.
I slowly looked behind to notice the dimming lights in the background. For a moment of thought, there was complete silence.
The silence beckons over us for it gave me time to think about the death of Mika.
I remember the glee on her smile just as I was about to be innocently involved in this murderous mess.
My body slowly calmed down and thought 'I... want to live...' just as the silence grew more and more.
For a moment it seems like one of us would get hit by the sniper.
I looked at the elevator screen and finally, the elevator had reached the 1st floor.
The elevator finally dinged. Everyone rushed in front of it, waiting for it to open.
'As long as we ride this thing up... It will finally be over.' I uttered to myself.
The elevator door finally opened and a beam of light coming from inside shone right through our dimmed eyes.
We covered our faces while the door fully opened. For a second I could've sworn... For a second...
There was a huge minigun inside the elevator.
My eyes grew wide when I quickly thought 'It's a trap!'
I quickly swerved away from line of sight just as the minigun started to spin.
"Run!" One of the group shouted. Thousands of bullets rained in front of the elevator. I looked back seeing two of the people were caught, point-blank shot through their bodies.
They were in complete agony, their faces turned numb just as I quickly avoided the seemingly innocent elevators.
Both of them immediately fell at the same time that the elevator doors closed. There was blood on their bodies with holes on every part.
I immediately followed back right when the other survivor followed through my retreat.
'I want... to end this now...' I said to myself. The only thing that I can think of is how I can survive this absurd little game.
Time Remaining: 13 Minutes
Floors Remaining: 1/10
I turned around and ran. The other survivor ran with me behind the elevators through the main stairs where other survivors went.
As we were running I could never look back. I ran as quickly as I could upon the stairway of the second floor.
"What was that!" I jolted as the old man replied, "It's a Spade game. I didn't know going easy would be fatal!"
We reached the second floor of the building. It was awfully quiet and it seemed like the sniper halted to reload or something.
'This building is a mess...' I thought to myself. I glanced back at the stairwell with a brick wall that blocks access to the third floor of the building.
"There..." The old man pointed. I looked at what he was pointing at and there I found two stairwells that surrounded the entire building.
"I should've guessed that this wouldn't be as easy as it seems" He uttered."
We sprinted our way through the corridors of the second floor. My eyes were a little bit hazy from the light that illuminated right in front of us.
Another shot echoed through the building.
I quickly ducked followed by another swift run towards the second flight of stairs which was the end of the corridor.
My eyes looked back hoping to see the survivor running along with me. But then... As I turned, I saw his body limping across the corridors.
"I got shot! Help me!" He shouted. I quickly fell back running to him just when another shot soon followed.
My hands immediately covered my ears while I gazed. He was shot right through the neck... Yet, still, he was begging for help.
Time Remaining: 12 Minutes
Floors Remaining: 2/10
"Help... me..." He uttered. I stood there with a faceless reaction. My eyes grew wide when I realized what the timer meant.
My eyes glanced at the hole where the bullets came from. I looked at myself and thought, 'Three...' as I kept track of the bodies that died right before me.
My body felt upon my hands with blood splatter still marked unto it. I immediately looked at his eyes with pure desperation.
I, too, was desperate to help him. My eyes gazed at the phone as the timer ticked down further right in front of me.
My body slowly moved back... I made my decision.
The lights flickered as I slowly moved forward. "Help!" He shouted.
"I..." I uttered. "I'm sorry..." My voice stuttered, as I felt my heart pounding through my chest, desperate to flee this desolate and impending death.
Even though there was no blood in my hands, it was through what seemed like four bloody bodies piled within my arms.
"I..." I said when I quickly turned around heading for the flight of stairs. My body quickly ran through the second flight of stairs with tears in my eyes, not even giving a nod of looking back at the survivor.
With the burden I felt... It was though my soul was exhausted from the climb. 'I need to survive...' I uttered.
The strength of my selflessness overcame my emotional burden and trauma. I felt my soul numb inside.
I started running again. Each and every step a tear tries to shed in my selfless eyes.
My body quickly followed through the third and the fourth floor, nearly avoiding the shots by the sniper from a distance.
Time Remaining: 10 Minutes
Floors Remaining: 5/10
I, exhausted from the flight, was struggling to get up from the fifth floor. Still traumatized from the events, my face finally turned to sob.
My body halted just to look back at the stairwell, it was devoid of light with only traces of brightness coming from the floor below. I glanced at myself and thought 'Is... this how far that you come.'
I placed my hand in my face, smearing blood upon my cheeks. Tears ran through my face with no desperation but only to stop.
'I thought... I wanted to survive...' I murmured.
'I thought...' I said to myself.
Another shot has been taken followed by footsteps that came nearer towards my direction.
My sob slowly halted just as I peeked upon the edge of the stairwell. A hand approached right in front of me as a voice emerged, "Come on... Teamwork is beneficial..."
He was a middle-aged man coming from mid-30's or 40's. He has short gray hair with wrinkles on his forehead.
"I..." I murmured as he replied with "Everything's gonna be alright kiddo..."
My hand slowly reached through his hand and thought of the many possible ways of how this game could end.
My eyes glanced at my bloody uniform just as I slowly lifted myself up from my sitting state.
"I wish I could've saved them..." I murmured.
He stared at me for a second and said, "Saving you is the least that I could do."
Finally, I was able to slowly get a hold of myself. I thought about surviving on my own will.
'The past will always be behind me' I thought to compensate for the things that downed me throughout the game.
He looked at the timer and glanced at me, "Now come on, we don't have time." He said.
We slowly ran through the fifth floor nearing another flight of stairs.
I was calming down on behalf of my sorrow.
My eyes glanced at the man and looked towards his expression. It wasn't as serious as I had but I felt his expression, as if he experienced something worse.
'His eyes were straight towards the goal, and he has the determination to live.' I thought. 'But why did he stopped for me?' I added.
Another shot echoed throughout the building just as we ducked.
"There's got to be something that we're missing..." He said.
"What... do you mean?" I replied as we continued running.
"Wait, stop, stop!" He breached. He looked at me dead straight in the eyes and said, "There's got to be something that we're missing." He glanced at the edge of the building where the windows are.
"What?" I asked. "It's the fifth floor already with no other buildings in plain sight. It must mean that the sniper actively gets our location through other means." He stated.
"So?..." I replied. "Since there are no cameras inside the building, there has to be something that is scanning our location." He added.
"A scanning device, perhaps?" He said while glancing towards the city horizon.
His face turned into a smile realizing that we have solved one major puzzle that we need to address.
"That kinda makes sense..." I replied
"Right... Since the scanner takes time to scan us, it also takes the sniper the time to aim right for us." He said. "That's why he's missing us all the time." He added.
He looked at my direction and immediately stood up from his place. "We need to move now" he reminded me just as I got up and followed him to the next flight of stairs.
"So your plan is to run then halt?" I told him. "As long as it increases our survival, then yes, kiddo..." He replied.
We reached the sixth floor with 8 minutes remaining on the clock.
"Now stop!" He said. We halted right in front of the hallway leading to the sixth flight of stairs. A loud bang appeared, as a bullet pierced right in front of us, merely avoiding us by a couple of centimeters.
Time Remaining: 8 Minutes
Floors Remaining: 6/10
"It works! A possible solution to this death trap!" He added.
I finally got a hold of myself. Even though I still feel the numbness of my pain; now that someone had shown me the path to the solution, I was finally feeling better than I was a couple of seconds ago.
The pain upon my stomach loosened as I realized that we would be completing the goal of the game in no-time.
With every step we took, we finally reached the eighth floor with ease due to our strategy.
"Thank you... About earlier..." I said to him, "If there's a way to save someone, I'll try and help them." He said.
Time Remaining: 6 Minutes
Floors Remaining: 8/10
Another bang appeared as we halted in front of the eighth floor. "Now, run!" He shouted. We quickly rushed through the hallways nearing the eight flights of stairs.
As we come nearer a sudden shock resonates within me. "Shit!" He uttered.
Right in front of us are the stairs that lead through the 9th floor. It is filled to the rim with objects and furniture.
My stomach dropped just to realize the impossibility of the task. There were hundreds of furniture blocking the stairway, ranging from desks and chairs. We were certain that by simply moving the barrier, it would simply take longer than the timer that had been given to us.