My throat felt raspy and painful, like wires scratched the sides of it to the point of being raw. My body didn't want to move when I became aware of the world around me, and so it took me a few minutes to actually rouse myself to movement. Blinking through the haze, I realized art supplies surrounded me. Canvases, desks, and other paint supplies crowded up against the walls. We started on the basement floor, just like the rankings promised, even thought I last remembered being in the lobby. Taylor's hand painted banners showing the emblem of the Copper Pheonix coated the walls, and I couldn't figure out what happened. The television screen we watched for announcements stayed blanked, and someone left a laptop open on the teacher's desk facing us. Someone pushed several boxes emblazoned with our emblem, trying to convey their importance.
My team lay scattered around the room, asleep on the ground. Nashita lay curled around a box in a position that looked really uncomfortable. Honestly, it looked like somebody just threw her on the box without caring if she would be alright or not. I stumbled over and adjusted her skirt so that it covered her legs back up, something I knew she would appreciate when she woke up.
"Nashita," I whispered quietly. "Nashita, wake up, please." I shook her shoulder. I felt terrified as soon as the reality of the situation set in. Taylor put us to sleep and threw us into the music room.
"Leave me alone, Rudy. I'm sleeping." The woman murmured and weakly waved a hand at me as if to dismiss all of my words. She fluttered her eyes in her sleep. She looked completely out of it and didn't realize who spoke to her.
"Nashita, it's me, Fey. I'm not Rowdy. Wake up." I talked a bit louder and used more force to shake her awake. She grumbled, finally opening her eyes and sitting up. Her face flushed, and she adjusted her clothing before looking around the room. Then, her expression changed. The embarrassment melted off of her face and anger solidified in its place.
"I can't believe this." She griped, pulling herself off the floor and stalking over to the door. She went to open it, and surprisingly, it swung open into the hallway. A dim lighting covered the hall. I noticed that this wasn't coming from an overhead light that kept on during school, but instead, small LED lights that lined the walls emitted it. They shone an orange color, the color of the Copper Pheonix team. Did that mean the event was still happening? Was it really necessary to knock us out for some stupid game? "Taylor pulled some shady shit just now, and I'm about to give them what for." She snarled, turning around to face me again. Some of the anger on her face faded. I guess she expected the door to be locked, too.
"Rowdy!" She yelled across the room at the pile of tattoos slumped in the corner near the desk. He didn't stir in the least. He looked dead, and the only thing to signify that he wasn't happened to be the shallow rise and fall of his shoulders as he slept. All of us staggered about in a slump of grogginess. As I continued to look around the room, I found Melissa and Leighton sprawled out somewhere else, also completely asleep. Someone placed our entire team here at the starting point. For some reason, Taylor felt the need to put us to sleep in order to start the event. The image of them sobbing, apologizing, and then opening that container swam back into my head. Maybe someone made them do it.
"Get up, dork! I need your help!" The girl yelled, strutting over to the sleeping beast that intimidated me still to this day, even though he acted like a kind, funny guy. She shook his tattooed shoulder with a dark hand, trying to keep her cool even though she felt absolutely petrified. "Please!"
Finally, the boy grumbled, rolling over and blinking up at the ceiling. He looked like he might be sick, to be honest. Eventually, though, he managed to sit up and grumble a few more times. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stretched like a bear that had just been woken up from hibernation. "What the hell is going on?" His voice mumbled as he staggered to his feet and gazed around the room; then it clicked, and everything came back to him. Embarrassment leaked onto his face, probably at the fact that someone drug him all the way back here.
I turned my head and went to go wake the others while Nashita and Rowdy argued about what to do. Their words contained profanities that I often heard from one of them but not the other, but then again, this extremely stressful situation weighed on everyone's shoulders. I laid my hand on Melissa's shoulder and began to shake, but received no response. She slept in the most contorted position known to man. I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up with aches and pains. I rolled her over so that maybe she wouldn't feel in too much pain when she got up, but my breath hitched in my throat.
Now with her hair out of the way, I could see that her throat swelled almost to the size of her head, and her face looked like went through the same process. Her eyes looked swelled shut, and all over her body large, red, swollen patches stood out like rashes. She looked like she had an allergic reaction to something, and we definitely arrived too late to avoid losing her. I couldn't help the frightened sob that escaped my mouth.
"What?" Nashita started, but her words vanished when she turned her head and saw the no-longer breathing Melissa. Her dark brown eyes widened in terror and grief, and in a moment, she arrived at my side to check and see if Melissa still let out any sign of breath. The woman tried to convince herself that a rush of air would hit her fingers whenever she put them all under the ghost's nose.
"Does she have an EpiPen?" I called to Rowdy with my hands shaking, already trying to find it in her pockets. The boy strode over, awestruck. He shook his head no, fiddling with his shirt, and trying to figure out what to say. "No, she doesn't. She's allergic to halothane, so she doesn't need one. When else do you run into anesthetic except for in a hospital?" He choked out, and habitually reached for his phone to call the cops. Then, remembering the devices had been confiscated, he slammed his fist into his leg, frustrated.
"We have to get out of here and call the cops so she can be taken in." Nashita whispered, raising to her feet. I saw tears prick at her eyes, and my heart almost cracked. I didn't know Melissa too well, but she was their good friend. The news probably devastated them. I mean, it crushed me, and I barely knew her. I crawled over to Leighton to wake him up so we could get out of here. At first, I feared that he wouldn't wake either, and that I would lose another friend today. After a few shakes, however, he woke with a small hiss. His eyes locked onto Melissa first, unfortunately.
He let out a loud scream that could have collapsed the walls, getting to his feet as quickly as he could with the grogginess setting over his features. Now he'd seen her too, and it was too late to explain to him what happened. Then again, we didn't really have much to work with. We could only tell him what he knew- that she had a natural allergic reaction to the gas that put us all to sleep, and because we were asleep, we found ourselves unable to help her. Unfortunately, that meant whoever moved us in here knew that she was going through a reaction.
"Leighton, come on, we can't help her, she's dead," I whispered, my hands shaking as they clasped his shoulder. I tugged him towards the door as he just stared at her, trying to figure out what happened in his own head. He looked dazed and unable to put the pieces together. "We have to go out to tell the other students to call the cops and tell her parents. Who cares about this stupid game? It's not more important than someone's life." I prodded him with my hand, but I couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret leaving my world of pretend behind. A murmur of agreement came from Rowdy and Nashita, which made me feel a bit better and reinforce the side of me that wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. They cared more for their friend than this stupid game.
We walked out into the hallway and felt more dread echo into our hearts. The room's door held up our logo on the outside with a nail, and below that, in orange paint, someone painted 'base room' in girlish, curly handwriting. Small LED lights ran along the bottom of the walls with one being placed every foot or so. The devices probably worked off of batteries considering there weren't any visible wires. An orange light emitted out of them to change the color of the normally white wall so they could signify our floor.
I brushed my hand up against the wall as we walked, eventually we ended up the stairs onto the first floor and out of the basement. On the first floor, the colors drenched a deep red onto the walls. That made this Crimson Gauntlet's starting floor. Breath hitching in my throat from unseen fear, I followed behind Nashita and Rowdy, who wiped their faces and looked grim.
When we found the door to the Lobby, my whole body felt like it might turn to jelly.
A person covered the door with large, industrial chains that weaved through the handles and a rather large padlock kept them together. It would take years to cut through any of that, and the key didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. Someone locked us in, and they definitely intended us to participate in the game no matter what. We couldn't get out.
"What is this?" Rowdy screamed, banging on the door as soon as he saw it. Tears scaled down the sides of his face but he pretended not to see them. None of us ever saw Rowdy scared and I didn't know what to think of it. Nashita didn't call him out on it, either, even though she picked on him for stuff like this all the time. Leighton just stood at my side, motionless and shell-shocked from the death of his friend.
"Rowdy," I whispered as I watched him try to collapse the metal, and I could hear the echo go into the Lobby. "No one's going to hear us. Beyond the Lobby is the Entrance Hall; the sound won't travel that far. She orchestrated this perfectly. We won't be getting through that door. We have to play." The reminder of how Abigail laughed at me when she told me to kill Taylor in her midst clicked back into my head. She wanted this to happen and she wanted it to be lethal. She wanted us to murder each other in the name of some stupid high school game, like a fantasy battle royale. Abigail acted like she didn't believe the line between fantasy and reality existed.
"She?" Rowdy flipped around and his face reddened with anger. He looked like a towering, rabid beast. I couldn't help stepping back in fear even though he didn't direct his anger at me. "You mean they. Every single one of those low-down dirty Badgers helped orchestrate this, even Taylor. They played a part of what killed Melissa. They probably helped hurt Rachel! Abigail just sits on the top of the totem pole, Felicity!" The bear took a sharp breath in. "Do you hear me? They're all responsible!" I shrunk into myself, eyes wide. Rowdy never erupted like this.
Loud, hurried footsteps slammed across the linoleum tiles and interrupted our conversation. The creature ran at a full sprint, trying to get somewhere as fast as they could.
A platinum blonde person that I thought I knew decently well rounded the corner, blue eyes filled with tears and hands shaking as they toppled on their prosthetic leg from rounding the corner too fast. They tripped and hit the ground with a riotous thud. They would have let out a loud yell in pain, but all of the air left them from the force of their chest hitting the ground. Taylor looked like they'd been bawling, and two things skittered out of their hands when they hit the ground. A large dagger-type weapon that looked deadlier than anything we'd ever used in the game hit the wall with a clank. The razor sharp, metal blade gleamed in the low light. A small metal case also slid out of their hand and hit the wall, opening up. A syringe spilled out, along with a vial of some medical equipment and instructions. Taylor brought an antihistamine to help Melissa, but they just arrived too late.
They quickly scrambled to their knees, scooped all the supplies back into the case, closed it, and then picked up their dagger with a shaking hand. When they climbed to their feet, Rowdy didn't step forward first.
Instead, Nashita thundered over, and stopped inches from Taylor's face. She stood shorter than them, but she looked every bit of pissed, ferocious, and ready to attack. She wiped the tears from her eyes, pulled her lips back into a snarl, and pushed her index finger against the space between their collarbones. They stared down at her, obviously intimidated. Their hands shook wildly, made evident by the rattling of the case.
"You're an awful person." She whispered, drawing her dark eyebrows together in an arch of hatred. "You let a person lay there and die just because you wanted a stupid game to be authentic. I can't believe you. I thought you cared about people!" Nashita shoved them backward, and they stumbled, letting out a sob.
"Nashita, I promise, I didn't know she was allergic to halothane." Taylor whispered. Their hair cascaded around their face in a wild mess, as if they rose out of slumber recently as well. A new idea occurred to me. They couldn't have moved all of us if they just awoke, too. Bruises littered their face where Arthur slammed his fists into the timid person, and Taylor didn't throw a punch back. Even a stain where a thin stream of blood had been not long ago sat below their nose. "Abigail just told me what happened. I came down with the medicine. I'm so sorry," They sobbed, raising one hand to their face to muffle their sobs. After thinking on Nashita's words, they whispered, "I'm too late, aren't I?"
"Damn right you're too late, and I doubt you didn't know! You helped plan this!" Nashita shouted and got even closer to the Badger's face. "You're nothing but a low down, dirty liar!" The woman barked, her voice sounding hoarse as her tears travelled down the side of her face.
"Nashita, I know you're just saying these things because you're upset. You don't really mean this." Taylor began, reaching out to touch her shoulder with tears in their eyes. Even in a situation like this, their main goal remained to comfort those around them. Despite this, the enraged Nashita cut their words off and slapped their hand away.
"I mean every word of it, Erickson." The woman hissed, narrowing her dark brown eyes at them with the hatred of her entire being.
They looked sad, hurt, and upset. The person took a few steps backward, crushed by her words. Finally, when they found themselves able to speak, they let out a hushed whisper.
"Fine. If you want me to be a demon, I'll be a demon. I'll be a real one, one that angels fear." They murmured and hugged their sides as they sobbed through the words. "No one else wanted to help me or take me in but Abigail, so I intend to repay all her kindness and love!" Taylor raised their head and their lips curled back in a pained, angry snarl. "You all treated me like mud on your shoes and I just smiled. Now I can fight back." Where they retreated before, they approached now. "I don't have to be nice anymore, because even if I am nice, you just think I'm horrible." They hissed, words chopped and crooked by the pain swarming in their chest. Then, before Nashita could reply, they raised the dagger and took a real swing at her, intending to slice her shoulder. They calculated it so that the attack would still be painful, but not lethal.
She raised her arm in a split second, causing the metal to dig deep into the flesh of her arm. When they withdrew the blade, blood streamed off of it and dripped to the floor as a stark reminder of what just happened. Nashita's pained scream hit the walls.
I rushed forward, pushing Nashita gently out of harm's way and then violently shoving Taylor backward. They toppled with a loud scream, hitting their back and head on the hard floor. That would leave them down for a while. I grabbed both Nashita and Leighton's arms, and headed directly for the stairs that we came from. My heart beat in my chest crazily, like I had almost witnessed a murder. I guess, in a way, I almost did.
Only the sound of his footsteps assured me that Rowdy followed down the stairs, but I didn't turn back to look. I just ran, taking my friends with me to the only place I knew I could go at the moment.
I skirted back into the music room and started digging through the boxes as Rowdy tried to calm Nashita down. She bit her lip to subdue the pain, and it took everything he could do to keep her from sobbing uncontrollably. Leighton made sure to shut and lock the door behind us.
What I found in the boxes made me sick. Knives, swords, and weapons of all sorts sat crammed into the boxes. All of them wielded real, deadly blades. Another box contained bottled water, medical kits, and some little snack foods. Abigail stuffed everything we could use to try and win some war into a high school.
I pulled out a large first aid kit, and beckoned Nashita over to me. The boys turned around respectfully, as I had to roll up Nashita's sleeves pretty far to deal with the wound, and they knew she wouldn't exactly feel at ease with them looking. I'm glad they at least had respect for how she felt. Slowly, I tried my best to clean out the blood from the damage Taylor did, and then apply medicine and wrap it tightly. After a few minutes, I returned her sleeve to its place, and she took a couple of pain pills with one of the bottles of water.
"You can turn around now," She murmured after swallowing the water, eyes on the ground and still teary. She sat down on the floor, nursing her arm with a delicate hand. I couldn't imagine how bad that felt. I didn't know what to think, and that made me feel numb. We couldn't scout a path out of this wretched nightmare.
Leighton began to pace the room, and when his voice hit my ears, he stuttered. "We have to find a phone at all costs. That's the best way out; we have to call the cops and tell them what's going on." He said and glanced at all of us.
Rowdy respectfully laid Melissa's body against the wall, folding her hands onto her chest and then covering her with one of the tarps that usually laid on the pianos. When he turned back to us, he looked sick, but he nodded. "Yeah, we need to do that, but no one has a cell phone in here. That means we'll probably have to go to the Principal's Office. That way, no one can override the call. I'm sure Abigail's watching the phone lines from the classrooms." My heart skipped a beat, and then, I interrupted Rowdy.
"Well," I murmured, dumping a box of weapons out on the floor. "I don't really want to use them, but it looks like if we want to avoid being sliced to bits, we need these. Which one do you guys want?"