Cayden hastily moved forward and grabbed Peter's arm.
"What?" Peter's scrunched up face squinted at Cayden. "Who are you?" Peter demanded.
"You're drunk?" Cayden asked back. Peter's squinted eyes finally bulged, and he laughed.
"Oh~ Cayden! The honor student Cayden! My freaking nerdy best friend, where are your glasses?!" Peter enthusiastically jumped on him. Cayden noticed that his beefy best friend is still the same blabbering sports maniac as before. His wooden baseball bat was protruding from the bag he swung on his shoulders.
"It's eleven in the evening. Why are you still out here?" Cayden repeated the words he remembered from that night fifteen years ago.
He knew he was a lame nerd back in high school. On this very night, he went home at exactly five in the afternoon. He cooked dinner for his family and went upstairs to his room to study.
At ten thirty in the evening, Peter's mother called. Informing him that Peter has not yet returned home. She asked him if they are together, and when he said no, Peter's mother burst into tears.
Peter's father died in a car accident. One night, he just did not come home. Peter's mother wasn't able to sleep that night. The next morning, they received a call that Mr. Rona (A/N: Their last name) was reportedly dead when he was rushed to the hospital.
That night etched a grave trauma on Peter's mother.
Cursing, the young Cayden went out to find him in the street. His timid and meek self dared to chat in their 'group chat' inquiring if anyone had seen Peter. Obviously, the boys mocked and played jokes, not answering his question directly. The girls took pity on Cayden and told him Peter was at his club's after-party.
One of them provided Cayden with an address he could locate using his phone. He was on his way to the store where they were celebrating their party when the present Cayden found himself standing at this intersection.
"Hey guys, my friend picked me up. We're going home now! See you tomorrow!"
A slurred protest came out of the young boys' lips, but Cayden ignored them and dragged Peter's drunk self away from his peers.
They pass by a commercial building with a huge flash screen on its high-end walls. The time is 11:56 p.m.
In this short span of time, there had been multiple reports of accidents on the street. The sky had turned dark, and violent thunder struck. Thunder strikes the rooftop towers of some of the world's tallest buildings, resulting in the city's electricity being cut off.
Screams and muffled curses erupted from the crowd.
"Ah! Black out?!" Peter shouted along with the others. Cayden was silent on the way. The hand that held Peter was so tight that he could not flex his fingers.
"Where are we going? The streets may be dark, but Peter can still see the streets through his phone's flashlight. They turned towards the next intersection and went deeper into the unknown alley.
Honestly, Peter is not so drunk. He still has his reason intact. The loud crackle of the thunder went past their ears. The lightning illuminated their way. Peter had a deep frown on his face when he began to not recognize the direction in which they were going.
Since earlier, Cayden has not said a word and has been acting suspiciously.
"Cayden, what's wrong? Do we have somewhere to be?" Peter stopped in his tracks and grabbed Cayden's hand, forcing Cayden to stop as well.
"Seriously, where are we going? Are you taking me to another bar?" Peter joked. Then he chuckled at his own joke. Because imagining Cayden breaking the rules and drinking is like watching Superman in a cheerleader girl's uniform. (A/N: aka impossible to happen)
Cayden looked over his shoulder and glanced above.
"Look." Cayden's hoarse voice sounded very strange to Peter. This is not the usual, extremely uptight best friend he knew.
He'd never be so... emotionless.
Peter looked up and almost collapsed on his feet when he saw the thing looming from above.
The sky and clouds were swirling together to form a huge gaping hole in the center, like a black hole devouring everything in its path. But what surprised Peter is not that. It was the people who were wearing black that were falling from the hole.
Hundreds of them were dropping down like snowdrops.
Only that they are dressed entirely in black and have a mascot head.
Peter, with his bulging eyes, saw that there were at least half a dozen dropping in the nearby buildings they were currently in. His instinct immediately kicked in. He stumbled to get up, grab Cayden's arm, and drag him to wherever his legs could take him.
They rounded up three more intersections. However, on the last turn, they are caught in a trap.
Six huge men in black suits were standing at the end of both intersections, as if they knew they would definitely come and try to escape this way.
Above them, on the huge gaping hole, there are multiple silver giant chains hanging in the sky. As if connecting the earth to another world.
The world stopped moving at that moment. Everything was silent, like a drop of blood could be heard in the whole alley. It's like the silence is the momentary peace before a storm. Because Cayden is a weakling who gets scared easily, Peter held Cayden's arm and stood up in front of his best friend, shielding him with his toned body to block his view.
"Who are you guys?" Peter demanded. No one answered him.
The alligator mascot seemed so real, Peter was tempted to poke its blinking eyes with his baseball bat.
Out of nowhere, the sound of fireworks was heard, exploding in every corner of the world. Then a mechanical voice of a man announced.
[Welcome, humans of the planet Earth!]
[The Dark Tower is pleased to have you in our humble abode.]
[We welcome every race and held no discrimination.]
[You can be the villain or the hero. Your choice. Just don't forget.]
[The winner rules us all!]
[Happy elimination game!]