Joe and his sister, Hannah, were in the same class and school. Both of them were very good friends. They were going on a school trip to the amusement park, which was located in the city jungle, on the school bus. There were twenty students on the trip, including Joe and his sister.
They reached the park, bought the tickets, and started enjoying. But suddenly, the park lights started flickering, the rides went crazy, and the students started screaming loudly.
All of this continued until a bizarre light flashed, which made all the students close their eyes.
When they opened their eyes, they saw that there were only ten students left, along with a mysterious guy covered in black.
Everyone was scared; some even started crying.
"Stop crying," the mysterious guy said, stepping forward. "Don't worry. All of your friends are safe and secure."
"Who are you?" Robert asked. He was the class's topper, intelligent in all fields. "And where are they–"
"Shh!" the mysterious guy said, cutting Robert off. "Let me finish first."
Everyone fell silent. The silence was so strong that even a pin dropping on the ground could be heard.
"This is a game," Mysterious guy said. "A death game; in which only the winner will survive. I'm Edward, the creator of this game that you all are going to play, called JUNGLE SAFARI"
"What kind of game do we have to play?" Joe said while thinking about Hannah.
"It's a race," Edward said. "A race to save your friends and yourselves. Only one of you will be the winner of this race. Whoever finishes first will survive. All ten of your friends are handcuffed in an underwater temple with oxygen masks that will keep them alive for thirty minutes. Your main goal is to save your friend before the time runs out or before anyone else saves theirs. If you are unable to do so, you are as good as dead."
"Where do we find this underwater temple?" Adrian asked. He was as average as anyone could imagine. "And how are we going to save our friends?"
"Nice question," Edward said excitedly. "You just have to head east, in the direction where the sun rises, and you'll find it in no time. As for saving them, you need to find a key to unlock their handcuffs, which can be found inside a diamond."
"What if," Josh asked, the strongest and the class bully, "we run in a different direction other than east?"
"No, you can't," Edward said with a smirk. "There are hungry wolves that will devour you, leaving not a single piece behind."
Everyone became more terrified than before.
"So now, we shall begin the game," Edward shouted. "Ready, set, go!" After saying this, he vanished into thin air.
Every student started running east, except for three. These three didn't believe any of it and decided to head south to return home. But as soon as they stepped into the southern jungle, a pack of wolves devoured them in thirty seconds.
Every student saw them got eaten. Some of them puked but no one stopped going east.
After five minutes, they all reached an area covered with thorny vines. They had to cross it to move forward, as there was no other way. They couldn't go around it, knowing that if they ventured in any direction other than east, they would be devoured by wolves.
They all started crossing the area. All seven of them were screaming as the thorns were pricking their legs. Five of them were able to cross the area but two of them died of pain.
Everyone was uncomfortable, but Joe seemed more distressed than the others.
"Why are you so serious, Joe? You look like you're about to puke," Robert asked, trying to comfort Joe.
"Why so serious?" Joe shouted. "Five of us died like nothing, and I think we, along with our friends and my sister who are handcuffed underwater, will share the same fate as them. Isn't that enough to be serious?"
"Are you worried about your sister too?" Adrian asked.
"Of course, she's my sister and my only best friend."
"But you two are always fighting, even over small things."
"It doesn't matter how much we fight, it doesn't matter how much we hate, deep down we both love each other. She's my sister,she's my precious, she's my diamond and I'd do anything for her—even if I have to give my life."
After hearing Joe's words, everyone went silent and kept moving forward. After a few minutes, they stopped as a very large ravine appeared in front of them. The ravine was so wide that they couldn't cross it by jumping, and going around it was not an option.
"Oi, Topper," Joe said, looking at Robert. "You're intelligent in all fields, right? Think of something."
Taking Joe's words as praise, Robert quickly thought of an idea. "I've got it! We can make a bridge over the ravine using the thorny vines we crossed earlier."
After hearing Robert's plan, they all went back and gathered the vines. They tied one end to a tree and the other end to a rock, which they threw to secure it to a tree on the other side.
They all started crossing the thorny bridge. Their feet swelled and turned blue. Due to the intense pain, one of the students lost their balance and fell into the ravine, dragging Robert along with them.
In the end, only three students managed to cross the bridge—Joe, Josh, and Adrian. Three of them kept moving forward.
After a few minutes of running, they reached a beach. From the shoreline, only the vast ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see.
Joe jumped into the ocean, followed by Adrian and Josh. Underwater, they saw a temple and a very large crocodile heading toward them, so they quickly surfaced. Adrian and Joe ran a few meters away from the shore, but Josh stayed behind, waiting to confront the crocodile.
As soon as the crocodile emerged from the water, Josh smashed its head with a rock, killing it. Afterward, Josh reentered the ocean. Adrian and Joe, seeing this, came running back and joined him in the water.
As Joe and Adrian entered the ocean, they heard Josh screaming from inside the temple. They both rushed toward the gate. From there, they saw Josh's lifeless body lying on the floor, surrounded by half a dozen sword-wielding skeletons.
[10 Minutes Left]
Both of them were terrified but noticed two swords hanging from the ceiling. Joe found this pretty odd. They quickly swam to the surface for air, then returned. Grabbing the swords, they fought and killed all the skeletons within five minutes. When the last skeleton fell, oxygen masks appeared on both of their faces.
[5 Minutes Left]
They rushed toward their friends, but all of them were still handcuffed. To save them, Joe and Adrian searched the entire temple, looking for the key, but found nothing except an old Buddha statue. They noticed something written on the Buddha's neck:
"Lost things are found where you least expect them to be,
You will find it when you look inside of me."
[1 Minute Left]
After reading this, Adrian focused on the second line and began breaking the statue, hoping to find the key inside.
But Joe focused on the first line and remembered Edward's words: "...which can be found inside a diamond..."
[30 Seconds Left]
While Adrian was still breaking the statue, Joe swam quickly to his sister and found the key inside her fist, which also confirmed what he had suspected. He took the key, freed her, and swam toward the surface, leaving Adrian behind to die.
Joe came out of the water and found himself in the amusement park, with Edward standing in front of him. He didn't feel shocked at all.
"Congratulations!" Edward cheered. "You won the game. But how did you manage to find the key?"
"My sister is my diamond," Joe said without hesitation.
"Great!" Edward clapped.
"You are Edward Markikov, right?" Joe asked with a slight smile on his face. "The villain from the book I read yesterday."
"Oh! So you already know?" Edward smirked.
"I got the hint when I saw only two swords inside the temple, but it was confirmed when I found the key in my sister's fist."
Edward started laughing, and with his laughter, everything went black. Suddenly, Joe's eyes opened. He found himself on the school bus.
"Oh! You woke up?" Hannah said excitedly. "We are about to reach the park!"
After reaching the park, Joe saw a man in black clothes disappearing into the shadows, and only one question arose in his mind:
Was it really a dream?