Inside the room was utterly bare as it just a table in the center with a wardrobe folded on top. Beside it there is a small pair of white earphones rested on the table. A glowing LED panel on the wall displayed a single line of text:
Please change into the provided wardrobe.
After glancing around the empty room to make sure that there is no windows, cameras, or any sign of observation, I slipped into the jumpsuit. To my surprise that it fit perfectly.
Once I was dressed, I picked up the earphones and hesitating for a moment before sticking them in my ears. Then a soft chime rang through them followed by robotic voice:
[Wardrobe integration in progress… complete]
[Proceed to the next step]
I glanced at the glowing LED panel again. It had shifted to display an arrow pointing toward another door labeled EXIT.
As I stepped outside, I instantly hit by a wave of disbelief. What lay before me was a sprawling ruined town. Crashed cars littered the cracked roads with their frames twisted and burned. Buildings loomed on either side with its facades crumbling, windows shattered, and walls scorched with blackened streaks. Everywhere I looked were signs of destruction that it just looks like the end of the world.
"How did they do this?" My hand brushed against a rusted mailbox.
Altiris Labs must have poured a fortune into this. It was like they'd built an entire town just to tear it apart.
I noticed others emerging from their rooms. They all wore the same white jumpsuit. Soon the quiet streets were buzzing with noise.
"Is this for real?" someone asked nearby.
"They actually built all this?"
"This is insane!"
Everyone seemed equally awestruck. There had to be at least a thousand of us here.
The noise around me quieted abruptly as a voice echoed in my earphones:
[Welcome, participants. Mission parameters initiating]
[Objective: Locate a citizen and escort to the designated central point]
[Resource provisioning: Self-sustainability required. Food, water, and tools must be acquired within the operational environment]
[Event protocol: No suspensions permitted under any circumstance. Continuation is mandatory until mission resolution or participant disqualification]
[Disqualification parameters: Failure to reach the designated central point with a citizen within the allotted timeframe]
[Initiating event countdown. Time remaining: 72:00:00]
I felt a unease. The buzz of excitement shifted by murmurs of uncertainty and tension.
"No food or water?" someone said.
"Three days straight? Is that even legal?"
Yet, the crowd began to scatter, some moving purposefully and others hesitating. Some had already found their citizens, men, women, and even children who stuck to them like shadows. The citizens' performances were incredible, their fear and reliance palpable.
I had to admit, these actors were good.
I wandered around searching for a citizen of my own.
A few hours in, the peace shattered as a high-pitched whir cutting through the silence. I stopped in my tracks and craning my neck to see where the sound was coming from.
A metallic drone hovered into view, it was small and had glowing red lights that flickered like searching eyes.
At first I thought it was just another prop of the set designed to immerse us further into the roleplay. Someone near me laughed while pointing at it.
"That looks cool!" they said.
But the drone didn't stay still. It focuses on a man standing just a few feet ahead of me. Suddenly a loud zap echoed through the street. The man's body jerked before crumpling to the ground.
For a second everyone froze. People stared unsure of what they had just witnessed. A woman near the fallen man rushed to his side.
"Get up! Oh my God, get up!" she cried, shaking him.
"He's acting," someone mocked.
But as the woman pressed her fingers to the man's neck, her face went pale. She looked up at the rest of us with her hands trembling.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.
"Dead?" someone whispered, their voice laced with disbelief. "It has to be fake!"
But the blood pooling beneath the man told a different story.
Another drone appeared, then another, their whirring blades felt like growing louder. People scattered, their screams echoing off the ruined buildings.
"It must be part of the LARP!" someone shouted.
"No!" another voice yelled back. "This is real!"
The drones moved quickly, anyone caught in their sights was struck down. I watched as another participant tried to fend one off. She swung a metal pole at it but the drone easily dodged and retaliated with a burst of energy that sent her to the ground. Her body didn't move.
I ducked behind an overturned car and my heart pounding so fast. Around me the chaos was deafening, screams, shouts, the hum of the drones and the crackle of their weapons firing.
People ran in every direction but without a map or guidance it was impossible to know where to go. Some participants turned on each other fighting over citizens in their desperation.
I peeked out from my hiding spot and saw a man yanking a citizen away from another participant. The two grappled, their shouts drowned out by the chaos around them.
"Let go!" one of the men screamed while punching the other in the face.
The second man fell and clutching his nose, then the first man dragged the citizen away without looking back.
The turning point came when a man with muscles grabbed a chunk of metal from a nearby car wreck. He hurled it at an approaching drone. The metal collided with the drone and sent it crashing to the ground in a shower of sparks. The crowd around him erupted into cheers, their fear momentarily replaced by hope.
"We can fight back!" someone yelled.
The man didn't stop. He lifted another piece of debris and smashed it down on the drone's remains to ensure it was completely destroyed. Then he turned to the rest of us.
"Grab anything you can! We're not just sitting ducks!"
People began picking up anything that could be used as a weapon, pipes, bricks, jagged pieces of metal.
I grabbed a piece of wood, my hands shaking as I gripped it. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.
The drones didn't stop coming. The air was thick with tension and desperation. Some participants banded together forming groups to defend themselves.
I stayed low darting from cover to cover. My hands ached from gripping the wood so tightly. Around me the sounds of fighting grew louder.
Then the high-pitched whir of the drones suddenly faded into the distance, they're finally gone. The silence that followed was deafening and punctuated only by the muffled cries of survivors and the faint rustle of debris shifting in the wind.
I slumped against a crumbling wall as my chest heaving and I struggled to catch my breath. Around me the streets were littered with the aftermath, dead bodies of participants, shattered remains of drones, and citizens trembling in the arms of those lucky enough to have protected them.
Then the voice came through the earphones sliced through the quiet:
[Attention, participants. Status synchronization in progress]
[Scanning operational environment… complete]
I hold my breath anticipating the announcement.
[Survivor : 734 participants.
Disqualified: 266 participants]
My gaze shifted to the lifeless bodies scattered across the road.
"By disqualified, they mean dead?"
The voice in my ear continued:
[Time remaining: 60:12:43]
[Continue mission progression]
My stomach churned as I looked around. Everyone faces pale and hollow, their movements slow and hesitant. The reality of it all was sinking in for everyone, this wasn't a role playing.