I was running. I didn't know from what, only that every direction was wrong.
Bodies littered the ground in impossible numbers, torn apart, soaked into the dirt, twisted into shapes no human should ever make. Faces I didn't recognize stared back at me with empty sockets. Some still moved, twitching like they hadn't accepted they were dead.
"Keep going," someone whispered behind me.
I spun around, but no one was there, just more corpses, and then the earth cracked beneath my feet. When I tried to back away, the ground caved completely, and I dropped into a black pit lined with metal spikes. It was a cold, inevitable death but then—
I jolted awake, gasping so violently it hurt.
My shirt stuck to my skin, soaked with sweat. My heart raced as if it was still trying to outrun something that wasn't there. It took me a second to realize I was still in the room. Still alive. Still in the Games.
I turned to look beside me and the bed was empty. The sheets were still faintly warm and creased where Laura had been. Panic hit me for a second, until the sound of running water came from the bathroom.
She was fine.
I placed a hand on my forehead, still breathing slowly. The nightmare stuck with me, not going away, even as the weak sunlight sipped in through the room's fake windows.
It was morning. And somehow, despite everything, the Games expected us to live like it was normal.
I barely had a moment to sit when the bathroom door opened.
Laura walked out, wearing only a shirt, the wet fabric sticking to her body. From the looks of it… she wasn't wearing anything underneath. I looked away fast, but my mind didn't move nearly as quickly.
"I'm done bathing… uhm, you can go next," she said quietly, glancing down before looking back at me.
I forced myself to focus on floor instead of… well, everything. Good thing she seems like a good girl… shy too.
Or so I thought.
Midway during breakfast, she looked up from her plate, chewing slowly like she was working up the courage to say something.
"Uhm… Erwin?" she asked, her voice quiet but firm.
"Yeah?" I said, glancing at her.
She hesitated for a second, then leaned slightly closer. "Did you… happen to hear… last night?"
I froze. My fork paused halfway to my mouth. My stomach twisted, but she wasn't looking away. She was staring right at me.
"I—uh, yeah," I finally said, trying to keep my voice steady.
She nodded, not embarrassed at all. "I thought so. I… I just wanted to ask… what you thought about it. The sounds. The people. How they… handled themselves."
I blinked. "Handled themselves?"
She tilted her head, "You know… last night. People still going at it while everyone else… well, died. It's… crazy. I just wondered what someone like you thinks."
I swallowed, feeling my pulse quicken. Bold, I thought. Way bolder than shy.
I finally managed, keeping my tone neutral, "I think… some people have a very strange way of coping."
She leaned closer, just enough that I could feel her presence, and smirked. "Coping, huh? Or maybe they just like ignoring rules. I mean… we're all stuck here. Might as well enjoy the parts we can control, right?"
I shook my head slightly, forcing a small, polite smile. "I… guess." I pushed the conversation closed, hoping she'd take the hint.
But she didn't. After taking a few bites of her food, she looked up and asked, casual as if we were in a cafeteria, "Do you have a girlfriend… or a wife, or something?"
I gave her a look. "Why are you asking?"
"Since we're roommates… I figured it's only fair we get to know each other," she said, shrugging. "You know, in case… well, we're stuck here for... who knows how long."
I nodded slowly, letting her words sink in.
I realized then, that she wasn't as shy as she seemed. The timid girl from the shower was just her being cautious. The scared, trembling girl at the river was her being afraid and confused. This… this was her, the real her, once she felt a little calm. And I found myself wondering… what happens when she's finally calm and 100% herself?
"So, do you?" she asked again, tilting her head slightly.
I tried to kill the question before it got messy. "How old are you even?"
"Twenty-four," she said, calm, as if that answered everything.
I raised my eyebrows, and my eyes probably gave away my surprise.
"You thought I was underaged or something?" she asked with a small, amused tilt of her head.
I sighed, running a hand over my face. "Not exactly. I'm just... trying to keep this simple."
She pouted lightly, her bottom lip jutting out, and for a second, I could see it. Her eyes dimmed a little, almost sad. "I… I didn't mean to be annoying. I just… you're the first person who's helped me since I can remember. You literally saved my life."
I felt a bit guilty, so I finally decided to answer honestly, just to make things light again. "I actually do have a fiancée."
Her eyes lit up almost immediately, wide and sparkling. "Oh really? Is she hotter than me?"
I froze.
She leaned a little closer, still grinning, then added quickly, "I mean… beautiful."
I swallowed. Boundaries… she doesn't know them, I thought. But… I guess that's part of surviving this game together.
Even sitting across from her, I could feel that this bold, fearless, and slightly chaotic girl was going to make things… complicated. But maybe, just maybe, she could also be an ally. A partner. A teammate. And for some reason, that thought didn't entirely scare me.
She leaned back on the couch for a moment, then suddenly sat up and pointed toward the door.
"Let's... check this place out," she said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
I hesitated, but staying in the same room with her all day didn't sound safe. Not that I'd ever admit it… but she was hotter than Diana. Way hotter. And I was trying very hard not to think about it.
After a moment, I nodded. "Alright… let's go."
So we took the elevator down. When the doors opened, we didn't walk very far. The doors to other rooms were open a little, and we could see people moving inside: stretching, talking, some just standing around.
Laura led the way, still close enough that I could feel her presence. The room we stopped at looked like a rest area, but bigger than anything I'd seen before. Treadmills, weights, mats, even a basketball hoop. A few people were just sitting, but most were moving, testing the equipment or talking loudly.
I muttered under my breath, "Hospitality in the middle of a death game… never thought I'd see that."
Laura glanced at me and smirked. "It's… weird, isn't it? But I like it."
I nodded, keeping my eyes on the room. It felt safe enough, for now. But then the noise started.
A man suddenly punched another square in the face.
"You fucked my wife!" he yelled.
The other guy staggered back, wiping blood from his lip. "Hey! She said she was single! Besides… she came to me herself"
The first man grabbed a heavy dumbbell from the floor and swung it hard at the other guy's head. The metal hit with a sickening crack, and the second man went down, lifeless.
Everyone froze. We all looked at the body, waiting for the system to react, waiting for an instant punishment.
But nothing happened.
Then a screen lit up in the corner, words appearing in bright letters:
Former participant count: 640,472,121
Current participant count: 640,472,120
I stared, my stomach twisting. The system… wasn't doing anything.
That was when I realized that during the rest periods, the system didn't care what we did. We could fight amongst ourselves, kill each other, even fuck other people's wives… and it wouldn't react.
And that thought… made the room feel colder, heavier, and far more dangerous than anything we'd faced so far.