They have returned.

Oh yes, the story you all know and slightly love is being continued. New parts are in the making, but I'll post the first 10 parts over again. All 10 will be back up before tomorrow, then the new parts will be added after that. Here's part one.

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SYN

I awoke lying on a hard floor. It was pitch black, and something was jabbing in my back. It kind of hurt a little bit. Did I fall off my bed, and onto something during my sleep? I rolled off the sharp thing and stood up. For some reason my knees were a little bit shaky. I started to walk towards my light switch across my bedroom, but my knees gave way. I fell forward, and I put out my hands to stop my fall. I landed on something soft. The soft thing grunted.

Who was lying on my floor in the middle of the night!? “Who’s there?” asked the person on my floor groggily. “What are you doing in my room?”

I was shocked at the question that came out of the person’s mouth? HIS room? This was my room, what was he talking about?

It then occurred to me I might not be in my room. “What’s your name?” I asked the person. “You come into my room late at night and then ask me my name!? Who do you think you are!!!??? I can legally shoot you ya know”. He stood up, and started to walk. Suddenly he crashed down the same as I did.

“What the heck is wrong with my legs…? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!?!” I heard him crawling across the floor, I guess trying to get to his gun. “Calm down” I told him. “My name is Russ. I’m not in your room. I don’t know where we are… But my legs are feeling odd too. Someone must have taken us here, I think.”

He was still pulling himself frantically across the floor. “Where is it…? Where is my closet?” He asked. He pulled himself farther along the floor. Suddenly the lights flashed on. It was very bright, and I had to shield my eyes to let them adjust.

While I was waiting for my eyes to adjust, a voice boomed out. It sounded garbled, like it was coming through an old radio. “Hello everyone. It’s so nice to meet you all. This room is quite large. I think I’ll let everyone wake up, and get to know one another. But after that, it’s game time. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Shake hands, introduce yourself, and be friendly. I’ll be back in 20 minutes. Enjoy yourselves…

There was a sound kind of like the sound you hear at the end of a walkie talkie, that static sound, and then there was silence. My eyes were beginning to adjust to the light. I could make out the forms of many bodies, lying in the vast expanse of the room.

I wondered just what it was the guy on the walkie talkie wanted. Who were all these people? I counted one girl in the entire mass of bodies. The rest were guys. The guy I had fallen on had uncovered his eyes, and looked at me. He stared at me for a little bit, before asking incredulously: “Syn?”

How did he know my name…? I wondered. Well, it wasn’t my name, but it was my online… Username…

I looked all around at the bodies. I saw someone with red hair. A guy with long blonde hair. I knew these faces from somewhere. Then I took a closer look at the one female. She was Asian. At that moment, I knew who these people were. They were my friends from online. We had all been dumped into a room. The guy who knew my online name still stared incredulously. And I stared back. This wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible. I knew the guy I was staring at. I had never seen his face before now. But I still knew. The way he had gotten angry like that… “Havoc” I said simply.

He started shaking his head back and forth. “This can’t be possible” he said over and over again. I knew how he felt. Someone had brought us, the Umbrella Corporation members, from online… Into real life. Everyone in the room was starting to sit up and look around. Some people I recognized, some I did not. The kid with red hair sat up. Austin. The guy with long blonde hair sat up. Pest. The Asian girl… Jarki.

Some realized what was going on at once. Austin looked taken aback. Jarki had a look of instant recognization. A few others I didn’t recognize had looks of realization on their faces too. And me and Havoc sat there shaking our heads and looking at the crowd of people. Someone had brought us together in real life, for purposes unknown. This couldn’t be possible. Immediately I began wondering who brought us here, and why.

The others tried to stand up like me and Havoc did. They all fell. Whoever brought us here had drugged us. Took us while we were asleep. Havoc was still muttering. I felt the same way.

This couldn’t be happening.

Part 2.

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PENGY

I was outside my school, lying on the hard metal bench. It was very dark. Suddenly the sun appeared in the sky. It was very bright… I opened my eyes…
Wait… Opened?

I woke up from my dream. “Man, my bed got hard during the night”

I began to wonder if I really was on my bench in front of my school, looking up at the sun. But the sun was shining a brighter white than usual. The sun is normally yellow…

I sat up. I was not on my bed, nor was I on the bench. The bright light above me was simply a light, and that was all. I tried to get my bearings, but I was still a little sleepy. I looked around the room. Just where was I anyway? The room was brightly lit, and filled with many people all looking around. A voice was booming over a radio I saw hanging in the corner of the room.

I didn’t really care what the voice was saying. I really had to go to the bathroom though. I stood up and looked around the room for the bathroom. I started to take a step when my legs collapsed from under me. I fell straight forward and hit the ground hard. What happened to my legs? Why could I not walk?

Then it began to dawn on me. I was not in my room. Last night I went to sleep in my nice bed, and I wake up here? Just what was going on? And I still really had to go to the bathroom. I looked at all the people around me. I wondered if they were the ones who removed me from my bed last night while I was asleep.

I saw a girl wave at me. In fact she was the only girl in the room. She looked oddly familiar, but… Wait. I knew her. She was a girl I played online with. Named Kate Jarki. Well, at least I’m pretty sure this was her. Why would me and her end up in the same room though? Then I looked across the room. Quite a bit taller than anyone else. I recognized him too. He also was an online friend, Synyster Gates. What was 2 of my online friends doing in this room with me? Wait, I recognized more… Were all these people I knew from online somehow?

And I still really had to use the bathroom.

15 minutes later we were all gathered near the center of the room. We had all introduced ourselves, and we all came to the realization that we were all members of Umbrella in Dead frontier.

All the regulars that appeared online… Plus others that had quit long ago. Everyone that had posted often in the Umbrella Corp was here. Syn noticed out loud that Barry was not one of the members in the room. Trigger laughed that it was because Barry was dead. We all laughed, a little. We were all still creeped out by the fact that we had all been thrown together into this room. Whoever put us here obviously knew we were all members of an online clan.

Soon the voice that was on the radio earlier came back. “Hello, lady and gentlemen. And Konstantine, whatever you are… Welcome to the game room. Through a disguised door that looks like a wall is the playing area. The rules are simple. For this next room you’ll go in one at a time. There will be a puzzle you must solve in there. If you don’t solve it, you die. Then the next person will go in. I will choose the order of the participants in this next room. I choose Mr Dr Sir Man. Please walk through this door. Let the games begin.”

With that, a piece of the wall I had woken up near fell down. Everyone in the room stared at the opening it made. Then we all looked at the guy who introduced himself as Mr Dr Sir Man. “No. No way, I am NOT going in that room. The guy on the radio said if I failed I would die. You all go do it, I’m not.”

Suddenly the voice popped into existence over the radio again. “Mr Dr Sir Man, if you don’t do it, then I will come down there, and personally torture you. And you will die, understand? At least if you enter that room you have a chance. Trust me: the puzzle isn’t hard at all.”

Mr Dr Sir Man scoffed at the voice. “Trust you? You snuck into everyone’s room and stole us while we were asleep.”

He stood up while saying this. He reluctantly walked towards the opening in the wall. “If I die, I’m taking you all with me” he said as he approached the door. Then he went inside.

Part 3

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MR DR SIR MAN

I walked towards the hole that magically appeared in the wall. Towards what would likely be my doom. I turned and looked at who I thought were my friends. They didn’t try to stop me at all. They just watched me go. I guess real life does that to you. Better me than them. I looked forward and took the last few steps toward the room.

I was standing in a large room. It was completely white. The walls looked like a cage or something. Metal bars all over. The walls and ceiling were all made of metal, criss crossing bars. Behind the white bars were white walls and a white ceiling. The floor was the same white as everything else.

What kind of puzzle was this? Did I have to touch the walls or something? There was a door at the far end of the room. It was hard to see it, as it was the same color as the wall. But there was definitely a door there. “Too simple” I said to myself. It can’t be that easy? Could it? I walked over to the metal bars covering the wall next to the door I entered through. I put my hand in an opening the bars had made, and touched the wall.

Nothing happened. I put my hand in another hole. Nothing. I walked down the room, sticking my hand in every hole I could reach. Nothing was happening. I was about halfway across the room when it happened. The floor just dropped out from under me. I had my hand in one of the holes at the time. The floor collapsed, and I started to fall.

Luckily my hand stopped me from falling. I could feel my wrist break. I looked down, ignoring the pain in my hand. I could see large spikes sticking up from the floor 30 feet below. That’s a 3 story building, I thought to myself. I swung my left hand up. Bad thing to do. It jostled my right hand free of the hole. And I fell.

I was surprised that I didn’t feel more anger. I was about to die, falling through the air. But I was more concerned about something else. My friends, they just sat there. Not even a gasp or scream when I fell. No one rushed to save me. It wasn’t a very good feeling. “I hate Umbrella…” I muttered to myself.

I landed on the spikes below. They were long, and needle thin. I could barely feel the pain as they drove into my body at 3 inch intervals. None had hit my eye. There was a spike above and below my eye. I landed on the floor, spikes sticking out of me. I was still conscious…

And still no gasp or scream. Screw you Umbrella. I tried to move my body but couldn’t. Had the guy on the radio designed the spikes this way? To leave the person conscious and capable of seeing and thinking, but not dying? They were so small… My vision was fading… He wanted the person who fell on these to suffer… My vision went dark.

Part 4.

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DUO MAXWELL

The guy disappeared into the doorway. I forgot his name, he had never been on the chatbox with me, and I had never talked to him. I couldn’t see through the doorway because of my angle. I stepped around the large crowd, and stood in the back. Over their heads I could see the guy through the doorway, sticking his hands in all the holes the bars formed.

Suddenly he dropped. At first I thought he had lost his balance or tripped, but then I saw he was hanging straight from his wrist, still in the hole. The floor must have collapsed. I heard his wrist snap even from back here. He hung suspended in the air for a second, and then his wrist slipped from the hole. His head disappeared below the horizon the floor had created from my point of view. A thud and a moist sound echoed from the hole.

I watched in horror, not making a sound. What happened to him? How far did he fall? Was he ok? Was he alive?

Suddenly the voice on the radio spoke again: “Oh, too bad. Mr Dr Sir Man has failed to complete the puzzle. Next up is…” There was a small pause as he thought who should go next. Or maybe he had the order written down and was consulting his list. He spoke again.

“Duo Maxwell”

I looked up, startled to hear my online persona rather than my real name called out. Everyone had their eyes on me now. I smiled at them all. They were young, best to not let them worry.

“Puzzles are my specialty, mysterious voice on radio” I said looking up to where the radio was perched. I walked towards the open door, scared at what would happen inside. I entered the room.

The inside looked exactly how it looked when I was looking through the door. Every wall and the ceiling covered in those bars. A few feet away from the door I entered, the hole started. I could see another few feet of floor on the other side, in front of a white door that I couldn’t see from far back in the other room. I walked to the edge of the pit, and looked down.

I could see the body of the guy down there. He didn’t seem to be breathing. Blood was pooled around him, like you would see around bodies in video games. Definitely dead. Then I noticed. There were spikes covering the floor down there. Spaced tightly together, and so thin you could barely see them. A bed of needles.

I looked up, across the room. What was the puzzle this guy wanted me to figure out? I looked at the caged walls. No way, it couldn’t be that easy, could it? The guy was sticking his hands in all the holes, figuring that was the puzzle. I thought about it some more and could only come up with one conclusion. So I walked over to the wall, grabbed hold of the bar, and hopped on it like a ladder.

I shimmied along sideways, inching towards the other side of the pit, and hoping the wall didn’t fall and land me in the pit. I stepped off onto the floor on the other side. I looked around. Nothing eventful happened. So I walked over to the door, grabbed the handle, and pushed the door open. In there was a hallway, and it was quite long. I looked back to the room, and waved triumphantly.

The room exploded in applause, and I could hear a voice yell: “YEAH DUO!!!!!!!!”

Then everyone quieted down as the radio voice spoke again. “Good work, Duo Maxwell. You saw what Mr Dr Sir Man did not. You and the rest are worthy of living.”

As he finished saying that, the floor rose back into place over the pit. “Don’t worry, it is safe to walk over now” the voice assured everyone. Everyone in the room walked into the cage room, and walked across the floor, holding onto the walls just to be sure. We all crowded into the 10 foot square platform, no one wanting to be over the pit should it collapse again, and no one wanting to be the first to enter the new room.

Suddenly one of the older guys spoke up. I think it was Synyster Gates, but heck, I couldn’t remember everyone’s faces. He was wearing a shirt that said “Satan is bad, Jesus is good. Be like Jesus.” The shirt was decorated with cartoonish drawings of Satan and of Jesus. He said.

“So what are the rules in this room, mysterious radio voice?” He had copied my name for the mysterious radio voice. Oh well.

The mysterious radio voice replied: “Nothing. You may all enter at once. You may all enter one at a time. But your goal is obviously the door at the end of the hall. And naturally you want to get there without being killed.”

I looked at everyone. “Who goes first?” I asked them. I knew full well that it would be me. Even if they did not say that I should go first I knew I’d volunteer myself anyway. I am the oldest after all. Surprisingly enough, Syn walked forward. He didn’t say anything, just walked right through the door. We all watched. I held my breath. He walked, warily, watching the walls, the ceiling, the floor, in front and behind him. He slowly made his way towards door at the end.

Suddenly he was at the door. He looked around, sort of taken aback, then opened the door, and disappeared through it.

The voice sounded through a radio that was perched in a corner of this room. It said: “The brave one goes untouched in this room. You all have to fight to get through here.”

The voice cut off. What did he mean? Suddenly a medium height boy of about 17 started to walk past me, a huge smirk on his face. Did he not hear the voice? The danger started now. I heard the one girl scream at the boy. “Nick, wait!!!”

Suddenly huge blades busted from the side. The swung out from the walls, and passed in a 90 degree angle through the hall. Then they returned to the wall. Four blades came from the wall. Five chucks of the boy named Nick fell to the ground.

Behind me Jarki let out a little scream. I heard her fall to the floor. I looked back to see a tall Asian guy kneel by her. Comforting her I guess. I wiped a little bit of Nick’s blood from my face. This mysterious radio voice guy was dangerous. Two people were already dead because of him. If I ever found that guy, I’d teach him a lesson he’d never forget. For now though, I had to focus on staying alive.

Part 5.

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MR. PINK

The air smelled of death. The kid named Nick was scattered in chunks on the floor of the long hallway we were in. There was that other guy that fell, too. I couldn’t see him, because the floor closed. But I knew his body was down there, rotting. Would my body be rotting someplace by the end of the night? It seemed like a few hours ago, I was safe in my hospital bed. I had broken my leg. It was healed by now, but I liked the hospital. I felt safe there.

But here I was in some building with people dying all around me. Someone must have taken me from my hospital bed. And so another person walked down the hall. It was the guy who went into the other room second. Duo Maxwell. Like in Gundam. I wondered if that was his real name. He stepped cautiously over the chunks of the other boy. He looked like he was waiting for the blades to come from the wall again. He had his gun out, pointing at the spot where the blades would come out. Not that the gun would have been much help.

He continued to make his way to the door. Nothing happened. He holstered his gun, and went through the door that Synyster Gates had gone through. I pushed my way past the people in front. I wanted out of this room. The smell of the blood was making me nauseous. I started to step over the chunks of Nick when I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. And I knew what was happening.

Before I knew it I was lying on the floor. I had tried to catch myself, but found that my right arm had been severed by the blades. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt. My left arm caught myself, and it caused me to flip over, and I laid there face up. Everyone was keeping their distance from me. I wouldn’t blame them I guess. I tried to say “help me.” All that came out was blood.

I reached out my left arm. I didn’t want to die here. Why wouldn’t they help me? My arm and my waist was starting to hurt now. I looked down to see my bottom half was gone. All that was left of me was my upper body, with one and a half arms and my head. A few organs were scattered by my legs, which had fallen the opposite direction of my body.

My body started shaking. I couldn’t control it. I reached my arm up to the crowd of people who were watching me die. God, I just wanted to go back to the hospital… Even my screwed up home would be better than here.

And my eyesight got dimmer. I was feeling tired. I knew I was dying. The pain was overwhelming, how would I be able to fall asleep. “Oh well, I’ll sleep anyway” I mumbled. And I closed my eyes.

I could still feel the pain…

And my body was still shaking violently.

Part 6.

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AUSTIN POWERS

I felt some guy push past me. I ignored him. My mind was on Imppy. Destroyer. Hamster. Whatever his name was. Either way, he was dead. Mr Dr Sir Man probably deserved what he got, but Imp… My attention got called forward very suddenly, as the guy who pushed past me fell victim to the blades. He was stepping over Imp’s body, so he was slightly ducked down. The blades missed his top half entirely. But they went through one of his arms, and his waist. His body fell backwards. He coughed out blood as he raised his hands towards us. Then he started to convulse wildly. He spasmed again and again. Coughed more blood.

This was the final straw for me. I lost it. Fear and anger consumed me. I screamed in the air. Mainly targeting the voice on the radio. I slammed my fist into the wall. That was a bad idea, as the wall was made of metal, causing me to scream in anger, fear, AND pain. Random obscenity’s were coming from my mouth. No one seemed to care. They all looked shocked. Suddenly the tall Asian guy stepped forward. Nicolai. There was a shorter Asian guy here too, Dannicky. Nicolai shouted up to the radio in the corner.

“Why did it kill Imp, then not kill Duo, then kill other guy?”

A pause of silence, then: “Alternating its victims”. I recognized Pest as the one who said it. It was the first word he had said this entire time.

“Oh, I see” said Nicolai. “It allows someone past, then kills the next, then allows someone, etcetera etcetera!”

I wondered why his face sounded happy. Kind of giddy.

The voice from the radio spoke again.

“Hah! You guessed it. Yes, I made it so as to cut down the crowd of you by 50% by the time you reached the next room. Hahahaha”

Suddenly someone ran forward, screaming “SEE YA LOSERS!!!” I didn’t have to know his face to realize that was Havoc. He ran through the door, into the room Duo and Syn were already in. Causing the trap to reset itself to kill the next person to walk by.

I punched the wall again, this time with my other fist. I didn’t care about hurting myself anymore. I was angry, and I wanted to take it out on something.

I contemplated throwing one of the others through the trap, then running through while it was safe. The thought was tempting for sure, but then I’d be no better than Havoc.

“We must devise game plan.” Said Nicolai. “The next person to walk down this hall will die”

“I’ve got a plan” said someone towards the back. He was tall and muscular, and was wearing camo. McMillan. “Maybe only one more person will have to die. If you all pass by in one large group while it’s not attacking, maybe it will think you’re one person. Then no one will have to die.”

“Good plan, maybe it work. But who will die so the others can live?”

But McMillan was already heading towards the bodies. I wanted to scream at him. “No, there has to be some other way!" But I was too overcome with fear. A little nagging voice kept repeating over and over in my head. “Hey, at least it isn’t me.”

I turned my head a split second before the blades sounded. I had seen it happen twice before, I didn’t need to see it happen again. I was still mumbling swear words under my breath. But I started saying them louder as I realized what had happened to McMillan. Too late to think about it now. Better him than me, said the voice.

“SHUT UP!!!” I screamed out loud. Only a few people looked at me funny. They must have felt the same way.

“Right, now is our chance, come on you guys” said Nic. “Huddle close together”

So, the 20 or so of us that were left huddled very close together. We inched our way past the extremely bloody mess on the floor. I shut my eyes and waited for the stinging bite of the blades. Fortunately, they didn’t come. We had all reached the door safely. The air cracked alive with the sound of the radio voice.

“Hahahaha, good plan. You failed to realize though that I control those blades, just like I controlled the floor in the other room. But no matter. I would have killed you all if I had activated them while you were walking past. You’ll all die eventually. I have patience.”

The voice stopped. I had survived. I was still shaking. And I was still angry. But I had lived, that was what was important.

I was one of the last in through the door. As I left the hall, I dared a glimpse back. I saw a severed leg with a camo pants leg still on it. I thanked the brave warrior, then turned back and headed through the door.

There was people like McMillan, the kind of person who would sacrifice himself for others. Then there were people like Havoc, who would sacrifice others for himself. In this place, I realized there is no middle ground. You’re either a McMillan or a Havoc. And as I asked myself which one I was, I couldn’t help but think to myself:

At least it wasn’t me.

Part 7.

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SYNYSTER GATES

I walked through the door at the end of the hall. Nothing had happened in the long hall. That hall must have been to scare us or something, without killing us. On the contrary, this room was sure to scare the heck out of anyone. And probably kill us too.

The room was very large. Probably the size of a football field. If a football field were round, as the room was perfectly circular. In the center of the room was a hole. There was about 10 feet of floor protruding from the walls, then a hole directly in the middle. That wasn’t what was scary. 4 feet away from where the floor ended and the hole began, was an extremely large pillar. It extended up into the air as high as you could see. I looked down into the hole, but couldn’t see the bottom. The circular pillar reached down into the darkness.

The pillar was as perfectly round as the room and the hole, and I guessed it was 200 feet in circumference. All up and down the pillar, spikes protruded. At seemingly random intervals up the pillar were sharp spikes that stuck out 2 feet. Beginning wide at the base, then getting smaller and smaller until they ended in a pin-like point.

The room was very dimly lit. I walked all around the hole. As I approached the door that I entered through, it opened. Duo came through the door, looking relieved. Then his jaw dropped at the pillar in front of him.

“Wow. What are we supposed to do in this room?” He asked me. “I have no clue” I replied. “But there’s no door anywhere around the hole. Where is everybody else?”

He looked at me, then seemed to remember something. “Oh yeah, some guy named Nick died”

I knew it was Imperiator. I was in the middle of wondering how he died when the door opened again. This time it was Havoc. He was laughing his head off for some reason.

“Oh man, what idiots!” He screamed, still laughing his head off. “Mr Pink so deserved what came to him.”

I figured that meant that Mr Pink was dead. Havoc was still laughing, until he caught sight of the spiky pillar. “What the…”

He was looking up and down the pillar, no longer laughing. Then he asked the question that was on my mind: “Who built this!?”

I had wondered that too. This radio guy must have had huge amounts of money and time to be building such a structure as this, as well as the other rooms. The door opened again. This time everyone came through. Havoc looked appalled. “Not this many people were supposed to make it through!!!” He yelled in a frustrated voice.

I was busy wondering what he meant when Richard (Nicolai) walked up and answered him.

“Yes. We have cheated that system. But it came at a price, McMillan is dead.”

Havoc looked ecstatic. “Well at least someone died…”

Austin looked at him. He stopped muttering swear words long enough to walk up to Havoc -who had started laughing again- and punch him. The punch obviously had a lot of power in it. It sent Havoc reeling backwards, coming dangerously close to falling into the hole. Havoc looked at Austin furiously.

“If it wasn’t for your idiocy, McMillan wouldn’t be dead!” Austin screamed at Havoc. Havoc just looked back at Austin, fury dancing in his eyes. Suddenly a voice echoed down from above.

“Now, now, you guys. Don’t go killing each other. That’s my job.”

The voice laughed. Apparently he thought he had made a hilarious joke. I yelled up at him, knowing it was the guy on the radio.

“What do you want us to here!? There’s no exit!!!”

“Well, those spikes make excellent climbing tools, don’t they?”

I thought about it for a second. He wanted us to climb this thing? That would be almost impossible, the spikes were spaced too far apart. Then I asked him another question.

“Are we supposed to climb up or down!?”

“That is for you to decide” He laughed again like me made a hilarious joke. “Just think of it as a rock climbing wall…”

I knew it’d be pointless to stand here doing nothing, so I asked the others: “Who will go first?”

An Asian boy stepped up. I knew it was Dannicky. “Well, I guess I can climb pretty well,” he said.

He stepped up to the edge of the hole, and jumped toward the pillar. His feet landed on two spikes. He grabbed onto two other spikes with his hands. “I’ll try going down first” he said.

So he started to try to climb downward. He didn’t even make it one spike down. “It’s too hard” he said. “The pillar is jet black, and the spikes blend perfect with the darkness below. It’s impossible to see the spikes, and I can’t feel around for them with my foot without fear of impaling it.”

And so he started to head up. “Tell us what you find up there!” yelled Niccy after him.

“Now, we sit and wait to see if up is the right direction to go.” I said, We sat down, and watched Dannicky until he disappeared into the darkness. Still waiting for him to reach the top. About 3 minutes after he vanished from our sight, his voice echoed down. I couldn’t make out what he said, but it sounded as if he said it in a panicked voice. I looked up, and saw Dannicky descending fast. He was falling. It seemed as if he had lost his grip. He was reaching his arm towards the wall. His hand caught on one of the spikes. Blood rained down on my face, then a split second later he reached the lip of the hole.

His head crashed into the edge of the hole. It bounced his head forward. His head bounced straight onto a spike. He hung there a few feet below the edge by his head. His limbs dangled down into the hole. His head couldn’t support his body’s weight, and with a sickening snap, his head split, and he fell the rest of the way. It took about 20 seconds before a splat echoed up from the hole.

We all looked down the hole until we heard the splat of him landing far below. I shuddered as I caught a glimpse of his brains still on the spike his head was impaled on, and a piece of his skull and some hair left on the lip of the hole. It was slightly comforting to know he probably didn’t survive long enough to feel his face get impaled on one of the spikes.

Nicolai then said: “Let’s try going down instead.”

Part 8.

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PVT. NICOLAI

I watched as Dannicky fell, head split from the spike. I looked back up and decided I didn’t want to fall from all the way up there, so I said out loud: “Let’s try going down, instead”

I walked away from the part of the edge that had Dannicky’s skull on it, and stepped up to a clean edge. I jumped out to the pillar, and grabbed tightly to the spikes. I felt for a foot hold, rubbing my foot against the pillar so as not to spear myself accidently. I found one, and lowered myself down. I did it again.

I couldn’t see where my feet were sitting against the dark background below me, so it looked like I was floating from my point of view. I knew I was standing on those spikes though. I kept repeating the steps. Feel around for foot hold, feel around for handhold, feel for foothold, feel for handhold. I looked up to see the faces of my friends from far away. Their faces were rimmed with light, and I realized I had already made it about 50 feet down. I was getting tired though. But I kept going, I had to complete this mission.

Another 50 feet down. None of the light from above was reaching me down here. I was running out of stamina. I couldn’t keep this up for much longer. “Dannicky made it farther than this” I told myself. I tried to convince myself it was easier to climb than descend. But that wouldn’t do. No, I told myself it was cakewalk to descend this pillar. That made it a little easier, and I continued on.

Another 50 feet. The hole with light had no faces around it. I guess since I was 150 feet down they couldn’t see me. They had gone elsewhere. My muscles were getting weak now. “Who built this!?” I screamed into the darkness. I guess I expected an answer, because I was shocked to find no one said anything. But no, there was nobody down here but me. I laughed at myself. The laughter made me forget about my stamina, and I pressed on.

“Come on Richard, you can do this” I said to myself over and over. I could see only a small speck of light above me. I guessed that I was 250 feet down by now. And I was out of breath. I could barely hang on. I stopped my routine of feeling for footholds and handholds, and stopped to take a break. I caught my breath, but my muscles still ached from clinging to the spikes for dear life. How long had I been down here, I wondered. I guessed maybe 3 hours. I went back to the routine, foothold, handhold, foothold, handhold… I was now chanting it in my head, trying to not focus on my body.

It was becoming very slow going by now. I was so achy that I couldn’t move as fast as I started. After another hour, I figured I was 300 feet down. I was still chanting my little rhythm in my head. Foothold, handhold, foot- My chant stopped abruptly. I had been feeling along the pillar with my foot, but now I just felt open space. The pillar just ended. Suddenly lights burst on around me. And a voice came down from far above.

“Oh, poor Richard seems to have made a wrong turn. You should have gone up!”

I risked looking down. The floor was about 100 feet below me. I doubted I would survive if I fell, but just for good measure spears were set up on the floor. Dannicky was impaled on one of them, his brains on the floor as he hung there 3 feet above the floor. The lights clicked off. I was left grasping to nothing but darkness again.

I looked up, and saw a pinprick in the distance. If I held up my fingers to my eye and spaced my fingers as close as possible without touching, that would have been how small the hole was by now. (Of course I was not going to let go and put my fingers to my eye and test this). A space of 3 football fields were placed between me and the shelter of the light. I reached for a handhold above me. I started to make my way back towards the light.

To my surprise, it WAS easier to climb than descend. But combined with my numb muscles, it was very hard going. I had been down here for 4 hours about. I was making a lot faster time going up than down though. I was getting into my chant again. Only now it was reversed. Handhold foothold, handhold, foothold… I just kept repeating it in my brain. Until I was interrupted by noises. I looked up. The hole was just 100 feet above me. Faces were there, screaming at me, and cheering me on. I pushed on. I couldn’t let go now. I kept climbing towards the sounds of the voices. And the light. I was beginning to hate the dark now.

But my arms were so tired. I could barely grasp onto the spikes anymore. I tried to do the chant in my head, so I wouldn’t have to focus on my pain, but everyone cheering me from above was preventing me from focusing. I kept climbing. But it was too hard… My arms were shaking. I knew I was doing what no other human was capable of doing. I had been clinging to these spikes for at least 7 hours. My arms had lost all feeling in them. I couldn’t even lift my arm to feel for the next handhold.

“You did a good job Richard. But you have failed your mission” I said to myself. I managed to climb up one more spike, then I lost my grip. I closed my eyes and fell backwards into the abyss… I could hear shocked gasps from above me. I was so close… So close….

I felt myself pass out from exhaustion. That was a good thing, wouldn’t have to feel myself get impaled on the spikes below. I welcomed the darkness into my mind…

Part 9.

----------------------------------

PENGUIN HUNTER

Nic went down the hole. Everyone watched, and expected him to fall, as he felt his way down the massive, black pillar. As he descended, we watched him from above. He was skillfully making his way down the pillar, as if he had spent his entire life clinging to sharp metal pieces. Within 20 minutes, he was too far down to see anymore. And so I went and sat up against a wall. And waited. Everyone was milling around and looking bored, waiting for news from Nic.

10 minutes passed. And I still really had to go to the bathroom. So I walked around the pillar, the side Nic didn’t descend down. No one else was back here, it was deserted, and the pillar blocked the view from everyone else. So, I peed down the hole, hoping it didn’t fall on Nic’s head.

Then I walked back to the populated side. I hoped Nic hadn’t fallen. But then again, we’d hear the splat echoing up the hole, right?

Unless he made it all the way down, and something ELSE was waiting for him… I pushed that thought from my mind. Then again, anything was possible with radio guy in charge. He managed to build this whole thing…

An hour after Nic had started his adventure down the hole, a few people were getting restless. Namely, Konny and Austin.

“He’s dead already” declared Konny. “He’s been gone an hour, he’s lost his grip for sure by now.”

“Unless he’s reached the bottom” said Syn simply. He was calm and lounging against the wall near the door. “Then again, he’d call up to us if he did”

“Screw it” said Konny. “I’m going up now.”

He walked to the edge of the hole and looked down. Then he tried to stretch across gap to the pillar. He didn’t have far enough reach.

“You’re going to have to jump there, Konny,” said Syn. Konny looked back impatiently, then reared back to jump. He hesitated, but then jumped onto the pillar. He landed on the spikes, and almost fell over backwards. He managed to keep his grip on the spikes. He hugged the pillar tightly, shaking and screaming. Konny jumped backwards onto safe ground again.

“Yeah, let’s wait for Nic to get back, shall we?” asked Konny, trying to play it off as he did not scream like a girl.

2 hours in. “Should we call down and see if he’s alright?” asked Konny. “No” said Syn. “Don’t mess up his concentration. Give it another hour maybe”

And so we sat there, waiting for Nic to yell. Or splat. Various people went over to the other side of the pillar to pee. I just sat there, not talking to anyone. I was wondering how I’d climb that thing. I’d fall for sure.

Another hour passed. “Now can we call down to him?” asked Konny. Syn looked agitated. He walked to the side and looked down. Most everyone else looked down too. Konny was about to call down, when lights shone down there. They had turned on abruptly, and I could see Nic clinging to the pillar barely. I couldn’t make out what was on the floor. It was at least 300 feet down. A 30 story building. I definitely saw Dannickys body though, far below. Definitely dead.

The radio boomed it’s message to Nic. Then the lights shut off once more, cutting off our vision of Nic. He had been hanging on for 3 hours, and now he’d have to turn back. Meaning at least 6 hours before he reached the top again.

We all sat down and waited patiently, even Konny. An hour passed. Two. Still no splat. Three more. Niccy would be arriving soon. Konny or one of the others would occasionally walk over to the edge to see if they saw Nic yet.

Then, four hours after the radio spoke, Trigger, who had been the one who looked down for Nic at that time, yelled to everyone else that he could see Nic.

We all ran to the edge and looked down. Sure enough, there was Nic, making slow progress. Everyone started screaming and cheering Nic on. I did too.

“Guys, don’t mess up his concentration!” Syn yelled. Everyone kept cheering. Syn shrugged, and started cheering Nic on too. Nic started getting slower and closer… He was wobbling on the spikes about 20 feet down. But he kept climbing. “Come on Niccy, almost there!!!!!!!!!!” Screamed Syn, wholly into the moment by now. Nic was just a few feet down. He raised his arm to the next spike, but his arm dropped to his side. His other hand lost grip on the spike, and he began to fall backwards…

“GRAB HIM!” Syn screamed in panic. Him and Duo dropped onto the ground, and stuck their arms down the hole. Tremors went through their bodies from grabbing Nic’s weight. They slid along the ground from the shock of stopping Nic mid-fall.

Syn was half over the edge, only his legs remained on the platform. He instinctively stuck his hand out above him, and braced his weight against one of the spikes. He winced in pain, and yelled out : “Grab our legs!!!”

I raced over to Syn’s legs and grabbed on tight. I could feel people behind me pulling on me. “I shouldn’t have taken the front” I thought to myself.

But we pulled Syn away from the hole. Only his arm was down in the hole. Same with Duo. With a grunt of effort from each of them, they pulled their arms, and eventually Nic, back up onto the platform.

Everyone that was pulling the legs collapsed backwards onto each other. Syn and Duo rested their head on the floor. And Nic seemed to be unconscious. Who could blame him? He was down there for seven hours. Dannicky only managed to hang on forty five minutes. It was only natural for Nic to be passed out in exhaustion.

After laying there for awhile, Syn got up, and declared: “Time to climb.”

I don’t know if he meant for it to rhyme or not. But then the radio guy talked again.

“There’s no need for anyone else to climb. If that one guy can make it all the way down and back up, then he’s done enough work for all of you.”

With that, the room shook. I wondered what was happening. I looked at the pillar, to see the spikes had disappeared. No, not disappeared. They were just a blur. The pillar was falling fast. With a giant shudder that knocked us all off our feet, the top of the pillar landed on the platform. The entire top of the pillar was made of a staircase. It led up into the darkness. Apparently a hundred feet above us the pillar ended and stairs began, but couldn’t see because of the darkness.

And so the survivors headed up the stairs. Syn had told Konny to carry Nic. Austin was still mumbling to himself, and I was thankful I didn’t end up having to climb that pillar. It was a long way up the stairs. But eventually we reached the peak. A walkway extended out to the wall from the top of the stairs that spiraled up from below. I headed across the bridge. And through the next door.

Part 10.

----------------------------------

HAVOC

We walked up the spiral staircase. Then walked through the door at the top. I walked through the door next to Austin. He was still muttering. His muttering combined with him hitting me filled me with rage. I was about to hit him when I felt sudden heat. I looked ahead to see that the room we had walked into was on fire. But it was a controlled fire. Like a pyrotechnics show.

Long metal rods that were spitting fire were placed all over. All of a sudden a guy behind me screamed. I looked back to see him try to run out the door we came through. But fire had covered the door. He ran through the fire, and I saw through the flames him falling off the top of the pillar. I heard a splat above the roaring of the flames.

“Well, there goes Commander King,” said Syn. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. What a moron. I looked forward. We were all surrounded in flames, but I could see another door across from us. It wasn’t covered in flames like the door we came through, but you’d have to pass pretty close to the fire to get through.

I sighed. This room was pretty boring. It was unlikely that anyone who wasn’t a stupid idiot would die here. Then I remembered I was about to teach Austin to not mess with me. He was standing next to me, mumbling still. I pulled my fist back, ready to knock him into the fire. Syn caught me out of the corner of his eye, and screamed “Havoc!”

I didn’t care what Syn told me to do. I punched Austin right in the face. He stumbled backwards, but didn’t fall into the fire. I leaped on top of him. Syn was making his way towards me. I had to hurry. I pushed Austin’s head towards the fire. He was trying to resist. But his head was inching towards the fire. Suddenly, I felt strong arms lift me upwards. Syn had me in a bear hug. Austin stood up, and stepped away from the edge of the room where the fire was. I brought my leg up into Austin’s face. The kick broke his glasses, and Syn dragged me away from Austin.

“I hope you die from not being able to see where you’re going, Austin.” I mumbled to myself. Syn shoved me down onto the ground. I stood back up. Austin had learned his lesson. He wouldn’t mess with me again. I saw Duo looking at me. I don’t know if it was the flames reflected in his eyes, or if he was angry. Probably angry. I didn’t care. What would HE do anyway?

Soon everyone had calmed down. Austin was trying to repair his glasses. I don’t know if he could still see without them, or if he absolutely needed the glasses. I didn’t care enough to ask him. Konny started walking towards the door. He must have wanted to make himself look manly after screaming like a girl. He opened the door and walked through. I kind of wanted to laugh. It was so simple. More people started walking though. Once I was sure it wasn’t going to randomly kill anyone, I headed towards the hole the flames made.

I was behind some guy. I didn’t bother to listen to anyone’s names during the introduction time. So I didn’t know his name. Then for some reason the name “Mista Manuva San” popped into my head. We were about to head through the hole. But he walked just a little bit too close to the fire. And his shirt caught on fire. He panicked a little, and ran around. “Stop drop and roll, there buddy” I said sardonically.

He ran across the room, bouncing off of walls, and completely not taking my advice. He was fully aflame now. I shrugged and walked through the door. It wasn’t my fault if he didn’t listen to me. I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt. It was Duo. Me him and Mista was the only ones left in the room. “I need your help to put him out” he told me. Mista was on the ground screaming and patting at his blackened skin as it was falling off.

I walked over to him, and stomped out the flames. The flames on his head. He was dead anyway, it wasn’t like I had murdered him. I just kind of put him out of his misery. I wiped Mista’s head blood off my shoe. I caught Duo’s eyes. He was definitely angry at me now. I’d like to see him try anything, though. He would end up blind like Austin. I walked through the door into the next room, leaving Duo and Mista’s body behind. His head had caught fire again because I hadn’t stomped out his body. Bye, Mista and Commander King. I knew only idiots would die in that room.

Part 11.

-----------------------------

JARKI

I walked out of the fire room. I was right behind Pengy and Konny. Suddenly Konny – who was leading the way – stopped abruptly. Pengy wasn’t watching where he was going very well and bumped right into Konny, who stood firm, not budging an inch.

I’m pretty short, so I couldn’t see over his head, and the hall was kind of narrow. Then Konny stepped into the room as quickly as he had stopped. Pengy looked back at me in a sort of confusion (though it was more likely he was checking to see if anyone else had bumped into the person in front of them), then walked after Konny. My view was finally unblocked, and I stepped into the room. A very horrifying room.

It was a simple metal room. But the wall farthest from the door was glass from about 3 and a half feet up. I recognized the look of the room immediately. It was a operation viewing room. But it wasn’t the room itself that frightened me so deeply. It was what lay beyond. I could see two people through the glass. A man and a woman. The man was standing in a greenish gown – standard surgical apparel – and the girl was lying down on the table. Tight belts with gigantic buckles held her tightly to the table. And though she had been shaved bald I recognized her instantly. It was Saria. Chloe…

The man in green spoke, his voice carried out by a speaker to the group of people that had already gathered in the viewing room. It was the same voice we had heard over the radio so many times. Unfortunately with the surgical mask and cap that he was wearing, it was impossible to make out any of his features. And he said “I see so many of you are still alive. I expected more to die climbing the Pillar of Despair.” He chuckled a little, apparently very proud of the name he had made for the pillar. He continued: “But more people died in the inferno than I had hoped. Only morons would die there. Anyway! I am pleased to announce I have captured a little prisoner. I decided to not dump her in the starting room with all of you. I figured she’d be my little torture subject… And all of you are very lucky…. You get to watch!”

He cackled again as if this was something to be proud of. He smiled in my direction and held up a syringe. “Enjoy…” he said. Then he jabbed the needle into Saria’s arm. When all the mysterious liquid had entered her body, he ripped out the needle, then threw his head back and laughed some more. I wondered just what it was he had injected into her body. Everyone in the room watched with bated breath. Even Mr. Maniacal had stopped laughing and watched her intently. She started screaming about 3 seconds after the liquid had entered her body.

She screamed and writhed in pain. I felt tears come to my eyes as she wrestled with her belts that restricted her. “Acid” muttered the man softly. “Sulfuric acid” he added. He smiled big. I imagined what was happening inside Chloe’s veins. The acid eroding her from the inside out as it flowed through her left arm. I knew when it reached her heart she would die instantly. But before it reached her heart it would travel through…. Her brain…

As soon as I thought that she jerked. She started convulsing violently as it reached her brain. The man started laughing gleefully, clapping his hands quickly. I wanted to look away, but was too horrified to do so. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she continued her seizure. The acid destroying every cell in her brain. She had stopped screaming, she was now gurgling as her spit gathered in the back of her throat, her brain no longer telling her to swallow. Then her fingers stretched out. Directly toward me. This was all I could take. I felt myself fall backwards as I fainted.

Part 12.

--------------------------

SYN

I watched as Saria’s skin melted off. I had heard a thump behind me but couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene. But now that it was over, I looked back to see that Jarki had fainted. The voice came over the speaker again. “Next room, folks” then he laughed again. He stood watching as everyone cleared quickly out of the viewing room. Me and Duo stopped to pick up Jarki and carry her to the next room.
The next room was larger than the rest, other than the room with the “Pillar of Despair” or whatever he called it. It was once again made out of metal, and there was once again a hole in the room. I could feel air coming from the large hole and heard the motorized whir of a fan. Leading me to believe there was a large fan in the hole. But that wasn’t the dangerous thing in this room. No, it was definitely the turret that looked most threatening.

A turret pointed right at the door we had all just walked through. The door shut before anyone could run off. Then the voice crackled through the radio once more. It said: “Well well. This is by far one of my most favorite rooms. And I just know you’re wondering why. See, it’s because someone is going to die here. I know what you’re thinking. ‘Someone has died in every room you maniacal maniac!’” He chuckled at this point. “But no, this room is different. See, you guys need to PICK who dies here.”

I felt movement beside me, and some sniffling echoed through the room. Jarki had woken up. “I CHOOSE YOU TO DIE YOU BAS****! YOU KILLED CHLOE!!!!” She screamed.

The voice over the radio laughed again. This guy sure liked to laugh. Then Havoc spoke up. “Jarki is definitely slowing us down. Why don’t you kill her?” Trigger - standing next to Havoc - gasped. Then the voice came into life over the speaker again. “As you wish…” The room exploded in noise. As the turret fired bullet after bullet into Jarki. I was two feet from her body, but I didn’t even worry about stray bullets. I only watched as bullet after bullet hammered the life out of Jarki. Her body – now unrecognizable- fell to the floor with a considerably loud thump.

Duo looked down at what remained of her, then tilted his head back and let out a scream of anguish. Then he looked at Havoc.

“You.” Said Duo. “This is the second person you killed here. And you tried to kill Austin too.” Havoc stammered. “I didn’t mean to…” he muttered, looking at the bloody remains of Jarki. “He wasn’t supposed to listen to me” said Havoc, clearly horrified at what he had done. Duo was seething with rage. He stepped forward and punched Havoc so hard that it sent him flying towards the hole. He slid towards the hole on the polished steel floor, narrowly avoiding falling in. Havoc was gasping for breath as Duo went and stood over him. I saw his hand slide towards the sling over his shoulder…. The sling that held his M1911. I screamed at Duo. I wanted to stop him. I knew what he was about to do. I didn’t want to let it happen. Havoc didn’t deserve death. And Duo would be no better than Havoc if he murdered him like this.

I started running towards Duo. I had to stop him. But I knew I wouldn’t make it in time. His gun was already out, pointed toward the face of the boy looking up at him. Fear glossed over in Havoc’s eyes. I kept running, and yelling for Duo to not do it. But I was too late. I heard the gunshot. I saw the brains fly from the back of Havoc’s head. I was just feet away. I couldn’t stop running. I barreled straight into the back of Duo. The momentum carried us both over the hole. Time seemed to stop as I looked down and saw the blades spinning below. I could see the blades as I fell towards them on top of Duo.

And I cried.

Part 13

---------------------------------------

TRIGGER

I looked over at Havoc when the voice said we could pick who to kill next. I knew what was going to happen. He had been talking about how useless Jarki was to us that we should just be left behind if she wanted to faint like that. He leaned over to me and whispered “should I do it?” I whispered harshly back to him “No! No, bad idea!” Apparently my words fell on deaf ears cause Havoc said “Jarki is definitely slowing us down. Why don’t you kill her?”

I gasped audibly. What an idiot. I felt like stabbing him in one of his ribs. Before I could continue that thought the room exploded in noise. The turret that was pointed at us was now pointed at Jarki, who was being blasted to pieces by gunfire. It was pretty awesome, but Havoc still shouldn’t have done that.

After about 30 seconds of Jarki being murdered, the gunfire stopped. Not much remained of her that we could make out. Duo looked pretty furious as he looked over at Havoc. I remember thinking to myself “This is not good” before Duo slammed Havoc in the face. I gasped yet again and started to run towards Havoc as he slid toward the hole with the large fan in it. Duo was very much faster than me, and leaped and bounded towards Havoc. I decided to not run anymore, and sufficed to stop and watch the event of Havoc being beaten up. This would be pretty funny. In fact I was about to laugh until Duo pulled his gun out. I guess Duo decided to get revenge on Havoc the easy way. I didn’t have time to run and stop Duo. Syn did though, he was already running. I silently cheered him on in my mind. And hoped that he would be able to stop Duo in time.

Unfortunately for me, Duo pulled the trigger just a split second before Syn reached him, consequently leading the brains of my lifelong friend to be splattered against the nice clean steel below his cranium. Syn couldn’t stop in time though. He tackled Duo at full speed. And of course the stupid idiot didn’t realize that tackling Duo from that angle would cause the both of them to fly into the pit of fan-nage. I was already running towards the pit. Havoc was dead, so I ran straight past his body, and looked down the hole.

Blood was splattered high on the walls in a counter clockwise swirl, created by the fan. I couldn’t see either of their bodies anymore, and I assume they’d been completely pureed to create the amount of blood that was over the steel shaft holding the fan. There was something making an annoying clunking sound from below, and I figured out that it was the gun, bouncing along the fan blades and not being pureed like the metal object that it is.

I looked back at the crowd behind me, which had thinned down a lot since we began. With Jarki, Havoc, Duo, and Syn all dying in this room, our numbers were shortened severely. Remaining beside myself, was Pest, Austin, Konny, Niccy, Wesker, Pengy, Z, Johnny Sasaki, and Yamakuzy. 10 people left.

Then just for the fun of it, I pushed Havoc’s body into the hole with the fan. Then I watched as he was pureed. It was a good burial service, and I’m sure he would have preferred this to lying on the steel floor in a puddle of his brains. Well actually I wasn’t sure…. Bah, no matter. He likes death and now he was dead. In a bloody way. I’m sure he was very happy.

I turned my attention to the nearby door. We all had to get out of here with as few casualties as possible. I decided to lead the way and go through the door. I beckoned wildly to the 9 humans left in the room that were still breathing. And then I turned back into the room.

The room reminded me of the first few rooms. It was white, not steel. I liked it, much more pleasing to my pupils. It was also considerably nicer because I didn’t immediately notice any death traps. Just a very large pool in the middle of the room, extending to the very edges of the room. Meaning we had to go into the pool and swim to make it across the room. I wondered what sort of evil creatures lurked in the pool. Sharks? A Giant octopus? Jelly fish? Seahorses? I decided to steer clear of the pool. I’d let someone else go first.

After the 10 of us gathered in the room, we stayed as close to the door as possible, not wanting to be chosen to be the first one in the pool. The voice came over the radio yet again, saying “What, no one wants to swim?”

Austin replied saying something about how he just ate, leading me to wonder just what it was he ate in here. He had stole Havoc’s glasses from his head before I threw him in the hole. I guess Havoc’s death wasn’t entirely in vain.

“So who will go first?” Asked the voice. “If you don’t want to choose, I can pick for you. How about this. We shall have a spelling bee. The loser has to swim first.”

Z hung his head down. “Well, may as well save you guys the trouble…”

He then jumped in the water and started swimming to the far side of the room. He climbed out on the other side completely safe, though admittedly wet. I guess he wasn’t tasty enough to be eaten by whatever dangerous aquatic monster lurked in the water. I stepped towards the water to look down in it and see if I could see what lurked below. Konny must have thought I was going next though, for he said “Trigger, you and I will go last and carry Niccy.” Niccy was still passed out from exhaustion. Yamakuzy decided to go next, followed by Johnny Sasaki. Yama jumped in, after which lightning bolts immediately struck the pool. Yama got instantly fried. Johnny jumped backwards away from the pool, probably lucky that he didn’t jump in simultaneously with Yama.

The voice laughed over the speaker again. “Only the first person gets a free pass.” I then noticed that the electricity stopped. Then it started again. Then it stopped…. It was clearly going in a pattern. Timing was key, as was speed. I looked over at Konny. This wasn’t going to be good if I had to carry Niccy with me. I wasn’t a very strong swimmer. Konny seemed to figure that out, as he looked over at Wesker and asked him to carry Niccy instead of me. I didn’t care that much. I pushed it out of my mind, and focused on the pattern. Short shock. Short break. Short shock. Long break. Long shock. Short break. Repeat. It wasn’t a very complicated pattern. I would have to start swimming as soon as the long break started. I waited for my chance. Then I jumped in the water and swam as if my life depended on it. Which it did.

Part 14.

----------------------------

WESKER

The smell of fried Yamakuzy was still in the air when Trigger leaped into the water and started swimming as fast as possible. Me and Konny watched, and waited. Trigger pulled himself out on the other side with not a moment to spare. Next Johnny and Pest went. Then eventually everyone except me and Konny were left on the original side, next to an unconscious Niccy. Me and konny looked at each other and nodded. We picked up Niccy and walked to the edge of the pool, and waited for the long break between shocks.

Our moment finally came, and we jumped in. It was deeper than I had thought, and I struggled to tread water with Niccy’s weight on me. We had to hurry. So we began to swim over to the other side. We were both strong swimmers, and made it to the other side fairly quick. But we still had to get ourselves and Niccy out. The lip of the pool was about 5 feet above the surface of the water. After about 1 second of trying to lift Niccy onto dry land, we realized it would not work. I quickly climbed out and started pulling on Niccy. He came up easily, and I laid him on the ground next to me. Then I reached out to pull Konny up.

I got him out just in time. The electricity shot down from the conductors hidden in the ceiling just as Konny cleared the water. We both laid there breathing for a while, still recovering from dragging Niccy over. Then we stood and looked over our remaining 9 members. One of which was incapacitated. Then Trigger and Austin picked up Niccy, and led the way through the door.

Yet again, the room was white. A large spotlight stood across the room, about 400 feet away. The light was bright and shining in our eyes, not allowing us to see very far ahead. Trigger and Austin put Niccy down, and I started walking towards the light. I stopped after a few feet however, as a man had stepped out from behind the light, and was walking towards us. I couldn’t see him in detail, only his silhouette, blocking the light.

He stopped about 100 feet away, and spoke. It was the man that had been speaking to us on the radio. “I’m surprised so many made it this far. I express gratitude for providing me with such fun, but I just can’t allow you all to make it out alive. And don’t worry – your deaths shall be just as painful as the deaths of your friends.”

Konny strode confidently 100 feet up the guy, and punched him in the face. Konny was strong, but it didn’t even seem to faze the considerably stronger man. He simply pushed Konny down. Konny kicked his foot out, colliding with the man’s shin. Again it didn’t faze him.

I stopped paying attention to the fight between Konny and the man, and plotted my escape. I knew the exit was likely to be on the other side of the room, somewhere behind the spotlight. And so I ran. Steering clear of the man, now fully distracted with Konny, who was putting up an excellent fight now, I ran towards the bright light. When I reached it, I ran behind it so I could see clearly again. And there it was. A door. I knew it. I raced forward and pulled the handle, and entered the next room.

This room was different than all the others. There were wires and monitors all over. I knew this was the base where the man had stayed and watched us die. But I didn’t expect another person to be in the room. I recognized him immediately. Synyster Gates.

“I thought you were dead!” I exclaimed. “How did you not die in the fan!?”

He stepped forward, and lunged his hand forward. It was then that I noticed he held a knife. It penetrated my throat deeply, and Syn immediately pulled it out. I looked at him in shock as I fell to the ground, bleeding. I thought he was our ally. I had to warn the others…

Syn just smiled slightly and twirled his knife. Then he walked through one of the doors in the room. I had to stop the bleeding… But I knew it was too late. My vision had long since gotten blurry. I knew I was as good as dead. I tried to scream, but the knife had punctured my wind pipe. Then I got very tired. It was time to go to sleep. I closed my eyes…

Part 15.

---------------------------------------

KONNY

I let the rage flow through me as I fought desperately to at least damage the man. He was completely unfazed by every blow that I landed on him. But I couldn’t give up. This guy had killed almost everyone. And he was about to kill the rest. I felt pain in my left knee, and realized he had simply kicked it. I felt the kneecap shatter, and I fell to the ground.
I wasn’t about to give up though. I kicked out with my right foot, and snagged his ankle. I pulled with all my might, causing him to finally fall over. I leaped on top of him, trying my hardest to beat the life out of his face. He caught every one of my punches in his hands, and tossed me off of him. “This guy is inhuman,” I thought as I rushed at him once more, ignoring the pain in my knee.

Unfortunately, even though I could ignore the pain in my knee, my knee was still shattered. It couldn’t support my weight, and I fell, sprawled out in front of the man. I was about to get up when someone tackled the guy. He was taken by surprise and fell over immediately. Austin – the one who had tackled him- was now beating the man’s face in with nearly unimaginable power. Unfortunately the best Austin could give the man was a bloody nose.

I got up and limped to the struggle. The man threw Austin off, but I was there to land on top of him. I kneed him in the groin with my right knee as hard as I could. My knee connected with some sort of metal plate. He must have knew this spot would be his one weakness. I rolled off of him, sure that my right knee was now shattered as well. “Run!” I screamed to the others. They all ran off, except Austin, who was trying to pick Niccy up. “Run I said!” I screamed at Austin. He dropped Niccy and ran off too. I was alone in the room with the superhuman man.

I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. The man seemed to have endless amounts of energy. He didn’t even look tired. I got up, trying to stand on my right knee, which didn’t hurt nearly as bad as my left. I beckoned to the man. “Come and get it.”

He smiled, nodded his head, and ran at me. He brought his arm up, trying to punch my face. I knew my skull would shatter if he landed this punch. I ducked… He seemed to know I was going to do this however, and brought his other hand low. The sheer force with which he punched my gut caused me to flip over, and I landed hard on the ground.

“I tire of you now.” Said the man. He walked up, stood over my head, and lifted his foot, prepared to stomp the life out my skull. I raised my hands in front of my face in defense. It didn’t help much. His foot smashed my hands into my face. The he raised his foot and brought it down again. Over and over and over.

I could barely see anymore. I was sure at least one fragment of my skull was in my eye. I could feel it. The man looked down at me laughing. He sure did like to laugh, didn’t he? That was my last thought as he brought his foot down on my face once more…

Part 16.

-----------------------------------

PEST

I watched as Wesker ran off. I considered following him. But the battle between the man and Konny was too cool. Konny suddenly managed to get the man onto the ground. He leaped on top of him… Got thrown off… Then Austin came… Eventually Konny just told us to run. I complied, he was losing the battle. I didn’t want to be next. So I ran toward the spotlight.

There was a door over here. What a surprise. I was side by side with Z. Followed by Pengy, Trigger, Johnny, and Austin came running up soon after. Just the 6 of us. I pulled open the door and ran through, stumbling on the body of Wesker. I quickly wondered who had killed him if the man was outside, before running through a nearby door. There were 2 other doors, and I hoped I had picked the right one.

“Split up!” I heard someone behind me say. They all ran off through different doors. I was alone with Pengy in a long hallway. We looked at each other, and then walked in silence down the winding hallway. We came along a lot of turnoffs, and took seemingly random turns. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Pengy voiced the question I had asked myself. “Who killed Wesker?”

I didn’t answer him. I had no clue. We kept walking. A couple minutes later, we heard screams echoing down a tunnel off to our right. “Think we should investigate?” I asked Pengy, speaking for the first time in a while. He looked at me. I could tell he was thinking whether there was a point. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming down the hall behind me, in the hallway opposite the one where we heard screams. I turned and looked to see Austin and Trigger approaching. More screams echoed down the first hallway. They seemed to be getting closer.

“We should run. Those screams means someone evil is coming” said Trigger. We turned to run down the hall that Trigger and Austin came out of. And I stepped back in surprise. Standing at the beginning of the hall was Syn. I spoke in spite of myself. “Syn! How are you still alive!? I… I thought you died!”

“Yeah, that’s what Wesker thought too.” Said Syn. I started to wonder what he meant, when the person screaming came running up. I saw it was Z. “He got Johnny!” Screamed Z. We have to run!”

“Come on Syn, we don’t have time to wonder how you’re alive. We have to go.” Said Austin. He started to try to drag Syn down the hall. Syn didn’t budge. Z ran up to Syn, and started to try to force him down the hall too. Syn just smiled and lifted a bloody knife, which he twirled in his fingers. “Ah, I see you revealed your presence Syn.” Said a voice behind me. I looked behind me in shock to see the man standing there. “What does he mean reveal your presence?” Asked Z. Syn looked over at Z. Then brought the knife up directly into his ear. “Z!” I screamed. What was Syn doing!? Then it dawned on me. The person who had killed Wesker. It was Syn. Everyone else seemed to realize this as well. “You!” Screamed Trigger, pointing a finger at Syn. “You killed Wesker!”

Syn smiled and twirled the knife. “Z too,” he said. “Yeah! And Z too!” Screamed Trigger, still pointing. “Why?” I asked. “Why are you betraying us? Why did you suddenly help him kill us after all you’ve done to protect us while we were here?”

Syn laughed. “It’s not like I’m betraying you. It’s been planned like this since you got here. That I was going to be the inside man. It was planned for me to jump in the fan. See, this “man” as you like to call him, was hiding in the shaft. It was planned for me to jump in, so he could catch me and save me, and leave you guys to think I’m dead.”

“Why?” I asked again. “Why bring us here and kill us.” This time the man behind us answered. “Because it’s fun. I enjoy watching people die. And it would be fun to do it to people I know over the internet.”

“People you know?” Asked Austin. “I knew it! You’re Gahsters!” At this both Syn and the man doubled over laughing. “Why would I work with Gahsters!?” Asked Syn between bursts of laughter. “Oh no… This is Barry!”

The news shocked me. Why was Barry trying to kill us? Oh yeah… Because it’s fun. I had gotten my answers. It was time to escape. I ran off to the hall down the left as fast as I could.

Part 17.

---------------------------------------

SYN

I twirled my knife and explained my motives. It was funny that they thought Barry was Gahsters. Suddenly Pest ran off down the hall to my right. I thought that was funny too. What was he thinking, that he could escape? We had locked this place down tight. There was no escape. Me and Barry were free to run around and kill them at our leisure.

“Go ahead. Run. All of you. Don’t make this easy on us.” I said, twirling my knife some more. I hoped it make me look more intimidating. There was no real hesitation, the other 3 immediately ran off. Trigger ran off in Pest’s direction. Austin and Pengy went the other way. I nodded to the right at Barry, signaling for him to go after Pest and Trigger. I ran to the left, after Austin and Pengy.

I could see them ahead. Austin was running considerably faster than Pengy, as was I. I could have easily caught up and stabbed Pengy, but where was the fun in that? I turned right down a hall that would bring me in front of them. While running along this hall I found Johnny, hanging upside down, completely skinned. Barry liked killing in violent ways. Hence all the violent traps in this place. I ran onward, knowing I’d cut off Pengy and Austin. Suddenly Pest emerged from a hall close in front of me. I love these intercrossing hallways. I had 2 other people to kill, so Pest would live a while longer.

After a while of running, I came to another 4 way intersection, where I knew Austin and Pengy would show up. They’d be showing up down the hall to the right, but I heard noises down the hall to the left. I looked down it and saw Trigger running in the distance, Barry in close pursuit. Down the hallway to the right was Austin. I caught Barry’s eyes from afar, and nodded. We knew what we’d do, exchange targets. I would go after Trigger and he would go after Austin. I let Trigger run past, then continued in pursuit, running straight past Austin, who’d be getting a surprise…

I kept running down the hall after Trigger. A short ways down the hall, I found Pengy, lagging behind. Trigger screamed at Pengy as he ran past “run!” But Pengy was too slow to turn around. I saw the fear in his eyes as I ran past him with my arm outstretched, knife pointed at his face. I ran past and felt the knife get snagged under his jaw, letting the speed rip it free. I was unsure if it was a fatal wound, I didn’t turn around to check. I kept running after Trigger.

Part 18.

---------------------------

AUSTIN

I stood in shock, finding out Barry was the culprit all along. It was humorous in a way. I got snapped out of my trance by Syn, who told us to run already. I didn’t need to be told twice. I ran down the hall to the right. I heard someone following me, and hoped it wasn’t Syn or Barry already, though I was confident that I could outrun them. I glanced behind me to see Pengy following me, though he was a lot slower. Behind Pengy I saw Syn begin his chase. I looked ahead again, and ran for my life.

I ran past many hallways intersecting with the hall I was running down. I kept running. Suddenly I saw someone ahead of me. It was Trigger! Followed by Syn! Somehow he had gotten ahead of me! I tried to stop and turn around, but Syn was on me in a flash… And ran right past me. I looked back, surprised at my luck, and kept running. I was about to watch where I was going when my chest slammed into something. I flipped over it, and landed on my back. After my vision cleared, I was looking up at Barry, who had apparently clotheslined me while I was looking back. He picked me up by my throat and threw me against the wall. I slid down it, only to be picked up again, and slammed against the wall repeatedly.

I was slammed against the wall once more, and held there. I looked up into Barry’s face. And spit in it. Barry smiled, unfazed, and brought his arm back to deliver the final blow. I closed my eyes and hoped I’d die quick. Suddenly I heard some sort of sickening squish, like a watermelon exploding, and something wet on my face. I opened my eyes to see 3 blades sticking out of Barry’s face. It must have been some sort of weapon Barry had designed. And someone had stabbed it in the back of his head. Barry fell over, undeniably dead.

I slid down along the wall, tired and damaged. That beating had taken a lot out of me. I looked up into the face who had saved me.

“Niccy!” I exclaimed. I had completely forgotten we had left him unconscious in the spotlight room. He still looked extremely tired, and who could blame him? Hanging onto those spikes for 7 hours was sure to make anybody want to sleep for eternity. I stood up. I may have been tired, but it was nothing compared to Niccy. “Come on Niccy. Syn went after Trigger, we have to go after them. Then we have to find an exit."

We both walked off in the direction I ran from, in pursuit of Syn, leaving Barry’s dead and bleeding corpse on the floor, where he would never hurt anyone again.

Part 19.

-------------------------------

PENGY

I saw Syn coming at me too late. I tried to stop and turn myself around, but Syn’s arm was already outstretched, his knife reflecting the fluorescent lighting overhead. I felt the blade enter under my chin, jerking my head back. Syn kept running, sending me sprawling over backwards, the knife ripping from the flesh below my mouth. The knife was long enough to go through my tongue and scrape the roof of my mouth. I landed hard on my back, and I hurried to my feet before Syn came back to finish me. I struggled along the wall in the direction I was going, holding my hand over my wound.

I rounded a corner and came to a 4 way intersection. Heading my way was Austin and… Niccy! I had completely forgotten about him in the excitement. They were both walking along, wounded. Behind them I saw Barry, lying on the ground with a weird bladed object in his head. “Pengy!” Austin yelled. I ignored him and grabbed the handle of the weird object in Barry’s head. I ripped it free. I would make Syn pay for doing this to us. I walked off in the direction Syn had gone, unafraid now that I had a weapon. Austin and Niccy walked along behind me.

After about 5 minutes of walking, Pest emerged from a intersecting hallway. He watched the 3 injured people walk by. I ignored him. My mind was on Syn and what I’d do to him when I found him. The four of us walked on in silence. I knew Syn was after Trigger right now, but not for long. I hoped Trigger would live long enough for me to come and save the day. I’d be the hero. I’d come and kill Syn just as Trigger was about to die. I’d be revered forever, the boy who had saved 4 other people older than him from a maniac with a knife. Yeah… I liked the sound of that.

I was off in my dream world where I was in newspapers and on T.V. when suddenly Trigger ran across the hall in front of me. It made me lose concentration on my dreams. I was angry at him for that. Then I realized if Trigger was running…. Syn wasn’t far behind…

I ducked at the last second. I felt the wind above my head as the knife barely missed my skull. I turned and looked at Syn, who had stopped chasing Trigger, and was now looking at me.

“Well hello there Pengy. I see you survived our last encounter.” I held my jaw bone in pain. “I see you’ve also got a weapon this time.” I looked down at the 3 bladed knife in my hands. Syn twirled his knife and smirked. “What were you planning to do with that weapon, Pengy?”

I knew I could take him. He was underestimating me. It was a bad idea on his part. I would wipe that smirk off his face forever. I ran at him, blade pulled back, ready to thrust forward and impale Syn’s face. He just smiled, crouched, and jumped. I ran straight under him. I heard a soft thud as he landed behind me. I saw Trigger ahead of me, he had stopped to watch me fight. I turned back to Syn. Pest, Niccy, and Austin was standing behind him. Syn was enclosed by walls on 2 sides, and people on the other 2. He would not escape me. He would not ruin my dream! I ran at him again. He crouched again. What an idiot, I knew what he was going to do. Sure enough, he jumped. I was expecting this, and jumped too, 3 bladed instrument outstretched. He jumped higher than me, flipped to be perpendicular to the ceiling, and grabbed my wrist.

He flung me along the hallway, using his own strength combined with my running momentum to fling me over the heads of the spectators. I landed and slid on the smooth floor behind Austin, Niccy, and Pest. I skidded to a halt, and stood. Pest, Austin, and Niccy stepped against the wall. I was filled with rage. I looked down at my hand to see that my bladed instrument had been ripped out of my hands. No matter, I didn’t need it. I ran at Syn, who was now holding a knife in one hand and my 3 bladed knife in his other. I didn’t need a weapon to beat that smirk off his face. “I’m the greatest!!!!” I yelled as I ran towards Syn, my voice slightly muffled by my injured tongue. I tackled him at full speed. He didn’t even try to defend himself. Turns out he didn’t need to. I felt like I had tackled a rock. I bounced backwards off him, landing spread eagle on my back.

He stood over me, holding his 2 weapons. This couldn’t be happening. Syn couldn’t beat me. I was all powerful! I stood shakily to my feet and punched him in the face. He smirked again. “I’M BETTER THAN YOU SYN!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I lifted both arms, and linked my fingers, and brought my hands down on Syn’s head in a hammer blow. He raised his 3 bladed knife above his head, and my forearms were impaled by the force I had brought my hands down. He ripped the knife free of my arms, and I bent over, clutching my arms tight to my body in pain.

How could this be!? I was the hero of this story! Syn couldn’t beat me! “YOU CAN’T BEAT ME SYN!” I screamed hysterically. My dream! He was ruining it! I was the hero! I kicked out at Syn in frustration. He brought his own knife up, and his 3 bladed knife down, trapping my leg between the 2. I stumbled off balance as he forced the 2 blades together, and scraped the blades down my leg, skinning my leg from the knee down, leaving nothing but blood soaked bone. I screamed in utter pain. He threw both knives aside, and grabbed my ankle. And twisted my foot off. I was left with nothing but bone from my knee down, sticking from my meaty thigh. I fell over backwards, just about passing out in pain.

Syn stood over my head and smirked. He held up the 3 bladed knife and held it over my head. “You deserve this” He said. He dropped the knife. I screamed one last time. “I’M BETTER THAN YOU!!!!” before the knife impaled my skull.

Part 20.

-------------------------------

TRIGGER


I stood, helpless, and watched as Pengy's skull was impaled by Barry's 3 bladed knife. Syn was still holding his razor sharp knife. He turned and looked at me, smiling. Pest and Austin had taken off in the opposite direction, leaving Niccy exhausted and leaning against the wall.

Syn started walking toward me, swinging his knife through the air. I didn't need my intuition to tell me to flee. My subconscious had already taken over, and I was running out of there before I knew what my legs were doing. My thoughts flashed on Pengy, but I pushed him out of my head and kept running. Running full speed down the twisting, winding hall, Syn's footsteps on the metal floor echoing behind me.

I was taking random turns at every fork, hoping to find a way out by pure luck. After about three minutes of running, I was out of breath. Two more minutes and I could barely keep up my pace. Yet Syn was running tirelessly behind me, murmuring and giggling slightly, completely unfazed by the chase.

I approached a 4 way intersection. I knew that turning would slow me down, and I couldn't afford that. I decided to run straight through the intersection.

I was about 4 seconds away from passing the intersection when a voice echoed down from the right path. "Trigger! An exit!!!".

I changed direction as fast as I possibly could, veering off to my right. I was almost too late, and I clipped past the corner with barely a milimeter from hitting it and slowing me down. I heard Syn's knife scrape off the metal wall just behind me. He was gaining on me. But I didn't have time to look behind me. I ran down the hall in the direction of Austin's voice.

I approached a 3 way, V shaped intersection. "Austin!!!" I screamed. "This way!!!" Came the response from the left hall. I turned quickly, feeling the back of my head get cut by Syn's knife, which he was no doubt swinging madly. It wasn't deep enough to faze me or even slow me down. I kept running.

I could see Austin about 300 feet down the hall, in front of an open door, leading to a staircase. Beyond the door and streaming down the staircase was light. Natural light. Sunlight. I couldn't see Pest or Niccy, but Austin was standing in front of the staircase, beckoning wildly to me.

I focused all of my will on that sunlight. Running full speed towards my freedom, and Austin.

And Austin. With Syn right behind me. If I reached the staircase, no doubt Syn would catch up. After he got finished with me, he would no doubt start on Austin. Was I killing Austin by running to my freedom? Should I turn off down one of the many intersections, leading Syn farther from Austin and giving him a chance to escape?

While I was dealing with my conflicted thoughts, I hardly noticed that Niccy had appeared in my eyesight. He had stepped out from one of the intersecting corriders, holding Barry's three bladed weapon. He was facing me as I ran towards him.

"DUCK!" Niccy screamed. I was almost on top of him, and it was far too late to merely duck. I dodged to my left, contorting my body through the air, landing on my back and skidding along the floor. The antislip grooves tearing up my back as I slid along.

Syn didn't bother to duck. He just lifted his knife and brought it down on Niccy. Niccy brought up his weapon, and caught Syn's knife between two of his blades. He struggled with Syn, both weapons locked in a clash of metal. I didn't need to be told to run.

I quickly got to my feet and started running towards the staircase. Austin had stopped beckoning, and started to climb the stairs.

I hit the stairs about 6 seconds behind him, and I clamored up the metal staircase. I didn't dare look behind me to see if Syn had finished Niccy and resumed his chase against me.

I continued up the staircase, Austin just ahead of me. Eventually we reached the top. Cold air and sunlight greeted us. We were in a very large cavern, at the mouth. To the right of us, the cave stretched deeper. To our left, the outside.

We ran out of the cave. We were on a wide open platform. My best guess was a helicopter landing pad. Pest was already up here, looking down the edge of the landing pad. I ran over to where Pest stood, Austin just behind me, and we looked down.

I realized we were on a snow covered mountain. A straight drop of at least 300 feet from the edge of the landing pad, then the mountainside evened off into a 45 degree angle. I ran to all three sides of the landing pad, looking down. The same sight greeted me every time. The only way off the pad was back into the cave, where I could see the hole the staircase led out of, and deeper: pitch blackness.

The only way out was with a helicopter.

Pest sat down on the snow dusted landing pad. Resigned to his fate. "Get up, Pest! We have to get off this mountain!!!" Screamed Austin. Pest calmly looked from Austin to me. "Who knows where we are? We could be anywhere. Who knows if we're in Colorado, or the Himalaya's? We could be on any snowy mountain anywhere in the world. And the only helicopter that knows how to get here is probably controlled by Syn and Barry. One of their buddies probably fly them up here. It's over."

I don't know if it was the sheer force of my exhaustion or Pest's negativity, but I collapsed onto the pad. Austin looked from Pest, who sat calmly, crosslegged on the platform, to me, as I spread my arms and legs out, wishing to just fall asleep with the sun on my face.

"This is it, then?" Austin asked. "You're both giving up?"

I sat up and looked back to the cave. Maybe if we could find a radio in there, we could call someone and have them trace the signal, right? It was worth a shot. I got back on my feet, and told Austin and Pest my plan. Pest stood, and the three of us walked across the platform, back towards the cave, and the staircase leading back in.

I expected Syn to poke his head out of the hole, and sure enough, as we neared the staircase, he did. He crawled up out of the hole, bleeding from at least 13 spots on his arms and face. He was still smiling, although his face was ashen, and he didn't look to good. As he climbed up the rest of the staircase, I saw that he was also missing a foot. Niccy messed him up good.

"You'll all pay!!!" he screamed as he hopped out of the hole. His razor knife still clenched tightly in his hand. His leg dangled uselessly without it's foot at the end.

"What are you going to do, bleed on me?" I asked smugly. This apparently angered Syn greatly, as he hopped at me on one foot with the grace of a ballerina, his knife slashing the air.

I was taken off guard by his unexpectedly fluid movements, but I managed to duck and roll out of the way of danger. Syn came at me as I stood up, but I slipped on the slick metal surface, and went down hard.

Pest unexpectedly hammered into the back of Syn's head with a rock he had picked up by the cave entrance. Syn turned, angry, and threw his razor knife into Pest's thigh. Pest collapsed in pain, and Syn came after me yet again. I stumbled again as I stood, and Syn caught me around the neck.

Syn lifted me high above his head, smiling at me. I kicked and punched and did everything I could to make him let me go, but it didn't even break his smile. He hopped easily with me over his head, closer to the edge of the pad.

I pulled out my last resort. I reared my arm back, and jabbed my thumb right into Syn's eye. He screamed and snarled in pain, but didn't let me go. I struggled and reared my arm back to jam my thumb into his other eye, but this time he expected this. He grabbed my legs with his other hand, and lifted me high above his head, into a horizontal position. Then he threw me with superhuman strength towards the edge of the platform.

One minute, the platform was below me. The next, I was looking down a steep 300 foot drop. My voice caught in my throat, stopping my scream. The freezing air bit at my skin as I fell, and as I dropped, I flipped up. There, 50 feet above me, was Syn. Not smiling. A pure hateful expression on his face. His eye had begun to bruise and was now shining in the sunlight.

I never felt the impact. The only thing I felt was the freezing cold. Then I didn't feel... Anything.

o.o

Fine, I'll train agility with moar commitment.

*randomly stumbles on this*

Wow.. your really not that good at reading people are you?

Your portrayal of me was quite terrible..

Part 21.

-------------------------------

PEST


I had collapsed on the metal helipad, pain shooting through my thigh from Syn's knife that he threw at me. I saw Trigger struggling valiantly, suspended by his neck from Syn's ruthless hand. I looked down at the wound in my thigh, and the razor knife still sticking out of it. I pulled it from my thigh, ready to throw it at Syn's back as Trigger jabbed him in the eye. I hesitated. If I missed... The knife would careen off the side of the cliff, and I would lose my only weapon.

The hesitation was the death of Trigger. As my thoughts conflicted, Syn lifted Trigger perpendicular over his head, and tossed him with great effort over the side of the helipad. Syn collapsed to his hands and knees, staring over the edge as Trigger no doubt bounced along the icy rocks below.

Syn turned his head in my direction, where I sat bleeding and exhausted and freezing on the open air helipad. I clutched the knife tightly in my hand, ready for Syn to leap at me. He never did. It looked like his fight with Trigger and Niccy took it's toll, as he looked drained. The stump at the end of his leg still leaked a little blood.

He stared at me, panting, as Austin stepped up beside me, holding Niccy's three pronged knife. Syn's lips curled into a snarl, realizing he was greatly outmatched now. He had no weapon, and no foot, where as I and Austin had both. I got to my feet slowly, favoring my left leg, holding the razor knife in my left hand and putting pressure on my wound with my right.

The wind started picking up as Syn knelt on his hands and knees, the gusts sending flurries of snow over the helipad, dimming the sunlight. In a flash, Syn was on his one remaining foot, leaping toward us with all the power of a frog. Austin thrusted the 3 pronged knife at him, and caught him under his arm, as he stretched it towards my throat.

Syn moaned and collapsed, all his weight on Austin's weapon, and Austin let him slide off of it to the ground. Syn looked more tired than furious now. He quickly thrust his arm out towards my ankle, but I was too fast. I hobbled backwards, landing on my butt, but safely out of Syn's reach.

Syn moaned again, and rolled onto his back, spread eagle on the helipad, arms and legs extending in no particular direction. Austin took his chance. He leapt forward, bringing the three pronged claw down into Syn's stomach. Syn shuddered, but laughed. Austin once more drove the claw into Syn's stomach. Syn's smile faltered, but he forced another laugh. "One of us..." Syn choked, as he extended his left hand upwards towards Austin. Austin snarled and brought the claw down into Syn's head.

Austin was blocking my view, but I heard it. Syn's skull cracked and splintered under the force of the blow. For good measure, Austin twisted the claw, and I saw blood splatter from both sides. Austin sighed, his shoulders slumped, and he let go of the weapon, leaving it impaled in Syn's head.

Austin turned, offering me a hand. I reached up to take it, but it was too late. I fainted from either the pain and bloodloss, or the cold. Maybe both. Maybe I was just exhausted. I didn't even feel my head hit the helipad.

----------------------

I opened my eyes to the soft glow of unnatural light. I felt warm. I sat up, feeling restricted across my chest, and quickly fell back to my original position, on my back. I looked down, squinting through my pain, and saw a heavy brown blanket across me. I rolled off and onto the floor. It wasn't that far, as I quickly saw that I was lying on a cot. Austin must have dragged me here while I was passed out.

I stood up shakily, still tired, and still in pain from my thigh wound. I hobbled out the open door, finding myself back in the winding hallways. To my right the hallway curved around a corner, to my left was an open door, a few yards down the hall. I limped in the direction of the door, grabbed the doorframe, and looked inside.

"Austin!" I sighed in relief. He was sitting on a big, comfy, red couch, reading something. He looked up at me, startled, dropped whatever he was reading on the cushion next to him, and hopped down. I was taken aback by just how large the couch was. I wanted to ask Austin many things - What was happening? Was rescue coming? Was he OK? - but the only thing the slipped out of my mouth was an exasperated scream, demanding to know why the couch was so big.

Austin shrugged, and turned to look at it. It was at least ten feet tall total, and the cushions were at least 4 feet off the ground. In the considerably large gap between the floor and the base of the couch, I saw 2 nondescript, gray stuffed animals. I could have sworn they had red noses.

"Syn and Barry's idea of a joke? Maybe they think it's stylish?" offered Austin. "But that's not important right now. I managed to contact the military. We're in Colorado, and rescue is coming soon. I was about to go wake you up. Let's head up to the helipad."

I was lost in the halls, but I followed Austin and he led me to the metal staircase. It was still daylight - or maybe I was out for 24 hours - but it was still freezing. I shuddered as we emerged into the cave, struck by the gusts harder than Syn could have ever hit me.

Austin walked over to the edge of the helipad, past Syn's mangeled body, and I limped along behind him, still pained by the stab wound. The both of us looked down over the Colorado Rockies. I fell to the polished steel, letting my legs dangle over the edge. I immediately regretted this when I felt the harsh wind tug at my legs, and pulled them back up. I sat half cross legged, with my right leg extended. It still hurt too much to bend.

I turned to look at Austin. He had withdrawn the razor knife from his belt. I was surprised to see he still carried it. Before I could even react, Austin jabbed the razor into the top of my left shoulder. I winced as he quickly withdrew it, crouched, and stabbed me in my left kidney. I fell onto my right side, taken completely off guard. I had trusted Austin... I hadn't expected this at all.

I lay stiff on my right side, my right leg half off of the helipad, unable to move. Austin rested his foot on my side, holding me down, in case I tried to get up again. I could feel my conscience being dragged off by the frozen wind. "You know, Pest? Syn and Barry had the right idea. Killing IS fun."

My subconscience flitted back to when Austin was stabbing Syn. Syn had said Austin was one of them. Had he known? Did he know that he was influencing Austin in such a manner? I was shaken from my thoughts when I felt a stabbing pain in my back. It wasn't a knife. It felt more like a boot. I opened my eyes to find myself sailing down the mountain side, parted from the frozen but safe helipad, kicked off by Austin. I closed my eyes and waited for the end, tears freezing before they could even leave my eyes.

The last thing I heard was helicopter blades spinning in the distance...

There, it's finally over. Started in October of 2008, 2 and a half years later it's finally finished. Keep in mind that these stories only half-portray their UC counterparts. If I tried to make a story using nothing but realism, it would be somewhat boring. Of course I would never be a murderer, and of course no one on UC would act the way they did in the story. Keep in mind this is fiction - I made this up, and it came out of my own head. Remember this if you're reading this and you think I portrayed you inaccurately.

In other news, if you're hungry for more of this style of writing, I might direct you to Remnants. Remnants is a series written by K.A. Applegate (Animorphs), and was a major influence over my writing style during my entire process of writing this.

Everyone can now post freely in this topic. This series is officially closed.

FUCK K.A. Applegate. I gave her my heart and my soul for ten years, only for her to kill every Animorph except the least interesting one. )':<

I fear my heart will never recover.



Nice stories, though. How come Trigger had to die?! D:< And what an unlikely death it was! Owls can fly!