"Welcome, players. This is your first game in Survival Games. You are in an underground chamber at the moment, and the only way to get out is to win the game. Are you ready to play?"
Theo struggled to focus on what was happening around him. He didn't understand what the female mechanical voice was saying.
That was when he looked around and saw other people in the same room as him. They were all standing on panels on a blue-lit floor. The walls were white, and there seemed to be no doors.
He had a collar around his neck, and he was wearing green cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and black combat boots. He didn't remember putting on those clothes or going into that weird room.
The last thing he remembered was dying.
He tried to touch the collar he felt around his neck, but then later realized that he was chained to another person by the wrist. A taller guy who appeared to be the same age as him or slightly older. The only difference was that the guy was Asian, tall, and he looked like he worked out.
He was immediately intimidated.
"Where are we?" He asked the guy.
The guy didn't respond. He also seemed just as confused as he was, if not more. Everyone was murmuring. There were men and women there, as well as people of all races. They were all dressed in similar clothing and equally as confused.
Someone stepped off the panel, and the collar around his neck started beeping. It beeped for two seconds before his neck exploded and his blood covered everyone in the room, including Theo.
The woman he was chained to screamed when her collar also started beeping and she exploded seconds later. Everyone remained silent, pondering what had just happened. Everyone was scared to move, let alone breathe.
"Players, this game is called Hold or Let go. Here are the rules of the game;
There are a total of thirty players, and they are all in pairs, connected by a short chain to one another. The panel beneath you is pressure-sensitive. If one person steps off the panel and shifts the pressure, you die.Each player must keep the panels pressed at all times. The timer of the game is thirty minutes."
Everyone was confused about the game and what was happening. Theo could hardly process the events. He bent down and vomited on the ground. He had a weak stomach and he couldn't take having someone's blood and flesh on him.
His partner glared at him.
"Get it together. I will not die because of you." The guy said.
"What is the game about?" Someone asked what everyone was thinking. It didn't make sense."
"Task of the game: When the thirty minutes lapse, only one person should be standing on the panel. If both panels are occupied by the time thirty minutes lapse, both die. Good luck, players! The timer starts now."
The ceiling opened a small screen came down. It showed the timer.
"What's happening? How did we even get here? I'm not playing." One woman screamed.
She tried to take off the collar around her neck as everyone watched her. Suddenly, it started beeping, and her eyes shone with horror before her neck exploded. Her partner started laughing.
"I'm going to make it out alive!" He screamed.
His delight was short-lived when his also started beeping. Seconds later, his neck exploded, and his headless body fell to the ground.
Theo was scared beyond measure. A small mistake meant he could die at any time. He wanted to live.
"What do we do?" His partner asked.
"Obviously, we both need to stand on the panel for the duration of the thirty minutes. However, when the thirty minutes lapse, only one of us should be standing on the panel."
"No shit, Sherlock," his partner said.
"I can't die. I can't die." Theo chanted. He didn't know where he was. All that he knew was that he was in perfect health, and it meant he had an opportunity to avenge his best friend. He was going to make James pay for his mistakes.
"What kind of game is this?" Someone else asked. "This isn't real. Someone is playing a trick on me."
"This isn't a trick. Wake up! Four people are dead. We were thirty, and now, we are twenty-six. This isn't a game. No one can play a collective trick on all of us." Her partner told her.
She started sobbing.
"I'm Theo, what's your name?" Theo asked his partner.
His partner was unsure about whether to answer the question first, but he decided he was going to die anyway. There was no use in hiding it.
"Miles. So, you look like a nerd. Do you know how we can make it out of this game alive?" Miles asked.
Theo thought about it. He had never been one to play video games. He didn't know how everything worked. The time remaining was ten minutes, and there was little time to think. If they were both standing on the panel by the time the thirty minutes were over, they would die.
"I might have an idea, but I'm not sure if it will work," Theo said. It was a gamble but it was he had.
"Okay. Tell me."
"The pair that died was right next to us, which means there is an empty panel waiting to be used. What the system said is that the second the thirty minutes lapse, one of us can step on the panel. If one of us jumps on the panel at the exact second the thirty-minute timer lapses, we could survive."
Miles laughed and shook his head. That was a dumb idea. It was near impossible to make it off the panel at the exact second.
"What about the chain?" Miles asked.
"The chain is long enough. There is a reason we woke up in this confusing game. They knew some people would panic and die, leaving empty panels for others to use to survive."