Surviving a Real Life Horror Story

Chapter Sixteen

The blackness was suffocating as we took one cautious step after another into the unknown. I felt as if the hallway was swallowing us whole as we moved onward. I glanced back toward the light once, just as the gate slammed shut. My heart fluttered in that moment, and I knew that there was no going back now. I reached out blindly in the darkness, my hand grazing over Milton’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Alexis?” he asked softly.

“Would it be wrong of me to admit that I was scared?” I asked uncertainly.

“Of course not. I think I’m just as terrified,” he admitted.

It was both comforting and worrisome that he felt the same as me. I decided to change the subject.

“So what’s our plan once we get in there?” I asked, blinking in the darkness.

“I don’t know yet,” Milton admitted. “We’ll have to wait and see once we get in the arena.”

I took a deep breath, glad that he couldn’t see the look of panic that I was sure was obvious on my face. I wondered what kind of an arena it would be. Would it be woods, a house? Would be it be difficult to see, would there be places to hide? In the back of my mind, I remembered watching the video about previous arenas.

They looked complicated, intricate. I could imagine there being places to hide, only if a person’s mind worked well enough under pressure. I wondered how big the arena was. Technically, the smaller it was, the more likely it would be for the contestants to cross paths which coincidentally might lead to more bloodshed.

I wondered exactly what the game makers were hoping to see.

I screwed up my face at the thought. They wanted to see death. That was the reason for the whole thing. How did we know that they were even going to let any of us leave the arena? For all we knew, we were all facing an unjust slaughter.

Our ears alerted us to the arena before our eyes had a chance to adjust. We could hear the soft whistling of the wind as it blew around us. I spun in a circle, hoping I would be able to see anything, but my eyes were still blinded by the darkness, sight was impossible.

“Are we in the arena?” I asked softly, hoping I hadn’t wandered too far away from Milton.

“I think so,” he replied in a breathy whisper.

“What do we do? I can’t see a thing!” I said.

“Calm down,” he said taking a long pause. “This must be the edge of the arena. I’m sure if we keep going, it’ll get a little lighter. We can’t compete if we can’t see after all.”

“That’s a good point,” I said hoarsely filling dread fill me at the thought of traveling to the heart of the arena.

We were quiet as we walked. The only sound that accompanied us was the whistling wind and the light crunching sound that rang out in the darkness each time we took a step. The noise sounded familiar and after a few steps, I realized that we were walking on grass.

“Aren’t you scared?” I asked.

“Huh?” Milton asked distantly as if I had pulled him out of his thoughts.

“I’m sure some of the other contestants will go towards the light, the killers as well,” I said. “For all we know, the killers are already waiting in ambush for us to stumble out of the darkness one by one.”

“That’s a possibility,” he said thoughtfully, “but don’t worry so much. We’re going to stay in the shadows as much as possible. I just want to make sure we get to a part of the arena where we can at least see our hand in front of our face.”

I was quiet as I listened. He had a good idea, but his words sent chills of foreboding down my spine. I remembered how close Andi, Michelle, and Bruno had been to us as we were standing at the gates. I wondered just how far apart the end of the hallways were.

I swallowed heavily at the thought of Bruno lurking through this unearthly darkness. Did he already have a weapon? Was he already looking for victims? My fear caused me to speed up, and I crashed into Milton.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I wonder where Bruno is,” I stated.

“I don’t know,” Milton said, “but it’s best to keep your ears open just in case.”

I frowned to myself. My stress level was already through the roof. I wondered how the other contestants were fairing at the moment. Were they scared of the darkness? Were they plotting their next move? How was Andi doing with Melissa?

A cricket chirped from nearby suddenly, and I jumped out of my skin. My heart was hammering against my chest as I laughed sheepishly. At the rate I was going, I wouldn’t survive the first day. Milton stayed silent, but I had the feeling that he was thinking the same thing. Did he regret choosing me for his partner? I shook the thought away almost instantly- it didn’t matter.

We were in the arena already, there was no going back. No time for regret. My mind was racing with panic, but I knew that I needed to get it under control. Panic wasn’t my friend- panic could be the death of me if I wasn’t careful. I frowned and kept stepping silently through the grass.

“It’s getting lighter!” Milton said excitedly.

I glanced towards the sound of his voice and realized that I could see the outline of his shadow. I held a hand up, glad that I could see its shadowy movement. He was right. I glanced left and right, carefully securing the idea that we were alone.

An odd sense of relief washed over me. With all of my senses fully returned, I found that my confidence was returning as well. This competition was an advanced version of hide and seek. If you hid, you lived, and if you were found, you died. I looked at Milton and noticed the careful look that encased his face. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

“So, what’s our plan now that we’ve found the light?” I asked.

“I think this is as far as we should go towards it,” he said.

I nodded in agreement. “We should start looking for places to hide and wait the first few hours out.”

“Agreed,” he said, glancing around. “It’s hard to tell what would make a good hiding place though.”

I glanced at the tree beside me. “We could try climbing the trees,” I suggested.

Milton looked thoughtful. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “You first.”

I nodded and gripped the bark in tough hands. It was sharp, and I could feel the rugged edges piercing into my skin, infecting my blood with its dirt. I ignored the pain as I struggled to pull myself upward. My foot held well on the first hand hold I had used, and I made clumsy progress up the tree.

Finally, I wrapped my arm around the thickness of the branch and used it to hoist myself up. I sat there, panting and covered in sweat as I listened to the shuffling sounds of Milton as he climbed to the branch just above mine.

With heavy breath he said, “we should be safe for now.”

I nodded just as an ear splitting scream pierced through the sound barrier of the arena.

“That’s one down,” Milton said darkly.

I swallowed; which one was the first to fall, and who they had fallen to? I clung tighter to the branch as my mind considered Andi. It took careful reassurance to remind myself that she didn’t sound like that. I buried my face into the branch, trying to keep myself from thinking about the inevitable fate that at least half of the contestants faced.

It was at that moment that I picked up a heavy rustling sound from the base of the tree.