Beyond the Walls

Right from the Start

“Don’t. Who are you?” A gun was pointed at Alexa’s head. While Adam is showing submission by kneeling down and with his arms at the back of his head.

“Wait! They are not–” Elijah tried to intervene but he was stopped by another person.

‘There are at least three of them. I was wrong to think there is only 1 remaining.’ Alexa thought. Remembering there is only one spot in the GPS then it means there is only one entity with a tracker here.

Were they tricked? No. Elijah was too simple to come up with an ambush. Their existence was only revealed that day and that kid had no way to contact them. Adam was watching him the whole time.

“I asked, who are you? What are you doing here?” The man pressed the tip of the gun.

“We are investigating the ‘games’.” Not entirely sure what the ‘Games’ are but it wasn’t hard to guess, especially with her background.

“...” The man was silent. Alexa was in a shadowed part of the room and Adam was in the center with a lit candle on the side.

“Move.” The man urged Alexa to move.

She was placed beside Aaron.

“Hey.” Adam said sexily as if he was picking up some girls.

“Shut up.” Alexa gives him a dirty look. ‘This man can’t even be serious for a second.’

The man pointing the gun behind them remains unseen but the other two, their faces, were shown.

One has a build like a wrestler, obviously it was trained under strenuous work and not gym work out while the other is so-so. A common building may be on a little bit malnourished section.

“Search them. Remove any weapon.” The man behind them commanded.

When the two seemingly took a step forward the man stopped them. “Wait. Aaron goes to search for them alone. Kiko, Bring out your gun.”

Alexa wanted to click her tongue. ‘Was it coincidental? Out of whimp or he really does know. What is the name again…’

She remembers Elijah calling names… The only one who was not is…

“Lucas! They are not bad. Though they threatened me with a gun multiple times, I still don’t think they are bad. I am still alive after all.”

“There is no good or bad beyond the walls. Remember, there are no laws and civilization out here.” Cold truth.

Alexa and Adam had eye communication under a second before. They can out strength these two and take them hostage. The only thing that stopped them from earlier is because they are unsure how many more are in the vicinity.

While Adam was being searched, Alexa talked. “You know we can outpower you anytime, and kill everyone here. Oh! I can also tell that you already have one gun.”

Elijah showed a terrible expression before calming his teammates, just like Alexa predicted. “I,I think, w,we can discuss this like normal people, right?”

But… Lucas ignored him. “Go ahead. The moment any of you try something, I will shoot one of the two heads here. I can’t miss my shot from this distance”

There was no sign of intimidation.

Adam was stripped of his weapons and Aaron moved to Alexa. Alexa didn’t move and let it be searched, she is watching Kiko who is watching Lucas from behind and Kiko pointed his gun slowly at Alexa.

Aaron looked at each other and Adam mouthed

‘3’

‘2’

‘1’

Alexa pulled Aaron’s body at Kiko’s direction to block just in case the gun would be fired. She then pushed Aaron with all her strength.

‘f**k! This guy is heavy!’ She cursed.

Had a hard time pushing the giant built of Aaron but she succeeded in pushing him and jumped up to his head and head locked him. She pulled her body down to throw down Aaron’s body while it’s trapped.

*Shiik

Her secret weapon on her sleeves was revealed: a short sword out in the open, directed in Aaron’s choking neck.

“Don’t move or I’ll kill me!” She said,

She was confident. Her vision is not outstanding but it was a little bit above average so when Elijah came to view, his night vision spectacles showed the reflection of the man called Lucas. It was clear of his features but his build is ordinary. Even lesser than the thin man with the pistol.

It would be easy for Adam to subdue him.

“!!!”

At least that was his thoughts.

“Sorry.” Adam said in a low tone as blood drips to the flooring. He is still on his knees and hands up in the air.

“One more move and I’ll blow his head. Release him now.” Lucas said with an uncaring tone.

‘What happened?!’

Just like she predicted, Lucas is standing not far from them and with a single gun. His build is really nothing special but his form is not shaking, there are no emotions in his voice and above all he is staring right off their eyes.

‘I will pull the trigger.’ That's what his look was saying.

The only factor they didn’t consider is… He is not holding the gun with extended hand, that’s why when Adam tried to subdue him by whisking away the gun but there was no gun to whisk. Lucas is holding the gun right after his cheeks.

Fired it the moment Adam looked back at him. Adam stopped after his cheeks and part of his ear was grazed.

They’ve failed.

She released Aaron and they are back from the start.

“Start talking. Why are you here?” Lucas stepped into the light and what caught their attention was the dark bag underneath his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in ages. Tired. Exhausted. Lethargic, he looks all of that combined.

Adam, told the same exact story he told Elijah.

Lucas contemplated while looking at them at first glance he’ll appear like he was staring into space, the only thing left is a droop of his saliva in his open mouth.

“...Have any of you seen this girl?” Lucas suddenly asked.

“No.” Aaron and Kiko answered.

“She is not with us.” Lucas said plainly.

“Then, tell us about the other group. How many groups are here?” Alexa asked.

Lucas looked at Elijah and by the way he moved his eyes away then it means he slipped.

“Two. From what I know. Last time I saw the other group there were 4 of them. How many are you out here?”

Alexa got it. This Lucas is bartering information.

“There are 5 of us. One is dead and the other went off on his own. What are you playing here? What are the games?”

Everyone had stayed silent.

“In simple sentences. We are players and we complete game quests that cost our lives. To what end? We don’t know. Are you here to rescue us?”

“...”

“Are you serious? Aren’t you guys the soldiers?!” Elijah was surprised.

“...”

Lucas scoffed. “Of course they are not here to rescue us. They are part of this s**t show.” His revelation and rough words were equally surprising to hear.

“What do you mean by they are part of it?” Kiko asked.

“They are soldiers with camera access. Why did you get separated from others?”

Adam looked up with equally cold eyes, so uncharacteristic of him. “So you know, it was them? Since when?”

“Right from the start.”

‘It wasn't a coincidence that he stopped the other man from searching for them earlier. He knew it all along. He is observant, smart and cautious. A bad trait for an antagonist.’

“You are right about the people behind the camera but you are badly mistaken about us. We are not part of it. We are gathering evidence of it.”

“Why should we believe you?” That was the only time Lucas showed a little bit of an expression.

Lucas pulled the gun lazily while looking pale and almost on the verge of passing out or he is somewhat suffering from a terminal illness.

“We have evidence of it. Even if you kill us, take it with you. We plan on exposing this…publicly.”

Lucas and the two strangers are staring at each other in their own world.

“What? You know who is behind the games all this time?”

“Is it them?!”

While Lucas’ companions are bombarding him with questions. He remained quiet and observed the strangers.

“He didn’t tell you? What a bastard.” Alexa scoffed.

“...”

“The one behind all these games is the ‘Government’ itself.”

Unpaintable expressions and uncomfortable silence filled the spacious attraction house.

Meanwhile…

On the other part of the theme park, this scene of Lucas’ team was shown on the cracked tablet.

*Zoom zoom

Zooming in, Alexa and Adam’s kneeling was shown and then swiping a little more in front of them, it showed Lucas’ tired side profile. His eyes are shrunken and his hair is as shaggy as before.

A finger caressed the tablet exactly on Lucas’ face as if it was longing to touch him.