CHAPTER 7: SURVIVING THE SYSTEM TRIAL (II)
1131 Words
It took forever before the pair of feet shuffled out of the kitchen.
Alex waited, hoping the crawler had gone far enough for him to escape.
There was no way to access the system, so he couldn't afford to confront an infected.
“I don't want to continue with this death sentence.” Alex sighed, coming out of his hiding area.
His stomach grumbled, and he could feel the tiredness seeping in.
There was no more shuffling, but he couldn't tell where the monster was going.
“No matter. I should be able to end it,” Alex muttered, before taking a look at the map.
Following the drawn-out and strangely well-detailed directions, he found himself in what looked like a basement.
“A basement? You have to be kidding me…” Countless images from the various movies he had watched appeared in his head.
Alex gripped the iron harder, “I can't believe I'm going into a basement alone.”
The door of the basement opened with a slight nudge, and there was one single lightbulb that had dimmed.
Alex listened for sounds; at the appearance of none, he went down.
Right in front of him were various storage boxes, labeled, but the labels had faded, so it was hard to read what was in those boxes.
“I'd just have to check.”
Alex took the knife and moved to tear off the wraps from the box.
There was a box with apples, but the fruit had generated some sort of grey-looking pollution.
“Okay, nothing for now,” Alex said after he had tried several boxes.
He was about to give up and go back up when a yellow cardboard box caught his eye.
It was labeled with yellow tape, ‘Emergency-Do Not Use.’
Curiosity fueled his actions, and he moved towards it.
“Jackpot!” Alex gasped after he had acted on the box.
Stacked on the boxes were silver pouches, labeled with words that read.
‘FAMILY SURVIVAL MEAL’
‘CHICKEN ALFREDO, JUST ADD WATER.’
Some of the cans were rusty, and some were shiny and looked untouched.
Beneath these large stacks of food items were oxygen absorbers, fully functional and shiny.
There was a leather pouch filled with knives and daggers of different sizes.
Alex sighed; his eyes caught a note, barely readable.
‘For Isabella. If we don't make it.’
This cardboard could have been kept by some sort of rich family who thought of coming back here.
“It's just a game! It's not real.” Alex shook his head. Any second thoughts could delay his time of survival.
Alex found a bag by the corner and stuffed his findings inside it.
Firstly, he needed to find somewhere to sleep.
The basement room had a bad door, so it was out of options.
Alex ran up, constantly staring at the map in his hands.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and a ground-breaking roar shook the walls of the hotel.
“Not good.” The sound came from where he was headed. Alex turned.
He could hear it, the massive stumping of feet.
His only hope was that the so-called monster was just passing by the hotel.
What Alex didn't know was that the sound would attract the reaction of every crawler.
Just as he turned into the next corner, he came face to face with an infected, and it launched at him in the next breath.
Alex dodged before using his iron rod to slam the crawler across the hallway.
With a sickening crunch, the head of the infected sank in, and when it landed, it stopped moving.
Alex’s stomach twisted in disgust. “It's only a game.” He calmed himself and kept moving.
Soon enough, he found a room and barricaded the door as soon as he stepped in.
He would wait out the time here.
There was no other option.
Alex looked around. Sleeping on the bed was very risky, so he made his way into the bathroom.
The water system was surprisingly working, and the water was clean.
Without wasting time, Alex drank as much as he could, washed his face, and took the duvet from the bedroom.
Pushing the bathtub to barricade the door, Alex slept on the floor.
The deafening roars echoed outside the window, and the evening drew closer.
Alex had spent a total of ten hours, which meant he had 14 hours left.
He hadn't slept in a long while, so the moment his head hit the floor, sleep captured him.
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At the command hub, the largest tower in the Safe Haven, a man slammed his fists on a wide desk, startling the people who stood around him.
“What do you mean you haven't found him? He has a tag! Everyone sent over there has a tag! So find him.” The man yelled, his yellow hair covering part of his face.
Alwert flinched at the tone used; this was his boss, Captain Linch.
“Sir, we have checked every nook and cranny of the outer region. There's not one signal.” Alwert stood at attention, but his words made Linch’s frown deepen.
Linch took a breath to calm down, “And his boy? Can't you use the child as a way to draw him out?”
Alwert's eyes dimmed; the boy in question was Alexander.
“Captain Sir…”
“Talk to me,” Linch grumbled.
“Alexander Ray was killed for a murder he committed, and his body was dumped into the Outer Region as a punishment.” Alwert's lips shook as he spoke, but he maintained his composure.
This was not what he had planned, but he had no choice but to say this to curry some favor.
Who would have thought the Captain would care about a kid from the scum?
A loud bang echoed once again, and everyone shook.
Linch held a look that meant that he was doing a lot to restrain himself.
“Who gave you the right to toss the body into the Outer Region?”
Without waiting for his subordinates’ response, he spoke through gritted teeth.
“I do not care what you do or how you do, but find that boy's body and use it as leverage.”
Alwert swallowed, “Sir, the Outer Region? What if he had turned?”
“I said I do not care, Corporal Alwert. And I am quite sure you don't want to go back to being a Private Officer. Leave my sight!” Linch barked his demands.
The door closed, and Alwert heard the murmuring that came from behind it, and he clenched his fists.
“Curse you, kid. Even in your death, you cause more problems.”
- Writer
