Death Game: Isolated

Chapter 3

Ace lead the two and went further to the center of the town. The farthest area that they had reached before was the playground which is still hundreds of meters away from them.

He looked behind them, they are already too far from their previous position. While they are walking, they are staying close to the buildings and refrained from crossing the streets.

"Let's go there..." He pointed his finger to a group of houses aligned with each other, there's only a narrow space in between them which is only enough to fit one person.

When they arrived there, Angel turned the doorknob of one of the houses and it was not locked so she opened it. The two followed after her before closing the door again. The house didn't have a second floor but it is huge and there are many rooms inside.

The three sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. Ace stayed close to the window to scout the outside while the two girls are in the corner hugging their knees.

***

He didn't know how long was it but it feels like an eternity. He kept praying that Sofia was safe and nothing happened to her. He can't take the risk to look for her, this place is wide and he can't easily find Sofia even if he wanted to. Darell and Angel are also with him, he just wished that Jiel and Sofia are together so that they can help each other if a problem arrives.

The only thing that kept him hopeful is the number of remaining players, there are still 50 players remaining. The two players who were eliminated were witnessed by him.

"I want to go to the restroom..." Darell said. Ace didn't look at her and only nodded his head before the two girls left.

A moment of silence passed and as his head was leaning against the window, something hit the glass window from the outside.

*Tak

He immediately stood up and stepped away from window.

*Tak tak!

'Is someone trying to break the glass with pebbles?' He thought to himself as he cautiously approached the window and traced where the pebbles are coming from.

*Tak

'What is the matter with this guy?' He looked up above towards the roofs of the buildings but didn't see anyone, then his eyes caught something moving on top of the ferris wheel.

'Who is it?' He didn't know how this person climbed on top of the ferris wheel but he admired his courage and now he is going down again?

Because it was dark and there's a dozen of meters distance from the house where Ace currently is and the ferris wheel, he can't identify who is the person going down from it.

The man landed on the ground and before crossing the street, he first looked around him and hastily ran towards the house where Ace is.

When the man finally reached in front of him, Ace recognized him as Tomy and opened the window to allow him to enter.

"How did you climb that high?" Ace tilted his head to the sky to see the top of the ferris wheel.

"I was already there before the countdown reached 0, I fell asleep and woke up because of the gunshots."

"So what's happening? Are they killing each other?" Tomy asked him and Ace explained the situation to him.

After a few moment, two figures entered the room, they are Angel and Darell. The two were shocked after seeing another person inside the room.

"I think this will last until tomorrow, 6 in the morning." Tomy stated.

"Before I went here, I saw another countdown on the monitor on top of the tallest building."

Ace c****d his head outside the window but he can't see the monitor placed on top of the tallest building that's why he went outside and saw it.

"3:20:01, there are still 3 hours left."

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the town where the gate is located, a woman was wearing a mask with her hands placed on her side and a weapon was inserted under her hoodie.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Another hunter spoke to her who is also a girl, long hair and a curvy body.

"I..."

"Tsk! Go find other players. You cannot expect that someone will come out from their hiding place and give me the cards you got, understood?" The female hunter whispered her words to the trembling hunter's ears before leaving.

The identity of this hunter was Sofia. Sofia clenched her fist and walked towards the walls.

She kept her senses active despite yhe extreme fear swelling inside her heart.

*Rustle

Just when she arrived at the back of a small building, she heard some noises inside and she remain rooted on the spot without moving.

'What should I do?' She thought to herself.

She witnessed with her own eyes the killing of the very first victim earlier. First it was Mike and now another died in front of her but she can't do anything. If she tried to do anything funny, the Game Master will surely kill her.

'Right, I'll use my position as a hunter to keep my friends safe.'

When the lights were turned off earlier, the hunters deliberately attacked the one's nearest to them, it was the same for her although she just pushed Ace aside but she knew there's someone who punched him. She just can't tell who was it because it was too dark, then after that, all of the hunters went to the same place and armed themselves with their weapons and masks hiding their identities.

Her situation is good at this moment if the players will run if they saw her and it will be different if someone attacked her since she can't even hold the knife and gun under her jacket.

She looked at the countdown, only two hours left and she sighed before entering the building where she heard the noise.

*Creak

Sofia alowly opened the door but before she could even enter, a shadow went past her at her back before a hard thing hit her leg.

"Aah!" Her body fell to the ground as she released a cry.

She cannot see the face of those who hit her because there are no lights and can only see their silhouettes, there are two of them.

She gained support by holding onto the door and immediately stood up. She pointed the gun towards the two players with her trembling hands, of course it was noticed by the two players that's why they thought she might be an easy target.

"Kill her and get her weapon, this way our survival will be easier." One of them ordered and the other one rushed to Sofia.

She can't bring herself to pull the trigger and only waited until the gun in her hand was stolen by the other player and then she was hit at her back.

"Aaargh!" Her body slammed against the wall before falling again to the ground, limply. The one who stole her gun removed Sofia's mask and saw the face hidden beneath it.

"Ho? I didn't expect that the hunter is a beautiful maiden." The man spoke after seeing Sofia's face.

"Dude, she's already crying."

"What do you want me to do? Should I let her live now that she had seen our faces?"

"No, just kill her before the other hunters arrive."

Sofia's eyes widened and crawled inside the house. She can hear her heartbeat inside her mind.

'Is this the feeling of standing near death's door?' She thought.

Although she tried getting away from the two players, her leg and back really hurts but she's still fortunate that what were hit were not her joints because if they were, there is a high possibility that she will become a cripple.

"Please..." She cried but the two players seem to not hear her words as the gun was being pointed to her.

"Heh! The player earlier was still killed even after begging for his life. The plot is the same but the actors are different." The one pointing a gun to her grinned.

She only wanted close her eyes to wait for her death but in a split second before she can finally close her eyes, she glimpsed another masked figure who appeared behind the two players.

His eyes seem to shine viciously with red lights when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him. A hunter will be killed in the first night of the game, Sofia didn't feel any hope because even if the players will not kill her, the hunter who just arrived definitely will after seeing her condition.

"You seem to be having a good time..." The hunter spoke before raising his hand which is holding a knife, the knife reflected the light coming from the moon like a mirror.

*Shuk

"Aaack..."

He planted the knife on the neck of th e othere player and let his dying body fall by itself.

"Wha- Stand down!"

"If you take another step forward, I will shoot!" His friend just died silently, he didn't even notice the hunter because his attention was focused at the female hunter in front of him.

'f**k! When did he get here!?' The player though.

Sofia looked at the hunter's mask before wearing her mask back. She didn't move and only waited what would happen to the remaining player.

The hunter raised his hand and slowly put the knife on the ground. The player's eyes followed the hunter's action and his lips revealed an evil grin.

"Heh! Hunters my ass..." He was about to pull the trigger when the hunter threw a handful of sand to his face.

"Ah!" The player immediately let go of the gun and covered his eyes. The hunter instantly approached him and stabbed his chest twice with one knife.

While the player had a pained expression, the hunter grabbed his neck and tightened his grip until one can hear a cracking sound.

*Crack

The player's body twitched and struggled for only 5 seconds as blood kept pouring out from his mouth and fromthe stab wound before dying. If not because of his neck being snapped by the hunter's extreme physical strength, he would still be struggling right now until his body is completely drenched in his own blood.

The vicious eyes of the hunter shifted to Sofia causing her to stiffen. She slowly retreated until her back touched the wall. That grip of her fellow hunter is so strong. If she would be given a chance to choose how she dies, she will probably choose being stabbed instead.

"Our lives are on the same line. You almost lost your life, the next time it happens, don't expect that someone will save you again." He told her before throwing a card, he gave her the 5 of Hearts and kept with him the 6 of Clubs.

The male hunter looked to the monitor on top of the tallest building, the number 50 changed to 48, another two were eliminated. He extended his hand to Sofia and rubbed the bloody knife to her mask before leaving.

***

4 people were seated inside a house when they finally decided to go to another place.

"Look, the number went down by two." Darell pointed to the monitor. Tomy didn't show any reaction as if he didn't mind it but it was different for Ace who's praying earnestly that nothing will happen to Sofia.

He grabbed his hair and squatted. Tomy suddenly pulled Ace behind a tree and covered his mouth.

"Ssshh..." The two girls went behind a trashcan. Just a few meters away from them, there was someone standing below the streetlight at the side of the road.

Ace's eyes narrowed as he tried to identify the words written on the mask of the hunter who's holding a knife stained with blood.

"Should we wait until he leaves?" Ace whispered to Tomy.

"Yes, we can't do anything reckless. We don't know if there are other hunters around." Tomy answered.

And after a few moments, another 5 hunters appeared. Ace immediately identified the identity of the 2 hunters walking behind and the one who is leading the group. After seeing them, Ace already knew that the hunter who is previously standing under the streetlight alone was also one of the first 4 hunters they saw earlier.

"6 hunters, it's my first time seeing the other 2 in the middle but the one leading the group and the other 2 behind were the ones who made the first appearance." Ace whispered.

"There are a total of 12 hunters, maybe few of them only made their appearance tonight and the others stayed as a player waiting to stab other's backs." Tomy replied and looked at Ace.

"Are you also a hunter? Waiting for me to let my guard down and strike me at my back."

"Huh? No, why would you even ask such ridiculous question?"

At this moment, the two boys shifted their eyes to the two female hunters, the only females in the group.

"This kitty here looked like she's cold." The female hunter at the back spoke and placed her arm around the shoulder of the other female hunter, there were only two female hunters in the group, the 4 were already males.

The female hunter lowered her head and let the other to place her arm around her should.

The group of hunters walked closer to where Ace and the others are hiding but they didn't seem to notice them, Ace shook his head while looking at Angel who is covering her mouth and is not even looking at the hunters. Is she trying to suffocate herself? She just identified they were near based on the noise.

Ace stared at the masks of the hunters facing their direction. The one they first saw earlier has the sign "K-Diamond" on his mask, the two female hunters on the other hand are J-Club and Q-Spade.

"Take your hands off of her. Why are you here in the first place?" The hunter with the K-Diamond sign on his mask spoke in a cold tone.

"Shouldn't we at least move together to make the job easier?" Q-Spade asked back.

"Aaack!"

The K-Diamond hunter suddenly grabbed her neck because of her reply.

"I asked you and you asked me back?" He pushed the female hunter away from the other female hunter.

"You're crazy..." Q-Heart left the group and went to another direction. She was really disappointed by the actions of her fellow hunter. The other three hunters watching the scene didn't even make a noise.

Their group stayed quiet for a moment before leaving one by one, the only one remaining was the K-Diamond. He then looked around him before leaving, the eyes of Ace didn't leave the hunter because he's feeling something uneasy inside his chest just by looking at him.

A few minutes later, in the direction where the K-Diamond hunter went, a commotion arose and gunshots were heard along with the windows of the buildings breaking.

*Bang!

*Crash

"f**k!" Then they heard someone's voice, Ace immediately laid flat on the ground as footsteps was heard approaching their direction.

"Again? Who is it..."? He mumbled as he saw the other hunters who immediately came back after hearing the gunshots and ran towards the direction where they heard it.

"Hahaha! Who's the mouse this time?" A male hunter asked Q-Spade who's running faster than him.

"I don't know, K-Diamond is really lucky." The hunters then disappeared in the darkness but Ace didn't feel any comfort from it, he felt more uneasy instead.

The atmosphere quieted down as Ace became more anxious while waiting for the hunters to reappear again. There are many mosquitos in the place where they're hiding which is adding a tension in their hearts.

"Should we leave?" Ace asked Tomy who is leaning against the tree.

"No, there are only 30 minutes left for the countdown, we should just wait here."

"You're right." 30 minutes remaining, it meant it's 5:30 in the morning, the place is still dark but not that dark compared to earlier.

Ace looked at the sky as he laid down on the ground, he can't feel the sleepiness because of the tiredness and fear which kept his heart beating so fast.

"Ace... Ace..." Darell waved her hand to catch her friend's attention. When Ace looked at her, he noticed her face getting bright and pointed her hand to the other direction.

"Isn't that one of your friends?" Tomy asked after seeing someone leaving a house using the window, it was on the second floor that's why he is hesitating if he should jump or use the door instead.

"Jiel..."

"I don't know but he was really lucky because he's safe." Tomy murmured.

During the gunshots, they didn't know if Jiel was already inside that house or not, they also didn't know if he was the one who was being chased by the hunters or not.

The number on the monitor was still 48, meaning, the player who encountered the K-Diamond hunter earlier was safe.

Jiel was about to jump when a hunter appeared behind the house where he was, the hunter was cautiously walking while holding a gun and is ignorant that on the wall above his head, someone was standing by the window frame looking down at his head.

Ace motioned to Darell to stay still, he knew she's the one who's most afraid for Jiel here. When the hunter finally left, Jiel jumped from the second floor of the building. In the eyes of a spectator, jumping from height of 3 meters is so easy but...

Is it really that simple?

"Ugh!" His landing was not that good which caused his ankle to twist a little. He didn't even take a while to properly feel the pain and immediately left the place.

While he was walking hastily, he didn't put any pressure to his right foot to prevent the injury from worsening.