“Ugh” I muttered under my breath. I rubbed my eyes; sitting up. It was cold, bright, and smelled vaguely of mold. The floor was damp and smooth.

“Where the hell am I?” I heard someone beside me whisper. I could hear the fear in their words. I whipped my head in the direction of their shaky voice. It was a boy. A small blonde boy. He looked younger than me. He didn’t seem to have any more of an idea about this place than I did.

I looked around; cement walls surrounded us, they twisted in every direction. There were three openings which seemed to twist on even further. It was all pale cement. I looked up, and saw a speaker. I stood and walked through an opening, and again another speaker. I tried staying calm but couldn’t help from throwing up. What the hell is this? Every room, every hall, there was a speaker. There were bright lights, and cameras at the corners of the room. Someone knew where we were. And they were watching us.

“Oh my god.” I heard another voice utter. I finished surveying my surroundings and stood. There were two girls and three boys; including the small blonde boy. “Where the hell are we?” Begged one of the girls. She was dressed in scrappy clothes, and a beanie. She had long curly red hair, and breathtaking green eyes.

I walked over to offer her a hand as she struggled to make it to her feet. We walked towards the rest of the what looked to be teenagers, shaking each of them awake. As each of them slowly reached a state of consciousness they began to stand.

“Have either one of you figured out anything about where the hell we are?” One of the boys interrupted. He had curly blonde hair, blue eyes and muscles that were visible through his shirt. We swiftly joined the others which were collecting in the middle of this empty space. There was something between them. A backpack.

“What’s in the bag?” I asked, coming towards the group.

“We don’t know.” The blonde boy replied.

A tall brunette boy walked to the bag, slowly pulling the zipper back and spreading the contents onto the floor. Six envelopes, each with a small colored dot. There were only three different colors. One had black, two had blue, and three had red.

Each person quickly grabbed an envelope. As I reached for one I noticed a small tattoo on my wrist. It was a black circle, matching the envelope.

“Everybody, check your wrists.” I said. Each person quickly swapped envelopes and began opening theirs in silence, attempting to grasp the extent of what they contained. I inhaled sharply before silently reading my letter.

_You are the key. If you die, the game ends. You must survive. Choose who you trust, but not all. You are the biggest threat, and the most threatened. Step cautiously._

What? What did this mean? Was I really the key? And if I was then what was everyone else? And just how badly did they need me? I slipped my envelope into my pocket. I paid no attention to who had which colors.

I looked to the redhead girl, hoping to find some kind of comfort, but she only offered a hesitant glance. I figured something in her envelope had shaken her, so I brushed off the slight tension. I watched as everyone looked at their envelopes. The room had shifted, and I could tell we all felt uneasy.

I could feel someone staring at me so I looked over. It was the curly blonde haired boy. As we made eye contact he gritted his teeth, he looked angry but I wondered if I also saw a flicker of jealousy. Before I could pinpoint why, he shoved his letter into his back pocket and looked away.

_I had to get that letter. _

As everyone finished looking over their envelopes, I heard a faint buzzing sound. It got louder by the second. I had nothing but questions but I couldn’t manage to think over the noise.

The buzzing stopped and words emerged.

“I’m sure your all wondering how you got here.”The speaker assured. “But I’m not going to tell you because what’s the fun in that?” They laughed. This was sick. They liked this. They were watching this. “I will give you this: Three days. Three will survive. Choose your three but choose wisely.” They said before the sound cut off and we went back to our thoughts.

The tall brunette boy with silver eyes grabbed the bag and started walking. “If we have any hope of getting out, we’d better start now, you heard the speaker: we’ve got three days.” I joined him, as did the rest, as we all started the perilous journey ahead.

As I walked I drug my hand along the concrete wall feeling for anything that might give us a leg up. Nothing. Just concrete walls for what seemed to be miles. It was freezing to the touch and gave me goosebumps as it ran on. It smelled wet, and reeked gradually more of mold. But just then I felt something.

“Stop.” I whispered. The tall brunette boy saw me stop and came to a crashing halt. He walked over to me.

“What do you see?” He asked me gently.

I ran my fingers along the wall and felt it again. I looked closely, and saw it. “Initials.” I whispered. He came closer and examined the small discovery.

“Someone carved initials into this wall. Someone was here before us.” He said quietly.

“They could have made it out.” I whispered, testing the words. Tears rolled down my cheeks, dampening the collar of my shirt. “We might make it out of here!” I screamed.

“We might make it out?” The small blonde boy cried in disbelief. “This sick fucking game might actually end!” He yelled, as his knees hit the floor. I saw the relief in the faces of everyone that had evidently been holding their breath. Some cried, while others fell to their knees and someone threw up.

_We had a chance._

We kept walking, our footsteps a bit lighter, and the path a bit more hopeful. Just then the only girl I had yet to meet, tripped. I fell back in an attempt to help her up. I offered her a hand and she was hesitant but seemed to trust me and took it.

She was beautiful. Dark skin, and darker eyes, her hair was in tons of small braids, and a gorgeous gold necklace rested on her chest. “Thank you.” She smiled. She kept her head low, and her eyes on the ground. She fumbled with her hands as she spoke.

“I’m scared too. We all are.” I assured her. The remark seemed to make her feel more comfortable.

“I don’t know how I got here.” She whispered, a tear slipping down her face. “I don’t even know my own name.”

“I think everyone’s a little confused.” I replied. “And it’s okay to be scared, but you have to be brave.” I added. She smiled at me, seemingly lingering on my words.

“I’m May.” She offered her hand to shake.

“Nice to meet you May.” I said with a grin.

“Everything okay back here?” The tall brunette boy asked, walking towards us.

“I think we’re all just a little tired.” I replied. He looked as if he was going to reply but just then I heard something, or someone hit the ground; hard. Me and the boy ran to the front where the small blonde boy lay on the ground, his lip busted and the tall blonde boy with curly hair standing over him.

“He’s gonna die anyway. He’s too weak. He won’t be able to make his choice when time comes. He won’t be the one to choose for the rest of us. I’m just weeding him out early.” He seemed to be enjoying this. Like he thought it was a joke. Like this wasn’t life or death. I looked at his wrist. A red circle tatoo was engraved. “He won’t be the one that makes it.” He said, before attempting to strut back to the group.

The brunette boy immediately grabbed his shirt and forced him to the wall. “We stick together. We won’t make it otherwise.” He said protectively. I ran to help the small blonde boy from the ground.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Offering a hand.

“For now.” He nodded towards the boy that had punched him, “I’ll be dead before I even get the chance to make it out. We all will, he’ll turn too early, the letter said so.” He replied swatting my hand away.

“What are you talking about?” I questioned. I had so many questions running through my mind: What did they mean only one would make it? Why did they think we had no chance? And did the red tatoo have something to do with why there were so violent; so threatened? Did they have more at stake then I did? The only conclusion I could come to was: _I had to see those letters._

“Let’s stop.” The tall brunette boy ordered. “Clearly we all need some rest.” He added. “I’ll watch for an hour then we’ll swap. We can’t sleep for more than six hours, we need as much time as possible in order to escape.”

I found a spot with the redhead girl close to the corner, and sat, unable to sleep. She quickly doze off next to me. Soon enough the brunette boy walked over and sat beside me.

“I assume you don’t know my name, considering I didn’t an hour ago.” He joked. “Jake.” He added confidently. “I decided I liked that one.” He offered a weak smiled. “How did you notice those initials on the wall?” He asked.

“I’m not sure, I just… notice the small stuff.” I replied. “And I guess since we’re just picking names, I’m Amelia.” I turned his wrist to examine his tattoo. “Blue?” I asked.

“And your black.” He replied. “I watched you figure out the tattoos.” He smiled. “I just wish I could figure out why we only have three days.”

I looked up. “Three days.” “Three survivors.” Each day… is equal to one death. I felt sick as I came to the realization. Each day… someone has to die. Who else knew? Was this really what it meant? And _who_ was going to be first?

I knew from the letter that I was being watched but I knew not why. Or just how closely. I saw the boy with curly blonde hair sleeping. I put my finger up to my mouth, motioning for Jake to be perfectly silent. I tiptoed over to the boy with curly blonde hair and grabbed the envelope in his back pocket. I walked back to Jake and opened it silently.

_You are red. One of three. Only one red may leave. The black is key. You will need her alive at the end. When the time comes you must chose: her life, or your freedom._

I couldn’t stop myself from crying. What was I going to do? I was going to die whether I reached the end or not.

Jake brought me towards him, “Hey, it’s okay. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We could all make it out. You can’t show them any signs of weakness. You have to lead them. Your our only chance of getting out.” He comforted me.

He was right. I couldn’t let them push me around. They knew I was their only way out, so if I threatened the very idea of escape, maybe they’d come together. I had nothing to lose. And no reason not to try.

I jolted awake when I heard the screams. All I saw was blood. May… was dead. Her eyes were open and her throat was slit.

**What. The. Fuck.**