“Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh! SHIT!” she shouted.

Lily paced back and forth along the empty wall. She was jittery, chewing at her nail beds. Her eyes darted around the room.

Ronan was sprawled out on the floor, as if sunbathing on a beautiful morning. “Are you always like this?” He rolled his head to look over at Lily, now squatting against the far wall.

“How long do you think we have?” Her nerves were starting to get the better of her quickly.

Ronan sat up. “I don’t know. Could be hours, could be minutes. They are going to wait for us to be offguard.”

She crossed the room to where Ronan was sitting. “I’m Lily, by the way.” She stretched out a hand and Ronan took it replying in turn.

Time passed slowly, at least that’s how it felt. The fluorescent light overhead was steady.

Lily eventually took a seat in the corner. An attempt at some sort of rest may be useful.

Ronan shifted on the floor, his back becoming stiff. He stood and stretched against the wall.

Lily watched. He was strong and that would serve them well. This is a team game after all.

“Where do you think the door is?” She crossed the room to Ronan. “How did we get in here?”

Ronan thought hard for a moment, then pushed against the wall. He glanced around and not a single seem was visible on the walls. He examined the floor and was perplexed.

“You don’t think it’s possible the lowered us in through the ceiling, do you?” He pointed towards the single fixture on the ceiling.

An alarm began to sound, loud and piercing. Then a robotic voice came over a speaker.

__

_“Attention contestants. Welcome. You have been selected from a large pool of applicants and will now be competing live for a shared prize of one million dollars. The teams have been randomly assigned. Good luck and let the game begin.”_

A short pause flustered them both. Lily‘s excitement skyrocketed. “Here we go!,” she whispered to herself.

_“Task one: exit the room.”_