Gary laughed awkwardly, looking around at the strange collection of people from all walks of life. He did not recognize anyone, nor did he remember how he got there. An Asian man nearby spoke to him in a launguage Gary didn’t recognize. He heard a dark skinned woman call out in Spanish, but he couldn’t understand what she said.

Then, a platform raised from the ground with a lone figure standing on it. This figure carried several large knifes, an oversized hunting rifle and a few pistols with ammunition scattered around the platform. It wore a mask that was made of metal with two slits for eyes that were too narrow to see into.

The announcement was made in English, but Gary could see everyone in the crowds eyes widen when the platform raised. There was a moment of silence before chaos broke out. People ran from the city square screaming and ducking into alleys along the deserted city streets that Gary didn’t recognize.

Taking off in a random direction, he darted around a few corners and put the most distance between himself and the armed figure as possible. When he figured roughly forty-five seconds had elapsed, Gary ducked into a building along the street and ran up a flight of stairs. Ducking into an office that had the door slightly ajar, Gary heard the distant crack of gunshots and knew the ninety seconds was up.

When the gunshots died down, Gary could hear his heart beat as if a drum were being playing behind his ears. His breath was ragged and heavy, but it was otherwise silent. Until the screaming started.

It sounded uncomfortably close, as if the terrified people screaming we’re all around Gary. Panic gripped him as he covered his ears and closed his eyes, then the gunshots shook the building. The large rifle fired rapidly and the screams grew louder. Groans of agony filled the air, and then several voices fell silent.

Gary muttered to himself incoherently, unable to move or think. He gasped and ducked under a desk that completely ubstructed him from view as the door to the office creaked open. Shaking, Gary managed to lay on the floor and peek under the side of the desk to see the entire room ahead of him.

The Asian man and Hispanic woman Gary had seen earlier crept into the room. Their eyes were wide as they scanned the room and tip-toed across the floor. Suddenly, a blood curdling horrific cry escaped their lips as they turned around.

Several gunshots shook the room and pierced Gary’s ears. Holding his hands to his head, Gary managed to muffled a groan by biting his own arm. Moments later, he saw a pair of combat boots March across the room from the opposite direction from where he was facing. They stopped briefly over the two people that now laid motionless on the cold marble floor, fired one more shot into each of them, and continued through the open door the pair had entered through.

Choking back a scream, Gary started sobbing. He stared at the pile of splayed limbed and wide eyes that sat on the floor in front of him. “Who could do that to someone?” he thought to himself as he lay shaking on the hard floor motionless. Unable to move or look away, Gary just laid there sobbing until he drifted into an uneasy slumber.

Waking with a jolt, Gary cried out in alarm. He held his hands up in protection, but there was no one with him. He was no longer on the floor of the office building either. He looked around, hoping that everything that he rememebered was a terrible dream. Promising to never play Call of Duty again, he scanned his surroundings.

He was in a bed, but it was not his own. Rather, it appeared to be in an underground room with a single lightbulb hanging from the carved rock ceiling over a dirt floor. However, Gary couldn’t see the entire room, only a narrow band in front of himself as if he were wearing blinders.

As Gary turned to look around the room more, pain shot through his head, which felt heavy and stiff. Reaching up to his face, Gary felt a cold metallic mask that was secured to his head with a lightweight helmet. He couldn’t see it, but he imagined that he knew exactly what it looked like and gasped as his mind processed what he was seeing.

Stumbling out of the bed, he shuffled across the room to a metal platform that resembled an industrial elevator. It was littered with guns, stacks of ammunition, knives, swords, axes and armor. There was even a set of combat boots that triggered horrific memories of before Gary fell asleep.

“You have 90 seconds to prepare, seeker. If you do not kill 50 people, you die. Good luck,” a robotic voice blared out of a metal speaker on the platform. Gary’s shoulders slumped as he stared at the platform.

However, he jumped on the platform and began to strap on the boots and armor as a digital clock began to count down. He managed to pick up a large hunting rifle, shove two pistols into holsters in the armor and strap a few knives to himself before the platform started to raise slowly to ground level.

Staring at a crowd people from all walks of life, He did not recognize anyone. Several people shouted all at once in languages he couldn’t recognize. Then the screaming started as people ran and ducked into alleys in the same city he didn’t recognize. Gary’s heart dropped as he watched them scramble away from him through the metallic slits in his mask, realizing how easy it would be to start slaughtering them in their panicked state in 3… 2… 1…