Chapter 2

We all follow Candice out the main campus doors and outside into the humid Texas heat. Sometimes I don’t even know how I can stand playing soccer in this weathers. Parked in front of the campus is a black limousine. Standing next to the limousine is the driver. He walks over to the rear of the limo and opens up the trunk for us to dump our backpacks in. Candice takes the seat next to the driver, and we are instructed to get inside. Once inside, we wait for the driver to get back in and start driving.

“This is awesome,” says Keagan as we take off.

We don’t know where we are being taken, but none of them seem to care. They’re just happy we’re out of school. I guess I can say I am too. I had English class next and didn’t want to get called out for some stupid shit. I don’t think I could have handled getting sent to the office again for some stupids crap. This little game test will be a relief from school, maybe that’s why I was chosen to come. I was never told why I was selected to participate. I can assume, though, that it was so my teachers would get a break from me.

The limo ride lasts about an hour before the driver takes an exit off the highway and takes a long two lane road. We ride for another half an hour on the long road before the limo pulls into a narrow street leading to a large warehouse type place. When we get out of the vehicle, several men are waiting for us. We follow their instructions and walk inside. Inside the building, they take us to some sort of lab on an underground level of the building. In the lab, we are first separated into individual rooms. The room they stick me in is small. All of the walls are white, and there is a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. After about ten minutes of standing in the cold room, a man in a lab coat walks in and gives me a physical exam; an uncomfortable one because he asks me to strip completely before he begins. I do so with hesitation. I first look around the room to make sure there aren’t any hidden cameras anywhere. He gives me a thorough examination, and by the time he’s done my balls have shriveled up, my nipples have hardened, and my body develops that cold layer of goosebumps. Once the man, who I hope is an actual doctor and not just some random guy touching me, is complete, he gives me a green jumpsuit to put on. He waits in the room for me to put it on, and I rush to cover my cold body. The suit is tight and cradles my cold body. My body begins to feel warm again except for my feet. The man does not give me any footwear, so I stand barefoot on the cold tiled floor.

When I am done, the man says, “Follow me” and opens the door. I follow him out of the small room and follow him as he leads me down the hallway. We pass up more chambers, probably where the others are being examined. At the end of the hall, the man walks down a flight of steel stairs and down to a second level underground. On the second level, there’s a large room. In that one large room, there is an enclosed square. The large square is surrounded by glass, and inside there is a metallic ring in the center. Outside the enclosed ring, there are several computer monitors and computer geeks typing on keyboards. A tangled mess of lines extends from the computers, up the wall, to the roof, and directly above the enclosed metal circle.

“This one’s done,” says the man that led me down to the computer dorks.

One of the computer guys looks up from the computer and at me. The guy who led me down leaves back upstairs, leaving me with the computer guy. The guy gets up from his chair and walks over to the enclosed metal circle.

He opens up a section of the glass and says, “Walk inside.”

“What’s going to happen to me?” I ask him before stepping inside.

“We will begin,” says the guy. “Step inside.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I say without moving.

“No time for explanations,” he continues as he reaches for my arm and pulls me towards him.

He’s weak, so I’m able to pull away from him. Something’s not adding up here. Warning signals began to go off in my head the moment we arrived at this place. I haven’t even seen Candice since we arrived.

“Come,” he shouts at me.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I demand. “You’re telling me to go inside that and won’t tell me what the hell it is.”

“Tell him,” I hear a female voice behind me.

I turn around to find Candice in a green jumpsuit similar to the one I’m wearing.

“They warned me about him,” she says as she steps towards me. “Explain it to him or he’ll give you a hard time.”

She walks over and stands behind me. She places her hands on my shoulders, and she waits for the guy to give me an explanation.

“This is how you get inside the game,” says the guy. “The circle there will light up, and you will need to step through it. I need you to step inside, so I can close the door.”

“Why don’t we show him?” says Candice.

She steps in front of me and walks inside the glass encasing.

“Send me in,” she commands the guy. “I need to get back to what I was doing. Send me to the complex. Then send him and his team to Joe.”

The guy closes the glass door and walks over to the computers. Candice stands by the door, waiting. The guy goes off typing on the keyboard and after a while, there is a bright flash inside the glass encasing. In front of Candice, a bright multicolored circle appears. She walks through the colorful lights and vanishes. The guy then types some more on the keyboard, and the multicolored circle disappears, and Candice is gone.

“What the hell,” I say.

The guy doesn’t say anything. He just walks over to the glass door and opens it.

“Get in,” he says.

This time, I listen. I did volunteer to play this game of theirs. But that was insane. I don’t understand how this is possible. I’ll have to teleport myself to be able to believe it. For all I know, there could be a hidden door, and this is one huge joke. The guy closes the door behind me and walks over to his computers. He does the same as before, and soon enough the colorful circle appears in front of me. I walk towards it just as Candice had done. As I walk through it, I feel a tingling in all of my body. My bodies it ticklish everywhere, and I am blinded for a couple of seconds.

“Just in time,” I hear a voice in front of me say. “Put these on.”

I feel my naked body. My vision is blurred, but it quickly adjusts to the dim lighting of the room. I am lying on a fluffy carpeted floor. As my vision returns to normal, I first notice the color of the rug, sandy brown. It’s pretty ugly, but at least it feels nice. Next, I see the faintly distorted figure of a man sitting down on a sofa. The man sits on the couch lazily as he stares at me. By my legs, there are some clothes which are what the man had thrown at me. I reach for the clothes and soon slip on the white t-shirt and blue shorts. No underwear, but right now I have better things to worry about. Did I just teleport somewhere?

“What the hell’s going on?” I say as I stand up. “And why the hell was I naked again. Do y’all just want to see my dick or something?”

“So you’re the problematic one,” says the man sitting on the couch.

“I’m not problematic,” I retort, still not able to see. “The only problem I have is people telling me I’m a problem.”

“Didn’t say that was a bad thing,” says the man. “I like dealing with the rebellious ones. They’re more interesting.”

I fully regain my vision and notice the man holding a glass of water in his right hand. The man is black and has a thick white beard. That’s the only place he has hair. His head is bald. Makes him seem ironic. He has a thick, luscious beard but no hair. He wears a dark suit. When I focus on the water, the sight of the water causes my mouth to dry up and has me craving it. The glass of water hypnotizes me and causes all of my worries to vanish.

“Sit down,” he says as he gracefully sips the water.

I watch as he drinks the entire glass of water.

“Oh, sorry. Did you want some?” he asks after he finishes it.

“You’re an asshole,” I say.

He looks at me, and must have realized that I am internally strangling him and beating him in the head with the water glass. I stare at him with threatening eyes and say nothing else to his sarcastic tone. He laughs and offers me a seat once again.

“Sit down,” he says as he pulls another glass from a small black stand next to him.

He then pulls out a clear glass jug of water and begins pouring the water into the second glass. The melody of the water pouring into the glass would have me drooling if I could produce any saliva.

“Here,” says the man extending the glass towards me.

I do not hesitate in snatching the glass of water from his hands and chug the water down in a matter of seconds. The water cools my mouth and allows my body to hydrate. I look around the room and find a second sofa across from the man and a longer couch in between the two sofas with a coffee table sitting in the center of the living room type area. The sitting area reminds me of Mr. Kelley’s office. Only, these sofas look extravagant and expensive. Behind the couch where the man sits is a door which I assume is the bathroom, and to the right of us is a well-designed kitchen containing the finest kitchenware and the most beautiful marble I have ever seen. Next to the kitchen stands a dining room full of well-crafted wooden cabinets filled with elegant dining utensils, a fancy dining table full of classic appetizers and the largest selection of different colored liquids to choose from to drink.

“You hungry,” he asks as he notices my craving for food. “Come, let’s eat.”

He gets up from the sofa and walks over to the dining table. He sits down at the table and waits for me to join him. I amble towards the dining room admiring the elegance of the room. My feet slide along the carpet, and it reminds me of the soft turf our school stadium has. This sudden click brings me back to reality. What the hell is going on?

“Wait,” I say as I stop before walking from the living room to the dining room. “You still have not told me what is going on.”

“I will,” he says. “After you sit down. It’s not a short story, and I can hear your stomach growling from over here.”

I take a seat on the end chair across from him.

“I need all of you to be here,” he continues. “I’m not repeating myself nine-time.”

All of us? I wonder if the others are freaking out on the computer guy too. I wonder if they’ll put up a fight. I know Heather will. She’ll knock that nerd out before he gets a chance to put his hands on her. It will take too long before the others are here. He needs to tell me what is going on now. But, at the same time, I am starving. They took us out of school before we had lunch, and I always go to school on an empty stomach. Just the smell of the different foods makes my mouth water. There is much to choose from. I shouldn’t trust him. I shouldn’t have even drunk the water he gave me. What if it was poisoned or drugged? Maybe I’ll wait a bit to see if I suddenly pass out. If I don’t, then maybe I’ll eat something.

“Now you sit here and eat while I go wait for the others to arrive,” he says.

So, they’ll be naked. I look away from the living room area as the man sits back down on his sofa and grabs the first glass of water. I direct my attention towards the food for I did not want to risk getting a glimpse of another guy’s junk. I don’t know who’ll show up next. I wouldn’t mind seeing Heather come first, but the risk is not worth it.

“Joseph Phoenix,” he says. “But you can call me, Joe.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 3