Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Sandbox Room

Kayla suddenly has a very bad feeling growing in her heart, the feeling is so strong that she shudders from it, she feels that something big is about to happen. Nobody dared to say a word after that sound, they could only look at each other with questions and concerns. But after waiting for a few minutes, nothing really happened, so they silently let out the breath they had been holding.

“Let’s go, better not to stay at one place for a long time”, Steven stated and Kayla nodded in agreement. Aaron looked like he wanted to say something, he didn’t seem to like the idea of going together with Steven, Kayla saw that and reassured him, telling him that everything was going to be alright. Even though Aaron wanted to refute it, he couldn’t, because what Steven said was right, it is better to not stay in one place for too long.

They decided to find a safe place first to discuss what they would do with the cards. Kayla noticed that it had become much harder to find the entrance of the room the more they walked deep inside. They have been walking for half an hour and they just walked passed by three rooms so far. Kayla silently took a glance at the candle Steven was holding, they had been waking for quite some time, and yet the candle didn’t seem to be burning that much,

“Do you still have another candle?”, she asked carefully. Steven suddenly pulled out a candle out of nowhere and almost shoved it in her face, she silently let out a sigh of relief, ‘It is good that he has a spare’.

Steven stopped and turned around to look at her, and that is when Kayla realized that he was still offering her the candle. Kayla politely refused, “I was just asking in case this one burned out, just one person holding the light is enough”, Steven didn't say anything and kept on going, Clara who saw it couldn't help but comment, “Is he a mute? He has a mouth but didn't know how to speak!”

“Better than the one who didn't know when to use it”, Steven responded. Clara didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but it felt like he was cursing at her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and wanted to scold him again when Kayla silently shook her head with her pleading eyes, telling her not to continue, so Clara could only pouted.

“I have been wondering, are all of these alleys connected to each other?”, Diane questioned, Kayla also has been wondering about that, because there was no way that they could meet up with Steven so coincidentally when they were running blindly, how could they be so lucky to meet him.

“Possible, the structure here is very complicated, I couldn’t find the way I first came”, he replied coldly.

Kayla silently nodded, she also had a hard time remembering the way since they were also running frantically, so it was not strange, but the thing that bothered her the most was, ‘How deep has this person explored? Don't tell me that he didn't need the rest?'

Kayla fell into deep thinking when suddenly Steven stopped walking, “Let’s throw the card here”, Kayla took a peek and found it quite interesting, it was a room full of sand and there was an excavator located in the middle of it. The room is like a sandbox you would play in when you were a child, but this one is on a bigger scale, Jeremy's eyes glistened in excitement, and he quickly hopped in and played with the sand.

‘That is why we have been strolling around, he is trying to find a good place to get rid of the cards’, Kayla thought and also walked inside, the room felt safe enough, so she could finally feel a little relaxed. They decided to sit in a circle and have a serious discussion,

“How about like this, we take three cards for each of us and get rid of the rest of them”, Kayla suggested, Clara and Jeremy immediately nodded their heads, but Aaron and Diane looked at her with question,

“Why three?”, Diane asked, Kayla slowly turned to look at Steven, his face was still the same indifference, so Kayla believed that it was alright to tell them what Steven had told her. When they heard that, their face also turned concerned, but somehow hope had grown in their heart that they could finally get out of here.

“You mean really get out? Really out from here?”, Clara asked anxiously, Kayla nodded, but truly, she herself was not sure either, “Then we really could get out!!”, Clara squeaked happily, it seemed that she had gotten enough of this place. Kayla became silent, and she decided to talk about the things she had been thinking,

“I have my worries, I have been thinking, if they used up all the coins then what would happen to the rest of us”

They all become silent, all of them seem to be in deep thinking except for Steven who is still looking aloof and unbothered. Aaron tried hard to remember the things he had been encountering and he could only say, “I think we have been missing a couple of details along the way. If I remember it correctly, the card says to find the keys and exchange them with your comrades, but at the end of the line, it says the games won't end until you have collected all the coins— So it could be as you said, we need to hit a certain amount of coins to be able to get out of here”

“So you are saying that they gave us another way out to try to break us apart?”, Clara finally realized what they were talking about and didn't feel that thrilled anymore.

“But wouldn't it be alright as long as we find all the keys?”, Jeremy added.

“But saving has turned into sacrificing, there must be some sort of cost we need to pay”, Kayla replied. Diane looks at her and immediately knows what she is thinking about,

“Think about it Kayla, don't you find it pretty strange? They said they would evaluate us for three months, this is just the first week, there is no way that they will immediately eliminate all of us— Just like he said, the temptation they gave us was to exchange the coins for our own freedom, but if all of us chose that option, then we all wouldn't be able to get out of here safely presuming like what you said. Then the purpose of this test is to see whether we could reunite so we could get out together, I don't believe they could instantly kill*d them just for that reason”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“The blood looks real”, Aaron sarcastically speak on the side.

“Them trying to harm us is also real! If that accident didn't happen, the one who would be dying now would be Kayla!!”, she snapped, she was saying that both of the matters were not the same, that the man died from his own doing, and it had nothing to do with this test.

Steven who has been silent for a long time suddenly spoke, “Let’s go back to the initial conversation”, he said flatly. Kayla took a glance at him and he seemed to be worried, so Kayla quickly divided the cards to all of them, telling them to choose the one they liked or they thought would be an easy obstacle to pass. As they were sorting, Clara and Jeremy couldn't help but keep on commenting,

“We have been taking it with us with great difficulties, why should we throw it away”, she pouted. Diane looks like she wants to slap her on the head, but she is busy looking at the card, so she can only scold her, “You stupid? They have been suspicious of us, you wanted to die?”

Clara couldn't accept it and refuted, “It is not like we will meet with them again! And if it is like this, better not to take it all in the first place!!”

Diane finally snapped and looked at her with fire in her eyes, making Clara tremble in fear, “Didn’t we agree that we would help to distribute the card?! Who knows that the people this year are so annoyingly foolish and self-oriented!!”

Kayla who sat between the two of them could only close her ears as they kept on yelling beside her ears, the source of the light was only one and they had put it in the middle, so they had to squeeze close to each other to be able to look clearly at the card, when they keep on going, Kayla finally have enough and raised both of her hand to their face, telling them to stop, “Guys, stop! That is enough. Don't keep on arguing about the things that have passed. Let's focus on what we have at hand.. please?”

That is when they finally stopped, Kayla could finally let out a sigh of relief and continued to look at her cards before she noticed something, “Wait. What do you mean by “people this year?””, she turned to look at Diane. She seems to be a little startled but quickly maintains her expression, “I was just saying that these people are much worse than the people I see in my school”

Kayla give a simple “Oh” and focused back on her cards before Jeremy groaned, “What is there to choose really?! Couldn't we just blindly choose?”, he kept on rubbing his eyes, it seemed that his eyes had started to hurt. Before Kayla could say any reassuring words, Diane once again answered him first with an annoyed tone, “If the clues say crocodile, do you really want to jump in the pool?”, Diane roars. Kayla could only let out an awkward laugh and told him to be patient with it, since the words were indeed small and with such a dim light, it would be much harder to read it.

“This card is empty”, Aaron suddenly said, he placed it near the light to let them see clearly, it indeed had nothing written in it, it had become a blank card, even the number had disappeared. Diane also finds something similar, “This card also has become empty”,

“That could only mean one thing, the key has been found, so the information on the cards has been useless”, Aaron concluded.

“So.. do we take the cards with us, or do we leave them here?”, Jeremy looks at the card with a confused expression.

“I think since the keys have been found the cards would be useless, wouldn't they?”, Clara slowly mutters, they don’t say anything, but they silently agree with it. Kayla continued to examining the card and she noticed something odd, “This card.. has a golden glow in it”, Kayla took it out to let them see, ‘We didn't notice this before, could it be because we are in a hurry? Or is it because it is too dark to see’. The card looks exactly the same as the others, but the pattern beside it has a golden glitter glow in it, at the bottom of the card, the words inscribed there were “Deer”

They looked at each other, “Should we choose this? But the back is so complicated”, Clara whines. It indeed is, the arrows have nearly covered all the back of the cards, meaning that this room is located very deep inside.

“Usually the best one is the hardest one, how about we choose that?”, Jeremy seems excited, he seems to have forgotten that this place could make your life much easier than you think. Kayla originally disagreed about this, but her curiosity got the best of her, “How about we take it just for spare? If we have the time we could go, and if not, let's just ignore it”, they all silently agree with it and continue their search.

“Hey, I also got it!”, Jeremy said happily. After they carefully sorted it, they found ten cards that had the golden glitter glow in them, and all of them had a very complicated arrow at the back of them.

“What should we do now?”, Jeremy looks confused, Kayla also didn't expect that there could be ten cards like this, so she also felt helpless. Diane suddenly laugh, feeling funny, “What is there to be stressed about? Just take it all with us, I have a good feeling that it would be great”

Kayla looked at her with a silly face, ‘How could you be so confident about that’, she let out a low sigh, ‘Doesn’t matter, let's just hurry and get it done with’, she was actually pretty tired and all she wanted was to get it all done with, find a safe place, and have some rest. So they decided to take twenty cards with them, ten with golden glitter glow and ten without it. Steven who finish first, got up and got on to the excavator, fiddling with the machine.

“You sure you can? Should I go up?”, Aaron asked when the machine was still not moving, but the next moment, the bucket moved and they moved further away, afraid of being hit. Steven didn't say anything, but it seemed that he had already gotten the hang of it, he kept on digging on the sand and still couldn't find the base, Kayla couldn't help but look at it shockingly, ‘How deep was the floor?’

After digging for around two to three meters, Kayla threw all the unused cards in and Steven buried them with the sand again, making it as if nothing had ever happened before, which quite amazed Kayla, ‘This is his first time controlling it right? He is doing quite a good job’. After he was finished, he got off and patted the dust off from his hands.

They decided to take a rest here first before departing, they plan to set off after they eat something first, since lunchtime is near, they are planning to wait there. Kayla was beginning to doze off when she suddenly she heard a very loud yet dimmed "clang" sound, which immediately made her wide awake. All of them become alert, but after waiting for a moment, nothing happens.

Their heart immediately jumped when they heard something from above them, but after squeezing their eyes to focus on what it is they let out a sigh of relief,

“It seems that the lunch is here”, Diane said, “Why do I feel like I am being fed like a dog?”, she said coldly and annoyed.

“At least they give us decent food”, Clara commented. Kayla looked at the lunchbox that had meat in it and a bottle of water, they indeed gave them a proper meal, but who would be able to handle this place for long, ‘Just hopes that nothing bad will happen’.

TO BE CONTINUED…