[DISCONTINUED] The Elevator

Chapter 4 - Part 1 of 2

No one falls asleep like we have been advised to do, of course. After we painfully finish forcing food into our mouths and chewing it like it's leather, the trays and all the empty containers are put in a slot under the one they came out of and are quickly sucked away. They told us we could also drink the water from the taps in the bathrooms.

Cole and Sloane thought they were clever and though they had figured out a way to cheat, but were sorely disappointed when looking through the first aid kits that only bare antidotes to the first level. I assume after every level, comes a new kit.

Hardly anyone in the elevator talks. There is an occasional murmur or whisper here and there, and rarely someone that gets up to go to the bathroom, though most of the time, we feel the need to keep silent, letting everyone's emptiness circulate around in the air. The main lights are off, darkness hanging heavily. Though the neon blue rings from the tray slots and the lit up panel of useless buttons light up the room like a nightlight. I can still see the others when I look around.

There is my newly-formed friend group in the back corner, sheltered under the platform from above, then a couple more groups in the opposite corner, but it is harder to see their faces.

I sit close to Astrid and Sloane. Cole, Logan and Ethan sit against the wall on the other side of the corner. Everyone, including the other groups, hug knees, resting our chins on our arms, staring at the same thing. The timer.

It reads 3:04:45 now. Three more. Three painfully silent and gut wrenching hours left until horror unleashes once more. Anxiety sticks to my insides, clumping and spreading. I don't know much longer I can take this. The dead silence. The awful anticipation. Constant gnawing in my stomach.

I'm not sure whether I want to leave the elevator for the next level, see what I'm up against for future levels. It is funny how the mind has convinced me to adapt already, although I continue to force explanations in when the other thoughts take over.

There must be a million possible explanations for this.

...

The lights flash back on in an instant. I knew it was coming, as I watched the last hour tick down by the second, and it still rattles my heart. Talk rises in the room and some people stand.

The timer reads 00:02:00 exactly. My heart pounds loudly in my ears. I try taking deeper breaths, but knowing what is about to happen doesn't help in the slightest.

"Are you going to go?" The first words I have heard in what seems like a long time. They come from Sloane. She eyes Astrid and I who are still curled into balls.

"I don't know." Astrid replies through chattering teeth.

"I might watch." I say, and immediately my heart slows a little.

"Honestly," Logan and the others join us, "I might too."

"Same," Ethan adds.

"Pfft," Cole starts. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting out of here."

It's weird knowing his name now. I had always associated him with his hair cut. I'm still unsure why he thinks the name 'Cole' is not an edgy name. I wonder if he sees me differently too.

At the end of the day it really isn't so deep.

Ethan starts next, raising his eyebrows at him. "You have a chance of being killed."

Then the whirring on the other side of the wall begins again, and soon after a melody of trumpets.

"Good morning good morning everybody! Ah, yes, you know what time it is. For this level, we welcome you to say hello to our little scientifically modified totally safe livestock! Yes you heard me right. Survive five minutes with these guys and it's another stripe off your arm. You know the drill."

Livestock.

Suddenly the lights go from their artificial blue fluorescent lighting, and dim down to a dark and soft beige. Flashbacks from the first level replay in my head. I know what is next. The room tilts. My hands don't have enough grip to hold on so my body soon meets the glossed wooden floor, so does half the elevator.

Once I am back on my feet, my stomach muscles contract at once after realising it feels as if it weighs nothing, like it is twisting and flipping around my other organs. I try so desperately to keep it in place. The room is floating again, or soaring, though the only pull I feel is the elevator itself, strangely not in my body.

Rave music bursts out from all the speakers, my racing heartbeat matching its rhythm simultaneously.

I try and let the music drown out by closing my eyes. Useless when I see the flashes of blue, green, yellow and red, also flickering to the beat, still prominent no matter how tightly I squeeze them shut. I open them, my gaze landing on the others. The group of people that did not leave last time, all have their hands and backs glued to the titanium wall and railings, their shoulders heaving up and down rapidly. The girl that swung the rope back for us over the pit stands frozen with the other two girls, their eyes wide and frightened, faces warped in sheer panic.

"What do they mean livestock!?" I barely hear Sloane shriek above the noise.

"I don't know!" Logan calls back across from me. I hear the panic and fear in his voice.

The room then violently shakes. The screams are unbearable that I shut my eyes again, overwhelming myself in all the sensory overload.

Then it stops, the music, the rattling, the flashing colours. The elevator stops and no one makes a sound.

The bright light comes back on and another ding is heard from the front. I look up at the screen above the panel of useless buttons.

It reads, 2.

As the doors smoothly open, we are all gradually revealed to a bright green and blue. It is hard to make out at first, but since everyone inside has the perfect view, my vision adjusts to this sudden burst of natural light to expose a flat field of long green grass, as far as the eyes can take you. Dotted along the field are...cows, peacefully taking mouthfuls of grass and chewing without a care in the world.