Find Me >> Wattys2016

three >> first try

COLE'S P.O.V

Date - March 25th
Remaining hours - 5

I rushed out of my car, stumbled out into the small road and dashed into the main street, careful to not fall into the field.

The watch on my wrist ticked as every second passed by, but I still had five hours, and I still had my chance. The thought occurred to me to why I was given this chance, to what kind of theory was 'The Man' testing, to who this girl was. I couldn't care for the consequences that time, I had a chance to save my life and I will take it, regardless of the dire end it might lead to.

I made it to the highway and was immediately searching for that girl with long dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. I was panicking when upon my first check in the car I already found a teenager with blonde hair, but thankfully too bright to be labeled 'dirty'.

I maneuvered my way through the road, randomly picking cars and racing to them from the small gap and peered inside the window, finding more than a bazillion blondes. Thankfully the eyes were a giver, so that I had a chance to distinguish between which is which.

It was the sixth car I checked before I spot a candidate, a girl who looked very foreign, Scottish I suspected, with curly, dirty blonde hair and striking blue eyes. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail, so I couldn't really tell if she had long or medium length hair.

I decided to not take the risk and venture again into the sea of cars, diving from car to the other until I found at least three that could fit into the category. I was trying to play safe, finding these girls who are alone in the car, thinking that they didn't have any family to worry about. That was a selfish thought, but the adrenaline pushed me forward and I dived into an expensive, luxurious car to find a lone teenager paused mid-text, with earphones plugged into her ears and her legs tucked over each other. I peered in closer into the window and was able to look at her screen, showing a selfie that she had posted on instagram.

She was absolutely beautiful in that picture, a clearer picture of herself for me to identify clearly. She had long, straight, choppy, dirty blonde hair and a small toothy smile, along with rich blue eyes that looked like the sky itself.

"You," I decided, before I wrap my hand with a piece of cloth-a handkerchief-and struck my fist into the car window, causing glass to splatter in and out of the car. Small crystals of glass poured over the girl, causing some small scars that made her bleed. I flinched in horror, but I couldn't just stop, so I reached in through the window and unlocked the car, opening the door for me and giving me access to the girl.

I took her by the waist and breathlessly carried her out into the street, mingled our way through the gaps before we made it back to the small road.

I laid her down onto the roof of my car, still in her fixed sitting position, and I leaned into the car and called out, "I found her, just as you asked for."

There was silence at first, and I was doubtful if that was how I was supposed to confirm to 'The Man', after all he couldn't have possibly heard any of my replies, being in a radio and all, but a static sound came before his voice chimed in.

"Mmmm..." he hummed at first, as if he was examining her. "You got the features correct, nice, long dirty blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes..."

That gave me a spark of hope. "Does that mean I got the right girl?" I exclaimed excitedly, feeling triumphant already.

"Sadly, no," he replied blandly. A cold dread sank into me like fangs, a sudden realization coming to me like a slap to my face.

"No! NO, WAIT! Don't kill anybody!" I begged to him, and before I knew it a scream rang against my ears and I turned back to see that the girl I brought with me was moving, looking bewildered and shocked, pointing accusingly at me.

"Wh-who-who are you? Where am I?" she asked with a trembling quiver.

"GO! RUN!" I yelled at her, flailing my limbs in the air.

She shrunk back, was running away from my car when a loud crack penetrated the air and she fell to the ground with a thud. Scarlet blobs were appearing on her shirt before it eventually dripped down onto the pavement.

She was dead.

I ran to her, turned her body around and checked for her pulse. Not a single beat, not a single breath exhaled anymore, she was dead.

I just killed someone.

I cried out in vain and outrage, shaking the body of the stranger to try to wake her, but it was no use, the life in her blue eyes was gone.

A loud static sound came again from my car, but I wasn't ready to move yet. I was mortified. I just saw someone die right in front of my eyes.

Just like 'The Man' had warned me about.

Another static sound interrupted me, and with a silent prayer I crawled back into my car, taking some tissue to wash away the blood that ran through my fingers, but all the while I couldn't get the picture of her dead body out of my mind, it was burned to memory.

"I warned you Mr. Devin, I warned you. Mistakes are fatal in this game, but then isn't it exciting?" 'The Man' said.

"Exciting? A GIRL JUST DIED! THIS IS NOT A GAME!" I yelled out angrily, still horrified at what had happened.

"Yes, exactly why it is so exciting! Isn't death just so exhilarating?" his voice boomed again, sounding light and preppy.

My fists were tight around the crimson-soaked tissue, with me trying to control my temper. I realized that the stakes were high in this thing he calls a game, that one false move could lead to death.

"I want to quit," I declared fiercely, trying to cover the innumerable amount of fear I had. "I want to stop this game. I want to stop playing."

"You can't!" 'The Man' yelled out angrily. "There are bombs situated under the cement road in which I have my control upon. If you surrender and give up like a loser and wuss you are, then so help me I will not only kill you but I will explode the entire highway! Do you hear me? YOU CANNOT AND WILL NOT QUIT THIS GAME!"

I was taken back by the sudden burst of fury that 'The Man' gave. He was desperate to have me in this dangerous and deadly game.

"How will I know that you are telling the truth?" I asked in a gulp.

"You can't, can you now? I guess you just have to make a choice right now, and see what will happen next," he said calmly now, and if I could see his face I could imagine the wide, satisfied grin he was giving, pleased that he had me under his paw.

He did.

I looked back down at my watch and found to my surprise that I had only four hours and ten minutes left. That girl took me about forty minutes to find. At this rate I would predict that I would only get five chances. So, one down, four chances to go.

"If you succeed under five hours the bomb won't go out, I promise you that."

"Again, how do I know that you are telling me the truth?"

"My word is all you have," he replied with edge. "Now, you might not want to waste your time anymore, now do you Mr. Devin?"

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, and nodded to myself, as if urging me to move. The stakes were higher, because it was either one or all.