Die to Live *EDITING*

Brook

Brook

Everyone looked over as Bria ran into the room and slammed the thick steel door behind her. She turned around and stared at it a second before stumbling backwards and falling on her ass, screaming and crying. Zoe was gone and Bria was scarred. She was screaming some nonsense about something being alive, something that was dead but alive.

"Bria! Bria, calm down!" Justin was grabbing her by the shoulders and staring into her eyes. "What happened? Where is Zoe?" His voice cracked as he said Zoe's name because he already knew where she was. Everyone knew where she was and what happened. Bria stopped screaming and looked at him, still crying. She was trembling as she talked.

"I..." She started bawling, trying to bury her face into her knees as she pulled them to her chest and rocked herself. Just tell him...He already knows but he needs to hear it Bria. Tell him that you shot her. You played the game these sick fucks have made. I narrowed my eyes at her from my spot against the wall, half in pity and half in anger. How the fuck could you play their game?

"I shot her..." She finally looked at Justin after he tried to coax her into talking to him for about five minutes. I frowned in disgust.

"Everyone knows you shot her Bria! Everyone want to know what the fuck you were talking about! What is alive, huh? Well it certainly isn't Zoe now is it? No, because you fucking shot her!" I clamped my hand over my mouth the minute I finished screaming at her. She flinched every time my voice rose. "Fuck. I'm sorry, Bria, I didn't mean that..."

Justin looked at me and frowned, shaking his head slowly. Bria was sobbing into her knees and rocking back and forth on her heels and her butt. Ashley, Maddy, and Gabri were looking at me before moving and whispering to each other. Everyone fell quiet except for Bria and her cries. The question was still hanging in the air, unanswered. What was alive? What can be alive after it dies? How is that even possible? It was a while before Bria stopped crying and looked at me.

"It was a human... A girl, a blonde one... Half of her body was missing and she was dragging herself by her hands. She followed me into a room was trying to bite and scratch me. Her skin was rotted and her eyes were... yellow where they should have been white and the blue was all milky like there was a cataract on it. She had bite marks all over her and her hair was falling out in places..." She shook her head, crying. "And then Zoe came in because she heard me screaming. I tried to shoot the thing but I missed and shot Zoe in the stomach. I dropped the gun and watched her fall to the ground next to that thing as I ran from the room." She looked at Justin. "I didn't mean to kill her.. You have to believe me! I didn't mean to!" She sounded like she were begging him for forgiveness.

He shook his head and went to a corner of the room by Elias, crying a little. Bria turned back to me, her eyes begging me to believe she didn't kill Zoe intentionally. And I did. I knew she didn't mean to, she was just playing their games. She let them convince her that she was just a pawn in their sick chess game. Mason was looking around and noticed the camera up in the corner, standing up and going to look up in it.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, you sick mother fuckers! Let us out of here or I swear I will find you and kill you myself!" He was shouting into it, jabbing his finger at it as if he were jabbing it into some guy's chest. "I bet there's tons of people out looking for us now. Where can you hide sixteen kids, huh?" He turned away angrily and went to sit back down where he was sitting. I frowned and looked around, waiting for this hell to be over with. I looked at Liam.

"You know, someone dies each time they send two people out. What are they going to do if no one leaves the room when they tell people to? We don't have to play their game. They haven't done anything to make us but talk over an intercom. If we don't listen they won't have a game." He looks at me as I talk to him and shakes his head.

"Brook, what if they kill you just for saying that? They could come down here and beat the living shit out of everyone if no one listens. They could kill someone." He looks around, looking a little paranoid. I'm about to respond when Bria shouts.

"Oh my god... I know what this is!" She looks around at everyone, her eyes wide. Has she figured out that this is just some sick idea from some sick people to watch kids die by each other's hand? This is some Lord of the Flies and Hunger Games shit going on.

Everyone looks at her but only Cameron speaks. "What is this?" He sits up, slumped down against the wall. He looks like he's about to laugh in her face.

"This is an old video game my brother use to play. The sixteen characters, two teams, instructors, living corpses, the maze..." She looks at Cam and shakes her head slowly, looking back at the ground like she's trying to recall something. "The games was called Die to Live. The objective was to go through the maze however your instructor told you how and get to a room with two guns. You had to shoot your opponent down and get out before they turned into a..." She trailed off, a horrified look creeping onto her face.

"A what?" Cam asked, looking at her, the look of doubt is gone from his face and is now replaced with a terrified seriousness. She looks up at him, her hands dropping into her lap.

"A zombie"