Author Games: Red Room

Task Seven: 7-aR9L4

September 4th, 2018

9:00 pm

Iosefina Matua

Dionysus

"Those fucking bitches."

There's a slam as the words echo in the empty room and a laptop goes careering off the side of the card table with a brutal swipe of his hand. Samuel stands over it, watching a few pieces of glass fall from the broken screen with a grim expression. The destruction only quells him for a minute, stilling his heart that is beating fast and loud in his ears. He leans over the table, gripping the edge between his white-knuckled fingers and grinding his teeth. They squeak unpleasantly as he works his jaw, at a loss of words.

The only thing that comes is a useless stutter, followed by a long string of curse words, and finally, "It's gone. It's all gone." He gives one of the remaining desk monitors a painful smack with the back of his hand, the tips of which are still covered in drying blood. "Nothing is fucking working in this Goddamn place." Reaching up, Samuel tugs his free hand through his angry, tangled mess of hair, most of which is damp and sweaty. The same sweat floods his tongue, uncomfortably salty as he tries to swipe his tongue over his upper lip. His throat is uncomfortably tight and unusually dry as he tries to turn on the security monitors again, fingers scrambling uselessly over the keys until he finally finds a better solution.

"I'm going to kill them." The words are absolute as Samuel grabs for the gun on top of the biggest computer. It's heavy in his hands, but in a way that brings a wide grin to his face, bent on revenge.

However, a hand falls over his, snatching it from his the second he slides a finger around the trigger. Brother Joshua, who until this time had been sitting in silence as he watched his disciple fall into a fit of rage, tsks as he sets the weapon back down. "Don't be stupid." A phone is slid back Samuel's way with a single text lingering on the screen. "I've already had it taken care of."

The Task

Can you feel it? You're in the homestretch and it's not long until we reach the inevitable conclusion. But before that, we need this task to fill in the blank of what's to come before it.

For both cults, you'll be writing similar tasks with only minor differences so listen carefully. If you've kept up with the intros, you'll notice the two cults have been aware of each other's dark web presence for a while now (despising each other) and may or may not be competing for the same monetary value red rooms provide. Late last night, a hunter hacked into St. Judas' surveillance systems, sending their hackers into a panic and causing their red room to go offline for the time being. Most of the cultists have been called away to handle the matter and as a form of retaliation, they've asked law enforcement on their payroll to investigate the mountains on reports of human sacrifice.

If your character is with the cult of St. Judas, their surveillance system is offline and it grants you your one and only chance to escape. Nearly all the cultists have been called away to get the issue fixed and there are only a short few of them guarding any exits or roaming the hallways. Your job here is to write your character's escape from the asylum. You may do this however you'd prefer but once your character has escaped, they will have the option of trying to find someone who can help them or just trying to get home. The choice should be made clear by the end of the entry and will affect the finale. Choose wisely.

If your character is with the Hunters of Artemis, you'll be given the same opportunity to escape as your friends on the other side. Thanks to the work of St. Judas, local authorities will be near the hunting grounds checking everything out and it's here that you'll be tasked with making a choice. You can either write your character being rescued or you can choose to write them remaining hidden for whatever reason. What you decide should be clear in the entry and while this may seem like an obvious choice, do keep in mind that your potential saviors are equally as corrupt as your captors but at the same time, you may not want to be stuck on the mountain. Try to make the best decision as whatever you go with will affect the finale.

Word Limit

None.

Deadline

Thursday, November 1st at 6 PM PDT

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If you have any questions, by all means, PM either Linz or myself!