Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Twenty One

I jolted awake as my alarm screeched and buzzed. That was not what I was expecting from it, but it did wake me up. I stretched and got to my feet. The sun was shining in through the glass all around me and it felt nice and warm to be standing there. I knew I couldn’t stay though. I had to save my friends. I wasn’t sure how dark it would be outside of this room because the shadows may have taken a fit after I left. There could be no light what so ever, they might even be waiting for me to turn the knob. I looked down at my torn pant legs and took a deep breath. “I can do this” I whispered as I grabbed the knob and pulled the door open.

The hallway, to my surprise, was lit. This scared me because I knew if the torches were all back up it meant that I had something waiting for me once I got back to the white room. That’s just how the game worked, whenever something went your way, something horrible would follow. I briskly stepped out of the room and made my way down the hall. I was about to turn the corner when I felt a rumbling. It shook me and I had to grab the wall for support. I turned my head only to notice that the pyramid was crashing down behind me. “FUCK” I screamed as I ran towards the staircase. The floor and ceiling were deteriorating behind me and I knew if I stopped or slowed down that I’d be a goner. I got to the staircase and started to run down the steps, but I got caught on the fourth one to the bottom and fell face first into the ground. My elbows started to bleed again as I got up and tried to cover them with what was left of my torn jumper.

I looked back and saw that the stairs were falling apart too, but what scared me most was how much darkness was left in the destroyed areas. It was an endless pit of black that I did not want to be dragged into. I could hear the faint screeching of the shadows coming up from the dark as the tears formed in my eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?” I cried as I ran forward to the next stairwell.  The mattresses in the mattress room were all on fire from fallen torches and the walls there soon caved in too. I bolted down the stairs trying not to trip and keeping my head focused on the basement. I ran through the main floor and came to a halt at the staircase to the basement.

It was pitch black and there was no light anywhere. I had two options now, either run down that staircase and be at risk of facing the shadows, or wait for the ground to collapse behind me and be at risk of seeing the shadows. My heart was pounding and the tears were just pouring out of my eyes. “I just want my friends back” I screamed as I flew down the staircase. I could hear screeching coming up behind me and I could feel the ground falling too. I ran as fast as I could as the screeching was now filling the hall in front of me. I could see the piercing white eyes of the shadows at every angle and it took everything in me to keep running. “They are only here to scare me, if they wanted to hurt me they would” I cried.

I continued to run as the shadows behind me were right on my tail, I could feel them breathing down my neck and I was waiting for one of the to throw the first scratch. I clutched the key in my hand so hard that I could feel blood begin to drip from my fingers. I was sweating from head to toe and breathing was getting harder and harder. I was dehydrated and I knew it, I was getting dizzy and my legs felt numb but I had to keep going. I had to save Harry, I had to save my best friend, I had to save my new found family. I tried to keep my eyes open but it was hard when it was already so dark and I was already so weak. That’s when I saw it, the light at the end of the tunnel, it was far, but it was there. My legs started to run faster as I concentrated on making it out of this death trap.

I was almost there when I felt a bone crushing pain in my left arm. I screamed in agony as I tried to stay on my feet and keep running. The shadows screeched and I knew they had struck me. My arm felt limp and the bouncing from my running was killing it. It was broken and it took everything in me to not stop and give up. “I’m coming!” I screamed in hopes that the others would hear me and know that I was okay. The floor behind me was crumbling faster and I was already running at top speed. I saw the light, it was right there, but the darkness was catching up. I took one huge leap and rolled out onto the cold white floor.

I yelped in pain as I grabbed my arm and dropped the key. It slid out in front of me and with the blood from my hand drenched all over it. Both my elbows we’re dripping and resulting in a puddle of blood on the floor beneath me. I must look like a wreck; my hair was a mop and my face all blotchy from crying. I ripped the right arm of my jumper off, which wasn’t hard because it was already torn, and used it to support my broken arm. The pain was intolerable and tears streamed down my cheeks at every movement. I wrapped another piece of cloth around my bleeding hand and then bent over picking up the key.

I looked up to see all of my friends in the room across from me, beaten to a pulp. The tears welled up in my eyes at the sight as I ran over, stopping myself before I hit the barrior. “I’m so sorry, I should have run faster” I cried. They all looked at me with pain in their eyes. “It’s not your fault Joanna” Louis let out. “You did everything you could” Rachel added with tears streaming down her face. They were all linked to the wall like Harry, the boys with their shirts off and the girls with their arms and legs covered in gashes. They all looked so defeated. “I thought you weren’t coming back” Amanda cried. “No, why would you think that, I would never give up on you” I screamed falling to my knees. “I thought you were dead” Kate said through her tears. I pulled out the key and held it up to them, their faces lit up when they saw it; All except Harry’s. “Harry what’s wrong? I have they key, I can get you out” I said. “Look at yourself Joanna, look at how hurt you are, look at all of you!” He cried. “You all stayed here to save my life and you all got ruined.” He said running out of breath. “Harry, we stayed because we wanted to, you’re like our brother and we weren’t gonna leave ya” Niall explained.  Harry nodded and looked over to me. “Where do I put the key?” I asked.

“I think there is a slot for it right at the corner of the invisible fence” Ivy said pointing her head towards the left hand corner. I made my way over wincing at every step and searched for the key hole.  Sure enough there was one right at the corner. I lifted the key and shoved it into place turning it to the right. The system buzzed as it shut down, I looked over to my friends and saw that all of the chains that were once holding them to the wall, unclipped from their hands as they fell to the ground. I bolted over to them and ran straight for Harry. He grabbed me as I fell into his arms weeping. “I love you so much, I don’t know what I would have done without you” I cried. “I love you too, I’m so proud of you Joanna” He said snuggling his head into my shoulder. He was careful of my arm as we stood there hugging for the longest time. I then turned and ran over to Rachel. “Rachel I’m so sorry” I cried as I hugged her with my good arm. “It’s not your fault, don’t be sorry, if anything I should be thanking you” she said through tears. Ivy and Kate then both made their way over to me and gripped me in a group hug. In that moment I felt infinite, I had saved everyone and we could now finally go home. More tears welled up in my eyes, but these tears were happy tears, tears of relief.

Suddenly the room echoed and the booming voice began to speak. “YOU HAVE DONE WELL JOANNA.” It said. I half smiled and leaned up against Harry. “YOU HAVE ALL CONQUERED THE GAME, BUT ARE YOU REALLY READY TO GO HOME?” It asked us. We all nodded and looked a little confused. “WELL THEN YOU BETTER GET CLEANED UP.” It finished. The voice stopped echoing and we all looked around for something to happen. Then out of nowhere across the room from us a wall dropped and revealed a sea of clothing, tubs of water, basins of food and medical supplies.

Smiles lit up on everyone’s faces as we ran over to the room. I was still very weary and felt quite dizzy, my legs were numb and I could barely move. Harry noticed and carried me over the tub of water. “Drink” he said cupping his hands with water and holding it to my face. I did as I was told and began to feel a little better. I sat propped up against the wall as a nurse came out of nowhere and began to tend to my arm. “Ow!” I cried shoving my face into Harry’s shoulder.  He held me close as the nurse put a cast on me and walked away to tend to everyone else. She left me with some creams and band aids to heal my other minor injuries. Harry kissed my forehead as he stroked my hair.

“Is this it?” Niall pondered, “Can we really go home?”