Vocalization

Gruesome Game

All of us where out of breath, barely even calming down from the stress. "There you are", Geoff said under his breath. "Yeah", I whispered, nodding. "I was locked up in the room just over the shack of that house. How did you get out? You were locked to that chair, weren't you?" I flicked my head towards the only empty one in the circle. "Yeah, I was. But, for some reason, I had the key right around my neck the entire time." I blinked confusedly, then saw a shiny key necklace on the floor. I picked it up. Inspected it. "That's the key to my old wardrobe", I murmured. "Your what?", Earl asked in even more confusion. "Ugh, it doesn't matter. Could you unlock me please?" "My wardrobe", I explained while trying to get the key into the lock with my shaky hands. Geoff, meanwhile, still had to calm down from running and the adrenaline in his veins, resting with his hands on his calves, keeping himself from falling. "I used to live in that – Oh, right, you... didn't get out of here yet and probably didn't see it on your way in. There is a house not far from this storage facility. I used to live in it. This all just starts making sense", I continued, "even if in a horrifying way." I sighed and resigned from trying to unlock the chain keeping Earl down. "This is a game our kidnapper made up. All of the evidence points towards it. The wooden planks in front of the window of my room were loose enough for me to push them off, even with being possibly severely injured. And Geoff had the key to his own chains all along, but it does not fit all locks. I can try the others, but I doubt I'll have much luck." The men looked at each other in worry. Then, suddenly, a voice came from the upper floors.

"Well done, Evelynn", it spoke. A man, that was for sure. The voice seemed familiar, but I just couldn't place it. He was using a device to change his voice. As he spoke, I could feel the hate he had for me. Somehow, this was about me. Everyone else had just gotten horribly unlucky. "You're absolutely right. I know how much you like to play. How much you like to go back to your childhood. Then let's play a little game of Hide and Seek, shall we?" I looked at the others, my heart racing and my feet aching. My tights were destroyed from the gravel road in front of the facility, my soles pierced and surely bleeding. "I'll tell you the rules and you'll tell me if you accept them or not." He laughed. "Heck, there's only one answer. I have a gun, Evelynn. And if you don't play nice, it's over. For you and everyone you couldn't get out. Now, I'll count down the rules:

Rule one: There are keys hidden in this facility. I would advise you to look at all the locks thoroughly. You know all of them. You know what the keys look like. If you find the key for one lock, you must run back and free that person."

"And what if I find all the keys?", I asked while inspecting the locks as he'd told me to do. "The question is if you really want to take on the task of finding them all. But you can decide that later.

One of your companions was lucky. He was the last one I caught so I gave him the honorable task to defuse the bomb. You can only get him out if you can free yourself.

Which leads me directly into rule two: There's a location device attached to your back. It can tell me when you exit the building. Exiting is against the rules. So, naturally, to exit, you need to get rid of it. There's a metal card with the code on it that works just the same as a key, but for your own freedom. Since it's on your back and you can't see the digit, you need someone else to unlock it for you. That would be the one who was lucky at the start.

You could of course try to do it yourself, but now listen to rule three: If I find you, I get to shoot you. If another person is with you at that time, I get to shoot them too. If I find your liberator outside of the house, I'll shoot him. If you die, you lose.

Now, run, Evelynn, while you still can."

I sprinted towards the next-best door immediately, not even thinking about it, leaving Geoff's key behind as I left. Meanwhile, I tried to keep in mind the locks and which one belonged to which person. My feet were silent on the floor, but they would give out soon. I knew this building. But the last time I had seen it was far in the past. Over ten years ago. I was getting paranoid, hearing steps everywhere. Panicking, I hid behind a corner and calmed down a little, making my mind come to its logical state. I could hear the steps clearly now. They were far away, but coming towards me. I hurried onwards, away from them, up the staircase to the second floor. Enclosed in a hole in the wall, I found a little metal card. This would set me free. But no, I would not take it. I sprinted on and left it behind, searching for the keys first. I was scurrying along, ducking underneath the windows so nobody could see me, not even my companions. The floor was cold and hard. My feet were rebelling. They did not want to do this anymore, just a few minutes in. But I still had a long way to go. Luckily, I found a key not much later. It was round with a ring-shaped head separated in half by a straight line. It was caught up in a chain link that seemed thin enough to be opened. I hooked my fingers into it and used my entire body weight to pull. My wrist snapped and I had to let go. A scorching pain rushed through it like one thousand needles piercing my skin from the inside, attacking my nerves directly. Steps. I heard steps. They were getting closer and closer. I tried to get the key out with my left hand, pulled fiercely to get it out. Finally, with a high click, it snapped out of position and I stumbled. Backwards. I ran, but I heard the steps drawing closer. The man was obviously running too. I sprinted towards the staircase as fast as I could. Took the first steps. The stomping behind me stopped and I heard a silent clicking. I went faster and jumped down the last few steps. That very moment, there was a loud bang. I felt it piercing my skin. The bullet had hit me at the waist, far to the right. It shot past me and took a spree of blood with it as it crashed into the ceiling. He'd missed. But only slightly. I felt my blood leaking out, but I kept running. There was no time to stop. Now, it was a race against time. I had to free everyone before I passed out from blood loss. The main hall was to the left. I went to the right, covering my wound with my hand so I wouldn't leave a trail. My blouse would only soak up so much.