Beyond the Walls

Hard Steel Door

“What happened to Lucas?” Hiraya asked Aaron after seeing Lucas frowning hard while looking outside, for the whole morning.

“He is already like that after seeing these weapons.” Elijah said in a low voice.

“Huh?” Lucas immediately grabbed the binoculars distraughtingly looked at the surroundings.

“What is it?” Hiraya was the first to ask and when Lucas brought down the binoculars he faced the group with a grim expression.

He was so preoccupied with other thoughts that he failed to notice what was before his eyes.

“The numbers had doubled.” He said with a shaky voice.

“What doubled?” Hiraya asked.

“The undead’s number…”

Brandy scoffed and asked, “How would you know that?”

While others looked outside, it was hard to tell if the number had doubled since the stadium is a large space.

“There were only around 20 undeads at our side from yesterday. At first I thought some undead might have walked over here but that means the number of undead should be thinned out on the other parts but… their number didn’t decrease… rather… it increased more.” Lucas explained and put his hand in his face.

“You count undead? Talk about being weird.” Brandy scoffed again and lay flat on his back on the couch.

Lucas mumbled something.

“Huh? Repeat that again.” Agitated, Brandy raised an eyebrow at Lucas.

Lucas looked above his hand and met Brandy’s. “I said, you’ll die. You’ll die if you don’t know what you are facing.”

*Tak tak tak

“HEY WEIRDO!!! RUN YOUR MOUTH ONE MORE TIME AND I’LL FEED TO THE UNDEAD YOU SO LOVE TO COUNT!!” Now furious, Brandy stepped forward heavily to Lucas and grabbed his collars up.

Since Lucas is taller, instead of raising his collar, he was pulled down.

The other members of the group separated them and Brandy only stopped when a groaning and banging sound was heard from the door.

As if Lucas entirely washed up he returned to being meek. His shoulder dropped low and bowed to Brandy and said sorry.

Retreating to the corner of the room, Lucas settled down and Hiraya approached him.

“Hey, Lucas. You seemed to be on edge. We all are but something is bothering you right?” She asked as she settled down.

Hesitating to tell, Lucas closes and opens his mouth multiple times and Hiraya seems to have all the time in the world as she places herself beside him silently.

So patiently, she waited for him.

Few minutes of not being able to calm down, Lucas steals glances at Hiraya. She had short hair and dark skin with round black eyes. She would meet his eyes and smile, which made Lucas' heart uncomfortable… but her entire presence keeps him calm. As if she is a warm heater in cold daylight.

“...Those items…” As if he was compelled, he started talking.

“Hmm?” Hiraya looked at where Lucas was looking.

He is looking at the gun of Brandy tucked behind him, then flashlight that is waved around by Eljah, metal pitching bat at the girl’s lap, hammer at Aaron’s side, first aid belt bag around Hiraya’s waist and last item is at Lucas’ hand a whistle.

“They are playing us. . .” Lucas finally let it out.

Call him slow, but when reality sinks it’s deep in his thoughts.

The truth is uglier and a hard pill to swallow.

They are playing a game. A game where difficulty raises as the level increases, items being provided, goals are given and rewards are earned.

[Congratulations! Game Cash Prize had been earned!]

They are in a game. They are the players. A game that is not a fun one, at least not to them. This game that plays human lives.

Either you make it or you die.

‘What is their goal?’ Lucas thought hard. It has been eating him since seeing the provided weapons. These new weapons are impossible to be from twenty years ago. They are all crafted just like the items from inside the wall.

Hiraya was speechless now, it is also dawning on Lucas’ explanation.

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if they are watching us.” Lucas said, biting his molars.

“...!” Lucas looked up and stood up, he began to scan the surroundings.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” Hiraya asked when Lucas removed things from the table and stepped on it as he looked over the walls.

Everyone watches Lucas looking like a crazy person feeling the walls until. . . he sees it and falls down from the table. Hiraya assisted him but his body started shaking.

“Ha!...Ha. ha. Ha.” His broken laugh made.

“Tsk tsk tsk. He lost it.” Brandy shakes his head as he watches the spectacle.

“Man, what is it? You are scaring me.” Said Elijah.

Lucas then pointed at the thing attached to the room’s edge.

A camera lens.

****

“WOOOOOOOOH!!! YES!!” A sudden lively shout of victory.

“Ah! damn!” The other person sighed before moving his hand in his pocket and went for his wallet and gave a couple of bills to the lively man beside him.

“I told you, that guy is smart. Heh!” He proudly declared as he counted the bills and kissed it before putting the money inside his pocket.

“Ahhh. Damn! How the hell did he figure it out?” The man who lost his bills to the other person, glared at his monitor and watched Lucas from the other side.

Lucas is pointing at the camera and the rest of his group gathers around it and looking stupidly close to it, especially Elijah.

“Told you, that guy is something. I can feel it in my guts.” A man replied with a mocking smirk.

“...You just got lucky!” sounding half bitter the man retorted and slid away his chair to his pal’s side of the cubicle. Identical set up of computers and keyboard are lying there the same as his but unlike his, the station of his pal is messy and full of chips and sodas.

“What the hell, clean up. You’ll be scolded again.”

“Hey, Wanna bet again? I have lots of money!” Instead of answering his pal offered another bet as he tapped his chest where he put the money.

“What are you betting?” A third party voice asked.

“Hmm, whether that man figures out the key before the end of….the...day…” His voice trailed as he looked up to where the third party voice came from.

The two men went out of their seats and saluted the bearded superior and gave their greetings.The superior had this mocking smile as he asked again. “How much will you bet huh?”

The soldiers swallowed their saliva before answering. “50 bucks. Sir.”

The superior said and took 50$ out of his pocket and gave it to the soldier. “I bet he will not.”

After saying that he announced about the betting game. At first, some soldiers in their own station were skeptical.

“I bet he will.” A man taking a coffee on the second floor said and waved a 50$ bill. Only then did other soldiers take part in the betting.

The superior patted the soldier’s shoulder and said “It’s good to have some fun, in this boring job.”

He turned and made a woman soldier come to his side. “Make sure, everything is still under control.”

The woman bowed and proceeded to assist with the bet.

“What are you doing here?” Said the bearded superior as he stepped to the second floor and saw the blonde man, with a relaxed posture leaning on the railings.

“The Renaissance’s Captain is back.” answered the blonde guy and gave his money to a soldier passing by and said “Make a bet for me ‘kay?” and pat his back before returning to the bearded guy’s side.

“Gabrielle? What of it?”

“Possible human survivors outside the walls were seen and apparently she filed a report of sighting a building full of Level 1 Undead. Hmmm, also she included in the report it ‘smelled’ like hundreds of undead are contained in the building. Sound familiar? Hahaha. Gabrielle is really amusing. ”

There is a tongue clicking sound before he curses in a low voice. “That bloody nose of that woman.”

Facing a hard steel gate, the blonde man tapped his ID to the scanner and the heavy door opened as they walked into it.

Behind them are hundreds of military uniformed people with their own station. Monitors are everywhere and on the main screen that might be bigger than a cinema screen, it shows the stadium and on the side are different locations where alive humans are shown.

On the upper middle part written there is Level 2: Test of Stamina

Number of Remaining Players : 76

*Shiiiiiik

The hard steel door closes.

****

There was dead silence among Lucas’ group as they found more cameras hidden throughout the room.

*Cough cough

Penelope, who has been bed ridden since the undead’s attack, starts vomiting blood. Hiraya and Unica were the first to assist Penelope. More blood comes out.

Lucas came close and felt Penelope’s pulse, then checked her fingertips and toe nails. It darkened, Black and red veins appeared around her neck and when Lucas opened her eyes, it was bloodshot.

They all know what these signs are.

“She is changing.” Lucas said the bitter truth.

“WHAT?!” Unica was the first to throw Penelope’s hand away and scrammed out of the way.

“We can’t have her stay here.” Brandy said.

Though nobody openly agrees, nobody disagrees as well except for Hiraya that continues to nurse Penelope.

“We can’t leave her there, She will be torn to pieces.” Hiraya said.

*Click

Brandy directed the gun to Penelope’s head. “Then we kill her now.”