Away From Eden

Spin The Bottle - Truth Or Dare

" Huh?! I doubt we're still in the party venue!"

The players were whining.

After falling from what seemed to be limbo, they found themselves transported into a desert. Carsen has a hint that the place they were in was just simulated because though the surroundings were dry and sandy, the weather isn't hot. He was wondering what's the next game for them. Some of the invited were starting to freak out, whining, and regretting signing up as party guests. If they haven't been guests at the alumni party, then they wouldn't be invited to be players at the party games. But he could see, there were also players who manage to remain tough and calm. They don't have a choice anyway. Unless the entire game level finishes, they'll be prisoners here. Carsen knows that there were only two ways out of here -- his dead body to be found dumped outside, or to be hailed a winner and a new member of the Castellan class.

"Hello, players!"

Again a voice was heard in the atmosphere.

Carsen assumes they'll be hearing instructions next.

Yet, before that, a loud cracking sound of a machine stirred the center sand. What emerge from underneath, was a large machine-like bottle. The players will still puzzle about what's next.

Then, in a second, the sand that they were standing on moved, it was as if gliding, arranging the players in a circular manner around the huge bottle. When everything is done, Carsen understands what game they will play next.

" Do you still remember how exciting this game when you were in high school?"

The voice echoed again.

"Secrets were out. Bravery is tested. Isn't it fun to play spin the bottle, truth or dare?" said the voice.

The players were quiet. Of course, they know that this isn't going to be like the spin-the-bottle game they played in Standford High before. The truth or dare is going to be hell. They assume.

"Ready?"

They flinched when they heard the voice saying that word again. They know they need to hold their breath until the agony passed.

The voice explained to them that the large bottle in the center is going to be moving on its own, pointing at any players the bottle desired. When being pointed the player needs to step on the two button choices beneath his feet -- truth or dare. Like in their high school spin the bottle game, when a player chooses truth, he needs to be honest even when it cost revealing a secret, and when a player chooses dare, he needs to overcome a given challenge. Simple as that. The difference is, every lie told and failure will cost death.

Now, the huge bottle began to spin.

The players hold their breath, some close their eyes, scared of being chosen.

The bottle first pointed at the middle-aged man who was from the third team during the first game. They noticed how scared the man is. He was shaking while answering the voice. He chooses - dare.

The voice asked him to run a mile.

Anyone who could hear that would think it was just a simple task. But when the man was removed from the circle and thrown into a distance, they realized that running wasn't just all that. He should run a mile for his life while bullets and daggers darting from nowhere are after him. It didn't take an hour when the man fell bleeding lifeless on the desert sand. When it was sure that he was dead, the ground opened, and the man swallowed under.

Carsen thinks that the dead body must be transported to be thrown outside. The police will now have again another dead to be found. He thought to himself.

Then, the bottle spun again.

This time, it pointed to Janesi.

Janesi's eyes widened. After they saw what happened to the old man, choosing now is horrible.

That old man chooses dare...maybe the truth is less dangerous. She thinks.

And so, Janesi replied " truth" to the voice.

The voice laughed sounding like mocking her.

" Are you sure?"

The more that Janesi trembled in fear.

" Aren't you the bullied, ugly, girl in high school?" asked the voice.

" The girl whom, Jair had locked in the restroom? Right? Lucy Moore?"

Did that voice just call me in my old name? She thinks.

Janesi's eyes widened. She throws a glance at Jair Santana. She isn't comfortable with that question, much more of being called by her real name. She came to the reunion party and hoped to join the games to get revenge, but now that she is challenged to reveal her real identity, then, her revenge plan is ruined. And one more thing, she hates being called Lucy, that part of her is already dead, and so are the evil thing done to her while she was in Stanford High. Lucy was the ugly bullied girl. But now, she is Janesi. She's now somebody. She worked hard even selling her soul to get to where she is now, only to be reminded again of that part of her she despises the most.

" I...I'm not Lucy,"

Janesi replied.

Then a bullet was fired at her, but it just intentionally hit the sand, wanting to scare her.

" Okaay!!! I am she!!! " Janesi screamed teary-eyed. She turned to Jair, glaring. Jair refused to meet her furious stare. He knows what he did before at Stanford. He's not expecting that they'll have a reunion in this game.

The voice laugh again, satisfied at Janesi's answer.

Then again it asked, " so your bully is here, what do you want to do now?"

" I want to kill him," Janesi replied with gritted teeth.

The voice laughs again. Violence, that's what it wants. So, she gave Janesi a bonus for not denying the truth about her.

A dagger popped out near her, and she was ordered to make Jair suffer, but not kill him. He still got to play, he must not die. That's what the voice ordered. And Janesi gladly follows. She slashed Jair's legs, making a huge deep wound on it, making sure he'll have a hard time playing in the next level.

Silence.

What unfolded was all too heavy for the players left.

They all now realized that whatever they choose it would always end up worst.

Then, the bottle spun again.

Now, it pointed between Carsen and Lizzie.

They thought it was void but then the voice laid out a new rule for them. They can't choose. The voice will choose for them. And it chooses -- dare. That means they need to battle with their own death.

Almost like what occurred a while ago, the desert sand opened again, but this time not to swallow a player, but out of it emerged an octopus-like creature. It looks scarier than the usual octopus. It is surrounded by blazing light, and its tentacles aren't flesh but metal. It has a head of a monster.

Lizzie screamed in fright.

The other players gasped in fear as the creature unfolded before them. Who would not know that monster? The Terminus was one of those cyborg monsters who invaded humanity during the apocalypse. They know it's venom. They know what it can do. The cyborg monster has a reputation for injecting sting into its victim, which will make its victim suffer pain for days before its venom completely kills its victim. Once struck with its tentacles, at first the victim would have patches on the skin, like a skin disease, then as days went by, the wound will worsen so as the body condition. It's like a slow killing. Carsen remembers how this monster nearly wiped out humanity before in that apocalypse.

Despite the imminent danger, Carsen remained calm. He's figuring out how he would survive the " dare". This time, the voice had allowed him and Lizzie to team up. He doesn't want actually. Since the first time she saw this girl, he knows she was a liability. She's just beautiful, sexy, yet lame.

She'll just be a burden. I wonder how she thought of joining here! Carsen thinks.

The Terminus began to attack.

Carsen clenched his fists and kept a wary distance between himself and the tentacled cyborg monster. The monster swiftly moved across the gap between them and unleashed a left jab. Carsen swung on his right foot and just about made it out of the path. The Terminus whirled around and threw a right hammer fist in a reverse haymaker, showing astonishing agility. Carsen used his forearm to shield his jaw, but the force of the blow drove him flying, slamming unto the desert sand.

He coughed while he gets up.

Seeing that he had been knocked down, now the cyborg's attention was turned to Lizzie who was trembling in the side.

The cyborg monster extended its tentacles toward Lizzie.

She fled screaming.

She got nearly hit several times but she just continued running in without direction. She felt helpless.

Meanwhile, Carsen spotted some pebbles. He tried to throw it unto the cyborg monster, moving swiftly as he took a moment to regain his equilibrium on unsteady legs. The monster got distracted. It again turned its attention to Carsen, which is a relief to Lizzie.

Despite the shock, Lizzie smiled seeing how Carsen had become her savior at that moment.

That was heart thrilling. She thinks.

Carsen continued to struggle with the Terminus. He tried to recall how the armies subdued this monster during the apocalypse. He remembers that it has one weakness - its head.

I just need to cut off its head, but how? I don't even have weapons, not even an ordinary gun. Carsen thought to himself.

" This is so unfair!" Carsen whined at the voice.

But there was no reaction. The atmosphere remained silent.

So, Carsen had no choice but to face this monster with what he can. He took a deep breath and dive into danger, again. The terminus throws its tentacles, wrapping them around Carsen's legs, and dragging him until he was lifted up on the ground.

Carsen tried to wrestle.

The other players witnessing the struggle cringed in fear.

Lizzie tried to help, but the situation got worsened.

Carsen was dragged away from the arena sand, far from where he could get help.

He groans in agony, yet he tried to clutch the monster's body hoping he could reach its weakest point.

"Arrgghhh!!!"

Carsen was gasping for his breath. His face was red as if he was suffocating. Now the monster's tentacles were strangling his neck.

The situation seemed like there was no hope for him.

His body was filled with bruises and wounds, and now that the monster has got a sure hold of him, he knows what it will certainly do next. Like how it victimizes humans before, it will then emit its venom as the eyespots on its tentacles are glued to its skin.

The next thing that Carsen felt is the pricking painful sensation piercing unto his flesh. It hurts like hell. He knows then, the next few days he'll be sick and dead.

I don't want this horrible thing on my skin! He thinks.

Carsen screamed, groaning with gritted teeth like he was summoning all the strength left in his body. He desperately fought the monster that captured him. Carsen felt like his consciousness fall into delirium. He felt like he was disassociated from his body.

This is weird! Maybe this is how the human body reacts when it's faced with a hopeless danger. He thinks.

" Carseeenn....."

What is that? Someone's calling me? He asked himself.

Then in a moment, it was like he saw something like a scenario was flashed before his face. At first, it was vast darkness. Then, colorful hybrid creatures erupted. It was a different world. Though creatures there look different, they don't appear scary. It was a world with rich soil, and beautiful landscapes like earth, but Carsen is sure that it isn't planet earth, and though it's not, he wonders how come he's not scared of it.

Wait what's that? His brows furrowed as a familiar symbol caught his sight. The symbol looks the same as the scar on his back.

What? I thought that was just a dream...and I thought this is just a scar I got from an accident when I was a kid. Carsen thinks.

"Carsen!!"

Lizzie's scream pulled his attention back.

Carsen shook his head, trying to focus.

It was like he regained some kind of special strength. He gripped at the monster's tentacles and broke them. It all happened so quickly. Next, he reached its head and crushed it.

The players witnessed it all in awe.

Sure the game organizer had also seen that incredible event.

Even during the apocalypse, none of the armies were able to do what Carsen had just done now.

"Wh..what? Is he that strong enough? breaking a robot monster with just his fist?" one of the players commented.

"Whoaahh!!! I want that police guy to be my teammate!" others exclaimed.

But beyond all the unexplainable things that happened to him now, there's one question that's boggling Crasen's mind -- How did this apocalypse monster still exist inside this game when the earth's apocalypse was already over? When humanity has already defeated up to the last of its kind?