GAME OF HORRORS: Level Up Fear

The Next Task

Kai's POV

The silence that hung between us after Mark’s departure was suffocating, nobody said anything it looks like we're in frenzy after everything that happened. We stood there on the side of the road, the engine noise of the car still echoing in our ears long after Mark had vanished from sight. I felt like I was stuck in some twisted nightmare I couldn’t escape.

Tae was the first to break the silence. His voice was shaky, barely above a whisper. “We... we can’t just stand here. We have to do something. We can’t let Mark do this alone.”

“What’s left to do, Tae?” Rubin snapped. His voice was sharp, raw with emotion. “Mark’s gone. He killed someone. And he took the car. What now?”

I didn’t know how to respond. The cold reality of what Mark had done set in, and with it came a crushing weight. He was gone, and whether he was going to return, whether he was going to try to make things right, I had no idea. But the one thing I did know was that we were still trapped. The game hadn’t let go.

Another notification buzzed in my pocket.

“Task 5: Find the place where the clock stops. Complete the task within 12 hours or suffer a consequence far worse than what you’ve already faced.”

I felt a chill slide down my spine as I read the message. A place where the clock stops? What the hell did that even mean?

“We need to get moving,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended. “We can’t just stay here. Whatever the game is telling us, we have to figure it out. But we’re running out of time.”

“Where are we supposed to go?” Marianne asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She was trying to keep it together, but I could see the fear in her eyes. None of us knew where we were anymore, and none of us knew how to get out.

The road stretched endlessly before us, no signs, no landmarks, just an empty, oppressive expanse. My stomach twisted with hunger, and I could feel my legs shaking from the hours of walking. We hadn’t eaten in so long, and the exhaustion was starting to take its toll on us.

But I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when the game was waiting for us to mess up.

We began walking again, the uncertainty of where we were heading gnawing at my thoughts. Hours seemed to pass, and the only sound was the crunch of gravel beneath our feet and the occasional sound of an animal rustling in the bushes.

Eventually, the road curved, and in the distance, I saw something a flicker of movement. A shadow. Someone was walking toward us. At first, I thought it was Mark, but as the figure drew closer, I realized it wasn’t him. It was a man in a suit, carrying a briefcase.

"Who the hell is that?" Rubin muttered under his breath.

I didn’t have a chance to respond before the man stopped in front of us, his expression unreadable. He looked ordinary enough except for the dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in days.

He looked at each of us in turn, his gaze lingering on me for a moment too long. “You’re lost, aren’t you?” he said in a calm, measured voice.

“How do you know that?” Marianne asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

The man smiled faintly, his lips barely moving. “This road,” he said, gesturing to the empty stretch of asphalt. “It’s a one-way road. It only leads to one place. You’ve already walked past it.”

“Where?” I asked, my voice almost frantic. “What do you mean?”

The man tilted his head, as if considering the best way to explain. "You see, the place where the clock stops... it’s not a physical location. It’s a moment in time. A point where everything changes. You’re already inside it. You’re already in the game."

I froze. The air around me seemed to grow thicker, heavier. A moment of realization crashed into me we were in the game.

“What do you want?” Tae asked, his voice shaking. “Who are you?”

The man didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his gaze dropped to his phone, and after a moment, he glanced back at us, his eyes cold. "Your next task will be harder. And it will cost you something precious. You have 10 minutes to decide whether you want to play, or if you’ll let the game decide for you."

I pulled my phone from my pocket, my hands trembling. Sure enough, the notification had arrived.

“Task 6: One of you must sacrifice something precious. If not, the game will claim one life. You have 10 minutes.”

I felt my heart race as I read the message. The pressure was building. Every second felt like a countdown to something irreversible. I glanced at my friends Marianne, Rubin, Tae ,each of them looked as terrified as I felt.

"Wait," I said, my voice suddenly rising. "We can’t just give in to this. There has to be another way."

The man smiled, though there was no kindness in it. “There is no other way. Not anymore. You made the choice when you downloaded the app. Now the game has chosen you.”

"I didn't d******d it,I just found it in my phone" I yelled at the man

Suddenly, the air seemed to grow heavier. The ground beneath us trembled slightly, as though some invisible force was closing in.

I looked around, trying to find something anything that could help us. My eyes fell on the man again. He was already walking away, disappearing into the mist that had started to creep up the road. The clock was ticking.

"We need to do something," Rubin said, his voice tight with fear. "I can't lose anyone else."

Marianne was already crying, her eyes wide with panic. "I can’t... I can’t choose."

The game’s notification dinged again, a sharp, insistent sound. "Your time is running out."

The tension between us thickened. I knew this wasn’t just some random game. It was something far darker, far more dangerous than we had ever imagined. And the worst part was, the game wasn’t done yet. It would keep coming for us, pushing us further until we were broken.

We had no way out. The game had already won, and we were just pieces in its sick, twisted game.

And then, before we could make our decision, a cold, mocking laugh echoed through the air.

And I knew... the worst was yet to come.

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