Alice in Borderland

Chapter 2 - Needle in a haystack

Game: Needle in a haystack. Difficulty level: Clubs 6. Number of participants: 8.

Rules: Find the wrong book, it's hidden and hollowed out. There is a switch in it. Some councils could get you to your destination faster. You have 30 minutes, the time is up then you die. Every six minutes, the person who is furthest from the book dies. Good luck.

The voice didn't say more. The front door opens and we all walk in quickly. I inconspicuously wipe tears from my eyes and follow the seven people. In thirty minutes we will die if we do not find the book in question. A book in a library!

"It won't be easy, but the cross means it's a team task," the man continues, and we all run into the middle of the hall and look up. The library is three storeys high and there must certainly be a billion books lying around here.

"It's four floors, I'd say we're splitting up and searching everyone at the same time"

"I would say we start above, why should they hide the book on the first floor"

They talk wildly and different missions arise. The man who explained everything to me starts laughing out loud and everyone looks at him in amazement.

"Good luck finding one or two people who want to search the first floor"

"Then everyone just says a floor between two and four, where they suspect the book most and we take the first floor at the end," says the old woman, and everyone seems to agree. I did not interfere in the discussions because I am still trying to keep my thoughts together. Everyone says a number and the bill goes up. The old woman and the suit man go to the fourth floor. I take over the third together with the big girl and one of the arid boys, which is about my age. The other thin boy is on the second floor with Satoru and the other man.

We all start to search every book as soon as possible. Most of them have already planted dust and I have to cough slightly. My arms start to hurt after a while when my phone starts ringing.

The first six minutes have expired

I hear a scream and run to the ground. On the other side, I see the arid boy falling dead next to Satoru. Satoru looks slightly frightened next to him, takes off his hat and rides over his head with relief.

"That means that the book is on the third or fourth floor, come up!" someone shouts above me.

"No, it might as well be on the first floor, but definitely not in the second," the skinny boy next to me shouts. Satoru and the other man from the second floor go to the bottom and continue searching.

One floor done, we could do that with luck. I put a tooth on and now I start shaking. When the ringing of my phone sounds again, I close my eyes and just hope. Everyone goes to the middle and looks up. The old woman collapses and a slight trail of blood runs over the edge of her floor. Suddenly a projection appears on the ceiling.

"Look at the grim Erinnyen"

"What does this mean?"

The Erinnyen. Something rings at me.

"Greek mythology," I say softly, and the boy next to me nods affirmatively. We both walk to the edge and look alternately up and down.

"Look at history books and books of antiquity! These are the three revenge goddesses of the Greeks. Especially works by Homer or Hercules!"

But the huge girl at the other end of our floor adds a thought.

"It could also be in books about gaming, animes or Percy Jackson"

She is right, perhaps the old works could mislead us. The suit man from the fourth floor comes to us on the third floor and everyone starts to search the titles in a reasonably targeted way.

Meanwhile, some people carelessly throw the books off the shelves, but I'm not trying to get nervous yet. After half an eternity that feels like a second at the same time. My phone rings again and anxiously I look at the boy next to me, who also looks at me waiting. Suddenly I hear a dull impact next to me and something splashes on my cheek. The boy next to me swallows and looks past me with big eyes. I turn around and the suit man lies next to me, dead and with his mouth open.

The buzz in my ear drowns out everything else until I feel a hand on my arm. I turn around and just hear my breath. The boy moves his lips, but I can't understand a word. I shake my head and he points up. Another clue? I torpedo to the edge and the boy stands next to me.

The great Chiron who raised Achilles

It must be one of the books we have listed. That means we can do it. We all get nervous and now I just drop some of the books on the floor.

"What if they mislead us?"

I look at the skinny boy next to me, who looks at me directly. We both begin to expand our selection of books a little, if he is right. After a few minutes, the big girl looks nervously at her phone and then at us. She runs upstairs and I immediately see what she's up to. She wants to go to the first floor so that either the boy next to me or Me will die next. We run to the edge and look after the girl. But it's not fast enough and when she reaches the second floor, our phones ring. The girl goes to the ground on the second floor and is dead. I can't deny that I'm a little relieved.

"We have to go to the first floor"

"I'm looking for a little more, go ahead," I say, nodding down. Think, think. I pull out my phone and look at the time. I look around in panic and discover that gas is already being emitted on the fourth floor. Looking at the shelves. One minute before the six minutes I walk down the stairs and discover the next clue on the ceiling, which just appears there.

"Whoyou come in, let all hope go!"

While I'm still walking down the stairs, my brain is working at full speed. The sentence seems familiar to me and I go through all the books I have read in recent years.

"Dante... It's Dante's Inferno!" I scream, running past the others to the letter D. I'm panicking and the boy is helping me.

"It would have to be a little book!"

He nods wildly and we throw most of the books off the first shelf. I run to the second shelf and discover the book in the middle. I put it on and actually, there's a switch in it. It is so small that it could easily have been overlooked. The phone rings and at the same moment I press the button.

For a moment there is silence. Then a laser comes down again and hits the man next to Satoru in the head. He stands there in shock, then falls to the ground after a few seconds.

Game won. Congratulations 

I still look sadly at the dead man. If I had been even a second faster, he might still be alive.

"Let's disappear here," says Satoru, and three of us go to the exit. I can't help but look at the deceased one last time. Three out of eight players survived. I'm starting to understand how serious these games can be. Outside in the fresh air, I take a deep breath and pull the jacket closer to my body. Satoru seems to pick up something from the table at the entrance and comes to us outside.

"Hey girl. Here, the card as a reminder of your first game. Earned it to you"

"Thank you," I mutter, looking at him as he casually and cheerfully strolls into the night.

"Cross six means that your visa has now been extended by six days like ours," the skinny boy says, nodding to me as he bids farewell. Then I stand alone again, in front of the library. I take my sports bag, which I left outside at the beginning of the game, and look around.

It takes a while to get home, but now after the game I have to check if my family is in this place. So I set in motion and head towards home.