Chapter 19 - Escape

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This time we drive a little longer, which Wouldn't have mattered to me if I hadn't squeezed between Chishiya and a drunk man. When the car stops, I get off as quickly as possible and follow the light arrows to the venue first. There are quite a few people at the entrance to the skyscraper, so I don't really remember anyone. The clicking noise tells me that I have passed the light barrier. I walk to the table with my mobile phones and take one with a white case. I run the facial recognition while I put myself in a corner and get my rubber ball out.

Some look confused to me and the pink ball, but I don't care. With some time interval, the others come after from the beach with which I came here. As with any game, they take one of the phones and register their faces. Chishiya confronts me and, unlike me, seems to get a picture of our teammates.

Registration completed. Attendance: 19. Game: Escape. Difficulty level: Spade 5.

My gaze glides inconspicuously to Chishiya, who looks at me with a winning smile and nods slightly with his head. Damn. I just shake my head and look at my phone with a grin to listen to the instructions that follow.

Rules of the game: Players 1-4 go into room 1. Player 5-9 go into room 2. Player 10-14 in room 3. Player 15-19 in room 4. Follow the arrows to the exit and try to survive. Good luck.

The glass doors of the building open and we all run in one after the other. The number 14 appears on my phone, which means I need to enter the third room. I run a little slower than the others to see who is heading for the third room as well. No one from the beach is divided with me, so I'm the last to enter the room. The door closes behind me automatically and I look on the floor confused. Water comes from a pipe on the other side of the room and gradually fills the room. The two doors seem to be dense, as the water does not appear to run off.

On the ground are branches in the number of participants, some straws and buckets. At the sight of the rising water level, I begin to tremble and panic. The water will continue to rise and we will drown. A middle-aged woman immediately grabs one of the branches and puts it in the tube. She probably thinks there's a switch in it, but the water is still rising.

I try to hide what the others are doing or talking about and trying to gather my thoughts. The branches obviously don't help us, maybe the straws. You could use them to breathe longer. But once the water has filled the whole room, a straw will not be used.

The room is already more than half full and I swim to keep myself afloat. I grab one of the buckets and put my head in it. Some people look at me as if I'm a madman, others are too panicked to notice anything. Logically, the bucket is my best option, as an air bubble will be created. It would give me more time, but I cannot say whether it is enough. I close my eyes and try to hide the screams. I am grateful that the bucket blocks my view of the others and the water has now filled the whole room.

I try to breathe calmly and keep the bucket as straight as possible. I pinch my eyes and wait. I don't know how much time goes by, but at some point the water runs out again. Carefully I take off the bucket and look at the others. Three of the participants lie on the floor and no longer seem to breathe. The man opposite me seems to have made the same decision as me and nods to me as he throws his bucket on the floor.

"Can you massage heart pressure?" I ask him panicked and run to one of the people on the floor.

"From the first aid course, but it's been a long time," he says, running to another. I judge the woman on the ground that she is lying straight and start reserating her. A moment later, a laser shoots past me and pierces the woman's head. I shy away and look at the others. Apart from me and the man, everyone is dead, with the same exit point on their foreheads. One of the two doors opens and the man immediately storms out. I see the woman in front of me for a moment, but it is useless. She's dead, we couldn't save any of them.

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