It was pitch black all around. I reached out and felt metal—I was trapped inside a square iron box.
Once I'd fallen in, the floor's shaking stopped.
Quinn's face appeared above me. "You okay?"
I shook my head. "I'm fine. Pull me up."
I reached my hand up toward him.
But just as Quinn was about to grab it, a metal partition slammed down between us, sealing me in completely.
Now I was locked inside an airtight iron box.
Quinn pounded on the partition, shouting my name. "Alex! Can you hear me?"
I stood up and called back. "I can hear you!"
Quinn exhaled with relief. "Hang on. I'll find something to get you out."
I was about to say okay when a phone rang above.
I paused. That was the second call.
Rosa had taken the first. Who was this one for?
Before I could guess, a light clicked on inside the dark, cramped box.
On my left, a white note had been stuck to the wall.
It read: "Only you know when the game will end. You can choose to tell them the correct time, or you can choose to deceive them. If the game ends before they find the key, the challenge is failed and you become the sole winner. If they find the key early, you can take a secret passage and rejoin them for the next round. Choose wisely."
After reading the note, I understood.
The punishment Rosa triggered wasn't meant for the group—it was designed to separate me from them.
If I chose to deceive them, the game would end early.
It would finish within the timeframe the organizers desired.
But knowing the game's true purpose, I had no interest in winning.
I didn't want to win, and I didn't want to die.
I just wanted to survive and leave.
But time was ticking. I couldn't afford to overthink.
I could hear hammering on the partition above—Quinn and the others were trying to break me out.
After a moment's deliberation, I called up: "Forget about me! Find the key first—find it and you can leave!"
As long as two people were still alive, the game couldn't end early.
So I chose to stall.
Not for Quinn's sake—but because I needed more time to figure out how to escape on my own.
Quinn was silent for a few seconds.
Then he knocked on the partition and said, "Okay. Slow your breathing. We'll come back for you once we find the key."
After that, Quinn and the others seemed to split up to search for clues.
I removed my gas mask and waited in the pit.
Periodically, I heard the phone ring again.
They got some answers wrong—there were screams of terror—but each time, they seemed to scrape by.
Throughout, Quinn knocked on the partition every so often, asking me how much time was left.
I didn't lie. I gave him the real numbers.
He asked repeatedly. I answered truthfully every time.
Minute by minute, the countdown bled away. When there were only five minutes left, I started to panic.
7
I stood up and knocked on the partition. "Hey! Is anyone there? Can you hear me?"
After a few seconds, Seth's voice came from above. "What's wrong?"
I asked, "How's the clue search going?"
Seth sounded frustrated. "We found some stuff, but nothing useful. We can't find that key you mentioned."
I blinked. "How is that possible?"
Three people searching for a full hour.
They could have turned this room inside out ten times over.
I was still puzzling over it when Seth lowered his voice and said, hesitantly, "I think Quinn's acting strange."
I tensed. "Why?"
Seth said, "After you got trapped, a timer clock appeared in the room. At first, when Quinn kept asking you about the countdown, I thought he was just double-checking the clock's accuracy. But he confirmed it over and over, kept asking you. It seemed weird—like you two were exchanging some kind of code."
My brow furrowed.
Seth wasn't the type to scheme. He didn't think far ahead, and he said whatever came to mind.
Plus, I was already trapped down here—he had no reason to sow discord between me and Quinn.
So I didn't doubt his words.
Which made Quinn's behavior all the more suspicious.
I asked Seth, "We're talking through a metal wall—how could we be passing codes? Aside from that, has Quinn done anything else that's off?"
"Other than that... Quinn, what are you doing!"
Seth's voice broke off in a shriek of terror.
Then came frantic, scrambling footsteps, fading away from my partition.
I froze. I had no idea what was happening above.
I could hear Seth cursing Quinn, and Rosa sobbing and pleading with him to stop.
I pounded the partition. "What's going on?!"
A heavy thud against the partition—like someone falling against it.
Seth's voice came through, raw with despair. "Alex, Quinn betrayed us. He found the key ages ago—he just hid it. While we weren't looking, he took the key and opened the door and ran. The door won't open from the inside. Alex—am I going to die?"
I was stunned.
I never imagined Quinn would do something like this.
No wonder Seth said they couldn't find the key.
Quinn must have found it first and kept it hidden.
He'd waited until the final minutes, when it was foolproof, then used the key to escape.
I remembered Quinn solemnly promising to come back for me.
All lies.
Right now, I couldn't spare the energy to worry about Seth and Rosa.
Because with Quinn gone and Seth and Rosa dead, I'd be the last one standing.
The two of us would have to fight to the death.
And even the survivor would ultimately be doomed.
I could've screamed. Quinn, why wouldn't you believe me? The whole game is a front for organ trafficking.
I risked my neck gathering that intel, and he ignored every word.
If he'd just waited, all of us could have found a way out together.
I slammed my fist against the partition in fury.
And seared my hand on the scorching metal.
I hissed in pain, yanking my hand back.
The partition was heating up?
I froze for a moment, then shouted to Seth: "What's happening up there? Seth, can you hear me?"
Seth's voice was frantic. "The curtains just caught fire—the whole room's burning! There's no water in the taps. Rosa got crushed by a falling cabinet—she's not responding... Alex, please, is there any other prop we can use? Please tell me or I'm going to die in here."
"Seth, don't give up! Look for something to pry open the partition!"
If I really could take the secret passage to the next round, and Seth jumped in after me, we'd both have a chance.
Seth agreed and scrambled to find the hammer Quinn had used earlier.
I waited anxiously in the pit.
Then came a massive crash above.
Panic seized me. I wrapped my fists in my shirt and pounded the partition.
"Seth! Seth—are you okay?!"
This time, no response at all.
The sobbing, the cursing—all had gone silent.
The only sound left was the crackling of wood splitting in flames.
The partition grew hotter. The temperature inside the iron box was climbing steadily.
Just as I was certain the game designers had played me again and I was about to roast alive—
The floor beneath me opened. My stomach dropped as I slid downward into the dark.