A Place of Business
You feel yourself falling. It's a strange sensation, falling without gravity. Just before you float onto a hard surface, and just before the darkness, a voice brushes against your ear:
"Press the Button."
You find yourself in a giant office building, one that obviously belongs to a big corporation. Of course, it feels utterly abandoned and... off. Something about it just doesn't feel... right.
This isn't a normal office building, but you can't pay attention to that now. You have your instructions.
Ready, set...
Go.
Jiten, still invisible, looked about. He seemed to be in a building of some kind, with very square little rooms all around. He wandered silently into the adjoining hallway and looked down it. It stretched farther than he could see, with cross-joining hallways staggered every fifty feet or so. He chose a direction, and set off in search of a way out. If not that, at least for something different than the hundreds of identical rooms all around him.
Off to his left, the sound of fervent typing floated through the air. Occasionally, the sound would stop, and printing would start up. Then the typing would commence once more.
Jiten stopped, gauging how far away the sound was, then turned down the nearest hallway to investigate. Maybe one of the other contestants had found something. He crept silently down the hall until he found the room from which the sounds emanated. He stole closer to the edge of the door and peeked in.
A businessman sat in his office chair, typing furiously and occasionally printing out what he was typing, although he rarely stopped moving. "Put it in the In-Box!" he snapped without turning around. His suit was neatly pressed and hardly wrinkled, even with his constant movement and a slight amount of sweat glistening on the back of his neck.
Jiten noticed that the man seemed to be smashing his hands down repeatedly on a board covered in buttons. He briefly considered that one of them might be the way out, but realized that if that were so, this man would be
long gone by now. The man was to focused on his work to be much of a threat, so Jiten quietly entered the room and looked around.
The man almost stopped typing for a moment. His movements became slower, although he did not turn around. "Do you have the red folder?" he asked, his voice tense. "If you don't, you'll have to get it. Don't loiter in here. This is a place of business."
Not wanting to argue with this obviously psychotic man, Jiten left the room. “A red folder…” Well, he had no other clues as to what he was supposed to do. He might as well go look for this folder. He stalked swiftly down the hall, only traveling in a straight line to avoid getting lost. He looked in each room he found, but they were all the same. Eventually, he came upon a door unlike any he had seen thus far. It was grey, and had a tag on the door that read “records”. He reached for the door, and then paused. “This is too easy…” he said to himself. He looked around. There was no other choice. He grabbed the door and yanked it open. What he found inside was just what he had been looking for. A red folder. Actually, thousands of red folders. There were shelves covering every wall, and each was stuffed to the brim with red folders. Which one did the man want? Jiten grabbed one at random, and opened it.
It was a list of names under the title "Who is Corrupting Our Youth." The names were all very generic: John Smith, Jon Do, Amy White.
Ten thought back to the arena. He did seem to be the youngest of those that had been gathered there... If this was a challenge directed at him, then it seemed that this document was a good bet. He left the room, and returned to the typing man. "Is this what you need?" Jiten asked as he set the folder in the box on the man's desk labeled "IN".
The man reached over and grabbed the folder. He studied it intently, then turned around and faced Jiten.
Where his eyes should be were two shadows, as though light just stopped working right about where his eyes should be. "Where did you get this?" he demanded, shaking the folder at Jiten, his eyebrows furrowing angrily over the darkness glooming on his face.
Jiten's right hand immediately pointed down the hall towards the room filled with folders as his left hand reflexively moved towards the pouch filled with paralyzing needles at his waist. "In the room with the grey door," he said carefully. "The one labeled 'Records'." He stared into the darkness embedded in the man's face, searching for some reaction.
"I'm not supposed to have this," the man muttered, glaring at the folder like it was to blame. There was almost fear in his expression. "Only the boss can have this." He opened the folder again. Instead of the regular paper Jiten had seen, there was black paper, practically dripping ink, with white words scratched onto the cover:
STOP THIS YOU CAN'T DO THIS LET US GO.
"You have to take this to The Boss," the man said to the boy. He shoved the folder off on him without waiting for a reaction. "You have to be the one to do it. I can't. I can never leave."
Jiten caught the folder as the man turned back to his endless typing. He was tempted to open it again, but after seeing what had happened after the man had done so... he wasn't going to take any chances. He tucked it under his arm and said, "Which way to this Boss?" The man didn't reply. Jiten waited a moment, and then wandered out into the hall once more. He chose a hallway, and ran, arbitrarily choosing new hallways to turn down as he went. After what seemed like hours, he had to stop and rest. He turned a final corner, and, without looking, leaned against the nearest door. As he sat, the door behind him suddenly slid apart, leaving Jiten sprawled on the ground between its two panels. The doors began to close, and Ten did a quick backwards rolls to avoid being caught between them, ending up in a small square room. He got to his feet, and felt a sudden lurching sensation. He was in some kind of moving room, and from what he could tell, it was moving up. He looked at the small display of numbers near the top of the door. It read four, then five, and continued to increase rapidly. Perhaps this room was taking him to see the boss...
It stopped at the 13th floor, the pleasant music not playing. The doors dinged open to reveal just another hallway. To his right, there was a desk for a secretary, covered in personal items. This included a row of bobble-head dolls sat onto the desk, their heads facing the elevator and wobbling slightly. At the end of this row was a toy wind-up monkey holding a pair of cymbals in its hands. A woman sat behind the desk, staring at her keyboard with wide-open eyes.
Jiten stood in the small room for a moment, waiting to see if anything else would happen. When nothing did, he cautiously entered the room with the secretary. "Hello?" he said to the secretary. "Hello? Can you tell me where the 'boss' is?" He looked from the bobble-heads to the monkey and back. They were very creepy.
"Name, Boss," the woman murmured, typing into her computer. She had a look of almost-fear in her eyes. "Searching." She glanced around, and leaned towards Jiten, away from the monkey. "Don't take your eyes off of that one," she said, nodding her head at the toy primate. The bobble-head dolls, who were previously looking at the elevator, were all angled towards Jiten, who now stood near the desk.
"Oh, Boss," she said, looking at her computer. "You have to go up about two levels. But don't take the elevators." She looked at her computer. "This one doesn't like that floor. Go down this hall." She pointed down the hall. "There should be some doors marked 'stairs.' Go past that, open the one marked 'closet.'" Her eyes almost seemed to say, 'don't leave me.'
Jiten paused. Closet? Well, if she said so.... He nodded his thanks to the woman, and turned down the hall in the direction she had pointed. As she had said, there was a door marked "stairs", followed by a door marked "closet". He reached for the doorknob and hesitated. There had been something wrong with that woman. She seemed extremely... lonely? Perhaps she was planning to trap him.... He couldn't make that assumption. After all, the last person he had met seemed to have sent him in the right direction... he followed the woman's directions and opened the door marked "closet" and hoped he wasn't walking into a trap.
A flight of stairs, curling in a circle and covered with wetness and mold, rose towards the ceiling.
There was a strangling noise from where the secretary's desk was. Suddenly, there was no secretary sitting there, at least not that anybody could see. Only the bobble-head dolls, whose heads were now turned to look at Jiten, and a spray of red on the wall behind the desk.
The monkey sat in the middle of the hallway, facing towards where Jiten was now standing. It clashed its cymbals once. One of them had a strange red stain.
Knowing there was no way for him to fight these strange beings that appeared to have somehow consumed the secretary, Jiten decided to run for it. As a precaution, he took off down the hallway towards the menacing toys, disappeared, turned around, and bolted up the stairs. He hoped they had fallen for the ploy, or that it would at least give him a little extra time. He continued running up the stairs, listening for the vibrations of the bobble-head's spring, or for the menacing clash of those terrifying cymbals.
He was up a flight of stairs when the very slight 'clink' of its small cymbals wafted through the air. It came from below Jiten, but obviously, the monkey was not fooled. However, it was still far away.
Knowing the monkey would find him eventually, Jiten ran faster than he thought possible, up and up the seemingly unending stairs.
A door appeared, marking the first floor he passed. Another 'clink' traveled up the stairs, the same amount away as before. Then, just as soon as the first door appeared, another door came from the wall. The second level. The Boss should be behind here, if the secretary downstairs was right.
Jiten looked at the door, then up the stairs. The secretary had been right so far... as he heard the clinking of the monkey's cymbals, he knew he had no choice. He opened the door and dove inside, closing the door silently and hoping the monkey wouldn't follow.
He found himself in another hallway. There were normal doorways lining the hall. One to his right had a small plaque on it labeled 'main office.'
Jiten walked over to the door and read the plaque. Well, if anything was going to lead him to the boss, this was. He had no time for hesitation, not with that monkey about. He opened the door.
He found himself in a black and red room, looking ominous with smoke on the floor. A desk was in the front, with a secretary dressed in black cloth and leather. She even seemed to have a pair of horns. She eyed Jiten, even though he had yet to turn back from being invisible. "You that guy with the delivery?" she asked. "They called you in a few seconds ago. Have a seat."
Jiten had met very few people that could see him while invisible, so he regarded the woman carefully. He had seen people in Seril's court that looked very much like her, excepting the horns. If the secretary could see him while invisible, then the boss surely could as well. He relinquished his hold on the light around him and reappeared. He looked around for a chair, but only found a toothed monstrosity of a bench. "I think I'll stand," he said as he anxiously gripped the folder.
I'm going to knock you down a [#level].
Skreeg blinked with his lips pulled up over his teeth. He ran his hand through his hair, his eyes moving in sick twitchy movements. This had to be a bad trip or something. But if it was, he could accidentally walk off a building or throw himself through a window. Holding his arms in front of him, he shuffled forwards and whimpered, "Save me!" hoping there was someone outside of his drug induced fantasy.
"Save me," a voice echoed. At Skreeg's feet there sat a small dog with what appeared to be an unnaturally long neck, at least a foot long, with a mane like a horse along its scruffy length and covering the top of its head. It stared up at him with large eyes. "Save me," the dog said again, its voice deep and mournful.
Skreeg flinched and cried, "Screw it!" before bolting.
The dog sat on its haunches, watching Skreeg go. "Screw it," it said, almost mournfully, then turned and left, its paws padding down the hall.
Skreeg found himself in a room full of cubicles. The computers were all on, but nobody was at work. Occasionally a printer would shoot something out, or a webpage would click on, like somebody was there and working.
Skreeg picked up a random paper from the printer.
It was a statement of the gross annual income of the company for the year of 1864. Where the company's title would be at the top, there was only a small (TM) marking in the upper right-hand corner. The statement showed that the corporation was making and spending nothing, as every box-for gross sales, gross publicity, and more-was marked with a "$00.00" adding up to "$0,000.00" in a big, bolded box at the bottom.
Below that box there was a line for a confirmation signature. Below that line there was the title: "The Boss."
And below that, of course, were a set of directions. "Go down the hall towards the weird chair, make a right, go up the elevator three stories, and the office should be directly to your left."
He held the paper an inch from his eyes to read it and mumbled it aloud. He the held it outwards and tilted it to the side, try to make sense of it and this situation. It wasn't much like he had much of a choice. It would either lead him to his death or outside to the normal world. With that creepy dog around, he was willing to risk it. He exited the room and started down the hall to find the chair.
At the end of the hall, a chair sat. It was covered in fur and appeared to be breathing.
He stood and blinked at it a while before mumbling to himself, "That's a weird chair, nhmmbh..." He held up the paper to read the next direction then glanced up at the thing to make sure it wasn't coming at him. He looked around, started one way, paused, held up his hands and made Ls to see which way was left, and turned around to go right, scampering around the chair like a rat would scamper around a sleeping cat.
The chair coincidentally hissed. Eyes opened on it, and wheels squeaked as it came to the middle of the hall, the back of the seat leaning forward as the chair glared at Skreeg.
He squeaked and jumped in the air simultaneously before he bolted, the paper held in front of him, crying, "Elevator! Elevator! Elevator!"
The chair moves as though a tail behind it is swishing, then leaps-well, rolls quickly. It can't move as fast as an actual cat, meaning Skreeg reaches where the elevators are located a good minute before it.
View blocked by the paper, Skreeg went crashing into the elevator and then flying onto his back. He whimpered pathetically to himself before he tilted his eyes up, looking over his forehead at the slowly approaching chair. His face spasmed with horror and he scrambled up, poking the up button repeatedly and making loud dog-like whining sounds. Finally the door opened, he dove inside, and from his knees, he pounded the close door button with the side of his fist.
The chair skidded to a stop, going past the door a bit, as wheels were not that conducive to coming to a fast halt. It ran back and lunged at the doors just as they dinged closed.
There was frantic scrabbling and banging on the other side of the door as the elevator began moving up, stopping at the next level.
Panting, Skreeg looked down at the paper then up at the buttons. "One," he said between gasps. He wiggled his finger around and finally clicked the button for two more floors upwards, so he's ascend the required 3.
The elevator brought him up one level, then two. With a slight 'ding' the door clicked open.
Skreeg found himself once more facing a hallway. There were two doors.
To his right, the door was labeled 'Good.'
To his left, the door was labeled 'Bad.'
He looked either way and mumbled, "Well, ok... lemme just see here..." He scanned down the paper, held up his hands to determine the direction again, pointed at the bad door and cried, "Awww naaao!" He tested his directions again and let his arms flop pathetically. With a wheezy sigh, he plopped into a cross legged position on the floor, his face twisted with thought and unhappiness. After a little while, with large nostril flaring breaths, he eased his way up and walked to the good door. He'd have a peek at both, then determine his direction. He opened the good door a crack and looked inside.
Skreeg could see a large waiting room of an office of some sort, all white with almost a faint glow surrounding the walls. There was a white leather couch and a small plant as the room's decorations. A secretary looked up from her light blue desk. "Hello!" she said, straightening the blue scarf that was wrapped around her neck and tucked into a pristine white blouse. "Do you have an appointment?"
A human! Hurra! But the paper said... the paper said... "No, I, uh... this paper told be to go over there," he said while opening the door more and motioning over his shoulder. "But I, uh, get this fishy feelin' it's telling me lies, eheh."
"A paper?" the secretary replied, still cheerful but more confused. "Let me see that." She held out her perfectly manicured hands.
Skreeg pushed back his hair and scamped in, the side of his lip caught over his teeth unattractively
. He handed her the paper.
She looked at it, her eyes scanning to the bottom, then handed the paper back to Skreeg. "Oh, this isn't our department," she said. "You'll have to take that next door. I'll call ahead to let them know you'll be in." She picked up the phone and pressed an extension number in. Out of the ear piece came a loud screeching static that filled the room and disturbed its peacefulness. The secretary didn't seem to notice; she smiled politely. "We have someone here with an account notice." The static increased momentarily, accompanied by wailing. "Oh yes," the secretary replied. "I'm sending him right over." She hung up the phone and turned to Skreeg. "It's right outside," she said. "You can't miss it."
Skreeg's face was frozen in a grotesque mask of horror. "What's going oooon here?" he whimpered.
"Oh, it'll be fine," the secretary said, making a hand motion of shooing him out. "Everybody's afraid of the Boss but he's just really a big teddy-bear."
"Do you know what? Do you know what's going on? It's not normal here! First there's this lady... then a dog... like, horse... dog, horse dog! Horse dog, the talking horse dog! Then a chair! But wasn't a chair, it was a... I dunno! Then you're on the phone and the phone's making noises! Do you understand me?" He rambled. "What am I on?!"
"You're on the fifteenth floor," the secretary pleasantly replied. "And of course the phone would make noise! Oh, no. Are you from the PR freaks?" She frowned, her hand reaching towards the phone and hovering over a button.
"No! Uh, I don't know. What does pr stand for?" he asked and the nervously rubbed his hands together.
"PR is... Oh, forget it," the secretary said. "You're obviously new here." She frowned again, this time more thoughtfully, and began to rifle through a stack of memo's. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be in... Oh, some sort of contest?" she asked, still rummaging.
The phone rang and she picked it up, stalling any reply. "Oh my," she said in response to the usual screeching static. She put down the phone and looked at Skreeg. "Seems there's already been a first kill," she said. "So... you are a part of this, right?"
Skreeg's eyes lit up at the mention of the contest and was about to talk when the phone rang. At the news of the... death of sorts, he went from wide eyed, smiling and blinking too much too horrified. "Uh, uh, uh, yes? There was uh, uh, death?"
"We were warned that contestants could turn on each other, or that those lagging behind might be eliminated. However, they said we wouldn't have to deal with that." The secretary peered at the memo, having finally found it. "Ah... Yes. Other than that, we aren't to play much with you. Just offer information if we feel like it. Although I have no idea what I could offer you." She raised an eyebrow. "But since you're obviously currently unoccupied, could you please deliver that next door? They've probably been waiting for it for decades now."
"That uh, sounds good, yeah. I'll uh, go and do that den. Heh heh," he said and pressed the paper to his chest. He drifted to the door, stepped out and nervously waved at her through the crack. He clicked it shut and turned, his back towards the good door, staring down the bad one. He gulped and crept forwards, finally holding out a twitchy hand to open the door.
Skreeg saw himself looking into an office much like the first, except with a much different color scheme-more focused on the black and red. The glowing haze was gone and replaced with a creeping mist.
He could see a small boy standing there with a folder, and a secretary-another mirror image of the other, except with black cloth, leather, and horns. "Suit yourself," she was saying to the boy when Skreeg entered. She looked up and saw Skreeg with his own paper, then frowned. "Uh... another delivery?" She picked up the phone and dialed a number. Some more screeching static came on. "Uh, hey, we have two deliveries here..." She listened for a moment, then glanced at Skreeg. "Yeah, we have the one who looks like one of the PR perverts. What? Yeah, two. Okay... Yeah, I'll ask." She hung up the phone and dialed another number, the same noises screeching through. "Hello, sir. We have two young men here with deliveries. ...looks like paperwork, sir. ...folder and... piece of paper. Y...yes, alright. Yes, sir."
She hung up the phone and looked at them both. "The Boss says to send you both in. Through that door, there," she added, motioning to a frosted-glass door next to her desk. "And, uh... he was laughing." She peered at them. "...what did you do to piss him off?"
Jiten shrugged timidly. He turned around and looked at Skreeg. "Hey, you're..." he paused and looked at the secretary. Did she know about the contest? Up until now, he had thought he was the only contestant in this particular building, that each contestant had been doing exactly what he had somewhere else. Jiten's gaze hovered back and forth between Skreeg and the woman. There was no way of knowing how many of the others had already completed their tasks... and this fellow did not seem very trustworthy, definitely not one to enter an alliance with. But he surely didn't want to face this boss alone.... In a flash, he knew exactly what he had to do. He leapt for the door and yanked it open.
The secretary jumped as the glass door flew open. Jiten found himself in very, very long room. At the end there was a desk. At the desk sat a man, very broad in the shoulder, very dark-skinned, and smiling quite maliciously at the intrusion.
On the desk sat a box. On the box was a button.
"Piss him o- heEEeeey..." Skreeg moaned as the guy from before ran. He scampered in after him and stopped to see the scary guy and... button button, he remembered something about a button. He pointed at it weakly and cocked his head with a look of uncertainty.
Jiten saw the button, and knew that this was surely the one that the voice had spoken of before he had appeared in this... nightmare of a building. "Hello," he said quietly to the man at the desk. Then he remembered the folder. "Um, I think this is yours?" he proffered the folder. "The typing man downstairs told me to bring it to you." His eyes flickered to the button on the box as he placed the folder on the man's desk.
Skreeg slithered up behind him, the paper a wrinkled mess by this point. Shaking and stuttering he said, "I, uh, uh, have a paper, and uh..." he squirmed passed Jiten and put it on the table then tried to flatten it out, laughing nervously, just making it greasy. He flashed the boss a nervous yellow smile.
Jiten looked at the other contestant and hoped that they were not the last two to complete their tasks. He shuffled his feet as he eyed the button and waited for an opportunity to arise for him to push it.
The man behind the desk opened up his mouth in a deep, deep laugh. "What are you scared of?" he said, his voice just as low as his laugh. "I do not know what will happen when you press the present the Lady gave me. Or is this the correct button for you?" His eyes squinted, in a grin, the whites of his eyes disappearing into his dark skin as his white teeth flashed. "All I know is that only one of you can push it."
Skreeg blinked stupidly as the man spoke, glanced at Jiten, blinked and then slapped the button like a kid playing a card game.
Knowing that there might not be another chance, Jiten slammed his hand down on the hand that covered the button. Then, as disusting as it was, he grabbed the ratty man's arm, hoping that if this was indeed the button, it would register as both of them having hit it, or that he would be dragged along with the man if he was transported somewhere. Not the best of companions, but better than whatever awaited him if he did not act.
Nothing happened for a while. Then, all of a sudden, the intercom clicked on...
The young, mousy-haired lad, Johnathan, also found himself quickly in the large office building. "Damn floosy!" He yelled quite loud, though there was none around to hear him. Slowly, he surveyed the silent cubical he sat in and rotated around in the great comfy chair which seemed to be the only thing actually in the cubical besides from himself. After realizing that he was completely alone, his paranoia began to kick in and a long string of curses formed to pour out of his mouth. "Well, ol' chap," After calming slightly he commenced to talking to himself. "Lets find that button!" Of course, with all of his experience, Johnathan had learned to listen to those little voices in his head.
Right outside of the cubicle there sat a water cooler, occasional bubbles flowing to the top without anybody touching it. A goldfish swam about in the water cooler, which complimented the occasional orange dots that spotted the walls.
Johnathan blinked at the orange dots, not quite remembering them being there, but shrugged it off and looked out to see the goldfish. "Why hello thar little fishy." The lad scooted his chair out of the cubical with over exagerated movement so that he now sat directly infront of the water cooler. He tapped the plastic. "Have you seen the button? Or, better yet, have you seen the tramp I was with only moments ago, before this whole game started? Why, of coarse not. She is about as wily as myself." The words stopped only a moment. "So...." Johnathan continued rambling about his life to the fish. Hey! A fish was better than no one.
The fish swam about in the cooler some more, making some very fish-like faces. Being a fish, and all. If one were to look from its eyes, the orange dots would melt into one another on one side of the water cooler--subtle as they were, they increased when going towards an office door until they were practically an orange stripe on the wall.
After talking and talking to the fish, so that if it had had ears, they would be burning at the moment, Jonathan finally came to a close with his words and noticed the door through the water cooler. "It's amazing, fisheh! I don't seem to notice these things at first, but...." He grinned a ferociously large grin and continued looking through the cooler at the door with a fish's eye view and with a none too sanely cocked eyebrow. "Tell me! What's gonna be through that door." He was speaking mainly to himself, now, and not the fish. "I do like orange." After his last random statement, the lad stood from the great comfy office chair and watched the door over the top of the cooler expecting it to attack or something like that.
The door, of course, did nothing. Doors are not known for their spontaneous movement, and even when propelled by an outside force, their actions are rather limited. This door did not even have that sort of advantage, so the suspense built as the door sat there.
For a few moments more Johnathan stared at the door with his insanely cocked eyebrow. "Damn door!" He finally yelled before cackling. "Well, little fisheh. I must leave now." His voice was very reluctant, mainly because, fish or not, this was the only thing there with him. He sighed with a grin and went around the cooler, wishing more than anything that he could take it with him. Towards the door he went, occasionally staring back at the little fishy in the cooler. Soon he reached his destination and turned the knob.
He entered in a new room, what looked like a relatively nice office, and caught sight of a new [#contestant].
Joshua lands on his feet and immediately gets into a crouching position. Looking around the area of his sight, Joshua deems it safe enough to go wandering around. He could feel his blood pumping and his adrenaline running wild; Joshua was beginning to like the idea about a tournament. With a whip in his right hand and courage in his heart Joshua begin to search about the room for a button. Not finding anything spectacular, Joshua moved out of the office room into the hallways off the building complex, always having his wits and whip ready for anything.
A man stood at a copy machine in the hallway, next to the door to a few cubicles. He stood hunched over the machine, photocopying one sheet of paper meticulously, one at a time.
Joshua looked at the man in semi curiosity. Who the hell is this guy, and why is he here in this so called tournoment. After what seems like minutes to Joshua, he finaly asked, "um, who are you?"
The man did not reply for a while. However, one minute and seven copies later, he paused, his hand still on the lid. "What," he said. His voice didn't sound quite human. "What am I. I am the Copy man." With that, he slowly resumed his copying.
Joshua was shocked by the man's inhuman like voice but kept it to himself. Always cautious when the unknown was on the line Joshua kept his hand on his whip; ready to snap at a moments notice. Keeping an eye on the Copy man yet at the same time searching the rest of the room with his peripheral vision, Joshua asked boldly, "do you know of a button that I have to push?"
"Not a who, a what," the Copy man muttered, not turning around. "I am never a who. I am a what and this is my job." He reached over and pressed the start button, making another copy. His copies were piling up on the floor beside him, but he didn't seem interested in the result--only the action.
Josh walked slowly to the Copy man. Every muscle in Josh's body was tensing, subconsciously expecting the Copy man to lash out at him. Without his eyes ever leaving the Copy man's figure, Josh reached down to one of the copies. With a quick glance Joshua looks down at what the paper says.
The paper is blank save for one small word in the bottom left, tilted slightly: mark. The other papers on the floor seem to say different things, however.
Josh picked up the the other papers and checked them out as ell.
The words seemed out of order, probably from the Copy man dropping them to the ground. However, they almost formed a sentence.
to
where
get
going
to
you're
see
important
one
man
name
is
his
The Copy man stopped his copying, not looking at Josh, just frozen at Josh's closeness. His hand tensed above the 'copy' button.
Joshua took note of all the different papers. Quick thinking, Joshua believed he figured out the order to the confusion of the numberless papers. "To get where you're going, see to one important man, his name is Mark?" Joshua asked the Copy man, wondering if he got the order right.
The Copy man clenched his hand. "His name is not mark," he hissed. "He has no name." The Copy man turned. His face was disfigured, his eyes off-center with a too-large nose and a bulge coming out of his forehead. "My copies can never be read," he growled, his eyes glowing a light red. "You will never find the Boss!" He lunged at Joshua, hands formed into claws.
Even before the Copy man finished his last syllable, Joshua had already leaped far to the side into a roll; positioning himself into a fighting stance. His adrenaline shot up in every muscle of Josh’s body. Immediately Joshua snapped his whip in the direction of the Copy man's eyes.
The Copy man reared back, roaring in pain, a stripe across his heavy hairless brows. He didn't open one of his eyes, but the other snapped open and he charged Joshua, moving faster than seemed possible.
Joshua was caught off guard with the sudden charge. He started to trip but Josh turned it into a roll right into the Copy man's legs; hoping that the roll would cause the demonic being to stumble.
He did stumble and fall, rolling clumsily and banging his back into a wall. He scrambled to his feet, swaying a bit, still stunned. "You cannot read my copies!" he growled again, lurching towards Joshua much more slowly now.
Josh clenched his hands around the whip until his knuckles were tight. He aimed his next attack for the Copy man's legs, though not to snap at but to wrap the chord around his ankle, with the intent to pull his leg out from under him.
The whip wrapped about the ankle, jerking it sideways. The Copy man stumbled, his other foot trying to compensate and step to catch himself, only to get caught in the whip and cause him to fall more violently, banging his head against the side of the hallway. He then stilled, blood dripping only very slowly from his nose, his head tilted at an odd angle.
Joshua's breath came hard in the excitment of the fight. He distanced himself from the Copy man, just in case it was a trap. "Tell me everything, Copy man. Who do you work for, what button do I have to push to get out of here?" His right hand twitched with anticipation, making the whip flip over on the ground.
The Copy man didn't respond. His eyes stared blankly over the floor, his head still at that odd angle, the red light faded from his eyes like they weren't even there.
Joshua's heart beat was starting to slow now; his breath coming more easily to him. He has never killed anyone before, and Josh didn't even know if the Copy man was dead or not. All the while the Goddess' words were coming back to him, words like there is only one survivor. Josh lamented the Copy man, but in this tournoment it was really survival of the fittest. Walking cautiously around the Copy man, Josh headed down the hallway, past the copy machine. In a moment of epiphany, Josh looked to the copy machine, wondering if it was indeed the copy machine button he had to push. His feet stopped walking as he stood infront of the machine, his fingers hesitating over the copy button; Josh didn't want to let his hopes soar then to find out it was all for nothing. After a second long delay, Joshua pushed the copy button.
The thing lit up. From this close, Joshua could see the lid open and nothing in the copy section. The light traveled across the machine, went back with a whirring motion, and a paper was printed into the 'out' section.
Find the Boss, was all it said.
Joshua looked from the paper to the Copy man, trying to make sense of it all. Since it had been some time since the Copy man had even made a sound, Josh thought it was relatively safe to search the Copy man to find any clues about the Boss.
The only items the Copy man had carried around with him were a small card with only a phone number on it and the keys to the copy machine, in case it were to break down.
Never one to leave uncertain useful items, Joshua grabbed both the small card and the copy machine keys. Joshua wondered how hard it would be to try and find this so called Boss. Looking around the room, Josh searched for if there were any clues or indications on where he should go to next.
Not finding any clues, Joshua looked down to the small card with the phone number on it. Seeing how he had nothing else indicating what he should do, Josh decided to look for a phone in one of the cubicles to call the number. The adrenaline rush had faded from Josh as he looked upon the body of the Copy man. Giving one last lament, almost like last words at a funeral, Josh simply stated, "sorry buddy, nothing personal, just survival of the fittest." With that Josh turned around and pushed the image of the Copy man out of his mind and he looked around for a phone.
As they were in the middle of a huge office building, phones were everywhere. However, before he could pick one up, the intercom clicked on...
Cedric walks down the hallway. The lighting was faint. HE didn't know what to do, so he just kept walking down the halls, waiting for something to appear.
Cedric comes upon a corner desk, meant for a secretary. It was covered in personalized items, including a row of bobble head dolls, slightly wobbling. At the end of the row, a small wind-up monkey toy holding two symbols stood, staring down the row.
Cedric saw a room, it had no light inside, but he went in anyway. He reached for the switch to turn the light on. Cedric saw a big room. It was very professional looking. The blinds were all the way down and were some how locked in the position. There was a large desk in the middle, one that looked like it was made for meetings. Cedric sat in a chair and put his legs on the table. "thats better," cedric said to himself.
From the door Cedric had just walked through, another contestant walked into the meeting room.
And, the contestant was none other than Johnathan himself with his insane grin still plastered on his face. With his quick, cloudy eyes, he surveyed the room and the boy sitting in it. "Why, hullo there, lovely." Finally, life besides a fish. Without even an invitation, Johnathan quickly pranced to stand beside the office chair that Cedric sat in and examined the large meeting desk. "You think if I strip for her, she'll let me go?"
At his own words, Johnathan actually removed one of his red-stoned gloves and clenched it in his mouth with his teeth like a dog. He then looked up to the ceiling and did a little booty dance expecting that whoever had sent him here was obviously watching. "No?" He asked through his glove before shrugging. "Perhaps I'll just leave you to strip on your own, then, dear lovely." He spoke to Cedric who didn't seem too responsive anyways.
The lights dimmed just slightly, and a powerpoint slide came on. The font on the first slide read: "Take it off." It clicked off, then a second slide came up, reading: "Take it ALL off." The third slide clicked on almost immediately. "Ha ha ha, just kidding. Keep your clothes on."
Another slide popped up. "You have reached the Question Room. What is your one allotted question?"
Johnathan laughed histerically at the screen of light and words. What a funny little thing! "Alright alright, lighty lovely," He said, speaking to the screen. "my question is: Why don't you realy want me to strip? 'Cause I would definately do it." Then he leaned forward as if he were whispering to the slide that was almost ten feet away and spoke in a loud voice. "But only for you, my dear, the powerpoint show."
The current slide disappeared. "Because there may be children watching," it read. That one vanished, to be replaced with: "Also, taking off your clothes would be of no help to you." The screen went dark and the lights came back on.
"Ah, yes...the children." Johanthan nodded to himself while placing his bared hand to his chin in thought. "Well, perhaps I should do things that will help." He replaced his glove and gave a toothy, unnerving grin to nothing in particular before leaving the unactive Cedric, and now powerpointless room, to itself to peek out into the next room.
The next room was another meeting room, but from an entirely different perspective. Johnathan found himself in a room that made him feel five inches tall-literally. A chair loomed immediately above him and the ceiling was almost too high to see.
Cedric ran over to Johanthan. "ok i'll talk." Cedric thought that Johanthan was probably the only person he would meet so he better get to know him. "So, whats up?" Cedric tryed to start a conversation even though he didn't know what the hell Johanthan was talking about when he said "stripping".
Johnathan cocked his eyebrow into quite a high arch and gave his new friend a wide manical grin before gesturing out the door with his hand. "Well, dear lovely, I was just looking at this new, wonderful room." He stepped out of the meeting office, grabbing Cedric and pulling him along, only to stare in humored awe at the great furniture and room. "What do you think of this, dear lovely?"
Cedric jerked forward as Johnathan pulled him. "aaa.. i guess its ok.." Cedric said wonder what they were going to have to do next.
"Yes, but, I don't quite like feeling so small." Johnathan turned to survey again this boy who looked to be about his own age. "I thought for a while that I was drugged, you know, dear lovely, that this was all an illusion of sorts. I met a fish." He nodded to himself as well as Cedric while looking up to try and see the ceiling with another of his none to sane expressions. "Well, dear lovely, my name is Johnathan." He snapped back down his chin to look back to Cedric with a grin and held out his hand.
Cedric thought for a moment. "Where are we going?" he asked.
Johnathan frowned a bit and looked from his extended hand to his new friend about five times before letting it drop with a great "Blah!" He didn't want his name or handshake, anyways. After grumbling a few moments, he threw his arm around the other's shoulder. "Well, I suppose, dear lovely, that we are going to find that wonderful button." On, he went, feeling five inches tall, dragging along Cedric, and goggling at the huge furniture he passed by.
The furniture continued to tower, as it was wont to do. However, what was up there didn't matter so much... it was what was down here that was the problem.
Facing them and snacking on the remains of a office donut was a gigantic five-inch rat, staring at them over the crumbs.
"UH My God! Why is that rat so big?" Cedric said stepping back.
The rat let out a noise like a squeaky hiss and bared its teeth, its eyes popping out. At this size, its teeth were as big as the two guy's hands. But before it could defend its territory and possibly score some snacks, the intercom high above the boys made a hissing noise, scaring the rat off as it clicked on...
"What the...?" Cedric asked. "This means theres some one at the main office, should we go check it out?"
This office building gave Evangelise the creeps. She walked slowly, keeping her blade at the ready and listening intently with her demon ears, keen and sensitive. There is no one around that she knows of, she begins looking around for this button that the voice whisphered to her. She has to press it apparently. She's growing steadily angrier. She didn't ask for this. She just wanted to find her father. And what would her poor mother do without her? Suddenly, she heard a noise and she ducked behind a plant. She saw one of the other contestants by a copy machine, talking to a man. He wasn't a contestant, that she knew. She stood stock still and watched, hoping for some sort of help from this man, without having to ask for it.
...the intercom clicked on.
Time moved strangely here and to Todd it felt like a few days he had been wandering among this strange place. Room after room, doorway after doorway, it was all basically the same. Sometimes the walls turned a red tint and actually breathed it seemed, while other times it was a silent, and lonesome place. Being an Oa, Todd was used to being by himself, so used to it in fact he felt odd when another being of intelligence was there. Not to mention the reality that a powerful woman had transferred all of them to that arena, then to this annoying place of habitation made his blood boil in rage. How dare she? He was a free man and no man or woman could tame an Oa, no matter how hard they tried. An Oa would rather die… or kill the offender. Something about the white haired witch made him nervous, he would never admit it to anyone but himself but, it made his skin crawl and his crests rise in a slight fear, if not respect, for his instincts told him that she was extremely dangerous, and could kill him with a thought. In truth it was terrifying to him to know that she had that much power over him. That was his rational side talking. His Oa blood wanted to tear out her throat and eat her heart while it was still beating. Todd calmed himself with effort.
He would have no chance against her; he knew that, especially now that he was here. So, walking through corridor after corridor, he decided that he would not at all have a vicious thought towards her. Instead, if she willed it, he would die, and that would be the end of things. Death was something Todd would welcome… he just wished it would be in battle where he belonged.
Suddenly the walls changed colors into a faded flesh color and they breathed, almost creating a space that Todd would be stuck in. Timing his steps, he remained safe and moved down the hall and for the first time in days (or hours) he saw something different. It was an elevator shaft, of poor design but it was what it was. Jumping for it before the walls could exhale around him, he squeezed through the partially opened doors and just managed to grab onto the cables inside. The doors slammed shut, putting him in utter darkness. Tearing off his sunglasses, Todd’s dark blue eyes looked out at the dark and could see, light reflecting off his pupils like an animal as he glared at the small ray of light that was able to slip past the doors. Swaying slightly from his jump still, Todd glanced down and saw the elevator directly below him and he let go of the cables, landing on top. Part of it had caved in, but he was able to stick his head far enough in to see the little arrow showing the floor level.
So he had been on the second floor the entire time… the elevator was stuck at one. Every window Todd had seen just looked into another cubicle, every single one. Maybe if he went to the top floor he would be able to get out. It was worth a try. At least he might be able to try to break his way through to the roof.
Leaping straight up like a spider monkey, Todd climbed along the edges of the shaft, occasionally leaping to the cables, swinging to gain momentum before he jumped back to the walls. His ancestors had been predators of the trees and skies, so it was no surprise that he would find little difficulty in climbing. After reaching the end of the shaft to find level thirteen and a half (thirteen and a half?) he pried his way through the doors only to be blinded by bright purple bulbs. Crying out, he fell back and barely managed to grab the ledge, grunting from the force of impact when his body slammed against the wall. Hastily he put his sunglasses on and climbed onto the thirteen and half level, looking around with a scowl on his face. Black light. He absolutely hated black light.
Todd’s red scarf looked maroon with dark specks of purple while the rest of him looked like a phantom, his crests seeming to glow gray and his brown hair shown like copper. The sunglasses reflected the light, making him look like his eyes were utterly aglow with a cobalt color. “Pffft…” He scoffed, looking around with his glare, noticing the desks that lay scattered and disorderly, leaning against each other. What was strange was that each was missing one of their four legs, making them wobble. It seemed like a maze of them and it took an annoyed Oa to make it through a few rooms before he lost his temper. Growling, Todd climbed over them, walking with the wobbles just like he would if he traversed a tree bough, taking into consideration a gust of wind in likeness to the desks missing part. When he ducked finally into another new hallway, the black light continued as far as he could see, “What the F***!” Todd screamed, grabbing onto a light and wrenched it from the ceiling, using the gap to tear through into the dry wall, kicking and twisting to climb through. Breaking through, Todd pulled himself up, now quite dusty and angry into yet another hallway, this one looking quite ordinary. With a gusty sigh, Todd turned slowly to stare at a broken elevator shaft, the elevator inside partially caved in. It seemed like a dream as he walked into it, eyeing his recent finger prints along the edges of the hole. “What… is this place?” Todd whispered, slumping down against the wall, staring at the buttons but mostly at the arrow pointing at level one.
Then it hit him. Press the button…
Time was his and he held his breath, looking at the elevator buttons and spotted level 14… which he pressed with a dusty finger, hoping for the best.
There was a short pause, then the door dinged closed. Twitchy elevator music came on, its soothing rhythm broken by scratches. The elevator jerked upwards, stopped, then screeched for a moment before breaking through whatever resistance it faced with a pop, heading up more or less smoothly.
"Floor 17," a voice said pleasantly over the system. The doors dinged open.
It was like a wide maze of very nice-looking cubicles, with about waist-height walls, a bit of glass making up the rest of the walls and keeping an illusion of privacy. Nobody was, of course, there, except for one person at the front desk, just a little ways down from the elevator.
A girl sat at the desk, her button-up shirt askew. She stared blankly ahead, chewing gum loudly and twirling a bit of her hair.
Todd stared at her until the doors chimed and began to close and raised his hand with one weapon quickly, stopping the doors from closing. Standing, "Um..." The Oa stuttered, blushed, then finally bucked up the courage to walk towards her and finally, talk to her, "Hello... I was wondering if you could... tell me where I can get out of here?"
The girl's eyes swiveled to him, and she raised on sarcastic eyebrow at him. "Goddammit, you're one of the 'tards they sent up from PR," she grumbled. "If they send up one more prankster from that section I swear I'll fucking kill them... No, I can't tell you where to get out."
"I am not a prankster," Todd replied coldly, "I need to get out of here. I was told something about a button, do you know anything about some type of important button?" The Oa looked at her again but lost his nerve as yet another blush overlaid the first.
"Goddammit, y'all are fucking perverts," the girl said again, her vocabulary getting a little repetitive. "You've never seen a girl before?" She rolled her eyes. "Y'know what? Fuck it, I'll play along with the PR freaks. Buttons. Yeah, heard the Boss has a few." She shrugged. "Wouldn't go spreading that information around. Those who know have usually... disappeared." The girl motioned around the vast expanse of empty cubicles.
"I've seen girls..." Todd muttered, still adverting his eyes, "My species doesn't deserve to mate, so I stay away," He still muttered this, he didn't want to embarras himself. Pressing the hidden button, a blade shot out of what was once an ornate stick of wood carved with beautiful symbols. He pressed the tip to the carpeted floor and cut a slit open. It was fairly unnoticable unless you looked for it.
The girl frowned at his statement, her eyebrows furrowing. However, her eyes widened at his weapon. "Is that a knife? You can't have those inside. ...dude, what did you do with the floor?" She looked apprehensive. "Y'know? How 'bout I get my supervisor... if he's still here."
"You do that." Todd glared at her and pulled out his other blade, he wouldn't hurt her, but he would defend himself if need be. The marks in the carpet would help him to know if he had been there previously, and so he could find his way back.
"Uh-huh," the girl said, standing and walking-slash-running down the hall. At the first solid-looking door she finds, she goes inside. Soon after, there was a click of a lock.
The Oa sighed softly, marking the carpet again so that the cut formed a 'x' and waited a while to see if the girl would come back, "She probably thinks I'm gonna kill her..." He whispered to himself, shaking his head as he leaned back until he hit the wall, where he slid to the floor to wait to see if she came back.
Before Todd could start wondering if the girl had ditched him, the intercom clicked on.
No matter what the contestants were doing, they could hear the sound of an intercom clicking on.
There was a slight buzz of static, and then slowly, building in volume, was the sound of bells.
They stopped at their epitome. "Goal has been reached," a calm female voice announced. "All contestants away. The goal has been reached."
Suddenly, all the contestants were in... nothing. There was a floor covered with mist, and a mysterious light that came from... no particular direction to illuminate a lot, but blackness stretched on in every direction, completely unilluminated.
"Hello, there," the Goddess purred, eyeing the contestants. "Seems as though you all made it through in one piece." She began to count the contestants. "One, two, three, four, five... six and seven," she said, pointing at the floor nearest Jiten. Suddenly, Cedric and Johnathan were there, back to their normal height.
Skreeg stood stiff as a board, his eyes twitching around. He hoped to God he could go home now... even though it wasn't much safer there, at least it made a little sense.
Jiten realized he was still gripping the strange man's arm, and immediately released it and wiped his hands on his shirt. He hoped and prayed that he had not been too late, and looked around at the other contestants nervously, wondering if the man he had been with was the one who had "reached the goal" as stated by the Goddess.
Cedric was happy that it was over. He looked at the Goddess and examined her. She didn't look too bad, sorta nice. What was she going to put us through next?
The Goddess spoke up again. “Well, of course, being the first to push the button… The lovely Jake Skreeg has won this round!” The Goddess draped herself over Skreeg, not seeming at all turned-off by his utter lack of anything loveable. “Oh, but my darlings, you all made it here alive!” The Goddess seemed genuinely pleased at the appearance of them all. “This means my games can… keep going.”
Her eyes squinted as she regarded each of the players individually, releasing Skreeg. “Johnathan, Cedric… You have entertained me vastly. Mostly Johnathan, though; dear, you are lovely. And Jiten! …so close, truly a valiant effort.” She clapped her hands on Joshua’s shoulders. “Joshua here made the first kill! Although I must say, you have angered The Boss by killing his best worker.” She looked over her shoulder at Todd, winking at him as she released Joshua. “And the hotty here got quite a bit accomplished before I could even check up on him. But…”
The Goddess paused at Evangelise. “You… you did not do much,” the Goddess said. “I was not entertained in the slightest.” She frowned, her finger trailing down the girl’s face, along her neck. “In fact… I was bored. I would have liked it if you showed these guys how a girl got it done. But…” She turned away, sighing. “I suppose you will have to be eliminated at this point. I cannot stand being bored.”
Evangelise did not have much time to say or do anything before the place where the Goddess had touched her opened up like an infected wound, black and twisted, the infection spreading along her body in broken black lines. Her pain-filled scream ripped through the air as she slowly dissolved, the blackness flaking off and floating to join the groups surroundings. It was over in a few minutes, but the ordeal seemed by no means slow—her voice still lingered long after she was gone.
The Goddess didn’t turn back to the group for a while, remaining unnaturally still. She finally looked at them. There was a smile on her face but her eyes seemed a bit wider than usual. “Hope the rest of you don’t disappoint,” she purred. “Do not mourn her death… the fewer of you there are, the smaller the competition.”
Once more, she clapped her hands, the darkness that surrounded them rushing in and whisking them away to an abandoned mansion.
Back to Ultimate Survivor
check out the competition at: Ultimate Survivor: Contestants.
Stumble!