Chapter One: Chosen

Smoke. Blood. Suffocating smoke clouds in my throat. I taste burning cooper on my tongue. It's all I can feel when I peel my eyes open. But somehow, the taste subsides the second I intake the blinding white lights.

Oval light bulbs with long cords attached hang from the wood ceiling. As my vision adjusts to the harsh brightness, I gain more self awareness. Hard, uncomfortable flooring rests under my head. A slow burning pulse aches in my temples.

And I'm not alone.

I ease into a sitting position. My head feels as if it's going to fall off though, so I brace it as if it's physically possible for it to roll off my neck. The second I feel stable enough, I open my eyes again and glance around the room.

Seven pairs of eyes stare back at me. What surprises me the most is that I recognize all of them.

The eight of us, myself included, sit inside a cramped room - or perhaps it feels cramped due to all of us in it. The walls are made up of darkly painted wooden panels. In the middle is a white coffee table with a booklet facing up. The room is practically bare besides a bookshelf to the right. From my angle, I can see a few items on the shelves.

"What's going on?" I ask, the question slipping from my lips the second I finish looking around.

Adrien rolls her eyes. "When we find out, I'll be the first to let you know."

She doesn't know me personally, but I know quite a bit about her. Everyone does. Adrien's that girl that makes it her business to be known by everybody.

"Ignore her," Jen, someone I consider a friendly face in this room, says. "We all know pretty much the same; we all woke up in here and can't remember much from before that."

"And," James adds, pointing at the book on the table between all of us. "There's that."

"What's in it?" I ask.

Again, Adrien makes her annoyance clear with a scoff. "Can't you read? It literally says not to open until everyone is awake," she snaps. "We were literally were waiting on you."

I apologize, my face heating up.

"So, who's gonna pick it up?" Ximena is the first to ask. She's sitting next to Adrien, as I expected. They've been close friends since middle school, although she's more reserved than Adrien is.

No one moves or speaks. All I know is that I don't want to be the one to read whatever is written in the booklet.

After a few seconds, I see Rodney lean forward and snatch it up. Silently, he opens it and starts reading. During the entire time, my heartbeat pounds in my ear. I don't know how he was so brave to do that. From what I know of him, he's that loner guy that doesn't associate with anybody. So why would he be here?

"Are you gonna share?" Chris snaps from across the room. "We'd like to know what it says too."

I catch Rodney roll his eyes from over the book in front of him. Then he clears his throat before he starts to read aloud, I'm guessing from the top of the page.

"You all have been chosen to play a game of life and death. Each of your fates are tied to decisions you will make. The rules are as followed:

"Everyone must play. Anyone who resists will be penalized. Over the course of your time here - which is infinite - you will partake in a series of games. The choices you make can determine if you live or die, or when you'll die. You will be given explicit instructions for when to play each game and how. Until then, your first task is possibly the most crucial one you will make, and you must make it together as a group.

"Pick one person within the group to be the team leader. They will essentially represent each and every one of you. So choose wisely."

Naturally, Adrien is the first to speak. "I think I should lead."

"What?" Chris retorts. "And why should you? What gives you the right to do it more than the rest of us?"

"I'm a natural-born leader," she rolls her eyes. "I also believe I have more experience than any of you combined. I've been on the homecoming court every year and won."

"Yeah, well, if that counts as a resume, I think I may be more qualified," Jen says. "I've been student body president since freshman year."

As the bickering between the three of them continue, everyone else says silent and watches the chaos unfold. I bring my knees to my chest and hold them there, afraid of what might happen if I step in, figuratively and literally. But another thought crosses my mind; is this what was planned to happen? Did whoever wrote that booklet want us to fight?

"Hey!" a voice shouts. Everyone shuts up, and all eyes fall back onto Rodney. He seems irritated. "If you actually listened when I read this fucking thing," he says, shaking the book in his hand, "then you'd know that we as a group have to pick the leader. You don't nominate yourself."

Adrien rolls her eyes again. "Whatever. Then my vote is for Adrien Rojas."

"You can't vote for yourself!" Jen exclaims. "That's, like, ethics 101."

"Then what do you suggest, nerd?"

Jen sighs and glances around the room before her eyes fall onto Rodney again. "I vote Rodney."

Rodney's eyes widen. "What? No. No, don't vote for me."

"Why not? You took charge earlier and remembered the rules and all that. I think you'd keep us in line."

"Yeah," a couple people second.

"No," Rodney clarifies. "I don't like leading. I'd rather sit on the side." That's who he is. He didn't have to say it for me to know he was thinking it.

"Do you have an alternative?" Jen asks. "If you don't want to lead, who should?"

He holds out the book to her. "You do it."

"WHAT!?" Adrien practically screams. "HER? Why her?"

"Because," he starts, "she's level-headed, considerate, honest, and not a bitch."

Adrien fums. "Whatever."

"Everyone needs to vote," Rodney says. "So lets go around the room and everyone gets one vote."

"Fine, but I'm voting for myself," Adrien crosses her arms.

Rodney scoffs. "Whatever. Ximena?"

Ximena's eyes widen. "Oh, right. Uh, I vote for Adrien too." Adrien gives her an approving nod.

The voting continues to the left where Chris votes for Jen, and Jen votes for Rodney.

James takes a second before saying, "I vote Rodney. Sorry, Jen."

Everyone's eyes fall onto me now. I suppose it's my turn.

My options are Adrien, Rodney, and Jen. While I could vote for someone else, that would be pointless as no one else has been voted for. It would be wasted. The best bet would be to vote for someone who has an actual chance of being elected the leader.

Adrien is the worst choice. I have no idea what the leader will be leading here, but I don't want her to be in charge of making decisions for all of us. I think she only wants to be picked just to be the leader. She doesn't care about helping any of us.

That leaves Jen and Rodney. Rodney took charge already, like Jen said. He seemed good at it. But he did say he doesn't want to be the leader. Jen on the other hand didn't resist at the idea. And like Rodney pointed out, she has good experience.

So who do I pick? Rodney, who I know can take charge in this situation, or Jen, who seems to actually want to do this?

"Zoe? What's your choice?"

"Jen," I say. "I'm voting for Jen."

Rodney's turn is obvious. He also votes for Jen.

Jen has three votes, Rodney has two, and Adrien has two. One vote is left, and it could lead to a tie.

It's all up to her. To Monica.

Monica Cullen is a quiet girl. She's also my ex-best friend. Seeing her is odd since she's been avoiding me all year. It also puzzles me to why she's here too.

"My vote is for Jen too."

"Congrats," Rodney says with a nod, handing over the book to Jen. "I think it's your job to read the rest or whatever."

She takes it into her hands, silently observing it. "Are you sure you don't want to do it, Rodney?"

He nods. "And either way, they voted for you, not me."

Jen opens the book to the first page and skims over what we already know before settling on new words.

"Congratulations. You managed to pick a leader. As the leader, you will guide the others through the games to come, and much responsibility will fall onto your shoulders. Don't disappoint, or the blood of the people around you could be on your hands."

She trails off, clearly distraught. Maybe she's realizing that she might be in over her head.

"Sorry," Jen whispers, mainly to herself. She shakes her head before continuing. "For the first game, I believe it's fitting enough to spill the beans, air the dirty laundry, show everyone who you truly are.

"I've taken the liberty of getting started. Team leader, instruct someone to grab the black hat from the shelf in the back of the room. Don't peak." Jen pauses and glances towards the shelf and then at everyone else. "Mon, you're closest. Can you grab it?"

Monica looks back at Jen, a look of true fear on her face. If I thought I was scared, I can only imagine how she feels. Hesitantly, she nods and stands, stepping cautiously towards the bookshelf. She takes the hat into her hands and walks with it several inches in front of her, as if it might explode. As soon as she's at the table before us, she plops the hat down and sits back down.

Jen turns back to the book. "You're probably wondering what's in the hat. Only your deepest and darkest secrets."

"What the fuck?" Adrien hisses. "Are they for real?"

Ignoring her, Jen reads on. "Each person will take turns pulling a strip of paper from the hat and read it out loud. There is a strip for every person, each containing a secret you most likely want to keep hidden -"

"Fuck this!" Adrien doesn't give Jen a chance to resume. She stands and crosses her arms. "I am not letting this bitch say shit about me."

"Just sit down," Jen says calmly. "You heard what Rodney read earlier. If you refuse to participate, you'll be penalized. Do you really want to find out what that means?"

She throws her arms up. "Let the bitch penalize my ass! I'm not giving them the satisfaction of airing my secrets!"

The same second a loud click rings through the room, the lights go out. Several of us scream in shock as we're surrounding in pitch black darkness. Within seconds, a ear-piercing scream fills the room. It stops just as quickly as it started. A nauseating silence follows. I hold my breath, my heart beating hard in my ear as I wait for another sound or worse - for pain.

Click. The room floods with bright white light. I squint, my eyes watering as they adjust. Before they could, I hear Ximena scream bloody murder.

I blink rapidly until I can see. And I suddenly wish I couldn't.

Adrien lies on the table in front of us, her body sprawled out. Blood drips from her chest, most likely from the knife protruding from the same spot. But what frightened me the most was the horrifying look forever left on her face.

A scream.