All eyes were on Mikeal, the anticipation that he has managed to create among the audience was astounding. A few hours had already passed and Mikeal had managed to dodge and kill two or three cannibals, with pure dumb luck.
He had hidden in the best places he saw that no cannibals would dare to enter and would be safe from, but for some unexplainable reason they always found him.
Beaten, battered, and bruised Mikeal was surviving on his last few breaths and whatever he needed to do, he'd better make sure that he does it fast.
Mikeal was now hiding in a familiar place nursing his wounds, he was in the same mall that he was when that incident happened. But because of some memory loss he couldn't remember all that, yet he still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad happened in that mall.
To put it in understandable terms the place that Mikeal was in was a very familiar district to him it was the Playground district, almost this district was a copy of the Playground yet different at the same time.
Mikeal was hiding in the storage unit, his hand covering his mouth taking calculated and steady breaths. Not wanting to allow himself to make any sort of mistake that would jeopardize him and his hiding place.
For sure, he was safe enough that he had no doubt even though was the copy of the real thing everything was built precisely from; the building structures and everything else that the Playground had.
Truth be told, Mikeal did the best that he could for someone who didn't have a Brand to be his aid and make things easier for him, he was really standing his ground even making some of the audience cheer him up. Not that he knew that obviously to him he was just alone with a hundred plus hungry dangerous cannibals.
The only thing that he had that was close to be aiding him was this exo-skeleton suit that he was offered, it wasn't really something that was really helpful. But it did manage to attend to his wounds.
For instance if he were to get hurt and his hand would also be in danger, maybe having a cut or bruise... The suit would release some substance to heal the wound and make it not hurt anymore.
That was the same scenario here in the storage unit, when he tried to escape being tumbled over and devoured. Mikeal got hurt jumping over a rusty, definitely infected fence, cutting himself fully open.
Clearly, the suit wasn't that much help when it came to protect him always, it wasn't made from a strong fabric, in just the first hour. It was torn and barely recognisable as as special suit.
It healing him in it's torn, and ripped state was a miracle that it even did that for him, now Mikeal was waiting for the substance on the suit to kick in, and so he can be healed.
The substance came out it was in a form of white steam, whenever it came out to heal him, it would sprinkle and once on that wound treatment. The substance would sizzle like hot water boiling, that may sound scary but it wasn't as bad as it sounds... Instead it was soothing.
Mikeal was caught off guard when he still saw his wound not healed and still there, and it really didn't matter how many times the suit released the substance it just didn't make any difference.
That was weird even for a guy like him, who in just a few days he was used to weird stuff but this was on another level, the suit released its last substance and just stopped.
And Mikeal didn't have to think about it that much, he already knew that the suit was worn out so it was normal for it to stop healing him.
But the million dollar question still lingered around his mind, why didn't the substance heal his would. It was definitely enough to heal him.
Just as those questions lingered even more in his mind, the status screen popped.
[Unknown substance in body detected]
[Unknown substance has been rejected]
[Unknown substance has been cleared in donor's system]
Reading this new information right before his very eyes he seemed to be getting almost all the time now, suddenly made sense even when he had so many questions and whys.
Leaving him in pain was one thing but for him to be discovered in his hideout was another.
[Something with sinister motives detected]
One thing that was clearly obvious is the system's love for riddles, every time it notified something Mikeal had to scratch his head and back trying to figure it out.
Behind him lurking in the shadow something if that's the right and correct term was drooling all over him, deep within the darkness, all that Mikeal felt was hyperventilation breathing and growling. But, he didn't realise until it was a minute too late.
Unaware the thing behind him started to making clicking noise, and it's disgusting thick drool fell into his face. It took him some time to actually process and know what was happening, Mikeal only saw when the drool was now close to his mouth.
Wiping it out and felt it's thickness and then just like that he turned around with steadiness and movement, once he saw what was behind. He didn't even had the chance to scream or react in any way. The cannibal just roared at him, spitting saliva on his face.
Paralysed by the overwhelming fear, the cannibal just scratched him with it's hand on Mikeal's chest, and he just stepped backwards exposing himself. Now, feeling and seeing his own blood and claw marks that tore through his skin and suit that was supposed to be strong material.
The cannibal screeched calling the other monsters, they all came down like water flooding down through the tunnels.
That's when not only did Mikeal but everyone else watching out there was certain that Mikeal not only would he fail the test, but he was dead soon.
Mikeal barely ran, hell he barely could walk but it was the only thing his body did and just tried, not that made any difference as soon as he stepped outside... He had lost so much blood and his running was now slow, for his own protection he picked up a rusty iron rod as a way for him to defend himself.
It was all pointless as all the cannibals chasing after him, jumped on him all trying to get a piece of him.
The others that he was with were also taking on their tests, all the contestants couldn't see what was happening to each and every one of them but for sure everyone else watching knew exactly what was happening.
Hector was contestant number one and for someone who was feeling nervous and assumed that he was going to fail, was doing way better than Mikeal. He had managed to cut down almost half of the cannibals hunting him down, their bodies all over his designated district.
After Mikeal's departure the next person to be transported to another district was Mikeal's childhood friend. Alexia, who was beating time faster than the first two guys within a hour of being sent to her district... She has managed to kill seventy-five percent of the cannibals chasing her down.
The next contestant was Celine who barely used her own Brand, the way she took down each and every last one of those things was impressive. She was very smart she didn't even need to use her own body but only needed her mind and calculations.
After she did so all the cannibals took care of themselves on their own killing each other and eating among themselves.
Finally, the last one to take the test was the over confident, determined Griffin well he was doing the best than the rest. Matter of fact, instead of him being the hunted he was the hunter.
Griffin hunted down every last one of the cannibals, taking them out in their hidden secret places.
"Here comes Griffin!" He would warn them before he slaughtered them down.
His district was different all of their districts were different, while other had bodies everywhere outside. Only Griffin's streets were like the first time he got there only there were no cannibals in sight.
He was just swinging and swinging without taking any breather and not getting any tired, blood of his cannibal victims was all over him.
"Woo!" He screamed with excitement as he killed every last one.
After doing so, Griffin came out smiling with blood all over his face, with him carrying a plastic more like dragging a plastic bag inside the plastic were heads of the cannibals he slaughtered.
Every district had micro cameras watching over them, not visible and impossible to see by the naked eye. For some reason Griffin managed to look straight at where one of the the cameras was and just raised and showed them what he has done.
"So what's next?" As he raised his plastic to the camera to see.