"Welcome players" a loud mechanical voice called out in the people-filled room.
Thirty people laid on the ground in a perfectly symmetrical manner; due to the loudness of the voice and the effects of the drug wearing off tthe people were all slowly waking up from their unconscious state; the effect of the gas gone.
Drowsiness still in them, they took in their surrounding and were all met with an unfamiliar room.
"What?!What's going on?!"
The questions and murmurs of people aroused, causing the once quiet room to be filled with noisy terror-filled and agitated voices.
The people in the room seemed to come from different nationality and different age bracket, the youngest in the room was a sixteen-year-old girl.
"Welcome players"
"Hope you all had a wonderful rest!" The mechanical voice sounded out again.
Everywhere became deadly silent as the voice sounded, some people seemed to even embrace themselves in fear.
"Hey! Where are we?" The silence was broken by a scrawny man possibly in his mid-thirties; a pale scar cut right across his left cheek.
"The House of Black" The voice answered monotonously.
"House of what?" The same man asked again, his thick northern accent seemed to soften in confusion, "this some kind of joke?" He continued; his accent becoming much thicker as he asked sarcastically.
The other people stared at him like he was a brave fool; who brazenly shouts at an unknown enemy?
"Get ready players! The first game is about to commence" Disregarding the man's outburst the voice stated.
"First game?", this time it was the whisper of someone across the scrawny man
"This got to be some shitty ass joke" Seemingly influenced by the northern man a female brunette right behind the northern man exclaimed, some people silently agreed while the whispered agreement of others could be heard.
"Hey, what's with these clothes?" This was asked by the scrawny man after he had taken time to glance around.
"In the chaos, no one noticed their clothes had changed. They all seem to be wearing black tracksuit and plain white sneakers, no extra accessory was added to their bodies except for a digital smart watch but the watch didn't show the time instead it just displayed a light blue pixilated zero (0)
"Players! Here are the two main rules of house of Black"
"Killing is allowed unless told otherwise"
"What kind of stupid rule is that?!" The brunette from before shrieked.
"lastly"
"Do not break any mirrors"
"There aren't any mirrors here" A busty Swedish woman pointed out.
"With that said, good luck players"
The metallic double doors positioned in front of the room opened to reveal a passageway with black painted walls.
"Should we go?" Someone questioned. Another person, who was closer to the opened doors, took one for the team and walked into the passage.
After a few seconds of still silence, when nothing happened to him, everyone followed.
Led by the turns of the passage, the crowd found themselves at the open entrance of a much larger room than the previous one. The room was filled with even more people, and they all seemed as confused as the crowd.
The crowd walked into the room believing that they could put some trust and sense of security in their fellow humans who also seemed to be captives.
The instant the crowd joined the room, the double doors of the room shut closed, and the mechanical voice sounded out again.
"The first game is now commencing"
"There are a total of 100 players in this room"
"The goal of this game is to reduce this number by half"
"Wait! Are you saying that half of us must die!" A woman exclaimed; this woman was not from the first room, a different reaction seemed to emerge after her outburst; some were fearful of their lives, others still wondered if this is really not a joke.
"Killing is allowed " the familiar robotic tone answered, the faces on the surrounding people were contoured into one filled with fear.
"Please make use of anything present in the room to complete this game"
"Have fun players"
There were a bunch of random equipment from various departments like gardening tools and kitchen equipment.
It wasn't long before a couple of ruffians who seemed to have been or still in a gang started to 'play'
" Looks like some of y'all are gonna have to die", A bald burly guy who looked to be the gang's leader stated.
Everyone excluding the gang member looked appalled by the statement.
"How can you say something like that?!" A middle-aged woman with a child holding her hand exclaimed
"It's the truth. Half of you here would have to die or we'll all die" A member of the gang spoke up supporting his leader.
"Well.....How are you sure that we'll all die!" The woman argued back desperately.
"Why don't we ask the robot" Someone in the crowd pitched in, there was a collective agreement in the crowd.
"Hey, robot! What would happen if we don't do that?"
"If a player is not killed in the next two minutes, all players will be eliminated"
Nearly everyone in the crowd gasped as they finally faced reality.
Half of them would have to die.
A young man accompanied by his much brighter friend stood in a secluded corner of the room, the duo watched as panic rose on the face of everyone, they saw the smug looks on the thugs' faces.
"What should we do now?" The more amicable one questioned the other to which he was answered by silence.
"Should we try and hide" He asked a different question this time hoping for an answer.
"..."
".... let's figure something out when the time comes"
A minute had passed, and the thugs got to work, their first victim was an old man possibly in his sixties.
One of the thugs held a bloodied baseball bat, everyone was horrified to find out that the blood belonged to the old man whose head was bashed in the sounded of someone loudly vomiting was heard and most looked away from the body in utter fear and disgust; panic entered their hearts quickly and they slowly unconsciously or consciously backed away from the thugs even more.
A loud thud echoed on the other side of the room, a woman was holding a screwdriver, the tip was covered in blood. A young man's corpse led besides her feet; he seemed to be bleeding from the neck. A gasp was heard followed by a high-pitched scream; The woman with the screwdriver froze, her action yet to sink in. "Wait…no…he attacked first" She mumbled, whether in an attempt to convince herself or the crowd.
That action was the igniter to the flames of chaos; all hell broke loose.
Blood splatters littered the ground as more lifeless bodies fell to the ground; the sound of screams and cries amidst the sound of blood being spilt
"Noel..." A blond moved in closer to his friend narrowly avoiding the scuffles among people, "is now that time?" The duo stood in a small corner of the room, if there were cameras this corner would have been called a blind spot.
The raven haired now known as Noel looked at the scene in front of him with complex emotions. What should they do? He doesn't know.
".... Let's just stay here. We'll be safe" He voiced out; it may not have been the smartest idea, but he hoped it was enough to fool his friend into calming down.
"Are you sure?" His blond friend asked.
"I'm not sure" The screams and cried of people drowned out Noel's low response.
"Hm?" His friend looked at him confused; he didn't hear what Noel had said.
"Congratulations. The first game is now over. The total number of people in this room is 50"
Everyone paused, the stench of blood and death with a mix of vomit lingered in the air; the once beige tiles were now stained red and covered with the bodies of the deceased. Some people were left injured but most injuries were minor and not fatal at all.
"Killing another person is now prohibited until further notice"
"The second game will soon commence"
"Before the game starts, players should form groups of no more than ten players."
"Remember, there is strength in numbers"