A piece of friendly advice: Play this song before starting the chapter. For the feels.

https://youtu.be/gNhN6lT-y5U

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DUM-BA-BADUMP-BONK-CRACK-SPLASH-HISS!

"OHMYDEARGOD!" I yelled as I fell to the ground, being startled by the ear-splitting sound of drums, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, NICHOLAS MATTHEW HILL?!"

I covered my ears as I glared at Nick, who was currently dancing on his bed, to the sound of ear-piercing noise that some knuckleheads like to refer to as 'metal music'.

More like mental music!

It was 6 AM!

Who the hell listens to death metal at friggin' 6 O'clock in the morning!

I jolted up from the ground and paced to snatch his phone from his hands. He just hopped around on his bed, the sickening noise still blasting from his speaker.

"Oh, come on! Don't be a spoilsport! Join me!" He sang, banging his head and playing air guitar.

"NICK, STOP THIS NOISE, PLEEEEEASE," I groaned in annoyance.

"Ugh! Fine. But don't you dare call it noise. It's music," I rolled my eyes, and he turned off his loathsome morning alarm.

Ahh! Sweet, sweet silence.

I walked back to my bed like a zombie and dived face-first into the mattress. As soon as my face sunk into the pillow, I heard Nick sing.

"THROUGH MY ANATOMY, DWELLS ANOTHER BEING!!!!!

ROOTED IN MY CORTEX, A SERVANT TO ITS BIDDING!!!!!!

BRUTALITY NOW BECOMES MY APPETITE!!!!!!

VIOLENCE IS NOW A WAY OF LIFE!!!!!

THE SLEDGE'S MY TOOL TO TORTURE!!!!!!

AS IT POUNDS DOWN ON YOUR FOREHEAD!!!!!!!"

Way to start the day!

I groaned into the pillow and pushed myself up from the bed to get ready for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning, everyone!" Mr Daniel chirped, "We have to begin with your stress analysis simulations today. You will be in a virtual environment that would be hardly different from the real world. I will monitor your pulse, blood pressure, hormonal levels and the amount of activity in some parts of your brain,"

"That sounds so cool!" Adam exclaimed.

"Trust me, Adam, it'll be anything but cool," said Mr Daniel, "Follow me, Armada,"

With that, he turned and led us to the virtual reality arena.

It was an enormous circular room, with chairs on the sides and a large glass sphere in the middle.

"Yara, Jackson, step into the sphere," said Mr Daniel.

"Okay, sir," Yara said as she walked into the sphere with Jackson behind her.

"Take a seat, everyone," Mr Daniel continued.

We were sitting on the chairs surrounding the sphere platform when Mr Daniel started the simulation.

A mysterious fog filled in the sphere, and Yara and Jax started floating. The sight was so unbelievable and amusing that my jaw almost touched the floor!

They spent 15 minutes in the sphere and came out hauntingly shaken.

"You both did well. Take a seat, now," Mr Daniel said as he patted their shoulders. Dazzled, they absentmindedly nodded and took the seats closest to them.

"Willia, Brittney, your turn,"

20 minutes passed like 2, and they came out, also shaken and terrified.

"Reyna, Adam, get in there,"

Another 15 minutes passed, and another terrified pair of Armadians stepped out.

"Nick, Cleo, your turn now,"

They took longer than the others, but when they stepped out after 35 minutes, they looked petrified too.

This sphere must be scary, Lorcan. Prepare yourself.

Or, I could just run for my life. Yeah?

"Can we die in there?" I gulped, looking at my mortified friends.

"Sphere's reality or yours?" Mr Daniel asked in return.

"Umm, glass sphere's?"

"Yes; they all did,"

"Oh, and ours?"

"Possibly," He replied.

"Well, that's super comforting," I said.

"I'll try to turn it off if your vitals start dropping. Now, hop in, both of you," said Mr Daniel, pointing at Argenta then me.

I gulped in fear as I stepped closer to the sphere. Never did I ever think that I would grow up to be terrified of a ball of glass. But here I was.

Once I was inside the spere, I noticed that we could not see through the glass. It was pitch black inside. Not a single ray of light could find its way to us. And then happened the weirdest thing I had experienced in my whole life.

I started floating in a weird fog. I could feel it against my legs as it rose. Soon, I could feel it on my chin. I closed my eyes instinctively as I felt it crawl up to my forehead.

As soon as it did, I started feeling pins and needles all over my body. No, not the pins and needles you feel when your leg sleeps; actual pins and needles. Painful pings engulfed me. When it parted, I felt two metallic rods on my back, as if I was lying on the ground. I could also feel something rough, like stones and something cold against my wrists. They felt remarkably real!

This thing is insane!!!!!

I opened my eyes only to be frightened to my very core.

I was currently tied to a railway track!! And I could hear a horn in the distance.

This thing is INSANE! What is wrong with it?!

I started waggling frantically, trying to move around in every direction in a vague attempt to free my wrists from the handcuffs keeping them in place.

"Lory! Stop fluttering like a maniac!" I heard Argenta scream from the track beside me.

"A train is approaching!"

"I know! But we can find a way out! So, shut up and think!"

With that, she sat up slightly and bent her back so that her forearms were still touching the tracks, but her upper arms were by her sides.

Before I could say anything else, I heard a snap.

Oh no

What the HELL was that?!

"Argenta, please tell me you did not just do that," I said, my eyes shut, wishing that she hadn't done that.

"Oh, I absolutely did,"

"OHMYGOD!!!" I shrieked as I felt bile rise up in my throat. She just dislocated her thumb!

Just thinking about that made me sick.

"It's okay, Lory. Everything will be fine," she said with a hint of pain in her voice.

"I don't think so," I said; my eyes were still closed, and a weird feeling of disgust and sickness consumed me.

"It's fine, Lory,"

snap!

"Everything's alright!"

snap-silence-click-clank!

"You done?" I asked feebly, gathering strength to open my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You can open your eyes, now,"

I opened my eyes slowly and looked up to see Argenta standing in front of me.

Her left thumb looked red and a bit swollen, but she was free of the handcuffs.

This girl is friggin' spectacular, in every way possible!

She is perfect!

She crouched down beside me and held one of my handcuffed hands.

Oh no!

My eyes widened in horror, and my mouth fell open.

"PLEASEDON'TDISCLOCATEMYTHUMB!!!" I pleaded/yelled in one breath.

"Heyy, calm down. I won't dislocate it," She said, throwing her hands up in surrender.

Oh! Phew!

That's when I saw a bent bobby pin in her right hand.

"Ohh," I sighed as I relaxed on the shaking ground.

Hold up!

Why the hell is the ground shaking?!

CHOO CHOO

"Oh crap!" We both said simultaneously.

She immediately inserted the bobby pin in my handcuff and waggled it furiously.

click

"It's free!" I exclaimed as I moved my left hand. Meanwhile, the ground vibrated more and more.

I turned to see that the train was now only about a hundred and fifty metres away from us.

"Argenta?" I choked out, frozen out of fear.

"Almost done!"

The train was approaching at a horribly fast pace. Only about 60 metres away from us, now.

click

"RUN!!!" Argenta screamed at me.

I got up immediately to run away, but boy, oh boy, is my luck always against me and hell-bent on destroying me?!

I fell. On the race track. As the train ran on the same tracks right above me. While I was lying beneath it...

Let that sink in.

inhaaaale

exhaaale

inhaaaale

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed, absolute panic consuming me.

"Lory! Stay down! Keep laying on your stomach and push yourself against the track! You'll be fine!"

"Or, I could try to jump out,"

"Well, if you want to be sliced right down the middle, then, by all means, go ahead. And if not, then SHUT THE HELL UP AND STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"

That pretty much shut me up.

"Are you sure I'll be fine?" I asked.

"Of course, or I wouldn't have been this calm,"

"You know, you were just shouting at me. How is that calm?"

She just huffed and rolled her eyes, but I saw the small smile that etched across her face.

At least there's something good about this situation...

What?

You're stuck under a freakin' train right now, and you're thinking this?!

Come on, Lory!

Great! Now you're calling yourself Lory...

"Okay, don't freak out," Argenta said, bringing me back to reality...no, wait, virtuality?

"Too late, already freaking out, and you haven't even told me what it is,"

She rolled her eyes and continued, "I was saying, here comes the part that could potentially kill you..."

She paused as my eyes widened, and panic started rising.

"...no biggie," She chuckled nervously.

"YOU ASKED ME TO STAY HERE!"

"I know, and you should be fine if you stay down and really press into the ground, okay?"

"mhm, I hope so, or I'm haunting you for the rest of my ghost life,"

"Yeah, sur-Oh, it's here! Down!"

Almost instantly, I pressed my body against the ground and shut my eyes tightly. I felt the vibrating track and the air that rushed past me as the train ran above me at full speed. Adrenaline coursed through my veins; tingles appeared everywhere in my body, my heart hammered inside my chest as if it was trying to escape.

Please let me live

Gods, please let me live

You love me, right?

I mean, look at this pretty fac- soul! I meant soul! Not face!

How can you not love this beautiful soul?

Please save me

And then it stopped. The earth stopped shaking. The trains had gone.

I turned on my back and exhaled loudly.

"I'm alive," I said, looking up at the clear sky.

"Yeah, but you don't have time to lay down like that, Mr Pretty Face." Argenta snickered.

I shot up, my eyes enlarged in embarrassment, and my cheeks flamed.

I said that out loud?!

Brilliant! She's never gonna let this go!

"You betcha, I won't," She said, her snickers turning into laughter.

AGAIN?!

I buried my face in my palms, embarrassed to the very core.

"Get up. Three more are coming,"

Without wasting any time, I got up, and we ran away from the tracks.

"That was scary," I commented as soon as we were at a safe distance.

"Not really, pretty face," She chuckled, tilting her head sideways, looking at me like I was a cute puppy.

"So, what do we do now?" I ask, trying to hide the smile threatening to spread on my lips.

As if on cue, everything went black. Well, not exactly black; close your eyes and imagine what it looks like at the back of your head, that. That's what it felt like.

"Status:," A robotic voice echoed, "both alive. Total injuries: 3. Total time: 4 minutes, 37 seconds. Status: healthy for level 2,"

LEVEL 2?!

I heard Argenta let out a groan from somewhere beside me.

Hot!

Hold on...what?!

Get your head out of the gutter and into the game, Lory!!!

And then, there was light.

We were standing at the very centre of a road. And not just any road, a racing track.

What is with this thing and tracks?

A loud bang broke my reverie.

Bang...gunshot...race! Shoot!

I saw speeding cars advancing towards us and I lost it (not the race; my sanity). I was too stunned to do anything, the thunderous sound of the cars was blasting in my eardrums, and all I could do was look at them approaching, dumbfounded. Just then, I felt someone grab my wrist and pull me. I quickly regained conscience and started running on my own. We barely managed to escape the stampeding vehicles and stopped at what looked like a garage.

And then everything went black like someone put a cloth over my head, and I felt like I was stabbed.The next thing I knew was that I was tied to a chair, and so was Argenta.

This thing has a serious problem with tracks and tying up.

Thankfully, this time, we weren't handcuffed. It was a rope. So, no dislocated thumbs. Yay! I looked around to see where we were. The number of cars parked here and tools scattered across the floor could only mean that we were in the garage. It was dark and humid. The only sources of light there, were a small window near the ceiling and a few bulbs. Overall, it looked creepy.

Then the metallic doors opened, and I saw 4 people enter. 2 of them were wearing masks, and the other two were tied and beat up, and their faces were covered with rags. They slammed the door behind them, creating an ear-splitting bang that woke up Argenta. The masked people dragged the tied ones and then removed the black veils from their faces one by one.

The first one to be unveiled was a boy, about 5 years older than me. He had curly black hair and deep sea-green eyes. The other one was revealed to be...

"Ardene?"

"Lorcan," She said, her voice feeble and weak. It broke me to listen to her and see her like that. She had bruises covering her entire body and blood dripping from her lips.

"Let her go!" I yelled.

"DYLAN!" I heard Argenta yell from beside me. She was entirely conscious now.

"Let. Them. Go." She said, but there was something strange about the way she said it. Her voice wasn't its usual happy and euphonic; it was hoarse, commanding and scary. Her teeth were gritted, and her body, on the whole, was behaving weirdly. She was shaking slightly, anger kept flashing through her eyes, and she kept blinking and shutting them. Her breathing had become faster, and it looked like she had to put a lot of effort to keep breathing.

"Let. Them. GOO!" She said again. This time her voice was harsher and colder, as if it wasn't human. It sent chills down my spine and gave me goosebumps. Her eyes were now closed shut; her head was down like she was trying to control herself. And then I saw fear envelop her, her eyebrows scrunched as if she was in pain, and she whispered, "Not today, please, Ta-"

She was interrupted by a loud scream that belonged to Dylan. One of the masked mystery people was cutting his upper arm. Blood gushed out from the newly made wound, and Dylan kept screaming in pain. To say that the sight was painful would be an understatement. The cut wasn't superficial; it was deep enough that his muscles were starting to become visible. The scene definitely pained Argenta, who did something that no one would have seen coming.

"Grrrraaaaaaaah!" she yelled as she stood up on her feet and fell on her back, so the chair broke. Her voice now sounded entirely inhuman. It was angry and spiteful. Her eyes showed no emotion but rage and resentment. She dashed towards the fellow who cut Dylan, and before they could even register what happened, she staked a piece of wood from the broken chair through their heart. They groaned in pain and fell to the ground. I saw their eyes becoming emotionless in a fraction of a second. Their body became pale and limp. My mouth fell open, and I blinked rapidly just to make sure I was seeing things correctly. She started marching towards the other masked personality but slowed down and stopped in her tracks. Her hands shot up to her temples, and she screamed; out of pain and fell to her knees.

"Not today,"

This time, the voice was her own, it sounded hurt and troubled but determined.

"I'm not letting you win, Ta-"