Beginnings

The memory was hazy. It was like trying to listen to a radio that was tuned incorrectly. Bits and pieces would float up to the surface, but I could hardly figure out what it all meant.
Two men…a cloth over my mouth…and the feeling of helplessness…
Anything that came before or after those events are something I can’t recall, no matter how hard I try.
But there was one thing that I do remember clearly. One thing that awakened a deep fear within my heart…
A figure struggled to get to my side. Just as it all went black, I heard her call my name.
“Devon!”
===
Devon’s eyes shot open, his heart racing in his chest. The name of the person was at the edge of his tongue, but he stopped himself when he realized he was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
“Huh?!”
He sat up quickly only to lay back down when a wave of dizziness overtook him. Although it was only a quick glance, it appeared to him that he was in some sort of hospital room.
“Damnit, what the hell happened?”
He moved to lie on his side in order to take a better look around. When he did, he saw something that made him tense up.
In the bed next to his lay a handsome-looking young man that appeared to be in his early twenties. His clothes appeared to be ruffled, as if he was in a fight, and a bandage adorned his nose.  On his wrist, a metal bracelet could be seen. For some reason, he suddenly felt a weight on his left wrist.
“I-It’s just him, right?”
In order to ease himself, he looked down at his own wrist. Sure enough, a bracelet similar to the one the man wore was on his wrist.
“What the hell?!”
He grabbed the object and tried to yank it off. However—
“Attention, external force has been detected on the bracelet. Please cease your attempt at removing the bracelet or you will be terminated.”
He didn’t know where the voice came from, but just hearing the word ‘terminated’ made Devon let go.
Nerves on edge, Devon decided to take a look around the room in order to at least get acquainted with his surroundings.
The room really was like a hospital room. The bed he had laid on was next to a large window that had iron bars placed just past the glass panes. And as if to mock him more, the windows themselves didn’t open more than 5 inches.
“Shit, I can barely fit my hand through there.” He muttered as he pulled his hand back in.
Towards the exit, there was a strange device built next to the door. By the size of it, he assumed that the device kept the door locked. To be sure of his observation, Devon tried opening the door.
“Please authenticate your bracelet by tapping it against the scanner. The door will open when all Players in this room have authenticated their bracelet on this device.”
“Guess I need the guy here to get this door open.”
He looked over his shoulder, towards the still-sleeping man.
“Let’s hope he’s friendly…”
He hesitated for a moment, unsure what the man would do if woken up. But with no way out without him, Devon had to try.
“H-Hey, wake up.”
He shook the man’s shoulders a few times.
“C’mon, get up!” he yelled as he shook harder.
When he saw the man’s eyes open slowly, Devon felt himself freeze in place.
“A-Abe, is that you…?”
 “S,Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”
Once the man got a good look at him, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, good. I thought I was dead for a moment.”
“D-Dead?”
“Yeah. You remind me of someone that died a long time ago.”
The man tried sitting up, but Devon quickly grabbed his side.
“H-Hold on, lemme help you up.”
“Why?”
“You’re gonna be feeling sick.”
Sure enough, once Devon helped sit the man up, he immediately made a retching noise. It seemed the dizziness was worse for him.
“Goddamn, what did they use to knock us out with?”
“Wait, you were knocked out too?”
The man nodded.
“So I wasn’t dreaming…”
The man let out a cruel laugh,
“Believe me kid; by the end of this you’ll wish this was just a nightmare.”
At those words, Devon felt a chill run down his spine.
“W-What do you mean? You sound like you’ve been through this before.”
The man scratched his head.
“Not this situation in particular, but I have been in something similar.”
He raised his left and looked at the bracelet.
“Even the brace is similar.”
“S-So you know what’s going on, right?”
The man nodded. Perhaps now, Devon thought, he could get some answers
“Can you explain what you can to me? I…I want to at least get an idea as to what’s going on.”
“I know a bit, but things might have changed.”
“I don’t care, just so long as I’m not completely in the dark.”
The man let out a sigh,
 “Sure thing, kid. Though, first thing’s first: what’s your name.”
“I’m Devon. Devon Worth.”
The man patted his shoulder and gave him a wry smile.
“Nice to meet you, kid.”
Devon scoffed,
“I’m not a kid! I’m almost 18 years old…And what’s your name, anyways?”
“Oh, me? I’m Dwight Hatcher.”
The way Dwight said it made Devon feel as if the answer was obvious.
“I guess I should start that explanation now, shouldn’t I?”
“That would be helpful.” Devon replied
“Fine, fine.”
When I played this game last, me and 11 others were given braces similar to the ones we’re wearing now and a PDA. Inside these PDA were an objective and a special rule that applied to the owner of that PDA. These rules were called Death Rules.
Now, the name doesn’t sound friendly, I know. That’s because the game was a killing game.
“K-Killing game…?”
Devon suddenly felt cold. He knew the existence of these kinds of games beforehand, but he also knew that the people responsible for their creation were dead. So why was a similar situation repeating itself?
“That’s right. A game where people killed one another in order to live.”
“Y-You’re talking about like what happened with the Committee, right?”
Dwight’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, that’s right. How do you know about that?”
Devon let his gaze fall to the floor.
“Well…I lost a couple of family members to those games.”
His voice was low. Even though many years have passed since those tragedies, the pain was still there.
“I-I’m sorry if I brought back some bad memories.”
“It’s alright,” The youth brought his gaze back up, “I asked you and you responded. It can’t be helped if the info brings back some bad memories.”
Devon shook his head a bit and regained his composure.
“Keep going if you still have stuff to talk about.”
“Alright then.”
Well, in order to make sure we followed the rules, there was also a bomb implanted into each of us. The device was called the Gamepiece. I don’t know how it worked, but when it activated, you’d suddenly bow up. Of course, the only way it would activate is if you broke one of the main rules, broke your Death Rule, or failed to finish your objective by the end of the game.
“That sounds messy.”
“I was lucky I never got to see the results.” Dwight said, relief evident on his face. “Anyways, that’s about all I recall.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Devon began to run the information one last time through his head. It was hard to believe that he was in that game, but from what Dwight said, there was that possibility.
Just then, Devon remembered the doorway.
“Oh yeah, I need you for something.”
Dwight looked at him with suspicion. The man’s cold gaze pierced through Devon like daggers. Disarm the situation, he thought.
“It’s nothing to do with game. I need you in order to open the door to this room. We can’t get out until both of us touch the bracelets against the scanner on the door.”
“Is that right?”
Devon motioned towards the door,
“If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try.”
Dwight gave him one last look before getting off the bed and walking over to the doorway. Just as with Devon, he tried to pry the door open.
“Please authenticate your bracelet by tapping it against the scanner. The door will open when all Players in this room have authenticated their bracelet on this device.”
Dwight looked back towards Devon, who smirked at him.
“What did I tell you.”
“Well then, I guess we better get it over with.”
Dwight lifted his arm to the scanner and tapped the front of the bracelet against the scanner.
“Dwight Hatcher’s bracelet has been authenticated. Please authenticate the other Player’s bracelet to open the door.”
Dwight grabbed Devon’s arm and pulled him to the scanner.
“H-Hey!”
Before he could argue, Dwight forced Devon’s bracelet against the scanner.
“Devon Worth’s bracelet has been authenticated. All Players have been confirmed active. Please proceed to the entryway immediately.”
The lock gave a loud click before the door swung open. Dwight motioned towards the doorway,
“After you, kid.”
“I’m not a kid.” Devon grumbled as he walked passed Dwight and into the hallway.
As soon as he was out of the room, Devon let out a shriek.
“What happened?!” Dwight yelled. As soon as he stepped out of the room, he saw for himself what Devon had seen, “Holy shit.”
Before them was a large red arrow pointing down the hall. At the end of the hallway, another arrow could be seen pointing another direction.
“Please follow the arrows to reach your destination.”
“G-Guess we better do what it says.” Devon stuttered. That sense of unease had gotten worse now.
---
As they walked through the corridors, Dwight began to talk again.
“Say kid, think the guy in charge of this place did something with our eyes?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Dwight pointed towards the arrow that was ahead, “I don’t think we’d see this sort of thing in our everyday lives. Even the new holo-signs still have to have a base from where the projector’s at. But these arrows don’t have that.”
“Maybe the projector’s hidden?” Devon speculated.
Dwight thought about it for a second,
“Probably, But they must be pretty advanced to know where we’re facing.”
Devon looked at him, confused by what he said.
“Try turning around kid, you’ll see what I mean.”
After he nagged at Dwight again, he turned his head to look back.
“Holy crap!”
Behind him, a red wall suddenly appeared with the words “Wrong Way” written on it. Below the words, a  U-Turn sign was shown.
“See? It immediately knows where we’re looking.”
Devon had to admit, it was weird.
“Looks like they did do something, but I guess we can’t do anything about it right now.”
“Yeah…”
The rest of the walk was silent, but the thought of what the person or persons responsible did to him made Devon shudder.
---
“Oh my god.”
Devon felt his jaw drop when he entered the entryway. Despite looking abandoned, the hospital’s central hall was rather breathtaking. Large glass panes hung from the ceiling like chandeliers, and the light they reflected from the outside illuminated the area. The indoor garden, although overgrown, was also a calming sight.
“Geeze, you gotta wonder how this place looked when it was in use.”
Devon nodded in agreement.
Just then, the sounds of other people could be heard coming from the side halls. Devon and Dwight immediately drew close to each other.
“You think those are other Players.” Devon asked,
“Most likely.”
They stood like that for several moments. Once the people stepped into the hall, a silence fell over them.
In total, there were sixteen people in that hall. Each one of them glanced at one another, unsure of what to do.
And then, the silence was broken.
“Devon!”
Two voices yelled out at once. As the youth in question turned towards the source of the voices, a smile spread on his face.
“Sean. Yuuki.”
The three ran over to each other.
“I’m glad to see familiar faces here. What are you two doing here?” Devon asked,
“We could ask you the same thing,” Sean responded.
“You three know each other?”
The person to ask that was a young man with thick, messy sideburns. The way he stood and the clothes he wore gave Devon the impression that he was a businessperson.
“Yeah…t-they’re my friends.”
At those words, Devon suddenly felt everyone’s eyes on them. The look of distrust on most of their faces was enough to make Devon back up against Sean and Yuuki.
“What a coincidence, don’t you think?”
The next person to talk was an older woman with sun-kissed skin and dark, flowing hair, “Everyone except you three seem to have never met until now.”
“You’re wrong about that.”
A woman wearing a purple turtleneck stepped up, “I know that man over there.” She pointed at Dwight,
“What relation you have to him?” A boy wearing a collar was the one to ask that question.
“He’s an…acquaintance.” She responded. Slowly, the woman strolled over towards Dwight, who was standing near Devon and his friends.
The looks on their faces hardened. It was clear what they were thinking.
“They might know why we’re here.”
“Maybe they brought us here.”
“This was more than a coincidence.”
“What a way to start, don’t you think, Ari?” Dwight said to the woman, “We haven’t even started and people already look at us like we’re the mastermind.”
The woman smirked,
“Well, this was to be expected. I mean, how often do people who recognize each other meet in these games?”
“Well, there was Gabe and Hec in our game, remember?” Dwight said, “So perhaps a similar coincidence happened with those three.”
The way Dwight had said that made Devon think that him meeting with that woman was not out of chance. Without realizing it, Devon himself began to cast doubts on the duo.
“Oh my god, I can’t handle this excitement!”
All sixteen people looked up when they heard that voice. When they did, their jaws went slack.
Floating above them was a young girl dressed in white. Her red and green hair fluttered about as she descended.  The tail that made up her lower body lazily flapped about as she stopped shy of touching the ground.
All of them stared at her, shocked by the girl’s strange appearance. Her large eyes felt lifeless, especially her left eye, which was a blood red and the sclera pitch black. None of them could truly comprehend what was going on before them.
The first to break the silence was a young woman in a police uniform.
“W-Who are you?” She asked hesitantly.
The ‘mermaid girl’ gave a gentle smile.
“I am SAYA. I am artificial intelligence that was designed to run this facility.”
Suddenly, that smile turned twisted.
“Welcome one and all to the Null Game!”