Just A Game

Chapter five

"The blonde girl you were talking to this morning?"

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"Just wanted to make sure. Yeah, I saw her outside a few minutes ago with Cle-"

"Outside?!" Will stopped in his tracks and blinked at Ash, who glanced back at him in confusion.

"Uh, yeah?"

"You mean we can go outside and you haven't told me? Why hasn't anyone escaped?!"

"Heh, we've all tried..." Ash continued walking, Will close behind him. "The yard is surrounded by an electric fence. If you try to climb it, it's a miracle if you'll survive."

"How big is the yard?"

"Let's find out." Ash started running down the hall at full speed. 

"Wait!" Will chased after him, confused. "Why are we running? And why are you so fast?!"

"I hate when people ask two questions in the same sentence, it's not like I can answer them both simultaneously." Rather than answering either question, Ash picked up the pace.

Will was surprised no one seemed to view this as out of the ordinary. No one even batted an eye when they saw the two run past. Ash abruptly stopped in front of a set of a large double doors and Will stumbled forward, almost crashing into him.

"Why were we running?!" He asked, struggling to catch his breath. I guess I'm a little out of shape.

"We don't have all the time in the world, why waste it walking?" Ash opened the door.

Will was met with harsh sunlight. He lifted a hand above his eyes and slowly stepped through the door. There weren't quite as many people outside as there were inside, but that didn't make it much calmer; there was still screaming coming from all directions and a woman was bleeding out on the ground with a friend comforting her through tears. Someone was attempting to climb a particularly tall lamppost to get away from someone else who was yelling incoherent threats. An ax was stuck in the ground nearby.

The yard was bigger than Will expected. The ground was blood-stained concrete with a few cracks. Three tall lampposts had been placed on each side of the yard. A few bloody weapons had been discarded on the ground, along with four decaying bodies. A large speaker was attached to the corner of the two-story buildings' roof. Like Ash had said, the area was fenced in by a very tall fence. Will didn't plan to find out if it was really electric.

"Wow..."

"What?" Ash glanced at him.

"Is this...normal?" Asked Will, gesturing to the dead bodies that had been abandoned. "Do people really not care enough to, like...move their bodies to somewhere more appropriate?"

"Where do you think 'somewhere more appropriate' is?" Ash asked. "This is the best we've got. At least they're outside; most people are stuffed into a storage closet or left where they died because whoever killed them assumes someone else will handle it. Around twenty people lose their lives daily here, and only four of them have been dragged outside. They're lucky someone put in that much effort for them."

"Doesn't that scare you?" Asked Will, approaching the dead body of a blue-haired teenager, who looked peaceful enough that they could be sleeping if it weren't for the puddle of blood under their head. "Being abandoned and forgotten? Rotting in a place like this?"

Ash shrugged. "It's unsettling for anyone to think about. There's nothing I can do to stop it, so why would I fret? It could be worse; I could have people who miss me and are never given peace. Sometimes, it's better to be abandoned and forgotten."