After changing my clothes from a designated area to where I should wear them, I took a seat near the next metal door to wait for the others to come. If only my mates from my batch would cooperate and not kill everyone, we should have survived that phase alive. It's odd to feel but as I sat in there alone, this whole thing is becoming more of like difficult and I noticed that these armed men were playing with us.

The only thing is that, these phases were like a game of some sort. The odd game that my childhood couldn't even recognize.

Moments passed by, the door where I entered had opened. Revealing seven male and female figures of the next batch. Seems that I'll have to face them for a welcome. But to heckle with them, I'll mind my own business here.

"You must be from the batch ahead of us, where are the others?" asked by a teenage girl who looks like she's looking for someone. I turned around to face her and answered, "Dead. Don't ask me why." before turning my back against her.

I heard her soft sobs and and the other people from her batch's different reactions, probably thinking I killed my mates. As if.

"Lady, how did you survived?" asked by an old man from that batch and once more, I face him. This time, I got tired of waiting in this room. Maybe a good heaping of conversations will not hurt, isn't it.

I told him what I did that made the others to listen to me. But since I'm the lone survivor of my batch, their queries went on and on until I held my fist up to shut their mouths.

I stared at them to remember who they are. There's this teenage girl I talked to, a boy who ages like the girl I mentioned, a woman and man who seemed like a couple, a lady who looked like she doesn't care about me at all but had asked me series of questions in a minute, a little boy who brought his faded-colored backpack and this old man who was the kid's grandfather. A sigh then escaped from my mouth.

"I don't know hw much longer we'll have to wait in this room. But it would be much better if we all rest after what we all have been through right now. And please, refrain from asking me more questions, I could not answer them anymore." I then turned my back from them to stare at the metal door as I wait for it to be opened.

I still heard them talking but I couldn't tell what they had talked about. Hence, it doesn't really matter to me.

Because interacting with them will means I'll get to be attached to them. And I hate deep attachments, it would ache if they'll be gone.

One thing I noticed earlier was how that teenager girl cried after I answered her first query. Must be that she had someone dear to her who died during our phase.

After the long hours of our wait in here, I heard an alarming sound from an intercom and the light above it turned on to red light. I looked at the people behind me and saw how they reacted. It seems that they're preparing themselves to whatever will gonna happen to us if we go out of this closed hall.

"We are now in the second phase. In here, there should be ten persons to participate in the area. But since there are only eight persons left from ten batches, this phase will be cut down to half...." The person kept on talking about things I couldn't grasp to understand that made me crease my brows. What is he pertaining for?

"... And as you go outside, all of you will be placed in each of your booths. Both young and old. Each booths have mystery items and notes that you should keep until the end of the phase. Do not loose them. Or you'll be eliminated." after that, I heard the beeping sound of the intercom before the metal doors opened themselves.

I regretted standing ahead of these people, what if I'll get shot by those bullets from nowhere?

As anxious as I am, my foot slowly took its pace as I go to the nearest booth I could find. Only then there I noticed that those booths we will have to get in aren't arranged in order. They're all scattered and randomly placed to any part of this area.

And they're also in eight different colors. Yellow, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Violet, Indigo, and Black. There's also a white booth but it seems unavailable, same with the other colors since they were placed with caution tapes. And I'm in the black booth, the one nearest to me. When I got inside my booth, all I see is a black bag and a note above it. I took the note and wore the bag while reading it.

All players in this phase have their own weapons placed inside the booths you have chosen. Don't lose it or you will be eliminated.

[If you have this bag, high chance of you getting in danger. That's a bag of explosives, guns, and bullets. Never ever lose the bag.]

After reading the note, I open the bag to see if the note was telling the truth. Indeed, there were the things mentioned in it. Explosive devices, high-powered-looking pistols, and bullets.

I felt uncertain with what I chose, I don't know how to use a gun. What more about these explosives? What relevance does these things have in this phase? Are we gonna kill each—

My thoughts were disrupted when I heard the slashings and and grunting sounds of people outside my booth. I even heard the cries of the teenage girl and the child near the booth where I was in. I was about to get out when I felt something strange. A presence of someone.

Is this the challenge? We're not oriented with this!