*During the 10-minute break (between X and new voice)*

"Why would you do that?! They're gonna be suspicious now," says X.

"You better realize who the hell you're talking to. If you want to see them again, you better keep a quiet tone with me," says the new voice.

X's face turns panicked, he goes silent for a bit before speaking again, "I understand, boss. But, you need to realize that they're gonna get suspicious, they're smarter than the past groups," says X.

"I'm aware of that, that is why I did it. I need to see just how smart they are. I want them to get suspicious. I want them to think 'what the hell was that??' I want to see their full potential, which is why I need you to do something for me before the 5th stage starts," says X's boss.

"And what is it?" says X.

As X's boss explains, X's face turns into a frown without him even realizing it, "are you kidding me? I doubt they'll survive if I do that."

"Do it. I don't care what you think, if you want to see them again, you'll do what I say," says X's boss.

X lets out a sigh, "Yes sir."

*During the 10-minute break (the players)*

"I don't believe X," says Lexi.

"None of us do, what X said wasn't convincing at all," says Blake.

"That's true, but what can we do about it? There's not a chance in hell that he would tell us who that was," says Ana.

The players start a conversation about what they think happened. As they do, Lexi starts looking around the room.

As she looks around, she says, "guys, are there any cameras in here?"

"Of course, there are cameras in every room, that's how X can see us when he gives us instructions," says Ana.

"Is there anywhere without cameras?" says Lexi.

"The only place would be the bathrooms, why do you ask?" says Joseph.

"We should probably go there to talk about this instead of here..." says Lexi. As she finishes her sentence, she starts walking to the bathrooms.

"What the-? Lexi, where are you going?" says Joseph.

"Just follow me!" says Lexi.

Everyone does as she says and starts following her.

"Ok, we're here, everyone come in," says Lexi as she opens the bathroom door.

Everyone goes in and Lexi begins to start talking again, "we need to talk about who that man was."

"Obviously, but why couldn't we just do that where we were?" says Blake.

"Because of the cameras," says Lexi.

"Why would it matter if there were cameras? We've always talked about our plans in front of X, and he's never done anything about it," says Blake.

"Yeah, but that's changed now," says Lexi.

"Yeah, I can see what you mean," says Chase.

"Exactly! Now that the man is in the picture now, it changes everything," says Lexi.

"Maybe not everything, but I can see what you mean," says Carly.

"What's changed?" says Rachel.

"There's a possibility that him, that random man, has seen us through the cameras," says Ana.

"So what if he's seen our faces a few times? That doesn't change anything," says Blake.

"I agree, what's the big deal?" says Rachel.

"You guys aren't getting it, there's so much more than that," says Chase.

"Enlighten us then, what has changed, what is the big deal?" says Blake.

"Blake, this random man, whatever the hell his name is, hasn't only seen our faces. He has seen our personalities, he has seen the ideas and plans that we've tried coming up with to help us survive! He knows who we're closer with, he knows who barely talks to who, and he most likely knows our thought process, he's probably smarter than X," says Chase.

"Precisely, he knows a lot about us. He's definitely smarter than X, this man seems like X's boss, so of course, he's smarter. Bosses wouldn't hire someone smarter than them, at least, they wouldn't do it in this situation," says Joseph.

"Wouldn't that mean that X is innocent..?" says Lexi.

"What do you mean?" says Carly.

"I mean that X isn't the one in charge. If he has a boss, wouldn't the boss be the one in charge? Bosses usually make their employees do stuff so what if that's what happened here?" says Lexi.

Everyone falls silent for a bit. Who actually started this game?

"Who are we supposed to blame for this game then? X's boss or X?" says Blake.

"We don't know the situation between them and how this game even started, we shouldn't assume anything. You can blame whoever you want, but I doubt it'll do anything," says Joseph.

"I really do think that we're getting somewhere here, but does anyone know how much time is left before the break is over? We can continue this conversation later," says Ana.

"I'm not sure, we should probably leave the bathrooms though in case we're nearing the final minutes of break," says Carly.

Everyone agrees and they walk out of the bathroom doors.

They sit around waiting for the next game to start, it doesn't take long.

X goes on the intercom, "Hello, my players. It's time to start the 5th stage. You guys are almost finished, it would be a shame if something happened. Moving on, you guys know where to go, hurry."

Everyone does as told, the urge to say something is strong, but with the way X's tone is, it's best not say anything.

Everyone goes to the room that they usually do, waiting for X's instructions. They see the door to the 5th stage. They're almost done.

"It's time for the 5th stage, are you all ready?" says X.

"We're ready, just tell us what this stage is," says Blake.

"Yeah... here's the thing, that's not happening," says X.

"What do you mean?" says Ana.

"I mean that I'm not telling you what this stage is, you need to work together to figure it out on your own," says X.

"WHAT?! Why the hell are you doing that, you've never done that before!" says Blake.

"Lower your tone towards me, Blake. I said what I said, you guys can look in the room and try to figure out what you all are doing," says X.

"But that's not fair! You've never done this, why are you starting now?" says Lexi.

X's boss starts to speak, but not loud enough for the players to hear, "X, I need to check on something, I'll be back soon. Keep your players in line, they shouldn't be talking back."

X nods his head as he continues to start speaking again, but he starts speaking much quieter, "My players, I don't have much time to say this, but I'm sorry. This isn't my choice."

"What?" says Chase.

"X, what are you talking about?"

"I can't explain now, but I promise at the end of the game, I will," says X with remorse in his voice.

As X finishes his sentence, his boss walks back in.

"X, I don't get it, what are you saying?" says Lexi.

All of a sudden, X's normal voice is back, and he continues talking, "Didn't you hear me the first time? I said that you have to figure out what you guys are doing. Don't complain too much, after all, I still plan on helping you."

Everyone looks confused but they shouldn't bring it up now, whatever just happened is a topic for later.

"How so? How are you gonna help us if you aren't gonna tell us what this round is?" says Chase.

"I will tell you the basics. This round is 10 minutes long and if you lose in this stage, you lose all of your lives. Although you guys are figuring out what the stage is, you can tell me what you think the stage will be. I would be more than happy to tell you if you're correct or not," says X.

As X finishes what he's saying, he turns off his mic and starts speaking to his boss, "Was that good enough? Was my tone towards them good?"

"It's fine, but I still don't understand why you offered to tell them if they were right or not."

"Despite how smart they are, if they have no guidance, all of their smarts will go to waste."

"Spoken like a true scientist," X's boss says sarcastically, "you always find a way to bring up your job."

"Of course, why wouldn't I bring up the thing that I do best?"

"Uh-huh, I don't know why you love your job this much, but that's enough talking. Turn your focus to the players."

"I understand, sir," says X as he turns back around to the cameras.

Chase opens the door as usual, and everyone is confused as to what they see inside.

"What is that supposed to be?" says Ana.

"Beats me," says Joseph.

"Are you guys dumb?" says Blake.

"What?" says Ana and Joseph at the same time.

"Those are VR headsets, they look a little different than how they normally do but those are definitely VR headsets," says Blake going into the room.

As he picks up one of them and gets a closer look, he confirms what he said before, "Yeah, I was right."

"I know what VR headsets are, but they look so different," says Joseph.

"They don't look that different, it's just the wiring that's all different, they hooked these headsets up completely different than how you're supposed to," says Blake.

"How would you know that?" says Ana.

"These things are one of my new obsessions at the moment, I've put so much research into them. I can't figure out what game we would be playing on them though."

"Isn't there a slot where you put the game into?" says Carly.

"There usually is, but I can't find it, it's like it disappeared."

"Move over, Blake, I use these a lot at my job," says Chase as he goes to pick up a VR headset.

"You can try dude, but the slot is gone," says Blake.

After a few seconds of Chase looking all over the headset, he says, "you're right, I can't find it. But, after some thinking, I have an idea of what game we would be playing."

"And what game would that be?" says Rachel.

"I don't have a specific game in mind, but I know what type it could be."

"Which is..?" says Blake.

"A simulator. Whenever we would use these headsets, the tech department would code certain simulators or scenarios into them," says Chase.

"I could see X making us do that, especially if it's some type of survival simulator," says Lexi.

"What do you mean by survival simulator?" says Joseph.

"In the simulator, we would have to survive something. The most common survival games are usually with zombies, maybe it could have something to do with that," says Lexi.

"A zombie simulator? It seems a little childish," says Rachel.

"It is, but you have to admit, it would make sense. X seems like he would 100% have us do that," says Ana.

"I suppose so, he did make us play hide-and-seek, after all," says Rachel.

"Should we go ask X if we're correct?" says Carly.

"Yep! I can go do the asking," says Lexi.

"Go ahead, Lexi," says Joseph.

"X! Are we doing a zombie simulator?" says Lexi.

"Are you kidding me? It's only been 5 minutes, how have you guessed that this quickly?" says X.

"Are we right or not?" says Carly.

"You are right. I must say I'm impressed. Now that you've guessed correctly, get inside the room and put the headsets on, there should be one for everyone."

Everyone walks in and puts a headset on. On the screen, the game starts up with bright colors. It said 'ZOMBIE SIMULATOR 2000.' Under the title, there was a start button.

"When you guys see the start button, I want you to all click it at the same time or this won't work. I'll give you guys a countdown, when I get to 3, press start," says X.

"Ok, start counting," says Joseph.

"1..."

"2..."

"3... NOW"

Everyone presses the start button at the same time and all of a sudden they were teleported.

"What the hell?!" says Blake.

"Were we... teleported inside the game?" says Ana.

"That's correct. The game will start in a few seconds," says X.

Inside the game, there's a countdown in the sky, it has 10 seconds on the clock.

"10..."

"What are we supposed to even do!?" says Lexi.

"9..."

"It's simple. We have to survive, we'll be fine," says Chase.

"8..."

"Chase is right, we'll be fine, try finding high ground, don't fight unless you have to," says Joseph.

"7..."

"6..."

"5..."

"4..."

"3..."

"2..."

"1... STARTING NOW"

As the game started, the players could see the zombies. There were hundreds of them. All the players took off, running in opposite directions, desperately trying to survive.

X's boss lets a chuckle out, "This should be interesting."