When Elena woke she found herself sprawled on the ground. Her head hurt and she could feel the dewy grass below her. Her hair was mud covered and plastered to her forehead and as she brushed it out of her eyes, she saw the usually soft brown hair was matted with leaves and twigs. She looked to her left and her heart almost stopped.
The trailer had crashed onto a nearby tree and its engine was on fire. The windows were all broken. Elena got up and walked to the front, and almost fainted. The bus driver was dead in the front seat, his head lolling to the side and his eyes blank. There was no doubt he was not alive anymore. Not a breath was taken by him. Then a thought shook her to the bone. Her friends. She looked around and saw a few others littered on the ground. She walked closer to them, noticing their chests rising in the steady rise and fall of breaths being taken.
Leo was there, still in his Pj's. They were blue with dinosaurs in them. His eyes were closed, but there didn't seem to be any wounds on him, except the small scraped and bruises that stood out on his pale skin in the moonlight. Etaine, Selene, Diana, Ash and Wyatt were there too. All were in the same condition as Leo, beat up, but fine.
A little farther off the trail, Elena found Asher and Damian, and she somehow managed to drag them back to the clearing where she had found the others. But there was no sign of Millie, Easton or Austin. Elena decided to check the trailer.
In the very back, she found Easton passed out. She pulled him out of the trailer and laid him next to Leo. Now, she had to find Millie and Austin. Elena searched the whole clearing, but found no-one. Just as she was about to give up hope, a groan rang through the silent forest. Elena followed the sound to a patch of bushes on the other side of the road they had been riding on. Millie and Austin were there.
Millie was still out cold but Austin was sitting up. Elena rushed to his side. "What happened?" He asked, rubbing his head. "I feel like I just got hit in the head with a baseball bat, and sadly, I've got some experiences with that", he looked around, shaking his head. "The trailer crashed and the driver's dead. The others are still out cold, I woke up a few minutes ago", She replied.
Elena helped Austin back to the clearing and then dragged Millie back. "What should we do now?" she asked Austin. "I dunno, maybe we should go look if any of our stuff survived", he suggested. Elena nodded and they both walked to the trailer. They went to the back and saw that some of their suitcases had indeed survived. They had some clothes, water and emergency food. Elena and Austin took these back to the clearing just as Wyatt and Selene woke up.
They explained the situation to the two, who seemed worried to hear the news. By the time they finished looking for their lost belongings, the others too had woken up. They explained the situation, and the group decided it would be best if they all look for someplace warm to rest. "Hey, the box is still here!" Ash commented, noticing the box which they had found at the trailer center.
Elena picked it up. She examined the design of the box, noticing the intricate design that covered every inch of it. From a distance, it looked like a box with roses or some other leaves carved on them, but with a closer look, one would discover some more disturbing details. The design was of thousands of tiny skulls and a fog like substance covering them. Elena was about to put it down when her eye caught something odd about the name tag. It had the same names, but the post script had changed, or so it seemed. It now read:-
The games have begun.
Elena shivered, but decided to keep it to herself. "Hey guys, how about we go and find someplace warm to sleep huh?" Wyatt asked. "Good idea", Easton said shivering. There was now a cold breeze. "Hey is it just me, or is the wind kinda weird?" Damian asked. The wind had picked up. Elena wondered what felt to unnatural when she noticed something about their surroundings.
"Guys, why aren't the trees and grass moving?" she asked. "I don't know", Wyatt said slowly. "We should find that place, I think I see light up ahead". There was indeed a small glow far in the distance. They followed it and only stopped every once in a while, to steady themselves. A few minutes later Elena began to wonder whether her senses were playing tricks on her, because it felt like the temperature was rising the closer, they got to the light. But at the same time, Elena felt freezing cold and wanted to wrap herself up in a blanket.
"Hey is it just me or the temperature rise like a hundred degrees, or did it drop?" Asher asked. He was sweating, but his teeth were chattering, just like Elena's were. After some time, they pushed some branches away to reveal the source of the light. They were standing in front of a huge set of gates, which were impossibly tall and yet pretty small in width. There was a huge nameplate in the center reading, 'The Devil's Games'. "So, do we go in?" Diana asked? "Sounds like a bad idea, but it's the only one we have", Wyatt sighed.
He walked forward and pushed open the doors. Elena walked in and immediately felt sick. It was like they had walked into another world which was like the set of a hunger- games themed reality show. The grass had turned to sand, the trees to the inside of a gorge, kind of like what Elena had imagined the inside of the Grand Canyon to look like. A few feet in front of them stood a railway station.
They walked inside and it looked like any other railway station, except for the fact that it was completely black and red, and the moment they stepped in, the sound of an approaching train filled the air. "I gotta see what's in there", Leo said. He had been watching the box for the last hour and he finally grabbed it from Elena. Before the others could protest, Leo threw open the lid of the box.
In it was 10 train tickets and a book of some sort. Leo handed each of them a ticket. Just then, the train zoomed into the station. When the train stopped, a gaunt looking man stepped out. "Hello. I notice you have the tickets. Please board the train voluntarily. I am Charon, and I will be your conductor for this journey. You may please find you're the man said in a harsh voice that sounded like he had worn it out years ago, and then decided to have sandpaper for lunch.
Elena shivered, noticing the use of the word voluntarily. This man was creepy and he looked rather menacing. At first glance he seemed harmless enough. But his expression was one that can only be described as a storming black river. His face was pale and pointed, but when the shadows deepened, he looked menacing in a way a river was. Soft and shallow enough till you trigger the deep menacing currents.
They group looked at each other and came to a silent conclusion, they would take their chances with this man. They handed him their tickets and climbed onto the train. It was well furnished, but like the station, it was red, black and gold themed. As they passed the hallways, they noticed each of the doors in this compartment had names on them, like dining, main bathroom, kitchen etc. They stepped into the net compartment.
Wyatt who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks when he saw the doors. "What's wrong?" Selene asked him. He whimpered like the big baby he was and pointed at the door. When Elena read the name, she too gasped. It said, 'Austin Caron'. The door to the left read, 'Leo Nelwyn' and so on.
"Yes, I suggest you go to your rooms before the train starts. You may need to lie down for the first part", Charon said. His blank face was now smiling, which made him look even more menacing. Elena decided to take his advice and she found her room.
It was nice, with cute navy-blue curtains and gold and blue walls. There was a nice, soft bed and a fluffy blanket on top. A desk sat in the corner, with all of Elena's favorite books, and ones that she had wanted to read. How did they know that? She went into the bathroom. It had a huge tub and there was a cupboard stocked with all of her usual brands of toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner.
Again, she got the feeling this was not just a coincidence. The room itself was much too big to fit on the train, as the room was at least as big as what a whole compartment looked like from the outside. Then the train started. It ran with such a burst of speed; Elena was knocked onto her bed. She decided to lie down, as she was already feeling a little sick. After about 5 minutes, the train slowed to a usual rate. Elena walked into the hallway and knocked on her brother's door. He opened it and pulled her inside.
"El, this is weird", He said. "How do they know what shampoo I like to use, and what games I like to play?" He indicated to the game bar that was sitting in the corner where Elena's book case was in her room. They decided to go and ask the others. Each of them found it weird, but decided not to say a word about it to Charon, who was standing near the door. He had been watching them the whole time, and Elena often got chills down her spine when she looked at him.
They were making their way to the dining room when the train came to a sudden halt. Most of them were knocked of their feet, and Elena stumbled into Austin and both of them fell down. The doors of the train opened and Charon went outside again. A few minutes later he walked back in accompanied by a group of four, 2 boys and 2 girls who were about 15 or 16. They walked past the Elena's group, straight to their rooms, as Charon had told them to. Minutes later they came out.
"Will you please explain to me why the rooms are decorated and furnished to our tastes. Do you work here?" A girl asked. "Calm down Felicity, do they look like they work here? Oh, by the way, I'm Felix Leiden, this is Felicity Brune, Andromeda Rend, and Xander Rend". Felix had Blonde hair and bright eyes hat were somewhere between hazel and sunshine. Felicity was a brunette with fiery brown eyes, and Elena decided that she did not like her. Andromeda and Xander were both obviously siblings, but Andromeda looked about a year younger. They both had blonde hair and bright eyes that were almost purplish.
"Umm, we don't work here, we suddenly came to this forest, where our trailer crashed. Then we found a railway and got onto this train", Leo explained. "That much like what happened to us. We were trekking when a storm hit us, we blacked out and later found the railway like you." Felix said. They went to dinner, and just as they were about to start eating the delicious meal of roast meat and pasta and pizza and potatoes, the train stopped. Charon got on board with a bunch of kids called Basil Aslan, Aisne Mexeler, Aurora Senia, Gabriel Finn, Crystal Blanche, Blaze Colen.
By the next day they were joined by a lot of others, Briar, Exie, Amira, Cleo, Jackson, James, Ryan, Nathan, William, Oliver, Carter, Aidan, Caleb, Cameron, Claire, Brooklyn, Hazel, Hailey, Quinn, Piper, Arianna, Isabelle, Aubree, Eloise, Brianna, Lilly, Payton. What sort of party was this. Just then the train stopped for the final time. Charon led us out, got on board and the train left. We walked forward, following the trail in front of us. We soon saw a man standing there.
"Hello", he said as they joined him. He turned to look at them, and someone screamed. He his face was scarred and burnt, but there was something else about him that was scarier. He seemed unsubstantial, almost holographic, almost ghost-like.
"I am Uriel," he said in a raspy yet hollow, far away voice. "You have your first quest in front of you". He raised his hands and the landscape turned into a forest. "Find my doors. If you do, you will continue this journey, if you don't well, you will inevitably die." "Wait", Felicity cut in. "what is this place?" Oh, this is the Devil's Games my dear. And I wish you good luck. May the best survive. May the weak die. And before I finish, remember, the creatures here are not tame. If they catch you, they don't let go. I bid you farewell now. Find the doors and leave, don't find them, well that's already covered isn't it. May the games begin, and may you all succeed in this part of the trials." He had a grotesque grin on his face.
"Well see you at the doors", Ash said to us. "You may not all survive", Uriel mocked. "Well then see you on the other side", Ash retorted. Uriel made a noise that sounded like a duck wheezing. Elena wondered whether he was chocking, when she saw that he was actually laughing. "Oh, naïve child. There is no other side, you either leave, or you stay", He grinned again, before disappearing. An airhorn blew. Just then, the place was filled with the howls and snarls of wild animals. They all ran into the wilderness.
