BEEP!
"Anyone who isn't in a ball pit in the next 30 seconds will be infected."
Benjamin and Frank shot each other a look. Their feet were stuck to the floor for a second. That second felt like a minute for the pair of them. The expressions on their faces mirrored each other perfectly, having the same questions written on them.
Did I hear that correctly?
Was that real?
What are we supposed to do?
The confusion only lasted a millisecond.
All around them, the sound of hurried footsteps erupted. Sounds of people running. Hearing words like 'quick' and 'let's go' and seeing people run off trampolines and jump off inflatables.
That was their cue.
"We gotta go."
The ball in Benjamin's hands slipped out. Whether it slipped or he dropped it was unclear because he started running as he did.
Frank didn't need to respond. His legs responded for him by setting off with Benjamin.
Both boys burst into a sprint out of the bouncy basketball cage they were in.
The trampolines beneath them made every step awkward. Instead of running normally, their feet sank into the surface before launching them forward.
Benjamin was pulling ahead of Frank. He was already naturally quicker than Frank, so having to run across trampolines only widened the gap.
"Benjamin!" Frank shouted.
Benjamin glanced over his shoulder and realised he was leaving him behind.
"Go that way," Frank instructed, pointing in a direction.
Benjamin followed his instructions and curved his direction right.
Ahead, he could see the madness unfold. It was like an apocalypse, with everyone running around. People slipping, tripping and falling over. Not to mention the noise.
It was total chaos.
Benjamin was on solid ground now, so running was easier. The only problem was where to run. He knew which areas a ball pit was in, but he couldn't remember where any of them were. The situation was getting to him.
The pressure.
There was no clock or timer anywhere to be seen, so he had no clue how much time he had left.
Benjamin's pace slowed as he scanned the place. He was ignoring the bodies crossing his vision.
"There!" he said, pointing ahead. "Let's go!"
"No!" Frank shouted. "That's a foam pit."
Benjamin immediately halted and stared at the pit.
"There's no one in there," Frank continued, finally catching up to him.
Benjamin's eyes stayed locked onto the foam pit, seeing it empty.
"shit," he said, not one part of his body moving.
Frank lightly backhanded his arm, "Cmon. Follow where everyone is running."
That hit brought Benjamin back. By the time he turned his head, Frank was already on the go. There was no time to stop and talk.
Benjamin followed Frank, letting him stay in front and running slightly behind him.
"Look there," Frank said, pointing ahead.
Benjamin could already vaguely see the ball pit. He didn't need the pointing out. It was a straight line ahead.
The pair accelerated forward. Running past bodies, getting passed by bodies. They were basically there.
Benjamin started to slowly pull ahead of Frank again. Seeing the sea of plastic balls gave him a mini boost. He blocked out everything. The people around and the noise. All he wanted to do was dive into the ball pit.
The goal became closer and closer. The ball pit they were running to wasn't the biggest, but it was decent-sized, with a large number of people in it.
The first one to reach it was Benjamin. He saw a space where no one was and jumped into it with no caution. Frank followed a second later, landing next to him.
Plastic balls exploded around them, creating a colourful rainfall.
BEEP!
The 30 seconds are over. Anyone who isn't in a ball pit is now infected. You can now all leave the ball pit."
The announcement lifted the tension. The whole place fell silent with everyone glancing at one another.
Neither Frank nor Benjamin said anything to the other. They lay there catching their breath.
"That was close," Frank said, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.
"So that's how they're playing?" Benjamin said with a little laugh, breathing heavy.
"It worked. Look how many people didn't make it," Frank said.
Benjamin tilted his head and took a look around.
Quite a few people didn't manage to get into a ball pit. There were multiple ball pits throughout the arena, but they were scattered. The ball pit Benjamin is in right now is different from the one he was in the first round. The ball pit he was in for the first round was the biggest one.
"I've just realised. This helps the carriers," Benjamin said, lifting his body, becoming more aware of his surroundings.
"Yep. I have a feeling announcements like those are going to keep coming," Frank said. "More infections need to happen."
Benjamin stood up and brushed some of the balls off him, "How did you stay so calm bro?" he asked. "I nearly fucked it up for us."
"Weren't you calm?" Frank asked, sitting up from his lying position. "I thought you were calmer than me by how fast you were going."
"I didn't know where I was going. I was just running," Benjamin honestly replied.
"To be honest, I wasn't that calm," Frank said, shaking his head. "My plan was to follow where everyone else was going."
"I don't know why I didn't do that. I panicked hard," Benjamin said. "My mind blanked when you told me that was a foam pit."
"It's no biggie," Frank said, finally standing up. "We made it."
"I can see why you're third now," Benjamin playfully replied.
"You can't be serious," Frank said, seeing his smirk. "Let's get out of here."
"How did I end up alone?" Lucas muttered to himself as he shuffled through the ball pit about to get out. "Where did Ray go-ooh?"
Lucas's eyes nearly popped out of his head after turning his body and walking into someone.
"...Hey, Lucas."
"Elizabeth…" Lucas awkwardly said. "Hey."
Around them, students were climbing out of the ball pit, laughing and talking about what had just happened. Plastic balls were shifting and rolling around while people squeezed past them. All that noise, yet it felt like these two were in a silent bubble.
A small smile appeared on Elizabeth's face. "This is awkward," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Lucas let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah.." he replied, avoiding eye contact.
"I was already in the ball pit before the announcement, and I was about to get out. I wasn't following you," Elizabeth explained, wanting to clarify and clear herself.
"I didn't think that," Lucas shook his head. "This was definitely random," he said. "We're on the same team. It was going to happen."
"Yep…" Elizabeth replied, nodding along but not looking his way.
Another silence. It was already awkward, so the silence made it even more painful. Neither of them knew how to end the conversation or keep it going.
"I'm going to go now," Elizabeth slowly said, brushing an imaginary strand of hair behind her ears. "There's no point staying in here anymore."
She started moving before she could get a reply. Not because the reply took long, but because she wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Elizabeth wait."
In the few short seconds that passed, Lucas debated whether to stop her or not. He somehow found the courage from somewhere inside him and called out to her.
Elizabeth stopped, but it took her a few seconds to turn back and face him.
"I'm sorry for leading you on," Lucas said, glancing up and down from her eyes to the plastic balls at her legs.
"You've already apologised," Elizabeth softly said, doing the same as Lucas's eyes.
"Over text," Lucas replied. "I wanted to say sorry in person."
"You didn't have to."
"I wanted to," Lucas said, still struggling with eye contact. "Doing it over text was shitty."
"It's fine. I don't mind," Elizabeth reassured him. "I don't need another apology."
Lucas opened his mouth to reply but,
"You didn't lead me on," she continued before he could continue. "I can tell you liked me. Just not as much as your now girlfriend."
Lucas's eyes finally locked onto Elizabeth's for more than a second.
"You knew?"
Elizabeth smiled, "Of course, I knew."
BEEP! BEEP!
"The round is ending in two minutes. Players that are not in their zones by the end of the round will be infected."
The loud announcement ruined the little moment. The silent bubble they were in popped, and now they could hear all the noise around.
Elizabeth looked around at everyone making haste towards their zones.
"The round is ending. We should get back to our zone," Elizabeth said, quickly moving the conversation and herself. She was already near the edge, so she climbed out quite quickly. "Make sure you get back in time," she said with a smile, glancing back at him before lightly jogging away.
Everyone was scurrying to get out of the ball pit except Lucas. He stood frozen in thought, watching her go.
He loved his girlfriend. There was no doubt about that. But as he kept watching her go further and further away, there was still the tiniest bit of regret lingering in his heart.
"Tch… shit."
"We got infected again," Ash said, staring at the infected text on his wristband.
Malakai kissed his teeth. "That's annoying man," he said, his voice not matching his words. "I didn't even feel anyone get close to me though."
"Dude, we were in the middle of everything way before the ball pit," Ash reminded him. "If we didn't get infected before, we got infected in the ball pit for sure."
Malakai played back the round in his head, vividly remembering everything.
"It's calm," he said, shrugging. "We know what to do."
"Yep," Ash nodded.
"Naomi save us!"
Naomi died inside hearing that from across the room. She heard that phrase last round and found it somewhat funny. This time didn't have the same effect.
She was across the room from them with a lot of bodies between them, but could hear the smiles when they shouted that. She knew they were having too much fun with this.
Naomi closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before exhaling and turning around. Lo and behold, they were right in front of her.
"Why are you two infected again?" Naomi flatly asked.
"It's not our fault," Ash innocently said. "They're coming after us."
"No they're not," Naomi replied, shaking her head, bored. "You guys aren't special."
"Yes we are," Ash said.
"You're a different kind of special," Naomi mumbled under her mask.
"What's going on?"
Before the argument could continue, Sabrina and Tanisha walked over after noticing the commotion.
"They got infected again," Naomi snitched with no hesitation.
"Again?!" Tanisha repeated, staring at them in disbelief. "What are you guys doing?"
"It's not our fault," Malakai said, carelessly shrugging. "You saw what happened at the end of the round."
"Okay? And look how many of us didn't get infected", Tanisha replied with her hands out like she was showcasing the rest of the room. "I know for a fact you two were on some bullshit the entire round."
Ash leaned towards Malakai, "How does she know?" he blatantly whispered to him.
"She might have been watching us," Malakai whispered, covering his mouth, but it was still loud enough for them to hear.
Sabrina quietly exhaled through her nose. "Naomi, how many vaccines have we got?" she calmly asked. "Four, right?"
"Two after I cure these two."
"Okay," Sabrina said, clearly thinking about the next step.
"Should I cure them?" Naomi asked to make sure.
"Why are you asking that?" Ash frowned. "You need to cure us."
"No she doesn't," Tanisha replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "She's the doctor. She can choose."
"You're saying she can choose, but she's legit asking for permission," Malakai said with a smirk.
"Yeah…Yeah. Give them a vaccine," Sabrina nodded. She kinda drifted and listened to the conversation on autopilot. "We can't leave our teammates infected."
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Show me your wrists."
Both boys followed those instructions and held out their arms. The second Naomi tapped her wristband against theirs, the bright INFECTED text disappeared.
Grins appeared on both their faces at the sight of the clear wristbands.
"Malakai."
Malakai stopped looking at his wristband and started looking at Sabrina.
"I know this challenge is fun," Sabrina gently said. "You're enjoying yourself and having the time of your life."
"Yeah," Malakai slowly nodded.
"But can you take this challenge more seriously now?"
It was as if Malakai lagged how he froze. It wasn't just him. Everyone around had the same reaction.
Ash's eyelids raised.
Tanisha's eyelids raised.
Even Naomi's eyelids raised.
Sabrina didn't say it rudely at all. It was just extremely sudden.
It was taking Malakai a long time to reconnect. He had no clue what to say. His brain was still loading a response.
"You just got told to lock in bro," Ash finally said.
"She's not wrong," Tanisha added with the tiniest smile tugging her lips.
Malakai started rubbing the back of his neck. "Aryt. Fair enough," he finally responded. "But… how imma suppose to be serious?" he genuinely asked.
"I meant stop getting infected so carelessly," Sabrina clarified. "We're running out of vaccines."
"Sabrina, you're being too nice," Naomi said. "Malakai, you're number one on the leaderboard. Prove it."
"Damn, even Naomi is telling you to lock in," Ash commented, trying to instigate.
"How though?" Malakai asked, furrowing his brows and lifting his shoulders. "I can't do shit."
"You can avoid getting infected," Naomi simply said.
"Aryt. That's calm. I can do that," Malakai accepted.
"Also, help the team and get vaccines," Naomi said.
"And try to find out who the carriers and doctors are from other teams," Tanisha quickly added.
"Who do you lot think I am?" Malakai complained, looking at them, not liking all these responsibilities.
"You're the person at the top of the leaderboard," Naomi said again.
"Aryt, but that doesn't mean I can carry this team and make all of us win," Malakai replied. "I have no role."
"Okay now you guys are being too harsh on him," Sabrina stepped in. "Malakai, I just want you to take this more seriously. You can keep having fun, but don't get infected."
Malakai held her gaze for a sec, gauging how serious she was. "Aryt," he lightly nodded, breaking eye contact. "What about Ash though? It's not only me that's messing about," he said like a younger brother trying to get his older brother in trouble too.
Sabrina turned to Ash, "Ash, you too," she swiftly said.
Malakai giggled, "She has no faith in you."
"The fuck. Sabrina, at least sound like you care," Ash said, wanting the same treatment and care Malakai got.
Sabrina leaned closer to Malakai. "I'm saying it to you because I know you can help the team a lot if you actually try," she said quietly, ignoring Ash.
"You know I can hear you," Ash lied.
He didn't hear a word. He just wanted to be involved.
"I'll try innit," Malakai shrugged.
"I better see you trying to get some vaccines next round," Tanisha said, pointing a finger at him.
"I will. I will. Don't worry," Malakai replied with his hands up like a gun was being pointed at him.
"What about the gun?" Ash asked, gesturing to the table it was on. "Why don't we bring that out?"
"The gun is staying in here," Sabrina made clear. "No one needs to shoot anyone. A wrong shot is an elimination."
"The gun is useless," Naomi said, looking at it.
"I think they made a mistake adding that," Tanisha replied. "They probably thought people would be trigger-happy and a lot of people would be eliminated."
"Everyone's being a bunch of pussies," Ash said. "That's why no one is shooting."
"You shoot someone then," Malakai said, lightly whacking his body.
"I would," Ash confidently replied.
"No you won't," Sabrina confidently said.
Ash grinned. "See. I'm not the pussy here," he said like he'd proven his point. "I'll shoot anyone."
The other three glanced at each other. Letting Ash speak for the sake of speaking.
"Sabrina, I think it would be a good idea if we give Ash the gun," Naomi said. "We need someone to shoot the gun and put it to use."
Ash turned to Naomi in disbelief. "Out of everyone here, Naomi understands."
Unfortunately, the joke/diss flew straight over his head.
Malakai laughed through his nose, "Naomi's funny, man."
"Huh?" Ash said, not understanding.
Tanisha shook her head at Ash in disappointment, "You're stupid."
"What?" Ash replied, not understanding.
"She's trying to get you eliminated," Sabrina explained, feeling sorry for him.
Ash paused and looked like he was trying to physically process what she said. And even after the explanation,
"I don't get it."
BEEP!
"Round 4 has started."
The automatic doors slid open as the announcement came through the speakers.
Students began moving out. Before Malakai could leave, Sabrina reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and turned his head to his right.
"Malakai. Lock in," she said with a smile, pointing a finger at him.
A smirk slowly spread across his face,
"Aryt. Say no more."