Run for Your Life:
The room was as wide as a hall huge, bright, and filled with light shining from above. Thousands of people were packed inside, dressed in different colors, each wearing strange outfits that didn't belong to them. Everyone looked confused, whispering and shouting as the noise filled the air.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, a sudden notification echoed from every pocket.
Ding!
Almost everyone reached into their clothes at the same time. Their phones were glowing each one matching the color of their outfit.
A message flashed on all the screens:
"System Notification: Players, get ready for your first game."
Confusion exploded through the crowd. None of this made sense. All they remembered was waking up here, wearing unfamiliar clothes.
A man dressed in red, with the number 20 printed on his shirt, stood up and shouted,
"What the hell is going on?! All I remember was downloading and installing something!"
His words spread through the room like fire. People started murmuring no, shouting.
Everyone had downloaded the same game.
Panic took over. People pushed, argued, and tried to figure out what was happening.
A man in a suit standing near a corner lifted his hand and froze. On his wrist was a glowing bracelet. A number appeared on it:
₦1,000,000,000
"One… one billion?" he whispered.
Someone heard him and shouted it out loud.
Everyone checked their wrists and saw the same thing.
"What the hell is this bracelet?"
"Why do we have money showing here?"
"Is this some kind of trick?!"
Before the noise got worse, another system voice boomed:
"Players, get ready. Round One, Level One: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Survive while running."
A deep silence fell.
Then panic returned twice as strong.
"Is this a prank?!" someone screamed.
For what felt like an hour, they stared at their phones, trying to make sense of the message.
Then the floor began to shake.
The ground at the back of the room split open.
Piece by piece, the floor collapsed into a deep pit.
Screams exploded everywhere.
People ran.
People pushed each other.
People fell.
There were 995 players in the room. The unlucky ones standing too far back dropped straight into the pit.
This wasn't a game.
This was real.
A young man wearing the number 95 struggled near the back. He was slim and slow, unable to run as fast as the others. Panic filled his chest as he tried to keep up.
The crowd sprinted toward a glowing exit as the floor behind them continued to crumble. Just when they thought they were safe, a shot rang out
BANG!
The woman running beside Number 95 dropped instantly, half her head gone. Blood splattered across the ground.
Screams tore through the air.
Everyone ran into a wide, empty city silent, abandoned, like a giant maze.
A new message appeared:
"Run for your life: Hide and Seek.
Hide anywhere in the city while running."
"This is insane!" a man shouted, pushing someone to the ground to save himself. The true nature of humans showed quickly people would do anything to stay alive.
Number 95 struggled at the back, breathing hard, legs weak.
This wasn't just a race.
It wasn't "last man standing."
It was simple:
If you stop running, you die.
If you slow down, you die.
And the game had only just begun.