Chapter 5: The Second Rest

Drew quickly sets down Ryder on the floor, his stomach spewing out blood all over it while he laid down. Drew grabs Ryder's hands and placed them on the wound, telling him to keep on the pressure, "Don't you go!" shouted Drew.

"HELP!" Drew shouted towards the door where the rest room was while he kept pushing against Ryder's wound.

No one came out of the door, maybe it was too thick for Drew's shouting to penetrate. Drew pacing his eyes to the door and back at Ryder bleeding. Seeing no other option, Drew rips off a piece of vine and tied it around Ryder's wound before starting to go to the door, "Keep on the pressure! I'll knock for help!"

Drew leaves Ryder's side and runs to the door, knocking heavily whilst he shouts his lungs out for help. Ryder however, tried his best to put on the pressure; but his vision began to blur like before. His hands losing strength along with his blood that dripped out of his system. While his vision turned blurred, he looks at his hands; withdrawing the pressure after he turns his hands to look at his palms. Covered in his blood, a flash came upon his sight; changing from one memory to reality. And with no pressure left, his eyes completely blurs, his head slowly crashing down on the ground while his eyes faced Drew as he knocked continuously.

His eyes finally gave up, slowly closing down; but not before a blinding light which Ryder saw was in front of Drew, but he was too tired to see or even care. Darkness once again inlayed upon his vision, only one thing different; not only was his sight in darkness, but also him: he was standing in a world where no light could come, but he still could see his hands and feet below. He moves his head left and right; his eyes up and down. There was nothing there but him and his thoughts. But a twinkle suddenly echoed, like a ringing of a small bell. Quickly turning around, Ryder sees the bed and the mummified figure once again, but now he felt the opposite; his heart was calm instead of racing to its heights; his skin held in the sweat from the surface — in fact, it was cooled.

Now in his volition, Ryder begins to walk towards the bed, placing his hand upon the railing when he arrived beside it. The figure's chest slowly pumping air; the sound of his breath — although low — could still be heard in Ryder's ear. Ryder carefully examined the figure with his attentive eyes: Everything except the tip of his fingers, his dry mouth, and its left eye were covered with a worned out bandage. Somehow his heart sank at the sight of it, even though he had never seen this figure in his entire life; if it did, it would've come up more often in his nightmares. With his eyes seeming to wonder in his mind, he didn't realize that the figure flinched until it moved its head to look at him. Ryder glances at its eye, bloodshot along with a drop of blood at the side of its pupil. Instead of averting, he stared at it for a minute, but it felt like it was longer. The figure — despite the obvious condition — lifted his hand which Ryder quickly looked at.

It was shaking while it struggled to move it up, then it slowly lifted his finger — seeming to be pointing, but to where? Ryder took notice of the pointing finger, then slowly turn his head to where the tip landed. In his surprise, it pointed at a door: a double door with metal sides and hinges, with a shade of blue on its plastic body; and glass windows, but it didn't reveal what was on the other side — in fact, it was all white. But all of this, didn't spark Ryder's curiosity; it told his heart to start running. He exhaled heavily as his wide eyes stared at the door; the screaming echoed again in his ear, but it didn't make it bleed. He quickly looked back at the figure. It stared him; wide eyes glaring at his. Ryder stumbled back, letting go of the railing as he tries to look away from its eyes; for it was red — not just the pupil — it was blood red all over.

With no other way, Ryder turns around to run as fast as he can; not taking notice that he was running into the abyss of darkness, but anywhere was better than where the figure laid, and where the door stood abruptly still — a door that Ryder somewhat found disturbing. He ran again just like he did back at the forest: not stopping for a breath; ignoring the lingering darkness around him; and without looking back — but he did look back. He turns his head but his body kept going, he didn't see the figure anymore, nor the double door. His mind sighed in relief, telling him it was okay to take a deep breath. But as he turns his head back to the front, he bumped hard on something, making him fall on his bottom. He holds his head to avoid being daze further, but his eyes were the ones thinking that he was; because he couldn't believe what he saw in front of him.

It was the figure, standing in front of him, towering high. It shouted at him, "LIES!!"

Ryder didn't try to discern what it meant; for he instead, lowered his head and covered it with his hands; trying to tell himself it was not real. He thought it was gone, like all nightmares after dark; but he soon heard its breath, slowly inching towards his head — towards his ear. And by that moment, he hears the sound of the air going In and out of its mouth; like it was swallowing it. The figure whispered a coarse voice, "Keep telling yourself that thought." The figure takes a breath, "for you need it back at the lie."

Then it seemed to have stopped, but it didn't. It moved closer than ever before to Ryder's ear; whispering one last word.

"Don't… Wake up." But he did.

Ryder's eyes finally opened, taking in the sight of a gray ceiling above him. He gets up carefully from where he laid: on a mattress laying on the ground. He searches the room, trying to see where he is: the walls were built in stone, even the ceiling; the floor however, was tiled with brown textures and a letter resembling a big W. But that was not all he saw; in the room, he realized he wasn't the only one in the room. He jerked back against the wall beside him after seeing a strand of black colored hair among. But after seeing who it belonged to, he sighed at his relief. It was only Channe, crouching down against the wall with his plushie bunny, "S-sorry that I startled you." Channe apologized.

"I-I also apologize for the place and the bed! I promise that they will be better next time!" said Channe apologetically.

Ryder raised his eyebrow towards Channe, for Ryder didn't know what he meant, but replied still, "It's okay Channe; I'm used to sleeping places like this," said Ryder examining the room, "I'm used to even worse places like this, but I'm glad I had some sleep."

Ryder attempts to stand up, but a sudden pain emerges from his stomach, making him fall back on the bed. He looks down to see a large bandage strapped around his abdomen where the beast's sharp tail hit him; there was hints of blood on the bandage: which was a large white sheet held tightly around his stomach, but it seemed that the bleeding has stopped. Channe stood up and walk towards Ryder, holding the plushie in his hand, "Don't move too much Mr. Ryder! Miss linsey said it would open up your wound." Channe reaches his hand out to help Ryder stand up.

Ryder turns his eye on Channe's hand, then accepted it gleefully before slowly standing up with his help. After putting on a new clean shirt that was hanging in the room, Ryder and Channe walked towards the door in hand, with Channe helping him walk. After laying his on the metal door knob, Ryder opens it; peeking out his head to see a hallway with stone walls — although it resembled more like a long cave rather than a normal hallway; There were also spiky stone formations on both the side of the path and the ceiling above, which proved his thought more. Ryder and Channe steps out of their room, looking both ways; trying to decide where to go.

"Right," said Channe with an assured tone, "It leads to the room where they bring out the food for us to eat, it is probably where the others are."

"Okay, then we will go there," said Ryder, giving Channe a quick smile before walking to the right with him, "But what does he mean by others?" Ryder thought, but he decided to shrug it off.

While walking to the room Channe mentioned, they passed by a few contestants: some in groups which talked with themselves; some were few that were discussing plans as far as Ryder could hear; and some were alone, not wanting to mingle with the others. Ryder thought as he and Channe walked, that despite the vastness of danger the forest laid on their way; there were still a lot of people that survived. And there was so many that changed along the way, like the ones back at the mountain cave. He prayed that Drew was okay, hoping that he would see him at the room they were heading; he thought of Evelyn too, hoping that she was okay; after all, he didn't see her and the others before he fell down to the forest. That is also one of the things that haunted his mind: what drew said, 'It didn't happen.' When he was so sure that he truly fell down the sky and into the very forest, even how he landed was odd. But maybe Drew was right — maybe he was too hungry to see or think clearly that day. Nonetheless, he was excited to eat again after a time of sleeping and running for his life.

Channe gently pulled Ryder's hand, attempting to get his attention which he got, "Miss Evelyn is fine if you're wondering; Miss Larah and Mr. Sine too," said Channe in a soft voice.

Ryder replied along with a smile, "Thank you for telling me, Channe." Ruffling his black hair, "Hopefully you and them have had better experiences in the forest than me and Drew."

"By the way, who was with you when you were in the forest?" asks Ryder with curiosity in his voice.

"Oh, I was with Miss Evelyn; she protected me from most of the things in the forest," said Channe with a smile that revealed his teeth.

"I bet she did," said Ryder as he chuckled, for even though he and Evelyn only talked for a little time, he knew that she was something else. He was just surprised that Evelyn let Channe tag along with her — well, she did let him tag along as well back at the maze.

The two continued to walk until they saw what seemed to be the end of the hallway, with doors embedded on the side walls. And there was a writing in the middle wall, made by big capital letters that were horizontal. W at the top, I in the middle, and C at the bottom: WIC, it spelled WIC. Ryder looked at the word, but he only raised an eyebrow and continued to walk to the left door which Channe told him to go through.

They entered the room and immediately their ears were occupied by the sound of constant talk among the contestants, but somehow, it felt like it was quieter compared to the chatter back at the first rest stop. Ryder raised his eyes above the head of the contestants that were sitting at tables eating, trying to find Drew or anyone that he recognized. Channe tried to look as well, but even with him on his toes, he couldn't see pass the stomach of most of the contestants.

"Look!" Channe exclaimed, pointing to a table just five tables near them, "It's Miss Evelyn and Miss Linsey eating together," said Channe in a proud voice.

Ryder looked at the table Channe said, and there they were. Seeing Evelyn's brown hair and her cheek which was covered with a bloody bandage; and Miss Linsey, which Ryder didn't know who she was.

Ryder lowers his head to talk to Channe, "Who's Miss Linsey?"

"She's the one who patched you up," said Channe, grabbing Ryder's hand as he leads him towards the table.

As they arrived at the table where Evelyn and this Miss Linsey ate. Both Evelyn and Linsey lifted their heads and laid their eyes upon Ryder and Channe. Linsey quickly got up to speak, "I'm glad that the bandage is suiting you well!" said Linsey with glee in her voice. Linsey had blonde hair and hazel eyes; fair complexion and some bandages on her cheek and wrist which she had to lift up her cotton jacket to patch it up, "I'm sorry about the sheet, I didn't have anything else to use."

"It's fine… Thank you for patching me up Miss Linsey," said Ryder extending his hand to shake Linsey's.

Without taking a look, Linsey quickly shook Ryder's hand, patting his shoulder, "All in a day's work! Besides, not even the games can keep me from fulfilling my duty!"

"Now, all you need to do is get plenty of rest and eat; I wish I could join you but there are still a lot of people that needs medical attention. I will see you three later!" Linsey waved goodbye to Channe and Ryder, including Evelyn, who was still sitting at the table eating what looked like cooked fish.

After gazing at the leaving Linsey, Ryder turns his eye to Evelyn who was lifting her eyes to look at him, "… I see that you're still alive," said Evelyn vaguely, "I thought you died during the first few minutes in the forest."

"Ha Ha, joke however you want," said Ryder, sitting on the table; with Channe telling him that he would be right back with their food.

"I wasn't." Evelyn shooting Ryder a stoic stare, "The way I met you in the maze gave me tons of assumptions."

Ryder exchanged her look with his glare, then shrugging it off to look at the other contestants: many of them were wearing bandages and white sheets in various parts of their body; with some even lost a limb or two, "Looking for your partner?" asks Evelyn, placing a piece of meat in her mouth.

Ryder's attention averted towards Evelyn, "You know him?"

"I was one of the people that helped you and your friend," said Evelyn in a calm voice, "He was knocking frantically on the door, saying that someone injured was with him; I just didn't expect it to be you; I take it the beast caught you?"

"…Yes," said Ryder with a glint of embarrassment, "We were ambushed at the cave by a few contestants who wanted our food, but the beast suddenly appeared and wiped them out one by one; we were next. But I managed to distract him long enough for Drew to open the door, and the tail managed to scrape my stomach before we went inside."

"So that's his name?" Evelyn shuddered, "His quite noisy, I'm surprised that you weren't caught by the beast sooner."

"Oh, come on, he's not that bad."

"Speaking of him, here he comes now," said Evelyn before taking a drink from a clay made cup.

Ryder turns to look around to where Drew might walk in, and as he looks at the door where he and Channe walked through; he saw him. He sees Drew's eyes scanning the room, finally stopping to where Ryder sat upon. Drew waves his hand at Ryder before walking towards him and Evelyn's table. Drew's cheek was painted with drops of blood, and there was a white patch on his forehead; his right hand was laced with a white cloth that covered his palm. As Drew arrived at the table, he places his uncovered hand on Ryder's shoulder, "I'm glad that you're okay! You got me worried there."

After exchanging smiles and greetings, Drew's eyes fell upon Evelyn, who was eating quietly, "I see that you're here," said Drew with a hint of annoyance.

Evelyn however, continued to eat without trying to notice Drew; Ryder sat there awkwardly as he darts his eyes back and forth at Evelyn and Drew, "So you're just going to pretend I'm not here?!" commented Drew.

After Evelyn takes one last sip from her cup, she looks at Ryder, "…Like I said." She wiped her mouth with her long-sleeved shirt, "Noisy."

After Channe arrived with his and Ryder's food, they began to eat at the table; with Drew and Evelyn kept bickering at each other — well, it was Drew that mostly bickered at her while she sat there waiting for Drew and Channe to finish. When Ryder finished, he sat aside his plate and looked at Evelyn; his eyes wanting to ask something, "Evelyn, can I ask you something?"

"…Sure," said Evelyn, lifting her eyebrow a bit.

"…Back at the start of the last game," said Ryder, with Drew beside him knowing the question, "Did you and Channe fell from the sky with other contestants?"

Evelyn's expression — similar to Drew — stared at Ryder like he was a mad man, but there was something in her eyes that was different, yet he couldn't make of it, "What… are you talking about?" asked Evelyn, trying to make sense of what he just said.

"See?" commented Drew, "You were just too hungry to remember Ryder; like I said, we were on a boat before we ended up in the forest."

"…What are you… talking about?" said Evelyn, but she wasn't talking to Ryder; her head was turned to Drew. Her eyebrows more arched than ever before.

Drew turned his head to Evelyn, his face filled with disbelief, "Wait… What do you remember then?"

Evelyn looked at both Ryder and Drew; Channe also as he chewed on a strand of noodle, "We… were sleeping in a cave," Evelyn explained as she puts down her fork, "… When we got out, we were already in the forest; we didn't know why or how we got there."

All three of them sat in deep silence, trying to wrap their head around the different memories they had; with Ryder losing his appetite, and Drew twirling a piece of loose bandage he had on his body. Before it became a minute, Ryder spoke up, "… What the hell is happenin—"

Out of nowhere, a sound of speakers being turned on suddenly rippled through the room; lifted their heads up to see where it came from, but it spoke instead, "Attention all contestants!" the voice from the speaker announced, "All of you must proceed to the stage area for the words of our beloved host before the next game begins. Good day to you all!" the speakers turned off together.

All of them glances at each other's eyes, with Channe looking up at Ryder as he tugs his shirt, calling him "… I don't want to go…" Channe said with poor eyes.

Ryder looked down, exchanging a sad look, "… We have to Channe, or else we would be goners…"

The four of them stood up from the table, and went along the other contestants as they walk towards stage room, which was the main room of the second rest. The contestants kept bickering among themselves as they strolled along, talking about plans and predictions of what the next game could be; but they were some who tried to forget that they were in the situation. They entered the room, seeing its large space with the ceiling filled with luminescent lights and the side embedded with large speakers; at the far front of the room was a stage, but it was empty, with only a giant screen —similar to the screen before — at the very top hanging from the ceiling.

All of them looked up to see everything they could fit in their eye, with Channe not being to see nothing but the stomachs of the other contestants. Evelyn was searching over the room as Ryder looked at her, assuming that she was looking for someone she met; Drew however, moved a bit away from the group, meeting up with a woman that was patching up a contestant — but it wasn't Linsey. As Ryder looked further at Drew, he was coming back with the woman behind him; Ryder raises his eyebrow trying to guess what he was doing.

"Ryder, This is Madi!" said Drew enthusiastically, "She's one of the people that helped you get patched up!"

"Oh come on," said the woman named Madi as she blushed, "I only helped, it was mostly Linsey that did the work; I was just helping her."

Madi was slim girl with faint red hair and eyes, wearing a white shirt with many other cloths combined into it. Ryder stepped forward towards her, extending his hands, "Nice to meet you Madi, and still, thank you for helping Drew and I" said Ryder with a smile.

"Your welcome then," said Madi happily as she shakes his hand.

After retracting their hands back beside their waists, Evelyn walks beside Ryder with Channe holding her hand, "The speakers are turning on, the announcement is about to start."

"Evelyn!" exclaimed Madi, suddenly hugging her tightly, "I didn't know that you knew Ryder and Drew!"

"U-um, y-yes; I forgot to tell you." Evelyn said startled as she tries to pull away from Madi's hug.

After Madi pulled away from the hug, Evelyn saw Ryder silently giggling and Drew chuckling, making her glare at them, "I am excited to be at your side when we enter the next game," said Madi excitingly.

Evelyn jerked back a bit from her, "A-actually I—"

Suddenly, the giant screen above them turned on, giving their ears a static noise. After a second, the same figure of a static man appeared on the screen, starring to speak as the all of the contestants turned their attention to it.

"Good day to all of you; I am glad to say that all of you here have survived to live another game, which I give my congratulations to all of you," the figure continued, "Out of 404 that remained after the first game; you are now only 326."

"Hmmm, not quite as much; but… there are still people who died," Ryder thought, lowering his head to think before looking up again as the figure continued to speak.

"Now, as for the next game, you wi—"

"You're not going to even address the ones who died?!" said a familiar voice among the crowd. Ryder peeked his head above the contestants' heads to see who it is, and to his surprise, it was Linsey.

"Yeah, these are people who died; you're not going to even acknowledge them?!" said another contestant, then a few joined in.

"Why don't you j—"

"SILENCE!!" the figure shouted so loud it shut all of their mouths; complete silence replaced their voices for a while minute before the figure began to speak again.

"The reason for why I don't acknowledge them," the figure explained, "Is because… they are not worthy to be mentioned."

Ryder thought that everybody would shout, but they stayed their mouths; the figure continued to explain, "May I remind — all of you," said the figure with a stern voice, "that this, is a competition; and all the people who lose, are meant to be forgotten…"

Then the figure's voice turned deeper as he said a few words — seeming to target the people who were like Linsey, "…Your morality," the figure said, "… Is not welcomed here."

After a long pause of silence, the figure continued its saying of the next game, "Now that's behind us," the figure said with a somewhat cheerful tone, "We shall proceed to the next game, so that all of you that wait; shall not be delayed any longer; proceed to either hallways in both sides to enter the next game."

Pathways suddenly opened at both sides of the room, the contestants peeked their heads in the pathways, seeing a dim hallway with purple wallpaper and black pictures of medieval candles. Many of the contestants began to walk towards the hallways, while a few stayed to wait either for their friends or to start a plan to win. Ryder looked at Evelyn, Drew, and Madi; stopping at Channe as he holds his bunny plush tight.

"I guess we are stuck with each other hehe," Drew said, looking at Madi before everybody else.

"Yeah…" said Evelyn with a unsure tone.

"Well," said Ryder, " I guess it will be just the four of us now, come on Chan—"

"Channe!" a distant familiar voice shouted amongst the crowd of contestants, then the one who spoke stood in front of them as they pushed a pair of contestants away to make a clearing.

"... Larah," said Evelyn and Ryder almost in unison.

"Who's she again?" Drew said with a confused face.

"Channe, are you okay?!" said Larah as she goes down on her knees to check on Channe.

"I'm fine Miss Larah, just a few scratches," said Channe, assuring Larah, "Miss Evelyn protected me when we were at the forest!"

After hearing Evelyn's name, Larah turned her head sideways, giving a piercing look at Evelyn before glaring at Ryder, "…You," said Larah in annoyance.

"Hello… Larah; its nice to see you…" said Ryder, trying to sound cheerful.

Larah stands up, still glaring at Ryder, "I wish I could say the same," said Larah, "But I can't can I? After you left William behind!"

"I didn't leave him behind!" explained Ryder, "He was helping Channe get through and when he jumped, it was too late."

"Keep telling your that!" Larah suddenly grabbed Channe's hand, "Come on Channe, let's stay away from him!" Larah forced Channe's hand to come with her, disappearing into the crowd.

"Mr. Ryder, Miss Evelyn!" said Channe before leaving with Larah.

Ryder stepped forward to get Channe back, but was stopped by a tug from his arm, "Leave them," said Evelyn, "Channe will be fine, we must focus,"

Ryder looked at Evelyn's eyes before looking back at where Channe and Larah disappeared. After taking a breath, Ryder turns around back to them, preparing himself for the next game, "Now, let's go"

All four of them began to walk towards one of the hallways, entering with other unfamiliar contestants, "I guess we will be with them inside," said Madi, looking at the others.

"Yes… and we must be careful," said Evelyn in a serious tone.

"That will be the first time I agree with you," said Drew.

As strolled slowly down the dim hallway, where the lights flickered and turn on as they pass, Ryder closed his eyes as he takes a breath.

"…I hope everything will be okay."