➿4

They reached for her player band and pulled it off,their palm still around her mouth. Fear enveloped Alana.

  "I'm not here to hurt you" The person said.

"Promise you'll listen to me and not yell" She nodded, hoping he'll remove his palm from her mouth. Anything to get rid of it. His palms went off and she heaved a sigh of relief.

She turned to him,eyes wide.

  "What the heck" she whisper-shouted.

  "You promised" He said,in a warning tone.

  "To hell with my promise,you attacked me" She said.

  "I know you're playing the Loop Game challenge " He said and that shut her up. Her eyes widened, for what seemed like the billionth time.

  "What "

  "I know. I also know that you'll never win"

  "What do you mean " She whispered.

He held her hand and pulled her inside her room.

  "It's a scam"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Let me begin by saying,I'm Sean..."

  "Are you a player?" She asked.

  "No,I'm not stupid " He said with a pointed look.

Offensive.

   "It's a scam,the Seeker,the game, everything." She opened her mouth again and he gave her a shut-the-hell-up look. She nodded.

  "Listen here,that band is rigged with loud voice detectors and it knows your location. The Seeker isn't helping you, he's the killer. He tells you locations he wants you to be at and kills you"

Alana was stunned. It sounded false but it made sense. Why would The Seeker help her in a game like that. It held no benefit for him.

She was never meant to win then.

"The reason people playing the game die quick is from the band. It senses negative emotions, gives off more negative emotions and feeds pain. With time you'll die if you keep wearing it" He said.

"How do you know this?" Alana asked, suspicion laced in her voice.

  "Because my ancestors started the game. I hate it. I've seen people die from it so I decided to save them. It took me years to get to the position that allowed me access to critical information. You would think being of the bloodline would allow me access but I had to go through a bunch of tests" He said.

  Alana knew he was telling the truth about the Seeker,so obviously this had to be real too.

  "How are they able to control time and make it repeat the same day?"

  "I have no idea,I haven't gone to the rank that lets me access something like that"

He said.

"Let me help you Alana, you're the only player right now. I just want to help you,I won't forgive myself if another person dies"

He said. His words sounded so genuine.

  "How did you know I was a player?"

  "Like I said,I had access to the information".

  "Okay,you can help,I guess. I'm getting tired of this"

  "Okay we have to hurry up. We'll go to the police station, hurry"

  "What? I thought you said..."

  "We have to keep your band there, remember it has a tracking device in it"

She nodded, taking in what he said.

  "Do you have a wig?"

  "Uh yes, why " She asked.

  "You'll go alone,we can't make the organization suspicious. They have eyes everywhere. Not at the police station you'll be going to. You'll go to the one at Maru,they haven't had access to it yet"

"Okayy,the wig?"

  "You'll take it there,wig a change of clothes and when you get there,keep the band and come over to Lesley's eatery "

  "Okay"

  "Trust me,I'll wait for you there" Sean said and Alana breathed out, nodding.

Wait for me.

She felt like she could trust him. Maybe. She didn't know what she felt,she was stressed out and would take any help she could find.

"Actually you know what,cut your hair. It's almost 8,you may not have time. So wear the second outfit inside this one,that way you can pull off the top one and come out easily"

  "I could take a hat instead yk,I'll fix it inside my clothes"

  "Okay,get ready"

Sean got outside to give her privacy while she got ready. In five minutes she was done.

7:35.

The police station at Maru was 30 minutes away.