Game Devs

They sat resting on the side of the bed; the floor was cold, but all their attention was on the TV; they were watching the news.

The creators of Primal had been arrested, with its members exposed as being part of a human reformation cult.

No one could believe it; a leaked video from the creator of the game was being aired, and everyone watching fell silent. No one could think or process what they heard. He said,

"We've designed a game that kills, not for murder but for the progress of humanity. We have all been lulled by our comforts; we frown at the slightest inconvenience and support companies that make us lazier and lazier; we've grown fat as a society, we've grown stupid as a society, we're eating ourselves to death, and wasting our lives on meaningless pleasures."

"We believe in human reform; we believe humanity can still live to its truest potential, but for this to happen, there must be an awakening, a return to the striving, a return to surviving, a rebirth of the human instinct, a rebirth of the man himself."

"The game we've made is intentional; it's made to hurt, to kill, but also to develop the human potentially. At the end of the road, the rewards are the communication of all our fortunes, totaling just over ten billion dollars. If you can survive it, it will all be yours, but for most of you, it won't be a choice but survival; you won't have a choice but to come back before the server comes back up again, or you'll die! This life, this is the Primal games!"

At his final word, the whole world gasped; they felt the fire in his eyes as he spoke there had already seen enough to know he meant every single word of it.

Joji turned to Amy; she stared at the tv, her eyes didn't blink, she seemed frozen, then her head slowly dropped, she seemed about to cry, but she sucked it in, putting on a brave face. Then She turned to Joji but his phone rang.

"Joji!" Bass screamed from the phone, "You saw the news?

"Yes, calm down Bass"

"You don't understand, I need a copy of that game Joji"

*What? It's killing people! Don't tell me you want the money, Bass?"

"It's my brother, men, he got the chip on his head"

There's a chip,

"Yeah, it was kills you, it's what they've been saying online, he has to go back in the game before 10pm or else… You know" Bass couldn't bare to say it.

Joji was speechless, he just realized it all, he looked Amy but he couldn't say a thing.

"Joji!" Bass said,

"it couldn't be; it's inside my head; I thought if you're out of the game, you're out," Joji was thinking out loud.

"No, Joji," Bass said; he sounded like he was crying, "you gotta go back in. I gotta find a copy I can't let my brother go in alone, I can't, I can't"

"Can't you order it online*

"Don't you think, I'd try that already!" Bass screamed in anger. "the government they're seizing every copy in circulation, it's selling out, people are raiding stores and what not"

"Why?"

"Cause of the reward"

"So what would you do?"

"I don't know, I going into town"

"Can I help?"

"Joji, I don't know how long I'll be; the servers are down now, but the government will have to turn it on soon; you'll have to get back in before ten. I'll be fine alone"

"Bass wait!"He said by the call cuts. Amy reached for her VR goggles, he looked at her as she spun them around, looking at every angle,

"How about we just smash it," she said in a low shaky voice"

"I didn't know, Amy, it could activate the chip." She exhaled and said, "What do we do then? Do we just wait till we're called to go die?"

"What could we do," Joji said.

She picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "you've got my location, Joji. Come find me when the time comes. I gotta go take a bath."

Joji got on his feet, "I guess I'll be leaving then take care of yourself," she nodded, and Joji left.

Joji makes it home late in the evening, he didn't bring back any snacks, he was too worried for himself, for Amy, for Bass, everything felt so out of his control, he didn't even feel like this when he had cancer, it was just him but now it seemed like everyone he loved could die alongside him.

What was he thinking? He can't just throw away his life like that, he thought, but it's his brother; why do things have to be so damn difficult?

He looked at the time; it was seven. He could no longer reach Bass. He had calls from the manager. All sorts of feelings coiled and twisted inside him, he couldn't sit still, he paced gus room frantically

Worried about the time, worried about his friends, worried about the future. He watched the news and more fear crept in. He was running out of time, the fear only grew with every passing moment, and the time flew by in a wild blur.

Then came anger, anger at himself for talking Amy into buying the game; she hates me now, he thought, anger at not being able to help Bass, anger at himself and his fears, his unwillingness to get back in the game.

He held the goggles in his shivering hand, the time had come, it was this or certain death and despite all the fear that filled his heart, he knew he had a fighting chance, although small, it was better than dying out here he put them on and the lights beamed him into a new world.

He felt sand on his back; he opened his eyes and saw white curved bones arching towards him amidst the blue sky; he quickly got up, looked around, and realized he was lying in the rib cage of a dead beast.

There were skulls and bones all around, just peering out of the red sand; he got on his feet and stepped on the sand.

It felt fine, almost too fine, like he was stepping on dust; his foot sunk in, and he figured he'd find footing soon, but his foot only further down; he looked out into the distance and saw the skulls and bones, then it dawned on him.

All these sunken bones, giant beast dead. This is, This is quicksand.