CHAPTER 7: Level 1: Final stage

Noticing no more pulse beat, a wide Danny's face narrowed, realizing the truth as His head tilted slightly. "No!" he whispered. He stood up brokenly, without saying anything, his eyes lost their spark, walked towards the endpoint direction slowly, guilt and veins pulsed visibly at his neck towards the people on his face clearly etched, and his mind reeled to his bitter past. 

"Mom, I brought my favorite chocolate ice cream!!!!!" Danny called out, his voice filled with youthful excitement. He looked younger, holding an ice cream cone in his hand, a cream stain over his upper lip.

Danny's mother stood in the huge crowd of people. She nodded with a smile, watched Danny, and waved him to wait there.

Danny nodded in agreement as he licked his ice cream and closed his eyes in enjoying every bite.

"Buy 1 Get 1 Free!" a man with a loud voice announced in front of the shop in the supermarket. After hearing an announcement, a crowd of more than five hundred people rushed towards the single shop. 

Someone in the crowd bumped into Danny's mother's leg, the angle buckled, injured as she fell without balance. Her spectacles were knocked from her face, and then people stepped on the glass, shattering it into many pieces. Danny's mother's vision was blurred, without knowing the truth, she tried to search for glass, but people stepped on her hand, legs, and chest everywhere. "Ah! Wait....Please...." she shouted, trying to stand, but another lady's heels clicked into her hand first, then her throat.

In that moment, his mom lost her ability to speak, her throat bleeding like water. Her heart raced against her ribs, and her eyes widened as they darted, desperately searching for help from Danny. After a few struggles of Danny's mother's breath stopped, holding her purse tightly as her blood flowed like a flood on the white floor. Her gaze remained fixed on Danny's side, watching him until the very end.

Now, the hall became silent, and an ice cream fell from Danny's hand, and his eyes remained on Danny's mother's body as he walked towards her, shock seizing him, his hand trembling in shock.

At the same time, the guards came on the opposite side, grabbed her body and ran towards the ambulance, where standing outside the building with an emergency alarm sound.

A guard held Danny back from watching, grabbing his hand. "Mom!" he screamed his lungs out, struggling against the guard's grip, his scream unending and echoing through the whole mall. "Mom!" Danny's mind blocked his mother's death. "Mom," he called out, his voice low and pained as he walked absently, everything blurring around him.

"People never change... they never care for others... selfish world... Mom, I don't deserve this world. I'm tired of this shit world..." he whispered as he walked slowly forward, devoid of any hope or belief in his life.

A tear welled up in Yumiko's eyes, her gaze shifting between Danny's trembling walk and the dead man as she struggled to make a sudden decision. She heartily bowed to the dead man to apologize. She kept her half-drunk water bottle near the dead body and moved towards Danny.

"We left nine minutes...." Dean screamed, breaking a tense emotional moment in the center of the crowd. His voice echoed as his eyes were filled with playful and challenging.

Xavier turned back and glanced at the players, where the others were running. What... nine minutes? But the old people are still at the center. Is it possible for them to cross within time? He questioned himself. Shit! I just wasted time explaining my theory. If I'd revealed this before, the old people might have had a chance of crossing this desert. A surge of guilt consumed his mind. His legs slowed down, the guilt taking over.

The entire group behind him passed Xavier, but his legs continued to slow.

Behind, Yumiko was grabbing Danny's hands tightly, a guilt on his face never faded, and he was absently his legs running towards the endpoint.

Yumiko removed her and stood in front of Danny, "What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to kill yourself?" she roared, her voice filled with anger and disappointment. "I know it's hurt you, but you can't sacrifice your life towards these selfish, cowardly people." Watching Danny face, lift his chin downwards, make him face reality. Her voice was lower and concerned than before. "Are you serious? You just want to save me, but now you want to kill both of us, isn't?" A disappointed smirk replaced her expression.

No response from Danny stood silently.

"Look, we just left five minutes... I don't know how to convince to reach the endpoint... But" she paused, watching the timer, then meeting Danny's eyes, "I've never wanted to live... but today, I really want to live my life... I don't want to die here... Can you please help me? I've never had a friend in my entire life. I just thought of you as a good friend." She struggled to make him understand. "Danny, I can't leave you like others did... Please!" she begged, holding his hand and turning towards the crowd. "My life is in your hands."

Danny came back to reality by her words, his eyes shifted to Yumiko's red tear tear-stained face to the sand, his mom's words echoed in his ears, "Danny.... Sometimes you must sacrifice your feelings for someone. It's also a make you a great person. I love you, Danny.... My son is a helpful and kind person. I am always proud to have you as son," his mom said and kissed his cheeks warmly; her words hit his mind. "Mom..." he whispered, tears fell, and she held his hand and "I just want to reach this desert for my mom's words...." he forced a smile and dragged her towards an endpoint.

At the same time, an office-dressed woman noticed Xavier's eyes remained on facing old people; she immediately sensed his hesitation. "It's not your fault," she murmured as she held his hand.

"No! It's mine!" Xavier replied, guilt audible in his voice.

"You think everything is your fault...." she started as she noticed a time, less than a minute!!!!! She thought. " I can explain later...." She murmured as she grabbed his hand and ran towards the endpoint.

The timer now beeped every second. Everyone's eyes shifted between the endpoint and the timer, "0:58"

A few of them were nearly at the very end of the endpoint. Clara, with two people beside her, was at the front. She had only five rows left to finish her game and encouraged the remaining survivors with hope. "Come on... hurry up!" she shouted, her voice motivating them. As she stepped on the last third second, a man on her left side vanished into the sand, and another man fell when she reached the final row.

The group stood frozen in disbelief, their eyes wide as they watched the two players disappear into the sands. A collective gasp echoed among them as they held their breath, rooted to the spot. Fear flickered on their faces, and their legs trembled, hesitant to move forward.

Clara stood frozen, her eyes remained on, still processing the incident.

"What the hell happened to them?" Dean questioned as he passed the others, noticing each face etched with horrific fear. His brows furrowed in confusion, suddenly widening as he realized the truth of the vanished people. His gaze shifted to the timer. "Fuck!" he screamed, his mind blocked with fear.

As he pushed him harder, step by step, he moved forward. He placed one leg in front, but his inner fear prevented him from stepping on the square. Trying is better than dying, he thought as he removed his shoe and placed it on the 2nd row. It remained in the same place. He let out a deep sigh of relief as he jumped towards the last row, threw his shoe, and luckily it remained in the same place.

A relieved smirk appeared on Dean's lips as he jumped into the endpoint. "I won this fucking game!" he shouted, jumping in happiness.

Now time, "0.30"

Each person followed the same way to reach the endpoint, one by one, quickly.

"Four old guys are still standing..." the short girl murmured. "I feel bad for them... they don't deserve this..."

The nearby girl agreed as her eyes remained on Xavier, who looked completely sad and guilty on his face. Understood his pain, the bride reached out. "You're awesome, man... You saved more than 30 survivors," she thanked him.

 The bald man tapped him on the shoulder, and every survivor encouraged him, but his eyes remained fixed on the old people, who were now tiny figures in the vast desert. They were dying with a serene acceptance.

Now everyone's eyes focus on Yumiko, Danny, and the timer. "10, 9.... "Someone starts counting, watching them from a few meters away.

"Hurry up, dear...."Clara shouted, her eyes even flit, just reminded of them.

"Come on.... You can do it." Everyone encouraged them, raising their hands and waving towards them

Every second now feels like an eternity for everyone. Behind everything fell inside, the old people holding their hands fell into the sand peacefully, accepting their fate.

Now, Yumiko and Danny's legs ran as fast as they could. She reached two seconds before, but in that sand dust, Danny fell just two squares from the end.

The group's eyes widened in shock, watching Danny's fall and the sand drop behind him. He used all his strength; he jumped towards the endpoint. But his hand missed as his standing square also fell.

"No!!!!!!!!!!!" Yumiko screamed, her eyes squeezed shut against the intensity watching a Danny vanished into the sand.