When Games Become Reality (Chapter 3)

I couldn’t breathe. I closed my eyes and prepared to die, but I didn’t feel myself falling. I felt like I was hanging?

I looked up to see Pewds holding my arm and pulling me up. Once I got back onto the balcony, I quickly ran into the room, not wanting to be outside anymore. I didn’t care if the building was on fire, I was NOT going to risk falling off of a building again. I turned to see Pewds right behind me. I pulled him into a tight hug.

“What’s this for…?” he asked, hugging me back.

“Thank you for saving me,” I smiled underneath my mask.

“Don’t worry about it,” Pewds chuckled, pulling away from me. I whimpered quietly, hoping he didn’t hear me. I usually hated contact, but his touch seemed more passionate – more comforting.

“Here, take this,” Rochelle said, handing me a syringe.

“Whoa! I’m not taking any drugs. Are you crazy?!” I practically shouted.

“You’re a little off your game and this will help you stay focused,” Rochelle glared at me. I had always been afraid of needles, but then again, who wasn’t?

I looked down at the syringe and sighed, pulling my arm so it was laying in front of me. I stuck the tip of the needle in, gasping in pain at the stabbing feeling. The feeling went away and it felt like there was nothing in my arm. Well, until I injected the mysterious substance, that is. I cringed, extremely uncomfortable at the feeling of the substance entering my veins. I pulled the empty syringe out and threw it on the floor. That’s the last time I’m taking drugs.

I felt the effects almost instantly. It felt like I had drunk about 8 cups of coffee. I felt energetic and alert. I paced quickly around the room in circles, waiting for someone to take lead. I had no idea where we were going, so I was just waiting for them to lead the way. Suddenly, a hand on my shoulder stopped my quick pacing. I looked to see who the hand belonged to… Pewds. I looked at his face. He looked angry, giving Rochelle a glare.

“What the hell was that stuff?!” Pewds practically growled at her. I’d never seen him this angry. I mean, I saw how angry he could get during rage games, but this wasn’t just irritation from a game – this was legitimate rage.

“Relax, it’s just adrenaline,” Rochelle assured Pewds, reloading her gun as she spoke.

“Don’t give Cry anymore drugs,” Pewds’ glare never tore away from her, even though she wasn’t even looking at him.

I looked to see Rochelle nod in response as she followed Coach out of the room and into a hallway. I looked up at Pewds, bouncing up and down slightly. I couldn’t sit still, no matter how hard I tried.

“Let’s go follow them,” I said, trying to snap him out of his anger.

He looked back down at me and sighed. “Fine.”

We walked out of the room, following Coach and Rochelle into the hallway. There were zombies in there, but Coach was taking care of them all. Pewds decided to help him, chopping his axe into a zombie’s head more than necessary. I guess he just needed to blow off some steam.

But why was he so enraged by this? It’s not like Rochelle poisoned me. She gave me something that she thought would help me stay more focused. The more focused I was, the safer I felt. I should be grateful that Rochelle had the kindness and generosity to even give me the syringe in the first place. Pewds should be happy. The one time he should be happy and not care, he’s angry and serious. I swear Pewds is a puzzle with numerous missing pieces.

Not wanting to stay still anymore, I walked – more like ran – down the hallway. I smiled when I saw another exit sign on the ceiling in front of what appeared to be an elevator. I knew the elevators didn’t work, but it meant that we were at least going in the right direction… I hoped.

Suddenly, I heard loud groaning as a couple of zombies burst out of the elevator – which I discovered quickly was the staircase. I quickly grabbed my silenced submachine gun and shot them all as swiftly as my body would let me. I could really feel the adrenaline kicking in now. Is this what people feel like when they’re high? Extremely anxious, jittery, not wanting to stay still? This was actually pretty nice. I liked being this alert to my surroundings. I liked my reflexes being much quicker. I hoped Rochelle wouldn’t keep her promise about not giving me anymore drugs. This stuff was fucking amazing.

I ran into the room next to me, shooting my gun as some zombies tried to run towards me. Not today, fuckers. Cry is in charge. I walked further into the room and saw a table next to a window. There was a strange little gadget on the table. I walked up to it and picked it up, noticing it was a pipe bomb.

Oh fuck yeah!

A wide smile grew on my face, but quickly dropped when I realized that I had no more room to carry anything else. I grumbled a quiet curse as I ran back into the hallway.

“Hey, Pewds! Catch!” I yelled, throwing the pipe bomb to him. I realized this was a horrible idea as soon as I heard a beeping noise come from the pipe bomb as soon as I threw it.

Oh no…

Luckily, Pewds was smart enough to run in the opposite direction from the pipe bomb. A small horde of zombies crowded it, interested in the noise. Suddenly, it exploded on them, causing another fire in the hallway.

“Goddammit, Cry. What the hell is your problem?!” Pewds basically yelled at me.

“Shut up, Pewds. You’re going to attract a horde!” Rochelle snapped at him.

“You’re telling me to shut up?! You shouldn’t have given Cry that stupid adrenaline in the first place! He’s not in his right mind right now because of it and you damn well know it’s not helping him!”

I looked at Pewds’ face. It was completely red with anger. Sweat was rolling down his forehead as he stormed closer to Rochelle. I’d never seen him this angry before and it honestly terrified me. I saw him reach for his axe and my eyes widened, knowing was he was about to do. I swiftly pushed him away from her, not wanting to have an unnecessary death in our team. My right hand was on Pewds’ chest and my left hand was on Rochelle’s right shoulder.

“Shut up, you two. Now, let’s get going or we’re never going to get out of here!” I growled from frustration. I winced slightly from my tone of voice, in fear that it would only make Pewds angrier. To my surprise, I felt his body loosen a bit from his tense state and I looked up at his face. I could still see the anger, but I knew he was holding it in.

Without another word, Pewds shoved my hand off of his shoulder and walked away from Rochelle and me. I turned to Rochelle. She gave me an apologetic look. I didn’t know what to say and she couldn’t see my face, so I just turned away from her and followed Pewds into the room I thought was an elevator.

We stayed in silence as I walked down the staircase behind him. I was too scared to say anything, in fear he would attack me – verbally or physically. Pewds wasn’t the abusive type, but I couldn’t tell how he would react in this rage state he was in. As we descended down the staircase, I could hear a roaring fire near, which meant we’d be stuck on another floor until we could find a different exit. Great, just what we need.

Pewds and I found ourselves stuck between a fire down the rest of the staircase and an entrance into another hallway. Pewds walked into the room first, which I immediately regretted letting him go first. As soon as he walked into the room, he was tackled by a charger. I swiftly pulled out my silenced machine gun and shot it a few times before it fell dead onto the floor. My breath caught in my throat as I rushed over to Pewds.

“Pewds, are you okay?!” I asked, lightly pushing some hair out of his face. His eyes looked like they were going to roll to the back of his head. All I heard was faint mumbling from his mouth.

“Hey, Pewds!” I yelled, gently slapping him in the face. I suddenly remembered the pain pills in my pocket. Maybe they would work? I took the pills out of my pocket and forced some down the Swede’s throat. Pewds started choking a bit from surprise, but immediately swallowed the pills.

I stood up and held my hand out to him. “Come on, friend. We need to get the hell out of here.”

Pewds looked at me, a dazed look on his face. Suddenly, he gripped onto my hand and I pulled him up. I guess I shouldn’t have yanked so roughly because he would’ve fallen down if I didn’t catch him. I held him close to me, not wanting to let him lay down, in fear he might pass out. Did he have a concussion? He couldn’t have a concussion right now… but if he did, I couldn’t let him pass out.

I pulled my head away to face him. “Pewds, stay with me,” I ordered.

I got a quiet mumble for a reply. I groaned in frustration and slapped his face, a bit harder this time. Then I realized that the adrenaline could help him wake up more… dammit, if only I hadn’t been so selfish – if only I saved it for Pewds. He definitely needed it more than I did and I didn’t know if Rochelle had another syringe. Suddenly, I heard gun shots and turned around to see Coach already fighting off the zombies in the hallway.

“Rochelle!” I said, turning her attention away from the hallway and onto me. “Do you have any more adrenaline? Pewds really needs it.”

I saw her glare at me.

Uh oh…

“Why should I give you my last syringe to save his sorry ass? He told me not to give you anymore adrenaline anyways.”

“Because I need him alive. We’re not supposed to be here, we’re supposed to be at our homes sleeping in bed, not in this zombie apocalypse! We need to get out together. Plus, Pewds doesn’t want me taking the adrenaline. He didn’t say anything about me giving it to him.”

Rochelle sighed, walking closer to me. “We’re all supposed to be at home, sleeping in bed. But the world has taken a turn for the worst and now we just need to try and survive this living hell.”

Rochelle reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe of adrenaline. “Here, but only because I think you’re a good person and I want to keep you happy.”

“Thank you…” I smiled at her, even though she couldn’t see it. I hoped she heard it in my voice. I grabbed the syringed and sat Pewds down onto the floor.

“Pewds, are you still with us?” I asked, making sure he was still conscious. I got a quiet groan in reply, his eyes closing on and off. At least that meant he was still conscious.

“This will feel weird at first, but you’ll feel better soon,” I said, sticking the needle into his arm. I injected the adrenaline as quickly as I could once I heard him groan even more. I pulled the syringe out of him and set it to the side. I looked at him, hoping it would kick in at any minute.