The Smiling Sword Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Eliminated 411

Read chapter 5 of The Smiling Sword by IchorX on NovelPedia.

Eliminated 411 It's only after driving away Exqua and the excitement dies down, that we start to feel it again. The hunger and fatigue of living in a hole for a few days starts to catch up, and the heavy realism of our predicament sets in. When I first woke up in the pit, it had admittedly felt… unreal. As though this were just a temporary experience, like a camping trip or something, and soon I'd just be back home, taking a warm shower and chatting with Caesar. But now, now that we've escaped the pit only to just dive headfirst into another cave, it really starts setting in, y'know? No idea where we are. No idea how deep we are. No idea who's watching us, laughing at us, moving us around on invisible strings. I feel small, like I'm being toyed with by some primordial demon, like this is all just a stupid, twisted game. I am cold, exhausted and starving, my clothes are sticking to my skin because of all the dried blood and dirt, my hair's plastered to my forehead with sweat and I'm filthy. I feel like dying, I feel like I just want to fall down and split my head open and then float away. But there are two things that are keeping me on my feet. I still have to get back to my little sister, who's coming home soon. The thought of her stepping off the trans-continental train to an empty station terrifies me. Second, the people walking beside me right now. All of them are going through the same thing. I'm sure all of them have left something behind to get tossed down here, and have tons of emotions clashing inside. But they're standing up straight, moving forward, so I've gotta do the same. *** A couple days have passed. There are people everywhere now. Pairs or individuals are breaking down their doors every day, and the number of survivors is going up. But as it does, the number of people falling into despair, breaking down and crying, increases with it. There are fights and scuffles, as well as groups coming together for safety in numbers, and that includes us - we've grown to over ten people. A now familiar pang of pain collectively shoots through everyone's heads. "Two weeks have passed." "Congratulations, you have cleared the first objective. The number of survivors is 589. Proceed to the exit." Exit…? I turn to Artee. "That hole we found last time," I tell him, and he nods. A couple days ago, while exploring the passageways, we'd found a single tunnel that didn't loop back to the pits. Artee and Elemental had fearlessly gone down it to confirm. "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the exit." "Shut up already," I say aloud. "We get it." "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the exit." "No, something's wrong," Neo grabs my sleeve. "It's getting faster and faster," a survivor in our group called Kard says. "Like…" "A countdown." I finish. We look at each other with wide eyes. "Run," I say. "RUN!!" We peel through the passages, yelling at people to get a move on, and then nearly six hundred bodies are cramming into the exit passageway, swarming through it. Dammit legs, move!! "STAY CLOSE!!" Artee yells above the shouting and jostling. I clench my jaw for fear of biting my tongue in half, and keep pushing forwards. Luckily, our group's near the front, so we don't meet as much resistance as those behind us might've. "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the exit." "Proceed to the-" It becomes a long, bone-chilling, high-pitched drone. My legs are screaming in pain as I barrel through the dark tunnel, heels knocking against someone's shins. Sweat is rolling down my face and my ears are full of shouting and screaming. I can't shake the cold feeling creeping up my neck as the countdown follows me. "Countdown over. 411 applicants have failed. Proceeding with elimination." Elimina-? A tremendous, deafening, jarring boom echoes through the cave, hurling me to the ground. The screams and cries of the other survivors are drowned outby more explosions, and rocks begin to rain down around me. "Get up!