Part 1
MANTIS
The darkness enveloped Mantis like a fog. She was lost in a cache of unconsciousness, until she could finally open her eyes; she had no clue where she was. Her and 99 other frightened people were stuffed Inside a metal bus, a rickety and dark blue, airborne vehicle. It contrasted abruptly across the pale grays of the polluted dystopian sky! Sweat dripped down Mantis’s brow and she squirmed to get free; yet couldn’t move. “Seatbelt…” she groaned. There was mumbling amongst the others. The bus came to a sudden stop in the air, and the muttering ceased. A shrewd red light lit up the area and shone on the horrified faces of the victims. It was udder silence and then, an ear-splitting buzz rang through the walls. Mantis hyperventilated, as she heard now a sudden mechanical whirring, the 23 year old, knowing the sound from hours of playing Fortnite on discord, her heart sank. She looked and saw the hatch at the bottom of the bus begin to open. “No!! PNo!!!! Everyone, hold on!!!” She cried. People began sobbing as it came ajar. Air sucked out and every seatbelt unbuckled. A collection of screams sounded as the majority were dropped out into the sky.
Mantis shrieked and managed to hold onto her seat with desperate white knuckles, yet her efforts were futile, because the bus swerved to the side and she lost her grip. Her vision fluctuated wildly from dark to light as she fell, and she soon fainted from the shock! Though continuing to descend, Mantis awoke and wailed at the top of her lungs, which made them sting. She accelerated closer and closer to the ground, but fortunately, she noticed that she was wearing a parachute glider! The young woman pulled the string in hopeful urgency and it opened just in time to give her a safe yet rough landing. She stood up, her legs queasy, “Where am I?” Around her was a 600 foot tempered glass dome, displaying a digital timer on it. She looked up and saw the pinnacle of the dome seal once the last human crashed in. After a few minutes of ominous quiet, an AI voice came over loudspeakers, “Hello humans! Welcome to program StormFire! This is your chance to fight us fair… Here is the directive. Fight to the death. Only one human will come on top victorious, and will have the chance to be our conqueror… Here are some helpful tips: Stay inside the eye of the storm, or you will slowly die. The eye will shrink every 2 minutes, bringing you closer together. You are required to kill or be killed, and choose your weapon wisely, there will be weapon chests and ammo fill ups scattered momentarily, and you will also be given a shield potion, and necessary health items…. The game will start… in 3. 2. 1…...” The alarm sirens pierced Mantis’s ears and she looked far over the horizon; she spotted a wall of pale purple gas racing menacingly over the trees. She gaped and raced up the hill to escape the nearing deadly storm; or so implied. Though she didn’t want to find out if the AI was being spurious, or not!
The Korean gamer, acquired a pistol inside a black, metal chest and soon heard distant gunfire. In the distance she saw a man running toward her, with an assault rifle. As the bullets shot, so did Mantis’s adrenaline. She quickly dodged the bullets with dexterity and feeling nauseated. With excellent accuracy, and fine motorskills, from computer sensitivity; she shot her attacker in between the eyes. He collapsed to the ground and blood gushed from his wound. Mantis felt extremely ill but she ran and grabbed the gun that was dropped, it was more efficient than the pistol she used, yet she was going to keep the pistol in her pocket for safekeeping; just in case.
She ran to hide in the trees and the AI voice said, “90 people remain…”
Mantis’s gut wrenched, “8 people were killed already… and I was one of the murders….” She said and winced. “No, it wasn’t murder, it was self defense, Manty….”
She continued up the hill for the first 2 minutes, and the eye of the storm was shrinking! She hid in the trees.
GHOST
Ghost landed in the upper section of the dome. He quickly seized a gun from a dead body and darted away from the clearing. He was abnormally fast; it made sense,he was an olympics runner for Kenya. The young man wore all white clothes that reflected the sun, which would make him an easy target. So he wanted to stay in the darkness of the canopies. Ghost snuck up the hill, determined to win this contest. This race of death. Which is what it was to him. He spotted Mantis and pointed the gun at her, yet stopped to admire her beauty in the scope of the sniper. “Long black hair, short green dress, she is fine as wine…G” he said. Mantis heard him and pointed her gun at him, Ghost ducked, and hid behind a dead tree. “Shoot at me and you’re dead!!” Mantis spat. Ghost chuckled, and stood up with his hands in the air, “I’m not shooting you, yet. I just want to know your name, baby…” She looked at him with disgust, “‘I won’t shoot you, yet’ Do you call that flirting?” Ghost smirked, “It’s like the end of the world, pick up lines, yo.” Mantis couldn’t help but to smile, she scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. “You’re dumb.” Ghost rolled his eyes slyly. Mantis continued on. “I can’t believe this shit is actually happening….” She sighed. “My name is Mantis.” Ghost held out his hand for her to shake, “Ghost… they call me that, cuz I run so fast that you think you saw a spirit!”
Before they could say anything else an alarm went off and the next 2 minutes were up, the AI voice boomed, “75 people remain…” Mantis gasped as the storm enclosed in on them, Ghost took her hand and bolted the opposite direction. Mantis followed along in hesitation, wasn’t this supposed to be a killing game? Aren't they supposed to be enemies? Why was he holding her hand? Why was he helping her?
As they got over the hill, they saw a young girl in trouble… Her bright pink hair and cat ears gave her away. She was a plus sized teen, surrounded by three armed enemies. Ghost and Mantis exchanged a silent glance of understanding. They charged, guns ready to help the girl.
EMILY
Emily regretted landing in the northwestern part of the dome; she was ambushed by these people, only 9 minutes after “game” started. The only weapon she had was flail-chucks; and she was backed into a corner against a rock wall… She saw Ghost and Mantis running towards them at top speed, guns aimed at her attackers. They shot at the furthest two, and the biggest one, the closest, turned his head. Taking the opportunity, Emily, pounced into action and wrapped her flail-chucks around the man’s gun and disarmed him, in shock he whipped his head and just looked at her. Emily grabbed the man, spun him around, and crane kicked him to the ground. The breath was knocked clear out of his lungs. She twisted his head, and with his own gun shot him. Ghost just stared at Emily with wide eyes and backed away, “Holy-!!!” He gaped in disbelief. Emily looked at him with sadness and unwrapped a piece of bubble gum. “I didn’t want to become the antagonist of the story, but I guess I had to.” She was an author, only 18, and very talented in English, From New York, Ny. Ghost raised his eyebrows, “You the dang Kill Bill!” He joked. Mantis came running towards them, “The other one ran away but he died by the storm! It is about to shrink, we have to get out of here!”
The alarm went off a second after she said that and the AI voice said, “60 people remain…”
The three darted away from the shrinking wall of the storm, and they reached a dark part in the forest. The only light was a ray of blue twinkling coming from a chest. Emily ran up to it, opened it and saw three storage jars full of glowing blue liquid, It had a shiny, luminescent sheen. “Hey guys, I think we drink these…” Mantis walked beside her, “Those look like shield potions! Did the AI steal the code from Fortnite for this??” Ghost put his hand on Mantis’s shoulder but she swatted him away. “Hey don’t be cold, baby, your Ghost, don’t bite, unless you want me to…” he purred. Mantis slapped him and his chest heaved in anger, “Hey! What was that for?!” Mantis narrowed her eyes and looked at him, “For being a pig! I have boundaries.” Ghost sucked his teeth in annoyance, “Girl, boundaries? We all gonna die, and you won’t let me hit on ya, get out of here fool…” Mantis raised her hand to slap him again but He raised his gun. Mantis fumbled for hers, her heart racing. They aimed and paced in a circle around one another.
Emily scooped the potions into her bag and ran to hide behind a tree. “Shoot first, Ghost. You brought the gun out!” Mantis snarled. Ghost narrowed his eyes, “No you shoot first, that way I can adjust my speed to how bad you are!” There was the sound of heavy gunfire nearby and it scared both of them, so they started shooting at each other. Mantis shot at Ghost, but he ran with amazing speed and the bullets missed him. He slid on the ground and shot at Mantis. She ran away and he shot again, that time he got her, in the leg. She gasped, and cried out in pain. “You bastard!” She said and limped, returning shots at Ghost. Her leg was gushing blood, and was burning like a scorpion sting. She whimpered and clutched her wound with her hand.
Ghost was considering continuing to shoot her, to kill; but then the alarm sounded and the storm began to shrink. He looked over with scared eyes at the trees where the storm was headed, then ran the other direction, leaving both girls behind. “Good luck!l” he shouted. Mantis panted, she looked at Emily who was running her way to leave. “Help me!! Please!” She pleaded. The Korean gamer couldn’t stand. Emily ran over and tried to lift her up, the storm quickly moved towards them, Emily couldn’t lift her in time and she began sobbing, “I’m so sorry!!!! I have to go!” Mantis screamed, “No!! Wait!” Emily dropped her and bolted as fast as she could. She left and got into safety. Only educatedly guessing that the storm killed Mantis.
MANTIS
She watched Emily run away and turned, closing her eyes, sobbing as the Storm enforced her. She started praying quietly with tears running down her face. She was repenting of all her sins, asking God for help… Her lungs became heavy and she was suffocating, Mantis’s whole body felt heavy and sizzled with electricity. The ions in her body moved rapidly and Mantis was in immense pain. When she realized that she didn’t die right away, she attempted to slowly crawl out… but her constant fighting for breath, caused her limbs to go blue, and turn ineffective. Her head ached like fire, and she felt like she was in the seventh circle of hell. She gasped and her vision blackened, and she collapsed, dead. The AI said “50 people remain…
