Placeholder - A Your Turn To Die Reader Insert

3. One White Van Later...

"Initializing stage one." Blinding white light filled my vision. "Welcome to your first trial." I lifted my arm to shield my eyes, or at least I tried to. I couldn't move my arm, and once I my eyes adjusted to to light, I saw why.

My wrists were strapped to the wooden arms of the chair I sat in.

The robotic voice continued as I frantically glanced around the room. "You have three minutes to escape your restraints." In front of me, a table with a single knife on it. My feet were free. "If you fail to escape, well..." Mechanical whirring came from above me, and I stared up in fear.

A circular saw.

And it began lowering.

I cursed, wriggling my body to wrap my foot around the table leg. It was harder said than done. The soft ticking of the time counting down rang in my ears, a sickening accompaniment to the buzzing of the saw. I struggled to pull the table closer, being strapped down to the chair didn't help.

Finally, I pulled the table close enough to where I could lower my head and grasp the knife with my teeth. Lowering it to my hand, I grabbed it, finagling with it until the side of the blade pressed against my wrist under the restraint.

As I frantically sawed back and forth through the leather, I glanced up. The machine was even closer now. I cursed again. This was n o t how I wanted to spend my Friday night.

As the leather was sliced, I immediately began working on freeing my other hand. As soon as it was free, I practically limboed off the chair. The saw was inches from my face. I slammed my back against the wall, watching in horror as the circular saw began cutting into the chair I was just in.

Wood splintered and snapped, sending small pieces flaying to smack against the wall. The saw only stopped when it hit the floor, coming to a sudden halt before slowly rising back into the ceiling. As I stared at the remains of the chair, my stomach lurched and I emptied its contents into the corner of the room.

A 'click' from behind me made me realize that a door the had previously been out of my view had opened. Wiping at my mouth, I shakily stood and made my way toward the door. I hadn't taken two steps out the door when my stomach lurched again, only this time it was because I felt my body begin to fall.

So I did what any normal person would do and screamed. I couldn't tell you how far I fell, I didn't have anything to base it on. All I can tell you is that I'm glad I wasn't awake to hit the ground because I passed the hell out.

...

"-hear me? Hello?" I gasped, inhaling so hard I almost choked. I shot up, grasping at my neck only to be met with cold, hard metal. "Woah! Hey, calm down, you're alright." I turned toward whoever was speaking, wild-eyed. I was met with the worried face of a bulky blonde man.

As his grey eyes bore into my own, I began to panic more. I threw my hands from my own neck to his, fight or flight kicking in. "Who are you?!" I yelled. Before I could begin to strangle him, he easily tore my hands away from himself. As I struggled in his grasp, the man calmly began speaking.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Struggling obviously wouldn't work, so I went still. Of course, I didn't trust whoever this stranger was. I just woke up in some place I don't recognize with some guy I don't know, if course I'm going to keep my guard up!

Once he saw that I had calmed down, he slowly let go of my hands. "Who are you?" I asked again. This time, he answered.

"My name is Keiji Shinogi, I'm a police officer." He didn't look like a police officer. "Can you stand?" I nodded, he may be bigger than me but I'd have a better chance of fighting him off if I was on my feet. Cautiously, I stood up.

As I looked around, I saw I was surrounded by people. This wasn't good. One guy sure, I might be able to fight him, but all these people? There was no way. As I wieghed my options, a girl with bright orange hair spoke up. "I know you're scared, we all are, but... we're not a threat to you. We're all as scared and confused as you are."

The girl seemed familiar somehow. Maybe we went to the same high school? Whatever, that didn't matter right now. Anyone and everyone was a threat. Choosing my next words carefully, I decided to ask where we were.

"I don't know." She told me. "None of us can remember how we got here before our first trial." First trial...so others must have gone through the same thing I did. It was comforting, in a way; knowing that I wasn't the only one who almost died earlier.

But then it occured to me: how long have they been here to know they all had a first trial? "Who are you?" I asked her, suspicious.

"My name is Sara Chidouin."

Sara...Chidouin? Why did that name sound so familiar? "Do I know you?" I questioned. "Do we go to the same high school or something?"

She seemed confused. "I don't think so. I don't recognize you from anywhere. What's your name?" When I told her, there was no recognition on her face. "I don't think we've met before." She turned to address the guy beside her. "Joe,  do you know them?"

Wait a minute- Joe? Huge fluffy hair, gaudy style, Sara's best friend Joe? "No, I don't think so." He said. All the pieces clicked together. Why Sara seemed so familiar, why everyone else in the room, including Keiji, looked exactly like people I know.

They were all characters from Your Turn To Die.

At this point, I couldn't help but laugh. "Ohhhh I must've hit my head w a y too hard when I fell." Sara looked worried.

"Are you alright?" She asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Do you need to sit down?" When I looked into her eyes- her real, human eyes, not just some pixels on a screen- I saw the truth. She was just as scared as I was moments ago. Whether or not this was real or a dream, no one could fake that pure emotion she had in her eyes.

Had I shifted into another reality? I heard about people doing that but I've never really looked into it. Whatever I did, I was here with all my favorite characters from my favorite game which means- oh no. If I'm here, then that means that I'm in a killing game. A real, deadly killing game. Could I die? I didn't want to test it out.

"I'm...I'm gonna sit down." I said, and Sara guided me to the wall next to another group of people.

Sara gently patted my shoulder. "Are you going to be okay right here? Reko and Nao will be with you." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I know you weren't here when we all introduced ourselves, so when you're feeling better maybe you can go around and get to know everyone."

"We need to work together." She said. "Even if we can't blindly trust each other yet, we still need to be able to rely on one another somewhat; don't be a stranger." And with that, she left the big, blue room to go exploring with the rest of them.