Let the Games Begin DreamNotFound

Chapter 33

George POV

Pain burst in his chest so intense he feared he got the game wrong and offed himself. For a hallucination, he sure felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart. 

Somewhere faraway, he heard Dream's cry of shock and horror. His ears buzzed, and the kitchen disappeared behind white fog. Cold glass pressed against his cheek, and he gasped awake in the glass orb. Every breath dumped boiling water in his lungs, violent tremors consuming his body. I need to get out. 

Covering his mouth and nose with a hand, George rolled onto his back and propped his feet on the glass. He kicked brutally, heart pounding when the bubble didn't budge. Each thud of his sneaker drained his energy, and he knew the gas would kill him if this kept up much longer.

Unable to see anything but white, he internally begged for the glass to be cracking. BAM. BAM. BAM. CRACK.

His sneaker broke through air, and the gas slipped out past him. George tumbled out the gap he'd created, ignoring the agony of shards scraping his skin. Drops of blood smeared the floor, and he was relieved he'd kept the bandages on his hand as glass shards sunk in deep.

He groaned and rubbed his shoulder where he'd collided with the ground. They could've at least padded the landing.

"George!" Hands seized his shoulders, chocolate eyes wide. "You're out!"

"Sy?" He blinked the blurriness from his vision, making out the med student's worried features. 

"I was waiting for you." Blood oozed from a cut on Sykunno's cheek, and light glinted off shards buried in his tracksuit. "I broke out just before you." 

George scanned the room, surprised to find the guards missing. An open elevator that hadn't been there before cast green light over the otherwise colorless room. He assumed they were meant to exit through the elevator after escaping.

"What was that in there?" He gestured to the white gas swirling in bubbles, trapping players in slow death. "You saw things too, right?"

"I did." Sykunno's lip trembled. "I think it was a drug combined with lack of oxygen. I don't know how long it would take to kill, but I doubt anyone still in there has long. I haven't seen Corpse, Tommy, or Dream. "

"Can't we break them out?" George moved to stand, stopping when the med student seized his wrist.

Sykunno said nothing, raising his free hand to point past him. Laying tucked between the glass orbs rather far from them was a pool of crimson. A man lay on the floor, blood seeping from a hole in his head. Thankfully, the player wasn't anyone they knew.

George knew now why Sykunno hadn't tried to break him out, and simply waited. He hesitated, deciding to address the elephant in the room. "How did you break the hallucination?"

"I... took my own life." The med student shuddered. "It reminded me of a VR game, how you're the only thing not programmed there. You're real, even if your body isn't. The only way back to reality is to log out."

George nodded in agreement. He'd acted on a similar theory: That he was the only thing with thoughts of his own. That made him the black sheep, the key to solving the game.

Shattering glass snapped their attention to the right, hoping to see familiar faces survived. He doubted Dream or Corpse would die in a game they had cheat sheets for, but Tommy was very much human. 

A woman in her thirties toppled to the floor, cursing from pain. She rubbed her head, pushing herself up and looking around. She stiffened the moment her gaze landed on them.