Where Gamers Go

Eight

Jack

When Jack and Mark made it around the corner, Tom had disappeared. He had been there one minute, then gone the next. Jack watched as Mark ran a shaky hand through his hair, exhaling slowly.

"Okay, where does everybody go? Where? I'm really, really confused. Doubly confused than just one normal confused, maybe even triply."

"I have no idea" Jack replied, "but he's gone now. We've got to get out of here". They scarpered inside the vent to retrieve Jack's belongings and then ran down the corridor, checking for any evil versions of their friends.

Luckily none appeared, so they shot inside the nearest room and slammed the door shut behind them. Jack sighed and started to pace around the room while Mark slid down the door and onto the floor.

"Jack? Do you honestly think we're ever going to escape here, let alone find our friends?" Jack joined Mark on the floor, leaning back against the wall. The room had no distinguishing features, no windows or furniture. Just blank walls all around.

"I'm not sure" Jack answered honestly. Mark sighed and chucked Tiny Box Tim at the wall on the other side of the room in exasperation. "I mean-" Jack was cut off by a large hissing noise. "Woah..." The spot on the wall Tiny Box Tim had hit was parting down the middle, with what seemed like dry ice hissing out of the gap.

"Someone's made an effort" Mark coughed, waving his arms to try to get the smoke to diffuse from around him.

"You're not kidding" Jack muttered. "C'mon, let's go check out what's inside". Mark picked up Tiny Box Tim and they headed inside the secret purple-lit room.

About ten or so computers were lined up inside along a long metal desk, complimented by orange desk lamps and silver filing cabinets.

"It looks like-"

"Prop hunt" Jack confirmed Mark's suspicions. "But it's not, it's just been made to look like that. You see, the cabinets are all fake". Jack gave one a shove with his foot to prove the point and it fell over onto the floor as a cardboard sheet.

"Someone's got too much time on their hands. Kidnapping YouTubers and now making rooms resembling games? Weird. But I still think we should get out of here rather than stay dawdling". Mark headed out of the room, closely followed by Jack.

To their surprise, the door at the end of the hallway had a bright, illuminated 'Emergency Exit' sign above it.

"Too easy" Mark muttered, swinging the door open to reveal a spiralling staircase up to what seemed like the roof of the castle.

"Maybe there's a ladder back down. It's worth checking" said Jack. Mark nodded and they both began the tiring ascent towards the very top of the castle.

By the time they had reached the roof, the sun had almost already gone down, and they were both exhausted from the climb.

"Lesson learnt: Go outside or climb some stairs instead of playing video games" Jack panted.

"Sometimes" added Mark. The roof was mostly bare apart from a large generator near them.

They bent to look over the side, and Jack felt his vertigo coming on as he realised the wall stretched down as far as the eye could see. If he were to fall off...well, he'd be a pancake. A pancake imprinted into the dirt. A crackling noise emerged from the entrance, so Mark grabbed Jack and hauled him behind the generator.

"There's two on the roof, I repeat, we have a breach".

"Kill them, if they've got away then they're no use to us".

"What do we do?" Mark whispered, widening his eyes as one cloaked figure stepped into view from the entrance.

"No idea. We're trapped" Jack mentally cursed himself for coming up onto the roof. The cloaked figure moved closer, positioning the laser gun in its hands.

"Come out with your hands where I can see them". Mark looked at Jack in desperation and was not at all surprised to see him shrug. They'd run out of ideas. This was it. This was the end. They could run past him, but with that laser's extension limit... No, they were doomed.

"It's been a good run, buddy" Mark smiled. Jack elbowed him, furrowing his eyebrows.

"We're still alive, stupid. He's not killed us yet". Slowly they emerged from behind the generator, their hands in the air. Jack looked behind him, but there was no conveniently placed rope for him to abseil down the castle on.

"Hey, uhh, would you mind, er...not killing us?" Mark asked politely. Jack rolled his eyes and thought that they may as well get it over with.

"I have orders" the cloaked figure's voice wavered slightly, but it trained its gun on Mark. Jack stepped in front of his friend and took a deep breath.

"Let it happen now" he whispered to himself. "Please, for the love of god, let me explode".

"Jack..." Mark realised what was going on and was torn between going to stop Jack or run away. It was too late anyway.

There was a flash of blinding light, and Jack toppled backwards.

"Jack!" Was the last thing he heard before he was falling, falling, falling...

And then nothing.

~

Hey! Oh god, cliffhanger. Sorry this is a grand total of two days late, wattpad went weird and my phone deleted this whole chapter so I had to re-write it as best as I could, which isn't very good XD

It seems a bit pointless but I'll still be uploading on Wednesday and then next Saturday like usual. Thanks for being patient! :)