welcome to the game // joshler [✓]

best i can do

[if you guys have a problem with daily updates or long chapters please let me know, i wanna make this reading experience as enjoyable as possible. also, please don't skim read this one, it answers a lot -frisk]

the sky was overcast, making that ominous feeling of gloominess come to life in thin air. we now on the roof, and being this high made my stomach turn and my knees feel like jelly.

the warehouse we were in was two stories high, minus the basement area. i tried looking around to see where we were, maybe it could give an idea of how far i was from the building sarah and tyler took me in as home.

but, there was nothing to go by, only a barren dirt road that laid horizontally from the building, that lead to who-knows-where with no cars going down it, and an endless corn field on the other side.

the only things on the roof were us and two practice-shooting dummies. they had all the parts a mannequin would have, but minus the fact that there was no face and the whole thing was made of a fabric material with cloth inside, which was now marked with bullet holes.

"perfect weather for target practice," jon spoke up, looking up the sky, "and why is that?" i wondered, turning to face him.

he turned to look at me, "oh some dumbasses like to come up here when it's real sunny, nearly blinding themselves and almost falling off the damn roof." he explained, i shot him a smirk,

"were you one of those dumbasses?"

jon couldn't hold back a smile, but eventually broke and started laughing, "hey, y'know what, that's not important," he playfully dismissed, "what is important, is teaching you how to shoot."

i laughed the joke off, and was not ready to show off. i cockily took the gun off safety, got into a confident stance, and shot the gun aimlessly with one hand, not even nailing the dummy at all.

i felt embarrassment rise, my cheeks now flushing red and getting hot, jon gave me a look dissatisfaction, sarcasm raised in his tone, "man you really showed that dummy, dummy." he joked, and i remained quiet, just staring at the gun.

"when it comes time to kill, show me where'd you'd aim." i turned towards him and meekly pointed at my chest, he then shook his head and walked closer to me, though we were still a little ways apart from each other.

"josh, there's a difference between aiming to shoot, and aiming to kill," he started off, "aiming to kill means you don't aim for chest, you don't aim for the dick," he paused and waited for me to look at him,

he used his pointer finger to point at the middle of his forehead, "you only aim for the head."

i nodded, taking in the advice as i stood in the same position i was before to shoot again, when his words stopped me again, "don't aim with one hand to try and seem cool and shit, because that ain't gonna matter if you're head-butting bullets," he semi-joked, but the went on to explain,

"you keep your feet firm on the ground, but light enough so you can sprint away if you have to. hold the gun with two hands, and if you need to for practice, you can close one eye to get a better view of where to aim." i complied, doing exactly what he instructed.

"and make sure," he spoke up for the last time before i shot again, "when you're aiming to kill, make sure you wanna be doing that, because you only have a split second to think before it becomes either your life or theirs."

i took this in account, pretty much taking it to heart too, and shot the final bullet, nailing the dummy, that was a good 15 feet away from me, right in the head, just above its left eye. i turned back to jon who was cheering me on,

"now thaaaat's what'm talking about!" he walked over and gave me a high-five, pulling me into what people would call a "bro hug".

afterwards, the celebration has died down and so did the conversion, the silence come back full force. until curiosity got the best of me again when it came to jon, and i couldn't help but ask,

"hey, jon, what is it that you do here? are you a hitman or something?" he shook his head, "i don't actually do anything here... i don't do those josh suicide carnivals, don't do the monkey house- hell i don't even know where the red room is." he went on to explain.

"so then, why are you here?" he stood there for a second, looking unsure of himself on what to say, "i guess i'm just kept around incase something goes wrong here. shit, as long as raz likes me, i'm almost untouchable around here."

my heart dropped at that name.

"r-raz," my breathing was now shaky, "you know raz?" i questioned, fearfully. he casually nodded, but then he noticed my apparent terror, "yeah i know her... why?"

her.

"her?" i was now in complete confusion, jon once again nodded, "yeah, it's weird, i know, having a girl who's 5'1 running a place like this-- but hey, she makes it work, unless you don't count her nutcase of an assistant." he then shrugged.

"what's her name?" i needed to finally know who i was dealing with, but sadly i never got one, as jon looked to have been lost in thought trying to figure it out, "y'know i can't even remember. she's told me a few times before, but now it's just all a blur."

"well then, who's her assistant?" i wondered, he rolled his rhee and sighed, "his names ryan. he runs the monkey house and basically does all the dirty work for raz, just to get her hands dirty, since he uses her name and not his when he sends out hitman and kills innocents."

my eyes widened, he really did sound insane, using raz as a coverup, but what was his motive for it all? and was he behind what happened with me? and that's when it finally hit me.

the real raz wasn't as bad as everyone thought, and she ran this whole place, not to mention jon had a good friendship with her. this was my chance to find out what happened with the others.

"look jon, i know we literally just met-- not even an hour ago, but can you please do this one favor for me?" i pleaded with him, and he seemed to be on board, "what d'ya need?"

"i need you-- i'm begging you to please ask raz if she knows where my friend is." i wasn't prepared to ask for tyler, since everyone knew his name and i didn't wanna scare him off. this was to keep tyler as safe as possible, so my next idea was jenna.

"your friend? as in one of the people they brought in with you?" he asked, i nodded. his face then fell into the epitome of sadness, "she doesn't handle the prisoners, pete does... and knowing him, he won't tell me where your friend is."

"jon... i can't wait any longer," i felt my voice breaking as i was ready to cry out of frustration and fear, "i have to know if h-- she's okay." now i was guilt tripping him, and good god i felt bad about it.

the conversion then died for a second, jon being lost and thought while i was trying not to break down, until he spoke up again,

"it won't be easy but," he sighed again, "i'll try and get the key for the prisoner ward. it's the best i can think of." he suggested, and i was more than happy with it.

i nodded, "y-yeah that'd be great," i now felt fully guilty, "thanks so much jon." i cracked a smile, and so did he, "no problem, josh, but i gotta talk to him alone, you gotta go back to my room." he explained while we were about to leave the roof.

before he let us both leave, he turned to me one final time, "you go straight to my room. first floor. no pit stops and don't talk to anyone. understand?" his voice was assertive, really leader like.

i quickly nodded again, "understood."