[002] welcome to the jungle

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height




[ TWO: welcome to the jungle ]








     THE WEIGHT OF the bed shifted and Rei stirred from her sleep, eyesight blurring everything into clumps of dark matter. She felt her duvet tug, unravelling her cocooned body, followed by a conclusive sigh as Sora settled into the mattress.

     Her sister's cold body curled up against hers like a kitten, face pressed against her back. Rei squeezed Sora's hands comfortingly, fingers sliding over knuckles as they always did.

     "Are you okay?" She whispered into the darkness of the bedroom.

     She felt Sora's frame go rigid, like she was suppressing something. Rei didn't roll over to face her, knowing that the night held their secrets in its moon-shaped heart and never spoke them aloud.

     "I messed up." Was Sora's response.

     "With Mom?"

     Rei had heard the argument downstairs, pitchy voices and emotional wrath being spat like soured milk between the pair. She'd tried to make out what was being said, but anger seemed to meld together like hot metals sharpening to swords. The fight had ended like it always did: with a slam of the door.

     Rei pieced it all together now. Sora's freezing skin, the crinkled sounds of her faux leather jacket, the hot sensation of alcohol fanned across the back of her neck; her sister had been the one to leave this time.

     Rei assumed she'd been out with her boyfriend somewhere in the Suburbs of Tokyo city, trying to diffuse the tempest inside of her ribcage. Sora would always crawl back to her bed, though, to spill her heart out the way she wouldn't with anybody else in this world.

     "Yeah, I messed up with Mom," she responded, and Rei noted the way the syllable seemed to coil up with disgust at the mention of the last word.

     "What happened?"

     Sora tried to laugh but it came out as a strangled sob. Rei squeezed her hand even tighter.

     "She's angry because I'm not you, Shira."

     Rei did turn around then, brows knitted together, bones heavy with sleep. She retracted her hand, using her arms to prop herself up against her pillows.

     "Huh? What do you mean?"

     Sora's eyes closed. She took a long drag of air, thoughts moving slowly, drunkenly. In the pale moonlight, Rei could see that her blue eyeshadow had smudged, the blurry pigment rimming her eyes like a fresh bruise. She still was impossibly beautiful, though, like a water lily - blooming and drowning simultaneously.

     "I mean that you're special, Shira. I am not."

     "Don't be ridiculous-"

     Sora's eyes opened. "Shira. Listen to me."

     Rei, agitated, pressed her lips together.

     "Life isn't fair, it never has been. I was born first, and Mom took a long look at me and decided I wasn't good enough ... that she wanted something shiny and hopeful and new. She's always compared me to you, y'know? And I don't blame her one little bit. You're everything I'm not. You have so many options, so many dreams."

     Rei felt disgusted at herself. A mother's love should be divided equally, not reserved for one. Her skin crawled at the fact that something inside of her was inherently selfish, a rotten apple at the bottom of her stomach. It ate away at her, a slow and painful realisation.

     She didn't want to be the source anybody's misery.

     "Stop saying that about yourself." She sat up and stared at her sister. "Stop thinking you're not worthy of anything."

     Sora smiled sadly, absent. "It's the truth. I'll never be what she wants me to be."

     "Stop it!" Rei was frantic now, grabbing Sora's shaking hands. "You're special to me. More special than anyone."

     Sora sighed again, heavier. It came straight from the gut, a hundred year bundle of sadness. "Just promise me you won't give up on your ambitions. You can do anything you want in this life, I swear that."

     Rei shook her head, confused by the lack of cohesion in Sora's words. Everything seemed jumbled together, a parting message, shoving bullets into a gun for a final goodbye. She wanted it to stop, for the tape to rewind back to the summery days of their childhood. Legs dangling from chairs, syrupy pancakes on their plates, the sound of Mom's laughter as she kissed them both on the top of their heads. In that moment, they were equal, special, soaring. Rei wanted to snatch that back.

     "Sora, listen to me-"

     "Please just promise me."

     Sora wasn't looking at her now. She laid back against the mattress, staring at the ceiling. Her expression had changed, dark eyes a little more melancholy around the edges and lips tugged downwards at the corners. She looked morbid, corpse-like.

     Rei turned away, shivering at the image.

     "Okay. I promise."

     She heard her sister hum a sound of contentment before getting up and leaving the room. She didn't slam the door, instead, she left it ajar. Rei tried to sleep but couldn't, laying in the darkness until it unfolded into a spring-like dawn.

     Beside her, a Sora-shaped hole gaped vacant.

















┈┈┈┈┈┈















     I AM NOT dead.

I am not dead.

I am not dead, she scolded herself awake.

    Bashira Rei was not dead. In fact, she was very much alive. Her breathing was erratic as she shot upwards, wincing immediately at the strain gnawing her muscles. Clumps of hair tangled all over her face, roots slightly damp with sweat as she pushed it behind her ears. She felt as if she'd been awoken from an eternal slumber, detached from everything around her. Something about her wasn't real in this moment and she scanned the godless horizon, squinting. It lay open, a slack jaw, tempting her inside. 

     She collected herself off the road, shaking her head to free herself of the weird sensation drugging her body. The dead belonged in the ground.

Her mind quickly rewired and transfigured into what she labelled survival mode. Rei stumbled to her feet and sprinted back into the vacant convenience store. She trapped her breath within her taut lungs as darkness hugged every object she touched. Frantically, she scrabbled through the storage box for her backpack, grabbing the thing and flinging it aimlessly onto her back.

     Rei checked her phone one more time, pressing the buttons erratically. Still dead. It dawned on her, like a cresting wave, that this really was not a dream.

She was all alone; a single planet inside the belly of the galaxy.

     Swallowing the horrifying realisation and pushing it to the bottom of her stomach, she felt her way back to the door. There was no time to reflect on the situation, only to prepare for the worst.

     An apocalypse. This was an apocalypse of sorts.

     Rei had watched TV shows and read novels about dystopian realities; a distorted version of the world that bred monsters and stole humanity. The main thing about this world, though, was that empathy was always drained from it, leaving it to hang limp and evil to run riot. The world was always vulnerable and cowering, afraid that something or someone had the power to dethrone it. It was every man for himself - and she certainly would turn hunter to save her own skin. She'd play the wolf and tear the throats out of any fawn that stood in her way.

     She began raiding the shelves for supplies, adopting a focused and methodical approach. Water bottles, long-life tins of food stuff, batteries, energy bars, a dozen candles, a lighter ... She shoved everything into her backpack, posture stiffened and braced for an attack at any second.

Weapon. She would need something to defend herself. Two minutes of scavenging around brought her nothing. She'd hoped to find a blade of some sort - even a pocket knife would do - seeing as she'd refined the art of handling such a sharp object back in her previous occupation.

     Rei sighed, fruitless in the self defence department but carrying enough essentials to keep her body vigilant.

     The sky seemed to have darkened significantly within the five minutes she was sheltered indoors. Night was a heavy tarpaulin stretched to the edge of the universe, starless and gaping. She clutched the strap of her backpack tightly, letting it rub her closed fist sore. Everything was uneasy, distorted, from the shallow pants of her breathing to the vacancy of Tokyo city.

She dithered, unsure where to proceed.

Home. Her heart urged - not for the one bedroom apartment she rented, but for her childhood home. She felt it writhe, a closed fist antagonising it. Had her parents disappeared too?

     She tried to think rationally, theorising that the probability was yes: they'd been sucked up into the same vacuum that'd deliberately missed her. This reasoning persuaded her to go, to try find a way out of this parallel universe. Then, she could return home.

Home. Her heart pleaded, and Rei drowned out the sound of its whines by breaking into a sprint.

     Home did not exist here.

     She didn't get far on her pursuit when white light exploded onto one of the towering office buildings in front of her. Welcome, players, it beamed, and Rei slowed to a jog, curious. The same white screen flared up on surrounding buildings with the message: This way to the game venue. Arrows pointed in the same direction, leading the way somewhere.

     "Hmm. That's odd." She muttered, stepping closer to the building.

Her ears pricked as a thick echo of voices resounded, growing quieter as they moved deeper into the city. People. She almost fell to her knees in relief. People existed.

     Rei didn't need to think twice before following.

She picked up a run again, navigating the signs shedding their light onto the streets. They stopped at a five-storey parking lot, one that she'd parked in countless times - lugging paper bags full of groceries after eventually finding her car in the maze. Now, however, people crowded on the lowest level. Some bunched together in small groups whilst others stood lone, baffled expressions stiffening their expressions. They looked as if they'd been plucked off the streets like her, the variation in attire proving her theory right.

     She slung her bag off, shoving it underneath a car to hide it, before hesitantly entering.

Rei followed a girl in front of her to a table, not wanting to seem lost, where two cellphones sat. One per person instructed the sign, and she snatched hers quickly. Maybe she could text her parents or check the news.

The phone, however, lit up and instantly registered her with facial recognition. Please put on a vest and wait for the game to commence, it blinked. Confused, she tired to click onto the keypad. Please wait for the game to commence, it glared back at her, unmoving.

Something sank inside of her then at the mention of a game. The whole place suddenly seemed off as she surveyed it, the whispers from the crowd of people turning hostile and predator-like. The strip lighting of the parking lot had a greenish-hue to it, bathing the game venue in an unearthly fog.

Rei's intuition was sun-like: constant and brilliant. It sprung to life now, advising her to be alert, to be cautious.

She turned to the girl who'd entered the parking-lot before her, beginning to plant the seeds of a plan in her mind.

"Hey. Do you know what this is?"

The girl, clad in a blue bikini and flared jeans, looked her up and down before shrugging. Her raven hair was pulled back into a dreaded ponytail, threaded with colourful string. Rei decided she looked willing enough to help.

"It's a game. You win by surviving it, and if you do, you get a visa. It's basically freedom for a certain number of days."

     Rei laughed at that, assuming the girl was either joking or completely insane. Why would the world stop for a mere game?

"Are you being serious?"

     "Dead serious." The girl chewed on her faux cigarette, pushing it around her mouth thoughtfully. Her lips were glossy, cherry red. "You can stick with me if it's a clubs game."

     Rei was bewildered. "Clubs?"

"You'll see in a minute which type of game we get, but as we have vests, my best bet is that this is a combined game."

Rei hummed at this, partly confused and the other intrigued. Clubs implied a suit, and a suit implied cards. What the hell was this sadistic game?

The girl thew her the strappy black mechanism that was supposed to be a 'vest'. Rei slid her arms through it and made sure it was secure, mulling over the information she'd gained.

     Before she'd the chance to ask any more questions, the noise of an announcer resounded, welcoming the players. A theatre-like screen lit up in front of them and people shuffled forwards to get a better view.

     "Come on," the girl prompted, grabbing onto her forearm and jerking her into step.

"Game: 'Capture The Flag'. Difficulty: five of clubs."

The automated female voice seemed awfully cheerful, verging on eerie. Rei hugged her arms to her chest tightly, uncertain on what exactly she was trying to shield.

At the mention of five of clubs, she noticed a group of boys high-five. Squinting closer, she made out a tag around their wrists. The girl too wore the wristband - pink and numbered as '13'. Rei planned on deciphering the meaning of them later.

"Rules: teams are divided equally so that the red team and blue team each have ten players. To win, your team must capture the opposition's flag and place it back in your home 'base'. Each team may hide their flag, and you may utilise all storeys of the car park, though the flag must not be completely invisible..."

An animation of the game rolled onto the screen and Rei brightened with the thrill of competition. She'd played capture the flag in high school and couldn't recall ever losing. Beside her, the ponytail girl smiled, mahogany eyes widening vivaciously. Perhaps having an ally was her best bet at winning this dumb game and returning back to normality.

"...The game venue is divided into two equal parts, crossing into the opposition's area means you can be tagged. If tagged, you will be stunned by the shocker activated by the button located on the back of your vest. To be freed, a member of your own team must press the button again to stop the shock."

     Rei felt for the button, fingers sliding over the cold, plastic system. The addition of pain to the game made her uneasy, though she knew she was tougher than the rest. She'd endured much worse than a shot of electricity before; both physically and mentally. Her expression hardened, something inside of her working it's jaw and sharpening it's claws. She would not lose this. 

"Clear condition: capture the opposition's flag and place it in your base. The time limit for this game is twenty minutes. The team that is flag-less at the end of the time limit, and any player who is still in 'jail', will receive a 'game over'. If both teams fail to capture their opposition's flag, the game is not cleared and all players will receive a 'game over'."

The animation flared with what Rei assumed was a red laser penetrating the player's flesh. Blood oozed from the cartoon skull and she nudged the girl beside her to confirm her guess.

     "So losing means dying?"

     The girl removed the faux cigarette from her mouth. "Yep."

     "Great." Rei shivered despite the humid air.

     Murmurs of fear and protest started to emit from some of the players, whilst others stared at them with amusement. Anticipation suffocated the parking lot.

     "Teams will be assigned now. You may have five minutes to discuss tactics before the official timer begins. Five minutes commences now."

    A timer started, opening up the discussion period. Rei watched as the button on her vest lit up scarlet red. To her relief, the girl's beside her did too. Once the crowd parted into the two teams, a bright hologram of a border sliced the car-park into two halves. A 'base' was also marked, circular and glowing.

     The reds moved to the far side of their area whilst the blues shuffled to their base on one of the upper levels. A young man with a wristband and a silver-plated tooth stepped into the centre of the group, surveying everyone with a pointed stare. He sniggered.

     "Okay. As there's ten of us, we'll divide into units. So, two flag hunters, four decoys and four defenders." He declared, earning a few nervous nods from others.

     Rei evaluated his tactical stance, weighing up the risk factor. Having only two flag hunters seemed precarious, but if they were stealthy enough the decoys could make their job simple. Three flag hunters would probably be more successful, as working in threes was the basis of pattern making and a dynamic, triangle formation would certainly throw the other team off. She opened her mouth to make a suggestion, but was cut off by a prying voice from opposite her.

     "Only two flag hunters?" A woman interfered, dressed in a muddied blouse and pencil skirt. "Surely we'll never find it!"

     The guy only glared at her. "Listen up, lady. I sure as hell have played a lot more of these games than you have, so I think I know what I'm doing. We play with two flag hunters, and if you don't agree, you're welcome to cross the border and rot in jail. Got it?"

     "Of course ... my bad." The pencil-skirt woman muttered and retreated to the back of the group, an embarrassed flush creeping to her cheeks.

     Rei decided against speaking up, knowing better than to debate with a stubborn moron who couldn't process new ideas.

     "Minoru!" The ponytail girl snapped from beside Rei, a hand on her slender hip. "Be nice. This is a team game, remember?"

     Minoru swung around and smiled toothily. He prowled up to her, stopping when their faces were just inches apart. "Alright then, Kuina. You're our very first flag hunter."

     Kuina rolled her eyes indifferently and shoved him away. "Ok, dumbass. I choose her to be my partner then."

     Rei felt Kuina's hand wrap around her forearm and she reacted coolly, keeping her expression neutral. She was determined to not reveal any traces of weakness or docility, though her heart lurched in response to the bizarre situation she'd been tossed into.

     Minoru scoffed, sneering gaze fixating on her. "And who are you?"

     Rei glared back at him. "Your second flag hunter."

     Kuina grinned and Minoru raised an eyebrow, stepping backwards.

     "Playing hard to get, I like you." He smirked. Rei suppressed a gag.

     "Ok, I'm a defender. You three are with me." Minoru continued, pointing to the remaining males of the group. One of them was heavily muscular and clearly armed, his head shaved and face stoney. Rei felt

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net