First out of many

Two questions lingered on in my mind after Lily had made her provocative announcement to the rest of us.

These questions being, what she actually meant by only one of us being able to leave this place. And secondly, what exactly was her agenda?. Telling five hundred confused people, that they would have to murder each other to be able to walk out freely from here.

Not to mention, that everyone standing here, were total strangers to each other, or so I've presumed thus far. This being placed in consideration, it would be easier for anyone here to actually commit a murder, and the strong would most definitely prey upon the weak.

"Lest I forget, there are some rules you all need to follow, call them, my ten commandments." She addressed, resting both hands on her curvy hips.

"But that's best saved for later, it would be a bore to tell them all to you now. Instead, let's all do something fun and blood pumping..."

The menacing grin on her face, implied that whatever it was she had planned, was the direct opposite of anything fun. That psycho definitely had some sort of trick up her sleeves.

"If you'll look over there, am sure you've all noticed my steel box, resting against that tree." Her statement drew all our attention towards the direction of said box.

"It needs a special passcode for it to open, that box is impossible to break, at least, not at the level you all are. Hence, I'll do you all a favor and just tell you what the code is." Even from the tall pillar, her voice sounded intensified.

I couldn't see a thing, I doubted any of us in front would be seeing anything. Mr hotshot was busy staring at his fingers, rethinking his life choices up until this moment. And 205, clasped to the man like glue, playing the fragile woman in need of chivalry.

"The code is 2-0-1-2. Make sure not to forget it okay?."

I grew sick of hearing her try to sound cute, but what's more, my interest was gripped. Just what was in that box of hers, that was supposed to be fun?.

Someone was actually despondent enough to punch in the code she called out, and open the box. I could hear the sound so vividly, as if I was standing there myself.

"Knives!" A lady cried out on top of her lungs, almost bursting my ear drums. A couple of other petrified screeches accompanied hers, belonging to both women and men.

"What's the meaning of this?." Hotshot grunted, able to make a sentence through the pain. 205 slung his arm over her shoulder for support, not like he needed any though.

"Those are my little welcome gifts to you all, please everyone, take a knife, however will you withstand this place if you don't have a knife in your possession." She went straight to the point, her mood shifting to a more serious tone at the latter part of her sentence.

That bloodlust of hers returned, this time tenfold, for it wasn't only me who sensed it. The others standing behind me were paralysed in fear, we were being preyed upon by this so called gardener.

"What the hell do you mean?." I implored, seeing as we weren't going to go anywhere with these vague question and answers.

She jumped down the pillar and landed in front of me, her speed and dexterity stunned the shit out of me. It only took her three seconds to do that, and without any difficulty at all.

"Am glad you asked triple three, I won't waste anymore time and resume the fun. After all, that's what everyone here is looking forward to."

I couldn't help but feel she was intentionally digressing from direct questions, because there was something this woman was hiding from us.

With our current situation placed into consideration, that was truly saying something.

"There are a total of five hundred knives in that box, as you can tell, one belongs to each of you. For the next 24hrs, I am going to give you the chance to debate amongst yourselves what it is you want to do from here on out. Whether you wish to participate in my games and earn your rights to kill, or if you'd rather be killed by your fellow contestants." She took a ceremonial pause, stopping to look at our reactions.

"During this twenty four hours, you should keep your knife with you at all times. For two reasons specifically."

"One, if you are ever attacked by a fellow contestants, then it is legal to defend yourself with that knife and take the other person's life. Under my normal rules, this kind of baseless killing is frowned upon, but since it's your first day here, I say screw it!. Kill all you can, take as many lives possible. You won't get this chance so easily next time." Lily cackled once she started preaching about death, something I found sickening.

She turned to leave us, no one even stepping forward to take her on, or avenge Hotshot's broken fingers.

"And...the second reason?." My question stopped her dead in her tracks, I bet she never expected anyone to say anything else. Lily made a one eighty to answer me, an excited grin spread across her face.

"Isn't it conspicuous Triple three?. It's so you can make the first attack and strike while the iron's hot. In murder, the element of surprise can come quite useful." She spoke, somewhat relaxed.

"Your 24hrs, starts immediately." And on that note, she disappeared into the garden, using the trees and grass to make her convenient exit.

I yearned to follow her, and pin her down till she released us all from this place, but my spineless body wouldn't stride. For heaven knows, where exactly it was she was headed, or what to anticipate.

And in the blink of an eye, our fear became an actuality, for some of us had just comprehended, how easy it would be, to do it here.

To murder a person and get away with it.

*Some time after*

"Here."

I and 205 glanced above, to see hotshot brandishing two knives out to us, an indifferent look on his face.

"Thanks, but don't tell me you actually bought that crap about having to strike when the iron's hot?." I asserted, withholding from stretching my hand out to take a knife from him.

205 on the other hand didn't mind accepting anything from this guy, and seized hers without any reticence.

"Everyone is carrying one, just to be on the safe side of things, I mean to say, it's impossible to predict these things." Hotshot justified, shoving the knife into my right hand.

"It's kind of a miracle your fingers rejuvenated so fast. I was scared you wouldn't be able to wield them anymore." 205 stated, peeking shortly at his faultlessly normal fingers.

SHE must be glad his fingers are back to normal, more thrusting action for her I suppose...

Hotshot wriggled his fingers, as though it had just occured to him precisely how battered they were some hours ago.

Speaking of time, how long had they been in this place?. I only regained consciousness earlier today, and things have been one crazy shit after the other.

"Hey, I have a question." I piped up, evaluating the knife in my hand. It was surprisingly lighter than it looked, and easy to swivel around.

"How long have you two been conscious?. And what's with all the numbering?!" The uncertainty was frickin slaughtering me.

All around me, were different groups of people, sitting on the grass, conversing like they'd known each other all their lives.

"That's two questions." 205 sarcastically whittled in, brushing her fingers against the sharp end of her blade, staring at it with so much novelty.

"Regarding your first question, 205 and I woke up today as well, same as everybody else. Though some of us regained consciousness at midnight, you were the last person to wake up." Hotshot filled me in, purposely leaving the second one unanswered.

"And the numbering?"

"We don't understand it either, but what we do know for sure, is that everyone here woke up today, with a number tattooed on a part their body. Since we don't seem to remember our names, we've decided to address each other by our numbers instead." 205 explained, a sour look on her face.

Rivalling the shock of discovering everyone here was exactly like me in some way, was the nagging question at the back of my head.

Just how did 205 know her number?. Who else in this garden shares my love for peeping under women's skirts?.

A better question popped into my head as I shifted my gaze from people around me, noticing their tattooes, varrying in size and number.

Where the hell was my tattoo?!.

*Thud*

My curious mind went blank, at the sight barely inches away from me. I sprang to my feet, refusing to allow any of it touch me...taint me.

"Time elapsed: 5 hours, 20mins." Lily announced, grinning from ear to ear, as she placed one foot on top of it, trampling upon it.

"Total time left: 18hrs 40mins." She firmly pressed her foot to it, giving it little kicks here and there, trying to get a reaction out of it.

"Number of corpses found: 1" she finally said, standing over a dead woman, whose body was covered in blood, her blood. I looked over my shoulder at the petrified gazes all fixed on her corpse, and failed realise the plain truth.

This was the first out of many murders to occur.