A Challenge

It was obvious to Gary, if not to everyone, that Fred also cared about Aran in his own way, even if he himself wasn't completely aware of it.

"Until he makes a decision…"Gary replied, and Aran who was still listening to the conversation the both of them were having finally decided to speak intent on buttressing the fact that he had no intention of changing his mind about his arm, when Joe beat him to it.

"There's another way though," Joe said, drawing the attention of the three of them to him, especially as they watched him chuckle to himself when he said it.

Greta and the rest of her team standing with her behind them, already began shaking their heads with a nasty smirk on some of their faces, that looked like they were already aware of what Joe was about to say.

"What??" Fred and Gary both asked in shock.

"What way?" Aran asked in a loud and excited tone, his face instantly filled with hope, not at all minding the mocking expression in Joe's eyes as he looked at him.

"I'm joking you'll never be able to do it," was Joe's reply but this time around Aran didn't even care as he went ahead to ask his question again with a more serious expression on his face.

"If it's getting to a hospital and getting the equipment then it can still be done if Fred and Gary are willing to help," Aran thought.

"Tell me," he forcefully said, annoyed that the doctor would even bring it up if he had no intention of telling him in the first place.

A tension-filled moment of silence passed, where Joe continued to stare at Aran as he watched him get angrier with every second that went by before he finally decided to speak.

"If you become the overall winner of the level 2 group challenge with the most amount of kills then you'll get a basic wish," Joe finally said in a jesting tone and a huge grin on his face.

This time Fred and Gary's attention also turned completely to him, especially Fred, who had been wiping the specks of blood that were intermittently dripping from his nose, way before anyone could see it. He was also glad that everyone's attention seemed to be completely drawn to Aran.

"What is this challenge of a thing?" Fred asked just as Aran was opening his mouth to do so, wincing a little as he noticed the slight desperation in his voice. 

"You guys don't know about it?" Greta asked, a little shocked to see the reaction of the three people in front of her.

"I thought any group with more than two people would see and receive the notification," she said in the form of a question directing it at Joe, who also turned to look at her when she spoke.

"We became three recently. Just this morning actually," Gary replied, also curious about the challenge they were talking about.

"It's a group challenge. A big banner appears in the sky and everyone sees a floating window in front of them…it's a kill enough zombies to survive or die kind of thing," Joe said with a sad smile on his face.

"No one is excluded. Anyone can kill you apart from your team members,"

Joe had barely finished speaking when Gary's eyes widened in shock, as he tried to digest what Joe was saying while likening it to reality and not the dream-like scene he painted.

"But we aren't part of your team yet so we should be safe," Gary stated looking at the people around him right before a sudden realization came to him.

"Doesn't that mean that…"

"Yeap, you become part of the kill scores. Once the challenge is up both zombies and humans apart from people in your team are up for the taking. So even if someone wants to remain hidden and survive, it's impossible. Also, the moment your kill scores are below the minimum required, you're DEAD," Joe slowly explained, right before his eyes slowly moved back to land on Aran who was frozen stiff as he listened to Joe's words.

"Even with that bad arm, you're going to have to kill zombies yourself. No one can do it for you. It's fucked up but it's true," Joe said and this time around every member of Greta's team and even Greta herself had a sober and solemn expression on her face.

"When does it start?" 

"When does the challenge start?" Fred and Gary coincidentally asked at the same time.

"Just maybe I can win the challenge and get that wish. The mutation is slow and I can feel myself slowly turning into a zombie," Fred thought, hoping that the challenge would start soon since he barely had hours left before he turned, with his sign being the only reason he hadn't turned already.

Gary though, had different thoughts.

"Shit…if there's enough time, we can still leave and find a good place to hide. Aran won't be able to survive if we remain here and join the group. This challenge sounds more intense than they're letting on," he thought, looking at Aran with worry, watching him continue to stand stiffly and stare at the ground in front of him without moving a muscle.

"I'm going to die," Aran thought, and for the second time that day, he recalled the similarities between what had been happening around him and the zombie game he had played a few days ago.

"The group challenges are crazy. The minimum requirements are insane. It's like a mini war with the difficulty increasing with every challenge. No one survives. At some point everyone dies," he thought, trying to calm his racing heart down but not at all succeeding.

"The only difference is that this is real life. You don't get to save and start over. Once you die there's no coming back,"