8 The Bird Sanctuary

And then we were off to the 53rd floor, As the elevator opened at the 53rd floor we came across a room with birds in a cage which was in the centre of the room and the room had walls made of glass so we could see the other side and what the Overseer said was true it really surprised us.

We came to what the Overseer called his Bird Sanctuary on the 53rd floor and saw the view above the building which we are in and also saw that there were buildings on our left and right and behind them, it was a wall and behind it, it was just ocean.

When looked at the building on our right I saw people just like us fighting their way out of there, they were only 8 of them. And then on our left, I saw there were only four left, but one of the four was Sarah and then I couldn't believe that Benjamin died and Sarah just left him to die alone. Everyone around me saw that I was shocked and sad. They thought it was probably because we had a long way to go.

Then Diana came to me and asked," Alexa, Are you alright, I understand how difficult it is but we have to show that Sarah didn't die in vain, Don't you agree with me ? ".

I didn't answer what she said but I told," Sarah is alive Benjamin died ".

Diana was shocked to hear it and said," How do you know you didn't see it and the Sarah we know would trick any of her friends to get out of the trouble ".

I replied," I also felt the same till I saw the building on the left I saw Sarah and three other boys they are probably Jean's friends, they are still alive but I don't know why did she leave Xavier to die down there alone?! ".

Diana ignored what said because she believed in Sarah a lot saw she had to see for herself and then she did see Sarah alive.

Diana didn't say anything later to me for a while and then held onto my hands and said," We are never going to abandon anyone including Sarah even if she is over there and then we will ask her what happened in there we can't just jump into conclusion that it would look like she had to ki... killed Xavier So... ".

I held both hands onto her mouth to stop her from going on and also because she couldn't bear that Sarah would simply just abandon Xavier just like that, We know that there would be a reason for that. After we kept on hugging each other and then went along with the others.

John was eavesdropping on us and heard what we both were speaking about. Then we went through the full room and saw a way out but it was shut.

Suddenly our HGs beeped and the Overseer said," How do you like my surprise I shouldn't probably ask that I know you all like and you also know that you are not alone in here. Well! I will explain completely where you are and what more are there to see. The building that I have designed completely into a Labyrinth is known as the Piece and if you look around there are various other Pieces exactly like what you are in. I should say one thing, I am not talking to just one group but to all of my students and there will be more assemblies like this if you all stay alive till the end but don't worry about that because that isn't gonna happen on my watch because all of the tests that I have done till now have reached till the 14th floor and die, So, let me move on. and the passages through which each of your friends have gone on are called snarls. And the place in which the Pieces are situated is on an Isolated Island and I have to be honest, There were some students of mine who have escaped from the Pieces but they have never got out of the island yet. The rest I will explain after you've got out of the Piece which I don't except any of you will but I feel one group will give me a lot of trouble but I can deal with them. And the birds that you see in the cages are called Vultures they normally hunt prey that is dead or unable to move on. But these vultures have an HG like yours but smaller and some of them are injected with the virus but they are not stronger than the Bits, these creatures are called Peckers, So Take care because I have pressed the button to release them, So, it will take about 5 minutes for them to be released which is about... now, Bye ! ".

Then the HG beeped off. We immediately got ready with our pistols. The Overseer was right about the timing because the cages were immediately opened. But they didn't attack it is probably because they haven't been infected just yet. James didn't want to take the risk of them getting mutated, So, He shot them all down. After James finished shooting down all the vultures, Our HGs beeped and the Overseer said," I knew you all would be thinking the same thing but don't worry, The fun is just about to start ".

After that, the HG beeped off. Then We all looked at the dead vultures. We saw that they were starting to wriggle and something popped out behind its back. This time they were mutated into the Peckers.

They started to fly towards us. Then James said to us," Stand with your group like what we had planned.

We immediately did what James said and then stood according to our groups in a "V" Formation. As it would come closer to us, James would tell us to fire at his command, and we all agreed.

This time the peckers got even closer to us than before, we all started to shiver but Rebecca and James stood strong in front.

Then when it was up close to James, he said us to fire and then we did it immediately because we got scared, mostly. And then we took down all of the peckers in the room.

We were all relieved that it was over while James and Rebecca were talking about how it was and want more competition, We all were frightened of them but also we were lucky that we came across James and Rebecca because it was just because of them that we have kept on going without any trouble but we still came across two and both were when James and Rebecca weren't around. When Benjamin lost his left hand and also when we lost Xavier we can't go on moaning about any of this because we had a long way to go.

Then after a while, our HGs beeped and The Overseer said," I see some of you had a plan to work along but the others who haven't had already had a lot of casualties but I can say that none of the groups in the pieces has got eliminated, So, I have kept a price on the 52nd floor which is a safe room below you and it is essential that you should see it because it is a tape which will provide you with a piece of information about the insides of a piece ".

Then the HG just beeped off. We should have moved on immediately to the 52nd floor because it was a safe room but we all except James and Rebecca went to look outside and check Whether Sarah's group was alright but we didn't see them, At first, we thought they might have made it out alive somehow and also thought otherwise.

James told us," I will tell you something about that girl, She is clever and I have seen it when she told me about her idea to make up groups to stay strategically safe, So, you should not be thanking me for the idea but to her. You should expect her to be safe, So, Don't worry about her ".

We all felt relieved and thankful about hearing that and also we didn't know what happened to Xavier. Then I started to think about what the Overseer said. He said that the Bits are under his control and so maybe he aimed it at Xavier and left Sarah to leave. We didn't think more about it and so we were headed to the 52nd floor which is a safe room.

And now it was off to Sarah, Ben, Harry and Dexter. After the Overseer told about the Peckers and then released the vultures. Sarah immediately told them," Face your body towards the floor completely, So, that you can keep your gun towards the peckers and shoot them all down easily ".

They didn't have any time to think otherwise, so, they did what Sarah told them to do.

Then Sarah continued," Now point your guns at it when it gets closer to us ".

They agreed with Sarah by giving her a nod. Then after the vultures were mutated into the pecker it started to move quickly at them by rushing toward them.

Then Sarah told them to fire, and they did exactly that. They continuously shot till all of the peckers were killed. After all the peckers were killed they all started to talk to Sarah more, so, they could get to know her. Suddenly Harry came up to Sarah and asked her if she had a boyfriend on the other side.

Sarah was staggered and said," I did have but he sacrificed his life to save mine but I feel it was in vain because I should have told him that something was wrong here and we both should have run to the snarl immediately but I... I didn't. I killed him... Why didn't I just tell it to him... ".

Harry didn't know what to do she couldn't move ahead even a bit because of the feeling that she killed Xavier. Ben and Dexter saw Sarah was shivering and then fell to her knees, so, they rushed in to check on her.

Dexter touched Sarah's shoulder and said," Sarah snap out of it ! ".

Sarah felt Dexter's hand on her shoulder and then snapped out of it, Then she started to cry and then hugged Harry. Harry didn't know what to do but he hugged her back and so did Ben and Dexter hug along.

After that, the Overseer told about the tape which he had placed on the 52nd floor which was a safe room.

Harry didn't understand what the Overseer meant about the tape he first asked Dexter," What is the big deal about the tape having the information we can use tape to stick on a surface, right ? ".

Dexter slammed his left hand on his forehead in disappointment and then replied," The tape he meant was not about cello tape but a cassette ! ".

Harry still didn't understand it and gave the "What" gesture. Dexter said," You will see what I meant when we reach the 52nd floor ".

Sarah felt happy along with the group again and she now knows that Harry has a little crush on her because he stares at her, Sarah caught him staring at her but didn't say anything to him but had a small smile.

And now it was off to us, As the elevator opened on the 52nd floor and we stepped out of it. We started to keep on searching around the safe room till we found the tape and then we did. The tape had a paper stuck saying "found me", we knew the Overseer was just playing games with us so we could get stressed out. And since we found the tape we started to search for the tape recorder and we found it after a long search.

As we put the tape into the tape recorder, it said," This was nothing the real thing is a video, So, you can see who I am. You will see a Stereopticon which is a slide projector around somewhere ", Then the tape stopped we all were speechless and pissed and went off searching around for the Stereopticon by scrambling everything around with angry like kids.

And then we finally found the projector and the slide screen but we couldn't see any switch or a cable or connecting it but Hassan just simply pressed the on the button and it worked we all stared at Hassan for a while and then looked back at the screen when it started to project and then we saw a man who looks like any human but he was the Overseer and then gave a grin towards the screen and said," Hello! Fellow students, I am your principal or you can say your Overseer here and my name is Martin, I don't think my full name is important, So, I will leave it like it is. If you have come across this message that means you have reached the 51st floor, So, Congratulations! I am here to tell you about the snarls and where are they located. The snarl is a pathway that I have created for students to get transferred from one Piece to another. The Snarls are three types which are a normal passage, a maze and an arena.

I know you might have understood about the other two except the arena well the arena is where you will have to fight your way through and the arena has two other sequences which are you will face one of my creatures or you could also face another student and you have to eliminate the student and then you can pass or if you both refuse to fight I will make it even more fun, you will know when you are there. And these snarls are randomly arranged but I will tell which floors you will come across a snarl on. Since you have already come across two which were on the 58th floor and 55th floor and also one that you hadn't realised was a snarl, which was the game room. The other snarls will be on the 43rd, 40th, 34th, 31st, 28th, 25th, 19th, 16th, 13th, 10th, 4th and 1st floors. And there is a speciality on the snarl of the 1st floor because it will be always open and it won't shut but the others are the same as the previous ones. There are also the secret snarls which I can't tell but you will see. There are 2 more tapes which would provide you information further into the Pieces ", and then the recording stopped.

We kept in mind whatever the Overseer told, and now I understand why he calls it a school but I still wouldn't agree with him completely.

Then Suddenly the HGs beeped on our neck and the Overseer said," You might have all seen the Stereopticon. Anyway now since you all are off to the 51st floor, you be going to the laboratory of one of the doctors that I have appointed for you, They are in control of themselves are not my creations but they are my disciples and they are in charge of the 50th and the 51st floors, So, if you are troubled just ask him to help ".

Then the HGs beeped off, We didn't feel something would be right when we meet the doctor, So, We planned to keep our distance from him and see if he is human like us. And we thought we will stay here for a while a then move on ahead.

After 3 hours of talking to each other, we all decided to go on to the elevator to the 51st floor...