Three bears playing cards

"AHHHHHH."

Pain. He felt endless Pain starting from his eyes. It felt like somebody was inserting needles into his eyes. Long, rusty ones. One needle at a time and very slowly. He screamed till his voice went hoarse.

Loud and heavy footsteps could be heard, followed by the sound of a key turning in a lock.

"What the fuck is wrong with you shit?"

A door was ripped open followed by a sharply snarl.

Caine couldn't open his eyes. The pain was too strong. The only relieve he felt was by rolling on the cold stone floor. His face was full of dust and tears.

"Oj, look at this, one of the shits survived again. Poor soul, sometimes dying is easier. To the pits we go."

A big hand grabbed Caines leg. He felt a great pull and his hole body began to slide over the ground. But not a smooth slide. More of a way to find every bump on the floor to let his head jump up and down. The last thing Caine could hear before he lost his consciousness due to the pain was the happy whistling of that fella who was pulling his leg.

"Wake up, free pass."

Somebody kicked his leg. The pain jolted Caine awake.

"What the…"

The pain in his eyes was magically gone. He opened his eyes which were crusted with dirt and salt from his tears. He couldn't believe what he saw. The problem was not what he saw. The problem was more in what he didn't saw. Two meter around him he saw a dusty stone floor and a boy of around 14 years. After two meters everything was complete darkness. The floor was a black in color with small stones here and there. He could see every detail in these two meters. The boy had the same color as the floor. He was completely black, which was due to the thick dust or skin color, he couldn't tell. The boy had his eyes closed but somehow still looked at him through his closed eyes.

"Where am I?"

A kick to his leg followed.

"Shut up free pass. I ask the questions not you. Do you remember your name?"

"Yeah"

A short moment of silence followed by a kick.

"Fuck, it's Caine, damn you fuck."

Again a kick.

"Ok free pass, where are you from? What is your hometown? What is the name of your parents?"

Panic spread through Caine. He didn't know. His breath became heavy. How could he not know the name of his parents? How did he get here in the first place? And where did he even come from? He could… A kick woke him up from his thoughts.

"I don't know. Stop kicking me!"

"Thought so."

The boy turned around and vanished with two steps into the darkness.

Caine was alone again. Two meter around him greeted him nothing more than darkness.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question. Where are we?"

He looked into the darkness waiting for an answer. Silence.

"HEY"

"Oh, just shut up."

"Yeah, shut up free pass."

"God damn it again a noisy one."

Several voices came out of the darkness. All high pitched one like his own. There should be all around 14 years like himself. Caine wasn't afraid.

"Where are we?"

"You really want to die before your time is up!"

A bloodthirsty voice thick with killing intent came out of the darkness.

"Jonathan cool off. If you kill him now the free pass is gone."

"You shut up, you don't tell me what I do or not do."

Nobody said a word again. Caine scratched his head. He tried to think about his situation. He was in a place with people around 14 years. It was dark. Nobody wanted to tell what was going on and he had no clue who he even was. Ok, yeah, he knew his own name. His own Name, wuhu, with this he could do a lot… not.

"When you don't have informations, get some"

Caine mumbled to himself. When nobody wanted to talk with him, he could just talk with himself. Sounds healthy.

Looking down on his legs, one slightly blue from the kicks, he frowned. Still mumbling what an asshole that closed eye boy where he got on his feet. He dragged one's feet over the ground in the direction away from where the closed eye boy vanished. The sound echoed in the room. At least he thought he was in a room and not a cave or something. After ten more steps he saw a wall which were made out of bricks.

"One more piece for my puzzle. I'm in a room."

He continued along the wall.

"Don't come near me."

A soft girls voice could be heard from the front. Caine stopped walking.

"I just want to know what's going on."

"Turn around and follow the wall in the other direction. When you see the three bears playing cards you will understand."

"Three bears playing cards, what??"

He didn't understand a word she was saying and took a step in her direction to see her.

"Don't make one more step. They will kill you!!"

Caine stopped again. After a moment of hesitation he turned around and walked along the wall away from the girl.

'What a weird girl…', he thought.

Half a minute later he reached a corner. In the corner sat a boy. He was so thin that he looked like a skeleton with red piercing eyes. His cloth where black rags with large holes in it. Every hole presented tight skin over bones. He was just rags and bones.

"Piss off free pass"

He spoke in a familiar raspy voice who spoke up for him against Jonathan.

"Thanks for speaking up for me"

"..."

"I'm Caine, who are you?"

"I'm not your friend."

"Not your friend is a funny name, did you give it to yourself or did your parents named you like this?"

"They all start happy and friendly like you and then they all die, just like that." Two bony fingers snapped together. The sound was like a thunderclap in the room.

"Piss off."

Cold, red eyes stared at Caine. No emotion could be detected. The bony boy just sat there waiting for Caine to move along. Caine frowned. He looked down to the boy one more time and then continued to follow the wall. After ten more meters he saw something at the wall in front of him. He couldn't really believe what he saw. On the wall in front of him was a picture of three bears playing cards and some words scribbled below. The picture was carved into the wall. The bears set around a round table with an old design. Every bear had playing cards in there hand and some cards were spread around the table. The cutting was very neat. The only thing which was slightly sad was that one of the bears was not finished. He only had a head and one claw holding the playing cards.

'Why would somebody carve here something? Was he bored? Fuck, don't tell me I can't get out of here? Wait, where would I even go? Back home? Where is home? Where do I even come from? What the fuck is this situation here anyhow?'

He started to hyperventilate. With one hand on his chest he tried to calm himself. He could change nothing on his current situation right now, at least not if he was still walking in the dark, literally. To get a clear head he concentrated on the text which was carved below the picture. His heart nearly stopped. Nine ugly words which were not really carved but more like ripped into the wall could found there. A malicious air was spreading from there.

IF YOU SURVIVE FIVE ROUNDS YOU WILL GET OUT

No further explanation was given.