The Horror

Selene was busy gathering dry wood for the fire.

On the other hand, instead of finding some lumber, I am asking questions to the machine.

The rewards for special condition tasks are somewhat suspicious. So I need to find as much information as possible.

"What did you mean by arms and ammunition in a special condition task?" I said after pressing the mic button or otherwise it would respond.

"IT'S A 0 POINT QUESTION. ANSWER- ARMS AND AMMUNITION FOR ONE PERSON WILL BE PROVIDED IF THE SECOND CONDITION IS FULFILLED. WAYS TO FULFILL CAN DIFFER. ONE WAY IS, TWO OR MORE PEOPLE CAN ADD ON THEIR POINTS BUT BY USING THIS ONLY THE SECOND CONDITION WILL BE CONSIDERED AND NOT THE FIRST CONDITION. IF A PERSON IS ABLE TO ACCUMULATE 200 POINTS THERE ARE TWO CONDITIONS. CONDITION 1- IF A SINGLE PERSON IS ABLE TO ACCUMULATE 200 POINTS THEN THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE REWARD THAT IS OF SPECIAL CONDITION TASK 2. CONDITION 2- IF TWO OR MORE PEOPLE ARE ADDING UP THEIR POINTS TO GATHER 200 POINTS THEN THE REWARD WILL BE DISTRIBUTED BASED ON THEIR CONTRIBUTION."

It feels like we are in a game. We complete tasks and get rewards. The main difference is that it is happening to us in real life instead of happening virtually.

"How can a person share its points?" I asked.

"THIS IS A 10 POINT QUESTION. WILL YOU USE POINTS?"

"Ah, man... I don't have enough points." I exclaimed.

"THERE IS A SPECIAL CONDITION IN CASE A PERSON IS LACKING IN POINTS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW?" the machine answered and I noticed that I didn't remove my hand from the mic.

But whatever the case, if I can still ask questions I would like to know it.

"Yes."

"THIS IS A 0 POINT QUESTION. CONDITION 1) IF A PERSON IS AT ZERO POINTS OR LACKING IN POINTS THE PERSON CAN STILL ASK ANY QUESTION BUT IN RETURN IN THE NEXT 48 HOURS THE PERSON NEEDS TO EARN ENOUGH POINTS TO PAY THE DEBT. THE RETURN AMOUNT IS TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF POINTS USED FOR A QUESTION. THE AMOUNT WILL BE DEDUCTED AUTOMATICALLY. IN CASE THE DEBT IS NOT PAID WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT OTHERWISE THE PERSON WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. CONDITION 2) IF A PERSON IS HAVING ZERO POINTS THEN ONLY THE QUESTIONS WHICH COST 30 POINTS CAN BE ASKED. CONDITION 3) IF A PERSON IS HAVING MORE THAN 0 POINTS (0>100) THEN ONLY TILL THE NEXT 50 POINT QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED. CONDITION 4) IF A PERSON IS ABOVE 100 POINTS (100>150) THEN ONLY THE NEXT 200 POINT QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED. TO KNOW FURTHER CONDITIONS 100 POINTS ARE REQUIRED. WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE POINTS?" it's getting more complicated as I dig further. I think it's best to wait.

What the machine said was that, if we don't have enough points we can still ask questions but instead, in return, it will take triple the amount.

On the surface, it's not a bad deal but the risk involved is quite big. We still don't know what 'disqualified' means?

...

"Allen, did you find anything?" Selene called out to me.

"Ah, oh... I am still searching." nope. I still haven't started searching for it properly. I was so into the machine questions that I didn't know how much time I had blown.

As I walked further into the forest I saw a few pieces of wood that could be used for making a shelter.

But how would I carry these alone?

I cannot ask Selene as she is busy gathering other things.

Whatever, I should at least try it.

I put both of my hands at the end of one wood piece and pulled it with all my strength and... I believed that wood or lumber is generally heavy but surprisingly it wasn't that heavy. Their weight was so light that I could move them alone.

I pulled the pieces one by one to our hotspot.

...

It took longer than I expected.

By the time I placed the last piece I heard a voice from the machine.

"Beep-Beep! YOU HAVE A NEW MESSAGE." I clicked on it.

"CONGRATULATION ALLEN AND SELENE! FOR EIGHT HOURS YOU HAVE ACQUIRED A HOTSPOT. 100 POINTS WILL BE REWARDED TO BOTH OF YOU. YOU CAN SEE YOUR POINTS BY TOUCHING YOUR RIGHT ELBOW." what?

I can see my points by touching my elbow?

I touched my right below.

[Welcome Allen]

[Status- Alive]

[Points- 100]

As I touched my elbow my name was written on the machine screen.

What? I touched my elbow and my points are shown on the screen.

I thought that some virtual screen will pop up in front of me or something like that, like in games.

"Selene, come here," I called out to her.

"..." no response.

I turned around. Selene was not there.

Yeah, I haven't seen Selene in the past few hours. Where is she?

I looked around but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Selene!" I yelled thinking she might reply but... nothing.

"Where did she go?" I started walking in the direction she was last seen.

I searched around.

As I walked further I noticed a bundle of sticks. I picked one of them.

"It's dry." she must be around here.

"Selene!" I screeched again.

Constantly I yelled her name but no response came.

Then I noticed something sparkling on the roots of a big tree. I walked in that direction.

"Huh?" It was a hair clip.

Ah, right Selene wore that.

As soon as I picked up the clip I looked around thinking she might be nearby.

"...n" huh? I heard a soft voice but it was so low that I couldn't make out what it was.

"..e.." the same voice came but from where?

I walked in behind the tree and I noticed some scratches on the tree, not just some small scratches. It was almost the same size as mine.

"What? Who made this big scratch?" I am sure it is not man-made

"A...n" this time the voice was much louder than before and this time I could make out the direction. It is coming from my left side.

I trudged in that direction.

I saw some blood marks on the ground.

Something is not right. I started walking faster and faster. The amount of blood kept on increasing till a huge amount of blood was accumulated in front of a big rock.

"... okay, nothing to worry about." Even though I tried not to think about it, deep inside I felt like something was eager to see it...

A trail of blood was leading behind the rock, I kept on following it.

"...."

At first, I didn't believe what I saw. I turned around and then saw it again but nothing changed.

I saw a person... whose both arms were ruptured and... legs ripped off spitting up blood continuously and his face is crushed such that I am unable to discern if it's a male or female.

Normally a person would turn away but I didn't feel anything seeing it.

I was actually a little bit curious instead.

I mean look at it, who could do this? No wild animal will leave a person like this, either he will eat it or will just leave it. Definitely, not crushing a skull.

"Allen." this time I heard it correctly. Someone was calling out my name and from behind.

I turned around to check.

"Selene?" It was Selene who was calling out my name. But why?

"Allen, run," she said.

"Why?"

"...." she couldn't say a single thing so I took her hand and helped her walk.

I walked her to our hotspot. On the way she didn't say a single thing, by her looks I can easily tell that she is terrified. So I didn't ask her anything.

...

TO BE CONTINUED...