Prologue (8)

Juncture (n.)

Antithesis (n.)

Axiology (n.)

Mitigate (v.)

Decor (n.)

"Now, off you run and hide. I will wait for a few minutes before starting." The statue's voice reverberated.

The trio snapped out of it and started running before Jenny suddenly asked something.

"Should we try shooting him?"

"I don't think that will work and would instead make him angrier. I don't see a chance of us escaping. We should follow his rules and hide. If you are found, then shoot. We will then know if it works or not. If even one of us escapes and brings back this information, it might prevent a disaster from befalling the entire platoon. Good luck. Let's all hide in different places."

Saying so, Hanna went off in another direction. Marla and Jenny held hands for a bit before rushing off in opposite directions as well.

Soon, Jenny reached a huge house, a shack, but the size was out of proportion. She felt tiny in front of it. Without waiting, she rushed inside. The decor in the shack was similar to what she had assumed. Old and dilapidated but cozy, something found in an old village. However, everything was huge.

Huge chairs and tables made of wood. There were utensils on the table with some leftover food. There was also a huge bed, a couch, a fireplace, and a huge fur rug. Beside the couch was a shelf filled with books. Unsurprisingly, the books were also huge and in a language, she did not know of.

She decided to hide behind the books. As she was climbing her way up using nicks and creases in the furniture, she stopped in her tracks as she heard the sound of gunshots followed by a scream.

It was Marla's scream. It seems that she was found and killed subsequently.

Even as sorrow flashed across her face, she hastened her steps to reach her hiding place. As she neared the books, she found that some of the books also had English written on it in small letters.

One of the bigger books was "Axiology - A Study of Values". Mocking the book and the reader, she made her way behind it. What values could a monster who kills for fun have?

Maybe the monster is using these as an antithesis to his predatory nature.

As these thoughts raced through her mind, the door of the shack opened. It was already 18 minutes into the "game". However, she did not know this.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, little girl." A sing-song voice flowed through the shack. "Do you think you can hide in my own house? Pretty bold of you. The other two are already dead. One of them tried to kill me with those toys of yours. It was amusing."

As Jenny heard this, an intense mixture of fear and grief flooded her entire being. She began breathing heavily.

"Oh. I can hear you breathing heavily. Where are you? Maybe the sink? No. The fireplace? Near there. Let's see. Haha."

The sound, however captivating it was before, now only brought about fear in her. But it also reminded her that she was breathing too heavily. However, she was unable to control it by herself. In order to mitigate it, she tightly bit on her hands. It somehow managed to help.

"Oh, it stopped. Hmm... but now there is a faint sense of smell. This is fun."

Her hand was bleeding and there was nothing she could do. She licked her own blood and started hoping against hope that a miracle would occur. She felt the monster get closer and closer. He was rummaging through the couch and the table and the fireplace.

She then heard him come to the shelf. He started pulling out one book after the other.

The fear in her was palpitating. She began sweating heavily as the impending doom wreaked havoc on her mental state. At this juncture, she was seriously considering making a dash for it. However, she knew it would be futile.

Just as the monster was pulling the 5th book out of the shelf, the white light dimmed and the view became normal.