Chapter 42
NOAH
After stopping for restrooms, snacks, and gas, then finding ourselves in gridlock traffic, I was late—-so late that the challenge had already started, and I found Xavier pacing beneath a dim fluorescent light over the entryway into the building with two girls I didn’t recognize sitting chatting nearby.
No one else was to be seen, despite the dozen odd vans parked in the lot with ClikByte branding on the windows.
“Where have you been?” Xavier snapped when I jogged over from Jared’s car. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“Sorry,” I replied, already anxious about being late without him adding to the guilt. “It wasn’t deliberate. Who are they?” I nodded to the girls, who were eyeing me like hungry hyenas.
“Beth and Gem, our teammates for this stupid challenge,” Xavier replied with a growl, then he wrinkled his nose and sneezed dramatically.
What? “Our…teammates? Where’s the rest of Olympus? How come you’re the one stuck waiting for me?”
“The challenge started half an hour ago, dipshit,” Xavier snapped, rubbing his nose, “and I was the only one willing to sacrifice points to stand here and wait for you.”
“He’s lying,” one of the girls said with a smile. “Teams were preselected by the producers, and we aren’t allowed to start until we have all four members.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t do it anyway,” I commented, returning Xavier’s glower with one of my own.
“We tried,” the other girl replied with a snicker.
“We physically need four people to get through the first stage. We get points for every checkpoint we pass, but we have no idea what those checkpoints are. Either we stay inside for the whole night, or we can get out early if we find the golden token.”
“There’s one golden token on each floor, and it’s the only way we can get out early,” the first girl added. “But we don’t know what it looks like, where it is, or how big it is.”
I rolled my eyes and shrugged. “All right then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this over with.”
Xavier looked like he’d rather toss me in a dumpster and set it on fire, but the girls hopped up and led the way inside, so we ended up following along behind.
“What is this place, anyway?” I asked as the overhead fluorescents flickered. “It looks like…a hospital?”
“It was, sort of. It was a psychiatric hospital owned by the Mallard Group that got shut down a couple years ago when they were found to be doing some military testing on the patients. One of their other hospitals in Montana burned down, but this one had a stack of incriminating evidence,” one of the girls confirmed. “I’m Beth, by the way. She’s Gem.”
The other girl did a finger wave, and I nodded back to her.
“I’m Noah.” I introduced myself politely, even though they’d undoubtedly hear Xavier curse my name plenty of times while they waited. “What happened to the people in charge? Did they go to jail?”
Gem hummed thoughtfully, twirling one of her pigtails. “Not sure about the company directors, but the guy in charge of this hospital jumped off the roof. Coward.”
“Right,” Beth replied. “So now they’ve set it up as like a haunted--house--type challenge? Or escape room? I wasn’t super clear on the details when they did the announcements.”
“Both.” Xavier glowered, holding out a key to me with a fluffy key chain dangling.
“This is yours. We all have a key.” He gestured to the bank of commercial elevators ahead of us.
“We all need to insert our keys and turn them together to access whatever floor we’ve been assigned for the challenge.
” He then sneezed again and glared death my way. “Are you covered in cat fur again?”
Well, that explained why they had to wait for me, because each keyhole was a full elevator apart. I ignored his question about the cat fur.
“Okay, cool. Any ideas what we need to do when we get to wherever we’re going?” I glanced at the girls, seeing as they’d clearly been paying more attention than Xavier. Or maybe they were just more willing to share information with me.
Beth shook her head. “No clue.”
Gem gave a nervous giggle. “Survive the night, I guess. We are supposed to solve some puzzles or something along the way? It was pretty vague.”
“We’ve heard screams, though, so I’d bet they have actors lurking in the dark.” Beth wrinkled her nose at the idea, and to be fair, I wasn’t thrilled by the prospect either.
“Can we start?” Xavier prompted, striding over to the far keyhole. “We’re already half an hour behind the other teams. One of you girls is going to need to fake a nip slip or something if we want to regain the lost Cliks.”
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “You’re such a pig, Xavier. Don’t worry, girls. We’ll get the Cliks without exploiting anyone’s bodies.”
“It was just a joke,” Xavier grumbled, actually seeming properly chastised.
Knowing how seriously he’d taken my consent during the Hot Falcon shoot, I believed him.
But jokes like that weren’t funny if the other party was uncomfortable.
“I’d do it myself but the whole internet has already seen my nipples a million times and a dick slip would get our feed shut off. ”
Gem laughed it off, flipping her long pigtail over her shoulder.
“It’s cool. We all know the fans are Cliking to see you guys flirting anyway.
Let’s get this started.” She turned on her necklace--mounted action camera, and Beth and Xavier followed suit.
Then Xavier fished another from his pocket and tossed it to me.
I noticed my ClikByte username marked on the camera so had to assume this would be how our challenge was being live streamed. I secured it around my neck and turned the camera on, noting we all now had a red light glowing on our cameras.
“Here goes nothing,” Beth murmured.
“Keys in,” Xavier ordered. “Now, on the count of three we turn clockwise until it clicks. One, two, three.”
Click.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then one of the elevators started whirring to life, and after a short, tense wait, the doors between me and Gem slid open.
“Anyone else feel like this is a really bad idea?” Beth asked with a nervous laugh. “Like our fans will be watching this at home while screaming, ‘Don’t do it! Look behind you!’?”
“And yet, you’re going to do it anyway,” Xavier drawled as he stepped into the elevator and turned to face the three of us. His gaze was locked on me, and he extended his hand like an invitation to join him in hell. “Aren’t you?”
“Obviously,” I muttered, thinking of the content—-and nothing else—-when I reached out to take his hand and let him pull me into the elevator. The fact that my breath caught and my pulse raced was just nerves about what was to come.
The two girls followed a moment later, and the doors slid closed almost instantly.
“That was creepy,” Gem whispered, glancing around as the elevator started to move. “Do you think someone is watching us? Controlling the doors and shit, I mean.”
“I’d be shocked if they weren’t,” Xavier muttered, for some reason still holding on to my fingers.
Had he forgotten? I wasn’t about to make it weird by tugging my hand free if he had.
“Basement Two,” he read off the digital display when the elevator car stopped and the doors smoothly slid open. “I guess this is us.”
Gem and Beth looked positively gray with nerves as the four of us stared out into the pitch--blackness of Basement Two. “Uh, you guys go first,” Beth said with an anxious laugh. “We’ll be right behind.”
Gem looked—-and sounded—-like she was about to hyperventilate, but Xavier just huffed and strode out into the darkness, pulling me along behind him. Now I understood why he was still holding my hand—-so I couldn’t bitch out and hide.
“It’s just like a haunted house at an amusement park,” I tried to reassure the girls, turning back to watch them dithering. “Designed to scare but not actually hurt you. We’re all worth way too much money for Clik Games to actually harm any of us.”
Beth nodded, drawing a deep breath. “That’s a really good point, Noah. You’re right.” She stepped out of the elevator to join us, then turned to gesture for Gem to follow. “Come on, we can do this.”
I suddenly wasn’t so sure Gem could. Her breathing had become even more labored, and her eyes were filling with tears as she shook her head.
“I can’t,” she croaked, reaching out to stab at the close button as her tears spilled over. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry. I have asthma, and I didn’t bring my inhaler, and I—-I can’t do this. Sorry!” Her apologies were cut off by the doors closing, leaving the three of us standing there in shock.
“Bitch,” Beth whispered eventually. “Just the three of us, then. It’s fine. We’ve got this.” Her voice was weak and trembling with fright, but I appreciated the attempt.
Xavier gave a heavy sigh. “It’s fine. We probably only needed four to start the challenge anyway.”
“How do you know?” I asked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.
“Because whoever was controlling the elevators let her leave,” he replied with a small shrug. “Come on, let’s see what we’re dealing with down here.”
I tugged my hand free of Xavier’s and pulled my phone from my pocket to turn on the flashlight. “Well, shit,” I murmured when it lit up only a tiny portion of the massive hallway. “Better than nothing, I guess?”
Xavier and Beth did the same, and the three of us started slowly making our way along the wide corridor. Strange noises echoed through the darkness, creaks and hums and faint screams in the distance, all building the tension something awful.
Then Beth let out a strangled yell and skittered a couple of feet away, and my heart nearly lodged in my throat.
“What the fuck was that?” she squealed in panic. “Something touched me. Something warm and wet touched me.”
Xavier immediately scanned the area around Beth with his phone light, illuminating nothing. Meanwhile I shined my light on her, finding her hugging her own body with obvious terror etched across her pretty face…and a dark streak of something on her face that hadn’t been there before.
Inhaling deeply, I grabbed for Xavier’s arm as I stepped closer. “Beth, close your eyes while I shine my light on your face,” I ordered her in my best calming tone. “There’s something on your cheek.”
“That’s where it touched me,” she whimpered. “What is it?”
Xavier and I stepped closer, and I raised my phone light up for a better angle. Then I squeezed Xavier’s arm in alarm. Was that blood?
Xavier gave a silent nod, understanding me perfectly as he grabbed the bottom of his T--shirt and forcefully ripped a strip off, then used it to clean Beth’s face. “Just some kind of goo,” he lied. “Probably dripped from the ceiling or something. We should keep moving anyway.”
Beth shuddered. “Ew, so gross. Thanks, guys. Fuck, I’m glad to be with two action--adventure dudes instead of a bunch of crying girls right now.” She gave another forced, nervous laugh, and I shot Xavier a hard look.
He shrugged and tucked the bloody rag into his pocket before looking around. “Little Dude, check that door and see if it’s unlocked.” He pointed to a door behind me. The one labeled Shock Therapy Chamber.
“You check it, Godzilla. Electricity won’t kill you. Only kaiju or massive amounts of radiation can hurt you.” I muttered the insult under my breath, reaching for the handle even as I griped because I’d be damned if I let anyone think I was scared.
Xavier huffed a laugh anyway and reached past to open the door himself.
It creaked ominously as it swung inward, and I gagged on the rancid smell that wafted out.
The team had really stepped it up a notch on special effects for this game stage, that was for sure.
Xavier patted the wall until he found a light switch.
And then we instantly regretted turning it on.
Beth screamed, then clapped a hand over her own mouth when we both startled. “Sorry,” she murmured behind her hand. “Is that real?”
She was talking about the half--decayed human corpse strapped into what was undoubtedly the electric--shock--therapy chair. It was a good question because it looked real. Then again, I hadn’t seen a whole lot of decaying corpses before, so what the hell would I know?
“Of course not,” Xavier laughed dismissively. “It’s just movie--quality props and stink spray. The point is to make you think it’s real, so obviously it has to be convincing.”
He had a good point. I guess? But the bugs crawling out of the corpse’s empty eye socket sure looked real to me.
Beth forced another laugh, like she was trying to convince herself she wasn’t scared.
“Oh, duh, obviously I knew that,” she said, stepping inside the room.
“So scary, guys! There’s a dead guy in here with me, wow, how about that!
” Her sarcasm did nothing to cover the tremble in her voice, and my gut churned with anxiety.
What purpose did this room serve? Was it just to up the fear factor?
A moment later, I got my answer. The door swung abruptly shut, slamming into place and clunking with the heavy, mechanical sound of a lock.
“Beth!” I exclaimed, reaching for the handle. It was a stupid move. The moment I touched it, electricity shot through me so hard I flew backward and slammed into the far wall.
“Noah!” Xavier bellowed as I crumpled to the floor and let the never--ending darkness consume me. Fucking Clik Games might have actually killed me this time.