The Recall Trials
Chapter 32: Everyone’s Losing It II

Chapter 32: Everyone’s Losing It II

The room exploded into chaos.

People scattered.. Others dove under beds like that would somehow protect them from what was about to happen.

Charles locked eyes with the masked men as if he was actually considering going full WWE on them.

They were calm, deadly kind that meant they knew exactly what they were doing.

Charles didn’t run.

He stood his ground, his chest kept heaving, as he still clutched the lamp like it was Excalibur. "You bastards," he yelled at them as they remained calm. "TWO of my fucking friends just got killed in your stupid little game, and you want me to sit around like lab rat and smile?"

No one moved. No one spoke. All of us froze in place, waiting.

The masked men didn’t say a word.

The first one stepped forward, and in one blink, Charles swung the lamp. But the man caught it with one hand....just caught it like it was nothing.

The second masked man spun low, his leg sweeping under Charles like a martial arts move straight out of a movie. Charles hit the floor with a hard thud, groaning.

Before he could scramble up, the third masked man moved with lightning speed, his elbow slamming straight into Charles’ ribs, knocking the air out of him. A sick crunch echoed. His fists were fucking hard, trained fists. Not wild punches, no. These were trained strikes. Military, maybe. Or something worse.

Charles coughed blood.

But he still fought.

"You’re cowards!" he spat, wiping blood from his mouth as he tried to crawl away. "You hide behind masks, behind your bullshit rules fuck all of you!"

"Please don’t kill him," Jojo whispered, hands clasped like she was praying. "Please, please..."

One of the masked men grabbed him by the collar and threw him back into the center of the room.

"I am crazy now, and guess what? I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!" Charles laughed, wheezing.

Then, out of nowhere, Charles lunged like a wild animal and bit one of the guards in the arm deep, feral, drawing blood right through the fabric.

The room gasped.

The guard let out a sharp wince....the first real reaction we’d seen from any of them. His whole body tensed, and for a split second, he actually flinched.

Then, he spoke. It wasn’t robotic this time, it was real...human.

His voice was muffled beneath the mask. "Crazy bastard," he muttered coldly.

Before any of us could process it....BANG.

The sound cracked like thunder.

The bullet tore straight through the center of Charles’ forehead. Dead center.

His body froze mid-lurch, eyes still opened, as he collapsed.

Blood spread in a thick pool beneath him, dark and fast, as silence choked the room.

Jojo screamed again.

No warning. No hesitation.

Just a single brutal end.

One of the other masked men dragged Charles by his legs, leaving a dark, red trail that soaked into the tiles. The one who shot him just stood there, unfazed, like nothing had happened...as if he hadn’t just executed someone for losing his mind.

Just as we were all trying to process the horror of what had just happened....Charles’ lifeless body still fresh in our minds, something even more shocking happened.

A loud crack echoed through the room.

Without warning, one of the masked guards....one of their own, raised his gun and shot the man who had just executed Charles.

The shot hit him clean, right in the throat.

The sound he made... it was haunting. A wet, gurgling choke escaped his mouth as his hands flew to his neck, blood pouring between his fingers. He staggered back, stumbled, and then collapsed to the floor, twitching for a few seconds before going completely still.

Gasps erupted around the room.

What the hell was happening?

Everyone just froze.

Then, another masked figure...the third guard, silently stepped forward. Without a word, he grabbed the now-dead guard by the ankles and began dragging his body out of the room, leaving behind a trail of blood smeared across the white floor.

The speakers crackled.

"No guard is permitted to kill a player without my direct authorization," it said. "Breaking character as a guard results in immediate death."

The voice paused.

"As for the rest of you.... Let this serve as a reminder."

The voice continued. "Be cautious. You’re being watched. There are more cameras in this room than you think. Every word. Every move you make is seen. Break a rule, and face instant elimination. No second chances"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

That’s when I noticed Zaara across the room. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t moving. She was staring straight ahead, her arms wrapped tightly around herself like she was trying to hold herself together.

God, I wanted to go to her. But I couldn’t move.

I didn’t trust my legs not to give out.

The overhead lights dimmed a little, and the intercom crackled again.

"Rest while you can," the voice said. "The fourth trial begins at dawn. And this time, there will be no mercy for mistakes."

No one dared to move.

The door closed behind them.

Jojo broke down completely. Others stood frozen, still staring at the broken cameras.

I felt something tighten in my chest....fear, sure. But also rage.

Because what the hell was this? What kind of game punishes you for losing your mind after they put you through psychological torture? Charles was losing it because we all were. He just didn’t know how to keep it quiet.

I looked over at Carter, who sat on the floor with his back to the wall, knees pulled up to his chest. He didn’t say a word. Just stared at the blood on the floor.

Nomi sat next to me, her hands trembling slightly. I didn’t say anything.

I scanned the room again. Now we were eighty-six.

And every one of us was dying in a different way.

I swear, I could still hear Charles’ voice echoing in my head. You hide behind the mask like a fucking coward... And now he was gone. And so was the man who killed him.

It wasn’t justice. It was warning.

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