A faint, fading hum echoed in my ears for a moment. Then it came again—slightly louder than before. On the third occurrence, the sound was sharp enough to jolt my eyes wide open, meeting an explosion of blinding lights. It took me a few seconds to adjust my vision, and once my senses settled, I realized I was somewhere unfamiliar—the strangest place I'd ever seen.
"Wake up, sunshine," I heard a gravelly voice calling out beside me. I didn't recognize it at all. It was far too gruff to be Habib's faking voice, even as a joke.
Who the hell was that? Who could it be?
I pushed myself off the cold floor I hadn't even noticed I was lying on in the first place and stood up to take in the surroundings properly. To my disbelief, I was surrounded—not by people, but by beings. Creatures of various races, humanoid yet distinctly alien, roamed the area. Beings I'd only ever read about in fiction, now moving before me in reality. I wanted to believe this was a dream, but my senses betrayed that hope. This was not my eyes playing tricks. It was all real.
"Where am I?" The question slipped from my lips instinctively upon registering everything in and as I tried to make sense of the scene.
"No one knows." replied that same rough voice. I turned toward it to see who it was, and nearly jumped out of my skin. A hulking figure stood before me—shirtless, skin lined with glowing green markings, and, shockingly, four muscular arms. I lost staring, dumbfounded, until he cleared his throat in a deliberate cough.
"You ok? You are staring, is it a bad habit of humans or do you like what you see?" he teased. I scoffed and pretended to be offended, though honestly, I'd kill for his physique.
Don't be weird Steven. I thought.
"Are you for real?" Another silly question slipped when not intended. "Where the f**k am I!" I shouted, drawing some curious glances.
"Take a chill Earth-boy," someone else muttered rudely while walking past. "This ain't your mom's basement. Fragile being," he added.
Asshole, I said inwardly and I don't care about what any of these freaks think about being Human. These people I was seeing weren't supposed to be real to begin with or maybe the asshole was right, I've been living sheltered in Earth's metaphorical basement, blind to the existence of life beyond my world.
Does anyone has time to explore the world beyond the moon please?
Sensing my disorientation, the four-armed guy dropped one of his heavy hands on my shoulder. I groaned under the weight.
"I'm real," he said sincerely. "And I don't know where we are either or how I got here. Last thing I remember was putting on this charming bracelet. Then, boom! I was here."
That triggered my memory when he mentioned the last part, making me recall what I did last before waking up here.
"As for me it was a fancy jacket, charming I'd also say," Another one commented, a lady with third eye on forehead with gray hair and pale skin.
Cruella. I dubbed her mentally. But the glare she shot me suggested she'd heard the thought. I shut up instantly.
"For me it was a helmet, I thought it would be some sort of headache relief as I was having a serious headache in the morning. Holdonasec! How long has it been?" I asked out of blue.
"How long has it been what?"
"How long have we been out, unconscious?" I asked no one in particular, but no one knows. "Whatever this is, it is not a good thing trust me."
"What makes you say that my friend? There is no sign of danger around here if you ask me," Four arms dude said.
"Think about it, we were brought here against our wish and will, through a painful process, I remember screaming my ass out before everything goes black—and you don't think that's a red flag?"
The others nodded thoughtfully.
"So what do they want with us?" someone asked—just before a static crackled through hidden speakers.
"I guess we're about to find out," I murmured.
"ATTENTION ALL PLAYERS, THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT THE GAME WILL COMMENCE IN LESS THAN AN HOUR. DURING THIS TIME PLAYERS CAN EXPLORE AROUND BUT NOT BEYOND THIS ZONE, FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THE RULES WILL RESULT IN THE PLAYER TERMINATION..." The voice addressed leaving all of us in total confusion and many questions.
Panic spread like wildfire. Suddenly, the ground beneath me lit up and a transparent cylinder of glass surrounded me—and everyone else. I stood frozen, clueless, until a holographic screen materialized before me, displaying a wide range of combat gear. It felt like I was loading into an online multiplayer game.
"NOW YOU EQUIP YOURSELF GEARS AND WEAPON OF YOUR CHOICE TO USE IN THE GAME. SUITS PROVIDE DAMAGE RESISTANCE AND ENHANCE YOUR DURABILITY, SPEED, FLEXIBILITY, AND AGILITY. WHEN YOU GET IN THE GAME, I'D KNOW HOW IT WORKS. SO, SUIT UP, CLOCK TICKING," and the voice was gone after the instructions.
Without hesitation, I got to work. I chose a sleek black suit, a shockwave-repulsion gun, energy lassos, magnetic and levitation boots, and a few other gadgets. Just enough to be lethal but not overloaded. When I was finished, the glass casing sank into the ground.
"You sure do look charming despite putting on too much junk," A feminine voice spoke in my head. It was the Cruella lady from earlier.
"Are we also telepathically connected also?"
"No, not at all. Telepathic is just my thing."
"So you know what I was thinking some minutes ago when I called you Cruella, right? What if I had some dirty thoughts? You are going to puke."
"Of course not, I don't invade people's minds without their permission."
"But you don't ask for permission now before invading."
"What can I say, you are too charming to ignore," she said and cackled. " And if you were thinking dirty, you won't be the first to think dirty. That's the disadvantage of being a telepath. Many people are gross and that's why I don't hop into minds like that again." She responds.
"Why are you grinning like that? Are you trying to impress someone?" Four arms dude asks out of curiosity and he is giving a puppy eyes to force me to confess. I was about to deny it when another voice, younger and sharper, joined in—also in my head.
"You don't have to answer him, he's always like that," the voice affirmed, making me search for who it might be when a boy that looks 12 showed his face from nowhere. I thought whatever we were about to do was only meant for adults, but it looked like age doesn't matter, meaning there would be children that need babysitting around.
"You are just a kid," I blurted to the boy, earning me raised eyebrows from the boy as if I was some kind of crabby man.
"Reece, did this man just call you a kid? Haha!" A girl around the same age as the boy but a little taller bursted into laughter.
What's so funny about it anyway? I thought.
The girl approached and stood at my front, stretching forth her hand for a shake which I refused but she insisted. She gave me a 'go ahead nod' and I finally gave in to her demand but to my shock, her hand morphed into slimy tentacles. I recoiled in horror. That was the last thing I was expecting despite witnessing the impossible. They both laughed at my reaction, enjoying the torment.
"Sorry, I don't mean to scare you," The girl apologized. Another way of saying 'I enjoyed the way I scared you,sucker!' "I am Reecer and this is my twin brother, Reece," she introduced.
"And I am Whatever I don't give a f**k," I muttered, trying to disengage and brush them off. But these kids fed off reactions, and I was giving them too much material.
"And I see you have met our cousin, Pashina," Reecer said pointing at the four arms dude who waved at me as if both of us hadn't been discussing earlier.
"The four arms dude is your cousin? Wow! I guess half of your family get sucked into the suicide squad game. Haha, this is fucking Batman death in the family senerio, lot of funeral plan in advance," I said. They didn't laugh. Guess my pop culture references were wasted on extraterrestrials. Well, they were dumb aliens.
"Four arms dude? Seriously?" Reecer murmured, clearly amused.
"Wait, that's what you nickname Pashina?" Reece cut into the discussion making everyone shifted their gazes at me, as if I've grown a second head.
"What? Staring is pretty a bad habit, your cousin taught me that and I don't know his name that's why I referred to him as four arms dude cause you know..." I tried to defend myself from these people that were burning holes through me with their gazes.
"He is racist and xenophobic," the devil boy whispered to his sister but I catched what he said.
"That's not fair!" I heard Pashina exclaimed in a sad tone, taking me by surprise at the sudden change in him.
"What?!" I exclaimed. "I am not racist or xenophobic you little shit. I don't make up the nickname to mock you or anything. Reece! You need to stop putting the false idea into people's heads," I snapped before Reecer slapped her brother on his head, stopping him with his mischievous tricks.
"Ouch!"
"You're not getting into my head today brother" Reecer uttered.
Pashina shook off the influence of the mind manipulation, angrily grabbing Reece, "How many times do I have to warn you never to temper with my mind again!" He exclaimed with gritting teeth like he wanted to bite his head off.
"I don't know... since we were children?" Reece replied with a pretentious innocent face, Pashina growl with annoyance, dropping the boy. "You really have some really defense techniques shielding your mind, it was impossible to invade," Reece referring to the other telepath Cruella lady.
"That's because I don't allow you to, I'm telepathic, too." She told the boy, making him beam with excitement.
"That's cool, that makes the two of us, right?"
"I don't go around forcing people to do my bidding."
"What's fun in that," He shrugged.
"ALRIGHT PLAYERS, THE GAME WILL COMMENCE IN 3... 2... 1..." And everything and everywhere vanishes like they were never there.
This should be fun, right?