White Plastic Hallways

The two women stepped to the side, revealing a table with a large bowl of potato chips surrounded by water bottles.

"One water bottle per person, and chips go to whoever gets them first." Wedding girl said.

The girl among the four of them, presumably Valentina, let a hand out, as a few more people rolled in.

"You doing okay?" She asked, her accent mildly thick, and about as tall as Ulrich, with a puffy yellow hoodie and long ombre blonde hair. Ulrich grabbed her hand and stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder as she walked him to the table. Ulrich took a water bottle and gulped it's contents down. It was water. Good ol reliable water.

"Take some crisps if you need them." Valentina informed, her expression never changing it's frown.

Ulrich took a few chips as she asked, and it was basically like eating solidified air. He felt uneasy after eating a few, so he stopped after that. He turned around and Valentina was gone, talking to the man who shot white stuff out of his wrists.

"So, you got your eye on her?"

Ulrich jolted, and Wedding girl was giving a suggestive glance at him,

"She your type?" She asked, raising a pink eyebrow.

"No!" Ulrich yelled back.

"Hey man, maybe that's what beauty is in that 'alternate dimension' of yours, I'm not judging."

"Alternate Dimension?" The black guy asked.

"Oh, right, you guys don't know!" Wedding girl replied, her eyes gleaming. "Our little alien here managed to break into a Nova room, and 'alternate dimension' is pretty much our only answer to how he did it."

Wedding walked away from the table, leaving the two together.

"So, are you Odebode?" Ulrich asked.

"I am." Odebode replied with a nod. "I must say, breaking into a nova room. Quite impressive."

"I mean, it wasn't that hard." Ulrich replied, scratching his neck. "Thanks for saving me from that guy, by the way."

"Ah, don't think about it, scar man." He chuckled. "He was in the way, simple as. But anyway, what was she talking about with that alternate dimension?"

"Basically, a witch transported me here."

"I see. Why, exactly?"

"I was fighting her. she was trying to take over the world. Or…my world. It's complicated."

"Well, I hope you get back to finish that fight." Odebode nodded.

"Um, excuse me."

Ulrich looked ahead at where the voice came from and noticed a small teenage girl ahead of him. Short, her blonde hair in a ponytail, sweating and trembling.

"Oh, go ahead." Odebode moved out of the way, and Ulrich stayed at the table, watching as people managed to come in, all panting heavily. He looked towards the girl, getting a drink of water and carefully sipping it, shaking her head to the left and giving Ulrich a mild electric shock. He looked in her direction as he rubbed the back of his neck, and it hit him as he glanced at her terrified face. This was the girl who electrocuted him during the bar swinging challenge. When his eyes met hers, she stumbled back, bumping into a guy and spilling water over his white tank top. He looked towards her, and she fell back in fear of his giant frame, starting to wail.

"Woah, woah, woah!"

Somebody came up to the two of them, fists raised, flashing intimidating looks. Ulrich looked at the man's giant blue mohawk, then at it's owner. A pretty short black man in a black leather jacket.

"Wendy, what are these guys up to?"

"I…I got scared, and then I spilled water on him, and…"

"Right, right." He sighed. He looked towards Ulrich, and towards the giant man in the tank top.

"You want my water, man?" He sighed, handing him one of the water bottles on the table.

"It's fine, I wasn't that thirsty." The giant replied calmly.

"Alright." He said, putting Wendy under his arm and taking a water bottle. "Later Meat, Later Devil."

"Am I Meat?" The giant asked.

"Guess I'm Devil." Ulrich sighed, touching the spikes on the end of his hair. Still up. Good to see his stupid haircut stays, even in the apocalypse.

The giant looked ready to make a comment, when a giant metal door slammed down behind them, causing Ulrich to go airborne for a brief second, and not falling to the ground. He looked down, seeing a set of black tendrils grabbing him. He was about to scream, but somebody already had that done for him, as his sore ears could attest to. He was gently let down, looking towards the scream. The tall Asian guy ran over to her before she could make any more noise.

"That twenty?" Wedding Girl asked, making a quick head count of everyone in the room. When it was finished, another menacing grin was making an appearance. Ulrich knew this woman for about an hour, and he was already done with her.

"Welcome, criminals, to the twenty-year anniversary special of the Criminals Gauntlet. My my, how time flies!"

"You're old enough to remember them?" Another Asian girl in the crowd asked.

"I mean, she looks like it." Mohawk guy sneered in response.

"Now now, I'm twenty-six." Wedding girl replied, wiping away the sole drop of sweat protruding from her forehead. "Anyway, my name is Leonie, and my lovely host next to me is Kalea! Now, since we run the biggest game in the world, I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain the next part, except to our little alien here." She pointed at Ulrich with an eye closed and pointing to her forehead with her other hand. Kalea moved her pointing hand down and began the explanation.

"Every day you'll go through a challenge, and somebody will die at the end of said challenge. This process will continue until five of you remain, and the game ends. The five of you who survive will have your criminal records purged, your next five crimes accounted for, and free housing on level four. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what's the deal with alien here?" A goth looking girl asked.

"It's all in the watch. If you'll let us put them on you, his profile is there."

Leonie clicked a button, and another door opened to her right, revealing about a dozen people in snow white hoodies and masks with crudely drawn smiley faces on them, a few with watches with screens on them all the way up their arms. The contestants all gave up an arm, and various other masked members carefully fitted them onto them. Ulrich gave his hand out, and a small female looking masked creature applied the watch to him. It felt tight around his wrist, definitely more painful than any watch he ever wore. He gave the watch's face a look, and it was another screen. He saw the others press it, and he copied them. A quirky whirring nose later, and the screen turned cyan, with a black cartoon rabbit head appearing on screen, alongside 'NEOBUNNY' underneath it, before showing him three neon pink triangles. One said contestants, one said rules, and one said viewers. He clicked the contestants triangle, and it displayed an alphabetical list of who he was with, with him as fifteenth on the list. He was about to check the other triangles, but another clicking noise was heard from across the room. He looked up at the now empty hallway devoid of masked figures and followed the hosts through the white plastic looking floors and hallways. Nobody seemed to be in the mood for conversation, and all was silent minus the sound of people drinking water. After a minute or two, the twenty-two of them came to a white elevator. Kalea put a few numbers into the keyboard next to it, and its doors opened. All twenty-two people stepped into the spacious elevator, and Leonie giddily pressed the button as soon as the last guy made his way in.

Ulrich felt the elevator go up and the ever-so-slightly distorted attempt at relaxing music reached his ears. He assumed it was another torture method, considering everyone's offset reactions to it. Some scratched their necks, others their hair. Even Leonie looked uncomfortable. Ulrich tried checking the other sections of his watch, but the music seemed to mess with his comprehension. He didn't have dyslexia, but he assumed this was what it was.

Eventually, the experience was over, and all of them stumbled out. A few clutching their heads, some walking out fine. Leonie stumbling into a wall by accident and mumbling a few swear words.

"Shit, the cameras are still running, aren't they?" She turned around to them with a clearly fake smile and tone and began the explanation.

"You want me to cover it?" Kalea asked.

"No no no. I got this." Leonie yelled back with strained eyes, snapping the fingers on her left hand.

"This will be your living area. It's sorted alphabetically, and your name is gonna be on the screen next to the door. On your left."

She crossed her arms and attempted to look smug to Kalea, who just ignored her and moved out of the contestants ways.

Ulrich moved to the end of the hallway, finding his name on the door at the end of the hallway, below somebody named 'Timothy Cullen.' He looked next to him, and there he was. Probably.

"You Timothy?" Ulrich asked.

"Sure am." The man replied with a thumbs up. He looked about his age but slightly taller, wearing a black puffer jacket and a white beanie, alongside a pair of ripped jeans. He wore a relaxed expression, and spoke like a stereotypical surfer dude.

"So we're rooming?" He asked, scratching his ear.

"Seems like it." Ulrich replied, putting his hand in the hand shaped crevice in the wall to his left. It made a few beeping noises, before flashing red for a second. Timothy put his hand into the scanner, and after the same beeping noises, it worked, and Timothy headed in.

"That's what I forgot to do." Kalea mumbled behind him. "Remind me to get your fingerprint scanned tomorrow."

"Can I do it now?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm way too tired for that."

"Woah, this is cool!" He heard Timothy yell from their room.

"Well, see ya tomorrow." Kalea said with a quick hand gesture, pointing two fingers at him and walking to an elevator at the other end of the hallway with Leonie. The door closed, and Ulrich was left alone in a vast white plastic hallway.