I gasped deeply, air filling my deoxygenated lungs.

Big words :3

I coughed and coughed for a solid 20 seconds, the concept of breathing about as memorable as walking after a 5-year coma.

I fell to my knees, breathing in and out deeply.

Where was I...?

What the heck just happened??

At my feet--or, well, hands and knees--remnants of some kind of weird gel slipped through the itty bitty holes in the ground.

I blinked several times, my body aching from having to hold up any amount of weight.

Looking around, I saw that I was inside a glass tube of some sort.  The glass was very wavy-looking since it was still kinda covered by the weird gel, making it hard to see anything beyond it.

I curled up slightly on my front, my forehead touching the now-dry metal bottom of the glass tube.

I tried remembering anything from before being here, but I just couldn't.

Well, okay, anything RELEVANT prior to being here.  I still remember my whole life...mostly.  Just not what I was doing before being...um...I guess it's safe to say before being kidnapped?

How long have I been out?

There was a faint hissing sound before the glass around me raised, freeing me from the confined space.

I heard more coughing from nearby and rubbed my eyes, looking around.

Fox ( Fox_Queen_Winter ) was partially outside of her tube on the ground, gasping.

Next to her was Kit ( sea-of-flames ), also gasping for breath.

"What...the...hell...is happening...."  Kit rasped before falling over on her side.  Not unconscious, though.

"L-L-Liz ( LizKittyMC )?"  Fox whispered questioningly.

"Kit...?  Fox...?  W-What in the world...?"

It took us all several minutes, but we eventually were able to get up and lean against one of the 4 other empty tubes.

"How did we get here?"  Fox asked shakily.

"Do either of you remember what happened just before waking up?  Well...just before in a relative sense.  Who knows how long we've been here...."  I trailed off.

Both of them shook their heads.

"My head is still hella groggy...."  Kit muttered.

"Same...."  Fox said after her.

I coughed a bit, rubbing my eyes.  "And who was in these other tubes...?"

"Well...what do the three of us have in common?"  Fox asked.

"Uh...Wattpad?"  I guessed.

Fox shrugged.  "I mean, I guess, but that's incredibly vague, as well.  There would be a LOT more than 7 tubes if it was just because of Wattpad."

"Don't tell me it has something to do with Becca."  Kit said suddenly.

"That's where my mind was heading, honestly.  I mean, we had that amazing adventure in her self-made world.  Who's to say we ever actually got out?"

"Don't get overly meta, Fox.  The last thing we need in an angry author figure who could kill us with a simple stroke of her keyboard."  I said softly.

"One, I'm not the one bringing up super meta-y things, you are.  Two, we already know Becca wouldn't do that anyway.  That'd be no fun for anyone."

"You'd be correct, my dear Fox."

We all looked around in shock.

"Becca?"  I whispered, eyes wide.

"Indeed.  Come, the twelve of us must chat for a bit."

"Twelve?"  Kit repeated confusedly.

Becca didn't respond.  Instead, a hole in the wall opened up with stairs leading up to somewhere.

"Well...it's not like we've got anything else to go on."   I said after a moment.

The other 2 nodded and we all went up the stairs.

We ended up in a living room.

Becca was pacing back and forth behind a couch that held 4 unconscious bodies.

Wait....

"Becca, are those...our friends??!"  Fox exclaimed.

Becca paused in her pacing and chuckled slightly.  "Correct."

She walked down the line, lightly petting the head of each person as she spoke their name.  "il...Object...spark...and big sis Cassia...."

3 more people came into the room.  I recognized them as Becca's family.  Though...they looked...possessed.

"I'm...tired."  Becca spoke softly, looking at us.  "Tired of fighting, tired of the pain, tired of the heartache.....  I just wanted to keep those close to me...well, close to me.  Forever."

She stopped behind Cassia and leaned down, wrapping her arms around Cassia's unconscious body and laying her head on Cassia's.  "But big sis here...well, she made a valid point that I already knew but didn't want to believe.  So...."

She trailed off and stretched a bit before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a phone before tossing it to me.

I clumsily caught it, looking down at it.  When I looked back up, she had her back to us, looking at her family.

"This is it.  One more time.  One more night.  The 3 of you...."

There was a flash that blinded us momentarily.  When the light died down, we were met with a very strange sight.

il, spark, Object, and Cassia were awake, but they had changed.  They looked more...animalistic.  And spark was just a straight-up snake.  Becca and the rest of her family also looked animalisitic.

"...against the 9 of us.  Win, and everyone goes home.  Everything is normal again.  Lose...."

She began laughing maniacally.

"...lose, and you become my sisters FOREVER."

"Wait, 9?  But there's only 8 of you?"  I asked, confused.

I counted again just to be sure.  il, spark, Cassia, Object...her dad, brother, sister, and Becca herself....

That's 8!

A small, ghostly baby boy appeared in front of us, giggling.

"Alex.  Don't forget my long-dead brother.  My sweet baby Alex...."  Becca trailed off, eyes watering faintly.  "He died too young...."

Becca grinned again, the moment already forgotten.  "Simple rules, simple rules!  Survive 6 hours and you win!  'Die', and you join my ranks against the survivors!  All 'die', and I win!"

"B-But wait, what is gonna happen??"  Fox asked fearfully, shaking.

Becca cackled.  "I'm not telling you!  And neither will my pathetic friends!  I cut them off!  I suspect they'll arrive in the morning once they realize they can't contact you...but by then, it'll be too late!  The game will be over!"

"So what are you saying??  You want us to blindly fight through the night against you?  Are you out of your f***ing mind?!"  Kit exclaimed.

"Oh Kit, I've always been out of my mind.  In my mind.  All around my mind.  Insanity is me.  I am insanity.  I am the end and the beginning...of this game, that is!" she laughed loudly.

"You can't be serious!"  I cried.

"Oh, I'm more serious than ever, Liz.  And guess what?  There are no retries...no redos...no restarts...this is it.  Beat me and win.  'Die' and lose.  You have...."

Becca grinned madly, and the lights flickered before we were thrown into darkness.  Not literally, it just became dark.  Becca's laughter rang through the air.

"...ONE CHANCE."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassia16

Sparkstream

RIP ilbarker and I can't find Object's thing ;-;