Game of the dead

---

The air felt heavier now, as though the house was feeding on their despair. Shadows coiled tighter around them, whispering unintelligible secrets and promises of doom. The cursed game board sat ominously, its grotesque figurines mocking their fractured unity. Each secret revealed had left the group more broken than before, and the realization was dawning on all of them: the game was designed to destroy them from within.

Alex stepped forward, his jaw clenched, and his fists trembling at his sides. He could feel the weight of their stares, each one tinged with distrust and resentment. Still, he pushed past the suffocating pressure in his chest. He had to try.

"This is what it wants," Alex said, his voice firm despite the trembling in his hands. "It's feeding on us—our hatred, our fear, and our guilt. It's trying to make us turn on each other. That's the point. If we keep going like this, none of us will survive."

Ethan lifted his head from his knees, his bloodshot eyes filled with doubt. "You really think there's a way out of this?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Alex met his gaze, determination hardening his features. "If we want to live, we have to stop playing its game. We have to find a loophole, something it doesn't expect. But we have to work together, no matter how much we might hate each other right now."

Oliver scoffed from where he leaned against the wall. "You think a pep talk is going to fix this? Did you forget what it just made me confess? What it made all of us confess?"

Jessie sneered, crossing her arms. "Yeah, Alex. Trust doesn't exactly come easy when everyone here has a knife aimed at someone else's back."

Bella smiled and faced Jessie, " Said the person that despises all of us here."

Jessie face chuned as she faced the girl obviously with malice but Bella does not care what can she do.

Alex took a step forward, his voice rising with urgency. "That's exactly what it wants! Don't you see? If we keep this up, it wins. It's not about trust—it's about survival. We don't have to like each other, but we do have to work together. At least until we figure out how to end this."

For a moment, no one spoke. The shadows seemed to grow restless, as if the house itself was displeased with Alex's defiance. Then, slowly, Isabella nodded.

"He's right," she said quietly. "We don't have a choice. If we're going to get out of here, we need to find a way to beat it."

Ethan stood shakily, his eyes darting around the room as though expecting the walls to close in on them at any moment. "Fine," he said. "But if this goes south, it's on you, Alex."

Alex gave a sharp nod, already scanning the board for any clue, any weakness he could exploit. "We need to think about the rules. It's forcing us to play its game, but games always have rules. And rules can be broken."

The figurines twitched again, as if sensing their defiance. The room darkened further, and a low growl reverberated through the walls. The creature was watching them closely now, its amusement replaced with something colder, more dangerous.

"The game wants a single survivor," Alex said, his voice steady. "That means it's going to pit us against each other until only one of us is left. But if we can work together—if we can make it think we're playing along—we might be able to outsmart it."

"But how?" Isabella asked, her voice trembling. "How do we outsmart something like this?"

Alex hesitated, his mind racing. "It wants us to reveal our secrets, right? To tear each other apart. But what if we all refuse? What if we make it think we're giving it what it wants while we find a way out?"

"That's insane," Oliver snapped. "It'll kill us the moment we stop playing."

"It won't," Alex insisted. "Not if we play by its rules just enough to keep it satisfied. We just need to buy ourselves time."

Reluctantly, the group nodded. They didn't trust each other—how could they, after everything the game had forced them to reveal?—but Alex's plan was the only resemblance of hope they had.

The board seemed to react to their unity, the figurines moving with a sudden burst of aggression. A new message appeared, written in blood across the surface: "Choose one to sacrifice."

The group froze, horror settling over them like a suffocating blanket. The shadows in the room shifted, taking on the vague shape of claws and teeth, as if the house itself was preparing to devour them.

"No," Alex said firmly, stepping forward. "We're not playing that way."

The others looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. Jessie was the first to speak. "Are you insane? If we don't choose, it'll kill all of us."

Alex shook his head, his mind racing. "Not if we use its own rules against it. It wants a sacrifice, right? Then we'll give it one. But not one of us."

Before anyone could argue, Alex grabbed one of the figurines from the board—Ethan's—and hurled it into the shadows. The room erupted into chaos, the growls and whispers rising to a deafening crescendo. The shadows lunged toward the board, devouring the figurine in a frenzy.

The group watched in stunned silence as the game seemed to hesitate, as though it was trying to process what had just happened. The growling subsided, and the message on the board vanished, replaced by a single word: "Continue."

Alex let out a shaky breath, his legs nearly giving out beneath him. "It worked," he whispered. "It actually worked."

But their victory was short-lived.

As they began searching for an exit, the house grew more violent. Doors slammed shut behind them, and the walls seemed to pulse with anger. The creature's laughter echoed through the halls, a cruel reminder that their ordeal was far from over.

In the chaos, Chloe made her move. Desperate to escape, she shoved Eve toward one of the doors, using her as a distraction. "Sorry, Eve," Chloe sneered, her voice laced with panic. "Better you than me."

Eve stumbled, her eyes wide with terror as the door burst open, revealing a swarm of grotesque, otherworldly creatures. Their bodies were twisted and malformed, their mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth that dripped with black, viscous fluid.

"No!" Eve screamed, clawing at the floor as the creatures dragged her into the darkness. Her cries were cut short, replaced by the sickening sound of flesh tearing and bones snapping.

The group could only watch in horror, paralyzed by fear and guilt. Chloe tried to run, but the creatures turned their attention to her next. They moved with terrifying speed, their claws slicing through the air as they closed in.

"No, please!" Chloe begged, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't mean it! I was just trying to—"

Her screams were cut off as the creatures descended upon her, their jaws snapping shut with brutal finality.

The remaining group stood in stunned silence, the weight of their losses pressing down on them like a physical force. Alex clenched his fists, his resolve hardening.

"This ends now," he said, his voice low and determined. "We're not losing anyone else. Not to this thing."