Chapter 2: The Rules Kill Faster

The door slammed open. A couple of kids made it halfway into the hallway before they froze.

But the second they left their seats, their bodies just... started rotting.

It was like time sped up just for them. Their skin cracked, hair fell out, and their screams turned into horrible, wet gurgles. The stench hit us—sharp, putrid, like a dissecting lab gone wrong.

Their flesh and blood just broke apart, drifting up like dust.

Chunks of muscle and bone dissolved, drifting up like dust. The air shimmered—thick, red, and sticky. I gagged, pressing my fist to my mouth.

They were gone in seconds. Nothing left.

It all happened so fast. Where they’d stood—nothing. Just empty floor tiles.

"Don’t run! Check the rules! Break them and you die!"

My voice cracked, but it was loud enough. Heads snapped toward me.

Everyone just... froze.

You could hear the clock ticking. That was it.

A few girls started sobbing.

One girl buried her face in her hands. Another hugged her knees, rocking back and forth.

Just like that, a third of the class was gone.

Desks stood empty. Backpacks slumped on the floor. The room felt twice as big.

I didn’t know what was happening. But I knew one thing—

My mind went into survival mode. I needed answers. Fast.

If I wanted to survive, I had to take control.

If I could keep everyone listening to me, maybe I could buy us some time.

That’s why I yelled.

If I looked like I had things under control, people would follow.

But the panic wasn’t over.

Someone in the back whispered frantically, "What the hell is happening?"

A boy two rows over kept repeating, "What do we do? We don’t even have our phones. Does anyone outside know what’s going on in here?"

Another voice, thin and desperate, cried, "If we stay and answer, won’t we just die in the end anyway?"

...

I realized this whole bizarre exam had to have a purpose.

There had to be rules. Some kind of logic, even if it was twisted.

Candidates 11 and 22 were still alive.

They looked just as scared as the rest of us, but they were alive.