A Cattle's House

Andrei looked beside him where Genjo Tazawa was standing.

"Well then, enjoy the rest of the feast. After that, Genjo will tell you everything."

The guards placed the headless corpse in a body bag.

"Hey, don't forget the head."

One of the guards said with a grin on his face. In response, most of the guards and some of the prisoners were laughing. I couldn't understand where the joke was. Surrounded by the sound of laughter, I stood still with my eyes looking straight to the ground.

I was quite spooked when someone placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You okay?"

It was Finnley behind me. Seeing his face that is filled with abhorrence was a bit refreshing. I thought even he would have a smile on his face. It seems that both of us are the weird ones when it comes to this type of crowd.

I took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm fine."

A few moments pass and they already cleaned up the corpse. It was too clean as if no one just got their head chopped and splattered their blood everywhere. All that remained is the memory in my head of seeing a person's life as it fades.

The feast continues, and everyone proceeds to fill their bellies. I could see a lot of different people in this place. From serial killers that I have seen on the internet to a few who has the horrified expression that I have.

After the incident, I did not eat any food. Since I will just puke it out anyway. As I am sitting at my table calming myself down with a glass of water, I saw everyone having a conversation. They were like having some sort of business deal.

From afar I noticed Toby talking with someone I knew. He was the most notorious drug lord in my home country. I remember back then, everyone calls him Hector.

A ferocious man whose name is widely used as a way to scare naughty children. When I was in the orphanage, people talk about how he is the youngest drug lord back then. Yet, his reputation far exceeds his peers.

Back then I watched the news about how Hector severed the heads of the members of a gang that defied him. He placed their heads on a spike in a plaza where many people gather. It was retching.

At that time everyone gave him an alias befitting his deeds. "The Terror of Manila" is what he's called.

Seeing him in person, he doesn't look as intimidating or scary as how he was portrayed in those stories back then. His face has also wrinkled a bit. He wears a typical army cut, almost around my height though he has a bigger body than me. As I saw his face I noticed the knife scars he was famous for.

Another person stood out. He was huge. Probably the tallest and buffest man in the lobby. There's a cool tattoo on his arm that looks like a dragon's head with its mouth open. His single braided hair with the sides of his head shaved also reminded me of those old martial arts movies.

Though many have a lot of tattoos, a few have their body filled with them. There's even someone where I could not see a spot where there was no ink. Someone even has piercings and weird things on his entire body.

Above all the scary personalities that I have seen, someone caught my eye in a different manner. A woman. I am not joking when I say that she is the most beautiful woman that I have physically seen in my life.

Her long silky brownish-gold hair falls over her shoulder. It appears graceful when it sways as she moves. She has fair skin almost pale-looking. Though far, I could picture her desirable face. With her almond-shaped eyes, small pointed nose, and glossy lips with the lower lip being bigger than the upper one.

I was stunned. How did someone like that ended up here? Was the first thing that came to my head.

A lot of people were approaching her. In response, she just sat there without saying anything. It was a relief that no one could forcefully do anything to her in such a place. I stared at her for quite a long time till our eyes met for a second. The blue glimmer of her eyes reeled me in deeper. Till I realized I was staring and looked away.

I observed everyone quietly. It was quite a sight to see these notorious criminals converse in a calm and proper manner. Maybe they also do not want to easily forfeit their lives.

Finnley approached me and sat at a near table, "Did the shaking stop?

I sighed, "Yeah".

I know I have said it a lot, but I have been lucky to meet a person like Finnley in this place and my circumstance.

"Do you know why they are speaking with each other?"

Finnley looked around and drank from his glass.

"I think they're looking for allies," he said.

I have watched the previous games out of curiosity and to fit within society. Some games don't need alliances and some I saw allies turned to one another.

"Isn't it too early for them to make alliances?" I asked.

"Someone leaked information that alliances are crucial this year," Finnley replied.

I was pondering about what Finnley said. Does leaking information crucial to the games benefit the ones running these death games? Is what I keep thinking.

"Wanna team up?" Finnley said.

I looked up towards Finnley and saw his smile. He looked strong and smart. Though I feel that he is a kind person I told myself not to completely trust anyone from that day. Aside from that, I looked feeble even though I jog daily.

"Why?" I replied.

His eyes widened. Maybe he realized that I thought he has an ulterior motive.

Finnley smiled but somehow I felt mocked with it. I thought he would say something about how an inferior person like me would refuse an offer of teaming up with someone like him.

"I'm quite decent at looking through others," he said. "I don't know how to explain it, but I felt that you're different from the others."

I would say that I am also someone decent when it comes to judging others. But, maybe because I always tried to see what's good in people, I ignore the obvious signs that show their not-good personalities.

From the start, I felt that Finnley was genuine. I decided to team up with him and somehow trust my instincts but I will still be cautious. The reason I am here is because I have been played before. I wouldn't want something like that to happen again.

I offered my hand for a handshake, "Let's team up."

Finnley's smile changed, he then shook my hand.

"Good luck to us," he said.

Genjo Tazawa stood in front of the platform and cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention. He told everyone to stand a distance away from the tables.

The chair that was attached to a single-person table folded into it then the whole thing retracted down the ground. And the huge rectangular table that holds the food was also pushed down. It was like those hidden tables on the ground or walls but automatic.

Genjo fixed his glasses with his middle finger, "Don't interrupt me or you'll end up like the bald guy."

He started to brief everyone about what was scheduled to happen. He said that in the upcoming month, we were allowed to do anything in Hell's Oasis as long as we do not break any of the rules or we are dead on the spot.

The month of November serves as the preparation for the upcoming death game in December. We were advised to train our minds and body. Hell's Oasis has advanced facilities. They have places for exercising, playing some sports, reading, playing games either VR or holographic ones, and some other different facilities.

I have read on a post somewhere before that the players in the death games were treated great. I guess it is true.

Genjo continued his briefing, "Remember, in the death games you will be portrayed as who you are..."

He said that our characters inside the actual game will be exactly how we look in real life. Aside from that everything our body feel and experience inside the VR death game will be felt by our real body by tricking our brains. Thus, dying inside the VR game will result in us being brain-dead.

After Genjo Tazawa's briefing, we were guided to our rooms which are located on the 4th to 6th floors of the building. Our collars have a projector right below our chins. When tapped it will project a screen. There, our room number was assigned.

Room 3110. My room is located on the 5th floor of the building. While Finnley's is on the 4th floor. We were instructed to ride the elevator to our designated floors. The building has a lot of elevators and they are big enough to accommodate hundreds of people. Aside from that, we were guided by the guards to have order.

As the elevator's door opened on the 4th floor I saw a flat escalator or a moving walkway as they were called. It is installed at the center of the ground going in both directions.

Along with the others, Finnley went out of the elevator to go to his room.

"See you later," he said.

I waved my hand and smiled. Almost half of us were left. On the 5th floor, the ground is the same. As I went out of the lift I noticed the beautiful woman that took my attention earlier. Seeing her up close is much better, but I tried not to stare too long since she might think of me as a rude person.

At the entrance of the hallways, there are displays that tell the range of rooms in the hall. I rode the moving walkway toward my room. As I left the moving walkway and stood in front of my room I notice beside me the beautiful girl from earlier.

She saw me staring at her and our eyes met. Her cold expression made me avert my eyes. When I peeked back she already went inside her room.

The rooms are big. It is bigger than the room I have rented.

It has a sliding glass door that scanned me and then opened. Inside the room, there is a bed for sleeping and another with VR equipment. Aside from those, there is also a small toilet and bathing room.

Everything is so far from what I was expecting. But I know better. The post that I've read before about inmates being treated fairly didn't say it but, I remembered and finally understood what Toby said about the place being a 'Cattle's house'. It's just their way of raising livestock for their meat to have better quality.

I laid on the bed. The tiredness from the flight and the incident earlier must've been kicking in when my body sunk to the softness of the bed.

I will not be slaughtered. I muttered to myself before falling into a deep slumber.