Fully Loaded

... I will explain the rules of the game... The voice crackled.

Gulp!

There is a revolver and a single bullet in front of you... I want you to load the bullet inside the revolver and spin it as you put the cylinder back in its place. The icy cold voice continued. Red and Knuckle carefully followed the instructions.

... when... it stops going around... point it at each other and wait for my signal.

"I knew it would come to this." Red panicked but he mustered his courage so it wouldn't be evident on his face. Blond was the only one who noticed that Red was shaking in his boots but he didn't want to call him out for it. Pretty much all of them knew what's going to come next but they were hoping that it wouldn't happen. Now that it's unfolding right before their eyes, they became speechless. Even Fujimoto and Jarxen were taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

Meanwhile, Knuckle guiltily looked at Red and pointed at his lips. He didn't want to speak up in case it wasn't allowed.

"My gun is full." He mouthed, this time, he was shaking so badly.

Knuckle raised the gun and pointed it at Red who did the same. The two of them were standing five feet apart so there was no leeway for dodging the bullet. When Knuckle first grabbed the gun from the table, he thought it was unusually heavy. But when he popped the cylinder out, that's when he noticed that five out of six were filled with bullets. Adding the last bullet in the table would mean a sure kill for him.

Good thing Red was able to lip-read what he said since he exaggerated it quite a bit. This time, both of them were shaking more than ever. It's as if they were having a serious spasm.

...on my count of three...

three...

... FIRE! The voice purposefully shouted the last word at the end.

Knuckle literally jumped his gun at the abrupt shout of the voice on the other end of the speaker. Red also shot his gun at the signal since he was pretty confident that the bullet was at the bottom side of the cylinder. That's why nothing came out of Red's revolver.

As for Knuckle... well, it was the opposite case.

A loud gunshot reverberated through their ears as the bullet escaped the barrel and traveled in a straight line towards Red's forehead. But just before the bullet hit Red, he forcefully fell sideways as fast as he could, hoping that the bullet wouldn't land squarely on his face.

Swish!

The bullet barely grazed Red's cheeks, drawing a straight wound on it. It was quite a shock for him but he managed to keep his composure. As soon as he stood up, Curl caught up to him, carrying a band-aid in her hand.

"Don't move..." Curl gently coaxed, making Red twitch as her breath tickled his ear and touched the wound that was now visibly open. "There, all done. Phew!" She continued.

Everyone was trying to keep calm at the sudden climax of the Russian Roulette but as for Curl and some others, they were having a hard time sustaining their composure. Red felt it as well when Curl shakily "plastered" a band-aid across his cheek.

"Thanks, Curl."

"No worries."

That's anticlimactic to the point of utter disappointment... I was planning to have one of you die and the other one would test the improved humanoid to death. But you just have to be a cockroach, worker zero-seven-zero-three.

Red looked around, trying to figure out where the speakers were located, but he couldn't find it. "So it was his plan to kill me, after all," Red muttered to himself.

Knuckle fell butt-first on the floor after dropping his gun. It was his first time pointing a gun at someone and he accidentally fired it from shock. Finally snapping back to reality, he ran straight to Red and checked his cheek. "Red, you okay? I'm really sorry for firing it." He panicked.

"It's alright, no harm done." Red smiled at him. He knew Knuckle was a kind-hearted person after he tried warning him of the fully-loaded revolver.

I've decided... the two of you test two humanoids at once... if both of you die, then let this be a lesson to all of you... especially the two of you, Jarxen and Fujimoto. crackle~ crackle~

The voice was cut short after a series of short crackles that probably came from turning off the mic. This came as a bit of relief to both Red and Knuckle since they know that they'll be going in the Testing room and fight two humanoids at once.

"Our luck sure ran out big time, Red." Knuckle forced a smile as he helped him up. "Just remember, if worse comes to worst and you have to choose between me and you, don't hesitate to ditch me and live. Well, that is if one of us could make it out alive."

"Let's both make it out alive, then." Red patted him on the back.

The door to their doom slowly opened with no one to stop them. Red and Knuckle stepped inside with a determined look painted on their face. The process then repeated once again. This time, another chute opened on the left side of the already opened one and another humanoid was delivered to the Testing room.

The humanoid looked exactly the one Red fought yesterday. However, Red could feel that its performance had been drastically improved.

And his hunch was right. Unbeknownst to Red and Knuckle, the humanoids in front of them both have piston engines in each of their hands. Moreover, their thermal sight and gyroscope were overclocked as well, making them detect their opponents faster and attack without losing their balance. The already deadly humanoid became even more of a killing machine.

Knuckle swallowed a mouthful of air to ease his nervousness. It was his first time in the Testing room and the rumors circulating around it weren't really calming either. Now that he's entering the said room, who knows if he would make it out alive. "Coincidentally", Red was thinking the same thing.

As soon as the two of them stepped inside, Red looked behind him to see if anyone were grieving for them, but instead, he saw Blond, mouthing something in hopes that he would get it.

"Three minutes? What is he talking about?" Red asked himself as one of the humanoids jumped at him with sheer force.

Crack~