"A reason? What reason would that be, darling?" Ida the Old Woman spoke up. "They want money?"
Charles shook his head. "They don't need money. Kidnapping us and flying us to this place already cost a fortune.
They want us to play a game."
Everyone looked at the content of their letters. It was an obvious answer. But no one understood why.
"The game of destiny? What does this even mean?" Eric the Day Trader said.
"Probably some twisted sick urge of some rich assholes." Leslie the IT Engineer pushed his glasses up. "They wanted us to play some death game, that's for sure."
"Or it could simply be a game show. Haha…" Edith the student said.
Mick shook her head. "No game show can do something like this."
"Agree." Hal nodded. "My friends work in television. There are no shows like this at all. If there is, I would have known."
"What should we do now?" Anna said.
"Now. We need to survive and find a way to get out of here. Until further instructions are given." Charles said.
"Come with me. I have something to show you." Hal said.
Hal led everyone to the gallows and showed them the ten slots for coins in the bottom of the platform.
"I found one of these in my house." Hal pointed to his coin that was still embedded in the platform. He took it out easily. "It has my portrait and there are a total of ten slots. You guys should have it as well."
Richard showed them his coin.
"After Hal told me, I went and checked. There is actually a coin hidden in my house."
"I have one, too." Mick took out her coin.
Each of their coins had their portraits carved on it. Every coin was unique and handmade.
"There is a coin in our house? I need to recheck my house." Charles said.
"I have to check, too." Anna said.
The others also nodded and wanted to go on their separate ways to check.
"Wait!" Mick said. "We don't know what is waiting for us out there. We can't split out. If whoever is responsible wants to kill us for fun, they would do it when we're alone. That is the best way to mess with us."
"She's right…"
"That sounds reasonable…"
"How sharp, darling…"
"Should we split into groups?" Richard said. "A group of two or three should suffice."
"No. We should stick together. All ten of us." Hal said.
Richard pouted his lips. "Are you scared, boy?"
"I am. And you should be, too. They kidnapped you here without dropping a sweat. Do you really want to bet on your physical strength? You don't even have a gun, Mister Specialist."
Richard didn't find any fault in Hal's words. He scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Hal's right. We should go together." Charles said. "We don't have anything to do anyway. Splitting up would just pose more threats to all of us.
Anyone who agrees, raise their hand."
"I agree."
"Agree."
"Agree."
"..."
Finally, even Richard also raised his hand. He did it with a sigh.
They started by visiting houses that were close to the town square first.
Hal's house. But he already had his coin so they didn't visit there.
Mick's house and Richard's house were also skipped because they had picked up the coin.
They visited Jody's house first. Third closest to the town square, after Hal and Richard. She found her coin near the fireplace.
Then they came to Ida's house. Also in the town square area. She found her coin inside the metal pot.
Around the town square were the houses of Hal, Mick, Richard, Jody, and Ida. Each house has one amulet above the door like Charles said.
Richard didn't believe what Charles was saying so he tried to enter Jody's house. He was pushed back into the mud like Charles.
The second group of houses were a bit farther away. They scattered around in a circle with the town square in the middle.
"Huh… The locations of these houses weren't picked randomly. They distance from each other by the exact same length.
The houses are separated into rings.
The first ring surrounds the town square. The second ring surrounds the first ring. The third ring is where my house and Anna are, at the outskirts." Charles said his observation.
Everyone kept what he said in mind but didn't comment anything.
The second ring had Edith's, Leslie's, and Eric's houses. They all found their coins in different locations.
The third ring had only two houses, Charles and Anna.
As they collected all their coins, a loud bell sound echoed throughout the town.
"What was that?"
Everyone looked around in panic.
Suddenly, they saw the sun in the sky started moving. It moved like the hand of a clock, falling to the West.
At the same time, the moon started rising. A full white moon that was cartoonishly big.
All the light slowly faded away. Shadows rushed from the edge of the woods into the town.
Leslie stood the closest to the woods. The shadow touched his foot and immediately he was in pain.
He fell to the ground and rolled back into the light.
Parts of his shoes were turned to dust, leaving his foot completely bare.
The amulet on top of Charles' house shined brightly. A yellow barrier formed around his house.
Charles saw what had happened to Leslie and the barrier. It clicked in his head immediately.
"Run! Run back to your house now! The shadow will kill all of us if we're outside when the sun falls!"
Charles shouted at the top of his lungs. He wasted no time turning his back and got inside the premises of his house. His body phased through the barrier without harm.
The shadow went over the yellow barrier but didn't destroy the house. It was blocked outside by the yellow barrier.
Everyone saw that.
Hal turned his back and screamed. "Run! Run to your house!"
They all scattered away.
Anna's house was the closest so she easily got inside her barrier.
The rest of the players kept running.
Leslie limbed on one leg as his foot was injured. However, he bit his lips and tried to run.
Leslie tripped on a rock and fell to the ground. The shadow caught up to him.
"Leslie!" Hal reached his hand up, hoping to help the man in need.
He was too late.