Chapter Text
Fragments of glass glittered in the sand.
The tip of a lantern rested on the shore.
Scattered across the coast lay the puzzle pieces of his nightmare.
Liam had been stuck in the lonely forest world for four days now—days that felt like weeks. How he wondered how that sociopath handled an entire decade in this place. Oh, who was he kidding? Hosting a deadly competition with a bunch of hostages was the worst way to "handle it."
Living here seemed kind of nice, Liam had to admit sometimes—when he sat on a log with a campfire, or when he blended with the vibrant grass, and when he relaxed on the sand like he did currently… with absolutely no one to bother him. It was peaceful. But he wanted to go back. He had family and friends waiting for him in a whole different world.
“Why is Owen on your computer?”
“The… nail?”
“ WHY is he there?”
“Well, after this season ends, everyone will be sent back.” Airy smiled. “I thought picking people who knew you guys would be good, too.“
Owen didn’t deserve this.
None of them deserved this.
Would Airy deserve it?
The gleam in his eye showed no remorse.
Suddenly an axe was in his hands and he didn’t know who he was referring to anymore.
Liam punched the ground— he wanted to forget everything —then he winced with regret. Instead of hitting rough sand, a sharp pain tingled through his arm. Something stabbed into his hand. A small glass shard.
Glass shards. Liam wondered what had happened to him.
He queried whether to pull the shard out or not. Stupid, stupid—why did he do that? Using the computer was already hard enough without an injured hand.
Three days ago
The contestants looked so small on the Plane. So that is how Airy saw them all this time. An anthill. It felt surreal, yet he wasn’t surprised. Getting kidnapped into a game-show and dying multiple times in multiple universes wasn’t exactly ordinary either.
He regretted taking a closer look at them. It hurt less when he broke his leg than when he saw Scenty sobbing beside Bryce. Liam sat down, adjusted the microphone, and took a deep breath.
“Hello?”
He had never seen a candle’s eyes brighten up so fast.
“Backpack! Is that you ?” Scenty said, her voice cracking. She pushed herself up from the grass and looked around frantically. “I can’t see you.”
“Yes, it’s me, I’m in the sky—to you at least. I’m at Airy’s place.”
Tray, Whippy Creamy and Subway Seat woke up from their inanimate trances. Slowly, everyone’s heads began to perk up. Bryce’s hands pressed against the sides of his head as if to resist a headache. “There’s—there’s no way. Airy might be tricking us.”
“Airy is—” Liam started, then paused. They had too much to process already. “Bryce, I found Airy’s world through Stone’s notes.”
“Holy… Liam, I thought I’d never find you again.” Bryce waved to the sky, seemingly uncertain about where to wave to. “Are you unhurt? Did Airy do something to you? How does it look from up there?”
“First of all, I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Second of all, you’re on a little green planet. And the plug connects to a computer that controls the Plane. I can use it to send you all back,” Liam said. Hope filled their expressions, and everyone began talking at once. Hearing the words "world,” “back,” and "home,” and seeing them cheer in excitement, he couldn’t help but smile.
“You’ll have to send us home quickly before Airy finds out,” Bryce said.
“He won’t,” Liam muttered under his breath as he went through the computer. “ Group_info .” “ Free_page .” A bunch of symbols? Damn it, he didn’t know a thing about programming. For all he knew, this could’ve been a coding language that didn’t exist in his world.
Scenty trembled so much she could fall. “We can finally get back? To our lives? Our homes?"
Everyone gathered in one spot, all looking at Liam, or rather, the sky. “Yeah, when I figure out how to use this,” he said.
“We’re gonna go home!” Scenty yelled, wrapping her arms around Bryce and bringing him into a crushing hug, laughing with tears bursting out of her eyes like never before. He hugged her back way softer. Liam wished he could join in that hug.
Okay, no time to be distracted. He had to send them back. Turning to the computer, the many digits and numbers made as little sense as the last time. Clicking random windows and scrolling with no specific code in mind wouldn’t. Maybe he could just copy anything that was already there.
}
}
return group_info
“Return group.” That could return them to Earth. He selected the text, copied it, and scrolled to the bottom. Was he doing this in the right window? Did it matter? He pasted the text and pressed ENTER. All the contestants still sat on the Plane, staring above, waiting patiently for their freedom. Anxiety sizzled in his chest as he tried to re-type the code.
group_info->blocks[i] = b:.
}
}
return group_info:
ENTER
Although the contestants were unaffected, a new window popped up on the computer. The Plane Database. Seriously? The code only led to that website? He clicked on the seasons. Nothing different. His breath hitched as he took a second peek at season three.
“I can’t believe we’re going back.” he heard Subway Seat say. Right, right, no distractions, he had to send everyone home.
After around an hour or two—or five—of trial and error, the mouse became sticky with sweat and the contestants, quiet as rocks, must’ve been numb from sitting like statues. Liam swore to himself that he had found the correct line of code every time he held a left-click, except the computer kept slapping “ERROR” into his face.
He poked the microphone. “Does anyone…” The others could probably tell from his tone that this was going nowhere. “Does anyone know how to code?”
They all either shrugged or shook their heads, except Scenty and Moldy, who were in their own little worlds, unresponsive.
“Anyone?”
…
Liam’s head lowered down to his elbows. This was hopeless. Why did it have to be him to save the day?
“I’m sorry,” he uttered.
“I can’t send you home yet.”
Present
Forcing the glass shard out of the flesh was unpleasant, but that’s how it was with no doctors or nurses around. Liam limped into the cave and sat on the chair, holding a bunch of leaves and grass blades. Leaves should have been an alright replacement for bandages; his wooden cast agreed. He could adapt to this world if he needed to. He could make things out of leaves… and wood… and grass, like Ai —like anyone would do in this situation.
He glanced up at the computer. It was a hell to put up with; quite similar to the computers on Earth, though it had strange controls and was generally confusing. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take him years to learn how to teleport the contestants. Every minute with them still on the Plane felt terrible.
He placed a few leaves on his hand and tied a grass strand around it.
“Backpack!”
Liam jumped backwards, almost falling off his seat. He quickly pulled the chair back to the desk—which was hard with the wooden cast scratching the ground—and he nearly smacked his face into the mic. “Oh, yeah, yes?”
Everyone else sat on the bottom of the Plane, with the plug, whereas Scenty stood on the top. “Um.”
He scratched his head. “Sorry Scenty, you startled me.”
“Have you found out how to send us home yet?”
Exactly the question he expected to hear. The question they had asked him over and over the past three days, and what he would continue to hear if he didn’t figure this out sooner or later. “No, not yet,” he said, then hurried to say, “but I’m sure that I’m very close to finding out!”
That didn’t save him from her despondent frown. He searched for something else to talk about. “The computer said something about your name being Amelia.”
She blinked and seemed worried for a moment, as if she’d been reminded of something important. “I’ve gotten used to everyone calling me Scenty.”
“Then what do you want to be called?”
The candle went lost in thought for a bit. “Amelia,” she answered. “Bryce told me your name is Liam.”
“Bryce, Amelia, Liam. Feels nice to use our real names,” he replied.
“It does feel nice.”
…
Three lines were on the cave wall.
He had scratched them into the stone the day before.
Liam grabbed a sharp twig and carved another one, marking another day.
Something inside told him that the wall would be filled with lines before he ever got out. Even so, he refused to listen to it.
They were all gonna get home.
Somehow.