Day 1:

Awoken from the worst headache in two decades, Desiree Styx fumbled for her phone only to find soft skin beneath her rough fingers. Silent alarms rang loudly in her ears as her mind fought to focus on her surroundings. The soft queen size bed was gone, replaced by rough concrete. Her plushy animals from her childhood substituted by human bodies. A creeping feeling of unease washed over her but she didn’t panic immediately. Her girlfriends had done some really weird shit like this before, worse even, when they were hazing new pledges.

Deep breaths, Desiree told herself. One, two, one two and calmness slowly returned. Head still throbbed like she had taken a beating the night before but at least it had dropped down from hot pokers in the eyes levels of pain. This was enough to focus on other problems, like where was she and who are these people?

A rogue hand reached out and massaged her butt, causing her to whisk around with a firm slap. The half-asleep man jolted awake from the brutality, a deep handprint already forming on his left cheek. Desiree only snorted in response to his glare.

“Do it again and I’ll break that hand off!”

Fierce as always, Desiree would never allow herself to be taken advantage of by a man. Her mother, God rest her soul, was a whipped woman who practically knelt at her father’s feet every day. Just the memory of it alone made her lips curl in disgust and her fists clench tight. Her bastard father never looked at her unless he drank and when he drank, he would become violently lustful. It was such a tragedy then, everyone said, when he drank himself to death and choked on his own bile. If only the coroner would have swabbed his cheeks, they would have found the small fingerprints etched into his skin and the struggle in the man’s eyes before he died, but all that is ancient history now.

Desiree shifted farther from the groper, to sit against the far wall. Emerald green eyes scanned the room more carefully, noting a total of nine others in the arid concrete bunker. A single window high up near the ceiling, too small to crawl out even for her lithe body. The sunlight pouring in just enough to see the others, the glint of a metal door to the far right of the window. Instinctively, she rushes to it and tries the handle, locked. Her fists crash into the hard metal like pounding nails, causing only a tingling sensation in her fingers.

“Hello?! Anyone out there? Erin, Tirah, this stopped being funny five minutes ago!”

Screaming at the immovable door only served to wake the others. Loud groans filling the area as bodies stirred to life. Only then did she turn to regard them properly, four women and five men. None of those in the room seemed to be older than thirty, two of the boys even appeared younger than herself at only twenty-two. Her focus shifted quickly though since a loud voice boomed out over a speaker hidden in a corner.

“Welcome to my survival game. The rules are simple. In two weeks’ time, the door Infront of you will open and one of you may walk out, but only one. There is fresh water in the well beyond the archway along with five box lunches. No other food or water will be sent in. How you determine who eats is entirely up to you. Good luck, players!”

Desiree’s brain short circuited as the words sunk in completely. A single survivor, only five meals for ten people and two weeks to decide on who lives and dies among a group of strangers. Stumbling backwards, she slumped to the ground and simply sat quietly in thought.  No one else moved around her either, all stunned into a perpetual silence. Eyes darted around the room, calculating chances of survival, combat and arguments for life.

Desiree climbed back to her feet, her mind still a mess but a plan already taking shape. First she would secure a meal, then water and only then would she consider everyone else. No matter what, she must survive this too. The voice was distorted but it was definitely a man’s voice. ‘Wait for me,’ she thought, ‘when I walk out of here, the first thing I will do is crush your balls.’

Her reaction sparked the others into action. One of the younger boys broke down into tears immediately, while the other gently removed his jacket and went back to sleep like a zombie. Two of the women began arguing why they should be the ones to walk out of there alive while one of the men tried to call out to the owner of the voice. The remaining victims of this foul game simply sat in stunned silence, staring at the ceiling and contemplating life.

Crossing the room in only a few long strides, Desiree snatched the first boxed lunch from the pile and moved to a corner near the well, where she could see the arch and the metal door if she squinted hard. Soft silk met hard concrete once more as she laid against the wall, food propped in her left hand as she peeled away the lid. Mystery meat, baby carrots, pudding and celery sticks greeted her as the plastic lid gave way. A pint size water bottle sat in a slot all to itself. Worry flickered across her eyes as she realized something she missed previously. The boxed lunches were not meant to last the entire two weeks, even if a single person ate them alone. The food would spoil, hunger and madness could overtake them and drastic measures would be taken; measures that sent new shivers down her spine.

With a shake of her head, Desiree braced herself for the days to come. A sip of water, a piece of the mystery meat, a nibble here and there on the celery and carrot. That was all she would allow herself on this first day.

Day 4:

Desiree scratched another line into the dirt beside her with her broken fingernail. Her previously long silky hair resembled a bird’s nest now and the clean silken shirt had long crumpled into a rough texture that bit into her skin. At least she learned to stop gagging on the stench of feces and piss long enough to eat and drink. The first time one of the others tried to piss and shit in her well room, she clawed and kicked them into the far corner by the metal door. Let that filthy man step in their feces if he wants to come for them, she thought to herself as she looked at her dirt stained bra beside her. That was the first to come off, then her high heels as she wanted both available as potential weapons.

Eyes flickered to the other room, still nine people, still alive but for how long is anyone’s guess now. All of the ladies got the meals on the first day and the second day. It was only on the third day that the guys became too hungry to continue feigning ignorance and a fight broke out over the meals. The younger boys lost that one, one of them cried himself to sleep that night while the other is still in a coma from a hard bashing of his head against the cement floor. A small pool of blood already formed at his head, the red tint visible in the setting sunlight.

Turning back to her lunch box, she stared at the lonely carrot, unopened pudding and pinch of celery. She smiled in mockery at her situation and the absolute humility of it all. That strong woman at the start, the one who decided to only eat enough to survive had scarfed down half the box yesterday after arguing with one of the guys. Anger had overtaken reason and she ate it right in front of him, scorn written all over her facial features as she begged him with her eyes to try and take it from her mouth. The angry chomping, teeth grinding, still clear in her ears alongside his raging temper that exploded right before crumbling in the face of a hard kick to the groin. Desiree could no longer be bothered with the others though. Plans had to change if she was going to survive the next ten days with these people, especially at night. One of those brutes had already tried to satisfy himself with one of the other ladies and been slapped by her friend. Shame could still be seen written all over his face, alongside the crimson handprint. She had yet to be attacked purely because she didn’t sleep, and as long as she didn’t sleep, no one would bother her. Sleep deprivation was getting to her though, her eyes were already subtly starting to close every few minutes. Only fear and determination forced them open now. ‘Only ten more days to go,’ she reminded herself even as her eyes shut.

Day 7:

Desiree awoke with a start; high heels clutched in both hands. Eyes darted left and right, the nightmare from last night still prevalent. Her father walked into her bedroom, drunk as always, wearing nothing more than his boxers. The stench of sex still fresh on his sweaty body as he sauntered over to her bed. His grubby hands reaching out for her, only to find a knife at his genitals. His booming voice as he tried to snatch it from her only to be cut instead and storm off to complain to her mother about the brat. Her striking words of retort as she slammed the bedroom door in her mother’s face and shoved the dresser in front of it. ‘Never again,’ she reminded herself as she scanned her surroundings vigilantly.

Coma boy died two days ago; the smell of decay became too much by the second ay and his body was thrown into the fecal corner. Groin guy managed to pair up with one of the women and settled into another corner. Their disgusting sounds of love making can still be heard from here. The two female friends have lost a lot weight; those two fools ate everything by the end of the third day. The few remaining, including the groper, already looked like they were on the brink of death. Their faces were sallow, skin loose around the arms and deep circles marked their eyes. None had slept well, guarding their chastity or their food for so many days.

Thoughts drifting back to food, her stomach rumbled in protest once more. A high heel fell from her left hand as she reached out to the boxed lunch container and flicked it open. Eyes never left the others as she fiddled with the locking mechanism, wary of any sudden movements. Finding nothing, she turned her attention to the boxed lunch completely and dug out the pudding cup. The plastic tore easily, chocolate drowned her senses next as she hungrily dove in. Any sense of proper etiquette long gone as her tongue lashed the sides, the top, the bottom and everything in-between with a ferocity of a starving animal. By the time she stopped, the cup was cleaner than when it came from the factory.

Soft coughing rang out from the other end of the bunker. Three pairs of eyes met in the middle but none dared to make the first move. Desiree threw the empty container to the side, her fingers sliding back into the high heels, ready for combat at any time. The opposing eyes turned away in a mix of anger and shame, unwilling to cross the crazy bitch near the well.

Day 10:

Desiree staggered to her feet with a grunt of effort. The lover had lost his damn mind from hunger; he actually bit down and ate the woman during their last round of sex. The screams Is what woke her from a temporary respite from this hell. The other women only staring on while trying not to lick their own lips. Madness was taking them, one at a time. The other three men moved as soon as the first was satisfied, unwilling to let go any piece of meat. It only took a matter of minutes for all four to be sated. Then the women broke, crawling over there on all fours like the savage animals they were, licking the blood stains off the cement floor.

Desiree only watched from her spot, not moving to partake or to stop it. Hunger warred in her own mind, tongue running across dry lips that begged for meat. A burning desire building up to obscene levels, yet she dared not move. The others were still too strong, not desperate enough. If she wanted to eat, she would have to be the hunter and not the prey so she waited, eyes downturned to not give away her brewing thoughts. Those old stories of spooking the rabbit by staring at it for too long filling her maddening mind.

Day 12:

Today is the day, she decided. Today she would make her move against the others. Last night, the men grew hungry again and attack the women as a group. Groper even came for her, but she showed him that this cat still has her claws. The high heel sank into his eye with a satisfying squish and pop. His howls of pain drove her forward, tearing at his jugular with broken nails and the remnant of a high heeled shoe. A lucky fist clocked her jaw, threatening to break it as she went down hard. A small, delicate foot struck out in response, bursting the balls just as she dreamt of doing to her captor one day.

The man dropped down to the ground, cupping his broken family jewels. An opportunity that she wasn’t going to miss as her unbroken heel drove into his remaining eye. Then her fingers found purchase in his neck once again as she pounced directly onto his chest. Nails tore into flesh with desperation. Her mind filled only with survival, no time for considering her actions or the consequences.

Blood gushed around her fingers, the man croaked out in pain. His fingers grasping hers began to lose power, limbs began to sag and bloody coughs drenched her forearms. The madness of hunger took her mind completely then.

Desiree bent down and bit into soft human flesh. Teeth tore at the muscles beneath, chewed and swallowed in satisfaction. More lunges down, more flesh tore away, more of her humanity disappeared. It may have been minutes; it may have been hours before she came back to her sense. Her stomach was engorged, her satiety fulfilled completely.

Glancing around the others, she smiled with the grin of a predator. Of the remaining victims, only one woman survived to the end with her. The other men were dead or dying on the ground. The two female friends had come to their senses long enough to go into full despair over what they had done. She had noticed them out of the corner of her eye in one of her animalistic lunges for more meat. The duo had whispered to each other and then ran headfirst into the wall together, smashing their heads open. Bit of brain matter and blood still dripping down the wall.

Desiree backed away slowly from her kill, back to her spot by the wall. Fingers grasped the bra that had almost been forgotten, one final weapon. Then she waited once more for the darkness, for the prey to lose concentration, to lower her guard ever so slightly. Then she would move in for the final kill, after all, only two nights remained.

Day 13:

‘Tonight is the last night,’ she thought to herself. Desiree knew because of the scratches in the dirt and the changes in the window lighting. Only one of the women in this bunker would be walking out tomorrow and she intended for it to be her. Any consequences afterward would be dealt with in due time. It was all self-defense anyway, no one could blame her for surviving in the worst time of her young life.

There, time was up, the other woman’s eyes closed. It is so hard to see in this light but she was sure that she closed her eyes. Now is the time, one last victim and she could turn herself into the proud survivor of this twisted game. Slowly now, her steps must be light, soundless. The bra straps already wrapped around both hands, ready to charge at any sign of extra movement, any reaction.

Five steps away, four, three, two and finally a leap forward. The stainless teel underwire closed around her throat like a vice grip. The half-cups made the whole scene almost look funny if not for the struggling woman caught in them. Fingers wrapped around forearms, nails dug into skin until it bled, but Desiree was firm in her stance. This woman must die so she can live. No matter what words spilled from her mouth now, it was all tuned out. She may as well have been begging a blind and deaf woman right now. Nothing short of death was going to stop her from killing this innocent woman. Yes, innocent, just like herself. They were all innocent, yet they all had to die anyway.

Sharp kicks landed on Desiree’s stomach and thighs but she merely grunted in response. Bile built up in her throat after a particularly hard kick to her lower chest and she released it over the woman’s face. The distraction more than enough to finish the job as her limbs weakened, then went limp entirely.

Struggling for breath, she rolled off the dead woman and lay there on the floor, panting from the exhaustion. A thrill running through her as she knew she had survived the worst two weeks of her life. Tomorrow she would be presented with the promised safety and then revenge. That sweet revenge she had been dreaming of since the very first day. Only a few more hours and that door would open, then the real fight would begin. With that final thought, she drifted off into unconsciousness on the spot.

A loud bang and the groan of metal woke her only an hour later. The heavy metal door sliding aside in protest as heavy footsteps rushed into the room. Gasps of surprise soon followed by the hollowing out of someone’s stomach contents. Such weak stomachs, Desiree almost spat out as she struggled to sit up.

“We got a survivor over here! Get the medics!”

A voice as loud as thunder boomed out, drowning the crackle of boots on the cement. Then a firm hand grasped her shoulder, forcing her to remain in place. A kind smile filling her vision as a rough looking officer kneeled beside her.

“Are you alright, miss? What happened here?”

“Locked up, no food, two whole week…”

It was all she managed to spit out before a coughing fit overtook her. That last kick had definitely damaged something internally. She should have ate that bitch, just to show her who is the real boss. Maybe she would spit on her when she left here.

“Miss, you were only reported missing three days ago…”