Chapter One of The Cave Your Fear

Choosing the First Half

Several people sat around a rounded table. The room was dimly lit; only a flickering candlelight illuminated the five faces and endless stacks of paper set upon the oak surface. The first was a man named Robert Quintet, the developer of the virtual environment he had nicknamed 'The Cave'. His tanned fingers were endlessly scattering unsatisfactory profiles back onto the table as a second man, this one going by the name of simply 'Lion'. He looked like one, as he had grown his curly blonde locks around his profile to frame his face. However, he wasn't a madman. He was simply the head director of the kidnappings that were about to take place. Across from Robert and Lion were two women, both with identical lip piercings, hair color, eye color, and everything else, were skimming profiles on two wireless computers, then sending them to a printer in which they could be printed. They went by Julie and Jannie, the twins. They were the mad scientists. The fifth and final person was a little girl, only 10 perhaps, who was sitting delicately on a stool at the end of the table, watching attentively what the men and women were doing.

"Hold up," Robert exclaimed, rejecting the profile that Lion had already launched at him naturally. He clung to the paper in front of him. A pair of deep blue eyes were staring back at him from the picture in the top right corner, and was framed by a mass of classy dark brown hair that waved down below the picture's perimeter.

"Have you finally picked, sir?" Lion asked politely.

"This girl," Robert said slowly. "Safrina Oakland... add her to the list."

The twins pumped their fists in victory, glad their superior had finally decided to pick one rather than glance at their name and throw it into the pile of unattended profiles. Robert, on the other hand, took time to read her entire profile, letting every detail sink in. He nodded to himself, excited to see Safrina in the upcoming games, then set her aside in a brand-new pile next to the little girl's stool. She took it, and began to observe it.

"I want Raven too," Robert said abruptly after browsing a couple more.

"Who?" Lion asked.

"Safrina's friend or whatnot, Raven," Robert replied, holding up a paper. The picture was a boy with dark, straight black hair and chocolate brown eyes.

Lion squinted. "How old is he even?"

"17."

Lion leaned back, shocked, then shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Looks at least 20 to me. And besides, aren't we supposed to get a variety of students?"

Robert leaned back in his chair and laughed. Then he pulled Lion's hair so that their faces were inches apart and said, "Listen to me, punk. These games are supposed to be interesting, you feel me? It won't hurt to insert two friends, or lovers, or whatever the hell they are. That's 'variety' for you," he snapped bitterly. The bags under his eyes from countless hours of searching was very vivid to Lion, so he backed off.

After another ten minutes or so, Robert held up a paper, shaking it in the air. "I got another!" After grabbing everyone's attention, he started: "This one's named Hunter Jacksburg. Got an interesting past, if you ask me. Go ahead and read." With that he flung the paper at the little girl again.

Lion's arm was beginning to tire as Robert waved two more: Scarlet Rose and Nidgel Peterthan- both at which he gave to the girl on the stool. He was beginning to feel more and more confident in his choices, and more were being considered than simply thrown onto the table of the rejected. Lion, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to curl up and take a long nap at this point- nothing was more boring than transferring paper after paper of school profiles illegally obtained from two twin mad scientists to a man who designed a virtual world in which kids killed each other. However, just as Lion began to doze off, Robert shouted, and his eyes were pealed open to see him holding another paper in that sensitive way.

"This one's a keeper- basketball champ/drama extraordinaire Regina Rodriguez," Robert announced.

Almost immediately after, he found another. "Colin Ross. Attends International Academy, you know, that award-winning online homeschooling website?"

Lion shook his head, half because he hadn't heard of International Academy and half because he had begun to nod off. Robert, on the other hand, studied him and Regina. Colin had shaggy red hair and brilliant green eyes. The girl had hair black as the night sky and brown eyes. He nodded, and sent the papers off to the usual recipient.

The next one he found was boy named Elliot Oh. For a moment Robert mistook him for a seventh grader- his cheeks were rounded and his green eyes were big, but the profile confirmed him as a senior. Nodding, he handed this off, too. The next that came along was Skye Calla Wilson, a girl with strawberry blonde hair and bright green eyes too. Her smile was what convinced him the most to add her to the list.

Lion was sleeping now. When Robert held out his hand, he met empty air. The great man-beast was dozing on the side of the table, the locks of his hair covering his face. Robert rolled his eyes, then slapped his back. Lion remained in his dreams.

"Oh, bother. Jannie, your on hand-me-things duty now. Come here," Robert ordered. The woman left her twin to accompany the scientist by his side, subjected to the task of handing him profiles for probably the rest of the night. Her raven-colored hair was tucked behind her ears soon enough.

"Luciana Martez!" Robert cried after a few minutes after the transition. He held a paper which had a tan girl with bleached hair grinning into the camera. Jannie took it from his raised hand and started to walk to the girl when Robert shouted, "Wait! Don't forget about Lola Starr!"

"Lola who?"

"Lola Starr, you idiot. I want her here. She seems like the type we need," the scientist replied, failing at throwing the paper to Jannie, who was already halfway between them. Instead it flapped effortlessly to the ground. No one moved until Robert said, "Well, it isn't gonna grow legs and walk to you."

Then, after Robert's spree, there was 5 hours of more silence, only to be interrupted by the sounds of paper being stacked upon more paper, and Lion's occasional deep breath or snore. The twins were disappointed- they wanted to at least choose half of the names selected so that they could commence the 'First Wave', as they were calling it. All hope of that dwindled away as the clock stroke 2 in the morning. The twins themselves were ready to sleep on the very floor beneath their feet, for all they cared. The endless cycle of printing profiles and handing them to Robert eventually got old. Just as Julie was about to call it quits, the tireless scientist held up a paper titled 'Milton High School Student Profiles', and a boy named Dylan Robinson was plastered on it.

"The last of the half!" Robert exclaimed. "We did it!"

The twins sighed. Julie closed both computers and laid her head down upon hers, falling into the dream land in seconds. Jannie simply curled up on the hardwood flooring next to Robert and dozed off. Lion was still fast asleep. Which left only Robert and the girl. He stood, and with great caution, he made his way to where she was sitting. Her blonde locks her draped over her face, but you could clearly see the glowing of her yellow eyes in the dark. He handed her the last paper and said quietly, "Go get 'em, Anastasia."

Yo! What do you guys think? I'm pretty pumped for this, I don't know about you. Anyways, shoutout to my friend for making me the cover. He's going to make another similar to that for when all the tributes are submitted, so don't freak if you don't find your character. Anyways, thanks to you all for participating! And to those who are going to- thanks to you too! Alright, bye!

-Peyton