Chapter 119: The Final Three - The Recall Trials - NovelsTime

The Recall Trials

Chapter 119: The Final Three

Author: HiddenPearl
updatedAt: 2025-07-21

CHAPTER 119: THE FINAL THREE

Jacob’s hand hovered over the three buttons...red, green, purple...trembling like he already knew there was no right answer.

Please don’t pick red, I thought. Please don’t let it be red again.

He looked back at us, lip quivering. "I can’t do this."

We were all terrified to say the wrong thing.

Then he closed his eyes and slammed his palm onto purple.

A long pause.

Another wrong choice.

Another body.

Jacob dropped to his knees, a clean hole through his forehead. His eyes stayed open even as he collapsed to the floor, twitching once before going completely still.

The smell of blood filled the room. The sound of Suri’s sobbing echoed in my skull even though she was already gone. And now Jacob. Just like that.

Another friend. Another ghost.

My knees buckled as I lurched forward, but I caught myself. I had to stay upright. I had to keep it together....for them.

But I couldn’t breathe.

Because Nomi was next.

"Jacob has been eliminated," the voice said. "Four minutes and fifty-three seconds remaining."

"No, no, no, please," I gasped, the words tumbling from my mouth as the timer above us ticked down. 3:42... 3:41...

I raised my hands to the watching cameras, to the walls, to the gods who weren’t gods at all but monsters behind the screen.

"Please! Stop this!" My voice cracked.

"I’ll do anything. Do you hear me?" I screamed. "I’ll join you....I’ll be your puppet, your killer, your experiment, your dog, I don’t care! Just don’t take her!"

The guards didn’t flinch.

I looked around. The others stood paralyzed, hollowed out by fear. Zaara and Theo were still hanging in the cages above the bubbling acid....bruised, bleeding, helpless.

And now...

Nomi.

The red-eyed mask closest to Nomi gave her a nudge forward.

I ran toward her, but another guard pointed a gun in my direction, and I froze.

Nomi turned slightly to face me.

Her lip quivered.

"No...please, please don’t do this!"

Nomi didn’t even cry.

She turned to me one last time. A soft, tragic smile curved on her lips.

"I’m sorry, Vincent," she whispered, her voice was calm...too calm. "Tell the baby I tried."

"No....Nomi, no!" I lunged forward, but two guards stepped in front. "Don’t press it! We have three minutes left, just wait...wait it out!"

But her hand was already rising.

Red.

She pressed the red button.

Nothing happened.

For a second, a cruel flicker of hope rushed through my chest.

Then...

Pfft.

I saw her jolt.

Her mouth fell open.

A soft gurgling noise sputtered out.

Then the blood.

Thick and fast, pouring between her fingers as her hand gripped at her throat. Her knees crumpled beneath her. She fell sideways, twitching like Jacob had.

No bang. Just a clean, silent bullet to the neck.

She staggered backward, gagging. Her lips moved, trying to speak. Trying to say my name, maybe. I’ll never know.

Then she collapsed.

I screamed.

A sound I didn’t know I was capable of, ripped straight from my soul

I threw myself toward her, but the guards didn’t let me through.

"NOMI!"

The timer ticked on.

0:27.

Her hand reached out weakly.

Then dropped.

Gone.

My knees finally gave in.

I heard zaara scream.

My knees gave out, and I dropped to the floor, staring at her body as the voice announced casually:

"Contestant Nomi has been eliminated. Two minutes and twenty-nine seconds remain."

Two minutes left. Two lives still hanging. And nothing I could do to stop it.

Nothing.

"Congratulations."

The air was too still. Like the room itself was holding its breath.

Then the voice returned.

"You’ve made it to the final round."

For a moment, no one moved.

Then the cages started to descend, the chains clanked as they lowered, trembling inch by inch toward the acid below.

Zaara gripped the bars tighter,. "No. No, no," she cried. "They’re still lowering us....VINCENT—!"

Theo’s breath hitched beside her. "It’s not over, they’re lying, they’re gonna..."

A few inches from the churning liquid.

The voice didn’t respond.

Just the sound of gears turning, of slow descent. Mocking their hope. Feeding their terror.

They both pressed themselves as high as they could inside the cage, desperate to avoid the bubbling acid that waited to claim them if this was one final trick.

But the cage... stopped.

A few inches above the acid’s surface.

The hum died.

Silence again.

The voice finally returned.

"Relax. You’re safe... for now."

"Prepare for the final round."

Then the lights dimmed, and the screen above flickered off with a soft buzz.

The game was over — this one, at least — but the damage had already been done.

Nomi’s body lay in the center of the room.

Blood soaking her chest.

Her fingers still twitching faintly.

Like she didn’t want to leave me.

Like she wasn’t ready.

I couldn’t breathe.

My legs moved before I realized — I stumbled across the floor and dropped to my knees beside her.

"Nomi..." I whispered, voice cracking. "Nomi, please..."

Her eyes were still open. Glassy. Staring past me.

"No, no, no—come back—come back to me."

My fingers pressed to her throat, searching for a pulse that wasn’t there.

My hands — covered in her blood — trembled violently.

"You weren’t supposed to—this wasn’t supposed to happen—"

I looked down at her stomach.

Our baby...

I clutched her to my chest, sobbing into her hair.

"I’m so sorry. I should’ve protected you. I should’ve picked you first. I should’ve—God, I should’ve loved you better."

She didn’t move.

The world cracked.

I heard Zaara’s cage open with a metallic shriek, but I couldn’t look up. I didn’t even register footsteps until I felt her arms wrap around me from behind.

"Vincent..." she whispered, crying too. "I’m so sorry."

I turned and buried my face into her shoulder, letting myself collapse completely. My chest heaved. My sobs were broken, childlike, raw.

"I—I can’t do this anymore," I said, rocking slightly. "She’s gone. They killed her. And the baby. Our baby..."

Zaara didn’t say anything.

She just held me tighter.

I looked up, eyes red and burning, and stared straight into one of the cameras.

And I screamed.

"Dad!"

The word ripped from my throat like it had been festering for years.

"You win, okay?! You win!" I stood, trembling, covered in blood. "You’ve taken everything from me!"

Tears streamed down my face, blurring the lights and the bodies.

"You hate me, I get it! You never wanted me! But don’t kill me for it! Don’t kill them for it!"

I staggered forward, arms wide.

"Please! Please just end this! I’ll do anything—anything. Just don’t let me die like this. Don’t let them die because you hate me."

And then, from the speakers overhead:

"Final round begins... in twenty-four hours."

The masked men led us back through the narrow metallic hallway — the kind that echoed every footstep like a gunshot. The air was cold, sterile. Smelled like blood and chemicals.

Nomi’s blood still stained my sleeves.

I couldn’t bring myself to look down.

Just three of us left now.

Me. Zaara. Theo.

The others... gone.

The silence between us was like a weight pressing on our shoulders.

When the final security door hissed open, we were pushed into the main game room — the space they always held us in before announcing the next trial. But now it felt emptier. Colder. Like even the walls were mourning.

Theo dropped onto the nearest bench with a heavy sigh, wiping the sweat and grime off his face with his sleeve. Zaara sat beside me, quietly pulling her knees to her chest, eyes distant and raw.

And then—

"I don’t think it’s about the money anymore," Theo muttered.

I blinked, barely registering his voice.

He looked up, eyes narrowing at me.

"This is personal," he added.

I glanced toward him. "What are you talking about?"

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

"Vincent... did you piss off someone before coming here?"

I didn’t answer. My throat tightened.

He kept going. "I mean, yeah, I know you’re from Sector A and all that polished bullshit. But think about it—why are you the only one still surviving?"

I stared at the floor.

"When Zaara and I were captured earlier, we were dragged away like prisoners, man. But you?" His voice sharpened. "You weren’t even there."

Zaara’s head shot up.

"Theo..." she warned softly.

Theo ignored her. "And back in that hallway before the lava game? The guards paused. Like they were waiting for something. Waiting for you."

I clenched my fists.

Zaara reached for his arm. "Theo, please. Not now. He’s not in the right mood—"

"I get that he’s the wildcard," Theo continued, glaring at me now. "I get that the game needs drama. But is this thing rigged for you?"

I shot up, the bench scraping behind me.

"You think I wanted any of this?" I snapped, my voice low, broken.

Theo stood too. "I think something’s not adding up!"

Zaara stood between us, arms out like a barrier.

"Enough!" she yelled. "We just survived being nearly dumped into acid, and Nomi’s body isn’t even cold yet. Can we not do this? I can’t—" Her voice cracked. "I can’t deal with you two turning on each other. Not now."

I turned, walking a few steps toward the far wall, pressing my forehead against the cold steel. I closed my eyes.

I wished it would just swallow me whole.

Zaara’s voice was soft now, almost pleading. "Theo... whatever you’re feeling, keep it to yourself for now. Vincent’s broken. I watched him lose everything in front of us. Don’t twist the knife."

Theo let out a long breath. "I’m not trying to twist it. I just want the truth."

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