Help

"You'd be surprised just how many of us there are."

Jeremiah's head whipped around to see an old man standing behind them, his face paler than Jeremiah thought humanly possible, a long white beard, and a scar over a blinded left eye. He had clearly seen some shit, and made it through for a very long time. His clothes, on the other hand, were immaculate - a well fitted suit, with all the matching accessories, including the golden chain of a pocketwatch stretched across his chest. The look in his remaining eye was wise beyond his age - but despite it all, he approached the group with a smile.

"Who are you?" Manda asked, stepping forward. "And what do you want from us?"

The old man merely smiled more. "You're not the only ones stuck in the game's hell, you know. You were never at any point the only one in the game, and at no point in the future will you ever be the only one in the game. No matter how many come and go, there will always be others who are stuck in the game. And for that, you should be grateful."

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Manda asked again. "Do you really think you can just barge in here and start spouting nonsense at us, and we're going to look up to you like some kind of miraculous savior?" It was Jeremiah, Manda, Samantha, and Rolland gathered in Rolland's garage, which had been locked - at least as far as he was aware. And yet this man had simply walked in without any of them noticing.

"Don't pretend like you're unfamiliar with the game. I can see it on your faces. You've all been there. You've all died, and yet you all stand here, and if I'm not mistaken, you were discussing the repercussions, possibilities, and what to do next. Don't even confirm it, I already know. I've seen it a hundred times before. But let me tell you what will happen next. Either you will listen to me, or you will go home with your plans, and you will go to sleep and find yourselves in the game again, and it will have all been for naught. And you will wake up, if at all, even more unsure of what is happening and what to do."

The group was quiet. They waited for Manda - she had self appointed herself the leader - but she didn't know what to say. Instead, Samantha, who was the quietest and most afraid of them all, was the one who stepped forward. "But how do you know?"

The man nodded, as though that were the question he was waiting for. "Because I have elected to stay behind and play the game for a century, in order to help people like you."