Post by Amanda Kimmel on May 22, 2013 21:24:28 GMT -5
THE SURVIVOR GAMES
I eyed the gray platform that lay before me. The dimly lit, dark room was unfriendly, as a soft, womanly voice came over the intercom.
“Players, please step onto your designated platform; the game will begin shortly.”
In my solitude, I nodded and stepped forward, eyes in a blank stare. As the platform began to rise, a circle opened from the ceiling. Light flooded the room and temporarily blinded me. Before I knew it, I was in an open field of grass, surrounded by forest. I knew not the boundaries of this forest, or what lay within. I only spent a few seconds observing the terrain before sizing up my competition. Around me, there were fifteen other individuals. Together, we formed a circle around nothing. Just grass. The forest was distant, and the only break from the green sea was the sixteen medal circles upon which each of us stood.
Upon these platforms were a wide variety of people, both male and female, spanning different ages and races. I turned to my left and saw a blonde girl, maybe a few years younger than myself, with a confused look on her face. When I looked at her, she smiled nervously. Maybe I won’t be entirely alone, I thought to myself. Subsequently, I turned to my right, and saw a tall, black man. He checked out my entire body, and it sent a shivering chill up my spine. He winked at me, and I quickly turned away. I know that I recently had breast enhancement surgery, but those looks were not appreciated. I stared at the ground right in front of me, and anxiously waited for the voice to come back over the intercom. After what seemed like an eternity, it did.
“Welcome, everyone,” the woman started, “to the fourth season of Adnama. Take a good look at the people around you, because you will be directly competing against them for the next few weeks with one purpose in mind… survival.”
A wall dropped to the right of the man who had previously checked me out. It cut across the middle of the circle, and left seven other people standing with me. I noticed the one on the far left, the second of two men on our side. He was bald and unattractive; however, there was something about his smile. It was… angelic.
“For the twist of this season, the dome will be divided in various sections. For now, it’s just divided in half. This means you can’t access the other eight people you’re competing against. Good luck to each of you! Without any further ado, we will get started. When I say ‘GO,’ the game begins. It will not end until only one of you remains.” The countdown began. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,”
*BOOM*
I couldn’t see anything… but the sound was deafening. There was an explosion, and it could only mean one thing. Someone had stepped off their platform. I looked into the sky, and the picture of an attractive, younger man flashed. Shortly thereafter, the woman spoke again.
“It seems as though we have had a false start. No matter, Jeff will be replaced.” I couldn’t see who had come into the game, but I had little time to think about it before the counting started again. “…5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!”
The moment the word pierced my ears, I turned around and took off. I found myself sprinting into the forest with agile and nimble movements. I kept my eye out for a weapon, but did not see any. After a few minutes of running, I began walking to my right, in hopes to run into the blonde girl that seemed friendly. I saw her in the distance, and got her attention as quietly as I could. Upon meeting, we shook hands and agreed not to hurt each other. Her name was Jaime. We set up camp for the night, watching each other’s backs in case others came along.
I woke up to a bell chiming. Jamie was looking up at the sky, and nodded. The name in the sky read “SUSIE,” and Jamie described her as a slightly overweight, dark-skinned woman. This reminded me of the woman who was standing next to Jamie on the platforms, but Jamie claimed it wasn’t her. We agreed she was on the other side.
Later that day, we met two individuals: Sandra and Kim. As the days were young, we were non-violent, but I knew in the back of my mind, this behavior wouldn’t be tolerated for long. From these two women, I learned the names of everyone on our side- Russell was the angel and Nate was the creep. Carolina and Alicia were also on this side, but I didn’t meet them. These people didn’t have many relationships with each other, but Kim told me she wanted to kill Russell, while Sandra wanted to keep him around.
That night, while watching over Jamie, Kim and Sandra, I saw something red in the sky. It came hurdling towards us, and exploded approximately fifty feet behind where we were laying. The forest was on fire.
“WAKE UP!” I frantically yelled, before taking off in the other direction of the fireball. I didn’t look back to see what happened to the others; I just kept running. I had to focus on staying alive while the game was changing so rapidly.
I came up to the center of the dome- where the game had started. A hatch opened, and out walked a black man. It wasn’t the man who came on to me before. This one had a mustache. He saw me running at him, and took off into the woods. The wall was coming down between us. I tumbled, making it under the wall just before it smashed into the ground. I then ran into the woods to find the man from the mysterious hole.
“Hey,” I started, “I’m not going to kill you.” What could I do? I didn’t have any weapons yet, and this man was clearly stronger than I was.
“Can I trust you?” he cautiously responded.
“Yes,” I said. I was going to need a few new allies anyway, because I don’t think those girls made it as far out as I did.
“Okay.” He stepped closer. “I found this.” The man held up what appeared to be a small vial, filled with liquid. “It’s poison,” he continued. “There are other things down there, but I’m unable to uncover them. You’re only allowed to be down there for a certain period of time each day, or else the cave will collapse on you.”
“Interesting,” I responded, blankly. My mind was racing with a thousand questions, but I didn’t want to come on too strong. I asked one: “When can we go back?”
“Well you can go in there now if you’d like. I can’t go back until tomorrow.”
“I’ll just wait to go with you. I’m Danielle, by the way. People just call me Double D.”
His eyes lit up. “Bob Dawg,” he responded. He shook my hand.
“Would you like to take shifts tonight while sleeping? I trust you.”
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” he finished. We walked into the woods to set up a resting spot.
Along the way, we found a knife. Bob Dawg claimed he already had one, so he wanted me to have it. It seemed like we had trusted each other so much already. I knew only one of us could live, but I already knew if it wasn’t going to be me, I wanted it to be him. He recounted the story of watching Jeff step off the platform too early. He outlined the new competitor- a confused, skinny Asian kid. Finally, he told me about Susie’s death, enacted by a woman his age, Ami. Ami felt threatened by the men on her side of the dome, and killed Susie to save herself. That night went peacefully.
The next day, Bob Dawg and I entered the cave. It was dark and mysterious, but there was an aura of hope inside. Each room required a password to grant access to the next. Together, we decoded our way through each room. At the final room lay two pods, each for the taking. Beside them, was a note. It read:
These are mirror pods. To activate, throw them at the ground. Any attack directed at you will be reflected unto your attacker. They are good once. Use them well!
“It looks like we have a lot of power!” I exclaimed. “I think we should go to end of this together.”
“Definitely,” he agreed, and we rejoiced with a hug. That sent a different kind of chill up my spine. He was so warm. I couldn’t imagine having to decide between him and myself.
“Hey, look up there.” He alerted me to three exits. “I bet one leads to each side of the dome,” he theorized. I nodded in agreement. We peered through one trapdoor, and saw Nate with his back turned to us. He seemed to be eating berries off of a bush. We shut the door, and Bob Dawg yet out a loud scream. When we opened the door again, Nate was gone. Before I could ask him what he was doing, Bob Dawg ran over to the bush, and poured the vial of poison on it.
“That should do it,” he returned. We left through the exit that we recognized as our own, and returned to our spot in the woods. I had my pod in my cleavage, while Bob Dawg’s rest in his pocket. Together, we felt unstoppable.
A few hours later, a bell chimed. Bob Dawg and I both looked up, expecting Nate’s face and name to appear. Much to our surprise, it was Carolina. It was a tad disappointing, because I didn’t consider her to be much of a threat to me. No matter, just thirteen left to outlast.
During this time, Bob Dawg told me about some of the boys that he met at the beginning of the game. He told me he especially did not trust Dan, so he would be our first target.
That night, while I was on duty, I saw another red ball in the sky, hurdling overhead. Instinctually, I woke up Bob Dawg and told him we needed to be on the move. The game was being changed yet again.
“Look out!” Bob Dawg yelled, while we were running. SMACK! The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. Bob Dawg had withdrew his knife, and looked ready to strike. I sat up, and saw a man lying on the ground; I did not recognize him. However, there was a woman who had a bow loaded. I squinted through the dark.
“Kim?” I questioned.
“Double D?” she responded. She put down the bow and ran over to help me up. The man who I had run into introduced himself to me as Brendan. I trusted Kim, so the four of us decided to work together. There was no sense in fighting, at least not yet.
Through comparing notes, we decided that our biggest threats for survival were Dan and Russell. We set out to kill them. However, Bob Dawg and I left out the act of poisoning Nate, as well as finding our pods. That was our secret. I liked having a secret with him.
Later that night, a bell chimed. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that Nate was dead, but it was a man named Aras. I had briefly remembered Bob Dawg telling him he talked to him at the beginning of the game, but I was fine with him being dead. I didn’t want anyone in the way of Bob Dawg and I.
The next day, the bell chimed again. The poison had set in, because this time it was Nate. This time, the unknown woman’s voice came over us.
“Just so you all know, Nate was poisoned- not killed by force. That means someone had access to poison. Good luck figuring out what that means. Oh. And run.” She finished with a giggle. Bob Dawg and I nodded at Kim and Brendan, and we took off in separate directions. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for whoever was watching us. I turned around, and a red, fiery ball was coming down between Bob Dawg and I.
“Good luck!” I screamed, as I took off in the other direction. Once I felt safe, I turned around, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was on my own. I didn’t know where I was, or with whom I was grouped, but I didn’t like it. My best hope was to be with Jaime. Before long, the voice returned.
“We’re disappointed that a few of you haven’t turned malicious quite yet,” the woman began. “Here is some information,” she continued. “You are in three groups of four. I will not separate you until one person from each group is gone. Additionally, the terrain will become more treacherous as time goes on. If you want to survive, I suggest you do it on your own terms, not mine.”
I took off. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I was going to need to do it if I wanted to see Bob Dawg again. I needed to see him again. I ran through the woods as fast as I could. I saw the bald man with the angelic smile in the distance. He didn’t seem so angelic. He was holding a spear, and I didn’t know where he was going. It wasn’t in my direction, so I just observed. When I saw where he was going, I had to put a hand over my mouth to prevent noise. Jamie was lying on the ground, sleeping. I saw Sandra motioning towards Russell. She pointed at Jamie, and silently suggested to me to stay quiet. I saw the spear leave Russell’s hand, and I looked away. I heard a scream and began to cry. I really liked Jamie, and this game just took her away. It wasn’t fair. The bell chimed, and Sandra made her way over to me as Russell searched Jamie’s body.
“You, Russell and I are going to the end together,” Sandra began.
“Okay,” I agreed. I liked Sandra, but I was still in shock.
“We shouldn’t need to kill each other at this point. We can just wait.” I nodded.
The bell chimed twice within the next thirty minutes or so: one time to show Jamie, and the other to show Alicia. I couldn’t believe we were down to ten. We just had to wait for one more to die, and then the game would change once again.
The woman’s voice started again. “Dear contestants, Ami was removed from the game because she was thought to be dead, however, she is not. Furthermore, Nate did not die from the poisoning. Because both were removed, though neither pronounced dead, we have put them in a face off. The winner will re-enter the game with the rest of you, to form the final ten. That is all.”
Therefore, Sandra, Russell and I just waited.
That night, a red ball shot overhead, and I knew it was time to get moving. I took off towards where I thought Bob Dawg would be. None of the red balls seemed to be coming toward me, or Sandra, for that matter, who was following me. He must have been looking for me too, as it only took us a little while to find each other. Once together, we regrouped with Sandra and decided to work together for the time being.
We ran into a curly-haired man, who I thought to be my age. He was preoccupied with inspecting a tree, or something. Bob Dawg informed us his name was Ethan, and suspected he was aligned with Dan.
“We should kill him, then,” I suggested. Bob Dawg and Sandra both looked surprised at my response, but they knew I was right. We needed the game to progress.
I sent myself out as a decoy, and made some noise. Ethan ran over to see what was going on, and Bob Dawg blindsided him with his knife. Ethan fell to the ground, and Sandra checked his pulse to ensure he was dead. Within minutes, the bell chimed. Sure enough, Ethan’s name flashed across the sky, and the woman’s voice came back.
“Contestants, please return to where the game began, immediately.”
Unsure of what was going on, we started moving in that direction. Bob Dawg, Sandra and I decided to kill Dan at our soonest opportunity. We arrived at the center field, and instead of 17 metal platforms, there were nine. We each stood on one, and waited for further instruction.
“Congratulations,” the woman resumed, “on making it this far into the game. You have all been wonderful competitors up until now.” I looked around, and saw Nate had returned instead of Ami. How disappointing, I thought to myself. “From here on out, the arena won’t be divided. One of you nine will win this game, and you won’t have any further limitations on who you can kill. You may want to take advantage of the fact that you’re all together now. Good luck!”
The voice cut out, and I shot a quick look to Bob Dawg. He and I both charged for Dan, who was completely unaware of our charging. We took him to the ground, as a woman instructed us to move. I recognized the voice as Kim’s and rolled out of the way. Kim released an arrow and it hit Dan straight in the chest. He stopped moving.
After Dan was gone, there was a moment of silence as we were all together. Then, we all took off in pairs, in separate directions. Bob Dawg and I headed north, Kim and Brendan east, Russell and Sandra west, and Nate and Kenny south. After few minutes of wandering, Bob Dawg and I sat down to rest and discuss our strategies. I told him about Jamie’s death, and he told me about Alicia’s, and how he ended up with Brendan and Kim anyway. He trusted them.
After a few hours, we heard rustling in the distance. We looked over and saw Brendan and Kim. They smiled, and we invited them to sit with us. We discussed who we should take out next. Bob Dawg and I wanted to kill off Nate, while Kim and Brendan wanted to kill off Russell or Sandra. Eventually, we agreed on Russell and set out in their direction.
In the distance, we saw Sandra sleeping and Russell sitting up on a tree, watching guard. Unfortunately, the tree protected most of Russell, so Kim decided to make an executive decision.
“I’m just going to take out Sandra,” she began. Before I had time to react, she loaded her bow, and shot off an arrow. It hit Sandra square in the head. Russell looked around frantically, saw us, and charged. Bob Dawg and I took off in one direction, with Brendan and Kim in another. He gathered enough from the arrow to go after Brendan and Kim.
Once we rested, I turned to Bob Dawg and said, “We can do this… together.” There are only 5 other people left, and we still have our reflectors.”
“I know we can, Danielle.” He hugged me, and we thought about what our next move would be.
TO BE CONTINUED…
