Playing for Keeps Read online

  The camera returned to Marjorie. Robert tried to read her lips, but couldn’t. He had a feeling though, it was the same old song and dance he’d heard Christopher do time and time again, to encourage wagers. Another pan through the fearful faces of the contestants to help a viewer pick a favorite, and then back to the mistress of ceremonies. Once the camera returned to the contestants, and the lights began to flash, Robert knew the countdown had started.

  The lights exploded on the scene when the doors to each enclosure opened. Jill and Doug were the first out of the gate, and proceeding well. Amy was close behind them. Michelle and Mary were neck and neck behind her, but Bob hadn’t moved an inch. He was standing and yelling something. His protest continued until the saw blades spun up to full speed and lurched forward, beginning their chase. They moved quickly and were through the enclosures in mere seconds. Robert watched as his friends now sprinted, feet in front of the spinning blades. Their runs were a mixture of “running as fast as they could” and a “panic-filled run for their life”.

  Amy caught up with Doug and was just behind Jill when the floor started to tilt. At first it was a slight incline, but increased, pushing the finish-line higher in the air. Michelle stumbled and reached for the fence beside her. The shock was immediate and painful, causing her to withdraw her hand. She regained her footing and started again.

  Jill and Amy were less than ten feet from the top. Robert felt a sense of relief creep into his thoughts, but he pushed it out just as fast. She was not out of the woods until she was across that line, and on the platform at the top. A task made tougher by the increasing slope.

  Jill leapt the last 2 feet, laying out, she caught the edge of the platform with her hands and pulled herself to safety. Amy saw it and repeated Jill’s move. Robert let out a little sigh before letting his attention turn to the others.

  Doug was next, but missed on his attempt to jump. The slope was steep, but he could easily sit up on his knees and make it to his feet, then take three steps to safety.

  Mary, Michelle, and Bob were struggling against the slope with the blades close behind them. Mary was inches from the top. Michelle had twelve feet on the blade, but it was closing. Bob was only six feet away from his. The slope reduced their attempts to run to a fast crawl, using their hands to improve their grip on the floor. Their feet slipped a few times, causing them to do a quick shuffle to make up the lost ground. Mary timed a strategic jump and snagged the top with her right hand. Her feet slipped on the wood, but she kept her grip on the edge and pulled herself up and over the line and on to the safety of the awaiting platform.

  Bob slipped and grabbed for the fence. The shock hit him, sending him flat against the floor. The saw blade inching closer behind him, he tried to get to his feet, but slid again. Knowing the pain he would feel, he reached for the fence again. This time not letting go and grimacing the whole time. He made it to his feet, but lost considerable time, the saw was now just inches behind.

  Michelle was feet away from the top. The angle of the floor making it almost impossible to gain any ground. Every step forward seemed to surrender two backwards, to slippage. She saw the end and, in desperation, reached out for the fence and used it to propel herself forward to the safety of the ledge.

  The camera alternated from showing the group on the ledge, calling down to Bob, and Bob’s face. It dripped with agony as he strained against the lane. A quick and fatal slip sent the bottom of his foot low enough to brush the front edge of the blade. A quick cloud of red splattered against Bob and the ramp. He retracted his leg, but the damage was done, both to his foot and his chances to reach the top. The splatter made the wood slick. Every attempt to step forward resulted in a slip and a jerk of his foot to the side, to avoid the blade. He made no progress, as the blade continued its march toward him. Feeling the desperation of his situation, Bob grabbed the fence with both hands. He hung on this time and the charge burned into his flesh. He dragged his feet forward, using the fence as a ladder. The progress was slow, too slow. The chasing blade took another bite out of the side of his right ankle. Bob yanked the leg to the side of the blade and tried to move another link forward, but the blade caught his left calf.

  The pain stopped him in his tracks for a brief second. The look of pain on his face was replaced by one of panic as he flailed wildly at the fence, trying to claw up as fast as possible. It burned the tissue and nerves in both hands beyond the point of sensing the charge. Some grabs landed; others missed. Several misses in a row led to the end. The blade caught him and ate through his left thigh like it wasn’t even there. Tissue and blood sprayed and splattered up and across his and the adjacent lanes. His body began a slow slide down the lane, toward the approaching blade. The camera showed one last image of his unconscious face before cutting to Marjorie.

  Robert, still lying on the concrete, felt a sickness he hadn’t felt since his first time being put through the games before he knew the secret. This time there was no secret, Bob really suffered a horrible death.

  The door opened, and the handlers walked the group back into the room. They returned one member short, but left more than just Bob in the other room. The expressions on each of their faces was nothing short of defeat. Each person witnessed their future, the only question left was when.

  Marjorie was the last to return. She walked over to Robert and asked, “Are we going to have any more trouble with you?”

  Robert didn’t answer.

  She barked at the two handlers, “Get him up. He has games to play.”

  10

  Robert struggled to his feet. His legs were still only partially listening to the orders from his brain. The impulse to run to Amy urged him to move toward her. Instead of a run, his legs functioned like a gangly baby giraffe, shaky and uncoordinated. The poles under him were giving way and Robert knew another impact with the floor was in his future. Gravity was pulling him down when Amy caught him. She herself shook, but was strong enough to hold them both up. He kept one eye on the handlers the whole time. He was not about to make the last mistake again. The others kept their distance and stared at him, accusingly.

  The speaker above them crackled to life again. The lights dimmed, and the spotlight trained back on Marjorie. She appeared to have enjoyed what just happened. Her wide-grinned expression was anything but remorseful, especially when she glanced back at the traumatized competitors.

  “Christopher, we know you are watching. How long are you going to let this go on? One of your friends has paid for your mistake with his life, but there is still so much left of your debt to pay. You can end all this by just coming forward. I have my cell phone right here.” She reached into the front right pocket on her black pants suit, pulled out her phone, and held it up. “You have the number. Just a single ring will save your friends.”

  Marjorie stood there with an over-exaggerated grin on her face. Her head cocked to one side, holding the phone near her left ear. She was motionless, like some spooky mannequin. The entire room was silent while she posed. Several moments passed before she moved and put her phone away.

  “Wow, I guess they are not that important to you,” Marjorie said while glaring back at the traumatized friends. “Time to move on to our next game. This one is my favorite and I know it is yours, as well. It is time for Rat Race. And this time, EVERYONE will take part.”

  The red light on top of the camera shut off and the lights overhead clicked on again. Marjorie hurried through a door on the left this time. The handlers walked toward Robert and the rest of the group, to herd them in that direction. Doug was moving a little too slow for their liking and two of the handlers communicated that fact with a quick jab of their batons in between his shoulders. He stumbled forward, but didn’t fall. He turned his head slightly, to see his assailants. They were preparing for another blow. The look on his face stopped them in their tracks. He stood upright, shook his head, and tilted it to the left until his neck popped. A quick roll of his shoulders followed the sound, then he trekked towar
d the door with the others.

  Just above a whisper, Robert heard Jill say, “Guess Christopher had all of us fooled. We mean nothing to him.”

  “Stop that. He doesn’t know we are here. If he did, he would have already stopped all this,” Michelle said.

  The handler closest to her barked at her, “No talking.”

  Ignoring the warning, Jill said, “I am not so sure.”

  Robert shot back, “I am, so shut it.”

  No one said another word as they walked into the next room. They passed through the door, leaving the room of bright white lights, and entered a world of complete darkness. It was not a large room, maybe ten feet across from the door to a tall wall in front of them. Off to the right of the center of the room there was a circle painted on the floor in incandescent paint. The circle mesmerized each of them, causing them to meander toward it without purpose. Well, all except Doug. Doug was intent on finding out what was next, and inspected the wall. He touched it, pushed on it, banged on it, looked straight up, and even tried to jump to see if he could see over it. He missed seeing over the top edge by several inches, but seemed satisfied and walked back to the others.

  “It’s metal, maybe eight feet tall,” he said. The others looked at him with looks that screamed, “so.”

  The handlers gathered behind them along the back wall. Robert scanned their eyes for anything. A hint of emotion about what was happening, or maybe some looking in a direction to hint at what was to come, but each of them stared blankly at the wall. Their movements were well rehearsed. Either they had practiced all this before Robert and the rest were brought in or — “Hey, did Christopher ever talk about any other shows like ours?”

  Michelle stepped toward Robert, “So you figured that out, too?”

  “Yeah, she referred to us as North America, and mentioned a contract. I think this is much bigger than just us and Christopher deceiving a few viewers.”

  Jill, who had stood by herself since Robert snapped at her earlier, jumped in, “Does it matter? We are going to die because of him!”

  Her exclamation caused one handler to step forward and say, with a stern tone, “We said no talking. You can keep your mouth shut and make this easy, or make this very difficult on yourselves.” He took additional steps toward Jill, but Doug stepped in between them to calm the situation. “We’re sorry. Won’t happen again.” His words had minimal effect, the look said it all though. The handler walked backwards to his place. He didn’t blink the whole time.

  Doug turned his back to him and walked Jill back toward the rest of the group. His body was tensed up, waiting on a baton across the back that never arrived. What arrived was a hint at what was to come. Lights turned on, not from overhead, but from behind the wall, splashing light up against the ceiling. They could see a little light coming through the edges of a door in the wall. Having quite a bit of experience with how things are usually set up, they all knew that door would open soon, bringing them to the next challenge, so they gathered in front it.

  The music started to swell, as did the applause from the overhead speakers. Their anticipation grew, much like that of the audience watching, to hear Marjorie’s voice explain the new challenge. They didn’t have to wait long.

  “Welcome to Rat Race.” A spotlight from above shot down to a spot on the floor behind the wall. “The premise is simple. The contestants must navigate our maze. If they make it out, they win. There is a three-minute time limit, and to make it a little challenging, along with the normal dead-ends and misdirections of a normal maze, we have added something special. There are three trap doors, leading to pits twenty feet deep, full of hungry rats. If time runs out, the door is closed, and those very hungry rats are let loose in the maze.”

  “I hate rats,” mumbled Jill.

  She performed a familiar pause as she waited for the viewers to place their final wagers. Once prompted by the control room she continued, “All bets in. Set the clock for three minutes, please.”

  At that moment the entire ceiling illuminated with 3:00 stretched across it.

  “Thank you. Let’s count them down. 5, 4, 3, 2,…”

  A horn sounded, and the door dropped into the floor, opening up the maze. Jill ran in, but Doug grabbed her. Just audible above the pulsating music he said, “Let’s stay together and hold on to each other. That way if someone falls through the floor, we can pull them out.” Jill nodded and grabbed Doug’s hand. Amy grabbed Doug; Robert grabbed Amy. Mary grabbed Robert, and Michelle brought up the rear. The human chain rushed in and to the left in the maze, the only direction they could go at this point. As they rounded the corner, they faced their first decision, go straight or to the right. Doug took control and pulled the mass of humanity to the right. “That straight shot is meant to mislead us. We will run all the way down there, only having to double back.” Nobody objected.

  Right, then left, and left again, led to their first roadblock. Robert looked up at the ceiling, 2:40 left. They backtracked one move and went right, instead, and ran into a T-intersection. Doug looked right and left. Both seemed to lead from the middle of the maze to the outer edge, on each side. The five seconds he stood there looking felt like an eternity to Robert and he nudged Doug and pointed right. Doug, with no definitive decision either way, pulled the group right.

  At the end of the corridor Robert checked the time again, 2:14. He didn’t know whether that was good or bad, they didn’t know how big the maze was. This corridor ended in a T, as well. There was a split in the group. Jill thought they should go right, but Doug thought they should go left. “That leads back to where we started!” yelled Doug.

  Jill shook her head, “You are assuming the door out is at the other end. It could be anywhere.” She looked at the rest of the group to plead her case. Robert had to agree, she had a point, but didn’t know which way to go.

  Michelle insisted, “I think the spotlight was further away. We need to go left.”

  They went left and quickly ran into a set of turns that snaked left and right back into the center. Another decision to the left led them to a section where the only direction they could go was left, down a long corridor. They sprinted hand-in-hand down and then left, around the next corner. They approached an opening to the right and Doug started through that, but Michelle pulled the group back and said, “I think we are right back where we started.”

  Doug shook his head.

  “I swear. We just went around in a circle.”

  Doug tried to go right again, but Michelle pulled back on Mary, Robert, and Amy. Amy briefly lost hold of Doug’s hand. Robert looked and thought back to all the left turns they’d just made, turning them back toward the center, and possibly back toward the direction they came.

  Robert asked, “Should we go back the direction we came and make a different choice?”

  Doug continued to resist.

  Robert looked up at the clock, 1:53. The time concerned him, but he recognized something. He was now looking at the time from the right side, when the last time he checked he was to the left. Michelle was right.

  Robert pulled Amy and headed back. Doug yelled at them, but they couldn’t hear him over the music. The three of them rushed back. Amy soon felt Doug’s hand grab her, as the remaining two joined the rest. They retraced their steps, and this time took a different direction, but ran into a dead-end. Out they ran and through a new path. Doug no longer leading, whoever was in front was deciding as the clock continued to count down, now from 1:28.

  Jill rounded a corner, leading, and the floor panel below cracked below her feet. It disappeared into a dark hole, leaving Jill suspended for a split second before gravity pulled her down. Doug felt her weight pull on his arm and leaned back to counteract the forces that pulled him forward. Jill fell and then swung into the inside wall of the hole, holding on to Doug’s hand with the grip of her life.

  Doug walked backwards, pulling her up, Robert let go of Amy and Michelle and reached into the hole to grab Jill’s other hand. Robert an
d Doug pulled Jill up and out of the hole. She sat there for a second, shaking, and Robert took a quick peek into the hole and couldn’t see the bottom. Doug pulled Jill to her feet and started back out of that section of the maze. The clock was now on 1:02.

  Together they rushed back through to the next decision point. Michelle, who was now leading, turned to the others and pointed in the direction she thought they should go. The others nodded and off she went, with the others close behind. All the turns had Robert confused. He could’ve sworn they’d just went through an opening that was not there when they first passed by. Doug brushed his shoulder, passing him, making Robert realize he had slowed up in his confusion. He was the last to come around the next corner and nearly ran into Doug, who was holding both Jill and Amy close to the wall. In front of them, a gaping dark hole existed in the floor. His mind realized what had happened, and he dropped to his knees to try to help Michelle and Mary. His eyes searched the darkness for them, but found nothing. His ears heard faint screams as a cold gray steel plate slid in place, sealing the hole.

  Shock consumed the team as precious seconds counted down. Doug pointed at the clock above them, now at 0:41. Doug took Jill, and Robert grabbed Amy, both with a shell-shocked look on their face, and led them around the corner and through the next several decisions. The four reached another right or left decision point, with long corridors each way. They started left, but at the last minute something caught Robert’s eye. One of the panels on the wall of the right corridor didn’t look the same as the others. Still too stunned to speak, he pulled at Doug’s shoulder. Doug turned around. His eyes told the story, he saw the same feature Robert did, and all four started in that direction.