Are You The Complete Player?

1/2 WHO WOULD YOU PICK TO DIE?

CHAPTER SIX: WHO WOULD YOU PICK TO DIE?

The atmosphere had shifted since Charlotte’s brutal murder in the showers. For the next hour, everyone was mostly quiet and somber. It was almost as if they were all afraid to do anything out of fear of breaking any rule and being suddenly eliminated. Almost everyone had retired to their beds to nap or talk quietly with their allies.

WIC seemed to notice the change in overall mood because about an hour and a half after Charlotte’s death, the mysterious voice once again appeared out of nowhere.

“Why so gloomy, players? Don’t tell me you are all mourning over Charlotte Adams,” the voice paused to laugh, a heartless, evil laugh. “There’s no use in being sad. She was warned about what happens when you break the rules around here and still failed to listen. Let her serve as an example to all of you as to what happens around here when you fail to pay attention to the rules. We advise you all to not waste time being sad. We can assure you that if the tables were turned, our little Canadian princess would not be mourning over any of you. Isn’t that right, Evans?”

A spotlight suddenly shone over Adam Evans, who sat quietly in a corner, looking down at his own hands that were resting upon his lap. He paid no attention to the light shining over him or the dozens of pairs of eyes glancing in his direction. He didn’t even flinch at WIC calling out his name. They were clearly alluding to the comment Charlotte had made the previous day about how useless he was and how the other players should let him die.

He didn’t care. In fact, he agreed with her. He felt useless ever since his girlfriend Kathy had died and he was jealous of the fact that Charlotte had joined the world of the dead with her while he was still stuck among the living. He had thought about remaining in the shower too long on purpose in order to end his life, but his friend Astro must have guessed he would try something like that because he forcibly pulled Adam out of the shower about a minute before the time ran out.

“Anyway, as a special treat and hopefully, a little pick-me-up after today’s events, we have decided to show a nice, fun movie,” the voice said. Immediately after, the lights suddenly dimmed and the potent scent of freshly made popcorn filled the room. Seemingly out of nowhere, a concession stand appeared in the corner of the room that was comprised of a popcorn machine, a counter filled with rows of boxed candy, and a soda machine that offered a variety of different softdrinks.

“You may help yourselves to anything you’d like from the concession stand throughout the duration of the film, though I’d suggest going easy on the drinks…don’t forget our bathroom rule,” the voice laughed in a sinister way once more. “Enjoy the film,” it said before disappearing. On the big screen, the musical Grease began to play. The introduction consisted of a happy teenaged couple frolicking upon a beach, while an old song titled “Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing” boomed over the soundtrack.

“Are they serious?” said Luis Rojaz Navarro, a well-known Spanish player. “This movie is older than my parents,” he sighed.

“Are YOU serious?” asked Tereza Horackova of the Czech Republic incredulously. “All of us are dropping dead one by one and you’re upset over which film they decided to show?”

“Listen, if I’m going to die tonight, I don’t want the last thing I watch to be a cheesy oldies musical,” he replied.

Tereza narrowed her eyes at him then exchanged a glance with her twin sister Adela, the two of them shaking their heads in silent judgment. Luis sighed once more, glancing towards the concession stand, which some players were already heading towards.

“And now they’re serving us junk food? I swear to god, if this WIC doesn’t kill me, my coach will,” he said, getting up.

“You know, you don’t HAVE to eat any of it,” said Adela. “He said we could help ourselves, but it didn’t sound like an order.”

“Well, if I’m going to die then I might as well eat some chocolates first, don’t you think?” he replied, rolling his eyes as if it were obvious. “Besides, something has got to get me through this nightmare.” He glanced at movie, which was now playing a Frankie Valli song and huffed off towards the candy counter.

Over at her bunk, Carmella was sitting quietly, hugging her knees. The movie Grease always reminded her of Will. Their parents had an old copy of it on VHS when they were children and they used to watch it together often, singing along to all the many songs. She wondered if WIC was playing it to remind her of why she was here, but then again, they couldn’t possibly know about the things that she and Will used to bond over as children, could they? She felt a movement beside her and looked over to see Krystupas joining her on her bed.

“Mind some company?” he asked her.

“Be my guest,” she said, extending her arm out towards the small space left on her bed for him to sit on. “And welcome to my humble abode.” Krys chuckled at that and settled down next to her. She was grateful to have a distraction from the film and all the memories of happy times with her brother that had come flooding to her.

“This film is kind of…yikes,” he said. “Not that I’m complaining. I’d much rather watch this than do another challenge.”

“I don’t mind it,” Carmella replied. “It just reminds me so much of Will. We used to watch this together all the time. He would always sing John Travolta’s parts and I’d take on Olivia Newton John’s.”

Krystupas stared at her with a look of disbelief on his face. “You’re joking, right? Horror movie buff Will Cortez knew all the words to Grease?”

“All the words AND all the dance moves,” she revealed, chuckling.

Krystupas broke into a hearty laugh. “Somehow I cannot picture it,” he said.

Carmella shrugged. “Will had his guilty pleasures and he kept them all very secret, so if we both happen to bust out of here and he really comes back to me unharmed and healthy, don’t ever tell him I told you about his secret love of musicals, or else he might be the one to kill me, deal?” she said playfully.

“Your secret is safe with me,” he winked and the two exchanged warm smiles.

Meanwhile, Joanna Kaminska was timidly approaching Adam Evans with two boxes of candy in her hands.

“Adam?” she said tentatively. He was still sitting by himself in the corner, staring down at his hands. Joanna couldn’t help but feel sympathy for what he had been through. She didn’t have a boyfriend with her, but she had her best friend Hana, and she knew she would be a wreck as well if she lost her. She would not want to feel so alone if she was in Adam’s position, so she wanted to make sure he didn’t feel alone either.

“I brought you some candy,” she said, taking a seat next to him on the floor. “I didn’t know if you preferred gummies or chocolate, so I brought one of each.” She held up a box of candy in each hand and shook them both a bit, hoping he would find the sound of them rattling about tempting. To her surprise, he slowly looked up, reached out and took the box of gummies out of her hand. He peered down at it for a moment before finally speaking.

“These were Kathy’s favorites,” he said sadly, then looked up at her face. “Did you know that?”

“No,” she said. “I didn’t know Kathy too well off the tennis court. She seemed nice, though.”

He nodded slowly, sadly. “She was a great girl,” he said. “The best. I loved her so much.”

“I’m sure she loved you too,” Joanna said carefully. “And I’ll bet anything that she is watching over you right now from wherever she is, rooting for you to fight hard and make your way out of here so you can tell everyone how brave she was when she confronted this WIC thing. In fact, maybe these gummies are a sign from her. I mean, what are the odds that I picked her favourite ones out of all the available choices?”

Adam looked up at her once more, this time there was a little more life in his eyes, a tiny spark of something resembling hope. He gently pried open the box and tipped it over, two red gummies came tumbling out onto his palm.

“The red ones WERE her favorite,” he said with a hint of a smile on his face. Joanna shot him a warm smile back as she watched him pop the candy into his mouth. It wasn’t much, but it was certainly a start to having him feel better. She opened the box of chocolate candy that was still in her hand, ready to watch the movie and join him in snacking, but the smile immediately vanished from her face. Inside the box was a folded piece of paper with some writing printed on it that said:

CONGRATULATIONS JOANNA, YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN EXPERIMENT. DO NOT SCREAM. DO NOT DRAW ATTENTION TO YOURSELF. MEET THE OTHER THREE PARTICIPANTS AT THE FAR-RIGHT CORNER OF THE ROOM. SHOW THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOX TO NO ONE BUT THEM. GOOD LUCK.

Joanna’s heart was beating out of her chest and her fingers trembled as she peered into the box to see what else was inside. There, hidden amongst the pieces of chocolate candy was a metal object partially poking through. She glanced up at Adam to make sure he wasn’t looking before lifting it slightly and realising that it was a very small gun, small enough to fit in her palm. It was good that the note from WIC warned her not to scream because she had to fight the urge to do just that. What on earth was WIC giving her a gun for?

“I—I’ll be right back,” she told Adam nervously, although she wasn’t so sure that she would be. Her stomach churned at the thought. Adam gave a slight nod and nothing else. Joanna’s legs felt as if they were made of jelly as she got up and began heading to where she was instructed to go.

Over at the corner, Liam Tremblay and Artem Bondar appeared to be in a serious discussion. They were each carrying a tub of popcorn as they talked quietly.

“Why me? Why have I been ‘chosen’ for this?” Liam said, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

“Dude, do you really expect me to know?” Artem huffed. “I’m just as shocked to find myself here as you are.”

“This is insane,” Liam replied. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t deserve to—”

He stopped talking as Joanna joined them. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“Can we help you?” he asked in an annoyed tone.

“Is this – are you – I –” Joanna stumbled on her words. She was incredibly nervous being singled out by WIC for something.

“Did you get a paper too?” Artem asked her.

Joanna simply nodded.

“What was in your box?” he asked, eying the box of candy in her hand.

“A – a gun,” she replied quietly, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. Everyone else was either watching the movie, engrossed in their snacks, or chatting quietly with others.

The men exchanged an alarmed glance.

“A gun?” Artem said, shocked. “My popcorn just has a few pairs of Airpods in it and a note that says to hand them out once everyone gets here.”

“Mine has an envelope,” said Liam. “I don’t know what is in it. It says not to open it until further instruction. Why the hell did they give you a gun?”

Joanna shrugged, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over her cheeks. She didn’t know what was going on here, but she could tell it was not going to end well. Artem rolled his eyes, annoyed with Liam for continuing to ask questions none of them would have the answers to. After a moment, Pietro Romano joined them.

“What is going on here?” he asked. “I found a bunch of bullets in my box of Skittles.”

Joanna gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. The feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach had worsened. Artem caught Pietro up to date with the contents of everyone’s boxes. Pietro threw a suspicious glance at Joanna, not trusting her involvement in this. Why was she the only woman selected and why did SHE have the gun?

Artem handed each of them a pair of Airpods, as instructed. They all put them on at the same time. Once they did, they heard the familiar robotic voice of the WIC representative in their ears, talking directly to their little group.

“Hello, players. You are all here because you have been selected to make a choice. We want you all to take a good look at poor little Adam Evans. Go on, look at him.”

Everyone looked at each other, then over towards Adam, still sitting quietly in the same corner and eating all of the red gummies from his box of candy.

“So sad and pathetic ever since his girlfriend died. He barely puts any effort into the challenges. Doesn’t it just make you want to put him out of his misery?” the voice in their ears said.

“No!” Joanna shouted. Artem shot her a warning glare. He felt for her. He had a wife and sisters and would not want any of them in the position she was in right now, but he needed to make sure she remained calm. All their lives were at stake, not just Adam Evans’.

“If he doesn’t perk up, then we don’t see him lasting long in this competition. Lucky for miserable Adam, we happen to know that misery loves company, so that’s where you guys come in: you will need to decide between Adam Evans’ life and Liam, Pietro, or Artem’s. Because if one of you guys go, well, your grieving lady would be free to join Adam in his misery,” the voice said, laughing.