Are You The Complete Player?

2/2 ARE WE IN JAIL?

Everyone was hesitating to speak but since WIC said they could work as a team, it was assumed that it would be allowed now. Maxim was the first one to speak up though only loud enough for his own teammates to hear.

“How the hell are we going to find a key without a light?” he asked. “I can’t see anything, bro!”

He heard a loud sigh from someone else in his cell. It was Crina Aldea, who would no doubt be throwing him a glare if she could see where he was.

“That’s the whole point of the challenge, stupid. If we could easily spot the items, it wouldn’t be much a challenge now, would it?” she asked sarcastically. “Who else is in here?”

Estere, Gavro and Borysko all spoke up, followed by Joanna sniffling from a corner somewhere. It had been Estere who had placed a hand over her mouth earlier to silence her. She felt for what Joanna was going through. She did not even want to think about how she would feel if it were Aimilie who had been eliminated but she couldn’t risk her drawing attention to their cell. They had to be strong, especially now when WIC was clearly angry at them.

Having heard the chatter from Crina’s cell, the players in other cells felt safer to begin talking and working on their task. Miroslav, who shared a cell with Basil, Luis, Lucija, Dragan, and Daniela was naturally taking the lead and directing everyone on what to do.

“Ugh, I can’t believe we are doing another blind challenge. This is SO last week,” said Luis, rolling his eyes.

“We have no time for complaints,” scolded Miroslav. “We have to work quickly.”

“How much time do we even have?” asked Daniela. “Did the voice say, or did I just miss it?”

“The voice did not say,” Miroslav replied. “But he’s never been so generous with time, so I’m assuming—”

Almost as a response to Daniela’s question, the sound of running water was heard. It was coming from somewhere in the middle of the room and within a few seconds, the water was flooding into all of the cells and puddling around everyone’s feet.

“Jesus,” Basil muttered. “They are going to drown us unless we escape!”

“Everybody, start looking…NOW!” Miroslav instructed. “Feel around the floor, touch every space on the wall you can reach. Hurry, before this entire place floods!”

Everyone sprang to action as the water quickly began to fill the area. Within two minutes they were already about ankle deep in it. Aksel, who was the only male in a group consisting of Adela, Grace, Mia, Chloe, Mira and Aimilie, was on his knees, digging around for anything that felt like a key or keychain.

At the same time, Artem and Galyna who were paired with Francois, Jules, Drew and Marco were sticking together, holding each other’s hands while feeling the walls. They were afraid to get separated in the darkness, especially with a flood coming at them.

Carmella and Krystupas were doing the same in their cell, which aside from Marek, they learned they were also sharing with Keavy, Akira and Jihan.

“No matter what happens, even when we are swimming to the ceiling to get to the door – which I’m certain is what he wants us to do, don’t let go of my hand,” Krystupas said to Carmella. “We absolutely cannot get separated in this darkness and situation.”

“Trust me, you don’t have to tell me that twice,” she replied, squeezing his hand tighter.

“Guys, I think I found something!” Keavy shouted from a few feet away. A moment later, a large, heavy-looking flashlight turned on which, despite its size, illuminated just enough for the players in their cell to see each other dimly. They all sighed with relief. One item down, one more to go.

“Everyone, look for the key! Come on, let’s hurry!” Krystupas shouted. The water was now approaching his knees. The higher it got, the less chances of them being able to see the key, if it was submerged under the water, though at least with the flashlight, they had an advantage now.

Over in Crina’s cell, Borysko had felt something like a chain which could be attached to a key. As he reached down to grab for it, his glasses slipped off his face and fell into the water.

“Oh no! My glasses!” he yelled. “I can’t see!”

“Dude, none of us can see,” said Gavro. “Keep looking!”

“I mean…I really can’t see without them even if the lights come back on. I – I need them,” Borysko replied.

“They’re not going to be very useful to you when you’re dead, which is what is going to happen if you don’t shut up and keep looking for that key!” shouted Crina.

Borysko could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest. He’d have a difficult time surviving any more challenges if he didn’t find his glasses. He kicked himself for being so careless and not holding onto them as he bent over. He heard Maxim chuckle from a few feet away.

“Hey, I think I found them!” he said.

“My glasses? Give them to me!” Borysko cried.

“No way, nerd! Finders, keepers,” Maxim said as he tried the glasses on for himself. The most bizarre thing happened when he put them on. Suddenly he could see his surroundings, though in various shades of green. “Woah,” he marvelled. “It’s like sunglasses…for the DARK!”

“Give them back!” Borysko shouted, flailing his arms around in an attempt to find Maxim.

“What the heck are you mumbling about, Popov?” said Estere shaking her head as she felt around the walls.

“Adamovich’s nerd glasses are like, way magical, dude,” he said before bending down casually to grab the key Borysko had let slip earlier. “Found the key!”

Everyone wondered what Maxim meant by the glasses being “magical” but now was not the time to ask. They had the key! Now they just needed to see the door…

A few moments later, the water was now reaching the chests of most of the guys. For many of the girls, it went past their heads already so that they had to swim to keep their head above the surface. Miroslav’s team had already found their key, flashlight and door and were just trying to figure out how to reach the door without waiting for the water to catch up to them.

“Oh god, my arms are so tired,” cried Daniela as she floated in the makeshift pool. “Can somebody just hoist me onto their shoulders?”

“Here, take the key and get on mine,” said Miroslav, reaching out to help her climb onto him. “Luis, Basil, Dragan, lift me by the legs and push me up as high as you can. Maybe Daniela can reach the door already and we can get out of here!”

“That’s not fair, why does she get to be carried?” said Luis. “My arms are tired too from all that dancing earlier.”

“Not now, Rojaz!” Miroslav said. Luis quickly shut up and did as he was told. “Lucija, take charge of the flashlight and point it right at the keyhole so Daniela can see.”

“On it,” Lucija replied.

There was the sound of cheering as Crina’s team made it to the door and managed to open it, thanks to Maxim and the “magic” glasses that allowed him to spot the items easily. The group made it to the upper level of the building, which they found looked EXACTLY like the same room they had been in throughout the entire competition, with everyone’s bunks in the same places and everything. Once they all finished climbing through, the door disappeared, sealing itself into the floor as if it never existed.

Down in Aksel’s cell, Aimilie had calmed down a bit once the flashlight was found and had actually been the one to find the key. Much like in Miroslav’s team, the players were using each other as ladders to try and reach the door.

“Almost there,” said Adela, whose fingers were just inches away from the keyhole.

Carmella’s team was the second to make it through the door. Marek helped pull Jihan up right before the door sealed shut. The players all collapsed onto the floor, soaking wet, freezing cold and completely exhausted. There was some kind of commotion with the other team that had made it there before them. They could hear Crina shouting about something. Carmella and Krystupas exchanged a glance, both panting hard. They were both thinking the same thing: what now?

Meanwhile, Daniela was still on Miroslav’s shoulders, fidgeting with the key. The water had risen so high it was only about two feet away from reaching the ceiling and drowning all of them.

“Oh my god, hurry the hell up already, what is taking you so long?” Luis shouted at Daniela. “I can’t keep holding Miroslav up much longer, or I’m going to freaking drown!”

“Stop it, Luis, you’re making her nervous,” Lucija said. She could see Daniela’s hands shaking and she got the key into the hole and twisted it.

“I’ve got it!” Daniela shouted with relief. “I just need one big push up so I can get it open!”

“Okay, on three then,” said Miroslav. He, too, was already panting and out of breath from all this exertion. “One, two…”

“Three!” Luis said impatiently and quickly pushed up a bit faster than the others. This caused Daniela to lose balance. She screamed as she toppled over, falling off of Miroslav and onto Dragan, who fell sideways and hit his head hard against the metal bars of the cell.

“Oh my god, Dragan!” Lucija screamed, pointing the flashlight at him. They could see blood trickling down the side of his face before he slipped under the water, unconsciously.

“Good going, Daniela, your clumsy butt has gone and killed Dragan,” said Luis.

“I – I didn’t kill him,” said Daniela, wide-eyed and nervously. “He hit his head; he’s probably just passed out.”

“He’s 100% drowning to death right now,” Luis responded, matter-of-factly.

The look of guilt on Daniela’s face was immediate.

“We should –” she started.

“We have no time,” urged Miroslav. “The water is so close to the ceiling; we have to push the door up NOW! GO! EVERYONE!”

They did as they were told, pushing the door with all their might until it opened, and they all went through it. They arrived nearly at the same time as Aksel’s group, who arrived a few minutes after Artem’s group. It seemed as if everyone except Dragan was accounted for and Miroslav looked down in regret as he watched the door seal shut with Dragan’s body still floating in the cell beneath it.

At the same time, Krystupas and Carmella were approaching Crina, who was confronting Borysko about something. It wasn’t the first time Borysko had been bullied and Krystupas was getting sick of people bullying his friend. It was one thing for the guys to do it, but now the girls were too? What the hell?

“Hey, back off of him, Aldea,” he said. Crina turned on him, waving Borysko’s glasses around in her hand.

“Why should I?” she asked. “Are you working with him? Huh? Is that what your little friendship is about?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, looking from Crina to Borysko in confusion.

“This little rat has been pretending the whole time he couldn’t see in the dark when he was wearing freaking night vision glasses the whole time!” she shouted.

“What?” Krystupas asked, shocked. That couldn’t be true. Why would Borysko have night vision glasses and not tell them? Unless…

“Yeah, you heard me! Your nerdy little friend is working with WIC!”