Are You The Complete Player?

1/2 WERE YOU HIS FRIEND?

CHAPTER THREE: WERE YOU HIS FRIEND?

“Please, somebody, do something. I can’t take all these deaths anymore.” Galyna Bondar lamented seeing half of the players lying on the ground with faces blown off. There was only so much blood she could take. Surely, none of this was real. Her husband, Artem, scolded her with indifference. 

“Nobody is going to listen to you, darling, and you know it. The sooner you accept that this is our fate now, the better,” Artem said coldly.

The atmosphere was somber. Everyone was still stunned and relieved at the same time. Who would have known that picking a breadstick over a bagel would save their life? Some of the players just chose randomly and got lucky, but some of them guessed correctly that the bagels and breadsticks were a clear reference to tennis – a sport they all played.

“You were right. A breadstick would have a higher value,” Hana Watanabe, a Japanese player, told her Polish friend, Joanna Kaminska. Ever since they woke up in that place, they chose to stick with each other, and no one else. Hana, particularly, did not trust anyone else except Joanna.

Joanna did not comment on Hana’s remark. She couldn’t find her voice after seeing so many players dead. She should have told everyone about her “a breadstick is greater than a bagel” theory. She tried, but Hana stopped her. Hana pointed out that there weren’t enough breadsticks on the table. If everyone knew they needed to pick a breadstick in order to survive, all hell would surely have broken loose.

“Do you think people outside are looking for us now?” Hana asked. Joanna let out a small sob in response. Hana was a celebrated tennis player in Japan. People would be devastated that she was missing. Especially because her compatriot Akira Tanaka was also stuck with her in that hellhole. What would people think about their disappearance? Would they ever be found?

“Move away from the corpses, players. If you don’t want to disappear with them and be eliminated, do not go near the corpses. They will disappear in three minutes,” the voice warned everyone. Most players stood up on high alert. They distanced themselves from the players that unfortunately perished in the last game. But one player stayed where he was. It was Adam Evans, who was still too numb to fight for his own survival. He hated that the mysterious Carmella Cortez, whom he had never interacted with, stupidly saved his life. Didn’t she understand that he wanted to be with his girlfriend Kathy Murray in death? 

He hugged Kathy’s body and wept with all his might all over again.

“Mate, come on, you gotta let her go. She’s dead,” his friend Astro said. “I know it sucks, but in case you don’t notice, whoever captured us here doesn’t give a damn that she’s dead, nor would they if you die.”

Adam gave him a menacing stare. “You’re all sick to go through with this. You think human life is just a freaking game! Kathy didn’t deserve to die!”

           But Astro didn’t care about the lamentations of Adam, as he looked up at the giant timer. It was counting down the minutes before the dead bodies disappear.

           “Mate, come on, let’s go. Please,” he begged. But Adam seemed to have already made up his mind.

           Mira Ivanova, who was chatting joylessly with her friends, Grace Brown and Rodica Baciu, saw the commotion. She hurriedly ran towards Miroslav to inform him of the concerning situation. Miroslav quickly called his trusted friends, Marek, Artem, and Gavro Nikolic to help separate Adam from Kathy’s body. The timer was ticking fast.

           Daniela Perez from Venezuela looked on nervously beside Mia Ricci, the top female tennis player from Italy. They weren’t friends. They both chose to separate themselves from the others and look out for themselves. 

           “I think you should help them, babe,” Freja Larsson urged her Canadian boyfriend, Liam Tremblay. Liam was a part of Marek’s crew, but since being trapped in there, he had opted to be with his girlfriend instead. The rule that only the top eight highest scorers would make it to the final round made him uneasy. He couldn’t be in any alliance unless Freja would be included in the group.

           Everyone’s eyes were on Adam. At two seconds left on the giant clock, the guys finally managed to separate Adam from the dead body of his girlfriend. He let out a scream before Kathy’s body vanished. All the other dead bodies disappeared with her.

           “Holy crap!” Astro blurted out. He was relieved Adam was alive. He didn’t normally talk to the other guys on tour whom he considered losers, but he couldn’t help thanking them for saving Adam. Deep inside, he was annoyed with his best friend for being a weakling. Astro had all the intentions of making out of that bizarre hell alive. If Adam would hold him back from making it to the final round, he would have to cut ties with him.

           He looked around and found who he was looking for: Carmella Cortez. She was locked in a serious conversation with Krystupas Pavlis. Lucky bastard, he thought. He wasn’t sure Pavlis had achieved anything significant to deserve a good company such as Carmella Cortez. But then again, maybe she hadn’t achieved anything significant either. Or he would have known who she was, before she displayed heroic acts in the warm up game. Pavlis’ and Carmella’s faces weren’t close together as they talked, so it was possible they weren’t romantically together. Astro wanted Carmella for himself. She seemed to be a sure ticket to making it to the final eight.

           Unknown to Astro Lindahl, pretty boy Emerson Fischer also had the same plan. He wanted Carmella Cortez to be his ally. If he needed to flaunt his looks to flatter her, he would gladly do so. His friends laughed at his confidence.

           “I think you might have to challenge our Lithuanian pal Pavlis first, brother,” Maxim Popov joked, following Emerson’s gaze on Carmella and Krystupas. 

           “They’ve been all over each other even during the flight. I was seated beside them. It must be a tough challenge, bro. Getting Carmella to pick you instead,” Lev Ivanov added with a laugh.

           “I think we can also choose Pavlis as an ally,” Aksel Olsen from Norway suggested. “He saved her on the first warm up question.”

           “Nah, no thanks, bro,” Emerson said. “I have no use for insignificant players from the Baltic Region.” Maxim laughed so hard hearing Emerson’s shade. He ended up choking, which made Lev and Aksel laugh too, but at his expense.