Game Of Survival

Chapter 18

MR E.

"Mr. E, welcome!" The young lady greeted me as I sauntered into the control room. It was large enough to contain close to a hundred of our employees. Most of them were busy with their systems, keeping a keen inspection on the ongoing event while the others were busy handling damage control and other necessary work.

"How's the show turning up?" I asked and she smiled while she led me to the front of the room. The wall had a large screen inscribed on it and there were about several hundreds of footages playing alongside statistics results.

"Very well Mr. E." She answered as we stopped before the screen. "About half of the contestants are already dead. I think we're ready for stage two." She said and I smiled at the screen.

"Very good." I said. "Although this first stage took a long time before reaching its end, I'm sure our customers enjoyed the show."

"Indeed Sir. This year contestants are somewhat unique in a way. And the majority of our customers are betting on these three." She pointed to one side of the screen displaying two men and a lady.

"Really?"

"Yes Mr. E. The three of them have the highest number of kills." She said while I focused on their details. Miguel Garrison, Contestant Thirteen, he had a total of thirty kills. Mira Henshaw, Contestant twenty three, she had a total of twenty seven kills. Gabriel McConaughey, contestant forty, had a total of twenty three kills.

"Interesting." I remarked with a deepened smile. "Looks like we're going to have a lot of fun this year."

"Indeed Mr. E." She responded.

"How about Contestant three hundred?" I asked with a slight frown and a footage of James Hendrix and his gang displayed. There he was, fidgeting as he killed Jason.

"Isn't he the same guy that vowed not to spill blood?" I scoffed.

"Yes Mr. E. This is only the first stage and he's already spilled blood. I don't think he can make it."

"You shouldn't underestimate our contestants." I glanced at her with the corner of my eyes. "He wants to leave this show badly and from the looks of it, he's a smart type. We can't be too careless."

"You're right." She answered.

"But that doesn't mean we should regard him as a subject to critical scrutiny. Like you said, this is only the first stage and he's already gone against his words." I paused while my gaze returned to the screen. "I'm sure he must be broken, feeling disoriented but he doesn't know this is just the beginning. I want you to keep an eye on him."

"You seem particularly interested in this contestant, Mr. E." She commented and a sinister smile crept to the corner of my lips.

"Every year we always have contestants like him, and It's always fun watching them die hopelessly. This time, I want to watch every moment of James Hendrix, breaking further and further till he falls into the abyss of despair." I grinned.

"Begin the next stage." I ordered.

"Yes Mr. E." She nodded slightly before returning to her colleagues. I kept my gaze on the screen, I was especially focused on him. I didn't know why but I had a feeling, I was going to find this man entertaining.

I crossed my arms.

"Let's see how you fare in the second stage, James Hendrix."

**

JAMES

"W-what have I done?" I stammered, staring at my palms in shock. Sweats broke on my screen, my body trembled and my eyes constantly wavered between Jason's body and my palms. I just killed someone, I just stained my heart with blood.

"J-james…" My brother called, still trying to catch his breaths as he crawled towards me.

"Oh my god!…" Eve shrieked as she awoke to Jason's body laying beside her.

"What happened?" She asked glancing between Daniel and I. It was like I lost my tongue, I couldn't even breathe properly and my mind kept replaying what monster I had been. I stabbed him repeatedly so that I lost count. It wasn't like I had a choice but I didn't want to kill him either. I didn't want to be the murderer these people wanted me to be!

"James! James!…" My brother tapped my face repeatedly but I couldn't feel pain, I couldn't feel anything. Like I was paralyzed all over.

"I-- I killed him…" I stammered, unable to keep my gaze off Jason's petrified face.

"It wasn't your fault!" Daniel pitched but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I-- killed him, Daniel…" I stuttered again while tears graced my eyes.

"You did it to protect me. You didn't have a choice." He grabbed my palms firmly but I still couldn't keep my eyes off Jason. "Hey, hey look at me," he grabbed my face, turning my neck so I finally faced him. "You did it to protect me James. If you hadn't done something, I'll be dead by now. You saved me okay!"

I nodded slowly and he did too, quoting the words in a whisper.

"You saved me…" He hugged me tightly as if he never wanted to let go again. We remained there for minutes until my hands moved and I hugged him back.

"So what's going to happen now?" Eve asked in a trembling voice. "What are we going to do?"

Daniel and I separated, looking around the lifeless bodies that surrounded us.

"I think we should stay here till the morning dawns." Daniel said.

"What about these bodies? Are we going to stay here with them?" She asked while looking around.

I gulped down my saliva.

"We'll have to dispose of them. If we step out tonight, we're all gonna die." He answered.

"You're right, let's just stay till --" She paused and we all went quiet with sharp frowns anchored on our faces. We all heard that footstep, someone was here.

My heart began pounding again, I could barely recover from the shock I had earlier, my body was still weak yet another problem was about to sprout. There were only three of us left. I doubted if Daniel had any strength left, Eve wasn't going to be useful either and my condition was far worse than these two. If this continues, our chances of survival are only going to get slimmer.