Game Of Survival

Chapter 27

JAMES

"….for today's contest, our contestants are Contestant one hundred and sixty three and Contestant two hundred and ninety nine!" Mr. E declared.

"What?!" I exclaimed. I rubbed my eyes thoroughly to ascertain I wasn't dreaming and indeed I wasn't. My brother was going to the battleground today! He was either going to die by his opponent's hands or survive. But the thing is, I didn't know whether he was going to make it or not. Just the thought of him facing so much danger riled me up to the core. I was angry, scared and restless. More than ever I wanted to break out of this damned place. I couldn't risk it. I wouldn't risk losing my brother forever. We promised to leave this show together and I wasn't going to renege on that. I was going to save my brother no matter what.

"Let my brother go, you bastards!! Let him go!!" I barked at the camera, banging the walls like crazy. I knew it was hopeless but I continued regardless. My anger wouldn't subside and my body wouldn't stop trembling in fear. I knew they were watching me and they were probably amused or enjoying the show.

"Let my brother go you mother f*****g bastards!!" I roared at the camera but the more I yelled the more my anger spiked. I ran to the door, hitting the door as hard as I could even though my injuries were yet to heal properly.

The crowd cheered from the TV and there he was, climbing the stage to meet his opponent.

"Daniel!" I tried to reach for the screen, with a bit of tears hinting in my eyes. "I swear, if anything happens to him, I won't forgive you guys! I won't!" I swore but I knew better. No matter how much I cursed or hit the walls nothing was going to stop the fight from happening. It hurt me so much, every second of it. Every moment seeing his face appear on the screen. My insides were tumbling from the tides of anxiety.

"Welcome to the stage!" Mr. E muttered in a grand manner. "Today's episode is going to be special. Rather than fight each other with your bare hands, the two of you will be allowed to use weapons against each other."

I gasped. Since when did weapons become part of this stage? These people were definitely messing with me.

"Let my brother go!" I screamed as my palms curled into a fist. I felt like punching the door to break out of it. But that wouldn't work either. I was losing composure, I could barely think straight. If I was going to save my brother, I should try as possible to suppress my emotions. Being logical as possible was the only way out no matter how angry, sad, hurt I was.

I tried to calm my heavy breaths. Inhaling deep and exhaling, I decided not to pay any attention to the screen or the voices that emanated thereof. Hearing the crowd cheer all over again canceled everything. I lost my cool all over and without thinking, I went for the screen. I jumped towards it and I smashed the screen with my fist. It immediately went blurry but it wasn't enough yet. I jumped and smashed it again till it suddenly went off. Now I could at least think well. I didn't have much time which meant only one thing, time to implement my plan. I dismantled the tv and with the strong pieces left, I used it to smash the cameras at every corner of the room. This time I was certain they had no surveillance on me.

"Think James, Think James!" I mumbled whilst scratching my head in exasperation.

Four days ago, I did the same thing. I wanted to test my theory out and so I smashed the screen and the cameras I had. Even though I got my hand injured in the process, it was worth it. Since they lost surveillance on me, naturally they would have to take me to another room or try to fix the damages I had caused. But in the end, it was the latter they chose. They chose to repair the damages even though I didn't know how it happened. One moment I had destroyed the surveillance and before I knew it, I collapsed. It wasn't because I was weak or I felt sleepy but because they had sent me unconscious. And after a while, I woke up only to find the cameras and Tv in my room fixed. How they did it, I knew not. And so, I decided to try the same antic after a day had passed. Whether they were going to take me to another room or fix it again, they needed to put me unconscious. There was only way they could do it and I was lucky to find it out in my second trial.

This was my third trial, they must probably be tired of me repeating the same thing thrice within five days. This time, I was fully ready. I was ready to implement my full plan. I was originally planning to break out of this room and turn this whole Arena upside down somehow but the circumstances had changed now. I was going to break out of this room and save my brother. At the very least, my brother could last an hour or so on the battleground. Within that time, I should have been able to escape.

I took deep breaths and after a while, I inhaled deeply. About thirty seconds from now, they were going to come in. I looked at the air filter in my room. Around this time, they were going to release an odorless gas that would send me unconscious and only then would they enter.

So I held my breaths, thanks to my swimming lessons when I was younger, I could hold my breaths for about four minutes. The gas only spreads for about a minute or two and the guards come in after two minutes or more. Hence, I should still consider myself safe if they made it within this time frame. Anything longer than that, I was a goner. At this point I hoped the first phase of my plan goes well. I fell to the ground, this was the part I was supposed to pretend as if I had fallen unconscious. Three minutes had passed, and the LED indicator on the green button glowed. I quickly closed my eyes while the door slid open.

"Target is down. You may proceed." One of the guards said. And I could feel it, that two people had sauntered into my room. The door slid close and I sneakily opened my eyes. I wasn't wrong, there were two people in my room. One was definitely the engineer carrying his box of tools and the other was the guard dressed in an all black and a mask. He had a gun in place. He wasn't holding it, rather, he hanged it by his side.

"Damn, this guy is crazy." The engineer growled.

"What kind of animal would go this far for nothing?"

"Whatever, just fix it as soon as possible." The guard answered.

"It's going to take about an hour fixing and replacing the damages he's caused here." The engineer answered.

"Alright, just to get to work. The gas is only going to make him unconscious for about an hour and a half."

"I know." The engineer heaved a light sigh before unlocking his tool box.

"Ah geez, I should be watching the show by now but this dumb i***t ruined the fun for me." The guard lamented. Hearing those words of his made anger sprout in me again but it wasn't the right time to act now. I was going to let both of them let their guard down. About twenty minutes had passed, the Engineer was on a ladder busy replacing the old TV with a new one. The guard on the other hand, still remained standing but it was apparent he had grown bored. This was the perfect time for me to strike. And so, without taking any of my thoughts into further considerations, I acted. My eyes jolted awake and I arose immediately.

"What the hell?!" The guard yelled, trying to reach out to his gun but I didn't give him that time to act. I lurched at him like a hungry animal. Raining his face and guts with several punches. The Engineer on the other hand was startled while he cautiously watched us. The guard fought back, hitting me hard on my cheek that I almost fell. He tried to reach out for his gun but my eyes fell on the taser in one of his pouches on his waist. I quickly dashed towards him even though it meant facing another of his excruciating punches.

"You bastard!" He groaned, punching me hard in the guts but I had successfully taken his taser. He was about to hit me and I donned a sinister smile before hitting him with the taser. He trembled greatly from the current coursing through him till he fell unconscious. And then I focused on the Engineer who was wriggling his head.

"If you hurt me, you're going to die. They'll kill you." He stammered as he gripped his ladder tightly.

I scoffed and kicked the ladder causing him to crash to the ground. I punched him severally till his face became a bloody mess. I then stunned him with the taser till he fell unconscious too. Phase two of my plan was complete and all of a sudden I was feeling nervous. Maybe because of the next plan ahead or probably because I couldn't believe I succeeded in my plan.

Either way, there wasn't any time to waste anymore. I quickly changed into the guards clothes and I picked his card too, the same one that would help open the door for me. I took deep breaths, trying to calm my growing anxiety. From this moment onwards, I was going to be on the hunt. Although I didn't know what this Arena looked like, I was going to find my way around it somehow.

I placed the card on the sensor which scanned its entirety for a brief moment. The green button glowed and the door slid open. I came out with my heart beating like crazy. I was almost about to rejoice but then, I found two guards stationed sideways. They both looked at me and thanks to my mask they weren't going to recognize me.

"I need to use the restroom urgently. I'll be back." I said.

"I told you man, eating that much sugar would be dangerous for you." The one on the right quoted. "Just be quick with it."

I nodded before walking as fast as I could away from them. I almost lost my cool back then, my heart was thumped like crazy and it still did. I didn't want both of them finding out that I was a fake so I kept pacing like my life depended on it. The hallway was large and dimly lit, there were several doors I walked past by. Doors that held Contestants number. Now that I was thinking clearly about it, I never knew Dave and Eve's tag number. Even if I did there was no way I could break them out of their room considering the cameras that were around. Right now, my priority was saving my brother.

Suddenly an alarm blared. No doubt my cover was blown. One of them had probably entered my room. I didn't even think twice, I started running.

"Find him quick!" I heard a voice yell. My fears were confirmed, my cover was blown. It wasn't like I didn't expect this to happen but the problem was, how was I going to escape?

I kept running aimlessly till I met a dead end. There were two paths before me, the left one was smaller and the other was just a bit bigger. They both had one similarity, the lights hanging from the ceilings were glowing red as the alarm blared, which meant one thing. They were treating my case as an emergency.

I heard alarming footsteps and I headed for the left hallway. I began running as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn't know what lies at the end of the hallway so I chose to enter the next available room I saw. I finally found a door and I didn't even look twice before entering.

"Oh my god." I mumbled in shock as I sauntered into the room.

What was this place I landed myself into?