Game Of Survival

Chapter 4

JAMES

"I'm sure you've all seen the two buttons appearing by the right side of your armchair. You're only allowed to click a button once. If you click it twice, you're disqualified. If you click another button after clicking one, you'll also be disqualified. Once I state the question, the buttons will remain there for thirty minutes. If you still haven't clicked a button till the time elapses, then you're also disqualified." He explained and I gulped down my saliva.

"Now, I will only say the question once so please listen carefully."

My heart began to thump and my anxiety was gradually building up. I only prayed this question won't be a puzzling one.

"The question is…" he paused again while his eyes toured around. "Do you want to sign up for this reality TV show?"

"Eh?" I gasped, giving the man a puzzled look. I glanced at my brother who also had the same expression. The others were no different either. Here I was thinking it was going to be an extremely puzzling question.

"Well yeah." Daniel chirped.

"Wait!" I held him back from pressing his button.

"What?" He frowned.

"What if this question packs much more than it appears?" I asked and his frown went even deeper.

"James, what are you implying now? We should be pressing the button without hesitation. Stop this." He toned and tried to hit his button but I held him back.

"I know but why would they give us thirty minutes to ask such an easy question?" I queried but he didn't want to buy my opinion.

"To confuse people like you, isn't it obvious? Why are we here in the first place? To qualify for the reality show." He argued back. I looked around and lots of them seemed to have made their decision. It wasn't even up to three minutes yet and at least half had already clicked their buttons. As the second grew by, the green mark on the projector screen kept increasing. Not even a single person had clicked on the X mark.

"You're right, they probably want to confuse us." I muttered while Daniel pressed on his green button.

"Well you better click yours now and stop overthinking." He remarked and I heaved a light sigh. Everyone picked the green one, I wasn't going to be the odd one out. As I clicked mine, the image displayed a hundred votes under the green button. The red one still remained the same.

Mr. O smiled and not even five minutes had passed. "Then in that case, It is with great pleasure that I announce, you all pass."

Murmurs sparked again and this time I could see smiles anchored on their faces.

"See? I told you." Daniel muttered with a tiny smile. "Just go with the flow, James."

"Yeah..." I chuckled. "But it felt too easy. I mean, we all passed. Certainly they're not planning to have all hundred participate in the show."

"You have a point there but let's see how it goes." He replied.

"Since you've all decided to take the bold step, Congratulations. Now we're going to proceed to the final step. This time, you all passed but the third stage is the hardest you'll ever face. We'll test how much your bravery is going to push you." He explained and then he clicked another button on his remote. The projector returned to the ceilings and the buttons returned too. Suddenly, the room started vibrating, the lights started twitching and there were faint metal sounds as if the entire room was being encompassed by something. Everybody seemed to be holding tight to their chairs but Mr. O remained like a statue in his position. His bright smile didn't even falter once.

"Okay what the hell is happening?!" One of us screamed yet Mr. O remained mute. All of a sudden, it stopped. The vibrations, the twitching lights and the weird sounds. And just when I thought this was over, the room started descending. I gripped my armchairs even tighter. The room moved as if it was an elevator and some of the crowd were already yelling Mr. O's name, demanding answers, but the young man maintained his firm position.

This was the fifteenth floor, meaning we were probably descending to another floor. But the movement was longer than I expected. And after a while, the room came to an abrupt halt. I took deep breaths trying to calm my fears but Daniel on the other looked unfazed. In a way, I felt disappointed in myself. His determination was way stronger than mine. Even if one of us were going to qualify between the two of us, It was certainly him.

"Are you alright?" His voice tousled my thoughts.

"Yeah..." I stammered whilst nodding my head.

"I wonder how hard the final stage might be..." He mumbled.

"We'll overcome it no matter what." I quoted and he smiled.

"That was exciting, wasn't it?" Mr. O finally spoke.

"Are you kidding me, that was crazy!" One of us clapped back.

"At least you're safe. This is just one of the many surprises we have in store for you guys." He uttered and I gulped down my saliva again. This surprise was startling enough, I just hope there wasn't any much worse than this.

"What happened? Why did the room start acting up all of a sudden." Another voice rose.

"That's because I'm in charge of transporting you all to the next and final stage. I apologize for the startling experience." He said.

"So what floor are we on now?" Daniel asked.

"The first floor." Mr. O replied and then he clicked on his remote again. The walls behind him rumbled and then it gradually parted into two as it slid open revealing a large hallway.

"Please, follow me." He uttered and headed straight for the hallway. My brother and I left our seats immediately, briskly walking amongst the crowds. Although the hallway was large enough, that doesn't mean we wanted to be at the back. We've been walking for more than ten minutes straight now, yet we still hadn't seen the end of the hallway.

"Mr. O, how long do we have to keep walking?" I asked, hoping this time he would give a different answer.

"We'll get there soon. Just a little more." He quoted as if that was the only sentence he was programmed to say.

"Just bear with it for a little longer." Daniel said almost in a whisper but still that wasn't enough to calm the flowing frustration in me. The fact that we just kept following like mindless fools was already annoying enough. And after a round of thirty minutes, I could finally see light at the end of the hallway.

"Finally!" My brother and I chirped at the same time. Our steps suddenly quickened again.

"Welcome to the third and final stage of the qualifications round." Mr. O announced with a grand gesture as he stepped outside.

I went speechless as I stepped outside too. I didn't know how to feel or even react. My lips parted but no audible words came out. We were completely in a different location. We were in a forest. Surrounded by tall trees where birds tweeted. The ground was completely covered with twigs and dry leaves. It was a completely serene atmosphere and rather than ease me, I felt nervous.

"This is so weird." A guy commented beside me. "I don't even know if this can be considered a qualification round for a TV show."

He added and I couldn't help but agree. I wondered what kind of test they're going to give us in this place. Just the thought of some wild animals running around increased my fears.