The Pride Game

Chapter 15

Samuel looked ahead, and he couldn't see where the officers meant the cave.

It looks like the cave is covered by forest there, Samuel thought to himself. However, what is hidden in the cave so that the participants who enter it cannot find the right path to "Where the ice will melt"? That means there's something in there that the participants can't get out anymore, thought Samuel. He guessed what might happen if someone entered the wrong cave.

While up ahead, the officer was still talking, Samuel continued to observe the roads leading to the cave.

The sun above was covered with dark low clouds, and it was going to rain soon.

Even the sun will not be seen; how will the ice melt? Samuel thought again.

The information given by the officer was incomplete; in this case, how could he find the place in question?

"Remember, you only have until five o'clock this afternoon. Participants who don't make it to the designated place will die," the officer announced again the information he had previously conveyed. "Time will start one minute from now. You will be given a chip that will detect your presence."

After the officer made the announcement, the other officers walked over to each participant. They move from one participant to another.

From where he was standing, Samuel could hear the screams of all the participants.

"Aaaah!" Samuel watched each participant being stabbed by something by the officer. The clerk moved swiftly away from the Old Man; he's in pain. It then turned to Abdul, who immediately screamed in shock, then to Jonathan, who immediately withdrew his hand when the officer on duty stuck something in his finger. His finger was bleeding profusely because Jonathan pulled his hand away. However, the officer ignored him, and he continued to move from where he was now to where Samuel was.

The officer asked for Samuel's index finger; Samuel's heart was beating fast, he felt a pounding in his chest. Then with a tool, the officer stabbed something that even Samuel couldn't see, was now in his forefinger.

Aaah! Samuel screamed in his mind; this hurts. And for a while, he still felt the pain.

After all the chips were inserted, the officer said, "In front of you is a backpack that you will use while you are in the forest. The first match will test the survivability of the participants in the open. We hope you can find any clues scattered around in the forest so that you can reach your destination on time or before the time."

Samuel glanced at his index finger.

The faces of the other participants were filled with tension and nervousness. They were so restless, squeezing their hands repeatedly and wiping their sweaty palms. The officers came to the participants' rooms last night and gave them clothes. Samuel looked at the clothes he was wearing. Both men and women wear all black with a scarf wrapped around their necks. They were given weapons, and they were in the backpack there. The participants will take the bags one by one for their provisions during the match. The first match is survival skills, and each participant will be tested how far their ability to survive in the open world is, looking for all available clues so they can find the place that will be the first location.

Some chattering had been heard as the participants waited for the officer to say that the game was about to begin.

"Samuel, we should move together. We must unite our analysis so that we find the best cave," Jonathan said. He was in front of Samuel.

Samuel nodded his head. It's a good thing to be grouped and put together their analyzes, Samuel thought in his mind. He said, "Yes, we will."

When the burly officer said, "It's all over. Let's get started," the sound of a gun then sounded through the air.

Jonathan immediately turned around, walking towards Samuel.

So did the Old Man, Abdul, and Alena; they all looked at each other and nodded their heads as a sign that they would play this game together.

"Come on, now we have to get our backpacks, and we wait in front of the first tree there we meet," Samuel said, and together they ran and took their backpacks.

The other participants immediately scattered and took their backpacks. They grouped up and ran together.

Alena took her backpack, and she sprinted towards the first tree, gasping for breath; when she was already in front of the tree she saw, she stretched out one hand and leaned there, waiting for the rest of her friends to arrive. She couldn't see the others heading towards her yet, so she turned around to look at the cave. Nearby is a cave. Some crowd started running towards her; Alena immediately climbed the tree until it was pretty high; her breath was still out of breath. She tried to catch her breath back to normal. There is a tree branch that is quite large, can be used to sit and rest. Alena sat there, and she straightened her legs. She didn't want to be seen by others.

"Where are we going after this?" asked one of the participants, she was at the bottom, and she was like a man out of breath. The island they inhabit is so vast, they run and run towards the forest in front of a vast field. The distance between the area and the cave was far enough that they could feel that oxygen seemed to be drawn entirely from their lungs.

Beneath Alena, there was a group of five people. There were three women in the group. Some of them bowed their backs, took deep breaths, and asked their friends to rest for a while.

"The sun was not visible from earlier; how to make the ice melt?" asked one. Alena recognized the woman who spoke as Mrs. Brenda, and she was the assistant of the woman who died at Gerry's hands.

Another woman nodded in agreement, "Yes, I thought so too. I was observing the weather above us. But sadly, I didn't even see the sun above our heads. How can we get there safely? Now in front of us is a cave; which cave should we go to?" The woman's breath was the same as the first woman's gasping breath.

One youth in the group pointed to the cave in front of them. "Do you see, not far from us, there is a cave. Do we want to enter the cave in front of us?" asked the young man.

The other boy shook his head. "No. I wouldn't say I like this cave. It looks terrifying and has not been touched by the officers."

The woman, who looked very excited, hit the young man's head. "What are you talking about! You are an i***t! Why do you think we should look for another cave! How big do you think this island is, and how many caves are there! Do you want to be fooled by those faceless officers!" The woman spoke impassively. She was the most excited, and sweat was pouring down her face. She had sweated so much. Alena remembered that the woman's name was Miss Tina, she was Mr. Gerry's man in CDA, but she never liked Mr. Gerry. Miss Tina, almost every day, talks about how Mr. Gerry is very annoying. If only she had a gun, she would have shot Mr. Gerry in the head of the stupid and arrogant man.

Mrs. Brenda disapproved of Miss Tina. She laughed, grinning. "You i***t! This is a trap! They deliberately made this as if it had never been touched by human traces so that we think hard that this is not the real way, and according to my intuition, this cave is not a cave that we should go through. There is no committee such a fool to easily let the participants enter the true path on their first trip. So, this is not the cave they are referring to!"

No one dared to argue with the woman because the woman's position was the highest among the others. "Already! Listen to me! Everyone, let's find the next cave! I think the third cave is the real cave!" She walked over, deliberately nudged Miss Tina's shoulder hard, and whispered something in Miss Tina's ear, "If you're that stupid! Better not show too much before your other former colleagues. This is a game of pride! If that's the case, where is your pride!"