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«Maybe the athlete still has no idea. But between us, he’s not very smart.»
We laugh softly, she blows me a kiss and leaves the cell.
I quickly kick off my dirt and sweat-soiled clothes, take a cold shower, and check my watch.
A white overall hangs from the back of the chair. It looks like a wetsuit. It is solid and ends with lightweight boots with a thick rubber sole. Hmm. A strange choice for pajamas. However, I pull on tight clothing – not without difficulties, which turns out to be very light and quite comfortable. Even the rubber outsole weighs almost nothing.
I still have twelve minutes before the coordinator turns off consciousness. Okay.
I will spend precious time analyzing this day. But instead, all my thoughts are spinning around a strange girl. I need to find out her secret. What is hidden behind those sad eyes that causes in her such fear and distrust of people?
At exactly 9:00 pm, I fall into a deep, empty sleep.
Day Two
The first thing I feel when I wake up in the morning is a terrible pain in all the muscles in my back and neck. So intense that an unpleasant metallic taste on the tongue fades against its background. Opening my eyes, I understand the reason for this ailment: we are lying on a stone floor, surrounded by bare rocky walls that go high up. There they end in a wide opening through which you can observe the blue cloudless sky and the scorching sun. Despite its generous warmth, it’s pretty chilly here, and I’m genuinely happy about my warm-keeping wetsuit.
All participants gradually come to their senses, sit down and examine their surroundings.
«Where are we?» Yu looks around and her already pale face becomes even whiter. The girl is struggling to hide a growing excitement. She constantly bites her lower lip, squints the eyes and nervously rubs alternately between her elbows and knees.
«This is a grotto or cave of natural origin. I’m more worried about how we got here and what to do next,» Joleo walks thoughtfully along the grotto and feels the walls.
«Those bastards touched me in my sleep! How dare they touch me?!» Blonda is shaking all over with indignation. She doesn’t speak but hisses through her teeth. I would not like to be in the place of the organizers at this moment.
«Maybe you came here on your one? We don’t remember anything at all about what happens at night. How we behave, whether we sleep or do something…» Angel’s intonation is rather interrogative. He looks timidly at Blonda. Probably, in this way the guy is trying to calm her down, which immediately enrages Runner:
«Perhaps you know more than we?! If you know something about this damn place, it is better to tell here and now!»
«Runner, shut up,» Blonda hisses warningly at the athlete.
Surprised by her reaction, Runner falls silent. We look dejectedly around our new place of imprisonment. Apart from the wet rocks around the perimeter and uneven stone floors, there is absolutely nothing in our grotto that resembles a hint. Except for the wall-mounted monitor, of course. This means that we have no choice but wait for the Maestro’s instructions. The air is cool and damp and smells like rotten seaweed. The silence is interrupted by BeBe:
«It seems to me that these people have some kind of influence on our actions. Yesterday I decided to ignore the cloth prepared by the organizers and go to bed… mmm… naked…»
«Oh, spare us these details!»
«Runner, shut up!» This time Blonda’s tone sounds more tired than threat. If Runner tries to touch the delicate strings of the soul of this beauty, then extremely inefficiently.
Ignoring their swearing, BeBe continues in a plaintive voice:
«Five minutes before bedtime, I suddenly felt this… As if thousands of ants climbed under my skin and began to run over the bones and muscles. I wanted to fall and wallow, to tear my skin to somehow relieve this maddening itch. An unbearable test! I thought I was going to lose my mind in pain. Probably, it would have happened, but somewhere through a blurred consciousness I remembered about a wetsuit and pulled it on with all my strength. After that, my torture stopped instantly,» tears appear in BeBe’s eyes. She adds in a whisper, «perhaps it has something to do with the coordinators implanted in us».
I’m really sorry for BeBe. The woman is about to burst into tears.
The players react differently to her story. Most of them have already guessed about the manipulation of our sleep. But Angel, Joleo and Martha seem genuinely surprised by this turn of events. I, in turn, look at Alex with a silent question in my eyes. Our gazes meet, and he shakes his head slightly. I understand. Telling others about our own experience of the coordinator’s disastrous function in the jungle for violating the rules of the Game will make us look bad and emphasize that we are allies. This can be interpreted as a kind of opposition in relation to the rest of the participants. Moreover, we initially concealed this important information, and could have prevented the suffering of BeBe.
«We didn’t tell them right away, we are silent until the end,» I read in the eyes of Alex. I am a little uncomfortable with such deception, but in this situation, I cannot but agree with him.
At this moment, the screen built into the wall lights up. Maestro appears on the monitor. He is still neutral friendly. Deathly silence reigns in the grotto. The sound of waves is heard in the distance. It means that we are not so far from the ocean coast, – I notice to myself.
«Greetings, Players, and congratulations on the second day in the Game of the Century! Let me express the organizers’ admiration for the excellent work yesterday! It was like a balm to our souls to observe how harmoniously and accurately you completed the first task and rightfully received your reward. – Maestro pauses and nods his head respectfully. – The bets are growing, and our trust in the Players is also increasing. The organizers have no doubt that you are ready for today’s challenge, which will require not only ingenuity, but also physical endurance. For only the strongest can become the winner and fulfill the great mission of the Corporation. The task for today is to get out of the branched system of caves in which you are now.
«Let the light guide you
To your cherished goal,
Leave doubts in the shadows
Bury them into oblivion.
Only courageous decisions
Of coherent minds and bodies
Make it possible to leave this captivity
And find a way out of the dungeon.»
Think carefully about each step, as your time is extremely limited: in six hours all the caves will be completely flooded by the beginning tide. Don’t waste a minute, Players. Good luck to you!
The screen goes out, and a woman’s metallic voice echoes through the caves:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: six hours zero minutes.»
In a daze, as if not believing their ears, the players exchange questioning glances. We heard right, this is about saving our own lives? In the light of the screen, two lanterns appeared, which all this time were in the niches of the rock on either side of the monitor.
«They are b-b-bluffing!» Joleo exclaims. Obviously, he starts to stutter when unable to cope with inner excitement. «If we had not completed yesterday’s task, we would still not have died of s-s-starvation: there are a lot of bananas, coconuts and living creatures on the island. The organizers cannot kill everyone, it will no longer be a game, but a c-c-crime! If we don’t get out of the grottoes and die here, how will they explain our disappearance to the public? Couldn’t all the players just disappear into thin air?»
«Yes, they don’t give a damn about the public, haven’t you figured out yet?» Yu is close to a nervous breakdown.
I feel very uncomfortable. Until this moment, I almost did not pay attention to Leeloo. She sits against the wall of the grotto and sways slightly from side to side, looking into the distance, as if piercing with her eyes a wet stone wall – where the exit to freedom is. At least her expression is calm. I will help her. Later. When I understand how…
Planck intervenes in the conversation. It happens so unexpectedly that I jump a little in my place.
«This doesn’t sound like a bluff,» he objects thoughtfully. «Look here. We are in an erosional grotto. The walls are smooth, polished with water, which seems to regularly affect them. It is impossible to say exactly at what latitude we are, therefore, it is difficult to predict the time and strength of the ebb and flow. But I assure you that there was water here. And it was quite recently.»
«Anyway, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.» Alex rises to his feet. «Where do we start, «coherent minds and bodies’? Any thoughts?»
He never gives up. It is a shame to sit next to such a person with folded arms and whine about your unhappy fate. Therefore, I stand on wadded feet, outwardly full of determination and trembling with fear inside.
«This system of caves and grottoes is a communicating vessel. Accordingly, the water will go up under the pressure of the tide. Thus, we are either at the beginning of the entire system, or most likely somewhere in the middle. In this case, the caves below the coastline are already fully or half flooded. We need to go up,» Planck says firmly.
I catch myself looking at this elderly man with admiration. I am amazed at his imperturbable calmness and ability to formulate thoughts so competently and clearly. Years of teaching at the university take their toll. And his outstanding extraordinary mindset, of course. If anyone here deserves the victory… What am I thinking about? The only thing that still matters now is to get out of this dark and foul-smelling tomb as soon as possible!
«And how do we know where this «up’ is?!» Joleo asks busily. He seems to have calmed down. Even his voice sounds different now:
«I examined the walls, there are three exits: one dark tunnel and two light grottoes like ours.»
«I have an idea,» Planck takes the flashlight and puts it in the middle of the mainsail. At first nothing happens, then the lantern rolls a few centimeters to the right side in the direction of two light exits.
«To our left, into a dark tunnel,» Planck says.
«Sounds good,» Angel sounds worried, «but what if you’re wrong and this road leads to the rocks? Are we going to get lost and just waste our time? What if the road down takes us faster to the sea?»
«Indeed, how can you be so sure that you are right, Planck?» I ask warily.
«Intuition plus common sense. And they rarely let me down,» the elderly man replies calmly.
«And we must rely on your intuition when it comes to our lives?!» there is such genuine fear in Yu’s tone that I begin to suspect that something is wrong with the girl.
«I agree with Planck. Look in the lower exits, the floors are wet. Although the grottoes are also open, and the sun’s rays enter them. But unlike „our“ grotto, they don’t have time to dry after ebbs. There will be even more water below, so we definitely need to go up,» Martha suddenly intervenes in the conversation. For me personally, her argument sounds more than convincing.
«I propose to vote, after all, almost all of us represent democratic countries,» Alex offers, «who is in favor of going up?»
Everyone raises his or her hands. Joleo, after a little hesitation, also votes in favor. I sit down with Leeloo and whisper to her ear, not sure if she can hear my words in her delirium:
«How are you? Can you walk on your own?»
Surprisingly, she immediately turns to me and answers smiling:
«Don’t worry about me, Lavina. I’m a great swimmer.»
Alex and Runner each take a flashlight and we head into a dark passageway leading into the unknown.
***
We’ve been walking for several minutes, carefully examining the walls, in fear of missing a vital exit. A couple of times there are forks on the way, but they all turn out to be only dead-end grottoes.
Suddenly, a light appears at the end of the tunnel. We are significantly accelerating our pace in the hope of getting out of this place as quickly as possible. Despite the fact that the height and width of the cave allows you to move around quite freely, the absolute darkness is depressing. Every now and then someone stumbles over the ledges of an uneven surface. Sounds of drops from all sides seem to press on consciousness. It’s no wonder the players were filled with excitement when they saw the long-awaited release!
Our disappointment is endless when the exit turns out to be a grotto similar to the one in which we came to our sences in the morning: the same high walls, light falling through a wide opening at the top, and two exits at the end of the hall: a light and a dark one. A metal echo meets us in the grotto:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours and thirty minutes.»
«It’s pointless to walk with the whole team and examine every pass,» Alex rightly notes,» too little time. Runner and I are the most physically tough of all those present. Each of us will explore one passage and return to this location. Everyone else stay here waiting, stay strong and calm. Heaven knows what else we will have to face. There is not a minute to lose!»
Nobody objects, and Alex disappears into the light tunnel. Runner runs into a dark cave. Less than ten minutes later, both messengers return with impressive results. Alex ran into a dead end, Runner, on the contrary, found out that his tunnel leads to the next dark cave with two branches. None of us like the idea of being back in dark corridors, but there is no other choice.
The tunnel we are running through is longer and narrower than the previous one. Once in the next cave hall, Planck quickly checks the angle of inclination with a flashlight, which no longer lingers in place, but immediately slowly rolls in the direction from which we came.
«I hope we’re on the right track,» Planck wipes the forehead with his sleeve, obviously feeling the full weight of responsibility for his decision.
Our plan works according to the old scheme. Runner and Alex disappear into the tunnels with two flashlights. Both are gone for a while this time. The minutes drag on for an agonizingly long time. We are sitting in pitch darkness with our backs close to each other. The players try to talk about something in order to drive away the fear of the unknown in the impenetrable darkness of the cave. I squeeze Leeloo’s hand tightly. Yu is sobbing nearby.
«Yu,» I whisper to her quietly, «everything will be fine, we’ll get out of here. But you have to be strong!»
«I… I’m scared to death of closed spaces. I’m afraid that breathing may stop at any moment,» she whispers plaintively in response trembling all over.
«Yu, this isn’t a closed space, there is definitely a way out from here, otherwise the organizers wouldn’t have put us here!» I assure her.
«Don’t leave me, please, Lavina! Don’t leave me here alone! Promise me!»
«I promise!»
At this moment, an eerie voice is heard again. In the dark, it sounds even more merciless and makes the blood freeze in the veins:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours zero-zero minutes.»
Finally, a panting Runner shows up. His appearance from the pitch darkness is so unexpected and long-awaited that Blonda and BeBe scream out at the same time with both fear and joy. Angel’s timid tone follows behind them:
«Runner, Runner, is that you? Oh God, how scared I am!»
«Yes, it’s me, came for your cowardly ass,» Runner throws contemptuously in response. «There the tunnel diverges, but both passages are dead-end. I can no longer run alone, someone has to accompany me to explore the passages in the caves faster – where is Alex?»
«He’s still gone! We need to leave! After all, now we know that his tunnel is correct!» BeBe’s voice is full of despair.
«No, we’ll stay here waiting,» Runner orders. Everyone is too scared to argue with him. At least we now have a meager light source. We spend a few more agonizing minutes, and Alex still doesn’t show up. My imagination paints a terrible picture of him wandering in the corridors, unable to find his way back.
«He’ll be all right,» I hear Leeloo’s quiet, reassuring voice. She seemed to read my mind.
«Oh, Leeloo! I’ve never been so scared in my life,» I whisper in response, barely audible.
«It’s okay, considering the situation. Everything will be fine, he’ll find a way. Trust in it.»
Leeloo’s words give me strength.
«We are waiting for a few more minutes and set off. Can’t sit here and waste time while Alex wanders the hallways. Maybe he got lost a long time ago. It’s foolish to risk everyone by betting on one!» No one expected such determination from the humble Joleo. The fewer arguments to object to him.
«Oh no, no, no,» I am horrified and squeeze Leeloo’s fingers even tighter.
To everyone’s relief, Alex still emerges from the depths of the cave. He takes a breath for two minutes, then, still panting, announces:
«Well, the lost herd, are you ready to follow me?»
I feel incredible relief – as if several tons of cargo were lifted from my shoulders.
***
There are two exits waiting for us in the next room. Runner heads into the light tunnel. Joleo volunteered as his travel companion, whose unexpected courage cannot but arouse admiration. Having appeared at first as an insecure «absent-minded scientist», now he looks almost like a hero. At least, I am imbued with more and more respect for his ability to make responsible decisions in extreme situations, and, most importantly, not to panic. After all, many of us are on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I volunteer to accompany Alex in the dark corridor. Partly because I just can’t sit in total darkness, surrounded by panic and fears, but more because I want to stop being inactive and, thus, come to my senses.
After a little time, we run out into a cave with two corridors: light and dark. At this point, we need to split up. Alex takes over the dark tunnel, and I must examine the light one. Before that, Alex puts his hands on my shoulders and intently looks into my eyes:
«I just wanted to tell you…»
Despite the serious situation, I experience a slight tingling sensation in my chest and some strange feeling in my stomach, comparable to a spasm during free flight…
