The Price of Life - A Novella

Chapter Five :: Playing with Morality

"We can rest for a few minutes, but we have to find an exit soon," Simone says, placing a light hand on her head.

She thinks back to the hatch, her exit. She could be waiting for the others in the white room, but instead, she sits beside a woman who can barely stand. She doesn't have the strength to lift or carry her. She can't protect her. Maybe Emmerson was right, maybe she shouldn't be trying to take care of someone else when she doesn't have the abilities to do it. 

Will finding Obbie cause them both to die?

"Ten minutes remaining." Helen reminds the remaining contestants. 

"You should find an exit. There isn't much time left and dying for me won't help you."

Simone freezes. Obbie's words water a seed of guilt, making it stretch its roots and constricting her. The thought of finding the exit and being rid of the uneasiness creeping under her skin is both beguiling and sickening priggish.

"No," she answers, lifting herself, then Obbie to her feet. "We have time if we use it. Plus, what happened to sucking it up and doing the work?"

Obbie lets out a short chuckle before nodding.

They move between the stalks. The level is mostly void of laughter and footsteps, as though the end is impending. 

"So who did you leave, you know, back home", Obbie asks as they continue searching for an exit.

"Just my family. I don't have much else."

"Family is more than some people have right now. Your.. lucky to have yours."

She glances at Obbie. "I'm sorry."

Obbie shakes her head but pauses to look over her shoulder. "Do you hear that?"

Simone listens, hearing light but quick footsteps. Too fast to be someone who's been stuck in this gas with them. Also, not heavy enough to be any of the contestants she's seen. The sound is closer to the patter of rain hitting the broad leaves of a synthetic plant. 

"I started hearing it before we lost each other. Then I saw these lights, like glowing cat eyes."

"You followed it?"

She nods. "I was high as hell, but I know when something isn't right. I ran into that boy back there trying to follow it."

"Okay, then we need to move." Simone adjusts her grip on Obbie's waist and they pick up their pace, shifting through as quickly as Obbie can move until Simone's eyes catch a glint through the stalks beside her. She pulls Obbie in its direction. Several feet through, they come to a silver door attached to a shack of room. 

The last one was a hatch. So are they all different? But why would they be different, and why was the last one hidden instead of in plain sight like this one? 

She helps Obbie to the ground before approaching. When she reaches for the knob her bracelet blinks blue as the door hums and the sound of gears turning come from its hallow middle. The patter of light steps draws closer. Simone's eyes dart between corn stalks, probing for the source. Then she finds them. Unmoving eyes glowing look back at her from the root of the stalks.

The door clicks and her bracelet goes solid blue, popping the exit open in her hand. Behind it is a black cage-like door and one elevator button with no power.

She grabs Obbie, pulling her through the cage door and resting her in the corner. Taking one more look at the glowing eyes, still watching them, she closes the door. They descend immediately as they remove their masks, breathing in the toxin-free air. Obbie takes in as much as she can with each breath, rubbing small circles into her temples.

"My head is pounding."

Simone sits beside her as solace sets in. The reality of what lies at the bottom of the elevator aside, they've made it out. Obbie is safe. More than that, Simone didn't have to take a life to do it. 

The guilty roots tighten. Looking at her hands, she wonders, are they clean? Obbie, Emmerson, even 29. Their capability to execute those standing in their way is the only reason she hasn't had to. She has clean hands because others have dirtied theirs for her, directly or indirectly. Her failure to pull the trigger will always cost another life, and that cost will - eventually - be Obbie's life.

Will she still feel clean when her allies bleed at her feet, protecting her?

She's not special. She has no skills that can save the world. She isn't Queen to a kingdom of people that look to her for guidance. She doesn't have the skills or mental stability to be a warrior.

"I'm sorry." Simone starts, her voice a will-less breath.

"Don't." Obbie's tone is surprisingly stern, even as she rubs her head in pain. "This is a game of survival. Don't apologize for living."

Simone sinks into the cold wall beside her.

Obbie sighs. "Survival goes further than this.. game. It's our life. We hunt for fragments of the old world in hopes that it'll be valuable enough to feed the people we call family. We steal and kill each other for objects the government says are 'cherished parts of history' so we can find some kind of prosperity, anything that makes it all worth it. But.. happiness can't grow in a place so cruel. "

His face flashes in Simone's head. His blond hair and sullen eyes as the door was kicked open. The stench of ash and sulfur flushing in with the cold air of that night. Her father and grandpa rushing into the living room as her grandma pushed them into the back room of their meager home. They yell. Accusations of looting are thrown and her father defends himself. The unfamiliar voice describes a painting of a family with an oak frame. 

Obbie gently places her hand on Simone's, squeezing lightly. "Everyone here is fighting for the same thing. Everyone here would kill you for a chance at what they want."

The elevator stops.

Simone helps Obbie stand and they exit into darkness that illuminates, one aerial light at a time, as the elevator door lightly closes. The cement room hums with machinery but is void of other contestants. Instead, there are two buttons on the wall in front of them, a screen placed between them. Obbie decides to sit, attempting to recuperate from the previous level.

Helen's voice rings through an unseen speaker. "Bonus Trial. Your prize for completing this trial is entry to the next level. Your choice will not affect your fate." The words appear on screen as Helen says them.

Simone looks at Obbie, choking on anxiety.

"The button on your left will stop the Nitrous Oxide and allow all remaining contestants to move to the next level, immediately. The button on your right will lock the exits on for all remaining games and Nitrous Oxide will fill the rooms, killing any contestants that have yet to escape. The living contestants will move to the next level, as scheduled."

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!We passed 8000 words!

Word Count :: 8267 of 20000