Video Games

Chapter Twelve

“Ryota, wake up!” Tynoco says, shaking my body. Last night, I ended up phoning Tynoco and sobbing, asking if I could spend the night in his stone building instead of my house; the house filled with nightmares of Kynos’ dead body and rolling head. “We have five minutes. This farm is number two, so you better get yourself up and ready.” Tynoco hops off over to his table, where the half a loaf of bread sits, covered with a square of cheese and the very last of my turkey that I brought along with me last night.

Tynoco hands me half of his sandwich and I smile at him for being so sweet. Standing up, I decide to not acknowledge the fact that Tynoco and I slept in the same bed on live television. Biting into the sandwich, I feel this feeling in the pit of my stomach: desperation. All I want is for everyone to escape this place, alive and healthy and happy. Kynos’ death has taken a toll of me, and I didn’t even know him. Soon, Nysan will die; so will Baiyou and Dexio and Chibuike and Kwesi and Tynoco and I – one of us have to win though. That isn’t something that I look forward too.

The cheese and turkey sandwich is soft in my mouth, but it gives me something to chew on; it isn’t just cheap mush that Tynoco has thrown together. Wherever the knife is, I’m not sure, but I know that he ripped the sandwich apart using his fingers instead of a utensil. This place is a joke; they don’t even give us proper cutlery in fear of someone stabbing themselves. To be honest though, I’d stab myself if there was a knife in the room.

Pulling on my jacket, Tynoco produces something from under his bed that makes me green with envy: ankle protectors. “I finally got them Ry,” he smiles, pulling the protective clothing over his ankles. They look like ankle supports after you break your ankle; I’d know because I broke my ankle once.

We were playing football and I tried to tackle this kid. Obviously – because it’s me – I was double foot tackled and ended up with a fractured ankle. I wore a support for four weeks before I was allowed to take it off. School was a nightmare: I was on crutches for absolutely ages and being unable to walk was a nightmare. Imagine if you broke your ankle here – they wouldn’t care, they’d still force you to participate in the games. Speaking of games, what will be playing today? I hope it isn’t a team game.

“Number two and twenty seven, please report outside for collection.” As we step outside, we notice the familiar hovercraft and the ever dreaded rope ladder hanging from the opening of the flying vehicle. Tynoco hoists me up, allowing me to go first. Climbing with him behind me makes me feel safer knowing that I have less of a chance of falling, but I also have that risk of kicking him or falling and taking him with me. I wish they’d come lower so that we had less of a distance to climb; it’d be safer. Surely they wouldn’t want a gamer to jump from the very top of the ladder…

Thinking about it, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. When it gets more unbearable, I may just jump from the top and let my body spiral downward. That way, I don’t have to submit myself to their torture; I don’t have to face a two hour long death. That’s what Tynoco and I have imagined – we’re convinced that they’ll make the punishments last longer and make them more unbearable towards the end. We’ll probably be forced to watch them die, or even worse, forced to kill them. The idea of killing someone like Dexio is my ultimate nightmare.

As I pull myself up, I see that only Tainai sits opposite us. His white hair is sticking up at various angles, as if he’s been running his fingers through it all night. His eyes are puffy and red; he’s been crying and he is now attempting to hide it by scowling at us whenever we glance at him. He’s going to be the one death that actually makes me feel relieved of some feeling. He’s not a nice guy and if I knew him in school, he’d be the kind of guy that’d ask to copy my work; I’d tell him no and he’d call me retarded or gay.