‘’Fancy,’’ I say, glancing around the domed metal room.
As Aaron and I examine the room, Robbie heads outside to keep an eye out – patrolling the perimeter around the domed LIS.
The room is completely metallic; the floors and the dome, the steps and the centrepiece of the room – two slender stands just above waist height with a screen and keypad on it. The screen contains six blank boxes, presumably for the letters that we will punch in on the keypad once we have obtained them. Both of the stands are replicas of each other, apart from a small coloured ring around the base of the stand – one red, the other blue.
‘’Seems straight forward enough,’’ exclaims Aaron, examining the screen and keyboard fixed at the top of the stand for the blue team.
I nod my head. He’s right. In the age of technology that we are living in today, young people like us understand most machines like this. It won’t be difficult to use, however finding the other team and somehow getting their letters will be.
‘’What now?’’ I ask, ‘’do we head back?’’
‘’We could stay here for a while, it’s nice to get some peace, some alone time,’’ he suggests and I smile at him.
Does he want to spend time with me? Does he like me? Surely not, he’s too perfect, and I’m just Alice...
‘’Yeah, I’m not overly eager to get back to Eve.’’
He chuckles, a short yet beautiful sound.
‘’Tell me a bit about yourself Alice, do you have any hobbies?’’ he asks after a few moments of just us staring at each other – as though in a trance.
‘’I dunno really, I like swimming a lot and I did lifeguard courses so I’m trained at that. I played some lacrosse with my school too, but I gave that up for exam year,’’ I explain, his face looks intrigued.
‘’You’re a lifeguard?’’ he asks, ‘’that’s so cool. So if I was drowning you’d be able to save me?’’
I can’t help but laugh at his question; I’ve heard it hundreds of times in my life.
‘’What?’’ he questions in confusion.
‘’You’d be surprised how many people ask me that, it’s quite funny. No, I’m a fully trained lifeguard that doesn’t know how to save people,’’ I explain, saying the last bit in a joking voice and he chuckles again – how I love that sound!
‘’I guess it was a stupid question,’’ he smirks, ‘’what I meant was would you save me.’’
‘’Of course I would!’’ I laugh, ‘’you’re my friend, I wouldn’t just let you die!’’
‘’How do you do it? Is it hard?’’ he asks.
‘’Here look, I’ll show you. Bend over and look at the ground with your hands stretched out facing me, to pretend you’re floating on the surface of the water,’’ I instruct and he does it.
I approach him and stretch my arm out, grabbing his right wrist in my right hand. I then twist it around and pull him towards me, so my chest is pressed against his back and we are both facing the same way. I then use my left hand to reach over his shoulder – which is quite difficult considering his height – and place it across his chest.
‘’It’s just like this, and then you tow them to shore,’’ I explain, as I’m talking he places his hand on my arm and I instantly feel goose bumps running across my skin. ‘’It’s easier than you’d think.’’
He doesn’t respond, instead he takes my hand in his and he spins me around like a ballroom dancer. I am face to face with him, and my hand is now resting on his chest. His hand is locked in mine and he is smiling, a small dimple has formed to the left of his lips and he is smiling at me.
I am speechless, I stare into his eyes and he stares back into mine. Is this actually happening? I’d pinch myself, but I quite like where my hands are at the moment – one resting on his hip, the second against his chest. I look from his eyes to his lips and back again, he smiles and begins to move his head towards mine, his hand now resting on the back of my neck.
‘’Alice! Aar-‘’ screams Robbie from somewhere outside, his words are muffled towards the end as someone obviously places their hand over his mouth.
Despite how much it kills me, myself and Aaron break apart and lunge into action, sprinting from the LIS and outside. We get as far as the door and then freeze, what we see is frightening. Standing before us are two guys and a girl – all wearing the same clothes as us only they have red where we have blue. They are all quite well built, not as muscular as Aaron is but they’d beat us in a fight as a group.
It is clear who their leader is, the male standing in the centre of the trio. He has olive skin and short brown hair. He is well built, evidence of a very active lifestyle. His face is quite defined, with a bony nose and very prominent cheekbones. He wears his red bandana as Aaron does, tied in a knot around his neck. He is dressed in a red tank top, revealing huge biceps that are currently wrapped around Robbie’s neck. His hand is clamped over our teammate’s mouth. Robbie is staring at us wide-eyed, he looks petrified.
The others with him are quite muscular too. The boy has short brown hair and is quite small although he looks like he would be well able to take on people twice his size. He looks about our age despite his height. Other than that, the boy seems to be quite generic, with next to no other prominent features.
The girl with them is quite different; everything about her seems to be different. She is tall and slender, with straight ginger hair that elongates down past her shoulders. She has white skin and freckles spray her face – she is more typically Irish than the rest of us. She wears her bandana like me, tied in a knot around her wrist like a bracelet.
‘’Easy now,’’ begins Aaron, taking a step forward.
‘’Don’t take another step,’’ warns the brown haired boy with his arm around Robbie.
Aaron abides, raising his hands up to indicate we won’t harm them – reminding me of someone being arrested. The boy and the girl with the main male watch us carefully, they seem to be ready for us should we choose to attack.
‘’We’re going to leave now, with your friend here and you’re not going to follow us,’’ begins the boy, ‘’do you understand?’’
I turn to Aaron however he refuses to look at me. He is clearly debating with his conscience in the confines of his own head. I’m glad I’m not the leader. The responsibility would kill me.
‘’OK,’’ says Aaron simply, taking a step back and gesturing me to do the same.
Robbie’s eyebrows raise and he makes a muffled noise from beneath the boy’s hand. The boy ignores Robbie and instead bows his head to us. He then begins to slowly back away from us. When he is level with the boy and girl travelling with him, he turns his back to Aaron and I – although his teammates continue to face us.
The boy continues to back away, carrying Robbie further and further away from us. When he has moved about twenty meters, the two others with him turn and sprint to catch up. Neither of us move after them despite how much my brain is nagging me to do so. My feet are routed to the spot; I cannot believe what has just happened.
‘’What are we going to do?’’ I ask.
‘’Follow them, as soon as they are out of sight. We can’t just let them take him,’’ he replies and I nod my head.
We stand where we are for a good ten minutes, watching the group of them slowly drag Robbie away. I feel my mind wandering and the thoughts filling my mind make me feel guilty. All I can think about is how much I want Aaron to wrap me up in his arms once again and kiss me. I feel both guilt and relief that it was Robbie that was taken and not myself or Aaron, this would be harder without Aaron.
As soon as the four of them disappear into the tree line on the horizon, we begin at a run in their direction. I don’t even know what we plan on doing when we get there, there’s no way we’ll be able to stand up to them when we’ll be even more outnumbered than we were earlier. We’ll just get to see what happens to Robbie, and what the other team are like.
‘’Have you ever had a girlfriend before?’’ I ask as we jog, not only wanting to fill the silence but out of curiosity as well.
‘’Why?’’ he asks.
‘’Just wondering, why so secretive?’’ I question and he smirks.
‘’Why so inquisitive?’’
‘’Touché,’’ I reply and he chuckles.
‘’Well if it really matters, no I haven’t,’’ he begins, ‘’my parents sent me to an all boy boarding school and I only finished this year. I don’t know many girls yet.’’
‘’Oh,’’ I say, quite shocked.
‘’What?’’ he asks.
‘’Nothing,’’ I smile.
‘’What about you?’’ he asks.
‘’Hmm?’’ I reply.
‘’Have you ever had a boyfriend?’’ he asks.
‘’Look at me, what do you think?’’
‘’I’d say three,’’ he guesses and I actually laugh in his face.
‘’What?’’ he questions defensively, ‘’how many?’’
‘’None, I’m single and quite reluctant to mingle.’’
He smirks.
‘’That’s surprising, what’s your excuse?’’ he asks.
‘’I have none, I just don’t seem to attract the guys I’m attracted to, ever...’’
‘’Well you attract me,’’ he winks and I feel my cheeks rouge up.
Before I can get another word in, there is a scream not too far away – it belongs to Robbie. Both of our faces drop in shock and we slow down to a walk because running is far too loud and may notify our foes of our presence.
We creep through the tree line and walk for about a minute when we come across a clearing. Gathered inside the clearing are the three red team members that took Robbie – there is no sign of the other half of their team. Robbie is on the ground and the boy with the brown hair is standing above him.
‘’Just tell us your letter or this is going to get unpleasant,’’ demands the boy, kicking Robbie hard in the side.
Robbie groans and I stare in horror. It’s been a while since I’ve played this game, it’s weird seeing teenagers play because it doesn’t look like the childish game, it actually looks violent, dangerous.
‘’I won’t ask again,’’ says the boy.
Robbie doesn’t respond, instead he curls into the foetal position and the boy lashes out at him, kicking him continuously in the gut, causing me to jump with shock over the sheer force of each blow.
I feel as though I am about to flip, I cannot stand to watch this. I don’t like Robbie, but I can’t let this happen. Aaron obviously senses this in me, because he wraps on arm around me and clamps his hand over my mouth. I look to him and he shakes his head. As much as I hate to admit it, he is right. We can’t do anything for Robbie now.
‘’Tell us your letter!’’ roars the boy, getting down to face level with Robbie and screaming in his face.
Robbie stays strong and keeps his mouth shut. He continues to groan and cry out in pain as the boy kicks and kicks and kicks, but he doesn’t give in.
‘’Enough,’’ mutters the ginger girl, however the boy keeps kicking him.
The second boy says nothing, he just watches Robbie being beaten – as does the girl – and both of them wear looks of horror on their faces, quite similar to us. They are as shocked over what they are watching as we are!
‘’Alex! Enough!’’ she yells again and he curses, then walks away from the boy on the floor.
‘’How else are we going to get their letters?’’ he screams.
She remains silent.
‘’Give me the knife,’’ he orders, approaching the boy on his team.
My eyes enlarge and the girl gasps, I glance at Robbie who looks utterly terrified. I glance at Aaron again but he doesn’t make eye contact – instead he keeps his eyes fixed on the scene playing out before us.
‘’Alex, no!’’ exclaims the girl, he ignores her – ripping the bag from the boy’s grip and pulling it open.
He pours the contents onto the floor, revealing the same items we were supplied with, and grabs the dagger. He then approaches Robbie, who has rolled over onto his back and is beginning to edge away from the boy.
‘’Alex!’’ roars the girl again as the boy approaches Robbie.
‘’Shut up Anna,’’ he replies through gritted teeth, ‘’I’ll do what has to be done, no more, no less.’’
We all watch in horror as Alex stands above Robbie, holding the dagger towards him.
‘’Please,’’ begins Robbie.
‘’Oh, you can talk now,’’ he replies, placing his hiking boot on Robbie’s chest.
‘’Please, don’t-‘’ Robbie starts but Alex interjects.
‘’Shh,’’ orders Alex, getting on his knees and placing the dagger on Robbie’s throat, ‘’I will ask you one more time. What is your letter?’’
Robbie’s lip begins quivering so he bites down on it. This works for about ten seconds and then he begins to sobs. Tears streak his sweaty face. I can feel shivers running up and down my spine every few minutes, this is like a scene from a horror movie.
‘’What is it?’’ he roars and Robbie breaks down, wailing like a little child.
‘’E!’’ he roars, ‘’E! E! My letter is E!’’
A few seconds pass and then the bracelet on Robbie’s wrist flashes green – he must have been telling the truth. Satisfied with the letter, Alex gets off Robbie and returns to the bag. He then begins packing away the gear.
Aaron squeezes my shoulder with his hand and I look at him. I can tell all the colour has drained from my face. I actually thought he was gonna do it. I thought Robbie was about to be murdered. How surreal is that? We’re in a TV show, how could they let that happen? How could they have let Alex continue when he placed the knife to Robbie’s neck?
‘’It’ll be alright, he’s fine. They didn’t hurt him badly,’’ assures Aaron.
I nod my head; I can feel tears slipping down my face. He wipes my eyes with his thumb and I kiss his hand which is pressed over my mouth. Slowly, he removes his hand and I stay quiet. Neither of us knows what is coming next.
The silence is then broken by a beeping noise coming from the clearing. Both myself and Aaron turn back to see that the bracelet on Robbie’s wrist has started to flash green again, only this time it is constant. The beep accompanying the flash begins to quicken until it is a single tone. The three members of the red team standing in the clearing stare in confusion, as does Robbie, nobody understands what is happening.
Without warning, Robbie’s body begins to convulse violently, as though he is being shocked with thousands of volts of electricity. The smell of what must be charring skin infiltrates my nostrils and Robbie’s body trembles aggressively on the floor of the clearing. After about ten seconds, he goes still.
Cautiously, the girl – Anna – approaches Robbie and gets to her knees on the ground beside him. She presses her fingers to his neck and leaves them there for a moment. A look of horror replaces the look of confusion painted across her face, and she gets to her feet.
‘’He’s dead.’’