Meanwhile upstairs Ross and Daniel felt the same way, questioning why they were even holding the wheels. Was it making a difference, and if so, for the good or the bad. There were two other wheels they weren't holding and they weren't moving, they were doing just fine, so what was the point?
"I'm letting go." Ross panted. "I got nothing left. I need to rest. They'll be okay."
"What if they're not." Daniel responded, but didn't look up at him.
"Those two wheels haven't moved, and with all these gears we can't even tell what we're doing. At any given point he could break the gears like he did that wheel and the weight falls, this is just another one of his stupid tests, he's torturing us physcially and mentally on this one, I got to hand it to him, this one is good."
"Don't compliment him."
"Why not! I mean come ON! The man pulled off a kidnapping of 100 people! He set up this friggin' house of horrors, he's got soldiers at his command, cool monitors that he talks through, tell me Daniel, what is not cool about this guy?! He is a legit super villain. Okay, we're talking James Bond stuff here, like a bad guy with a lair, and henchmen, and stuff. We're not in some psycho paths basement chained to the wall out in the middle of the woods. This guy is for REAL, so you know what, I'm done, I'm finished. if this weight falls, its not my fault, its his, he did all this, we won't be tried for any of this, this is ALL ON HIM, and i'm DONE." Ross lets go of the wheel and drops to the floor. It rocks briefly for a moment, but that's it, its barely even noticeable that he let go or was ever even holding on. "SEE! Its all a god damn mind game!" Daniel looks at him and then looks at his wheel, waiting for something to happen, for Cipher to do something to make it that I told you so moment, but nothing. "Just let go, Daniel, it'll be fine, its late, we'll go to sleep and wait for day 20."
Daniel nods, he's so tired and locked into place that he has to actually think through how he's going to let go. He shifts his body from pushing on the wheel to more of a carrying position but he notices the wheel doesn't even slip when he makes the adjustment. He pauses, takes a breath and lets go, nothing happens. He walks over to Ross slams his back into the wall and slides on down to the floor until he's sitting next to Ross. "Thanks man, you know.."
"Yeah I know." Ross pats his knee as the two of them let their heads bang into the wall behind them, staring up at the ceiling, starved, thirsty and utterly drained of everything. The silence is almost loud, with just their breath being heard for almost a full minute.
Click, a humming and a clank.
The wheel Daniel was holding whirls and the gears spin, the chain starts lashing through as the weight in the room below falls. Daniel dives from where he was sitting and tries to grab the wheel, Ross right behind him, he falls towards it hoping to slow or stop its descent but instead the force of the wheel slams hims square in the chest and sends him falling backwards into the oncoming Ross. The chain comes through the wheel as if it had reached its end or snapped in half, it cracks like a whip at the two of them, striking Daniel ripping open both his shirt and his chest. He screams as the two of them fall back into the wall and the wheel stops spinning, meaning the weight below has crushed another occupant of the room.
The Monitor comes on. "Boys, what are you two doing? What did I say? I said the both of you had to hold on to the wheels and now look, another one down and two people dead. Daniel, you're hurt; what am I going to do with the two of you, I had planned on putting you back in the room tomorrow, but now I just don't know." Cipher talks to the two of them as if he were a disappointed parent.
Daniel clutches his chest, his wound is throbbing and growing more purple by the second. "You did that on purpose, you killed them!"
"Daniel, you let go of the wheel, and.... well you weren't really nice to me. Ross had all those nice things to say, uhh... complimenting my lair, all my hard work, this isn't easy you know, this took a lot of planning; and what did you say about me? Nothing, and you said before you want me one on one in a room, you threatened me, you called me names. That's just not nice." he rants like a child, but then changes his tone to a more dark vicious one. "So I wasn't nice to you. You're both done for the night, with that wound your useless in this test, I'll send the P90s in tomorrow to attend to you and dress the wound, in the meantime I don't want to hear anything from either of you. Daniel, tomorrow, you and I are going to have a talk, I'll give you what you want and then I'll give you what you deserve." The monitor clicks off.
"Its my fault, I told you to let go." Ross whimpers and pulls Daniel back towards the wall with him so they can lean against it again.
"Its not your fault. Its his, and tomorrow I'm going to show him."
10 MINUTES AGO IN THE ROOM BELOW
"This can't go on all night, I can't even feel my arms any more, and I'm so thirsty."
"We're all thirsty Jim, we all can't feel our arms, just shut up and hold on to the chain." Scott agrivated as to how this day has gone has had his fill.
"Hey.." Liz shouts out. "Did anyone feel anything? I feel like our chain just rocked a bit back and forth."
"Does it feel lighter?" Kara from one of the other groups of women shouts back to her. "Because ours didn't move and it feels the same I think."
"I don't feel any difference." Chuck, an older gentleman in the group across from Liz's shouts back.
"Just don't let go." Gus, strapped to the middle bed looks over to Chuck. "Please just hold on."
"Don't worry Gus, we got you, that's what this group here does, its what that idiot has trained us to do, we'll carry each other or any weight we have to." Chuck smirks as the sweat drips off his brow.
"I know, I know, I'm just scared that's all, that weight looks shaky." he stares at the massive cube above him.
"I got you, no worries." he makes a double clicking noise with his mouth and winks. But then another click is heard, a loud one, then the hum, then the clank.
The group of men holding the chain collapse to the ground, they feel the chain snap and scream as they watch the massive cube fall. Chuck managed to keep himself standing looks at Gus, who's been frozen with terror. His eyes wide he has only a moment to look at the cube and then back at Chuck. Chuck takes that same moment to look at the cube and then attack the latches that are holding Gus to the bed. He frantically fondles with them pulling with all his might, his sweaty hands slipping and pulling with no results. All he can think of is to do one thing. He puts himself over Gus as if to shield him or stop the weight with his frame.
The cube slams into him crushing him right through Gus, the weight and the velocity compressing the two men together in a disgusting mess. The group on the floor turn and cover their eyes, trying to hide and escape from the horror before them.
The monitor comes on shortly after in a minute. "I am so sorry about that, totally not your fault. I feel so bad I'm going to let you rest for the remainder of the night. All you need to do now is trust me for a moment, you can all let go of your weights and they will stay in place, they've been locked down." he waits. Scott and Jim's group are the first to let go, nothing happens and they look to the others. "I'll unlatch everyone from the beds as soon as you all just let go and give me a moment of trust."
The remaining people on the bed begin praying and panting and breathing hard, going back through that range of emotions, screaming and calling out wondering if this is the moment they die, or if they live. The groups one by one let go of their chains and Cipher keeps his word and those laying down are released. "Who's responsible?! You said it wasn't our fault!" Scott shouts out.
"You'll find out tomorrow, and then we'll see how well this group 'carries each other'. Get your rest, day 19 is over." The monitor shuts off.
End of Day 19
No comments:
Post a Comment