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DARWIN'S GAME
By Wayne Webb
CHAPTER 46
Episode 9
“I am quite conscious that my speculations
run quite beyond the bounds of true science”
~Charles Darwin
The scene opened Evan Simpsons face in close
up, and across the bottom of his face ran a record of his crimes. The
latest of the acts spelled out was the shooting of Thomas Somerset.
The face faded away to be replaced by John Vargas' face again
accompanied by the acts he had committed including the people he had
killed in self-defense and ones he had killed outright while in the
game. Then his face faded away as well and the screen went black.
The two men were now sitting in two chairs
facing the camera, both were strapped in to the chair, and there was
no sound and both men looked thinner than the pictures that had been
on screen earlier. Sleepless and uncomfortable they looked unhappy
and tired of the Game and ready for it to be over. A video wall of
the faces of the ten previous players played on the wall behind them
and then one by one they flew out and filled the entire screen. As
each persons murderous resume and epitaph filled the screen the words
accompanied them giving a review of the Game to date.
Peter Rayner (AKA Father Francis) –
Paedophile (17) 15 pending cases of child molestation: Selected by
the group of Players on balance of his crimes and executed by Wynton
Washington via gunshot. There was a video replay of the single shot
that ended his life, the one that started the Game with deadly
results. Then the shot of his face crying and miserable was in slow
motion to give his last moments of his mental state before death.
Wilson Smith – Murderer (5) – Murdered five
elderly patients in his care in a nursing home over three years and
inherited the bulk of their estates: Executed by electrocution as
voted by a ten to one vote. The video of the body jerking and
slamming into the table was mercifully short, but by comparison the
relatively short period of time that it took for the vote to turn
against him and to see his face falling and him realising that his
time was up felt like an eternity.
Jackson Jones III – Rapist (1) Murderer (2) –
The Trust Fund Killer, Raped and murdered his girlfriends mother and
killed her father to have her inherit the seventy million dollar
estate: Killed while attempting to kill another Player, John Vargas
in self defence via knife. The blood pouring out of the wound was
freshly shocking to see even weeks later but the scene did not linger
and instead showed the look of glee when he was closing in on Vargas,
changing to pain as the collar took effect and capped off with shock
as his own plan was turned against him in moment of changing
fortunes.
Wynton Washington – Murderer (3) – Killed
his wife and child, killed his elderly neighbour who witnessed him
leaving the scene: Death by drowning, killed by Evan Jacobsen and
John Vargas. The death scene was of him hitting his head, bleeding
into the water and falling to the switch. The final moments of
emotion for him were the hate fuelled stares he was directing at his
opponent in the drowning duel.
Evan Jacobson (Formerly Tony Vittorio AKA Tony
the Snake) – Murderer (12) Mafia killer and States Witness: Death
by drowning, killed by Wynton Washington and John Vargas. The death
scene showed that last gasp of air escaping his mouth as he held on
to the switch to kill his opponent, and taking in water. The look on
his face was of intense determination as he swam up and down to keep
the switch depressed and matched the looks he was getting across the
containers.
David Wilson– Murderer (3) – Murderer,
killed three people in full view of witnesses: Killed by mauling,
decided by a popular vote of five to one. For: Rowlands, Parker,
Vargas, Suarez and Simpson. Against: Somerset. The scene of his being
eaten alive by the tiger was bloody but short with only a few seconds
showing. The final look of feelings he held were the angry and
pleading faces as he tried to get the men in the Octagon to let him
in before he attempts to flee.
Garth Parker – Rapist (2) Murderer (2) –
Raped and Killed two women tourists in successive weeks, was
apprehended attempting a third: Death by self inflicted explosion.
The puff of silent smoke and shuddering walls was the final moment of
his life. The final look at how he got there was a montage of the
despair he had shown in the interviews from the fourth episode and
then the hopelessness changing to resolve as he ran away from the
group desperation now visible.
Thomas Somerset – Paedophile (1) Rapist (2)
Murderer (3): Death by sniper fire, killed by Evan Simpson. The
shocking puff of red and air as his head exploded came with little
preamble and blasted to the screen. The following scene were close
ups of his concentration and attempts to shoot either Vargas or
Rowlands. The shots are new ones seen from a camera angle close to
Somerset, whereas the episode had previously shown the point of
impact of the bullets in the apartment not the smiles on Somerset's
face as he made the shots, to the annoyance and frustration of
missing his targets.
Mark Rowlands – Rapist (7) Murderer (3) –
Raped seven women and killed three: Burned to death, self inflicted.
The raging inferno that opened that episode that was labelled seven,
but the eighth in strict sequence was then shown with the
unidentifiable body moving in the flames. The close ups of his
emotions showed the elation at finding an exit, the anger at not
being able to get out and continuing in rage as he ran back all the
way to the last key.
Julio Suarez – Rapist (3) Murderer (2) –
Raped three women, killed gang associates: Executed by slitting of
the throat, by John Vargas. The far away shot of Vargas taking the
second jagged tear at his neck was as short as most of the other
execution scenes had been. The lingering shot had focussed on Suarez
arguing with Vargas, determined to take action and kill Evan Simpson,
and then annoyance at contempt for John as he gets ready to take his
shot.
The scene then comes back to the two men
sitting in chairs and the faces of the ten deceased players are
behind them. The screen comes in close on John Vargas and lingers for
about 30 seconds, Vargas looking defiantly down the camera lens
before the view pans to Simpson and stays for the approximately same
amount of time but Evan is refusing to look at the camera and keeps
his line of sight off camera for the duration.
The view zooms out and shows both men and the
previous players behind them once again and the fades to black. A
second or two passes in blackness before the words slowly fade into
white letters on the black background.
By Popular Vote on the Internet
Voting opens now and closes in 72 hours.
72:00:00
The clock starts counting down immediately and
as the words slowly fade out a minute has passed and the episode
ends.
- - -
Blake Harrison and Agent Levy are staring at
the screen and then looking at each other. Harrison's phone starts
beeping and he checks it silently, then grabs his computer and typing
in a web address. There is a list of web addresses, at least fifty of
them in varying domains and varying countries and each one of them is
hyper-linked. Blake motions Agent Levy over who is calling his office
and giving them the web address as well, while Blake clicks on one of
the links to bring up a voting screen. In the period of time it took
them to open the safe, get the contents and start viewing them almost
thirty minutes have passed since the safe crash landed on the roof,
and on the website the counter has counted down by that period of
time.
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