Day 77 - Darwin's Game - Chapter 26 (4100 words)

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DARWIN'S GAME

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 26

Episode 6

“The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement, will naturally suffer the most. ~ Charles Darwin”

The screen faded away again but instead of fading into a new scene as expected, a new heading came up.

Part 1

This then faded away and the scene reopened again. The six players were sitting in chairs locked in by their hands and feet as had been previously used, manacles that clipped to the arms and legs. Around their necks were the circlets they had worn around their necks in episode 3, though none of the lights were active and they were arranged in a six pointed circle facing each other. On their chests were suicide bomber vests, and enough explosives to ensure the death of the person in the vest and and anyone within a few feet of them. Each person had a vest and each person had a collar on.

The chairs started to move on their own accord, motorised or on tracks out of view of the camera, three of the chairs moved towards the middle of the circle, and three moved outwards equidistant from each other. The movement was slow and the three men on the inside track looked at each other suspiciously as two other men each strapped with a large amount of explosives came closer and closer, each one tensing up at the proximity of more explosives, though strapped themselves.

As the three moving outside got further and further away the green lights on the collars started to light up and blink steadily and the frequency of that flashing sped up the further they went from each other. When they reached about twenty feet to the nearest person, the blinking escalated and the green light turned to red and then the men started panicking visibly and struggling in their bonds, until the movement of the chairs suddenly stopped. Two of the three chairs moved inwards again, slowing from fast red to slower green to eventually stop when back within an easy distance of the group, the remaining man, Mark Rowlands was still in the outside of the circle and his collar blinking a very rapid red. After the visual point was made about proximity the manacles of Mark's hands and feet spring open and freed him, he leapt out of the chair and ran the short distance to join the group, his collar now blank as it had once been, as the others were.

The scene faded on the group still bound in the chairs and Mark Rowlands standing in the middle of them, then it faded up on a new room a much bigger room with what looked like a large obstacle course in a giant warehouse sized space with no windows and a winding path that followed a vague s-shaped pattern from the the starting point where the six men were standing to an elevated and well lit door diagonally opposite from where they were. There did not appear to be a direct route to get to the doorway and the freedom that represented, the course was the way in.

The six men stood quite close together and were talking with each other, arguing about something and pointing at each other and the bombs on their chest. Somerset was looking at the back of the rig of Garth Parker who stood on the outside, biting his nails not looking in Thomas's direction. Thomas Somerset got up very close, without Garth realising it and started to undo the straps that were on the left shoulder. At once a few things happened, Garth felt the interference in his vest and he spun about, snagging the strap which Somerset had a firm grip on and yanked it out of his hand, undoing it in the process. The strap fell away and all of the collars immediately lit up and started blinking red and very fast, faster than Mark's vest had blinked in the demonstration. Parker started flailing about trying to re-secure the rig on his shoulder unsuccessfully, obviously terrified and unable to control his movements. The red light on the explosives blinked on, showing on all six vests as Suarez came to his aid and did the strap back up tighter and rougher than was necessary, and with a sneer of contempt directed at Somerset who just shrugged. All the lights blinked off at once and the explosives were reset.

The message was clear, you had to stay together and work together to survive, and any attempt to remove or sabotage the suicide bomb vests would result in all of the being collateral damage. Thomas was not impressed and he showed it on his face, standing the middle shouting “fuck you” to the ceiling before undoing the strap on his own vest, freeing one shoulder setting off the blinking lights and he was about to undo the midriff belt when he saw that his was the only one blinking. With a twisting of his shoulder and arms he managed to get the strap back on, slow the lights and he got Vargas to help him secure it and turn the lights off all together.

The only way out was to play, play through the obstacle course which was designed to make them work together or force them apart and risk the resulting explosion. Suarez stood right in front of Somerset and eye-balled him, nose to nose inches away and violence in his eyes. Thomas faced him down and the bumped chests in a shoving war not using their hands or arms. Banging the highly explosive vests into each other much harder than the others liked and it took the combined efforts of three of the other four men to pull them apart and talk them down.

Garth was shaking, shocked from the experience so far and most recently from the near death experience of almost having his bomb activating with him completely unaware and out of control of the situation. He bit at his nails, the quick of which were reddened and inflamed as he chewed non stop on them. Mark was the first to move and he pointed the way to the first obstacle, a climbing wall which looked to be over the height required from the ground for the proximity of the collars to go off. Mark came up and started climbing the wall, waiting a little way up and testing the best route to the top. Thomas and Julio were behind him and they made exaggerated bows to each other as if being overly polite but with murderous intent showing clearly. The three of them were a few feet off the ground when the others started climbing behind them and all six men started up the wall in earnest, the head being Mark Rowlands, who had obviously done this before. He was pointing at hand holds and divots where they could put their feet and guided them up the wall and was the first to reach the top. The two who had scaled the wall immediately behind him were still about three quarters of the way up, with the remaining three just below them and moving from the halfway mark.

In the bottom three it was John Vargas who was moving the slowest, his injury was impeding his progress up the wall and as the others got further away he was bringing up the rear very slowly and getting further away. By the time the first three were over the top, the other two that had started the same time as him were nearing the finish and he was still short of halfway. The collar light was blinking a very rapid green and as Evan Simpson, the largest man of the six was near the top it changed to red and he was not quite to the safety margin, he looked up the wall and saw how far away they were, far enough to endanger him with the distance and the slow progress he was making was getting more and more painful, he was grimacing with each step where he put weight on the leg that had been stabbed. The five people all now at the top were looking down and discussing the options of leaving him or moving on and the debate was raging between Mark Rowlands and Evan Simpson, one maybe arguing for letting him die and the other to wait for him.

At the top were six zip-lines that traversed a large gap from the top of the wall to the top of another one, and the distance that this covered was far enough to set off the explosives. Mark, Julio and Thomas were all holding on to the zip line cradles and the Evan was holding them back, apparently trying to stop them from launching off the platform. Undecided and watching the argument was Garth Parker who was examining the zip-line cradle and looking backwards and forwards over the gap the line crossed. He came back to the wall and could see that Vargas was struggling but making slow progress up the wall and the blinking red light had gone back to green as he was over halfway and though slowly moving, he was getting nearer. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted something, Vargas looking up and through a very pained expression showed a thumbs up signal and kept climbing.

Simpson was getting very physical with Rowlands and it was brewing into a fight when Rowlands shoved hard at the bigger man, but over judged the movement and fell backwards, grabbing the zip line cradle and spinning around flying out of control and rapidly across the divide on his own, the light on his collar going from green to red in quick succession. The light on his chest pack of explosives came on and then Evan grabbed a cradle and jumped onto a zip line and followed him across, followed by the Somerset and Suarez who flew across the divide at the same time.

All of this happened as Garth stood and watched them fly across the gap and then all four of their collars deactivated on the other side and Garth was left on the top of the wall his own collar blinking green as he waited for Vargas to get nearer and nearer. Parker looked across at the other group and then back down at Vargas. He stared at the cradle for some time before turning and climbing down the wall and grabbing Vargas's free hand and helping, dragging him the last few feet to the top. When they were safe together on the wall, in the same space, their collars stopped blinking and they continued the last of the wall climb unlit.

The men were now in two groups, the four who zip-lined across and the Vargas and Parker pairing who rested on the top of the wall, waiting for John to get his breath back and to be able to stand without collapsing on his obviously painful leg.

From the top of the other platform the four men looked at the third leg of s-shaped course which was a slope down towards another wall, at floor level. Suarez and Simpson teamed up and walked down together, leaving a gap for Rowlands and Somerset to follow behind them. A few seconds after they started down the slope Simpson’s feet flew out from under him and he fell on his back grabbing out at Suarez and linking arms with him as he did, the weight of the bigger man pulling the smaller one down with him. The surface was very slippery though this was not obvious from the angle of the cameras, but the way the two men slide over fifty feet uncontrolled it was apparent that the surface was covered in something slick they could not get purchase on.

The strategy of pairing up had worked though as the men were now in three groups of two and none of their lights were on and the vests were inactive. As long as they worked together and did not isolate any one person then it was going to keep them alive. Across the zip line divide Vargas was standing and with Parker getting ready to race across to join the others at the top of the slope. As they jumped off the top of the wall towards Somerset and Rowlands linked arms and started down the slope, much more measured in their steps than Simpson had been and they managed to get about halfway when the other landed off of their zip lines on to the top of the slope. That landing had obviously dislodged their grip as the two men who were moving so very carefully now fell over and rocketed down the last half like they were body surfing down an oiled slide.

Vargas stumbled as he landed and he fell face first onto the slope and started away from Parker and sped away, the light on his collar going green and then blinking in time with Parker's own one. Parker stood at the top and did not move, his own collar started on the red phase as Vargas was over half way and his proximity to the four men at the bottom meant he was going green and flashing slower and slower while Parker was flashing faster and faster.

Garth Parker was shaking but not moving as the light on the vest also turned on and then started blinking rapidly as Vargas was almost at the very end of the slope before he finally moved forward and dove on the surface and shot downwards himself. For a split second he hesitated and looked behind him at the divide and the look he had was one of regret as he made the move that closed the gap and a few seconds later stopped the countdown.

All six men were now at the bottom of the slope and Vargas grabbed Parker's arm and pulled him towards the group, but Garth looked like he was not that happy despite being alive and nearer to the end of the course. The men were all covered in a fine grey powder that made their hands and clothes dirty as if they had been rolling in black sand, the lubricating powder that had been coating the dark surface of the slope that was invisible until it was stepped on.

Vargas was directing the group and shepherding the men forward towards the second to last obstacle before the doorway at the very top which was now in sight. There was a final stairway that was made of very large blocks, it would be a hard task for Vargas with his pronounced limp and the pain that was showing in his winces and grimaces every step he took on his bad leg. That was about fifty feet away and in between them and the giant stairway was a series of revolving doors that were glass, see through and very closely connected. It was set up so that only one person at a time could enter and exit at revolving segment, and then the rotational movement of the first door would set up the counter-rotation of the doors attached to it. It resembled a series of cogs, so when Simpson entered the first set of revolvers, which had six chambers not the traditional four, the opposing two doors that were at the outside of the opposite end were both rotating in opposing directions.

They filed in and soon the six men were in different sections of the doors and making their way towards the end of the cog puzzle. It was not that hard to figure out as they managed to stay close enough together to not set off the green lights let alone the red or the vests themselves. At one point Parker somehow took the wrong rotation and ended up moving away from the others who were still trying to move forward. He got far enough away to set off the green lights, the flashing started to speed up, but Vargas, who was apparently keen to pay back the way that Garth Parker had stayed back and kept him alive on the wall when he could have abandoned him. Vargas pushed the rotation of the doors he was in, taking two of the other men with him, they did not fight and they picked up the displaced Parker and the three of them continued on together to find their way out of the maze of six chambered revolving doors.

All of the men were out and standing at the foot of the large stairway, each step was made of two large blocks was a little shorter than the smallest of the men, but it would mean that no one person could easily climb the steps like a traditional staircase, but would have to climb bodily onto the step, pull themselves up and move on. The height of the stair case was floor to ceiling much as the vertical wall had been, but with a decent number of plateaus they could make their way to the top if they took their time and did not separate.

Rowlands climbed onto the first step and then reached down to give Vargas a pull up. As he did the step they were on moved downwards with their combined weight and the one ahead of them went up by the same amount. The steps were counter weighted so that the more people were on it, the further away the next step would be. Three of them on the first step made the next step unreachable. If they moved two men on to the step to the side then the distance was back to climbable but still hard work to get up.

Rowlands pushed at Vargas and at Simpson to get off the step and then he climbed to the next step and it brought the steps closer together again, and then when Simpson came up to join him he took a lateral climb to the step next door and the weight distributed again. See sawing the steps the men were working together to distribute the weight among the steps to balance out the movement of the steps up and down, and to make the height differential more manageable. Ten minutes later all six men were at the top of the staircase and at the door that signified the exit, not one of them was flashing or in any danger.

They were all smiling, some more than others and congratulating themselves on making it through the course and making it to the door. Vargas opened the door and stepped through it, followed by the others in close succession. The camera view changed to be on the other side of the door and another obstacle course was in the next room, starting with a 3-D maze that they were above and in the centre room was the same tiger that had eaten their former team-mate in the previous exercise. The men could see the way through the maze, but they had to avoid the centre room. Beyond the maze was a tightrope arrangement above a pool of some kind of liquid that was smoking slightly, it looked like it was deadly if you fell in. Then a razor-wire section that had to be crawled under and had many divergent paths leading to a series of boxes and pulleys that were going up the far wall towards another exit door.

Garth Parker was trembling and he shouted something through tears and rage at the ceiling. The other five men tried to calm him down but he was losing it and he ran into the maze ahead of them at a very fast pace. Vargas started after him but two of the others held him back, from their position they could see that Parker was making his way through the maze as fast as he could, the green lights flashing and un-flashing as the twists and turns he made got him further away from the group or back closer to it as the vector he was travelling along changed.

A while later he was lost and Vargas was shouting and pointing at him, getting louder and more expressive in his instructions as Parker was not watching, not paying attention and not doing what he was being told. Vargas twisted his way out of the grip of the men holding him and limped into the maze, the others looking forward at the remaining traps and puzzles and not making any move to help either man.

Parker saw Vargas coming down to the maze entrance level and out of sight, he shouted Stay Back, though you could not hear it, the shape of the words were obvious enough, then he put his back to a wall, and started undoing the vest he was wearing. The four men above who could see him in the maze shouted and gestured at him to put it back on, or they tried to get Vargas's attention who was trying to find him in the maze on his own from memory, his own vest with a steady green light now.

Parker was resolute and tears were streaming down his face as both shoulders were free, and he tore blindly at the midriff belt and mouthed the words “please, stop” over and over again.

Vargas was a few twists and turns away when the explosion tore open the maze and shattered the walls, the blast throwing him backwards and slamming him against the wall. The four men who remained outside the maze had flattened themselves against the back wall where the entry door was, ducking down out of sight and blast radius of the explosion. With a traditional Darwin's Game silence overlaying the video it was curious effect of smoke and movement that meant that Parker was standing there one second, then a cloud exploded into that space and pushed on the walls and the air outwards in a rapid expansion in less than a second and flattened everything in a large semi circle from where Parker had stood with his back to a wall.

They stood up and saw the carnage that the bomb vest had caused. There was no sign of Parker, but Vargas was sitting stunned against a wall, still alive but battered by the force of the blast. Where Parker had been there was a hole in the wall of the maze, the external wall of not only the maze but the room itself and the hole was big enough to be a natural exit you could climb through. The sunlight from outside was streaming through the hole and the men on the platform above the maze could see real freedom suddenly and they moved all four of them to not set of their collars towards the maze.

Before they had got ten feet they fell to the ground writhing in agony, unable to stand as Darwin or whoever was controlling the collars activated the function he had used to keep them apart from each other with debilitating and patently painful shocks. There was no respite for them and the pain did not let up as Vargas came too and stood up, shaking his head and stumbling through the shredded walls to find the spot where the man who had saved him only recently had killed himself in the most pointed and effective way possible. As he stood there he looked at his vest and collar and did not see any lights, and it looked like the collar was not active as Parker’s rig was vaporised, and he was well away from the other four men whom he could not see as they were still rolling about the floor in extreme pain at the maze's entrance.

He looked about and saw that there was a hole in the wall and that sunlight was pouring through it, and he stood looking at it for a long while before undoing the shoulder strap on his own vest. The strap came off and there was no effect. He took off the rig completely and fiddled with the collar a little but it stayed locked tight around his neck, but not lit up. He moved the discarded vest back from the hole in the wall and then still stumbling and shaky he stepped out of the hole and into the sunlight.

The scene went black and the words came up on the screen in the centre.

To Be Continued