Interruption

There's a not-so-large inflatable pool by the organizer's feet. It was filled with eels. And by his side were small buckets with water.

"If you wanna pass through, you need to put three eels into the bucket." The organizer said.

I side-eyed Bella who also happened to be side-eyeing me. Crap! Being with this woman is so uncomfortable.

"I'll do it." I told the organizer as I rolled my sleeves up to my elbow.

"Me too!"

Does she have no tact? Is this part of their strategy? To mess with other players? That's dirty!

I bent in an attempt to catch an eel but to my dismay, they were slippery! Bella joined me shortly after. Like me, she's also struggling. Ha! Take that, woman! She didn't bother me throughout the eel-catching task which I am really grateful for. But maybe because there's an organizer watching us.

With painstaking effort, I finally managed to put three eels into the bucket. Bella only caught one at that moment so I happily left her.

The audience was cheering from the benches. Mr. Dwayne's commentary was hyping them even more. From what I heard, Juan and Alviar were halfway into the maze already. They're really good with this game, huh.

Trying to get as far away from Bella as possible, I turned right and saw another organizer. There's a glass container that looked like an aquarium but has a lid on it. It was filled with toads.

"If you wanna pass through, catch one toad from the glass container. There's a paper tied with them containing different types of exotic ingredients that will be put on top of your pizza. You can only pass through once you've finished the pizza."

That sounded like any toping I'd get will be gross but whatever.

"Can I choose not to eat it if I don't like it?"

"Yes. You may choose to not eat it but then you cannot pass through."

"I see."

Looks like I have to try my luck then. I went in front of the glass container. I stared at the toads for a moment. They reminded me of the frogs wearing cowboy hats in Mr. Vlad's castle.

"How should I get them?" I asked the organizer.

"There's a hole large enough for you arms on the side."

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't notice."

I slipped my left hand into the hole. The toads were surprisingly calm. They must've been around people for a while.

Although a little disgusting, I picked one up. I tried turning it to see the paper attached to its underbelly but sadly, I cannot see what was written. Ha! So long as it's not poisonous.

I pulled the toad out and gave it to the organizer. He took the paper and placed the toad in another glass container which was much smaller. He then unrolled the paper which was only the size of my pinky.

"You'll be having frogs," he told me.

"Frogs? Okay."

I've eaten a fried frog before when I was still Sean. It tasted like chicken. So eating frog meat now doesn't really gross me out.

The organizer took a slice of pizza and put a generous amount of frog toppings on it and I immediately regretted my confidence a while ago. What I had before was an appetizing, well-seasoned, fried frog meat. But the ones I have on my pizza now were just boiled.

"Uhm… excuse me. But is it seasoned?" I asked him but he only shrugged.

"I didn't prepare it," is what he said.

"Ha! Well, here goes nothing." And I took a bite, a large one, and swallowed it after only chewing it two times. It has the most disgusting texture, believe me. And I believe it doesn't have any salt in it.

I shoved the whole thing into my mouth. Trying my best not to gag.

"Ho! Do you have any water?"

He gave me a bottle of water and I gobbled it to the last drop. Not enough to wash away the aftertaste.

Thankfully, I was able to pass through and saw another player turning to the left. What was his name again? He was the one reading a book back at the tent earlier.

Not wanting to cause any trouble I took the other direction.

Another wave of cheering from the audience.

"Can you see what I'm seeing everyone? Thirteen A and four A are doing the same task! Who do you think is gonna finish first! Oh no! Thirteen A dropped one sack! He has to go back and pick it up — and he have it everyone. He's going fast! And on the other side, we —"

For whatever reason, Mr. Dwayne suddenly stopped talking and the audience became silent. I saw him talking to an organizer. I can't make up his face from my distance.

Using his megaphone, he said, "Everyone! I have something very important to tell you all, but I needed you to calm down. Don't panic, and try to follow our instructions, okay?"

Waves of murmurings erupted from the audience. And at that moment, I sensed something. Something ugly and sinister. Something I wouldn't want to encounter. And that was also when Ombre's warning finally made sense.