Chapter 14 The First Game

Clap.

The lights in the stadium had gone out, and everything went dark. I wasn't fond of darkness, so my heart was beating faster than normal. The audience who were cheering loudly moments ago, went completely silent.

"Isaac? Rona? Are you guys still here?" I whispered and waved around to avoid bumping into other children.

Suddenly, a light appeared at the bottom of the stadium. A tall blond man wearing a monocle standing on a floating platform slowly moved upwards. The man flicked his fingers, and all the light went back on.

The man smiled devilishly and bowed toward his audience. He adjusted the mic on his ear and said. "Welcome, you sick wackos, to our main event of the year, The Blood Bathe. I am your emcee again, Mr. James, still single, if any ladies asked. Ehem. Ehem."

The audience laughed.

"Just like last year, we kidnapped a few children from the above, Eden, to participate in this event."

"Eden? What's that?" I asked Isaac.

"It's what they call. The place we used to live, above the ground," Isaac explained.

"Above the ground?"

"We are currently in a place where these people live, below the ground, and they have been here for a very long time. They call it 'The Valley'. I heard their ancestors build a civilization underground so they could stay away from prying eyes."

"Ouish! Imagine how long it took to build a whole civilization underground without anyone knowing about it. It's insane!"

Mr. James continued. "However, this time, there are some changes to the event. Instead of cramping this into one single day, we had separated it into a few days. Why, you asked? Well, I don't know. None of my business, I'm just the poor little emcee. But not too poor, ladies."

The audience chuckled.

"For this year, there are 3 games in total. First, we shall have our cute little bunnies in the cage hopping around so they would avoid obstacles like potholes. By the time the first game ends, our bunnies would be hopping champions."

"Potholes? Where?" I looked around.

Mr. James gave a nasty smile.

Click.

He pressed a button on his blue screen.

A hole suddenly appeared, and someone fell straight into the bottom of a black pit. "How did - Huh?" I was confused that I couldn't form a sentence properly.

"Oopsie, I'm such klutz. Got to be careful of these silly fingers of mine." Mr. James smiled.

A boy asked, "What happened to the boy that just fell?"

Isaac mumbled. "Isn't it obvious he's dead? He's either an idiot or a super idiot."

"I don't like him. I prefer Isaac!" Rona hugged Isaac.

Isaac pushed Rona away. "What's wrong with her brain? No, wait. Does she have any?!"

"The boy that fell off? Monica ate him." Mr. James answered the boy.

"Monica?" The boy asked.

"The cute and lovable Monica! She is our dearest mascot. Everyone loves her, right?"

The audience started to cheer.

Rona's eyes sparkled. "I wonder what Monica looks like. I bet she's gorgeous!"

Mr. James pointed out below.

We looked down at the giant black pit and saw a pair of yellow-red eyes staring at us. It looks as if it's ready to eat us anytime.

"Cute? Lovable? Where? Who?" Isaac trembled.

"Monica, duh. Can't you see how her eyes sparkle like stars in the sky?" Rona squirmed in excitement.

"Did you see Monica's mouth and the black pit? Her mouth is the black pit! You need to get your eyes and brain checked." Isaac moved away from Rona.

I gulped. "She just has a unique taste."

Among the crowd, we saw a banner with the sign 'Monica, please eat me!'

Isaac saw the banner and said, "Why doesn't he jump down then? No one's stopping him."

Mr. James pouted and said, "Alright people, please calm down. Stop stealing my spotlight here."

Everyone went silent.

Mr. James continued. "Thank you. The rule is simple. There's none. However, there is a time limit. The time limit is 60 minutes, and all these bunnies got to do is hop. Very simple, right? We wouldn't want to drag the time for too long, or else we wouldn't have any bunnies left to hop."

The audience laughed.

"Since the bunnies have no more questions...Let the game begin!"

The crowd suddenly went crazy. Their cheers could burst a person's eardrum.

"They should soundproof this place!" I covered my ears but could still hear their piercing screams.

A big screen moved towards us. It lit up and started the countdown.

Big Screen:

3

2

1

BEGIN!

The ground shook. Everyone in the box fell to the ground.

Buzz. Beep. Whirr. Clang. Hiss...

We could hear machines moving around the box but we couldn't see a thing.

Silence. Completely silence.

"Is that all?" Someone scoffed.

Thump! Ring. Ring. Ring. Clung.

My jaw dropped. 'This is going to be hell.'

I whispered to Rona and Isaac. "Rona, Isaac. Let's team up. Who knows, we might increase our chances of surviving."

"Do you know what's coming?" Isaac got closer.

"One of them. It may be a ball. A huge metal ball."

"Ballzy!" Rona got excited.

"Didn't you guys hear some rolling sound?" I asked.

Isaac shook his head. "I don't have sharp hearings, so no. How did you know?"

"I'm more sensitive to screeching sounds, especially metal rubbing against metal." I sighed.

"Anyways, stay vigilant, guys."

Thud.

A giant ball suddenly fell from the top of the box and landed in the centre of the box.

"Oui. This ain't good." I stared at the huge shiny metal ball.

As soon as the ball started moving, everyone started running away. I tried to grab Rona, but she was already gone. I franticly looked everywhere, but I couldn't see her shadow. "Rona, where are you?" I screamed.

Isaac grabbed me. "What are you doing? Run! The ball is rolling towards here."

I looked back, and the ball was on our tail.

We ran as quickly as we could, but the ball was too fast. When the ball was closing in on us, we dodged, and the ball barely missed us. I looked at Isaac. "What the heck! Wasn't the ball in the other direction just now?"

Isaac puffed and explained. "The ball is unpredictable. It can stop halfway and change its direction. The speed of the ball also increases as time passes."

"Ouiii..." I bend down to rest for a while, then I looked up. "Behind you!" I pulled Isaac to the side and dodged.

"Thanks."

"No probs. Instead, any ideas?" I asked while monitoring the ball's movement.

"I do. You know how the ball is round and huge. Once it squished you, you go splat."

"Clearly. It nearly squished us and stop putting images inside my head."

Isaac pointed at the corners of the box. "Round objects can't reach sharp corners. If we stick ourselves to the corner, we should be safe."

"You're a genius, Isaac."

"Thanks, but let's leave the praise later. We don't know if we will reach the corners before the ball reaches us first."

"Right." I patted Isaac's shoulder.

"Of course, there's another option. If you don't like getting squished, there is always dear Monica, who is waiting hungrily below us."

We looked below and saw Monica staring at us.

"Ugh..." Isaac and I groaned.

As soon as we got up and moved forward, our ankles were tied up.

"Huh?"

We fell flat on our faces.

"..." I was stunned.

"There's better be a good explanation for this," Isaac said with a calm tone.

We got up, and I rubbed my forehead. "Ouii. That hurts."

"I don't care about that. What I care about is I'm covered in dirt."

"You look clean to me."

"Do you know how many dirty shoes had stepped on the ground already?" Isaac glowered at Mr. James.

"Mic test. 1, 2, 3. Looks like the mic is still fine." Mr. James continued. "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 20 minutes have passed."

"Only 20?" I dropped back onto the ground.

"It seems that there are still a lot of bunnies hopping around. Why don't we speed up the game?"

Click. Clack. Weeee...

Long tubes came out from the sides of the cube.

My head became woozy. "I have a feeling we shouldn't go near those things."

Fwoom!

Some of the children turned to ashes.

"Wow! The heat must be crazy hot!"

"Flamethrower? Doubt it will that easy." Isaac pondered.

"It ain't. Look at the ball." Isaac looked at the ball.

The ball was covered in flames.

"I won't just get squished but burnt to a crisp, too?" I felt hopeless at that point.

"Along with my plan."

At the same time, Rona was far from us, hopping around while singing. I saw the large ball rolling toward her.

"Rona! Rona, come here!" I screamed.

"LalalalaDoDoHaHa," Rona was busy humming and couldn't hear my scream.

Isaac screamed, "Come here, you dimwit!"

Rona looked up, and the large ball closed in on her.

Isaac and I screamed, "Rona!"