Author's Note: Funny thing happened last week. I was looking for a bit of information in an email, and in my drafts folder I found the submission for chapter 3. Nifty really hadn't received it, since I never did that crucial last step and hit send. That one's fully on me, sorry about that.
This chapter's coming out a day late because mother nature saw fit to break everything in my neighborhood, so I spent Friday night and all day Saturday with no electricity or internet. BOTH got damaged in the storms.
All 9 chapters of Death Game are now written, aside from the final scene of Chapter 6, which is very close to completion. After that, I can start work on Manley Paint, the second story of Night Terrors.
As always, donating to Nifty.org can keep the lights on and the stories flowing, so please consider it.
^^^
Death Game – part 5
Only two pairs remained.
"Can the four of you wait things out while I think?" I asked.
"Meaning no stupid moves or self sacrifice," Billy added. "The longer the four of you saty out of trouble, the longer this part of the challenge will last."
They nodded, but the Host had other plans. "Nice try boys, but I have another wrinkle to throw in." A buzzer sounded. "The right side of both tanks has just increased in power by a tenth of a tick. The person on the right is now being drained at a slightly faster rate. Each dial only works in half-tick intervals, and there is no way to make the values go down, only up. At the maximum flow rate on each dial, the left one will be on 10 and the right will be on 10.1, meaning the right person has no way of winning if the left person chooses it.
"It is up to each pair to determine who will live and who will die, but the decision cannot be put off forever. Given the proper passing of power back and forth, a pair could last two days before both dials reach their limit and the person on the right eventually dies. But who can stay awake that long? The jealousy of the men who pushed their buttons, the envy of knowing that they weren't the ones chosen, caused them to take themselves out, as I knew it would.
"I'll check back with you in the morning to see if you're still alive." The speaker clicked off.
"And raise your hand if you think he's actually going to sleep?" Billy asked. To their credit, nobody did. "So this is how it's going to work: the person on the left is going to nap or relax as the person on the right is slowly drained. Conrad and Jonathan will watch to make sure the person on the right is fine, while the rest of us relax, nap, or think. When it looks like the person on the right is starting to fade, wake their partner up to turn the dial one click. It'll then be time for the other group to be alert while Conrad, Jonathan, and the two right hand people rest. That way, we can trade back and forth and think for longer. The goal is to make you four last until we can think our way out of this."
"Now we need a plan to get out," I said.
"Yeah, I need a nap before I start," Billy replied. He leaned forward to put his head on his arms. I cocked my head, confused. That was certainly an odd choice. I tried to ponder why he would suddenly make the decision to sleep at such a crucial time. What was he playing at? I watched the rest of the men as I pondered what Billy was doing, how to get us all out, and what to do afterword.
Alejandro would be the key to escaping, since he was free. All he would have to do was push himself up and out, then free the rest of us. But what we needed was a plan for the next step. I looked around and saw an exit sign over a door to my far right. It was near the curtained hallway we were pushed in her through. On the other side of the curtain was a door with a sign for the elevators and restrooms. The sign wasn't big or fancy, which meant that this section of the hotel had been for staff instead of customers. It was, of course, the exit that I had my eye on. If we were lucky, it would be an emergency door with an alarm to call the police.
Over the curtained entrance, there was a standard mounted office clock, showing that it was 12:05, though I didn't know if it was after noon or midnight. I pondered that for a while. It would make sense, given the fact that it was late night when we got there, that we'd made it to mid day. Still, we'd also been knocked out several times, so we could have made it all the way around to midnight again.
At 3:45, Billy lifted his head up. "Psst, Alejandro," he whispered.
Alejandro looked over to him and Billy gave a nod. Alejandro nodded back and pushed his way out of the tank. He hopped down the to floor, wearing only the rubber underwear with tubes we all had on. He walked over to Billy's tank for instructions. "Go to the last tank and try to get the latches open. The gas will spill out onto the floor. Once it's out, you can crawl in and unlatch him. Don't get your face into that gas, but hurry. I don't know how long we have."
Alejandro darted to the back of the room, to the end of the line of tanks, and started fiddling with the locks on the flap. The others were watching him, but Billy watched for the curtain to move. Rafael, of course. The dead man emerged and started heading for Alejandro. Once he passed, Billy's tank, and his back was to Billy and I, Billy quickly pushed himself up and out of his tank. How the hell had he gotten free?
He jumped down and rushed Rafael from behind. Alejandro started to come out from where he was to help, but Billy yelled for him to keep working. There was some grappling, but Billy had some great moves. I'd had no idea he was into wrestling. He got Rafael into a headlock and started giving Alejandro detailed instructions on how to open the lock. Had Billy wanted Alejandro to be slow to draw Rafael out? Probably, now that I thought about it.
Billy restrained Rafael while Alejandro got the guy out of the final tank, then the three of them strapped Rafael in. Billy even worked the controls to lower the wrist shackles.
"How do you know how all this stuff works?" the man from the final tank asked.
"I watched Rafael when he was putting me in," Billy replied. "I can remember things like that." He had the man and Alejandro work on the next tank, and he himself came all the way over to mine to let me out. "I know you want to know everything," he told me, "so I'll try not to leave anything out."
"When Rafael was putting me in here, he was careless with my leg straps, so with the gas filling the tank so no one could see, I wiggled out of them while I pretended to sleep. The Filipino boys were just a distraction, and I knew that Alejandro wouldn't be able to hide the fact that he was loose. I worked out that the Host would send Rafael in once there was someone free, but I figured he'd use other defenses as well from his safe room in the penthouse. I needed him out of the picture.
"That's why I waited for so long after I was free. I've been watching the clocks since I got here, and he was inactive last night from three to nine in the morning, so that was the time frame I was shooting for."
The latch popped open and Bobby sent the gas from my tank spilling out across the floor. "I hadn't thought of Rafael," I admitted. "My plan would have gotten Alejandro recaptured."
Billy started working on my ankle straps. His mind was so impressive that I was in awe of him. That awe, combined with how cute he was, made me shiver every time he touched my bare skin as he freed me. Still, I knew he was in mourning. If we got out of here alive, I decided I'd try to find him after he'd had time to process and grieve.
Billy left my tank, once I was free, and moved on to unlatch Conrad's tank. While the gas was still spilling out, he moved on to Jonathan's, and so on. I took the cue and undid the men's ankle straps once it was safe to go inside. In under ten minutes, we were all free.
"What's the plan now," Jonathan asked.
"We find our way out," I replied.
"No," Billy disagreed. "We find our way up. I have a score to settle with out host, and I plan on taking him down permanently."
"Do you know how many traps he probably has set up around him?" I asked. "Going up there is suicide."
"If Billy's going up there, so am I," Alejandro said. "He killed my best friend." Several other men agreed.
"It's not safe," Jason said. "I'm with Cameron on this. We need to get out of here as fast as possible, especially if the Host is asleep."
"I can't go with you guys," Billy said solemnly. "I can't let this guy get away from here." He headed for the door to the elevators, and five of the surviving men went with him – Alejandro and four others.
"Good luck," I called out to him as I led my party to the exit door. I had Conrad, Jason, Jonathan, and eight others. So far we had managed to save two extra men from the Host's last trap, but so many had died. It looked like the host was trying to cut the group in half each round. If he would have succeeded this round, there would have been sixteen of us left. We saved two, giving us eighteen. Eighteen out of 128. I stopped in my tracks, feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach.
"What is it?" Jason asked.
"I just did the math, and the Host has killed 110 men so far. The scope of that just hit me. 110 young, single, gay men...murdered. We really need to get out of here, fast."
I took off at a jog down the long hallway we were in, and the others kept up. At the end of the hallway was a sitting area, possibly a lobby, well lit with potted plants. At the other end of the room was a door, windowed with some of that institutional wire-reinforced glass. Through the window was the parking garage and our salvation.
I pushed the handle, but the door didn't open. Instead, the door we had entered by slammed shut and latched.
Conrad ran back to it and testing it. "Locked," he said.
"Fuck!" I swore. "We're trapped in here."
"Of course you are," the Host said over a speaker in the new room. "You've done well, but the games aren't over. Welcome to round four."
"We're not all here," Jonathan pointed out.
Panels on the upper half of the wall retracted, revealing multiple television screens. They flickered on and we could see Billy and the others in an elevator. "You were all supposed to escape," the Host told us. "That's why Billy's straps were done wrong. It didn't matter how many survived that test, or how many survive this one. Everything will even out in the end. Now, can any of you guess what this test is designed to weed out?"
We were watching the other group exit the elevator into a white room, and the elevator doors closed behind them. Just as we had, they reached a locked door, and I knew they were trapped as well. No screens appeared for them, however, and I could see them talking to each other, instead of upward to a voice. They were going to be the victims.
"Revenge," I said. "You're getting rid of the group that's seeking revenge."
"Cameron, you don't cease to amaze me," the Host said. "I don't want anyone whose life is less important to them than their own wrath. So, congratulations on winning round four. Enjoy the show."
^^^
Billy heard the gas before he could find where it came from. Looking down, he found that the floor was slanted toward the center of the room, where there was a drain. Unlike in the tanks, this gas was invisible, so he couldn't see whether it was lighter or heavier than air – whether he needed to duck or climb. Looking around, he saw that the walls were too smooth to be of any use in the climbing department.
"Guys, we're in a trap," he told the others.
"Figured that one out already," Alejandro said. "I'll check the elevator doors for clues if you want to tackle the door forward."
This face of the elevator, intricately carved in strange wooden swirling patterns, looked like it would hold the puzzle to getting out, while the other exit to the room was blank. "Are you sure you don't want me working on the elevator doors?" Billy asked, walking to where Alejandro stood without waiting for an answer.
"These doors are plain steel," Alejandro replied. "Of course you'd be better at the puzzle on the other door. I just want to see if there are any clues over here to help you out."
So the gas was hallucinogenic. He and Alejandro were seeing different things. "I see the puzzle here," Billy told him, "and the other door is blank. Everyone, point to where you see the puzzle, or stand in the middle of the room pointing at nothing if the whole room is blank.
One man pointed to the far door, where Alejandro was pointing, one stood in the center of the room, and the other two were pointing to two different areas of the same wall. Chris was pointing to the elevator doors with Billy. Billy's mind stuttered for a moment at some piece of information that didn't seem right, but he shook it off to give instructions. "Alright, everyone examine the puzzles you see so we can determine what's going on here. Chris, you're with me, honey."
"We got this, Paolo," Alejandro said. Billy remembered Paolo dying. What was going on? He looked over to see Alejandro talking to the space next to him.
Look at that," Billy said to his fiancee, pointing to the man who was obviously talking to a hallucination. Chris stood next to Billy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Billy felt his eyes fill with tears at the touch, but he couldn't figure out why.
"Honey," Chris said to him. "What are we doing? Why are we going after this guy instead of trying to get out of here with the others?"
Billy tried to think. He had been mad about something, but he couldn't figure out what it was. "I don't know, my love," he said, looking deep into Chris's eyes. He wanted to break down crying when he saw Chris, but the feeling made no sense to him. It was like his partner had been away on a long trip and was now home, but Chris had been with him through this entire ordeal. He couldn't stop himself – he had to embrace Chris. "Were you gone?" Billy asked him. "I feel like it's a miracle seeing you, but you've been with me for a day and a half. Why do I miss you so badly right now?"
"I don't know, but I miss you too," Chris said, holding Billy tighter. "I want to be inside of you so bad right now.
Billy looked around the white room. They were alone, so it would be a great time to have some special time. "There's no one else here, and I don't see any cameras, so why not?"
Chris didn't hesitate. He pulled Billy's mouth in for a kiss, and Billy returned the kiss with reckless abandon. The kissing moved down Billy's chest, and around to his back. As Chris worked his way down to Billy's ass, Billy quivered. He could almost feel like he was already being penetrated.
Chris wrapped his arms around Billy as he slid inside. They moved to the floor as Chris made sweet love to his hole. Billy felt the climax start building, and the power of it made him glad he was already lying on the floor in his lover's arms. He came, wave after wave, the cum dripping to the floor and running toward the drain in the center of the room. The orgasm went on and on, even after Billy began slipping away into sweet slumber.
^^^
I bid Billy and the others a silent farewell as I watched them, all lying on the floor, slowly leak a pink fluid from the tubes that held their dicks. Their bodies were being hollowed out and jizzed down the drain. Before I could see them start to collapse and deflate, I turned away and went to one of the sofas and had a seat. The tube that was in my ass pushed in uncomfortably, but I didn't care. I buried my face into my hands and wept. I hadn't known Billy and Alejandro long, but I still knew them, and that made it personal.
One by one, the others came to where I was, not caring to watch any farther. "Poor Billy," Conrad said.
"Poor all of them," corrected Jonathan. Conrad placed his hand over Jonathan's and Jonathan leaned against the man's chest, sobbing.
The voice of the Host came back over the speakers. "I could hear what was happening in there," he said. "I pumped a hallucinogenic into the room with the toxin that made them ejaculate into nothing. All six of them were imagining that they were with lovers or crushes. Billy died making love to his fiancee, Chris. Alejandro was with Paolo. The other four were also talking to and making love with someone they truly wanted to be with. I'm glad that, if they had to die, at least it was with someone they loved."
There was a black orb on the ceiling I recognized as being a hidden security camera. I glared into it. "They didn't have to die," I spat out at him. "You could have just as easily had the elevator send them back down here to us and let us all go free. You could have escaped before the police got here. None of us know what you look like. We couldn't pick you out of a crowd. You and Rafael could have been a city away by now. You didn't HAVE to kill them! You CHOSE to kill them!"
"You don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing, the voice returned with a mixture of defense and sorrow. It was quiet, but firm. "You may think I'm killing for no reason, but I need to know who is the best of you. I need the highest quality gay man, with the energy and life span of all the others. I need perfection." At that, a hissing sound came from the walls. More gas, of course.
"That's enough for now," the Host said. "I need to get Rafael out and get you all set up for round five. Sweet dreams."
Mutters and curses arose from the other men and mingled with my own. Soon, we were collapsing to the floor, asleep.
^^^
As always, I can be reached at Jaycemarvel501@gmail.com