Chapter Two: The Game
If I had eyes to roll I would have done so, "Don't be so melodramatic." I responded to the grinning cat.
"If I were you I would adjust my attitude. If you don't take this seriously Courage will die." His eyes narrowed. "And...so will you."
I suppose I should have expected that he would put my life on the line as well. I didn't doubt my ability to help the twit. Even if I was lacking an internet connection I still had plenty of information in my databanks to call upon. The problem was the 'game' itself, I didn't have the slightest idea what Katz was going to put me and the twit through. I doubted a cure for werewolf bites or fending off man eating planets would be of much use for whatever Katz had in store for us.
"Enough with your melodramatics and lets get started." I replied to the cat growing impatient. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner I can go back to pretending you don't exist."
Katz was starting to actually look somewhat disappointed. I suppose he had been expecting me to start begging for my life or something, or at the very least start panicking like some weak willed idiot might do. I bet he was used to most of his captives doing just that, he toyed with them the same way he would toy with a mouse before making it his lunch. Well, I wasn't about to give this idiot any satisfaction, not that I would ever beg anyway.
"Pity." He spoke. "I was hoping you would be a little more fun. Oh well, that attitude of yours won't last for long."
"Try me." I replied.
Katz pressed several keys on my keyboard, once again bringing up one of the many cameras that had been added to my files. What I saw almost made me cringe, not that I could really cringe anyway. Katz was once again grinning, almost making me believe he could sense my reactions.
The sight I was given from the camera shot showed me Courage. He was laying, knocked out, barely a footstep away from a sheer cliff. If he so much as rolled over it would be the end for him. A very noticeable thick, black collar was clasped around his neck. His arms were tied behind his back, they were bound so tightly it was almost amazing they hadn't gone purple with blood loss. Worse of all his eyes were a bloody, painful looking mess. For one horrible moment I thought that maybe Katz had gouged his eyes out but upon closer inspection it became apparent that his eyelids had been crudely sewn shut. It wasn't exactly something to feel better about but it was better then having no eyes at all.
"You've...blinded him?" I asked. It was less of a question and more like stating the obvious.
Katz did not reply, allowing me to fully grasp the situation at hand. Courage was currently lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere, severely disabled and most likely very far from help. With his arms bound as tightly as they were if he fell into one of the many crevices littering the Nowhere landscape he would have no way of pulling himself out and would ultimately die in there and being blind...
Katz's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, "The game is quite simple, you will be his eyes and you will guide him through the ordeals ahead. Fail him and he will die and by extension so will you. He has a four day trek across Nowhere ahead of him, I've strewn cameras across the path I have created for him. You will be able to keep an eye on him with them, you will never be blind so long as you keep him on the path he is supposed to walk. Do not even entertain the notion that you can have him leave the path in hopes of saving his life. Your lifeline to him will be severed without the cameras and he is far from any towns. In his current condition he has no hope of finding someone to help him long before he dies of dehydration."
Katz paused for a moment to crack his knuckles, once again looking immensely pleased with himself. He was acting as if he had already won.
"The mark that will signal the end of each day will be the water I have left for him out on the trail. It will be enough to keep him from dropping dead prematurely but it will not be enough to satisfy him. You will have to force him to continue forward even when he feels like giving up and I guarantee you that he will want to give up. The collar around his neck will allow you to communicate with him, I should also warn you that it is keeping track of his vitals. If his heart stops it will send a signal to the machine I currently have you hooked up to and it will deliver quite a nasty electric shock to your system. Allow me to tell you ahead of time that this shock will not be lethal...at first...Let me guarantee you that you will meet just as slow and painful a death as he will if you don't get him through this alive."
I wasn't amused, not even slightly. I spoke up with an intense bitterness in my voice,"And let me guess? Even if he makes it through your silly little idea of a game you're still going to kill him in the end anyway. I doubt you'll spare me either."
Katz flung his head back in laughter as if I had just said the most hilarious thing, "I am not a sore looser, my mechanical friend! You have my word that I will not kill him if he somehow makes it through the game alive."
I could hardly believe he'd just let Courage go in the end but I was in no position to question him. Whatever would happen at the end of this 'game' would have to wait until then. Courage was going to make it through to the end, I wasn't going to let him fail this. I don't do failure but twits do and that alone was endangering my continued existence.
If Katz was somehow being truthful maybe he would just let us go in the end. Courage wasn't permanently blind at the very least and if Katz really wanted to he could have seen to it that he was. If he really wanted to spite his nemesis he could have permanently disabled him.
"One final note before we begin." Katz piped in. He pressed several more keys bringing up two new camera shots.
I cringed yet again, in the two different shots sat Eustace and Muriel. They were tied to the chairs they were sitting in, their backs facing the camera. I couldn't tell if they were awake or not but judging from the odd angles their heads were resting it seemed that they were knocked out as well.
Katz began to speak once more, "On the second day Courage will come to a crossroad, so long as he hasn't died yet. You will have to make a choice for him at that crossroad and whichever choice you make will doom one of these two to starvation. I hope you won't disappoint Courage with your decision..."
"Only one can be saved?"
I admit, I couldn't hide the shock in my voice this time. This was a low blow from the cat, even if Courage survived he'd have to lose one of his family members and there was an even chance that it would be Muriel...
Katz laughed, "I figured it was time for him to know how real loss feels and what a perfect place for it to happen then in this game. He may come out of this with his life but he will still lose something in the end."
End Of Chapter Two
