Now it's time for the first test to begin. Enjoy.
Chapter 4
Steven was the first to awake, followed by Gareth, Ellie and then Arnold finally.
"Where am I?" Steven panicked.
"Steven?" Arnold called out in the darkness.
The room was suddenly filled with light and the four captives were able to see each other.
"What is this? Where are we?" Ellie demanded to know.
"That's what I want to know." Gareth said.
They all looked upon the large room they were in. The side they were on was clear of anything. But the rest of the room was covered in tripwires and hidden pressure sensors, though they didn't know about the sensors. A voice boomed throughout the room, no, chamber. It was deep and almost satanic sounding.
"Greetings, squad B-5. I want to play a game. Right now you are all wondering why you are here. I'll tell you why. The four of you have been collectively responsible for a number of mis-charges over the years. Innocent people have had to endure sentences for something they had absolutely no part in, and it is all your faults. But tonight, Ellie, Gareth, Arnold and Steven, you will be given the golden opportunity of redemption. You must complete a series of tests to survive to see the dawn of the next morning. This is your first. Before you is a minefield full of triggering mechanisms that have been specially wired so only certain ones will set off the rigged shotguns around the edges of this room. All you have to do is find a safe path through the tripwires and pressure plates I have laid out without triggering any of the guns to fire. When you think you have the guts to begin, you mat go ahead. But be warned. The door at the end requires three buttons to be pressed in order for it to open. So three of you must survive, one however is expendable. Who will it be? Will you suffer yourselves for the wrong you have done, or will you come through and see the error of your ways?"
At the end of the message nobody seemed to want to go first. No surprise. The four prisoners looked at one another, each of them waiting for someone else to respond, to do something.
"Who's gonna go first?" Arnold asked at long last.
Nobody answered for a few moments until Steven volunteered himself.
"I'll go first. Lets get this over and done with."
He took one step towards the beginning of the minefield, then another, and another until he was in the minefield itself. Tripwires and pressure plates surrounded him and honestly, he was scared shitless. At one point Steven's foot brushed against a wire and his heart nearly skipped a beat. Lucky for him though, it wasn't a rigged one. He was halfway there, still cautiously treading through the mess of trigger devices. He looked back and saw the faces of his fellow captives watching as he undertook a task that was a matter of life and death. Then he made it. He made it! He was across in one piece and still alive. He signalled for the next person to follow him over.
"OK. Next one come on. Try and take the same path I took. It seems to be a safe one."
"Wait, we should all go across at once." Ellie suggested.
"What are you, crazy?" Gareth responded.
"If we go together we can make it over there faster. The faster we all get over there the the sooner we can get out of this." She explained.
"That could also be the fastest way for us to all die." Arnold added.
"Well do whatever you want, but I'm going next." Ellie declared.
Ellie took the first step into the danger zone. It really was a heart pounding experience. As she got to the approximate hallway mark Arnold and Gareth both began their crossing. Each of them took a different path in the hope that they wouldn't set off any of the strategically placed shotguns around the room.
"You're doing good, Ellie. You're halfway there. Keep coming." Steven prompted.
Ellie then reached the end a few moments later just as Arnold and Gareth got to the mid section. It all seemed to be going well, until Arnold stepped on a hidden pressure plate. A single click was heard before a loud BANG rang through the room. Arnold's head had a huge splatter of blood on it as his body fell onto the floor, somehow not triggering any other shotguns in the process.
"Oh my god!" Steven shouted.
Ellie just screamed and Gareth shouted "Oh, fuck!"
The gun shot had made him jump out of his skin. It was a wonder he hadn't jumped and stumbled onto any other triggering mechanisms.
The three of them quickly regained their composure and Gareth continued his trek across the shotgun minefield. Eventually he made it across and to safety, greeted by the arms of Steven and Ellie.
"Thank god you made it." Ellie said.
"Which is more than can be said for Arnold." Gareth said in return, looking back at Arnold's corpse lying amongst the triggers of death.
"OK. Lets just get this door open. The sooner we get out of here, the better." Steven interrupted.
Steven and Ellie went over to two of the three buttons on the wall that also displayed the 'exit' door.
"So long, mate." Gareth said his last farewell to Arnold and joined the other two at the buttons.
Each of them placed their hand on a button each.
"OK. On three." Steven said. "One, two, three."
All three of them pressed their buttons at the same time and the door clicked open right in front of them. In almost no time at all the first of them was through the door. Steven was followed by Ellie who was followed by Gareth in turn.
Onto the next test.
One down, three more to go. Or perhaps not. We'll soon see if any of them make it out alive or not. Chapter 5 will be up soon and will go back to the story.