As soon as someone jumped on him from behind, Hoffman knew he was in deep shit.
He was pleasantly able to shake off his attacker – Michelle, presumably – and was about to advance forward just as something cold sank into his neck.
As the chilly numbness spread through his circularity system, Hoffman somehow had the strength to stumble blearily round to meet John's piercing, angry gaze.
"There's a consequence for breaking resolutions, Hoffman." John said icily.
Hoffman gripped the wall to keep himself upright; he could feel the drugs kicking in. "I'm guessing you know?"
Through his blurring vision, he saw John nod stiffly.
"Ah." He said, and everything went black.
Coming round in pitch darkness was pretty freaking scary, but Hoffman was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't chained down on or to something.
When the lights came on in a bright flash, like someone had flicked a switch, after the initial blindness he saw that there was absolutely nothing in the room, which was bright white with a single fluorescent light strip.
He quickly looked down at himself; no stitching.
There seemed to be nothing at all.
Apart from a small, deep sea blue glass bottle.
And a tape player.
Hesitantly, Hoffman walked slowly over, picked up the tape player – and pressed play.
"Hello Hoffman. If you are listening to this properly – since you didn't listen to me the first time – then you should already know why you're here. I warned you of the consequences if you disobeyed my instructions, and you still took no heed. Now you will take the consequence of your actions.
"Your attachment to Amanda has poisoned your resolve, and instead of trying to vaccinate this you simply let it spread till it rotted you away. The bottle in front of you is filled with poison; the quantity in that bottle if completely drained will kill you in one hour.
"You have three minutes to drink all of its contents, and unless you do so the nail bombs in each of the corners of the room will detonate, and you will die. Do not think this is inescapable; as you trusted Amanda to save your lust-filled soul, so if you drink the bottle you must trust Amanda to save your life, for only she has the antidote to save you.
"Live or die; make your choice."
The tape finished.
The timer flickered on.
2:59
Hoffman glanced round the room, only now noticing the nail bombs.
And the camera.
"Fuck you!" He screamed at it.
2:50
Hoffman paced furiously up and down the room, thinking frantically and fast.
Could he really trust Amanda that much, that she would actually save his life?
2:05
And he realised two things:
He had no choice, and
He did.
She'd said she'd loved him; he'd just have to hope that would be enough.
Hoffman picked up the bottle and raised it to his lips. "Cheers," He said sarcastically, before taking a swig.
It tasted foul and bitter. He scrunched his face up. "Fuck you." He said again to the camera, but he could already feel the poison working; there wasn't any time.
He drained the bottle and grimaced; he could feel it burning down his throat, curling like a snake in his stomach, slipping into his bloodstream...
And then it hit his head and heart and the last thing he could think as he crumpled to the ground in agony was I'm going to die...
Two figures watched the monitors as Hoffman writhed in unimaginable agony on the ground.
The red-head pressed a hand to her face. "Was the poison really necessary?"
"If we are to test him fully, yes." John frowned at the screen. "I must say I hadn't expected him to be so...trusting."
"I can't watch!" Moaned Michelle as Hoffman yelled in pain, his face deathly pale and sweating heavily.
She half turned, and John caught her wrist. "You must!" He said fiercely. "Because I need to know that you will carry on my work when I'm gone."
Michelle went quiet and a sort of tension fell between them. "John...I can't do this."
John laid his palm tenderly across her face. "Michelle, you can. I trust you and care for you deeply, is that not enough?"
There were another few moments of precious romantic tension before John turned back to the screens, tearing his eyes from the young woman he desperately loved.
Part of him realised that if he were Hoffman, then he wouldn't be able to stop himself either.
If he replaced Amanda with Michelle.
But the Jigsaw part of him reprimanded the other sternly. Consequences always came with actions.
"Amanda should be awake soon." He said finally. "Let us hope she will make it through her test."
