Chapter Fourteen: A Change in the Rules
Maria's POV
I spat blood out on the floor. Jigsaw hit me across the face as I tried to warn Adam to stay away. Emphasis on "tried to." I cursed as one of Jigsaw's entryway cameras showed him walking into the empty room with two doors. Jigsaw pressed a button and a recording I couldn't hear began to play.
"Well, obviously he is too ignorant to listen," Jigsaw sighed, shaking his head. "It's a pity, really. I give him another chance to live and yet he's willing to die . . . for you. Why do you think that is, Maria? Why is he so determined to make sure you stay alive?"
"I don't know, maybe because he's human," I snapped.
He laughed as he worked on some controls by the monitors. "No, humans should appreciate what they have. They shouldn't ruin their lives by making petty mistakes or taking things they don't need. Things they don't deserve."
"And what makes you any different? You're a human, too. Or at least you used to be. What makes you so different from the people you're testing?"
"I am dying, Maria. That is what makes me different. I see death every morning I wake up. I never did anything wrong and yet, I am dying. People who spend their lives just ruining themselves walk around without a care in the world. They don't deserve to be alive!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So you're afraid of death, so what? You're so terrified that you spend the last of your days fucking with other peoples' lives? You take pleasure in taking lives because you're afraid of losing your own? That's the most pathetic thing I've ever heard."
"No! I spend the last of my days trying to teach people to appreciate their lives. I am trying to show them how pathetic they are, crawling on the ground like inferior maggots and preying off of good, hard-working people."
I shook my head. "That's human nature. There are good people and bad people. You can't stop them all from ruining their lives. People self-destruct, they make themselves unhappy . . . You can't avoid it."
"But I'll stop as many as I can before I die." He coughed loudly.
I looked at the monitors he was observing. Somehow, a camera was continuously following Adam. It would stop, then move on again, looking at him intently . . .
"What the hell is that?" I asked out loud.
Jigsaw chuckled from under his hood. "My own little spy. In case you haven't read the papers, I do like to watch."
I felt like throwing up. I watched Adam, silently praying he wouldn't get hurt. I knew better than to try and overtake Jigsaw. He controlled everything in here. I was afraid he would kill Adam if I even stood up.
"Worried about him, I see," Jigsaw said. "Strange to see how close people become when faced with such a thing as death. Lawrence and Adam were the same when they were the room together. They became friends in such an unusual way. Bittersweet, really."
"Why did you force him into this again?" I asked. "Didn't he pass the last time?"
"Oh, Maria, don't you understand. It's not Adam I want to test . . . it's you."
"What? Then why am I here instead of out in that maze?"
"Everything will make sense in time, my dear."
"Don't call me that," I snapped.
He turned and looked me from under the hood. "What's the matter? Does that remind you of your father?"
I stiffened. That was exactly who I was thinking about. "How do you—?"
I stopped when I noticed the movement on the monitors. The moving camera just caught Adam falling down a hole in the floor! I screamed at him as I watched him drop. I jumped up from my seat and raced to the monitors. Jigsaw stood beside me, calm and collected.
"Come on, Adam," I whispered. "Please, be okay . . . please . . ."
I saw his hand clutching the side of the hole as the camera moved closer and looked down at him. He was dangling over a black hole. I continued to mutter at him, even though I knew he couldn't hear me.
He eventually managed to get back up from the hole and scrambled away from it. I finally sighed with relief. I then noticed his foot bleeding pretty steadily. I shook my head and glared at Jigsaw.
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"I warned him," he answered simply. "There would be traps about. He must've slipped into one."
Jigsaw leaned forward toward a microphone and said, "Two hours and twenty minutes left."
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Adam pushed the camera down into the hole. Wow, he was stubborn. Jigsaw laughed himself and carefully moved me aside. He moved some controls and continued laughing.
"Oh, Adam, you never cease to amaze me," he said.
Soon the camera came up from the hole from another part of the maze and went on to find Adam again.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
"I told you, I'm not trying to test Adam," Jigsaw answered. "I'm testing you. Adam will be okay . . . for now."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"There is now a change in the rules. You have two hours and five minutes to find Adam and get out of here. The only problem is, only one of you will make it out alive. Only you can choose. Go through that door on the far side of the room."
I ran to the far door, swung it open, and ran in. I almost fell over the edge of the floor. I managed to stop, one leg breaking my fall. It throbbed beneath me and I knew I couldn't stand up on it. Lights turned on row by row above me. I looked down at a wide bed of nasty, rusted spikes. I was sitting on a small platform that was barely big enough to hold me up.
It suddenly moved. I was being moved out over them! I debated trying to get off of it, but my leg was too painful to get up. The moving platform stopped, swaying violently. I clutched the edge, looking at the door I had entered. Jigsaw stood there, watching me.
"What the hell is this?" I shouted.
"Two hours and three minutes left for Adam to save you," he explained. "Maria, my dear, you just walked into your own trap. But don't worry. The game has just begun."
"You son of a—!"
The door slammed behind him.
A/N: Okay, hopefully I didn't confuse anyone with this chapter. Just message me if you don't quite get it and I'll try my best to explain. Hey, it made sense in my head, but as I read it over again. I think it hurts more than helps . . .