Timeline: Hours later (begins with Saw V flashback and then goes straight to Saw II timeline. Confusing, I know, but it actually makes sense. Damn crazy Saw movies.)

Rating: Pg-13 for mild violence

Chapter 12

The Games Have Just Begun

"If you're good at anticipating the human mind, you'll find it leaves nothing to chance." -John

Mark pointed the gun around at all the limp, unconscious people in the room, scattered around like victims of a random shooting or drive by. He waited for them to flinch or stir, but no one responded. The sedatives forced upon them had been effective. Although he'd been relieved to discover Amanda's safety had not been compromised and that John just needed help dragging in the bodies, seeing Xavier and Obi up close did not alleviate his concern for her. Never in his life did he ever want anything from John, but right at that moment he craved reassurance in his master plan. He wanted to possess that kind of blind faith in John that Amanda had.

"I'm assuming this is going to play out the way you want it?" Mark asked, handing John the gun as he spoke.

"I assume nothing. I anticipate the possibilities and let the game play out," John said.

"Then why did you need Amanda in the game?" Mark asked, hoping against poor odds that John might change his mind and decide it was too much of a risk after all. Mark's voice sounded normal enough, to his own ears at least, but both he and John detected a tinge of emotion he couldn't repress, the fear over Amanda's safety that he couldn't let go of. Mark looked through the peephole in the door, pretending to be meticulously focusing on fine tuning the trap, but truly just trying to avoid looking John in the eyes and revealing too much.

"To ensure that the rules are followed. She won't make decisions for anyone, she'll just…offer choices," John replied like a teacher explaining the simplest lesson that just couldn't sink in to the thick headed pupil. Of course that was the top priority for John at all time. The rules. Never mind the lives he put at risk.

"A little to your left," Mark replied, his voice wavering a little, because yet again he was looking into the barrel of a gun, and he didn't trust John much more than he had the first time John pointed a gun at him. Mark took a deep breath, resisted the urge to shake John with his bare hands and instead handed him the tape recorder and said in a low voice that hinted at his disapproval, "That leaves a lot to chance."

Either out of ignorance or apathy, John ignored Mark's insinuations. Instead, he placed the tape recorder in the hole behind the bricks and gave Mark the only hint of comfort he'd receive that night, an implication that John had it all planned out.

"If you're good at anticipating the human mind…it leaves nothing to chance."

John turned to look at Mark.

"It's time," he said, and Mark left the room. John followed, shutting the door behind them, leaving Amanda to face her first true challenge since she joined them so many months before, an entire lifetime ago.

She smiled. Mark's complete obliviousness amused her. As if John would actually drug me before a test like this…especially since I need to keep a clear head.

His concern for her lingered in her mind.

"Why did you have to put Amanda in the game?"

The sound of his voice when he said that made her heart flutter. He was still hung up on that. She heard it again and again as she laid still on the floor, waiting hours and hours before the others woke up. She drifted off to sleep for a little while, but soon heard voices that stirred her into consciousness. She remained still until she realized everyone else was awake, and then she proceeded to act freaked out as she had rehearsed. Since there were several other people in that room just as dangerous as her if not more so and likely to retaliate against her if they discovered she was involved with Jigsaw, it wasn't hard to pretend she was terrified, especially when the black man she knew from John's files as "Jonas" pushed her against the wall and told her to calm down.

Shhh, you're not supposed to know that! You don't know his name! You don't know anyone's name! You just woke up here, like the rest of them! Stay in character!

It wouldn't be difficult to pretend she knew nothing. Currently she felt like she couldn't say a word. She was an actress that had finally gotten her spotlight, her moment to make John proud, and now she'd forgotten all her lines. It was one thing to imagine being in the game and another to actually stand there and see Jonas right beside her, Xavier pacing like a mean pit bull anticipating an attack, Laura sitting in a corner crying, Obi standing there eerily quiet with his jacket over his head like the damn Unabomber while Gus ranted like a lunatic and terrified everyone even more. Only Addison and Daniel didn't seem to be panicking or emitting a creepy vibe, but even they looked scared senseless upon closer inspection, especially Daniel, whose pale skin seemed to lose even more color as everyone around him lost their minds.

"What's your name?" Jonas asked.

"Amanda," she gasped. Her chest rose up and down as she hyperventilated. She asked, "Where am I?"

"We just woke up here, just like you."

"No!" Amanda screamed, over and over again. She beat at the walls, tore curtains and pushed Jonas away when he tried to put a soothing hand on her shoulder.

This is how I would respond if I were put in one of John's games again. And then I would go into survival mode.

She began feeling around for the tape she knew was in the room. After searching the room for a few moments, she'd "discover" it and explain the game to them, explain how it all worked. After she convinced herself she'd explored enough red herrings to constitute a reasonable belief that she'd actually just stumbled upon it, she tapped on the loose bricks, threw them to the ground and pulled out the tape recorder.

The mere sight of the recorder brought back memories of her own game, of all the victims: Adam, Gordon, Thomas, Michael,...and the man she ripped apart for her own freedom. She didn't even have to fake her trembling.

"What is this?" Jonas yelled at her.

"Everything you need to know is on this tape," she said.

Well, it wasn't a lie, she thought a little smugly, remaining her frantic facade on the outside.

Her thumb pushed the play button, and as the tape began, she felt herself calming down to the sound of John's synthesized voice. She'd listened to this tape many times before and even helped transcript some of it herself.

Think hard. The numbers are in the back of your mind.

Amanda smiled on the inside. That line had been her idea. It started out as a little joke between her and John and to her surprise he decided to include it in the tape. Now she was glad he did. Hearing it again brought a sense of serenity. John had just given her encouragement without anyone else even being vaguely aware.

She looked over at Laura and mimicked her panicked expressions for inspiration on how to act.

"Who is this? How did you even know where to find this?" Jonas asked. Amanda slid down to the floor and found it was a convenient time to pretend she was overcome with fear, so much so that she couldn't answer his very suspicious and possibly incriminating questions.

"Do not attempt to use this key on the door to this room," Xavier read out loud. "Fuck this." He stormed over to the door.

"Fuck yeah, that's a good idea," Gus said.

"No! No, that's not a good idea," Amanda said.

"What are we gonna do then? Just sit here?"

"The note said not to use the key!" Amanda said, remembering to stay within the boundaries John had set for her. She could offer choices, but unless that choice involved harming Daniel, she could never interfere once a decision had been made, and despite how much Amanda hated to admit it, she suspected Mark had been right about Xavier and what potential harm he could cause. She didn't dare attempt to take the key from him by coercion.

He had made his choice, although it was Gus who paid the price for it. Gus twisted the key into the lock and looked though the peep hole. The gun went off, leaving a gaping fatal wound in Gus's head. Blood splattered on the walls and sprayed all over Laura who fell into a screaming fit and tried to wipe the blood off herself in a frantic and futile effort. Amanda's shrieking was the loudest sound reverberating in the room, despite her knowing ahead of time what could happen.

Suddenly the calm Jonas showed his true colors. He grabbed Amanda, threw her against the wall and started interrogating her, acting like the cops he so despised.

"You better start talking right now. What is this?"

"It's a game."

"It ain't no fucking game! A man just got his head blown off!"

"He's testing us!"

"Who's testing us?"

"Jigsaw."

"Who the hell is Jigsaw?"

Suddenly Addison jumped into the conversation.

"Don't you watch the fucking news?" she asked.

"No, who is he?" Jonas asked her. Amanda was grateful the attention shifted from her for a moment. The fear of getting caught in a lie was making her heart pound, but at least it made her fear authentic.

"He's a serial killer."

Amanda jumped to his defense in pure instinct as though he was there in the room with her, for she so completely identified with him, she felt she was defending herself as well.

"No, he's not. He's testing us. He wants us to survive this. We have to play by the fucking rules!"

A silence followed as everyone in the room tried to take in what she said and understand it. She managed to stop before she incriminated herself. Jonas once again began trying to extract more information from Amanda.

"Imma ask you again, how do you know all this?"

Amanda hesitated. Jonas was clearly the cleverest, or at least the most paranoid person in the group, and thus he would be the hardest to trick. He was on to her. She either hadn't played the victim well enough, or he was just desperate for answers and badgering her because she had some.

Either way, she thought of a response that might make him sympathize enough to leave her alone. Memories of that day came flooding back to her mind, memories that made the emotion in her voice all too real and painful.

"Because I've played before."

Author's Note: First of all, I'm sorry it's been awhile since my last update. I got a sinus infection and then I had a lot of school work I had to catch up for the few days I was too sick to do anything. I'm better now.

Have you ever listened to Leigh's comments about Saw fanfiction on the "Saw" commentary?

Leigh: "You know that I went on-line and I saw some great Saw fansites, and one of them had a link to some Saw fanfiction...one of them was about [Gordon's] point of view after he crawled out of the bathroom. It's about three pages of just this inner monologue going ...

'Oh God, my foot's missing! What do I do now? I'm bleeding! And my foot's missing! And I'm bleeding! And to top it all off, my foot's gone. And of course I've ruined my best shirt...'"

Haha. Love it. The whole commentary is absolutely hilarious. I don't watch commentaries that often, (or ever, unless their Saw) but I highly recommend listening to the whole thing at least once.