Note: I made a quick change to the last line of the Prologue.
Act I:
Scene i
"Ugh," moaned the man lying on the grimy, yellow, tile floor. "What is this?" he managed to mumble. He sat up straight and glanced down at his sweatpants, and then the cold, iron, chain cuff gripping his left foot.
He stood up, getting a better look at his surroundings. The chain attached to his metal cuff led down a few feet to a pole; a bigger cuff was wrapped around the pole and four other chains were attached to it. Each chain led to another trapped person.
"Hey, wake up!" he shouted, kneeling down now, hopelessly tugging on the chain that held him captive.
"I've been up," replied a younger man.
"Why didn't you wake us sooner?" the older man asked, looking at the young man's face; his bright green eyes and dark colored hair gave him a unique appearance.
The other people began to stir; the chains rattled as they awoke. "Do you know what this is?" the young man asked. "I think we're going to need our strength."
The slightly older man sighed, giving up on the chain, "Yeah," he said. "I've heard about the Jigsaw murders. I guess it was only a matter of time before I saw one."
"Shit!" came from a darker skinned man. "Come on!" his first instinct, like everyone's, was to pointlessly pull on the chain that trapped them.
His shouting brought another girl to sit up, her eyes half open as her head moved around, "Whoa. Some party." She rubbed her eyes and began to move to get up, but she soon realized the situation, "Hey!" she shouted, "Hey! What the hell is this?" she screamed, grabbing the chain and whipping it up and down.
"Roy?" came the voice of a young woman next to the first man, he quickly responded to his name and looked at her.
It took him a few seconds but he remembered, "Alison?" Roy asked and she nodded. Her torn up clothes gave her a more desperate look for any type of companionship, "I haven't seen you in months. Are you ok?"
"Hanging in there," the brown-haired woman replied.
Roy made an attempt to get closer to his friend but he stopped when he felt something tug on his shirt; a wire that was stuck had been pulled forward from a player placed on top of the television, turning it on.
Their attention turned toward the television; it made odd sounds but the static soon calmed and a sinister puppet took its place.
"Greetings—and welcome," water slowly began to come in from the end of the large room; where no door was placed. "You have spent your years living lies. Lies that have caused the ones you care about to suffer. But those who were suffering you refused to care about. I am now giving you a second chance; there is a slow acting poison in your body," the voice was unique and powerful, drawing in the complete attention of everyone within earshot.
"I'd say you have about one hour before the toxin starts to take effect. There is a single antidote placed in this building; you all may fight amongst it, or look beyond deception—and find a different solution. Do not be blinded by what you think is reality, be cautious; you are all linked together by your… chain of lies. Bare in mind, you may be able to fool each other; but you cannot outfox me. Good luck; and don't touch the water."
"No! No!" the darker skinned man shouted, "This is bull!" He tugged hard on the chain, his bare feet slid against the cold floor as his grasp began to slip.
"Knock it off!" the younger man said, his head turned towards the screaming one. "Panicking will get us nowhere. Look," he nudged his head to the side of Roy and Alison, "You both can reach that stove. See what's there."
Roy stood up and walked over to the black stove, his chain near its full length. Alison crawled over as well, pulling out a red box from underneath the stove; her fingers began to lift the cover.
"The water," the other woman said, pointing towards the water slowly making its way towards them, "Look." There were two large objects on either side of the wall; wires came out from them, clips on the end, lying on the floor.
Roy's hands were placed on the top of the stove as his eyes watched the water inch closer to the wires, "The water's going to conduct the electricity." It finally sunk in, the danger of the situation.
The cover of the box was opened; photos lay inside along with a tape recorder, complete with a cassette. The words 'Keep Me', were painted in white onto the front of the recorder. "Roy," Alison showed him several pictures; they all looked like they were taken within the same minute, but they each had Roy and the dark skinned man. The man appeared to be giving him a small bag. On the back of two of the few photos were phrases, 'Roy and Isaac' and 'The Valiant Officer'. "Are those—drugs?" she asked Roy as Isaac leaned forward and squinted his eyes to get a better look, but he quickly looked away from the photos.
The 'valiant' officer refused to make eye contact with Alison, "Just play the tape." He said shamefully, "Please," he added.
She moved her eyes back to the recorder and clicked play.
"Hello Roy," it said, the same strong tone that came from the television, "You are a police officer; an upholder of the law. But as you can see from the photographs in front of you, you have become the very thing that you imprison. How many people have you hurt from your desire for satisfaction? How many people have you neglected? Now I'm going to give you the chance to help rather than hurt people through your desire for satisfaction. Your desire for survival—your satisfaction to know you are still alive. Your 'drug', in this case the key that will unlock the chains, is inside the stove; open the hatch and the fire will start. Reach in and take it. But the key is a weaker metal than the wire holding it in place. Hurry, it will melt before long. If you can't stand the heat, officer, stay out of the oven. Live or die. Make your choice."
Roy stood still, nodding his head slowly as he looked down at the stove. The recording finished and he closed his eyes. He could feel the tears rising. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I should've stopped so long ago. But I couldn't," he took in a tear-holding breath, "It was just so hard losing her…"
"Just get the god damn key!" Isaac shouted; his chained foot jerked as Alison's head twisted in his direction.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" she swore, "You're a scum bag drug dealer! At least Roy has a heart!" Isaac said nothing as he went back to mindlessly pulling on his chain.
"C'mon. We'll figure out a different way to get that key out of there," Alison said, "Maybe if we break open the backside…"
Roy bent down, his metal cuff pulling against his ankle, "No. I'll do it." He eyed the water; he could hear the soft hum of electricity, "I'll do it."
He gripped the handles of the stove door; his heart rate increased, realizing just what he was about to do.
It swung down, a few clicks went off and Roy quickly shot his right hand into the stove. The fire hadn't started yet. He quickly grabbed the key and pulled it torward him; but the wire was tied to the key too tightly.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted up from the bottom of the stove, scorching the bottom of his arm, "Aaagh!" Roy cried out.
The officer jumped back, away from the stove, pulling out his arm fully. He waved his arm several times in an attempt to cool it off. His simple white t-shirt didn't have sleeves to cover up his bare arms and protect him from the flames.
"You!" Roy shouted to the young man, looking at his thin vest over his shirt, "Give me your vest!" He had no time to waste on being polite.
"I have a name you know," he said, pulling off his vest without quarrel; he knew the urgency of the situation, "It's Kaden." He tossed his vest toward the officer.
Roy caught the thrown vest and grabbed it by the collar. Pulling hard, he managed to rip it in half; Kaden didn't flinch at his destroyed clothing.
Wrapping each half around a separate arm, hoping they would provide some protection against the heat. Roy prepared himself again, "I think the wire's tied on there. I have to undo it." He exhaled hard, glancing at the water that would soon reach his bare feet in under a minute.
"Aaah!" he shouted, throwing both hands into the inferno. The vest pieces quickly began to burn up and his arms were once again in stinging pain. His fingers scrambled around the wire until he found the knot and his fingers began their desperate attempt to loosen it.
The young lady grabbed her ears and opened her mouth to cry out, 'Stop it!' But she knew how selfish and pointless it would be. She kept to herself, shaking a bit as Alison quickly crawled over.
"Hey. Everything's ok. Roy will be fine," Alison said, leaving Roy in his hellish agony for a few moments. She couldn't bare to uselessly watch him any longer, "I'm Alison."
"Grace," she replied, not wanting to remove her hands from her ears. She had no intention of striking up a conversation at the moment.
"Come on!" Roy screamed, the bottom of the vest pieces had been burned away and his skin was beginning to cook. "Aaaah! Shit!" he shouted, his hands jerking to either side, the knot began to untangle.
He grabbed the key once more; it was burning hot. He pulled back and wire slipped off the key, but not before one of the veins in Roy's arm popped due to the intense heat. Blood spewed into the fire; it sizzled quickly as Roy gave one more shriek of pain and fell backwards. The key slid along the floor, as Roy spread his arms outward on the cool floor. His crisp flesh was peeling and the skin was a brown and bloody color. Small rivers of blood aligned his arms from his heated, damaged veins.
"Oh God!" Alison cried, running over to Roy and picking up the key, "Damn it!" she dropped it; the key was scorching hot.
Not wanting to pull off the remaining pieces of vest, considering it probably melted onto his skin, she quickly tore off a piece of her gray sleeve, picking up the end of the key and undoing her own iron cuff.
"Roy!" she shouted; not sure whether to drag him away or wait until he moved, "The water's going to shock you!"
He turned his head towards the water. The white-hot pain surged through his bloody, blistered arms. He was in too much pain to even move. All he wanted to do was put his arms in the water and cool them off.
"Damn it, Roy!" she cursed, carefully grabbing him by underneath his armpits and dragging him away from the water; he gave a groan as she knelt down over his legs, unlocking the cuff.
He squinted and gave another groan as he watched the water inch toward him. Roy could hear the tape recorder. Its words repeated themselves, 'Live or die. Make your choice.'
To be continued…
