~ Jaden leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He began to count the seconds passed in his head, having decided that if he did not hear any response within 30, he would give up and go back to trying to get his cuffs off. He could feel his jaw already going sore and stiff around the gag and he suddenly felt a wave of claustrophobic panic. As he compulsively swallowed, trying to fight back against his instincts, a faint metallic ping interrupted his personal crisis.
Jaden's eyes flew open and he bent closer to put his ear against the vent. That had been a short pause, then three long, break, two short, two long, two short.
"J?"
Jaden could barely contain the feeling of relief that rushed through him. It was absolutely tangible. He quickly tapped out his response, all the while silently blessing Andrew for getting him to memorize Morse for a stupid game they had played when leaving notes for one another.
"Yes."
"R u ok?"
"Yes"
"T w/ u?"
"No."
A sudden flurry of about half a dozen taps told Jaden that something was going on and Andrew wanted him to "maintain radio silence". He held his breath again and pressed his ear to the small opening. He could hear faint voices drifting through the vent, but couldn't make out any words. One of the voices raised to a shout and then Jaden heard a louder thump, like a door slamming. A split second later there were footsteps in the hall. Jaden quickly jumped to the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed just as the locks on his cell disengaged and the door opened.
The fourth man walked in with someone else right behind him. A woman of medium height and slim build, wearing a red dress. A scarlet, backless evening gown to be specific. Her rich chocolate auburn hair was piled high on her head with several loose tresses falling elegantly down over her shoulders.
Jaden overruled his first impulse to rise and take the best defensive position he could manage. Instead he opted to remain seated and, looking past the man, fixed Ms. Scarlet with a belligerent stare with undertones of disinterest. He hoped she was getting all that.
The woman gazed back at him through heavily made-up eyes and after a moment a subtle, but obviously cruel smile drifted over her red lips.
"How very cliched," thought Jaden.
"Take the gag off of him, Tom," she ordered in a silky voice. ~
2 comments:
Out of curiosity, just how much of the current "fun" is Team 5 missing out on? Has everything since the game show been one "stage", or will Team 5 get to climb a mountain and maybe visit their own instance of, um, wherever Team 6 is?
Um, the level boundaries are very vague but usually between stages there is an actual change in altitude. Sometimes it's small, like the staircase at that old lady's mansion. So Team 5 at least missed out on fighting the Hell Beasties, and all the long trek through the woods. I imagine they probably would have been put back in right at the foot of the mountain (a stage change that is, in and of itself, a stage. Oh gasp.) If they made choices similar to those of Team 6 then they very well may be in their own instance of...wherever Team 6 is.
Incidentally, it took Team 6 about 12 hours to get through that level, maybe a tiny bit more. So perhaps Takyle was right about it giving them an edge if Team 5 took the break. But then, maybe the break was always nothing more than another trap!
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