The Adaptive Game

"HOT WATER"

- Conner

The classical music comes on for the fourth time in a row. I'm never happy to hear it again.

"Players. It is time for the seventh game."

Oh wow. I'm soooo excited.

"Do not group up. Follow, in a line."

We take the same route we did for Russian Roulette and Truth or Dare, but we take a sharp right instead and go to a whole new room, it looks like a small farm set. There are weird drainage vents on the sides of the walls.

"Welcome, to The Floor Is Lava. The pipes will start shooting lava, and the lava will begin to rise bit by bit, which you can measure by the markings on the walls. You must stay above the lava to survive."

Immediately after hearing the word lava, I think of high ground.

There's an outhouse, a barn, and a lamppost. They are all above the line except for the outhouse, so the best option is the barn. Everyone is looking at the barn.

The timer starts and I immediately start running for the barn roof but I can't reach it. There are some mock haybales on the ground, so I lift them up and stack them onto each other to make a small staircase.

The lava timer hits 0 and I can see pipes on the side starting shoot out real, legitimate lava. The drainage vents close completely and the ground is getting deep fried, very fast.

"CONNER! STAND ON SOMETHING!" Emilia yells from the outhouse.

The staircase I made isn't completely finished, but it surfaces the lava just barely.

The lava rises right up close to my shoes, but I'm all good.

The timer starts again and I can't build the staircase more without accidentally falling into the lava and dying. I need something to anchor myself so I can boost myself onto the top of the barn.

A pitchfork! I can stab it into the haybales and use the angle to boost myself up.

It's lava proof, by the looks of it leaning against the barn, half-submerged in the lava.

Bringing the pitchfork closer, I plant it right into the bale and put my foot on it. My hand grips well onto the roof and I'm able to get up - the pitchfork gives way and falls into the murky lava below.

"Jesus."

Getting up onto the very top of the barn, I can see everything. Gavin, Emilia, and another contestant are on top of the outhouse. It's small and feeble - and it's going to rise up and burn them all.

Meanwhile, a few other contestants are also on the barn with me. The barn looks pretty stable for all of us. Shaun is the only person on the lamppost, he managed to get on by himself.The lava rises again and it gets very close to Gavin and Emilia's spot.

"CONNER! WE GOTTA JUMP TO THE BARN!"

"I'LL SPOT YOU! DON'T FALL!"

I get close to the edge, and hold my hand out. Gavin jumps first, and reaches his mutilated hand to grab mine. Luckily, he gets up without a problem.

"EMILIA! COME ON!"

Emilia jumps, and she almost slips out of my grip.

"CLIMB UP, CLIMB UP!"

The last contestant on the outhouse jumps, and me and Gavin grab onto him. However, he's really heavy and it's hard to hold him up.

"GAVIN! GAVIN, PULL MORE!"

Gavin takes his other hand and tugs with al his might, and so do I. Without warning, Gavin runs out of energy and lets go.

"AGH!" Gavin screams, and drops his other hand. It's way too much to grab onto the big guy with one person, and I have to drop him.

I let go and the guy screams at the top of his lungs until he hits the lava and goes silent. It takes a few seconds for his body to go completely under.

Emilia looks over the edge in horror.

"You couldn't do anything."

"Shit."

The few other contestants were just sitting and watching, apparently. They didn't even NOTICE what was going on. And, that actually pisses me off!

"You guys just watched him fall? What were you guys doing while we were trying to pull him up?!"

I walk towards them with my finger pointed at them, but then, I hear the roof below me breaking.

"Huh-"

Suddenly the roof completely gives way and opens a huge hole. I nearly would have fallen through if I hadn't had Gavin grab me at the last second.

"Phew, thanks!"

I can't seem to pull myself up and neither can the people above.

"Wait, I have an idea. There's a support beam right there, I'll drop onto it and get back up!"

"Alright, what do we do?"

"Watch!"

I let go of Gavin and catch myself on a wooden support beam. There is a window that I can leap to from where I am. I can see Shaun atop the lamppost through the window.

Taking a big step, I hop onto the windowsill and grab onto the sides.

"See? I did it!"

I hear some of the roof collapsing on the barn above - and I can see it breaking off the other parts of the roof.

"GUYS, WATCH OUT!"

The part of the roof collapses and a woman falls right through it. Worse, she hits the support beam hard and rebounds before plunging into the lava.

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO GET OFF OF THAT ROOF!"

I hear someone climb onto the barn. It's David, he pops right in front of the windowsill.

"Oh, hi."

"We have to get to the lamppost if we wanna stay alive. Shaun noticed earlier how stable the bolts were."

"Okay, I'll go for it then!"

"I'm after you."

Looking at Shaun, I take another jump, even farther from the last jump I made. I'm able to grab onto the lamppost but now I'm slipping off of it. Shaun is standing on one of the lights, and he reaches his hand out.

Is this a trick?

Was this whole 'David telling me to jump' thing a trick?

Now I really don't wanna grab his hand - but I'm running out of strength and I can't get up by myself.

"CONNER, GRAB MY HAND ALREADY!"

I throw my hand out and he pulls me up.

So it wasn't a trick.

"What were you waiting for? Were you too scared to touch me? Heh."

"Shut up."

David gets onto the windowsill and prepares a jump. When he jumps, he gets horrible momentum compared to mine and is only able to grab onto me when I reach out a little farther to get him.

"Hang on, David, I'll pull you up!"

"I'm falling!"

"SHAUN, GRAB HIM!"

Shaun gets down the lamppost and tries to reach out, but can't grab him no matter how hard he tries.

"I CAN'T DO IT!"

"YES YOU CAN! GRAB HIS GODDAMN HAND OR WE'RE IN HOT WATER!"