Black & White-English Version

3-Hide and Seek

When I entered the botanical garden I didn't have the faintest idea what Game it could be. I just hoped it wasn't Diamonds and that the goal wasn't something like "find the flower you don't see inside this huge garden" because otherwise, I could have already start digging my own grave.

In the center there was a clearing with two tables and a large monitor. On one table there were various types of weapons with instructions to take the one you preferred; on the other there were the usual cell phones and two kinds of helmets with built-in collars and goggles. The other four had already been worn by four people, who were clearly strangers to each other.

I had a feeling this time it wasn't going to be easy to get out alive.

I grabbed an iron crowbar and I strapped it to my ankle and a cell phone, then put on my helmet. I went to one side and waited for the last participant to arrive.

After a few minutes a boy arrived; he wore a white sweatshirt with a hood over his head. He went straight to the tables and grabbed a medium sized pliers and cell phone which he pocketed, then pulled down his hood and pulled on his helmet. He had ash-blonde hair that fell just above his shoulders.

He walked into a corner and for a long moment our eyes met. It was as if we were trying to square ourselves to figure out what kind of people we were.

Then, the screen lit up and the voice announced the Game.

Difficulty: 7 of Hearts

Game: Hide and Seek

Rules: Two people will be the wolves and the other four will be the lambs. A lamb found by a wolf will become the next wolf, and must hide so that the wolves do not find them. Clear condition: Players who are the wolves at Game's end are the winners.

Time limit: 15 minutes. When 15 minutes have passed, the collars fastened to the lambs' neck will explode. 

The helmets activated and a red circle appeared on the glasses, for facial recognition of the other Players.

The rules of this game were absurd and immediately confused two of the boys. The girl looked terrified and the other guy, around his thirties, tall and muscular, looked ready to kill. I had to stay away from him if I became the wolf, since it was clear to me that it was the wolves that should hide and not the lambs.

The screen lit up and revealed that the wolves were the guy in the white hoodie, who was already gone, and the girl.

She was visibly shaking as the two boys started to run away. I approached her.

The muscular guy violently shook her and she looked at him. At that moment a change appeared on the screen: the second wolf was him now.

So, if you were looked at, you became the wolf. That was the only way to save yourself.

At that moment one of the boys came back. He was wearing a fluorescent t-shirt, a very bad choice if you wanted to blend in.

"I don't get it." He said.

"There's nothing to understand. I am the wolf now. Go back into hiding and wait to die." The muscular man threatened him.

"You wanna make me?" The other provoked him.

I realized what he was doing and decided to stay still and wait, I would have had a much better chance with him than with the muscular one, who looked like a real killer.

It happened just what I expected : the muscular guy looked at him to retort and the wolf became the boy in the fluorescent t-shirt, who was already running away.