The Mystery Eight

Chapter Seven: Electrifying

Three hands went up voting for Devin.

Nissa continued along, "Alexis?" two hands went up.

As she called the names, different hands went up, eventually she got to the last one, hers.

"Nissa" and to her surprise, no one raised their hands. They all spent every vote on the names previous to hers.

"So, after all votes, the four going in will be, Alexis, Daniel, Devin, and Tara. I guess pick who it is you want to be with."

The four stood around awkwardly, "So, who is going to be with me?" Devin said, and Alexis walked over to him.

"So, that leaves Tara and Daniel to be together. Before you go in the rooms, decide who is going to sit in the chair for each pair." Nissa said, feeling horrible that she even had to 'select' who went in.

"I can sit down." Alexis softly said to Devin, her heart was racing. "At least you get to sit." Devin tried to joke to lighten the mood, but everyone overheard him and looked at him unamused.

"You can sit in the chair if you want, I'm okay with whatever." Daniel said simply, Tara shrugged her shoulders and kinda had her head down.

"Okay, I'll sit." Daniel concluded.

The two pairs approached the door on each side, and butterflies started fluttering in each of their stomachs. The intensity of the situation was starting to weigh on their shoulders.

Devin looked at Alexis, and nodded his head, queing her to open the door, he stepped in and she followed behind. Both groups went in, and Alexis sat herself in the seat, as did Daniel, and each started strapping themselves in. There were a total of five metal straps, one going across their neck, the next being their chest. The third being across their lower stomach, fourth being across their mid-thighs, and final around their ankles. Which prevented them from being able to move or wiggle around in any way.

Devin noticed a tape recorder sitting on a cart,
he picked it up reluctantly, knowing whatever was to come out of it usually resulted in someone losing their life.

He finally pressed play, "In this obstacle, you will have to complete all five puzzles to free your partner, each one you release, shocks the person in the chair in the room across from you. Whoever doesn't get out either before the timer or the other person, will die from the electrical current that will be sent through the metal surrounding them. Timer starts when both chairs have two people locked in." The recorder stopped playing.

Devin and Alexis look at each other, "I, will do my best, I promise I'll get the both of us out alive." Devin said trying to relieve her.

On Tara and Daniel's side

"Okay, just finish locking me in, I can't do the rest, I have to sit back" Daniel motioned for Tara.

Tara walked over to him, she locked another up, and the only one left was the neck. She shakily reached over and was about to lock it, but paused.

"You can do it, just believe in yourself." Daniel said attempting to reassure her. She locked it, still shaking. They both lookup and see the timer had started, it read 44:59.

Tara walked over to the first puzzle, and stared at it trying to decipher the 'code'. She looked around to see if anything was around, she saw a book on the cart next to Daniel, and she cracked it open. She saw some of the symbols from the wall in the book and it respresented numbers. She lined them up and got the code, and put it in the small lock, which was keeping a metal slot closed. Once she opened it she saw a key, and didn't know what it went to. She looked around for a lock, and couldn't find one, she looked over to Daniel, and noticed a keyhole on each of the metal straps. She went to the one around his neck and unlocked it.

"Ag-OW!!" Alexis screamed in agony, as the electric shocked her in her throat.

Tara started to back away, and felt terrible for hurting Alexis, she didn't have the will to keep going.

"T-Tara what the fu-AGHHH"

Electric shocked him, causing him a little pain. Tara flinched at his pain. She back up as far as she could until she reached the corner, and slid down, before another shock caused Daniel to scream. She started to cry, and slide down the wall, folded in between her legs.

"Tara wh-what the fuck are you doing! HELP ME DAMMIT"

She shut herself off completely, and another shock went off, as each puzzle was solved more voltage was sent into the shock, causing serious injury.

"HELP HIM! GET UP, COME ON! TARA PLEASE" Nissa pounded her fist on the glass, begging. There was a fourth scream, and not after too long, there was the final shock, which ended Daniel's agonizing screams. Next thing to Tara's knowledge, it was silent, and both doors for each room opened.

Devin helped Alexis out of her seat, and she hugged him,

"Th-thank you." She shakily walked out the door, and didn't want to look over into the other room, but with the little hope that remained in her, she looked. She turned away after seeing the results, and threw up on the ground. Nothing came up but stomach bile, which burned her throat, and left a repulsive aftertaste. Devin stood by her, rubbing her back, after she finished she spit a few times, trying to ensure it was all out of her mouth then wiped her mouth with her shirt.

Nissa wanted to storm into the room, but the thought of her potentially getting locked in the room frightened her. Tara finally stood up, and walked out of the room, everyone's focus switched to her from Alexis. Sullenness filled the room, until Nissa broke the silence.

"What the fuck was that! You just let an innocent man die, and for what! You didn't even try. He-he helped me gain hope, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had faith in us. I'm going to make it out of here, not for just me, but for him, and for all of the lives that end in here. People will know the story of all the people who were in here." She turned away, frustrated and upset, she lost the person she started all of this with. At this point she knew anyone could die.

The next door leading them into a hallway opened, they started walking, some of the others lagged behind. Suddenly a wall shot down in between the group, splitting them off. A new door for each group opened, forcing both groups to take a new path.