Video Games

Chapter Ten

Keltain, Kynos, the two other girls and I are forced to change bibs and head to our designated tracks. Now, I am the only member of the purple team – Tainai’s team. Two of us get to live past this, three of us will die. Already, three of us are eliminated. It just goes to show that the strongest don’t always win. Saying that, none of us have ever placed on the top five of a score board. Maybe we’re all in this team because the crowd hate us and want to see us die?

Or the crowd love us and the staff here doesn’t love our presence. They want us dead because we have potential to become favourites and they want to keep the big guys in the public eye, the guys like Tynoco and Chryso. It’s clever and there’s nothing we can do to prevent them from killing a bunch of us. It’s a tough life for us, and it’s a very short life for us too.

This time around, little collars have been strapped to our necks. Feeling like a dog without the freedom of wondering around – as if there’s an invisible lead stopping me from running free – I take myself to the lift where I’ll descend to level three and complete three levels of angry birds on my own.

This is ridiculous. It’s the third game and I’m already about to die. The girl who guessed the secret right – which has increased my money income as well as decreased the difficulty in my games as well by a percentage or so – is about to face her death. This is it, this is the end. Ryota Eidos is about to die on live international television. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to anyone: my parents, my school friends, Tynoco...

Standing in the elevator, I sniff and try to force back the tears. Knowing that someone here has to die is heart breaking – I’m half tempted to not even try so that Kynos and Keltain can live. The door closes and I watch the anxious faces of my friends and enemies slide away; slide away like my shortened life. The tears threaten to surface as I watch Dexio’s face scrunch up with agony, but I remember that we’re on television and that I need to get through this all without sobbing like a baby in front of the hidden cameras around here.

The siren goes off, signalling that we can start, that we have to start if we want any chance at surviving. Putting the first bird onto my sling, I try to lift back the elastic and internally tell myself that I’m going to die; I can’t pull the band back far enough to launch the bird. I wonder if anyone else is struggling or if I’m just too weak to pursue this challenge.

Finally, I yank the elastic back so far that I can launch the bird. Even though it doesn’t hit the pig, which disappoints me slightly, I know that I can now pull the string back and fire away. Now I need to make it more accurate. Picking up another bird, I place it against the string and let my body fall as I hold the elastic; my weight helps me pull back the elastic band.

This time when I fire I manage to brush the pig; however, my feeble attempt doesn’t kill it. Getting slightly irritated, I load my sling again and picture Tainai’s face. All I have to do is pull it back a little bit more, for I have the accuracy pretty spot on. I’m almost throwing myself backwards to pull the string back to where I need it; I grunt and try to aim it slightly more accurately.

The bird soars across the room, locked on target; it hits the green pig sat on its platform and knocks it off, causing the bad guy to dissolve into lime green cubes before I’m transported to level four where I’ll partake in the second level. This level is no different, other than the position of the pig; this time, it’s slightly higher up and towards the left, slightly blocked by a piece of wood. This one is harder to hit because of the wood and because it’s higher up, but I have to try.

Pulling a bird onto the catapult, I launch it off and miss the target by quite a way – it goes in the direction I want it to, but accuracy could be improved and it needs to reach greater heights. Holding onto another bird, I try it again and fail to reach the height that it’s at. Cursing is all I can do as I place another bird onto the catapult and try again.