Game On - Part 2
The piercing slam of the metal door pounded through their brains as they simultaneously winced in pain. It's echo was still felt as Ben repeatedly blinked to adjust back to the original dull fog of light. He called out across the room.
“Sheila! You OK?”
A timid, shaky voice responded from the other side. “Yes, Ben. Just about. What was that guard talking about? I couldn’t bear to hear or see what was going on. Sorry, I had my eyes and ears closed the entire time.”
“Don’t worry, dear. Long story short, we’re in a spot of trouble for now. So let’s keep calm and figure this out.”
He shuffled along on his hands and knees to the rectangular device lying on the floor. In the dim light, it just looked like a dark smudge on the ground. He picked it up carefully with trembling hands and looked it over. A faint, pale bordered outline with a black screen in its centre.
“God, I wish I went to those I.T. classes Johnny was pushing me so hard to attend.” he joked in dark humour as he attempted to solve this technological riddle before him.
He ran his fingers over the smooth screen. It remained blank. Horror took hold of him as he found he couldn’t even bring himself to power it back on.
“Blast this thing!” he shouted as he analysed the device to understand its workings.
Meanwhile, Sheila started crawling toward him slowly, weak with fear and confusion. “What’s happening, Ben?” she called out.
He felt around the edges and front surface for some indication of a switch or button. At last, a small, round depression found near the bottom border. He pressed it lightly and the iPad glowed back into life.
He looked upward and sighed with relief. “OK.” he muttered. “Step one, out of the way.”
Sheila reached him and looked over the device, shielding her eyes for a few seconds, to adjust. “The guard mentioned something to you but I couldn’t hear properly. What’s going on?” she asked while wrapping one arm around his neck. “Look, I’m sorry about shouting and being unreasonable before, I was just feeling so…”
“Please, not now, Sheila. Anytime but right now.” he said nervously as he analysed the various symbols. The top edge of the screen displayed a digital clock. “14.15. I wonder if that’s even correct. Doesn't really matter anyway. Let’s assume we have 50 minutes. Best to give ourselves some extra time just in case.” he said. Sheila just watched on blankly. At the top right, a percentage reading with a battery sign next to it. “That must be the power meter. Right, 90%. So far, so good. At least that’s one less thing to worry about. This piece of shit running out of juice.”
He inhaled large, deep breaths to order to restore his composure and focused on the task at hand. Adrenaline pumped furiously through his body heightening his senses. As he continued to scour the screen, he saw the words “Fruit Ninja” written in text with a small cartoonish symbol above it.
“Right, got you.” he said silently but triumphantly.
Upon pressing the image and waiting a few seconds, some fancy writing appeared followed shortly afterwards by an animated menu selection screen. As his pupils contracted to mere dots, he browsed through all the options one by one, trying forcibly to mentally drown out the annoyingly happy music playing in the background.
He felt a gentle tap on his left shoulder causing him to jolt suddenly. “Oh, I’m sorry, Ben.” she said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. Please just tell me what’s going on. I won’t disturb and ask again after that, I promise.”
“Fine. OK, Sheila.” he said resignedly. “The guy who came in has given us some kind of a task to carry out. Should we do this successfully, we’ll both be provided with a hot shower and some proper food as opposed to the gruel we have been eating all this time. Not only that, we’ll be allowed outside for a while.” He thought it wise, given her current emotional state, to omit the horrible price that this came with.
Sheila started tearing up. “Really? Oh, that’s so great to know. Being allowed to enjoy the things we should have every human right to but don’t . They’re so generous in here, these bastards. God, I hate them so much.”
Ben held her hand softly. “So that is exactly why we must work together to get what we can at this precise moment. Let’s do it instead of sitting here, just waiting to die. What choice do we have? Please, be strong. Let’s fight as a team and see how far we can get, eh?”
His words reassured her somewhat. She wiped away the droplets brewing just under her eyelids and looked at him with a newfound determination. “OK, Ben. I see your point. We’ve got nothing to lose. Right. What must we do next?”
He glanced down at the flickering, animated screen below him. “This. This game here. We have to get a score of 200 or more to obtain our tickets for a shower, meal and some fresh air. We have one hour to do this and so better move fast. Blindingly obvious problem being we’ve never even held an iPad before let alone use one.”
“It’s OK, Ben, let’s figure this out together. If spotty little kids back home can work out how to use one of these things then it should be a doddle for us experienced old fogeys. What’s this on the screen now?” she asked.
“Well, look, we have a few options here." He read them out slowly one at a time. "Classic… Arcade… Challenge… Tournament…” He thought for a while before exclaiming, “Classic, that’s got to be the right choice. Classic, just like me, right?” he smiled at Sheila but a sullen look met his. He looked back at the iPad and pressed on the Classic icon. Nothing. He pressed again. No response. Panic started taking hold again.
“God, what’s the problem now! I don’t even know how to play this damn thing.” he growled behind clenched teeth. Again and again, he pressed the icon until accidently swiping at it and just like that, the game fired up in his hands.
“What did you do differently, Ben?” she asked inquisitively.
“I think I slid my finger on it instead of pressing it. Well, it seems to be working now.” The game proceeded to an entirely new screen consisting of various hieroglyphics. The only recognizable symbol was a circle revolving slowly at the bottom right hand corner of the display containing the words Play Game.
"Look at what I've been reduced to." he thought with self-depreciation and embarrassment.
But he didn't for one second show these true feelings to his wife.
“OK, Sheila, chances are we may actually be as smart as a five year old at least. Let’s see.” He swiped gently at the symbol and the game began.
He watched as various fruit were hurled onto the screen from below. He flicked his finger on the screen and a watermelon burst into colourful pixelated pieces with a satisfying squelch.
“Well done, Ben! You’re the greatest!” she exclaimed and hugged him gently, given how powerless her arms had become.
“Says the 66 year old doctor to the other 69 year old doctor.” he joked quietly, still locked in intense concentration.
Every fruit that threw itself onto the screen got a finger-blade as the score gradually increased. A hissing bomb flew onto the screen and he struck at it. The computerized bomb exploded and the game ended abruptly.
"Right, so that's what that does." he thought intently.
“OK, 24 points, not bad. So, at least we’ve worked out how to actually play this damn game. I need to check the time to see how much of it we have left.”
He carefully pressed the same indented button as before which took him straight back to the main page. He glanced up at the digital clock. “Right, 14.30. I’m giving us until 15.00, we must have this cracked by then.”
“Do you need any help from me, dear?” Sheila asked filled with concern, but he declined.
“Just rest, darling. All I require from you is to get some shut eye and I’ll get the thing beaten for us before you'll know it. Trust me, it will all work out just fine.” He held the back of her neck tenderly and she responded by kissing his arm. “I love you, please remember that, always.”
With that, she curled up into a ball beside him and laid a weary head onto her folding arms. She was out in seconds…
Sheila was startled awake by a raised, angry voice. She looked drowsily at Ben who was sitting propped up against the wall. His eyes were like small, round saucers in the dull, eerie light. He was resting the iPad in his lap, transfixed onto the screen.
“Ben…” she called out sleepily. “What’s the matter? Is everything alright?”
“No, no it’s not. I’m sorry I woke you but this is driving me insane! Either I’m not compatible with these things, I’m too slow or too fucking old! Maybe all three!”
She sat up and moved over to look at the screen. The highest score showed 132. “How much time do we have left?”
“It’s five to three. I’m losing my mind here. Playing these stupid, infantile games whilst our lives are hanging in the balance. I don’t know how much more of this I can take!”
“What are you talking about?” she asked in a fit of panic.
Ben, in all his anger and frustration, had said too much. It was time to come clean, now out of sheer desperation. “Sheila, Listen. We don’t have much time left. The captain told me that if we don’t have this completed within an hour, he’s going to kill us. That was around 45 minutes ago.”
“What!” she cried. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me! He’s going to kill us? All your bullshit about us getting out of here and in actuality we’re already dead?”
She started screaming in mental anguish as Ben flung the iPad to the floor and crawled to her side.
“Please, stop it! I need you to stay calm.” he yelled but she had already lost complete control. He tried grabbing her arms to restrain her but she wriggled free. With loud thuds, she began viciously beating her head with the palms of her hands. Her last vestiges of raw energy allocated to her own self-destruction. Ben watched in horror and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could.
They both fell to the ground. She struggled and whimpered to be set free but he would not relent.
“Ssshhh, darling. Just be still.” he kept repeating as she finally relaxed in his grip, completely spent. They lay there, in complete silence. Ben felt a single tear trickle down the side of his face.
The countdown was nearing it’s end and the final few minutes were drawing to a close…
(To be continued...)
