While the pledgers were debating who was forming alliances with whom, the Commando arrived in Texas. Everything was ready and waiting for him. The team he found walked him through on the space blanket and how to use it. He had a small window of opportunity to go in, insert a new chip in Texas, and stake out the safe room before anyone noticed.Acer was very excited about the mission. She couldn't wait to see Texas's expression when she realized she wasn't so untouchable. She sat down and waited.The organizers had already taken advantage of the alliances that the pledgers seemed to be focused on and froze the cameras on Texas' farm to some hours behind while the leader, organisers and Acer watched the live feeds. Texas was still in her safe room, her thermal monitor on her lap as she ate lunch with her daughter. She was unaware of the danger that was heading her way. The commando was quickly taken to a farm near Texas' property. He had to walk the remaining meters to avoid suspicion
Acer was running mad. She kept pacing the room while attempting to get hold of her boss. Everything was not going to plan and the boss was not making things easy for them. She had tried to talk to the organizers but they were too blindfolded and had no idea what was going on.She felt the leader had crossed the line even though he had the authority to do whatever he wanted, but it was insulting to the staff to cut them off during crucial moments or disastrous moments that were hindering the progress of the game. Soon the pledgers were going to find out the feeds were tempered with. It was only a matter of time.Her phone rang, and it was the organizers giving her an update."We just spoke to him.""And what? What do you mean?" she urged anxiously."He cut us off because he was doing some clean-up," the man explained. Acer was perplexed. Her mistrust of her boss's collaboration with Texas grew stronger. Something wasn't quite right. She was surprised that the organizers had missed it
She acted quickly and focused her attention on Washington and Louisiana, both of which appeared to be wasting time. They'd been looking for a gun for an hour. They had spent a significant amount of time moving around the ghostly town. They were hampered by the locals. The majority of them were conservatives who disliked mixing with outsiders. And them looking for a gun just made things worse.Acer made the decision to make things simple for them. She was defying her boss, who had warned her about interfering in the game earlier, but she didn't care. She planned to do the same thing he was doing. Each with their own way of cleaning up the mess.She contacted her contact in Texas and made some demands off the books. It was time someone did something about the unfairness of the games.She reverted her gaze to the monitors and noticed that the Texas live feeds were back on. She moved from one room to the next and realized there was no sign of the commando. All of the rooms were empty; it
Nebraska paid close attention to the two as they argued over who should take the gun. They had completely ignored the grenade bag on the ground. They kept going at each other, oblivious to her presence.The pledgers on the two players' team stood up in disbelief, yelling for the two players to look behind them. Everyone in the arena room was aware that Nebraska was not a team player, and she did not appear to be willing to negotiate a deal.She quickly crawled out from the shrubs and went straight for the bag containing the grenades. She had already removed one grenade by the time the two players realized what was going on and was aiming at them.The two players froze as they slowly turned. In front of them was a scruffy-looking woman with bruises and scratches all over her face and arms. Her brunette hair was a tangle of twigs and leaves, and her clothes were ripped in some parts. She appeared to be going through hell more than they were. They had no idea where she had come from. Lou
The pledgers watched, yelling for the organizers to do something. Nebraska's death had somehow woken up their moods. The game became live again, but they did not like the fact that her death was somehow advantaging Texas. She now hid at the end of the path that led to her house, waiting to ambush the two players heading in her direction; Alabama and Michigan. They were confused with her choice of weapon. A bow and arrow was less accurate and would not give her a confirmed kill, but she went for it.The sun was almost setting, Alabama and Michigan navigated the grass and shrubs on the neglected farm unaware of the woman waiting for them at the end of the path. Texas could hear their footsteps. It was a bit dark for a point on strike, but all she needed was to get them in the legs.She breathed in and out, pulled on the ball, and the second she saw what appeared to be human, she released the arrow and it went flying straight into Alabama's leg, who wailed out in pain.Before Michigan c
Washington peered back at the window to find the woman had vanished. He was confident he had the shot, but the woman behind him ruined it. In annoyance, he gritted his teeth. He'd started losing his cool. He just wanted to get the perfect shot, but he had to keep his cool if he was going to hit anyone.All it was going to take was one shot, and the organ was his. His mother law's heart would go to the rightful recipient, his wife. That was what he needed to concentrate on.Louisiana slowly rose and crawled back to the drum in agony, nothing was going as she planned. Washington had the gun, he seemed determined to win but it was going to be over her dead body if he wanted to win the game without her. Michigan, who was now hiding behind the window, peered in to see where the trouble was. She had the gun locked in her hands and her heart was beating very fast. She had no idea whether to run outside or to remain inside the house. The only thing she was sure of was that the noise came fr
Texas looked up in frustration, thinking of the next move while the two players on the floor crying out in agony. She got up and began moving around like someone in deep thoughts. The game was finally getting to her. All she could think of was the grenade. What if it was large enough to blow up her house? What if her daughter had gotten out of the safe room in search of her and somehow the grenade landed on her? What if the player she had left in the house had decided to run to her bedroom and the grenade was thrown in the bedroom instead of the kitchen? She kept grilling herself like she was in some sort of exam.The pain? The horror? A lot of what-ifs were running in her head and a big part of her was telling her to kill the two idiots that had shown no remorse towards her or her daughter. They were both animals that needed to die.She knelt down and bowed her head in the realization of how stupid she was. She had been too confident in herself and underestimated her opponents. The c
The other four players on the property's outskirts were caught up in their own hell. New York insisted on returning to their motels. She was exhausted and terrified, and her body was in so much pain that she couldn't think straight.She tried to persuade the others to join her, but they all knew better and knew what would happen if they quit. They were well aware of what had happened to Tennessee, the previous player to put the organization to the test."Just relax, we just need to take a break and think about it. Remember, if you do anything stupid, they will kill you," New Jersey served her a reminder. He was also going insane.It was the second time they had to flee due to the sound of guns. The sound appeared to be coming from more than one weapon this time around. He could not pinpoint the location of a second or additional gun, but this time it was like there was some sort of gunfire exchange. However, quitting was not an option for them. They had already dug their own graves."
Texas walked outside and found her boss pissed, waiting for her outside the helicopter."Sparing their lives was never an option," she said as she walked past him."Are you insane? They were the only people that would lead to the filthy man in charge of those stupid games!" He yelled at her."No one in that room knows who the idiot is," she spat out, annoyed, and entered the helicopter. Sebastian closed his eyes in irritation and followed suit. The helicopter was in the air in seconds, heading back to Washington. A message popped up on Sebastian's phone, forcing him to frown."What? Who was that?" Texas asked."Since you have forgotten how to play as a team member, it is none of your business," he replied, putting his phone away."The stupid leader was probably watching. With all the investors gone, he will need to recruit new ones," she explained.Sebastian glanced at her with interest.She explained "He is probably going to recruit every person that will take over from each of thos
Two hours elapsed with the organizers playing hide and seek with their computer mice. Their lives depended on finding their boss, but they couldn't find him. They kept asking for more time just to stall the wrath that was going to descend on them. Their eyes darted around crazily, looking for a way out, which was impossible given that the entire building was under lockdown. Tired of waiting, one of the pledgers walked to where they were seated and shot one of them straight in the head, splashing some blood and brains all over the other organizers before dropping to the ground. The entire arena let out a terrifying wail. "Maybe this will motivate the others to work faster!" he yelled. The organizers froze in terror for split seconds. Their entire bodies became impossibly still, with their hands twitching spastically, making it impossible for them to type on their computers. Their colleague lay a few centimeters from their legs, brains, and blood everywhere. What started as a pe
Hanging from a rope with her hands bonded together and her legs barely touching the ground, Acer finally opened her eyes. She could feel painful cuts on her face that felt like her flesh was bare.She looked around, trying to make sense of where she was. She vividly remembered being at Washington's house and having a needle stuck in her. She began panicking, "Hello, is... anyone... in here?" She spoke in a suffocated whisper. Her voice was trembling.She looked down, and that's when she noticed the blood all over her and the pieces that appeared to be skin. She knew it was hers but could not tell which part of her body it was from. A sickening wave of terror welled up from her belly as a voice from behind her finally spoke."Sleeping ugly has finally woken up," Texas said and began pushing on a high mirror. "You are going to love what I have done with your face," she said as she brought the mirror in front of her hostage.Acer stared at the mirror and let out a loud scream, forcing T
At Washington's house, Acer, still strapped in the chair, began panicking. She was sure it had been hours, yet Washington was not dropping to the ground and neither was anyone coming to save her or making a call on her phone.It appeared they were just watching and enjoying the show at her expense. There was no doubt her boss had abandoned her. She needed to start using her head fast if she was going to leave the house alive."Listen to me, Washington. I can help you get your wife's organs.""Shut up, do not think I am that stupid!" He yelled back at her."What's your fuckin' plan here exactly?" "None of your business," he replied, leaning on the wall. He had no idea what he was doing, but he knew he had a death wish. He looked at his watch. It was exactly two hours since he told Louisiana about his hostage situation. He got his phone out of his pocket and turned it back on. A lot of messages from Louisiana popped up, but none from Texas. Louisiana acknowledged passing off the messa
"Before you say a single word, please be sure what comes out of your mouth is correct because you have only five minutes to convince me why you made the call," Sebastian warned."I want back on the team, and I have a mission in mind," she replied.The man chuckled, his eyes fixed on the little girl.Texas signaled for a waitress and ordered the little girl's favorite ice cream. She then got out headphones and placed them on the girl's ears as the ice cream was brought to her."Is it not too cold for ice cream?" Sebastian asked."For the past three days, I had locked her underground in a safe room. I promised her ice cream once we went out, " she explained and told him about the organ-organized games and how she found herself in it.He stared at her with raised eyebrows. He was a man of few words and was good at hiding his emotions and reactions. She could not tell whether he believed her or not."I want to take them down, and you have the resources to help me," she added.He chuckled,
The pledgers watched, and as much as they wanted to feel sorry for the players, they couldn't. Killing or getting killed by Texas was the only solution to their misery. They already knew what they signed up for the second they were threatened with playing the game. They needed to finish up what they started or commit suicide. Those were the only two ways out of the contract. The pledgers were tired of waiting for some action. Acer was still in the air, the players were showing no signs of playing and Texas had disappeared into her safe room for hours while five corpses were rotting in her yard.It appeared the boss was not going through with the plans of calling the authorities on her, and it appeared they were not going to pick up the bodies either.They were left staring at a lot of empty screens with no action or any sign of action. A total of five hours had elapsed with nothing and total quiescence.Unknown to them, in Texas, in a small pub, Texas pushed a little trap door. She
The boss breathed in and out, staring at the screen and bursting into laughter like a mad man. Hiding one dysfunctional chip was one thing, but all the players having a dysfunctional chip was the end of his game.To make matters worse, the man who was equipped to fix the chips was still in the hospital. There was nothing he could do but laugh at himself. He kept laughing and pressing the buttons until his eyes were watery red and he was out of breath.She outsmarted him. He was nothing but a joke, both to his family and his employees. After fifty years of his family running successful games, he was the first one that broke the chain and failed, and his downfall was a tiny mysterious woman who appeared to have popped out of nowhere.He grabbed his vodka and began drinking it straight from the bottle as he loosened his tie. "Berth Rosewood, I think we should meet in person," he said, as he took a sip.He focused his attention on the screen. The players finished up with their goodbyes li
"How... how did she know my name?" Washington whispered.The other players looked at each other, blank. They remembered telling her their names in the safe room but not Washington's. They had no idea what his name was prior to Texas saying it out. They were also sure Washington had not been down there."I didn't tell anyone what my name was. Then where did she get my name?"Alabama pointed out, "You should be more interested about how she stitched your torn artery than how she got to know your name."Washington could only stare at him without altering a single word.The organizers were also confused as to how she knew his name. If he had not told anyone, then they were in trouble.Her phone rang as she walked into her bedroom, searching for her car keys. She looked at the number and recognized it immediately. It was their leader."Hello, love," she replied."Stop with the stupid games," the man said from the other side of the line. He was calling to pump some sense into her. "I think
Acer kept calling her boss, who to her disappointment was not picking up. She gave up, frustrated. He was clearly blaming her for the blunder when no one had the right to do so.They were all convinced that the players' failure to kill the insane woman was due to competition. Granting them a deal together had a high chance of success, but the players were simply too stupid to use their heads.To top it off, the players had cornered her with the time debate. It was not her fault that they requested a contract that stipulated they had to carry out a task within 24 hrs. No one had supported her when she was backed into a corner, not the organizers and certainly not her ungrateful boss.She got up and poured herself a glass of scotch, pissed at all of them for trying to flip the disaster on her.At the house, Louisiana had already begun cleaning up the kitchen. First, she dragged Washington to the spare bedroom and placed more bandages on his wound before returning to the kitchen. He was