What Game Will You Play

Chapter 8

(Edited)

People start screaming and yelling in a panic. I look around us, but no one seems to know what to do.

Some people are running in circles, bumping into one another, while others are still sitting down in their seats in shock. A number of people have dropped their boxes on the ground, but I know the security guards can just look at the names on the boxes and find out who they are. Devin's stuffed bunny for Mud is long gone in the crowd of scared people and has probably been trampled over.

I look around to see if there could somehow be another exit we could use to get out of here, but there isn't.

We remain standing on the bottom of the benches. I look at my Dad, and I can see him looking around the place for a way out, just like I was. I can see the fear in his face, but he is not panicking, which helps me not panic.

A tall guy comes running past us towards the locked exit, pushing me down in the process. My Dad reaches a hand out for me to take, and I hold onto it once more.

"Are you alright, Sam?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say, sounding out of breath. I am not sure when or why it got so hard for me to breathe. It gets worse the more I look around at the situation we are in.

People are running anywhere and everywhere in a panic, and the sound of verbal threats and yelling consumes my ears. Another gunshot is heard, then another. I don't see where it was fired from or where it was aiming. I can't seem to focus on anything. There are just too many people moving around in a panic.

I take another look at the room for any possible exit. As I am looking, I am once again pushed by an unfamiliar person, but this time I do not fall. I look over and see that my Dad and Devin are both having the same struggle as me. People keep bumping into them or shoving them to get through to the locked door.

Dad pulls our hands and leads us back onto the bleachers, where we climb up to the sixth row. My eyes start wandering to the bleachers across the way. The white light around the bottom of the seats is still lit, but I catch the sight of red on some of the lower seats. I assume that whoever was sitting or standing there was the target of one of the gunshots that were heard.

More people move down from the top of the bleachers and pass us by. Some are screaming. Others don't say anything out loud, but I know what they are thinking based on their terrified faces.

I see a boy about Devin's age sitting down about three rows up from us. In his hands, he holds a box with a green light. He sees me looking at him, and I can see the panic in his eyes as he quickly hides his box behind his back.

I look back at the center of the room and see that the guards have some people sitting down with their hands behind their backs. I look past them, and my eye catches something in the far back of the room. I can only see a little bit of what is happening, but it looks like a group of people have found a way to get out.

I tug on my Dad's hand, "Look! Dad, look over there! In the back!"

He sees what I'm pointing at, and the three of us start making our way to the back. A group of men are standing behind the bleachers, and they have lifted the tent's tarp to reveal a chain link fence underneath. Each of them starts running over and over again at the same time at the fence.

The fence starts to lean over slightly, and it now has many dents in it. Each of the men do not give up, and Dad tells us to stay put while he joins them. My Dad isn't the biggest person here, but I know he is strong and will do his best to knock the fence over anyway. The more people that join, the faster the fence falls.

With a loud metallic sound, the fence is on the ground, and Dad is grabbing our hands again and leading us over the fallen fence.

Bang