What Game Will You Play

Chapter 15

(Edited)

The footsteps stop only a few feet away from us, so the guard must have stopped for something. Does he know we're behind here? Why is he just standing there? The suspense is killing me. Am I going to be shot any second or not?

Another minute goes by, and footsteps are heard walking off. I close my eyes in relief before reopening them. I peer out the right side of the stand and see the guard walking off in the distance. I can tell right away that if he were to have seen us, then we would definitely be dead. That guard is huge, even if he didn't have a gun I think he could still kill us without breaking a sweat.

Just by looking at his back, I can see that the guard would be a force to be wrecked with. He has big arms and is very tall. He could probably knock me out just by flicking me. I am glad that he didn't see Aiden or me here. If he had, we would not have been able to fight or run from him. That guy is built like a tank.

Aiden and I stay behind the booth for another minute just to make sure no one else is coming, then we cross to the next game booth. Aiden looks inside, but once again, no one is in there. This game is the last in the line of games, and Aiden looks out from behind the booth once more before motioning with his head to follow him.

He steps out from behind the game and leads us a few feet away to a tree. Once there, I see that there is an opening in the fence that is used as a doorway. Aiden walks up to it, cautiously looks at the other side, and then enters it. I follow him and try to stay as close as possible. He seems to know what he is doing, and I don't want to get separated from him.

This is a smaller game area that is a little more secluded from the other part of the carnival, but I remember playing the games over here with Devin and our Dad. Aiden goes into the games like before to check if anyone is in them, but once again, they are all empty.

It's disappointing to think that there is no one out here anymore. They have either been taken back to the tent or killed.

As Aiden moves through more booths and some smaller stands, I start silently wishing for him to find anyone, not just my father. The small group of people back in the trees outside the carnival, along with half the population the guards did not kill, can't really be the only people left alive. There have to be others out here somewhere. We just have to find them.

As we are walking, I sometimes catch the sight of blood on the ground. I try to ignore it, but it's hard. We turn a corner where more games are lined up against the draped fence, and I can see the rock wall in the distance. It's tall, lit up and red, very red. I don't know what happened there, but I am glad I didn't have to witness it. The amount of blood dripping down from the top to the bottom is enough to make me want to throw up.

Who died here? Were they killed because they had a red light on their box or because they escaped the big show tent?

I don't think I'll ever know because, from the looks of it, the guards must be taking away the bodies as they kill them. In all the places there is blood, there are no bodies. Maybe people were shot and then got away, or perhaps the bullet was fatal.

We move through the game booths, clearing them to ensure no one is in them and then moving on to the next. These game booths are closer to the big tent where we had the show, and there are more guards over here than anywhere else we have been tonight. Aiden and I make sure to be extra careful to stay as far back from the light as we can.

We duck when we see guards coming our way, and we wait for them to pass before moving on. Some of the guards I see are just simply walking around casually as if they didn't just kill the lives of innocent people. Others seem to be walking around holding papers as if they are someone important.