The Deciding Games

Chapter 8

The walk to the SPAK game was long and stressful. Along the way, people on my team try to joke around and loosen the mood. After the first few dead chuckles, they stopped trying.

We walked through a long tunnel, the walls were sheets of metal lined with single light bulbs every few meters. A few steps of darkness... a limited few of light.

The tension in the room hangs like a heavy fog.  A few dry coughs and we’re back to the quiet as empty as the tunnel itself. I can't help but try not to think of the coming challenge. Trying not to make myself any more nervous than I already am, I focus on counting the light bulbs as we pass them.

One bright light bulb, the bottom of the bulb is burnt black. The light radiates off the sides in a mioghty yellow glow.

Jax shoulders to the front of the group, walking a little faster than before. I guess he wants to be leading the group.

Two light bulbs, this one hanging off its hook, the screw on the ground and only a last desperate cord holding it to the side wall.

A stretch of darkness as we walk the distance to the next source of light.

Three, flickering a dull yellow to darkness and continuing to alter every second.

In a flash of the light, a face appears next to mine. The outline of Ty's face, his short nose showing and the whites of his eyes, bright.

Four, this one is a little farther away than the last ones. It's a blinding yellow, a new light bulb; shining it's rays to leave a slight circle on the dirt floor.

Ty leans away as we get closer to the fourth light.

Jax reaches it first, the light making his short brown hair seem blond for the few seconds he's underneath it.

Ty and I walk under the light. I have to squint my eyes and keep my head tilted to the dirt floor to keep the light from blinding me. The edge of the circle of light shining on the floor passes underneath me.

My head lifts again and what I see in that instant makes my heart feel as if it's stopped. Fear drops like a rock to my stomach but nervous excitement runs through me. I force myself to continue walking through my shock.

Two large doors end the long metal hallway. Both are closed tight but two men in uniform stand in front of them, hands ready on the door knobs.

A random thought finds its way to me now. Of all the things to be thinking minutes before I'm in The Deciding Games. It looks pretty strange for there to be a small door knob on such a huge metal door.

Somehow I find a way to keep walking, one foot finding its way in front of the other. My body screams to run in the other direction from the nerves fleeing all over my body. Yet in some way, I am ready for this.

Ready for the one of the tests that will decide the rest of my life. Soon I will be through those rusty metal doors and into the area. I will need all my brain power to plan and think and survive with my team.

SPAK game.