In a Battlefield for Seventy Two Hours

The Reason and Rules

Three days earlier, somewhere along the main street of Del Monte Avenue. A two-story grocery store named Saludo Grocery Store is located. There, Dreign Saludo was in the cashier, scanning food products the customers are checking out.

It was a rather simple and ordinary day for him. There are only two people currently inside searching for whatever they're looking for.

The business wasn’t booming, it was stagnating to the point the grocery only had ten or twenty customers per day.

Dreign doesn’t know where the problem lies, is it because of the location of the failure in management.

To be honest, Dreign isn’t that good at managing a business, but he would never let his business crumble like shattered rocks before his eyes. The location isn’t also the problem. His grocery is located in the commercial district where people flocked left and right. Could it be because the new grocery store opened nearby? Attracting customers better than his store?

It could be. Well, ever since that grocery store opened across the streets it's been stealing his customers and the situation remained for almost years to the point the business is racking up debt and running its coffers dry.

In short, there’s no money in the store. Even if a thief were to come and ransack the place, they’ll only get two or three 1,000 peso bills. (20$)

After retiring in the military as a Special Forces Unit of the Marine Special Operations Group. He used the money he saved up during his time of service to this grocery store. It was a failure.

Now, he ended up with little money enough for his family to survive day by day but at that rate, they’ll be penniless in two months. Not to mention, they’ll have a kid in six months.

Dreign wanted to have his son inherit his business but how could he do that when the only thing he can pass down is a mountain of debt?

This situation depressed him to the point he wanted to go back to the military and serve again. Even though there’s not much money, at least he’s still good at it.

…

“That’ll be 50 pesos, ma’am!”

The lady handed a 50 peso bill to Dreign, which he then put in the cash register to process the transaction.

“Thank you for shopping ma’am, we hope to see you again at Saludo Grocery Store.”

“Okay.” The lady waved his hand at him telling him that she’ll come back but the truth to her body language tells otherwise.

He needed money badly…

Suddenly, a sharp pain tinged around his cranial. The pain was so intense he fell down to the floor, unconscious.

The sounds around him started to muffle as he fought back the urge of drowsiness.

Muffled footsteps vibrated through the floor. One customer who was shopping inside noticed him thrashing down the ground and approached him hurriedly.

Dreign’s eyes were squint but he can tell that the customer who got to his location was opening his cellphone, probably calling for an ambulance

He wanted to thank the man but the excruciating pain and the urge to sleep it down won’t let him.

…

Three hours later. At the Saint Luke’s Medical Center.

Dreign opened his eyes groggily.

The ceiling was different. He remembered that he suddenly fell unconscious at the grocery store he was working at. He lifted his upper body but was stopped by the gentle hand of his wife who was observing him by the hospital cot, where he is currently resting.

“Dreign…are you okay? I’m so scared when the police called.”

Allie, his beautiful wife hugged for reassurance. Dreign hugged her back telling her not to worry. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was just a minor headache?”

“Minor headache? How could a minor headache end you up in the hospital? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“There’s none because there’s nothing to tell…but I’m hoping that the doctor would tell us because I don’t know what just happened to me…”

As he said that, two people entered his room wearing a white coat. They seemed to be the doctors attending him.

“Mr. and Mrs. Saludo?”

The couple’s attention shifted to the doctors.

“This is Dr. De Guzman and I’m Dr. Estolas.”

“So, uh, what’s going on? One minute I’m at the grocery store, next minute I wake up in here.”

“Mr. Saludo, have you been experiencing any headaches lately?”

Dreign sighed and answered truthfully, “Yeah, pretty bad ones.”

“Well…this is your CT.” Dr. De Guzman showed the couple Dreign’s CT scan via the monitor. He then pointed at the mass located on the upper quadrant of his skill.

“This mass is a glioblastoma, an aggressive tumor. It’s malignant and, because of the location, inoperable.”

Silence filled the room.

“Uhm…this has to be wrong, Dreign was a special forces soldier, he ran every day and was eating healthy foods. How could this happen to him?”

Allie just couldn’t believe it. Dreign was a physically fit man and there’s no way a healthy man like him could’ve gotten such a deadly disease.

“Ms. Saludo, we’re lucky to have Dr. De Guzman as a visiting attending. He’s one of the top oncological surgeons at Saint Luke's Hospital. We both concur with the diagnosis.”

“We wish we were wrong, but unfortunately, we’re not.”

So this is it huh? The sudden pain he’s always feeling intermittent is caused by a tumor in his brain. He wanted to tear up but his wife is with him, he can’t show her that his will is shattered inside. So he grabbed her hand and held it, seeking its warmth.

After getting discharged from the hospital, Dreign was in a wheelchair being pushed by a nurse. Allie was sobbing as she still couldn't believe what she just heard earlier.

“I don’t care what they say. We’ll see every other specialist there is. Go to the Makati Medical Center…The Medical City…”

“With what, Allie? I have no insurance.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No. No, you and the baby do. I took myself off the policy months ago.”

“Why did you do that?!”

“Because we don’t have money, Allie.”

Hearing that, Allie sobbed again and walked away. Dreign gathered his energy to stand to try and follow Allie. The nurse behind him offered a hand, but Dreign raised his hand, telling him that he can do it alone. The nurse gave up and let him stand on his own.

Just as he was about to take one step toward Allie, the nurse behind him spoke.

“Listen, man, I’m, uh. I’m really sorry you’re going through all this.” The nurse expressed his genuine concern to Dreign as he picked up something from his pocket and offered it to him. “Here.”

He handed a business card to Dreign and continued speaking. “There’s this company always leaving those at the hospital. They say they help sick people in trouble. Maybe they can help you.”

“Thank you…” Dreign accepted the card and walked away.

…

Six hours later, at his best friend's house.

“Weeks? They said weeks?” exclaimed Joseph.

Dreign bawled, gushing out all his weakness to his best friend named Joseph.

“Allie and I haven’t…had…enough…time…together….I’m angry. I’m angry I’m gonna die. I’m angry my son won’t know me. I’m angry at this…” he smashed down the table, producing a loud bang. “f*****g tumor’s taking me away from my family.” He exclaimed angrily.

“Look, men… there are options…Uhm…holistic stuff. I was watching TV the other day and this guy said if you drink aloe, it does something to the pH in your body and it kills cancer, or, um…”

As Joseph tries to list down possible options Dreign could take from random videos he watched on social media platforms, Dreign remembered something. It was in his right pocket. He pulled it out and in his hand, a company card named “Laban Fund.”

Deep inside him is something telling him to go to this company for help.

Present-day, in the balcony of the Laban Fund building. Sanchez and Dreign looked into each other’s eyes.

“In my experience, it’s best if I talk for a while and you just listen with an open mind. Can you do that for me, Saludo?”

Dreign nodded.

“So here’s how you’ll hunt. It’s a 72-hour hunt. Every two hours you survive or for every kill you gain, more money is being wired into your bank account, and that continues until the game ends. You survive in three days, you walk away rich. Don’t, you die a few weeks earlier than you would’ve anyway, but you leave your family set for life.”

“I can’t believe we are actually having this conversation.”

“Well, after you called my office, I researched you. A local boy who wanted to become a cop, but you learned that there’s no money on that so you move special forces, specifically the Marine Special Operations Group. You were nicknamed the ‘Reaper’ after having 100 confirmed kills in a span of two years of your career and the President of the Philippines gave you a medal of valor for your service in this country.

Saludo, If I could wave a hand making you well, believe me, I would. But that wand doesn’t exist, and if it did, you couldn’t afford it.”

“Is this how you find participants? Lying to the hospitals, telling them you can help their patients?”

“I can help you, and that thrills me. Might come as a surprise, but I didn’t grow up; this would be my calling. Look, usually, I’m dealing with trust fund babies, blowing inheritance, or degenerate gamblers. Saludo, you’re the first terminal person we’ve found who’s actually fit to be a hunter. You’re just a good man who caught a bad hand.”

“And if I’m the good man, what’s that make you?”

“Your only hope.” Sanchez continued. “Well if you want to consider this, there are rules, the most important part of which is once you commit, that’s it. No time-outs, no do-overs. My client wants to make absolutely sure you know exactly what you’re getting into. They want a fair hunt.”

“Mm…who do I hunt?”

“Let’s say they are the best in their fields, just like you.”

“So they are soldiers then?”

“First of all, they are not all men, they could be men, women, black, white, chef, baker, tricycle driver, anyone you run into could be the last person you ever see. Next rule: the game takes place in Metro Manila only. Quezon City, Manila, Pasig, Taguig, Makati, and any other district that falls under the National Capital Region. If you leave the city’s confines that’s a violation, and then the game never ends, it continues until you’re killed. Go to the cops or get yourself arrested, that’s a violation. You tell anyone what’s going on, that’s a violation. It’s just you and the six hunters we lined up for this game. No I.D., no cash, no help; just you on your own.”

“And the money part?”

“Good, that means you’re interested.”

“Top of the first hour, 50,000$ or (2.5 million pesos) is wired into your bank account from an untraceable offshore account. Next hour, 100,000$ (5 million pesos.) Deposits increase 50 grand every hour until 20, which pays million, and that increases by a million every hour after that, culminating in the final hour which pays 5 million dollars for a grand total of…”

“24.5 million dollars.” Dreign calculated and finished his words.”

“Yes, exactly why you’ll be great in this game. Smart, athletic, you know the city better than the other hunters we lined up for this run. Once the day ends, the money is rest to 50 grand again. So 24,5 million for day 1, 24.5 million for day 2. And 24.5 million for day three. Surviving in three days means you’ll get 73.5 million dollars. But you can’t cash them out if you haven’t done something significant. As a hunter, you must participate in the hunt, kill the other players so that your money would flow into your bank account.” He paused momentarily. “Here’s the fun part. Every hunter has 15,000,000 dollars on his head. You kill all of them you gain 90,000,000 dollars. You kill two you get 30,000,000 million dollars. You know the math.”

“That's an incredibly huge amount of money,” Dreign noted.

“Now this is how it will go. You will have one day to get your weapons, be it a gun, knives, grenades, anything. If you don’t have one, we can provide and deliver it to you before the start of the game. You have to carry this at all times.” Sanchez handed Dreign a smartphone. “There you can order any weapon you want and that phone can only call me. Every time you make it through another hour—so right after your money’s deposited—it chimes twice, giving up your exact location for the next 60 seconds. After that, you go dark again.”

Sanchez continued. “Don’t think you can drop it off on a bus and take off. We find the cell and it’s not you, that’s a violation. It’ll make you a permanent player in the game.”

Sanchez finished the introduction of the game and handed something to Dreign who was listening to him silently.

“This is 500,000 pesos in hard cash, enough so you know I’m real, not enough to make a dent in your problems.”

Dreign looked at the money but he didn’t accept it.

“Well, suit yourself. But if you change your mind, here’s my personal number.” Sanchez grabbed one of his personal cards and wrote a number on it. After that, he put it inside Dreign’s pocket. “Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.”

Receiving the card, Dreign left the scene. Absorbed in his thought, he considered joining the game.