Seven

Chapter 6- The Cost

Mario continued his search for a clock well into the early hours of the morning. He was starting to worry that he wouldn't find his third and final clue before sunrise. And since no one knew of Jackson's fate, they could only assume the worst. Mario overheard the other players claiming Jackson would still be rewarded for coming, even though he never participated in a game. While they seem to celebrate the revelation, Mario was skeptical. It didn't add up for him and he wasn't about to trust anything these people said. That went for the staff and the other players too. Mario was on his own, as far as he was concerned.

While passing through the foyer, after coming down the stairs, Mario noticed both players one and two celebrating their victories, having found all three of their clues. He had only known them for a few hours and had already decided he didn't like them. He couldn't imagine they would be more deserving of a head start than player four.

Somehow, Mario knew no one here was deserving of a head start. He didn't know a thing about the other players, yet somehow, he felt they all shared something in common. And maybe that something wasn't good. Maybe it was something quite terrible.

After all, Mario had a woman locked in his basement. Although he didn't intend for it to become a hostage situation, he couldn't deny the satisfaction it gave him to watch Soren beg for mercy every time she saw him. The same way he once begged her for mercy when she wrongfully accused him of murder.

"I was hoping it would be someone other than them. Literally, anyone else."

Mario looked over his shoulder and saw player four standing behind him, finally ready to claim her entry into the next round after purposely waiting it out, giving her first place finish to someone else.

"You're a fool for not taking that head start. You might end up really needing it," Mario told her.

"Yeah? And what's that to you? Do you really care if I get a head start or not?"

Mario turned around and looked at her. She seemed to coward a bit at the sight of him, but quickly recovered. She smirked. "You could care less about me. Just like I could care less about you. So don't say things to me for the sake of saying them. As a matter of fact, don't talk to me at all."

As she walked away, Mario furrowed his brows. He was intrigued by her before, but now he was certain she was different from everyone else here. She wasn't haughty or arrogant. She wasn't rude. She wasn't optimistic. She was real. And maybe that's why Mario found himself drawn to her. He wasn't even quite sure if what he felt for her was even romantic or just respectful. He just admired her, though he never intended to make that known to her, or to anyone else. He didn't want anything keeping him back when he felt it was time to leave this place. No emotional attachments of any kind.

It was every man and woman for themselves.

Mario started up the stairs to the second floor, but he paused when he heard the unmistakable chiming of a grandfather clock. He looked around, trying to determine which direction the sound was coming from. That's when he spotted Nine running down the hallway with his uniform ablaze.

He fell to the floor just in front of Mario and cried out in agony. "Please, help me!"

Mario snarled at him, stepping over his burning body and starting down the hallway.

"Wait, please! Don't leave me like this!" Nine cried out.

Mario stopped and turned around when he heard a fire extinguisher. After the cloud settled, Mario expected to see another player, but he was surprised to see Winston instead.

Nine sat up and coughed. There was a large hole covering the back of his uniform, from the collar, halfway down the waist, the edges of the mushroom shaped whole charred away much like the clue Mario had earlier.

Wait, the clue.

Nine must've caught fire after hanging on to another player's clue for too long, Mario thought. Which was a shame since he had only just told Nine only hours ago what would happen.

Mario shook his head and scoffed. "What a f*****g i***t," he mumbled under his breath.

He continued down the hallway until he saw the grandfather clock at the far end, in a part of the mansion Mario hadn't seen yet. He approached it slowly, keeping his guard up just in case anything funny were to happen.

He opened the clock's glass door, expecting to see his third and final clue. However, there was nothing there. He looked all around the clock, and inside the clock itself, but there was no sign of his clue.

"Nine," he growled, turning and stalking away.

When he made it to the staircase, Nine was still there, sitting on the stairs and allowing Wilson to attend to his burns.

"You son of a b***h, what did you do with my clue?!" Mario shouted at him, kicking his back and causing him to cry out in pain.

"I don't have it!" Nine cried.

"Bullshit. That's why your skinny ass caught fire. You held onto another player's clue for too long," Mario growled, grabbing Nine by the collar of his uniform and jerking him up so they were eye level with each other. "If you remember correctly, I'm the one who told you that."

"I swear, I didn't have your clue!" Nine cried, his eyes filled with fear.

"It's true," Winston chimed in with a monotone voice. "Player 7 simply caught fire while trying to escape through a window, when he knocked over a candlestick."

Mario was shocked that Nine had tried to escape. That meant other players were catching on to this place's sketchy vibes as well. He let go of Nine and took a step back, looking around. If Nine didn't have his clue, and it wasn't in the clock, where was it? Could he have read the clue wrong?

"Player 5 took your clue," Nine whispered. "She hid it somewhere else."

"Where?" Mario hissed.

"I don't know! I just saw her take it, I didn't follow her!"

Mario could barely remember what Player 5 even looked like. He hadn't seen her at all since the game started, so he wondered if maybe she held on to the clue for too long and met a fiery end.

Not quite sure knowing what to do, Mario went back to the clock at the end of the hallway just to make sure he didn't miss anything.

After thoroughly searching the clock and the surrounding furniture and fixtures, he noticed the time.

Four o'clock. That meant Mario only had a couple of hours left until sunrise.

While the players who had already completed the game returned to their rooms to sleep, Mario and the remaining players continued roaming the mansion in hopes of retrieving their clues before sunrise.

After an hour had passed and Mario still had seen no sign of Player 5, he started to get discouraged. He still didn't know exactly what would happen to him if he didn't complete the game, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be good.

He suddenly found himself torn between making a desperate attempt at finding the final clue and making a run for it. He had abandoned his escape plans for a while, hoping he would be able to find his clues with enough time to go back to finding a way out of here. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen.

If he was going to get out, he had to do it now.

In his panicked state, Mario started to lose his bearings. He stopped and looked around, knowing he'd been here before, but not sure how he got here or how to get out. The mansion was filled with long hallways with numerous doors on either side. If you weren't careful, it would be easy to get lost. Mario tried his best to make mental notes of things he saw, such as paintings, pieces of furniture, or intricate wallpaper. But as time started to run out on him, it seemed as if things were...moving around.

Were they?

Was it possible the staff was shifting things around to make the game more difficult?

When Mario heard the chiming of the grandfather clock again, he knew his fate was all but sealed. He had less than an hour to find his final clue or a way out of the mansion. Every second was precious now. He had to be wise and meticulous, but fast.

Mario hurried up the staircase to the second floor, which also seemed to look different than he remembered it. He started down the hallway towards the left wing of the house, but he came to an abrupt stop when he noticed a pungent smell. He lifted the collar of his uniform to filter it out, but the further he moved down the hallway, the stronger the stench became.

When it almost became too much to bear and Mario was sure he was going to vomit, he saw the charred body in the distance, still smoking. Other than the form, you wouldn't even know this was was once a human being. Mario wasn't even sure who it was until the saw the white card with the number seven printed on it, lying next to the charred remains.

"Player 5," he whispered, kneeling next to what was left of the woman he barely knew, yet somehow, felt bad for. "It didn't have to end this way," he sighed, picking up his third and final clue off the floor.

He stood up and moved under the single hallway light- a fake candlestick on a tarnished bronze fixture. He stared down at the card with its charred edges and tiny, scripted print.  While he wasn't sure what it was that he expected, he wasn't quite expecting a single simple sentence that read, report to the foyer to redeem your final clue and move on to the next round.

It didn't seem like something worth dying over, Mario thought, looking back over his shoulder at what remained of Player 5.

Mario made his way to the foyer where Winston was waiting next to the staircase. Mario stopped in front of him and handed him the clues he had collected and waited for him to verify. As he was checking them out, the sun began to rise above the trees in the distance, spraying a dull orange glow across the foyer's white marble tiles.

Mario's heart began to pound. After seeing Player 5, he knew his assumptions about this place, these people and the games were correct. He should've planned his escape instead of participating, but he had no way of knowing just how bizarre things could actually turn out.

"Follow me," Winston finally said.

Mario followed him through a doorway behind the staircase, one Mario hadn't noticed before. Behind the door was a long, steep, winding staircase. There was very little lighting, but Mario could tell these stairs would more than likely lead him to a basement or cellar. And he didn't like his odds if that was the case. Who knows what they planned to do to him?

Still, Mario kept going, following behind Winston until he reached the bottom of the stairs. He was surprised to see the other players in the dark room, which as Mario suspected, was a cellar of sorts. It was completely empty aside from a lone TV screen mounted to the wall opposite the stairs.

Everyone was seated in metal folding chairs in two rows- three chairs in the front and two in the back. Winston lead Mario to the empty chair next to Nine, who was Player 7. Nine didn't flinch when he sat down next to him; didn't even look his way. It was almost as if he had been told not to move or make a sound.

The other three remaining players sat in the chairs in front of Mario- Damon, Brandi and Carmen. That means everyone except the woman who was Player 5 made it through the first game.

Suddenly, a monitor lit up, causing everyone in the room to squint or cover their eyes. Dr. Vincent appeared, once again, hiding behind the shadows.

"Congratulations for passing the first round of the games. As you may have noticed, the rules are very important and failure to follow the rules...

...will cost you."