Seven

Chapter 15- The Great Escape

Mario was ushered into the same room the players were brought to after the first game. This time, there were only two chairs sitting at the center of the room.

"Have a seat," Winston instructed.

Mario walked over and took a seat in one of the chairs, looking around the room. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just the same monitor and ugly mustard colored walls.

Minutes went by, but there had been no word from Dr. Vincent and no update on Carmen's whereabouts. Mario was starting to grow impatient.

"Yo Winston! You said this was my day off. Why am I stuck in this room on my day off?" Mario asked, turning to look at Winston who was standing in the doorway.

"My apologizes, sir. There's been a slight delay. Dr. Vincent is working to rectify the situation before the presentation begins."

"What situation?" Mario asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know," Winston answered.

"Bullshit. You know exactly what's going on. Just tell me...did Player Four get away? Is that what happened?" Mario asked, standing from his chair.

All of a sudden, a strange sensation came over him; the same sensation he felt when Richard took him from his house. He sat back down in the chair and turned his full attention to the monitor that sat directly in front of him. While he was fully aware, he had no control over his body.

As he stared at the black monitor in front of him, he furrowed his brows when he saw something moving in the reflection. He still couldn't move, so he watched intently as what appeared to be a hand moved down through the air vent in the ceiling and seemed to be signalling something. It pointed over to Winston, but Mario still couldn't move.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crashing sound from the floor above. Mario jumped, realizing he could control his body now. He looked back and Winston was no longer in the doorway. He stood up and went over to the air vent, looking up and gasping in surprise when he saw Carmen. She put a finger over her mouth, instructing him to be quiet.

"What the hell are you doing? Do you want to die?" Mario whispered.

"I found the surveilled room," she smirked.

"Really? Where?"

"There's a secret floor beneath this one," she whispered, pointing down. "There's a door, but it can only be unlocked by Winston or Dr. Vincent."

"So how are we going to get there?" Mario asked.

Carmen smirked, holding up a gold skeleton key.

Mario smiled. "Genius."

"I've created a distraction. I need you to meet me at the door at the end of this hallway in five minutes."

Mario nodded, though he had no idea what she planned to do. It seemed like she had already escaped through the window. Why did she come back? Or did she leave the window open and break the back drop just to throw the staff off?

Carmen crawled away and Mario looked around the room. Winston was still gone, but in case he was on his way back, Mario quickly left the room. He crept down the hallway, keeping an eye out for the staff as he made his way to the locked door at the end of the hall.

Once he made it, he hid himself behind a tall plant in the corner. He heard voices in the distance, but he couldn't tell where they were coming from. As the voices became clearer, he realized it was only Carmen, singing to herself. He looked up just as the flap to the air vent sprung open and Carmen dropped from it and landed quietly, like she had been doing this kind of thing all her life.

"What the hell? Are you some kind of ninja?" Mario asked.

Carmen furrowed her brows. "What?"

"Nothing, just unlock this door," he whispered, looking around.

While Mario kept watch, Carmen unlocked the door and pushed it open. She and Mario hurried inside and Carmen closed and locked it behind her.

They were standing at the top of a dark staircase. The air was damp and stunk of mildew. Mario followed Carmen down the stairs into the cellar. In the corner of the room, there were monitors, probably fifty or so, all showing different sections of the mansion and the yard area surrounding it.

Carmen sat down in front of the monitors and typed something into the computer. The monitors switched to the only exits of the mansion- the front door, the back door, and a small, narrow door off the kitchen. There was virtually no way out without the staff noticing.

"None of these exits are currently being guarded. If we want to escape, now is the time," Carmen said, turning and looking up at Mario.

He didn't know what to say. He had been trying to figure out a way to leave this place since he got here, and now that he had one, he was chickening out. On one hand, it could work and they could both escape this place alive. On the other hand, getting caught meant certain death. If they stayed, at least one of them were guaranteed to make it out alive. This could mean neither of them do.

"Don't clam up on me now, Six. you wanted to get out of here and I'm showing you a way. Are you going to take it? Or are you going to stay here and wait to die?' she asked him.

"What if we get caught?" he asked.

"It's worth the risk! Either way, one of us will die tomorrow. If we escape, we can both live. And if we don't..." she trailed off when she realized Mario may not have been quite as on board with this plan as she thought he would be. "If you don't want to go, fine. Either I'll get away and I'll see you on the outside or I'll get caught and my death will be the next one you get to watch."

When she said it like that, it seemed to hit Mario a little differently. He didn't want to watch her die, but if he wanted to live, that was an absolute certainty.

"Please, come with me. We can get out of here together," she begged him.

"Wait...what is that?" Mario asked, looking closely at the monitor behind Carmen; the one that showed the exit off the kitchen.

They watched on as two of the butlers carried what appeared to be a body just out of frame.

"Who was that?" Mario asked, looking to Carmen.

"I have no idea, but I'm about to find out," she says, sitting back down at the desk and typing something in.

She pulled up the footage of the kitchen and gasped. The butlers laid the body on the table and began undressing it. Mario swallowed hard as he moved closer to get a better look.

"Is that...Damon?" Carmen asked.

"It can't be, they let him go," Mario replied.

She zoomed in on the image and thought it was a little fuzzy, there was no denying it was Damon lying on that table.

That means they never let him go. They only wanted Mario and Carmen to think that. There was no way out of this place alive. It was either win, or die.

"Oh my God!" Carmen gasped, covering her face with her hands and turning away as the two butlers began to cop off Damon's arms, followed quickly by his legs.

"What the hell are they doing?" Mario asked.

He kept watching, unable to look away. The butlers dismembered Damon's body, throwing his limbs into a box at the end of the table. Mario winced when they removed his head and tossed it into the box like a basketball. There was blood everywhere- the table, the floor, all over the butlers. It was like a scene right out of a horror movie.

One of the maids came in carrying a tray and handed it off to one of the butlers. He proceeded to skin Damons torso like a deer.

"Okay, I can't watch this anymore," Carmen said in disgust.

She reached for the power button, but Mario grabbed her arm to stop her. "No, just...wait a minute...."

Mario had a suspicion- one that he really, really hoped he wasn't right about. But as he watched, his suspicions were confirmed. The maids began slicing pieces of Damon's body and placing them on a tray.

Carmen gagged, getting up and turning away.

Mario couldn't believe what he was seeing. These people were cannibals. They had probably cooked up and eaten every player. Jackson, the girl whose name he couldn't remember that was Player Five, Nine, Brandi...

And then Mario realized something else. Something that made his stomach turn.

The meat they ate...was it from the other players? Were they eating people too?

The thought alone sent him spiraling out of control. He changed the monitors back to the exits and started to think up a plan. He had no intentions of staying or following rules any longer. As far as he was concerned, Carmen was right. It was worth the risk of getting caught. They had to get out. And fast.

"No one's at the front door right now. If we can get up there in time, we can get out while everyone is busy looking for you," Mario said to Carmen, who didn't look like she was feeling too well after what they had just witnessed.

She gave him a look. "Oh, so now you want to go?"

"Stop playing! We have to get out of here before they turn us into steak!" Mario snapped.

They heard footsteps coming near the surveillance room. They shared a panic look before Carmen pointed to the closet at the back of the room. They quickly got in and closed the door just as someone entered.

"Go back to about ten minutes ago."

Mario recognized Winston's voice right away. He was probably aware that Mario was missing and was now looking for him as well as Carmen. They both likely would've been killed if they were found, so they kept quiet.

"What is he doing?" Winston asked. "He's...looking up to the ceiling as if someone is there."

"Maybe he's just crazy, sir."

"Or maybe that dreadful girl found a way into the air vents. Get Courtland and Messer at once. Have them check every last inch of the air duct system."

"Right away, sir."

When Mario could no longer hear voices, he opened the door just a c***k. He didn't see anyone, but he couldn't be sure they were alone. He eased his way out of the closet, keeping a careful eye out.

After thoroughly checking the room, he turned and nodded to Carmen. She hesitantly walked out of the closet, her former tough resolve long gone. She was visibly shaking, her breaths were fast and labored. She looked like she was seconds from fainting.

Mario grabbed her shoulders firmly and looked into her eyes. "Listen to me. We're gonna get out of here, okay?"

"Okay," she whimpered.

"But I need you to stay calm. You can't think on your feet when you're freaking out. I know this is scary. It's some seriously, seriously messed up s**t. But we've got to get out of here."

She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and letting a few tears roll down her cheek.

Mario looked around the desk for any way to shut down the security system. If they were going to get away, they couldn't leave any traces behind. Finally, he found the power button and shut everything down. One by one, each of the monitors faded to black with a red ERROR message across the top.

"We have to go, now," Mario said, taking Carmen's hand and pulling her out of the room with him.

They moved quickly, yet carefully up the stairs and down the hallways until they made it to the main floor. They hid behind the grand staircase at the center of the foyer and listened for any signs that the staff was around.

"What if the door is locked?" Carmen asked.

"Locked? We're inside. We can just unlock it," Mario replied, thinking her question was stupid.

"What if they locked it from the outside? You know, in case something like this happened?"

Mario cursed under his breath. She was right. That could very well have been a possibility. There was only one way to find out for sure, and that was to check. Mario started for the door, but he paused when he heard footsteps coming from the second floor. In a panic, Carmen ran after him, holding onto his uniform while he checked the door.

Mario held his breath as he twisted the knob, praying to God it would click open. When it did, both he and Carmen let out a relieved laugh.

"Hey! You two!" a voice called out from behind them.

"Let's go!" Mario whispered, taking Carmen's hand.