Into the Game

It felt like a walk of shame.

It didn’t help that I was wearing a skin tight, nude colored bodysuit. They told me that out of all the clothes they had, that it was the best combination of modest and functional that they had.

Walking past all of the tubes in the room, I could tell that they had sampled everything. There were players in bodysuits like mine, some had on underwear, others were fully clothed, and one was naked.

Most of the other subjects were male. It made sense. Few death row inmates were female and of those, the majority of volunteers had been male. It also meant that studying my brother and me was better than any candy to these nerds. I swear I saw one of the technicians lick his lips as I walked by. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was excited to have a non-killer in the Chair or if this was the closest he had been to a girl, or both.

I stopped in front of Billy’s tube. He was floating in the yellow liquid. He looked so peaceful, like he had fallen asleep. His arms were out and every so often he would twitch. I thought about pounding on the glass to let him know I was there, but I had been specifically instructed against that. The noise wouldn’t reach him, but it would mess with the readings.

“I’m coming.” I whispered as I touched the cold glass.

The technicians led me up skeletal metal stairs to the ring around the tops of all the tubes. There were ten tubes in this room, but only seven had people in them. With so many volunteers, it was strange that there would be so many open positions.

I tapped the closest tech on the shoulder. "What happened to all the people?”

He blushed as he turned to me. "I, Um, what people?”

“The ones that were in there.”

“Oh, they died.” He smiled widely as if he was thrilled I was talking to him.

My face must have shown a little more of the horror I wanted it to, because he started talking fast.

“Not that you are going to die. I think you look great. I mean, you’re going to do great.” He blushed and turned away

“Please forgive my young associates; they can be a little hyper.” Mister Labelle walked up the stairs

“It’s okay.” It was cute that the technician had gotten embarrassed

Mister Labelle motioned at the tube in front of us. "The tube next to your brother. Not that it will make any difference once you are in the game, but I thought you might appreciate it.”

“I do.” I looked down at the yellow water

“It’s fresh.” Mister Labelle promised

“What?”

“The water. It’s new.”

“Oh.” I touched the tip of my toe to it. It was warm, not cold like the glass. It was like water, I had been expecting something sticky, but it actually felt like I had just stuck my toe into an indoor pool.

“We’re ready.” The nervous technician looked at the older man.

Mister Labelle put his hand on my shoulder. "For what it’s worth, good luck.”

I smiled, pinched my nose and jumped in.

I hit the bottom and bounced up a little. I heard the lid sliding in place above me. It wasn’t until my lungs started burning that I realized I was going to have to breathe, except I couldn’t. I kept my hand over my mouth and pinched harder, but I couldn’t stop from breathing in. I choked and gagged on the water as it filled my lungs. The last thing I remembered was drowning before I lost consciousness.