Minds Will Be Blown
“You want me dead, you momma-loving chickenhead?” Benton snarls angrily, his hands spread out wide and his chest puffed out, in the classic posture of male dominance. “You wanna make something of it, white boy? Come on, do it!”
“I… no, bro, I just…” Aaron backs away, shrinking back fearfully.
Shit, man, niggers gonna nigger.
“What the
fuck did you just say? That’s it, your ass is mine, bitch.”
“S-stop it!” yells Caitlyn, before Benton can close in and make good on his promise to Aaron. “Everyone, stop fighting! This is unproductive! I know we’re all feeling stressed, but-“
“Hey,
you shut it, hoe!
You want the old man dead, there’s no room for your skanky ass to talk. Shit, man, you some stone-cold bitch,” retorts Benton, jabbing his finger at Edgar. The homeless man hasn’t said a word so far, not even when Caitlyn’s thoughts were broadcasted to him. The only thing he is offering is an unwavering, silent stare, locked onto the girl.
“I… I didn’t…” Feeling stressed
and uncomfortable, Caitlyn looks away guiltily.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I thought, bitch. Now where was I…” Benton turns back to Aaron, cracking his knuckles.
“Quit it!” roars Donna, stepping in between Benton and Aaron. He folds his strong arms and frowns. “This is not helping!”
“Well, you’re one to speak, you fag,” growls Benton, staring up at the muscular, bearded fitness trainer. “You thought about having that pasty-ass motherfucker dead, didn’t you? I'll do it for you.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t really want it to happen. I’m not playing this psycho game.”
Their arguments are interrupted by the sound of a striking harp. The timer has reached zero. The countdown is over. As the Devil’s chord from Camille Saint-Saen’s
Danse Macabre begins to fill the room, the cue card returns.
A CHOICE HAS NOT BEEN MADE.
I WILL MAKE IT FOR YOU. BEHOLD, YOUR PORTRAITS.
A quick succession of mugshots flashes across the screen, repeating over and over. Aaron. Benton. Caitlyn. Donna. Edgar. Francesca.
GET IT? DANCE. DANSE. HA HA. HA.
The pictures slow down, and finally stop on one person. Donna.
DONNA DONNA MADONNA! CONGRATULATIONS! AND GOODBYE!
Suddenly, confetti showers down from the high ceiling. The door swings open, revealing another room beyond.
“What… just what is going on here?” says Francesca, wide-eyed and confused.
“They’re just trying to mess with our heads,” says Donna. “Nothing’s gonna happen. Look, I know all of us here aren’t the best people around, but we are all in this together. Fear is what stops you, courage is what keeps you going. It’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can
get hit, and still keep moving forward. We strive for progress, not perfection. It’s not who we are that holds us back, it’s who we think we are not. Clear your mind of can't. We know each other’s thoughts now, so if we can be honest with ourselves in mind, word and deed, we can get through this.
Together.”
After a moment of silence, Caitlyn and Francesca begin to clap at Donna’s inspirational speech.
And then, Donna’s smiling face bulges outwards suddenly, as if there is a balloon being inflated rapidly within the skull, deforming it. The eyes pop out, dangling loosely from the nerves. Dark red blood and whitish-pink brain matter ooze from the nostrils and the ears. Twitching, Donna falls face forward onto the white tiles with a loud thud.
There are screams. There are a lot of screams. As one, they mindlessly rush for the open door. in fear for their lives. If someone had set a razor wire at the passage at knee-height, so that the first to get there would get their lower legs sliced badly, that would have been rather unfortunate. Luckily, such a sadistic trap is not in place. All five remaining survivors make it into the next room. Once the last of them – Aaron, slow on his feet – has passed through, the door slams shut again, separating them from Donna’s corpse.
Mental echoes of ‘
what the fuck?’ continue to reverberate around the room, as they stand around in stunned silence.
Benton punches the wall. “Fuck. Fuck! The fuck was that shit?”
“This is really psyops stuff. CIA? Or is it foreign, KGB?” mutters Aaron. “Only the government could do something like this…”
“Are we… are we in hell?” asks Francesca fearfully.
“It must be some insane dream.” Caitlyn clutches her head, breathing heavily. “It’s not possible. It’s a dream.”
AM I A MAN DREAMING THAT I AM A BUTTERFLY, OR AM I A BUTTERFLY DREAMING THAT I AM A MAN?
The monitor in the new room lights up. The sweet, soothing melody of Elgar’s
Salut d’ Amour is played over the speakers, to calm their frightened spirits. Again, unfortunately, it does not seem to have any effect at all.
HELLO AND WELCOME. YOU ARE HAVING FUN NOW, AREN’T YOU?
I SHALL ISSUE YOU YOUR NUMBERS.
One.
Aaron winces at the sudden, loud thought appearing in his head. The number – his number – is one. He looks at the others, who look just as confused as he is. Having heard the numbers in their heads as well, he knows that Benton is
two, Caitlyn is
three, Edgar is
five and Francesca is
six.
REMEMBER THOSE NUMBERS WELL. THEY WILL COUNT FOR SOMETHING. HA. HA.
IF I MAY, I WOULD DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THESE TWO CAGES ON EITHER SIDE OF THIS SCREEN.
For the first time since they entered the room, the survivors look at their surroundings. On either side of the screen, there were indeed cages. Each one seems to be big enough to carry multiple people, and at the top of each cage a chain is attached.
THE CAGE ON YOUR RIGHT WILL DESCEND. IT REQUIRES A COMBINATION OF PEOPLE WHOSE NUMBERS ADD UP EXACTLY TO NINE.
AS IT DESCENDS, THE CAGE ON YOUR LEFT WILL ASCEND, WITH WHOEVER IS LEFT OVER IN IT.
YOU HAVE SIXTY MINUTES TO DECIDE. AT THE END OF THAT TIME, FOR ANYONE THAT IS STILL IN THIS ROOM…
WELL, LET US JUST SAY THAT MINDS WILL BE BLOWN.
***
Group Vote
The numbers available are 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
The combination to form 9 should be:
A. 1, 3 and 5.
B. 1, 2 and 6.
C. 3 and 6.
For this choice, decisions will take priority over indecision: anyone who ends up being undecided will go along with the flow of the majority.