by David Clark
Robert reached down with his right hand and tried to twist the rope connecting him to Jill. She turned, but because of the waves rolling down the net, her attempt to grab it missed. She would have to spin all the way around before she could make another attempt. Robert tried to swing her back and forth to get her closer to help her next attempt. To his horror, he felt the nylon threads of the rope dig in and burn his forearm as his grip started to slip. The pain sensations conflicted with his drive to survive, the pain told him to let go, but his survival instinct won’t let it happen. Jill turned around toward the net and reached out with her left arm to try to grab it, but it remained out of reach. She needed to turn a little more to be in range, but there may not be time for that. Robert’s forearm and grip slipped in the tangle of flesh and nylon; a last-ditch death grip grab with his right hand saved them. With the muscles in the palm of his right hand burning, and a shoulder that feels like it is now out of the joint, he reached up with his left hand to help support the weight, but gravity had a different plan for him though. His right hand gave, and he found himself separated from the net. It was a sensation he was not able to process; his mind didn’t know how to react as he saw himself passing Jill as she grabbed the net. Robert’s weight and momentum ripped her from the safety of the net. Robert’s mind wandered to visions of Amy’s smile; thoughts of his family, his favorite song. There was no sensation of falling as he and Jill disappeared into the black abyss of the hole below them. No grand goodbye, no grand realization about the end of his existence. He didn’t even hear the reaction from the crowd that has been enthralled by the drama unfolding before them. His mind was lost in his random musings until he loses consciousness.
12
Robert woke up groggy in a dark room on a cot. Through the haze in his head he heard sounds off in the distance, but his eyes were still blurry and couldn’t make anything out other than moving shapes in the distance. He laid there trying to understand what was going on. He did not remember anything before he woke up in this room.
He tried to prop himself up on his elbows to look around more, but instantly fell back flat on the cot. As soon as he put any weight on his right elbow, his right shoulder shot a pain message to his brain he could not ignore. Robert reached up with his left hand to feel his right shoulder and noticed a bandaged wrapped around it. He had been injured somehow. He slid his hand down his right arm and found the edge of the bandage in the middle of his bicep. There was another just past his elbow on his forearm. It didn’t feel broken, but when he pressed on the bandage a shooting pain and an image of him hanging from a net by one arm appeared in his head. The image disappeared as quickly as the pain, but the memory of the image remained. Rolling it around in his head, he pieced together a few other images and put the jagged puzzle together.
Someone held him against his will. Who? Christopher; he remembered that now. Christopher forced them to play in life or death games, the last one involved climbing up a net and he and someone else fell. He didn’t die. He didn’t die. Now what? Is he still in danger and… where the hell was he?
The sound of two familiar voices pulled him from his own thoughts and produced a layer of cold sweat on his brow. He could not hear what Michelle or Christopher were saying, but he knew their voices. This left him to assume he was still in danger and needed to get out. Deciding to lay there until the right time, he considered his options, which were rather limited. He didn’t know where he was, nor did he know where to run to when the chance presented itself.
He felt someone rub his forehead and jumped.
“Hey there. How’re you feeling?”
He opened his eyes to see Michelle leaning over his head looking down at him. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he jumped from the cot and landed stumbling and sliding on the glossy white tiled floor. His lack of coordination sent him crashing into a stainless-steel table with bandages and ointments on it.
Michelle moved toward him. “Whoa, Robert! Take it easy. Everything is okay. You’re fine.” He looked back with fear in his eyes.
“Christopher, Kevin, Doug, someone get in here!”
Robert staggered to his feet and ran out the door. The white tile continues outside the room and into the hallway. With no clue which way to go, Robert ran to the right. He made it about twenty feet until he saw Christopher and Kevin coming with others he did not recognize…or did he?
He turned around and ran in the opposite direction past Michelle as she stood in the doorway of the room. There were other doors in this section of the hallway. Robert tried the first door, but it was locked. He tried the next, it was locked as well. As he ran to the third, he heard a voice from down the hallway, “Hey Robert. Relax.” Robert knew that voice. It was Doug, but…Doug was dead. His team lost in the pool; Kevin said they drowned.
Doug walked around the corner with his arms outstretched with his palms up, “Robert, calm down. We can explain.”
“Doug, I was told you died.”
“I know, man. Relax, I know this is all confusing. Just have a seat there and we can explain.”
From behind him he heard a new voice, “Robert, sweetie. You’re safe. Calm down.” The voice was not one that he expected. He spun around and saw Amy walking toward him. A flood of emotions and confusion hit him as he collapsed to the ground right there in the hallway. Amy rushed to him, but Robert passed out again before she reached him.
13
Robert woke up feeling groggy again in the same room he woke up in moments earlier. This time he remembered instantly what had happened and started to get up, but noticed two people sitting next to him on the bed. He opened his eyes and saw Amy. She sat there and held his hand and Christopher sat next to him on the other side. He glanced around the room and saw Jill, Bob, Doug, Mary, Michelle, and Kevin. Taking a quick glance at the doorway he saw others that he recognized as the other team they first met during the Tic-Tac-Toe game. The man in the door was missing a leg then, but here he was, standing fine on two healthy legs.
Amy patted his hand to get his attention back on her. “How are you feeling, baby?”
Robert provided an answer that was the understatement of the year. “Confused. Very confused.”
A small giggle filled the room.
Christopher, who was not in a wheelchair and still had the British accent that only revealed itself after they were all released from the box, said. “Robert, you are confused just like everyone is their first time.”
“First time? Christopher what the hell is this? You trapped us and held us for hours if not days. You made us compete against others and killed people. I watched them die, but…”
“But, no one died Robert. As you can see here, everyone is still very much alive and healthy. I am sorry about your forearm. The rope we use is coated with a covering that is not supposed to rip the skin. As for watching people die. Yes, you watched people die and as of the last count I received, almost twenty-three million others did all around the globe via the dark web.”
Robert, more confused than before, grabbed Christopher’s arm and interrupted him demanding, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN: WATCHED?”
“My friend, this is a game show. A reality show of sorts that is broadcast on shadow sites all around the world. People pay to watch and bet on the action.”
“A FUCKING SHOW! You kidnapped me for A FUCKING SHOW?”
“Kidnapped is such a harsh word. I admit our methodology is one that is questionable, but it is how we have done this for several years now and it produces the best shows.”
The anger swelled in Robert. “Questionable methodologies? Enlighten me. What did you do to me?”
Christopher got up and walked, yes walked, to the foot of the cot. “Well… first you are still in the warehouse I live in. You have only been here for three hours. The soda you drank had a few knockout drops in it. I find having you wake up disoriented when the games begin creates a more genuine and believable reaction; Realism is especially important. Everyone has to believe what they are seeing
is real. No one dies, no one is supposed to get hurt. It is all special effects, again to make everything seem real. Your friends over there.” Christopher pointed to where his friends stood. “They have been part of this with me for the last nine months. I have four groups of folks we rotate to keep anyone watching from realizing someone they thought died on the last show is suddenly alive on another show. You were lucky, someone left our little cast, and we needed to add one more. We always keep the newbies in the dark for the first time, again or the realism. After the…”
“Wait!” Robert interrupted again. He rubbed his forehead with his left hand and sat up. “Let me get this straight. This is all for a web show?” Now looking at everyone in the room. “You ALL, lead me over here under false pretenses. Held me against my will and then forced me to play games that I thought were life or death. All for just a stupid web show?”
Christopher nodded. “Basically, yes.” With that blunt answer, a combination of confusion and disbelief consumed Robert’s face “It must be that way, or it does not seem real and then no one watches. Once you do it and understand then you know how to react to sell it and you will even enjoy it. Look how real your friends sold it, you have gotten to know each of them and their reactions had you convinced this was all real. It is what people want to see.”
“No way, uh-uh. That is not going to happen, buddy. I’m not going to do this. No way, no how. I’m going to the cops and shutting this all down. You all, and even the crowd, are going to jail.”
“Oh, there is no crowd. Those sounds are added for the appearance of a crowd. The only ones involved are those you see in this room and another five people that help with the production side of things.” Kevin handed a large envelop to Christopher. “And before you go to the cops, maybe you should count what is in the envelope, that is your take of the show. Should be a quarter of a million.”
Christopher dropped the envelope on the cot next to Robert with a thud. Robert made note of the thickness and weight and opened it. He did not know what to say anymore. In his hand he had an envelope with a quarter of a million dollars. He looked up at his girlfriend with hope she would help center him, but her face created another question. “Amy, why are you here? You were at work.”
Amy with all the honesty and compassion of an angel, “You thought I was at work, but I was coming here. I’ve been watching this show online at night for months. How do you think they found you?”
Game Master
Follow the SanSquad in their next adventure in Part 2, Game Master: Playing for Keeps, where Robert and his friends enjoy the good life, but not everyone was happy to see that. Their deception, which they thought was still a secret, has rubbed a few high profile and dangerous individuals in the Game Master community the wrong way. Motivated by anger and money, the root of all evil, these individuals step out from the veil of the Dark Web to unleash a plan to force the SanSquad to repay them. The price is their lives.
Game Master Play On is a fast-paced thriller ripped from today's headlines. If you like thriller stories with a touch of realism and a stunning twist that goes back to the origins of the Game Master show itself, then you will love this entry in David Clark's dark web trilogy, Game Master.
What Did You Think of Game Master: Game On?
First of all, thank you for purchasing Game Master: Game On. I know you could have picked any number of books to read, but you picked this book and for that I am extremely grateful.
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About the Author
David Clark is an author of multiple self-published thriller novellas and horror anthologies (amazon genre top 100) and can be found in 3 published horror anthologies. His writing focuses on the thriller and suspense genre with shades toward horror and science fiction. His writing style takes a story based on reality, develops characters the reader can connect with and pull for, and then sends the reader on a roller-coaster journey the best fortune teller could not predict. He feels his job is done if the reader either gasps, makes a verbal reaction out loud, throws the book across the room, or hopefully all three.
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Other Works
If you enjoyed this book, be sure to check out his other published shorts and novels. Feedback and reviews are always welcome.
Dark Water Syndicates – Postcards from the Void - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G8YBY9Q
Hellbound Books’ – The Big Book of Bootleg Horror 4 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2N9ZL
Hellbound Books’ -Shopping List 2 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0776LFHJM
Highway 666 And Other Tales to Speed your Descent into the Abyss -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F64HP4X
The Splurge – A collection of Horror Inspired Holiday Parody -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JMSPMRY
Game Master: Game on – Book one of the Dark Web Trilogy -Follow a group of friends that are deceived, trapped, tortured, and forced to compete for their lives. Only one will survive and be crowned Game Master. - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JYTG5CN