Roulette

The game is called Roulette. It isn't your typical casino game. There is no wheel or any numbers. There is no little white ball. This game is more along the lines of Russian roulette but not quite. There's no gun. There's no single bullet. Death is not the fate of the loser. Survival is not the motivation of the winner either, instead it's a million dollar prize.

No one knows who sponsors the game. No one even knows where the game is held. All that is known is that once you are selected to play, you get kidnapped blindfolded and dropped off. You end up in whatever warehouse it's in and let the games begin. The selection process for the game is also a mystery. All that is known is that some people are forced to play and others that know about the game may choose to participate. All players hoping to win the money.

Ten pepole are sitting around the table. The game host, a tall slender man removes the blindfolds. In front of each contestant is a rubber tourniquet and a syringe. The host then starts the game.

"You have ten minutes. Shoot up!"

The first eight contestants immediately tie off their arms and inject themselves.

"Ladies first." Johnny says in an attempt to get Samantha to shoot up first.

Samantha then picks up her tourniquet ties off her arm and injects herself.

"Waitng on you" she says smirkingly. Johnny finally shoots up, thus ending the first round of the game. The host then re-enters the room and tells the contestants their fate.

"If you look closely at your syringes there is a little number on them. Those numbers indicate what was in your syringe. Eight of you will have a simple saline solution. The other two will have to live with whatever they've injected and must immediately leave the game. The first number is lucky number 7."

A man jumps out of his seat in celebration. The excitement he had quickly goes away once he's informed of what was in his syringe.

"Congratulations Matthew. You have received your flu shot for the year. It's also quite obvious who the other eliminated contestant is."

The other contestants look around and notice a woman with her head down on the table. Samantha expresses concern for the young lady.

"Is she going to die?"

"Nope, it's just a little heroin."

He then leads the rest of the contestants into another room where there are huge buckets on the table. The eight contestants choose their seats and the host begins the game.

"You have ten minutes. I need six apples. Get bobbing."

Samantha removes her bucket lid and to her delight she sees what appears to be water, with an apple clearly at the bottom. She then sits back to enjoy the show.

The other contestants remove their lids and start frantically bobbing. One girl successfully retrieves her apple from her bucket of syrup. Johnny removes his lid to reveal a yellow liquid that he quickly determines to be urine. He can also see his apple at the bottom and quickly retrieves it. Another girl retrieves her apple after discovering her liquid was also water. Another man removes his lid to reveal a slightly yellow liquid. He dumps his head in the bucket and quickly realized his bucket was filled with bleach. Despite his eyes and throat burning he continues bobbing. Samantha finally stops him.

"Stop hurting yourself. You've lost already."

The man starts to mumble"Bitch I'll be ahead of you!"

Samantha then starts to chuckle, "Yeah too bad it's not a race."

Another man retrieves his apple from his bucket of chocolate and yet another from his bucket of blood. Samantha then decides to retrieve her apple thus ending the round.

The last man, covered in what appears to be motor oil dumps his bucket out on the floor. There was no apple. He then tries to attack Samantha. "Bitch how did you know?!"

Three men immediately rush in and remove the man. The host then returns to the room.

"I see I have my six apples."

The eliminated contestant starts to yell. "You cheated, I didn't have an apple!"

The host then looked at him and replied. "I know. That's why you lost."

He then leads the remaining contestants into another room.

On the way Johnny asks Samantha how she knew about the apples. She replied simply. "He said he needed six apples, not the first six apples."

They enter the next room and there are six standing human sized boxes. The host then starts the game.

"Be in your box when I return."

They each pick a box and get in. A few minutes pass and a girl comes running out of her box. She has been bit numerous times. She looks back at her box as the snakes start to slither out. Another girl soon follows running out of her box brushing off the tarantulas that are clinging to her body.

The host then returns to the room. One of the girls eliminated from the game asks if the snakes and spiders were poisonous. The host simply looked at the girls and replied "I don't know."

The host informs the other contestants that they could now leave their boxes. Samantha stepped out soaked and gasping for air. Her box had filled up with water. Johnny emerges covered in stings, his box was filled with bees. The third contestant emerges from his box unscathed. The last contestant comes out of his box with leeches still attached to his body. He peels one off of his face as he screams "let's go!"

The host then leads them to the next room. They enter the room and there are four batting cages. The host then walks out of the room as he whispers "don't strike out."

The first contestant runs into a cage.

"I definitely got this one. I played baseball in college!"

Before he could even get on his helmet three balls quickly shot past him. The light above his cage then shows three x's indicating he had struck out. The cage then collapses on top of him. Johnny becomes very nervous. Samantha looks at Johnny and the other guy. "Well you can't win if you don't play."

Samantha steps into the cage and gets ready to hit. She stares down the machine. The first pitch fires out of the machine striking her in the head and rendering her unconscious. The other guy looks over at Johnny. Then he starts calling out for the host. "Hey, it's over. They're both out! We're the final two!"

Just then a pitch goes into the cage and a red x appears in the light above. Then another pitch and another red x. Just before the third ball fires Johnny jumps into the cage and grabs the bat. Everything happens so fast that Johnny never even sees the pitch. All he hears is the sound of the ball leaving the machine. He closes his eyes and swings. He hits the ball and it hits the wall of the room. Johnny sighs in relief. He then looks at the final contestant. "I guess it's your turn."

The last contestant enters his cage. He puts on his helmet and grabs the bat. He hears the machine go off and swings so hard that he completely spins around. Then he notices the ball slowly rolling across the floor. A red x appears in his light. He gathers himself and gets back in his stance. The next ball shoots out at a hundred miles per hour. It flies past him before he could even blink. A second red x lights up. Johnny and the last contestant look intense as this could be it. This could be the end of the game. This was it, win or lose. The ball shoots out. The contestant has it right in his sights. Right before the ball reaches him it explodes sending shrapnel into his body. As he convulses in pain another ball shoots past him and the last red x lights up. Johnny sees it and thinks he's won the game. The host comes in and helps Samantha to get feet.

"Come on honey, one more round to go."

Johnny looks at the lights on Samantha's cage and sees that it says walked. Clearly defeated he follows Samantha and the host to the next room.

There at the table were two slices of chocolate cake. The host simply says "Have some dessert."

Samantha then asks Johnny why was he there. Johnny informs her that he owes some really bad guys a lot of money and he was here trying to get the money to pay them. He then asks her the same question.

"Let's just say I'm a risk taker." She tells him."Bon Appétit"

Samantha and Johnny both start eating their cake. Johnny begins violently throwing up. He continues to try and eat the cake. He throws up again and realizes that he's lost as he sees Samantha licking the fork clean of her last bite. "I guess you're the winner."

The host is in another room with a round table of older men. There's a large pile of money on the table. The host then grabs two blindfolds and a black duffel bag. As he leaves the room he says "Mr. Ransom wins again!"

The host enters the room and hands Samantha the bag.

" Congratulations."

He then blindfolds both of them and leads them out. They get into a car. After a while the car stops. The host takes them out and removes the blindfolds.

"You are free to go."

Samantha starts to walk away. Johnny just stands there. He almost starts to cry. He can't believe he was that close. Then he throws up one last time. As he walks away he hears Samantha.

"Hey kid, good job." She then throws him a small stack of money. "See you around."