When I went up to the dining room I was still hesitating, but I abandoned those thoughts when the good smell of food reached me.
My stomach was asking me to eat, so I did, I made myself a plate of food from the buffet and took it to a table a little out of the way.
When I took the burger to my mouth I could only enjoy the taste.
—This is the meaning of life.
Around the dining room were a handful of people. Some of them had headphones on and were watching the video. Some were watching the video in groups of 2 or 3.
—Hah. Everyone went back to the little screen.
I was still enjoying myself when one person jumped me from behind.
—I knew you would be here.
To my surprise it was little Basma who had found me.
I rejoiced and gave her a hug. I was afraid she might not have been able to pass the test, but seeing her brought me back a little happiness.
—How did it go, little one?
—Great. Thanks to Sara I was able to do it without a problem.
When I saw who Sara was I remembered that I had seen her before. It was the white-haired girl with the fisherman's hat. Although at the time I met her she was accompanied by a black guy and an Asian guy.
—Thank you very much for helping her.
—Don't worry. We are here to help each other.
I smiled. Was it like that?
—Have you eaten? Sit down and eat, I'm sure you're hungry.
—I'll be right back.
Basma took a potato from my plate and went with Sara to get some food.
I sighed. It was good to see her alive.
When she came back she was alone, apparently Sara had also met people she knew.
A little later Igor appeared and joined us. It seems that there were no problems on his side either.
The rest of the time we were talking, eating, laughing.
It was a good feeling. But...
—And Panther?
When Basma said that I froze. I knew they were going to ask, but I don't know whether to tell everything that happened, just make something up. I was hesitating and I spent too much time, Igor had an idea.
—He's dead, isn't he?
That sentence made me remember what had happened, but I pulled myself together. I could do nothing but tell the truth.
—Yes.
Basma looked sad but wasn't crying, which surprised me. In front of me Igor made a serious face, but said nothing more. The three of us went back to our plates without saying a word.
There was a heavy silence at our table. In the background you could hear people talking, eating and laughing. But I was in no mood for laughter.
Can I trust the people around me? Can I trust Basma and Igor? But do I really need to trust anyone? I only have to pass 5 shitty tests, I'm more than capable of doing it.
I got up from the table.
—Where are you going?
Basma was looking at me begging me to stay, but, I can't.
—I'm tired from the test, I'm going to sleep a lot.
Then Basma got up from the table as she took her phone out of her pocket.
—Sara taught me how to use this. I didn't know they existed, they are really useful.
I was speechless. She didn't know they existed, phones? It was a pretty unthinkable thing. What kid doesn't know what phones are in this day and age.
—Tell me your number Cam.
—My... My number?
—The one on the phone. It should be in contacts.
—In contacts? But it was empty when I opened it before.
When I opened the app again I noticed that above contacts there were several buttons, one add contact, and the other one said 'Cam'.
I guess I didn't see it before considering how little attention I paid to it. When I gave her my number she made a call and I said goodbye to both of them. On my back I could feel Igor staring at me.
I know I should say something else, maybe I'm not doing it right. But the image of Panther being thrown into the fog like it wasn't important hurt me.
I'm sorry Igor, but I need some time to think.
As I left the dining room I went straight to my room to watch the video. I don't know what I was going to see.
I sighed as I clutched my cell phone tightly. 'Don't give up' and 'It sure is hard', since the old man approached me I didn't know what to do.
—Is the video that cruel?
Although it's true that I have no way of knowing unless I watch it, so I made up my mind.
After hitting play he started introducing the participants. Although the video was very well edited I didn't want to watch it, but I forced myself to. The middle-aged man was named Charles, the youngest was Sofia, the blond guy was Jack and the last one was Mari.
You could see some moments of the test, who provoked more doubts, who was braver. The moment when Jack was helping Sofia to pass the first test, when I saved her afterwards, the discussion when we reached the road division.
The path of the others was the short one, they only had to turn a couple of times to get to the other side. We who took the middle path were there for quite a while. The scene at the end was very dramatic. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I watched the video.
—I almost died and no one would have cried for me.
And finally I got to the last part of the video, the part that interested me the most. After they left me alone and saw me in the video talking nonsense they put the other 4.
They looked confused when they reached the last part.
—I knew there was no way out. Surely the other boy is safe and we're dead —Charles complained like in the rest of the video—. I knew I should have stayed there.
—Shut up —Jack replied in frustration—. That man is lame and we can leave him for dead. I don't think he'll survive this test.
Hearing the blond boy say that hurt.
—Hey, you, I remind you that he saved your life before?
—And who are you? His girlfriend?
Watching Mari get angry for me felt both good and bad.
—Where is the exit?
The little girl paid no attention and asked the others.
—Shut up. Can't you see we're locked in here?
—I found something.
They all approached Charles.
On the wall there was a protrusion and on top of it it said it was a button to open the door.
—What do we do?
Sofia named the question they all had. Then Mari pulled out a knife she had hidden under her pants.
—We don't know if the fog is really poisonous. Maybe the way out is to go against the fog.
—And how do we do that? Do you want us to jump in?
Charles answered Jack's question.
—We throw the dog into the fog.
There was a moment of silence and they began to set things up. They decided to stick the knife in their hand to generate blood. And they lay face down in different positions.
The last one was Charles, the one in charge of hitting the button. When he hit it and lay down the button disappeared, and soon after, I arrived. Then I saw how Mari stuck me with a knife, how between Jack and Sofia they grabbed Panther, how Charles had to help Mari to keep me down.
Then Panther's cries were repeated. Mari's words were repeated. I watched as I killed the four people. And I cried.
The scene with me standing with the knife in my hand dripping blood made me feel nothing but sadness, sorrow and regret. I had killed them why? why did they kill Panther? did I need to kill all 4? was there no other way to do things?
I couldn't see the end of the video because I was crying and before I knew it I fell asleep.
*Ding!
A sound woke me up and when I opened my eyes I saw a message.
______________
To all hotel guests,
You need to be in the meeting room on the top floor at 21:00. Attendance is mandatory.
The manager.
______________
—The manager?