Unfair games

The B Lymphocyte woke up after having received a heavy blow to his head. Now, not only his head was aching, but his entire body as well. He had no idea where he was, what was going on and especially why the basophil he was wearing some strange device of unknown purpose. Next to him, he spotted other cells, also with these weird things on their heads, and chained to the wall. The B Lymphocyte peeked to the side, realizing that he was as well, with a fairly long and heavy chain. At the level of his head, he spotted a small opening in the wall, looking like a horizontal slit. He didn't even have the time to think what it was for, since the other captives started stirring and making noise. Someone dashed forward, tugging at the chain with full force and setting in motion a mechanism that was hidden in the wall. The chains were tied to each other, as it looked, or were perhaps a part of a single incredibly long one, because the farther someone got away from the wall, the shorter became the chain's parts of the others. Suddenly, a weird voice, altered beyond recognition, started to resound over the unlucky captives' heads: "Hello, my dear cells! I am the Constructor and want to play a game with you! I hope you'll like it. Alright, here comes the first round! In order to survive, you have five minutes to get the keys that are right there, in front of you, in these nice glass cubes. Good luck!" A timer went on under the ceiling, and circular saws appeared from the slits in the wall, starting to buzz dangerously. "Oh no, we're going to die!" shouted someone next to him. The B Lymphocyte recognized that voice: it was his best friend and coworker Memory Cell. "Aaah!" There were more screams. "Calm down!" commanded the B Lymphocyte. "Don't panic, I think I understand what's going on." "Why are you acting like the boss here?" an annoyed bass spat from the other end of the room. That was the T-Killer. "Because our time's running out, and you don't have the tiniest clue what to do," the B Lymphocyte snapped back. "So you consider yourself the smartest one here, huh?" The T-Killer was angry. "Smarter than some of us, yeah," grumbled the B Lymphocyte, who right now preferred to release his stress with words over saving their lives. The T-Killer started complaining again, using not very censored expressions, but was stopped by someone. "Wait, don't get mad," intervened the T-Helper who was there as well. "Let's listen to his plan." The B Lymphocyte, who couldn't stop sulking that easily, inhaled deeply despite the critical situation and announced: "Listen, everyone: there are glass cubes in front of you, and everybody has to run towards their cube and get the key, quickly." "So you are sure that the voice didn't lie and that these keys will really help us to get rid of these things and the attached chain?" inquired the T-Helper, fumbling for the lock on his device. "I suppose so, that's this game's objective." "And that's it?" "It's not as easy as it sounds. We should run one at a time, with literally a few seconds in between, otherwise the others will be dragged into the trap. Look for yourself what happens when someone tries to get away from the wall." The T-Helper nodded, and the other participants of that strange game also joined the discussion. "Doesn't seem hard," said the neutrophil U-1146. He exchanged gazes with his friend U-4989, and they both turned their eyes to their familiar red blood cells AE3803 and NT4201, worrying about them more than their own lives. "Are you alright, Red-chan?" U-1146 asked AE3803. "Uh-huh," she answered, despite not being really sure whether this was true. She had no clue how and why she had gotten there, and even less what happened to the package she had been carrying. NT4201 was thinking about more or less the same. U-4989 was about to ask her if she was alright as well, but the B Lymphocyte yelled: "Ready! Steady! Go!" Memory Cell, the B Lymphocyte, the T-Helper, the T-Killer, U-1146 and AE3803 successfully managed to get their key one after the other. With every new tug the scary saws seemed to get closer and closer, and some cells got injured, having barely touched the rotating disk. As there was almost no time left, U-4989 desperately rushed forward, grabbed the key and inserted it into the lock. Fiddling with it, he watched with worry how NT4201 was trying to reach her glass cube. But at that moment, the last second passed… Completely shocked, U-4989 had to watch NT4201, who didn't manage to get the key in time, being dragged by the chains towards the wall. In the anxiously flickering and already dim light and accompanied by the screeching noise of the circular saw that made everyone freeze with terror, the poor young woman was then sawed apart in a matter of seconds. Her head flew aside and her dead body fell to the floor with a dull, wet sound... U-4989 was paralyzed with horror. Hesitating for a few moments and not hearing the desperate screams of his comrades in misfortune behind his back, his only thought was that, without NT4201, his life had no meaning anymore. So he didn't finish opening the lock, and was cut into thin pieces by the circular saws only a few seconds later. Even the T-Killer, an experienced fighter, couldn't help but experience a strong nausea at the sight. U-1146, who couldn't believe that his friend was dead, squeezed the hand of his trembling Red-chan without even noticing it. Very soon, they could suffer the same fate as their friends. Even though they had managed to get rid of the chains and part of the devices, they still had metallic collars around their necks that had been put on them, obviously not with good intentions. The voice announced from a speaker box: "Congratulations, you cleared the first task. And now move over to the next room, everything is going to explode here in thirty seconds." The T-Helper and the T-Killer rushed into the opened room and started looking around. It didn't seem dangerous at all: in front of them were some round gangways that were closed with bars, and some objects were hanging from the ceiling, looking like figures made from colorful balloons. The B Lymphocyte was in the meantime dragging Memory Cell by his jacket, the latter having a panic attack judging by his convulsions, and the neutrophil carrying AE in his arms, the red blood cell crying after the horrible death of the one who had been her friend and kohai. As soon as the door closed behind them, they heard several loud bangs, and smoke appeared on the ground. A signal similar to a fire alarm initiated the second part of the game. The voice said happily: "The rules are very simple, my dear cells: I will give you ten minutes to get the keys hidden in the figures you see over your heads and to open the right locks. Everything will be decided by fate, and your further trials will depend on the path you are going to find. After ten minutes, this room'll end up like the previous one: kaboom! Haha!" "Time's already running," the T-Helper noted, horrified. "Let's break all of them!" The cells rushed to throw off the figures that were hanging from the ceiling with everything they had. They lifted each other, used their hands and their clothes and unexpectedly managed to break a big number of figures which were mostly empty inside. But the time just wasn't enough, and by the last minute, they only had three keys with marks shaped like the locks on the bars. So the cells had to be separated from each other: just before the explosion, the B Lymphocyte and Memory Cell managed to run into the first room, the T-Killer and the T-Helper into the second, and U-1146 and AE3803 into the third. Each group probably had to survive the next game together or die. *** When the T-Killer woke up, it was dark. Cursing loudly, he felt his way and found something very similar to a tub around himself. There was some clattering and clinking... and he fell down, while trying to get out of the strange vessel. "Hey, T-Killer..." said the T-Helper. "What?" the latter spat. "Wait, don't make any sudden movements, I'll turn on the light." "Why didn't you do it earlier?" "I just found the switch." And when the light went on, they both squinted due to unbearable pain in their eyes. "Alright, and what now?" asked the T-Killer after he had gotten used to it a bit. "It looks like we have a problem," said the T-Helper, pointing at the chains that were tying their legs to the tubes in the... "Are we in an abandoned bathroom?" inquired the T-Killer. "Just great. Well done, you smartass, who chose the key... couldn't you pick a better place for us to die?" The T-Helper was about to protest that he was not to blame, but then, they heard an already familiar voice: "The game continues. Follow your heart." The T-Killer cursed again and announced that he didn't give a shit about that. But in reality, he did, at least literally, since he started unbuttoning his pants and sat down on the fairly battered toilet. Well, but this toilet didn't seem to work, so the T-Killer couldn't flush. He looked into the water tank to see what the matter was, and the T-Helper noticed a heart that was drawn on the tank.  "There's some blockage," grumbled the T-Killer, taking a bundle out from under the floater. Having removed the dark waterproof wrapping, they discovered two handsaws. Both cells shot doubtful gazes at them, then at their chains, and then at the round clock hanging in the room instead of the electronic timers they had before. After this, each of them miraculously found a piece of paper in their pocket, saying: "Yes, you only have time until six o'clock..." And under these words, their respective tasks. And as one would expect, the saws couldn't cut the chains at all. While the T-Helper was thinking about their situation, the T-Killer blurted out: "He doesn't want us to saw our own feet off, does he?" "I suggest letting this option as a last resort," replied the T-Helper, and sank into thought once again. He didn't like this situation one bit... *** The B Lymphocyte and Memory Cell found themselves in a stone bag. There was a thick grid above their hands, one they probably wouldn't be able to reach, let alone open. The B Lymphocyte could notice even with the unaided eye that it was welded shut along the edges. "What should we do?" asked Memory Cell, staring at the blank stone walls with complete hopelessness in his eyes. "Weeell..." answered the B Lymphocyte and directed his gaze to an object, covered with a tarp, that was located just in the middle of what could be called a room. He removed the tarp, and he and Memory Cell discovered with surprise that there was a glass coffin under it, full of broken glass. With a player inside it. "Should we get it out?" asked Memory Cell hesitantly. "I suppose we have to," said the B Lymphocyte with a sigh, opened the coffin and took the player out. As soon as they pressed play, they heard that same voice again: "There's only one way to save yourself in that game: by lying into the glass coffin. Lying on the broken glass won't be very comfortable, but it will save your lives. Believe me." "You don't say!" spat the B Lymphocyte. "Do you think it's a trap?" "What else could it be?" "And what if it's not?" Memory Cell was having doubts. He was thoughtfully looking into the open glass coffin and suddenly heard a strange noise. It got louder and louder, and a slight vibration of unknown origin ran along their legs. First, they thought that it was just their imagination, but a few moments later, the captives realized with horror that the walls of the stone bag were moving. While the B Lymphocyte was trying to understand what was going on, Memory Cell had started to panic: clutching his head, he was desperately running around in the narrow space. And now of all times, everything that happened was reminding him of one more than scary prophecy. The walls were coming closer and closer, soon, only a small stripe along the coffin was left. There was only enough space in it for one, and Memory Cell took a decision. In the very last moment, just before the stone plats that were strengthened with iron could crush them together with that coffin, he shoved the B Lymphocyte into it and closed the lid. "No! What are you doing?!" the latter screamed from inside, feeling the sharp glass shards bury themselves into his body. "Live," whispered Memory Cell, as he watched the coffin descend together with his friend to a safe place. He didn't really know himself why he had believed the Constructor, but his intuition didn't deceive him. Oh well, as the older one, it was his task to take responsibility, anyway. *** U-1146 and AE3803 rushed into some dark and incredibly long tube. As it seemed, they lost consciousness after the landing. The neutrophil didn't have any logical explanation for that, just that his neck was suspiciously itching in one place. He remembered vaguely that they had landed on something soft and then... and then him getting very sleepy. Now, his hands and feet were tied up, there was a key hanging around his neck, and under him was a partly disassembled floor with gaping holes, revealing a constructing with several half-built floors. On the opposite side, and pretty far away from him, was Red-chan. Her hands and feet were free, but instead she was blindfolded and had something similar to a donation box hanging on her chest. "This game's rules are simple," a voice resounded somewhere from above. "The one who is tied up has to lead the blindfolded one to himself. The first one's key is able to get the explosive device off the second one. You have ten minutes. Good luck!" "Can I remove the blindfold?" asked AE3803, despite already supposing that the answer would probably be "no". "Indeed," thought U-1146. "By the way," the voice added. "If you dare to remove the blindfold, the explosion will occur earlier." AE3803 just let out a sad sigh. U-1146 got over his worry and yelled out: "Come, Red-chan, I will lead you, but don't hurry, alright?" "Okay," she agreed, and another deadly game started. She was already constantly getting lost without a blindfold, and here... "We are on high ground," U-1146 explained. "The floor's disassembled, a few boards are still left, but they don't look very robust. So test out with your hand first, how stable the boards are before you step and put on your weight on them." "Okay," she repeated, being led by his voice. Despite being scared, she trusted him completely. The ten minutes felt endless. AE3803 stumbled and almost fell down more than once. U-1146 was trying to stay calm, despite being on the verge of collapse. Each time his Red-chan positioned her foot wrong, his soul left his body, and the very last minutes, where they had to hurry, which was extremely dangerous, were like unbearable torture for both of them. How they managed, they weren't able to explain themselves, but they did, U-1146 could guide AE3803 very accurately along the unreliable boards. In the end, she tripped, falling right on top of him and hugging him during her fall. He commanded her to quickly remove the key from his neck and free herself from the explosive device. AE3803 succeeded with this as well, despite almost dropping the key into one of the holes of the barely existing floor. U-1146's heart almost stopped at that moment. He screamed: "To the right! Red-chan! Hurry!" In the very last second, the key made a clicking sound in the lock, turning off the explosive device and allowing her now to remove it from her neck. Next to them, a panel moved to the side, revealing a secret passage and inviting them to continue their way. *** U-1146 and AE3803 found themselves in a room which was basically empty, with a hatch in the floor and another one at the ceiling. And while they were wondering what would await them now, another panel started to move, leading the B Lymphocyte into the room, who was shaking glass shards out of his hair. Receiving a silent question concerning Memory Cell, he merely nodded. None of them knew what had become of the T-Killer and the T-Helper, so they could only hope that at least one of the latter was still alive. The Constructor seemed to wait for them to arrive, but before the B Lymphocyte and his friends could reveal to each other about what they had to go through, all the panels moved back, and the game continued.  There was no timer under the ceiling this time, but instead, a mocking song started to play from the speakers installed everywhere: "Congratulations!". As soon as it ended, the Constructor's voice could be heard again: "This game's rules are even simpler than all the previous ones," was the good news. "You just have to sacrifice one of you. There is no time limit, but keep in mind that you won't be able to leave this room unless you choose a victim. You can even all die here for all I care. The one chosen as a sacrifice has to stand on top of the hatch cover you see on the floor. This is all. See you soon." After this, there was an awkward silence. Everyone was thinking intensely. "I won't let you die, Red-chan," promised U-1146 and was about to head to the indicated place, but the B Lymphocyte stopped him. "Memory Cell already sacrificed himself, and now it's my turn," he said, then cleared his throat and added pathetically, making his friends blush violently: "I will... sacrifice myself for the sake of your love!"  "But you're a long-lived cell, if you survive, you'll be more useful to the organism," U-1146 tried to change his mind. "I would never forgive myself if I survive at someone else's expense," the B Lymphocyte protested and bravely stepped forward towards the hatch. U-1146 was dismayed, and AE3803 knew that he needed to be stopped, that this was wrong... but she really wanted to live! And also didn't want to lose her Leukocyte-kun U-1146. Completely at a loss, she could just helplessly watch the B Lymphocyte approaching the hatch and stand on it. Then, it started to open… U-1146 barely managed to catch a glimpse at the wolf pit with sharp stakes that was located down there. And that was it. From the hatch on the ceiling, a huge ice block fell right after the B Lymphocyte, so even if he should have survived the pit somehow, the block would definitely crush him. It sealed up everything all the way to the top so tightly that it was impossible to see what was happening under it. "What a horrible death!" squeaked the pale AE3803. "Looks like we are the only ones left," said U-1146 sadly. Suddenly, the lights went out, and a new door opened, a shining rectangular entrance, like a window to Paradise. Neither U-1146 nor AE3803 knew what awaited them there. Holding hands, they approached the light that would perhaps lead them to a certain death. *** As soon as U-1146 and AE3803 had passed the doorstep, they found themselves in front of a white wall where a spiral was depicted. The only light bulb hanging above their heads abruptly went out, the door behind them slammed shut, and there was a loud bang somewhere nearby. U-1146's ears got plugged, and then his hand, that had been holding AE3803's, suddenly felt emptiness. Fear attacked him like a sharp blade, making him lose his cool and start running at breakneck speed. He thought hearing Red-chan's voice somewhere, as though from a distance... Feeling his way, U-1146 got out of the tangled hallway where he had landed, tripped a few times on the uneven ground and almost rolled down the stairs to some kind of strange room that was reminding him of a training ground for beginning climbers. The light was bright enough to make his eyes hurt after the dark. While U-1146 was getting used to it, he heard an already clear: "I'm here, Leukocyte-kun!" Shielding his eyes with his hand, he spotted Red-chan, who was strapped to big metallic rings situated in the oval depression of a strange-looking podium that was covered with metallic sheets. Around it was a thin wire net reaching up almost to the ceiling. He was about to ask how she had ended up there and who had strapped her, but the speaker that was in this room as well, suddenly came to life and wheezed:  "Welcome to the final challenge! This game is going to be easy and hard at the same time. Here, all your skills will be needed. To avoid a horrible death, you have to get the lever and insert it into the opening on the podium." The unlucky cells looked up and saw a huge iron "key", whose shape reminded them of a poker. It was hanging at the highest part of the dome-shaped ceiling. The surrounding walls were full of hooks, crossbars, and loops made out of ropes and leather – in other words, everything that would help to reach that object "Don't worry, Red-chan," said U-1146. "I have done something like this many times. I was taught things like aerial acrobatics when I was still in school." He tried to speak confidently, in order to calm down her and also himself, despite the feeling as if a thousand germs were tearing him apart from inside. The mysterious host of the deadly games continued in the meantime:  "This time, I am going to be generous and grant you an entire hour, but don't forget that your allotted time will get shortened every time you make a false step. Well then, let's begin." U-1146 exhaled deeply and dashed forward, finding out that touching the net was impossible as it was electrified. So without thinking twice, the neutrophil started climbing the wall by gripping the protruding parts of the construction. AE3803 was watching him with amazement, witnessing him skillfully getting higher and higher. She had no doubts that Leukocyte-kun would save her, and didn't even suspect that this place was full of traps. U-1146 realized immediately that reaching the goal would be a difficult task despite all his skills, since some of the hooks moved as he tried to grab them, others fell off, the loops tore apart and the crossbars flew away. But this still wasn't the worst. He found the first real trap when he stepped on something he had deemed a safe ledge. There was a click, the timer produced a warning sound and took away ten minutes. U-1146 started to get nervous: there was still a long way to the lever, and he had no clue how many more of these traps would await him on his path. He decided to slow down a bit and to spend a few precious minutes to think and create a plan. Would it be possible to get the trap switch with the smallest possible amount of shots? And would it also be possible to just jump down after it into the funnel-shaped opening that wasn't covered by the net? And if preferably, not getting too much damage, in order to have enough strength left to move the gigantic lever. While trying to properly assess the situation, U-1146 understood that he wouldn't be able to reach the top with fewer than five or maybe six steps. Perhaps, the Constructor had already foreseen this and thus, added traps exactly in these places. Thinking about where he would have put them himself, the neutrophil continued to advance, without even suspecting that he really managed to avoid several of them. He reached a place where there was nothing to hold on to anymore and clutched the piece of wood that was the lever and tied to the timer. A new penalty almost got it to break and fall off.  He finally achieved to get off the lever hanging from the highest point and got startled by the timer's ringing. Another twenty minutes penalty. Now, that was too much! "That's not fair!" he yelled at no one in particular. U-1146 hurried to come down and smacked onto the electrified net. The lever landed somewhere near AE3803, but she wasn't able to insert it herself. Ignoring his pain, U-1146 started to crawl on the net to the center, getting another five minutes penalty on the way. With barely any strength left and his body full of bruises and burns, he managed to get to the lever, inserted it into the opening, and then turned it, overcoming the metal's resistance. He was just one second too late. An alarm went off and right before his eyes, AE got covered by a steel dome, and a fire started around the unlucky red blood cell, boiling her like in a pressure cooker. Everything before U-1146’s eyes went blank, without her, his life didn’t have any meaning anymore. Completely flooded with emotional pain, he lost every last shred of sanity he had still left at once. Shutting his eyes, he stepped forward into the open trap and was swallowed completely by the flames... this was the end. *** U-1146 woke up from bright rays of sunlight, shining right on his face. Miss Macrophage was hovering over him, happy about something he had no clue about.  "Congratulations, you are the winner of our immersive reality-show 'Saw'!" she exclaimed and shook the neutrophil's hand. And in the meantime, the other "killed" participants started to come back to life, completely shocking U-1146, who had still not quite returned to his senses, and also the viewers, who had been following these sick games intently in front of their screens. U-1146 was even sure in the beginning that he probably had lost his mind or landed in the cellular afterworld. Ahead of the rest, AE3803 was rushing up to him, safe and sound, just dirty with soot. U-1146 felt that he might lose conscience again, rolled his eyes and laid down, bleeding. There was a happy and somewhat silly smile on his face from the knowledge that his Red-chan was alive. U-4989 and NT4201 came trotting up after AE3803. The neutrophil had both his hands in a strange device, unable to get them out. "Good grief," sighed NT4201. "Why did you have to put your hands in there? Isn't it obvious that you shouldn't touch anything here?" "But there was candy inside!" U-4989 justified himself with an apologetic smile. Soon, the B Lymphocyte appeared together with Memory Cell, talking to him lively about something and with the latter absolutely not getting what was going on. A bit later, the T-Killer and T-Helper arrived, breaking the door with a crash. They were both wearing a chain tied to one of their legs with a broken off piece of pipe and desperately swearing. Having finally come to their senses, the cells stood around Miss Macrophage, wanting an explanation and the sooner, the better. They were outraged when they found out that they had become involuntary participants of another one of her "brilliant" shows. It turned out that everyone had gotten an invitation to said show along with a cocktail as a gift, which contained a sleeping pill (everyone but the B Lymphocyte, who had gotten a blow to his head from Dendritic Cell for his not very strong desire to play a victim), and then transported to the games room where the Constructor... "Ah," AE3803 perked up. "Who is that Constructor, by the way?" "Oh, a real genius, I can tell you," assured the B Lymphocyte. "Judging by all these incredible mechanisms." "So who?" everyone wanted to know. "Me, of course!" The B Lymphocyte was beaming. "What a great idea of mine to pretend to be a victim just to fool you, right?" he couldn't resist to brag. "So this was all your doing, you asshole?!" the T-Killer roared, grabbing him by his coat. "Oh, you're gonna pay for this! Getting lysed is the least you can expect!" "Hey, you don't have the right to beat normal cells!... You need at least the T-Helper's permission before you can kill someone." "Permission is granted," said the T-Helper. "You deserve it." "Maybe we could forgive him this time?" asked AE3803, looking at the others questioningly. They nodded, but not very sure if they really wanted to. Even Memory Cell didn't seem to be that willing to forgive his friend, he was still quite traumatized. "Alright, alright," the T-Helper agreed. "Hey, T-Killer, no need to kill him, just give him a good beating and that's it." And soon, the screams of the punished B Lymphocyte resounded together with the T-Killer's yelling: "So you were the one who made all these fucking traps?! Huh?! Wanna hear how I was told to saw off my own leg and then to pull myself up with the chain by my nipples? And to put my head into a mixer? I'll put you into it!" In the meantime, the T-Helper and the others were all staring at the main culprits: the macrophage and Dendritic Cell. After the T-Killer had forced a confession out of the B Lymphocyte that it had been these two who had made him participate in these unfair games, everybody wanted to obtain justice from them as well. There was an unimaginable noise, since everyone wished to give them a piece of mind. Smelling trouble, the macrophage and Dendritic Cell acted like they usually did in situations like these. "Until the next bloody game! See you later!" they said goodbye to the viewers, grabbed some video equipment and ran off. Followed by the T-Killer's threats to murder them and the T-Helper's heated screams that he wasn't going to let that slide and would report them to their higher superiors, the brain cells. With rattling chains and wearing torn, bloodied clothes, the T cells then ran after the two fugitives. Tripping over half-built traps and other equipment, they accidentally snagged on a cloth, revealing some screens showing AE's senpai AA5100 who was playing another dangerous game with two neutrophils she was deceiving... U-1146 and Red-chan decided to not wait until everything had finished and left to drink tea together, preferably with something to calm their nerves. Today they had learned to appreciate life more than ever and were happy that they still had each other.