The Contest

The sound of metal clanging ripped the young woman from her drug-induced slumber. Her grogginess dissipated quickly as she surveyed her surroundings and found that she was locked inside a cage. There were eight people around her, each locked in a cages. At a glance, the people appeared to be of varying ages, sexes, and physiques; seemingly a random mix. She had no recollection of how she had gotten there or how long she had been trapped, but she found that she did know where she was: Skull Island. With this realization came another: her family had entered her into the contest, the one known as Vita uel Mortem, Latin for Life or Death, to collect the submission money, and, in so doing, had sentenced her to death. She was not athletic or outdoorsy and lacked all of the survival instincts necessary to have a chance of winning. Her family knew that as well as she did, a fact that filled her with equal parts despair and rage. She leaned into her rage and muttered, “Better to die in the contest than go back home now anyway.” Big talk, she was not looking forward to what the Mortifiers had in store for her and the others.

It is common knowledge, at least among the poor and desolate, that a group of rich eccentrics, called the Mortifiers, offer large amounts of money to anyone who joins their life or death contest: Vita eul Mortem. They started the contest many years ago, and continue to hold it once a year on their private island, Skull Island, where they have complete jurisdiction. The contestants, who the Mortifiers refer to as “Refuse,” compete in a series of tasks. The objective is to find one winner, of whom will, in addition to keeping their lives, take home the coveted prize. No one knows what the grand prize is except for the previous winners, but it is supposed to be something really special, something that has made each of them claim that it was worth it.

Suddenly, a speaker, hidden somewhere in the vegetation around them, hissed and squealed as it came to life. “Welcome Refuse, to Vita uel Mortem. Let me start by welcoming you here and share how pleased we are that you have joined us for this year's event. I know that everyone is very excited to get started, but first, the rules. The goal is simple: complete the three tasks that we have set for you. The winner will be the one who completes them the fastest. Cheating, quitting, and sabotage of any kind are strictly forbidden. Doing any of these will bring severe consequences. We suggest you take a look into the faces of your competitors, these are the people you are up against. For you to win, they must die; for them to win, you must die.”

She tried not to obey the ominous voice but found that she couldn't help herself and locked eyes with each of her fellow contestants. She saw terror mirrored in their eyes as in hers. Their last names were printed across the breast of the army green jumpsuit in which they were all attired. She read each name: Freeman, Lovell, Dern, Harper, Terry, Rodriguez, and James; before lowering her eyes to study her own. She then searched the surrounding area, from the tall grass to the bushes and trees around them, seeking the cameras that she was certain were there. She knew without a doubt that the Mortifiers were watching them right now. They had front row seats to the show, which she had to admit was off to a good start as their collective fear was currently flowing so strongly that it was almost tangible in the air around them, and the Mortifiers were undoubtedly enjoying every second.

The voice continued, “the first task is about to commence. As I'm sure you've noticed, you are all trapped within individual cages. The lock is digital and under my control. When I unlock the cage doors, you are to follow the winding path to the mountain. Follow the markers and climb the mountain, until you come to the checkpoint, which signifies the end of the task. The first to reach the checkpoint is the winner, and will receive a generous reward; the last one to finish will lose more than their pride. I trust you all understand. Now...BEGIN!”

She watched as the others sprang to action, panic running through her body as the adrenaline fully set in. She didn't expect to make it through the tasks, but the fear of death provided more than enough motivation for her to try. She leapt from the cage and ran for the path at top speed. She didn't make it two yards before tripping over a rock and falling hard to the ground. Her glasses fell from her face and she rolled over the right earpiece, snapping it off. She shoved them in her front pocket and took off again, running as fast as she could. At home, the only thing she ever exercised was her brain, so it didn't take long for her body to revolt. She didn't give in, however, as it begged and then commanded her to stop, finding a source of inner strength she never knew she had. She continued to maintain her pace until she caught up to the others, who were gathered together in a circle. As she got closer, she saw that they were surrounding a white metal post which had a small speaker set atop a digital screen: it was the checkpoint. She walked over and pressed her finger to the screen. It came to life and displayed her name and place among the others. She came in sixth. Not good but not bad either. She walked to the edge of the group and sat down on the dirt where she was finally overcome with the aches and pains that had been wracking her body. She and the others waited silently for the last two contestants to approach. It didn't take long for another to show up.

As soon as the next contestant touched the screen, the speaker clicked on and the same voice announced, “Please move through the door to begin the second task.” A hidden door opened up in front of them.

“Hey, where's the other guy? There were eight people when we started. Now there are only seven. What happened?” a woman, Harper, said aloud to no one in particular.

The voice repeated the command, “Please move through the door to begin the second task.”

“What happened to him?” Harper repeated. The others shifted uncomfortably and remained silent.

Meanwhile, the missing contestant, Terry, remained trapped within his cage. He started to sweat as he saw someone approaching.

“No, please!” He begged when the man stopped before him and released a gun from his belt.

Glaring at Terry, the man raised his firearm, “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk,” he said.

The contestants heard a gunshot far off in the distance.

“The first task is complete. Now, if you please, move through the door to begin the second task.” The voice instructed. The contestants looked at each other. Freeman lowered his head and was the first to walk through the door. The others followed.

On the other side, darkness enclosed them until the last person entered, triggering the light to flicker on overhead. The contestants looked around and found they were in a room that had been carved directly out of the mountain. If not for the extreme circumstances, they'd be oohing and awing at its ingenuity. There were seven workstations spread throughout the space, each with a desktop and set of drawers. From somewhere within the room, a speaker sputtered to life.

“Welcome Refuse, to the second task. As before, the first to complete the task will receive a prize, and the last will lose their life. Congratulations are in order, James, for winning the first task you will receive a time advantage. You may start five minutes before the others. Now, everyone find their workstation, each has a name written across it.” The contestants worked their way around the room, settling behind the desk with their name. “When I give you the signal, open the drawer, and complete the task. I warn you not to open it early, as per the rules.” Each of the contestants pulled the same fearful expression. “James...you may BEGIN!”

The others looked on as James opened his drawer and retrieved its contents, setting them out across his workstation. They all watched as he reacted with disgust to whatever it was that lay in front of him. His hesitation only lasted a moment, and before long James was working fervently as the others could only spectate. The young woman felt a small amount of relief at the logical nature of the task. Being a quiet and clever bookworm was finally going to pay off. When James' head start finally came to its end, the voice alerted the others to join in completing the task.

She opened the drawer and was surprised by what lay inside. It was nothing more than some small scraps of paper. Looking closer, it appeared as though someone had simply torn a photograph into tiny little pieces. Is this it? She took a moment to spread the pieces across her desk, recognizing her brother's face in one of the pieces. Hmm...she thought before finding her Mother and Father's faces too. She was able to reconstruct the photograph quickly and saw that it portrayed her family seated at the desk of an unknown woman, with a similarly unfamiliar man standing beside her. Her father was leaned over the desk and appeared to be writing something, while her mother smiled at the man and woman. Her brother, innocent at nine years old, looked oblivious. She instinctively knew that the photograph had been taken at the very moment they signed her life away and it felt like a knife to her heart. She glanced at James, wondering what he'd seen in his that made him react so strongly; what was pictured in the others' puzzles. She didn't even realize that she was the first to complete the task.

The other contestants completed their puzzles, all but one: Lovell. As the contestant before him put his last piece in place, Lovell's workstation exploded without warning, killing him instantly and blowing pieces of wood and debris all over the room. The contestants ducked for cover under their respective stations until the dust cleared. Her glasses were blown off her face and lost in the explosion, making a difficult situation utterly impossible. The voice once again rang through the speaker. “Congratulations Hertz, you are the winner of the second task. You will receive your prize shortly. All of you, go back through the door from which you came, return to the path, and climb further up the mountain until you reach the next checkpoint to begin the third task. Go, now.”

When the contestants reached the checkpoint, Hertz silently prayed for a miracle. Dread spread among them like wildfire as they heard the familiar voice ring through the speaker, “Welcome to the third, and final, task. You have all done very well and should be proud of yourselves. Hertz, your prize is the return of something you've lost: your glasses. We've fixed them, take them now.” A small compartment opened up on the checkpoint, revealing her glasses. The broken earpiece had been replaced, she noticed gratefully as she put them on. “The goal of the final task is this: go back down the mountain and return to your cages. Your exact cages, the same ones you started in. The first one to make it back into their cage will be the winner. Oh, and there is just one other minor detail, you will be hunted on your way down. I'd suggest you make haste...BEGIN!”

Terrified, the contestants tore down the mountain. Veering off the path and away from the others, Hertz gasped when she heard an animal growl fiercely followed by a high-pitched scream. She cried out as her foot caught on a raised root and she tumbled down the steep mountain until she landed flat on her back. Ignoring the searing pain that shot up her spine, she pushed herself up and continued running. She saw a dark figure to the left of her, though it was far off, she recognized it to be a large dog or wolf. She panicked and fell once again, only this time she rolled farther and landed harder. As more screams rang out from her fellow contestants, she got up and took off again, this time leaning forward to hit top speed down the treacherous decline. When she finally made it to the bottom of the mountain, she saw two other contestants on the path ahead of her. Using every ounce of energy she had left, she sprinted towards the cages. She saw that the two contestants, Freeman and Bern, had already returned to their cages and knew she had lost. Her last shred of hope disintegrated as she climbed in and fell onto the hard, metal floor, sobbing. Every inch of her body was in pain, but what hurt her the most was knowing the grim fate that lies before her.

They were waiting for the others when, all of a sudden, their cages slammed shut. Deja-vu, Hertz mused bitterly. For the final time, the speaker came to life and the voice addressed them.

“All tasks have been completed, Vita eul Mortem is done.” In unison, the three contestants turned to face the mountain, thinking of the contestants who had failed to join them. The voice soon confirmed their suspicions, “Congratulations Freeman, Dern, and Hertz. You were the only contestants to complete the task successfully. The first to return was Freeman, however, both Freeman and Dern failed to return to the correct cages. If you'll remember, you were instructed to return to the exact cages that you started in. This means that the winner of this year's Vita eul Mortem is Hertz. You may now exit your cage and claim your prize.”

The door to her cage opened, she stepped out cautiously and saw a jeep driving towards her. She was completely numb, and so didn't cower in fear, flee on foot, or yell and scream as she might have opted to do when the door of the jeep opened and a man and woman stepped out to approach her. The very same man and woman who were pictured in the photograph with her parents. They presented her with an envelope, which she would soon learn contained a check for a quarter of a million dollars. Then, as Freeman and Dern were left to die in their cages, she was returned home, deposited on the doorstep of her family's small and decrepit apartment building. She fingered the check within her pocket before turning to walk away from both the apartment building and her family, to take her chances and start her own life. Never once looking back.