CHOOSE YOUR OWN MINDFUCK: A Night in Eighth Block Tower (A2)

Bedlam Bible fans! Explore the Eighth Block Tower! Choose your fate! New posts every Tuesday and Friday. September '23 through December '23. Don't succumb to the huummmmmmmmm...

You’ve decided to stick together…

“Look, fellas… I’m just gonna level with you,” you say. They both turn towards you, seemingly eager to hear what you have to say. The smarter one of the two looks your whole body over, as if he’s sizing you up, imagining what it’d be like to fight you. The look on his face says he thinks he can take you, and you know he’s probably right too.

“You got somethin’ you wanna say to us, pal?” he says, but in such a menacing way that it's obvious he doesn’t truly think of you as his ‘pal.’

You hold up your hands in surrender to show them you have no intention of inciting violence tonight. “Look, I’m just putting this out there… for all our own good. We’re criminals. Liars, thieves, what have you. It’s in all of our best interest to stick together. That way we are all in the know and we all get our fair cut. With that said, I think we need a new plan.”

“You don’t trust us?” the stupid one asks.

“No, I don’t,” you say. “And you shouldn’t trust me either. Hell, we don’t know anything about one another. We don’t even know each other’s names!”

“My name’s Larry, and this is—,” Larry says, pointing to the smarter one, but he interrupts before he has a chance to reveal his name.

“Shut up, Larry,” the man says. “The less we know about each other, the better.” He looks you over again. Your palms sweat as you mentally prepare for an attack. Slowly, you close the gap between your right hand and your gun. Just before your hand makes it to the handle, the man speaks up again. “We’ll stick together, sure. That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

You sigh in relief, happy to know you’ve successfully maneuvered away from what could’ve been a bloodbath.

The three of you move through the apartment quietly, but curiously none of you are inspecting drawers or pulling up couch cushions. You suspect something is off, but you just go with it. You’re in follow-the-leader mode—whatever they do, you do, and all the while you’re keeping a close watch on their hands, just in case they try to surprise you with a bullet to the head.

As you move through the living area, you notice right away that the person occupying this apartment is some type of computer tech or engineer or something of the like, as there are all manner of computer and machine parts scattered randomly throughout the room. Some are piled on the floor, some as high as your waist, so you have to watch your step. Your eyes bounce up and down between your partners’ hands and the dirty floor the entire walk to the hallway.

In the hallway, you’re greeted by even more stacks of computer junk—old monitors and CPUs from every generation, going as far back as the 70s. The three of you maneuver through the mess until you’re standing inside the door frame of the apartment’s only bedroom.

“What the hell was that?” the smarter one says, then looks past you, down the hall.

“What was what? You ask, genuinely unsure of what he’s talking about.

“That noise,” he whispers. “There’s something following us. I can hear it moving in the living room.”

“Or some thing…,” Larry adds, slinking back behind you.

“Why don’t you go and check it out,” the smarter one says.

“Why me?” you ask.

“Because you’re closer,” he says, speaking with the logic of a four-year-old.

“Yeah, you are closer,” Larry says. “Can’t argue with that.”

They’re acting suspicious, that’s for sure. You’re not stupid. You know they’re setting you up. But you also happen to be very observant, and you realize as they’re speaking to you that they both have their hands casually resting on the handle of their guns. Maybe you’re just being paranoid, but if your suspicions happen to be correct and an attack is indeed imminent, then they’d no doubt get to their weapons much quicker than you could ever get to yours. Whether it’s $56,000 or $19,000, no amount of money is worth losing your life over.

You look up at their sneering faces, then back down at their hands.

You have a choice to make, and fast.

— To play dumb and check the living room, click here. (coming soon)
— To demand that you all stay together, click here.