Before leaving, I ask Alex to wait a couple of minutes. We have absolutely nothing to fill water in and take it with us. It remains to hope for a fresh source on the way. I drink a lot and greedily and then immediately head to Leeloo.
She is still sitting under the tree. I have never had any particular knowledge of botany, so I have no idea what kind of plant it is. Nevertheless, I definitely like it – the branches covered with large leaves hang down almost to the very ground, giving a healing coolness in the midday heat and shielding from the outside world.
«Leeloo, do you want to come with us?» I ask, sitting down next to her. The tree immediately envelops me with its hospitable aura. We seem to be cut off from everything that happens outside in this secluded leafy hut. I even feel a slight euphoria from our «hide».
«No, I’d better stay here and try to find something,» the girl replies. After a pause, she adds: «Be careful and come back before dark. It gets dark terribly quickly in such places. I don’t want you to get lost and spend the night in the jungle.»
Her voice is full of alarm.
«Don’t be afraid, Leeloo, we’ll be back in time. The sooner the better. My stomach is already cramping with hunger. We’ll have a feast tonight, I promise.»
We exchange smiles and a sudden urge to hug Leeloo seizes me, but I hesitate. Instead, I get to my feet and run to Alex. He is already waiting for me to leave the Platform and go towards adventure.
For 10 minutes we’ve been moving forward in silence.
Just a few meters from the Platform, the thickets become unexpectedly dense. Our legs get tangled in intricate grassy plexuses, every now and then some impudent liana grabs the face or sleeve. From this angle, we no longer see the soothing blue of the ocean or hints of civilization, so the heart gets filled with anxiety. There is something mesmerizing about the sounds of the jungle. Multi-toned cries of birds. The buzz of insects. The rustle of trees. Whistling tops in the wind. They seem alive and pierce through – they frighten, surprise, delight, but do not leave you indifferent.
If in the morning a white tight-fitting suit seemed to me unsuitable for such a hot tropical place, now it would be difficult to imagine the best clothes. Tall fern with unknown inhabitants, tropical and often unfamiliar shrubs and the ubiquitous dense clumps of lianas are definitely not suitable for close contact with my northern skin. In addition, the sun beats down so mercilessly from the blue sky that I could be burned to the crust in a matter of minutes.
Alex walks in front, wearing his suit more loosely, which gives him a bit of the look of a factory worker. Finally, I break the silence and address Alex in Russian:
«Looking for objects in this jungle is the same as looking for a needle in a haystack…»
As soon as I utter the phrase to the end, suddenly a piercing ringing begins in my ears. The sound is so intense it feels like my head is about to explode. It causes such unbearable pain that I fall to the ground and hold my ears tightly with the hands. Through the veil in front of my eyes, I see Alex, with a frightened expression on his face, run up to me and say something. At this moment, he also grabs his head, and his face distorts a grimace of pain.
«… is happening here?!» the end of the phrase reaches me, after which he screams loudly and falls to the ground.
«How damn painful it is!» Alex rolls on the ground, and blood runs out in a thin stream from his right ear. A guess comes to my dull consciousness, and I scream with all my might in English, hoping that Alex will hear:
«Shut up! Not a word in Russian! Shut up! Quiet, quiet, quiet!!!»
I crawl up to him, look into his eyes and take my hands from my head.
«Can you hear me? Shut up!»
He nods, still wearing the same haggard expression. We sit side by side under a palm tree and try to come to our senses. The ringing in my ears gradually dies down and I can think more clearly. It takes about twenty minutes before I can move my tongue again:
«Alex, we violated rule number three: «The language of communication of the Players is exclusively English» and the rule number eleven was applied to us: «Players will be punished for violating the rules of the Game, and eliminated from the Game for significant violations». First, this deafening ringing in the ears. I don’t know what happened after your second sentence. But your eardrum seems to be hurt.
«I’ll tell you what. It was as if thousand needles had pierced eyes, ears and brains at the same time. But, of course, it seemed to me not enough,» he jokes sadly, «for the third time I felt a small explosion in my head. I guess I should throw away my right ear as it is hopelessly damaged.»
«At least you don’t lose courage,» I grin, «but just in case, from now on, not a word in Russian on this damned island.»
«After this I’m afraid, not a word for the rest of my life.»
«But how do they do such cruel things to us?»
We look at each other and understand at the same time. The answer is so elementary and terrible that we begin to laugh nervously:
«Coordinators! We are not just figures with the built-in navigators, we are puppets in the hands of the organizers. They can punish players, control every step, every word…»
«And turn off our consciousness any time convenient for them,» Alex finishes calmly.
«What?!»
«Look. Yesterday everyone fell asleep, barely got into their cars. None of us knows how long we were on the way, or which road we were driving. At exactly 21:00 p.m., I fell asleep, although I usually don’t fall asleep before midnight. And getting up at 9 a.m. in the morning is absolutely fantastic! I don’t even ask how it was with you, because now there is not the slightest doubt that everything happened in the same way.»
«That’s where this disgusting metallic taste in the morning and back pain comes from!» I whisper. «But it’s illegal! This is an infringement on a person’s privacy. They just don’t have the right to do it.»
«Lavina, something tells me that nobody in this ominous place thinks about our rights. Perhaps this is just the beginning. How did we end up here?»
«But… but how?! It’s just a game! And we almost went deaf by breaking a little insignificant rule. What will happen if…»
I feel depressed. There is no trace of hope that this adventure will turn out as I expected. This is a serious organization and it plays for real. High bets – high demands. How deep is my regret that I responded to the request, passed all the tests and did not leave that fatal plane while there was still an opportunity!
The words of Zhang Kiang come to my mind again: «Don’t trust anyone. Follow the instructions carefully. This is your only chance. "Maybe she really wished me well and wanted to warn me of the impending danger? I can’t wait to discuss this with Alex, but now that I know that every word of ours is being tapped, I hesitate, fearing to get Zhang Kiang into trouble. Of course, the Glossy Lady is not the best example of hospitality, and she has a brilliant talent for getting on your nerves. And yet, what if she is as hostage to the situation as we are? Alex interrupts my train of thought:
«One thing I can say for sure. You have good English if you know the word „eardrum“. And I seem to be able to hear with both ears again.»
We walk through the jungle in silence, still impressed by what happened. Our goal is to go as far as possible in order to explore the place in which we find ourselves as best as we can. I roll my head around in search of something unusual. In these thickets, it is simply not possible to see this something. My pessimism picks up steam when I suddenly hear Alex say:
«Look