The mouth of the Playground

Two hulking gates of the city drag on the ground, while slowly pushing the piles of dust and sand that gathered in front of them. When the gap was wide enough, 8 black blurs passed the metal doors in a second, each carrying a team to the Playground. 

Most of them only knew of the grey walls and rooftops inside the city, the coloured smoke, the never-ending sounds of machines and the blinding artificial light. Now, everything was vast, empty and silent for most of it. Only the wind sang songs around here, carrying in its path whirlwinds of dust, sand and little pieces of trash.

This was Savan's first outing, and they had only one question about it

-“ Hey Vivar, how does that look to you?”, to which the robot took a peek before answering.

- “Dead, as always”. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, with the C.T.Ds in a meditative state to conserve energy and most of the participants trying to do the same.

-----

At some point, the convoy split into two groups which reflected the current positions on the leaderboard. Angie and the rest of the top three went west, and Savan’s side marched on until they also split in four random directions. 

On the way there, the two tried to spot which van was Marc’s, but the blacked windows and identical designs made it impossible to figure out who was in what. 

-“ Forming some sort of party early on is quite beneficial” was Vivar's advice while they marched through the County.

During the ride, Savan just eyed Vivar from time to time but didn't say anything. It was the first time that got stomach jitters made them unable to speak. 

The sensation got worse when the edges of a great chasm grew closer and closer, fringes of an alien maw. From afar, it appeared desolate, as piles of trash and sand gathered on top of the glass roof above it. It quickly dawned on Savan that Death was more real than ever before, finally realizing what caused their irk. 

-“ Vivar, I…I am sorry buddy. I just, just fell so scared now”, they whispered under their breath, trembling a bit in their seat. The C.T.D feigned ignorance for a moment, before thinking of a way to alleviate the fear for a bit. 

-“ Savan, did you like the virtual trees from the facility?”

Surprised by the seemingly random question, they just tilted their head to the left while pondering, and slowly nodded.

-” Good. Because those objects, as you called them, were...are real and much more interesting than the virtual ones. Just keep looking out the window while we descend. It will be worth it”.

Unsure of what else to do, Savan follows the advice, but fear made glued their eyes shut when the van entered another elevator. The van bumped and shook, before slowly sinking to the bottom. Only when it stopped shaking around did Savan dare to open their eyes, and they were stunned by the promised view. 

Even though they were still at the top, the other side of the chasm was out of sight. Seas of green patches made the Playground covered like the County's smokes, but these were thicker, solid. The valley also had towers, made from stones, and wider than any Savan had seen in the city. Windowless and clockless as well. And their clouds were either white or darkened, with liquid pouring down from them while thundering as loudly as possible. Savan stayed speechless for the entire descent, blanking at the panorama and trying to take in everything.

-” Oh, and yes”, intervened at some point Vivar, “It looks, hears and....smells different for me”.

-----

It took the duo a few hours to find a safe spot, in a cave, away from the prying eyes of the competition, and of the public. Savan didn’t notice at first, but ever since they left the van they were followed around by tiny flying cameras, which blended in with the surroundings. Instead of being dazed by the dinky spies, something else bothered the clopy about this 

-“ I don't remember this being a 24-live coverage”.

-” Not for the public”, answered Vivar. “My comment just now, for example, will only be heard by us, the upper management and the live editing team. The latter removes, on the spot or not, dead moments, comments, and anything unfit for mass broadcast".

-” Oh, I get it now. They use the same surveillance system from the city, right? To be fair, that is a smart solution. Oh, I should say something then. Thank you for all the hard work, editing team”, Savan waved with her bony hands, turning around to different spots with a wide smile on their face. 

Far away, in a dimly littted industrial room, a few of them were caught off-guard by the genuinely sounding praise they just received. “You’re…welcome?”, responded a few of them randomly to it. Others wept ‌now that someone lauded them for their work.

-” You realize that they are tasked to spy on us 24-7?”

-” Sure, but that’s their job, it’s not like they have the option to change it or whatnot.”

They explored the cavern for a bit, happy that they found a place not occupied by something strange, or another participant. While mapping the place out, luck or misfortune fell upon them, depending on which of them you ask. As they followed a stream of fresh water to a portion filled with glowing lichens and moss, they found plants that surrounded a capsule-like device, as big as Savan’s palm. The two figured ‌it must be one of the gadgets used to start a challenge. For the time being, a decision was made to keep it deactivated and spring it into action on another occasion. Dud or not, Vivar calculated that it is safer to use the first day for gathering information.

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When they got close to the exit, two figures came running from behind the bushes in front of the cave. Fairly certain of their abilities, they swiftly approached their perimeter, hiding their presence from the C.T.D sensors until they were in view. 

The ambush worked as envisioned, leaving their targets without much wiggle room. “Get back”, yelled Vivar while lifting his shield up and quickly pointing his right arm towards the tunnel’s opening. Savan’s eyesight was still adjusting to the light from outside, and Vivar tried to pick up something about the strangers. The two didn’t get to see who it was in front of them, and before the robot could even threaten them, his sensor and internal devices were scrambled even harder, making him unable to properly aim now.

Savan was also wailing in pain, instinctively trying to cover their ears with their hands, but it was of no use, the piercing screech was easily penetrating the flimsy defence. Soon, their bones felt as if cracked teeth were grating one another, making them pop even further. Their organs felt as if someone grabbed them from each side and twirled them around and back. Even when the C.T.D moved in front of Savan to protect them from the wave, it wasn’t enough to ameliorate the pain, and it became clear what the purpose of the assailant was.

The targets could move and dodge, and he still couldn’t get a proper lock on them, so as a last desperate attempt to flee, Vivar pointed his right arm towards the ceiling of the cave and took a shot at it. The collapse took the attackers by surprise, and they quickly retreated to not get caught under it as well. A few of the boulders also reached the duo, but the robot shielded Savan with his body, only getting a few new scratches on his armor.

-” See”, said Savan after vomiting profusely, “I told you that luck saved me so far. Well, that an..”, they barfed again- “And you”. After a few more minutes of gut-drenching, Savan collapsed unconscious, and unresponsive to any of Vivar's attempts to wake them up. His biometric scanner was a basic model, which only made him aware that the clopy wasn’t in any life-threatening danger for now, but it couldn’t tell him if the attack left internal wounds or any other type of damage. All he could do is to carry them out of the cave.