SSS 2 - Don't risk pressing the button

No. You can’t do it. There haven’t been any clues about this button. You have no idea what it will do. For all you know, it will do something to Colby, who is locked inside that strange, metal prison that you saw on the very first tape. Besides, even if you could somehow make Bian… produce enough moisture to pose a threat to an electronic device, could you do it quickly enough? Would it be effective quickly enough? You don’t believe that for a second.

You drop the remote and hurry to the cage with the pieces of the rod, but the mesh of the cage is too tight to get your hand through. You poke a piece through, but it’s not long enough to reach the laptop. Putting pressure on the power button would’ve been your best bet, but you can’t get it there. You can’t even touch it to try knocking the laptop off the stool. You push, but it’s not happening. It’s not physically possible, and the barbed wire is enough to deter you from climbing on top of the cage. You might try it if you thought it would actually work, but it won’t. Getting yourself all cut up for nothing is pointless.

You step back as the timer ticks down, looking at the broken pieces in your hands with a sinking feeling. If this rod was intact, as it would be if you’d just used it to whip Taytum, your plan might have worked.

You thought that you were in control back there, but you were wrong. The timer reaches zero and windows start to open. You turn away, unable to look. In front of you, the door light switches to green. It’s unlocked again. You’re finished in this room. Your throat is tight. You clear it.

“I’m sorry, Bian. I’ll figure out how to get you out of here,” you say, but it doesn’t sound convincing.

Defeated, you drop the bamboo pieces and walk out into the corridor. The final door has a green light. Or at least, you hope it’s the final door. You aren’t lucky enough to feel numb. Dread rises in your body as you approach. This door is different. It’s more industrial. You grab the big handle and pull it open, revealing a space that might have been like a loading dock or something. It’s big and open, all concrete and corrugated metal.

A faded logo on the wall suggests that this place had something to do with auto parts, but it was obviously abandoned before Peachface turned it into this twisted theme park.

This is the place that you saw in the video. There is the metal container and Colby’s bare legs. Your skin is hot. You’re sweating. This room is grimy and full of old junk. There are doors and big shutters for cars, but before you can look too hard at any of that, a TV on a table beside you lights up. You hold still, looking at it warily as Peachface appears.

“Meri. Here you are. Pick up the key on top of the TV.”

You step forward and do so.

“Take off the belt,” Peachface instructs. With shaking hands, you comply. The air feels cool down there, but it’s a relief. That thing was disgusting. Once the belt is off, you wince as you disconnect the clamps and throw the whole rig aside.

“Don’t remove the device,” Peachface adds, even as you are reaching to do so. It’s not very large inside you, but it’s impossible to ignore. And it is not welcome.

A light comes on, illuminating a familiar sight: it’s not Diagra, the Sybian machine from CCL House, but a similar model.

“You know what to do, Meri. This is your real initiation. When you joined CCL, that was only practice,” Peachface says.

You get the idea. You must have to hold out on the Sybian, just like you make girls do to join the sorority.

But something else has your attention. It’s hard for you to look away from that thing that’s holding Colby. Beside it is a big lever.

Play the game and mount the Sybian?

Or throw the lever?