Read Online The Dead Game by Susanne Leist - Free Book Online Page B

final rotation—which would have passed through Tom’s skinny, exposed neck. Grabbing Tom by the arm, Edward pulled him to safety, past the sharp, swirling blades of the metal saws.
    From out of nowhere, wide stone steps emerged on the far wall. Edward ran up the stairs, with Tom frantically climbing up behind him. A huge metal door in the solid wall opened before them. Neither of them hesitated, but ran straight through the open doorway. The door slammed shut behind them, immediately blending into the concrete wall.
    Louise couldn’t figure out where Tom and Edward had gone. The door was gone and so were Tom and Edward. Were they trapped somewhere? Or were they free outside the house? Would they be coming back?
    David began pushing them both forward. “Hurry and cross through the water to the other side! Be very careful of the sharp saws!”
    Louise looked up and realized that the cages and saws were once again hanging above the water. They had to dodge the same treacherous cages and swinging saws that had just tormented Edward and Tom and had almost cost Tom’s life—that is, if they were both still alive somewhere.
    They reached the steep steps on the opposite side.
    In front of them stood a solid wall, extending all the way up to the endlessly high ceiling. Built into this wall were three closed doors—not the metal door that Edward and Tom had passed through, but tall wooden doors reaching high up into the darkness above. There was no other way out, Louise sadly reflected; they had to step through one of these doorways. The other alternative was too ghastly to even consider; no way were they going back through the sharp saws and cages that hung suspended over the dark pool of water.
    David cautioned, “Be very careful. Don’t believe everything that you see: we don’t know what is real and what isn’t.”
    “I don’t know if I can continue with this charade any longer. This house is pure evil and intends to destroy us all,” lamented Louise.
    David whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way out of this hellhole.”
    Mike suddenly spoke up in his irritated tone of voice. “Let’s just quickly pick a door and see what’s behind it.”
    He strode over to the middle door, yanking it wide open. He was about to take a step into the room when he realized—just before it was too late—that the room didn’t have a floor, but only a long drop into nothingness. He hastily jumped back. “This is it for me; from now on I’m going to take a back seat in this awful game being played on us.”
    Mike had never been useful to them anyway, Louise thought. He was only good at sarcasm or correcting David. She also firmly believed that the sooner they escaped this horror show, the better, leading her to offer to check out the next door. “Let’s try the door to the right,” offered Louise, closely watching Mike and David for their response. Neither of them spoke nor moved, so she opened the door and looked inside. The room opened to a high, narrow tower with a gated opening across the top.
    “Who wants to climb the tower and open the gate at the top?” asked Louise, unhappily noticing that Mike and David were too terrified to move. They stood completely still, both too afraid to move forward to check out the room.
    After deliberating her options, she declared, “I’ll go.” She didn’t know where she finally got her courage from, but she was tired of having her life controlled by the freak who owned this house.
    She carefully climbed the tower’s brick wall, using her hands and feet to slowly push her body up the wall, brick by sharp brick. The farther up she climbed…the farther away the top of the tower seemed to be. She knew that this couldn’t be possible unless someone was deviously playing tricks with their minds again—like with the water that had magically appeared.
    She was almost at the top when she heard a booming sound coming from above. The gate that had been lying across the top was now