Page 58 of Bleeding Hearts
Are they safe?
It’s all I think about, and walking into danger with her feels wrong, but I won’t stop her from doing this. Loving Lally means respecting her decisions no matter what.
Grassroots Road is hard to find, but when we do, we share a look. It’s a wide dirt lane leading into the middle of nowhere, and I get flashbacks of the coffins. That was horrible. I still remember the feeling. Holding Lally’s hand, I steal some of her strength as we wander down the road. When we pass a line of trees, bright white lights fill the area. I blink, my eyes watering.
Five greenhouses sit in a row with lights on. Only one is open, and a crowd is gathered outside.
“A greenhouse?” I ask as a bad feeling grows inside me.
“I’ll be right here, okay?” Lally tugs me closer and kisses my head. “We’ll be okay, just like we have been so far. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”
Nodding, I let her lead me over to the crowd. She stands close to it, with me on the outside so we can see the open glass door. Above it is another Risk card, this one with a plant on it.
“What’s the game?” Lally asks someone.
“Not sure yet,” a person responds. She rubs my back as we wait, and the night draws on. I think they like making us wait. It wouldn’t surprise me if they liked to watch our fear grow.
Finally, the telltale Risk glitch noise comes through hidden speakers, and then a disguised voice fills the air. “Tonight, you will face another fear. Every day you make decisions that affect your life, and tonight is no different. Step inside the greenhouse, where our wranglers await, and make a choice. Can you trust yourself to make the right decision? Will you risk it?”
“The fuck does that even mean?” I mutter, but no one answers since we don’t know. We step in after the others, and Lally keeps us to the side and back. Two long tables are situated down the middle of the space. Each has cracked black and gold plates and what appears to be sections of plants on them.
“You will choose which one to eat,” one if the masked people announces, “in order of winners. Then, we will go down the line. You must consume it or you will fail.”
“Are they deadly?” someone asks. “Not every plant is edible.”
“Ten plants here can kill you. That is your choice. Pick well,” the wrangler replies as he steps back.
A screen lowers from the ceiling with names rolling on it like dice, and then it stops. Lally’s name is in the top ten, and that only worries me more.
Lally turns to me and leans down, pressing her mouth to my ear as they start to choose. “Listen to me. We don’t have time. Choose as well as you can, okay? It’s hard to tell what is poisonous and what’s not. I’ve been camping a few times, but I’m not an expert. Trust your instincts. Don’t choose anything with sharp leaves.”
“I’m worried,” I admit.
She wraps her arms around me and kisses my head. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”
Lally’s name is called by the wrangler. She smiles at me reassuringly and steps forward. Like the others, she walks down the tables, eyeing them with a tight expression. We can’t trust what they are because everything in Risk is about life or death. If we choose wrong . . . My heart hammers as I think of the consequences.
She stops in front of a dish and nods at me. There are a few others before me, and then it’s my turn, and I step up. All of the plants look similar, but I follow her advice and discard any that look like they have sharp edges. Only about half are left now, so I pick one on the closest table a few down and opposite Lally. It’s green with brown roots, the leaves rounded and soft. It appears edible, but I know that could be a trick. I trust my instincts, though, like she said.
Waiting for everyone else to choose is nerve-racking, and the last person doesn’t even get to select which plant they want. She steps up next to me, silent tears sliding down her cheeks. Her body shakes as she stares at the plant before her. Biting my lip, I glance at Lally to see her looking at me. She nods, and I smile tightly.
“We will begin.” The wrangler stands beside a player at random. “Consume.”
The skinny man pushes his glasses up with a shaking hand before he reaches down and lifts the cut pieces to his mouth, then he hesitates.
“You have five seconds or you will be classified as a failure. Five. Four. Three?—”
He shoves it in his mouth, wincing as he chews, and then swallows. The greenhouse is silent, bar panicked breathing as he waits. When he doesn’t drop dead, we relax a little.
The wrangler on this side picks a girl, and with a cocky expression, she shoves her plant in her mouth and chews before sticking out her tongue.
The wranglers take turns picking players at random. Most people look terrified, but when wranglers start to count, they consume it. One person gets sick after, and they lead them away, saying they are out. Another two can’t bring themselves to eat it and walk away.
It’s cutting through the pack, that’s for sure.
The wrangler steps up next to Lally, and I swear my heart stops in my chest. I know she’s willing to risk it all, but as I watch her pick up the plant, I want to scream and beg her not to eat it.
Her life isn’t worth the risk, but she won’t stop, so all I can do is watch as she shoves it into her mouth. She sticks her tongue out, and I wait as the wrangler moves on. Lally smiles at me, giving me a thumbs-up.
