Six of one Half dozen of the other

A six-shooter sat in the middle of the group. Directly above the gun was a lonely light on a worn out cord, swaying at every little wisp of air that found its way into the metal trailer they all found in which they found themselves. There were six men all laying in a circle, each plopped there, unconscious. Their hands were chained to the floor, each through a different metal hoop. They were blindfolded with a cloth tied behind their heads, each a different color. Their wallets were all found next to them with a single picture on top of the leather wallets or metal clips that each of the men were carrying. A small speaker sat on the floor almost out of sight but every now and again the light would sway far enough to reveal the Sony sound piece on the floor.

The first man woke up.

He was startled by the darkness he found himself in. Struggling to get a hand free from the hoops when one of them opened mechanically. He immediately began scratching at his face trying to remove the cloth over his eyes, although once it came off it seemed that darkness was a better situation. Coming to terms with his predicament he found his wallet on the ground. A picture of a beautiful woman was on his wallet, but no one he recognized. A glare caught his eye as the swaying light shone on the most important item in the room. He turned towards the gun, one hand still stuck to the ground. He wondered who would get unhooked from the floor first.

The second man woke up.

His hand was immediately released from the floor. He came to and saw a random man staring at him from across their shared prison. The light flickered and swayed showing the gun to the newly conscious man.

His second hand unlocked.

He scurried up with the help of the wall near him. The other man looked at him trying to read what he was going to do with the gun. Rustling from the other members of the makeshift prison hurried the attempt at the unlocked man to grab the gun. Four clicks unlocked one hand in each of the other prisoners’ areas. They all grabbed at their blinders and wallets trying to make sense of it all and slowly realizing there was one with power.

The speaker crackled.

A voice came on, slowly introducing each of the men to the others. One was a lawyer, one a firefighter, one a teacher, another a police officer, an engineer, and the man with the gun a felon. He was a lifetime convict, always in the wrong place at the wrong time, until today it seemed. The voice went on to explain the situation.

“Next to each of you is your wallet. No money has been taken, all cards and identification is there, but there is something new. A picture on each of your wallets is a loved one of someone else in the room. The person in the picture is your partner in this experiment. The man in front of you with the gun has options. The gun is loaded with one bullet. A simple game of Russian roulette will release you all from your imprisonment and bring you back to your homes. If the man kills one of you with the bullet, the person in the picture you have also dies. If the man uses the bullet on himself the remaining five of you live, as do all the people in the picture. Two of the pictures are from the man holding the gun himself. One is his wife, the other his sister. If you show the man your picture you will die as will the person in the picture. If you explain the picture to the man you will die as will the person in the picture. Now let the experiment begin.”

The five men still strapped to the ground looked at each other and their picture. They all had young, attractive, brunette women on their wallets. None recognized the people in the picture. Then their eyes turned to the man under the light.

He spun the barrel.

He looked around the room at the other men, some making direct eye contact, others not daring look at him. “I will do this the only way I know how.” He cocked the barrel and put the gun at his temple. “If I live, I go to the man to my right, if he lives I go back to me.” The men plead for a different situation.

The plunger fell.

The man still held the gun and the others were still held by their shackles. The first man shook, his watch clanging against his metal holding. “Listen,” he plead “I have a family, you can’t do this, just save your wife and sister, you don’t know which one I have.” The man holding the gun shook his head, trying to avoid these truths reaching his ears. He cocked the gun and pointed it at the first prisoner.

He pulled the trigger.

The man still shaking opened his eyes, and took a deep breath of relaxation and reassurance. Looking to the rest of the imprisoned men, his eyes began to well up. He hung his head and tried to hold back his relief. The man in the middle of the room turned to the next man, regretting his own rules. He saw a look in the man’s eyes. The man was rooting for the gun-holder to fall. The man didn’t want to see his own turn come to reality.

He cocked the gun.

Pointed at his own temple he closed his eyes. The prisoner looked, hoped, and believed the bullet was in the chamber. At the last second the man holding the gun opened his eyes and pulled the trigger on the prisoner. Nothing. He looked at the next prisoner. Cocking the gun again he pulled the trigger on the man chained to the ground. Again, nothing. Frustrated and becoming more worried he cocked the gun again, faster this time and fired. Nothing.

It was down to two.

He looked at the other man, the first man he saw when he woke up, the man who was awake when he came into power. The man pointed the gun at the chained man, knowing the bullet had to be in the chamber. The chained man looked right at the man with the gun, staring down the barrel of his impending death.

The man cocked the gun, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

The gun fell to the floor as did the man who was holding it.