SAW IX (The last game): Chapter 7

    SAW IX
(The last game)


Chapter 7

Unconscious Leon Walker's upper body bends forward on a large metal plate. His wrists are chained - on the edges- with handcuffs. Slowly his chest raises and lowers.
The room is large. Like in an atrium. Shabby and dirty. The door, which leads outside is blocked by a large iron gate, just like in a prison.
Suddenly his right hand twitches. Then his head. Slowly he regains consciousness. All of sudden he opens his eyes. Shocked, he looks around. He does not know this area. His legs yield. Trembling Leon drops on the floor. Panting, he tries to make sense of his whereabouts. He knows this place pretty well: The old, abandoned prison. But he cannot remember how he got here... Or why he was handcuffed.
"H... hello?" He is beside himself. Panic comes over him. The blood flows in his legs. His adrenaline rises... But he cannot run away. Rickety he pulls himself up again. His glance falls on an old TV box. At this very moment this turns on. A man - in his early fifties- appears. He wears a black coat with red lining and a red sweater underneath. His penetrating, bright blue eyes stare into the camera. With his soothing, gentle voice, he begins to speak,
"Hello Leon,
I want to play a game.
You are a man who has taken the law into your own hands. You have destroyed the trust of innocent people in Iustitia, where you faked - because of your corruption the psychological profiles of guilty people. You proclaim to be the best psychologist around the city because you treat all of my so-called victims. However, you adulterate their condition. With the treatment to talk about past all the time, some of my test subjects give themselves up completely.
I say you are NOT a psychiatrist.
This evening you can convince me otherwise:
In ninety minutes, you will go through a series of tests, in which will turn out, whether you are worthy to live or not. To see your brother again, you have to reach the death cell the deadline.
If you cannot make it, he will find his death in the electric chair and you'll never come back out here... His life depends on you...
But not everything does not to be as you think...
Your first test is to save a person with whom you spend time professionally and personally. She knows about your corruption, but she did not try to stop you to continue. You know who I am talking about. I am talking about your secretary Leila Brisbon."
As if on cue, the lights on the ceiling turn on. A pretty brunette sits on a swing. She wears a skirt and blouse. Anxiously she looks down at her boss. Her long legs dangle lifelessly toward the ground. Expensive Prada shoes decorate her feet. When she has recovered from her initial shock, she calls down to him, "Leon, what's going on here?"
He shakes his head. She is actually his girlfriend. They love each other, "A Jigsaw trap." He says quietly. Both begin to cry.
But the man - John Kramer- continues,
"Now you can you prove your love. Although you knew that she does not tolerate faking profiles and she asked you more than once to stop, you went ahead. You pushed her - through the revelation of your business strategy-  into the sea full of piranha. Her soul is torn increasingly by the voracious fish, posing as your business partner.
Now you have the chance to get rid of those:
You have sixty seconds to push the iron plate, to which you are chained to, over the basin. If you cannot make it, your lover is eaten by the piranhas...
Live or die... Make your choice. "
The recording of the man disappears. Instead, a red digital clock takes his place.
01:00
00:59
00:58
There is a roaring noise. The swing of Leila is lowered slowly.
"Do SOMETHING!?", she cries in despair.
Leon swallows. He had never expected that he would be tested by Jigsaw. But... he somehow knows this man... he just does not remember from where.
Unsure he looks at the edge, to which his hands are tied. Nails are attached thereto. He swallows.
Trembling, Leon inhales and exhales deeply. He packs up all his courage and brace himself against the iron plate. The screws drill painfully into his palms. But he must save her. He MUST! With all his strength he tries to move the plate. But it is so heavy...
Tears are in his eyes. His hands seem to burn.
The plate moves a bit. More adrenaline rises up in him. He continues pressing. The pain is cruel. Leon begins to scream, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He was able to move it one little more.
With bleeding hands, he gives in and falls to the ground. They hurt so much... so much...
"Come on!" Leila screams in panic. She fidgets with her legs wildly. One of her shoes falls into the living water. One of the fish jumps. The weeping looks at the clock.
00:27
00:26
"Leon!"
Desperate, he looks up at her, pulls himself up on the nails. They were soaked in acid... He closes his eyes, 'Please God, help me to save her...', and presses himself - as hard as he can- against it. The psychiatrist looks up. He can already see the tears in her eyes. She is already so close... 'I won't lose her! NEVER!!!' Once more he lowers his eyelids. He needs to concentrate fully on his muscles.
He pressed himself against the metal, as if his own life depends on it... and... it moves much easier. Confidently, he continues with his rescue mission... until an anguished cry forces him to look at Leila. Her feet already touch the water. The carnivorous fish gnaw at her. Even greater panic increases in Leon. Like he is mad, he pushes on the iron. 'Time isn't over yet... I'll make this! '
He looks at the clock.
00:02
00:01
The plate closes the precise moment the basin in which the time has expired. With a soft rattle the swing sets on the covering. The legs of the secretary are a bit nibbled, but she survived. Leon's handcuffs fall to the ground. With trembling hands he releases the trap, "I must continue, Lei. Help'll come soon. I promise. Hang in there...", without waiting for an answer, he walks toward the only door which leads out of this trap - the piranha pool- while he still considers how he knows this man, and the gnawing at his conscience, to leave Leila this sordid state behind...