The Muse: MMF Bisexual Romance

by A. Anders

  I next headed to Brad and Victor’s cabin. They weren’t there, and the beds didn’t look like they had been slept in. I considered checking Gray’s cabin to see where he and the others had slept, but I decided that being caught watching them as the slept wouldn’t engender trust. Considering what we were about to tell them, trust was at a premium.

  I headed back to my room, trying to put Brad and Victor’s disappearance out of my mind. Their footprints hadn’t indicated any sort of struggle. That, plus the fact that they didn’t kill me in my sleep, made me feel confident that I would see them at breakfast.

  I found Pete waiting for me in my room.

  “Missed me?” I asked him. He didn’t reply.

  I grabbed a change of clothes, and Pete followed me to the bathroom.

  “Privacy, Pete,” I said, getting him to wait outside next to another pawn.

  I found Billy in the shower when I got there. I wondered how he would react when we told him about Freddy. Buck-Naked Billy was one of Gray’s guys. I hadn’t spoken much to him, but I had never questioned his motives.

  What you saw was what you got with him. He was a guy who just put everything out there… like his testicles and his penis.

  “Hey,” I said over the echo of the shower.

  “Hey,” he replied as if the Viking funeral was a distant memory.

  “This show’s a weird experience, huh?”

  “I don’t know. It feels like a lot of the others,” he replied.

  Was he a game show veteran like Brad? Were there a group of them who made their living going from show to show?

  Billy turned off his shower and then turned to me. “By the way, I wouldn’t trust Brad if I were you.”

  I froze. He offered the advice so casually that I didn’t know how to respond. All I could do was watch him as he walked away.

  I thought about it for a second. Was he talking about trusting Brad while playing the game or about trusting him in general? I ran out of the shower, looking for clarification, but by the time I did, Billy was gone.

  Maybe I could talk to him at breakfast, I thought.

  I had been trusting Brad with a lot of things, including my life. I had no other choice. But I also needed to know who I was dealing with. Unfortunately, Brad and Victor joined me at breakfast before I got a chance to talk to Billy.

  “What happened to you two last night?” I asked them.

  “What do you mean?” Brad replied dismissively.

  “You left me there.”

  “You were safe.”

  “And so were we,” Victor added.

  They had left me in fear of their lives. Now that I was rested and my mind was clearer, I could understand their thinking. It wasn’t unreasonable.

  I had been the only one to see the first two people die. As far as they were concerned, I was the only thing connecting the two deaths. But who was being paranoid now?

  “Are we still gonna tell everyone?” I asked.

  “I’ll do it,” Brad announced.

  I couldn’t help but think about Billy’s warning. Still, it would be better if it came from Brad than from me. I had already cried wolf.

  We kept an eye on Gray’s table waiting for the right moment. When everyone was done eating, Brad ushered us over. As they watched us warily, the three of us pulled up a chair and joined them.

  They were all there, Gray, Bob, Billy, Construction Carl, and Spiritual Sam. Looking at the group again, I realized that none of Gray’s allies had been eliminated. Was that somehow related to Billy’s warning? Had it been Brad’s plan from the beginning to get his “allies” eliminated?

  Of course, a more likely possibility was that Brad was just a sucky leader with really bad ideas. Yeah, that sounded more like Brad.

  “Freddy’s dead,” Brad announced abruptly.

  Gray looked at Brad, obviously upset. “What are you talking about? The bots reattached his arm. He was fine.”

  “Not from that. It was at the dock when he was leaving. He dropped down dead.”

  “From what?” Bob asked.

  “We don’t know,” I replied.

  Gray looked at me suspiciously. “Let me guess, Ford was the one who told you about it? You know he tried to pull this before? I’m surprised you fell for it.”

  “No. I was there. I saw it,” Brad confirmed. “Freddy began choking and…” Brad paused for a second. “…and Ford did everything he could to rescue him. In fact, he did things I’ve never even seen. When Freddy died, it was with Ford’s hands on him trying to rescue him.”

  I looked at Brad. Yeah, he had defended me, kinda. But he also kinda exaggerated my rescue effort, while kinda emphasizing that I was the only one touching him when he died. It was almost like Brad was implying that Freddy died because of something that I did.

  “I see,” Gray responded doubtfully. “And now I guess you’re gonna tell me about how you were the only other one to meet that Kurt guy. And that you saw him die, too.”

  Brad stared at Gray silenced.

  “And Ian,” I added. “Ian’s dead, too.”

  “Now there’s an Ian?” Gray asked, exasperated. “Is this another person you made up?”

  Construction Carl shifted, drawing our attention. “No. I met Ian. He was eliminated in the second round.”

  I couldn’t have been happier watching Gray’s own man shut him up.

  “Ian’s dead?” Carl asked me somberly.

  When I looked at Carl again, my joy was gone. He was clearly shaken by the news. “Yeah. I’m sorry, but I watched him die. That makes Kurt, Ian, and now Freddy.”

  Brad jumped in. “It’s everyone who’s eliminated. If we’re voted off, we die. That’s the premise of this game show. That’s what we signed up for.”

  There was a collective inhale. He struck a nerve.

  “That’s bullshit,” Gray protested. “This is TV. They can’t kill us on TV.”

  “Maybe, it’s not,” I volunteered. “Maybe it’s something else.”

  “Like what?” Gray spit.

  I shook my head not knowing.

  “Look,” Brad said grabbing everyone’s attention. “We’ve all done this before. But this game’s a little more vicious than we’re used to, right? I mean, bears? Chainsaws? This is crazy, right? And now we know that if we get eliminated, we die.”

  “So everyone who’s been eliminated is dead?” Gray asked me bluntly.

  Brad jumped in before I could speak. “Everyone’s dead. If you’re eliminated, you die. That’s it.”

  “Bernard, Thorin, Adam, all dead?” Gray asked.

  “Every one of them,” Brad affirmed confidently.

  Gray quieted as Bob spoke up. “So, what do we do?”

  “I say we fight,” Brad growled. “They’re gonna have to catch us if they’re gonna kill us. What do you say about that?”

  I looked around and everyone was either confused or scared. Gray was the only exception. He was stone-faced, but his eyes were glazed in thought.

  Brad and I stared at the guys in silence until Carl gasped. His eyes were locked on something behind me. When I turned, I saw a pawn headed towards us. Its timing sent a chill down my spine.

  “Whose is it?” Gray asked.

  Although everyone’s pawn was the same model, we could identify them through the numbers on the digital displays.

  “It’s mine,” Spiritual Sam said.

  As it stopped in front of us, the bot’s side compartment opened, revealing a blue card. Sam looked around apprehensively, and Gray gestured for him to take it.

  Sam stepped forward, slowly pulled the card out, and then read it. “It just says, ‘Eight plus one.’”

  “What does that mean?” Victor scoffed.

  It didn’t take long for us to find out. I was the first to see him. He had exited the resort’s lobby and was walking towards us. I couldn’t believe it. It was Thorin the Pale. He had been eliminated, and now he was back.

  “Look,” Bob said directing everyone’s attent
ion.

  I stood up unable to take my eyes off of him. What the hell was going on? I had watched Kurt, Ian, and Freddy die. I had seen it with my own eyes. So, how was Thorin alive?

  “When we’re eliminated, we die, huh?” Gray mocked.

  Another chill flashed through me as Thorin approached us. It felt unreal. When he stopped in front of me, it was like looking into the eyes of a ghost. My heart pounded so hard that it hurt.

  “Hey, guys,” Thorin offered cheerfully, as his fair skin slowly turned a bright red.

  “What are you doing back?” Spiritual Sam asked.

  “Popular demand, I guess,” he said lifting his shoulders.

  “That’s funny. Because Brad was just telling us how you died,” Gray said smugly.

  “Died?”

  “Yeah. He was saying how everyone who got eliminated died. On the dock, wasn’t it?” Gray asked Brad to no reply.

  “No! Why would you think that?” Thorin asked Brad, distressed.

  I jumped in. “Because Brad and I watched Freddy die. And before that, I saw Ian and Kurt die.”

  Thorin looked at me and then flashed me his awkward smile. “You were the one that made us follow you to the dock on the first night, right? Yeah, I was thinking about that when I was waiting for the boat. But no, everything was fine. The boat came and took me back to my hotel. And when I got there, they took me to a room and asked me to stay close.”

  “Stay close? Why?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But I did what they said. I hung out in my room ordering room service. And then yesterday they told me that the viewers wanted me back. So, here I am.”

  This explanation didn’t make any sense to me. Why him? Why had Thorin survived?

  I thought for a moment. Brad was there when Freddy died. That was proof enough. I could no longer doubt what I saw. The three men were dead.

  But then they disappeared. I don’t actually know what happened to them after that. And now Thorin, who was also eliminated, was back. What did that mean? I had to be missing something.

  I looked around at the guys, hoping one of them would offer an explanation. None of them did. They all looked dumbfounded. The only one who didn’t was Gray, and he was looking at Brad, disgusted.

  “You would do anything to win. Wouldn’t you?” he said to Brad before shifting his gaze toward me. “And you…”

  Gray got up and bumped me with his chest. Not expecting it, I stumbled back. “…You can get out of my face,” he snarled at me.

  I took that. After all, what was I supposed to say? I was even doubting myself at this point. I couldn’t explain any of it.

  When Billy’s pawn shifted everyone’s attention to the next group date announcement, I pulled Brad aside. “Why is Thorin back?” I asked.

  “Because it’s a game show,” Brad spit with a strained smile. “They fool with your mind. That’s what they do on these things. Someone’s dead? No, they’re not dead. I can’t believe I fell for it. That’s why you don’t listen to the paranoid one.”

  Brad stormed off toward his cabin. He didn’t need to hear who was in the group date. It was Thorin the Pale, Buck-Naked Billy, Construction Carl, Victor Vodka, and Spiritual Sam, everyone who wasn’t at Thunderdome.

  After alienating my one remaining ally, I didn’t have a reason to stick around camp for the rest of the day. So I packed a napkin full of scrambled eggs and pancakes and took off. It was time for my hike to the tower.

  The island was a series of highlands and lowlands. Though it wasn’t visible from the camp, the tower was on the highest part of the island. It took me three hours to navigate the maze of thick trees to get there, and most of the journey was uphill.

  Catching my breath under the tower’s widely spread metal legs, I enjoyed the view. I could see the entire island from here, and the island was bigger than I had expected. It was shaped like an American football, and our camp sat less than a mile from the western tip.

  From where I stood, I could see the octagon from the bear challenge and the Thunderdome. Not far from that was a water tower. And camouflaged within the trees were few small structures that looked like tool sheds.

  The dock itself wasn’t visible, from where I stood, but the shoreline was. I could also see Rose’s cabin.

  East of all of that was what I could only describe as a jungle. It had no structures or signs of life except one. On a beached peninsula at the eastern tip, a large concrete compound rose out of the jungle.

  I stared at the building for a long time. More than anything, it resembled a warehouse. Nothing was special about it except for the helicopter parked in back.

  With nothing else around, it was the only place on the island where the showrunners could live. In other words, that was where they made the decision to kill us. If I was ever going to get off of this island alive, that was where I would have to go.

  Rested, I examined the tower. From underneath, it looked like the electrical towers they used to use to run overhead power lines. The only difference was this one had a huge light on top of it, one that was always on.

  Then again, the last electrical towers were removed over fifty years ago, so all I had to go on were old-timey photos. Maybe some of the electrical towers had lights on them back then, too. But, who knows?

  I found a spot in the shade and grabbed something to eat. As I did, I searched my memory for anything I could remember about towers with lights on them. By the time that my food napkin was empty, I had determined two things: I should have paid closer attention in history class, and it could possibly be a communications tower.

  As the light was ten stories up and the wires were encased in a metal column preventing sabotage, I couldn’t do much here. I scanned the lowlands, wondering where I should head next. The compound was the obvious choice. I knew it would take days to actually get there, but that was the only direction worth exploring.

  Hiking towards the open jungle, it didn’t take long for the vegetation to change. The trees got taller and thicker, while the rich soil disappeared under a sea of lush ground cover. After I had walked for about an hour, I ran into a chain-link fence.

  I followed the fence south for five minutes before concluding that it dissected the island. If I wanted to know what was on the other side, I was going to have to go over it. It was only eight feet tall, so I didn’t worry about the height. What did concern me was the multiple spirals of razor wire that ran across its top.

  I grabbed the fence and rattled it. It was taut. I was sure it could hold my weight. I rested my face on it and peered through. I immediately felt something staring back at me, some creature hiding in the jungle.

  It felt close, but I couldn’t see it. I imagined the invisible beast’s hot breath tickling my neck, and a shiver ripped through me with a force to almost snap my spine. I let go of the fence and quickly backed away.

  For a while, I stood staring into the trees past the fence. I didn’t move, and neither did anything else. I wasn’t sure what had set me off, but I soon decided that it had to be in my head. Since I knew that my only shot at getting off the island lay on the other side of the fence, I had to go over.

  As I climbed, I noticed something odd about the jungle in front of me. The noises on the other side of the fence seemed louder than on mine. The squawking and weird guttural bird sounds filled the jungle air like locust buzzing. Yet behind me, I could hardly hear a peep.

  Why would there be a difference? Birds fly. They could land anywhere. I suddenly got the chills again.

  That time, I almost stopped. I didn’t, though. Whatever lay in front of me, I would deal with like I had dealt with everything else.

  I carefully worked my way over the razor wire and jumped. I landed on the soft soil with a thud. For a moment, the noises closest to me stopped. I was hoping to go unnoticed, but it was too late for that.

  I froze. There it was again, that feeling that I was being watched. It was now stronger and more disturbing. I could practically feel it touch my face,
but I was almost sure that it was all in my mind. I crouched and stepped forward.

  That was when I heard it. A rattling, maybe. Was it a growl? Something didn’t want me there.

  I scanned the ground. Nothing. My heart quickened. I scanned the trees. When I saw it, I couldn’t breathe.

  Angry yellow eyes penetrated the shadows. They were locked on me. Its black body crouched, waiting for me.

  I had only one option. I took it. Turning, I threw myself back onto the fence. Climbing as fast as I could, I didn’t want to look back. When I did, the terrifying image sent prickly heat crawling under my skin.

  It attacked. Now out of the tree, it was fast. The black cat charged towards me. In a second, it was on top of me. I was too late.

  Its claw hooked my leg, and it felt like fire ripping through my body. My flesh separated from bone. But, as it tried to pull me down, I hung onto the fence, refusing to let go.

  I closed my eyes as I felt my muscles quartered like filet. I was succumbing to the pain. I was slipping, and then… luck.

  It was my luck. The panther wanted two claws in me and loosened its grip. While retracting, it had only half the flesh. Wrenching up, I tore through the rest with a scream.

  Suddenly free, I launched like a rocket. Climbing the chain link, I didn’t stop until it grabbed me again. Damn it!

  Its teeth sunk into me. I pulled at my arm desperately. Finally seeing clearly what had me, I stopped.

  My mind slowed as I looked around. I released my death grip on the razor and examined my blood-soaked arms. They were tangled in sharp wires. With my skin pulled in either direction, I knew that the only way to free them would be to yank. Not giving myself time to think about it, I did.

  “Ahh!” I screamed again.

  It hurt, but I couldn’t think about the pain. I had to keep moving. I knew that I would be losing blood even faster now. The longer I waited, the harder it would be to get down.

  Remembering my training, I put the pain out of my mind and focused. I took it one step at a time. I transferred my weight over the top of the wire. When I was sure that I wouldn’t get snagged, I let myself drop.