Island Girls

by Rodzil LaBraun

  Everything was delicious, of course. Zach was right about that part, at least. They were treating us pretty damn good for a prison. It made me feel like the family turkey just days before Thanksgiving. Were they fattening me up to eat me soon? I was more than suspicious.

  When I announced my desire to take a walk after finishing my meal, Nancy decided to join me. We circled our section of the compound four times in a casual stroll before we took an interest in the exercise equipment. I showed Nancy a few workout segments that would help her be more competitive in the games.

  As part of my personal training services I was able to place my hands on her body. She did not resist or complain, so we must be beyond that issue now. I probed different areas of her anatomy for muscle mass or the lack there of. The contact seemed to bring us a little closer. Spending so much time together was bound to have us either romantically involved eventually or hating each other. I was developing a fondness for her already, so I was very much in favor of the former.

  Nancy needed to strengthen her legs, both thighs and calves. That would go a long way in improving her sports performance. Her biceps were in decent shape. She either was used to using small weights or did a fair amount of lifting in her job. The triceps, however, were on their way to being grandma wings. She wasn't even able to do five push-ups consecutively.

  I treated myself to a brief but intense workout as she diligently continued her repetitions. I explained the need for moving from one exercise to the next instead of maxing out on just one. She was doing well without me having to push her. I was surprised that she didn't need to be motivated more. Maybe she was just bored and would do any activity that I suggested. I might have to test that idea soon.

  We were both quite sweaty when we were done. A strong regime of exercise and competition could have me going through three shirts a day. I was curious as to whether their laundry service would keep up.

  We decided to go inside and check on the new girl. She was still asleep, but her head was turned to the side. Perhaps she had gained consciousness momentarily. The thin silky blanket covering her naked body and revealing her petite frame was shuffled slightly. Both arms were in casts the same as mine were that first day.

  Nancy earned first turn in the shower. Despite her poor performance in the arena, she showed real interest in improving her athleticism. I was glad that she would have time to rest before being called on again to compete.

  By the time that she was out of the shower our newest team member was beginning to stir. Nancy walked through the barracks wearing just a towel. She had come a long way already being comfortable in my presence. I must have done a good job convincing her that I am a gentleman so far.

  She planned to put on a fresh set of clothes while I was in the shower. I cautioned her against having her bare ass be the new girl's first sight. She took her clothes and got dressed in my room instead while I watched sleeping beauty. The waking process was taking a while. I remembered that it did for me, but time was hard to keep track of in that condition.

  They were already talking, though, when I came out of the shower. I quickly got dressed so that I could make an appearance before the girl drifts off again. Her eyes were barely open when I entered the room. She didn't appear to notice me until I was a few feet from her bed. Nancy had apparently already informed her that I would be coming in to meet her soon.

  Shira, she said was her name. I told her that I was happy to meet her and that we would do our best to explain what was going. But, a couple minutes later she was asleep. It felt weird to just sit there and wait for her to wake up again, so I went for another walk. I was hoping for a cool breeze when I stepped foot on the beach, but everything was the same as it had always been. No wind, no sound except for the gentle lapping of the waves.

  I felt like a caged dog. One that was being kept and trained to fight other dogs in gambling dens. That comparison might not be far from the truth. The team colors. The arena. The forcing of us from one location to another. I didn't like it. The good food and beautiful view felt like a bribe. However, if this was a prison, they just might have a solitary confinement policy for troublemakers. I needed to keep my anger in check if I were to have any chance of eventually escaping this place.

  "She woke up again," Nancy told me. She walked out to the pier where I was sitting with my feet in the water. So far, no fish had made contact with me. She sat down cross-legged to avoid placing her own flesh in the sea. "I told her where we are and what it is like. She is confused, of course. I offered to help her out of bed, but she declined. She might not have much energy for a while."

  "The drugs they gave us could vary in effect from one person to the next," I told her. "We should let her go at her own pace."

  While we were talking the door had closed on our barracks without us noticing. It was a little early for dinner, I thought. But the workout had burned most of the calories that I had taken in from lunch. Our captors probably were also watching to take advantage of both of us being out of our quarters to bring the evening meal. Maybe they were bringing in a male roommate for me as well. But how would they keep Shira from spotting them? They had to be aware that she was still in bed.

  When the door reopened, we rushed in to see what had changed. There was no one sleeping in my room, but two more dishes were delivered. The portions were a little light, though. It was more like a snack than a meal. That wasn't the case the night before. I couldn’t figure out why.

  A few minutes after we placed our dishes in the cleaning receptacle the horn sounded again. Six times, just as this morning, signaling that the arena was opening. "Shit," I muttered. Do they expect us to play games again already?

  We circled the building to find the opening in the wall inviting us into the center section of the compound. This time it was dark inside. We still had sunlight on our side of the wall, so they must have added a ceiling.

  We cautiously approached, not sure what to expect. It was surprising to see the arena space converted so quickly into something completely different. The sound of distant music caught our attention. What the hell?

  There was no sports arena this time. Instead we were greeted with a long hallway and an orange carpeted floor. The walls appeared to be some type of dark wood but turned out to be the same material as the barracks. A shimmering light in the center of the space beckoned us. No, wait. It was not a light at all. The spherical item hanging from the ceiling was covered with tiny mirrors to reflect light from elsewhere at all angles. I recognized it as a disco ball.

  The music became clearer as we slowly made our way toward the middle. The song was unrecognizable, but the instruments were not. Guitar, bass, drums, violins, and an occasional saxophone maybe. Despite the dance hall vibe produced by the flickering lights, the music resembled background stuff to encourage socializing. There were no vocals. We continued our way down the hall at a timid pace.

  A center circle less than twenty feet wide connected us to the hallway on the opposite side. Zach and Lin could be seen standing at the far end on blue carpet. The walls in the middle were mirrors, and the carpet black. Lights were produced from the seam just below the ceiling and worked with the disco ball to provide a nightclub atmosphere. There were no other people present.

  A drink rail six inches wide jutted out from the wall along most of the circle. Centered on our left was a glass case with four dishes. Desserts. A utensil was provided beside each one. On our right another glass case could be seen. This one separated into two sections. Half, apparently refrigerated, held what looked like eight bottles of beer. I did not recognize the brand. Perhaps it was from a local brewery. The other half held four bottles that no doubt contained liquor. Four short, squarish glasses rested beside the bottles. The flickering light caught the bottles and glasses at angles to produce even more of a show on that side of the room.

  What kind of prison gave their inmates a nightclub experience? This didn’t make any sense! Of course, neither did the tropical paradise or exquisite die
t. This was our own little Friday night bar scene. All that was missing was a bartender. I assumed that we would have to get our own drinks. Unless the cabinet was locked. That would be pretty fucked up. But I wouldn’t put it past these people to tease us like that.

  Watching the other two approach from their end also reminded me that we were still wearing the same shorts and t-shirts. They had not provided us with tuxedos and evening gowns for the event. They had put forth a lot of effort to create this illusion of a fun night out, but our uniforms would be a constant reminder of where we actually were.

  "Hey," Lin said with a smile as she approached. I would describe her expression as pleasantly intrigued. It was the sort of look that a person would have if they accidentally walked in on their own surprise birthday party preparation. Like, “Hey, what’s this all about?”

  Zach, on the other hand, looked to be concerned. I would have expected him to be jumping up and down with enthusiasm instead. I reached to shake his hand in greeting. Though he delayed for a moment, he excepted the gesture with a firm shake. I couldn't figure out why he was not excited. Of the four of us, he was the one most content with living here. I would have thought this lively bar scenario would only make the place more appealing.

  I normally greeted my female friends with a brief embrace. One of my early girlfriends taught me to do that every time I bumped into a woman that I knew. She explained that once I did it the first time, they would be accustomed to it, even expect it every time after that. I barely leaned forward toward Lin with that intent, then caught myself. In our particular situation, I believed a hug might be out of place. Lin noticed my awkwardness and just gave us both a friendly wave.

  "What is all this?" she asked.

  Nancy replied with her trademark response, "I don't know."

  The music was still soft enough that we could easily talk without having to raise our voices. I always hated having to shout at my friends in the club to just be heard. I would mentally compare it to a party at the nursing home when everyone's hearing aids stop working. 'What? I can't understand what you are saying.' It would be like that all night until we couldn't stand it anymore and walked outside.

  "I believe this may be a reward for playing their games earlier," I offered. "Or, they want to keep us pliable for whatever they have planned in the future."

  "I'm confused," Nancy said. "Should we eat and drink, and pretend that we are not being held against our will? How do you guys feel about this?"

  "I didn't have much dinner," Zach replied, turning to eye the dessert case. He was a basic needs kind of guy, I decided. Not much of a deep thinker, or planner. When hungry, he sought food. Thirsty? Get a drink. Horny? Yeah, that was the idea.

  "Portions were small intentionally," I replied. "I guess that should be the first order of business then. What does everyone like?"

  Lin selected the cheesecake and gave us that guilty look like she was breaking her diet. Nancy was biting her bottom lip ever since she spotted the strawberry shortcake. I told her to grab it. Zach waited his turn but was obviously salivating over the bowl of vanilla ice cream with tiny chocolate bars. That left the peanut butter fudge brownie for me, which was my favorite. Of course, it was. Everyone got their favorite. These people knew everything about us apparently. How is that possible?

  After sitting my empty plate on the small ledge, I kept an eye on it. I was hoping to get a glimpse at their retrieval process in action. Mysteries always captivated me until solved. With that in mind, I decided to work on figuring out why Zach was so quiet.

  "How are you doing?"

  "I'm good," he answered, nodding his head more than necessary. I recognized that look from my bouncer days. He was not entirely comfortable with the club scene. But come on! It was just the four of us. What had him so restrained?

  "Should we check out the alcohol?" Nancy asked timidly.

  "I have mixed feelings about that," Lin replied. "I mean, we should be keeping our wits about us. And, drinking will affect our physical condition should we need to be in top shape for something. But, on the other hand, we are trying to play nice and not raise suspicion. Do you think our captors would consider it a negative if we refrain?"

  "I don't know," Nancy answered. "Or do you think it is here as a test? To see if we will succumb to the temptation?"

  "That's a good point, too," said Lin, though I figured she was humoring Nancy. "Joah, what do you think?"

  "Honestly?" I replied. Both women nodded. "A drink or two won't hurt us too much physically, at least not for long. Staying with the obedience plan I think we should at least sample the offering. I don't think that it is a test. Everything that they have provided so far is for us to use and enjoy. I personally have a high tolerance for alcohol. I can stay on alert if any of you feel like getting relaxed. I don't mind. I mean, all this has been a lot to take in. It's stressful, I know. They might not do this for us all the time."

  "I could use a drink," Zach announced as he walked directly to the bar. It seems that my speech had given the permission that he had been looking for. The rest of us followed, not sure if Zach was just fetching for himself or going to offer to pour for the rest of us.

  "I can't believe I forgot to ask if you guys got a new teammate."

  "Yes, we did," Lin answered. "Another woman. She's asleep right now. She barely had energy to talk so far. Her name is Candice. How about you?"

  "The same. We got a woman, too. Her name is Shira."

  Zach grabbed himself a beer and stepped aside so that the rest of us could make our selection. A gentleman would have offered to pour drinks for the ladies. The normal flirtatious Zach may have done that. But the guy was noticeably to be out of his element this evening. He took a long swig from the bottle and didn't drop dead immediately from it. We figured that was a good sign.

  The four bottles of liquor held strawberry vodka, lime rum, plain whiskey, and something called spiru that was flavored with a variety of spices. The two types of beer were regular lager and apple ale. Nancy said that she always had a taste for lime rum, claiming that she only drank on weekends with her friends.

  When I lifted a glass and grabbed the bottle of rum, a large nozzle came silently out of the wall. It almost scared the shit out of us. After recovering, I held the glass under it. Three round chunks of ice plopped into the glass. I poured the rum to cover the ice, figuring that it might be two and a half to three ounces. That was a heavy dose of strong liquor, but flavored stuff tended to be weaker. I'd keep an eye on her just the same.

  "What are you drinking?" Lin asked when I asked her to pick her poison.

  "I thought I might try this spiru stuff."

  "Then I will as well," she told me. I didn't know whether to think anything of it or not. Sometimes when a woman wants to do the same thing as you it meant that she is interested. But in this case, she might not have known what to order. Perhaps she was a wine drinker, or usually abstained.

  I grabbed two glasses with my large hand and the ice dispenser reappeared. As I placed each in turn under the faucet, it dropped three spheres of ice in each glass. I had never seen an ice machine like that before. I poured us each roughly three ounces of the unknown liquor without thinking. It might be stronger than we were used to. I was busy envisioning Lin getting a little tipsy and letting her guard down a bit.

  We all three touched are glassed together and said 'cheers.' Zach was standing a few feet away with his back turned, so we couldn't include him unless we called him over. His teammate did not even give him a glance at that moment. The two of them did not seem to be bonding like Nancy and me.

  I took a healthy sip from my glass and was surprised. I expected something like spiced rum. Instead, I tasted several subtle earthy flavors that accented the smooth, warm fluid. Even the after taste had very little bite.

  "Oh my God!" Lin exclaimed after her first taste. "That is good! It doesn't taste very strong either."

  Good liquor rarely tastes as strong as it is. I knew better than to assum
e it was low in alcohol. We would have to resist the temptation to drink it like Kool Aid.

  "How is yours, Nancy?" I asked my teammate.

  "It's very good," she replied after swallowing. "It is not bitter or sharp. I could drink these all night." She took another sip to reinforce the statement.

  "Yeah, we'll see about that." I had no intention of letting her get drunk off her ass. But we weren’t best friends, like wingmen. I’d have to be careful.

  By the time we all finished our first drink there was a noticeable increase in the beat of the music. The invisible dee-jay was moving us a long slowly. When Lin started bouncing a little in place, Nancy smiled and followed suit. I could see the alcohol loosening them up already.

  When I noticed Zach tilt his bottle up high, I said, "Hey Zach. Another beer?" The volume of the music has risen subtly requiring me to raise my voice to be heard.