Island Girls

by Rodzil LaBraun

  As we got into position I glanced over at the other team. Lin was paired with Zach, and Candice with Amir. That would not have been the way I separated them. Candice was the closest to Zach's height. They would be able to work together better through the course. As would Lin with Amir. It was either a comfort thing, or team barracks life was providing another dynamic to the mix.

  When the buzzer sounded, I sent Nancy up the beam first. She was shaking with nerves from the moment we walked into the arena. If there was a betting pool going on, I would guess that the odds were in favor of blue team. Most people would also pick Nancy to be our weakest member. There was a good chance in her mind that this could be the last day of her life.

  Unfortunately, Nancy fell when she was only halfway up the slope. While she was recovering, I started my ascent. I then reached back to help her. We would climb the thing together. Leaving her behind was not an option. Not only would it cost us the game, I was determined to protect her, keep her alive.

  Our progress was slow, but we made it. We used the same method to cross the horizontal beam, reaching the next platform about ten seconds later than our teammates. The hook was heavier than expected and gave Drexel some trouble. I connected mine first, but he landed his a few seconds later.

  I chose to hang straight down from the rope attached to the hook and use a hand over hand method to reach the other side. I had the upper body strength for it. Nancy, however, didn't even make it halfway across. I waited for her on the other side. She would have to complete this challenge on her own. I explained how to wrap both her arms and legs around the thick cord. She was able to cross that way, but we were behind our teammates once again.

  Nancy was scared to death of walking across the tight rope. She wanted to use the same method as the last one. The big screen in the middle was showing everyone's progress, and we were currently the slowest pair.

  "Nancy, listen to me. We can do this. I will cross first and be there to catch you when you come over. We have to do it quickly. Even if you lose your balance, your momentum will carry you to me. Trust me!"

  "I don't know," she responded in fear as she watched the big screen. Lin, Zach and Amir had run across the rope successfully. Candice had fallen, though, and looked like she might be injured again. I saw the tall woman press the pain med button on her arm before attempting to climb the wall.

  "Use your adrenaline now!" I shouted at Nancy. "Let's go! We are going to win this!"

  I made it across the tightrope easier than I expected, my last step landing off center on the platform. If the rope had been three feet longer, I might have fallen. Nancy pressed the button on her arm and sprinted across to me. Her upper body began slanting to the left way too soon. She was nearly at a forty-five-degree angle when she dove for me.

  The grip surface under my feet helped me stay upright as I grabbed her forearms before she could plummet to the sand below. Her body slammed into the vertical padding, but she did not appear to be injured by it. It took a few seconds, but I was able to drag my lover's thin body up the wall to me. It was surely faster than having her climb up from the bottom.

  "Thank you," Nancy cried, sobbing uncontrollably as I guided her to the team rope portion of the game. Drexel and Shira were already there, cheering on Nancy. The look on Drexel's face made me believe that he just might be a decent guy. He had just met us, but already felt like part of the team due to the videos that they showed him.

  Blue team's flag was already up five feet when we began pulling our ropes. Drexel, Shira and I had all saved our adrenaline rush for this part. The tactic worked well as I tugged like my life depended on it. Everyone else appeared to be doing the same. When our flag burst into flames we all let go of the ropes. Nancy was a split second too late and got pulled forward abruptly before she released. She didn't scream so I assumed that she was okay.

  I quickly turned to check on the blue team and their flag was also in flames and resting back on the surface. There was no immediate declaration of the winner. Had they beaten us despite our heroics? The center screen then came alive with highlights of the competition. Across the top of the display was a banner that read, "Who Won?"

  We watched the video to see people falling and diving. It showed when each person used their arm buttons to help them. Only Amir on the blue team had saved his for the last section of the competition.

  Eventually they got to the flag raising part. Everything then went in slow motion as the view switched periodically between our flags and the expressions on our faces as we pulled as hard as we could on our lifelines, so to speak. Though I'm sure the video was less than a minute, it seemed to take forever as us players were desperate to know who had won the event.

  The screen then paused as the orange flag caught flame while the blue flag was just a few inches from its goal. The banner then read, "Orange Team Wins!"

  The relief in that moment was tremendous. I did not realize how tense my muscles were until they were released. I crawled toward Nancy and gave her a hug. The woman was drenched in tears. Drexel soon joined us, then Shira for a team hug that was the ultimate bonding moment for us four.

  Our team alone was then sent to a viewing tower on the left side of the course. The blue team was given a few minutes to rest and hydrate before competing in the individual challenge. They would be running the same course over again, but each person for themselves this time. All the orange decor on our side of the course was changed to blue remotely somehow.

  I still didn’t know how they were accomplishing all of this. My curiosity was beginning to fade, though. There were more important things than understanding how a special effect was made. But some of these things could be clues for how to escape.

  Nancy was embarrassed by her breakdown, but I told her not to worry about it. I was so happy that she would not be risking the death penalty today. We all commended each other on our efforts as we waited for the blue team to begin the event. My concern for Nancy was over, but I now had to worry about Lin. At least she was in better physical shape to handle these challenges.

  Watching them scurry through the course was a bit like the old children's show. The one that taught kids to identify which thing didn't belong. 'One of these things is not like the others...' And that thing was Candice. Whether it was due to an injury or she was just the weakest competitor, I didn't know.

  There was no flag raising this time. Just reach the last platform to save your life. Zach was first, but just a few seconds before Amir. Lin struggled with throwing the hook but was able to reach the end not long after the guys. Candice, however, hadn't even reached the tightrope when the buzzer sounded.

  She was frustrated, pained, and defeated. She didn’t even have the strength to plead for her life. An unseen force then tossed her into one of the pools of water. It was shocking to see, but not near as much as what happened next. The pool must have been about three feet deep. She was able to stand up with her chest fully above the water. But only for a brief second before something pulled her under again.

  It continued for an unbearable amount of time. Nancy buried her head into my chest, refusing to watch. The rest of our team was appalled by the sight as Candice was drowned right in front of us. Lin and Zach were screaming from their victory perches, unable to do anything to help their fallen comrade. Amir just stared blankly at the display, unemotional.

  Candice's body floated face down in the pool for a few seconds before some sort of plug was pulled. When the water raced out of the basin, her body went with it. And that was that.

  The arena doors opened once again, and we were instructed to return to our barracks. Lin made eye contact with me for a moment and the message was clear. We need to escape. And soon.

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  "Well, that was awful," Drexel said as he took a seat at the table just outside the arena. Resting our tired bodies at the first place to sit down inside our barracks area had become a routine.

  "It could have been one of us," Shira replied. She was the
second to select her seat and chose one opposite of our newest team member. That put Nancy and I across from each other, which was fine. I plopped down beside Drexel. We didn't need to be beside each other every minute of every day.

  "You mean me," Nancy responded. She knew that she was the weakest link on our team. She didn't appear angry about it, at least not toward any of us. As much as I wanted to come to her defense, I decided it was better to see how the other two responded.

  "You don't know that," said Drexel.

  "It's true," Shira said as she looked directly at Nancy beside her. "Candice was the clear loser in their individual challenge because she got injured in the team event. That could happen to any of us. Even the great Joah."

  I chuckled at her comment. I knew that I was the most physically intimidating man in the competition, but I wasn't finishing first in the events very often. I figured that I was being singled out by her for a different reason.

  "We need to make sure that we never lose the team event," Drexel said. "I don't want to die any more than you guys do. But I also don't want to lose any of you."

  "Well, that's nice of you to say," Shira replied. "But you just met us."

  "I get the feeling that Drexel is like a fan of the show," I said. "He already knows the characters well enough to develop a fondness. Unfortunately, we don't know much about you."

  "I am a fan of you guys. They have been showing me vids of you all from since you first arrived. I've gotten to know you a bit, even though I've only been a viewer for one day. But there was nothing else to do but watch. What would you like to know about me?"

  "Start with the basics," Nancy said. I couldn't tell if she was attracted to Drexel or not. The guy was young and handsome, for sure. And Nancy made it clear that we did not belong to each other. If she took a romantic interest in the new guy, I would have to be a man about it. "Where are you from? What did you do for work? Stuff like that."

  "Okay," Drexel replied taking a deep breath and running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. "I'm from Lansing Michigan. I played college basketball but did not get picked up by any major league team. Instead, I'm playing semi-pro ball in my hometown. I also work in the shipping department at a textile factory. I'm twenty-three years old. I'm not married but I have a girlfriend. We've been together for a couple years. I'm sure that she's worried sick about me. My parents, too."

  "Yeah, about that," Shira said. She could be counted on to be the bluntest when it came to bad news. "Remember when I asked you what year it is?"

  "I do. I'm still wondering why you did."

  "Well, just last week, for me it was year two-thousand and fifty-two. For Nancy, it was two-thousand and thirty-five. Joah, what year did you come from?"

  "Two-thousand and twenty."

  "I don't understand," was Drexel's only response. He looked scared and shifted backward on the bench like the world was closing in on him.

  "What I'm saying is," Shira told him as she leaned on the table toward him. "We don't actually know what year it is. We were all taken, kidnapped essentially, from different years. Then we were preserved in sleep somehow. It is likely that the same thing happened to you. Your girlfriend has probably already forgotten about you."

  "Well, that's a little harsh," I interrupted. "It's true that we don't know what year it is. But you came from the most recent. So, it is possible that you have not been missing from your girlfriend's life for very long. Or your parents."

  "What is this place?" Drexel asked with obvious fear in his voice. The poor guy started looking all around him like there would be clues to help figure this thing out in our surroundings. There wasn’t. At least, I had not found any.

  "We don't know any more than you do," I replied. Then leaning in to whisper, "Our primary plan has to be to escape, before we get killed off like Bobby and Candice. In the meantime, we need to be in the best shape that we can, so we don't lose any team challenges before we get out of here."

  "I guess I'll have to start joining you guys for workouts," Shira said as she glanced over at the exercise area. "Hey, do those trees look different?"

  We all turned to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, they had added more trees. They still went with the island theme, but in a variety of shapes and sizes. As I watched, the trees began to move. Not like they were alien life forms or possessed. No, they were just trees. But a breeze was blowing them around slightly.

  "Wind!" Nancy declared. "We finally have some wind."

  When I got up to search our area better the others followed. We discovered together whatever additional changes that our prison masters had made. A section of the sand between our barracks entrance and the pier had been replaced with a flooring similar to inside the building. It was circular in shape and four reclined chairs sat around it facing inwards. In the center of the circle was a fire pit. A fabricated short wall enclosed the burn zone and was made to look like stones. I knew without even checking that it was a one-piece construction. Over the pit was a black wire rack held in place by four posts. Each post had notches for adjusting the height of the rack.

  "Will we be doing some cooking now?" Shira asked.

  The sound of the waves gently caressing the shore had become a monotonous background noise. It had always been the same. But not now. The surge was taller than before, though still not high enough to knock anyone over. And the noise was louder because of it. I surmised that the new wind was the cause. I wondered how long it would last. Or if it was possible that we could even experience a storm. There had been absolutely no rain since we had arrived. That thought had me check the sky. Yep, clouds. We now had significant cloud cover. Though puffy white instead of gray, we would soon get some reprieve from direct sunlight.

  It was sort of weird that the trees, new chairs and fire pit would all arrive the same time as the wind. But I had no idea what to make of it. Wind was wind, right? It couldn't just be added to your life by design. It had to come from somewhere. And all around us was open space, except the wall. I was about to go check for vents or jets when I realized that the breeze was coming from the direction of the sea.

  On the other side of the building, opposite of the exercise area, was the addition of a second hammock. There was also a small crate with two sections. Upon closer inspection we discovered pillows, blankets and slippers in the one side. The other section of the bin held games and balls. There was a soccer ball, a football, a frisbee, a board game that I did not recognize, and a set of heavy rings with two stakes.

  I figured the ring game was similar to horseshoes. You just wouldn't have an open side to slide onto the stake. All ringers would have to come down from above. I immediately realized that the stake had to go into the sand at angle instead of upright. Along with that thought came the revelation that they had just provided me with a digging tool. Or a weapon.

  I pulled out the game board with Drexel's help. Once unfolded it sat on the ground to take up a space about six-foot square. The surface of the board was mostly separated by hexagonal shapes, but they were not all the same size or color. I couldn't pick up a pattern. Each edge of the board had a different color: orange, yellow, red, and pink. Apparently, each player would start from a designated side.

  A set of twenty playing pieces came with the game, five in each color. None of the pieces were identical. The orange units were all human figures, but they stood in different poses. Some had items in their hands as well, like a spear or a knife. Three were clearly men and the other two women.

  The other three teams were humanoid aliens apparently. Some had weird shaped heads. Others stood on four legs. They were also in a variety of poses with different objects. Each player would have a unique set of five units to play with. The most confusing part of the game was that there were no instructions. No manuals, no markings on the game board. No booming voice to tell us how to play.

  After competing in a strenuous physical challenge and watching another inmate killed, none of us were particularly in the mood for games. W
e put everything back in the crate and solemnly went inside.

  Everything about our barracks had remained exactly the same except for three things. First, there were now doors on the bedrooms. Perhaps my romp with Nancy suggested the need for those. Second was a panel on the wall beside the exit door. It had several circles and squares of different colors, but no labels. Last was the addition of utensils in an upright cylinder container on the counter. They appeared to be designed for outdoor cooking and fire care. More tools and weapons, the thought came to me naturally.

  The loss of two lives had a traumatic effect on our contentment in this prison. There was no doubt of that. Though we didn't really know Candice well, she was still a person and her death was shocking. Bobby was as a lunatic, possibly a real mental patient. Seeing him die was hard to watch, but we couldn't really say that we would miss him. The more important factor in the executions was the knowledge that one of us could be next.

  Fear of death changed a person. They would do things that they normally wouldn't do. They might take risks that they otherwise wouldn't. Say, chance a shock of intense pain while trying to escape.