by A. Anders
“Yes. Excuse the mess,” she replied with a smile that I would have found charming if we weren’t standing in the Bermuda Triangle’s sphincter.
I didn’t smile back.
“Is something wrong?”
She was genuinely confused. Couldn’t she see that she was one discarded panini press away from living in a landfill? No, wait, my mistake. She had one on her bed.
“No!” I protested. “I just… I just didn’t expect you to live here.”
After a baffled look and a head-clearing shake, she offered me a wry smile. “You didn’t do much research before coming here, did you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“You think I live like this?”
“Like what?” I asked casually.
Rose looked at me amused.
“This mess is so the show can’t use any footage of me when I’m in here. It’s what everyone does on these shows.”
Rose saw my confusion and explained it slowly.
“Think about it. They need me to be everybody’s fantasy. They need women to want to be me, and men to want to date me. So they can’t portray their precious bachelorette as a complete slob, can they?”
I scanned Rose’s face. She was telling the truth, and so I abandoned my search for the Loch Ness monster amongst her unmentionables. I took a deep breath and laughed in relief.
“You’re right. I did absolutely no research before I came here.”
“I could kind of tell.”
“How’s that?”
She thought for a moment and then replied with a blush. “It was the way you went after the bear.”
My heart sank. Remembering what Brad had said about it, I couldn’t hide my embarrassment.
“No, no,” she said touching my arm. “It was kind of… incredible.”
When I looked up again, she was inches from me and our eyes met. I froze. I couldn’t think. My brain was blank, and I saw her again for the first time. She was astoundingly beautiful. I was speechless.
After a quiet moment staring into each other’s eyes, Rose took my hand and led me across the room. A rush of air filled my lungs. I hadn’t realized it, but I been holding my breath.
Clearing a space on the couch, we sat. Facing each other, our knees touched. Avoiding her eyes as I looked up, I did everything I could to catch my breath.
Pulling myself together, I remembered why I had come. She had told me to find her. As I sat ready to get to business, my mouth was high-jacked by something that I knew I shouldn’t say.
“I have to ask,” I began. “Why did you choose Brad for your one-on-one date after the challenge?”
Rose looked at me as if the answer was obvious. “Because he had gotten the ring.”
She paused when she saw my disappointment. “Ford, I don’t make the rules here. I just know that I have to follow them, and that includes when I really don’t want to.”
I dared to look at Rose again. She was smiling. But for the very first time, I also saw something else.
What had made me invaluable as a recruiter was my training in spotting micro-expressions. Micro-expressions are brief cracks in a person’s mask when their true feelings come out. I had never seen one in Rose. That meant one of two things: either she was exactly who she portrayed herself as and she had nothing to hide, or she had had a lot of practice hiding.
What Rose’s crack had revealed was her heart-wrenching sadness. She was in pain, and she didn’t want anyone to know. What was she hiding? I was intrigued. She had me, and I needed to know more.
“So you gotta tell me,” I began, “how did a girl like you end up in a place like this?”
“Probably the same way a boy like you did, Mr. Secret Bad Boy.”
I paused.
Secrets , I considered. I guess we both have secrets.
“Fair enough. So, what do you know about this show?” I asked, ready to get serious.
“I don’t know much. I got an email inviting me to apply. I did. Three months later, there you were walking up the dock.”
“An email? From who?”
“A casting director I had never heard of.”
“Did you notice anything strange when you were applying?”
“What would you consider strange? I went in for interviews, met a few producers. Two weeks later they told me that I would be their bachelorette and gave me the dates.
“Is that it?”
“Yeah. Pretty ordinary. Which is why I was intrigued when you said that thing to me.”
“You mean that the show was killing the people being eliminated?”
“Yeah. What’s up with that?” She paused staring at me. “And be honest with me. Are you a plant? Is this some sort of plot twist? Is that how this show is different?” she asked in rapid fire. “Oh, and I promise I won’t tell anyone. I’m really good at playing along.”
I stared at Rose. I was starting to believe that she didn’t actually know anything.
“You haven’t noticed anything unusual? At all?”
“Well, I was taken to a deserted island to choose between fifteen guys who were willing to risk their lives to win my hand in marriage. And, oh yeah, everything I do and say is being recorded. Would any of that count as unusual?”
She had me there. So the question became, should I tell her what was going on or keep it to myself?
“I wasn’t kidding, ya know,” I said deciding that I had to talk to someone about it. “Everyone who has been eliminated has died.”
“And I suppose that you watched them die?”
“Two of them. Yeah.”
“You do understand that this is what these shows do, right? They get you to sign away all of your rights, and then they lie to you so that they can make interesting TV. In fact, I’m still trying to figure out if you believe what you’re saying, or if you’re just trying to make me believe it.”
“Rose, I know what I saw.”
“But think about it. Wouldn’t that be an incredible show twist?”
“You mean, parents losing their children so that a corporation can sell shampoo?”
“Yeah. I mean, no. What I’m saying is, what if you could have that twist without anyone actually dying?”
Rose thought for a second and returned to the conversation excited.
“Okay. What about this? What if the producers wanted you to think that you saw someone die?”
“And why would they want me to think that?” I asked gruffly.
“So that you could come here and convince me. Think about it, if you convinced me, then everything I did on the show would change. I wouldn’t just be looking for a husband, I would be deciding who should live and who should die. How would someone react to that? Now, that’s a show I would watch,” she confessed gleefully.
I had to admit, I hadn’t considered that angle. Could Kurt and Ian both be alive somewhere watching as I ran around trying to convince people of their deaths?
But if that was true, why hadn’t the producers trained me to give confessionals? Why wouldn’t they have told me the rules of the show, even if it was just to manipulate me? Didn’t it make more sense that I was supposed to be eliminated early?
And the death rattle coming from Kurt’s lungs. Who would know to fake that? How would they know to make it sound so real? After all, I’m just a corporate recruiter.
“Wow. You really haven’t seen one of these shows before, have you?” she said staring at me intrigued.
All I could do was shake my head, no.
“Then let me give you a little inside information,” she offered sincerely.
I gave her my full attention.
“If you don’t want to be eliminated, then win… my heart. I promise you that I’m taking this show seriously. When I’m asking you if you would consider spending the rest of your life with me, those aren’t just words. I really came here to find my true love.”
Rose shifted her body to face me as she slowly put one hand on my chest and the other on her own. I watched
her closely. I was sure that she felt my heartbeat. Again looking into my eyes, she continued.
“Keep in mind that there are no cameras around. This is just a girl talking to a guy.”
Rose paused and looked away. She was shaking. When she looked at me again, it was with such vulnerability that I swallowed.
“So now that you know how I feel, I’ll ask you again. Ford, would you consider spending the rest of your life with me?”
Her sincerity left me disarmed. I couldn’t think, so I spoke. “Yes. I would.”
Rose’s kisses poured over my lips like the rain. Touching her, my skin was ablaze. I reached out pulling her into my arms. The kiss had woken me up. And for the first time in years, I was alive.
The longer I kissed her, the more my body yearned for her. When I pulled her to me for more, she tilted her head, prying her lips from mine. Their absence hurt. The moment had been too short.
She rested her forehead on mine as if she, too, couldn’t stand to be apart. But instead of kissing me again, she sat up.
“I want you to play the game, okay?” she said dazed. “I want you to win. I want you to be the one I spend the rest of my life with. Can you do that?”
The only thing I could say was, “Yes.”
“Good. You should go before someone realizes you’re gone. I want you to stick around, okay?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I said, unsure of what I was agreeing to do.
Neither of us said another word. She just walked me to the door, and I hurried out. Was it reckless for me to exit without checking for the scouts? Yes. But I was feeling out of control, and I couldn’t help myself.
The odds that I would come out in the 45-second window necessary to evade detection were astronomically low. I was either very lucky, or someone had let me come out at the right time. Could Rose have been right? Was nothing that I had seen on the dock real? Was I their pawn?
The further I ran into the woods, the less possible Rose’s theory seemed. I know what I saw. Yes, perhaps Kurt’s death could have been an elaborate scam, but Ian couldn’t have known I was there, could he? Well, maybe if cameras were hidden in the trees, he could. Could all of that have been arranged for the off chance that I would tell Rose?
Rose was certainly right about one thing. The best thing I could do now was to stay in the game. Whether it was just to spend time with her or to stay alive, I had to start playing for keeps.
“Ford!” I heard someone whisper.
I slowed to a stop and threw myself behind a tree. It was instinct.
“Ford!” the hushed voice said again.
I scanned the darkness and saw him. It was Brad. He was waving me over. Not knowing what he was hiding from, I got down and hurried toward the large-leafed vines he hid behind.
Moving from tree to tree, I suddenly realized how much light there was. I looked up and didn’t see the moon. Instead, I saw the tower with the glowing bulb. It was still miles away, but its light was bright enough to cast shadows.
Sliding in feet first, I joined Brad in a dirt hole behind a canopy of leafy vines. Expectedly, Freddy and Victor were there with him. What I didn’t expect was that they were all naked except for a loincloth.
Do you know that feeling when you see something that you can never un-see?
“What, ah… What’s goin’ on?” I asked fairly sure that I didn’t want to know.
“Just hanging out,” Brad said with a knowing smile.
“Excellent! Excellent! Well, I’ll just leave you all to whatever it is that you were doing.”
“Where are you going?” Brad asked amused.
“Back to my cabin.”
“What are you, insane?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, starting to put together what was really going on.
“You think Gray is just gonna let you sleep? You gave him a Viking funeral.”
“No. You gave him that.”
“And you helped. He saw you with us. You think he’s gonna let you get away with that?”
Brad was right. I couldn’t go back tonight. Gray, Bob, Spiritual Sam… they would want revenge, and I was as much of a target as everyone else.
“Can I ask a question?” I requested with resignation.
“What’s that?”
“Why the loin cloths?”
Brad looked at Freddy and Victor, before turning back to me. “Because we look good.”
Do you know that feeling when you ask a question that you can never un-ask?
“Also, they might see us when we get back in the morning. Would you really wanna tip them off to where we spent the night? And as a hint, I’ll mention that we dug this hole with our bare hands.”
“We?” Victor asked.
“Ford gets the picture,” Brad retorted.
You had to admire Brad. He had a lot of skills. Chief among them was his ability to get people out of their clothes. I folded and placed mine with the others and settled in for the night.
Rose’s words resonated with me as I drifted off to sleep on the gentle slope of the hole. Something was undeniably memorable about her. She was hard to get out of my mind, but to fully embrace her, I had to deny everything that I had seen.
I had watched men die before. As much as I had tried, it was hard to forget what it looked like. Kurt and Ian were dead. With Ian, I hid, watching and hoping that someone would collect him within the time that he could be revived. But no one came. He was dead.
I thought about it for what felt like hours. I don’t know if I made it to sleep or not, but I woke up quickly when I felt someone’s hand on my naked back.
“What?” I whispered, pretending that I had always been awake.
“There.” Brad pointed at something moving in the bushes ahead.
We all sunk back into our hole. The noise increased as whatever it was got closer. Brad looked at me with yet another smile on his face. Wow, did nothing get him down? Either he was high again, or he lived for this stuff.
Brad slowly popped his head above the rim of the hole. Knowing that we would both be camouflaged by the foliage, I joined him. It was Gray and his allies. They were looking for us just as Brad had said. And Gray, leading the way, was carrying what looked like an improvised spear-gun.
I remembered this feeling; being held up in a fox hole with the enemies crossing our path. The strategic thing to do would be to let them go by and then double back on them. But I guessed that Brad never got that memo.
With Gray, Bouncer Bob, and the still naked Buck-Naked Billy past us, Brad signaled to get ready. We were going to take out Construction Carl and Spiritual Sam. It was meant to be an attack from behind.
I wondered how Brad planned to disarm Gray. Knowing Brad, he didn’t have a plan. He was just hoping that Gray wouldn’t shoot him in the face. Everything else could be fixed with magic dust, and he didn’t care what happened to the rest of us.
But I wasn’t willing to be a sacrificial piece in Brad’s crazy game, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else be either. We needed a plan that involved everyone surviving. I knew that meant that I had to take control.
I waved off Brad’s instructions and got the attention of the rest of the men. I signaled to Victor that he and I would take out Carl and Sam. Brad had gotten us into this mess, so I assigned him and Freddy to deal with Gray and the others.
Readying the men, I leaned against the wall of the hole. My heart pounded in my ears as I counted down. Three, two…
Victor and I slid out. I grabbed Carl, covering his mouth and pulling him down. Victor wasn’t quite as smart. He went in fist-first catching Spiritual Sam in the face. Sam’s head whipped back, and he released a “God damn!” alerting Gray and the others.
Brad, at least, had sense enough to go on the attack. He might be insane, but he was no coward. With Brad charging out of the hole, Freddy soon followed.
Things got loud and physical really fast. Carl was not a small guy. He fought back like his life depended on it, and maybe it did. I cou
ldn’t let that stop me.
Rolling on the ground, he tried to escape my grip. I didn’t want to, but I hit him twice in his side as hard as I could. It would stun him but leave no permanent damage.
I discovered that no one else was playing by gentleman rules when something clubbed me across the head. I released Carl, but I didn’t black out. I had been hit worse. When I looked up in search of who had done it, I found Spiritual Sam’s fists rapidly connecting with my chest.
Would it be wrong of me to say that Spiritual Sam was precious? Because, god bless him, he really was doing his best. I almost didn’t want to connect my elbow to his chin, but I was under a time crunch here. I had technically started this fight, and now I was fighting two men by myself.
When I hit him, Sam went down like Joe Glass. I hadn’t moved fast enough, though. Carl was on his knees, and I could only lift my arms to block his barrage.
I rolled kicking Sam off of me. I tripped Carl and spun around. I had to knock him out. So with him on all fours, I hit him once in the neck and he dropped like dead weight. I stared down at him as I got up. In spite of his lifeless fall, I was sure he’d be fine.
Unfortunately for Sam, I lost my balance as I stood up. Stepping back, I found something soft. Once I transferred my weight onto it, something burst under my foot like a squashed grape. I winced. How I had managed to step exactly onto Sam’s crotch was a mystery to me.
Between the flaming arrow to the foot and this, he was having a bad week. Apparently, Spiritual Sam’s god was a fourteen-year-old boy with a fart-joke level of humor. I had four words of advice for Sam: don’t pull his finger.
It was as I looked up that I realized how much I was losing my edge. Suddenly, a body was in front of me, and I felt another blow to my head. This time, my brain slammed into the inside of my skull, like a bird hitting glass. I spun and dropped. Lying face down in the dirt, I couldn’t move.
I felt a boot flip me over. Through the haze, I saw who had hit me. It was Gray. Staring up at the spear gun pointed at my face, I realized he was about to give me a spike through the skull.
Chapter 5
G ray pointed his makeshift spear gun at my face with his finger moving very quickly to the trigger. After everything I had been through, I couldn’t believe it was going to end this way.