by A. Anders
Reveling in the thought, I opened my mouth. I could have. I thought about it. But instead, I pressed my face against the thin cloth for a moment and then continued my ascent.
My palms caressed the small of her back. My nose tickled her stomach. The warm island breeze kissed my fingertips. I scooped her up and rose out of the water with the beautiful woman in my arms.
“You’re naked!” she teased with childlike excitement.
“Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” I whispered.
It took no time for Rose to touch me. She gripped me, and it felt fantastic.
“I like to get my hands on things,” she said with a coy smile and a gentle tug.
“And what do you plan to do with that?”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I wrapped my large hand around the back of her small neck and pulled her head to mine. I touched my lips to hers. When she opened her mouth, I entered with my tongue.
Finding each other, our tongues danced. Together, they twirled like melting chocolate. It was like arriving home. I wanted to kiss her forever.
“Owww!” Rose yelped suddenly, pulling away.
She had been bitten! Damn it, I had been distracted. I was fooling around with Rose when I should have been protecting her. Looking over her shoulder, the water was swarming with sharks circling in on us.
“Ahhh!” she screamed seeing them.
I responded immediately. I scooped her up and pressed her body over my head. With her out of the water, I turned facing the shore and ran.
Immediately, my foot touched something curved and rough. It shot out from under me. I tried to ignore it, but something grabbed the back of my leg and yanked.
Falling back, I tossed Rose as far towards shore as I could. The next thing I knew, bubbles were rushing past me. I was slowly submerging. It was dragging me out to sea. Knowing I had to stop it, I threw my fists at it as hard as I could. I made contact; it let go.
Resurfacing, I looked around. It hadn’t taken me far, so I swam for it. I could see all them below me. Dozens of them. My heart pounded.
I was in knee-high water when I felt their final attack. It was a bump against my foot. I was expecting to feel teeth, but I didn’t. Had they missed, or had I gotten lucky? I didn’t know.
Finally on my feet, I stumbled forward not stopping until I was on shore. As I fell to my knees, my mind swirled. Gather myself, I felt something thick oozing down the back of my thigh. It took a second, but the pain followed. It felt like severed muscles washed in saltwater. My leg was throbbing.
Being dragged under by a shark was the most disturbing thing I had ever experienced. Not being able to breathe, the lack of gravity, all of it was terrifying. It was a level of helplessness that I had never felt before, and never wanted to go through again.
Rose ran to me and examined my wound.
“I’m alright,” I announced as I stood up and walked away.
I was rattled. I didn’t know where I was going, but I was definitely headed away from the water.
Ascending the beach, I ran into Pete. The pawn had been battling the uneven sand to get to me. When I stopped in front of it, it started its scan.
It was as Pete focused his blue light on my wound that it dawned on me where I had been headed. It was to get my pants. Because more disturbing than being dragged under was where the shark had grabbed me.
Ever wonder why one-eyed pirates were afraid of sharks? Looking down at the teeth marks on the inside of my thigh, I could tell you why.
Once Rose and I were clothed and treated, we walked to a concrete picnic table a hundred feet down the beach. With us both content to watch the waves, minutes went by before either of us spoke. Magic dust had a calming effect on a person, and the sedative effect it had on a person’s libido was absolute.
“So tell me something about yourself,” I requested, breaking the silence.
“What don’t you already know?” she asked, turning to me with a smile.
I looked at her, trying to hide my confusion. Again she was implying that everyone already knew stuff about her.
“I don’t know anything except what you told me. And that isn’t much,” I admitted.
Rose looked at me with doubt.
“I don’t own a TV,” I explained.
She continued to search my face. I couldn’t even guess what she was looking for.
“I’m sorry. I feel like I’m supposed to know you or something. I’m a little embarrassed to ask, but are you famous?”
Rose’s face relaxed before she casually looked away. “You’re an odd one, Ford. Do you know that? Every time we talk, you tell me something unbelievable. I don’t know what to think of you.”
I looked at her blankly, unsure of what to say.
“Why don’t you tell me something about yourself,” Rose requested.
“Like what?”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I have one sister.”
“Are you close?”
“No. In fact, we have spoken in a long time.”
“How come?”
“At this point, it’s hard to tell,” I admitted. “Things seem so important when you’re a kid. But the older I get, the more I wonder if I’m the source of all of my problems.”
Rose looked at me surprised.
“Let me guess. I said something wrong?” She gave me her answer by not replying. “Yep, I said something wrong. As I said, I’m the source of all of my problems.”
“It’s not that you said anything wrong,” Rose finally responded. “It’s just that none of the other guys would admit to something like that.”
“Something like what? To not being perfect?” I asked feistily.
“No. Admitting you’re ‘a problem.’”
“Why not?”
“A lot of women could be turned off by that. Most women want a guy who will protect them and make them feel safe.”
My heart sank. “And saying that I might be my biggest problem doesn’t make you feel safe?”
“I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about most women.”
“Then how does it make you feel?” I asked as my chest tightened.
Rose turned to the ocean, losing herself in thought. She opened her mouth to speak when Pete nudged my back.
“Give us a second, Pete,” I demanded, hoping Rose would continue.
Rose’s face softened as her pawn did the same to her. “We should probably go.”
“You’re not gonna answer my question?”
Rose remained silent as she got up. When I was standing next to her, she held up her arms to give me a hug. With my heart breaking, I wrapped my arms around her waist. With her lips close to my ears, she whispered.
“When you say things that I don’t expect, it makes me think that I can trust you.”
I tightened my grip and held her for a moment longer. When I released her, I noticed that she turned away without looking me in the eyes. I watched her take her sarong from her pawn and wrap it around her waist. Still not looking at me, she touched my hand and walked off.
Her hips rocked back and forth as she crossed the sand. It was seductive. She was beautiful even when she wasn’t meaning to be. When Pete nudged me in the other direction, our solo date officially ended.
As I returned to the path into the woods, I thought about what she had said. She had said that she was beginning to trust me. That was good. In fact, I was feeling really positive about our time together. What can I say? I was feeling good about everything. I was absolutely euphoric, in fact, until the magic dust began to wear off.
I was still on my way back to camp when I became painfully sober. That’s when I began to see our time at the beach in a different light. I had no question in my mind who she was referring to when she had said that women wanted strong men. Rose had us fight over her like gladiators; she wanted a strong man.
After doing everything right, I had screwed up, and I had done it in my typical way, by opening my mouth. N
ow she couldn’t even look me in the eyes.
Was I so repugnant? Even as I asked myself, I heard a soft voice within me answer. Of course you are, it replied in a voice that was sounding more and more like my own.
I had spent much of the last five years quieting that voice. It was proving to be the hardest battle of my life. What was jumping into a ring and fighting a bear compared to battling a demon? A thousand-pound grizzly is nothing when you battle against something that never gives up.
As I had so many times before, I forced my mind to go in a different direction. I reminded myself that we were both on magic dust at the time. Magic dust could make you feel great, but it could also affect the way you see people when you’re on it. It had to do with its military origin. No one wanted troops thinking sexy thoughts in combat situations.
So hopefully, once the juice wore off, she would remember how I had saved her from being eaten by a shark. That would have to turn her on, right?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure it would. She had once told me that the rules of life and the rules of the game were very different. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I knew the rules to either.
I continued back to camp, thinking about what happened when I suddenly noticed something different. The lighthouse tower was visible from where I was, and it had changed. The light at the top of it was no longer white. It was now a pale pink. What was up with that?
Pete didn’t give me much time to examine it. Pete had a way of nudging me toward what he wanted, and right now he wanted me back at camp. I obliged, knowing that group dates were usually followed by cocktail parties and eliminations. Soaked in salt water, Thunderdome grime, and Gray’s blood, I had a few things that I wanted to do before the party.
After a shower, a nap, and dinner, I was feeling completely refreshed. It was amazing. I was even seeing things differently. I was coming around to the idea that this crazy situation really was just a game show and that nothing I had seen had been real. In fact, I wanted to believe that.
Whether or not she invited me to stay, I wanted to believe that everything that had happened between us had been real. I wanted to believe that someone could still look at me the way she did. To have that, I was ready to accept that Rose had been right about everything.
Not stopping there, I was also ready to accept that Brad had been right. I was the paranoid one. And since in the movies, the paranoid character never gets the girl, I was done with that. I was ready to be the show’s strong, silent hero.
Pete put me next to Freddy for the rose ceremony. Not surprisingly, his arm had been reattached. Experience told me that he would regain the full use of it. For now, his arm was in a sling, and he looked massively high. I wondered if it was from the magic dust or one of Brad’s special blends.
When Rose made eye contact with me at the start of the ceremony, it was the first time she had looked at me since the beach. She even smiled. I wasn’t sure what had changed between then and now, but I was happy for it. It even made me believe that I would be the first one to get a rose.
I wasn’t, though. Again, that honor went to Brad. However, for the first time, I wasn’t the last person to get a rose. I was the second to the last person. This time, the person eliminated was young Freddy.
It seemed brutal to lose your arm fighting for a woman and then have her eliminate you. But then again, who would Freddy be sadder to leave? If I listened to Brad, it wasn’t Rose.
I wasn’t sure why I escaped Pete and shadowed Freddy to the dock later that night. Hiding behind a bush, I didn’t know what I expected to see, but when Freddy’s pawn left and Brad arrived, I knew something unusual was happening.
I watched closely as Brad approached Freddy at the end of the dock. I remembered how he had described himself as the villain. Was he about to prove it now? As soon as Brad was within arm’s length of Freddy, I got the answer to one of my questions. It was not the question I was expecting.
Apparently, Brad hadn’t been exaggerating. He had been dipping his quill in Freddy’s ink pot. Now that they thought that they were alone, Freddy didn’t hide how much he would miss it.
I was sure someone might have enjoyed watching what those two did to each other on the dock. After all, they were objectively attractive men. But, me? Not so much.
I felt like a creeper in the bushes. I turned away. They deserved their privacy, and I gave it to them. That was when I heard Freddy cough.
Hearing the sound, my attention whipped back. He was choking. I recognized everything about the situation. Freddy slipped from Brad’s arms and landed on his knees as he fought for breath.
“You alright?” Brad implored.
Freddy wasn’t alright. He would be dead in seconds. I could either watch him die, or I could try to help, running the risk that Brad would blame me for his death. Who was I kidding? I never really had a choice.
I leaped out of the bushes, startling Brad.
“He’s choking!” Brad yelled confused.
“No, he’s dying. Do you have anything you can give him? A stimulant? A depressant? Anything?”
Brad shook his head, no. Why would he? He had just come to see his friend off.
Like I had with Kurt, I tried everything. I checked his windpipe for blockage. I compressed his chest. I even tried squeezing the blood in his limbs towards his core. None of it stopped him from dying.
“I want you to look at him and tell me that he’s dead,” I said, darkly pleased that I was no longer alone.
“He’s dead,” Brad confirmed. “You were right. When you get eliminated, you die. But, why?”
“This isn’t a game show. This is something else.”
“What?” Brad pleaded.
“I don’t know. But now you’ve seen it too. And together we can convince everyone else. We might be able to stop this.”
Brad paused staring down at his fallen friend. “Or maybe we shouldn’t,” he began. “Maybe we should do something else.”
“What’s that?”
Brad gave me an icy stare. He had a plan.
Chapter 6
B rad didn’t say another word after that. Whatever he was thinking, he was going to keep it to himself. Leaving Freddy’s body where it was, we returned to Brad’s cabin, where we found Victor.
“Freddy’s dead,” Brad told him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he’s dead. It was just like Ford told us. I met him at the dock to say goodbye and then watched him die.”
“It’s true. I was there,” I confirmed.
“How?”
Brad shook his head looking at me for an answer.
“Choking? Maybe poisoning. I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Seen many people die as a corporate recruiter?” Victor asked me with an accusing stare.
“Victor,” Brad interrupted, “Freddy’s dead. We don’t know how. His body is at the dock. We can show it to you if you want.”
I looked at Brad. Brad didn’t yet know that the bodies disappeared.
“Do you want us to show you?” Brad prodded.
Victor looked at me suspiciously. Why was he doing that? Did he think that I had something to do with it?
I was the one who jumped in the bear cage and saved his life. I was the one who warned everyone from the beginning that people were dying. Why didn’t he see that?
“No, I believe you,” Victor relented, never taking his eyes off of me.
“Then what do we do?” I asked the both of them. “Should we tell everyone?”
“Let’s wait,” Brad suggested.
“I agree,” Victor added.
“Wait? Why?”
Brad replied. “It’s night. We’re vulnerable at night. We should head to the woods and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, we’ll tell ‘em. That’s if we haven’t killed each other by then.”
“But if we tell them tonight, maybe no one will try to kill anyone,” I countered.
“They’ll think it’s a trick,
” Brad explained. “No. Let’s do it when we’re all on even ground in the morning.”
Feeling the loss of his friend for the first time, Brad lowered his head. “Maybe we should go back to the dock and do something with the body,” he said softly.
I wasn’t sure how to respond. I didn’t know if I should tell him that it would be gone, or go with them as they discovered it for themselves.
“If you do, I’m staying here,” Victor announced giving me a glance.
What did Victor think, that I was going to kill him if he went with me to the dock? It suddenly dawned on me that he did. What had he called me? Wasn’t it a limelight seeker or something?
So, having to choose between Brad and me, Victor thought that I was the one who was most likely behind the deaths. Incredible! I considered telling Victor that Brad had proclaimed himself the villain, but I didn’t. Now was the time for us to stick together.
Keeping that in mind, I told the two men what had happened with Kurt and Ian’s body. Brad quickly agreed that the same would happen to Freddy’s. I probably shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he was convinced so easily. I wondered if it was because he had already arranged for the body to be removed. He was the villain, after all.
Pushing the thought aside, I joined the men as they headed into the woods. We found a spot further from camp than the last one and got comfortable. We made sure to cover our tracks this time so that Gray couldn’t find us if he came looking.
Exhausted, I curled up onto the soft mulch under the tree. Through the canopy, I could see the metal tower in the distance. Its light was again white. I didn’t give it much thought. I decided that the pink hue from earlier had been an illusion, like the colors at sunset.
As I gave a last glance at Brad and Victor, I found Victor was sitting up straight, staring at me. I considered sitting up and staring back, but screw that. I finally had an opportunity to get a full night’s sleep. When was the last time I had that?
When I woke up, I was a little sore from sleeping on the ground, but I was rested. I was also thinking clearer, and I decided Brad had been right about waiting until morning to tell the others. When I rolled over to tell him, I discovered that both he and Victor were gone.