by A. Anders
I released my legs and desperately searched for the chain links. It was already ten feet away. How had I moved so quickly?
I looked for the light and swam towards it. I was pulling it closer. I was almost there when I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye. Before I could turn, it snatched me. Its teeth sliced into me. It quickly dragged me into the darkness.
It was drowning me. Soon we would be too deep for me to surface, and it would eat me while I watched. I had only one chance to escape, and if I made a single mistake, I would die.
I shoved my hand towards my pocket and caught it. My fingers slipped in, and it was there. I grabbed it. I wasn’t sure if I had time to pull it out because the pressure on my chest was becoming too much. But I did it, and the sound as I squeezed the trigger was deafening.
Shot, the beast let me go. Freed, I started swimming, but the light seemed so far away. Where was I? I would never make it back there, but I had to try.
Still gripping the gun, I reached, dragging the sky towards me. It was working. I was getting closer. I was just about there when my head was whipped to the side. Another one had me.
I didn’t wait this time. I just aimed and fired. I thought I got it, but it was getting harder to tell. The rushing water had stopped, but I didn’t know which way was up. I was getting confused.
My foot touched something. I yanked it back. I remembered that I had to keep fighting, but it was getting harder.
I longed to breathe. A single breath. That was all I needed. Something told me I shouldn’t, but I had to. When I knew I was about to give in, something grabbed my arm and yanked.
I wasn’t going down without a fight. I pointed the gun behind me to shoot. Something wrestled me for it. I fought back. I didn’t lose it.
Finally, when I couldn’t hold out a moment more, I inhaled. It filled my lungs. It was a fiery surprise.
“Ford?” I heard someone say.
What was happening? I took another breath. I recognized it. It was air. I was breathing.
My body hit the sand with a thump. I didn’t want to move. I just wanted to lay there and breathe. What a luxury that was. When the water washed out of my eyes, I was met by two horrified faces.
“I’m okay!” I spat.
I fought to clear my head. We had been doing something. I remembered that it was important. It was… I just needed a rest, but when the thought finally hit me, I knew that I couldn’t.
I reached out, grabbing the person beside me as I lifted off the sand. I had to get a hold of myself fast. The compound. We were at the compound. It had security. We had to get in because of the red light. I had it. I knew what was going on.
I immediately looked for Rose. It was her shoulder that I was leaning on. Seeing her brought back everything in an instant. I looked up. They were carrying me to a door. I knew the plan. We had to get in and find the room. We had to save Thorin’s life by removing Rose’s chip.
“Give me the gun,” Thorin ordered.
I looked down at my hand. I still held a death grip on it. I was hesitant to let go. I knew I was the better shot, even now.
“You can’t even stand up,” Thorin argued.
Propped against the wall, I knew he was right.
“Come on!” he insisted.
I released my grip. As soon as I did, I knew I made a mistake.
“Let’s go, Rose,” Thorin said, grabbing her by the arm.
Thorin opened the door with one swing and rushed in. How did he know the door would be open? I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t think about that now. They would need my help. Fighting my way to my feet, I followed them in.
Tracking their water trail, I staggered behind them. I expected to run into security at every turn, but I didn’t. I was starting to realize the place was empty.
A jolt of pain bulged my eyes. I grabbed my stomach. Touching it hurt worse. I removed my hand and looked down for the first time. I was bleeding from everywhere.
“Over here,” Thorin yelled from up ahead.
I fought the pain knowing that it would soon all be over. I just had to stay upright, but that was becoming easier said than done.
I stepped into a room and found Thorin and Rose. In the center was the dentist chair Thorin had described. Rose was climbing into it. As I entered, she looked over her shoulder at me.
“Sit down,” Thorin said with awkward excitement.
I found a waiting room chair next to the door and took a seat. I touched the holes in my torso and winced. Everything hurt. Looking at the doorway and the floor, I saw the blood I left behind. I would have described my situation as “not good.” Not good at all.
I next turned my attention to the wall of monitors and dials behind Thorin. Mostly, I stared at the wine-colored half globe with the countdown clock above it. They had to control the tower from this room. And I guessed that the countdown was the time until the next elimination.
“What are you doing?” I asked Thorin as he bounced around the room.
“I’m preparing a light anesthesia so that I can take Rose’s chip out,” he said testily.
“Can’t you just turn the machine off?”
“You want to come back here and figure it out before that clock hits zero?”
Less than two minutes were left. I made a move to get up.
“Sit down. You can barely stand. You’ll just get in my way.”
“It’s okay, Ford,” Rose said. “I’m ready to take it out. Just let him do it.”
I relaxed my grip on the armrests and fell back into my seat. I watched Thorin move. As awkward as he was in everyday life, he really knew his way around this room.
The dentist chair had an arm extended from its left side. The arm branched out into eight long fingers. I watched as Thorin inserted a cartridge into the side of one of the fingers. I heard a click as the finger touched Rose on her neck.
“This is a delicate surgery, and this anesthetic should keep you from moving. You don’t want me cutting something I’m not supposed to,” he quipped.
“I thought you said this was safe?” I spat.
“I never said it was safe. I said that I had done it many times before. And I have. What I’m worried about is time.”
“Time?” I asked.
“Yes,” he snapped, pointing back at the clock. “It usually takes me more than forty-five seconds to perform major surgery.”
“Then get started!” I ordered.
“Do you really want to rush me, now? Is that your best plan?”
“Ford?” Rose said, asking me to shut up.
I did, but I didn’t know what the hell was going on. After moving like a dancer to give her the anesthesia, it was like he had forgotten what he had to do next.
The half-globe became a bright red, and the clock read twenty seconds.
“Thorin,” I yelled.
He barely moved.
“Thorin!” I yelled again.
Ten seconds.
He inserted an instrument into her neck. “This is very delicate. If I make one wrong move, you’ll die.”
Five seconds. My heart thumped frantically. He twisted his hands.
“Very delicate. Don’t move.”
Three, two, one. A fire alarm blared from the speakers. It had begun. He was too late. One of us was going to die. If it was him, then she could as well.
I watched his hands waiting for them to shake. The horn screamed, warning us that it was the end. Then finally, as I watched, the sound stopped, and Thorin stood up.
I looked down at the finger he had inserted into her neck. It had nothing on it. No chip. No blood. Nothing. With my mouth hanging open and my heart racing, I stared at Thorin, waiting for answers.
In an instant, his demeanor changed. He was angry, and all of his anger was directed at Rose.
“Not even now?” he asked, glaring into her scared eyes.
“What?” she asked, unable to move.
He enunciated his words. “I said, not even now, with your life in my hands, do
you choose me over him?”
I sat confused. “What just happened? Why isn’t one of us dead?”
Thorin turned to me. “It’s because I don’t have a chip in my head. So she doesn’t have anyone left to eliminate.”
“Why don’t you have a chip like the rest of us, Thorin?”
“Well, Ford, because it wouldn’t make sense. Why would I put a chip in my own head?”
My hands tightened around my armrest as realization dawned on me. “It was you.” I moved to get up. As I did, I began to black out. Falling back, I fought to remain conscious as my vision tunneled.
“Thorin?” Rose asked motionless.
“I gave you so many chances, Rose. Think about it. You eliminated me. Me! But I knew that sometimes you did things that you later regretted. So I forgave you and gave you another chance.
“And then you entertained that drug dealer in your cabin, even though you knew it was clearly against the rules. But I forgave you.
“I played along with all of your ridiculous challenges. I was attacked by hyenas, for Christ sake. You don’t know all of the things I did to show you that I loved you. And still, you chose him and not me,” Thorin said, pointing at me.
“Then, of course, there was that display out there between you two. I could have ended it there. Yet, I was willing to give you one more chance. Surely, in a situation like this, where I had a needle in your brain as the clock ran out, you would choose me over the one dying on the sidelines. But it appears that you are incapable of making the right decision. That’s disappointing.”
“Thorin, what are you doing?” I interrupted, clearheaded but unable to move.
“I’m talking to my partner, Ford. This conversation doesn’t concern you.”
“I don’t know what he’s talking about, Ford,” Rose exclaimed.
Thorin turned his attention to Rose and smiled. “You really didn’t read your Product Researcher contract, did you? I mean, you were eighteen when you signed it, so that makes sense. But do you know how I could really tell?”
“My Product Researcher contract? What does that have to do with anything?” Rose asked, confused.
“Quite a lot, if you think about it. See, I could tell that you didn’t read the contract because when you used to get drunk and stare into the mirror talking to whoever was staring back, you would talk as if there were many of us. But in the contract, it clearly stated that there would be only one person observing you.”
Horror washed over Rose’s face. “You?”
Thorin smiled delighted. “Me.” He waved his fingers with childlike excitement. “Hi!” He giggled. “Wow! Do you know how good it feels to finally say that to you face to face? Hi!”
“No,” Rose begged quietly. “Please, no.”
“What?” Thorin asked. “You don’t want me to explain the greatest mystery of your life to you? You don’t want to know how every decision in your life brought you right here, to me?”
Rose remained silent, so I did, too.
“I thought so. See. I know you,” Thorin said with a smile.
“I can’t tell you how boring it was, for someone with intellectual abilities like mine, to spend every day doing the same thing, implanting and removing chips. I had the skills to be a surgeon! Instead, I was an assembly worker.
“I wasn’t happy. And thankfully, those above me saw my potential. So when I asked to be transferred to the observations department, they agreed.
“I knew it would be more pressure, though. Observers had to come up with new product ideas on a regular basis. I wasn’t an inventor like the rest of them, so I wasn’t sure that I would last. But the person I was partnered with was you.
“I had never seen someone so beautiful. Listening to you, I could tell that you didn’t even know how beautiful you were. You inspired me, Rose. You became my muse.
“Every idea I had was because I burned to make your life easier, to make you happier. It was no wonder that they turned so many of our creations into products. And it brought me so much joy when I watched you open those checks. They were proof that what we had was special. And it was.
“No one else in the company had what we had. You saw that. How many bonus checks did your friends get? You saw the difference. And do you know why our relationship was so much better than theirs? Because I truly cared about you.
“I spent every waking moment with you. I listened to you when you were drunk and when you cried alone in the dark. I sided with you in every argument. I memorized every curve of your body. And when you touched yourself, I touched myself, too.
“I made sure that you were never alone. And because we were so devoted to each other, the two of us literally changed the world. We were perfect…”
Thorin’s face hardened as he again looked down at Rose’s still body.
“…until you met him, that self-righteous, anti-chipping activist blowhard. And I’m sorry. I know that one of the things that made us special was that I allowed you to be who you were, even when you broke the rules. But the way that you would let him speak to you… I had to report him.
“I couldn’t take it anymore. I would sit and just scream at him through the monitor. Didn’t you realize that he was no good for us? Didn’t you realize that he didn’t love you?
“And then you let that sorry excuse for a human being poison your mind. He stole you from me. Why did you break up with me, Rose? Couldn’t you tell that I was the one who loved you and not him?”
Thorin lowered his head and softened his voice.
“They tried to assign me to someone else, but we weren’t the same. No one could replace you. Our relationship was perfect. We had a connection with each other that shaped the moon and the stars around us.
“I quit after that. Or maybe I should say that I retired an extremely wealthy man. I retained a percentage of everything we created, and I wouldn’t be able to spend it all if I had two lifetimes. But what was any of it without you?
“The company had rules in place, though. Observers would only receive their residuals checks as long as they didn’t interact with their researchers in the real world. And I follow the rules, Rose. So instead, I traveled the world and bought expensive toys. But through every moment of it, I never stopped thinking about you.
“Imagine my surprise the first time I saw your vid feed appear on my feeder. It was destiny. I had never believed in fate, but there was the proof that we were meant to be together.
“Watching your vid feed was like picking up right where we left off, only better. You had so much sadness before, and I had to guess why. But this time, you would look me in the mirror and bare your soul to me. You told me your secrets and dreams. And that’s how I knew that you had fallen in love with me, too.” Thorin’s face hardened again.
“The men, though. All of those men. Groping you, screwing you. And after every time, to hear you say that you loved them. I didn’t like that at all. I didn’t like that one bit.
“But there was one day when I forgave all of that. It was the day you looked me in the mirror with tears in your eyes and told me that all you wanted was to be loved. How could I do nothing after that? Especially when it was clear how much you wanted to be with me, too.
“But I couldn’t just walk up to you and ask you out for coffee. What if you said no? What would happen to our relationship after that? It could be ruined.
“Luckily, I knew you better than you knew yourself. You loved grand gestures. So I created the grandest gesture of them all. I bought this island. I built this place. I hired people to pretend to be producers, and I created a tweak for the device that had brought us together, your brain chip.
“All I had to do then was to find contestants. They couldn’t just be anyone. In order for you to understand that I was your perfect man, you had to compare me to the knuckle-dragging cretins that you usually chose.
“I thought it would be hard to find attractive men who were so self-absorbed that no one would notice if they dropped off the earth. But
I was wrong. They begged me to be here. After that, all I needed was you, and you were easier to convince than they were.
“It made a lot of sense, actually. Because deep down, you knew that this was how you were going to meet me. Your excitement about it made me so happy.” Thorin grew silent, staring down at the paralyzed woman below him.
“How did it go wrong?” he asked her. “I’ll tell you how. It was him,” he said, pointing at me.
“His lies screwed it all up. He was supposed to be a Corporate Recruiter. His psychological profile told me that you would eliminate him on the first day, but he lingered and infected you with his ravings.
“It wasn’t meant to be him in the end. It was a guy named Kurt who you eliminated on the first night. With him and me standing in front of you by the waterfall near the pool, you would have chosen me. The two of us would have lived happily ever after.”
Thorin quieted, losing himself in Rose’s eyes. He then chuckled as if remembering better times.
“No, I shouldn’t do this,” Thorin said with a delighted smile. “But see, this is what you do to me. I have no control when it comes you,” he proclaimed gleefully. “I don’t believe it, but I’m going to give you another chance.”
Thorin laughed, rolling his eyes. Turning back to her, he blushed, preparing for the most romantic moment of his life.
“Rose, I have revealed my soul to you. I know how much that means to you. And I have created the grandest gesture of love that any man ever could. If you choose me, you will never have to worry about anything again. You will live like a queen, not with my money, but with the money that we earned together.
“Rose, I have known you since you were eighteen. We’ve grown up together. I have cheered for you. I’ve been there for you, and I have proven that I am willing to sacrifice the world for you. You will never have to question the way I feel about you.
“So Rose, I ask you, from the bottom of my heart, will you choose me?”
I was truly dumbfounded by what I heard. Somehow I had seen Thorin every day, and I never had seen his potential to do something so elaborate, so bold. It would have required such rabid determination. How many clues had I missed?
And Rose, what must she be thinking? What must it be like to find someone who knows you so intimately and for him to offer you everything that you have ever wanted? Was he crazy for putting this “game” together for her? What had I considered doing to win Rose’s love? Was Thorin any crazier than I was?