Rules For Spanking: MMF Bisexual Romance by A. Anders, Alex Anders (9)

“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 couldn’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.

 

 

 

Gray 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.

To my surprise, it didn’t. Out of nowhere, Brad leaped in, knocking Gray to the ground. Still stunned by the hit across the head, I wanted to turn and watch but I couldn’t. Someone was winning soundly though, and I was cheering for Brad. More precisely, I was cheering for not being shot in the face.

“You alright?” Brad asked, coming into sight.

I wasn’t alright. Someone had brained me, twice. If there was one thing that I wasn’t, it was “alright.”

“Stay here,” Brad commanded. “I still have to find Bob. I’ll be right back.”

Brad ran off, and I did what I could to remain conscious. I reminded myself of everything that had just happened. Sam, Carl, and Gray were lying next to me. I hadn’t taken them all out, but I was responsible for some of them. And damn, was I having a hard time remembering which.

It wasn’t long after that that I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, it was morning. I could see the blue sky above me through the canopy of leaves. The sounds of squawking birds surrounded me, and the smell of rich, moist earth enveloped me.

I shifted my legs triggering a shot of pain. My legs hurt. Why? When did I get hit in the legs?

Much of my body hurt now. The muscles between my ribs were screaming. My shoulder was stiff, and there was a deafening ringing in my ears. Why did I hurt so much?

I rolled over remembering the guys that laid beside me. They were all gone. As I shifted to get up, I felt a shooting pain in my side.

It was then that I realized what had happened. Gray, Sam, and Carl had all woken up together. Finding me unconscious, they got their payback by beating on my unconscious body.

Okay, I could understand why they did that. They were getting their revenge. Fair enough. But did any of them have the decency to shoot me before they left? No, they didn’t. It would have taken them two seconds. That was just inconsiderate.

With a spear in the leg, I could get a little magic dust, and I would be fine. I would be feeling one hundred percent within hours. But instead, they left me to suffer through the soreness until I healed naturally.

Healing naturally? What were they, monsters? Hey, we might have drugged them, set them on fire, and sent them adrift in shark-infested waters, but at least we were never cruel.

Eventually, I fought my way to my feet. I hurt all over. Looking down at my practically naked body, I found bruises everywhere.

Remembering where I had put my clothes, I got dressed. The walk back to camp was slow and painful. When I entered the clearing in front of the resort, the first thing I saw was Pete.

If it not for his robotic body, I would have sworn that he had been worried about me. Rushing over, he scanned me.

“No, Pete. It’s nothing that you can help me with,” I informed him.

I left him and checked out the commissary. Everyone was there. Gray and his group were at one table while Brad and the others were at another. We all looked like crap. That is, all of us except for Brad.

I headed to the buffet, dished up a plate and joined my allies.

“Hey, morning!” Brad said, looking like he had a full night’s rest.

I gave him a sneer and focused on my food.

“Last night was something else, right” Brad continued, giving me one of his annoyingly charming smiles.

“Weren’t you supposed to come back for me?” I barked.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I got deep into something else.”

Brad smirked at me like I would know what he was talking about and then looked across the commissary at Bob. Bob, who was staring back at us, sheepishly hung his head, much the way Freddy had the morning after the Viking funeral.

Wait, had Brad had sex with Bob? Damn, man! How the hell did he keep doing that? Wasn’t anyone here interested in being with Rose?

Just as I finished my eggs, Pete approached me. His front panel was open, displaying a blue sheet of paper. I took it out and read it.

“Group date,” Brad announced, summoning the others.

“What’s love got to do with a mad world? I invite Gray, Bob, Brad, Freddy, and Ford to find out,” I read.

“What’s love got to do with a mad world?” Brad repeated to the other daters.

To me, the clue was obvious, so I headed to my cabin to get ready. “What’s Love Got to do with It” was a famous song by a twentieth-century singer named Tina Turner. She starred in a classic movie called “Mad Max.” It looked like we were headed for Thunderdome.

As we walked north into the woods, a structure became visible in the distance. It was a square three-story building that had been painted to blend into the trees. I wondered how many other places like this one were on the island. The bear cage, Thunderdome—each would have taken dozens of people to build.

We entered the outer structure before entering a dome lattice built within. Flashes of the movie came back to me. My father had been a big fan of classic movies. He had forced me to watch this one with him when I was a kid. As Rose appeared from a platform just outside of the monkey bars looking dome, I remembered a little more.

Draped in a chain link dress, Rose theatrically bellowed, “Welcome… to Thunderdome!”

I turned to the guys, looking for recognition. Gray was the only one to react.

“I’m a fan of classic movies, especially the ones with crazy visions of the future. And out of all of them, ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome’ was my favorite. So now, you all will get the chance to compete in Thunderdome. The winner of this challenge gets a one-on-one date.” 

I scanned the dome. It was twenty feet high and thirty feet wide. From the top, five thick elastic bands hung that ended with leather diapers. Along the sides were weapons: jagged clubs, axes, spears, and on the very top of the dome, a chainsaw. They gave us so many ways to kill each other that it was hard to believe that everyone would walk out in one piece.

“Those of you who would like to compete for a one-on-one date with me can attach yourself to one of the bands. I don’t wanna see you all hurt each other,” she said as I eyed a jagged club. “But I do have a big weakness for champions.”

Rose was so excited that she looked giddy. I hoped her excitement came from pretending to be in her favorite movie. The alternative would mean that she was a complete psychopath.

But even if she was insane, I remembered why Ian was eliminated. There was no way I would take the risk of sitting out this challenge. No, I was going to do the sensible thing. I was going to attach myself to the giant elastic band, grab a club, and fight four men to impress a girl.

Once we were all strapped into our harnesses, we were lifted to the center of the dome. From there, we were dropped. Before we hit the ground, the bands retracted, and we shot back up. They were bouncing us. As I was the first person to find my timing, I aimed myself towards the chainsaw.

“Five men enter, one man leaves,” Rose began quoting the movie. “Ladies and gentleman, dying time is here. Begin!”

Everyone scattered. I bounced toward the ceiling and missed. Bob sprung towards the surrounding weapons, followed by Gray and Brad. Bouncing wildly, Freddy was the only one left behind.

After my feet touched the ground, I crouched and shot back up. I grazed the chainsaw but grabbed a bar near the top. I held on, knowing I couldn’t stay there forever, but tightening my grip, I knew I could hang on for now.

Below, the carnage began quickly. Bob grabbed an ax and was the first to attack. With his sights locked on Brad, he shot across the dome, slicing his target’s chest.

Startled, Brad latched onto a sidebar and stopped. He looked down at his shirt, which had a thin red stain. When Brad looked back up, he was pissed. 

Immediately grabbing a spear, Brad threw it at Bob. He missed. He then grabbed a jagged club and swung across the dome. Their two paths crossed, but it was too far to land a blow.

Both men swung freely after that. They passed each other again and again. Each time, they got closer until whack! The sound of shattering bone echoed across the dome.

Bob released his ax. Caught across the chin, his big body swung limp. Still swinging, his elastic band released. When his barrel-shaped chest hit the ground, he rolled ten feet across the dirt.

It was as I watched Bob’s band retract into the ceiling that I saw Gray. While I had been distracted, he had climbed the opposite side of the dome, and now he was retrieving the chainsaw. When he started it, it released a blood-curdling whine.

As soon as his eyes locked on me, he pounced. Hurling towards me, I lifted my legs. He flew past me by an inch. He was headed for the ground, and he fell blade first.

Freddy!

Still out of control, Freddy bounced up as Gray charged down. The chainsaw caught the young man below his shoulder. Unable to stop it, his muscular arm flung through the air like discarded beef.

Blood sprayed everywhere. Freddy screeched. Dropped from the elastic band, he hit the dirt with a thud. Flailing frantically, he was out of his mind with terror.

I turned to Gray. He wasn’t done yet. Gray bounced towards Brad to attack, and clack!

Brad had been prepared. As the two met, Brad had swung his club. The chainsaw shot out of Gray’s hands. Thinking he had won, Brad cheered.

Gray didn’t give up. Again near the ground, Gray grabbed the spear, turned, and threw.

His aim was perfect. The spear pierced Brad through the stomach. The avalanche of pain silenced him. Stunned, Brad swung until the elastic band released him and he dropped.

Gray didn’t stop, though. He had rage in his eyes. After a few bounces, he got the chainsaw and maneuvered to attack.

Brad laid on the ground shivering. He could see Gray coming, but he couldn’t move. Gray bounced up and was about to return for his final blow when I took a deep breath and let go.

As soon as I released my grip, I realized that my timing was off. I would hit the blade missing Gray completely. All I could do was bend my legs and hope.

When my boot hit, it was against something hard. It was the handle and not the blade. Gray lost his grip and dropped the saw.

When his body slid against mine, I grabbed whatever I could. My arm slipped around his neck. Rebounding, I twisted with a jerk. His body fell limp.

He was stunned, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. I had to do more if I wanted to win. As we bounced into the air, I released him.

I scanned the ground and found two options: the jagged club and the chainsaw. Could I do to him what he had done to Freddy? No.

Touching ground, I picked up the club and swung. Thwack! I caught him across the leg.

We both bounced into the air and fell. Thwack! Thwack!

I caught him twice in the chest. I had heard something break. Would I have to hit him again?

No. Gray didn’t move after that. My bouncing stopped abruptly, and Gray’s body hit the dirt. I hung with my club in hand looking for whoever was next. No one was left.

“Ladies and gentleman, the winner of Thunderdome!” I heard Rose say, reciting the line from the movie.

I threw my arms into the air, feeling the adrenaline coursing through me. I could only imagine the millions of viewers watching me, screaming, cheering for me. I was a champion. I had won. When I saw the pawns enter to attend to the fallen, I felt even better.

Mercifully, I had been nicked somewhere along the way, and Pete rewarded me with magic dust. It wasn’t much, but it did soothe the pain from the night before. The relief came like a warm wave washing over me. Again, I felt good.

Leaving the other guys behind, Pete led me out of the build. In front, I waited for Rose. I guessed that she had a costume change, and I was right. She was now wearing a bikini with a sarong wrapped around her waist. Man, was she gorgeous.

“My hero,” she said.

I bristled at that. I couldn’t tell you why. Nonetheless, I liked the way her smile beamed as she said it. She glided towards me, getting closer and closer until her lips were on mine.

Her kiss was intoxicating. I grabbed her behind the neck and kissed her hard. When our tongues touched, warmth trickled over me like honey. Gripping her soft, smooth waist with my free hand, I could have undressed her and taken her right there.

“Wait,” I heard her say. It took everything in me to stop.

I let her go and watched her as she lowered her head and brushed her lips with her fingertips. My chest heaved, wanting so much more. She gave it to me when, without a word, she wrapped her leg around me and grabbed me again.

Wrapping my arm around her, I grabbed her ass. Lifting her to my lips, I was ready for anything. My body throbbed with desire. Her body was undulating on mine.

It was only when I felt an electric pulse on my leg that I stopped. It was making me weak. Simply put, I couldn’t lift her anymore. As Rose’s bot was doing the same to her, I returned her to her feet. Our lusts were dampened but not gone.

“Where did that come from?” I asked her, not expecting such passion.

“I don’t know,” she replied unconvincingly.

Rose’s larger pawn lead us away as Pete trailed behind us. I had a strange feeling walking next to her. She reminded me of a teenaged girl: her movement, her smile. She had something youthful about her.

I felt a tickle as Rose’s fingers touched mine. She wanted me to hold her hand, so I did. Looking at her again, she was blushing. I found her openness incredibly sexy.

We walked in silence as the sexual tension again blossomed between us. With only the sound of the jungle in my ears and the feeling of her hand in mine, I considered what I knew about her. Other than a few tidbits, I didn’t really know much.

“So, a corporate recruiter, huh?” she asked, beating me to the punch. “What’s that like?”

“You ever babysit a fourteen-year-old for six weeks while their parents offered to do anything to please you?”

“Anything?” Rose asked with a smile.

“Anything. I have never been propositioned by so many married women in my life.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“And did you partake in the cuisine?” she asked, delightfully intrigued.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it wouldn’t be right.”

“And you always do what’s right? You never break the rules?” Rose looked at me with a knowing smile. I could tell that she was thinking about my visit to her cabin. Technically, it was against the rules.

“Not always,” I offered with a smile.

With Rose’s hand still in mine, we stepped onto the white sands of a perfect beach. The pungent smell of saltwater wafted through the air. The pale blue water was calm enough to see through. And the splash as the waves gently rolled to shore, drowned out the sound of the jungle.

Rose let go of my hand, drawing my attention.

“Let’s see you break the rules,” she said, walking backward towards the water.

Rose removed the sheer cloth from around her waist and released it to the breeze. Turning her back to me, she walked towards the sea.

“What are you doing?” I asked as casually as I could.

“Going for a swim.”

For a moment, I froze. And it wasn’t just the sultry swaying of her hips that left me speechless. It was what I knew about the beach: As seductive as it looked, the water around the island was littered with man-eating sharks.

My heart raced the closer she got to the shoreline. I had to say something. “You know there are sharks around here, right?” I asked, forcing a smile.

“Are you scared of a few sharks?” she playfully taunted as she glanced back.

“I wrestled a bear,” I replied, feeling cocky.

“I saw you,” she said before turning to me flirtatiously.

The sexual energy between us was inescapable. She made me feel like a man, and I wanted to protect her. So when her feet entered the water, it took everything in me to not sprint across the beach and drag her out.

“Join me. The water’s warm.”

“I would, but I don’t have a suit,” I replied.

“Sure you do. You have your birthday suit, don’t you?” she suggested before taking a few steps and diving under.

My heart pounded as I frantically scanned around her for slithering, dark objects. Brad’s Viking funeral had taught me how close to shore the sharks got. Rose’s life was in danger, even if she didn’t know it.

She resurfaced, and her dark curly hair was slicked down against her neck. “So, are you gonna make me swim alone?”

So many questions flooded my mind as I stared at the beautiful woman in front of me. Were there sharks in the water or not? Should I join her or demand that she come out? Were we actually in a game show, or was something else going?

Watching the beautiful woman wade in the turquoise water, I realized that there was only one question that was important: what did I want? That was simple.

I wanted to strip down and dive into that water with her. I wanted to pull her soft curves against my naked body and feel the warm current wash between us, and I wanted to hold her in my arms and kiss her hard.

As I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my t-shirt, Rose hooted at me. Dropping my pants and underwear, she howled. Actually, she sounded more like a drowning cat. It made me laugh. Scanning the water a final time, I ran across the beach and dove in.

Rose was right. The water was warm. It had been forever since I had swum in the Pacific. It was like heaven.

I opened my eyes underwater looking for Rose’s legs. I saw them ten feet away. Swimming over, I pinched her ankles. She responded with a twitch and then playfully pulled away.

Not letting her go, I grabbed her calf. Her body relaxed. Wanting more, I pulled my face to her thigh. She didn’t move. Feeling frisky, I nipped her.

Rose pushed my head away as her body wriggled. She was giggling. Holding her toned thighs in my large palms, I pushed my hands up the back of her legs. My nose traced the front of her leg as I did.

I felt a rush as my hands brushed her ass. Clutching her soft flesh, the tip of my nose touched the swollen narrows of her bikini. Her body twitched, revealing what she wanted me to do. I paused.

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. Now 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.

 

 

 

Brad 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.

Had they gotten up before me? I looked around in the dirt for recent footprints. I couldn’t find any. The only footprints I found were hours old. They had left while I slept. But, why?

Deciding not to follow the footprints, I returned to camp. The cool morning mist coated my skin. It was still early. I headed to the dining area first, and the only thing I found was a group of pawns busily setting up the buffet.

I next headed to Brad and Victor’s cabin. They weren’t there, and the beds didn’t look like they had been slept in. I considered checking Gray’s cabin to see where he and the others had slept, but I decided that being caught watching them as the slept wouldn’t engender trust. Considering what we were about to tell them, trust was at a premium.

I headed back to my room, trying to put Brad and Victor’s disappearance out of my mind. Their footprints hadn’t indicated any sort of struggle. That, plus the fact that they didn’t kill me in my sleep, made me feel confident that I would see them at breakfast.

I found Pete waiting for me in my room.

“Missed me?” I asked him. He didn’t reply.

I grabbed a change of clothes, and Pete followed me to the bathroom.

“Privacy, Pete,” I said, getting him to wait outside next to another pawn.

I found Billy in the shower when I got there. I wondered how he would react when we told him about Freddy. Buck-Naked Billy was one of Gray’s guys. I hadn’t spoken much to him, but I had never questioned his motives.

What you saw was what you got with him. He was a guy who just put everything out there… like his testicles and his penis.

“Hey,” I said over the echo of the shower.

“Hey,” he replied as if the Viking funeral was a distant memory.

“This show’s a weird experience, huh?”

“I don’t know. It feels like a lot of the others,” he replied.

Was he a game show veteran like Brad? Were there a group of them who made their living going from show to show?

Billy turned off his shower and then turned to me. “By the way, I wouldn’t trust Brad if I were you.”

I froze. He offered the advice so casually that I didn’t know how to respond. All I could do was watch him as he walked away.

I thought about it for a second. Was he talking about trusting Brad while playing the game or about trusting him in general? I ran out of the shower, looking for clarification, but by the time I did, Billy was gone.

Maybe I could talk to him at breakfast, I thought.

I had been trusting Brad with a lot of things, including my life. I had no other choice. But I also needed to know who I was dealing with. Unfortunately, Brad and Victor joined me at breakfast before I got a chance to talk to Billy.

“What happened to you two last night?” I asked them.

“What do you mean?” Brad replied dismissively.

“You left me there.”

“You were safe.”

“And so were we,” Victor added.

They had left me in fear of their lives. Now that I was rested and my mind was clearer, I could understand their thinking. It wasn’t unreasonable.

I had been the only one to see the first two people die. As far as they were concerned, I was the only thing connecting the two deaths. But who was being paranoid now?

“Are we still gonna tell everyone?” I asked.

“I’ll do it,” Brad announced.

I couldn’t help but think about Billy’s warning. Still, it would be better if it came from Brad than from me. I had already cried wolf.

We kept an eye on Gray’s table waiting for the right moment. When everyone was done eating, Brad ushered us over. As they watched us warily, the three of us pulled up a chair and joined them.

They were all there, Gray, Bob, Billy, Construction Carl, and Spiritual Sam. Looking at the group again, I realized that none of Gray’s allies had been eliminated. Was that somehow related to Billy’s warning? Had it been Brad’s plan from the beginning to get his “allies” eliminated?

Of course, a more likely possibility was that Brad was just a sucky leader with really bad ideas. Yeah, that sounded more like Brad.

“Freddy’s dead,” Brad announced abruptly.

Gray looked at Brad, obviously upset. “What are you talking about? The bots reattached his arm. He was fine.”

“Not from that. It was at the dock when he was leaving. He dropped down dead.”

“From what?” Bob asked.

“We don’t know,” I replied.

Gray looked at me suspiciously. “Let me guess, Ford was the one who told you about it? You know he tried to pull this before? I’m surprised you fell for it.”

“No. I was there. I saw it,” Brad confirmed. “Freddy began choking and…” Brad paused for a second. “…and Ford did everything he could to rescue him. In fact, he did things I’ve never even seen. When Freddy died, it was with Ford’s hands on him trying to rescue him.”

I looked at Brad. Yeah, he had defended me, kinda. But he also kinda exaggerated my rescue effort, while kinda emphasizing that I was the only one touching him when he died. It was almost like Brad was implying that Freddy died because of something that I did.

“I see,” Gray responded doubtfully. “And now I guess you’re gonna tell me about how you were the only other one to meet that Kurt guy. And that you saw him die, too.”

Brad stared at Gray silenced.

“And Ian,” I added. “Ian’s dead, too.”

“Now there’s an Ian?” Gray asked, exasperated. “Is this another person you made up?”

Construction Carl shifted, drawing our attention. “No. I met Ian. He was eliminated in the second round.”

I couldn’t have been happier watching Gray’s own man shut him up.

“Ian’s dead?” Carl asked me somberly.

When I looked at Carl again, my joy was gone. He was clearly shaken by the news. “Yeah. I’m sorry, but I watched him die. That makes Kurt, Ian, and now Freddy.”

Brad jumped in. “It’s everyone who’s eliminated. If we’re voted off, we die. That’s the premise of this game show. That’s what we signed up for.”

There was a collective inhale. He struck a nerve.

“That’s bullshit,” Gray protested. “This is TV. They can’t kill us on TV.”

“Maybe, it’s not,” I volunteered. “Maybe it’s something else.”

“Like what?” Gray spit.

I shook my head not knowing.

“Look,” Brad said grabbing everyone’s attention. “We’ve all done this before. But this game’s a little more vicious than we’re used to, right? I mean, bears? Chainsaws? This is crazy, right? And now we know that if we get eliminated, we die.”

“So everyone who’s been eliminated is dead?” Gray asked me bluntly.

Brad jumped in before I could speak. “Everyone’s dead. If you’re eliminated, you die. That’s it.”

“Bernard, Thorin, Adam, all dead?” Gray asked.

“Every one of them,” Brad affirmed confidently.

Gray quieted as Bob spoke up. “So, what do we do?”

“I say we fight,” Brad growled. “They’re gonna have to catch us if they’re gonna kill us. What do you say about that?”

I looked around and everyone was either confused or scared. Gray was the only exception. He was stone-faced, but his eyes were glazed in thought.

Brad and I stared at the guys in silence until Carl gasped. His eyes were locked on something behind me. When I turned, I saw a pawn headed towards us. Its timing sent a chill down my spine.

“Whose is it?” Gray asked.

Although everyone’s pawn was the same model, we could identify them through the numbers on the digital displays.

“It’s mine,” Spiritual Sam said.

As it stopped in front of us, the bot’s side compartment opened, revealing a blue card. Sam looked around apprehensively, and Gray gestured for him to take it.

Sam stepped forward, slowly pulled the card out, and then read it. “It just says, ‘Eight plus one.’”

“What does that mean?” Victor scoffed.

It didn’t take long for us to find out. I was the first to see him. He had exited the resort’s lobby and was walking towards us. I couldn’t believe it. It was Thorin the Pale. He had been eliminated, and now he was back.

“Look,” Bob said directing everyone’s attention.

I stood up unable to take my eyes off of him. What the hell was going on? I had watched Kurt, Ian, and Freddy die. I had seen it with my own eyes. So, how was Thorin alive?

“When we’re eliminated, we die, huh?” Gray mocked.

Another chill flashed through me as Thorin approached us. It felt unreal. When he stopped in front of me, it was like looking into the eyes of a ghost. My heart pounded so hard that it hurt.

“Hey, guys,” Thorin offered cheerfully, as his fair skin slowly turned a bright red.

“What are you doing back?” Spiritual Sam asked.

“Popular demand, I guess,” he said lifting his shoulders.

“That’s funny. Because Brad was just telling us how you died,” Gray said smugly.

“Died?”

“Yeah. He was saying how everyone who got eliminated died. On the dock, wasn’t it?” Gray asked Brad to no reply.

“No! Why would you think that?” Thorin asked Brad, distressed.

I jumped in. “Because Brad and I watched Freddy die. And before that, I saw Ian and Kurt die.”

Thorin looked at me and then flashed me his awkward smile. “You were the one that made us follow you to the dock on the first night, right? Yeah, I was thinking about that when I was waiting for the boat. But no, everything was fine. The boat came and took me back to my hotel. And when I got there, they took me to a room and asked me to stay close.”

“Stay close? Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But I did what they said. I hung out in my room ordering room service. And then yesterday they told me that the viewers wanted me back. So, here I am.”

This explanation didn’t make any sense to me. Why him? Why had Thorin survived?

I thought for a moment. Brad was there when Freddy died. That was proof enough. I could no longer doubt what I saw. The three men were dead.

But then they disappeared. I don’t actually know what happened to them after that. And now Thorin, who was also eliminated, was back. What did that mean? I had to be missing something.

I looked around at the guys, hoping one of them would offer an explanation. None of them did. They all looked dumbfounded. The only one who didn’t was Gray, and he was looking at Brad, disgusted.

“You would do anything to win. Wouldn’t you?” he said to Brad before shifting his gaze toward me. “And you…”

Gray got up and bumped me with his chest. Not expecting it, I stumbled back. “…You can get out of my face,” he snarled at me.

I took that. After all, what was I supposed to say? I was even doubting myself at this point. I couldn’t explain any of it.

When Billy’s pawn shifted everyone’s attention to the next group date announcement, I pulled Brad aside. “Why is Thorin back?” I asked.

“Because it’s a game show,” Brad spit with a strained smile. “They fool with your mind. That’s what they do on these things. Someone’s dead? No, they’re not dead. I can’t believe I fell for it. That’s why you don’t listen to the paranoid one.”

Brad stormed off toward his cabin. He didn’t need to hear who was in the group date. It was Thorin the Pale, Buck-Naked Billy, Construction Carl, Victor Vodka, and Spiritual Sam, everyone who wasn’t at Thunderdome.

After alienating my one remaining ally, I didn’t have a reason to stick around camp for the rest of the day. So I packed a napkin full of scrambled eggs and pancakes and took off. It was time for my hike to the tower.

The island was a series of highlands and lowlands. Though it wasn’t visible from the camp, the tower was on the highest part of the island. It took me three hours to navigate the maze of thick trees to get there, and most of the journey was uphill.

Catching my breath under the tower’s widely spread metal legs, I enjoyed the view. I could see the entire island from here, and the island was bigger than I had expected. It was shaped like an American football, and our camp sat less than a mile from the western tip.

From where I stood, I could see the octagon from the bear challenge and the Thunderdome. Not far from that was a water tower. And camouflaged within the trees were few small structures that looked like tool sheds.

The dock itself wasn’t visible, from where I stood, but the shoreline was. I could also see Rose’s cabin.

East of all of that was what I could only describe as a jungle. It had no structures or signs of life except one. On a beached peninsula at the eastern tip, a large concrete compound rose out of the jungle.

I stared at the building for a long time. More than anything, it resembled a warehouse. Nothing was special about it except for the helicopter parked in back.

With nothing else around, it was the only place on the island where the showrunners could live. In other words, that was where they made the decision to kill us. If I was ever going to get off of this island alive, that was where I would have to go.

Rested, I examined the tower. From underneath, it looked like the electrical towers they used to use to run overhead power lines. The only difference was this one had a huge light on top of it, one that was always on.

Then again, the last electrical towers were removed over fifty years ago, so all I had to go on were old-timey photos. Maybe some of the electrical towers had lights on them back then, too. But, who knows?

I found a spot in the shade and grabbed something to eat. As I did, I searched my memory for anything I could remember about towers with lights on them. By the time that my food napkin was empty, I had determined two things: I should have paid closer attention in history class, and it could possibly be a communications tower. 

As the light was ten stories up and the wires were encased in a metal column preventing sabotage, I couldn’t do much here. I scanned the lowlands, wondering where I should head next. The compound was the obvious choice. I knew it would take days to actually get there, but that was the only direction worth exploring.

Hiking towards the open jungle, it didn’t take long for the vegetation to change. The trees got taller and thicker, while the rich soil disappeared under a sea of lush ground cover. After I had walked for about an hour, I ran into a chain-link fence.

I followed the fence south for five minutes before concluding that it dissected the island. If I wanted to know what was on the other side, I was going to have to go over it. It was only eight feet tall, so I didn’t worry about the height. What did concern me was the multiple spirals of razor wire that ran across its top.

I grabbed the fence and rattled it. It was taut. I was sure it could hold my weight. I rested my face on it and peered through. I immediately felt something staring back at me, some creature hiding in the jungle.

It felt close, but I couldn’t see it. I imagined the invisible beast’s hot breath tickling my neck, and a shiver ripped through me with a force to almost snap my spine. I let go of the fence and quickly backed away.

For a while, I stood staring into the trees past the fence. I didn’t move, and neither did anything else. I wasn’t sure what had set me off, but I soon decided that it had to be in my head. Since I knew that my only shot at getting off the island lay on the other side of the fence, I had to go over.

As I climbed, I noticed something odd about the jungle in front of me. The noises on the other side of the fence seemed louder than on mine. The squawking and weird guttural bird sounds filled the jungle air like locust buzzing. Yet behind me, I could hardly hear a peep.

Why would there be a difference? Birds fly. They could land anywhere. I suddenly got the chills again.

That time, I almost stopped. I didn’t, though. Whatever lay in front of me, I would deal with like I had dealt with everything else.

I carefully worked my way over the razor wire and jumped. I landed on the soft soil with a thud. For a moment, the noises closest to me stopped. I was hoping to go unnoticed, but it was too late for that.

I froze. There it was again, that feeling that I was being watched. It was now stronger and more disturbing. I could practically feel it touch my face, but I was almost sure that it was all in my mind. I crouched and stepped forward.

That was when I heard it. A rattling, maybe. Was it a growl? Something didn’t want me there.

I scanned the ground. Nothing. My heart quickened. I scanned the trees. When I saw it, I couldn’t breathe.

Angry yellow eyes penetrated the shadows. They were locked on me. Its black body crouched, waiting for me.

I had only one option. I took it. Turning, I threw myself back onto the fence. Climbing as fast as I could, I didn’t want to look back. When I did, the terrifying image sent prickly heat crawling under my skin.

It attacked. Now out of the tree, it was fast. The black cat charged towards me. In a second, it was on top of me. I was too late.

Its claw hooked my leg, and it felt like fire ripping through my body. My flesh separated from bone. But, as it tried to pull me down, I hung onto the fence, refusing to let go.

I closed my eyes as I felt my muscles quartered like filet. I was succumbing to the pain. I was slipping, and then… luck.

It was my luck. The panther wanted two claws in me and loosened its grip. While retracting, it had only half the flesh. Wrenching up, I tore through the rest with a scream.

Suddenly free, I launched like a rocket. Climbing the chain link, I didn’t stop until it grabbed me again. Damn it!

Its teeth sunk into me. I pulled at my arm desperately. Finally seeing clearly what had me, I stopped. 

My mind slowed as I looked around. I released my death grip on the razor and examined my blood-soaked arms. They were tangled in sharp wires. With my skin pulled in either direction, I knew that the only way to free them would be to yank. Not giving myself time to think about it, I did.

“Ahh!” I screamed again.

It hurt, but I couldn’t think about the pain. I had to keep moving. I knew that I would be losing blood even faster now. The longer I waited, the harder it would be to get down.

Remembering my training, I put the pain out of my mind and focused. I took it one step at a time. I transferred my weight over the top of the wire. When I was sure that I wouldn’t get snagged, I let myself drop.

When I hit the ground, the worst pain was the one that shot up my leg. It jolted me like a crack of lightning, but it passed just as quickly as it came.

I sat up immediately, making sure that I could. I looked through the fence. I had landed on the correct side. On the other, the panther’s yellow eyes were focused on me. Its tail swung intermittently like a cat did when annoyed. It wanted another shot at me.

“Not today,” I told the panther. It gave me one last glance before turning around and disappearing into the trees.

I took stock of my wounds. The blood from my right calf was soaking into my jeans. I tried to move my leg. It hurt, but I could.

My hands were another story. No matter what I did, I couldn’t move the thumb on my right hand. That was never a good sign. It usually meant that tendon had been severed.

I tried to make a grip with either hand. I couldn’t. That meant that I couldn’t wrap any of my bleeding wounds. The only thing I could do was press my hands to my shirt and hope I didn’t bleed to death.

Well, wasn’t I glad I went hiking today?

I struggled to stand and then walk. Most people would be surprised how quickly a person could get used to blinding pain. It was one of life’s little miracles.

When I first got up, my blinding pain was centered in my shredded calf. I found a tree branch that I could use as a crutch, and the pain shifted to hands. Variety is the spice of life or something, right?

On the very long walk back to camp, I can admit to having a few indecent fantasies about Pete. They involved me retrieving his magic dust in unorthodox ways. When I finally saw him waiting at the edge of the camp, scanning the darkness looking for me, I wondered if society could learn to accept our human/robot love, because it would have to.

After Pete gave me a few shots of magic dust, I collapsed onto the grass. The worse your injury, the more feel good juice you got. So, needless to say, I was very high. I could have lay there all night. It wasn’t long, though, before enough of my mental fog cleared for me to remember my plan.

I looked around, trying to figure out the time. It had to be dinner by now. Since there was a group date today, a cocktail party and an elimination would follow. I knew that missing the cocktail party could mean an immediate elimination, but I was starved. I had to get something to eat first.

It took about thirty minutes for all of my wounds to heal and for me to be able to walk again. Heading to my room, I changed out of the blood-soaked clothes and dressed for the party. I then hurried to the food line and dished up everything that the bots hadn’t cleared. I had never really enjoyed 3D printed food before now, but damn if it didn’t hit the spot tonight.

Already dressed, I headed past the pool to the cocktail party. When I got there, Rose was the first to notice me. I joined the group gathered around her, and when I did, none of the guys acknowledged me. Rose was the only one who even looked at me, and her body language told me that I needed to invite her for alone time immediately.

“Rose, can I steal you away for a little bit?” I asked.

“Man, didn’t you just get here?” Gray asked possessively.

“That’s okay,” Rose interjected. “I’d love to, Ford.”

I took Rose by the hand and led her to the largest waterfall. I was still hoping it would give us a little privacy.

Rose spoke first, “Where have you been?” she asked, concerned.

“I had a fight with a panther. No big deal.”

Rose looked at me, confused. “Is that slang for something?”

“No. There’s a fence that separates us from the jungle. Apparently, panthers can be territorial.”

“Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah. That wasn’t the first cat that wanted my throat, believe me.”

“So, you’re saying that your last relationship didn’t end well?” Rose asked with a wicked smile.

I paused to make sure that I heard her correctly. Playing it back in my mind, I was sure that I did. She was making a dirty joke. Damn did I like this girl. And man, did I want to kiss her for it.

I stared into her eyes about to lean in when her mood suddenly changed.

“The guys have been telling me stuff about you,” Rose said.

I shifted onto my heels. “What’s that?”

“That you’re bad news.”

“That I’m bad news? When did they tell you this? In the 1940s?”

Rose laughed. “You know what I’m saying. They’re telling me that you’re an asshole and that I shouldn’t trust you.”

“Let me guess, Gray’s telling you this?”

“It’s not just Gray. All of them are.”

I paused. I knew this could happen, but with a few other things on my mind, I hadn’t come up with a response.

“Am I missing something about you?” Rose asked with a forced smile.

I thought for a moment and realized that she was serious. She was considering eliminating me. I had to say whatever it took to save my life.

“No. I think it’s them that’s missing something. I think they’re jealous,” I said, grabbing at straws.

“Of what?”

“The connection we have.”

“Our connection? Are you saying that you like me?” Rose asked with a playful smile.

I felt the conversation shift, but I didn’t have time to think about how. I just had to say something to keep it going. But what?

“I think I’m falling for you,” I said.

And as soon as I said it, my heart raced. I started to panic. It was way too much, and it was way too close to the truth. I felt brutally exposed, worse than when the panther had ripped apart my leg. Everything in me screamed that something bad was about to happen.

I was wrong, though. Rose just looked at me with a hint of a smile that expanded until her eyes twinkled.

“I think I’m falling for you, too,” she replied.

When her gaze dipped from my eyes to my lips, I acted on instinct. I slipped my hand onto the small of her back, pulled her body to mine, and kissed her.

As soon as our lips touched, my racing heartbeat slowed down. My panic was gone. It was replaced by a warm pulse that rolled through me. It was then that I realized how easy it would be to fall in love with Rose. I could really love her.

When someone behind Rose cleared his throat, we slowly pulled away. Still lost in each other’s eyes, neither of us looked at Brad.

“Can I steal you way for a few moments?” he asked Rose.

Was his timing intentional? Had he seen us kissing and come to break us up? Rose had said that everyone had been bad mouthing me. Had Brad been one of them? Was he going to do the same now?

“Sure,” Rose said turning to Brad with a welcoming smile.

It was amazing to watch Rose shift her attention to Brad. Rose had the ability to make the person she was looking at feel like the most important person in the world. But when her attention left you, if left you wondering if the connection you felt with her was real.

I watched as Rose took Brad’s hand and walked away. I knew that that would be the last time I would speak to her before the rose ceremony. So I left and got a drink.

On my long hike back to camp, I had come up with a plan. As long as I wasn’t eliminated, by the end of the night, we would all find out what was going on, one way or another.

As we lined up for the ceremony, I tried to make eye contact with Rose. She was avoiding my gaze. That wasn’t good. As she started handing out roses, I began to believe that my time was finally up.

Brad was again the first to get a rose. Gray got one, and Bob, too. Even Buck-Naked Billy got one.

I counted the roses remaining. Only one person was being eliminated tonight, and the last two men without a rose were Spiritual Sam and me. I didn’t know how things had gone on his group date, but I had won mine.

Even so, my heart raced. With one rose in her hand, the silence dragged on. It was torturous. I was sweating, and then she finally said it.

“Ford, would you consider spending the rest of your life with me?”

Her words made me high with relief. I could have bent her over and kissed her right there. I didn’t, though. Instead, I walked up, graciously collected my rose, and then changed the direction of the game.

“I know what everyone here is thinking,” I said, turning to the guys with my rose in hand. “What’s gonna happen to Sam? Is that nut job, Ford, right? Is Sam gonna disappear and die?”

“I wasn’t wondering that,” Gray volunteered. 

“I was,” Brad admitted to my surprise.

Rose touched me on the shoulder. “What are you doing?”

I softened my voice and turned to Rose. “I’m sorry, but Brad and I watched Freddy die. I know Thorin’s back. I’m not sure how, but clearly there’s no denying that. But I watched three people die after elimination. And I don’t think that Sam should go to the dock.”

“You think it’s the dock?” Brad asked behind me.

“What else could it be?” I replied.

Sam’s pawn pushed through, wanting to escort him away.

“I don’t think you should go,” I told Sam.

“Neither do I,” Brad added as he stepped forward and stood next to me.

I was touched. I didn’t think Brad had it in him. Wasn’t he all about self-interest? Or, did he sense a shift in power coming, and this was his way of ensuring that he was on the right side? Yeah, that sounded more like Brad.

“This is the biggest bunch of crap I ever heard,” Gray announced. “What more do you two want? You said that everyone who gets eliminated dies and then less than a minute later, Thorin walks up. Obviously, we don’t. This is a game show. Nothing more.”

With Brad behind me, I felt calm. “Are you gonna force Sam to do something that might kill him?”

Gray’s fire dimmed. “I’m not forcing him anywhere.”

“Good, then it’s up to him,” I concluded. I turned to Sam. “You know what I think. I think you should stay here. We’ll all stay in eyesight of each other and wait. If in two hours nothing has happened, then do what you want.”

“What if there is a boat coming for me?” Sam asked hesitantly.

“Then they’ll wait. If they leave, then you stay here for another day,” Brad said, finding his voice again.

“Can I do that?”

“Did you all get a set of rules that I didn’t?” I asked. “Because as far as I can tell, there are no rules.”

“What’s it going to be, Sam?” Brad pressed.

All eyes focused on Sam. His eyes dipped, searching for an answer. “Rose, what do you think?”

That was a good question. What did Rose think? Sam and I weren’t the only ones wondering. Everyone turned to see what she would say.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she admitted.

“It’s what I told you,” I said, suddenly wondering if tonight had guaranteed that I would be eliminated next.

“I’ve watched three people who have been eliminated die. If you send him out there,” I said pointing toward the dock, “he might not come back.”

“But, I don’t get it,” she continued. “Wasn’t Thorin eliminated?”

“I can’t explain it. I just know what I saw,” I paused. “I really don’t think you should send him out there.”

Rose remained quiet. Her eyes darted around, worried about something beyond what was going on here. “No. Don’t go anywhere. You should stay here.” Rose took a deep breath and looked at me. “For a couple of hours, right?”

I nodded, yes.

“Yeah. You don’t have to leave right away,” Rose confirmed.

Sam’s pawn nudged him to follow it. We were all familiar with that nudge. It was like ignoring a dog that wanted to go for a walk. It was hard to not think about the consequences.

Sam’s movement became stilted. He was nervous. “No. I’ll stay here.” Sam left his pawn and stood next to Brad.

The three of us and Rose stared at the other guys. Only one of them had a firm opinion about what was going on, and he hissed at me like a snake.

“Whatever,” Gray concluded before heading to the closest lounge chair.

No one else commented. They all just stared at the four of us, expressing different levels of confusion. Eventually, everyone found a chair and got comfortable.

“I’m sorry,” I told Rose in a hushed tone.

“For what?”

“Putting you in that position. I know how you feel about my theory,” I admitted, offering an apologetic smile.

“No. You’re doing what you think is right. That’s just you being you, right?”

Rose had tried to sound casual about it, but she didn’t make eye contact with me after that. It was obvious that she didn’t like what I had done. The question was, why not? It seemed like such a small compromise considering that a man’s life was at stake, even if it was just Spiritual Sam’s.

It didn’t take long before the pawn’s persistence became annoying.

“Stop it,” Sam said trying to push it off of his leg. “It won’t leave me alone.”

“They’re programmed to keep trying until they get what they want,” I told him.

Thorin injected himself into the conversation. “How do you know how they’re programmed?”

“I worked with a model similar to it.”

“As a corporate recruiter?” Brad added.

“No. It was…” I considered how much I wanted to tell them about my life. “…before that.”

“What were you before you were a corporate recruiter?” Thorin persisted.

My jaw bounced searching for words. I couldn’t help it. I had a problem evading direct questions. Luckily, Sam’s pawn did something unexpected.

“Please follow me,” the pawn said in its robotic voice. It was so rare to hear a pawn speak that it grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Please follow me,” it said again, just as measured and politely as it had before.

The pawn kept repeating its request in shorter and shorter increments. It was getting impatient. This type of speech wasn’t a part of its default programming. Either someone was controlling it live, or these pawns had been reprogrammed.

“Please follow me. Please follow me,” it said, increasing the tension in the room.

“Maybe you should do what it says,” Thorin suggested.

“No. Stay right here,” I ordered.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Sam proclaimed.

“We’re not giving it what it wants, and it doesn’t like that,” I explained.

“The question is, what will it do to get it?” Brad added.

We didn’t have to wait long find out. It began making a loud noise. It sounded like a fire alarm with the voice request still playing underneath.

“Maybe I should go,” Sam said with his hand over his ears.

“Don’t move,” I commanded as I also covered my own. “This is it. This is the most it can do.”

When Sam backed off, trying to get away, I stepped between him and the pawn. Looking down into the shiny dark display, I knew it was all coming to a head. “So, we’re all right here. We’re all watching. What are you gonna do now, huh?”

The noise persisted, getting louder and louder. We all squeezed on our ears trying to block the sound. The pawn was no longer pursuing Sam. Now it felt more like a general warning. Something was going to happen. But what?

When it seemed that we couldn’t take anymore, that we would all go deaf if it kept it up a moment more, the noise stopped. Unsure if we should, we all slowly removed our hands and straightened up.

Sam let out a nervous chuckle. “It stopped. We won.” Sam smiled and looked at me. The relief in his face was inescapable but also premature.

Sam coughed. It could have been like any other cough in his life if it hadn’t been so familiar.

I immediately looked at Brad. The expression on Brad’s face said it all. We both knew what would happen next: Sam’s cough would persist until he fell onto his knees. His eyes would become bloodshot, and his face would display the terror that comes as a man realizes that he’s suffocating to death.

As everyone watched, that’s exactly what happened next. No one rushed to help Sam. It was like they were scared to catch whatever he had.

I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t move either. Why should I? Hadn’t I been through this horrible scene before? Hadn’t I already tried everything?

Without the comfort of a warm hand or a friendly touch, Spiritual Sam died on the pool deck of our makeshift resort. It was not the way for anyone to go, but at least they would all believe me now. Maybe it would save their lives.

As everyone stared down at Sam’s body in shock, I felt like I should have said something comforting. Anything at all, really. I couldn’t, though.

Something was gnawing at me. It was Thorin. He had come back. But how? And why just him?

Or, maybe it wasn’t just him. Maybe they would all come back. Maybe there was a new kind of resurrection that I didn’t know about. It could happen. I had been away from that world for five years. Had I condemned this man to die by insisting that he stay here?

Panic set in as I had an idea about what could be happening. First they kill us. Why? I wasn’t sure. But then a boat comes, and they revive us. I needed to get Sam to the dock!

“Move. Look out!”

I swooped in scooping Sam into my arms. He wasn’t a small man, but I could handle him.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked jolted from her silence.

“Getting him to the dock. I think they’re coming for him.”

All I heard was a din of voices after that. I wasn’t sure what they were saying. I was focused. I had to get him to the spot where all of the other guys fell. He was dead otherwise. It was his only hope.

It wasn’t that far from the resort to the dock. By the time I got there, I was exhausted. I carried Sam’s limp body to the far end and dropped him under the light. And then with him down and everyone crowding me, I leaned over to catch my breath.

“What now?” Brad asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“I thought you said you saw this before,” Gray badgered.

“No.”

It was all I could say in reply. How could I explain to him that I was shooting from the hip?

“Everyone, look for a boat,” I ordered.

We all peered into the airy darkness. The night was still. The salty warm breeze hung thick. Water burbled as it hit the concrete seawall. We were all focused on what was coming, so when the dock collapsed out from under us, we all fell back without warning.

Screams rang out. I reached back as I slid forward. Sam’s dead body rolled into the water, and I slid with it. I didn’t stop until I jammed my fingers between the collapsed planks. By then, I was already waist deep in the water.

I looked up at the people above me. Rose, who had been directly behind me, had stopped her fall by grabbing onto Bob’s leg. Brad, who was the next back, gripped tightly onto the dock where it cracked. Everyone was safe.

Suddenly the dock shook again. Something big hit it from the side. I looked around and saw a fin. Before I could move, the shark snatched Sam’s body dragging it under. I expected it to spit him out like it had before, but the only thing that resurfaced was his torso.

Something brushed my leg. I looked down. It was another shark. I was hanging off the submerged dock, and it was trying to maneuver its teeth into me.

With my heart racing, I kicked at it. It was all I could do. My fingers weren’t high enough to pull myself out. I needed help.

I looked back up. Brad was again standing. I looked him in the eyes, and he stared back blankly. He didn’t move to help me. What was he waiting for? Was he planning on letting me die?

“Grab my hand,” I finally heard.

It wasn’t Brad who said it. It was the guy who I thought hated me the most, Victor. I didn’t know why he was helping me. I just took his hand and pulled my way up.

Again on my feet, I leaned over to catch my breath. I was standing behind the crack in the dock, and staring down, I noticed something: hinges. The dock hadn’t cracked at all. It was designed to collapse.

“Get back,” I yelled. “Off the dock!”

Everyone moved without question. They didn’t stop until they were safely back on the island.

I looked out at the fallen dock and the water illuminated under it. Bits of clothes and flesh surfaced only to be dragged under again.

It was now clear to me how the other bodies had disappeared. With the guarantee of an easy meal, I also knew why the deep-water sharks were so close to shore.

One last surprise was in store for us tonight: the fallen dock returned to its standing position. It happened as the sound of a winch switched on. When it was again seamlessly connected, the water that covered it looked like nothing more than the remnants of a big wave.

I turned around, staring into the faces that stared back at me.

“It was you,” Gray said out of nowhere. “You’re the one who did this. You’re trying to kill.”

“You were the first one to tell us about this,” Bob remembered.

“And you were the one who brought him here after not letting us look at the body,” Thorin said.

The mob took a step toward me as I took a step back. They had darkness in their eyes and it felt like I didn’t have a friend among them.

I considered running, but I didn’t. I saw only one way out of this. It was crazy, but at this point, why the hell not?

 

 

 

I had survived worse odds than this. So, what was seven against one in hand-to-hand combat? Didn’t they see that I was the hero of this show? Had any of them seen a kung fu movie, ever?

“Stop,” Brad said putting himself in between me and the mob. “It wasn’t him. He was the one who tried to warn us. Maybe if we listened, Sam and Freddy wouldn’t be dead.”

I was not expecting Brad to come to my defense. I thought that I had lost him. Wasn’t he willing to let me fall to the sharks just moments ago?

With seven against one, most people would have put me on the losing side. So why did Brad, the ultimate survivor, side with me? I was starting to think that I didn’t know Brad at all.

Regardless of his reasons, Brad’s appeal worked. Everyone, except for Gray, stopped.

“Maybe you’re both doing this?” Gray spit.

Rose stepped in front of him. “And maybe it’s you, Gray.”

Gray’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He didn’t know what to say. It was one thing to make me an enemy. But he clearly wasn’t ready to do the same with Rose.

“Rose is right,” I said, removing her from this uncomfortable situation. “It could be any of us, and it could be none of us. I personally think that it’s the people behind the cameras.”

Brad shifted toward me. “You mean the people who are probably watching us right now?”

“Yeah,” I said, acknowledging the gravity of the situation.

That seemed to send a chill down everyone’s spine. Everyone looked around for the cameras that none of us had seen since we had gotten there.

“Everyone needs to share what we know,” I continued. “And the person who should start, is Thorin.”

All eyes turned to Thorin. Perhaps I shouldn’t have called him out like that. Let’s be real, though, he was the only one who didn’t die after getting eliminated. If people weren’t thinking that he could be involved, then they should have been.

“Me?” he said looking even paler than usual.

“You were the only one who got eliminated and lived. That can’t be a coincidence,” I declared.

“How do you know that?” Thorin said defensively. “I’m just the only one to come back so far. We don’t know anything about what’s going on. I could just be the first one. And if I knew what was going on, why would I have followed you all here? I didn’t know what would happen to Sam. I’m just like the rest of you all, scared for my life.”

“But why would you be back?” I pushed.

Brad interjected. “To be fair, bringing back a contestant who has been eliminated is standard in these types of shows. I was once brought back. Yeah sure, it wasn’t a show where people were dying, but the fact that someone was brought back isn’t that unusual.”

I stared at Brad, not knowing who I was looking at. First, he had defended me, and now, he was defending Thorin. It was enough to raise my suspicions about him. However, if I started accusing everybody, I wouldn’t have anyone left to trust. And I was going to need help if I was going to get everyone off of this island alive.

“Ok,” I conceded. “Then just tell us again what happened.”

“I told you. Jarvis…”

“Who’s Jarvis,” I interrupted.

“That’s what I call my pawn. He took me to my room to pack my stuff. I did, and then he led me to the dock. I waited for about ten minutes for the boat…”

“Didn’t you think that was unusual?” I asked.

“You mean how long it took?”

“Yeah.”

“No. I just thought that they were getting shots of me looking disappointed about leaving the island.”

“But the boat came?” I confirmed.

“It did. And I got on it and left. The lights on the boat were on the whole time, so I thought they were getting more footage.”

This time, Brad interrupted him. “Have you been on a show before?”

“No. But I’ve seen them. Whenever someone gets eliminated they have those interviews as they’re leaving. You know?”

“But they didn’t ask you any questions?” I asked.

“No. They just left the lights on. Anyway, I got back to the dock on the mainland, and Dan, the producer who had prepped me for the show…”

“Prepped you?” I asked.

“Yeah. You know; told me the premise of the show, explained to me how to do interviews, told me what to expect. Didn’t everyone else go through that?”

I looked around at everyone. They were all nodding their heads “yes.”

“No. I didn’t,” I said.

Gray finally broke his silence. “So, you were the only one here who didn’t get prepped for the show?”

“It’s not exactly an advantage,” I explained. “I had never even seen one of these shows before. A little prepping would have helped.”

I wasn’t about to share Ian’s theory with them about how I wasn’t expected to survive the first elimination. Or my theory about how Kurt was meant to survive and not me. I couldn’t imagine how Rose was feeling about all of this craziness, but I wasn’t going to volunteer information that could potentially make her feel worse.

“Anyway. Go on,” Brad encouraged.

“That’s really it. Dan had me fill out some paperwork and told me that they needed me to stick around for a few days. I hung out in my room, watching vid feeds and ordering room service. The usual stuff.

“A few days later, Dan told me that I was coming back. He gave me an hour to pack and then walked me from my room to the dock. I got on the boat and about two hours later, Jarvis was waiting for me at the dock. Now, here I am. That’s everything.”

The gurgling waves filled the silence that followed. I again thought about how I was the only one not to get prepped for the show. Had it been so clear to the producers that I wouldn’t last? What could they be thinking now that I was still here?

Setting that aside, I turned my attention to what had just happened. Immediately, I felt an idea surfacing.

“Could the roses be the cause of it?” I asked, not sure where I was going with the question.

“The roses?” Rose asked.

“Yeah. Because that’s the only difference, right? Everyone who gets a rose, lives.”

Thorin perked up. “Like an antidote to a poison?”

“Maybe,” I replied unsure. “Rose, how do you get them?”

“A bot brings them to me exactly how you see it. You really think it could be the roses?”

As she said it, I realized what that theory implied. If the roses were the antidote, then Rose would have to be immune to the poison. Though, I guess she did handle them. Maybe handling the roses was enough.

“So, what do we do, boys?” Brad asked, allowing his familiar smile to return.

“I think we should keep playing along,” Gray suggested.

“I don’t think so,” I countered.

“Then what do you suggest?” Gray spat, displeased.

“There’s a compound on the other end of the island. I saw it from the tower. It’s about four days away. Maybe we should head there.”

“What were you doing at the tower?” Brad asked with suspicion.

“Killing time. There’s not much to do when you’re not on a group date.”

That was kind of true. The complete truth would have been that I was exploring the island because I saw that people were dying and I was looking for a way out of here. Maybe I should have told them that. I’m not sure why I didn’t.

“And if the roses are antidotes, and we need the roses to survive?” Gray prodded.

I had no reply to that. It was a good point. If we needed to hold the roses to survive, then the only way of getting them would be to play along. But where would that lead us?

If we played along, there would only be one guy alive at the end. Considering the gamble, Gray must have liked his chances of being that guy. I wondered what Rose could have done or said to make him believe that. And I wondered if her encouragement had continued after our beach date.

Gray took my silence as resignation. “Then that’s what we’ll do. No more fighting between us,” he said, looking at Brad.

Brad nodded his head in agreement.

“…And we’ll play along until we find out a little more,” Gray concluded.

It wasn’t a bad plan. Play along, gain intel, and then make a decision when we knew more. I could support that.

We all headed back to the resort. I didn’t like the idea of Rose staying in her cabin by herself, so I offered her one of the beds in my room.

“No. If we’re gonna play along, then we have to keep everything the same,” she said.

“I can walk you back to your cabin,” I offered. Honestly, it wasn’t just her safety that I was thinking about. I was also hoping to spend more time with her.

“No. The pawns usually take me back. It’s a part of the game. But thank you.”

I looked into Rose’s sparkling brown eyes. I wondered if she would let me kiss her in front of everyone. I didn’t have to wonder long because she quickly pulled away.

Once Rose left, we all returned to our cabins. It felt like forever since I had slept in a bed. And after a long, rough day, I fell asleep quickly. I must have been exhausted because it took Pete to wake me up.

We had all agreed to go on like normal, so once up, I took a shower. Heading to breakfast, I found almost everyone already there. The only one missing was Brad.

With my food in hand, I wondered where I should sit. For the first time, everyone was seated at the same table. I wasn’t sure if I would be welcome, but Victor waved me over. It seemed that the one positive from last night was that we were now all on the same side.

It is amazing how short our hand holding lasted. Today was a group date, and I was one of the ones invited. How lucky was I to be chosen to participate in a life-threatening challenge against guys who were now fighting for their lives? Yay! I had to remember to ask Rose how she chose the daters.

However, maybe in this case, it was better to be included. Today’s daters were: Brad, Gray, Thorin, Bob, and myself. The ones excluded were Billy, Carl, and Victor. It was hard to believe that the next person eliminated wouldn’t be from the excluded group. Of course, when I saw how Rose was dressed for our challenge, I realized that the next person to die was most likely one of us.

Led to a clearing in the middle of the woods, we found Rose waiting for us, dressed in jungle fatigues. She didn’t look like her usual happy self. It was like all of the life had been sucked from her. As she spoke, it was never clearer than she was reciting a script.

“When I was a kid I loved playing capture the flag. And the guy who captures everyone else’s flags will be my hero.

“But there’s a catch. Everyone will get a gun with four live bullets. You’ll lose a bullet every three minutes. And every time you capture a flag you’ll gain an extra bullet.”

Rose paused. “Seriously guys, don’t hurt each other. I don’t know if I would be able to live with myself.”

Rose was in a crappy position, but it wasn’t like our position was any better. Magic dust couldn’t do much for a bullet to the head. Gray, being a gun nut, was going to be hard to beat this time.

The display on the grip of our guns led us to our home bases. Since we all headed in different directions, the game was not going to end quickly.

“Everybody ready?” Rose yelled from behind me. “Begin!”

I stood in front of my home base. It was a six-foot mound of dirt. Planted at the top of it was a flag on a wooden stick.

Having some experience playing capture the flag, I knew the basic strategy. I was supposed to go out on missions capturing other flags while never letting anyone close enough to take mine. Screw that! I was capturing my own flag and hiding out so that I didn’t get shot.

I climbed onto the mound and found out that it only looked like dirt. It was actually solid. And when tapped, it sounded like concrete.

The wooden stick was also not what it seemed. That was made of metal. And the flag that appeared to hang loosely from it, was attached with a strength that could only be explained by microfilaments.

A shot echoed through the trees. That didn’t take long. It had to be Gray. In this game, he would undoubtedly go on the offensive.

I again focused on my flag. It had to be controlled by some sort of releasing program. Maybe it released when the owner was shot. That would make sense, but I was not going to wait to get shot to find out.

I climbed on top of the mound. If anyone had their sight aimed at me, he would shoot now. I would never be a better target.

Knowing that, I had to move fast. I kicked the metal stick as hard as I could. The stick didn’t break, but the concrete did. It was only a little, but it was enough to give me hope.

Another shot fired. Was that Gray? How was he finding people so quickly? Maybe it was Brad. I couldn’t underestimate him.

I kicked at the stick again and again. It was loosening. When I heard rustling branches, I jumped down, putting the mound between me and the noise. But not wanting to leave without my flag, I grabbed the metal stick and gave a final yank.

When it came loose in my hand, I stumbled. Regaining my footing, I looked back at the mound. A thick wire stuck out from where the stick had been. Looking down at the metal in my hand, I saw that the two were attached. 

I returned to the mound pulling at the wire. It came out easily, but the wire was endless. And the longer I stood around dealing with this new development, the more likely I was to be shot.

I thought about the gunman, and my heart raced. I thought about him hunting me. I thought about what it would feel like when the bullet entered me. But before I could think about any more, I was overwhelmed by the rich scent of mulch.

It was like the smell had always been there, but I hadn’t noticed it until now. Still pulling, I looked around. The green leaves, the blue sky, everything was more vibrant.

I recognized what had happened to me. My senses had become heightened. I had switched into combat mode, and it felt like I was waking up from a long nap. I felt amazing.

Turning my attention back to the mound, I knew that I was running out of time. I was about to abandon my pulling when the wire stopped with a clank. Something metal had hit the inside of the concrete. Yanking with renewed strength, I pulled until the detached end flung out and fell to my feet.

To my surprise, the end of the wire wasn’t the only thing that released. The flag must have been attached magnetically, because as soon as it lost power, it was released too.  Dropping everything, I retrieved the triangular flag, and I hurried into the woods.

I barely made it in time. From behind a tree, I watched Bob enter the clearing. He stared at my mound, confused. Getting closer, he examined it. Following the destruction, he was about to look up and see me, but I quickly leaned away.

I retrieved my gun from my waistband. It sat comfortably in my hand. I knew I could do it. I could get him before he got me, but what would I gain? If shooting him released his flag, it would make it free for anyone walking by. That didn’t do me any good.

I checked my gun’s display. Three minutes had gone by. I only had three bullets left.

I returned the pistol to the back of my pants and waited. Again peeking out from behind the tree, I saw that he was almost on me. Taking a deep breath, I got ready.

When I stepped out, I was two feet in front of him. He was startled. I swung for his chin and hit him, but Bob was big. The blow barely shook him.

Moving fast, I grabbed his wrist, the one that held the gun. I spun. With my back to him, I elbowed him in the neck. I thought he staggered back, but he didn’t. Before I could react, his bicep had locked around my throat.

I had made a rookie mistake. I was out of practice. Bob was a large man, and I hadn’t accounted for that. But Bob had made a mistake as well. He had turned this fight into a battle of weight, and that was to his disadvantage.

Lifting my feet off the ground, I shifted his weight forward. When he stepped to regain his balance, I stuck my foot between his legs. Tripping him, I grabbed his arm. As he fell onto me, I threw the big man over my back.

Bob let go of my neck and hit the ground like a sack. The air bellowed from his lungs. He was dazed. I stepped over him, withdrew my gun, and aimed.

I caught myself when I realized that my instincts had taken over. Looking down, I saw where the barrel was pointed. It was at his head. I was going to kill him. I didn’t want to do that.

Options flew through my mind. Each was more lethal than the next. I didn’t want to do any of them. But when his gun suddenly appeared, pointed at my head, I only had time to react.

Without thinking, I lunged for his wrist. Twisting it, he dropped his gun into my hand. With him squirming to get away, I pointed his gun at him and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and Bob groaned.

Knowing the fight was over, my senses snapped back. I was again in complete control, but I wasn’t sure what I had done. Fearing the worst, I searched Bob’s body for the wound, hoping it wasn’t fatal.

It was his right shoulder. All I had done was defend myself. With a little magic dust, he was going to be as good as new. I sighed in relief.

With Bob disarmed and wounded, I realized that his flag would be loose. If anyone was going to get it, it may as well be me.

I left Bob on the ground and crossed the clearing. Moving quickly through the woods, I fumbled with the display on Bob’s gun. It was showing the number of shots remaining. He had two, but I needed the map that led back to his flag.

Finding it, I pointed the barrel in front of me. An arrow appeared on the map. I followed it. As I did, I checked the shots in my gun. I still had three left.

I arrived at the Bob’s mound seconds too late. Brad was retrieving Bob’s flag. He must have been thinking that it was his lucky day.

I lifted a gun and aimed it at Brad. He was in my sights. I could have taken him out so easily. I could have shot him once and disarmed him. I then could have taken Bob’s flag and then used Brad’s gun to find Brad’s flag. It would have put me in the lead.

As I watched Brad climb the mound, I lowered the gun. I didn’t want to do it. Sadly, Brad was the closest thing I had here to a friend. I wasn’t about to snipe him from the woods.

Yes, I knew that Brad probably didn’t feel the same about me. He wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me if the situation was reversed. Perhaps this sort of thing was exactly why the producers hadn’t expected me to survive. But… umm… Ah hell!

I lifted Bob’s gun, took aim, and pulled the trigger. Gunfire exploded. To my surprise, it wasn’t from me. The hammer on my pistol hadn’t discharged.

I looked up at Brad. With Bob’s flag in hand, he was scurrying for the woods. Gray was two hundred feet behind him. He had shot at Brad and missed. Now Gray was chasing him towards my home base.

Gray was a man I had no problem shooting. Taking aim, I reconsidered. Gray was the better marksman, and it looked like he already had a flag. It must have been Thorin’s.

Maybe instead of chasing after both of them, I should find Brad’s flag and wait for Gray to do what he did best. After all, wasn’t that the best way to survive this game, by using brains instead of bullets?

I turned on the map on both guns. I allowed them to point me to each of their home bases. Assuming that all of the bases were arranged in a circle, and that Brad’s was the next one over, I again entered the woods. It didn’t take long for me to find a concrete mound that looked exactly like the previous two.

Considering the flags that had already been captured, the one in front of me had to belong to either Brad or Gray. I considered yanking it out of the mound like I had done my own. But thinking that I should, at least, pretend to play by the rules, I got comfortable and waited for a gunshot.

I didn’t have to wait long, though. I heard three quick shots and then a fourth. After that, I reached up and effortlessly collected the flag.

My guess was that Gray had chased Brad to my mound. Slowed by the confusing destruction, their shootout happened there. Brad emptied his cartridge, missing Gray. With his competitor out of bullets, Gray walked in, shot Brad, and stripped him of his gun and flag.

With Brad’s gun, Gray was probably headed here next. With Brad’s flag gone, he would race to the only remaining flag, his own. That meant that I had to make a decision; either I would ambush him here or at his home base.

I looked down at my guns’ displays. Bob’s gun had no shots left while mine had two. My extra shot had to come from retrieving the flag. That meant that with all of the shots that I had heard fired, Gray had only one shot left, at most.

Even better news than that, Gray’s remaining shot was on a timer. He only had three minutes to use it. It could take him half that time to get here. By the time he arrived at his home base, he would definitely be disarmed while I would still have a shot left.

Realizing that made my decision easy. I would ambush him at his home base. Running into the woods, I was confident that I was about to win the challenge.

What I didn’t anticipate, however, was how long it would take me to find his mound. I thought that I could just continue in a circular direction. That was a bad plan. Why? Because the mounds weren’t equal distances apart.

Instead of facing Gray with an advantage, I had wasted my two shots wandering through the woods. Considering his display would quickly lead him home, by the time I found his flag, he would by lying in wait. Great!

I was two hundred feet away when I finally spotted Gray’s flag. Its yellow cloth whipped back and forth taunting me. My heart thumped soundly, but this time it wasn’t overwhelming. It was a welcoming feeling. How many times had I been crouched behind a tree or rock planning my assault on a target? I had forgotten what it felt like.

I hid behind a tree and stared at the flag. What would I do if I were on a battlefield? I wondered. I would have sent men to flank him while I attacked head on.

Okay. Well, that wasn’t an option. I had to work with what I had. What did I have? My guns were empty, and he was somewhere out there, waiting for me.

The element of surprise, that’s what I had. And with his guns timed out, I also had a level playing field.

I moved in fifty feet, ensuring that my flanks were clear. I didn’t know where he was hiding, but it had to be close enough to counter an assault on his home base.

Screw it! I thought. The hell with tactics. I’m just gonna walk up and get the flag. What can he do? I would welcome a little hand-to-hand combat.

“Gray, you out there?” I yelled.

He offered no response.

“You know what I want, right? And I think that there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

I was taking a risk by talking, but I needed to draw him out.

“I have all of the flags you need, including my own. You want them? You’re gonna have to come and get them.”

Prepared for anything, I stood up slowly and looked around. I wanted to see movement. I needed to know where he was.

Bang! Just as I stepped forward, I heard a shot. Dust flew up beside me, and I crouched behind a shrub.

How the hell could he still have shots? All of the guns should have been timed out.

Bang! Another shot. The shrub just behind me shook.

Now I knew which direction he was shooting from. I stood up and ran. A third and fourth shot. I again dove behind a tree.

Of course! I thought. Mustache Gray was a gun dealer. If anyone would know how to hack a gun’s safety program, it would be him.

Another damn rookie mistake? I was likely to get myself killed at this rate. I had truly gone soft. No more, though. I was ready to win.

Twelve shots. That was the most he could have between his three guns. Two shots were fired when he took down Thorin. Four shots were fired when he took down Brad. He just fired four more. And considering that he probably got a bonus shot for each of the two captured flags, he had a maximum of four shots left.

The guns were small and not very accurate. With the element of surprise and a little luck, it was worth taking a few shots from out of range. But with only four shots, his goal now would be to wait until I was within 75 feet.

I considered what his potshots had told me about his position. They told me that he was at ground level and that he was due north. That meant that I could still make an assault on his flag without venturing too deep into his range.

As my heart raced, I again felt alive. It wasn’t that I had missed being shot at. What I missed was making decisions that mattered. A part of me had died working as a corporate recruiter. Here, though, I was the Ford that I remembered. I liked having him back.

I perched on my toes and sprinted off. The branches whipped across me. Shots fired. Two of them. Both missed. He had two left. No more. They would have to be good.

I dove. Gray was too late. I was behind the mound. His flag few an arm’s length away. If only I could just reach up and take it… Or, maybe I could.

I quickly reached up and clutched the flag. I yanked. It wouldn’t release. I tugged until I heard a gunshot.

I was hit. Where? The face. How?

I again crouched behind the mound. Touching my cheek, I didn’t find blood. I found bits of concrete. Gray had been aiming for my head. It was a kill shot and he missed.

He now had one shot left. He wasn’t going to risk missing again.

I moaned as if I had been hit. I needed to draw him in. It worked. I could hear him approaching.

He knew where he had aimed. He knew that he had tried to kill me. So if I fell onto the ground, I knew what he would think.

I waited behind the mound. I needed him close. I didn’t want him taking another long distance shot.

I could hear him coming. He was close. Ten feet at the most. It was time. I had to fall. He had one shot left. He wouldn’t fire unless he needed to.

I fell on my back with my hand on my head. My eyes were closed. I could hear him breathing. He was over me, his gun pointed at me. I knew it. Here was my last chance. It had to be now.

I opened my eyes, staring into the barrel. He was going to shoot me again. I kicked hard, sweeping his legs. He fell.

I had the element of surprise, so I lunged forward. My fist connected with his wrist. He let go of the gun. He was in trouble.

We had been here before. It seemed like every battle ended with me against him, but this time, he had tried to kill me. That was a big mistake.

Remembering the bruises he gave me, I swung my arm, connecting my elbow with his ear. Not giving him time to react, I planted the heel of my palm on his chin. He was stunned.

I didn’t have to draw this out, though. I just needed to win.

I rolled off him and retrieved his gun from the ground. There was only one way that I was going to end this game. I had to shoot him. I knew that if I didn’t get rid of Gray now, he was going to get rid of me later. So the one thing I could do was end him.

I lifted the gun, took aim, and pulled the trigger. I could feel the hammer falling, but at the last moment, my hand jerked. It felt like someone hit it, even though I knew that no one had.

Gray screamed. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. It was a clean shot. Nothing but flesh. Perhaps I would regret not finishing it then, but I decided that I wasn’t going to make it easier for the producers to kill us.

Staring at him, I tossed the gun aside. I leaned down, retrieved the flags tucked into his waist and then turned my back on him. Yeah, I turned because I had to go collect the remaining flag, but I also wanted to deliver a message. I wanted him to know that he wasn’t a threat to me. And I really wanted to rub it in.

But reaching for the flag, I had a thought. What if I had miscounted? What if Gray still had a bullet left? He would use it now. After defying the odds countless times, I would be killed by my own childish bravado. Who was the idiot now?

I deserved to be shot. You can add idiots to the list of sorry people that God looks after because the shot never came. I had gotten away with this final act of arrogance like I had so many others over the past five years. It was like I was trying to die. But no more.

I reached up, collected the flag and won the challenge. The pawns then entered the field and scattered through the trees. They were off to offer triage. I was glad to see that.

When Rose found me sitting on Gray’s mound, her eyes said it all. She had seen everything. I guessed that watching men shoot each other at her request was a little unnerving. At least, I hoped it had been.

Rose followed me as I checked on Gray and Bob. They were both fine, as I knew they would be. After them, we checked on Thorin and Gray.

It seemed that Gray hadn’t shown Brad the same courtesy that I had shown him. Gray had shot Brad three times. The pawn rushed to extract one of the bullets, the one that was two inches from his heart. 

It was hard to determine Gray’s intent just from his shot placement. Certainly, if Gray had wanted to kill Brad, he would have shot him in the head. At close range, death would be guaranteed, but he hadn’t.

Looking at Thorin, it was clear that Gray wasn’t on a killing spree. Thorin’s only wound was in his leg. From what I could see, Gray was close enough to touch him when he fired. The angle of entry was so high that the wound almost looked self-inflicted.

No matter how and why everyone had been shot, the most important thing was that, like always, everyone would be alright. I could now relax. So, taking Rose’s hand, we followed our pawns into the woods headed for our private date.

“Another swim with the sharks?” I asked trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckled. “No. This time it’s a nature walk.”

“How does that work exactly?”

“What? Walking? You just put one foot in front of the other,” Rose said before flashing her first smile of the day.

“Okay, smartass. No. I meant the group dates. Are you the one who chooses who goes on them?”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

“And the private activities afterward?”

“After I’m told the challenge, my pawn shows me a list of activities to choose from. I was hoping that you were gonna win, so I thought that a nature walk would give us the best chance to talk.”

“You were cheering for me, huh?”

“Maybe,” she said with a blush.

No matter what else was going on, it felt good to know that Rose wanted to spend time with me. I could guess what Rose wanted to talk about, though. And unfortunately, we couldn’t truly talk as long as our two chaperones were with us.

With Rose’s hand still in mine, I leaned down and whispered into her ear. “Do you think you can keep up with me?”

“Do you think you can keep up with me?” she retorted.

With a firm grip on my hand, Rose started running. I had no choice but to run with her. She was fast, but the pawns were faster.

As we ran, I realized why she had chosen to make our last date a swim. It was similar to the reason she kept her cabin messy. Rose craved privacy. It seemed like a strange trait for the heroine of a game show.