Page 42 of Blue Arrow Island
The smell of burning flesh fills the air. As seconds turn into minutes, my pulse pounds, instinct telling me to run.
Run where, though? Back to my room? I’m not even safe there.
The men in front of me cheer. Someone hoots appreciatively, others quickly following.
I peek around the man in front of me and see Yelena, the four who was training the robot kid soldiers. She’s topless, her nipples peaked as she slides her pants and underwear down. Her boots are already off.
Pax’s pants are pooled at his ankles, his hand wrapped around his erection. His eyes aren’t his own; they have an animalistic gleam.
I can’t believe this is happening. As Anders’s body burns, Pax picks Yelena up, the corded muscles of his arms standing out. Heat in her eyes as she reaches down to line his cock up. Then he slides her onto it, groaning as he works her up and down his length.
She throws her head back, moaning. On the other side of the circle, two women and another man are undressing, another woman already naked and on her knees.
Pax puts Yelena down, taking her waist to spin her around. She gets to her hands and knees and he drops to his knees, too. Then he thrusts himself back inside her, his hands locked on her waist.
Others are coming into the circle now, too. I only see threes and fours. Some of them don’t even get their clothes all the way off before they start rutting.
Yelena straightens and leans back, taking Pax’s bloody mouth in a passionate kiss. He returns it, still pounding himself into her.
I swallow hard, my mind spinning. I have to get out of here. I’m about to say screw it and start running when Olin catches my eye. He tips his chin slightly.
When he reaches me, he gestures for me to walk in front of him, heading toward the entrance to the circle. A few other people are starting to leave.
He’s offering me cover. Letting me walk out unseen. I slip in front of him, forcing myself not to move too quickly. We need to look like people casually leaving now that the murder is over and the orgy is starting.
I hardly breathe in the two minutes it takes us to get out to the beach, the moaning and grunting getting louder now.
My heart rate slows. Olin is a steady presence beside me. There’s so much I want to say to him, but I can’t risk it with other people around.
“Thank you,” I say softly when we walk back into camp.
He nods and goes the other direction. I walk to my room as fast as I can, sagging against the back of the door once it’s closed and locked.
I get it now. Why the choices are this or execution. They’re the same, really. It’s either a quick death or a slow one. This beautiful, evil, tropical hell somehow makes people lose their free will.
It’s the death of who you really are. And for the first time since I got here, I’m not sure I have a chance of escaping it.
14
Plants are too commonly underestimated by science. They are not the passive nonstarters many think them to be. In fact, plants speak their own highly evolved language, a complex dialogue with their microbial partners, herbivore enemies and neighboring plants. This multispecies communication and coordination is a scientific wonder.
– Excerpt from a lecture given by Dr. Lucinda Hollis in her Introduction to Plant Biology course
My food bowl has a lump of algae and two thick, curled-up grubs in it. The sudden stab I feel in my stomach isn’t hunger, but protest.
I consider passing it back to Billy, but only for a split second. Instead, I smile, though it’s admittedly pretty weak.
“Thanks, Billy.”
“Just pretend it’s one of them fancy places from before the virus. They charged people hundreds of bucks for meals like this.”
My smile widens. “True. You’ll add this to my tab?”
“You know it.”
Without tables to sit at, I walk around slowly instead. Before I have time to give it too much thought, I pop one of the grubs into my mouth, chewing it quickly. The gush of its foul-tasting guts in my mouth makes me cringe.
My time with Lochlan made me harder in some ways, and softer in others. Before the virus, I had to eat things I didn’t want to. Once Whitman took over, he had crews raiding homes and taking everything. There was a lot of nonperishable food left, and very few people, but he hoarded it all.
