## The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:11 pm

Ok, um. This is a story that is the second part of my multiple part story that is pretty darn long. You can find the first story here:
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=14522
Here's a little recap for those who don't really remember, or maybe you don't have time to read the first part.
Jami goes to a camp called Camp Bound. Once she gets there, she finds that she is alone, which is suspicious. Her parent leaves, and she is soon kidnapped and trapped in a dungeon. Using her head (not literally), she escapes. However, she is immediately recaptured along with two other girls, Elise and Melody. There they are told of an island conspiracy that kidnaps girls and will only let them go if a team of similar girls complete their challenges. Camp Bound is revealed to be an organization to combat this, accepting the challenge in an attempt to free those trapped in the island. However, none have succeeded in completing these challenges. The three girls accept this, agreeing to go on the island. While at Camp Bound, they learn different skills that will help them on the island. This includes, martial arts, rope tying, trap detection, escaping tie-ups, and survival skills. Eventually, they are ready to go to the island.
That was the short version. If you want to read the much more interesting version, you can go to the link I put up.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:16 pm

I woke up shackled to a chair. My hands were cuffed behind me and to the back of the chair, and each of my ankles were cuffed to the legs of the chair. Typical, not that this was surprising. I had woken up in similar positions to this before, so it wasn’t like it was anything different.
What was surprising was that I wasn’t gagged, and now I was in the place where they taught all our lessons. I looked to my right to see Melody and Elise likewise chained to chairs. The woman that I had met earlier was up there next to the SMART board that I had gotten tired of seeing over the past weeks.
I shifted in my chains, and saw that Melody and Elise were awake now. Or maybe they were awake before me. Whatever it was, this prompted the woman to unfold her arms and speak.
“Today you go into the town, separately,” She said. “Avoid getting captured as long as you can. Try to learn more about them. Once you get captured, you’ll be brought to the island.”
I didn’t like how she said ONCE I was captured, not IF I was captured.
“You have the skills,” She continued. “You three can do this if you stay sharp and recognize places. Sometimes you will receive provisions, sometimes you will have to get them yourself. You will need all your skills. Remember, you might need to know how to tie someone up just as much as knowing how to escape. Don’t forget anything we taught you, all of it was for a reason and all of the exercise were equally important.”
“The three of you may not be the most promising trio we have received,”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“But I believe that you can still do it. Don’t get discouraged by the failures of the past. Even if they fail, even if you fail, sooner or later someone will succeed. And the girls to succeed could be you. Remember, you aren’t doing this for yourself. You’re doing it for the girls stuck in the island. If you don’t succeed, you’ll join them. I couldn’t thank you three girls more. You are risking your own freedom for something like this. True, you might not understand that, but I couldn’t appreciate it more. You three will make me proud.”
I was silent. It wasn’t like I was complimented like that too much. But still, so much pressure! I guess the true weight of our situation never dawned on me yet. Call me stupid, okay? If we failed this, and everyone so far had failed it, we would never see our families or homes again. That island would BECOME our home, forever, or at least until some other girls succeeded which didn’t seem very likely. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like, getting tied up year round, seeing other girls join the midst.
“Any final tips?” Elise asked.
She nodded. “You might be able to contact us. They have contact devices some places, but you might not be able to use them. We might be able to help you. Get help from the island. The girls there will always be willing to help, that is if you can free them. Sometimes your allies are handed out as rewards. Often times there is a challenge that you can do, and if you succeed you get an ally. But consider if it’s worth it. You could lose yourself in such challenges. They are never easy.”
“Don’t let your guard down. Ambushes and traps will occur. Take watches, never let everyone sleep at one time. Don’t eat too much, and don’t go too long without eating or drinking. That will cost you.”
The woman rubbed her shoulder. “I don’t know if there is much more to say. Most of it may well be about instinct and split-second decisions. There is only so much we can help with. Once you are on that island, it will be up to you. But I believe in you. Everyone that you met in this camp will be rooting for you. Remember, we’ll be watching.”
“Thanks,” Melody said.
The woman walked over and unlocked our handcuffs. “Let’s go.”
I walked past the camp that I had been tied up so many times in. Every building I passed I could recall a situation where I was unable to move. I recognized spots on the ground where I squirmed, or poles and fences were I was tied to. I knew the cabins that held various bondage materials. I passed the mess hall, where I had spent many a meal tied up. I walked past the showers, my favorite part of the camp. The office, where I had first arrived and pictures of previous girls hung on the hallways. My own cabin, where I went to every night to by restrained in my bed only to be woken up in a different place. The lake, where I had often gone to go swimming or be tied up and wet. Good times, bad times.
Sadness welled up in my chest. I would miss this place. Even though most of the time I couldn’t do more than struggle like a fish, I had grown an attachment to this place. I knew the geography of the camp like the back of my hand. I had done so many things in this week, it was incredible. I wondered if I succeeded, I would ever go back.
We walked into the parking lot and entered a car. I barely noticed, too distracted by the wonderful deserted camp I was leaving behind.
Before I knew it we were on the road. Trees and other cars whizzed past us but I wasn’t watching too much. Too busy thinking of the impossible tasks that were coming up. How could I do what dozens of girls failed at? These people that I would be going up against had tons of experience capturing defenseless (well, not really) girls like me. What did I have? A lot of experience with flopping around ground. Yeah, this was going to help.
I fell asleep. The trip was a long one. I was awake a few others, and I was asleep some more. I couldn’t tell how long we were driving, but after an hour and a half we stopped at Jack in the Box to get some lunch. After that the hours seemed to slip by like grains of sand.
The driver was the woman. None of us talked too much, maybe it was because of our upcoming task. I didn’t mind. We would have plenty of time later.
Afternoon passed and soon the sun was tickling the land as sunset was starting. The woman had told us that we were approaching the city, where she would have to drop us off alone.
Alone. What did that mean? We wouldn’t have any adults with us, nobody to be in charge of. For once, I would be in charge of myself. Responsible for myself.
For as long as I could remember, my parents had been very protective. They wouldn’t let me hang out with a friend unless I knew them for several years. They almost never let me go out alone until recently. Whenever I went somewhere without parent supervision it always sent a thrill to me.
But know I was missing that warm but annoying feeling. Of having someone else watching my back, making sure it was okay. Now all I had were to girls who were equally scared at me, going up against an entire island that wanted to enslave us for life.
I looked out to see that we were entering the city. It was strange seeing something like this after being cooped up in the camp so long. City lights, cars, shops, everything. It seemed abnormal and weird, but I guess that just meant I was weird.
I sighed. We were here. Dusk had fallen.
The car stopped and I followed Elise and Melody out of the door.
Game on.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Thu Jun 14, 2012 5:19 pm

I looked over my shoulder. I was walking along the street with Melody and Elise. It was kind of cold, and I was glad to be wearing a hoodie and jeans. Melody had only a sleeveless blue tee and a skirt. Elise was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. It wasn’t too cold, but still.
I wondered if we were being followed. People from the island were looking out for us. They might even know what we looked like already.
If they did, then once they spotted us it didn’t matter. They could follow us until there was an opportunity and kidnap us. But if they didn’t know what we look like, then it was a whole nother ball game.
Then it would be smart to split up. A group of three would be what they were expecting. But then again, lone girls in the middle of the night was exactly inconspicuous either. This was all looking bad.
Sticking together had advantages and disadvantages. Together, there was strength in numbers. We were more confident and sturdy together. If they came and attempted to catch us, one or two of us could get away while the unlucky person got tied up. However, if they had a big enough group all of us could be tied up in one go, making staying in a group a stupid idea.
I could only hope that the same things were going around in Elise and Melody’s heads. We needed to think here.
With the little conversation on the trip here, we had agreed that if we were being chased we would split up and try to meet at a rendezvous. Unfortunately, right now we were too scared to talk about that rendezvous, so that plan wasn’t looking too hot right now.
“Where will we meet?” Melody piped up.
Finally! Someone said something! “Let’s meet at one of the taller buildings,” I suggested. “Then we’ll all know where it is. If the others don’t show up until awhile, we’ll have a second rendezvous point.”
Elise nodded. “We should avoid going into buildings. We’re in a public area. They can’t do anything in front of everyday people. We can use them as shields. Going inside can cut off our routes. We need open space.”
We decided to have our first rendezvous at the tallest building, which would be easy to spot. Our second rendezvous would be at a building with purple light at the top, also easy to spot. This was looking good.
“We’ve got person on our tail, don’t look now,” Melody said.
I had to force myself not to look. I knew it was a matter of time. “Let’s take a corner, then we can look. Who is it?”
“It’s a guy with a black coat and tie, bowler hat,” Melody said. We turned a corner and I stole a look. She was right. He was about six feet tall. I was impressed with Melody, but I didn’t give myself too much time to think about it.
Should we lose him? It probably wasn’t possible. There had to be plenty of guys like these around here. People looking to catch us. Besides, we probably couldn’t lose him anyways. He was a professional.
“What now?” I asked.
“Split up,” Elise said. “He can’t follow all of us. The one he follows try to lose him and meet at the rendezvous. Got it?”
We headed different directions, Melody went to the right, Elise to the middle, me to the left. I avoided looking back, even though it was totally tempting. Who did the guy follow?
I stuck to the sidewalk, avoiding crossing streets. I couldn’t afford to wait at a stoplight. I had to create some distance. I sneaked a look back. The man wasn’t following me, but there seemed to be a new guy. This one wore a brown jacket and wore sunglasses even though it was dark. Typical. It only made him stand out more though. It would be easy to keep track of him.
I turned a corner and sneaked a look. He was definitely following me now. I was right. There were multiple people following us. I bet if I checked his pockets I would find tape and some handcuffs.
I turned another corner and went into the shop, labeling Mike’s Noodle Shop. I hoped that it would work and the guy would just walk past. I mean, there was no way he could know that I went in there. But if he did find out, I was pretty much screwed since there weren’t any other exits to this place.
I counted to a hundred. Safe.
I hurried out of the shop in a brisk pace in the direction I came from. Unless the guy doubled back he wouldn’t find me. But there could always be another one. There was no way to find out for sure.
I hurried to the rendezvous point, crossing street after street. I wondered what the reaction all these people would have if they knew what I was really doing, what I had really been through, and what was going to happen to me. It would be quite a shock. Heck, it was still a pretty big shock to me. But that was over. I needed to focus on what was happening now.
For all I knew, this place was crawling with people just waiting to kidnap me. It was time to meet up with my (sort of) pals and figure out a strategy before inevitably getting captured.
I almost stopped. What was the point? We were going to get captured anyways, so we were just going to waste energy trying to avoid it while doing so? Things weren’t making much sense right now, but then again, it never really did.
I looked around. I wondered if those guys had found me again. I was almost to our rendezvous point. With luck, Elise and Melody would have shaken off their guys like I did and we could all figure something out there.
Worst case scenario? Somehow the bad guys would be there and we would walk into a trap, which wasn’t too good for us. I could almost imagine it happening.
I walked quickly, changing directions to throw people off, just in case. I would take unnecessary turns and twists. I didn’t want it to seem too obvious by looking back every minute or so, so I restrained myself from looking back. I tried to move with big crowds to mask my own presence.
I got to the rendezvous building. It was the tallest building around with about seventy floors. Most of the lights were turned off.
I waited on the steps, trying not to stand out. Sooner or later somebody was going to see me. If someone didn’t come quick, things were going to be bad.
I turned. Footsteps echoed quickly and the sounds of a chase. Great. Just what I needed. It seemed that my pursuers had come to me.
I saw Melody running up towards me. A man was chasing her. This was not good.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Hybris » Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:46 pm

Still loving your stories.
"I expected you to be more of a struggler, boy."

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:11 am

Sorry, but I won't really have any real "tie up" scenes for a little while. I mean, there has to be other parts of a story too, right? Just give it a little time, it'll come.
“Inside!” Melody said. When she reached me we raced inside the tall building, accidentally pushing a couple of people. We burst through the doors.
“Elevator?” I asked.
“We can’t wait for it,” Melody insisted. “Take the stairs, they won’t be able to see which floor we got off of.”
We raced to the stairs and started climbing the flights. My shoes stomped on each of the metal steps, making a loud sound. I could hear the door flying open as they gave chase. There were two people now after us.
Melody’s idea was okay, but now it wouldn’t really matter now that they were chasing us. It would be easy to spot which floor we got off of. I was suddenly glad for all the exercise we had at the camp. I could use the extra stamina it provided, seeing at this long chase we had.
After maybe ten flights of stairs Melody raced through one of the doors. We were in one of those dull office rooms with the cubicles and all that. I guess that work was let out or it was a weekend (hey, I had been tied up and gagged and blindfolded and all that for WEEKS, how am I supposed to keep track of time?) so there was nobody there. The lights were out except for a few that dimly let the area.
We crouched down behind a cubicle and I held a finger to my lips. Melody nodded.
We heard the door open.
“Where do you think they went, Hank?” One guy with a gruff voice said.
“Dunno,” A voice that had to be Hank replied. “These ones are pretty good, threw me off their trail. If the Asian girl wasn’t running like she was from you I might not have seen her.”
“Shut up, we’re supposed to be looking for them.”
I heard Hank pout. “Just because you’re bossy doesn’t make you better than me, John.”
“Your right,” John agreed. “I’m just plain better than you. You want to find these two or not? We’re wasting time.”
“We’re wasting time?” Hank said incredulously. I could hear his voice was closer to us now, and was getting increasingly closer. He would be on to us soon. “Let’s rephrase that sentence. How about ‘I’m an idiot and I’m wasting time while my friend Hank is doing all the work’?”
“Your no friend of mine, you idiot.” These guys both seemed like idiots to me.
“Idiot? Look who’s talking! You’re not helping at all! John, you probably couldn’t find these girls if they were holding up signs above their heads!”
“Ha, at least I’m not a brainless moron who gets lost on his way to the bathroom.”
“Lost on my way to the bathroom? Well, at least…. I…. Uh….. Um…. I don’t go….. into……Uh…. The girls bathroom!” He was incredibly close now, I could even feel his footsteps on the floor.
“Do you want to go away and try to think up a better retort?”
“Do you want to actually get this job done?” He was right next to us.
Suddenly Melody lashed out with her fist, catching him. He stumbled back. Fast as lightning, Melody sent a roundhouse kick to his face followed by a swift elbow to his chest. Hank fell to the ground, groaning.
John raced towards us around the cubicle. I looked around and saw a stapler and threw it at him. It clipped his shoulder and he stumbled. I grabbed an M&M dispenser and chucked it at him. The dispenser flipped and caught his legs which sent him tumbling.
“Let’s go!” Melody cried, grabbing my hand. We raced back through the door we came, hurrying down the steps three at a time.
“Nice job there,” I complimented.
“You too,” Melody replied. We were already at the bottom of the steps by the time they opened the door, cursing. We burst open the door where Elise.
“Where were you guys?” She said. “I’ve been waiting here forever!”
“No time!” I said. “We gotta go!” With that we raced out of the building.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:53 pm

We raced across the streets until we saw the men.
Really, it wasn’t too hard to spot these guys. For one, they all wore these same coats. If they didn’t they were dressed as policemen with sunglasses, which didn’t really make too much sense seeing how it was night. Actually, they ALL wore sunglasses at night which meant that they stuck out like sore thumbs.
Anyhow, what the policemen thing told us was that they could arrest us (well, at least fake it) right out in public and be fine. Talk about not good.
“Stop!” Elise said. We skidded to a halt as two men in long brown coats and a fake policemen walked slowly but deliberately towards us.
“Stopping,” I said. “Now what do we do?”
“Other way,” Melody suggested. We turned, but unfortunately our friends Hank and John had caught up from before. They were closing in from both sides.
“Think we can take them down?” Melody suggested. To be perfectly truthful, I was thinking that we could probably take them in a full on brawl. But the problem was, even if we could take them, we were out in the public and not exactly dressed like the street patrol. If we went around kicking these guy’s butts it would just give everyone more of a reason to let us get tied up. Not that it made too much of a difference, seeing how they could tie us up in public already.
“No good,” I replied. “Way too open. We’d have to do it in an alley or somewhere deserted.”
“If we’re somewhere deserted,” Elise commented. “Then they can capture us without being seen.”
“I hope you two can think up some more good ideas fast,” Melody said quietly. “Because they’re getting pretty close.”
“How about, run?” I suggested. We ran, going down the street in heavy pursuit. I could already here them running behinds us, and when I looked back, I could see them gaining. We had already tried splitting up, which hadn’t exactly gone so well. I wasn’t too eager to try that again.
We saw them closing in again. This time three were coming towards us from the left, and five to the right. I was getting tired. Even with all the exercise, we had been running full sprint, and adrenaline didn’t last forever. There were so many of them!
“Here!” Elise cried, pointing into an alleyway. Great. But I didn’t have any time to argue so we raced through. Hopefully, they wouldn’t see us. If they did, maybe their large group would slow them down.
Two men appeared at the other side. I knew this would happen! We were stuck now, we couldn’t go back because of the men behind us and now these guys were here!
“Let me at them!” Melody cried. The two men rushed at her, but Melody was a good fighter. She met the grab that the first men attempted with a kick straight at his stomach. A knuckle sandwich followed to the second man followed by a kick to both their shins as they toppled over.
“C’mon!” She said.
“Aah!” Elise cried. We were still running, but I looked back. One of them men had caught up and had grabbed Elise’s wrist. She was already being pulled into the crowd of pursuers, handcuffs and rope began to bind her and her cries became muffled as one of them stuffed a cloth in her mouth.
I kept on running. The horrible truth was that if we went back to help Elise, there was nothing we could do other than get captured ourselves. Elise was captured, but we were still out there.
We ran as fast as we could, pushing past people and dashing through sidewalks. I ignored the startled comments of the pedestrians we were pushing around, but I didn’t care. We had to get away as far as we could.
Melody pulled at my wrist and we ran into an antique store. We panted, happy to be inside. Hopefully they wouldn’t spot us.
Inside was various trinkets and stuff, dimly lit. There was a sleeping shopkeeper, which didn’t seem that great of a security. There were picture frames, little statues, some chocolates on the counter, wind chimes, all sorts of random stuff. Most of it was junk that nobody would want, but some of the stuff looked like it held real value.
Melody went over and popped a chocolate in her mouth. I took a step back to catch my breath. We were safe, for now. But we couldn’t stay here forever, what would happen if that shopkeeper woke up? Bad news, probably.
“That went well,” I muttered.
“At least we got away,” Melody said.
“What’s the point?” I said, frustrated. “We’re just going to end up like her anyways, so why are we running? Let’s just get to the island and get it done and over with! No point in holding us in! Let’s just throw ourselves over to them!”
Melody stared at me. “Is that what you think?”
“Why not?” I said. “It’s inevitable. We can’t go around hiding and running like this forever. Eventually they’ll get us like they got Elise. What’s the point! That’s right, there is no point. This is pointless.”
Melody sat down on a cushy chair carved with pictures of lions. “You don’t believe that.”
“You think so?” I said sarcastically.
“At least, I don’t think you think that.” She fingered a porcelain bowl, examining all of its sides. “If you really thought that, then you wouldn’t be here. You would have gave up a long time ago at this camp. At the very least, you would have thrown yourself over right then and there.”
“I could do that now,” I pointed out.
She looked up. “But you’re not going to.”
“Why?” I sat down on the floor. “Will you stop me?”
“No,” She said. “You’re not going to do it because you believe that this is worth it. You’re a fighter. You don’t want to go down without a fight. You don’t want to make it easy for them in anyway, despite what you’re telling yourself right now. Right now, your mind is telling you that this doesn’t make sense and it’s pointless, but another part of you, the nice part of you, is telling not to just give up.”
She put the bowl down. “Listen, if you give up, then this isn’t worth it. Just going out the easy way isn’t going to do you any good. You have to fight for every moment you got here, even if it seems pointless. Because listen, it’s not. Every moment we’re out here evading capture is another moment that those jerks have to see that we aren’t some pushovers that will let ourselves get captured. I’m not going to do it, but I can’t stop you.”
I blinked. Melody was younger than me, but it seemed like she could stare right through me. She was incredible at reading people. I had never thought of that myself, but when she said it, I knew it was true. I didn’t want to go down without them knowing that I fought for it. That was my nature.
I looked up at the ceiling. “Honestly, Melody, sometimes I think this entire situation is like that. Why do we try? So many have failed before us, the possibilities of us succeeding are so slim it’s ridiculous. If they couldn’t do it, then what makes you think we can do it? From what I’ve heard, the challenges that are coming up sound impossible to complete.”
Melody thought about it for a moment. “I admit, sometimes I find it hard to see how we’ll succeed. I’m a believer, Jami. But you have to admit, they can’t make it impossible. And we can’t quit. Eventually, sometime, someone will succeed, whether it’s us, or girls a decade into the future. If we quit, then that means we didn’t try. I don’t think I could live like that, and neither could you. To live on an island forever, knowing that you went there practically willingly, that you didn’t even fight for defiance. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. And neither could you.”
“Maybe your right,” I admitted. Though even as I said it, I knew she was right. “You have a way with words, Melody.”
“I guess I do,” She said with a smile.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:39 pm

I hope this story part is as good as the last part.
We walked casually across the streets, looking for our adversaries. So far, it seemed that we had lost them. But I knew that they would be back. There was no way that they would just give up like that. If I knew anything about these guys, it was that they were relentless. They would never give up.
We walked for about half an hour before Melody spotted them. It was our old friends Hank and John, arguing loudly as usual. We turned a street away from them quickly, and soon they were far behind, heading in the opposite direction.
So far, things hadn’t been going too bad. True, we lost Elise, but we were doing a pretty good job of avoiding them. It was strange seeing all these people doing their normal business, while we were on our own mission.
Problem was, we had no money. That meant no taxis, no buses, no buying food even though I was kind of hungry. So that meant that eventually if we avoided them too long we would have to turn ourselves over to them so they would feed us. Or find some alternative to this, but that really didn’t look like it was going to happen.
“Let’s avoid going in dark alleys,” I suggested. That experience before hadn’t gone so well.
“You didn’t need to tell me,” Melody said. “Once was enough.”
This was a big city, I didn’t even know where we were. But it was a nice place, full of people, shops, roads, all sorts of stuff. It was nice being in a populated area again. The weather was pretty good too, only a few lazy clouds drifted in the sky. It was a pretty warm night too, perfect.
That is, if we weren’t running around avoiding kidnappers dressed like wannabe detectives and fake policemen.
“Do you think we should be doing something?” I asked.
“Define ‘something’” Melody said, looking out for more of those guys.
“I mean, do you think that this part might be for something?” I asked. This entire idea didn’t seem right, we were pretty much waiting to be kidnapped. There had to be something that we were supposed to be doing.
“You aren’t being too clear,” Melody stated.
“I mean, right now, there has to be a purpose for being inside the city, right?” I said.
“If you say so,” Melody said. If you ask me, she wasn’t really paying attention to me. She seemed much more concerned about the stuff around us.
“Are you listening to me?” I asked.
“Sure,” She said. “Your saying that we might have to do something right now other than avoid being captured, which isn’t bad thinking in general, but right now I think we should focus on those henchmen from before. After all, if we don’t we won’t have any time to do whatever your saying.” I guess she was listening after all. But still.
“What if that’s the entire point?” I said. “What if the real reason those guys are after us are to distract us from what we’re really supposed to be doing!”
Melody glanced at me. “Well, if they want to distract us, I think it’s working. But I still think that their true purpose is to kidnap us and bring us to the island.”
“But if that was the only thing,” I argued. “Then they could have just requested us to be shipped to the island. There has to be something here that has to do with things. Something extra.”
“I hope you can figure it out,” Melody replied. “Because I don’t get what we ‘really’ are supposed to be doing.” She blinked. “They’re here.”
I followed her gaze. It looked like half a dozen of them were coming towards us, and no doubt they spotted us. Dang it, I guess that we were too distracted with the conversation to avoid them. My fault as usual. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.
“We’ll talk about that after we escape,” Melody suggested. “Meet at the second rendezvous.”
“You want to split up?” I asked, slightly surprised. Splitting up hadn’t worked so well in the past.
“With more of them right now, and less of us, we are at an advantage,” She said. “It’s harder for them to be organized with more people, plus they’ll have to halve themselves to chase both of us. I think we should do it.”
It was weird being suggested by a girl younger than me, but she seemed more capable than me. “Sure,” I said. “Let’s go.”
With that she ran to the left and I fell back. The men seemed to be expecting us and split up into groups of six, but I guess Melody was right. There was a momentary confusion at first, some of them went one direction but switched after seeing others go to one group. It seemed that they hadn’t decided who would be in each group.
That gave me plenty of time to walk quickly away, but I knew that they were right behind me. If I ran, that would convince them to run as well. So did that mean I should run or not?
The answer was given to me. One of them started running towards me, which likewise prompted me to respond in fashion. Soon the rest of them were running as well, feet digging at the sidewalk to pursue.
Heads turned in interest and annoyance perked up as we pushed past people. But hey, I guess what was going on was a little more important.
My arms pumping, I raced through the streets. I would have J-walked (or J-ran, I guess) across the street but it was too busy, so I was forced to stay on the sidewalk. No way could I just turn into some random store, they would easily see me and trap me.
Was there something I was supposed to do? Yeah, like avoid getting captured. That was something.
I shook my head. If I kept thinking like this I would get caught, like we were blindsided by them when we were thinking about my random thoughts.
A policemen popped out of an alley and made a grab for me. I recognized him as a fake and dodged the grab. Weeks of training gave me the instinct of defense. I may not have been as a good of a martial artist like Melody (she was practically a ninja) but I still knew my stuff.
I kicked at him but he backed up warily. I closed in fast, ramming him with my shoulder. I ran past him, but the others were catching up with that distraction.
I looked back, they were right behind me! I poured on the speed, willing my legs to go faster. But I had been running all night, and it was taking a heavy toll.
I glanced at the street. Let’s see how great their nerve is.
I jumped over the hood of a car.and raced across the street. I could feel cars screeching to a halt and the honks of horns. My heart pounded into my chest as I waited for death. I could feel the wind blast by me as each car zoomed past me, blaring their horns.
And then it was over.
I got lucky and their weren’t too many cars, and it looked like nobody got hurt.
I got to the other side safely and looked back. The men hadn’t crossed. They didn’t want to risk it like I did. I was safe.
I took a breath. Whew.
And then I looked up to the face of a man in a dark coat and sunglasses.
My heart stopped.
He frowned and grabbed me, forcing me into an alley. Even though I was exhausted, I fought him, trying to wrench myself free from his grasp. I opened my mouth to cry out only to feel a dirty rag stuffed inside. I felt cold metal handcuffs slap around my wrists and tighten.
The man finished the gag with a slap of duct tape across my lips. Three more strips joined the sealing and I was silenced. He started wrapping up my ankles with tape until I couldn’t move my legs. My knees and thighs were soon encased as well.
I was caught. It was over. I hadn’t escaped or done anything.
Once he was done binding me he got out a burlap sack and covered me. The world went dark, and I felt the sack tighten, so I was trapped like a caterpillar in chrysalis stage.
I squirmed in the bag, but I was already bound and gagged. There was nothing I could do.
I heard the other men come by. They had caught up. I would have grit my teeth if I wasn’t gagged. I had worked so hard to get away from them only to get caught by another one. I had gone through the scariest moment of my life for nothing.
I felt myself being slid into a cushy surface. When I moved around I found I was being slid into a narrow square thing. Like a package. I wouldn’t have been surprised. I heard the ripping of tape sealing the package and I was lifted, probably by multiple people.
I sighed a “mmmm.” There was no use in struggling. You can’t struggle in handcuffs. I was being carried off to who-knows-where. It was time to go to Bondage Island.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:21 pm

The sack came off me and I was thrown into the back of a van. It was dark, and I could barely see, but it was enough for me to make out shapes with me. But before I could hardly get up, someone attached some handcuffs to my handcuffs, and cuffed them to a small metal ring in the floor, chaining me to the floor of the van.
I waited for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Once they did, I saw my friends. Elise was tied with her hands above her in a kneeling position, her thighs tied to her shins and her arms tied above her to a metal ring at the top of the van. I could see her thumbs tied and super-knots on all her restraints. She was cleave gagged and blindfolded.
Melody was a mummy of black tape. She was wrapped in tape from her shoulders to the soles of her feet and tape wrapped around her head. She wriggled like a worm and whimpered a little bit.
I sighed in my gag. This was going to happen anyways. What was the use?
To be perfectly honest, I was waiting for this. Now the game was on. Where we would have to test everything we had in this island. Where we gave it everything we got.
I guess that all that stuff about their being a purpose to the city stage was just a bunch of baloney. Either that, or we never got the chance to figure it out. I didn’t notice anything, and it didn’t look like Melody had any chance to do anything either. Now we were just bound in the back of a van, trapped and helpless.
Trapped and helpless. Surprising how much time we spent like that. And we enjoyed it. Weird. If we didn’t at least partially enjoy this, then we wouldn’t be here. We were chosen for being weird, in a way, I guess.
Was I enjoying this? Sort of. I could feel the nervousness creeping throughout me. I could pee in my pants (and that had happened before, a bunch of times lately). To go to a challenge like this, it was nerve-wracking.
We waited inside the van for hours. I eventually fell asleep. It was difficult getting into a position that was comfortable with my arms chained behind my back to somewhere, but I managed. It had been a frustrating night.
I dreamed I was a fairy. Funny, I had always wanted to be one when I was a little girl. I would dress up every Halloween as one.
My wings were translucent and were a little sticky when I touched them. They were shaped like butterfly wings. I was wearing an orange dress that stopped at my ankles but had no arm sleeves. It was a beautiful color, and the dress had wavy designs etched into the fabric.
The sky was dark, but despite being no clouds in the sky, there were no stars. I saw the world small-size, I was guessing I was about the size of a hand. I zipped across the sky on my wings, maneuvering and doing backflips.
What it was like to have freedom! The sky all to myself, free from anything, bindings, school, responsibility. I could do anything, if I so wanted.
I zoomed, flying through the shadowy forest, zipping up and over the now-large branches. I soared up high and hit a bunch of branches. Clumsy me. But I could fly straight through this. Nothing could stop me.
I burst through the leaves and crashed into something. It felt like nothing, but it was so strong. I looked to see sticky film clinging to my body, everywhere. On my legs, arms, chest, all over my body. I was suspended in the air.
A spiderweb.
I tried shaking it off, willing my wings to move. I thrashed at the sticky web, but that only caused me to get more entrapped. There was nothing I could do. Soon I could barely move in the web, a trapped fairy.
I looked up to see a spider coming. It was huge! Bigger than I had ever seen, and up close and personal, enlarged, was a gruesome sight. I had always been deathly afraid of spiders. The multiple beady eyes and the numerous legs were too much. I closed my eyes.
I felt the legs of the spider grab me and silk covering me, sticky and thicker, binding my arms to my sides. The silk was placed on my skin and I shuddered as I started to get wrapped up.
The spider had intelligence like spiders really shouldn’t. It reinforced places like my legs and arms, and when I let out a whimper it forced a glob of silk into my mouth, gluing my tongue and teeth in the horrid silk.
The spider started to spin me as I got wrapped in silk. I could feel my new wings getting pressed against my body as the silk laid on everything I was. I was getting mummified in the sticky silk.
I was getting wrapped, nothing I could do would help. I struggled weakly. The spider wrapped up to my neck, and he got closer, covering my mouth completely so I was silent. I felt my hair messed up with the sticky silk and stuck to me, and the world went dark, covered in silk.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:22 pm

I gasped, or tried to, as I was still gagged. I looked out. It was daybreak. Wait a second. I looked and I was tied to a chair. But this wasn’t any chair. It was an airplane chair. No, a jet chair.
My arms were taped to the armrest and my ankles bound together. My belly was bound to the back of the chair and my mouth taped shut.
I blinked, trying to forget about my nightmare. I was dreaming about bondage in my sleep. I had never felt a dream, nightmare or no, so real. Great that it had to be a bad experience. The silk had felt sticky and gross, and the feeling of being wrapped up like that was horrifying.
I tested the tape bindings, but they were as strong as ever. I harrumped. If we were going to crash, I figured that we were pretty much dead. There was no way we could do any parachute business taped up like this. Talk about a disregard for safety.
Of course, these guys never really cared about safety in the first place.
I had been on planes before, but never a jet. I had certainly never been tied up on a jet. I guess there was a first time for everything.
I looked out the window to see we were above an ocean, and I could see an island in the distance. It was huge! I could see a beach, a jungle, a castle, two giant mountains. Pretty much what a tropical island looked like. I could see buildings, too. It was pretty far away, but we were approaching fast.
A little screen flipped down from the ceiling, kind of like those TVs in some cars.
“Welcome, challengers, to Bound on Air,” A pleasant woman’s voice. “You are now approaching an island that is not on the map, with an untraceable signal. If you have cell phones, please turn them off. They will be useless anyways. Thank you.”
I rolled my eyes. What the heck was this?
On the screen it showed the revolving island. “Please keep in mind that once you are freed, you will be on your own. You will be given a map. Your goal is to reach the second mountain at the other side of the island. Failure to do so will cause eternal entrapment on this island unless another generation of girls succeeds. If you succeeds, you will be sent gifts and be allowed to bring all the captured girls home with you.”
The screen showed a picture of the jungle. “Keep it mind that you will be on your own. If you are unable to continue, you will be subdued and your chance over. You may recruit any of the girls you free on the way.”
The picture showed scenes of girls being caught in traps, tied up, grabbed by people, doing other random things that involved being bound. “The island will do all they can to capture you, so be careful. There are some challenges that you must do to continue. Failure to do said challenges will result in your immediate capture.”
A map of the island came up on the screen. “You will be given a map, showing the general directions of which you are going. You will also be given bracelets which will alert you of necessary challenges that you need to do. Good luck.”
I felt the plane descend as we approached the island. We were going down to a landing pad sort of place.
We landed with a slight jerk. The pilot got out from the, what was it called? The cockpit? Anyhow, he came from the driver’s seat. He was a stern looking man with a suit and one of those weird hats. Is chin was like Superman’s.
I saw the pilot come up and he wrapped a bandanna over my eyes, darkening everything. I heard the ripping of tape, and then the mmphing as he restrained Melody, then Elise.
I ripped the tape of my hands and I winced, the tape hurt when taken off. He left the gag on, and once I was finally free he started tying my wrists together. He was pretty good, and when he was done the ropes were snug around my wrists, I could feel it binding me together. I pulled at them to no avail. It looked like everyone here was a professional.
I felt him tie a loop of rope around my neck, like a collar. A stab of fear went through me. What if it was all a hoax, and we had already failed? What if they would just imprison us right now, not even give us a chance at the island? It didn’t really look like they were untying us right now.
I felt the pull on the neck and I was forced to stumble along after the man, bumping into things. I hit my head on the top of the door. I could tell Melody did too by the “Mmph!” that followed after me.
When I stepped out I could feel the temperature rise by about eight degrees. It was hot, but not too hot. Perfect temperature. I would have looked out if I could see, or took a breath of the fresh air if I wasn’t gagged. Why did being bound have to get in the way of my island paradise?
We were walked until I could feel we were off the landing pad and onto sandy terrain. Were we on a beach? Probably, I could hear the waves crashing behind me.
I felt the cold feeling of a handcuff on my wrist, which was pretty stupid considering I was already tied up. But it never followed on the other wrist. It didn’t have the weight another wristcuff. I blinked, realizing that this was probably the special bracelet that they were giving us.
I also felt something papery being stuffed into my pocket. The map. Looks like we were going to get our chance after all.
“Are you ready?” A girl’s voice asked next to me. It was cold and mocking, a voice that knew it had control. It wasn’t the voice of Melody or Elise. They would never talk like that.
I felt a knife against my neck and I froze. I could hear my heart beating against my chest. “Let’s see how well you do against me. It’ll be fun, I promise.” I felt the knife cut away my collar, not even scratching my skin.
“Let’s see how ready you are,” She said. “Things are about to begin.” I felt a swish and my wrists were free in a single motion.
“It’s time to begin, Jami,” She said. “The fun is just getting started.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:51 pm

I ripped off the blindfold. The sun shined through and I squinted for a moment before turning. No time to take off my gag. That would have to wait for later.
There was only one thing that was important about that girl. She had a knife. I could use it.
I spun and snapped at her wrist in a chopping motion. I felt her hand gave way and the sharp weapon plopped to the sand.
I snatched the knife from the ground and held it at the girl. She had long straight brown hair and blue eyes, and looked to be about a year older than me, maybe fifteen? I don’t know. But she was seriously pretty and I blinked a few times.
Her blue eyes shown in amusement. “Heh, I think we have a fighter here. But you’re going to have to do better than that.” Her hand flashed and suddenly she wrenched the knife out of my hand. “I’ll tie you up right now, save you everything that would have come up. I’ll end this before it starts.”
She snapped a palm at my belly and pushed, destabilizing me. I almost fell but took a step back. I was confused, but I knew enough. This girl was no ally. She was an enemy.
And I good one too. I shot a punch straight at her but she easily dodged my blows. She laughed and caught me fist. “I guess they don’t teach you very much at that camp, do they? Not anymore, I guess.” She sent a kick straight to my stomach and I gasped.
The pain hit and the wind left out of me. I closed my eyes and clutched my stomach. I was on the ground. I had lost the moment I came here. This couldn’t be happening.
The girl smiled over me. “I guess they just don’t make challengers like they used to, eh? You’re pathetic.”
I looked up at and glared at her, fighting for breath. She smiled at me as if I were some pet, and reached in her pocket to get out some rope.
A finger tapped her on the shoulder. “Sorry about this.”
Elise punched her straight in the face and the new girl went down.
Elise reached out her hand and helped me up. I looked back at the new girl. She was clutching her face and moaning. Serves her right.
“Don’t worry about her,” Elise said. “We gotta go.” We raced out to the jungle ahead of us, I could see Melody waiting for us. We raced straight in, pushing through branches, the world suddenly going darker as the trees blocked out the sunlight.
Shrubbery was everywhere, but we kept on running as fast as we could. We had to put up distance between there and us.
I wondered who the girl was. Shouldn’t the girls on the island be allies, not enemies? She seemed cruel and cold. Like a girl I knew back at my school. She was pretty, and nice on the outside, and lots of guys liked her. But she would always treat vulnerable and less popular kids badly, or mistreat kids just because they were different. Girls like them were people that looked to take advantage of others.
I realized I forgot to grab her knife. Too late now, I guess.
Finally we stopped to catch our breaths. “Whew,” I said. “Well that was fun.”
“Anyone have the map?” Melody asked. I saw that she had lost one of her sandles. Whatever, we were probably going to lose a lot of things anyways.
“I do,” I said, reaching in my pocket. Sure enough, the map was there. The map showed mostly a forest, but all over were red dots that said where we were supposed to go, in a sort of trail of where we had to go. It twisted around, and on the back it said “You MUST do all the requirement challenges. Some of the dots are blue, which means that it is optional, but a bonus will be given if you complete it.”
“There’s a red dot kind of close to us,” Melody pointed out. “Guess we have to go to it.”
“This is dumb!” Elise said. “Shouldn’t we just be able to go to the place pronto? Now we have to do their stupid challenges before we get to the big mountain.”
“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” I pointed out. “Let’s just do it and get it over with.”
“Okay, okay,” She said. “I just want to be done with this thing.”
“We’ve hardly started,” Melody said.
“I know,” She replied. We started trudging along at a more leisurely pace. Instead of crashing through the vegetation, we stepped over and around. Eventually we found a sort-of path and we walked through, heading towards whatever this thing was. So far things weren’t too bad. We hadn’t been captured yet. Of course, we hadn’t been here for more than a half an hour to an hour, so I guess that wasn’t too good. Still, it was something.
So far, so good. All we had done was run a bit and Elise had punched someone. Not too bad.
I ducked under a branch. It was kind of dense around here, I could feel the plants all around me. Part of me thought it was nice having jeans on, but the other half of me was complaining about how seriously hot it was. I took off my hoodie and tied it around my waist. That was the best I could do for now.
It really was a tropical island, with a jungle a beach, mountains. I figured that this place would be a nice place to live if it wasn’t full of people like that girl. I guess it wouldn’t be extremely bad if I got trapped on the island. Still, I would miss the real world outside, and I knew that if I stayed here too long, even this large island would feel small. Plus, I would probably spend most of my time tied up.
A hand blocked my path. I stopped abruptly.
“Stop,” Elise said.
“What?” Melody asked.
“A trap,” She said, pointing to the ground. I looked where she was pointing, and as far as I could tell, she was pointing at a pile of dirt. I blinked and turned my hair. My eyes caught a thin line. A wire, so thin I could barely see it. A tripwire.
“You know what this means?” Elise asked. I hoped the question wasn’t rhetorical.
“That we shouldn’t trigger it?” I suggested.
“We should stay off the trails,” She replied. “They’re expecting us like this, and there will probably be more traps on the trail than off. We should keep our eyes peeled for stuff like this.”
“Roger,” Melody said.
“Okay,” I agreed. We stepped off the path a good ways through pure plants and made our way in the general direction, sort of near the trail.
It was a pain tromping through everything. Even on the sort-of trail, we had to push through stuff. Now it seemed like the forest itself was going out of its way to make things harder to walk through. I pushed through leaves and branches and felt my feet being caught by roots. Twigs and branches tugged at my clothing and I cursed a little bit. This was frustrating.
But this sure beat getting caught in a trap. I realized that we were pretty lucky when we were running through the forest. All sorts of traps could have gone off. Either that, or it was deliberate. After all, the traps and challenges would probably become more difficult the farther we got. So far it wasn’t too bad, but who knew how difficult it could be in the future? It might not be very easy at all!
But we already kind of knew that. There was no way this thing was going to be a piece of cake. It was like a high-stakes test, except the penalty for losing was your freedom and your reward was equally satisfactory. If you lost, only you and your friends freedom was revoked. If you won, then every girl on the island was freed. Of course, no one in the history of Camp Bound has ever succeeded so far, so that was reassuring.
So, is there anything that could I could improve on? Like things that you were like "man, that could have been better" or "oh, that wasn't written very well". Please put a comment to help me become a better writer!
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Hybris » Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:23 pm

Just checked back on the story and I'm sorry to see how you don't get feedback.. It's awesome. Don't stop. And, everyone, if you like a story, let the writer know.
As for your storytelling, I think it's great. I don't mind when there's not a tie-up thing every 5 lines. Keep it up.
"I expected you to be more of a struggler, boy."

### Re: The Island

Post by Bruno » Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:42 am

i'm sorry i haven't been commenting as i read your story. it's fantasic! and i like your snappy writing style and the sarcastic mind of jami.
please keep going till the end!

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sat Jun 23, 2012 11:06 am

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. You'd think with it being summer around here, I'd have more time to write.... Anyhow, I put it extra long this time, so, yeah.
“This is it,” Melody stated. She was checking the map a lot, looking up and down and guiding us, but right now, I wasn’t too convinced. We were looking at a whole bunch of nothing right now. That is, if plants and shrubs and recurring trees were now new. I didn’t think so.
“You sure?” Elise said.
“Yeah, there’s a red dot here, and we passed the river and headed northwest from there, so we should be here,” Melody replied. I took her word for it, I had a terrible sense of direction.
“I’m positive,” She reassured. “Maybe the maps wrong.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” I muttered. “With all that’s happening, it would be stupid to trust something that they gave us.”
“Let’s get in closer,” Elise suggested. “Maybe there’s something we’re missing.” We walked in, but as far as I could tell, unless kicking shrubs and getting bit by mosquitoes was some kind of challenge, we were being totally tricked.
I studied the ground, it was kind of bleached beneath the dirt, and when I stomped it didn’t feel like, I don’t know, ground. I knelt, touching the soil that was full of weeds and ferns. I brushed aside and dug a small hole when THUD. Stone.
“Got it!” I announced. My friends rushed towards me and I pointed out the small indentation marking the white stone beneath the layer of soil.
“Underground,” Elise breathed. “We have to find an entrance.” We spread out, looking for maybe a hatch or something, digging small holes everywhere. I dug with my fingers and sometimes my feet, but all I saw were likewise bricks of white stone, almost as if there was a floor beneath us. I knew better. It was likely that this stone was more like a roof.
“Here!” Elise called. She was opening a hatch like a trapdoor, but it was obviously heavy. A small string with a little ring attached to was being pulled on. She had lifted the opening maybe an inch. I grabbed it and with help of Melody pulled it open. It was like a pothole, and had a ladder going in the inside. It reminded me of those sewer holes that were pretty much everywhere.
“After you,” I said. Elise rolled her eyes and lowered herself in, scaling the ladder. I followed her, my hands pressing against the cold metal, and Melody was right behind me.
It was completely dark at the bottom, aside from the light coming from the opening. I couldn’t see much, which meant that I could just walk myself in a wall.
“Got a light?” Melody wondered.
“See if there’s a light switch,” Elise suggested.
“In this thing?” I said skeptically.
“It’s manmade, and probably in modern times,” Elise replied. “So yes, I would expect there’s a light switch.” There wasn’t one, and we spent a good five minutes looking for one, probing the walls for anything that was like a switch.
“Guess we have to just go in dark,” Elise said.
“We could step into a hundred traps like that,” I protested.
“Well, unless you have a flashlight….”
“Why don’t we just leave? We can go around this thing!” I mean, what were they going to do if we didn’t go through this thing? There was no doubt that they had a zillion things out in the darkness which probably would not be very good for our little team. It would probably be tough even if we could see. But without sight? That sounded impossible.
“I’ve been thinking,” Elise replied. “I’m pretty sure that when they say that we need to go through here, we really do. The things we’ve faced so far and what we will face are achievable. It’s possible to succeed. If we don’t do whatever we have to, they’re going to send something that’s not. It’ll be impossible to pass those traps, while it’s still possible we can pass these ones.”
“It’s just unlikely that we’ll pass these ones,” Melody added. “Not impossible.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” I said sarcastically.
“Cheer up, Jami,” Elise said. “I’ll lead.” She picked up a long stick from the ground, maybe two and a half feet long. “I’ll poke this ahead of us. Maybe it’ll set off traps, and it’ll tell us where we’re going.”
Smart plan. We walked forward, with Elise poking the ground and in front to set off any tripwires or whatnot and to see where we were going. She would tell us when to turn, even though it was pitch-black. We couldn’t see, so that meant any roots on the ground we were likely to trip over. I had it better than Melody since she was going half barefoot.
The ceiling was low, only a few feet above their heads. The tunnel was clumsily made, often with hills, bumps, tree roots, everything. Sometimes it would get narrow enough that they were forced to turn sideways to get through, other times it was wide enough that we could all easily walk side by side.
I wondered where were the traps. It was pretty stupid not to take advantage of our blindness. If I were them, I would have set traps left and right. That way, even if we did poke a stick around, it would be too late to react when we triggered the trap.
I wondered if the challenges and traps really would get more difficult as we got farther. This was already pretty difficult, despite their being no traps (yet). The weirdoes here must waste a lot of time thinking up crazy traps like this one.
Suddenly Elise stopped. “Get down!” She yelled, and grabbed my wrist and pulled. I ducked just as I felt something fly over my head, right where I was. I could practically feel it above me. It hit the wall and fell less than a second before it flew.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Well, if I could see, I would probably know,” Elise replied. “I guess that’s the first trap. But there was probably other triggers that alerted others that we’re here. We aren’t fooling anyone.”
I felt around, and found the thing that had been launched at us. I felt something like string, which had three ends connected to heavy but soft balls. I had read about these on a bondage site before. What were they called? Bozos? No, bolas. They were used by Native Americans to hunt prey.
I handed them to Elise and she felt around. “Bolas,” She scowled.
“What are those?” Melody asked.
“It’s string attached to weight, designed to tangle us up,” I explained. “Usually it’ll really hurt, but judging by how the weights are soft, it’s only meant to bind us. Still, it won’t be too good if we’re hit by these things.”
“Let’s approach more cautiously,” Melody suggested.
“Don’t need to tell me twice,” I muttered. We approached carefully and slowly, watching out for wires and whatnot. I began to imagine those pressure stones that they had in the movies, where you stepped on something and it triggered something else. If something like that happened, then I probably wouldn’t have noticed. But I doubted it. That kind of thing only worked on stone floor. We were stepping over dirt and roots, not stone bricks. I guess if they had pressure-rock or root triggers it was possible.
But soon I began to see light. I guess you could call it light at the end of the tunnel, but by the color of the light, I could tell it came from fire. Or lava. That would be bad.
“Carefully,” Melody reminded us. Our foot crunched towards the light slowly, with Elise prodding the stick ahead of us.
I looked to see that it was a torch. Guess it wasn’t lava after all. I approached it, going ahead of Elise. The torch flickered ahead, and it looked like it could go on a long time. At least we wouldn’t be going blind now.
“Hey, we can use this,” I said.
“Wait up,” Elise protested. “What happened to being careful?”
“We can see now,” I said and reached for the torch. But just as I touched the torch, I felt my hands brush over something. Tripwire.
“Uh oh.”
Elise’s eyes widened.
Melody slammed against the wall, and then fell. I looked to see that she was entangled head to toe in a net that seemingly appeared from nowhere. I heard the air whoosh and Elise knocked some bolas out of the air. But the force of it was enough to wrench the stick out of her grasp.
I felt the wall open up and I pushed Elise before I felt a net hit my side. It was so strong that I fell down, feeling the net wrap completely around me, pinning my hair to my face and my arms to my sides. My legs stuck together and the net was insanely tight.
Elise cried out and I could see her arms and legs wrapped up in bolas. She toppled on top of me and I grunted as she fell.
Was this how it was going to end? My fault, as usual. I had messed things up for everyone. Now we would never get to save anyone, never get to the end.
I struggled in the net but it was no use. It was extremely tight, I couldn’t even move a finger. It felt like something was pressing against me from all sides. It was just as binding as ropes or tape, but it could be applied so much faster. They sure knew their stuff here.
I heard footsteps coming. Probably people to retrieve us. After all, all three of us were pretty much incapacitated.
I shifted my head to see that girl earlier. She was the one that had beaten me in our fight. The girl that had appeared to me earlier, the one who had given me the map.
“Looks like you didn’t get too far,” She mocked, placing a foot over my face. “I knew you wouldn’t do so well. I could see it all over your face.”
“Shut up,” I growled at her.
She seemed even more amused. “Wow, that was rude. Just because you’re not good at playing the game doesn’t mean you have to be a sore loser. Besides, what are you going to do? Can’t hit me like that, all bound like you are.”
“What about me?” Melody asked, behind her. “Can I hit you?”
The girl turned to meet Melody’s fist. Melody sent her elbows out lightning fast and slammed into her stomach. The girl was so surprised, she didn’t stand a chance. Melody was always the best martial artist. A few exchanges of blows and the girl was out cold.
“That takes care of things,” She said, a knife in her hand.
“How did you get that?” I asked.
Melody blinked and looked at the knife. “Oh, this? I got it from the city.”
“What?”
She bent down and started cutting the net away. “Remember when you said that being in the city had a purpose?”
“I don’t remember her saying that,” Elise remarked.
“You weren’t there,” I said quickly. “And?”
“Well, I thought on that,” She said. “When we got separated, I took a detour and picked up this knife. Of course, I got captured in the process but I managed to conceal it. Good thing, too, or we would be in big trouble right now.”
“No kidding,” I said, free from the net. Melody cut away the bolas tangling Elise.
“What do we do about her?” I asked, pointing to the girl that had been following us. I really didn’t like her now, her tone so mocking, even though she was probably stuck here on the island like us. She was supposed to be on our side, not helping the ones who ran this stupid place. She was a traitor.
“Here,” Elise said, digging into the girl’s pockets. She came up with rope and duct tape. “Let’s see how she likes it being tied up. I doubt she’ll be awake anytime soon.”
Together we went to work, Elise using the rope to bind her wrists behind her back, I wrapped the tape around her knees and Melody took off her shoes and stuffed her socks in her mouth. Elise used the rest of the rope to bind her elbows together, her bare feet was soon wrapped in tape, and Melody smother tape over her cheeks. She was truly bound now, just as we had been so many times at Camp Bound. No way she was getting out of that one easy.
I smirked. “Take that, you jerk. Let’s go.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:43 am

“We’re out!” Melody cried as she raised the trapdoor, signaling the end of the tunnel. I saw the earlier sights of the leafy trees and bushy grasses and ferns everywhere. Back in the jungle, but better than where we were. An orange glow was cast on the entire landscape. We were in there a long time. It was afternoon already.
I sighed. Through the entire thing, there had been tons of traps, but with the torch that we had, it was easier to see them. I figured that without the torch, we would have been tied up about twenty times.
We left our friend in the tunnel, bound and gagged. When we started walking away, she was making muffled groans into her gag. When she got out of that, no doubt she would come after us. Hopefully, she would be far behind by then. Still, I doubted that she would get out of that easily. We had used several layers of duct tape and that gag was not coming off. She would be silent for a long time. We kept the roll of duct tape, it still had a lot of tape. Who knew when she would be back? If she did, we would tape her up more tightly.
“That wasn’t too bad,” I remarked.
“Yeah,” Elise agreed, “But even so, don’t let your guard down. There’ll be plenty more traps where that came from.”
“I know, I know.”
“There’s quite a few red dots on here,” Melody commented, looking at the map. “Are we just going to go through all the closest ones?”
“Why not?” Elise said. “We have to do them anyways.”
“There’s a blue one on here nearby,” She commented. “What does that mean?”
“It means that it’s optional, but we’ll get some kind of reward if we complete it,” I said. “Let’s just skip those. No use in taking needless risks.”
“Agreed,” Elise said. “Let’s just get the next one done and over with.” We trudged on the trail now, not really caring about traps. After that tunnel I couldn’t imagine these traps being much. Besides, Melody still had a knife, which would get us out of stuff like that. We were fine.
Even so, we kept our eyes peeled for stuff like tripwires and triggers. There weren’t any. If there was, then either we were getting careless, or they were a heck lot more subtle than they were before, which might be the case actually. The knowledge of our friend in the cave coming after us wasn’t doing any favors either.
I looked out. Half of the sun was already past the horizon, and I could see that the orange glow of afternoon was fading. I wondered how long we were in that tunnel. On top of that, we had been on the jet for who knew how long. It was no surprise that the day was ending. “We should get a campsite going. It won’t be good if we’re caught out in the dark like this.”
“Alright,” Elise agreed. “let’s get going.”
“This thing isn’t lighting!” Elise growled. She was trying to create a friction fire. We had learned at Camp Bound all about survival skills. I had felt like a girl scout. Anyhow, we were taught that rubbing two sticks together didn’t really work. If you wanted to create a friction fire, you needed to get a log and poke a stick into a notch and spin the stick until there was enough friction. Elise had added a lot of flammable kindling and sticks, but she still hadn’t made a spark.
I finished my lean-to attached with duct-tape. A hand tool in the wilderness, I’d say. A lean-to was kind of like a half-tent made of sticks. A horizontal stick was suspended in mid-air in between two trees and then you laid a bunch of long sticks on it, so it was like a tent, but only halfway. It would protect me from rain, as I had laid a bunch of leaves and sticks and stuff to make it waterproof.
Melody was still finishing hers, since she had made Elise’s too. Theirs were less elegant, and smaller, but they would work. Besides, one of us would have to be awake at all times. We needed to keep watch in times like these.
“Let me try,” I said. I walked over and she handed me the stick. I put the stick into her makeshift notch and spun it as fast as I could. It was weird doing it, but I had been taught the basic concept. After a few tries, the kindling smoked and Elise softly blew on it. I left her to raise the fire.
It was getting dark out. The sun was completely gone now, and dusk was falling fast. It was getting harder to see each other. If we didn’t have light soon, things would be pretty bad.
“I’m going to go look for some plants to eat,” I suggested. I walked around, trudging through unidentifiable plants and hopping over mossy logs. I looked, trying to find something that I actually recognized. I saw quite a few poisonous plants, but none of them were lethal, and only affected when ingested. Nothing edible so far.
I wished I had the torch, but we had left it in the tunnel and Elise was still getting the fire going. I looked, and saw an edible plant. The name was weird, it was tugging on my mind. What was it called? Pokemon? No, Pokenoboy.
They had fruits that were like, I don’t know, plums? But they were really brown and stuff, and they were supposed to be pretty sour. They were kind of small, like a little bigger than cherries. Most of them, at least.
I grabbed a really long stick and started poking at it. It was pretty high up, and I couldn’t climb the dumb tree’s trunk. I eventually got it down by whacking the stick against it, which probably wasn’t the most efficient way, but I really didn’t care.
By the time I got enough for three people, it was completely dark, but I could see the glow of the fire in the distance. It really was the only thing you could see in the distance.
I came back to see Melody poking at the fire while sitting on a stump while Elise was shielding her eyes from the smoke.
“Hey,” I said, plopping the fruits on the ground.
“You got some food!” Melody exclaimed.
“It’s not poisonous, right?” Elise asked, moving away from the smoke.
“It’s safe,” I confirmed. “Good job with the fire.” I looked around for a seat or something, maybe a circular log. I had been camping before and that had always worked.
“I didn’t do much,” Melody said. “Elise did a pretty good job keeping it going.”
We passed out the fruit and ate the juicy contents. It really was sour, but I guess it was good. We hadn’t eaten for a while, so it was nice to have something in our bellies. We skipped lunch and I guess breakfast, so I had been getting pretty hungry.
The juices in the fruit was pretty good and we all ate our fill. Soon all the food was gone.
“I really hope that wasn’t poisonous, or I think I’ll die,” Melody said lazily.
“What now?” I asked. “Sleep?”
“Believe it or not,” Elise said. “I’m not really that tired.”
“Me neither,” Melody agreed. “I think I could go on a while. So much is happening, I think it would be hard to sleep.”
“You can have first watch then,” I reasoned. “But yeah, I don’t feel that tired either.” There was too much going on to go to sleep. So much was happening, it was surprising to believe this was real. It all felt like a dream, a really, really long dream. Or maybe a story, just a really, really weird one. Still, it didn’t feel real. Everything that was happening was so ridiculous. I could hardly believe that someone would go to such lengths to kidnap girls and enslave them like this. Plus, whoever this person or people was/were, they were getting away with it.
The good thing was, we were at least trying to stop it. Who knew if we would succeed?
“Jami?” Elise asked. “Come to Earth please.”
“Sorry,” I apologized. “Just thinking.”
“’Just thinking’,” She quoted.
“I do have to think sometimes,” I protested.
“I know, I know,” Elise said. “What do you guys think of this?”
Melody looked at her with a funny look in her eye. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been anticipating this for so long,” Elise explained. “I mean, the camp was a shock already, at least to me. We haven’t had too much time to get together. I guess now we can really get to know each other.”
“We did quite a bit of that at camp,” I said. “But sure, I guess all three of us are stuck here. We have nothing but time right now.”
“I still think we should be getting some rest,” Melody muttered.
“Could you go to sleep right now?” Elise challenged.
“Probably not.”
“Exactly.”
“You know, this is fun, but it all seems so dangerous,” Melody said.
“Fun?” I questioned. “Doesn’t seem too fun to me. We could get trapped here our entire lives.”
“I don’t think so,” Melody replied. “If we don’t succeed here, someone else will. I don’t believe that anything is unachievable. It’s always possible that someone could succeed.”
“It’s just ridiculously difficult,” Elise muttered.
“You get my point.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve always liked being bound,” Melody said. “It started off with my friends, and now look where it got me.”
“Everyone here likes being tied up,” I said. “I bet everyone on this island at least has an interest of it.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Elise said. “Duh. We’re only here because we have the right mindset. Like this.” She grabbed Melody’s wrists and forced them behind her back, securing them with tape.
“Hey!” Melody protested, struggling against the tape. “What was that for?”
“I’m getting bored,” Elise admitted. “Binding people with tape gets me more interested.” She started taping Melody’s bare legs together with tape, wrapping her ankles together firmly. She wrapped her knees up, which were bare since Melody was wearing a skirt.
“You didn’t need to do it on me!” Melody complained. “You could have done it on Jami!”
“I think Jami would have expected it more than you,” Elise explained.
“I might actually have,” I admitted. I always did have pretty good reflexes.
“I played tie-up games with my brothers,” Elise explained, further wrapping up Melody’s arms with tape. “They were nice guys, but they always picked on me, pretty much tying me up when I least expected it. Sometimes they would just tie me up and leave me in the shower, then lock the door from the inside so no one could get in.”
“How did you get out?” I said.
“We keep a screwdriver in there now,” She explained, taking off her socks.
“That sounds like fun,” Melody said. “I wish I had brothers like tha-“ She was cut as Elise stuffed her socks into her mouth and started wrapping tape around her head.
“Mmph!” Melody protested, her eyes wide and slightly angry, but playful too.
“I’ll take first watch.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:16 am

“It’s One-Way Cave,” Melody remarked. She was now dressed in jeans and a camouflage tee and very unbound. I’m embarrassed to say that I dozed off on watch duty, and if they hadn’t cut us some slack, we would probably bound and gagged right now. Stupid me.
I was dressed in a green hoodie and jeans, while Elise was dressed in a tank top and cargoes. They had left us new clothes while we were asleep, so we changed and left our clothes there. They also gave us some food and three backpacks, so that was nice of them. I wondered why they did it, seeing as they were aiming for us to fail. Whatever, it worked.
“The name sounds familiar,” I remarked. “Another necessary challenge?”
“Yup,” Melody confirmed. “Once we go through this, we can’t turn back.”
“Kind of why it’s called ‘One Way Cave’, right?” Elise said skeptically. “It’s not like we were turning back anyways.”
“Let’s just go,” I said. I grabbed the single torch that was on the front entrance and trudged on. We all now had hiking boots and socks, so the hard ground didn’t bother us. The ceiling was high, but dark, and everything had a damp feeling. I seriously expected to see the door close on us, but it never did. So much for being “One Way”.
We stepped over rocks and went down small inclinations. Sometimes the ceiling would get so low we needed to get down and dirty and crawl. Sometimes the ceiling was at least thirty feet high in huge rooms of pretty much nothing. I wondered if these were natural or they were man-made.
The orange light of my torch pointed out all obstacles, but I was still worried. What if a boulder dropped on my head? I heard that miners wear those hard hats to protect their heads from hitting stalactites and stuff like that. I didn’t really see how they could just hit their heads, but they wore them for a reason, so I wasn’t really in a position to doubt them.
I had never been a cave, so it was sort of cool. I figured I would be doing a lot of stuff I had never done on my trip to this island.
“Pretty dark,” Melody remarked.
“Obviously,” Elise agreed. “Wonder why nothing’s happened yet.”
“Please don’t say that,” I said. “You’re going to jinx it.”
“You believe that?” She said, her eyebrows raised.
“I like to cover my bases.”
She shrugged, “I guess that makes sense. But still, I never really believed that kind of stuff.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” I said. “But still, I think it’s nice to have stuff like that in our lives.”
“Maybe for you,” She shrugged again and we trudged on through the dark caverns. To be truthful, I was wondering too. It wasn’t like them to have intervals of this little bindings in a while.
Along the walls were what looked like cave paintings sometimes. Carvings, some of them looked prehistoric. I wondered if they were authentic. But other times spray painted graffiti showed, and a mural of bound slaves showed at one section. Another time there was an Egyptian-style painting showing a girl being tied up. A few Chinese-style paintings depicted a man over a bound girl in a Kimono. I wondered how long they spent decorating the cave. I also wondered how mad they would be if I ripped them down.
We faced a door. The cave ended abruptly, and it was evident that it was a dead end with nothing but the door. It looked kind of old, but the words were clear on it. They were carved in and painted with gold, in fancy script. On the inscription, it said “Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red.”
I stared at it. “What the heck?”
“It’s a riddle,” Melody reasoned. “I guess we have to figure it out.”
“I hate riddles,” Elise said. “What can you scratch and it becomes black?”
“Maybe it’s one of those stickers,” Melody guessed. “You know, on those lottery tickets, you scratch it off, and it’s a new color, or has something underneath it.”
“Scratch tickets?”
“Yeah, that.”
I looked at the door inscription. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s it. Gosh, I thought this place only tested our tying skills. Now it’s testing our brains too? Great.”
“Maybe it’s like that watermelon riddle,” Elise said. “It goes like ‘What’s green on the outside, red on the inside, and black when you spit it out?’, and it’s a watermelon.”
“Yeah, but a watermelon starts out green,” Melody pointed out. “And I guess if you scratch it out, it becomes red and black.”
“It only becomes red.”
“You get my point.”
“Great,” I said. “I was never good with riddles.” I remembered a boy at my school, Thomas. He was always telling riddles. He was a nice guy, but he always expected me to answer them and I never could. Like maybe one or two, but I never really did very well on the majority of them.
I watched the torch burn slowly, the fire going on indefinitely. I wondered if it would ever go out, that orange flame burning with the dark, black center.
I blinked. Of course that was it. “It’s a match!”
“A match?” Elise said, mildly surprised.
“Yeah!” Melody said, realization dawning on her face. “That was fast, good job Jami! You scratch a match on something, then it’s red top becomes black with flame! That makes so much sense!”
We turned as the door unlocked by itself. Looks like they heard us. We walked through, the torch lighting our way. I beamed at myself. I was surprised that I figured it out with pretty much no help. I had never been good at that stuff, so it kind of came as a surprise for me as well.
We hadn’t taken ten steps before the door slammed behind us and it locked swiftly. I guess that’s why it was called “One Way Cave.” I looked to see that another twenty steps away was another door, identical to the other one. But the inscription was different, and it was smeared with what looked like blood, or really dark red paint. It was completely gross, and made my stomach feel queasy.
I walked up to it. “With a knife, cut open my head,” I read aloud. “Then weep besides me while I am dead.”
Elise groaned. “Great. More riddles.”
“Evidently.”
Melody studied the inscription intently. “What can you cut, and makes you cry?”
“Or,” I suggested. “What only makes you cry when you cut it?”
“This one’s simple,” Elise said. “It’s an onion.”
I got it. Onions made people cry, and you cut them open. I was mildly impressed with how fast Elise had figured it out. When hadn’t even been staring at it for a minute before she came to that conclusion. Maybe she had onions on the mind or something.
“Wow,” Melody said as the door flung open and we proceeded as it shut behind us. “That one was ridiculously easy.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “We might have had to think about that one if Elise hadn’t just gotten it.”
“It wasn’t too hard,” Elise said. “When Melody said that onions popped into my head.”
We trudged on, but instead of a door with a riddle, a girl stood in our path. Or kneeled was more like it. She had glassy blue eyes, hardly focused. She barely noticed us. Her hair was maybe two inches below shoulder level, and wavy at the end. Her hands were chained to the walls and her ankles were chained to the floor. She was dressed in ragged, dirty clothing, and looked thirteen to fourteen years old.
She looked up, slightly. She was cleave-gagged, but from the looks of it, she couldn’t speak even if she wanted to. A sign was around her neck. It read “A father and a son are in a car, and they get into a crash. The father dies, and the son is badly injured. The son is put in the hospital, but when the doctor comes, the doctor says, ‘I can’t operate on this boy. He’s my son’. Who is the doctor?”
We paused, staring at the sign.
“Well,” I said. “This one doesn’t rhyme.”
“We gotta help her!” Melody said. She ran forward but abruptly stopped and rebounded, crashing as if there was a force field. She clutched her nose and groaned a little bit.
“Ouch,” She said. “Screen.” I blinked. It must’ve been pretty good. I didn’t see anything. I walked forward and indeed, it was as if there was an invisible wall. We couldn’t help her. Well, we probably could if we solved the riddle.
“This riddle business is getting frustrating,” Elise muttered. “I wonder, if the girl can’t make it before we solve the riddle, do they just let her die?”
“What a depressing thought,” I remarked.
“It was just a thought!”
“They probably wouldn’t let her die. Probably.”
“Oh, I really don’t want to get stuck here on this island.”
Melody studied the girl. “I’m guessing that we should probably figure this out. I kind of don’t want her to die, and plus, we probably need to figure it out if we want to get forward. Get it?”
“What I don’t get,” I said. “Is why do they even leave her out like that? Why even show her, why don’t they just put a door?”
“Maybe it’s to get us moving,” Elise suggested. “Maybe they don’t want us to just camp out in the caves. Or maybe there’s something else. She could be our first ally in the island. I’m pretty sure that if we save her, she’ll join us, and those people on the island told us that we should get as much help as we can get, right?”
“I know,” I said. “But this is all so fishy. The people here are supposed to be trying to stop us, not help us.”
“I think they’re still trying to stop us,” Melody said.
“No, think about it,” I said, on a roll now. Something wasn’t right here. “They’ve given us clothes, food, and pretty much didn’t capture us when they easily could. And now they’re pretty much handing us our first ally. It’s almost as if they want us to keep going.”
The girl’s eyes was focusing. “Mmmmmmm. Mmph.” That snapped me back. She was still a real person, and probably wasn’t appreciating how we weren’t really trying to figure out her riddle. Oops.
“Okay, back to the present,” Melody said. “What do you think this is? In the riddle, the father dies but then he treats his son.”
“Uh, no,” Elise said. “I’m thinking that you can’t treat people while you’re dead. It’s kind of not done.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Maybe the father didn’t really die?”
“Riddles don’t work that way,” Elise said. “Usually, riddles have everything that they need in the riddle, along with some basic knowledge that most people should know. I have a feeling that this one is just as solvable as the last ones.”
“Well, you guys solved those,” Melody said. “I didn’t do so well on them. What do you think?”
“Still thinking,” I replied. Elise was right. Riddles functioned in a certain way, like trick questions. There were two types of riddles. One, which focused on careful wording and puns, which seemed a lot like jokes to me. Like “When is a door not a door?” and the answer would be “When it’s ajar”, which didn’t really seem very riddle-like in my opinion. Then, there was the second type of riddle, which required thinking and not missing details, and probably a creative imagination. Like this one. Either way, riddles were puzzles.
I looked at the sign. It stated that the son was badly injured, so that would require him to go to the hospital, which would require the doctor, but the doctor seemingly died in the car crash as well. Or maybe not. The identity of the doctor could be someone else. The meaning of son…. Of course. The doctor wasn’t the father.
“The father did die in the car crash,” I stated out loud. “He couldn’t have treated his son, because of obvious reasons. It makes sense doesn’t it?”
“What?” Melody said, confused. “I’m not getting it so far.”
Elise’s eyes widened. “Whoa, duh. The doctor isn’t the father. The doctor is the son’s mother.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:01 am

Sorry for all the "Less binding, more riddles". I couldn't resist. I LOVE riddles. They. Are. Awesome. So, naturally, I had to put some in. This next entry is like, six pages long in word, double-spaced, so it's kind of long. But, that's good, right?
Whoa, it's not as long as I thought. That's a shame. Still, good enough, right?
The screen lifted, or at least we could walk through it now. We rushed over and removed her gag. We pulled out the rag stuffed in her mouth, and if she noticed, she barely showed it. I wondered how long she had been stuck there, she looked so weak.
“Water,” She whispered.
I looked at Elise. “Got any?”
“In my pack,” She said quickly, rummaging into her backpack. She looked for a few minutes and tossed me a bottle. I uncapped the bottle and let her have a few sips. I had learned that when dehydrated you shouldn’t drink too much at one time. A few sips is good enough.
“You okay?” Melody asked.
“Thanks,” She said, more life in her eyes than before. She looked up and smiled weakly. “You could’ve hurried with that riddle.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Can we unlock you from those shackles?”
She shook her head weakly. “Not right now. There are tons of more girls trapped in this cave. I don’t know where the keys are. There might be a master key that would work on all of us. I don’t know.”
“How long have you been here?” Melody asked quietly.
She shook her head again. “It’s impossible to keep track of time in here.” She jingled her shackles. “Best I can tell? Maybe four days, with small breaks of water, food, and to use the restroom. That’s about it. I guess they’ve been expecting you. There has to be more girls out there. Some of them are probably my friends.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“I’m Katrina,” She said. “But don’t trust all the girls here. Some of them are helping the island, and would love nothing more than two enslave you along the rest of us.” I looked to see that the shackles had keyholes in them, but it wasn’t like we had a key or could just break them. We had to find the key.
“You sure we can’t help you here?” I asked.
“You’ll be helping me plenty if you find the key,” She croaked. “Giving me water was good enough. Go help the other girls. I won’t be going anywhere.”
I looked to Elise and Melody. We nodded. There was nothing we could do for Katrina right now. We had to find the key, and find the other girls that were trapped here.
We picked up the pace, walking briskly instead of the lazy walk we had before. Now we had a purpose, a mission. We could actually help people now. I kept my eyes peeled for a key. If I had to hide a key, where would I put it? I probably would put it in an out of the way place, but if they did that, we could spend hours upon hours looking for it. No, it had to somewhere that they could actually find.
We still had the torch, so the path was lighted. It was one-way for a long time, until we met our first fork. Two identical tunnels shown in our way, tempting us to take either one.
“Any ideas which we take?” Elise said.
“Does it really matter?” Melody replied.
“Probably not,” Elise answered. “They both probably contain girls that need our help.”
“We should stick together,” I suggested. “Going alone is never a good idea. We work best together.”
Melody considered the tunnel. “What if one takes us to the key, the other to the girls? Then it really would matter which one we take, because if we take the one with the girls, then we would just be wasting time.”
“Let’s go left,” I suggested. “We have to choose one.”
Elise shrugged and we went along to the left tunnel. We walked through one by one, it was kind of a narrow fit.
We kept walking, and I shuddered to think what it would be like to stay stuck in a cave like this for days. Being tied up in the camp was one thing. Being tied up here, in the murky, creepy cave, was another thing entirely. There was absolutely no light, so it would be completely dark, the only sounds would be the muffled cries and groans of the girls around you, or complete silence if you were alone.
I wondered what it would be like to be stuck on this island. Would I stay in one place like here in the cave? Or would I switch from place to place? The island was big, but it was also a prison. A prison with so many people who didn’t deserve to be there. That was our job, I guess. That sounded noble, freeing those wronged from a confining island.
We weren’t some heroes. Heck, we had a hard time going ourselves. But I guess the good guys never really get anything easy.
We walked to see a gigantic room. It wasn’t very high, the ceiling was maybe fifteen feet high with both stalagmites and stalactites, and also some of those connected kind. There were a few torches on the far side, but they weren’t as bright as the one I was holding. When I shined my torch, the prisoners were revealed.
At least a dozen girls, each dressed in rags, were chained to the floor ceiling and walls. They were from all races, ages, but each looked sad and defeated, their eyes unfocused and their limbs possessing no strength. We were looking at a group that had given up, that all they wished was to get out of the dark cavern that was their confinement.
A few looked up to see the torch. They were all gagged. Some had their hands chained to the ceiling, forcing them to stand up. Others had their wrists chained behind their backs, or to the wall. Two girls were chained spread-eagle.
“Oh,” Melody said. It was surprising and sad to see the sad girls. I saw that there was no path here. The keys must be on the other doorway.
“We have to help,” I said. I rummaged in my pack as Elise removed the closest girl’s gag. She was maybe twelve years old, with a dark complexion and closed eyes. We let her take a few sips of water, but I didn’t think there would be enough for everyone if we kept giving it out at this rate. Plus, it would do better if we freed them instead.
“Hey guys,” I said. “I’m going to go get the keys. You guys stay here, and get these girls more comfortable.”
“What!” Melody protested. “Whatever happened to staying together?”
“Don’t mind that,” I said. “I’ll be fine. We want to get these girls here out as soon as possible. Besides, we don’t need all of us to do this.”
“Let me come with you,” Elise insisted. I appreciated it, it was nice to have such great friends. I realized that we would do anything for each other now. We were a team. It made me feel good.
I smiled. “You guys don’t believe in me? Relax, if I don’t come back for a while then you’re free to come see how I messed up. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.” With that I dropped my pack and raced down the tunnel. I was glad to hear that my two friends hadn’t followed me. I could do this alone. No use in them wasting their time along with me.
It had impressed me how many of them there were. Those girls had all gone to the island, attempted the challenges, and failed. There were probably tons more where that came from. I knew that the girls trapped in the cave here only represented a fraction of the real quantity of prisoners. We were fighting for their freedom, their sake. It was nice to know we were doing the right thing, but it was also scary, to look in that room and know that all of them had failed. Not one of them could do it. And to think that we could?
I sighed. It was pointless to think about those thoughts. Self-defeating.
I turned to the tunnel and took the other way. This would lead me to the key, and no doubt something that would challenge me to earn it. Probably some riddle again. Thankfully, today I was doing pretty good with them, I had already solved two of the three, even though it took some time. I made a mental note to try to hurry on this one, I didn’t want Melody and Elise to come rushing to my side.
I raced through the tunnel, my shadow flickering and bobbing. It was weird, and I felt a sense of loneliness. I was alone now. I usually didn’t have a problem with that, but now, something could jump at me and I wouldn’t have any backup, and protection. Gosh, I was getting nervous, wasn’t I?
Finally I reached a room. It was pretty big, the space was as big as a two story house. At least, somewhere near that size. Torches lit the entire parameter, so it wasn’t difficult to see.
There was a table, on a grid, holding keys. Like six of them. They were all
distinct and different, each of them unique. Some of them looked like house keys, or car keys, or ancient keys, but they were all keys nonetheless. On the wall there was an inscription, which I was kind of getting tired of. Couldn’t they just write it down on a piece of paper or something?
“One of the keys you seek will free your fellow friends
But the rest will leave trapped in a many found dead-ends
However, the solution is on this very wall
The riddle will use your brains, if you have any at all
First, the appearance of the right one is disguised
Choosing by first looks is extremely not advised
Second, the desired key cannot shy from one side
On the right the key is not, it will never try to hide
Third, the middle keys hold not the way for you
But perhaps the keys nearest can hold openings most true
These are the hints that I can give away
Now it is time to solve the riddle today”
Yup, couldn't resist. But the rhyming part was really annoying to write. I'm a writer, not a poet.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Hybris » Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:27 pm

Don't mind the riddles. Please, carry on.
"I expected you to be more of a struggler, boy."

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:16 pm

Well, at least SOMEONE likes it. Thanks, Hybris
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by nyloncaptive87 » Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:47 am

Jay, this is really good. I appreciate that you are taking your time to develop the plot and provide details of the character's experience. The riddles are a nice touch. I hope you will want to keep writing to the end. Its well-written, and very enjoyable. Like Jami, I find myself wondering what life has been like for the island captives, and even how the first ones arrived. Great job!^^

### Re: The Island

Post by Bruno » Thu Jun 28, 2012 1:53 am

I like the riddles and the tying. It's great to read a story that actually has a plot and that you can engage with. keep going!

### Re: The Island

Post by Karina82 » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:22 am

I like riddles too! And I like how you incorperated them in.
Karina
I'm sub
I am not very active on this site anymore

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:39 am

Thanks for all your support, I love the comments.
Elise and Melody gave each of the girls a portion of their water, and removed what bindings they could, which wasn’t much. They could take away their gags, some of them had blindfolds. But other than that, they would need keys. And Jami was taking forever with that.
Melody sighed, waiting. She wondered if they should just go and get Jami. After all, it really was a bad idea to split up, even though it saved some time. Melody liked Jami, but she knew that the girl tended to do things without thinking. Of course, Melody didn’t know if she was any different.
Jami was smart, though. Melody was impressed that she had solved the past few riddles. Plus, in Camp Bound, Melody knew that Jami was always thinking of unique and creative ways to get out of situations. Like being tied up. Melody herself was never really good at that, she wasn’t one to think outside the box like Jami did. She could only think of stuff around her.
“We should go help her,” Elise suggested. It was just what Melody was thinking, but she didn’t say that.
“Let’s give her a little more time,” Melody replied. “She could be just about wrapped up. I wouldn’t be surprised. Jami’s smart.”
“I know,” Elise said, almost to herself. “I’m just worried. Ever since we got here I’ve been worried.”
“It would be wrong not to be,” Melody replied. It was weird talking as if they were alone, even though there were a lot of girls in the room. But they kind of creeped Melody out, they were almost like zombies. They didn’t talk too much and they all seemed malnourished. Melody wondered if she would be like that if she spent time in the caves.
“I’m going to go check on her,” Elise said.
“What?” Melody complained. “Shouldn’t we wait?”
“We’ve been waiting for a while,” She said. “Hopefully, I can help her out, whatever she’s having trouble with. Or maybe I’ll just meet up with her on her way back. I’ll be back in a flash.” She started walking away.
“Okay, okay!” Melody called after her. “Just hurry, okay?” Elise waved without turning back, a sure sign that she had heard.
Melody crossed her arms. Their little group was completely disregarding the “stick together” rule. She though that there was strength in numbers! So much for that idea. Now all three of them were split up. Melody felt like that left them vulnerable. It probably did.
Gong to Camp Bound and doing all this stuff in the island was still a little bit of a shock to Melody. It never seemed real. But she knew that these were real people chained next to her, and they were doing real things. They really were running for their freedom. They really were stuck in a cave. They really were going to get enslaved for the rest of their lives if they failed.
The though should have been terrifying. But the idea was so hard to believe that it diminished the fear a little bit.
Melody looked at the nearest girl to her. She was maybe fifteen feet away, and had her eyes closed. She was sleeping, or resting maybe. Better than the limp look that the other girls had. Melody wondered who fed them and gave them water. Here they were treated like captured animals, just waiting forever and for eternity.
Melody knew that this couldn’t be all the girls sent to the island. No way! If she remembered right, they had been sending girls to the island for more than a decade. Unless they sent like one person every year, then there were many more girls on the island. Maybe even a lot more. But the population in this cave could very well be a portion of them.
It was pretty good. All of them would be allies once they were freed. It would be like having a soccer team with them. More people would mean more allies, which would definitely help them.
That is, if Elise and Jami ever got back.
Melody sighed. They really were taking a while. Elise could have gone there and back by now, with time to spare in the middle to solve the riddle. What could be taking them so long?
Melody’s heart skipped a little. What if there was some trap? What if something happened to them? Should she go and find them? But what if she just got caught in the same trap that got them?
A step sounded. Melody looked up. Someone was coming.
“Hey, you guys there?” Melody called. “Elise?”
“Oh, she’s here,” A familiar voice replied. Melody’s eyes widened as a bound Elise was tossed on the ground. Her mouth was sealed with tape and she was bound in white rope. Her wrists were tied tightly behind her back and she was in a rope harness, which was practically squishing her. Her legs were bound firmly together and she was put in a tight hogtie where she could touch her shoes. She struggled weakly against the tight ropes but the bindings were snug. Melody knew that neither her nor Jami could ever escape something like that.
Elise groaned, and the girl they had met before, the one they had left trapped in the cave smiled.
“This one wasn’t too hard to get, and you’re next.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Hybris » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:26 pm

Glad to see that you are finally getting some response from others. I know how bad it is to try your best and fail to get feedback.
Keep it up, I can't wait to see what happens next. And after that. And after that. And.. Well you get the point. :]
"I expected you to be more of a struggler, boy."

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:32 am

Time to get the story rolling. I plan to put in different, better parts later on. Less useless stuff. Things are going to get much more interesting.
“It’s this one,” I said aloud, staring at the key. I had deduced the right one. I think. It was the one on the middle-ish left. It wasn’t on the right, it was near the middle, and it fit the description. It had to be it. I had checked the floor and found that there was a trapdoor in case I chose the wrong key. This had better work.
I picked it up and thankfully, I did not fall to my doom. I had to admit, it had taken longer than thought to choose the right key, and it took even longer since I was fretting and reconfirming it was the right one. No doubt Melody and Elise were getting impatient back in the cave.
But still, I let loose a grin. I got the key. Now all that was left was to free the other girls and get out of here.
I jogged across the tunnel, careful not to trip over rocks or anything. That would be perfect, knocking myself right after I got the thing I was looking for.
Eventually, I got to the fork in the rode. I looked down. That girl before, the one that was chained up. What was her name? Oh yeah, Katrina. I guessed I could take a detour for her first. It would be a waste of time to backtrack like that.
I switched courses, heading for the imprisoned girl up ahead. I found her, stuck as usual, but she seemed more alive than the last time I saw her. When I approached she let out a wide grin.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“I was afraid that you forgot me,” Katrina said, still smiling. I knelt down and inserted the key into the small keyhole on her wrist.
“Me? Never.” I unlocked both her hands and started going on her wrists.
She started rubbing her sore wrists. “Looks like this will be more interesting than I thought.” Soon she was free to stand up and she stretched, but her first step was unbalanced. Still, she let out a weak smile. “Sorry, I haven’t been moving much recently. I’m still in pretty good shape though. Let’s go.”
“You sure?” I asked, concerned. If she got herself hurt, well, we all knew who to blame, right? Especially if we were moving quickly.
“Your friends are waiting.” Katrina could figure that out already. She was pretty sharp. I liked her already.
“You’re right. Let’s go.” Together, we jogged at a leisurely (sort of) pace to the caves. I wondered if Melody and Elise were getting impatient. Maybe just Elise. But I hadn’t been gone too long, had I? The puzzle had taken awhile, and they were probably long done with helping all the other girls.
We hadn’t gone too long before we were approaching the entrance to where all the other girls were. But it was brighter than usual, and I could hear voices coming from the room. And those voices were not Melody and Elise.
“You squirm too much, honestly,” A female voice said. It was her. That girl that I had fought earlier.
“Mmmph!”
“Hey, we should get finished soon. There’s still one more left.” Another female voice. She had helpers.
“It’s Kylie and her goons,” Katrina whispered. “We can’t go in there.” I peeked out. There were free girls free. Kylie, who I assumed was the girl I was much too familiar with, and two of her accomplices. But when interested me was how Elise was hogtied on the ground with Kylie’s friends sitting on her and how Kylie was pretty suffocating Melody with the tightness of her bindings. They both moaned and were pretty much out of commission right now.
“We have to help them!” I whispered back. They were in trouble! I guess they really should have come with me.
“Think!” Katrina whispered back. “We’ll just go in and get tied up. In my case, re-tied up! They probably have enough rope for that. We have to form a rescue plan later.”
“They’re going to see us anyways when they come through this tunnel.”
Katrina looked at me for a moment. “Good point. How about on three, we get behind that big stalagmite over there?” She pointed to the closest large one that we could hide behind.
I looked to see that they were done binding Melody and Kylie’s friends were picking Melody up. I looked at Katrina.
“Okay, three. Let’s go.” She dashed out, quick and silent, going low towards the stalagmite. I blinked. Whatever happened to one and two? I followed her, trying to copy her silence.
I ducked behind the stalagmite and peeked out to see Kylie turn towards the tunnel we had been moments before.
She stared at the tunnel. “You hear something?”
One of her partners, a girl with blond hair and beady eyes followed her gaze. “Maybe it’s the last girl, Jami. That would be nice.”
“Cora, go check,” Kylie ordered. The other girl, a girl with blond hair and a pudgy face jogged over to the tunnel and checked. If we were there……
“Nothing,” Cora reported. “She’s probably still at the riddle. Let’s go, there’s nothing left here that we can do.”
“Don’t boss me around,” Kylie grumbled, but they walked out of the tunnel with Elise and Melody over their shoulders, not even glancing at our hiding place.
I counted to sixty after they had left the room and let out a sigh. “Too close.”
Katrina nodded. “Once they find the correct key is gone, we’ll be in trouble. Quick, free the girls.”
I nodded and raced over, unlocking shackle after shackle. Click, click, click. Chains that imprisoned them soon fell to the ground, their prison now escapable. I unlocked with as much speed as I could, starting at the hands then going to the feet. I didn’t bother holding them if they fell from elevated positions, or if they were a little weak. This time, speed mattered. I had to do this before they came back.
I found a knife on the ground, a roll of paper imbedded in it. When I unrolled it, it was the map. Melody. She must have left this in hopes of me getting it. I tucked both items in my pockets and silently thanked her. This would definitely come in handy.
Soon eighteen girls were standing before me, including Katrina. They all looked a little weak, but determined and alive. They were almost completely different people. It made me feel warm inside to know that I had helped them all.
“Is it time for a rescue mission?” Katrina asked with a smile.
I gave one of my own. “You bet.”
Last edited by Jay Candice on Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by nyloncaptive87 » Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:23 pm

I love this story^^

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:43 pm

Time to do two things. I'm splitting up the points of view. Jami will still be in first person, but I'm also shifting to Melody and Elise in third person, and adding more characters. So you guys can look forward to that.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of our problems. As we were racing in one big group, yelling our war cry (which probably wasn’t very intimidating), holding out torches and trying not to burn each, we met a problem.
In our path there were about ten grown men standing in our path. It was amazing how fast a group of our size could screech to a halt.
“They got backup,” Katrina said through gritted teeth.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be this easy,” A girl muttered.
“We need to get you to safety,” Katrina said, referring to me.
“What, me?” I said, surprised. Currently, our group was backing away slowly, ready to bolt if the men came ran at us. That was going to come eventually.
“We can’t complete everything,” Katrina said. “You are a challenger. You can do things we can’t.”
“You need to get out,” Another girl said. “Katrina, you should go with her.”
“I intend to,” Katrina replied. “But there isn’t really a way out.”
“These goons had to get in somehow,” I realized. “There must be another exit beyond them. We need to get past them.”
One of the other girls smiled. “Done.”
With that our group ran towards them and crashed into them, despite many being have the size of them. It was chaos. The men tried to grab them but there were so many. Two girls rammed into one and he went down. Another girl sent a roundhouse kick to the face while another girl sent her own kick to the legs. Katrina dodged a grab and rammed an elbow into one’s face.
But they fought back. One of the men grabbed three into a bear hug, temporarily immobilizing their arms and pinning them together. Another grabbed one girl and threw her into another, and they both went down. We were many but they were much stronger.
“C’mon!” Katrina yelled at me, motioning with her hand before sending a flying kick into her adversary’s stomach. I ran towards her and stepped on his face to keep him down. The two of us raced down the tunnel, and when I looked back most of the girls were starting to lose the fight. They were simply too big.
Sure enough, as we ran, there was another exit. It was pretty much a hole in the wall, and by the looks of it, it was perfectly disguised so that it could open and close and look exactly like a wall to the untrained eye. Fortunately for us, they had left it wide open, so we just jumped through.
We ran. Simply as that. We launched through the woods as if shot off a cannon. I had been running a lot lately. I guess it kept me in shape. But even I was soon running out of breath, and Katrina was panting. We ran as far as we could, but eventually we had to stop.
I paused to catch my breath. “What? Is this it?” I panted. “I’m the last challenger. It’s over, right?”
Katrina closed her eyes and held up a finger. She had to be in less shape then I was, being stuck in that cave for so long. She had been running so long that even I was tired. “Give me a second.”
Once she caught her breath she continued. “First, you have to understand the full rules of the game. For one, we can still rescue them. They aren’t set in stone. They’ll probably leave them in some challenge room and hope you’ll go for them, which will probably be one big trap and you’ll be captured too, and then we’ll have to wait for the next group of girls to do something similar.”
“Well, that’s great.”
She rolled her eyes and coughed. “I’m not done yet. At this point, with only two people, trying to rescue them is suicide. Figuratively speaking. We need an ally or allies. Do you have the map?”
I nodded and reached into my pocket and handed it to her. She unrolled it and squinted at it, her eyebrows furrowed. “Why does it have a hole in it?”
I looked and saw the hole where the knife had pierced it. “Uh, it’s not that important.”
She shrugged. “Whatever. It doesn’t cover anything that means anything anyways. We need to go here.” She pointed at a blue dot.
“A blue one?” I said questioningly. “Aren’t those ones optional?”
“Right,” She said. “But this one’s reward is very worthwhile. We need to go free the most successful challenger in the history of Camp Bound. A girl called Lucky Provo.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:02 am

Sorry for the lack of tie-ups, but as you guys probably know, I try to add other stuff to my stories too.
It was dark, and the building looked very modern. It was big and painted completely white. It would have stood out in the darkness without all the huge lights. It looked like some kind of space headquarters for bad guys, which it kind of was, minus the space part. It was where we would find Lucky.
Katrina told me to ditch the bracelet that they had given us. It was a tracking device, and frankly, it hadn’t been doing anything anyways, so I was happy to leave it on the ground back there. With luck, they would assume that we were camping there and go out to retrieve it, only to find that we were long gone.
Of course, our current challenge wasn’t so easy either.
According to Katrina, this was a recurring challenge in the island. It was called Operation: Tie up. It was a challenge involved breaking into the headquarters, which was designed to entrap the would-be kidnappers, AKA us. We would go in there and kidnap girls, and if we did that successfully, all the girls captured in the process would be freed and we could gain our prize. That meant we had the potential to get so many allies, plus, according to Katrina, the incredibly skilled Lucky.
Of course, this was in no way going to be easy. We had to tie up these girls inside, and then transport them outside, all without getting caught ourselves. We decided that we would tie them up and Katrina would deliver them outside. If this worked, then we could gain some serious firepower. If we didn’t, well, at least we tried.
“How do we get in?” I asked Katrina. We were crouching in a bush, hoping that the people inside hadn’t spotted us already.
“Hmm, I don’t know,” Katrina admitted.
I stared at her. “Haven’t you done this before?”
“No, I’ve only heard about it,” She replied. “We prisoners tend to talk among ourselves about how we did and often how we failed. So yeah, this is a pretty big gamble, and we’re already stuck. I suppose we could go through the front door, but that would be pretty stupid.”
“Could we go through the ventilation shaft, like in the movies?”
Katrina shrugged. “I wouldn’t bet on it. Those are movies. I doubt that they would be big enough. And what would we do if they blocked the entrances and exits?”
“Good point. I thought we were supposed to be like spies.”
“More like robbers. Kidnappers, which is like the opposite of what we are.”
I scratched my head. “So then, what are we?”
“Kidnapped teenage girls forced to kidnap other teenage girls. That’s what we are.”
“Sure.”
“Anyhow,” She said, raising her voice slightly, “how should we get in?”
“You tell me,” I replied. I stared at the building. There were multiple windows, but we couldn’t just break through them unless we wanted to get cut up, bloody, and completely revealing. “There has to be multiple entrances. These things are designed to be passable, right?”
“Theoretically.”
“Right, so that means that there IS some way to do this, the trick is finding out what it is,” I summed up. I pointed at the front entrance. “Two security cameras. Coming in through the front entrance is pretty much impossible without being seen. But, there must be somewhere that we can access through, a vulnerable spot.”
“Good thinking,” Katrina complimented. “What do you suggest?”
“I suggest we take a scout of the exterior of this building, quietly. That way we might be able to find the weakness in the system.”
She nodded and we crept around, staring at the building. Eventually we rounded, having plenty of time to stare at all angles. The building was virtually the same, except for the last side we came to, the right side.
“What do you see about this side?” I asked.
“It’s brighter?” Katrina suggested. Indeed, it was brighter. More lights were on this side than any of the others, but that wasn’t the real reason it took my interest.
“Anything else?” I said.
She studied it closely. “This side has a ladder on it, leading to the roof.”
“Exactly, and it also has no security cameras.” I added.
“But it’s got all the lights,” She protested, catching on my meaning. “It would be easy to spot us.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said with a smile. “This side has deliberate extra features. The bright lights are meant to keep us away, to send us off on first glance. They have no way of seeing us without cameras. The ladder is our access to the one weak spot: the roof. And I’m betting they deliberately put no surveillance up there either.”
Katrina let out a deep breath. “I really hope your right. We’re putting everything on the chance that there’s a secret doorway on the roof?”
“Pretty much.”
She sighed. “Just making that clear. Let’s do it.”
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by nyloncaptive87 » Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:39 am

Jay, please don't worry if there isn't a tie-up in each section. Truthfully, I'd rather see plot and character development when its needed. That way, when bondage does occur, it will be all the more exciting and cool!^^ This is a really fun story. I'm not eager to see it end at all. I hope its still fun for you, too!

### Re: The Island

Post by Jay Candice » Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:29 pm

To be perfectly honest, this story is far from over. I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going, and I still have plenty of stuff in store. Sooner or later I'll be sending an idea to people, see if it's good or not. It's like a really major portion of my story, so I want some opinions. Still, I might not send the idea out for awhile.
+My story became a hot topic! Haha! Don't even know how that happens.
We raced as fast as we could to the ladder and began climbing. I have to admit, as I started climbing, I began to have second thoughts. I felt totally exposed, it was as if the light was purposefully pointed at me. But there was no other explanations. This had to be it. We had to go along with my plans, there was no other way.
Plus, there was the climb itself. It may have looked less intimidating from the ground, but climbing this thing was scary. The building must have been three hundred feet tall. If I left go, it would be a very, very, very long fall and a quick SPLAT! But I gritted my teeth and kept climbing. There was nothing I could do about it right now. Katrina wasn’t slowing down, so I shouldn’t chicken out either.
Before I knew it we were at the top. It was scarier than I thought it would be, and it wasn’t a thing I really wanted to experience again. Hopefully, the way down would be much easier.
The roof was dark, and I saw that my suspicions were correct. There was no security cameras. Plus, there was a dark bag near a small opening that held tape, rope, gagging material, handcuffs, all sorts of stuff for your everyday kidnapper. This would do nicely.
We opened the hatch and dropped in. I totally felt like a spy, but it was annoying how the Mission Impossible theme song kept going off in my head. The hall was completely white and looked very appropriate for a secret headquarters. It was all sleek and clean, if it was any shinier I could probably see my reflection in it.
We sneaked in, and I hoped that they couldn’t spot us. Maybe they only had security on the outside. As I said, the challenges were supposed to be passable. But, knowing these guys, they would lie about their stuff. I guess that meant we could cheat a little too.
We went quickly, but quietly. “Be careful,” Katrina advised. “I’ve heard they have all sorts of technology crap here. Every trap you can think of.”
“You tell me this now?”
“Sorry.”
“Have you ever met Lucky?” I asked.
“Sure I have,” Katrina replied. “The girl makes so many escape attempts that almost all of us have been involved at one time.”
“Escape attempts?” I inquired. “I thought that escaping the bindings they put on you here is like, impossible.”
“Normally, yes,” Katrina said. “But this girl is like Houdini. That’s why we need her. You guys will have a much better chance succeeding at this thing with her than without her. Normally, the first thing you should do when you get on this island is free her. And that’s what we’re doing. Plus, we- target.”
“We target?” I said. She rolled her eyes and pointed. Ahead of us was a girl. She had blond hair in a ponytail atop her head and freckles. She was maybe thirteen, like Melody. She was turning a corner and had earbuds on, which probably meant she had an iPod or something, which was totally not fair.
“C’mon, we have to get her,” Katrina said. With that we broke into a sprint, racing after her.
But running was not exactly the most quietest thing, so she quickly turned and saw us. Her eyes widened and she started running away. I cursed. I had hoped that we could just tackle her or something if she came close. Guess not. We would have to do this up close and personal.
We raced after her, gaining as we rounded corner after corner. She made a giant deer leap (is that what it’s called?) for some reason. But my next step made the floor press down. A pressure plate.
The next thing I knew I was falling, my arms flailing. But then I felt my hand being grabbed and a yanking sensation.
“Aah!” I yelled.
“Shut up,” Katrina yelled with gritted teeth, trying to hold on to me. Both her hands grabbed my arm and she was trying to pull me up from the trap door. It was like seven feet long. That’s why that girl had jumped.
“If you were any heavier,” She groaned. “I would fall down with you.”
“Throw me across!” I said.
“What?”
“She’s getting away!” To be perfectly truthful, when we were running after her, I had to slow down because I was faster than Katrina.
“I’ll get her!”
“Oh, this better work,” She said. She swung me back and forth and let go. My arms flashed and I grabbed the other edge with my fingers. I had never been very good at pull-ups, but this was putting all my strength to the test. I propped up one elbow and with a groan, I lifted myself up. One knee and then the other.
I took a deep breath. No time to rest.
I raced after her, going as silent as well as fast as I could. I ran, thankfully there was no other pathways. After a minute or so I heard footsteps and quieted my pace.
I looked around the corner. There she was.
She was listening to her iPod again, and she was walking leisurely. She must have thought that we got trapped that one time. She got it dead wrong.
I got out my tape and peeled a little bit of it off so it wouldn’t be so hard to do later, when I got her immobilized. I ripped off a long strip of tape and stuck it on my pants, then got out my rag for gagging her. This would do.
I ran up to her and by the time she turned I had shoved into her and she went down. My turn.
She fell flat on her stomach and I put my knees on her legs, grabbed both her wrists. I lay down flat on her and stuffed the rag in her mouth.
“Mmph!” She complained, put I held it in. I quickly unpeeled the tape off my pants and smacked it on her, smoothing it out. Now all that was left was the hands.
While sitting on her legs I forced her wrists together behind her back. I got out my rope and knotted them together with a cinch noose and wrist coil that I had prepared earlier. I tightened it as much as I could and they were forced together, tying her. I got out my tape and wrapped tape around the rope, just in case. I started unwrapping more tape, binding her ankles together, so she couldn’t make a run for it. Her knees soon followed, making her legs stuck firmly together.
I added more strips of tape to the gag. I knew that one piece of tape would never just stay on. She needed a few more. Soon her mouth was layered with multiple pieces of tape, probably even more than necessary. Whatever. I didn’t want her getting out, after all.
I had just finished tape above and below her breasts to pin her arms when Katrina came.
“Hey, you got her,” She said.
“Can you get her out of here?” I asked.
“I think so,” Katrina replied. “Be careful, when you sprung the trapdoor, you probably just alerted everyone in the building that there’s intruders.”
“No problem,” I replied. “I got this.”
“Be careful.” She picked up the girl and ran the way she came. I cracked my knuckles. I just needed to find Lucky. Any girl that came my way would be a bonus. This wasn’t too hard. I began to feel like a pro.
I guess I was.
In the end, it matters not how many breaths you took, but how many took your breath away.
-shing xiong
We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction
-General Douglas MacArthur
Fall down seven times, stand up eight
-Japanese Proverb

### Re: The Island

Post by Hybris » Sun Jul 01, 2012 2:47 pm

Good job still, the 'your everyday kidnapper' made me chuckle.
Congratulations on the hot topic, and keep up the good work- the speed in which you put these up is simply amazing!
Looking forward to more.
"I expected you to be more of a struggler, boy."