Escape, a New Life (20 page)

The stinging in her hands caused Abby to stop,
and Eric soon joined her.  They tried to ignore the waterlogged body lying on the raft, but that was a tall order under the circumstances.  They both knew that they could cover far more ground without the extra weight, but neither wanted to suggest they leave Emily behind, especially after the effort they had gone through to retrieve her.

“How far, you think?” Abby asked.

“At this rate, I honestly don’t know.  I’m running on empty.  Once it gets dark, if we lose sight of those few lights up there, or there’s a strong current… I just don’t know.”

They sat silent, rising and falling with the swells in the water.

“I think it’s time,” she said.

Eric nodded his head in agreement.  Abby was upset because she felt that Emily’s fate could have, or should have
, been her own.  She had not spent the past week with Emily though, as Eric had.  A week on this island was like a dog year, and Emily had quite literally saved his life.  The guilt of just leaving her out here was heavy on his heart.  However, he knew that had she been able to speak for herself she would have told them never to fish her out of the water in the first place.  It was what had to be done.

Abby asked, “Should we say a prayer?”

Neither was particularly religious, but they bowed their heads and held hands.  Abby quietly prayed that Emily, after a long year of hard living, had finally found peace.  They held her shoulders and, nodding at each other, began to slide her feet first into the water.  Warm tears rolled down Abby’s cheeks, and Eric bit his lower lip trying to stifle his own tears.

Before the body was halfway in, a massive blast from an air horn
behind the raft caused them both to jump and snap their heads around to see where the sound had come from.  They heard the motor next and hauled Emily back onto the raft.  The sudden shift in weight caused the raft to tilt and nearly flip, but they leaned back to right it, before finally pulling her aboard.  On their knees they began frantically waving at the approaching boat, even though it was obvious that it was heading straight for their location. 

Smiles broke out across their faces, and they embraced in a kiss.  They crouched down as the boat pulled up, careful not to let the wake send them toppling off their little raft. 
There were smiles all around, and the men on the boat helped them board.  They pulled Emily up, as well, and laid her across the bench at the rear of the boat, laying a blanket over her. 

Very concerned, one
of the men asked, “How are you guys doing?”

Eric clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a bear hug
. “Great, now!  We’re lucky you guys were out here.”

“What are you folks doing floating out here on those logs?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, brother.  But if you get us back to that island you came from over there, I’ll tell ya’ll about it.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

They wrapped Abby and Eric in thick blankets.  It was warm, but the sun was down and they had been wet for hours.  They were shivering. 

Abby was looking around the boat.  It was a speedboat
, and they were cruising back to the island at a fast clip.  She noticed there was no fishing equipment around.  No coolers.  Nothing that one would normally associate with a day out on a boat.  The men aboard were not even dressed like they were out for a boat trip. 

She asked one of the men, “What brings you guys out tonight?”

He did not answer.  Just then a helicopter flew close in overhead, buzzing the speeding boat.  It slowed and made a wide circle around the boat.  Abby and Eric watched it and saw a man hanging out of the bay door, holding what looked like a camera.  As the helicopter came in closer they saw the man was waiving.  Abby and Eric looked at each other in confusion.   It was Robert.  The pilot of the boat honked the air horn and waived back as the helicopter got out in front to lead the boat back to the island.

Eric hit the pilot of the boat on the arm to get his attention
. “What the hell is going on here?”

The man smiled, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you
, brother.  But when we get back to that island over there, we’ll tell you all about it.”

AS THE BOAT approached the dock, Abby and Eric could see a small group of people waiting for them in the distance, all talking with what appeared to be great excitement.  There was a man amongst them with a small camera following the boat as it came in, and another with a boom microphone.  The man standing in the middle was obviously in charge.  Robert.  He was speaking very animatedly to the four or five others who were there, and wildly waving his arms as he recounted some story. 

The boat had not even stopped at the dock yet when Eric leapt off, walking straight toward the group
with purpose in his step.  They were all smiling, until Eric pounced on Robert, wrestling him to the ground.  They scuffled for a moment until the other men easily pulled him off.  He was furious, but his body was worn and weak.  He did not have much fight left in him.  Abby came running up from behind and grabbed onto Eric around his waist.  It appeared that she was holding him back, but they both knew she was holding him up.

He said through heavy breaths, “What the hell is going on here
, Robert?  You have a helicopter?  You better have a damn good explanation.”

Robert held up hi
s hands.  Walking up to them, he put a hand on each of their shoulders.  “This is going to be a lot to swallow,” he said.  “We usually do this under much more ideal circumstances.  Much more controlled circumstances.  But you two have not given us much of a choice this time around, have you?”

Abby and Eric looked at each other
, neither had any idea what he was talking about.

“The two of you are on a very successful television show called
Trial Island
.”

Abby was stunned. 
“What?”

“It’s true,” Robert said.  “This island, it is a television show.  One of the biggest shows around in fact.”

“I ain’t never heard of it,” Eric said.  “How big could it be?”

“There is a good reason for that,” Robert said.  He explained the memory wipe, but they did not quite believe him.  “Think about it.  You do not remember how you got here.  But more important, when you arrived,
you found that your bodies were different than they should be, correct?  You felt stronger, and fit?  That is because for the two months prior to landing on the island you were in a hardcore boot camp getting in shape and getting drilled basic on survival skills until you could do them in your sleep.”

Abby remembered her first day on the island, when she looked down at her stomach and thought it appeared smaller than it should.  It also had not gone unnoticed to her that she was a very strong swimmer, despite never having spent much time in the water until the past few weeks.  

“I know you have not seen a mirror in a month, but when you do, you are going to look very different than you think you should.”

They stood in silence for a moment, processing this information.  Eric finally spoke, looking over at Abby.  “I agree with
Em.”

“About what?”

“You look great.  But there’s no way I’d believe you’re twenty-two.”

Abby laughed and Robert smiled,
as they seemed to be relaxing and warming up to the idea.

Abby said, “I wouldn’t believe most of what happened in the last few weeks, so I guess this isn’t that strange, comparatively.”

“Listen,” Robert said, “we have hot food, hot showers, and warm beds waiting for you back at the house.  You have had a long month, and one hell of a long day.  We will go back to the house, clean up, and have a proper meal.  We will talk about this some more once you have rested.”

Abby examined Robert’s face.  Sincere.  That is how she would describe him.  She nodded her head
yes.

Eric smiled at Robert
. “You haven’t steered us wrong yet.  I’ll bite.”

They climbed up into an open-air truck for the short ride.  Robert excitedly talked about the show.  He filled them in on the big picture overview.  What the show
was, how popular it is, and how many millions have been watching them for the last few weeks. 

“It is going to be an unbelievable finale.  When you guys went into the cavern I
thought for sure you were dead.  You have to understand that there have been a handful of others who have gone in there over the last ten years.  Not one of them lived to tell about it.  The audience is going to assume you are dead, too.  We will do a whole segment on how dangerous it is.  That it is certain death, et cetera.  We will really play it up.  When they find out you not only lived, but also escaped the island, America will go nuts!  You will be the biggest celebrities in the country!”

It was all a lot to process.  Abby thought it would probably be easier if she could remember the show.  Certainly she must have watched it in the past.  “
Will we get our memories back?”

“
Absolutely.”  He explained the chip implant and how it worked.  “It is a super-simple procedure.  The toughest part is psychological, you know, getting all of those memories back at once.  We have a little less than thirty-six hours until we air the live show, so we have time.”

“Wait,” she said.  “Are we not going to remember each other?”  She looked at Eric, panicked.

“No, do not worry.  You will remember each other just fine.  You will not forget anything that has happened since the memory wipe; you will just remember everything before it in addition.”

“Good,” Eric said, pulling Abby close and kissing her on the forehead.  “What about Emily?”

“That is a heartbreaker,” Robert said.  “She was just a few weeks away from the one-year mark.  That is the other way you can win.  Either escape the island, or survive for a year.  We are contacting the family as you and I are speaking.  She will be flown back to the States for a proper burial.”

Abby asked, “So Tom was close to a year too
, then?  How would that have worked, had he won?”

“What do you mean?”

Eric knew what she meant. “He killed all those people. Doesn’t he win but just wind up in jail?”  Eric was suddenly struck with a thought, “Wait a second…”

Robert read his mind, “Your hands are not exactly clean either, are they Eric?  Do no
t worry.  The island is privately owned.  We are part of a chain of thousands of islands in the Philippines.  The laws in these parts of the world are fairly flexible, and although you do not remember it, all of the contestants sign off on a stack of waivers about an inch thick.  There are no legal repercussions for anything that happens on the island.”

Abby asked, “How is that possible?  People are dead.  Someone has to answer for that!”

“That is a risk of the show.  It is a risk that all contestants are made fully aware of.  For the chance to participate, though, all of the contestants sign off on hold harmless agreements that release everyone – the producers, financiers, other contestants, et cetera – from any legal liability in the event of death, dismemberment, or any other type of injury.  The paperwork and legalese are exhausting, but the gist of it is that it’s anything goes out there, and legally everyone agrees to just that.”

Eric breathed a
sigh of relief.

“You were just defending us anyway,” Abby said, patting his leg.

As they crested a hill, a grand mansion came into view.  It was a massive Victorian-style structure painted a very muted sage green with brilliant white trim all around.  A large tower rose up from the center of the mansion, topped with a conical roof.  The many arches of the large portico that ran across the front of the home were each individually lit, making the home stand out against the dark sky behind it.

“Welcome home,” Robert said as he helped them out of the truck.  Several assistants came out of the house to greet them.  After several rounds of congratulatory handshakes
, Robert appointed several of the assistants to show Abby and Eric to their rooms so they could clean up and rest while dinner was put together.  Robert pointed out the long hallway they would follow to their rooms, and that the large dining room was directly on the other side of the foyer. 

“When you are ready, just find your way back here.”  He paused and motioned for them both to come in for a group hug.  “I’m so proud of you two.”

********************

Back in her room, Abb
y could not have imagined sleeping in two places that were more different than last night and tonight.  It was less than twenty-four hours ago that she found Emily’s camp and had spent the night on a thin cloth that was covering a pile of leaves.  As she looked around the exquisitely appointed room where she would be spending this evening, she felt it was a completely surreal experience. 

She walked down the gleaming hardwood floors of a short hallway within the room and found a bathroom.  She chuckled.  Never in her life had she imagined she would be so happy to see a toilet.  The bathroom was covered in marble and shiny chrome, with a large glassed
-in shower that was bigger than any closet Abby had used in her life.  She had a month’s worth of sand, dirt, salt, and grime to wash off, and wasted no time stripping down and immersing herself in the hot water cascading from the enormous showerhead.

Getting out of the hot shower she caught her muted reflection in the foggy mirror.  Taking a thick facecloth, she wiped the mirror clean and stood back to look at herself.
  Robert was right.  The woman who stared back was not entirely who she expected to see.  She was Abby, but she did not quite recognize the person she saw in the mirror.  She was lean, cut, and tough.  If she saw herself walking down the sidewalk after dark, she would cross the street.  She noticed what looked like very faint stretch marks on the underside of her abdomen.  Looking straight down, they were not visible.  She could only make them out in the mirror faintly.  She chuckled and patted her stomach.  She must have put on a few pounds over the years, before she got in shape again.

She wrapped herself in a thick plush robe and found her way back to the main room.  As happy as she was to see the toilet and shower, the bed
offered the most irresistible invitation.  It was covered with a thick, white down comforter and a pile of pillows larger than any one person could use.  Abby ran her hand over the comforter.  It was, in fact, softer than anything she had felt in the past month, possibly the softest thing she had ever felt in her life.

Abby collapsed into the bed, allowing the soft down to envelop her and suck her in.
  She was not lying on the bed; she had become part of the bed.  For a few moments, she tried to keep her eyes open, but it was a futile effort.  The running, the struggles, the fights, and the sleepless nights all caught up with her at that moment.  Within seconds, she was out cold. 

Like most nights since she
had been hit over the head just after escaping the trap, her sleep was restless, interrupted by nightmares of being chased by the faceless blond man.  This episode was cut short by a loud rap on her door that startled her awake.

The loud knocking started again, “One minute,” she called.  She looked in a mirror and noticed the sleep lines on her face.  It felt as though she had only been out for a few minutes.  It must have been longer though.  She opened the door to find Robert standing there.

“Hello, Abby.”  Looking down and seeing her bathrobe he asked, “I can come back if you like.  I am sorry.”

“No, no, what is it?”

He looked up and down the hall, “Would you mind if I come in just for a few moments?”

She stood back and swung the door open to show him in.  She closed the door behind him.  Abby could tell he seemed nervous or unsure about something.  After walking in the room he just stood, awkwardly, looking at her.

Finally he spoke, “We have been here before you know.  Together.”

“Oh?”  She raised her eyebrows
, eyes opened wide.  “Really?”

“No, not like that.  I just meant we have been in this room together before.  Not that we have been
together
,” he said, making the air quotes.  “Abby, last time we were here, you and I had quite the talk.”

“So, what did we talk about?”

“That is why I am here.”  He pulled a sealed envelope from his pocket and held it up.  “This is a letter that you wrote to yourself, before we wiped your memory.  I assume I know most of what is in here based on the conversation we had, and I am willing to help you in any way I can.  However, you gave me specific instructions to give this to you as soon as you got off the island, and that I am not to answer any questions you might have about your past.  I also cannot answer any questions regarding why you may have left yourself any particular instructions.”  He handed her the letter.

“Have you read this?”

“I have not.  In my particular position, it is probably best that I do not know all the details.  Besides, you filled me in on everything I need to know.  I am glad that you made it back from the island, I truly am.  But I have a feeling that your real adventure is just beginning.”

“I’ve already had quite the adventure.  I woke up on some strange island and have been surviving there for the past month.  Apparently, along the way, I somehow became some sort of amazing fighter.  How does that happen?”