Hunt and Power. Stephen Hayes
inside the box.
Lena rounded on the Tommys restraining me. There were now only a handful of them left. Between the two of us, they seemed to decide that Lena was the greater threat, probably because she was about half a head taller than me. Given that I was real and she wasn’t, this was the first piece of good luck I’d had since entering the box; perhaps that was my reward for not taking further advantage of a naked Lena while I’d had the chance.
Having made their decision, the Tommys released me and restrained her with extreme difficulty; she was putting up a great fight. I hurried to my pile of clothes and got into them as quickly as possible. My body was covered in horrible slime, and I hoped that it wouldn’t come back with me when I got back to the real world. Assuming I did get back.
“No!” Lena shrieked, and several more Tommys were hurled into the pool; I was amazed at how strong she was. There were now only half a dozen Tommys left.
Deciding that my best bet would be to let my enemies attempt to kill each other off, I staggered as fast as I could toward the door. Before I got there, several more yells behind me made me look around. Lena had won the fight; all the Tommys were in the swamp, a few of them nothing more than gurgling bubbles on the surface as they clearly struggled to breathe. I really hoped that this wouldn’t affect Tommy in real life. Then I wondered how I could ever be friends with him after what had gone on in here.
“John! Come back!” Lena called desperately, hurrying towards me. I hurled myself through the door and locked it behind me before she could get to me, desperate to get away. I heard Lena struggling to unlock it from the other side to no avail, and, feeling relieved, I turned away from her and hurried up the corridor, desperate to end this thing and get back to real life.
But when I saw the next door broken in, I realised with a thrill of horror that I had taken the wrong door; the door into the swamp room must have repaired itself somehow, after the Tommys went crashing through it. I’d taken it, instead of taking the new door. I also recognised the whole in the roof that I had passed under earlier, which meant I’d definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere. I turned around, not wanting to retrace my steps, and hurried back towards the swamp room, just as the door swung open, revealing Lena, who was back in her bikini. She had a steely glint in her eyes, as though nothing was going to stop her doing what she wanted. I guessed that she’d used a pin from her long, blonde hair to unlock the door. It had apparently proved a much more effective method than force, judging by how quickly she got out.
“The water’s back,” she said, and looking past her, I saw that she was quite right. The swamp had disappeared, replaced by the calm water that should have been in Natalie’s pool. “So, you want to go for that swim now? No more Tommy to worry about no more. I’ve dealt with them just for you—”
She was striding towards me the whole time she spoke, but I needed to get back into the room with the pool. I could see only one thing to do to get past her: lead her back to the classroom, let her chase me around in there, and then run through the door. At least she would be behind me rather than in front then, always assuming that none of the others back in the classroom got in the way.
I turned, but didn’t even have time to take a step before Lena grabbed me by the arm. I suddenly changed my mind and decided that I would have to get past her here; there was no other way. Her grip was extremely strong and I couldn’t break it, and not having had a chance to recover from the pounding from the Tommys didn’t help.
“John, please,” she said, seemingly desperate. “What are you so worried about?”
“Perhaps I’m worried that you’re going to try to kill me again!” I snarled, losing my temper and stamping on her foot—something I wouldn’t have done to the real Lena under any circumstances.
She screamed and released me, but was still blocking my progress. I attempted to push past her, but she seized me around the waist and threw me into the air, demonstrating the same strength she had used to attack all those Tommys. I soared higher than I would have believed possible, but when I thought I should have hit the ceiling, I kept going up. She had thrown me up into the hole in the roof, it seemed, and I landed on my hands and knees on the ledge a moment later, now coughing up blood, the beating I’d taken from the Tommys earlier beginning to take its toll. Instead of leaving me there, though, Lena jumped and grabbed the edge of the ledge, pulling herself up onto it and smiling at me.
“Just us now, no interruptions, and you can’t get away without jumping down,” she murmured.
I looked past her and realised that she was quite right; there was nothing up here but a dead-end, and I would have to jump to get back to the floor. In my current state, there was no way I could do that without really hurting myself. And Lena was blocking the edge of the ledge in any case. I would have to push her over if I hoped to get down myself—something else I wouldn’t have dared do to the real Lena. Given the way she was behaving, it was easier to tell myself that this wasn’t real than it had been with Natalie, Peter, Serena, or any of the others I had faced since entering the box. I glanced at her, wondering just how much force it would take.
“Oh no you don’t,” she said, crawling towards me and smiling as she pinned me against the wall. “You won’t push me down. You’re too nice to do that to me.”
“God, I’m supposed to be resisting you!” I snapped, struggling against her hold. “And you’re not making it possible.”
“But why resist?” she asked. “When I can give you pleasure such as you’ve never had—”
“Don’t give me that crap!” I snapped, managing to push her away from me, but still not over the edge. I staggered to my feet and looked around for a solution. I couldn’t see any way out without hurting her, and the instinctive, illogical part of me still felt uncomfortable doing that to a girl. Then I spotted something lying in a dark corner. It looked like a controller of some sort. Completely forgetting that I was supposed to resist temptations, I lunged at it and picked it up. It had two buttons—one large one in the centre and a smaller one in the centre of the larger button, so that the two of them looked a bit like a doughnut. It also had a silver knob, which looked like some sort of laser.
Remembering that this Lena wasn’t real, I turned on her and pushed the smaller button, pointing it at her. An orange laser beam did indeed shoot from it, hitting Lena squarely in the chest. She froze, her whole body shining orange, but a split second later the beam was gone, and Lena was taking deep, steadying breaths, clearly wondering what had just happened. I pushed the button again and held it down, and this time Lena was completely frozen by the orange beam, unable to move a muscle.
I took the chance and moved around her, looking down at the drop. If I hung on the ledge and lowered myself down, I would only have to drop a few feet. It was worth a try. I replaced the controller in my pocket and began to lower myself, but just as I was about to let go, Lena grabbed my wrists.
“No,” she hissed. “Whatever that was, it won’t work on me again. Wherever you go, I’m coming with you.”
But the laser had apparently weakened her, because my wrists slipped from under hers and I dropped to the ground, landing on my feet and staggering only slightly. Lena swore from above me and immediately jumped down, landing catlike behind me. I shot at her again with the laser, but this time I pushed the button hard enough to push in the larger button as well. I could see no difference in what the laser did to her, but as I went to lower it into my pocket, the beam had shot upwards, and this time Lena was lifted high into the air, still immobile. Curiously, I moved the beam around and realised that I was moving her body with the beam, while keeping her stunned. I directed her body back onto the ledge above and then, releasing the larger button but not the smaller one, I hurried away.
I darted back down the corridor, through the room containing Natalie’s swimming pool, and into the next corridor. I ran as best I could the whole way, not knowing how long Lena was likely to stay frozen in place. When I reached the next door I put my ear to it, but once again heard nothing. Deciding that I was far enough in front of Lena to stay away from her, I released the button and put the stunner away in my pocket.