Flight 12

Flight 12 – a serial novel by Travis Creel

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: THE SECOND ESCAPE ATTEMPT

Previously, on the island's surface:

• Ed, angered when Harry suggests that he might be gay, stalks out of the tower – and toward the purple dodecagon that (figuratively) has his name on it.

Underground:

• Jesús tells Hamish that Seth must return above ground or the Project is in jeopardy – but it must be voluntary, not forced. He tells him to involve Ian, who has a past history with Seth.

• Seth meets with Hamish, who tells him (falsely) that his arrival will necessitate the castration of a left-sider, and that it could be Abe. Seth, accompanied by Ian, is then allowed to see Abe, who asserts his love for Seth after confessing his affair with Sean.

• Ian promises to help Seth escape, and tells Seth that he knows the code to the Egress Room for the following day, the 14th.

• Augie, after spending the night in shit, is cleaned aggressively, inside and out, and is fucked by two lieutenants – one of whom, to his surprise, is Alfonso, with whom he had a sexual encounter in high school that startled him into committed heterosexuality. He is still reeling from the revelation that Jordan, the woman he was attracted to, is a man.

• As a reward for betraying Leo's escape attempt, Percy gave Ian a key to the dark room and the ability to unlock one of the two Bahamians captive there for occasional sex. Ian chose Theo.

In flashbacks:

• While in college, Ed had a sexual adventure with a fellow student named Ryan Mackenzie; years later, while visiting Leo in Atlanta, he found Ryan in his bed – an encounter set up by Leo, who then sodomized his father after Ryan did.

• • • • • • • • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 * * * * * * * *

THE ENEMA ROOM - AUGIE

• You liked my cock in your mouth, didn't you, Augie?

• I'm not answering that.

• Because you didn't just like it, you loved it. You're a natural cocksucker, Augie.

• Well, I don't appreciate what you're doing to my other end.

• The enemas or the fucking?

• Both.

• Sorry, dude, gotta happen. I like your mouth, Penn likes your ass. Maybe later we'll trade roles. But first we gotta clean you out again.

• You cleaned me out this morning.

• Yes, but then Penn deposited some of his sperm inside. You might be dirty again.

Alfonso bent me over a rod while a thick hose was shoved up my ass. I braced myself for the coming liquid onslaught.

I screamed. It was scalding hot, seeming to sear the lining of my colon. And then there was a burning sensation that didn't come from the heat. There was some kind of irritant in the water that was torturing my insides. I yelled my head off.

Alfonso laughed.

• Aaaah! Aaah! Aaah!

Those were not `ah's of pleasure. They were the only sounds capable of escaping from my mouth as I had to let the energy go somewhere. It was my protest against the violation of my anal canal.

Then there was a cooling sensation, which would have felt relaxing were it not pumping me even more full of water and whatever vile substance it contained. But when I expelled it, even though it burned on the way out, it still was such a release that it felt good.

And so, I am ashamed to say, did Alfonso's cock as I sucked on it moments later – while Penn was pounding my ass from behind. And I didn't exactly hate that, this time. The experience of being fucked was growing on me.

Shit, I really AM gay. Down here, where my father and Pastor Markson won't ever learn of it, maybe that's okay.

But it is it okay with God? I don't know, maybe it is.

OUTSIDE THE THRONE ROOM – IAN

• Seth, you can't break everyone out.

• Why not? That's the reason I came down here.

• Look, there's something big planned for the end of the month. I don't know what it is, but it's big. If you want to do something about it, now is not the time. Go up with me and then we'll come back down when it's time. Hamish said you'd see a red dodecagon. That's the time to strike.

• Well, I'm taking Abe up with me.

That was a non-starter, of course, but I had to win his confidence.

• Sure. You can take a couple of guys if they're the right ones. Choose left-siders, they don't care about them so much. Then you'll have more support when you re-invade. I have this guy Stan, I kinda like him, you take him, Abe, maybe one or two others.

• Paul and Dai.

Paul and Dai were Twelves, and he couldn't take more than one, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Besides, I suspected that Paul and Dai would turn him down.

THE DORMITORY – SETH

• So are you with me?

• (Paul) No.

• (Dai) No.

• (Paul) We got caught before. We saw what happened. We're not taking that risk again.

• I have the code.

• (Dai) Leo had the code. And where is he now?

I had to restrain myself from looking at Paul's crotch.

• (Paul) Look, we hate it here. But we don't want to lose each other. The cruelest thing they could do would be to kill one of us to punish the other.

• (Dai) Take Augie, if you can find him. He's straight and will have a hard time adjusting to life here.

• Actually, he's not so straight, but I agree, he'd have a tough time here. But I don't know where he is.

• (Paul) Ask Ian.

• (Dai) Do you trust Ian?

• I know him. I knew him before, in Cleveland.

• (Paul) Yes, we all seem to know one of the lieutenants. But knowing them isn't the same as trusting them.

• Ian is the reason I'm with Abe. I owe him a lot. I have to trust him.

• (Dai) You believe him when he says he wants to leave?

• Shouldn't I?

• (Dai) He's the one who gave Leo the code.

• He told me about that. He said he had to win Hamish's trust. Now that he has it, it'll be easier for him to help us. Besides, I've got to trust SOMEBODY. But you're right about one thing. I should try to find Augie. If Ian can help with that, it'll be a first test.

• (Dai) Be careful, Seth. Con men always do something to earn your trust before they double-cross you.

THE DARK ROOM – ED

Is this what greeted Leo when he disappeared? Falling from that dodecagon, only to land on a chair with something unpleasant up your ass? Was Leo used to that feeling? I'd never discussed the particulars of his sexual perversion with him – I think he mostly gave it up the ass, I don't know if he ever took it.

Okay, yes, I allowed myself to be drilled by Ryan Mackenzie on two occasions, the first of which was simply a juvenile exploration by two college students who didn't know better. The second, engineered by Leo himself, was the most humiliating experience of my life. I am decidedly NOT an advocate of that sort of lifestyle and if Leo landed on top of a dildo, he probably well deserved it.

But I didn't. And yet that's what happened to me.

The room was blacker than a moonless night, and I thought I was alone until I heard the grunts of two men on either side of me. They were unknown to me, gentlemen of a Caribbean persuasion, and they were apparently being repeatedly assaulted by some kind of machine – and by `assaulted' I mean raped. I learned that their names were Piers and Theo, and that they were friends who had been on the left side of the plane.

They said that the machines were, indeed, fucking them, as punishment for trying to escape; a third man was to have been castrated as punishment, but they didn't know if that had actually happened. And that `Hamish' – I gathered he was a big cheese of some sort – had tried to identify the leader of the escape attempt, but hadn't gotten a clear answer as to who it was. Although, Piers said, they all knew it was a kid named Leo.

My heart dropped a foot or two.

• Leo? Are you sure of that?

• (Piers) Absolutely. Although when they caught us the guy who seemed guilty was this Japanese dude named Dai, and they didn't know which of them was responsible.

• (Theo) It sounded like the leader was going to get punished pretty severely.

• (Piers) Like – worse than castration.

• Leo. Twenty years old, long red hair?

• (Theo) That's the dude.

• He's my son.

• (Theo) Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm not sure he still is. . . . People die here.

Our conversation was interrupted by a wedge of light percolating into the room. A body entered, a shadow to me only visible as a form, and then total darkness again as the door shut. I heard footsteps approaching, then felt hands under my armpits, and I was roughly lifted off the dildo, sending a shock to my anus.

Whoever he was, he was strong, picking me up like a sack of peat moss and tossing me over his shoulder, keeping one hand firmly on my bare rump. Somehow in the darkness, he was able to discern where the door was, but before the door was opened, I heard his voice.

• Ready to have a bit of fun, Eddie?

A Scottish accent. And a timbre that seemed familiar. It couldn't be who it sounded like.

But it was. In the bright light of the corridor outside, I peered incomprehensibly at his reprehensible face.

• Ryan??

• That's right, laddie, only I go by Mac now. I'm going to fuck you good and proper the way I know you like it, and then we'll see if we can rearrange your mouth a little. That's my specialty down here, you know – after all I am a dentist. But not to worry – you'll be back to normal in the morning.

STAN'S CELL - STAN

• (Ian) The new Twelve's arrived.

• Which means someone's . . . going to lose his . . .

• Relax. It's not you. Damaso today.

• So my nuts are safe for one more day. Whoopee.

• For another four days.

• But tomorrow someone has to . . . lose more than his nuts.

• Uh, yeah.

• Hate to say it, but if Damaso's . . .

• Castrated.

• God, I wish you wouldn't use that word. But if it's him today, doesn't that mean that tomorrow . . .

• He's beheaded?

• I wish you wouldn't use that word either. But, wouldn't it be him?

• Not necessarily. Could be Al, he's also been castrated. It could also be Abe.

• Abe? He's Percy's pet.

• He's also Seth's boyfriend. And Hamish has threatened Seth with putting a rather permanent end to that relationship if Seth tries anything stupid.

• Like leaving.

• Yeah.

• Which you want me to do.

• Which I want US to do. It will be all right – they actually want Seth to go.

• They do? Why?

• That I can't answer completely. But it's the perfect opportunity for you and me to get out of here. Because, Stan, it may not be today, but you'll lose your balls eventually. Followed by your head.

• Al comes too. I don't want him to be beh- . . . that word. We've got to get him out of here.

• Agreed. So you're in?

• I'm in.

• Great. I'll tell Seth.

THE THRONE ROOM - ABE

• What's going on? Where are you taking me? Percy won't like this.

• (a lieutenant) That's Hamish's problem. He ordered it.

• Hamish ordered you to take me out of here?

• (a second lieutenant) It's because your boyfriend is here.

• (first lieutenant) Lucas, I think that's confidential.

• I know Seth is here. I've spoken to him.

• (first lieutenant) Well, our job is to keep you away from him.

• (Lucas) Rumor has it someone's getting the axe tomorrow – and it might just be you.

• Percy would never let that happen.

• (first lieutenant) Maybe you're no longer Percy's little pussycat. He's replacing you with a drop-in guest named Jordan. And you're going to have a twenty-four hour guard.

Seth came here to get me out. But he won't know where I am if they move me. I'm not worried about what they said – that they'd kill me. Why do that? To hurt Seth, to weaken Seth? They don't know Seth – that would just make him stronger. Seth can be a beast when sufficiently aggravated.

You don't want him as an enemy.

THE ENEMA ROOM – AUGIE

• Alfonso, do you really have to do this?

• Yeah, Augie, we do. Certain members of the Twelve have special punishments, and I don't know why. Yours is enemas, but before we clean the shit out of your inside we have to clean it off the outside. I think it's the cleaning that's important, not you spending the night in crap.

• Well, couldn't you just get me a little bit dirty rather than stick me in that shower stall all night?

• I'll ask. Maybe. The enemas, though – that's non-negotiable.

• But they're so painful. Some of them feel like they've got hot chili peppers in them.

• Some of them do. But Augie, the reward is that once you're all clean inside, we get to have sex.

• . . .

• What? You don't like sex?

• . . .

• You do, Augie, you know you love my cock.

• . . . If I do, will I go to hell, Alfie?

• `Alfie'. You're calling me Alfie? I have gotten to you, haven't I?

• I don't know. . . . Maybe. It's so damn confusing – ever since I found out my girlfriend was a guy, I –

• You realized that you really do prefer wieners to hamburger patties.

• Jeez, you remember saying that to me?

• You remembered it, why shouldn't I? I remember every detail of that afternoon, Augie. I had the hots for you so bad. I still do. You and me – we were meant to be together.

• Alfie, don't say that.

• I believe it. If not me, then that guy Jordan you thought you were in love with.

• No, no, not Jordan. Not after she – after he lied to me like that.

• Then drop him and stick with me.

• You're talking like I have a future. Do you know what they're going to do with me?

• No, Augie, I don't. But let's not worry about them. Today, I know what I'm going to do with you. And I know you're going to like it. Now bend over.

Oh, God, I did like it. The power of his tool driving up my backside brought forth a reaction in me I could never have thought possible. Being fucked by Alfonso was a joy; I guess that's what made it a sin.

I noticed he never answered my question about going to hell. Part of me still wondered if I was already in hell – and Alfie and Penn would fuck me for all eternity. But . . .

If Alfie was fucking me and I ENJOYED it, then this couldn't be hell, could it? It certainly wasn't heaven, so both of us must still be alive. Which meant that there was still a chance that when I DID die – which might not be long from now – I would still be punished by being sent to hell.

The more that Alfonso pummeled my rump, the more it created a moral dilemma for me. The only thing to do was get away from Alfonso. And Jordan. I've got to find a way out of here.

THE THRONE ROOM – BARRY

No sooner had I started to enjoy my position as Hamish's dog than they pulled the proverbial rug out from under me. I had developed a taste for Abe's scrumptious rump – and it was obvious that Percy's pet pussycat had acquired a taste for my ministrations. The boy was not just a bottom, he was a natural sub, and I'm not sure he had realized that. Pair up a natural dom like me with a natural sub like him – there's a match made in heaven.

Instead of Abe, there was a trim young man with golden hair and one of the prettiest butts on God's green earth. From the way he walked, he seemed somewhat effeminate, which was fine by me. I liked the androgynous type. If Abe was being replaced, they certainly could have done worse.

But I had not been invited to subjugate this young man, or even to penetrate him with the powerful tool between my legs. I wondered who this creature was.

• What's your name, boy?

• Jordan.

• Jordan, SIR.

• `Sir'? You're wearing a puppy dog tail.

The boy had cheek, I'll say that. And two lovely cheeks I longed to decorate.

THE ENEMA ROOM – AUGIE (later that evening)

• (Alfonso) Okay, here's the good news. You don't have to sleep in a shower stall full of shit tonight.

• Oh, thank heavens. . . . But you say that like there's bad news that goes with it.

• There is, but it's still an improvement.

• What is it?

• Penn and I have to piss on you and take a dump on your body, then smear it all over you in the morning. An hour later, we'll clean you off with the hose, and then you'll continue to have the enemas as usual. Sorry, it's not exactly getting out of the treatment, but at least tonight you can sleep in the dormitory with the other Twelves.

THE DORMITORY – SETH

• Augie!

• (Paul) Augie, where have you been?

• (Dai) So good to see you!

• (Lucas) You here for a visit or are you staying with us now?

• (Augie) I'm sleeping here tonight.

• (Lucas) Well, I'm not. Stefan and I are on special assignment.

• Who's Stefan?

• (Paul) One of the lieutenants. Lucas knew him, back in the U.S.

• Augie, could I talk to you privately for a moment?

• (Lucas) Don't want me overhearing, eh?

• Lucas, I have nothing against you as long as you don't molest Paul or Dai. I've just got a special message for Augie.

• (Augie) From Jordan?

• Maybe.

I pulled him out into the hallway. I was expecting him to be full of eager anticipation, like a puppy anticipating a morsel of food dropped from the dinner table.

• It's not from Jordan, Augie.

He actually looked relieved, which surprised me.

• I don't even know where he is. Or Miles.

• Or Leo?

• Leo I know about, but there's time for that later. Here's what I need to talk to you about. I'm breaking out of here tomorrow. Do you want to join me? There is risk involved. I have to trust Ian – the lieutenant I know from back in Cleveland. If he betrays me, it will be bad. But he says he wants to escape with me, and I have to believe him.

• Is everybody going?

• No. Paul and Dai don't want to take the risk. Lucas I don't trust. But I am taking two guys from the left side of the plane, Al and Stan, plus – well, I came here to rescue Abe, so I'm taking him with me. That's probably where the real risk lies; we may have a fight on our hands getting him. So – what do you think?

• I'm in.

• Think it over. But . . . I don't think we can take Jordan.

• I don't want Jordan. I need to get away from him – and from Alfie, the lieutenant I know; the longer I stay here, the less I even know who I am. I need some time away to sort things out. Besides, what they're doing to me . . . I'll take the risk. Count me in.

• • • • • • • • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 * * * * * * * *

THE THRONE ROOM – SETH

Ian had assured me that this was the proper time. Hamish, Percy, and the lieutenants were either eating or sticking their cocks into a captive orifice – which is what they would assume Ian was doing if he wasn't at lunch. Abe would probably be guarded by the dog' Barry. I could dismantle Barry singlehandedly, and I had four other guys with me. My only doubts were about Ian – could I really trust him to help us escape? As Paul and Dai had noted, he had given the code' to Leo and then collected his thirty pieces of silver in the form of Hamish's approval. But Stan looked sturdy, Al (though small) was scrappy, Ian was determined, and Augie – well, he was another body. Five of us to get Abe, and then we'd have six to take on anyone else if we needed to.

First stop was the so-called Throne Room, where Abe was being held. I sent Ian in first to make sure Hamish and Percy were, indeed, absent. He came back looking a little sheepish.

• (Ian) Neither one is in there. But it looks like Barry is in the middle of humping Abe, I'm sorry.

• I've interruptused one coitus, I can always interruptus another.

We poured into the room. On the far side of the room I beheld two pairs of legs and one pair of heaving buttocks. Grunting was being emitted by the fucked object. I was well acquainted with the sounds of Abe's grunts as I was plowing him – these were higher pitched and of a different timbre.

• That's not Abe.

The heaving buttocks stopped heaving, their owner having become aware of my presence in the room.

• (Heaving Buttocks, whom I presumed to be Barry the Bulldog) Okay, who's there, because I'm enjoying this fuck and don't want to pull out. This bitch is almost as good as the last one, and he loves it just as much.

• It's Seth.

• (H. B.) Oh, shit.

He pulled out of the bottom's bottom, glistening cock stiff as a carrot and impressive in size. Yes, it was Barry. I approached him as the others filed in behind me. As he withdrew, the identity of the sodomee was revealed, astonishing as it was to one of us.

• (Augie) Jordan??

• (Jordan) Omigod, Augie??

Dammit! The last thing I needed was for this star-crossed romance to flare up like a comet.

THE THRONE ROOM – JORDAN

I looked at him, twelve different emotions forcing their way through my fevered brain. I exaggerate – maybe only nine. I was relieved to see Augie and know that he was okay – I hadn't seen him since they hauled him out of that pitch black room with the two Caribbean guys (whom I haven't seen either). I felt love, I felt pity, I felt shame, I felt lust, I felt fear, I felt guilt, and probably at least three other emotions I couldn't put into words.

• (Augie) Well, Jordan, looks to me like you were enjoying that.

I was. Which was the source of my guilt. I felt like I was betraying him a second time; after having lied to him for so long about who I was, now I was being unfaithful. St. Peter's cock (the fowl kind) was crowing again. Oh, Augie, what must you think of me?

• Augie, it's not like –

• (Augie) You disgust me.

• Not like I had a choice.

• (Barry) Oh, yeah? So how come you got hard when I suggested I try to plant a baby inside you?

It was only at that point that I noticed that the man next to Augie was Seth. Seth! What was he doing here? I thought his birthday was later in the month. I noticed him then because he brushed past Augie and spoke directly to Barry.

• (Seth) Where's Abe? We came to take Abe.

• (Barry) I can't tell you that. They'd skin me alive. Knowing Hamish, literally.

• Maybe they switched me with him so that you wouldn't find him.

• (Ian) That makes sense. And I know where Jordan was.

• (Seth) Take me there. Come on, Augie.

Augie wasn't moving. He just stood there, fury in his eyes and his voice. Both focused directly on me.

• (Augie) This isn't finished. No, I'm wrong – it IS finished. I'm finished with you. I don't want anything to do with you ever again!

• Augie!

But he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room along with Seth, Ian and two other guys I'd never seen before. Leaving me crushed like the proverbial leaf.

• (Barry) Pussycat, let him go.

• Barry, I love him. At least, I think I do.

• But you're no longer sure, are you?

• . . . No.

• The damn fool doesn't know what he's missing. Now get down on all fours, pussycat. There's no way my love juice is staying inside these balls.

And I cried. I cried because when he poled me with his thick sausage it felt so damn fulfilling I could hardly stand it. But they weren't tears of joy. They were tears of guilt.

And of something that felt permanently lost.

JORDAN'S CELL – ABE

Two bodyguards, Stefan and Lucas, had been with me 24/7 since I had been moved out of the Throne Room, except occasionally one of them would be briefly relieved by another of Hamish's henchmen.

They had me chained to the bed, restraints around my wrists and ankles attached to chains that had me spread-eagled, face up. Periodically they would tease my balls or cock or both with a feather to stimulate me, because they liked to see my cock pointing toward the ceiling, begging for relief – and not a damn thing I could do about it. The only positive about my supine position was that my ass was inaccessible to them – though I'm sure Percy had made it clear that my ass was hands (and dicks) off. However, I was still available to Percy, evidenced by his appearance this morning, when he ordered me flipped over onto my stomach so he could give my prostate a workout.

They'd moved me yesterday, not long after my painful and exquisite reunion with Seth – and because of it, I was sure. Seth had promised to rescue me, and Stefan and Lucas – and my restraints – were an effort to make sure that didn't happen.

But I know Seth. He doesn't discourage easily. He won't give up without a fight – which is what worries me. Seth fighting them is dangerous. When he appeared, my heart was filled with such joy. I know if given the chance, I would never betray him again. I was embarrassed at the way he found me – with Barry's prodigious member well up my back door – an experience I was liking – but my recent experiences with Barry had taught me one thing: I do want to be dominated. If I could do that second date over, I'd have submitted to the handcuffs – it was unfair of me to project the callous indifference of the man who had bought me at the slave auction onto Seth.

Thinking about Seth kept my cock pointing toward the ceiling – no feathers necessary. I heard a click at the door. Percy, in for a bit of early afternoon fun?

Neither. In burst Ian O'Leahy – a second shocking appearance in twenty-four hours. Seth was right behind him, as were three other guys who didn't look like lieutenants. They did, however, look like they meant business. I noticed that the smallest of them was lacking the body parts that lie underneath one's cock. Which only made the threats I had heard to my own masculinity all the more credible.

The invasion set my bodyguards into action. Stefan stepped across to confront Seth but before he got within two feet of him, Seth leaped forward and flattened him with a vicious punch to the jaw, knocking him to the floor. Ian straddled the form of the stunned lieutenant and pounded his face repeatedly until it was clear he was unconscious.

Outnumbered five to one, my other guard assumed a defensive crouch near my bed, his path to the exit blocked by multiple antagonists.

• (Seth) Release him, Lucas.

• (Lucas) Not on my life, Seth.

Seth and his adversary on a first name basis, that was curious. But I had little time to ponder their possible connection. Lucas's fingers hovered near a button on the wall by the foot of my bed, a button whose purpose I had been unable to discern, it having never been used.

• (Lucas) Don't come any closer or I'll push this button.

• (Seth) And what will happen if you push it, Lucas?

• (Lucas) Hamish's army will be alerted and they'll come running in here and capture you. And then you'll most likely be put to death. So let me leave this room quietly, Seth, and then you can free Abe – if you can.

Yes, but how? I'd never seen either Stefan or Lucas with anything like a key. Only Percy had that, its use restricted to times he wanted to fuck me and times when I needed to use the toilet or eat.

• (Seth) Lucas, if I let you go, you'll summon them anyway. You have two choices – let Abe go, or I'll break your neck.

• (Lucas) You're bluffing and I can't let him go – I don't have the key.

• (Seth) Who has the key?

• (Lucas) Percy.

• (Seth) Then go find Percy. Ian will go with you. You will tell him that Abe has a stomach ailment and needs a toilet break urgently or he'll soil the bed. And if you're not back in five minutes with the key, Stefan here will be unconscious for all eternity.

Lucas looked indecisive and didn't move. Then suddenly he lunged for the button and pushed it. I don't know if it summoned Hamish or not. All I know is what it did do. My bed suddenly retracted into the wall. In an instant, a space opened in the wall next to me and my entire mattress, with me secured to it, slid into the recess. The entire process took less than two seconds.

And I was now in a black void, somewhere within the wall. It felt like being in a coffin with the lid closed.

THE TECH ROOM – HAMISH

• They've activated the wall recess. Seth and Ian must be making their attempt now.

• (Percy) So my pussycat is locked in a sensory deprivation chamber? Can we free him? It must be terrifying.

• Not yet, my sweet. Wait until they make their escape. Then we can collect your little pet. And you can probably bring him home.

JORDAN'S CELL – STAN

Seth went berserk. He rushed across the room and slammed Lucas against the wall, his head colliding with the surface, producing a resounding thump. I was petrified. Al and Augie stood there equally frozen, while Ian made a half-hearted attempt to restrain him.

• (Seth) Bring him back, Lucas!

• (Lucas) I can't. I don't know how.

• (Seth) Bring him back, I said!

Seth's hands were around Lucas' neck and he was throttling the man. Lucas was tall and strong, but he was no match for Seth's raw power.

• (Lucas) The button only works one way. The others will have to bring him back. I'm not a lieutenant, you know. I just help Stefan sometimes. They don't tell me anything. I'm a captive, same as the rest of you.

• (Seth) Not the same as the rest – you're collaborating with them. And you knew enough to push that button.

• (Lucas) Stefan taught me that. Please, Seth, I –

Lucas never finished that sentence. He must have realized that pleading with this mountain of rage was going to get him nowhere. Ian had explained to me how important this `Abe' fellow was to Seth, that he had entered Hamishland voluntarily just to rescue him. I was seeing firsthand the depth of Seth's feelings for Abe – and so was Lucas.

And Lucas did the worst possible thing he could possibly have done. He fought back. He lifted his knee in an effort to attack Seth's groin, but missed the bigger man's balls and Seth reacted by dashing Lucas's head against the wall. When Lucas pushed his body against Seth's in an effort to knock him over, Seth took his hand and rammed Lucas's head backwards, just as Lucas's torso was pressing forward.

I heard a horrible crack. It was the sound of Lucas's neck being broken. And Lucas slumped down the wall, inert.

JORDAN'S CELL – IAN

• My God, Seth, you've killed him.

• (Seth) He was a monster, Ian. I won't mourn him. But I've lost Abe. He's somewhere behind the wall.

• He said that pushing the button would notify Hamish.

• Yes, well, he was lying, wasn't he?

• We don't know that. They may be on their way here. And if they are, they shouldn't find two bodies on the floor.

• Stefan isn't dead.

• A technical point. We should get them out of here.

• Fine, but where?

• (Augie) How about the room I landed in? It's pitch black in there.

• Great idea, Augie, you know where it is?

• (Augie) Yeah.

• Show them. Drag these two studs there. I'll go pick up the key.

Actually, I wanted to pick up two keys. The second one would make a huge difference in somebody's life.

JORDAN'S CELL – AL

What had I gotten myself into? Listen, I have more reason than most to want out of here – check between my legs if you need verification of that, not to mention the likelihood that another, more vital part of the body would possibly be separated from the rest of me soon. And Stan was a cool guy, I trusted him. But this Seth character was a maniac. If we were caught, it was a death sentence for all of us.

But at this point, I was `all in', as they say in poker. We had no option – it was escape or die. I ran over and grabbed the torso of the unconscious Stefan. Stan joined me and we pulled him to his feet, with Augie's help. Seth was strong enough to lift Lucas's corpse all by himself and raise him over his shoulder, the lifeless form hanging there like a big sack – with legs.

Ian opened the door for us after checking that the `coast was clear', and Augie led us to the room he said he had landed in. Ian came back, running silently with his bare feet, his heavy balls bounding with every step in a way that mine never would again. He inserted a key into the door and I saw that the room was worthy of its name, the Dark Room.

I heard some kind of machinery going, accompanied by unintelligible grunts at regular intervals. Ian was taking charge – for which I was grateful: Seth was CRAZY. Ian found a light control somehow and activated it, which hurt my eyes temporarily. I opened them to see three chairs in the middle of the room – two of which were occupied.

• (Ian) Put Stefan in the middle one. Plant him on the dildo.

The dildo? Indeed, protruding from the chair was a large – painfully large – black dildo that seemed to be welded to the seat of the chair. The three of us lifted Stefan over it, and lowered him gently down onto it. it did not go easily past his sphincter, and we had to reach into his crack and pull his buttocks apart before we could slip the big phallus up his rectum and let gravity have its way with him.

The pain must have awakened Stefan, for he suddenly yelled `Hey!' and Seth rushed over and clobbered him in the face, knocking him back into dreamworld. At least, I hoped it was only dreamworld. But I agreed that we couldn't have this guy shouting out and calling attention to himself, although I was guessing the room was pretty well soundproofed.

• (Seth) Well, that's Stefan taken care of. What do we do with Lucas – just dump him on the floor?

• (Ian) I have a better idea than that.

THE DARK ROOM – IAN

I had returned to meet the others not with one but with two keys – one to gain access to the Dark Room, and the other to release Theo from his chair. Percy had given me free rein to fuck one of the two `insurgents' imprisoned in those fucking chairs, and had given me the key to unlock one of them for my own personal use. I had chosen Theo, the darker of the two – I loved plunging my cock into that silky-smooth ebony butt. It was not fun for Theo, who (unlike his friend Piers) was straight. But now was the time this arrangement was going to prove a boon to Theo. Our band of five was about to become a band of six.

I applied the key and lifted Theo off the machine that was churning up his backside. I was surprised he hadn't interrupted us with a dozen questions, but he had been trained to keep his mouth shut, and undoubtedly had concluded the wisest course of action was to remain silent. Lifting Theo also turned off the fucking machine, and, upon my direction, Seth lowered Lucas's corpse into the chair, upon which the fucking machine switched on again automatically and began sodomizing Lucas's lifeless body.

• We're taking him with us, Seth.

• (Theo) Piers. What about Piers?

• I don't have a key for his machine. I can't free him.

• (Theo) Try. Please try.

I tried. The key didn't work. Seth tried to free Piers by his sheer physical strength, but whatever was holding Piers to the chair was even stronger than Seth's muscles, and the effort to separate him only caused Piers to cry out in agony.

• (Seth) I'm sorry. I can't do anything.

• (Piers) It's all right.

• Theo, we have to go.

• (Theo) I understand. Piers –

• (Piers) It's all right. You go. I'll be all right.

• (Theo) Good-bye, Piers. I don't know what these guys are doing, and it will probably get me killed. You've been a good companion, my friend. We will meet again in the next world, and we'll be friends again there.

• (Piers) Always.

• (Theo) Always.

• (Piers) Pyramus and Thisbe, right?

• (Theo) Yeah, but I always thought you should be Thisbe, you're the gay one.

I hated to separate these two friends – their comradeship was so touching – but it was better to save one of them than neither of them, and I think Piers understood that.

OUTSIDE THE EGRESS ROOM – AUGIE

To my astonishment, the rest of the escape was carried off without incident. There was no one waiting for us in the hallway, we encountered no one as Ian led us to the Egress Room, he entered the code, the door popped open, and there I beheld the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life – or at least in the last three days: a pole with a button next to it.

Ian went first to show the way, grabbing the pole and touching the button, which was reachable with your legs wrapped around the pole. He pressed the button then zipped upwards, vanishing into a blackness that I could only trust reached the surface. I heard his voice as he was well above it, calling down "Stan, go next."

Stan went next, followed by Theo and Al. Then it was my turn, Seth choosing to wait until the rest of us had gone before escaping himself. I approached the pole, clinging to it like a koala to a eucalyptus tree, wrapping both arms and legs around the thing and then reached out with my right hand and pressed the button. This one did not make me disappear into a recess in the wall, but shot me straight up, impossibly defying gravity as I rose to the surface as rapidly as if I was falling – upwards. As I proceeded, I felt a tingling in my groin, as if the pole was sending vibes to my balls and stimulating me. After about two seconds, I saw a bit of light and then a bit of sky and I shot through the opening, my momentum tossing me up about three feet into the air before I threw myself to the side to land on my feet just outside the circle that had opened up out of the earth.

Several seconds later, Seth appeared in the same fashion, and soon six naked men adjusted to the fact that they were now on the surface. Clearly on the island, but the phallic tower was nowhere in sight, and I had no idea where we were.

• (Stan) Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Thank you, Seth. You guys are my heroes.

ON THE SURFACE - SETH

Some hero. I had undertaken this mission to rescue Abe – and failed miserably. And what would become of Abe now? Would they punish him for the audacity I showed by escaping? Ian had taken the same risk I had – but he was able to rescue the one he cared about. I hadn't.

And I had killed a man. I had killed Lucas. Dead.

True, he was one of the worst excuses for a human being I had ever encountered, but he was still a human being. I had ended a life that I had no right to end.

I could have left him in the same condition I left Stefan – unconscious but alive and intact. But I didn't. My rage got the better of me after I lost Abe. And while Paul could now rest easily that he would not be raped in the middle of the night, it was no great comfort to me.

I knew I had strength. But I had always used it responsibly. Until now.

Harry, I hope you're doing better with this leadership thing than I am.

Now I've got to figure out how to find you. I have three days to do so and to prevent you from being the next victim of the dodecagons.

[COMING UP NEXT: CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – AFTERMATH]