Flight 12

Flight 12 – a serial novel by Travis Creel

CHAPTER SEVEN: SOMEONE CAPTURED, SOMEONE REVEALED

Previously:

• With the appearance of Leo, Ed's nineteen-year-old son, all twelve passengers from the right side of Flight 12 have now been reunited at the Phallic Tower. One of them, Cody, has exhibited an alternate personality, the randy Ray, whose appearance seemed to have been triggered by a yellow dodecagon in the forest. Harry, however, recognizing that Cody suffers from dissociative identity disorder, thinks a third personality, Gary, might be the original one.

• Nine of the twelve left-siders have been surreptitiously stripped naked to make them vulnerable to `penis portals'. Stan and Al, encountering one, are surrounded by dildos that spring out of the ground like flowers. One shoots up into Al's ass, thrusts him high in the air, then collapses, sending him through the earth into a void. Stan soon finds himself similarly impaled.

• The remaining three left-siders (including Seth's boyfriend Abe) have been left clothed so that Percy, Hamish's husband, can have the fun of tracking them down and seducing them before delivering them to Hamish.

• • • • • • • • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 * * * * * * * *

LOCATION UNKNOWN – STAN

I remembered being surprised when Percy, the flight attendant, insisted on my switching seats with the argumentative guy across the aisle. It was so pointless – why did he care?

I look back now and think: I was surprised by THAT? That was like the littlest thing. The plane being split down the middle – was that even possible from an engineering/structural perspective? That was crazy. Seeming to float down from the sky was crazy. Surviving was crazy. Landing just offshore of an island was crazy.

And then things went from crazy to so surreal that I knew I was either losing my mind or I'd died and gone to hell. I went to sleep fully clothed on a beach with twelve other guys. I woke up on a different beach, alone, and naked. And later finding Al, equally naked. And then the terrifying `penis garden', with dildos poking out of the ground like weeds to fence us in and spear Al up the ass. The earth swallowed him whole, burying him alive. A horrible way to die.

When a dildo penetrated me, I knew I was in for the same fate. High up into the air I went, followed by an incredible burning sensation that made me literally scream. Then, just as the pole cooled, I came crashing down to earth. As it had for Al, the earth opened and ushered me inside. I was to be buried alive as well.

Only I wasn't.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

The rain had passed. Leo, whose clothes were thoroughly drenched, stripped off to dry his clothes in the emerging sun and changed into clothing others had volunteered in the interim: a shirt from his father Ed, trousers from Tim, shoes from Lucas. Leo put his clothes under rocks to prevent them from blowing away.

He reported having seen banana trees not far from the Phallic Tower that bore ripe fruit. Ripe, in December? Well, why not, everything else on this island was peculiar. And if true, this was indeed good news, as we hadn't eaten all day. He agreed to lead a group to gather enough for a `meal', and they returned a half-hour later with bananas stuffed down their shirts (as we had no other means of carrying them), which we devoured with relish.

It was time to discuss the next course of action. While we had found what was possibly the only man-built structure on the island, what we needed was the men who built it – or anyone who could get us off the island. Staying here might shelter us from storms and give us a sleeping space, but it wouldn't further our efforts to get home. We needed a plan.

After lengthy discussion, we decided to split into groups of three, each of which would take a different path. It was two o'clock; at this latitude, there were maybe four hours of daylight left. So we resolved to walk for an hour and a half and then turn back, meeting back at the tower to compare notes – hopefully, somebody would find something worth reporting. Like a source of drinking water.

Ed and Jasper had watches, and Dai and Lucas had phones with some charge left, so we could monitor the time. We allocated one timepiece per group. I went with Ed and Leo; I wanted to check out their dynamic, which didn't seem all that healthy to me. Augie chose to go with Jasper, who was from New York, someplace he'd always wanted to go; Ray quickly attached himself to that group – I was fearful he might try to seduce the straight boy, but if Augie couldn't watch out for himself, Jasper looked capable of handling the situation. The other two groups were Harry, Vic & Lucas, and Tim, Paul & Dai.

Our trio set off to the south-southeast, walking along the edge of the forest, as it seemed unlikely that there would be any structures in its midst. We saw no food sources, no water, no human beings, and no structures. We did, however, find another dodecagon. This one was a sort of reddish-orange; Ed called it vermillion. It was one of the colors on the phallic tower. Was that significant? Hard to say.

When we returned to the tower, Tim Fallon was waiting for me.

• Can I talk to you, Seth? It seems like you're the leader, I don't want to talk about this in front of the whole group.

• Uh, yeah, sure. What's up? Did you find something?

• Yes, but I'm not sure what. And then something freaky happened.

• Sounds like par for the course. Talk to me.

• We were having this normal reconnaissance mission – sorry, I was in the Army, I just think in those terms – and we ran across this strange tiled figure on the ground.

• A dodecagon?

• Yes. The same shape as on the tower floor. Twelve-sided figure. Looked like granite, but painted or infused somehow with color. Only this one was all blue.

• I've seen two of them so far. One yellow, one orangy-red. (pointing to the tower) That color.

• Ah. Vermillion. Yeah, well this shade of blue matched the tower as well.

• There may be several of these scattered across the island.

Twelve, if Harry's hypothesis was correct.

• Okay, that was weird. But the freaky thing was Paul.

• What about Paul?

• He took off all his clothes and fell on top of the slab like he was hugging it.

• What?

• Yeah. We were like, `Paul, what are you doing?' and he got up and tried to kiss Dai.

• WHAT?

• I didn't know if Dai was gay or not – and I'm still not sure, because he was like totally shocked after we got Paul away from the dodecagon. And then Paul was like all normal and apologized thirty times for being naked. He didn't remember kissing Dai, which was weird. And then he got dressed and went the rest of the way with us.

• Should I talk to him?

• We tried. He said he didn't know what came over him, he couldn't help it. And please not to ask about it anymore, he didn't want to discuss it. So I'd say, no, not now, but maybe in the morning?

Harry had said that this island was obsessed with the number twelve and with sex. And here were two instances where a twelve-sided figure had been accompanied by startling sexual behavior. But the Niemanns and I had found one of those dodecagons without incident.

Inside, I discovered that while no one had found water or a source of help, two other groups had encountered dodecagons – one orange and one violet – but nothing peculiar had transpired. That made a total of five dodecagons, two that had resulted in someone going off the rails and exposing themselves. And three that had not.

Twelve men. Twelve cities on the map. Twelve colors on the phallic tower and on the floor inside. Twelve sides in a dodecagon. Quite possibly twelve dodecagons. And we were here because of Flight 12.

And sex. I'd found myself nude, Ray had pulled out his cock and demanded a blow job, Paul had stripped and tried to kiss Dai – not to mention we were staying overnight in a giant penis.

This was too strange to be an afterlife. But it was also too strange to be real. All I knew for sure was that this was no ordinary island.

It would be dark soon. As we had nothing in the way of a flashlight other than the lights on the two phones that hadn't run down completely – I suggested that trips to do one's business be done now, so we didn't have to find our way in the dark. So we traipsed out to the woods and relieved ourselves, using leaves where necessary, and headed back to the phallic tower.

THE WHITE ROOM, UNDERGROUND – STAN

The pole up my ass disintegrated during the descent and I went into free fall for perhaps thirty feet. I landed on a kind of soft surface, like foam rubber, that cushioned the blow. I was in some kind of a building, alone – no sign of Al. The room was entirely white. There was no hole in the ceiling – how could I have landed here? Crazy, crazy.

I picked myself up and patted my body. All parts intact.

There was a door, which seemed to be ajar. Well, no point in staying here, let's see what lies beyond.

What lay beyond resembled an office building, or a hospital or a school. Clean, white walls, linoleum floors, corridors leading off in multiple directions. Normally, I would have wondered how such a large structure could exist underground. But in a world where clothes vanished, sleeping bodies moved and penis gardens sprang up out of nowhere to impale you, I found nothing impossible any more. There was only one explanation, one which I had rejected along with my Catholic upbringing: I was in hell.

A person materialized, also naked. He approached me with a smile on his face, obviously intending to engage with me. I asked the first question:

• Is this hell?

He laughed.

• Hell? No. Or should I say, `Hell, no!"

He laughed again at his almost-joke.

• There's another guy, his name's Al. Have you seen him? He's about twenty, short, blond hair.

• The other new arrival. Don't worry about him. He's fine.

• This isn't hell.

• No.

• Am I dead?

• No.

• Then where am I?

• Hamish's place.

• Hamish, who's that?

• Well, I'd better say that he's my master.

• Your master. Like your mentor? He teaches you, or –

• I'm his boy.

• I don't understand. You're not a boy, you're at least in your thirties.

• I'm forty-one. Being a boy is a position not related to age, Stan.

• You know my name.

• I do. I know the others' names, too.

• The others.

• All the left-siders. You're number nine. Three left, Percy's hunting for them.

• Percy? The flight attendant. Is –

• Don't bother figuring it out. There's plenty of time for that. Let's just welcome you, okay?

• Do YOU have a name?

• I do. I'm Barry Russell. Does that name sound familiar?

• Should it?

• I flew your plane. Let me take you to your cell.

• My cell. Am I in prison?

• You could say that.

A CLEARING – PERCY

Took far longer than expected but I found one of the Bahamians – the gay one, Piers Thompson. I texted Hamish my location and called out to my target.

• Hello! Thompson?

• My word, you startled me. I've been wandering all over this island all afternoon. I haven't seen a soul.

Of course you haven't. They've mostly been captured by now.

• How did we all get separated?

• We didn't. Just you.

• What do you mean?

• You wandered off in the night.

• What are you talking about? I didn't wander off.

• Has anyone ever told you that you sleepwalk?

• No, that's ridiculous.

• Piers, believe me, you got up in the middle of the night and walked away. If you didn't do that consciously, then you sleepwalked.

• So where's everyone else?

• Back at the beach. Having supper while I go out looking for you.

• Supper? What – coconuts?

• Coconuts – and fish.

• Fish? How did you get fish?

• Rod and reel. One of your fellow travelers is a fisherman and packed a couple of rods and reels. And lures.

• . . . I thought all the luggage went on the other flight.

Shit, hadn't thought of that.

• It was a portable rod, folded up, fit in his backpack. The wreckage washed up just offshore, remember? He could swim out and get it. Still under his seat.

• Cool. Let's go.

• Piers. Before we go back . . . to all the others . . . in front of all the others. . . .

• (suspicious) Yeah?

• I'd like to kiss you.

• . . . I'm sorry, what?

• Funny, you don't look like someone with a hearing problem.

• . . . I don't have a hearing problem, I have a believing problem.

• Would you believe I want to do more than kiss you?

• What makes you think I'm gay?

• You're gay.

There was a pause.

• You're right, I'm gay. And I don't know what it is, but ever since I got here I've been horny as hell. I even wanted to have sex with Theo – and he's straight. It's like the air is an aphrodisiac.

• Yes, I can see how horny you are. Why don't you undress so I can see more clearly?

It was at that moment that he seized me, wrapped his arms around me, and pushed his mouth against mine. We exchanged breath, we locked tongues, we rubbed our hands over each other's backs and asses.

And then we started ripping our clothes off.

• Your name's Percy, right? I heard you tell somebody on the plane.

• That's right. Percy.

• I never met anyone named Percy before.

• I never met anyone named Piers. They're almost the same name. Piers. Percy.

• I always thought Percy was, you know, sorry, but rather effeminate.

• You'll see how effeminate it is when my cock's inside you.

• Oh, is that how it is?

• Oh, yes, Piers. That's how it is. Now lean up against this tree and bend over.

And I took him, didn't I. I think he was probably a top but he was so anxious for sex that he bent over willingly. I spit in his hole and into my hands and lathered up my cock and up his lovely mocha-colored ass it went. I rode him, and rode him hard – harder than he was expecting. But he loved every minute of it.

I slipped on my kaftan as he reached to pick up his clothes.

• Don't bother, Piers. You won't need them where you're going.

• I won't need my – ?

The tree suddenly disintegrated. Actually, not all of it did, just the upper branches, and the outer sections of the trunk, revealing that the core of the trunk was, in fact, a six-foot high black penis.

• What the fuck?

• Exactly. One penis isn't enough for you, is it?

And a small black penis on a long pole shot up out of the ground directly underneath him and speared him in exactly the same spot where my own penis had been moments before, surging up into his anus and thrusting him high in the air.

• Goodbye, Piers.

And, screaming all the way, he shot down through the earth, out of sight.

I got out my phone and texted Hamish.

• DID YOU GET MY PRESENT?

• RECEIVED.

• HE STRIPPED ALL BY HIMSELF. TOLD YOU I'D GET HIM TO DO IT.

• EXCELLENT. HOW WAS HE?

• DELICIOUS. YOU MIGHT SAY I `PIERS'ED HIM GOOD. AND THEN THE PENIS PORTAL DID.

• WHAT ABOUT DERISIAN AND SEBOLD?

• I'LL GET THEM TOMORROW. DO YOU HAVE ALL THE OTHERS?

• I DO. COMING DOWN?

• I'M A HALF MILE FROM THE ENTRANCE. SEE YOU SOON.

I walked north for about ten minutes to the place where I had emerged from underground to the surface. It was like a manhole disguised with grass. I entered the key code into my phone, and the lid lifted and a thin pole projected up six feet out of the ground. I grabbed hold of it and slid down to my beloved husband and his underground domain. Where Piers Thompson had become the latest resident.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – HARRY

After sundown, the two merged groups chatted for a while inside the tower, getting to know each other. I found myself liking Paul and Dai and disliking Lucas and Leo. Jasper and Tim I hadn't talked to enough to form a judgment. And then I heard something unexpected from our most unpredictable member:

• (Ray) I need to pee.

Ray had been quiet for quite a while, but I had noticed he had not taken advantage of the opportunity earlier, when Seth had encouraged everyone to go outside before it got dark.

I was annoyed at him, and my irritation probably showed.

• Why didn't you go before?

• What before?

• When everybody else went.

• Oh, did they go? I didn't know. I just got here.

• You just got here?

Light bulb moment: This was not Ray.

• Gary?

• Yeah?

• You're Gary. Gary Onslow.

• You know my name. Do I know yours? You probably said it, but I wasn't here.

• I'm Harry.

• Hi, Harry. Could you tell me where I am?

• You don't know?

• This is no place I recognize. I mean, I'm kinda used to that. I often find myself in places I don't recognize. They take me there while I'm asleep.

• Ray and Cody.

• You know them?

• We've met. Did Ray or Cody tell you anything?

• They never tell me anything. They just . . . take advantage of me and let me fend for myself. It's – it's scary. I don't know why they hate me, Harry, they just do.

• Well, I don't hate you.

• Thank you. I don't hate you either. (Laughs) That was a joke, sorta. How could I hate you, I just met you. Where are we?

• We're on an island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.

• No shit, really?

• Really.

• I like this floor. It's pretty.

• It is, isn't it. You're sitting on the yellow wedge.

• Oh. Yeah, I am.

• Do you like yellow?

• I guess. Who are all these people?

• They're . . . they were on the plane with you, Gary. I was on the plane, too.

• I was on a plane?

• You . . . must have been asleep. Ray brought you.

• Oh. And we're on an island in the Caribbean?

• Yes.

• So . . . why are we with the other people from the plane? This doesn't look like an airport.

• No, Gary, it's not. Listen, this is kinda hard to explain. Maybe . . . maybe you'd better go out and pee and then we can talk, okay?

• Okay.

Shit. How could I explain something that was incomprehensible to myself to someone who had been submerged beneath two other personalities during the whole traumatic incident? I wanted to call Seth over to help strategize, but he was engaged with Dai in what looked like a serious discussion. Just then Augie saw me, noticed Gary heading for the door, and came over to have a word.

• Saw you talking to Ray.

• . . . Yeah.

• How was he?

• Why do you ask?

• He's been quiet since we came back from the expedition, right? No bragging, no talking loud, you know what I mean?

• I know what you mean. Yeah, he's been quiet.

• Harry, it's like he's changed again. He was like this rancher guy and said his name was Cody and then he went nuts and tried to get me to suck his dick and said his name was Ray. But while we were out, it was like he suddenly was something different. It might have happened when we found that medallion.

• Medallion?

• Well, that's what I'm calling those big patterns on the ground. I know they aren't medallions, but I've got to call them something.

• Okay, what happened at the medallion?

• Ray had been his usual self, bragging about his conquests – he's definitely a homo – but then when we got to the medallion, he sort of got quiet and stayed quiet the whole way back.

• What color was the `medallion'?

• (pointing to the wall) That color. Like bluish-purple.

• Violet.

I saw him get up quickly and move away, like he didn't want to be seen talking. I looked up and saw the reason: Gary/Ray/Cody was heading back to me.

• Change your mind?

• No. I still have to pee. But I couldn't get out.

• What do you mean, you couldn't get out?

• There's no handle on the door.

[COMING UP NEXT: CHAPTER EIGHT – TRAPPED]