Chapter 3
The two girls ate the meal Annie had prepared as they started getting themselves ready for some sleep. But they didn’t get far into the meal before Annie started asking questions about Ruby's past. Ruby explained to Annie how she and this girl Kate got away from the island she had been sent to as a prisoner by winning their competition, before turning the question back towards Annie. "So what's your story then? What did you do to get here?"
Annie put away the leftovers of her food and laid back in her bed before answering. "It's a long story, but i'll try to keep it simple.
My experiment was nothing like your prison. We never felt like we had been punished and had to win our way out. Instead, we were in a school. And as far as we knew, it was completely normal days for us there, due to them removing all of our memories from before we woke up there one day.
We never had any normal classes that you have in a normal school, but instead we had different sexually themed classes. Like learning multiple way to please someone, fuck someone. Doing different sexual acts i could never even think of. We made sex movies as school projects, and the teachers would test us every week in most of what we went through there, and grade us after that. In the end, me and a few others i haven't seen since, graduated at the top of our class and i eventually ended up here, same as you. For all i know, the others that i graduated with from that school is probably on this island somewhere aswell, maybe it's the same with your friend."
"I see." Ruby said as Annie finished her story. "And how long have you been here on this island?"
Annie let out a yawn before she answered. "Three months? Maybe a bit longer. It's hard to keep track here."
"And you don't want to leave anymore?"
"I... i do. It's just that i don't think i can do it. Before i came to this place i was alone out there. Scared and nervous, worrying everyday that i would stumble upon the wrong kind of people."
"Why don't you come with me tomorrow then?" Ruby asked. "I mean, you said it yourself. You want to get out of here. Being out there alone might be scary, but we could watch each others backs. Keep each other safe."
"Maybe that would work. But then again, maybe it wouldn't." Annie answered. "I don't think you quite understand what you're stepping into, but if you are that determined to get out of here, i guess there's no other option."
"So, are you coming with me then?"
Annie was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I'll sleep on it. That's all i can say for now. I'll give you an answer tomorrow."
It was still dark outside when Ruby got woken up. "What?" She asked, looking up at Annie who was standing next to her bed with her backpack on.
"Let's go, now! Before the others wake up." Annie seemed stressed out as she stood there trying to get Ruby up.
Ruby got up from her bed, not really understanding what was going on. "Why now? I thought you said it was dangerous at night. And don't you wanna say your goodbyes to the others?"
"Just come." Annie went over to the door and looked outside. "Now!"
Ruby followed behind, still groggy from just waking up.
Annie led them away from the village and deeper into the forest before she stopped again to let them catch their breath. "Okay, sorry about that. I've decided to come with you after all."
"Well, i think i've pretty much figured that much out by now. But what's the deal with sneaking out?" Ruby wanted to know.
"I didn't want to take a chance to be convinced to stay behind. I know how persuasive Eric can be. There's a challenge we can do about an hours walk from here." Annie said to change the subject. "We can try that first and see what we get. I don't really have much of a plan here, so we'll just have to take things as they come."
It was hard enough to walk barefoot on the trail during daytime with all the rocks and tree roots in the way. But during night, they had to walk way slower than usual to avoid hurting themselves. It took closer to two hours before they arrived at the location Annie talked about. A fairly large wooden cabin with a sign on it's roof that said 'Challenge'.
"Okay, this is it." Annie said, pointing towards the sign above the building. "Now we have the option of going in both at the same time or individually. If we go together, we don't have to wait here long. These challenges can only be done once every six hours, so if we go one by one we'd have to make camp close to here until both of us get's a chance.
"What's the catch then?" Ruby asked.
"Well, if one of us fails or gives up, both of us will lose and not get anything."
"And how do you know this challenge is available right now? What if someone’s in there?"
Annie pointed towards the door. "See that screen? It sais 'Open' right now. That is a monitor wich displays a timer if we have to wait. So right now it's open for us."
"I see, let's do this then." Ruby walked first to the door and opened it, with Annie following close behind. The first room inside the building was a small lobby where a man was sitting behind a desk with his feet on top of it, almost looking as if he was about to fall asleep.