[Fiction] The Facility: a getDare Sci-Fi

[lordbob]

please post soon great story

[pm90]

Since you guys asked so nice...




The Red Rover Project
Chapter 4: Adventure!


“Dude, Alex, what are you doing?” James said, shocked.

“I just wanna see whats up here!” Alex called down, as he pulled his bare legs up through the hole and disappeared from view.

“Hey James,” Dmitri said, standing next to him.

“What,” he replied, obviously not paying attention. “Alex! Get back here!” he called again in his loudest whisper.

“Hey James,” Dmitri repeated, with a smile, “I dare you to follow him up there.” James heard him this time, but still wasn't fully paying attention.

“What? No, we're not even supposed to be awake right-”

“Dude. I DARE you.” That got his attention. Though none of them could remember anything about their lives before they entered the Project, they all still had some understandings about social customs and life outside of the complex. One day one of the boys had jokingly dared one of his group mates to do something, and the second hadn't heard the joke in the statement and had gotten into quite a bit of trouble for flicking a grape across the cafeteria with his spoon. When they'd all talked about it later, the boys in the group had agreed that most of them remembered the concept of a dare: when somebody dared you to do something, you had to do it, no matter how embarrassing or unpleasant it might be. Dares weren't flung around too often out of a communal respect for each other, as they had agreed that it wouldn't do anybody any good if they all tried to one-up each other all the time.

“...Oh. Are you serious? Really? Oh my god. FINE. But you have to come help me bring him back down, then.” Dmitri just grinned in response and extended his hand as if bowing James through a door. The gesture was somewhat less regal, considering that crammed into the stall the way they were, he couldn't actually bow without headbutting James squarely in the nose.

James gave him a dirty look, and stepped up onto the toilet he'd only just gotten down from minutes before. Balancing himself with a hand on top of the wall of the stall, he stepped up onto the plumbing and gripped the edge of the hole in the ceiling,. With another dirty look back at Dmitri and a grunt, he hoisted himself up into the dusty darkness.

He could see Alex's black-clad ass with an unusual square grid pattern of dust on it retreating ahead along a narrow catwalk. He maneuvered over to the catwalk himself and followed, stooped under the low concrete ceiling and hissing through his teeth with every barefooted step along the rugged metal traction plate. He heard Dmitri step up onto the toilet behind him and pull himself up with another grunt.

Ahead, Alex stood up in some sort of opening in the concrete ceiling where a bunch of the pipes and wires converged and went upwards, and soft orange colored light was coming down from somewhere above.

“There's another room up here,” Alex said in an excited whisper, motioning for James to hurry up. After ducking under several pipes that seemed to materialize out of thin air right in front of his face, James was stooped in front of Alex, once again looking straight at his ass with the funny dust pattern. There wasn't room in the opening for them both to stand in, but surprising James, Alex lifted himself up and once again attempted a disappearing act into the ceiling.

James stepped over a twisted mass of pipes and stood up in the opening, almost hitting his head on the bottom rung of a crude narrow iron ladder, Alex's magic disappearance apparatus. Bending back over to look behind him, James confirmed that Dmitri was right behind him, grinning.

“You know you've got this funny square dust pattern on your butt, right?” he said, still grinning at James' ass.

“Yeah, so does Alex. I bet you do too. Now quit looking at my butt, and come on.”

Standing back up straight and almost hitting his head on the ladder again, James looked up, where only a few feet above him Alex was standing off to the side and leaning over to peer back down at them, also with a grin.

“Come on, James,” Alex called down over a mild mechanical din coming from somewhere up there. “And smile too. This is awesome!” James rolled his eyes, but grabbed the ladder and heaved himself up. After just two rungs his head popped up into the open room above.


… … … … …


Earl almost jumped when another feed automatically opened and enlarged itself right in the middle of his view screen, pushing a couple other feeds off to the side to make room. It was of an area that only occasionally showed up in the scrolling feeds, and looked very different from the rest of the pristine complex. The contrast of the chaotic network of pipes covered in grime and dully lit with the orange gas lights was a little jarring at first, when most of what he watched was clean, white, and very orderly.

He caught his breath when he saw the boys. This was completely unexpected, and as far as he knew, unprecedented. He hadn't even known that it was possible to get from the lowest sub-level to the middle sub-level without using the elevator. What was he supposed to do now? He should probably raise the alarm, but he was afraid that his superiors would figure out that he hadn't done so immediately when the subjects all crammed into the same stall, or maybe even sooner. But it was way past that point now. Out of fear, and against his better judgment, he decided to wait, and see what would happen. It was a terrible gamble, hoping that none of them would get hurt or do anything destructive, or that nobody else would figure out that he flat out hadn't done his job. But he was hoping that everything would just work out.

With a sweaty mixture of fear and excitement, he watched as the third subject's head came into view.


… … … … …



“Whoa,” James said, standing up. “That's...different.” Indeed it was different for them. All they could remember were the clean white walls of the lowest sub-level of the complex and the orderly hydroponics of the top sub-level. This room, however, was dimly lit with a strange orange light, and there were pipes, hoses, valves, wires, cables, control boxes, displays, switches and god-knows-what everywhere. A thick layer of greasy dusty slime coated every surface, and the concrete floor was a patchwork of unidentifiable stains.

They stepped aside to let Dmitri up. For his part, he wasn't grinning any more so much as simply staring in wonder. Alex still had a grin, though, and was exercising it fully.

“Okay, we saw what was up here, we should go back now,” James said, after the initial shock had passed. He grabbed Alex's sleeve and tugged, but Alex just shrugged him off and took a few steps out into the room. There were large industrial machines everywhere exuding pipes and what-not, but it was actually fairly roomy despite the clutter and gloom.

Dmitri followed after Alex, and James very hesitantly fell into step as well. It seemed that they were in a single large wall-less space that was simply a maze of mechanics. They also found deep pools of water, and of sludge, and a large heap of odd waste. The last two were pretty stinky.

It also turned out that the hole they had popped up out of was one of several series of similar holes scattered in clusters, and each had a dingy ladder and writhing mass of wires, cables and pipes. They wandered around for a several minutes, staring at everything and touching nothing, walking amazed through the maze of rumbling tanks, hissing pipes, and beeping boxes. After they'd gone a fair distance and taken several turns, James stopped.

“Um, guys?” James said.

“What, James?” Alex asked, obviously expecting him to say they should go back now.

“If we go any farther, I'm not sure if I'll remember how to get back.”

“Oh,” the other two said together, and looked at each other, smiles gone.

“Um... I guess that means we should head back that direction, then,” Dmitri said, and James let out an internal sigh of relief. He really was afraid that they might not find their way back to the proper ladder, and he didn't really relish the idea of checking down every hole in the floor that they passed to see if it was the right one.

After a moment's thought, Alex glumly agreed as well, and they about faced, and followed their trail back the way they'd come. A couple times they started walking the wrong direction, but quickly realized it when they didn't recognize a particular piece of machinery, and corrected course.

Finally James stopped and said “Okay, I think this is it.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Alex, “But which one? There's three holes right here.”

“I...I'm not sure,” James admitted.

“Not sure?” Dmitri frowned. “You got us all the way back here and you don't know which ladder we used?”

“Well, yeah, I guess,” James said. “Do you remember which one it was?”

“Not really, no” Dmitri conceded.

“Me neither,” Alex added. They all looked at each other for a moment, before James spoke back up.

“Well I'm not sure, but I think it might have been that one,” he said, pointing to the nearest one.

“I guess there's only one way to find out,” Alex said a little more confidently, and stepped over to peer over the edge before turning around and taking the first step down the ladder.








Hey everybody, sorry this is a little late. Work's been killing me, I've slept 12 out of the last 60+ hours, working five shifts in the last two and a half days. O.o Anyway, thanks for reading! Next segment coming when I get a chance to write it.

Clear Skies,
~pm

[pm90]

The Red Rover Project
Chapter 5: Looking Down


Earl had started to relax and feel relieved when he realized that the three boys were headed back. Maybe this would actually blow over.

His relief didn't last long, though. They didn't head back down the hole they'd come up through, the subject named “Alex” had started heading down an adjacent hole, instead. He couldn't tell if they knew it or not, but his anxiety was flaring up quite afresh. And he nearly panicked when “Dmitri” walked toward the middle hole and “James” started climbing into the third hole. He couldn't track them while they were in whatever space that was between the floor of the mechanical room and the ceiling of the bathrooms, and even so, he wasn't sure he would have been able to follow all three of them at the same time. Multitasking wasn't one of his strongest skills. Not that he told that to the lady who interviewed him for the job.

So he just watched, as all three of their heads disappeared down into the holes, leaving him with an empty feed in the middle of his screen.

Realizing he had nothing better to do while he waited for them to reappear somewhere else in the building, he turned his attention back to the other feeds he had open, which he'd been neglecting. Two of the girls were still talking animatedly on the couch in their lounge, while the third girl they'd been talking with had entered one of the stalls in the bathroom and sat on one of the toilets quite a while ago. She still sat there now, and he zoomed in to see that she had her chin in her hands, and her eyelids were closed. Had she really fallen asleep while sitting on the toilet? Wow. She should have been in bed instead of staying up talking with the other two, then. Well, all three of them should have been in bed anyway, but that hardly ever stopped anybody.

He glanced between his three enlarged feeds, hoping something would happen to relieve his gripping anxiety.


… … … … …


James grimaced as his bare feet stepped back down onto the metal traction plate. Not only was it spiky, but it was cold, too, after the concrete he'd been walking on. Actually, he hadn't really noticed it, but that whole room had been quite a bit warmer than he was used to, just like the hydroponics area was always warmer.

He ducked under another bundle of pipes and kept walking stooped over and grimacing. He leaned over the edge of the traction plate walkway to try and peer through the grating, but all he could see was a toilet stall, he couldn't tell if it was their bathroom or not.

He kept shuffling along the dusty walkway, pushing aside a bundle of wires that left a little poof of dust hanging in the air.

When he looked back over the edge to see if he could tell if it was the right bathroom or not, he froze.

Definitely not the right bathroom. He was leaning over a small railing and looking down through the grate at the top of a girl's head, while she sat on the toilet. Her light brown hair was curling down her back, and she was leaning forward, so he couldn't see her face. Without even really thinking about what he was doing, he leaned forward a little more trying to get a better look (he could tell she wasn't wearing her underwear, he could make out the pale skin of her rear end on the toilet) and to see if she would move so he could figure out who it was.

His nose started tickling, and he felt his chest tighten a little. Oh no. All that dust! He squeezed his eyes shut, and concentrated as hard as he could, trying to stop the tickle.

It wasn't working.

Really panicking now, he lifted one of his (dusty) arms and muffled his nose and mouth, preparing.

As he inhaled, he kept as much control as he could, and as his diaphram contracted and forced his whole body to jerk, he managed to keep most of the sneeze in, with only an awkwardly muffled “TCH-”

The first sneeze not relieving that damned tickle, he sneezed a second time almost immediately, almost losing his composure completely, and letting out an involuntary reverse snort “TCHA!”


… … … … …


Hannah jumped, suddenly startled. She looked around in a slight panic.

Oh. She realized she was just in the stall. She was a little embarrassed that she'd fallen asleep on the toilet, she couldn't remember having ever done that before. And she'd just woken up suddenly, and it had startled her. She took a deep breath, and tried to tell her heart to stop beating so hard.

She took another calming breath and sat back up, stretching her back and neck, and rubbing the red elbow marks on her knees. She finished her stretch with a little shake of her head, and had to tuck her hair back behind her ears.

With a quick introspection, she decided she was done, and reached for a couple sheets of toilet paper.


… … … … …


James stayed frozen with his mouth and nose buried deep in his elbow. His eyes watered and his face throbbed with the back pressure that hadn't been released. His nose didn't tickle any more, though.

Panting, and holding a pipe for balance, he opened his eyes in a nervous squint, and looked down again.

Oh good, he thought. She hadn't seemed to hear him. She sat up, and stretched, and he caught a glimpse of her face.

Hannah? His eyes were still watering, and he'd only gotten a glimpse, so he couldn't be sure. But she had the right hair color... He'd talked to her now and then, and she seemed really nice. And she was pretty, too, he thought. He knew some of the other boys in his group probably wouldn't agree, though.

She looked around for a moment below him, and he caught another glimpse. He was almost sure it was her.

His eyes went wide as she reached for a few sheets of toilet paper, folded them carefully, leaned back, and reached down between her legs with an efficient swipe. When he thought back and remembered it, he remembered the motion taking much longer than it actually had.

She stood, and tossed the paper in the toilet, which flushed obligingly behind her.

James' eyes almost jumped ship again with a guilty nervous stare downwards as she bent over and collected her underwear from around her ankles, and tugged them back up with a little shimmy of her hips. Her collar was too high and tight, but the fabric draped well enough that he had an excellent view of her chest, which seemed much larger from this angle than he ever remembered noticing before...

He quickly scolded himself mentally for thinking like that. Hannah was nice, and those weren't nice thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking about her like that. … But he couldn't help but keep watching her as she unlatched the stall door and pulled it open.

The metal grating underneath him obscured his view as she walked out of the stall, and he sighed, removing his arm from around the lower half of his face. After a moment spent gathering his wits, he stood back up to head back the way he came from, when suddenly-

WHAM!






Comment, folks! I know I've been taking it slow, but that's how I like these kinds of stories. Anybody have any suggestions on where I should take it from here? I only have a loose plan, thus far.

Love you all,
~pm

[gayboi25]

Loving the Story! Please continue.

[pm90]

Oh my gosh. I only started this thread about two weeks ago, and its already over 1000 views? Wow. I'm shocked and flattered, guys.

So this next semester, the ends of the weeks are gonna be killer for me at work, so updates are probably gonna to be at the beginning of the weeks or on the weekends. I'll do what I can, I promise.

And like I said before, I'm very open to suggestions, and I appreciate most forms of feedback If your suggestion might be a spoiler, just send me a PM.

Okay. I've been awake for 19 hours straight, so I'm going to sleep. I love you all, and keep checking back.

Clear Skies,
~pm

[pm90]

The Red Rover Project
Chapter 6: o hai...


“Oh fuuuuuck” he groaned, doubling back over, and clutching the back of his head. His jaw was open and his eye were firmly shut, yet his eyelids were a light fuzzy gray instead of the tradition black. He couldn't tell if the metallic ringing he heard was from the pipe he'd hit his head on, or if it was just his senses being completely disoriented.

“Ooooooh fuck,” he groaned again, quieter this time, kneeling back down and continuing to firmly push on the back of his bruised and throbbing skull.

It took a few moments for his eyelids to return to their normal black color, and he could open his eyes. His hands weren't bloody, that was good. His brain gave another angry throb as he moved his head back and forth, but he decided that he was okay. He grabbed a railing and planted a foot, and took another moment to breath before trying again to stand up.

“Who is that?” came a curious voice from below. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and ended up on his ass, clutching at a dusty pipe and cursing himself for forgetting that he'd just made a considerable amount of noise.

“...hi – ow. Hi, Hannah.” he said in a very guilty sounding groan, looking up and exhaling instead of looking down in her direction.

“...James?” she guessed, sounding confused.

“Yeah,” he sighed again. “Yeah, it's me.”

“...What are you doing in the ceiling?” Watching you use the toilet. Sorry if I got dust in your hair.

“Trying to find my way back to my group,” he said instead, attempting to sound lost and confused. He probably just sounded guilty and in pain, though. Thankfully she didn't seem to notice.

“Your way - … but,... James, how did you even get up there? Aren't you supposed to be asleep?”

“Yeah, that's what I told Alex.” He cursed himself almost before he finished saying it. He felt like he should have at least tried making it sound like he was alone, to protect his group mates.

“Alex?” she said, sounding even more perplexed. “Is he there too? How did you get here? I thought all the doors were locked...”

“Yeah, they are,” he said, shifting back into a kneeling position and leaning forward to look down into the lit room below. There was Hannah, standing in the stall again, this time looking upward in his general direction. “Alex wanted to know what was up here,” he explained, “so he crawled up, and then Dmitri dared me to follow him, and now we can't figure out how to get back.”

“Oh...” She sounded confused. “Where are you? I can't see you.”

He stuck his fingers through the grated and lifted the square section up and slid it off to the side.

“Hi,” he said again, a little lamely. He leaned forward a little farther, so the light was a little brighter on his face for her.

“Those move?” she said, staring at him wide eyed.

“Um, yeah,” he said. Of course they moved. Why wouldn't they?

“Wow. I never thought about that... I gotta show Taylor and Aubrey!” And before he could say anything, she'd spun around, and dashed out of the stall, calling over her shoulder, “Don't go anywhere!”

“Ah-... huh. Fine.” He leaned forward and down, doing his best to see as far as he could without falling head first through the hole, probably landing uncomfortably on the toilet, which suddenly seemed a lot farther down.

The girls' bathroom was a little different from the boys' tat he was used to. He'd seen it before, of course, when his group was on cleaning detail, but it still looked unfamiliar to him, with stalls lining the entire back wall and half of each of the two side walls, sinks taking up the remaining halves of the two side walls. The shower area in the center of the room looked the same, though.

Hannah came rushing back through the doorway, dragging Taylor (who didn't look at all excited, and was giving one of her usual eye rolls) by the wrist. Aubrey followed behind them, looking distinctly confused.

Taylor was halfway through a second eye roll (had he ever seen that girl when she wasn't rolling her eyes?) when she stopped mid step and looked directly at James, quite surprised. Hannah tugged on her wrist, not realizing she'd stopped, and Taylor jerked forward, and remembered how to walk, still staring at the boy sticking his head through the hole in the ceiling.

“Hannah,” Aubrey said frowning, “I don't- eek!” She let out a startled sound when she realized what they were both looking up at.

James waved awkwardly, and quickly caught himself before taking a nose dive. “Hi guys.”

[SAMaster]

Awesome story.... please keep it going

[dirtylittleboy]

please continue. it can get great

[henryzz]

Brilliant story!! I really miss it. What happened to updates? Please post your plans for resuming the story. If we have to wait for Easter thats fine with me. I know what its like to have an overload of schoolwork.

[pm90]

The Red Rover Project
Chapter 7: Retreat


This is bad. This is very very bad, Earl thought to himself. He watched with growing anxiety and despair as Hannah led the other two girls into the bathroom, and they all looked up toward the ceiling.

I'm going to lose my job, he told himself. Or worse.

He could just make out that it was the subject named James who had attracted the attention of the three girls. He still didn't know where the other two boys were, though. Hopefully not causing even more trouble.


… … … … … … …


“James, what are you doing?!” Taylor whispered as loud as she possibly could. “You shouldn't be here!”

“I know, I know!” he shout-whispered back. Hadn't he already explained this? “I got lost!”

Aubrey leaned in close to Taylor, and quietly asked, “Do you think he can see my underwear?” James and Taylor shared an eye roll this time.

“Yes, Aubrey,” she replied, “I'm pretty sure he can see you underwear. And mine too, for that matter. And God knows how much of Hannah he saw while she was going to the bathroom.” She gave him a very suspicious look, while Hannah's eyes went wide, and her cheeks grew red. James blushed, too, and mumbled something about not being there for long, not really seeing anything. Taylor just continued looking at him very skeptically.

“Oh...” Aubrey said, confused as ever.

“Um, I think I really should go now,” James said rather lamely.

“Probably,” Taylor replied flatly.

“So... Good night, girls.”

“Good night, James!” Aubrey said brightly. James was starting to appreciate how simple of a person she was. He laced his fingers through the metal grate and slid it back into place. He stood up – carefully this time – but stayed and watched the girls turn and walk away, whispering to each other, quiet enough that he couldn't hear them clearly. When he couldn't see them anymore, he turned and headed back the way he'd come, ducking pipes and stepping over cables all the way back to the ladder.


… … … … … … …


Earl exhaled loudly. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath. At least that particular crisis hadn't ended in disaster. James had disappeared again, and the girls were walking back to their beds. Moreover, the other two boys had returned to the rendezvous spot in the mechanical room, and were talking to each other. At least he knew where they were now.






Oh my gosh. I'm sorry it's been so long. I promise I didn't forget about you guys, but on top of work and school, my computer died, so I've just been mooching internet off my friends for the past few weeks. But I just ordered the new laptop, and it should be here soon.

Anyways, I know it's really short, but this is what I could accomplish on my phone today. It's spring break here, so perhaps I'll be able to get more to you soon. I know this installment may have been slightly disappointing to some of you, but trust me, it had to happen this way, and I promise it'll get spicy later on. Thanks for stickin around, guys! I love you all.

Clear skies,
~pm

[pm90]

The Red Rover Project
Chapter 8: Chai


“Your chai is ready, sir”

“Thank you, Geoffrey, I’ll take it here. Thanks.” He accepted the warm ceramic mug, absentmindedly running his thumb over the Finch Industries logo.

“Anything of interest, sir?”

“So far nothing compared to last night, but we’ll see. I never anticipated that they would find a way to move around at night. This will be… yes. Interesting.”

“Very well, sir. And the watchmen?”

“Yes, the watchmen…” He took a sip of his chai. “Fascinating, aren’t they? Not a single one of them sounded the alarm last night, and yet they were all aware of what was happening. Earl looked especially nervous, don’t you think?”

“Certainly sir, he did. I wonder why there’s a difference between when they decide to sound the alarm, and when they don’t. I mean, all but two of them responded according to protocol that night the girls in the third hall started going at each other’s throats, but when subjects start breaking out of their rooms, wandering through mechanical rooms, and talking with other groups?”

“Right, exactly. What is the difference? Was it the sense of urgency created by the fight? Was it the unprecedence or gradual nature of the break out? I don’t know, Geoffrey. We’ll see what happens tonight.”

“And the children, sir?”

“Well, I was actually a little surprised at their actions last night, you know. I mean the boys exploring, that’s a little bit of a given, boys explore. But when the one – James – was talking to the girls, I was sure that something else would happen! But they just talked. And briefly, too. He didn’t bring the other boys back with him to visit, the girls didn’t follow him to explore as well… All the curiosity and sense of adventure we saw on the mechanical, none of that carried over. So strange. But we’ll see what happens tonight, lights just went out.”

“Let me know what you find, sir. If there’s nothing else you need, I’ll be headed to bed. You might be able to stay up all night, but I need my full eight hours if you expect me to be civil tomorrow.”

“That’s fine, Geoffrey. Thank you. Sleep well.”

“Good night, Mr. Finch.”

… … … … … … …

He’d expected to have trouble falling asleep. After the nerve-wracking – but strangely exciting – events of the night before, he’d spent the entire day thinking about it all, mulling it over in his brain, and he’s expected to keep thinking about it straight through the night. But instead he’d fallen straight to sleep, before any of the other boys could start up the chorus of raucous snoring.

“James…”

“Mmmmgrwauh.”

*sigh* “James.”

“Uhhhrrg.”

“James!” Alex shook his shoulder harder.

“Ugh, what? G’way…”

“C’mon. We wanna go back there again!”

“Wuh? What’re you …? Ugh.” He closed his eyes again, and flopped his head back onto his pillow. But he frowned in frustration. He was already awake again, and he knew Alex wasn’t going to go away, nor would he be able to fall back to sleep again anytime soon. “Fine, just gimme a minute.”

“Alright! C’mon, let’s go!”

“I said gimme a minute,” he said, waving Alex away. “I’ll meet you in the bathroom.”

“Oh…” he said, “Okay. But hurry.”

James grunted in acknowledgement, and waited until he heard Alex’s footsteps on the ground headed to the doorway before he rolled onto his back and willed the excess of blood to drain from his penis. Damn erection. Embarrassing. He knew it was simply a byproduct of elevated neural activity during the REM phase of his sleep cycle, but still. And he thought he remembered something about Hannah in his dream… Oh well.

He took a few deep breaths and tried relaxing his brain. It worked. A few seconds later he pulled off the sheets and climbed down the bed frame, to the cold hard floor.

“Hey, James….” Dmitri said, as soon as he stepped through the doorway.

“What?”

“I dare you to go up there first, this time.”

James rolled his eyes. “You know I’m gonna have to dare you back at some point, right?”

“I know,” he said, grinning. “I’m kinda counting on it.” James just rolled his eyes again.

“Alright, let’s go!” Alex said again, impatiently. James obliged, and pushed open the door to the closest stall, the same one they’d used last night. He looked up for a moment before climbing on top of the toilet and plumbing, and pushing aside the metal grate.

Alex followed second, and once again, Dmitri brought up the rear. When they finally stood up in the orange light of the mechanical room, James turned around, only a little perturbed, and asked “So what now?”

“You spent a lot of time down there last night,” Alex said, curious, “What’s down that one? The one I went down was just another bathroom, one of the mixed-gender groups.”

“Really? Huh. Well that one leads to one of the girls-only bathrooms. Hannah’s group,” he said, before realizing he might have said too much.

“Hannah’s group?” Dmitri said.

“How do you know that?” Alex asked.

“I uh… talked to her. And Taylor and Aubrey. They were awake.” They both looked at him with wide eyes, and slack jaws.

“Dude….” Alex said, still wide eyed. Then he frowned, and suddenly punched James’s shoulder. Hard. “Dude, why didn’t you tell us?!”

“Ow! Hey! I wanted to go back and sleep. Ow! They were going to sleep, too, anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered. Jeez.”

“Fine. Let’s go see if they’re awake again tonight.” Without waiting for a response, he took to quick steps to the hole and started lowering himself down the ladder. James and Dmitri shared a look, shrugged, and followed, James still rubbing his sore deltoid.

“I don’t see anybody,” Alex whispered, when they’d maneuvered their way down the catwalk, and could peer through the grated ceiling tiles. James discovered that he was getting marginally better at dodging the pipes and bundles of wires.

“Well, do you think anybody’s awake?” Dmitri asked.

“I dunno. Let’s find out.” He positioned himself centered over one of the stalls and laced his fingers through the metal grate to lift and slide it to the side. He turned away from the hole and stuck one, then both legs down, and lowered himself onto the toilet. Once he’d hopped down off the toilet onto the cracked concrete floor, Dmitri followed suit, then James.

The bathroom was empty. They stuck to the edges of the room, tiptoeing to the doorway to the lounge. The lounge was empty too, but they could hear the girls sleeping in the bunk room. James noted somewhat bitterly how quietly the girls slept compared to the boys in his group.

“Dammit,” Dmitri whispered. “What do we do now? Do you think they’re all asleep?”

“Hey Dmitri….” James whispered.

“What?”

“Go find Hannah, Aubrey, and Taylor, and wake them up. I dare you,” James finished, with a mischievous and vengeful look. He was a little surprised at himself for saying it, but he remembered how Dmitri had dared him, and didn’t regret his payback.

Dmitri looked back at him, wide eyed, mouthing “Oh fuck…” Slowly his shock turned to acceptance and resolve, and he nodded, agreeing to do it.

James stood with Alex at the doorway to the bunk room and looked into the dark, trying to watch as Dmitri slowly crept through the room, leaning in to look at their faces. It was dark enough in the room that they could really only make out his outline, as he very slowly climbed the ladders on the bunks.

The first girl he shook awake was on a bottom bunk. It was Aubrey, and she did an exaggerated tiptoe to the doorway, and excitedly joined James and Alex.

He had a harder time finding Hannah and Taylor, they were both on top bunks, and Hannah even gave a little squeak of surprise, but if anybody else heard and woke up, they didn’t move or say anything.

“Pretty ballsy, coming in here and waking us up,” Taylor whispered to Dmitri once they were all in the lounge. “What if we get caught?”

“Well I didn’t really have a choice,” he blushed, “James dared me to, but I don’t think the Facilitators are gonna find out”

“Dared you?” Aubrey asked.

“Yeah, a dare. You guys remember those from before?”

“I think so,” Taylor said, while Aubrey just shook her head. “It’s when somebody tells you to do something and you have to do it, right?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, as they stepped into the softly lit bathroom. “James doesn’t like them, but I think they’re kinda fun. You gotta do fun stuff you wouldn’t normally decide to do.”

“I do like them,” James defended, “I just don’t like getting in trouble, so I get nervous.”

“Well getting nervous is half the fun!”

“I think we used to make a game out of it,” Hannah mused absently. She just couldn’t quite remember…

“You guys are filthy,” Taylor commented, looking the boys up and down in the light. Their black shirts had stripes and smudges of dust, and their hands were fairly grimy.

“We know,” James said. “It’s really dirty up there. I don’t think anybody ever cleans it.”

“You guys should come see it with us,” Alex said excitedly. “In fact, I dare you to!”

“Okay!” Aubrey said immediately. Hannah and Taylor looked at each other, and shrugged in agreement. Alex motioned them over to the stall the boys have emerged from, where the ceiling grate was still pushed aside. He quickly clambered up, and helped pull Aubrey up behind him. Hannah and Taylor followed, with leg-up assistance from the boys below, and then James, with Dmitri bringing up the rear. He closed the grate behind them, and they made their way haphazardly down the catwalk and up the ladder.

“Oh…” Taylor said, looking around the mechanical room.

“…Wow,” Hannah finished.

“Yeah,” James said, “Like I said, pretty dirty up here.”

“You weren’t kidding. But this place is amazing.”

“What is all this stuff?” Aubrey asked.

“We don’t really know,” Alex told her.

“A lot of it is a bunch of different types of power generators, waste water reclamation processes, and accelerated composters,” James said, “But I think there’s some water heaters, and lots of electrical control boxes I can’t figure out.” All five of them stared at him blankly. “What? I pay attention in the science classes. You remember that unit about self-contained environmental systems a few years ago, right? Back when we were doing chemistry and engineering, before we started doing theoretical physics?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Taylor said, “But I thought that was mostly a historical unit, and we didn’t really need to know it.”

“Well, yeah, it was, but some of the basic ideas are still relevant, and I remember a lot of the diagrams.” They all looked at him blankly again, except Aubrey, who had completely tuned out, and was looking around again. “…Nevermind,” he said, “Lets show you guys around, this is cool.”

… … … … … … …

Earl sat again, staring at his viewscreen with trepidation. He wasn’t as absurdly nervous as he had been the night before. He hadn’t gotten an unexpected call from the head of security; there weren’t a pair of shoes sticking out of a bucket of cement on his front porch when he woke up. Nothing seemed to have change, for which he was very relieved. He presumed that that meant that nobody ever really looked through the archived video map files except for himself. That was reassuring.

Once again, however, he really wished he had audio feed as well as video, because the six of them were talking animatedly as they began walking through the mechanical room. It was curious, he thought. In the world outside of the Project, any group of boys and girls their age, dressed solely in their t-shirts and underwear, would be ogling each other, or more. These kids, though… it hardly seemed to matter that they were scantily clad. And it’s not like the t-shirts were baggy, either. They fit snug, and didn’t leave much to the imagination.

He continued to watch, baffled, and unsure of what was going to happen.

… … … … … … …

“We need to see what they’re thinking,” Finch mused, and took another sip of his chai. He had the periodic brain scans to reference, but they only gave him a snapshot of the subjects’ brains, not an up-to-the-minute view of what they were thinking as these events unfolded.

He pondered on possible methods of collecting such information. Could he do it with remote imaging, or would he have to design an implant? He pulled back his sleeve and wrote a note to himself on his forearm, a reminder to consult one of his head engineers on the matter. After a moment’s thought, he decided it was time to have a serious conversation with another of his assistants about what kind of progress they were making on securing the neural images from the students at the local high school, for him to compare to. It had proven more difficult that he’d expected, as the current imaging technologies required bulky equipment and several seconds to process, not to mention the subject generally had to be cooperative.

Matters to worry about later, he decided. For now he would simply have to observe as best he could, with the limited means he had available at the moment.

… … … … … … …

They wandered through the maze of machines, pipes, wires, and cables, pointing out odd features of the machinery, a lot of which boldly displayed the Finch Industries logo on the side.

“Wow,” Aubrey said, “That’s a lot of water.” It was a fairly large tank, three or four feet deep, with thick concrete walls, and entirely enclosed by glass.

“Yeah,” James agreed. “I think that’s a cool-down tank from the recycling process. The heat is re-used as much as possible before the cool water is sent through a final purification for drinking. See there, those are the pipes where they use the hot water for radiant heating in the floors. And the warmth that escapes into the air in the chamber is dehumidified over there, and then travels through those ducts, and is also used for heating.”

“So the water’s warm, and it’s clean?” Taylor summarized. James nodded. “Good. Dmitri, I dare you to go swim in it, you’re a mess.”

“But… then I’ll be wet.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda the point,” Taylor grinned. “You’re the one who woke us up, after all.”

“But that was a dare, too!”

“So? Obviously you did something to deserve that dare, too. It’s a chain of events. Now come on, go clean off.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Um… can I keep my clothes on?”

Taylor shrugged at him. “If you want to get your clothes wet too, then sure I guess.” He opened and shut his mouth a few times, wordlessly, and thought about it.

“You know if I’m all wet, I’m just going to get even dirtier when we go back, right?” He tried talking his way out of it.

Taylor gave him a critical look. “And you can’t take a shower later, too?” Alex and James exchanged a confused look, but the girls nodded and voiced their agreement.

He sighed in resignation. “Okay, fine. But I don’t want to go in there alone, you all have to come with me.”

She frowned, and thought. “I supposed that’s only fair,” she decided. “Let’s go for a swim.”





Waaaaay overdue. Sorry guys. Got a new laptop, though, so I may be able to sneak a little extra time to write on occasion. Also, don't forget to let me know what you guys think. I'm always open to a good critique and friendly suggestion. Maybe even a request or two!

Love Y'All,
~pm

[storyboy]

LOVE IT!!! Write more please its amazing. Last part was very intriguing, reminds me of a movie I saw, called House of Nine. I highly recommend you watch the movie if you are into horrors or pyschological junk.

[pm90]

srsly geis. I don't care about whether you comment here, leave me a message, or PM me, but I really am looking for some input here. plz? kthnx.

*goes back to writing*

[pm90]

The Red Rover Project
Chapter 9: Wet

“Eeep!” Aubrey screamed as Alex tackled her and dragged her underwater. They were all laughing when the two struggled back to the surface, spluttering and grinning. While he was still off balance, Aubrey planted both her palms on Alex’s chest and pushed him back under water.

“Oh, Aubrey, give the guy a chance!” Dmitri called, still laughing, when Taylor stepped up next to him.

“Does this count?” She asked, straightening her arm out in front of his shoulders and shoving backwards with a twist of her torso. Still pushing backwards and down, she swept his legs out forward with her leg, and continued pushing down until he was fully submerged.

“Wow. She plays dirty,” James noted to Hannah, next to him. She smiled, and nodded her agreement.

Taylor was still smirking until Dmitri, still underwater, grabbed her ankles, and pulled them up and back as he stood up, effectively extinguishing her smirk.


Hannah and James shared an amused look when Taylor resurfaced with her clingy wet shirt scrunched up halfway over her head, pinning her arms in the air.

“Oh! Oh gosh, I’m sorry!” Dmitri said, staring wide eyed at her partially exposed chest as he fumbled to help her get her shirt back down. As soon as she had mobility of her arms back, Taylor abandoned her efforts to pull her own shirt back on, instead grabbing the hem of Dmitri’s shirt and ripping it over his head and tossing it into the air with a vengeful glee.

“EEEEEP!” Aubrey screamed again, dangling over Alex’s shoulder. Carrying her by the waist, he charged straight at Hannah and James, and knocked all four of them sprawling.

Hannah tried splashing Alex in retaliation, but only succeeded in getting James squarely in the face instead.

“Hey!” He cried, with a mock-indignant look, and splashed her back with one hand, while holding Alex underwater with the other.


“I wasn’t aiming for you!” Hannah complained, swiping water from her eyes, and shoving another wave his direction. He turned his back to shield himself, but lost his grip on Alex’s head. Alex, thrashing in his efforts to escape and reach the surface, latched onto James’ shirt and hauled down on it hard.

Hannah ducked underwater to grab James’ ankle and topple him. He was already off balance, though, and instead of grabbing his ankle firmly, she had a slippery grasp on his knee. As he plunged face first into the water, her hand slipped against his skin and slid straight up the inside of his thigh.

She froze momentarily when she realized she wasn’t holding his ankle or his knee, but instead had a firm grasp on something squishy. In a single movement she broke the surface of the water, gasped in surprised, and whipped her hand back to her side.

Alex, not knowing what had happened, took full advantage of James’ momentary paralysis and had turned the tables, holding the shocked boy under water.

Hannah was still standing shocked, and Alex was watching Aubrey engaging in a splash-fight with Taylor and Dmitri simultaneously, when James broke his hold.

“Truce!” James gasped when he broke the surface of the water. “Truce, please!”

“Okay,” Taylor agreed, with one final backhanded splash at Dmitri.

“Dmitri, where’d your shirt go?” Alex asked. Apparently he’d been too busy wrestling with Aubrey to see, James thought, rubbing his genitals under the water, still a little shocked.

“She stole it!” Dmitri exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Taylor.

“You started it,” she said, arms folded, and stuck her tongue out at him.

“That was an accident!” he exclaimed. “And I was trying to help you put it back on!”

“Yeah? Oh well. What’s fair’s fair,” she replied. “Besides, you were staring.”

“Well- But- I-”

“That doesn’t sound fair to me,” Aubrey said, innocently. “You still have your shirt on. He doesn’t.”

“She’s got a point,” Alex agreed, nodding sagely.

“Oh, come on! That’s totally fair,” Taylor defended.

“No,” Hannah said, “I agree. I think it’s only fair that you take your shirt off, too. He didn’t do it on purpose.”

“What?! No! I-”

“Taylor!” James interjected, “I dare you to take your shirt off.” As he said it, he couldn’t help but glance at her chest, where the black t-shirt was clinging to every curve. He realized he’d been excited by the glimpse he’d gotten earlier, and decided he wanted to see her without her shirt on. Besides, Dmitri obviously really wanted to see, too, and it was only fair. Sort of.

“Ugh. Fine,” Taylor sighed, and gave one of the largest eyerolls James had ever seen her give. But she took a deep breath and went back under water to pull her shirt over her head. She tilted her head back, and came back up out of the water face first, smoothing her hair back with both hands. She moved slowly standing back up, and looked directly at Dmitri.

“Happy?” She asked him, smirking at how wide his eyes were.

“Ye- no! I mean yes! I mean… ‘S fair.”

“Good,” she said, and folded her arms, barely concealing his view. She turned back to the others. Alex was staring, too, and she could tell James was trying hard not to. She glared at both James and Hannah, who had helped enable this situation.

“James,” Taylor said, “Do you like these?” She unfolded her arms again to give him a full view.

“I think they’re very nice,” he said with a nod, very determinedly keeping firm eye contact with her, and not glancing down. He thought briefly that he’d probably be sweating bullets if he weren’t already completely wet.

“James,” Taylor said again, “Who’s breasts do you like the best?”

He couldn’t help his shocked and nervous expression, and Taylor obviously enjoyed that, because she continued, “Come on, girls, take your shirts off, so he can make a good comparison, here.”

Aubrey, who obviously didn’t feel the least bit awkward about the situation, shrugged and immediately peeled her shirt over her head. Alex, mouth hanging wide open, didn’t even try not to stare when the wet fabric released her breasts with a satisfying jiggle. Aubrey, for her part, didn’t even notice that he was staring once she’d dropped her shirt into the water by her side.

Taylor looked at Hannah, who kept glancing nervously at James. “Hannah,” she said, “How’s he supposed to decide who’s breasts he likes best if you’re still wearing your shirt? C’mon, I dare you to take it off.” She gave another of her malicious little grins. Hannah’s face, which had already grown pink, started turning a darker shade of red.

“Taylor…” she whined, slightly accusingly, before realizing it wasn’t gonna work. She sighed, and grabbed the hem of her shirt. After a brief pause and another glance at James, who was still determinedly looking everywhere but at the girls, she peeled the wet shirt up over her head. It got stuck about halfway, and she had to do an awkward little shimmy to get the clingy black fabric the rest of the way off. Seeing that out of his peripheral vision, James’ face rapidly turned a shade of red to rival Hannah’s.

Hannah stood back up, and took a couple steps to stand between Taylor and Aubrey, and turned to face James. Alex and Dmitri sidled up to either side of him, to get the best view in the house.

“So, James,” Taylor said, “What do you think? Who’s do you like best?”

He was still staring determinedly at their eyes, and he could feel his face still getting redder. He steeled himself, and took a breath before letting himself look down at their bodies. Their beautiful bodies… wet, and wearing only the boy shorts issued to them by the Project. All three of them were about the same height, and the tops of their underwear just barely came above the surface of the water, which obscured his view of anything lower.

He studied them one at a time. Aubrey stood on the left, looking at him curiously. She had creamy tan skin and long straight black hair, wide hips and a very slender waist, accentuated by the fact that she had all her weight on one foot, and shifted over to the other as he watched, tilting her pelvis the other direction. Her breasts were… well, they were large, he decided. He blinked when she cupped them with her hands, and lifted them up. He realized she wasn’t looking at him anymore, but rather was studying her own breasts almost as intensely as he was studying them, as if she was also trying to decide who’s she liked best.

Hannah stood in the middle, hands held bashfully behind her back. She looked almost the complete opposite of Aubrey; her hips were narrow, and she almost had a lanky appearance. He noted with distinct interest that the dense freckles on her pale face covered the rest of her body, too. Her mid-length dark orange hair was matted cutely around her thin face, accenting her intense green eyes. Remembering the present task, he looked back down. Her breasts were small –about the right size for my hand, he found himself thinking, before mentally shaking himself, and turning his attention to Taylor.

Taylor stood smirking at him with her hands on her hips. Her skin seemed a shade or two darker than Aubrey’s, and her dark brown hair curled down past her shoulders. She was built somewhere between Aubrey and Hannah, with definite curves between her hips and waist, but not … exaggerated, like Aubrey. And her breasts were somewhere in between, too. Not small, but not really large, either. James noted curiously that her nipples seemed disproportionately large, compared to how Aubrey’s and Hannah’s looked.

“Well?” Taylor prompted.

“Dude,” Dmitri whispered, leaning in, “Taylor’s are totally the best. Look at her nipples, man!”

“Dude,” Alex copied, leaning in from the other direction, “They’re all good. I’m glad I don’t have to decide. Oh, man, this is the best night EVER!”

James looked back over each of the girls again, swishing his hands through the water pensively. Finally, he made up his mind, and determinedly returned his gaze to their eyes.

“I think all three of you have excellent breasts,” he prefaced, trying his hardest not to blush even harder “but I must say, I think I like Hannah’s the best.” She looked up from the ripples in the water and looked at him, obviously surprised.

“Really?” she asked, embarrassment momentarily forgotten. Taylor just smirked some more.

“Yeah,” he said, suddenly bashful again.

“Great,” Taylor said, unsurprised. “Hannah, you don’t get to put your shirt back on.” She bent down and plucked her own shirt up out of the water, and detangled it before taking a deep breath and submerging again to make it easier to put back on. Aubrey followed suit, less gracefully, but Alex didn’t seem to mind. Dmitri, still eyeing Taylor, fetched his shirt from several feet away, and put it back on in a similar manner. Hannah and James, meanwhile, just stood awkwardly alternating between looking at each other, and looking down at the surface of the water. “Oh, and James?” Taylor said, once she was back above water with her shirt on, “Since we’re trying to be fair tonight, I think it’s only fair that you take your shirt off, too. We don’t want Hannah to be shirtless all alone.”

Should have expected that, he thought to himself, and grumbled some form of agreement before peeling his shirt over his head. It got caught on his shoulder blades, though, and his elbows were trapped over his head. He struggled for a few embarrassing, before giving up, and saying “Help? Please?” rather pathetically.

He heard Hannah giggle, and step closer to him. He felt her hands find the hem of his shirt somewhere over his head. And instead of the upward tug he expected, she tugged forward, pulling him off balance, and once again plunging him into the water.

He thrashed and struggled, but she kept pulling on the shirt, and in the water it slid freely over his shoulders and head, and he floundered back to the surface, feeling significantly less encumbered by the heavy waterlogged fabric.

“Thanks,” he said, getting his feet back under himself.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled back, and swept his feet back out from under him and pushed him backwards, to hearty laughter from the others.





Bonus chapter, because somebody was actually kind enough to send me a PM.

Clear skies,
~pm

[henryzz]

Love the story. Cant wait for the next part. Wonder what will happen next.