In one second, Nikolas had to decide whether to stay in character or react.Bizarrely, he felt no particular threat.If this were real, he’d have been disabled before being hooded.After all, what point did removing his vision serve as it was dark anyway?He hadn’t been punched or kicked or hit—all thingshewould have done to a victim before hooding them.He let them take his arms, let himself be led, silent, but hearing a great deal of protest all along the corridor of the accommodation.He couldn’t hear Ben but assumed he was staying silent, too, listening.He ventured a quick, “Justin?”as it was entirely credible Nigel would think to ask, and was extremely relieved to hear, “Yeah, I’m okay,” back from Ben.They were led, arms pinned to their sides, down the stairs and out into the cold night air.
Finally, his hands were bound behind his back.He still wasn’t unduly worried.It was a loose tie, and he could have worked free quickly had he wanted to.It was unnerving though, andhewas very used to being tied, both in fun and for real.He felt genuine anger on behalf of the other men, some of whom were clearly having a harder time accepting what was happening.He could hear fear, outrage, and bewilderment in their voices.
Engines started up, and they were herded to the back of a truck and loaded on.They fell on one another as the truck started and began to bump away from the house over the driveway.
“Nigel?”
“Here.”
Nikolas and Ben had their bindings and hoods off very quickly, and most of the other men were doing the same, helping whomever they were closest to.Nikolas peered out the back of the truck, which appeared to be a standard army 4-tonner.He could only see trees.They were climbing up the hillside at the back of the house.Ben came to his side.“You wanna get out of here?”They could have easily jumped, as the vehicle was moving slowly over the rough terrain.Nikolas winced at the question.He did.He had a feeling some kind of campfire and singing might be coming on.He glanced at Ben.“I hope you know the words to Kum Ba Yah.”
Ben didn’t seem to be finding this as funny as he was.He was looking decidedly mutinous.Nikolas smiled privately and put a hand on his arm.“You complained you wanted adventure…Justin.”
Before Ben could apparently think of a suitable reply, they shuddered to a halt, everyone falling forward at the unexpected jolt.They jumped out of the back of the vehicle.When the headlights went off, it was very dark, the trees overhead not letting in any light from the tiny, cloud-covered moon.It was cold.Most of the men were only dressed in the clothes they’d worn that day.Samuel was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, apparently ready for bed.Nikolas counted with the small illumination of his lighter—only the nine men they’d been with that day.They clustered around the small flame until the lighter became too hot to hold, and he had to click it off.The only sound was the engine of the truck.
The 4-tonner lurched and began to drive off.
They were left in the small clearing.
There was a great deal of consternation for a while.
Nikolas dragged Ben off to one side and pressed his lips to a warm ear.He’d been planning to press other parts of his anatomy to other parts of Ben that night so he was beginning to lose what little equanimity he had.“I’ve no doubt we’re being observed and listened to, no?”
Ben nodded and reversed their positions, pressing his mouth to Nikolas’s ear.He muzzled it lightly, kissing it and biting the lobe before murmuring, “Exactly—stay in character…you don’t kill anyone…you don’t torture anyone…in fact, talk about flowers or something, okay?Panic a little.”
Nikolas reversed them once more and whispered into Ben’s ear, “Fuck.How’s that?”
Ben laughed and announced out loud, “I’m freezing.Is anyone else?”
They all were.Nikolas sighed.Would someone please suggest they needed to maybe light a fucking fire?
No one offered anything except how uncomfortable they were.
Nikolas decided to drop a hint, so he lit up a cigarette.James asked if he could bum one, and Nikolas ground his teeth.“Lucky I have mylighteron me, isn’t it?So I canlightthe cigarettes.”
Finally, John—thank God for physics teachers—grumbled, “Let’s see if we can get a fire going.Can anyone find some wood?”
Nikolas knew exactly where they could find some wood; he wasn’t about to offer it to be burnt, however.
Gradually, they began to assemble the makings of a fire.Most had their folded or screwed-up programmes in their pockets, so kindling was easy.There was a chorus of ragged cheers when the fire caught, hands were outstretched, and everyone began to relax.Nikolas so desperately wanted to slide off into the trees, find the men watching them and end this little stunt that he was actually glad Ben had a finger hooked into his belt.He’d thought at first when he’d felt the touch that Ben was being affectionate, playing up his role.He realised now he was being leashed.
“Maybe we should just walk back?It would be easy enough to follow the tracks of the truck.”Just because he was a florist didn’t mean he had to be completely incompetent.
John seized on this suggestion.“I think we’re about ten miles from the house, given the speed we were going and the time it took us to get here.”Nikolas took a drag of his cigarette, wondering if they were going to get some fascinating information about the gravity of the place as well, but when they didn’t, pushed a little for his solution—he was tired…he wanted to go to bed!“So, ten miles?It wouldn’t be too difficult.”
“I haven’t got any shoes on.”
For the first time, Nikolas noticed Samuel’s bare feet.He pouted but conceded that, in the dark, this scuppered his plan.“Then I think, gentlemen, we are sleeping here.”
One of the men in the threesome—he hadn’t caught any of their names—spat out, “What the fuck is this for?This legit?Are they allowed to do this?”There was a murmur of support and agreement, and James added, “This isn’t what I paid all that money for.”
Surprising to Nikolas, it was Ben who spoke up.He was sitting very contentedly catching the ends of twigs on fire and watching them glow.He dug his fingers more firmly into Nikolas’s belt as if to tether him a little more securely and offered, “I was in army cadets when I was a kid, and we did things like this all the time.It’s why I became a chef, I guess.”
Everyone turned curious eyes to him, even Nikolas.Ben quirked his lip.“When you cook, you start with raw ingredients, which you blend into a perfect whole.You can do it with men, too, but, just like the ingredients, they need to be…broken down first.Shelled.Peeled.Scrubbed.Ground.Only then can you build them up again in a new image.”He shrugged.“Anyway, I was only a kid, of course.But I like watching stuff about the army on the telly…”
Oh, come on, he’s not that impressive!Nikolas couldn’t believe the worshipful glances being thrown Ben’s way.He took another drag on his cigarette—it had been one of his more brilliant moves establishing Nigel smoked—and drawled softly, “I wish we had some raw ingredients now, Justin.I could just manage one of your lobster inbeurre monte…”
Ben clearly had his Nikolas-radar on full alert and continued preaching to his congregation, “You’ll all—I meanwe’llall be different men if we…survive…this experience.You’ll see.”
