The Ultimate Game – Chapter Four
Joanna Tripp, Contestant 15, was getting tired. According to the bracelet, her opponent had defaulted and was now leaving the island. That meant that she had won, but also that she had missed out on the opportunity to gain an ally. Her other, more pressing problem was that she was still almost a mile away from the living quarters.
The journey was fraught with numerous perils, but her main concern was to avoid becoming a “target of opportunity” for any of the other contestants. Loners like her were becoming a rarity and she knew that this was for a reason. There was, after all, some kind of safety in numbers.
Most attacks occurred just outside the “safe zone”. Everyone had to come back to the dormitories eventually and generally that was when they let their guards down. Joanna was determined to keep alert; she hadn’t got this far without learning a trick of two.
The attack came without warning, catching her entirely unprepared. Something long and soft wrapped around her ankle. It broke her stride, making her stagger and nearly fall. In the time it took her to recover, the tendril had managed to climb to her thigh. She fumbled with her weapon, trying to manoeuvre for a clear shot. The tendril paused, quivering slightly. Then it surged forwards, extruding a fine transparent needle.
Joanna braced herself, but the expected pain never materialised. Instead she felt a warm sensation flow inexorably through her lower body. Her legs folded slowly, no longer able to support her weight. The strength seemed to drain from her, leaving her feeling heavy and uncoordinated. She tried to maintain her grip, but to her dismay the pistol soon dropped from her rapidly numbing fingers. It was all she could do now to keep from falling supine.
More metallic cables joined the first, wrapping themselves lovingly about her limbs. The draining warmth continued to spread but she found herself distracted as the tendrils began to push more firmly against her. First the pressure focussed on her chest, but then moved quickly to her groin. By this time, her whole body, from the neck downward, was weak and clumsy.
She registered shock as the probing tendrils begin to pull on her body stocking. There was a ripping sound, surprisingly loud in the silence. Air caressed her now naked skin, making her jerk against the bonds, but she made no impression against their wiry strength.
Fine filaments twisted softly around her breasts, spirally around the flesh until they could coil over her already tense nipples. Their touch was feather-like, stimulating and teasing as they continued to caress. She allowed her eyes to close, the numbing warmth cresting her neck and soaking into her face. Then, without warning, a second tendril pushed firmly against her sex, tickling and stroking. She moaned softly, aroused despite herself. More slender fibrils slipped inside, stimulating her to wetness and she let her legs drift apart, lost in the moment.
The tendril thrust forward, impaling her. She screamed then, a mixture of horror and passion. Her hips pumped slowly, despite her best efforts. She knew that she had to break free now. Whatever venom coursed through her veins was weakening her by the second. Part of her wanted to just lie back and let the tendrils take her, and as the moments ticked by, that desire was only getting stronger. No longer caring about what might happen to her as a result, the woman started to thrash with reckless abandon.
Her muscles tensed and shook, as she fought to focus on anything but the attentions being lavished on her frail body. The tendrils responded in turn, grasping her more tightly and working more fiercely to pleasure her. She shifted slightly, feeling something beginning to give, a sense of triumph building. But, just before she could capitalise on it, another needle was plunged into the nape of her neck.
Her body collapsed, all her remaining strength failing as her concentration finally broke. The warmth flowed through her mind now, slowing everything. Her thoughts crawled like molasses, and it became an effort to merely string them together. The filaments continued to tease and arouse, and now she was happy to just lie there and let them. Everything was such an effort, and the experience was so pleasurable. It was only when she heard a soft voice, nearby, that she once again became aware of her surroundings.
“Ooooh tentacle porn”, the voice announced, “how saucy”.
She didn’t know that voice, but it took her a few moments to be sure, it just seemed so familiar. Still the cables touched and probed, making her writhe and shudder. She wanted to forget everything, but reluctantly she focussed on the voice.
“Well, you do seem to have gotten yourself into a bit of a pickle don’t you?”
She turned her head slowly, fighting the almost overwhelming lassitude. Her vision swam slightly, but she could just make out the figure that stood nearby. Joanna realised that they were just far enough away to avoid being attacked. She fought to speak, but her tongue seemed too numb for her to make sense.
“Please”, she managed eventually, “help me”.
Katherine regarded her for a moment, letting her eyes wandering casually over the woman’s body. Joanna continued to struggle weakly and just when she had given up hope, Kat stepped forward and unleashed a torrent of fire. The first rounds seemed to slow the tendril’s movement to a crawl. The second salvo began to unravel them and the third dashed what was left into fragments. The woman dropped onto the warm grass, toxin still flowing through her system.
“Now then”, Kat suggested, “let’s get you somewhere a little more comfortable, shall we?”
Joanna knew that she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Time passed in blurry freeze-frame. She was lifted and carried, awareness returning in staccato pieces. Snatching a glimpse of forest, moving across a stream, then darkness and the distant hum of machinery. Finally, the sounds faded and Joanna fell into the deepest of dreamless sleeps.
Katherine didn’t understand what was happening to her. She really didn’t seem to be herself and that scared her more than anything else. Finding a young woman, held helpless and in distress, her immediate reaction had been arousal, followed quickly by sarcasm. Oh, she had helped the woman, at least eventually, but that wasn’t out of any kind of altruism. She had just desired what she had seen, and that led in turn to an overwhelming compulsion to make the woman hers.
Now that the ordeal was over, now she had time to think, nothing seemed as clear. She still wanted the tiny, almost elfin woman, but that wasn’t the most pressing thing anymore. At the moment, she just wanted to get them both somewhere safe and warm. The girl needed time to recover and Kat needed to think about what was happening.
Ever since she and Sue had … well ever since whatever had happened between her and Sue, something had been different. It wasn’t just how Sue had changed. Becoming suddenly meek, docile, even submissive at times. Kat wasn’t the same either; it was almost as if Sue’s strength had been passed on to her. But that still wasn’t everything. Kat felt diminished, as though she had also lost something. She wasn’t cold or unfeeling, in fact far from it, but although her passions ran hot, they were tinged with cruelty and that scared her as well.
Luck was still with her and she was able to drag Joanna’s unresisting body back to the dormitory without incident. Sue was waiting patiently, almost exactly where Kat had left her, but the woman’s eyes seemed to light up when she saw Kat’s cargo. Suddenly the fire was back, something vital returning. Kat’s heart leapt as she saw it, hoping that whatever had happened was only temporary.
“You brought me a present”, Sue said, hopefully.
Kat’s reply was interrupted as both Joanna’s and her own bracelet began to beep.
“Contestant 15 Incapacitated, will you release them, or will they leave the island?” the message asked.
But she had already made her decision and had Joanna’s collar ready in her hand. The girl remained deeply unconscious and yet somehow still stirred as the metal band closed around her neck. Kat felt a tiny shudder run through her. She had enjoyed doing that, far more than before. Maybe she was developing a taste for it?
“Release her”, she breathed.
“Contestant 15, Two Lives Remaining”, the bracelet announced.
Sue pressed close, enjoying the feel of their skin-to-skin contact. Kat tried to ignore the small sounds of entreaty but found that she was fighting a losing battle.
“Can we play with her as well?” she asked, nuzzling Kat’s neck.
She could sense that they were being drawn together again. The proximity seemed to enhance whatever linked them. Kat felt power flowing into her, even as Sue began to relax. It took her a moment to understand what was happening, but really it came as no surprise. Every touch just added to how much control she could exercise. Sue must be able to sense this too, but the knowledge wasn’t enough to stop her. In fact, she seemed to want it, perhaps even more that Kat herself.
They were all naked, and Kat couldn’t remember when or how that had happened. Bodies met and collided in a knot of sweat and flesh. It was hard to tell where one ended and another began. Kat fought to remain aloof, in control, but Sue appeared happy to just let herself go.
Joanna might have woken at some point, but it was all too much. Never having felt that magical touch before, she was sinking deeper than ever, happy to melt and listen. Mouths met, touched, lips brushed and tongues glided. Kat exalted, sensing how the girls responded to her, how she rode them, guided and controlled them. An instant of understanding, that she was both taking and giving pleasure. Feeling the girls, what they gave and what they received, as they did what her mind directed.
It wasn’t just sex, it was something more profound. They shared their essence, each taking a measure of the pleasure. Perhaps they could have stopped it, perhaps not, but in the end none of them could bring themselves to try. Their orgasms exploded one after the other, a mutual chain reaction which dragged them down deeper and deeper into whatever was happening to them.
Then, finally sated, they slowed and stopped. Each clinging to the others, a tangle of limbs, drenched and utterly exhausted. They spooned together, basking in each other’s warmth, desperate to hold onto the spark of energy, not wanting to separate, not wanting to be alone.
It should have been awkward, Joanna waking in the midst of such carnal pleasure. But, it just wasn’t. Somehow they all felt comfortable, happy and content. As if they had known one another forever and that this was just what happened to them. It felt normal, right somehow. All three now bound together, having shared, having tasted each other and in turn been tasted themselves.
Kat lay between the other women, her arms draped over them both, casually stroking here and there. Neither made any sound beyond the occasional sigh. She could tell, without looking, that they both had the same “blissed out” expression. Smiling softly, muscles relaxed, their eyes blank and empty.
They were both hers now, she knew that, even if she didn’t quite understand. Her touch had done something to them. It had done something to all of them, truth be told. But whatever was happened, now they were all bound. The three of them, combining to form a whole, greater than the sum of its parts. Synergy. Bianca’s mark seemed to throb, reminding her gently from where this strange ability had come. But, for the moment at least, that didn’t seem to bother Kat.
She was learning. Every time she exerted this new power, it seemed to become just that little bit easier. Testing, she reached out and very softly “tugged”, feeling how the girls responded. They drew closer together and Kat whispered conspiratorially.
“Okay girls”, she began, “I’ve a plan to get us all out of here”.