TDI: Torture Cruise
Chapter Six: Justin and Lindsay
"Justin...You're so beautiful. So perfect....But it wasn't always that way, was it?"
Justin said nothing to the Voice which virtually oozed smarmy condescension.
"I knew he was an ugly kid when he was little!" Heather sniped.
"No...That's not it. Justin has always been handsome. Haven't you, sweet Justin? But his family situation? Not so much."
"Justin had two of the most ugly, unattractive parents you could imagine! And not just physically, either. Poor Justin had to endure these demanding harpies dragging him to modeling audition after modeling audition, and seeing the look on the casting agent's faces when they saw THEM, his hideous mother and father!"
"You hated it, didn't you, Justin? Hated them. Your real parents! So one day, you made a call to Child Services and claimed they abused you. It was a lie, of course, but the authorities believed the 'evidence' you fabricated and put your parents in prison. How could they not? How could such a sweet, handsome boy like you lie? It was inconceivable! Then your agent set you up with new foster parents that were so much more...beautiful, and deserving of being your family."
"You replaced your parents? Wow. I'm impressed! I wish I'd thought of that!" Heather complimented the male model.
"What would people think if they learned the truth? What would happen to your modeling career?"
Justin kept his silence and glared at the room that held the villain's torture devices.
"So, submit to one of my...games, or I'll release the truth to the whole world!"
"Go ahead." Justin declared.
"Are you sure? I'm going to post all the evidence to the internet, send everything to the police, contact the press and the modeling agencies..."
"Fine." Justin barked.
Although all could tell he wasn't fine with it.
"All right. I'm sending it...Say goodbye to your beautiful past life, and hello to your future as an ugly loser when everyone finds out what a slimeball you really are!"
Meanwhile, the trapped ex-campers debated how to survive drowning as the rushing water reached their knees.
"This wall sounds hollow." Trent said after tapping on it. "I say we break it down and get out of here!"
"Dude, are you serious? That's a bulkhead wall! It's built to withstand tons of water! It's not cheesy drywall! We can't just kick it down!" Cody exclaimed.
"Then what would you suggest, smart guy?" Trent challenged him.
"This water's coming from somewhere, maybe even outside of the ship! I say we follow it and swim out of here!" Cody suggested.
"That's crazy, man! You know what kind of water pressure you'd be swimming against? And even if you made it through some 'hole' leading to the ocean, what then? You're stuck in the middle of the ocean with nothing!" Trent argued. "I say we stay on the ship and try to find some way out of this room!"
"You can stay here and die if you want, but I'm getting out of here!" Cody declared.
Then he swan-dived into the shallowly flooded compartment (the room made out of metal) and bopped his head on the metal floor.
"Cody!!" Sadie shrieked as the boy bobbed to the surface, unconscious.
DJ fished him out of the rising water and announced. "He hit his head, but I think he'll be okay."
"See? I told you it was crazy to swim! Someone give me a hand with this wall!" Trent barked.
"Cody had a good idea." Harold added his two cents' worth. "I'm going to give it a shot!"
"Harold...You be careful, baby!" LeShawna hugged her man.
"Always!" Harold grinned. Then he dove into the swirling waters and swam away.
Back at the Beautiful's Game Room, the electronically-voiced Master of Torture Ceremonies was ranting and raving.
"You all think you're so pretty and perfect. But you're NOT!! And I'll prove it!"
"Lindsay...How'd you like to play a game?" the sinister voice asked.
"No! Oh, God, please!" Lindsay cringed.
"Now, now, Lindsay. You don't have to play one of my games...if you let me tell people the truth about you."
"Now I know you're crazy!" Bridgette scoffed. "Lindsay's the nicest, sweetest person I know! There's no way she ever did anything bad!"
"Who said she did?" the voice replied. The contestants, all encased in their pneumatic tubes, could hear the laughter in the electronically-augmented speech, and feared the worst.
"Lindsay's so nice! Some would even say...too nice! Do you know what I'm talking about, Lindsay?"
"No. You, you can't!" the blonde cried.
"Can't what? Can't have the tape? Why? Because you thought they were all destroyed?"
"What's he talking about, Lindsay?" a concerned Gwen asked.
"Your good friend Lindsay wasn't too good one night when she was out at a party. Maybe she had too much to drink. Maybe she was drugged. Or maybe she was just tired after a long day. However it happened, Lindsay passed out. And some boys...had some fun with her. And videotaped it."
"Oh my God!" said the shocked Gwen.
Lindsay had no response. Except to cry.
"Her family quickly hushed the whole thing up, even agreed not to press charges if the awful boys handed in all the copies of the tapes they had. What good would it do to destroy their lives, her parents told Lindsay, if people found out you were raped and your life was destroyed, too? Daddy dearest even paid the boys off, didn't he, Lindsay? Do you still remember how they smiled and winked at you as they took your Dad's hush money?"
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Lindsay whimpered.
"And now I have the tape. Want to see?"
On the video screen, for a moment, a scene of Lindsay, passed out on a bed and surrounded by four guys, played.
"NO!! Please, no more!!" Lindsay moaned.
"You sick, twisted bastard!" Tyler, Lindsay's boyfriend, shouted. "You're dead as soon as I get out of here!"
"Oooh, I'm trembling! NOT! Hey, Tyler! Bawk bawk bawwwk! Ha ha! Scared ya! Now, Lindsay, if you agree to play my game, I won't post the tape to the internet for everyone in the world to see."
"No! You'll, you'll kill me!" Lindsay said, her face streaked with tears.
"Okay. How about this. To improve the odds, you can play with your good friend, Heather."
"What??!" Heather yelped. "I'm not playing any of your..."
Without warning, Heather's tube slid across the floor and spit her out behind the glass partition. The spygirl pounded on the bulletproof glass, to no avail.
"I knew Heather wouldn't crack if I threatened to reveal a 'secret' of hers. The girl's cold as ice!" the voice continued. "Now, Lindsay, why don't you take your seat behind the glass so we can start? It'll be an honest to gosh marshmallow ceremony, and your fellow contestants get to vote either Heather or you off!"
"Seriously?" Lindsay inquired.
"Seriously! Only one of you will have to play my game!"
"O, okay." Lindsay hesitated, but ultimately agreed. What else could she do?
Her tube opened, and Lindsay walked to her area behind the glass wall, separate from Heather's. But when she sat down in the metal chair, it quickly grew restraints.
"Hey!" Lindsay yelled in surprise as the bonds held her securely to the death furniture.
"Don't worry! It's merely to hold you in place until the game is over! Oh, and Heather? Take a seat!"
Immediately, a chair rose up out of the floor on Heather's side of the room, sprouted tentacle-like straps and ensnared the stunned Queen Bee.
"Who will it be? Heather or Lindsay? One will be voted off by you, campers, in the most thrilling marshmallow ceremony yet! Oooh! This is so exciting! It's just like the show, only better! But before you make your decision...behold!"
The floor beneath the chair-confined duo rolled away, exposing a sheet of glass. Under that glass, some distance down, was a pool of water.
Not just any pool of water, though.
For in that body of water swam man-eating sharks!
"And these sharks are hungry!" the electronic voice cackled.
Meanwhile, swimmer Harold made an interesting discovery when he finally surfaced.
"The water's coming from another part of the ship! And there looks to be a way out!" he said as he spotted an open access door, beyond which was a ladder, up above the waterline on the far side of the flooding room.
I have to tell everyone! he thought as he swam back.
But after his fin-like feet kick-propelled him out of the room...
...Something struck him.
And Harold sank to the bottom of the watery compartment.
Next:
Lindsay...AND Heather??
That oughtta be sweet!
(And it is!)
Who will survive? Who will die? 'Cause you know the cruel Voice ain't gonna make it easy!
It's the most exciting chapter yet!
Plus: Is Harold's ticket punched for good?