Forced Freefall

Chapter 3

I had another image attack while we ran as fast as either of us had ever run in our lives, hitting branches and vines on our way. I saw the crew of six people, Sadie pretending to be dumb just to look good on camera, and Clint playing along, using his signature wink to woo the crowd. They first met on a comedy show called Rainbow Radical and just clicked.

I almost puked in my mouth. The two are totally immature. They just like to talk in squeaky voices. The season after the started dating on their show, they both said in their cute, weird, squeaky voices, "Rainbow Radical!" and put lollipops in their mouth in the theme song. I almost died laughing.

Now, he was probably going to show off and protect her from some fake evil, after they look and can't find the seven bodies. One for me, one for Cliff, one for Hugh, two for the soldiers, and two for the other criminals who died in the freefall. Of course, there are other bodies, but they have decomposed by now. There is another island for women, and Sadie is likely to cry when they complete the video tour of the two islands. People in showbiz never take anything seriously, you wink and suddenly you're a sensational singer, on posters everywhere. Tomorrow, you're a movie star. It's just stupid. There is one word they need to learn: reality.

I hope they experience it when we kill them. At least I think we will. Better not consult Cliff while we're running for our lives. We had been running for about three minutes, non-stop, and had cuts from the various deadly plants of the jungle. I had a long bush scrape me in the eye, and I felt blood spilling out. I shut that eye quickly, and kept a few paces behind Cliff. We must have already ran a few miles, and I was almost dying every step. We finally reached our clearing, and grabbed everything that we could. We brought it back in the tree line with us, and began eating the last few spinach leaves. We ate them all in a few minutes. We both reluctantly took a bitter sip of olive oil. Before long, a lot of dust was raising up in the sky as the jeep stopped in the clearing. Instantly, a camera was on Clint. He had his signature microphone, and began to shout. Cliff was listening to the radio with headphones, and every single station had what we were hearing twenty feet in front of us.

"It seems that a supposed mastermind, Isaac Jordan, who was an accomplice in the bank robbing conspiracy of Xawzlij City, rebelled on the plane after watching Hugh Flores, the actual bank robber, jumped off of the plane. Did watching his friend die make him mad? Or did the ruthless killing spirit that had not yet been removed just blow out on a murder spree? Stay tuned while we look for clues."

And then, while he did his signature wink, Cliff shot him in the neck. And that was just before the cameras shut off for commercial. The bullet was so fast it went through his neck and into the main camera. At that moment, the three cameramen jumped into action. But Cliff was too quick and used some nice martial arts, wrapping his legs around the first guy's head, and twisting it until he heard a snap. As he was lowering himself from the now dead cameraman, he kicked the body in the stomach, launching him towards the next man, who was coming at him with a knife. The knife landed in the back of the dead man, and the other cameraman tried to take the knife out.

The third guy was already fighting Cliff, but quickly another five shots echoed across the island as the second guy fell to the ground. The knife man threw a well-aimed certain death blow at Cliff, but Cliff held up or radio as a shield. The knife collided with our only means of knowing anything about the outside world and I was surprised the electricity didn't kill Cliff. In the confusion and blinding sparks, Cliff kicked the last man in the heart. The shock of the moment stunned the man, and that ultimately cost him his life. Cliff grabbed the knife and slit his throat.

We were safe, for the moment, but something didn't seem right. We saw five people on the jeep. Only four bodies were on the ground. Sadie! She was somewhere nearby. As if on cue, Dexter appeared from the back of the huge tree in the clearing. To my surprise, Cliff was calling her name. She came behind him and started hugging him, confusing me a lot. I waited for them to come back, and then heard the story.

*****

"He was piloting the plane that sent me and Clint on our first expedition to Phelix's Beach. He decided to come with us to the island. And one night, when we were the only people awake, we started to talk. Cliff confessed his utter hatred for Xawzlij, and I agreed with him. And when we finished the expedition, I would go for fittings at his house. But that was a mere cover-up. Sure, I did where his designs, and sure there was a lot of controversy over who my mystery designer might be, we worked day and night designing not clothes, but an unbreakable plan. We knew that the next time Cliff piloted a Forced Freefall, he would crash the plane but get out at the last second. After word got out that there was a crash, I would beg Clint to have his men bring us there to see the plane wreck. We were to meet at the clearing, where I told Clint would be a perfect place to go. The trap worked, and now I'm here. So is Cliff. You, however weren't in the original plan."

I gulped with a shred of guilt. "I'm sorry I tried to survive, then." I heard Sadie giggle. The night had stolen my sight. We were talking while we let Cliff sleep.

"I didn't mean you were a bad thing. It just wasn't something we expected; someone actually rebelling. Now they will be more careful. And that small, if even existent touch of recognition that their power is threatened, could be the difference between winning and losing. Especially now that the entire nation knows Clint Bernard was shot dead. We have a few days until someone sees the few frames when the bullet is through Clint's neck. About two on top of that if the person who realizes is not someone high up in the government. We'll get a week before helicopters and even army jets are launching hundreds of thousands of paratroopers on the island. If we're lucky."

I had nothing else to say to that. "So all that romance between you and Clint was all fake? That whole time?" I changed the subject.

"At first it was real. And then it became impractical, considering every teenage girl in the nation claimed to be his biggest fan. But I only kept the relationship so that I would be more popular and have a greater influence for when me and Cliff start our rebellion."

"Yeah, about that. Have you actually recruited anyone to your cause as of this moment?" I replied.

She snickered. "Just you. We are going to go to the few people we trust."

I was confused. "And you didn't trust Clint?"

She seemed to feel guilty. "I did. But that was before he rejected the request."