Welcome to the Island, chapter 10.

As always, It would be remiss of me to go any further without offering my heartfelt thanks to my incredible editors and to you, the readers, for your support and feedback. You all make this story what it is.

Now, on with our tale.

********

"My name... My name is Dr. Simon Walker. United States Army Medical Corps. If you are hearing my voice, your life is in grave danger..."

There was something haunting about the man's voice as it crackled through the speakers. I'm not going to lie; the first thought that went through my engineer brain was to question how, in the name of all things holy, this recorder was still being powered. Under normal circumstances, that thought alone would have had me on my hands and knees, under the desk, and tracing wires back to a power source, but in my defense, being told that your life is in danger has a way of re-ordering your priority list.

"I have no idea what the date is. My best guess is that it is around March by now, of 1953. I... I don't know how long I have. These bouts of... lucidity... they come and go. Some last hours, others only a few minutes, and it could be days before I get my next one, maybe weeks. I have managed to sneak this tape recorder away from the others, and I will try to explain as much as I can, when I can, about what happened to our expedition. But if you are not alone, you should stop now. Come back when the rest of your group is sleeping, I don't know what will happen if you are caught listening to this and there is much to tell you. My story is not a short one. But if this is all you get to hear, then please, try to give this message to my wife, Abigail."

There was the sound of shuffling through the speakers and a deep breath before the man continued to speak.

"I'm sorry, honey. I tried to fight it; I really did. I know I promised I would be home soon, but... If I don't make it, tell our son about me. Help him grow into a better man than his father. Tell him to remember me in his prayers, as I hope you do, and that I will always be looking down on both of you proudly. The two of you are the only good things that ever came of my life. I never have, and will never, stop loving you or thinking of you. The memory of your face, your smile, your touch, and the incredible warmth I have always felt when you are close have been the only things that have kept me going these long months. No matter what happened here, only you have ever had my heart. I must go now. I will be back as soon as I can."

"Dan? Are you coming?" The sound of Hayley's voice snapped my attention back to the doorway. I hit the stop button, hoping that it would play again the next time I returned.

"Yeah, I'm coming. I'm just checking something," I called back as I started making my way back into the tunnel. I took another look around the room. Something wasn't right here, and I meant more than just the recording. Meeting Freja was... well, it was hard to explain. There was an intrinsic yet mysterious trust in my thoughts toward the Goddess. Yes, of course, that thought could have been planted in my mind just as easily as the urge to fuck the girls senseless had been, but there was more to it than that. If she meant us harm, she could have easily done it. There were ways to make our lives unimaginably painful on this island, and that was before you considered the fact that - if what she had said was true - she had saved us from the plane crash in the first place. The island, so far, contained everything we could possibly need not only to survive but live in relative comfort. There were certainly worse places to be stranded. Even down to the lack of poisonous insects, which should have been everywhere in this part of the world.

I couldn't pretend to know anything about the abilities of Gods and Goddesses, but based on the urges we seemed powerless to resist, she could just as easily have us re-enacting her favorite scenes from Oklahoma... or The Hunger Games... or The Human Centipede.

The reality was that despite the novelty of our situation, despite the sudden and possibly irreversible ending of our old lives, we were actually doing pretty well, all things considered. It was not even remotely difficult to imagine ways that Freja could be making our lives significantly harder than they were now.

But then there was that voice.

There was a scene in Full Metal Jacket that talked about a Marine's "thousand-yard stare." I remember watching something about how that was a reference to PTSD, or more simply put, the look on a man's face when he has seen some shit that the human mind was never meant to process. It is a look you can see on any old newsreels of any old war; that haunted, almost vacant look of shock and horror etched onto the faces of men barely old enough to be in college. I had no idea what this Simon Walker guy looked like, but his voice sounded like he would be wearing one of those looks as well. I couldn't possibly know what he would tell me, not before listening to the rest of his story, but I knew, just from the sound of his voice, that I wasn't going to like it.

The flickering light from my torch sent shadows dancing onto the walls of the room. It was barely ten feet square, yet this room, and the tape recorder it held, had immediately become the center of my world. And to the right of the recorder was a large dark stain on the wall.

"Fuck, please don't let this be the one point that water is getting in," I muttered to myself as I stepped closer and dabbed my finger against it. The wall was cold, but it was dry. I huffed out a sigh of relief, but I knew I would have to keep checking on it. Just because it was dry now, that didn't mean it would stay dry, especially when it started to rain outside.

Fuck! If water is getting in here, it must be getting in other places too. And the rooms on either side of this one are sealed shut. Fuck fuck fuck!

"Dan! Come on!" Ray's voice was thrown up the tunnel and bounced into the room. "Time's a wasting!"

"Jesus, are you on the clock?" I yelled back, probably a little more harshly than I had meant to. "What's the rush? I will be there in a minute! Or would you rather this place drop on your head while you're sleeping? Do you need me to hold your hand out there? I'm working here!"

"Errr.... Take your time," his answer came a few moments later, followed by the unmistakable sound of the girls giggling at him.

The way the others had acted toward this room was another thing in an increasingly long list of things on my mind. More accurately, how they hadn't acted toward this room. Not a single eye in the group had even flickered in the room's general direction. To the outside eyes, or at least as far as my outside eye could tell, not one of them had seen the room. I could understand if it was tucked around a corner or camouflaged in some way. But it was right there. They couldn't miss it if they tried to. More than that, when I called them back, they continued to act as if the room wasn't there and I was seeing things. Then, when I said something, they either ignored me or changed the subject. None of them were blind, none of them were stupid, none of them had any cause to play this kind of joke, and it would be counterintuitive if they did - considering our survival may depend on finding good shelter - and even if one of them had a warped sense of humor and thought it was a joke, the rest of them wouldn't.

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

I cast a glance back at the recorder. Perhaps Dr. Walker would have answers for me when I returned after the others were sleeping. With another look at the ominous dark stain on the wall, I headed out of the room, turned into the corridor, and promptly crashed into Hayley.

"Oh fuck, you scared me," she panted after that first yelp, a smile returning to my lips. "Where were you?"

I looked at the doorway again; either of us could literally have reached out and touched it from where we were standing, yet not only had she not seen it, she had not been able to see me beyond it. The door and the room behind it were less than two feet away from us. There is no way on earth that she could have missed me walking out of it. I resisted the urge to drag her in there and show her; I was starting to understand that the mysteries of this island were a complicated subject that people came to grips with on their own terms and in their own time. Maybe I could broach it during our next collective moment of lucidity. Whenever the hell that was going to be.

"Sorry, baby, I was just checking something out. Nothing to worry about. Shall we get back?" I answered with a smile as I turned toward the light at the end of the tunnel. She reached for my hand and stopped me, gently spinning me back toward her. It was the first time I had properly seen her face since I bumped into her. In the flicking torchlight, the unmistakable look of worry and upset was washing over her delicate and wonderful features. "Hayls, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm..." she cast a look over her shoulder toward the bunker's entrance. "I'm having one of those... moments," she whispered. "You know, where everything is clear, and I can remember." she fidgeted nervously on the spot. I frowned for a second. Now that I thought about it, I had been having one of those moments since I met Freja. I had felt the urge with Liz and Katie, but I was never out of control like I was before.

"Me too," I said quietly. "Do you think, the others...?"

"No, they are all excited about the bunker. Look, while I am... here... I wanted to talk to you," she said. I opened my mouth to speak, but she pushed a finger to my lips. "Please, let me say this. I don't know how long it will be until I get another chance." A relieved smile pulled at her lips as she saw me nod to her. "Dan, I'm worried about never seeing home again. I miss my family, I miss my friends, shit, I even miss my job. But as hard as it has been being away from them, there has been one thing on this island that has kept me going: You. I can see you working so hard to help everyone; I see you worrying, I feel you tossing and turning in your sleep, I can see how hard you are trying. I just wanted to say thank you," she pressed her finger a little harder against my lips to pre-empt my response. "But, there's more than that. I think I am falling for you, Dan. It isn't the sex. As mind-blowing as it is, I have always been pretty open-minded with that part of my life; it's why the other girls don't bother me. In fact, I'd love to join you all more often. But there is something between us, isn't there? You feel it too. I see the way you look at me. Since the crash, I have started having feelings for you. At first, I put it down to the thing happening to us, the loss of control. I told myself that if I still felt it for you when my mind was clear, I would talk to you. So here I am."

She looked up at me almost pleadingly. I arched an eyebrow at her and waited the few seconds it took for her to realize her finger was still on my lips. "I feel it, too," I smiled at her. I could almost see the weight fall off her shoulders and her body relax. She melted into my arms.

"I love you, Dan. I know it's quick, and I know I should wait, but with everything happening, God, I have fallen for you so fucking hard. I..."

I silenced her with a kiss.

"I'm not sure social convention applies here," I smiled again as our lips finally parted. "Waiting, in the interests of not sounding too keen, doesn't really work in this situation. I have fallen for you, too. When all of us are together, it is you I want to be close to. I don't know why, but I am drawn to you. I was on the plane."

"Ohthankgod!" she breathed. "I thought I was going nuts. It was crazy, right? I mean, I had a plane with almost a hundred passengers, and all I wanted to do was talk to you." she laughed giddily.

"I have to ask, though. What about the others?"

"Oh, Hannah is not far behind me in how she feels," She giggled, still leaning against me. "And I'm pretty sure Robyn is getting there. I'm not sure about Katie or Liz yet, but I know Amy is interested."

"She is?"

"Oh God, Yes. Haven't you noticed?"

"Erm..."

She giggled again. "Men!"

"My question was more about how you feel about them. How you feel about me being with them, with everything going on"

"Oh." She thought for a moment. "I have always swung both ways. I knew I was bi-sexual when I was younger, so us all being together is more than fine with me. It's hot as fuck. Besides, it's not like we have much of a choice in the matter. So how about we make a deal? I will be happy for you to be with any and all of them whenever you like, as long as I can as well. But... I want something that the others can't have."

"What's that?"

"This." She pressed her hand to my chest, right over my heart. "I know Hannah will fall for you, I'm pretty sure Robyn will as well, maybe even the others. But I want to be your first."

"My bottom bitch, huh?" I chuckled. I was never going to get used to the way my breath caught in my throat every time I heard that musical sound of her laughter.

"Yeah, something like that. Make me your number one, and I promise I will never have a problem with any of this. Is... Is that something that you can give me?"

I kissed her again. "It's something you already have."

She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "I love you, Dan."

"I love you, too, Hayley."

We stayed like that for a few more moments before she pulled away. "Okay, we'd better get back before Ray sends out a search party." she smiled, her hand slipping into mine and leading us toward the exit.

*******

The rest of the day was a waltz of activity. Everyone seemed to be looking to me for some form of guidance even though our communal building project now looked to be unnecessary and indefinitely on hold. The first job - after torches were refreshed - was to start dragging the rotten carcasses of the bunker's furniture out of that large central room and stack it up inside the gun emplacement. If nothing else, it would make good firewood in the event that the weather turned colder, so keeping it inside would ensure that it stayed dry. I didn't even try to suggest that the men should do the heavy lifting. I think I would have been lynched.

The straw mattresses, however, were in remarkably good condition. The straw filling had rotted away to almost nothingness, but, protected from the elements, the cloth covering had survived the long decades mostly intact. More than that, the crates of military equipment had been a treasure trove of useful items. I'm not sure that any of the girls liked the idea of walking around in full Japanese service uniform, but when Liz reminded them that a storm could hit at any moment and pointed out how cold it could get, the rest agreed that they shouldn't be burned at the altar of fashion.

Finally satisfied that the rest of the girls weren't going to burn the things staving off hypothermia, Liz and Amy headed back to the river to retrieve the food that had been collected the previous day.

The heavy-duty boots were a great find too. Only Ray, the largest of our group, struggled to find a pair in his size, but the ones he claimed as his own were close enough to be able to use comfortably. It was a massive step up from the sandals and flip-flops we had pulled out of the cases. Katie and one of Ray's girls shrieked with glee when they found a tin containing sewing needles and thread, saying something about how they would have those mattresses up to a usable condition as soon as possible with the caveat that they be the first to christen them, each giving Ray and I hungry looks at they did. On being told that they would have the brains fucked out of them on the mattresses before anyone else, they immediately dragged them outside and into the light, sat down, and got to work.

Ray's other girl, Louisa, and Hannah started pulling up handfuls of grass and making an enormous pile of it inside the gun emplacement. The grass would need a while to dry out enough to be used to stuff inside the newly repaired mattresses. A pile of tightly folded blankets was found in another crate. Robyn took it upon herself to unfold them and hang them over the branches of a nearby tree to air out. I'm not going to pretend that I didn't get an inordinate amount of satisfaction watching her breasts bounce as she hopped up and down to throw them over the branches. Hayley, who had never strayed more than a dozen feet away from me since we had left the tunnel, grinned wickedly as she watched too.

"Tell me about your family," I said with a smile as we both effortlessly broke one of the surprisingly heavy cross beams off the remains of a bunk and started hulking it out to the pile.

"Not much to say, really," she said with a smile. "We are about as normal as it comes. Just my mom, my older sister, and me."

"Your dad?"

"He died when I was young; I don't really remember much about him. My sister does, but I was only about five when he passed. He used to call me his little munchkin, though. I do remember that."

"Your mom never remarried?"

"Nah, she dated a few times, but I don't think her heart was ever in it. She always said she had been lucky enough to find her one, and she was never going to find it again. They were high school sweethearts. She said we kept her hands full." She was still smiling as we dumped the wood onto the pile and started wandering back into the bunker. "We were always close, though, I don't even think my sister and I ever really argued, either. I was her little sidekick." She laughed

"I'm guessing she was older?"

"Yeah, she is four years older than me and a little more blonde than I am. But otherwise, we are a lot alike. When dad died, she helped to look after me; I think that did a lot to get rid of the whole sibling rivalry thing. We both had our rebellious phases, which probably drove our mom batshit crazy, but we were always close."

"Oh God," I laughed. "A rebellious Hayley, Go on, how bad did it get?"

"Oh, nothing crazy, A few parties, a few drunken fumbles with guys who didn't know what they were doing, I dyed my hair pink one summer, that was about it. I was pretty much settled by the time I went to college. Although staying at home instead of going into dorms helped a lot."

"Yeah, those dorms can get a bit rowdy." I chuckled

"I know. My sister went to a different college. She told me a few of the stories. She was a little bit more of a party girl than I was." She looked at me with a strange look in her eyes. "She would like you. Mom too."

"Ha, they'd be worried about the age difference."

"Nah, dad was a few years older than my mom, and my sister's husband is eleven years older than her. You're only seven years older than me. Plus, all I'd have to tell my sister is that you rock my world in the sack, and she would be all for it."

If I'd had something in my mouth at that point, I would have choked on it, but being emptied-mouthed, I opted to choke on my own tongue instead. "It sounds like there is a story behind that," I chuckled after regaining the ability to breathe.

Hayley laughed. "So, I was dating this guy a while back. We were together for a little over three years. He never gave me an orgasm, not one. I knew from my... other experiences... that I am not one of those women who find it hard to orgasm; he just never managed it. I made the mistake of telling my sister on one of our girl's nights. She decided he was just selfish and too lazy to put the effort into trying. I mean, she wasn't wrong, but for every guy I've dated since then, the first thing she has asked is if they make me cum. When I tell her that I lose my damned mind with you, she will be okay."

"So I have nothing to worry about when we finally get off this island, and you roll up with an older guy and a baby or two?" I grinned at her.

"Well, the babies will immediately score you some massive brownie points with my mom; she always wanted grandkids," she winked at me. "Though I'm pretty sure that telling them how you saved my life in the crash would have that covered anyway."

"Yeah, that was a less than subtle way of asking how you really feel about the whole baby thing while you are lucid and all."

"I know," she smiled as her hand slipped into mine. "I want your babies, Dan. Although the timescales may have been accelerated by whatever is going on on this island, I am certain I would want them if we had met back home."

I nodded, giving her hand a squeeze.

"So what about you? What family do I have to look forward to meeting?"

It was a strange but sudden realization. Despite being on the island for almost a week, despite how close I had grown to most of the people on it, and despite all the time we had spent together with nothing to do other than talk and fuck, I realized that I had not told any of them about my personal life back home, nor about the recent and dramatic ending of it.

I told her.

I told her everything.

It took a few hours to get it all out, but by the time I had finished, a few hours later, the whole group was sitting around the gun emplacement listening. It was like storytime with Elmo. Even Amy and Liz, who had returned from their lightning-fast expedition back into the caldera to retrieve the food, had joined in and listened to the tale.

"That's... That's awful. I'm so sorry, Dan." Louisa whispered to break the silence that descended on the group after my story finished.

"Thank you, Lou," I smiled. "Sorry for killing the mood."

"So, just to make sure I understand," Liz pondered a few moments later. "I got ass fucked by a married man? That is so hot!" she finished with a laugh.

"Fuck that bitch," Ray spat. "Seriously, aside from knocking that asshole Lewis the fuck out, starting your divorce proceedings before you got on the plane sounds like the best thing you could have done that day. That means he is not a married man!"

"Right, single and ready to mingle." Zoe, or Caroline added with a firm nod.

"So that's what you meant on the flight when you said you were escaping," Hayley said, nodding. She hadn't left my side for the entire story and was currently curled into the side of me and holding my hand. "Well, her loss is our gain, right ladies?"

"Fuck yeah," Hannah said.

"Oh my god, can you imagine?" Robyn burst out laughing.

"What?" Katie asked her.

"Okay, think about it," she said between breaths. "Let's say one day we get found and rescued. The airline gets all over-excited and organizes a big press event to show us all getting home. They contact all the families and invite them. Let's face it; she is not going to admit to her affair to them, it would risk her chances of getting a pay-out from the airline. So as far as they know, you and she are happily married. So there she is, on the tarmac, putting on a show for the cameras... and then you get off the plane with five gorgeous women in tow and a bunch of kids, tell her to fuck off, and walk straight past her."

"Oh my God, you're right!" Hannah burst out laughing, followed by everyone else. "That is hilarious!"

"I'm not usually a woman who encourages the use of violence," Amy said slowly, the only one in our group not laughing. "But the thought of you decking that son-of-a-bitch with one punch is definitely one of those panty-wetting moments." she finished with a grin to the whoops and wolf-whistles of the others.

"Oooh, is our sexy resident doctor choosing her team?" Liz asked with a grin as she nudged her teasingly.

"No spoilers, but someone will be scratching my itch very soon. And after all the fucking you sluts have been teasing me with, they are going to be fucked to within an inch of their life," She purred.

"Oooh, Who is it?" Hannah grinned widely.

"I'm not saying."

"Go on, you know you want to," Hayley joined in the teasing.

"Nope."

"You can tell us. We won't judge," Louisa smiled.

"FINE!" Amy laughed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Dan, I'm going to be fucking your brains out very soon, got it."

I saluted formally to the giggles of the other girls. Hayley kissed me on the cheek, still laughing.

"He can certainly scratch that itch many times over," Hayley boasted with a wink.

"Oh Fucking hell, yes, he can!" Robyn purred as Hannah, sitting next to her, nodded her head vigorously.

"Alright, ladies, you will give a guy an ego." I chuckled,

"And an erection," Katie chimed in.

"You're not wrong," Liz giggled as she nodded to the tented front of my shorts.

"Not tonight, though," Amy laughed as the giggles died away. "That walk wore me out. I need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, it has been a long day," Hayley nodded. "How are you feeling, baby?"

"I'm not going to lie, I am pretty exhausted. I'm ready to call time. Where is everyone planning on sleeping?"

"I'm happy out here," Hannah said. "But I always liked being outdoors."

"Me too, and I'm pretty comfortable," Robyn added.

"Can we sleep in there, love?" one of the brunettes asked Ray. "I don't know why, but I sleep better with a roof over my head.

"I don't mind either way. If that is what my ladies would prefer, then that is what shall happen," He replied with a grin.

"Aww, prince charming," the other girl giggled before they lifted him up by his hands and pulled him back towards the gun port.

"Well, I'm sleeping right here," Liz announced, nuzzling into Amy as Louisa and Tom headed off to their own spot to sleep. "These tits make amazing pillows!"

"Glad I serve a purpose," Amy chuckled before leaning back into the grass. "Goodnight, everyone."

Robyn and Hannah crawled over closer to Hayley and me and cuddled into the pile, Katie wasn't far behind them, and the five of us snuggled into each other on the grass and relaxed. The sun had done that thing where it had gone down without anyone really noticing, but the soft light still burned against the horizon behind the mountain. The sky in front of the eastern slope was already dark, and I watched as a few stray wisps of clouds slowly wandered over the star-soaked sky.

"Goodnight, Dan. Thank you for talking to me today. I love you."

"Anytime, Hayley. I love you, too. Sleep well and dream of us."

********

If there is ever a way to ensure you fall asleep, it is to consciously try to stay awake. I managed to fight off the weight of my eyelids and the weariness of my muscles long enough to ensure everyone else was sleeping but to say that I barely managed it would be a gross understatement. With great care, I extradited myself from the tangle of limbs of the snuggle pile and pulled myself to my feet.

I stretched myself in the pleasantly warm late-night air and splashed some water out of a bottle onto my face to wake myself up properly. One thing that I wouldn't miss about the days of living out in the open was the lukewarm water that came with no shaded place to keep the water bottles. The only thing I missed about home, so far, was ice.

I carefully stepped over the tangled mass of bodies in the gun emplacement and into the tunnel entrance with a long, deep yawn. I would suffer for this in the morning, but I needed to get back to the recorder. There was a part of me afraid to hear what the voice had to say, but there was another, much bigger part, that needed to know.

I lit the torch and wandered up the corridor to find the door, slipped into the room with the ancient-looking communications equipment, sat myself onto one of the metal framed chairs, and pressed the play button.

"My name... My name is Dr. Simon Walker. United States Army Medical Corps. If you are hearing my voice, your life is in grave danger..."

"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all," a voice came from behind me. I spun around on my chair with a yelp to find Amy standing at the door frame, looking in. "I don't remember any of the others telling me about this room."

"Yeah, about that," I said, pulling up the second chair for her to join me. "They couldn't see it."

"What?"

"I don't know how to explain it. They walked straight past it. They didn't know what I was talking about when I tried to point it out, and they changed the subject every time I brought it up."

Amy frowned for a second, looking around the room. "I seem to be able to see it just fine."

"Yeah, I noticed. That's one of the reasons I was surprised to see you. The others, though, it was like something was stopping them from being able to register that this place was here."

"You don't think it has something to do with the things happening to us, do you?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of, yes."

"Well, then, I suppose we had better listen to what this Simon Walker has to say, then, hadn't we? I mean, I followed you in here to get you to fuck me to sleep, but this is certainly more important." She nodded as she sat down, resting her hand on my leg as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"If you don't mind me asking, and not that I'm complaining in the slightest, but what made you change your mind?"

"About you and me?"

"Yeah."

"Honestly? I have been struggling to control myself for a while now, but I wanted to wait until I had my next lucid moment to see if I still felt that way about you before I went for it. Today I had one. And I have decided that after seeing how you treat your girls and hearing the way they talk about your... Umm... prowess, I have decided that I want you, too." She answered with a shrug.

"Oh." I cleared my throat. "Well then. I... don't actually know how to finish that sentence."

She laughed and leaned in to kiss my cheek. "Make me cum like you do for them, and don't ever pull out, and I will be very happy."

"Your wish is my command," I laughed.

"Alright, let's see what the good doctor has to say, and then you can drag me up to the main room, and we can christen it against one of the walls."

"Sounds like a plan" I leaned over and hit play again.

"I don't pretend to know exactly what is happening on this island, but so far, almost 2,000 men and women have lost their lives as a direct result of being here. I need to start from the beginning for you to understand what has happened to us. I leave this message for those of you in the future because I am fairly certain that my life will end in this place."

"It all started at the end of the war...."

*******

And that is it for chapter 10.

It looks like Dan may have more help than he originally thought, but next week we will see what Doctor Walker has to say for himself, and what sense Dan and Amy can make of it.

As always, thank you for your comments and feedback. It never ceases to amaze me how supportive and receptive my readers can be. I look forward to hearing what you think of this, and my flagship story - NewU - in the comments or on the Discord Server.

Stay Awesome.

Nova