Chapter 24 #2
She shifts in front of me, and I see that the woman has slumped back against her. The freshet has stopped burbling from her neck as well.
“Do we just dump her out of the boat?” she asks, panicked. “I haven’t ridden this in a long time, and I don’t remember where the big drop is.”
“Trying not to think of that part myself,” I say as the boat starts moving again.
And it’s picking up speed.
The nose dips into a rougher section that twists and turns through another scene.
It’s more like rapids here than a gentle log flume.
We’re bumped and tossed through a forest, where animatronic demons dive from above and screech overhead.
Large jets intermittently blast pillars of fire and sweat-inducing heat.
I glance around, looking for any other bodies, but it’s hard to see anything with how fast we’re moving. A small world this ain’t.
“Aven, she’s too heavy,” Quinn says with a grunt. “We’ll have to switch places so you can dump her out.”
“Aye, but let’s wait for a quieter section,” I say.
The boat begins to slow as we turn into another dark stretch, but then I hear the click of the ride’s internal mechanism engaging with a chain lift. A breath later, we’re going up a hill.
“Is this the big hill?” I ask.
Quinn shakes her head and struggles to get away from the dead woman, who’s fully reclined against her at this angle. “There’s a smaller hill, then more rapids. I think. It’s been so long that I can’t remember.”
“Could we use this hill in our favor to hoist her out?”
But we’re out of time. The clicking stops, and down we go. My stomach climbs into my throat, despite the drop being far less frightening than the measly drop tower. Quinn doesn’t even bother raising her hands and enjoying it. She’s too busy trying to get away from the dead body.
The boat eases to a stop again, and we’re greeted by the Grim Reaper once more. This animatronic stands beside a large glowing tree. Lanterns hang from the naked branches, providing an eerie yellow haze to the scene.
“You’re nearing the point of no return,” Jim Reaper says in his booming voice. “Death lies just beyond those gates.”
The boat turns on a track and points us toward a large set of looming metal gates. As they begin to slide open, I tap Quinn’s shoulder. “It’s now or never, lass. Let’s switch places.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whimpers. “It’s so unsteady. What if I fall out?”
The boat eases forward.
“Turn in your seat. You don’t even have to stand. You go under me, and I’ll go over top of you. That way, you’re always safely in the death machine.”
“Oh fuck, don’t call it that,” she whimpers as she wobbles to turn in her seat.
The boat jerks forward again and practically launches us through the gate and into the next set of rapids.
These are much more violent than the first set, and the girl is getting tossed around like a rag doll in front of me.
Her tiny hands grip the sides of the boat as she tries to steady herself, and the dead body, now pressing against her back rather than her front, isn’t helping matters.
“Hold me around the middle, and don’t let go, whatever you do,” I bellow.
Quinn’s arms stretch as far as they can around my waist, and I lean forward to try to work the body free. Swapping places is all but impossible, so we’ll have to make do in this awkward position.
We drop down another small hill and barrel through another set of rapids in a blacklight forest. A massive demon head pops from a tree trunk and sprays mist from its nose with a deafening sound. Quinn screams and buries her face in my lap. This would be more welcome under different circumstances.
Fake lightning flashes overhead, and I spot a pink-clad body draped over the iron fencing lining an upcoming section. The man’s head has nearly been sawn off.
“Bennett has definitely been here,” I say as I try my best to hoist the tiny dead woman from our boat. It would be a lot easier without the terrified lass screaming bloody murder against my ball bag, but no matter.
With a final grunt, I manage to get the woman out of the boat. She lands in the water, and I worry her body will fuck up the ride mechanisms, but Jim has already thought ahead. A staff member rushes from some unseen hiding place as we pass by, and he fishes her out of the water.
“Think you can turn the right way round again?” I ask Quinn. “I’m not sure how safe it is to—”
The boat clicks again, and I’m nearly laid on my back as we start up what has to be the final lift hill. Before darkness fully enshrouds us, I spot a disembodied head resting at the base of a tree. Why didn’t we think of that? Sawing off the head might have been easier than shoving the body out.
But my thoughts turn to Quinn and what risks she’s taking by going over this final hill in this position. Instead of gripping the sides of the boat, I grip her.
If we go, we go together.
“Aven, I’m scared!” Quinn screams against my crotch.
I do something uncharacteristic of me, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t feel like the most natural thing once I’ve done it. I raise her and kiss the top of her head and reassure her. “Aye, lass. Me too.”
Her grip remains steadfast, but I feel her relax against me.
“Here, get closer,” I say. “You can’t turn around like this, but you can straddle my lap so that I can hold you better.”
Quinn nods and carefully positions herself as the boat continues to rise.
She straddles my waist, and if we weren’t soaked, freezing, and fearing for our lives, I’d definitely have a hard-on with all of her sweet softness pressed against me.
Her arms wrap fully around my neck and link at the back, and I wind my arms around her waist and do the same.
And yet the damned boat keeps climbing.
“When does it stop?” Quinn screams.
She isn’t trying to make this worse for me, but she’s pouring gasoline on my panic fire. I’m asking the same thing in my head, simultaneously wishing for this to end and hoping it never does. Holding her like this feels incredible, despite what’s to come.
The clicking stops, and the boat’s nose levels off.
As we’re brought to a flat position and dropped into a slow stream, the boat drifts into another dark forest scene, though this one has a different vibe.
Instead of ripping past terrifying demons, loud noises, and flashing lights, we slowly glide through trees decorated with twinkling, soft-glow bulbs that mimic fireflies.
Soothing, melancholic music plays in the background.
“Maybe we still have time to move. Before the drop,” she whispers.
Her head pulls back a bit, putting our faces dangerously close together. She licks her lips and looks at me in the dim light. She doesn’t try to sit the right way around, though this would be the opportune moment. No, the lass just stares at me as if she badly needs to be kissed.
She isn’t the only one, so I do what I can’t as Green Guy. I grip her face in a gentle hold, and I press my mouth to hers.
The world slips away as our lips meet. We’re both tentative at first, both asking, Is this really okay?
It’s not, but that doesn’t stop us from saying fuck it, even if it’s cautiously.
This act is somehow more intimate than the moment we shared in her bed.
Her nails dig into my shoulders as I deepen the kiss, and I caress her cheek with my thumb in the same way she caressed mine when I was Green Guy.
Games and amusement parks are all but forgotten as we float on a high of our own creation. Quinn’s hungry hands pull me closer, demanding more. I want to give her all of me, but it’s hard to do in these cramped quarters.
She whimpers into my mouth, and the sound hardens me instantly. Feeling my need beneath her, she rocks her hips and grinds down on me. I pull away from her greedy mouth and tip my head back with a groan.
The boat bumps against the sidewall as it drifts around another turn, and the spell breaks. Quinn freezes and looks down at me, breathing hard.
“Shit, what are we doing?” she says.
And she’s right. Fuck, she’s right. Why would I do something as stupid as kissing her?
There’s no time to consider our mistake, however, because Jim Reaper appears again.
“The drop!” Quinn screams. She wraps her arms around my middle. “The boat will stop one more time, and then we’ll go down the drop. I remember now. Fuck, I’m such an idiot.”
Aye, and so am I. Instead of sucking the girl’s face off, I should have demanded she right herself in the boat.
“Do you have time to turn around when we stop?”
She shakes her head.
I wrap my arms around her again and refuse to let go, come what may. She might regret that kiss, but her safety is still my priority. Maybe even beyond a paycheck at this point, and maybe even if the feelings aren’t reciprocated. Hell, maybe it’s best they aren’t.
The boat stops, just as Quinn said it would. The Jim Reaper animatronic bends at the waist suddenly, nearly dropping on top of us, and we let out a scream as he says, “Don’t forget to stop by the gift shop on your way out of hell!”
We drop.
“Oh shit!” I scream as we barrel down a pitch-black tunnel. We go down and down and down for what feels like forever, and then we finally level off in a blast of sunshine.
My arms remain around Quinn as a deluge of water consumes us. Are we dead or alive when the boat stops? I don’t know. My eyes are closed, and my fingers have never clutched anything as tightly as I clutch the wee lass to my chest.
A smattering of applause greets my ears, and I open my eyes. Quinn’s head pops up, and she peers around.
“Oh my fucking god, get me out of this boat,” she grumbles as she scrambles off my lap.
Kindra offers her a hand, and I join her on the platform. Everyone looks like they’ve been swimming against their will.
“We have to get the next clue once everyone else has arrived,” Ezra says. “Jim’s orders.”
Quinn shakes her head and starts walking toward the exit. “I think I’ve had enough of Jim’s games for the moment.”
She doesn’t wait for me to join her. She doesn’t even pause to see if I’m following her as she hurries toward the exit. A sinking feeling fills my innards, and I hope against hope that the kiss hasn’t done more damage than I realized.