thearena | All Across The Island

It begins at sunset, and the first one sounds like the warning alarm of the fences make just before they turn on.

You might even think that is what it is at first, until you remember that the fences are already on. And then the alarm sounds again, and this is now clearly the start of something new.

Again the alarm sounds, but doesn't it seem just a little bit louder?

The sound comes again, and again, and again, the warning sound set off into a full blown alarm, and each metallic raking BEEP noise that comes grows a little bit louder each time. Before long, the sound becomes so loud you can hear nothing else, and the jungle starts to go wild. Animals of every possible sort have been awakened; irritated animals with nowhere far to run with the fences on. They're just as trapped as you are.

Still, the alarm grows louder. Louder. Louder to the point where the sound starts to become painful. So loud you want to fall to your knees and bury your ears with your hands. In the sand. Beneath a dozen pillows. Then, it grows louder still. So loud that your teeth hurt and the ringing in your head is so bad that you can feel your own bones vibrate.

And just like that... everything stops. The forest goes still. For one perfect moment there is complete and total silence.

Everything goes back to normal. All the fences turn off, on schedule.

And if you get deep enough or think to look, you will notice the force field around the compound has turned off as well.

Who knows for how long....

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The noise got worse, so much that he wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, to curl up in a ball and hide until it went away. But if they stopped the vines would get them, and so he forced himself to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Blaine managed to do the same, but only because he knew that if he got caught up then Ian would stop to help him, and that would mean that his friend would let go of his ears and be exposed to the sound.

Each step was agony and eventually Ian couldn't go any further, stumbling and closing his eyes, because he thought they were going to burst from his head if he didn't.

Then finally it stopped. He kept his hands over his ears a bit longer, as they were still ringing, but slowly opened his eyes.

"What... was that."

Blaine's head was throbbing and his ears were ringing. He shrugged at Ian's question. "I don't know," he said. "I just... A warning maybe?"

"Yeah." There was another noise then, a roar and the sound of feet. "Shit." Ian leaped at Blaine pulling him off the path and throwing him against a tree as a hoard of animals; the angry stampeading kind, rushed by.

Blaine grabbed onto Ian, wrapping an arm around him in an effort to keep him close and safe as well. For a moment, they just clung to each other as the world around them was nothing but flashes of movement.

Ian pressed as close to Blaine as he could, closing his eyes as it seemed the world moved around them. He didn't think they would survive, didn't think they wouldn't be pulled into the stampede and crushed underfoot.

But somehow they did and Ian was left cowering in Blaine's arms.

Blaine had been holding his breath as the animals ran by. Once the quiet started to settle around them, his arm kept around Ian tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked eventually, though his own ears were still ringing so he wasn't sure if Ian could hear him.

Ian felt more than heard the words, and tried to pull back a bit, nodding. "Yeah... you?" He wasn't actually sure he was talking, though his lips were making the right shapes.

Blaine nodded. Then, slowly, he gestured to have them sit down. He mostly wanted to give his head some time to recover. He felt dizzy and uncomfortable, with his ears ringing so loudly that he wasn't sure they'd ever stop.

Ian half collapsed to the floor, massaging his head. "Fuck." He thought his voice was at a more normal level now, but still couldn't be sure, there was a buzzing sound in his head that he couldn't get rid of.

Blaine rubbed at his own ears as he lowered his body and leaned against the tree. For a moment, he just wanted to recover, but he knew they probably wouldn't have a lot of time. After all, this place loved to throw curve balls at them.

Ian reached out to help him up. "Come on, we can't stay here." They weren't safe yet, weren't safe ever. Couldn't stop.

Blaine nodded as he agreed. They couldn't just hang around, no matter how much he wanted time to get his head back from the shock of the noise. He took Ian's hand though, not wanting to get too far from him.

Ian squeezed his hand reassuringly and began walking, keeping an eye out for any other dangers.

Blaine stumbled a bit as they moved, but eventually he found a way to be less dizzy and it was easier to follow Ian away.

All Across The Island

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End here too?

sounds good!