The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Party of Five--Side Chapter

Previously: "Party of Five, Chapter 14" 

The next morning (a Monday) you are shocked to find a private message from Sean when you log in to stories.net.

Titled LATEST CHAPTER it reads, Aww, I wanted see Alfie get skinned and put on. Oh well, nice job anyway. Is that Ironeyes inside him? Guessing it is from way he crushing on Tanya.

You dance about your bedroom with excitement, for you've now got exactly what you wanted. You have not only made contact (under a pseudonym) with Sean, you've got the set-up for a one-on-one connection with him via PMs, and it's entirely his own doing!

Your hands are shaking as you reply: Lol sorry man just tracking the webcomic close I can and this is way chronicstuss did it. And you are buzzing with excitement when you get out of the shower, for you've got an idea that will totally solidify the connection between you.

So right after breakfast, you lock yourself in the bathroom and apply the metal band to your forehead. Then, at school, over your lunch and study hall periods, you write.

* * * * *

"KIND OF A STEEP CLIMB," Alfie observed as he pushed his way up the steep trail. It was giving him a strain in his legs. It was a good strain, though, the kind that an exercise buff like Alfie appreciated. He was just surprised that Susie and Scarlett had been willing to make the same climb. "What made you and Scarlett want to check these caves out?" he asked.

"Well, Scarlett checked them out before me," Susie replied. Her breathing was coming in short gasps, and sweat had popped out all over her face and neck. (Alfie grinned at that. He liked sweat on a girl: it smelled nice.) "Then she talked me into coming to see them yesterday. We came up a different trail, though," she added after drawing and exhaling a deep breath.

Alfie reached out to take her hand. She flinched at first, and he thought he saw a quick, dirty look in her eye. But it instantly broke and cleared, and she eagerly grasped his hand and gripped it with a smile.

He paused and drew her to him. "Wanna take a break here for a little while?" he asked as he put his nose to her hair.

But Susie pulled away and tugged him further up the trail. "We got lots of time for that when we get to the caves," she said. Her smile was beguiling.

So Alfie followed her up, trailing a couple of steps behind so he would have a good excuse to ogle her ass as he mounted. Every once in a while, though, when they came to a clearing, he'd glance about the landscape. The island fell away below them to the lake, far across which, through the haze, the shape of the mainland could be glimpsed. It was utterly silent, except for the whisper of the spruce and pine, and the rustle of their own feet on the trail. Once, he thought he heard something big moving through some brush on the hillside above them, and he wondered if there were bears or deer on the island, but the noise wasn't repeated, and he put it from his mind.

They finally came out on a wide shelf that stood in front of a rocky outcropping. Patchy grass ran off in all directions about them. Alfie wanted to stop to admire the view, but Susie pulled him along. He was puzzled at the way she seemed to be leading him into a dead end, until he saw the dark crevice that split part of the outcropping stone away from the main body of the hill. Almost he quailed as Susie, her hand still tightly clenching his, pulled him into it.

The light failed utterly shortly after they were inside, but a circle of light sprang out and played over the wall: Susie had brought a flashlight, and with more confidence than he would have felt, she led him deeper into the hillside.

She began to talk, and very loudly too. The close walls distorted her voice, but Alfie was glad for the conversation, for it distracted him from the more-than-slight claustrophobia that he'd never realized he suffered from.

"Scarlett says that Indians used to live in these caves," Susie said. "It was kind of a hideout for them when the settlers moved into this area. And they performed all kinds of ceremonies up here."

"How does Scarlett know this?"

"She looked it up online. No, wait, she got told it by those guys she met the other night, the ones that told her about this place. And there's a hot spring in here, did we tell you?"

"Yeah, and that doesn't make a lot of sense." Loose stones and soil slipped under Alfie's feet. "There shouldn't be any hot springs in this part of the state, or this high up in a hill."

"Well, there is one. Hang on." She stopped suddenly, and the flashlight beam waggled from one side to another. "There's fork here," she said, and she said it so loudly that Alfie winced. "Let me think a moment which way to go. Oh right, this way." She let go of his hand, and plunged suddenly into the passageway on the left. "Anyway, they had these magic ceremonies—"

She had been prattling this way for only a few more minutes when Alfie heard the rustle of feet behind him. He paused and squinted back, and just had time to make out a figure, dim against the deeper darkness of the passage behind, rushing at him. He was knocked backward, and strong arms closed around him. Someone—it sounded like Susie—yelped.

Alfie froze in shock as he was hustled down the passage, and he scrambled to keep his footing and his balance. He would have struggled, but he was mindful of Susie, and he feared to bash her against the wall or stumble and fall atop her.

Suddenly he felt the walls fall away, and the gloom fled from a rippling light. Alfie's head was spinning, and he just had time to make out that he was in a semi-circular chamber lit by a single torch mounted on a wall bracket before another man ran up and also grabbed him. Alfie tried to strike out, but he was quickly pinned between them and held firm. Arms and hands slid around him, feeling for a better hold, and though he writhed he soon felt himself gripped in a strong headlock, and was wrenched into an upright position.

A hard, white light shone into his face blinding him. It then fell, to reveal Susie directing the flashlight at him. Her grin was nasty. "Well, here we are, Alfie," she said. There was a jeer in her voice. "Having fun yet?"

"So which one is this one?" a man's voice growled in his ear.

"This girl's boyfriend." Her voice dripped with contempt.

"Fuck. Where's Killer?"

"Out scouting around," said another voice. "Cops are on the island."

"God damn it. I wanted the other girl's boyfriend."

"Tanya?" Susie snorted. "She doesn't have a boyfriend. But if you want Dougie—"

"So do we just hang onto this one until Killer gets back?" the other voice asked. "Let him have this skin?"

Baffled and frightened though he was, Alfie saw no point in asking any questions. Instead, leaned to his right, then made a sudden lurch to his left. He thought he felt his captor's grip loosen, but then it tightened again as the man grunted.

"No, we're gonna have to do it now." There was now a strain in the voice. "Fuck it, I'll take his skin." Alfie felt himself lifted backward, and his feet came off the floor. He kicked and writhed as he was slowly shuffled forward.

"That's only gonna leave two for Killer to pick between," Susie said, "and he's not gonna like either one."

"Then Killer should'a been here to take this cocksucker. Get his fucking shoes and pants off, and let's get this over with."

Alfie was stripped of his shoes and socks and jeans and underwear, then was thrown onto his stomach and pinned there as he shirt was ripped off over his head. The whole time he could only thing What the fuck, what the fuck? and wonder at Susie's bewildering treachery.

He was then again gripped again by four strong arms and forced over the lip of an oily and evil-looking pool. The water closed over his head, and he was held under by a strong hand. He tried to struggle, but the water felt heavy on his limbs, and he had none of the necessary strength to ward off the knife that felt for his throat.

Shortly later, after pulling himself from the pool, Ironeyes rubbed the streaming water from his new limbs, and felt up the hard, youthful muscles. Alfie, he thought. That was the name of the kid he now was. It was a fucking awful name, but it came with a good body: One that had scored plenty of pussy for the one born into it, and which would score plenty more for the one who wore it now. He stretched and flexed and grinned with pleasure all over.

He leered at Susie as he slid Alfie's jeans up his legs and buttoned them over his swelling boner. "So, d'ju have fun last night, sweetheart?" His new voice sounded strange in his ears.

She scowled back. "I just did it for us."

"The fuck you say. Seems to me you really threw yourself into it. I remember this one bit—" His eyes gleaming, he threw his head back and howled softly, the way Alfie had last night.

"We had to get him up here, that's all, and it was the only way to talk him into it." She shifted on her feet. "At least the other's will be a cinch. Scarlett will work on Dougie—"

"Yeah yeah." Ironeyes found a comb in his back pocket, and used it to wrench his new hair into shape. "Tanya's the one I'm looking forward to, though."

He slid the comb back onto his hip, and seized Susie by the arm.

"Yeah, you're gonna tell your little sister I wanna fuck her," he hissed at her. "And you're going to tell her it's gonna happen!"

* * * * *

At work, Sean notices you're in a really good mood, and he asks what's up, but you just shrug and tell him you're feeling good about life. He chuckles and shakes his head.

Next: "Party of Five, Chapter 15" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"