Round 1: Is that just a funny way to say team?

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Day 01 - Round 01 - Challenge 01

“You couldn’t even squeeze a normal clam shell down there, Beth. Let’s look somewhere else, this is boring.”

Amber watched from a safe distance while Beth, squat on her haunches, did her best to squeeze her fist down an animal hole in the soft dirt. The island flora didn’t qualify as a jungle, but this far into the tropical forest only scattered sun beams penetrated the thick canopy.

“One minute,” Beth grunted.

“You’re gonna get bit,” Amber said, poised to leap in fright the moment a feral creature leapt from the hole in the ground. “And I didn’t get to grab my first aid kit from the car so it’ll be all bloody and I bet that lion guy eats you. Please be careful!”

“You are both—rrrggghhh —just scared of joining my kick ass harem — I’ve got something — don’t worry, you’ll only have to wear the silk veils on the weekends… GOT IT!” The ground released Beth’s dirt caked hand as she fell onto her backside with a thump, then triumphantly held up high a grimy animal bone. “EW,” and flung it away.

“Awwww, it’s a poor little guy,” Amber cooed while Marcus returned from searching down trail.

He gave Beth a helping hand to her feet and she patted some of the mud off. Beth was lucky enough to have been wearing shorts, sandals and a tank top when they’d been ****, Amber was still stuck in her peach bikini. Marcus had at least been enough of a gentleman to lend her his white t-shirt, but both of their feet were mud caked and sore after barely an hour of searching. Fortunately the forest floor was a soft dirt free of rocks or detritus, almost made for bare foot hiking.

Beth and Amber had met at Freshman orientation and been tight ever since. While Beth was not a big fan of parties (or noise, crowds and to be frank guys) and would usually rather find a quiet bookshop/coffee bar than a beach party, something about her and the bright, bubbly, always ready to squeal for joy Amber just clicked.

“Damnitt,” Beth said. “What are we supposed to do, check under every rock on the whole island? Aren’t there supposed to be clues or puzzles on this kind of show?”

“Maybe we missed the clue?” Amber said. “Do you think if we went back and asked the lion-man he’d tell us more?”

“Look,” Marcus said. “Let’s just go deeper into the forest, something will stand out like a statue or a—“

“Shut up!” Beth shout-whispered and waved a hand at Marcus.

“Hey you don’t have to—“

“No, shhhhhh. Do you hear that?”

Beth held her hand up at Amber and Marcus and creeped away from the trail, through knee thick growth toward a solid mass of foliage. The bushes and branches almost formed green walls that kept forest explorers on trail, with thorny vines as extra encouragement for the especially curious.

“I hear…is that laughing?” Beth explored the greenery with a cautious hand, trying to find a thin spot to peek through, and pulled it back in fright when the vines began to coil and flow like spiky snakes. In moments the threatening vines had disappeared and the bushes strained to part ways, creating a person sized gap.

Beth, Marcus and Amber all peeked through in astonishment and found a large grassy clearing, squinting as they moved from dark forest to bright sunshine. The clearing was clean with minimal growth, open blue sky, and…a stripper carnival?

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“We could search down the coastline, not a lot of people looking there.” Chris nervously glanced to Romeo then back to the beach, watching the dozens of contestants dig in the sand, turn over rocks, or wander about aimlessly. Romeo was silent.

Where the beach petered out, the land transitioned into soft dirt, followed after a bit by a pretty intimidating looking forest in the direction, which had a big ass cliff growing out of it off in the distance. Up and down the coast line looked pretty clear, scattered palm trees and big rock formations, more beach. Off on the horizon one could see some of the drones hovering in place, each isolated and unmoving, while the rest had scattered who knows where.

When Samson announced the start of round 1 the contestants had spread out quickly in unorganized searches, some solo, most in groups, nobody looking like they had any clue what was going on. Marcus had tried to keep his frisbee team together and argued they get some distance from the starting zone, but Chris looked queasy at the thought of hiking and Romeo suggested that they weren’t likely to find 10 fist sized clam shells by wandering around without direction. Marcus honestly felt like his guys were being wimps, and when he left Beth and Amber went with him.

Which left the math majors back on the beach, maidenless as usual.

“Or maybe catch up with Marcus? I’m not saying plunge into the woods, god I’m not saying that.” Chris said. The last time he’d been hiking he nearly passed out from heat exhaustion, and he’d been under 240 then. “But why are we giving up? It doesn’t sound like being a loser on this island is a good idea.”

“I know,” Romeo said, breaking his silence. “We’re not giving up, just evaluating. There’s something weird about this challenge, right?”

“A lot of stuff is weird, Rom.”

“Ok yeah, but…even if our hosts have sci-fi magic powers, the game still has to function as entertainment, doesn’t it? Unless we all died and this is a purgatory situation. So if it’s a gameshow then it stinks, just a bunch people digging and wandering, where’s the game?

“Or look at that guy Samson. He’s just standing on the stage. Shouldn’t he go back to his trailer and cool his fur down? He’s waiting for something that some lion-PA can’t cover.

“And the drones, where’d they go? I see some floating out there but there were like 60 of them at the start. Are they cameras, or security, or…or…”

“Clues?” Chris interrupted.

“Huh, how do you mean?”

Chris pursed his lips and blew out his mouth, a habit Romeo was very familiar with when the gears were turning in his head. Chris was a problem solver, he just needed a kickstart sometimes.

“Well, like you said, if we assume this is a game then it doesn’t work as is. 4 hours for 100 people to scour the island, that would take days. And half of us are drunk or buzzed, look over there people are already taking naps. What kind of fun is that to watch? That means it’s probably not a live broadcast, so there has to be a game we aren’t seeing that they can edit together to make interesting. Like on the Amazing Race when they highlight the obvious clue that the players walk right by and we laugh at the poor losers.”

“Right, right,” Romeo said. “So if the island is the game board and the contestants are the pieces, and the only other foreign element are the drones, they have to serve a function. But how did you get to clues?”

“Elimination. If they were cameras they’d be flying around to get the best shots, and if they were tools they wouldn’t have flown too far away for us to interact with them.” Chris waved his arm toward the forest and down the coast. Sure enough if Romeo squinted he could see isolated drones hovering high above the ground around the island, each one unmoving. “I guess they could be red herrings, or they’ll be used in the future. Maybe they really are just cameras we don’t understand, like those satellites that use lasers to map—”

“They’re pins!” Romeo said. “Chris you’re right that’s the clue, the drones are pins on a map! And the closest one is….son of a bee.”

Chris followed Romeo’s gaze back to the beach then high in the sky. When the rest of the drones had scattered across the island, one had stayed behind. And it hovered high in the sky directly above Samson on his stage.

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“Hiiiiiiiiiii!”

Beth, Marcus and Amber carefully wandered into the open field, like they didn’t quite trust its solidity. The clearing consisted of a circular field with short cropped grass surrounded by a ring of foliage that looked as thick and unwelcoming as the one that had just parted for them.

In the center maybe 30 feet from the edge there were two women, waving and hopping in excitement at their visitors. They stood in a wooden booth, garishly painted red and white like a circus attraction, with a big spinning wheel raised up behind them.

“Over here, over here,” one of the women yelled and waved for attention, as if that would ever be needed. The women were a bigger attraction than their cheap booth, they’d be more of a distraction than most whole circuses. Although they were dressed the same, or undressed the same more accurately wearing nothing but pink and blue tasseled pasties and teensy thongs of the same colors, they were different as could be from each other.

The blonde woman had such generous curves that each time she hopped her enormous breasts threatened to concuss her as they swung freely, followed by a harsh crack when they slapped back against her chest. The rest of her body followed suit with a cartoonish hourglass that threatened to crack from being overfilled.

Her red headed partner might have looked plain in comparison were her slim body not so perfect, willowy but toned.

They held hands like the best of friends and Marcus imagined them wrapping those hands around each other, blondie’s enormous breasts drowning red’s luscious lips.

“Come on over sweeties,” the redhead said and shook her chest, her pink tassels slapping in place but having a great time trying.

“Yeah, don’t worry we’re super nice!,” her blonde friend said and turned around to slap her big, round ass, leaving jiggling shock waves that engulfed her blue thong for long seconds.

“Oh, um hi,” Marcus spoke up when the group reached the attraction. “Wow you’re… I mean we were…and…”

“Oh my god,” Beth said. “We’re looking for a magic clamshell, I assume you two are part of this game?”

“YESSSSS,” both women said gleefully.

“I’m Mandy,” the redhead said.

“And I’m Tandy,” said the blonde.

“And this is our round 1 prize challenge!” They cheered in unison and raised their arms up to the wheel behind them, it’s face divided into black and white wedges separated by spokes and a picker arrow. With hands still clasped they gave the wheel a hearty spin and cheered as the wheel clack-clack-clacked into a blur.

Mandy & Tandy could have been sisters if not for their different figures, their faces had identical bright eyes, thin noses, wide smiles. Although up close maybe their figures weren’t total opposites, Beth noticed that Tandy’s curves were impressive but not the fertility goddess she’d seemed from afar, and Mandy actually did have a bit of a jiggle to her, pretty handful sized breasts shaking to and fro in excitement.

“Oh, look,” Amber pointed up at the wheel as it slowed to a staccato clack…clack.....clack....... Most wedges had the familiar palm tree logo stenciled, while a few had unique cartoon icons. One eye catching wedge was rendered in prismatic shifting color and featured a double palm tree that sparkled in the sunlight.

With its last momentum the wheel crawled past several palm trees and nearly stopped on a minimalist sketch that resembled Mandy and Tandy themselves, until it heroically pushed through the last spoke to land on a stencil bowl of fruit. Mandy and Tandy gave each other an excited smile and Mandy ducked down, noisily busying herself with something clunky behind the booth.

“Oh yay, is that good? Do we get the prize?” Amber said and shook Beth’s shoulder. “I’m totally gonna join your harem.”

“Oh don’t be silly,” Tandy said. Wait, was that Tandy? The blonde was gorgeous, but her body wouldn’t have stood out too extremely at spring break, maybe D-cup breasts and no thicker than a dozen other of the girls who had been brought to Harem Beach.

“That was just a demo, to show off our awesome game. We can’t start until the rest of the contestants get here.” Mandy popped back up from behind the booth, now sporting almost identical breasts to Tandy, although maybe a little fuller. They stood out to say hello, bigger and rounder by the second, the poor tassels overwhelmed by sumptuous breasts that somehow stood higher as they grew. “And here they are! Hiiii!”

While Beth, Amber and Marcus stared captivated at the shifting beauties, 2 more contestants wandered up to the booth from beyond the perimeter wall.

“Wasn’t that chick a lot more stacked a second ago?” Kendra was as tall as Marcus at 6’2, and rocked boy-shorts and a black tube top that showed off hard abs and muscled body.

Damon was shirtless in blue shorts and reminded Amber of the evil duke in a romance novel she’d been reading that morning. The hot, evil duke. “Ha I was right Kendra, if you stick to the trails you won’t find the prize. Now what do I do to get one of these winner idols, I spin the wheel?” Damon stepped up to the booth as if to do just that.

“Hey we were here first.” Marcus shouldered his way in front of Damon, who shoved back. “It’s our prize so just get in line.”

“Stop it boys,” Mandy said, breaking the tension by pulling her shoulders back to shove her enormous chest forward, two round, high perfect breasts that never stopped moving. Primitive tribes would have worshipped her thick thighs as twin gods, and by her side Tandy was a rail thin supermodel from 1992, delicate and fine as candy glass.

Only Beth looked past them at the wheel and saw that the wedges were emblazoned with the faces of the five contestants, 2 wedges each.

“You’ll all get your chance, don’t worry, but we have a strict no fighting policy. Right Tandy?”

“That’s right,” the trim Tandy said and reached for the wheel. “The last two rule breakers wound up manning a slutty carnival booth, can you believe it? Now, if you two are done being boys, who’s ready for a spin!?”

clack…CLACK…CLACK…CLACK...

***

“Hello young contestant, are you lost? Perhaps a bit on the slow side?” Samson took Romeo in from the stage with as much good humor as a lion could express, it was mostly a crinkle of his large brow, a little raise of his lower lip.

“No, I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” Romeo said, looking up at Samson.

Chris stood a bit behind Romeo and studiously avoided meeting Samson’s gaze. “Romeo, don’t make him mad.”

“Good for you,” Samson said. “Such a wonderful feeling, certainty. But are you certain it’s more than that? Typically when contestants approach the stage they bring a prize with them. Are you hiding something, perhaps?”

“No, Sams…Mr Samson, but I think you are. I’d like to play the idol that is resting in your jacket pocket.”

Samson cocked his head at Romeo. A few beach combers gathered toward the stage, curious.

Slowly, Samson patted one furred paw against his left breast, then shrugged his shoulders as if miming Nothing here.

He then raised one clawed finger of the opposite hand with a flourish, and darted his hand underneath his suit jacket’s right side and opened his eyes wide. From the inside of his size 54 regular jacket he pulled free the same clamshell that he’d earlier displayed, and nearly stepped back as if astonished at what he’d found. He held the black clamshell up for all to see.

“This idol? You want to play this idol that I showed everyone as an example of what to look for?”

“Yes, can I play that?”

“This idol that wasn’t even slightly hidden, that I placed in my pocket in plain sight of 100 contestants?”

“Yeah…I…yeah, I want to play that.”

While they spoke the drone that had hovered above Samson lowered to his side, and he turned his back to the crowd. Romeo and Chris could only make out hushed whispers from the stage while dozens of other contestants mumbled, some in support of Romeo and some mocking. They all kept a safe distance.

“I wonder what happens if we’re wrong,” Chris said softly. “You don’t think…he’d eat us, do you?”

“i….I don’t….You could have brought that up earlier.”

Samson turned back to Romeo and batted the drone back a few feet.

“So, Romeo is it? Yes, Romeo, so….if this a real idol it would be historic for our show. The first harem master insignia hidden on the person of the host, in plain view of all players, selected by you, and played for you.“

“Exactly.” Romeo did his best to sound confident.

Samson knelt at the edge of the stage and reached down, grabbing Romeo under his left shoulder single handed. “That is…the first harem idol of the new season of Harem Beach!” Samson pulled Romeo up onto the stage as if he were weightless, then slapped the clamshell into Romeo’s chest before letting him free. Romeo held it tight and looked back and forth, down to the clamshell in his hands, up to Samson towering over him to his left, back and forth.

“You’re not going to eat me?!”

“I”m not going to eat you!”

Romeo looked at Chris and yelled “He’s not going to eat me!!”

“HE’S NOT GOING TO EAT YOU!” The crowd of dozens yelled back, then repeated again in a chant. “HE’S NOT GOING TO EAT YOU, HE’S NOT GOING TO EAT YOU!”

Romeo ignored the cheering crowd and examined his prize, a black clamshell with a white palm tree stenciled on its front. It opened easily to his fingers and revealed a blue wristband with the word MASTER printed across the outside. Romeo slipped the wrist band on, a perfect fit, and let himself breathe a sigh of relief. Above his head the Jumbotron showed a scoreboard with one name on it.

Romeo looked up to Samson. “So what exactly do you mean by harem? Is that just a funny way to say team?”

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Across the island 9 more prizes were unclaimed. Some simple, some puzzles, some dangerous. Each marked by a hovering sentinel waiting far above.

In sync, all 9 drones buzzed to life and emitted beams of blue light straight to the ground beneath them for 1 long minute, thick and bright enough to be seen by most.

The race is on!