“Why not?”

“Did you feel that?”

“What, that tap on the shoulder?”

“Don’t look now, but I think we’re surrounded.” I looked, and indeed, we were. We stood up, hands in the air. We walked through the primitive camp to the top of the volcano. There we were tied to stakes next to the four. I was next to Noah, who looked soaked. “Noah, why are you so wet?”

“Either I’m sweating a lot, or it’s raining.”

“Raining?!”

“Not here. Out there, outside the game!”

“Oh!” Just then there was a soft rumble in the distance.

“Ammon-Ra has spoken!” The chief said.

“What was that?” My wife asked.

“Thunder, and it’s awful close!” Noah responded.

“But there’s not a cloud in the sky!” Andy said.

“Adam, that storm’s awful close, I might have to leave.” Noah said.

“Boy you look wet. If you have to go, go.” I said.

“Well, I don’t yet. . .Wow, that was close.” Noah said.

“What?” Marie asked.

“That bolt of lightning.”

“I hate to disrupt this cheerful conversation of an imaginary storm, but look down!” Andy said. The lava had gotten hot and was getting closer to boiling over.

“So, Noah, what’s your plan?” My wife asked.

“Simple. Hope that the lightning strikes before the lava does.”

“How’s that?” Tricia asked.

“Well, if the lightning hits a power line and the power goes out, we can get out.”

“Oh, I see! The power goes out, the game goes off, and we are free!” I exclaimed.

“Yes.” Noah said.

“But what about Andy and Marie?” Tricia asked.

“And my wife and Jenn?” I added.

“They will simply cease to exist.”

“Us, cease to exist!” Marie exclaimed.

“What about us Noah? Will we be effected by the power loss.”

“Well. . .,” thunder, “We’ll soon see, there goes the power now.” Noah, the chief, Andy, Marie, my wife, the natives, the plants, the sky, everything disappeared. Tricia and I started falling, and in two seconds hit the floor. It was dark. All of a sudden a beam of light came from high above.

I heard some one shout, “ARE YOU TWO OKAY?” It was Noah’s voice.

“Yeah, we’re a little shaken up, and were dressed like when we first came in here. Me in my raid clothes, and Tricia in her casual clothes. Are you sure we’re out of the game?”

“Yes, I just climbed in from above,” Noah said, jumping to the ground level. “All the power is gone, come on up, before the auxiliary generator turns on.” We followed him up the ladder to the real world.

“Ah, smell that real air!”

That morning we approached what appeared to be the chief. The three of us stood before him, and he got up and examined Tricia. “Wuga, Wuga, Wuga.” He said.

“What’d he say?” Tricia asked.

“Wuga, Wuga, Wuga.” I responded.

“Thanks for the translation,” Noah said, “I’ll handle this.” He whipped out a pocket translator. “Here you go Adam.” He handed it to me.

“Chief, you got my wife. Me kick you butt if you not give back!” I said in his language.

“Me no give back.” I translated from what he said.

“That no good piece of garbage, let me try.” Noah said.

“Little piece of garbage? You fathomless wimp! I muse my sentries will take care of you!”

“I don’t think so, because at this moment, you’re guards are surrounded by ten thousand U.S. Navy Seals.”

“I find that highly improbable.”

“Well then, would you believe 100 state policemen with semi-automatics and blood hounds?”

“I find that very hard to believe.”

“Would you believe, ten kids from my youth group, armed with Clorox filled SuperSoakers?” By now, Andy and Marie had successfully infiltrated to camp.

“I don’t think so, and if you continue, I think I will have two sacrifices!”

“Would you believe, my youth pastor’s son with a baseball bat?”

“Noah, give it a rest!” I told him.

“How about a mosquito with yellow fever!”

“That’s it. Take him away.”

I heard him say, as he left, “How about a baby with a dirty diaper!”

“I wonder what he’s up to.” Tricia said in a whisper.

“I don’t know, but I hope he has a plan!” I said back.

“Me too.” I said. Tricia and I went back into the woods. We found the guards that Andy and Marie had knocked out. We tied them up and took them back to our camp. We then went to a place where we could see what was going on the top of the volcano. Noah was being escorted to the top. He was tied to a stake next to my wife.

When the natives that had tied up Noah left, Andy and Marie approach Noah. They cut his ropes. What they didn’t see was the chief and two of his guards approaching far behind. They cut my wife’s ropes. Both were feeling their wrists when the guards came from behind with their spears. There was some conversation that we could not hear. After about five minutes we saw the guards expose Andy and Marie for fakes and tie them on the top of the volcano too. “What are we going to do?” Tricia whispered to me.

“What can we do? Make another trade?”

“No, how about we try to do what Andy and Marie did?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Not for nothing. It made you feel important.”

“Swell.” We sat around the camp fire we had started, and ate dinner. We sang songs, and talked for a while. It was getting dark. Noah, Jenn, Andy, and Marie went and hid along the route. I tied my wife up, blindfolded her, and put one of Noah’s handy dandy tracking devices on her. “Now darling, after you’re taken we can hopefully save you, but if not. . .well, we’ll get you out. They may torture you, and you may be forced to do terrible rotten things. From this moment you will be facing extreme danger every minute.”

“And loving it!” She said. At five of nine we walked to the trading sight. I heard something moving.

“Who are you?”

“Adam Schofield.”

“And do you have what we have requested?”

“Yes, one woman to trade for the life of another.”

“How do we know that you are not being followed, or this is some trap?”

“I guess you’ll have to trust me.” Just then, Noah sneezed.

I heard, “Sorry about that!”

“It’s a trap!” One of the natives said.

“No! I’ll make the trade.” I turned to where my friends were hiding. “Come out from hiding!” They came out.

“They must all be blindfolded, including you. We will come and switch women. Then leave. We will send someone to free you. Leave your trade off girl five feet in front of you.” I blindfolded them, and myself. They came and checked our bindings then exchanged women, or I think that’s what they did.

A little while later, a man came and untied us. Tricia was there. She came over and hugged me. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you. Where are we?”

“In our futures.”

“Huh? All I know is I appeared by this big idol. Two guys burned a tent and handed me their torch. The next thing I know I’m on top of some volcano. “

“Oh, so that’s the conversation I overheard.”

“Who’s this?”

“Tricia, meet Jenn.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jenn said.

“This is a great reunion, but don’t you think we must find your wife?

“Yes, Adam. You must get her before this afternoon or she will die in my place.” Rushing back to camp, we obtained the tracker and returned to the location of the trade off. We made our way through tough terrain and saw a volcano. On top was my wife, tied to a stake, and dangling above the mouth. We proceeded to brainstorm a plan. Noah, Tricia and I were to go up to the chief. Andy, and Marie were to take out two guards and infiltrate their ranks. Meanwhile, Jenn was to get the diamond from under the fish. That’s about as far as we planned when dawn came.