“What is going on,” I whimper the question as my eyes fill with tears.
“I’ll explain,” Rex says.
I can’t help but notice that he doesn’t seem to be as scared as I am. He doesn’t even seem to be surprised. He’s kind of pleased. He’s smiling. He’s happy about something. What the hell is he happy about?
He is also not freaking out nearly as much as I am. I put that down to him being less prone to freaking out in general, but now I’m wondering if…
“REX AND KRISTINE!”
Someone else is saying our name in this very familiar and happy voice. We are backstage now, but apparently the weird attention cannot be escaped. This is all a stage. Backstage. Frontstage. Whatever. The whole world is a stage. My god. Someone said that once. Was he actually right? Has none of this ever been real? What the living actual complete fuck?
“I’m Eschaton, the survival games is my franchise. You are an incredible woman, Kristine. You will be famous for a long time to come, I have no doubt of that. I already made you a superstar. Now I’m going to make you an ultrastar!”
Eschaton is very strange looking. Everybody is very strange looking. Because they’re all aliens. But he might be the strangest of all. He has a mane of gold and purple hair flowing from the crown of his head. But that’s not all. His eyelids are also purple. As are his lips. His skin is more or less blue, or it might be purple. He is covered in colors, the most flamboyant creature I have ever seen. I kind of want to like him, but I can’t, because he’s gross and terrible and awful on the inside. His personality is disgusting. I have known him for all of two seconds and I can already tell. There is something about the cheerful way he is confronting us that makes me want to hurt him.
“Why?”
“Ah, I forget. As much as we have seen of you, you have seen nothing at all. You must be terribly confused. Let me explain it to you. The Dinodome series originated as a means to test the mettle of warriors, but it soon became apparent that the real value was in the entertainment it provided the many millions of inhabited planets invested in the narrative.”
“What narrative? Why me? How did I end up here?”
“We decided to take criminals facing certain death, usually by execution, from various worlds and put them in simulated environments. Here, they are free to attempt to survive. Most of them die. You did not, because we introduced a new twist. The hero. King Rex agreed to take part this time, and seeing the two of you come together, form a romantic and sexual bond, it was gripping. You have many fans. You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams from the endorsements and advertisements alone.”
I fucking knew something was off about the whole situation, especially the set up, where I came to my senses almost being eaten by a dinosaur only to be rescued, and for that dinosaur never to be seen again. But I never suspected that I was being betrayed by the one I trusted the most.
I turn to Rex, pissed as all hell.
“You knew about this all along? You were PART of it?”
“I…” Suddenly he’s not so suave, or assured. He actually looks ashamed. As he fucking well should be.
“You bastard.”
“I know you’re angry, Kristine, and you possibly have a right to be, but…”
“Possibly!?”
I turn to Eschaton. “How many times has this been done before? How many seasons of this so-called show have been aired?”
“You are our three hundred and thirtieth contestant, and the first survivor. Usually the girls die within the first few days.”
“That’s incredibly cruel.”
“They were nothing and nobody. They were criminals rescued from the verge of one death and offered a chance at life. None took it before you. You have Rex to thank for that.”
“I’m not fucking thanking him! Rex, you fucking bastard!” I can’t stop swearing at him. He is such an asshole. Lying to me this entire time, knowing that what we were going through was just a game. A game that could get me killed.
“I didn’t do this to hurt you, Kristine,” he tries to explain. “I had to win my kingdom back. It was mortgaged to the GEC, the Galactic Entertainment Core. My kingdom fell into debt. They were going to claim it, destroy the monarchy, and turn my world into a tourist attraction. I am king of my realm, but there was no denying how much I owed them. So I agreed to take a role in their survival series, on the condition that if we survived, my debt would be paid and I would keep the sacrifice.”
“Let me guess, I am the sacrifice.”