Blood Games

    ‘Anyway, he sounded pretty enthusiastic about the project. He gave the go-ahead, so you’d better get cracking. How long before you can come up with the script?’

    Finley had made the call on Monday. By Tuesday afternoon Abilene had finished the term paper for her Chaucer seminar and was ready to start on the script. That night, cast and crew ‘took a meeting’ in the student union.

    Finley had already scouted locations. She gave her ideas about how the story should be revised and who should play which characters. Vivian, being a theater major who had already played major roles in several campus productions, was offered the lead.

    ‘I think Abilene should play Jean,’ she said. ‘It opens with a love scene. Abilene and Harris would be perfect for that.’ Harris blushed.

    ‘But you’re the actor around here,’ Abilene pointed out. ‘You should have the main role.’

    ‘It’d be more fun to play one of the zombies anyway.’

    ‘Same here,’ Helen said. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a zombie.’

    Abilene laughed. ‘It’d be a big stretch after all those Halloweens as a ghost.’

    ‘I can handle it.’

    ‘So,’ Vivian said, ‘how about Abilene as the main gal?’

    ‘Fine with me,’ Finley said. ‘Hickok’s got that great, vulnerable look. Make a terrific victim.’

    ‘Oh thanks.’

    She and Harris agreed to take the roles of Jean and Paul, the lovers. Vivian, Cora and Helen would be the zombies.

    ‘And you’ll be The Reaper,’ Finley told Tony, a handsome, powerfully built young man who’d been going with Cora for the past few months.

    ‘Now hold it just a second,’ Cora said. ‘I’m not so sure I like the idea of my guy getting to mess around with Abilene.’

    ‘He doesn’t mess around with her,’ Finley pointed out, ‘he tortures her.’

    ‘He might just enjoy it too much,’ she said, giving Tony an amused scowl.

    Harris grinned at him. ‘Better not.’

    ‘What’ll she be wearing?’ Cora asked.

    ‘Not a whole lot.’

    ‘That’s what you think,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Well,’ Finley said, ‘we don’t need actual nudity, but it’s gotta look real, you know. This guy is a sex maniac, a psychopath. So…’

    ‘I’ll work it out in the script,’ Abilene told her.

    ‘Can you have it done by Friday?’

    ‘Sure. No problem.’

    ‘Great. Then we can go out on location first thing Saturday and get it done.’

    ‘Problem,’ Tony said. ‘I’ve got a track meet on Saturday. Sorry.’

    ‘What about the weekend after?’ Finley asked.

    ‘That’s getting awfully close to finals,’ Abilene said.

    Tony held up his hands. ‘Hey, look, I don’t want to screw things up for you gals. I’m no actor, anyway. Maybe you oughta find someone else for my part. That’d be fine with me. In fact, I’d prefer it. Honestly. Why don’t you just go ahead without me? Okay?’

    Looking concerned, Finley asked, ‘Are you sure? I mean, we’d really like you to be in it.’

    ‘Maybe you should find someone else. Really.’

    ‘I guess we could,’ Finley said.

    ‘There are some guys in the drama department,’ Vivian said. ‘I could ask around and…’

    ‘They’re such a bunch of weenies,’ Finley complained.

    ‘Not all of them. What about Jack Baxter?’

    ‘Baxter?’ Abilene asked. ‘The guy who played Stanley in Streetcar?’

    ‘He’s such a Neanderthal,’ Finley said. ‘What I had in mind was someone more… clean-cut, handsome. You know, a Ted Bundy type.’

    ‘I’m a Ted Bundy type?’ Tony asked. ‘Gee, thanks.’

    ‘I’m not particularly thrilled,’ Abilene said, ‘about the idea of playing victim for a guy like Baxter.’

    Vivian shrugged. ‘Oh, he’s not so bad. And I think he’d be awfully good in the role.’

    ‘Typecasting,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Well,’ Finley said, ‘why don’t you check with him, Viv? See if he’s interested. And if he’s available for this weekend.’

    ‘I don’t know about this,’ Abilene said as she walked with Harris into the secluded clearing near Shady Lane Bridge that Finley had chosen for the opening scene. She wondered if she sounded nervous enough. She certainly felt nervous. The idea of making out with Harris in front of her friends was bad enough, but Baxter had joined the troupe.

    ‘What don’t you know about?’ Harris asked. Stopping, he faced Abilene and took hold of both her hands.

    She glanced about. ‘It’s so… deserted around here.’

    Sure. Deserted. Finley with the video camera at her eye, taping, while Cora and Vivian and Helen watched from the shadows beneath a nearby tree and Harris fooled with the trick knife Vivian had borrowed from the prop room. At least he’s not staring at me, she thought.

    ‘It’s supposed to be deserted,’ Harris said. ‘That’s the whole idea.’

    ‘I know, but… Maybe we should go back to my apartment.’

    ‘So your damn roomy can listen through the wall and make noises?’

    Smiling slightly at that, Abilene said, ‘She won’t be there. She’s going to a matinee this afternoon. We’d have the place all to ourselves.’

    ‘I like it here.’ Harris pulled her gently into his arms. He nibbled the side of her neck. That hadn’t been in the script. It made her shiver and squirm. ‘So much nicer,’ he muttered, ‘than some stuffy old room.’

    ‘Somebody might come along.’

    ‘You worry too much.’ Nuzzling the side of her neck again, he untucked the back of her blouse and slipped his hands up beneath it.