PART 10
After a few minutes, Romeo calmed down and approached the situation more analytically. His limbs were stretched and bound to the pegs, which they had positioned far enough away that he could not reach them with his hands. On the plus side, that gave him more leverage than if his wrists and ankles had been bound directly to them; his usual escape trick in his shows was to wiggle a peg free and go from there. That was denied him here.
Turning his head, he saw that they had left his gun and whip near him, mockingly him from out of reach.
He pulled on the ropes holding his arms with all his strength; there was next to no give. Trying to close his legs worked no better.
He tried to roll side-to-side, but the ropes were too taut. He realized he had arrogantly underestimated the other players, and his sadistic treatment of them had possibly triggered this response - but it was still a roleplay event. Surely they wouldn't actually leave him out here to die?
He redoubled his efforts, pulling with arms and legs simultaneously in little bursts.
Nothing.
Nor did anything else he tried work. He could not reach the knots with his fingers, and no amount of force seemed to move the pegs at all.
The sun climbed further up into the sky as he fought his bonds with increasing desperation. His overstuffed mouth was completely parched, and he was entirely covered in sweat.
He panicked, and struggled ineffectually, grunting into his gag. What should he do?
- * -
Another hour later, the only thing he
could do was lie there and breathe. His throat was burning. His skin was burning. He had no energy to struggle left.
"All bondage is real," the rules had said. Well, it was certainly real now.
He was seething at how easily he had let himself be duped. If he'd only taken in the kid in the wheelchair instead of arrogantly sending for him to be taken away! Rodney would've been reunited with his brother and they wouldn't have had any leverage. And he'd be taking down Roberts instead of suffering out in the desert.
He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Someone was approaching.
He squinted against he waves of heat raising from the ground, but could not make out the face. From the build he guessed it was Rodney's brother.
A flask of water landed next to him with a sloshing sound. The figure hunkered down next to the peg holding his right arm, braced.
Yanked it out of the ground.
Got up and left.
Romeo lost no time in unstrapping his gag and, tremblingly, grabbed the flask with his free hand. He managed to get it open with his mouth, and drank carefully. "Just a little at first," he reminded himself.
He closed the flask again and worked on the knot holding his left hand. Eventually, it gave; he was half free.
He took a careful sip, then another, before working on his left leg. One more drink before he freed himself entirely.
He got up on his feet, shakily. His hat was still there; he put it on, grabbed the flask, gun and whip, and staggered off towards the canyon to seek shade.
- * -
He spent the rest of the day in the cool shade of the canyon, mostly drifting in and out of sleep. By the evening, he had recovered. He'd inspected his gun - of course they'd taken the bullets. His keys were gone as well; no point in returning to town.
"I'm coming for you, Roberts," he said, to no-one in particular, and set off towards the mansion.
- * -
@gag1195 I'm pleased I pulled it off that well
@CaptiveDan @Xtc @DeeperThanRed @Red86 @Pup Wingletang @CowboyStud @gag1195 @Bradstick @Bootmark
It was the obvious choice.
. Atleast Tino (assuming it really was him) came to release him just enough to free himself. Love his energy to continue his pursuit to take down Mr Roberts. I'd honestly be amazed if he pulls it off by the end. Not saying he couldn't, we just know how Rui is, usually being atleast one step ahead of everyone. The real kicker would be if Rui allows himself to be captured, only to further ensnare Romeo into their games later on. Idk, but this no doubt, continues to be an interesting read with the whole RP scene 
