Free Orpheus by Dan DeWitt Page A

Wanted to be a hero. When that thing spoke, all he could hear was a cry for help, because that's what he wanted to hear. His mind blanked out everything that Orpheus had told him just moments before. That was one instinct he knew he'd have to fight for a long time.
    And to top it off, God, was he sore. That last fight had done a number on him. Everything from his shoulders to his fingertips throbbed from the effort of holding that thing off.
    But he'd done it. He'd survived. He'd contributed.
    And next time, he'd be better.
    Like Orpheus.
    Tim toweled off and threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He felt much better, and he was going to take another crack at sleep.
    He shuffled down the hallway towards his room. As he turned the knob he heard another door near him open. He looked around and saw Orpheus leaving a room that Tim was pretty sure wasn't his own. When he heard the female voice, he was very sure. He hadn't been spotted, so he stepped over the threshold and closed the door most of the way. He peeked out, feeling like a voyeur.
    “Come back when you feel like it and I'll help you take care of that,” a voice he recognized said. Her door shut. Tim followed suit. He heard footsteps past his door and into the bathroom that he'd just vacated.
    He tried to rub the kinks out of his shoulders as he thought, Hmmm .
     
    * * *
     
    Orpheus splashed cold water on his face and stared at his reflection.
    What did I just do? I'm not a spontaneous guy.
    It was just a spur of the moment thing, but the consequences were permanent. He wanted to blame Lena for making the prospect so attractive, but she'd barely had to prompt him before he jumped at the chance. There was no denying that he'd wanted it, and had for quite some time.
    She'd told him to trust her; she knew what she was doing. And she had been absolutely right; she knew what he wanted better than he did. He couldn't believe how long she'd worked on him without a break. Once she began, she'd been determined, maybe even obsessed, with finishing her task. The amount of sheer pleasure she'd derived from it was staggering. And when they were done, she'd practically collapsed from exhaustion. He would bet that she'd been asleep before he'd reached the bathroom.
    He thought he'd been sore before. But this was a good kind of hurt, no doubt.
    He smiled, feeling refreshed and refocused. He almost couldn't believe it.
    It had been exactly what he'd needed.
    He pulled off his shirt and stared at his brand-new tattoo in the mirror. It encompassed his entire upper arm. Somehow, she'd gotten her hands on the picture he kept under his pillow, the picture he foolishly kissed just before he slept. He suspected one of his teammates had helped her.
    Picture in hand, she'd expertly transferred it to his flesh, as an eternal reminder of what he had been and wanted to remember.
    Now, instead of naked skin on his left arm, he saw a beautiful rendition of one of the last pictures he'd ever taken with his family. His wife, loving, caring, beautiful Jackie. His son Ethan, the spittin' image of his old man at the same age, but already becoming a man in his own right.
    And Cameron Holt. Husband. Father. At the happiest point in his life, before Orpheus was ever born.
    It was perfect.
     
    * * *
     
    Lena woke up, showered (trying not to think about Orpheus...God, she hated calling him that, even in her head), locked her door, and got to work on her side job. She started loading the memory cards from the cameras onto her computer. Each one took a minute or so, and when they were all loaded she set up a slideshow of all the new photos. She set the cycle to ten seconds and went to work matching up cell phones with the appropriate chargers and USB cables so she could load those, as well. Orpheus had shown incredible foresight when he and his team raided the electronics store during their first field trip into town. She made sure that she looked up every few seconds, because she absolutely, positively