The Island (11 page)

Chase almost slipped, grabbing at the wall to stabilise himself. “These are real rocks. This is a real cave.”

Alex grinned, the expression ghastly in the harsh, artificial light. “But it’s not. They might be real rocks, but this wasn’t formed by nature. Just look at the walls. This was shaped by men with machines.”

The cave narrowed as it curved away from where they wanted to go, the roof closing in on them and making their passage harder. They were forced to turn to the side as they continued to descend. Their path widened slightly, then Chase stopped moving.

“What is it?” Alex asked, the passage still too narrow for him to squeeze around to see for himself.

“Water,” Chase replied, moving forward a little into the wider section to allow the others to see. The cave opened into a circular pool which was around fifteen feet in diameter, its surface black and impenetrable in the gloom. The cave surrounded it on all sides apart from small head high section immediately ahead just above the water line.

“Looks like we’re going to have to swim for it,” Chase muttered.

“We could go back,” Alex said. Chase looked at him. There was no hiding it now, the fear. He was close to the edge.

“To what? There’s no way to go without losing another day by going back to the river and crossing to the other side. Even if we did that, we know it terminates here. We have to move on.”

“You don’t understand, I… I’m not so good with enclosed spaces. We don’t even know how deep the water is. Or what might be in there.”

“I can’t go back, my feet…” Moses looked exhausted. He seemed to have somehow shrunk over the last few hours, his face thrown into ghastly relief by their lights. “You two do what you want, but I’m going on ahead.”

“Your call, Alex,” Chase said as he took off his pack. “I’m going on with Moses.”

“It could be a dead end. We might drown down there.” His cheek was twitching, and his foot tapped against the ground as he struggled to decide what to do.

“Didn’t we all come here knowing we might die anyway? Like you said, it’s a man-made island. Chances are they left us a way out. Besides, Ryder and Perrie already came this way, remember?”

“I suppose so,” Alex mumbled.

“Alright, let’s do it,” Chase said. He crouched and put his fingers into the water. It was frigid. He started to unfasten his boots.

“What are you doing?” Moses asked.

“That water is cold. I’m putting my boots and socks in my bag, my shirt too. When we get to the other side, I’ll want something dry to wear. Our packs are waterproof. I’ll put my dry clothes in there then change on the other side.”

“Good idea,” Alex said as he also started to remove his shoes.

Moses shook his head. “If I take my boots off, I’ll never get them back on. My feet are in a bad way. Besides, I don’t want to risk getting infected.”

“You will be cold when we reach the other side. We won’t have time to stop and light a fire.”

Moses shrugged. “It’s hot out there. As soon as we are in the sun, I’ll dry before you know it.”

Chase decided not to argue. He wanted to, then remembered that Moses was a rival, and in the way of him giving his daughter the life she deserved. He put his boots into his bag, then took off his shirt, removed the t-shirt from underneath and put that in with it, then sealed the waterproof backpack, ensuring the seals were completely closed. Finally, he put the shirt with his name stencilled on it back on so that he could use the light his UV torch provided. He waited as Alex did the same thing. Moses just stood by the edge of the water, face twisted into a grimace. Chase sat on the edge of the pool and dipped his bare feet into the water, gritting his teeth as the cold bit into him.

“I’m going to lower myself down and see how deep it is,” Chase said as he rolled onto his front, bracing himself on his elbows on the edge as he lowered his legs into the water, it came up to his torso, then his chest before his feet found the floor. The cold was intense, sharpening his senses. He could feel the thunder of his heart in protest at the sudden temperature change as he pulled his backpack in after him, the buoyant material bobbing on the surface. “Alright, I’m touching the bottom.”

Alex looked at him, still afraid. “How tall are you?” he asked.

“Six two. Why?” Chase replied.

“I’m five nine. That water will come up to my chin.”

“Nothing I can do about that,” Chase said. He no longer had the energy to play nice. Alex would either come along or he wouldn’t. Either way it was good to see him looking a little less confident. Moses was next. Like Chase, he lowered himself into the water, sucking air through his teeth as he too felt its frigid bite. Like Chase, the water went as high as his chest. The two of them bobbed there, waiting to see if Alex would join them.

“This feels great on my feet. Nice and cool,” Moses said, even managing a smile.

Alex looked back the way they had come, knowing it wasn’t on the cards. He looked from Chase to Moses, then rolled his bag into the water where it bobbed on the surface, waiting for him, then like Chase and Moses, he lowered himself into the pool. As he predicted, the water was much deeper for him and went up to his jaw. He breathed in large gasping breaths as he angled his head up towards the cave roof in order to keep it out of the water. He was panicking, but somehow able to keep control. Chase led them on, his hair brushing the cave roof as he made his way deeper, pulling his bag along my one of the straps. Moses was next in line, and seemed relaxed and at ease, still enjoying the relief as the chilly waters cooled his shredded feet. Alex kicked along at the rear, cheeks puffing in and out with each breath as he tried to keep his head above the water line. Every loose rock Chase’s feet touched, he thought was something in the water waiting to drag him under. Still they moved on. The walls narrowed again, so that they could no longer move forward three abreast and had to go single file, then side on. Now the cave was barely wide enough for them to traverse. Sharp rocks dug into their fingers as they pulled themselves further into the dark. Very gradually, the ground started to fall away. The water that was chest high on Chase was now up to his chin. He glanced over his shoulder to see how Alex was doing. He was treading water, his face turned up to the roof as he pulled himself along. Movement was becoming more difficult, and they had to physically pull themselves through the passageway. Stone pressed against their chests as they went on, the cave seeming to never end. There was no concept of direction anymore. There was nothing to give them any sensory indication of where they were. All they could do was keep moving. They all understood just how easy it would be to die there. A slip underwater combined with a movement into an unfamiliar area could lead to being trapped and unable to reach the surface.

Ryder could win this.

For the first time, Chase had acknowledged that he might not survive. It was always there of course; sitting somewhere in the back of his mind, but it was the first time it had come to the fore. Death would be easy in such a hostile environment, and although he wasn’t to Alex-levels of panic yet, he was close. He thought of Ashley and Elsie, how they would cope when he was gone, asking himself how they would live, how they would survive on their own. He knew then, as that moment as he pulled himself through the cave, that Ashley was right. He should never have signed up for this. Not when he was so unprepared nor had any concept of what the show would entail. He heard her voice, swimming out the place in his head where she lived. He recalled the day he had left the apartment; how she wouldn’t look at him after telling him countless times that he was wrong to go. She had been right. So right. He got stuck, wedged between two jutting pieces of rock which pressed into his chest. He would have to go under. He ducked, his head plunging beneath the water line as he pulled himself along past the obstruction, then resurfacing for a lungful of air. He pulled his bag through, the material having more flexibility that his bones.

She would know now. What was here. What he was up against. The thoughts plagued him and refused to go away. She would have seen it on television. The dinosaur attack, the ruthless brutality in which it had decimated that other contestant. He searched for her name, but couldn’t recall it, then in turn wondered if that made him a bad person. He had barely spoken to her. All he remembered was that she always had her earphones in. he thought about her now, what her family might be thinking. For them, there was no more need to watch the show. For them the pain was over. Chase wondered why she was there. What her motivations had been for taking part in such a barbaric game.

Ellie.

Her name had been Ellie. She was a living, breathing human being with imperfections and problems the same as the rest of them. She had hopes of winning for reasons she believed in, just like the rest of them. And in the end it wasn’t enough, because she had been crushed into pulp by something which had no right to exist in the modern world. Chase asked himself how arrogant the rest of them must be to think the outcome for the rest of them would be any different.

Panic was starting to creep in. Physically, he felt fine apart from the cold. It was the mental fatigue which was getting to him. He was tired and hungry, and wanted to be out of this crushing coffin and breathing fresh air again. It felt like a lifetime since he had last seen daylight, and yet a check of his watch told him it had been less than an hour. Just when it felt as if he couldn’t handle anymore, the walls started to widen, and his feet found the ground again.

“It’s opening up again,” he grunted over his shoulder, the elation he felt impossible to put into words. The cave sloped up and opened into a bowl again. After the time spent in such a confined space, the cave felt immense, like the church he had been married in back before things started to go wrong. Chase led them out of the water onto land, then fell to his knees, grateful to have solid ground under him again. Moses trudged out behind him, boots and clothes heavy with water. He walked a little closer and then sat on his pack, leaning against the wall, eyes closed as his lips moved in silent prayer. Alex came next. Scrambling out of the water, clawing at the rock as he pulled himself clear and fell in a heap next to Chase, breath ragged as he rolled onto his back and stared at the roof. They lay there for a while, grateful to still be alive, then Chase opened his backpack, took off his wet shirt and put the clothes he had taken off back on. Boots and socks, then his t-shirt. His outer shirt was sodden. He wrung it out, forearms flexing as he squeezed out the excess water. He then tied the shirt to the back of his backpack and put it back on. Whilst Moses chewed on the last of his ration bars, Alex did the same as Chase, replacing his dry clothes and tying his outer shirt to the back of his backpack. Sure enough, their combat trousers were still wet, but their feet and bodies were dry.

“Alright,” Chase said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” He led them further, the terrain now sloping back towards higher ground as the cave widened. He found his thoughts going back to his family, and allowed his body to move forward on autopilot. He thought about all the things he would never see, all the things he would miss if he died on The Island. His pace slowed as he came to terms with it. The decision to join the show which he was sure was in the best interests of his family was looking increasingly selfish. He let his feet guide him through the narrow passageways as he became increasingly withdrawn. He barely noticed as the natural light started to increase. He was thinking of Elsie, and wondering if he would ever see her again when he was grabbed from behind. A powerful hand clamped over his mouth and yanked him to the ground. He struggled, kicking as Moses threw his other arm around Chase’s chest.

He’s desperate
, Chase thought as he struggled against the surprisingly strong older man.
He’s been fading for a while and now he’s desperate to win. I underestimated him.

Moses’s voice in his ear, hot and hissed. “Be quiet, hold still.”

Chase stopped struggling, realising that Moses wasn’t trying to kill him, just restrain him.

“Look,” Moses whispered.

Chase did as he was told. Ahead, the cave opened up into a larger space. White light bled from the outside world like liquid gold. Chase focussed on it. He had already seen the way out, and couldn’t figure out why Moses was so spooked until he looked closer. Not outside the cave, but within it. There, by the entrance was a dinosaur. He didn’t know the species. He wasn’t too familiar with the different kinds of creatures Lomar had put on The Island; all he knew was that it was big. It lay on its side by the entrance, its massive belly moving in the rhythmic pattern of sleep. If Moses hadn’t stopped him, he would have walked right towards it and likely wouldn’t have seen it before it was too late. Alex crouched beside them and looked at the sleeping creature. It was greenish brown, its muscles lean and ready to attack. It looked like a smaller version of the tyrannosaurus rex. It appeared to be from the same family, sharing many of its characteristics.

“What is it?” Chase whispered as Moses released his grip.

“
Majungasaurus. Carnivore. Incredibly dangerous,” Alex replied.

“How do you know?” Moses said, eyeing Alex mistrustfully.

“I did my research.”

“Yeah, I forgot you knew what they had here.”

Alex didn’t respond. Instead, he shifted position. “We should wait. It will go out to feed soon. Either it’s resting or this is its lair. We’re lucky it can’t smell us. If we had been downwind and coming the other way, we’d all be dead.”