The Island (13 page)

Chase didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to push Moses into talking. To his surprise, the older man went on. “I wish I’d never got involved in all this. I knew I shouldn’t keep pushing my luck.”

“What do you mean?”

Moses sighed, and then nodded to his foot. “My body can’t keep up anymore with what my brain wants to do. All part of growing old. Frustrating, you know? It only seems like five minutes ago that I was a young man with the world set out in front of me. Now look at me. A dying old man with a bad foot and maybe pneumonia to boot.”

Chase glanced over his shoulder at Alex, making sure he wasn’t listening. He was sleeping soundly, snoring lightly as he lay on his side. Chase turned back to Moses.

“Can I ask you something?”

Moses shrugged. Chase decided to read the expression as a yes.

“Why did you save me, back there in the cave?”

“I wasn’t aware I had.”

“You could have let me walk on right into the path of that dinosaur. It would have seen me, probably killed me. You didn’t let it. You covered my mouth and stopped me from making a mistake. I’m curious as to why.”

“Don’t read too much into that. I didn’t intend to do it. In fact, part of me regretted it. But a man can’t completely ignore his instincts. Outside of here, I was a good man. I like to think I still am.”

Now it was Chase’s turn to be silent. He stared into the fire, unsure how to proceed. “Well, thanks. I appreciate it.”

It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best he could manage. Moses winced as he shifted position, moving his injured foot closer to the fire. “Besides,” the old man said. “I didn’t want to be left alone with that one.”

He nodded towards Alex. “I don’t walk at the back just because of my foot. I walk there because I like to see where he is at all times.”

“You think he’s dangerous?”

Moses shook his head. “No. Not in a physical way. He’s clever though. He’s strong up here.” He tapped his temple with a bony finger. “In a place like this, that can give someone an edge.”

Chase half wanted to tell Moses his own thoughts about Alex, but didn’t want to risk being overheard. Instead, he stayed quiet, listening to the hiss and crackle of the fire and trying to ignore the old man’s eyes on him.

“Anyway,” Moses said eventually. “That’s my burden to bear. Best I get some sleep before my watch begins.”

“I’ll shout if anything happens,” Chase said, watching the old man as he struggled to his feet and then to where he had set up his small tent on the edge of the glow of the fire. Within ten minutes, the sound of Moses snoring joined that of Alex. Chase sat there alone, enjoying the quiet, staring at the stars and, like Moses, starting to think he had made a mistake.

A FIGHTING CHANCE

DAY FOUR

6:37AM

Ryder was tired, but the adrenaline still surged through him and spurred him on. He was filthy and still covered in Perrie’s blood. He was still trying to convince himself that he was just playing the game, and this was exactly what had been expected of them when they came in, but he couldn’t deny that he had made a conscious decision to kill her when she was at her most weak and vulnerable. As he ran, skirting around a herd of Ankylosaurs as they drank at a watering hole, armoured backs low, huge ball-ended tails swaying, spiny ridges lining each side of their mammoth frames. Their heads were small, legs short and wide. There would be no survival from them if they chose to attack. He tried to reason with himself that he had saved her. The velociraptors had attacked without warning. Much smaller than their TV and movie interpretations, they were quick, pack hunters, and had come at them from behind. He had managed to fight them off, killing one and wounding another before the group realised this was a fight they weren’t going to win. Even though he had fought them off, they had still wounded Perrie, slicing her across the leg. He wasn’t sure what they had cut, but there was a lot of blood. It was certainly beyond his ability to stitch. A voice in his head told him to stop lying to himself, that he never had any intention of saving her. It reminded him how tired he had grown of hearing her whine and moan as she finally understood that they weren’t on a set, or in a studio with actors and a director dictating the action. He had been managing to ignore it, but if he was honest with himself (and, as he was alone, why not?) he had been thinking about either ditching her or ending her life for a while. He thought about how it would come across on television, and of the first time wondered if what he had done to her had been caught on camera. He was sure people would hate him, misjudge him for it.

He paused for breath on the opposite side of the watering hole, the herd of Ankylosaurs keeping a wary eye on him. He took his canteen, which was almost empty. He drank from it, sucking in air, then trudged in the soft mud on the edge and filling up the bottle, sure to keep an eye on the nine-meter-long beasts on the opposite side of the water.

As much as he had tried to convince himself that he didn’t care what people thought, the truth was that he did. He hid it behind his tough, confident exterior, but he was no different to the others. He had his reasons for being there.

He looked into the water, which rippled and warped his reflection. If he looked hard enough, he could see his reason for being there.

His father.

The worst part wasn’t that his father was a womaniser and an alcoholic, or a man who, no matter how hard Ryder tried, was never pleased; it wasn’t even the fact that he was a strict disciplinarian who ruled his household with an iron fist, usually in the literal sense when the booze had been flowing. The worse was that when he looked at his reflection, he could see the bitter old man he had grown to hate staring back.

Not wanting to see it anymore, and wary of the attention of the dinosaurs across the water, he retreated into the trees, unable to shake his disturbing train of thought.

As bad as it was, the constant put downs, the sly comments about how he would never amount to anything, or how he would be the one to let the family name down (his two brothers were both serving in the army, a fact that Ryder’s father used against him at every opportunity). Ryder saw The Island as a way to prove his father wrong. He had been brought up with the survival skills he thought he would need, and was sure that it would be enough to win. Of course, that was before he knew what they were facing, before the rules were changed and everything stopped being about trying to get one up on his father and about actual survival. He wasn’t a killer. That wasn’t his intention. It also wasn’t something he thought he would be able to do until he had gone through with it. Even so, the thought of Perrie’s terrified face as he stood over her, rock in hand, when she had realised that he wasn’t there to help her, but to hurt her, the sound of the rock connecting with her skull, the hot, bitter taste of blood, the wet crunch as her skull softened, were things he knew he would never forget.

The ultimate irony of it all was that the one act that had repulsed him, the one thing he would have done anything to avoid having to do, was probably the thing his father was most proud of. Ryder could see him in his mind’s eye, sitting in the armchair in the den, TV turned up way too loud due to his hearing not being so good anymore. He would have a beer in his hand, a Miller or a Bud, and would be perched on the edge of his seat, dirty burgundy baseball cap pushed back on his head, smiling at his son’s actions. Proud at last that little Ryder had finally grown a set of balls.

It was because of this particularly grim train of thought that he lost concentration, and snagged his foot on a tree root as he tried to step over it. Hi heart lurched as he pinwheeled, desperately trying to right his balance as he pitched forward, losing the brief battle against gravity. He fell, tumbling and rolling down the steep embankment, grunting as stones dug into him, a loose rooster tail of dust and leaves accompanying him as he fell. Even though it was a sudden incident, he was still aware enough to remember his survival training.

Tuck the elbows, protect the head. Stay loose and don’t try to fight the fall.

It seemed like it lasted forever. His world finally came to a stop, leaving him face down, legs angled back up the hill the way he had come. He lay there for a moment, quiet and letting the loose leaves and stones settle around him.

Silence.

He assessed his body, knowing that a broken leg or foot would spell disaster. He waited, forcing himself to be thorough. He moved his fingers and arms, then his ankles and knees. Finally, he sat up. It was then, when he took in his surroundings, that he realised that there were more secrets to The Island than just the dinosaurs. He stared, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Had he stayed on the trail, he would have walked straight past it, as this was something not meant for the eyes of the contestants. It was a game changer.

He stood and brushed himself off, then turned and scrambled back up the hill, wanting to get as far away from what he had seen as possible.

TWO

The gorge opened up into a large open valley, which all circumstances aside, was stunning. It was still early, and a light morning mist hovered over the ground. The sun, just rising, was a deep, fiery red, and had just begun to illuminate their world. The ground sloped away into a natural bowl of sorts. The water source which had been their constant companion ended here in a large watering hole. Around its edges, a herd of large dinosaurs grazed beyond them, more forest awaited, the trees sloping uphill. On the horizon, barely visible, was the south wall.

“Those things are big,” Moses said, still catching his breath. “They look dangerous.”

“Ankylosaurs,” Alex said, cupping his hands to see against the rising sun.

“They dangerous?”

“You don’t want to get hit by one of those tails, put it that way. Imagine a big, angry, carnivorous rhino and you’ll be somewhere close. Best we avoid them if we can.”

“We need water,” Chase said. “In this heat, hydration is important.”

“I ain’t going down there,” Moses grunted.

“If we give them a wide berth, we should be okay.” Alex tore his eyes away from the grazing dinosaurs, and looked at Moses. “What’s the matter, old man? You starting to lose your nerve?”

Moses met his stare. “There’s no shame in being scared.”

“Well, I’m not filling that canteen for you. You either come with us and stock up on water, or you don’t. Just don’t be asking me to share later.”

Moses grunted, but said nothing. He was still shivering, and was covered with sweat.

“Alright, let’s do it. Slow and quiet,” Chase said, leading the way down the scrub bank. Alex fell in behind him, Moses a reluctant rear guard.

What had seemed like a good idea from the top of the hill seemed borderline insane as the approached the water hole. The Ankylosaurs herd were huge, and no less agitated. They positioned their three ton frames to face the approaching trio, tails swishing from side to side.

Chase stopped moving around twenty feet from the water. He couldn’t go on. He knew he was once again staring death right in the face. He looked at the creatures, again riding the line between terror and wonder. They were beautiful, almost regal. He was once again struck by the fact that these were real living breathing things. He could see the way their muscles bunched as they dipped their heads to drink. He could see how they blinked, how they breathed. How flies landed on their thick bodies for respite. He could see their tails, the huge, bulky, ball-end of them more than capable of shattering ribs, breaking bones, pulverising flesh. All were things which would snuff them out in an instant. He flicked his eyes to the water, the precious water which they needed.

“What’s the hold up?” Alex said, irritated and curious as to why they had stopped.

“What if they attack us?”

“If we hurry up and get out of here, they won’t. Come on, we’re wasting time.”

It was another chink in the armour of Alex, another glimpse into the fear that bubbled and morphed just beneath the calm exterior mask he wore.

“Nobody’s stopping you. Be my guest.”

There was no expectation that he would do it, Chase said it because he was hoping to frighten Alex off. To his surprise, Alex pushed past him, waked to the water’s edge and started to fill his water bottle. Feeling stupid, Chase followed, keeping a wary eye on the giant creatures less than twenty feet away. Moses hung back, still shivering and grimacing. He had no interest in approaching the water, and kept glancing towards the relative safety of the trees.

Chase filled his bottle, unaware that he was in the exact same spot Ryder had been just a couple of hours earlier. He thought they might just get away with it and avoid a confrontation. He turned to Alex, to tell him that he thought they had all been riding their luck, and froze. Alex was grinning, a wide, white wedge of smile. In his left hand was his full water bottle; in his right, a large palm sized rock.

“Don’t,” Chase grunted, just as Alex threw it overarm at the nearest Ankylosaurs, the rock glancing off its armoured back. Chase drew breath as the ground started to rumble, and the Ankylosaurs charged in retaliation.

Chase was frozen, unable to move as the lumbering animal charged with more speed than he expected. He knew it was over, his time had come. He was about to die.

He was tackled to the ground; Moses crashing into him and knocking him into the soft mud as the huge dinosaur charged through the water and straight through where just seconds earlier Chase had been standing. Both he had Moses started to get up, just as the ankylosaurus half turned and swung its huge tail towards them. They both flattened, pushing themselves into the dirt as the huge tail swung inches over their heads.

“Come on, go now,” Moses screamed in his ear. Chase scrambled to his feet, pulling Moses with him, but the dinosaur wasn’t to be denied. It lurched towards them, driving them back towards the rest of their herd, who were pacing on the opposite side of the water, spreading out to cut off any escape.

“Can you run?” Chase screamed, wiping wet dirt from his face.

Moses nodded. The two men ran into the shallow water, skirting away from the agitated dinosaur. Ahead, just about at the tree line, Alex waited, watching them from a distance. The ankylosaurs lurched after them, thundering into the water in pursuit. Chase knew he could escape on his own, but Moses was slow, his ravaged feet unable to carry him at any sort of speed that would help them escape. There was no forethought, he simply acted on his human instincts. He shoved Moses away from him.

“Get to the trees,” he screamed, then turned and charged towards the ankylosaurs. There was no time to think about how crazy the situation was. He simply acted. Game or no game, Moses had saved his life twice now, and he wasn’t about to go on without at least trying to repay the favour. He charged at the ankylosaurus, meeting it head on, then at the last second changing direction, relying on his smaller size and speed. The ankylosaurus let out a frustrated grunt, and in a single fluid motion swung its lethal tail towards Chase.

He dived, slamming hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of himself as the tail swung over his head, and then he was up, sprinting towards the tree line. Moses had just reached them, Alex standing beside him. The ankylosaurus gave chase for a few seconds, earth shaking with each footfall, then gave up, realising that it could never keep up. It retreated back to the rest of the herd. Chase slowed to a jog, heart thundering, and adrenaline making him aware of everything going on around him. He saw Moses, hunched over, hands on knees, coughing and spluttering. He saw Alex, still grinning, still amused. Chase didn’t slow, or hesitate. He threw a punch. It was sloppy, but it hit the target. Alex went down, clutching his nose.

“You tried to kill us,” Chase grunted as Moses leapt in to stop him from doing any more damage.

Alex sat on the floor, holding his nose, blood gushing out and down his clothing. “I didn’t mean to, it was supposed to be a joke.”

“A joke? You think this is funny?”