The Island (14 page)

“I didn’t think they would charge. I thought it might spook you.”

He tried to get up, but Moses shook his head. “I’d stay down there unless you wanna be knocked on your ass again.”

Alex took the warning, and stayed where he was, gingerly touching his bloody nose. “I was right there too. You think I wanted to put myself at risk?”

“You were well clear before they attacked, you made sure of that,” Chase grunted, pulling away from Moses and walking away, trying to calm himself down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that. I made a mistake, okay?” Alex said, spitting blood onto the dirt between his feet then scrambling up. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“By putting our lives at risk? Nobody does that, nobody sane would do that.”

“Whatever,” Alex said pushing past them and into the trees. “Think what you want.”

Moses looked Chase up and down. Both of them were covered in mud. “You alright?”

“I’m fine,” Chase grunted. “That makes us even.” He followed Alex into the trees, Moses falling in behind him.

THREE

The atmosphere was tense as they delved deeper into the trees. Alex had foraged on ahead, walking with the familiar sloped, shouldered head bobbing motion. Chase was thirty feet further back, still angry and trying to decide what to make of Alex. It seemed like an attempt to have him and Moses die so that he could go on. Such a thing shouldn’t have bothered him, as it was part of the game and why they were all there. They walked in line, the punishing heat of the day not making their progress any smoother. Chase was aware that he had lost weight. The rations had long since gone and they had eaten only once in what was now their fourth day. His clothes had started to feel loose, something which didn’t surprise him. The calories they were burning were far outweighing their intake. He suspected they might be nearing the point where the alliance they had formed would have to end. Moses looked to be fading fast; his feet were a mess, his body breaking down with each mile. He reminded himself that Ryder was still out there somewhere, maybe watching from the trees. He didn’t like that idea. Ryder was dangerous, and had already done what none of them had so far managed to find the guts to.

He had killed, and done so in a brutal fashion. Chase wondered if it would be easy. He thought about how Moses had saved his life twice now, and he wasn’t sure if he could go through with ending his life when the time came.

“Hey, come take a look at this.” Alex was out of sight, somewhere ahead in the curving, dense tangle of trees. Chase broke into jog, weaving around the dense undergrowth towards where Alex had headed. He squinted as the dim light of the canopy exploded into sunlight.

The jungle had opened onto a large, green valley. Birds, disturbed by Chase’s sudden presence, took flight, squawking as they made their leave. Alex was standing there, hands planted on hips, breathing heavily from the exertion of the walk. Chase stood beside him, both of them some way ahead of Moses who was still toiling up the hill.

Chase had no need to ask what Alex had seen. It was plain enough to them both.

The truck had been abandoned, driver and passenger doors open. Dirt and dry leaves covered the jeep, its wheels half buried in the dirt. Dry smudges of blood spattered the bodywork on the outside, the rear doors mangled and pushed closed. Alex and Chase shared a glance as Moses hobbled to join them. The three of the stood silent on the edge of the valley, staring at the truck as if it were some kind of magician’s illusion.

“Looks like it’s been here a while,” Alex muttered.

Chase glanced at him, his nose crusted with blood, an ugly cut in his top lip. His punch had landed well. Even so, he still looked fresh and full of energy and vitality. Chase felt a pang of envy.

“Why would there be a truck here. Why would nobody recover it?” Chase said, glancing around.

“Maybe it was too dangerous to come out here for it,” Moses said around his permanent grimace. All three of them looked around. They seemed to be in no immediate danger. The truck looked to have been abandoned. The tree line ahead of them looked clear.

“Look at the long grass around it,” Chase said. “It’s been flattened. Someone was here recently.”

“Ryder?” Alex said.

Chase gave the merest of nods.

“We should check it out. See if there’s anything that can help us.”

“Just wait a second,” Chase said, putting a hand on Alex’s shoulder.

He studied the grass, the way it had been flattened around the truck. That greasy, uneasy feeling rolled in his gut. “Look at the grass around the truck. Whatever he did, he did in a hurry.”

“So?” Alex said.

“So, the trail doesn’t lead anywhere. It doesn’t go off in any direction.”

“You think he’s still here?” Alex whispered.

Chase nodded to the mangled rear doors of the truck. They were closed, hiding whatever lay in the rear. “Maybe he heard you coming and was searching it and had nowhere else to go. Maybe he’s hiding in there.”

“Shit, shit, shit. What do we do?”

There was a moment of absolute silence. They stood and stared at the truck, light, warm breeze ruffling their hair. It was Moses who spoke next, and Chase saw a glimpse of the man he said he used to be some years earlier.

“We have to end him.” As he said it, he pulled the hunting knife from the sheath on his belt. He looked comfortable with it, and like with Alex, Chase saw another man beneath the mask Moses was wearing. One which maybe wasn’t as run down and close to the end as he first thought.

“He’s dangerous,” Chase whispered. “He’s probably seen us now, he’ll be ready.”

“I agree with the old man,” Alex said, taking out his knife. “We need to put an end to him now. Besides, we can use that truck. Maybe we don’t have to spend as much time on foot.”

Chase glanced over at Alex, wondering where the timid, shy kid who had been on the boat coming in had gone. He stood now, knife in hand, brow furrowed. He didn’t look afraid, which Chase didn’t understand. After all,
he
was afraid. It stood to reason that Alex should be too. “Alright,” he said, joining them in taking out his knife. It felt heavy and cumbersome, and wondered why the others seemed much more comfortable holding them. “We outnumber him, which is good. Let’s see if we can get him to come out on his own before we charge in there and end up stabbing each other in the excitement, okay?”

Two nods. Both Moses and Alex were psyching themselves up for the confrontation. Chase just felt sick. The trio approached the rear of the truck, stopping ten feet away from it. There was no sense of any motion or movement. The small gap where the mangled door hung open a few inches was a black void betraying none of its secrets.

“Alright,” Chase whispered. “I’m going to call out to him. See if we can get him out of there. Just be ready.”

Two more nods. Alex and Moses were ready, the tension already unbearable.

“Ryder, we know you’re in there. Just come out.”

His voice rolled across the valley, swallowed up by the environment. They waited, listening. No movement, no response.

“Come on, Ryder. Just come out of there. We want the truck. We won’t hurt you. We’re all armed.”

He felt like an idiot saying it, wondering if he sounded at least a little bit convincing. Still no movement, no response.

“What now?” Moses whispered.

“We go take a look. No choice,” Chase replied, unable to shake the sick feeling in his stomach.

“We should make use of our numbers advantage,” Alex said. He was still determined, knife swaying as he held it at his side. “One each of us should grab one of the rear doors, the other be ready to see what’s inside. Play the numbers.”

“That sounds good unless you’re not one of the door guys. I take it you don’t want to be the one waiting to face him in the back?” Chase grunted.

Alex sighed. “Look, I know you’re still pissed at me. I’m not as weak as you think I am. You and the old man get a door each. I’ll be ready at the back.”

A glance towards Moses said he was as surprised as Chase was at this latest turn of events. He wasn’t about to argue though, and hoped this was a sign of the mental fatigue starting to take the same toll on Alex as it was him.

“Alright,” Chase said, the nauseous feeling seeming to hang in his throat. “Let’s do this.”

They approached the rear of the van, fanning out. Moses towards the door which was intact, Chase towards the mangled one which was rocking against the other. Alex approached dead centre, knife held out in front of him. Chase couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t scared. Even Moses, a man who had seen more death in his life than perhaps any of them was showing signs of fear as he hobbled towards the rear door of the truck. They took their positions, then waited. Chase strained to listen, to get any sense of movement. He glanced at Moses directly opposite him. The old man nodded, hand on door handle ready to open it. Alex next, defiant and ready, feet parted, knife held up in front of his bloody face. A nod said that he too was ready. Chase reached out to the mangled door, grasping the twisted remains of the handle. He mouthed his silent countdown to the others.

One…

Two…

On three, both he and Moses pulled the rear doors open, as Alex planted his feet, ready for whatever was inside.

Silence.

No movement, just the smell. Moses threw up, Chase and Alex just stared. There was no sign of Ryder in the back of the truck. Nobody sane would have climbed in there with the mess that was left. There were three bodies, dried up and partially skeletal remains which were putrid and stinking. An army of flies, disturbed by the doors opening, took flight, buzzing around the corpses, which were swarmed with maggots. The bodies had been there for some time. One was just an upper torso, the legs and innards missing, one arm twisted and mangled into shapes no human was ever meant to make. He was dressed in army fatigues, the bloated body pushing against the material. Something had eaten the rest of him.

The other corpse was complete apart from having no legs. The white shafts of bone terminated below the knees. They had been chewed on. The soldiers bloated hand still held the gun he had used to kill himself with, the remains of his head thrown back, mouth agape, a halo of dried blood and brain matter from the exit would splattered against the rear wall of the truck.

“Holy Mary mother of god,” Moses muttered.

The three of them stared, unable to take their eyes from the gruesome scene in front of them. It was almost artistic.

“Looks like they were attacked,” Alex said. “See those on the floor? The same cameras they have up in the trees. They must have been rigging this area up when…”

There was no need to finish the sentence. They all knew. The mangled door, the chewed up remains. Something had found them and caught them unaware.

“Where are the rest of them? The driver? There were more people in here,” Moses said.

They looked at the scattered equipment littering the floor of the truck.

“Maybe whatever attacked was too full to finish these two. That guy with the gun knows there’s no hope, managed to pull the doors closed, drags himself over there and offs himself,” Alex said. He was so cold, so emotionless with his words.

“So where did Ryder go?” Moses asked.

“He was definitely here. This grass was flattened recently. Maybe he was going to take the van and something spooked him,” Chase replied, walking around towards the driver’s side.

“No, he didn’t want the truck. Look at the tyres,” Alex said, crouching by the rearmost wheel. Chase and Moses joined him. There was a long cut in the tyre. From a distance, Chase had thought the wheels were buried in soft earth. He could see now that it was just the illusion of the tyres being flat.

“Shit,” he grunted, standing and going to the front of the vehicle and crouching by the front wheels. “He did these ones too. Seems he didn’t want us diving anywhere.”

“Why?” Moses said.

“Because he wants to hunt us down on foot. It’s obvious.”

As was becoming the norm, Alex was cold and emotionless as he said it. Chase wondered if he was finally starting to break.

“Whatever he intended, he missed a trick,” Chase said, standing up as his knees groaned in protest. “He must have seen the truck, cut the tyres, had a quick glance in the back then moved on. Probably flattened the grass so we’d stop and take a look. The thing he missed is the back. There is at least one weapon in there. Probably more. As well as other things we might be able to use.”

“You don’t think that if he moved on, we should too? He was the survival expert after all.”

Chase considered it, but couldn’t stop thinking about the handgun grasped by the dead man.

“I think we should at least look. See what we might be able to use.”

“I don’t like it here,” Moses said, glancing towards the tree line where they had just come from. “It feels…wrong.”

“I agree, but this could be an opportunity we might not get again. Remember before we left? Glebe said we need to take advantage of any scenario that presents itself.” Chase was trying to be diplomatic, but the simple truth of it was that he wanted the gun. He was pretty sure he couldn’t kill a man with his bare hands or by something as intimate as stabbing, but pointing a gun at someone and shooting them was another matter entirely.