The Island (20 page)

FOUR

Chase thought he had lost Lomar in the dense jungle, then caught a glimpse of him ducking under a half fallen tree. Another burst of anger fuelled his adrenaline, and he picked up speed, determined to get his hands on the man who had sent them to their own private hell on earth. Lomar tripped and almost lost his balance, but didn’t fall. It was all Chase needed to close on him. Lomar half-turned, his eyes widening in surprise as Chase launched at him, tackling him to the ground.

“You son of a bitch, you tried to kill us,” Chase grunted, grabbing at Lomar’s throat. Lomar grabbed Chase’s wrists, trying to alleviate the pressure.

“It’s not what it seems…” Lomar said, choking and gasping for air.

“You set us up, you changed the rules,” Chase grunted, feeling his fingers dig deeper into the old man’s flesh. Lomar let go of Chase’s wrists and pressed a series of commands on his wrist GPS display. The image changed, and Chase let go, staring and unable to comprehend what he was looking at.

FIVE

Ryder couldn’t breathe. He clung to the nose of the Sarchosuchus as it rolled with him, trying to separate flesh from bone. He had seen wild alligators in Florida, but this was on an entirely different scale. He tried to keep calm, knowing that if he didn’t, he would likely die. He tried to recall what he had read about surviving an alligator attack. He knew there was a fleshy palate at the back of the throat that was sensitive and might help him to free himself, but it was both out of reach and out of the question. The nearest thing to him was the eyes. He tried to reach with his free hand, but the way he was pinned made it impossible. All he could do was cling on as the massive creature continued to rotate. He needed to breathe, his lungs screaming for precious air. On instinct, he lashed out with a foot, catching the Sarchosuchus in its bulbous eyeball. It didn’t let go, it simply increased the ferocity of its rotations, and pushed him down into the mud. He couldn’t see, and had to squeeze his eyes closed as he was pressed into the soft earth. Mud started to encase him, entombing him. He lashed out again, giving everything he could the kick landed on target, and the Sarchosuchus released its grip, retreating into the dark. It was all he needed. He pushed himself to the surface, gasping in precious lungfuls of air, the agony in his arm unbearable. Ugly puncture wounds immediately filled with blood as he made for safety, scrambling towards the embankment, he ran up the bank and fell to his knees. Absolutely drained. The Sarchosuchus retreated back into the murky waters.

SIX

Chase blinked again and looked at the screen.

It was a dark room lit by a single overhead spotlight. Ashley was sitting on the floor, holding Elsie close to her. His frightened wife and daughter were afraid, and wore almost identical expressions. Chase felt his stomach plummet towards his feet as he looked up at Lomar for some kind of explanation.

“Don’t worry, they’re not hurt. Think of it as an insurance policy. All the contestants are in a similar situation.”

“I don’t understand…”

“The nature of our business means we have to sometimes edit footage. We have our digital scans of you of course taken during the green screen vignettes you did back on The Island, but immediate family members can always tell the difference, so we hold them for a few days. They have no idea it’s us of course. We send men in unmarked uniforms and take them to a featureless room. They are fed and watered and have a bed to sleep in, so don’t worry, no harm will come to them.”

“So why show me?” Chase asked, standing and waiting for Lomar to do the same.

“Because I want to let you in on a little secret while you are away from the others. See, you’re the favourite to win this whole thing, Chase. The public like you. I like you. Don’t throw it away by taking your aggression out on me.”

“Why should I believe you?”

Lomar smiled. “Why should you believe them? You think they’re your friends? No. They’re your rivals. You should have seen how Ryder beat that poor girl to death. She was begging, crying. Did he tell you she didn’t die straight away? She lay there burning under the sun and choking on her own blood whilst he watched her and did nothing to put her out of her misery.”

Chase searched Lomar’s face for a lie, but the older man was unreadable. “Why show me my family? Why put that pressure on me?”

“Because I want you to win. I want you to keep your eyes on the prize and remember why you took part in the first place. Of everyone, your story was the most compelling. You are the people’s choice, and we like to give them what they want. Trust me, I’ve seen their profiles, I know their history. Those two people you want to consider as friends will stab you in the back the first chance they get. Keep that in mind, and remember what I showed you. I’ll be watching.”

Lomar turned away, ducking into the trees and was lost from sight. Chase stood there, shocked and trying to let everything sink in. He heard footsteps as Ryder and Moses caught up to him.

“What happened?” Ryder said, his arm was a bloody mess, and he was holding it close to his body.

“He got away,” Chase mumbled.”I tried to stop him.”

“Fucker tried to kill us,” Ryder said. “My arm is all messed up. I’ll need to stop for a while and strap it up. Here looks like as good a spot as any.”

Ryder sat and opened his backpack, looking for his medical kit. Chase stared into the trees, not seeing the tangle of roots and leaves. All he could see was that spotlight Lomar had shown him with his terrified family inside. He had put them there, and there was no way he could ever shake the guilt of it, no matter what happened.

BROKEN

DAY FIVE

6:52 PM

The rain came in from the east, driving gusts which looked to be heralding yet another storm. They walked in silence, picking their way through the trees, which sloped downhill. Every half mile or less, they were forced to stop and hide, or take evasive action. Their encounters with the dinosaurs were becoming more frequent, the creatures themselves agitated at being in such close proximity to their own kind. Although Lomar’s intention had been to bring them closer to where the contestants were so that they would attack them, by making them share such a relatively small area, they were instead attacking each other, fighting for territory. The mostly silent jungles were a thing of the past. Now, everywhere around them seemed to be exploding with life. They stopped, ducking behind a mossy boulder as something large and unseen crashed through the undergrowth somewhere ahead of them.

Ryder had patched his arm up as best he could, but the bandages were already soaked with blood where the Sarchosuchus had bitten him. He was pale and sweating. Worse still was Moses. He was babbling again, and as they waited, he leaned over and coughed, bringing up blood which spattered between his feet.

“Keep it down,” Ryder said, glaring at Moses.

He tried to silence himself, crossing his arm over his face and continuing to cough into the crook of his elbow.

Ryder glanced at Chase then back into the trees. “It breaks up ahead; we’ll be out in the open.”

“Any ideas?” Chase asked.

“No. We don’t have any weapons. We’re hungry, tired. The old guy is dying, I’m bleeding out. Looks like you might win this after all, Riley.”

“I’m not thinking about that yet,” Chase grunted. It was true; he was thinking about the haunting images of his family that Lomar had shown him.

“Alright,” Ryder said, looking at them both. “It’s safe to move on.”

They jogged forward. The tree canopy above had kept them relatively dry, but as they exited the tree cover, the deluge hit them hard, soaking them in seconds.

“Fucking hate the weather here,” Ryder said, glaring up at the sky.

“At least it looks clear.”

“Yeah, come on,” Ryder said, walking forward.

The long hip-high grass beyond was trampled down. It was clear that several large creatures had recently been there. Beyond the grasses, the ground fell away into a slope of loose dirt and rock, beyond which more grassland awaited. They walked towards it, Chase and Ryder well ahead of Moses. Ryder glanced across at Chase, then looked straight ahead.

“You know, sooner or later, we’re going to have to make a decision.”

“What about?” Chase said, knowing what was coming.

“Moses.”

“I thought we agreed it wasn’t our decision to make.”

Ryder glanced at him again, then turned away. “That was before. He’s costing us. Plus that cough…he keeps giving away our position. Eventually, it will cost us.”

Chase glanced at the sorry, hunched-over man behind them, and then recalled Lomar’s warning. “Let me ask you something, Ryder. Why are you here?”

“None of your business, Riley.”

“Come on, why not? It’s close to the end now. Why not share?”

“You first.”

“Alright. I’m here because my kid has cancer. In the lungs. I want to put her right. That jab they gave me before I came here can guarantee her a life. I guarantee she’s going to have a better one than I do.”

“If you win.”

“If I win,” Chase agreed.

Ryder walked on in silence for a while. He was shivering from the rain. “There’s not much to tell. I’m a thrill seeker. Adrenaline junkie. I came here to test myself. Of course, I didn’t know what I was up against then, but you can’t blame me for that. None of us did.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?” Ryder said.

“It’s more than that. A thrill seeker wouldn’t beat someone to death with a rock just to see if he was good enough. What are you hiding, Ryder?”

“Why do you care?” he snapped.

“I don’t care. I just want to know.”

“It’s my business.”

They reached the edge of the ridge. They could see the wall now, much closer than they anticipated. Between them and it, down at the bottom of the forty foot slope, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes snapped and fought, ran and chased. It was a compact, self-contained example of the circle of life. Stretching between them and the end. There was no way they could avoid an encounter. Some of the dinosaurs were already dead, killed by their bigger, more aggressive cousins, and were being picked apart by scavengers. The larger species kept wary distance from each other, not yet willing to engage in combat.

Ryder was staring open-mouthed at the sheer spectacle. Chase barely noticed. His mind felt overstretched, almost to the point of breaking. He couldn’t shake the images Lomar had shown him out of his head.

“It’s over. We can’t get past those. Not without weapons. We’ll never make it.”

Moses had joined them, a limping, wheezing shell of a man who seemed to have wasted away in an incredibly short space of time. He glanced at the dinosaurs with little interest, then put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.

They stood silent, rain driving down. There was nowhere to go. Above them, the night was almost complete, and with no moon to illuminate the way, seemed particularly imposing.

“We can’t just stay here,” Chase said.

“I’m all ears if you have any suggestions.”

Before he could say anything, they were both distracted by the light coming from below. It was like some kind of illusion. They stared at the perfect square of light in the face of the large cluster of boulders below. As they watched, Lomar exited, closing the hidden door behind him. He hadn’t seen them. He was crossing the valley, running in a half crouch, rifle thrown over his shoulder.

“What the hell?” Chase said, watching Lomar as he continued on his way.

“Of course,” Ryder said, smiling. “This is all manmade, remember? Stands to reason that the slimy fucker would have little rabbit holes where he could go and resupply.”

“We should get in there. See what we can find,” Chase said.

“No, that’s not the game. We need to get to the end.”

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” Ryder said, the aggressive note in his voice impossible to ignore.

“We should at least look. There could be medical supplies, maybe a way to contact the outside world.”

“For what? You think that broadcast would ever go out?”

“Why are you so unwilling to even try?

“Because that’s not how this works. We go to the door, one of us walks out. I don’t know how much more clear I have to be.” Ryder was angry now, and was squaring up to Chase. Even with one injured arm, Chase wasn’t a physical match.

“Then maybe we should just go our separate ways. You go on to the end; I’ll go see what’s in that room.”

Ryder shook his head. “No. That’s not the game. Surely you remember how it goes?” he shifted position, a subtle gesture but one which got the message across. Ryder had put his palm on the handle of his hunting knife.

“So we go with you, try to survive then let you kill us?”

“Way I see it, we’re the only ones left anyway. The old guy is on his last legs. May as well get to the end first and then fight it out there.”

Chase thought of his daughter and his wife, sitting in that cold room, neither of them knowing why they were even there. “Looks like I don’t have a choice,” he said, lowering his eyes.

Ryder grinned, and relaxed. “Good. I’m glad we–”

He never finished the sentence. Chase was still thinking of his wife and daughter, and no matter what, he wasn’t about to let them die there. He lurched forward, then, just like he had before, shoved Ryder as hard as he could over the edge.

TWO

Ryder tumbled and rolled, crashing down the steep slope, rocks and stones following him down. He came to rest with his feet in a narrow creek, bloodied and groaning. Lomar heard the commotion and flicked his head around. He saw Ryder first, groaning at the bottom of the hill. He then flicked his eyes to Chase and Moses, then back to Ryder. He started to approach the creek, pulling his rifle into position, the expression on his face one of betrayal and anger. By finding the pit of bodies, Ryder had almost cost Lomar everything, and the billionaire was determined to eliminate this particular threat. He fired, the gunshot rolling through the air, a shower of rock and dirt exploding inches from Ryder’s head.

Ryder lurched to his feet, half-stumbling, half-running back under cover of the forest. Lomar gave chase, breaking into a run, not willing to give up the hunt yet.

Chase turned to Moses. “Can you walk?”

Moses nodded.

“Come on then, let’s go.”

Chase helped Moses down the slope, both of them half-sliding, half-falling to the bottom. Moses was moaning again, his eyes glassy. Chase threw the old man’s arm over his shoulder and helped him to the cluster of rocks. With an approximate idea of where to look, finding the door was easy. They approached it as two gunshots echoed out from the trees beyond the creek.

“What’s that? Are they shooting at us?” Moses mumbled.

“No, not at us. It’s something else.”

Before Lomar could come back and find them, Chase opened the door, wincing at the harsh light, shoved Moses inside and followed, closing the door.