Island Jumper: An Archipelago Series

by M H Ryan

  Island Jumper: The Archipelago Series

  Book 1

  M H Ryan

  Copyright © 2019 by M H Ryan

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  About the Author

  Island Jumper: An Archipelago Series

  Book 1

  By M.H. Ryan

  Islands to find

  Sharks to fight.

  Women to rescue.

  Jack Sawyer takes a sorority on a party boat tour when a mysterious storm slams into them. Now, they are stranded on a chain of strange islands with bizarre creatures that have an unsettlingly desire to kill them.

  He must learn how to survive the elements by building rafts, shelters, and weapons from what they find on the islands, all while fighting for their lives. They can’t stop, though—there are more women to rescue and more islands yet to be explored, plus that whole let’s-get-rescued plan.

  Island Jumper is an adventure story with Jack and a group of beautiful women. Join them as they fight to stay alive and struggle to find a way to live and love in an unforgiving archipelago. The story is intended for a mature audience only. It contains adult content and language throughout.

  Chapter 1

  I opened my eyes to the bright sunlight and the gentle sound of moving water. Cool water pushed and retreated against my bare feet. There was a soft bed of sand under me, and as I pushed myself up, I realized I was covered in the fine, white powder. I staggered to my feet, trying to figure out what happened as I sucked in another breath, coughed and breathed again. The air was different; it had a flavor to it. A sweetness.

  Another small wave rolled up over the white sand, reaching my toes before receding back.

  Where the hell was I? How did I get here?

  I spun around, not sure what I was expecting, but shock grabbed me as I took in my surroundings. Somehow, I was on a tiny island. So small that I could see the entire island from where I stood. The white sands wrapped around the kidney-shaped atoll, with only a few trees, bushes, and a cluster of bamboo near the center. The whole island wasn’t much bigger than a couple of basketball courts, and beyond that, there was nothing but ocean reaching to the horizon.

  I brushed some of the sand off my uniform: A white, button up shirt and black shorts. My shoes were gone. I remembered I had taken them off to save someone…

  The world seemed to sway, and I staggered to my left as I struggled to reason how I ended up on this postcard in the sea. Flashes of memories came back to me: I was working on the deck of the chartered boat, Veronica. We had a whole sorority of bikini-clad women we were transporting. Things were fun on the deck, with water fights, drinking, and dancing. I even got to make out with a girl named Benji. I could still taste the mango lip balm on my lips.

  It was my last memory before the storm wall and the lightning. We were heading right into it. Then a massive bolt of lightning hit the boat. The light blinded me and then… nothing. I must have been flung into the ocean.

  Only, I must have survived somehow because I definitely felt alive. Achy, sure, but alive. One thing I did know—I was alone on an island, with almost no resources and…I hated being alone.

  Still, maybe I could find some of the others? Or at the very least, some resources…

  “Well, at least it won’t take long to search this place,” I said to myself, and as I began to start my search. I heard a loud snort from behind me.

  I spun around to find myself staring at a four-legged creature about a dozen feet away from me. It looked like a boar and was about the size of the British bulldog.

  It snorted again and showed its teeth as it scraped at the wet sand with one leg. The mouth and snout were a bit more rounded than a boar’s, and when it snarled, I saw a whole row of triangular-shaped teeth. Its brown fur looked slicked back, and water dripped from it as if it had just come from the sea. Its feet weren’t hoofed as much as spread out over the sand, like soft gloves, allowing it to take large scoops of sand with each dig. Besides being a strange-looking pig, it seemed pissed off, and strangely, I kind of felt its anger, as if the sun was burning hotter. Maybe I had hit my head.

  “Easy,” I said as I held out my hands. “I don’t want any trouble, big guy.” After seeing the thing’s mouth, I knew I wanted none of that.

  It moved closer and snarled at me. I would’ve made a run for it, but the island was miniscule, and I was pretty sure the boar-thing could run me down anyway. If I could get to the palms, I might have a chance, but I had no idea if I could even climb one, and it could be a costly way to find out I couldn’t if the thing chased me. No, I had to face this beast head on and hope we could come to some understanding.

  But… that would be easier to do with a weapon. And the soft-ball sized black rock just below me would be just the thing.

  I held out my hand and knelt slightly toward the black rock stuck in the sand and said, “Just stay back, and there won’t be any trouble, big man.”

  It snarled and crouched down. My pulse quickened, as I knew it was about to launch at me. Its front paws dug into the sand. Shit.

  The thing burst at me, and I had less than a second to react. I grabbed the rock from the sand, surprised at how heavy it was, and swung as hard as I could, aiming for the creature’s head. The rock struck the thing just above the eyes. A cracking sound reverberated, and the boar stumbled to the side a few feet into the shallow water before collapsing.

  Is it dead?

  I moved closer, ready to hit it again if needed. The small waves lapped at its body. The ocean seemed to swell behind it, but I realized it wasn’t the water but something under it. Before I could so much as take a step back, something massive burst from the water. It grabbed the boar in its huge gaping mouth, clamped its rows of sharp teeth down on it, and yanked it into deeper waters. The boar and the monster that grabbed it disappeared into the waves with a ripple.

  I stared at the water. I had been right where that boar had been not a minute ago.

  “So… I guess going in the water is a bad idea,” I said as I swallowed hard. “What the fuck was that?”

  My heart hammered in my chest, and I breathed rapidly while I gripped my rock tightly. Then I got back to my feet. Something in the ocean had taken the boar-thing. It was almost like an alligator mouth, but gators weren’t in the ocean, were they? One thing I knew for sure is that boars like that didn’t exist. I was sure as hell would have remembered those dog-sized nightmares if they did.

  No. Something was definitely off about this place, and sadly, my rock didn’t seem like it could protect me from whatever that had been.

  “Where in the hell am I?” I asked as I stepped back further from the water.

  I was on this is
land alone, surrounded by ocean. Fear wasn’t a stranger to me, but the feeling of utter doom wasn’t something I had much experience with, and it wrapped around me like a thick, suffocating blanket. The few professions I’ve held in my twenty-one years, construction with my dad, a brief stint at a Dairy Queen and then my job as a deckhand, none of those had prepared me for this.

  “Hello!” I yelled out. “Anybody here?”

  “I’m…over here,” a weak voice said.

  I jumped back at the shock of hearing a voice and whipped around, surprised to see Benji stumbling at the water’s edge on the other side of the island. She was one of the sorority girls on the party cruise, but how did she get there?

  “Benji?”

  She dropped to her knees, looking exhausted.

  I dashed across the island and crouched next to her. I got there just in time to catch her in my arms as she fell backward.

  “Benji, are you okay?” I looked over her body and checked for any signs of injury.

  She still wore the small, yellow Sponge Bob bikini, but I didn’t see any apparent injuries. In fact, she looked just as amazing as she did on the ship.

  “What happened?” she asked, out of breath.

  “I don’t know, I just…woke up here…a few minutes ago. I thought I was alone.”

  “I saw you fight that thing and…there was something in the water that took it.” She looked up at me with those big, blue eyes, and I sucked in a quick breath.

  Her wet, blonde hair stuck to her face in thick strands, but it couldn’t hide how incredibly beautiful she was. I looked at her smooth lips, remembering kissing her. On the ship, I had rescued Benji.

  That’s what had happened to my shoes.

  There was a water fight with pink, plastic pistols that got out of hand. She slipped and fell over the railing. I’d been the one to jump into the waters and get her back on the boat. For as athletic as she looked, I was surprised to learn she couldn’t swim. Her bikini was still wet as well as much of her body. She dripped onto me as I held her. She still smelled of mangos.

  A splash in the water drew my attention. A gray fin popped up from the water and cut through the surface. There was a shark in the water? Is that what snagged the boar? I’d seen orcas snatch a seal from the shoreline, but I didn’t think sharks could. The fin dipped back down under the water and disappeared.

  “My body…it’s tingling,” she groaned.

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I asked.

  I skimmed my hands over her, trying to make sure I kept my appendages in appropriate places. In spite of having enjoyed a few intimate moments with her, I’d only known her a few hours and didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.

  “No, I—I’m not hurt,” she struggled to say. “Where are we?”

  “We’re on an island.” I looked out to the ocean. “I don’t know where this is, though.”

  She shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. I just held her, not sure of what else to do. The shark, maybe curious about us land-dwellers near its domain, swam back and forth in the shallow waters about twenty feet from us. The clear water made it easy to spot between the rolling waves and it seemed crazy, but it was eyeing me. I pulled Benji back further from the water’s edge.

  “What is it?” Benji said, looking back to where I was staring.

  “There’s a shark in the water.”

  “This can’t be real,” Benji said softly. “This is just some nightmare.”

  The shark’s smooth, slick body appeared in the shallow water, swimming in a tight circle directly in front of us. It was only about three feet long, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Not after that monster boar encounter. Suddenly the shark turned and swam straight toward us with a burst of speed, shooting out of the water and directly onto the sandy shore.

  I dragged Benji further away as the shark emerged from the water, getting us both to our feet. It got about a foot out of the water, its mouth biting the air and exposing its rows of jagged teeth. It gyrated its body in a spasm that kicked up sand and water. Its black eyes locked with mine, and I couldn’t help but feel the animosity in its eyes, as if it wanted to rip me apart.

  Apparently, the wildlife here didn’t like me.

  As I searched for another killer rock in my vicinity, the shark must have realized it lacked legs and any real means to travel across dry land, because it turned and shimmied back into the deeper water, splashing us as it did.

  Benji let go of me and just stared at the water as she sat on the sand. “It was trying to get to us.” The dorsal fin continued to carve through the water in front of us. “This can’t be real…did you really kill that…that thing a minute ago?”

  “I don’t know if I killed it, but I stunned it, and that thing in the ocean did the rest,” I said and glanced at the spot where it had happened.

  “If you weren’t here, it would have gotten to me. If I was alone; it would have killed me.” Her chest heaved with panic, and she frantically looked around the island. “Are there any more?”

  Good question.

  The small island didn’t have many hiding spots but I missed her on first inspection, so I couldn’t assume there wasn’t something else there with us. After a thorough looking, I was confident we were alone.

  Benji pointed out into the ocean as she frantically tapped on my shoulder. I turned to see what she was looking at.

  “Look, there’s another island,” Benji said, still pointing and jumping up and down with excitement.

  Holy shit, there was another island, maybe a few miles away. It looked larger than ours, but still relatively small. I squinted and leaned forward, trying to find signs of people, but there wasn’t any structures, boats, docks, or any signs of civilization.

  Benji started screaming. “Help! We’re over here.” She waved her arms.

  “Benji,” I said, but she kept yelling, jumping up and down. “Benji!” I said much louder, getting her to stop. “Even if there is someone over there, they can’t hear us. We don’t have much daylight left and we need to—”

  At that moment, I saw a red bag appear as a waved washed out. It was partially buried in the white sand, near where I had awoken. I didn’t need to see much of it to know what it was.

  “Look,” I said, feeling a million times better. “A ditch bag.” I rushed over, risking the sea and whatever was in it and pried it from the wet sand before rushing away from the water.

  It was on the smaller side, about the size of a backpack.

  “What’s a ditch bag?” Benji asked, looking at the bag in my hands.

  “They’re survival bags kept on boats, in case you need to abandon ship.” I carried it back to a large rock near the middle of the island and placed the bag down. “I must have grabbed it.”

  “You think we abandoned ship?”

  I unfastened the buckles and then peeled the Velcro back before finally getting the zipper opened. It was dry inside, and I breathed a sigh of relief seeing exactly what I was hoping would be there, sitting right on top.

  “The ship must have gone down in the storm, or maybe we went overboard. I don’t know, but I must have grabbed this. The lightning and the storm wall is the last thing I remember.”

  “Yeah, me too.” She put a hand on her head and looked at the device I pulled from the bag. “What’s that?”

  “It’s an EPIRB.” I held up the little cylinder with a clear dome and antennae on top. “Or rather, an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon,” I went on to explain. “Like a signal beacon for them to find us.”

  I flipped the switch, expecting the red light to start blinking on top, but nothing happened. Shaking it, I flipped the switch on and off, yielding the same results.

  “Is it working?” Benji asked, seeing my growing frustration.

  “I don’t know. The indicators and light beacons aren’t working. Hopefully, it’s sending out a radio signal still.” I looked at the bigger island as I squeezed the EPIRB. “Come on, these are supposed to be nearly
indestructible.”

  “Of course it isn’t working,” Benji said with a sigh and looked to the blue sky. “I didn’t even want to go on this trip. I had to because I’m a pledge and freaking Sherri…she forced me to go because she’s on this adventure kick lately. The next time I see her, I swear, I’m going to—” She slapped a hand over her mouth and went pale.

  I remembered Sherri well, another gorgeous woman with a patriotic red, white, and blue bikini, but I knew what Benji was thinking. If the ship went down, there was a good chance her friend was dead. There was a good chance they were all dead. I didn’t know them well, but I loved the energy and how much life they all seemed to have.

  “Just tell me we aren’t going die on this island,” Benji said with a sob. “Because I don’t want to die out here. Who would even know we’re here? If that beacon doesn’t work, then we may never be found and…”

  I took her by the shoulders with a firm grip. Her eyes went wide, but she stopped talking and focused on me instead of what was around her. She wasn’t the drunken party girl anymore. She was a scared, sober woman about to go into full panic mode, and I couldn’t have that. We had to start being smart if we wanted to live.

  “Benji, it’s you and me on this island, and we’re lucky to be alive. I have no idea how we survived in the first place, but we’re here now, and we have each other. Together, we can figure this out. We can find a way to live until rescue comes. Now, help me take inventory of this bag, and we can form a plan for surviving the night.”

  “The night?” Her eyes went wide, and she hugged herself. “You think we’re going to be here for the night?”