Surviving the Refuge (Survivalist Reality Show Book 2)

by Grace Hamilton

  “Where’s RC?” she shouted to Fred as he came back to hurry her up.

  Fred didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed her arm and kept dragging her through the trees until they reached the beach. It was then that she saw RC climbing into the motorboat; Lily was already in the boat with the engine running.

  “Go!” Fred yelled, pointing for her to get on the sailboat with Tabitha.

  Regan carried her bag full of supplies down the dock and climbed into the boat, but her eyes remained on the beach. Geno had been right on her heels with his own arms occupied by two buckets, and was in the boat a moment later.

  Tabitha embraced Geno, tears flowing down her face. “You made it!”

  “We need to get ready to go. Wolf was going to stay as long as he could!” Geno shouted, over Tabitha’s head.

  “How is he going to escape without them noticing?” Regan demanded, fear thinning her voice.

  Geno shook his head. “I have no idea. He had me dump gas out around the shed while I grabbed the last fire extinguisher. He wants to make sure everything goes up in flames.”

  Regan’s mouth dropped open. “What if he can’t get away from them?”

  Geno shook his head. “He will.”

  Regan stood up in the rocking boat, her eyes focused on the small trail leading into the trees. With each flash of lightning, she strained her eyes, looking for Wolf’s outline. The wind and rain had calmed some, making for an easier sightline, but that wasn’t helping. Where was he?

  “There!” Regan cried out in relief, pointing to the shadowy figure coming down the trail.

  Her relief was short-lived when she realized it was one of the men coming their way. She heard the motor of the boat RC was in rev up then, and turned to look at what he was doing. Fred was pushing away from the dock.

  “Where are you going?” she shouted.

  RC pointed to the trail and Regan saw another one of the men coming.

  “We have to go!” Geno shouted. “They’ll take the boats!”

  He used a long stick to shove the sailboat away from the dock. Tabitha already had one of the sails unfurled. With the wind grabbing at it, they were quickly being blown away from the dock.

  “Wait!” Regan shouted. “What about Wolf?”

  “We have to get out of here or they’ll take us all out!” Geno argued. “Go, go, go!”

  “I’m doing everything I can!” Tabitha shouted back.

  Regan stood at the back of the boat, watching the men rush onto the dock as they gained more separation. One of them raised their rifle to shoot, but decided against it. Regan stared helplessly at the smoke billowing into the sky as the island got further and further away. The island was burning. Her heart lurched in her chest as she struggled to see the path, willing Wolf to appear.

  Geno was beside her. “We’ll come back around. Wolf knows this island better than any of us. If there’s a way off, he’ll find it.”

  “How? We have the boats. There isn’t another way!”

  “His ex-wife got out here somehow. They must have a boat stashed somewhere on the island,” Geno reasoned.

  Regan shook her head, watching the island get smaller and smaller, the more they drifted into the rough seas. The flames cast an eerie, orange glow over the place they had called home for the past month.

  Somewhere in the smoke and flames was Wolf. Regan wondered if he was alive and still fighting, or if Virginia had killed him. She’d looked at him with such malice, it had been disturbing. The woman should have been locked up somewhere with padded walls. Maybe she had been, which would explain why Wolf had never talked about her.

  The sound of the boat engine coming across the water snapped Regan out of her thoughts. RC cut the engine as he moved in closer to the sailboat.

  “We’ll give him some time. He knows to get to the docks,” RC shouted across the short distance between the two boats.

  Lily was sitting on the back bench seat of the boat, her face stricken with grief and worry. Regan wrenched her eyes away from the girl, not letting herself think about how lost she looked—they’d get her father back, one way or another. She wouldn’t allow herself to think otherwise.

  “We should go back. We can’t leave him to fight by himself!” Regan yelled.

  “They’re on the dock waiting for us. We can’t go back. They’ll shoot us the first chance they get,” Fred pointed out.

  “We’ll go between the islands. You can get close enough and I’ll jump in and swim. The water won’t be as rough there,” Regan said, looking at Tabitha.

  “We wait. Wolf wanted us off the island. We are doing what he wanted,” RC said sadly.

  Regan shook her head. “I can’t stand here and watch the island burn, wondering where he is. We have to go back!”

  Yet, no one answered her. They all stood silent as the boats rocked up and down in the choppy water, the thunder now fading in the distance. The rain had done nothing to squelch the fire, and it seemed to be stopping as quickly as it had started. The lightning had only come long enough to offer fire, and escape. Now, they were left with nothing but the wind, which would only fuel the fire.

  They waited for what felt like forever before RC gave the order to go in a little closer, avoiding the dock. Regan held her breath as they got closer to the south shore, praying Wolf would emerge from the trees in one piece. The flames were going to make it impossible for anyone to cut through those trees with any assurance of safety, but she felt sure that Wolf could do it if anyone could.

  With her stomach churning with the realization that escape from the island was becoming less likely with every minute, Regan couldn’t stop tears from flooding her eyes as they rounded the edge of the island. The entire south side of the island was in flames. There would be no way for Wolf to get through that.

  “Follow RC,” Geno ordered Tabitha.

  She nodded her head and moved the rudder. The boat bounced over the water, Tabitha’s excellent sailing skills coming in handy in the high winds.

  “The men with the guns are gone!” Fred shouted, pointing toward the docks.

  Regan strained her eyes to see. RC steered the boat in that direction, keeping a good distance between the boat and the dock. Fred held up a hand, waving it back and forth.

  “Are they gone?” Tabitha asked.

  “I think we would have heard gunshots if they were still there. RC is within shooting distance,” Geno pointed out.

  Regan hoped they had gone after their own boat and fled the island. That would mean one less threat to deal with. Maybe, by some chance, Virginia had fled with them. Tabitha steered the boat forward, following RC’s trek toward the dock.

  “Wow,” Geno muttered as they watched the trees sparking one another and going up like a book of matches.

  “Go north!” Regan shouted to Tabitha.

  RC had turned the boat and was headed in the opposite direction. Regan assumed he was checking the shore for any signs of Wolf, but they’d cover more ground by splitting up.

  Tabitha gently guided the boat toward the north end while Regan’s eyes focused on the beach.

  He had to be okay. She wasn’t sure she could keep going without him. Sure, she’d been mad earlier and thinking about leaving, but there’d never been any chance of her actually doing it. She’d only been kidding herself—these people had become her family. Wolf had become her family. And if he was killed, what did that mean for the rest of them? He was the glue who held things together. Without him, there was no real bond. And if he couldn’t survive, who could?

  Regan allowed her mind to drift as they searched the beach, but she kept having to reach up to swipe away tears—her mind couldn’t fathom losing Wolf. RC, Lily, and Fred would stick together, of that she was sure. Geno and Tabitha would probably make their own way. That left her all alone. It’s what she had thought she wanted. Now that she was actually looking at the very real prospect of being alone in this terrifying new world, though it didn’t sound appealing. And, deeper than that, she co
uldn’t imagine not seeing Wolf again, not sitting with him and enjoying nature or lying beside him in bed. He had to be okay. There was no other option.

  “There! Someone’s coming!” Geno shouted.

  24

  Regan watched as Wolf broke through the trees, running down the beach and heading for the dock. She waved her arms, shouting his name to get his attention. He was going in the wrong direction.

  “Wolf!” She cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting his name again.

  He stopped and spun around.

  “Oh no,” Geno breathed out.

  Virginia had burst through the trees, her blonde hair whipping around and her arm held up in front of her face as she ran toward Wolf.

  “She has a gun!” Tabitha screamed.

  Regan’s legs turned to jelly as she watched Wolf put up his hands as he turned to his ex-wife. She could see them talking, but had no idea what they were saying.

  “She’s going to shoot him,” Regan said flatly, her heart feeling like lead in her chest.

  “Maybe not, he’s managed to stay alive this long,” Tabitha reasoned.

  Regan shook her head, staring at the scene unfolding as if it were a movie. “She’s crazy. She has nothing to lose. The men are gone. They must have left her here to die. She hates Wolf and wants revenge.”

  Tabitha grabbed Geno’s arm. “Hold onto the rudder,” she demanded before walking toward Regan as if she were approaching a coiled snake.

  “Don’t do it, Regan,” Tabitha said in a low voice.

  Regan turned to look at her friend for a brief second before kicking off the shoes on her feet. Her friend had read her mind, but there wasn’t a choice to be made here. “I have to.”

  “Regan, she’ll shoot you both!” Tabitha shrieked, but it was too late.

  Regan went over the side of the boat, hitting the water and allowing herself to sink before using her legs to propel her toward the shore. She popped her head up once, checking to see how much further she needed to go and to make sure Virginia hadn’t noticed her coming to shore.

  Then she submerged herself in the water again, using strong, steady strokes to make her way inland. The tide was with her, and she soon felt the sand beneath her and knew she was close to shore. Once again, her head resurfaced while she kept the rest of her body under water. The dark night helping to conceal her as she crawled the rest of the way onto the sandy beach.

  As quietly as she could then, she stood up, about fifty feet behind Virginia.

  “We don’t have to die here, Virginia. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can both escape,” Regan heard Wolf say.

  “There’s nowhere to escape to. You haven’t seen it out there!” she spat.

  “You can make your home anywhere,” he argued.

  Virginia’s arm was shaking as she held the gun on Wolf. Regan had been approaching silently from behind, and took a deep breath, preparing to run at the woman.

  “Don’t,” Wolf said, and Regan knew he was talking to her.

  She paused about fifteen feet from Virginia, wondering what he wanted her to do next. She was not going to let him get shot. There was no way she’d let him die. Lily needed her father alive. Regan needed him alive.

  Wolf took a step toward his ex. “Give me the gun. This is stupid. You won. The island is burning. You took back what you thought was yours. I’ll leave if you want to stay.”

  “It is mine! But you ruined it! There’s nothing left!” Virginia screamed at him, waving the gun toward the flames before bringing it back to rest on Wolf.

  “It’s yours, all yours. You can rebuild. You know how,” Wolf assured her.

  Virginia’s head was shaking back and forth. “Why did you take everything away, Wolf? We were happy together!” she screeched, the gun in her hand dropping a little with her movements.

  Regan could hear the instability in the woman’s voice now, and could almost feel sorry for her. Mental illness was no joke, and given what Wolf had said, there was no doubt in Regan’s mind that serious illness was playing a role here. Regan had seen so many people on the streets suffering from some kind of mental illness, and those memories haunted her now. Virginia had likely run out of pills. She was unstable because she was off her meds by force, not willingly. Frozen with indecision over what to do, the thought sent Regan down a dark rabbit hole. How many other people were out there right now, off their meds and suffering from depression or violent delusional episodes? How many other Virginias were erupting in violence right at this moment, or primed to erupt when they met someone in the near future, now that their meds or treatments were unavailable. It was a scary thought.

  Virginia screamed out in rage, her words unintelligible, and Regan snapped her attention back to the present.

  “Now!” Wolf shouted.

  Regan lunged forward as Wolf dodged to the left. Regan’s shoulder slammed into Virginia’s back, but not hard enough to knock her to the ground. Wolf tackled her from the side, knocking Regan down with her so that she landed a few feet away, her right shoulder slamming into the ground and jarring her body sideways.

  Regan heard Virginia scream. “No! Give me the gun!”

  Virginia was coming to her feet, screaming incoherently as Wolf held the gun on her.

  “Are you okay?” Wolf asked as Regan rolled to her back and then to her feet before taking a wide berth around Virginia and moving to stand next to Wolf.

  “I’m fine,” she said, watching the woman throw an epic temper tantrum on the sandy beach.

  Wolf waved the gun, grabbing Virginia’s attention. “You wanted this island so bad, have it. I don’t want it. You’ve ruined it, Virginia. You could never leave well enough alone. You always had to push until there was nothing left to give or to take.”

  Regan had no idea what he was going to do as she watched him hold the gun on his ex-wife. Wolf wasn’t a killer. She couldn’t imagine him leaving Virginia there to die, though, and he wouldn’t shoot her, either—would he?

  “You can’t leave me, Wolf!” Virginia screamed.

  “I already did once and I’m going to do it again.”

  Regan brushed the wet sand from her clothes, taking a step closer to Wolf as Virginia kept raging at them, nonsense spilling out of her with each enraged breath she took. Wolf grabbed Regan’s hand, the gun still pointed at Virginia.

  “Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I am, but what about her?” Regan asked, torn over what made sense. Virginia was dangerous. She would likely kill them if given the chance. But despite that, Regan couldn’t bring herself to wish death upon the woman.

  “Wolf, you loved me once, you can’t leave me like this!” Virginia whined. “Don’t leave me here all alone!”

  Wolf ignored her, and glanced instead to Regan, “Let’s go. Can you swim?” he asked.

  She nodded her head. “Are you sure?”

  Wolf shrugged, walking backwards from the woman who’d now fallen to the ground, intermittently wailing, laughing, and screaming at Wolf. She had seriously lost her mind. Regan wanted to put as much distance between her and them as possible. The entire island couldn’t possibly burn to the ground, she knew. There was enough beach that Virginia could survive. Wolf had said she was a strong swimmer once before, and if that was the case, she could reach one of the other islands. It was probably best if Virginia spent the remainder of the apocalypse alone.

  “Let her friends come back for her. Go,” he ordered Regan. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Regan nodded and turned to walk into the ocean, diving under the water and heading for the sailboat. When she came up for air, she turned to see Wolf putting the gun in his pants pocket and zipping it closed before diving into the waves and swimming with a speed she hadn’t thought was possible in the choppy water. Regan took it as her cue to move, and swam as fast as she could to the boat dipping and swaying in the waves.

  She reached the side of the boat gasping for air. Geno leaned over, extendi
ng one of his hands and pulling Regan into the boat before turning to help Wolf over the side.

  Virginia was on her feet on the beach now, staring at them. Her silhouette cast a ghostly glow with the fire raging behind her, and Regan looked away rather than dwelling on the sight of it.

  “What will she do?” Tabitha asked.

  Wolf shrugged. “She can swim to one of the other islands or stay there. I don’t care.”

  “And if she doesn’t swim away?” Regan asked, still not believing he could be so blasé about his ex-wife dying.

  “Virginia is resilient. She’s a well-trained survivalist. Nothing is going to stop her from surviving. She has too much will to live. I’m sure she sees this nightmare as a game. The woman thrives on competition and drama. This is exciting to her. She’ll always want to win. This isn’t going to slow her down,” he said, a tone of disgust in his voice. “She’ll swim to another island and then to another, and soon she’ll be close enough to the mainland to reach it without issue. One way or another, she’ll be fine.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Tabitha asked, her apparent need to save everyone evident on her face as she stared at Virginia’s figure on the beach.

  He shook his head. “Trust me. Virginia plays to win—at all costs. Is Lily okay?”

  “Yes. She’s with your dad and Fred in the other boat,” Regan replied. “Just worried about you.”

  Tabitha steered the sailboat a little further out to sea before making a wide berth around the burning island. Ahead, the sound of the motorboat cut through the growing darkness as RC sped toward them. He was standing behind the wheel, his hair blowing in the wind. When he laid eyes on his son, Regan could see the relief wash over him.

  “Let’s get off the water!” he shouted, pointing up to the sky. “There’s another storm coming!”

  “Florida,” Geno grunted with disgust. “It’s one storm after another.”

  Regan looked up and realized there wasn’t a single star in the sky. That explained why it had been so dark. Usually, they had a little moonlight to guide them. Not tonight. It was black, befitting the day’s events.