Survival
Page 9
Charla stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“If CNC could sink our boat and strand us on an island,” the actor’s son explained, “then it’s definitely no big deal to print a fake issue of USA Today.”
Luke waved the paper in his face. “They interviewed my mother about me being dead!” he seethed. “Is that real enough for you?”
“She’s in on it,” J.J. argued. “All our parents are. They’re the ones who sent us to this Sleep-away Camp of the Damned.”
Charla was furious. “I can’t believe you’re still talking about this! Poor Will’s got a bullet in his leg! You think that’s part of CNC’s plan?”
“That must have been a mistake,” J.J. said seriously. “It could be our ticket out of here. Sooner or later they’re going to have to call the whole thing off to get Will to a doctor. We just have to hang tough.”
“Oh, we’ll hang tough, all right,” Luke vowed. “But it has nothing to do with your idiot theories. We’re going to hang tough so we can live to tell the world what Rat-face did to us, and watch him rot in jail for it!”
Ian had asked them to bring back whatever medical supplies they could find in the hope that there might be something that would help Will. They came up empty in the main building, but one of the smaller huts in back turned out to be a dispensary. Loaded down with bottles, bandages, and sterile pads in yellowed packets, the three started out on the return journey to their camp on the other side of the island.
They had been walking for only a few minutes when, all at once, J.J. disappeared. One minute he was striding at the head of the group; the next, he was just gone.
“J.J.?” called Charla, mystified.
“Down here,” came a strangely distant voice.
“Quit fooling around,” Luke said sharply. “We’ve got to get this stuff to Will.”
“No, really!”
A hand reached up and parted the thick underbrush. They stared. J.J. stood at the bottom of a large square pit, up to his knees in dirt and rotted leaves. Bottles and gauze pads were scattered everywhere.
“Is that supposed to be there?” asked Charla. “Like a trap or something?”
“Sure trapped me.” J.J. shrugged, rubbing his head. “I think I fractured my skull.”
Luke was impatient. “If the fall didn’t break those bottles, I’m sure your thick head’s okay too.”
“There’s something hard down here,” J.J. insisted. He began kicking at the dirt of the pit. There was a dull clang, and he jumped back. “Ow!”
Luke frowned. “That sounded like metal.” He eased himself into the hole and reached up to help Charla after him.
J.J. was already digging at the earth and leaves of a mound at the center of the pit. A few inches below the surface, he struck black metal with a smooth rounded surface.
The dirt came away easily, and the other three joined him in clearing off the strange object. It was huge — maybe ten feet long and far too heavy to budge. The thing resembled a very tall black garbage can with fins on one end.
“Let me guess,” ventured J.J. “It’s Chap Stick for giants.”
Suddenly, Luke just knew. There was no flash of inspiration, no lightbulb going off in his brain. He simply looked at the object, and in that instant, realized exactly what it was.
Involuntarily, he took a step back.
“What’s wrong?” asked Charla in concern. “All of a sudden, you’re pale as a ghost!”
“I think — ” Luke began shakily, “I think we just found Junior.”
They goggled. Wide staring eyes moved from Luke, to the object, and then back to Luke again.
Charla was the first to speak. “You’re not saying — ?”
Luke nodded weakly. “The Discovery Channel was wrong. They did build it. And they left it right here.”
This time, everybody stepped backward. J.J. plastered himself against the wall of the pit.
A harsh reality dropped over the castaways like a smothering blanket. A hostile environment and dangerous enemies were only part of the problem. Their friend Will was beginning a fight for his very life. And now, thrown into the mix by some insane quirk of fate — an atomic bomb.
GORDAN KORMAN is the author of The Hypnotists, and six books featuring Griffin Bing and his friends: Swindle, Zoobreak, Framed, Showoff, Hideout, and Jackpot. His other books include This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (published when he was fourteen); The Toilet Paper Tigers; Radio Fifth Grade; the trilogies Island, Everest, Dive, Kidnapped, and Titanic; and the series On the Run. He lives in New York with his family and can be found on the web at www.gordonkorman.com.
Copyright © 2001 by Gordon Korman.
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First Scholastic printing, July 2001
Photography: Kelly La Duke
Cover design: Ursula S. Albano
e-ISBN 978-0-545-63075-7
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