The Island

by Amy Cross

  Jude wouldn't hurt me.

  She might not be perfect, but she'd never lure me into a trap. She must have come to talk.

  Making my way between the trees, I know she must have heard me. She's still walking up ahead, but after a few minutes she stops when she reaches the top of the cliff. By the time I catch up to her, she's standing with her back to me, staring out at the ocean. The scene is pitch black, save for a faint orange glow in the water down below, caused by the energy cables that encircle the island.

  I wait for her to say something.

  After a moment, I realize she's waiting for me.

  “Is this a return,” I ask finally, “or did you just come to say goodbye?”

  She turns to me, and I can immediately see a hint of regret in her eyes.

  “I get it,” I continue, stepping over to her. “You figured I was going to lose and lose bad, and you decided to jump ship while there was still a chance of Vargas taking you in. I don't blame you for that, you had to look after yourself. We all do on the island.”

  “Where the hell did you learn to fight like that?” she asks.

  “Jude -”

  “Where the hell did you learn those moves?” she hisses. “What the hell are you, Asher?”

  “I'm just me.”

  “You were like some kind of killing machine back there!”

  I shake my head.

  “What are you?” she asks again, staring at me with a sense of awe. “How did you learn to do stuff like that?”

  “You know my policy on the past,” I remind her. “It hasn't changed, it never will.”

  She opens her mouth to reply, but something seems to be holding her back. “The cannibal town is in disarray,” she admits after a moment. “Half of them have set off to find somewhere else, dispersing into the jungle, the rest are arguing about who should take over. They're just a bunch of idiots, the lot of them. Vargas was holding them together, but now...” Her voice trails off. “Do you really think you can start your own town?”

  “I think I can try.”

  “Just you and that Deckard guy, and some girl who doesn't even have a tongue?”

  “Iris ran,” I tell her. “It's just me and Deckard right now, but I think we can make a go of it.” I pause, wondering whether I should be so forgiving, before realizing that I need Jude back. “If you want to stick around...”

  “After what I did to you?”

  “You didn't do anything to me,” I point out.

  “I was disloyal.”

  “I can live with that. I understand why you did what you did.”

  “Where's your anger?” she asks. “Why aren't you raging at me?”

  “I learned to control my emotions a long time ago,” I reply, stepping closer. “I had to, or pure anger would have shaken me apart.”

  Looking out at the ocean, I try to imagine the real world thousands of miles away, but it's actually difficult to believe that all those old places still exist.

  “I like it here,” I add finally, with a faint smile. “Aside from the rampaging, murderous cannibal bitch, I like it here better than the way things were before I came. I like being in charge of my own destiny. I like being free. I also like the idea of getting this town set up and running it the way I want it. I've always figured I should be in charge of the world, and now I've got my own little patch of dirt.”

  “You're insane,” she replies.

  “So how about it?” I continue. “Are you back in?”

  “The cannibal town is falling apart,” she points out.

  “You already told me that. It doesn't sound like there's much for you there.”

  “Maybe,” she mutters, “although I've been thinking...”

  I wait for her to finish. “About what?”

  Below us, waves are gently lapping at the base of the cliff.

  “What have you been thinking about?” I ask after a moment, before starting to turn to her. “Jude, do you -”

  Suddenly I feel the blade of a knife slicing into my back, just below my right shoulder-blade. I let out a gasp of pain and try to pull away, but Jude grabs my shoulder from behind and pulls me closer.

  “I'm so sorry,” she whispers, her hot breath whistling against my ear, “but I need to establish dominance over those sorry assholes who used to follow Vargas. What better way to do that, than to bring them the head of Vargas's killer?” She twists the knife, forcing another gasp from my lips, while starting to lower me to the ground. “Literally,” she continues, “the actual head. Sorry, I know that's bad, but I'm sure you'll forgive me. After all, it makes total sense.”

  I try fight back, but I can't even find the strength to speak.

  “I'll be quick, though,” she tells me. “As a sign of respect for what we used to have, I'll make this as quick and as painless for you as possible. I hope you understand how much you meant to me.” With that, she kisses the side of my face, letting her lips linger against my flesh for a moment. “I'm so sorry,” she whispers finally, adjusting her grip on the knife, “I love you, I really do, but your death is going to make my -”

  Before she can finish, something slams into us both. I fall hard against the ground, with the knife still in my back, but I manage to scramble quickly to my feet, almost slipping over the edge of the cliff in the process. Nearby, Jude is struggling with another figure, and I realize with a sense of shock that Iris has returned. Reaching around, I grab the knife's handle, ready to pull it out of my back, before reminding myself that I need to be smarter. As Jude shoves Iris down and punches her hard in the face, I stumble toward them, limping heavily but determined to end this.

  “Stop!” Jude shouts, as I grab her by the collar and pull her back. She loses her balance and grabs my arm, and we both tumble over the edge of the cliff, only for a hand to grab my foot at the last moment. I reach out to save Jude, just about managing to grab three of her fingers.

  “Climb up!” I tell her.

  She reaches up toward me with her other hand, but her fingers are already slipping.

  “Wait!” I shout, trying to lean down to her. “If you -”

  Suddenly her fingers slip from my grasp and I watch as she tumbles down toward the orange-glowing waves below. As soon as she hits the water, her body sparks and twitches thanks to the electrical current surrounding the island, and I realize instantly that there's no way she could have survived. For a moment, I stare in wide-eyed horror at the silhouette of her body against the orange haze, watching as her corpse starts to burn.

  A moment later, Iris starts hauling me up, and finally I'm back on firm ground again. I turn to her, but before I can say anything I slump forward, unable to keep myself from losing consciousness.

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Iris

  “Okay, are you ready?” Deckard asks calmly, holding the handle of the knife that's still in Asher's back.

  I nod.

  “There'll be a lot of blood,” he continues, “so we have to act fast.” He pauses, before sliding the knife out quickly. He was right, there is a lot of blood, but I quickly press the pieces of fabric against the wound, pushing down as hard as I can.

  “Okay,” he continues, “that's good. Now we have to see if we can sew it up somehow, and we just have to hope it isn't infected!”

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Asher

  Ignoring the pain just below my shoulder-blade, I start lifting the next log, only for Iris to hurry over and try to take it from my arms.

  “I'm fine,” I tell her. “It's been almost a week, I don't feel anything anymore.”

  Turning away from her, I carry the log over to the far side of the clearing, where Deckard is working on the roof of our almost-completed hut. It's hard to believe how proud I can feel about something so simple, but the sight of this basic little wooden structure makes me feel that maybe Steadfall really can survive as a town. There's a long way to go, of course, and we'll need more buildings, but at least the project doesn't feel completely hopeless.

>   “We're almost out of canopy cords,” Deckard says as I hold the log up for him to take. “We'll need more if we want to start working on the second building.”

  “I'll go hunting for some soon,” I tell him.

  “You're still sick,” he points out.

  “Stronger every day.” I turn to Iris. “I'll need help, and Deckard's best kept busy here. In a few days' time, are you up for taking a short trek to the south? We'll only be gone a day or two.”

  She pauses, before nodding. I swear, she's slowly starting to get less scared around us, and I've finally stopped worrying that she might bolt at any moment. There are still times, however, when I spot her sitting alone, lost in her own thoughts, and I find myself wondering who she really is and how she ended up here. After all, the only thing I know about her is that her name is Iris, and somehow I don't think there's much point asking her to write her entire life story in the mud. I guess I'll just have to be content with getting to know the person she is today, here and now, and accepting her help.

  Later, as we head out to check the rabbit traps, I can't help wondering whether I should tell her more about myself. It's not like she could go and blab it to anyone else, and I feel occasional twinges of guilt when I think about all the secrets I kept from Jude. Perhaps if I'd been more open about my past from the beginning, Jude would have trusted me more and ultimately she wouldn't have turned on me. Her charred body has long since floated away, borne out by the tide, but I still think about her a lot and I figure I have to take at least some responsibility for what happened.

  “Are you interested in the past?” I ask Iris as we make our way between the trees. “Like, my past? I could tell you a few things, if you really wanted.”

  She turns to me, and after a moment she shakes her head.

  “No?” I continue, surprised. “Well, I'll try not to feel offended. I guess maybe you're right, though. Maybe the old world should be left well enough alone.”

  Spotting a dead rabbit in one of the traps, I crouch down and start to get the corpse loose.

  “I don't know about anyone else,” I mutter, “but I came to the island to escape all the crap in the world. All the things that were done to me, but mostly all the things I did in return. It'd feel kind of dumb to start getting sentimental now.”

  Turning to Iris, I suddenly realize that I talked almost the whole time we were walking.

  “Should I shut up?” I ask.

  She pauses, before smiling and shaking her head.

  “So you feel the same, right?” I continue. “You wanted to leave the old world behind too?”

  She nods.

  “Is there nothing left for you there?”

  She shakes her head.

  “No family?”

  The same response.

  I pause, before getting to my feet with the dead rabbit in one hand. “Me neither. There's nothing for me, not anymore. Nothing that could ever pull me back, so...” Looking around at the trees, I realize I can hear the waves of the ocean as they lap against the nearby shore. “I guess this is home,” I add finally, turning back to Iris. “Fortunately, I don't think we're ever going to run out of work to get done. Starting with checking the rest of the traps for rabbits.”

  With that, we set off through the forest again, working together to get all the traps checked. It feels good to have a job, to be at the start of building something, and I can't help wondering whether this town can actually grow and thrive, even from such humble beginnings. Maybe I'm being a little too ambitious, but already in my mind's eye I'm seeing scores of buildings, maybe an actual road, maybe a little farm and some workshops. I'll need to make a better sign, though; I want everyone to realize that the town is a serious endeavor when they first see the name Steadfall displayed proudly at the entrance.

  I guess other people will come eventually, and that's okay. If they accept the way I run Steadfall, I'll let them stay with us and help. Life is simple on the island, but I like it that way. All you have to do is find a way to survive. And one day, if we keep working, I think Steadfall might really amount to something.

  Epilogue

  Stopping in the doorway, John Logan pauses for a moment before turning back to his colleague. Matt is still at the desk in the far corner, tapping away at his update screen.

  “Hey,” Logan mutters. “I just wanted to say thanks again for that stuff you helped me with last week.”

  “No problem,” Matt replies, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen. “Glad to help.”

  “And you haven't...” Logan pauses. “You haven't talked about it to anyone, have you?”

  “Who would I talk to about anything?” Matt asks, rolling his eyes.

  Logan smiles. “Sure, but... It's important, that's all.”

  “You paid me and I'm happy. It wasn't even difficult, I just ran some custom batch files on the individual frames, stripped out some audio, and the job was done. Took five minutes.”

  Logan pauses, clearly lost in thought. “What about the original files?” he asks finally. “Did you -”

  “Destroyed.”

  “But could anyone ever -”

  “Nope.”

  “Not even -”

  “They're gone,” Matt continues, with a faint smile. “Don't get paranoid, man. When I do a job, I do it.”

  “Sure,” Logan says, glancing at a nearby info screen. “It's been a week now. Iris is probably...” His voice trails off for a moment as he tries to imagine Iris surviving on the island. Part of him wants to believe that she'd have had a chance, but deep down he knows almost no-one makes it past their first day, which means that by now she's probably rotting in the mud. Either that, or her bones are being stripped clean by cannibals. “I guess there's nothing to worry about,” he continues, forcing a smile as he takes a step back. “Catch you around, Matt. Thanks again.”

  “Hey,” Matt says suddenly, finally looking up from his screen. “I know this is a crazy thought, but it just occurred to me the other day and... If I ask you something, will you promise not to report it to our supervisors?”

  Logan pauses for a moment. “Sure. Shoot.”

  “It's just...” Matt's voice trails off for a moment. “Do you ever think it's weird that the vast majority of people who choose to go to the island are pretty young?”

  “So?”

  “So I was thinking that maybe... If we've created a world where so many young people want to skip out and go somewhere else, anywhere else... Do you think maybe we're doing something wrong?”

  Logan stares at him for a moment. “I've never thought about it that way,” he says finally. “If I were you, I'd keep those thoughts to yourself. The kids who go to the island, they're just... They're deviants. Freaks. They have no place in ordered society.”

  Matt pauses, before nodding. “Sure,” he says, turning back to his screen. “Sorry. I'm sure you're right.”

  “I'm sure I am,” Logan replies. “I'll see you tomorrow. We need to find time to go over the Steadfall protocols before the next group meeting.”

  Turning, he heads along the corridor, still thinking about Iris. In fact, he keeps her in his mind as he takes the steps down to the transit platform, and as he takes a shuttle over to the next building. He takes a few seconds to report Matt's unusual suggestion to his superiors, but that action is almost automatic; for the most part, he can only think of Iris. When he steps off at the next platform, a passing woman says hello to him, but he doesn't even notice. Instead, still thinking about Iris Bloom, he makes his way down another flight of stairs until he reaches the main offices of the divisional unit, at which point he sets his suitcase on a table and looks into the eye-scanner. A moment later, a nearby door slides open and Logan heads along the next corridor until he reaches another door.

  He takes a deep breath, before tapping a button on the wall.

  As soon as the door is open, he sees the little girl sitting on a bench, reading a book.

  “Hey,” Logan says, forcing a smile. “How are you
doing today, Della? Did they take good care of you?”

  The girl turns to him and pauses, before nodding cautiously.

  “Well, I've finished the paperwork and I'm getting you out of here,” he continues, stepping into the room. “How does that sound?”

  “Where's my sister?” Della asks cautiously.

  “Your sister?” Logan pauses, before hitting a button on the wall, causing the door to slide shut behind him. “Actually, Della, I'm afraid I have some bad news about Iris. She's not going to be coming back, not ever. But I'm going to explain to you why that's a very good thing.”

  Coming Soon

  STEADFALL BOOK 2

  With an uneasy truce just about holding firm, Asher and Iris try to get their settlement back on its feet. A series of new arrivals to the island cause trouble, however, when it becomes clear that some kind of sickness has broken out. While Iris tries to find way for the outbreak to be contained, Asher starts to suspect that someone has broken the terms of the truce. Soon, it becomes apparent that the entire island is under attack from something that hides in the shadows and watches everything.

  Meanwhile, other factions are starting to make their voices heard. The original Steadfall might have fallen, but a new settlement has risen from the ashes, albeit with a very different set of rules. As the threat from the outside world increases, the island starts to become a more dangerous place, especially when people start dying after a series of unexplained but vicious attacks in the forest. What lurks in the darkness beyond the new Steadfall, and where did it come from? And can the people of the island ever find a way to make the rest of the world leave them alone?

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  The Farm

  Annie's Room

  The Priest Hole

  The Lighthouse

  Eli's Town

  3AM

  Asylum