Suddenly, time resumed and rain started to fall once again and the sky went black. The crew members pulled the struggling Kick back and away. The massive wave slowly began to fall. The wave slammed into the ship, breaking it in half. People scattered everywhere. Many opened their mouths to scream only to have it filled with water. Alex braced for the impact, preparing himself for the water to crash over him and sweep him overboard along with everyone else, but it never happened. He looked up to find himself standing above it all. He looked down to see himself dragged down by the wave and disappearing into the black water. A loud scream slowly trumped the roar of the storm. Alex clamped his hands over his ears to protect them, but it didn’t do much good. The scream turned into a piercing screech and became so loud it was the only thing Alex could hear.
FIFTEEN
Alex awoke with a start from the shock of the nightmare. He was surprised to find that he wasn’t the first one awake, as he usually was. Sitting by the fire with a sweater on along with his sleeping bag held tightly around his body, was Mark.
“You were shivering,” Mark said bluntly.
“So are you. What are you doing up?” Alex replied.
“I woke up freezing and couldn’t go back to sleep,” said Mark.
“How long have you been awake?” Alex asked. He felt around to make sure his sword was still next to him beneath the folds of the sleeping bag before standing up and walking over to sit next to Mark.
“I don’t know, about ten minutes maybe? Not long. The sun was up when I woke up.”
“It’s really cold out here.”
“Yeah, you looked like you were going to turn into a Popsicle!” Mark laughed.
“So do the others.” Alex nodded over at the others, who were all shaking from the cold.
“They aren’t shaking as much as you were though.”
Alex looked around for anything that could warm them up and saw that the fire was growing dim.
“I’m going to go get more firewood.”
“Do you want me to come with you? You’ll be in the woods all alone.”
“No, I’ll be fine. I won’t go too far,” Alex replied, walking toward the woods.
Although the sun had already risen, the inside of the woods was dark and mysterious. Alex picked up pieces of wood and dead branches as he walked. He had already gathered a handful of wood when he heard a crack from beneath his feet and he tumbled head first down a hill.
Leaves, branches, and mud flew past him and mixed with his dark brown hair, in the process ripping his clothes. When he finally stopped falling, he had landed next to a large shallow stream made up of jagged rocks at the bottom of it. Alex heard a rumbling sound coming from above him, and he looked up just in time to see the pile of wood that had fallen out of his hands come toppling on him, knocking him into the stream.
Alex laid in the stream face up and stared at the sky that was now beginning to brighten to a dark blue through the gaps in the leaves. Alex watched as his heavy breathing faded into mist in the cold morning air. When he had finally gathered himself, he stood up and took in his surroundings. Behind him was a tree that had fallen across the stream and was leaning on the sloping side of the hill on the other side. The fallen tree made a long dark shadow that made it impossible to see what lay underneath.
“You should not have come here,” a voice suddenly whispered. A shadow of a man started to form underneath the tree. Alex jumped at the voice and stumbled backwards, falling into the stream once again.
“What was…?” Alex started but stopped. Something about the voice was familiar. But he didn’t know how or why. “Do I know you?” he asked. The man said nothing. “What are y…?” Then he realized where he recognized him from. “You’re the one that was in between those houses back at Orolson, aren’t you? You’re the one I chased across the rooftops!”
“Correct,” replied the voice.
Alex was stunned. He had come to the conclusion that it was just a hologram of some sort being projected through a window. But if it was a hologram how could it have ended up here?
“What are you?” Alex asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You need to be careful while on this island. There are a lot of them here. There is no escape from this island. You must figure out how to survive,” the voice said, ignoring Alex’s question.
“Wait, there are a lot of who here?” Alex was barely able to get the last word out before the shadow twisted into a circle and slowly started to decrease until it became so small Alex couldn’t tell if it was still there.
Alex sighed and turned around toward the sticks and wood he gathered, which were now floating in the stream, slowly sinking. Alex groaned as he picked up a piece. It was too saturated to make a fire with so he trudged back up the hill he had fallen down. Alex was only a few feet up before his foot slipped and he fell into the stream. Alex climbed the hill again and again, but it was more of a cliff than a hill. Alex walked to the other side of the stream then turned back around to face the hill.
Alex charged at full speed up the hill and only made it a few feet more before he fell backwards. Surrendering to the reality that it was too steep to climb, Alex walked back over to the tree where the shadow once was. Conveniently enough, there was a path right behind where the shadow of the man stood. Alex sighed out of annoyance as he started to walk the path.
It only took about ten minutes to arrive back at the beach where Mark was sitting by the dimly lit fire. The others were still fast asleep in the sleeping bags. They quivered in the cold. Thankfully, the path Alex had taken to get back was littered with wood so he replaced the lost wood easily.
“What happened to you?” Mark demanded when he saw Alex’s hair and clothes caked in mud and sticks.
“I was gathering wood and I took a wrong step. I fell down a hill into a stream. I’ll go get washed up once I get the fire going. Are they still asleep?” Alex asked, nodding toward the others as he started to feed the fire.
“Oh yeah, they were really tired, I guess,” Mark replied.
Almost as if on cue Nicole woke up followed by Brooke moments later.
“What are you doing up?” Nicole asked groggily once she composed herself enough to figure out where she was.
“And why is it so cold?” Brooke added.
“Don’t worry, I’m getting the fire started again,” Alex said, dodging smoke and ashes that burst out of the wood. As Nicole and Brooke huddled closer to the fire, David woke up.
“What happened to you?” David asked as soon as he saw Alex.
“Ah, I meant to ask, what did happen to you? You’re a mess!” said Nicole.
“Ask Mark. I’m going to go clean all of this mud off,” Alex called as he walked toward the ocean.
“But it must be freezing!” called Brooke.
“I’ll go into the areas where the sun hits!” Alex yelled, now running. Alex ran into the shallow water and dove in as soon as it was deep enough. The water was oddly warm and it felt good against his scratched and cold skin. Alex swam out farther and farther into the ocean until he couldn’t touch the ocean floor anymore.
Alex started to rub the mud and twigs out of his hair until his head was completely clean. After he was completely clean, Alex floated on his back and stared at the bright blue sky.
“Is it cold? You didn’t die of hypothermia, did you?” David yelled after him, laughing.
“No! I’m still alive!” Alex called back. “It’s actually really warm!”
“We’re coming in then!” called Brooke.
They all ran into the water, not bothering to take off any clothes. They gasped at the temperature of the water against their freezing skin.
“It’s so warm!” said Nicole as she swam next to Alex.
“It’s strange,” Alex said as he started to tread water.
“I wonder if there’s an underwater v
olcano down there! That could be what’s making the water so warm.” said David.
“It’s possible,” Nicole confirmed.
“Do you want to see?” David asked with a smirk.
They all dove beneath the surface only to find that there was no underwater volcano. Alex looked at David, who had a disappointed look on his face that even Alex could see through his puffed out cheeks. David noticed Alex looking at him, and he shrugged and pointed up toward the surface, gesturing for them to go back up. Alex looked around the ocean floor one last time before swimming to the surface.
Alex and David were the only ones still below the surface, and as they swam they felt the water pressure change below them. They both looked down to see a great white shark swimming toward them with its jaws snapping open, revealing its rows of sharp white teeth and blood red gums. Alex opened his mouth in surprise and choked as water flooded in. Alex and David shot up to the surface before he could swallow too much water.
“Get back to the shore!” Alex yelled, gasping for air.
“What’s going on?” asked Brooke.
“No time to explain! Just swim!” David yelled at her.
Before David could finish shouting, they all took off to the shore, each one of them paddling as fast as their limbs could carry them. As soon as they reached shallow water, they stood and dashed for the dry sand. They fell onto the beach and let the impossibly scorching sand dry their freezing bodies.
“Guys, are we going to be on this beach forever or are we going to explore? There is really no way of getting out of this place,” observed David between breaths.
Alex furrowed his brow as he thought about David’s comment. It was an oddly calm question. There they were, five kids stranded on an island with no other civilization in sight, and his first thought was to go explore?
“Why not? There is the possibility that there are people here. We just couldn’t see them through the trees,” said Mark. Alex rolled over to face the opposite direction and put his arm in between his head and the sand. His saturated shirt and jeans sagged against his skin.
SIXTEEN
They walked for what felt like hours. The sun was sinking into the horizon. They were running out of daylight and soon they would be left to the darkness.They hadn’t taken a break since the beach. Alex sighed as he tilted his head up to stare at the canopy as he walked. Though he couldn’t see the sun or clouds, the rustling of the leaves and light peeking through the branches were just as calming.
“We should find a place to sleep,” Mark huffed, startling Alex out of his trance. “But I haven’t seen any areas that we could go to.”
“Do you hear that?” asked Nicole, ignoring Mark. Alex looked at Nicole curiously as she moved her hair from in front of her ears. Alex tilted his head and listened for whatever Nicole had been hearing. For a moment, all was quiet until a low howl began to fill the forest. As Alex listened, he slowly realized that the rising chorus was coming from somewhere nearby and it was way too close for comfort.
“Wolves!” cried David.
“What do we do?” asked Brooke.
“I read in a book once how to avoid wolf attacks!” Nicole said.
“Well? What do we do, then?” David asked.
“Quick! Climb the closest tree!” Nicole said, leaping up the tree next to her.
David, Mark, Brooke, and Alex all did as Nicole instructed. Alex had to run a bit farther than the others because the tree closest to him was a few feet farther away. Alex stumbled as he reached from branch to branch. Once Alex was about halfway up, he stopped and leaned against an area of the tree that was strong enough to hold him.
Alex crouched down and stared at the ground. A few minutes later, a pack of wolves trotted into the area where the teens had been standing. The wolves stopped abruptly and sniffed the ground. Alex held his breath as four wolves started to sniff at the roots of the tree he was in. After a while, they moved to the tree next to him, and Alex let out his breath all at once. The sound of his gasp was louder than he thought it would be. Alex stared down, waiting to see if the wolves had heard. They had all frozen in place, and one by one each wolf started to growl.
A loud howl broke out, and Alex was confused to realize that it hadn’t come from the pack below. The howling had stopped the wolves from growling, and Alex allowed his breathing to become regular. Alex watched curiously as wolves scattered about the group started to howl, while the other half remained silent. After the howling faded, the wolves that responded sprinted out of sight while the others stayed behind. Soon the light disappeared completely, and Alex and the others were left alone, trapped among the tree branches with wolves prowling about at their feet.
“You still there?” David called into the night.
“Where else would we go?” Mark demanded.
“How are we supposed to get back down? It’s pitch black and I can’t see a thing! Do you know if the wolves have left yet?” asked David.
“I have no idea. We’ll probably have to sleep up here tonight,” Alex stated.
“Where’s Nicole and Brooke?” asked Mark.
“I’m up in the tree with Brooke! I think she may have fallen asleep,” answered Nicole.
“If you guys wake up, could you call out to see if any of the others are awake? I just want to have that assurance that you guys are still there,” David stuttered.
“We will,” replied Nicole.
Alex reached into his backpack and brought out a flashlight. He switched it on and waved the beam of light around in the darkness. Unfortunately, the beam would only reach a few feet. Alex shifted the beam over to the trunk of the tree so he could lean against it.
“Who has a flashlight?” Nicole called.
“Alex does. I can’t see you because the light won’t go very far. The battery is dying, I think,” Alex replied as he slid down the trunk and sat on the branch.
“I can see the light but not you!” called Mark.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m turning it off now, to save what’s left of the battery.” Alex switched the light back off and slid it back into his bag. He wrapped his hand around the pommel of his sword that was still hidden beneath the folds of his jacket, resting against his back. He dozed off and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
Alex woke up with the odd sensation that he was being watched. It was still pitch black, and Alex moved his hand in front of his face. It had gotten so much darker that he could barely make out the shape of the tree trunk. Alex quickly reached into his backpack once again and pulled the flashlight back out. He switched the light on and swung it around frantically. Although he could see nothing, he still had the sense that something was out there. Alex snatched up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder before climbing higher up the tree.
He burst through the canopy sucking in air as though he had been underwater. The moon shone so brightly that it lit up as far as the eye can see. Alex was surprised the brightness didn’t reach below the canopy, but the canopy was unusually thick. Alex tilted his head back and stared at the stars. Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, so he looked to the side without moving his head. In the tree beside him was a dark silhouetted figure staring up at the stars just as Alex had been. Suddenly the figure spoke, startling Alex.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?” the figure asked. Alex recognized the voice as the man from the stream. “You have been doing good so far,” said the man. “But no matter what your friends think tomorrow, do not go back. They’ll be waiting for you there. Searching for you.”
Before the man could turn into a small black ball again, Alex stopped him. “Wait! Just answer this question. Please!” Alex asked desperately.
“You may not ask who I am,” said the man.
“Who is ‘they’? What do you mean ‘they’ll be searching’?” Alex asked.
“They are the citizens of Heltian
a and the creatures of the Dark,” the man said simply before disappearing. Heltiana? Creatures of the Dark? What was all of that stuff supposed to mean? As the man’s words bounced back and forth in his mind, Alex drifted back to sleep.
The next morning Alex woke up to his friends screaming his name.
“What is it? Is everything okay?” Alex yelled down as he climbed down to the spot he was sitting in before he had decided to climb to the top the night before. Everyone was still in the same positions they were in when they had climbed into the tree except they were all now standing up with alarmed expressions on their faces.
“Alex! You scared us! We woke up and suddenly you were gone!” said Brooke.
“I’m fine. I just went up to sleep in the canopy. It was too dark down here and the moon is so bright up there.” Alex nodded up toward the top of the tree.
“I think it’s safe for us to go back down now,” David suggested.
“Yeah, I think we all cleared that by now. The question is, how exactly do we get down? All of the branches I used to get up here are gone! I don’t know how that happened but the trunk from here down is bare,” explained Nicole.
Alex looked down the trunk of the tree and noticed the same had happened with the tree he was in as well. Where had all of the other branches gone? How had he gotten up there? Alex leaned forward so he could drag his backpack off and hang it on a branch. As he reached out to hang the bag, his hand bumped into something, sending whatever it was toward his face. Sensing the movement, Alex ducked just in time to see a long and thick vine fly past him. Alex watched as the vine flew up almost right on a branch on the tree beside him before rocking back and dangling beside the branch Alex was on. That gave Alex an idea. Alex thrust his backpack over his shoulders again and gripped the vine.
The Abnormals: Book One Page 10
