The Island

by Michael Bray

“You hear me in there? Do you understand?” Ryder repeated.

  Moses nodded. He was shivering and rubbing his hands against his upper arms despite the stifling heat. Ryder and Chase glanced at each other.

  “Alright,” Ryder said, deciding it was best to move on. “Here’s what we do. We go in slowly, quietly. We don’t know how deep the water is, so we might have to swim. If that’s the case, do it slowly. Remember, the aim here is to make the least disruption possible. If it’s shallow enough to wade in, then again, keep quiet. Move slowly. Slide your feet across the bottom, don’t be tempted to take big steps. You don’t want to stand on anything down there.”

  “What about if we get in there and something comes?” Chase said.

  “Then we swim like hell. It’s only forty feet or so. Fifty tops.”

  “Great,” Chase grunted. “Why do I get to go first?”

  “So I can keep an eye on you and make sure you’re not doing anything that might draw attention. It’s easier for me to do that if you’re right in front of me rather than behind.”

  “Alright, makes sense I suppose.”

  “You ready?”

  Chase nodded, somehow managing to fight the urge to run.

  “What about you?” he asked Moses. The old man stopped his incessant mantra, blinked and looked at him. “I’m ready, Simi. Just tell Father I’ll be along soon, eh?”

  “Jesus Christ, this is going to be a disaster,” Ryder mumbled. “Come on, let’s do this and hope the old bastard here understands what’s happening.”

  Ryder turned to Chase. “The bank slopes down, so that should mean you can walk in. Remember, keep it slow. Take your time. I’ll be watching.”

  Chase walked to the edge, by now getting used to fighting the instinct to flee. Keeping Ryder’s words in mind, he inched into the water, grimacing as the cold, frigid liquid soaked through his pants. He waded in quietly; knowing that every step could be his last if there was something waiting to snatch him away. He the water reached up to his chest, then the depth stabilised. He managed to bob forward, fighting against the natural buoyancy of his backpack. He wished he had remembered to remove it before getting into the water, but knew it was too late now to backtrack. He wouldn’t dare risk doing so now for fear of disturbing the water. From down at water level, it was even more frightening. He was aware that anything could be out there and he was powerless to stop it should it decide to attack. He paused and glanced over his shoulder. Ryder was up to his knees, moving slowly, eyes alert and flicking left to right with each step. Moses still sat on the bank, head low, arms on the floor. He looked like he was sleeping, his head flicking up every few seconds as his eyes rolled over to the whites.

  Chase put him out of his mind. His own safety was the only thing that mattered to him. He focussed on what was there, on reaching out with his senses. The earthy, rotten stench of the water, which clung to him with its chilly determination, leaving a slick of green algae sticking to his shirt. His foot brushed something unseen, something solid. He froze, waiting for the attack, determined that the last conscious thought he would have would be the image of his wife and daughter.

  But no attack came. He exhaled, and risked moving his foot again. The solid object was still there, but whatever it is was no threat. He suspected it may have been a root or some kind of underwater grass. He stepped over it and continued on his way, now almost halfway across. He risked another look over his shoulder. Ryder was now also up to his chest. Unlike Chase, he had remembered to take off his backpack, and was holding it above his head. Behind him, Moses was also in the water. Inching forward into the cold, filthy water. It seemed that as delirious as he was, he was still lucid enough to have listened to Ryder’s instructions.

  He turned back to focus on the way ahead, and froze, his brain taking a second to register what was in front of him.

  Lomar stood on the opposite bank. He was dressed in army fatigues, his rifle in hand, finger resting on the trigger guard. He stared at Chase, a wicked, small-toothed grin on his face. Chase stared back, time frozen as both men sized each other up. Lomar started to move, swinging his gun towards them.

  He lied, Chase thought to himself as he prepared for the bullets to rip through him. He lied just to get us here.

  He wondered if it would hurt as the bullets shredded his insides. He wondered if they would show it on screen, perhaps splice in one of the other contestants over Lomar. He hoped not. He didn’t want his family to see him suffer.

  He closed his eyes as the explosion of gunfire shattered the silence.

  He wasn’t dead.

  The gun had definitely ejected. Six shots. He opened his eyes, looking at the ripples as they moved through the water.

  “Move, move now!” Ryder said, as he started to move through the water as fast as he could, Moses following behind as quickly as he could. Chase saw it coming towards them. A wake from further down the river, a rolling tide of water as whatever was beneath homed in on them. He started to move, wishing his legs would move faster, the backpack throwing him off balance. He lost his footing, and his head went under the water. He took in a mouthful of rancid water, the bitter taste making him retch. He threw his head up, coughing and spluttering. Lomar tossed the rifle into the water, then turned and started to walk away.

  Chase coughed, as his feet found purchase. He glanced behind him. Ryder was stumbling along behind. Moses had abandoned his backpack and was swimming, his hair mottled with clumps of algae. He had almost caught up to Ryder. Both of them were around fifty feet from the wake which was drawing closer. As they watched, a great, grey brown back broke the surface.

  Chase was able to move faster now. The water was only waist high and his feet were able to grip in the soft mud. Ahead, he could see Lomar disappearing into the trees. Anger fuelled him, and he accelerated. He was free of the water, free of the mud and whatever was closing on them. There was no forethought. He put his head down and broke into a sprint, determined to get to Lomar.

  THREE

  Ryder saw the wake coming towards him, and knew he was going to die. Moses was swimming, head down, arms slamming into the water.

  The thirty-six-foot Sarcosuchus closed in on them, drawn to the noise. A relative of the common crocodile, the Sarcosuchus possessed a much longer snout filled with sixty six teeth. At the end of its snout, a large bulbous protrusion called a bulla helped the enormous creature to lock on to the scent of its prey and hone in on it with deadly precision. The combination of scents from the two stranded men, sweat and the bloody mess seeping from Moses’s boots, combined with their thrashing as they tried to flee, convinced the giant predator that this was a viable meal. It flicked its tail, and closed in on the two men. Ryder saw it coming, but couldn’t stop it. The creature opened its mouth; the soft, pink throat seemed impossibly large. He held his ground, and then at the last second lurched to the side. His intention was to make the creature miss allowing him time to flee, but he moved too early, and the Sarchosuchus reacted. It flicked its head in the same direction Ryder had moved. He saw it and threw up an arm, but the Sarchosuchus still managed to get a grip on his arm, its teeth sinking into the soft flesh of his upper arm.

  Moses had reached the bank, and scrambled up to higher ground, he lay on his front, gasping and panting. He turned back to the water just in time to see the Sarchosuchus roll, taking Ryder with it into the filthy, black waters.

  FOUR

  Chase thought he had lost Lomar in the dense jungle, then caught a glimpse of him ducking under a half fallen tree. Another burst of anger fuelled his adrenaline, and he picked up speed, determined to get his hands on the man who had sent them to their own private hell on earth. Lomar tripped and almost lost his balance, but didn’t fall. It was all Chase needed to close on him. Lomar half-turned, his eyes widening in surprise as Chase launched at him, tackling him to the ground.

  “You son of a bitch, you tried to kill us,” Chase grunted, grabbing at Lomar’s throat. Lomar grabbed Chase’s wrists, trying to a
lleviate the pressure.

  “It’s not what it seems…” Lomar said, choking and gasping for air.

  “You set us up, you changed the rules,” Chase grunted, feeling his fingers dig deeper into the old man’s flesh. Lomar let go of Chase’s wrists and pressed a series of commands on his wrist GPS display. The image changed, and Chase let go, staring and unable to comprehend what he was looking at.

  FIVE

  Ryder couldn’t breathe. He clung to the nose of the Sarchosuchus as it rolled with him, trying to separate flesh from bone. He had seen wild alligators in Florida, but this was on an entirely different scale. He tried to keep calm, knowing that if he didn’t, he would likely die. He tried to recall what he had read about surviving an alligator attack. He knew there was a fleshy palate at the back of the throat that was sensitive and might help him to free himself, but it was both out of reach and out of the question. The nearest thing to him was the eyes. He tried to reach with his free hand, but the way he was pinned made it impossible. All he could do was cling on as the massive creature continued to rotate. He needed to breathe, his lungs screaming for precious air. On instinct, he lashed out with a foot, catching the Sarchosuchus in its bulbous eyeball. It didn’t let go, it simply increased the ferocity of its rotations, and pushed him down into the mud. He couldn’t see, and had to squeeze his eyes closed as he was pressed into the soft earth. Mud started to encase him, entombing him. He lashed out again, giving everything he could the kick landed on target, and the Sarchosuchus released its grip, retreating into the dark. It was all he needed. He pushed himself to the surface, gasping in precious lungfuls of air, the agony in his arm unbearable. Ugly puncture wounds immediately filled with blood as he made for safety, scrambling towards the embankment, he ran up the bank and fell to his knees. Absolutely drained. The Sarchosuchus retreated back into the murky waters.

  SIX

  Chase blinked again and looked at the screen.

  It was a dark room lit by a single overhead spotlight. Ashley was sitting on the floor, holding Elsie close to her. His frightened wife and daughter were afraid, and wore almost identical expressions. Chase felt his stomach plummet towards his feet as he looked up at Lomar for some kind of explanation.

  “Don’t worry, they’re not hurt. Think of it as an insurance policy. All the contestants are in a similar situation.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “The nature of our business means we have to sometimes edit footage. We have our digital scans of you of course taken during the green screen vignettes you did back on The Island, but immediate family members can always tell the difference, so we hold them for a few days. They have no idea it’s us of course. We send men in unmarked uniforms and take them to a featureless room. They are fed and watered and have a bed to sleep in, so don’t worry, no harm will come to them.”

  “So why show me?” Chase asked, standing and waiting for Lomar to do the same.

  “Because I want to let you in on a little secret while you are away from the others. See, you’re the favourite to win this whole thing, Chase. The public like you. I like you. Don’t throw it away by taking your aggression out on me.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  Lomar smiled. “Why should you believe them? You think they’re your friends? No. They’re your rivals. You should have seen how Ryder beat that poor girl to death. She was begging, crying. Did he tell you she didn’t die straight away? She lay there burning under the sun and choking on her own blood whilst he watched her and did nothing to put her out of her misery.”

  Chase searched Lomar’s face for a lie, but the older man was unreadable. “Why show me my family? Why put that pressure on me?”

  “Because I want you to win. I want you to keep your eyes on the prize and remember why you took part in the first place. Of everyone, your story was the most compelling. You are the people’s choice, and we like to give them what they want. Trust me, I’ve seen their profiles, I know their history. Those two people you want to consider as friends will stab you in the back the first chance they get. Keep that in mind, and remember what I showed you. I’ll be watching.”

  Lomar turned away, ducking into the trees and was lost from sight. Chase stood there, shocked and trying to let everything sink in. He heard footsteps as Ryder and Moses caught up to him.

  “What happened?” Ryder said, his arm was a bloody mess, and he was holding it close to his body.

  “He got away,” Chase mumbled.”I tried to stop him.”

  “Fucker tried to kill us,” Ryder said. “My arm is all messed up. I’ll need to stop for a while and strap it up. Here looks like as good a spot as any.”

  Ryder sat and opened his backpack, looking for his medical kit. Chase stared into the trees, not seeing the tangle of roots and leaves. All he could see was that spotlight Lomar had shown him with his terrified family inside. He had put them there, and there was no way he could ever shake the guilt of it, no matter what happened.

  BROKEN

  DAY FIVE

  6:52 PM

  The rain came in from the east, driving gusts which looked to be heralding yet another storm. They walked in silence, picking their way through the trees, which sloped downhill. Every half mile or less, they were forced to stop and hide, or take evasive action. Their encounters with the dinosaurs were becoming more frequent, the creatures themselves agitated at being in such close proximity to their own kind. Although Lomar’s intention had been to bring them closer to where the contestants were so that they would attack them, by making them share such a relatively small area, they were instead attacking each other, fighting for territory. The mostly silent jungles were a thing of the past. Now, everywhere around them seemed to be exploding with life. They stopped, ducking behind a mossy boulder as something large and unseen crashed through the undergrowth somewhere ahead of them.

  Ryder had patched his arm up as best he could, but the bandages were already soaked with blood where the Sarchosuchus had bitten him. He was pale and sweating. Worse still was Moses. He was babbling again, and as they waited, he leaned over and coughed, bringing up blood which spattered between his feet.

  “Keep it down,” Ryder said, glaring at Moses.

  He tried to silence himself, crossing his arm over his face and continuing to cough into the crook of his elbow.

  Ryder glanced at Chase then back into the trees. “It breaks up ahead; we’ll be out in the open.”

  “Any ideas?” Chase asked.

  “No. We don’t have any weapons. We’re hungry, tired. The old guy is dying, I’m bleeding out. Looks like you might win this after all, Riley.”

  “I’m not thinking about that yet,” Chase grunted. It was true; he was thinking about the haunting images of his family that Lomar had shown him.

  “Alright,” Ryder said, looking at them both. “It’s safe to move on.”

  They jogged forward. The tree canopy above had kept them relatively dry, but as they exited the tree cover, the deluge hit them hard, soaking them in seconds.

  “Fucking hate the weather here,” Ryder said, glaring up at the sky.

  “At least it looks clear.”

  “Yeah, come on,” Ryder said, walking forward.

  The long hip-high grass beyond was trampled down. It was clear that several large creatures had recently been there. Beyond the grasses, the ground fell away into a slope of loose dirt and rock, beyond which more grassland awaited. They walked towards it, Chase and Ryder well ahead of Moses. Ryder glanced across at Chase, then looked straight ahead.

  “You know, sooner or later, we’re going to have to make a decision.”

  “What about?” Chase said, knowing what was coming.

  “Moses.”

  “I thought we agreed it wasn’t our decision to make.”

  Ryder glanced at him again, then turned away. “That was before. He’s costing us. Plus that cough…he keeps giving away our position. Eventually, it will cost us.”

  Chase glanced at the sorry,
hunched-over man behind them, and then recalled Lomar’s warning. “Let me ask you something, Ryder. Why are you here?”

  “None of your business, Riley.”

  “Come on, why not? It’s close to the end now. Why not share?”

  “You first.”

  “Alright. I’m here because my kid has cancer. In the lungs. I want to put her right. That jab they gave me before I came here can guarantee her a life. I guarantee she’s going to have a better one than I do.”

  “If you win.”

  “If I win,” Chase agreed.

  Ryder walked on in silence for a while. He was shivering from the rain. “There’s not much to tell. I’m a thrill seeker. Adrenaline junkie. I came here to test myself. Of course, I didn’t know what I was up against then, but you can’t blame me for that. None of us did.”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?” Ryder said.

  “It’s more than that. A thrill seeker wouldn’t beat someone to death with a rock just to see if he was good enough. What are you hiding, Ryder?”

  “Why do you care?” he snapped.

  “I don’t care. I just want to know.”

  “It’s my business.”

  They reached the edge of the ridge. They could see the wall now, much closer than they anticipated. Between them and it, down at the bottom of the forty foot slope, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes snapped and fought, ran and chased. It was a compact, self-contained example of the circle of life. Stretching between them and the end. There was no way they could avoid an encounter. Some of the dinosaurs were already dead, killed by their bigger, more aggressive cousins, and were being picked apart by scavengers. The larger species kept wary distance from each other, not yet willing to engage in combat.

  Ryder was staring open-mouthed at the sheer spectacle. Chase barely noticed. His mind felt overstretched, almost to the point of breaking. He couldn’t shake the images Lomar had shown him out of his head.