Desolation, J. B. Everett [reading a book txt] 📗

on the hatch, trying to bust it open.

Finally, I shout,

"Tristan stop! It's not going to work"

He sinks to the floor, defeated.

I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment. Water drips from the ceiling, landing on my head and shoulders, and the stench of mildew fills the air.

"Tessa?" Tristan calls out into the darkness.

"Yeah?" I say.

"What do you think is going to happen to us?" He asks quietly.

I am silent for a moment. I don't want to think about what they are going to do to us. I am so scared and confused.

"I don't know" I say gloomily.

"Why do they want us?" he murmurs.

"I don't know" I whisper again.

The pit of despair in my stomach makes me feel as if I am empty and lifeless. I suddenly find myself crawling in the darkness towards Tristan. I finally reach him and slide back against the wall. It feels a little better to be next to him.

I don't know how much time goes by, but suddenly, the loud roar of the motor begins to lessen. We are slowing down. Finally, the boat slows to a stop. I sit up, tensing.

A few moments later, I hear footsteps from right above our heads. Then, the click of lock. The hatch door swings open and sunlight streams in, completely blinding me.

"Get out" one of the man says impassively.

I glance at Tristan, and he stands up, climbing out first. Once he reaches the top, he kneels down, holding a hand out to me. I stand up, wobbling slightly, then grab his hand. With his help, I climb out of the darkness into the blinding light. Once on the boat's surface, I look around. We have pulled into a dock, and one of the men is tying the boat to the dock with rope. We must be on the other side of the island. Their side of the island.

The other man pushes us towards the railing of the boat, our backs to him. I immediately feel him tie my arms together behind my back with rope.

"What the hell is this for?" I say angrily, trying to wrench my arms out.

The man doesn't respond. Instead, he points to the dock, signaling for us to get off the boat. When neither of us move, he says gruffly,

"Get off of the boat"

Reluctantly, we both step off the boat onto the wooden dock. With the man right on our heels, we walk down the dock until we reach the beach. The other man finishes tying the boat to the dock and walks in front of us. We are trapped.

We walk across the beach then enter the jungle. I glance at Tristan, who glances back at me. The fear and hopelessness in my eyes reflect in his. I then see a tear rolling down his cheek and my heart aches.

"What do we do?" I whisper to him, as quietly as I can.

"Stop talking" the man behind us says curtly.

I close my mouth and look forward. We keep walking through the jungle, taking various twists and turns along the way. The whole time, my heart is beating like a drum in my chest.

We finally arrive at a clearing in the jungle and my heart sinks. It was where they took me before, when I woke up in the cage. But now, there are multiple cages, lined up in two lines across from each other. And three of the them have someone in it. We walk forward towards the cages, and I try to see who is inside them. All of their backs are turned towards us, but I can tell that one of them is a girl and the other two are boys.

We pass by the girl first and she turns and looks at us with fear and misery in her eyes. I recognize her as one of the girls on the beach the first day. She is one of us. I rack my brain trying to remember her name. Then, I remember; Alyssa.

Alyssa looks at me, with a pleading look in her eyes, recognizing Tristan and I. She moves up against the wall of her cage, gripping the bars with her hands. I make eye contact with her for one moment before we pass by.

The next cage we pass on the other side contains Dylan, one of the boys. He has dark hair and dark eyes, and is slumped in the corner of his cage. When we pass by, he looks up at me, recognition spreading across his face.

"Tessa..." Dylan murmurs.

I stare at him for a moment longer before we pass by.

We stop at the next cage.

I turn, glancing past Tristan to see who is inside the cage to my left.

And heart skips a beat when I see who it is, slumped in the corner.

It's Ian.

He glances up, his face weary and drained. His eyes immediately meet mine, and my heart begins to race even faster. Before I can say anything, the man behind me grabs me and pushes me into the cage opposite Ian's and right next to Dylan's. He immediately closes the door and locks it. They then push Tristan into the cage on the other side of me, locking him in as well.

The men take one final look at us.

Then, one of them says,

"Remember, this is for the greater good"

"Bullshit" I hear Dylan mutter under his breath.

Then, they walk away.

Once they are gone, I hear a sob escape from next to me and I turn to see Tristan, with his head in his hands, sitting on the cage floor. My heart pangs.

I then turn to my other side to see Dylan, who gives me a small, weak smile.

"Hey, welcome to the fun" he says sarcastically, leaning against the wall of his cage and tossing a rock up and down.

I am too upset to even force a smile back.

I then turn my head forward, bracing myself to look at Ian again.

He is facing me, his hands gripped on the bars. His eyes immediately lock into mine. I am suddenly filled with a flood of emotions and stand up, gripping the bars of my cage and facing him directly.

Then, I hear him utter two words, barely audible, but just loud enough for me to hear.

"I'm sorry" Chapter Sixteen

Ian's words echo in my mind.

I look at him, and he looks back, his eyes pleading.

Suddenly, a lump forms in the back of my throat. I try to force it down, but my emotions overtake me and a tear rolls down my cheek.

"Tessa..." he says quietly, reaching his hand through the bars, as if he could touch me.

Another tear rolls down my cheek.

"I'm sorry about everything I did. I was stupid and I overreacted. And I understand if you don't forgive me for what I did" he says, his eyes still locked into mine.

I stare at him for a moment, then turn away, the lump in my throat growing bigger.

I don't know what to say. Everything has just been so crazy the past few days, and I am a jumbled mess of emotions. But something about hearing Ian's voice again stirs something deep inside of me. I look back up to him, tears pooling up in my eyes and blurring my vision.

"It's okay Ian. I forgive you" I say softly.

He looks at me for another moment, his gaze penetrating. Then, his mouth breaks into a small, genuine smile. I give him a weak smile back. And in that moment, I want to be in his arms again. I want to feel his soft lips on mine again. He reaches his hands out further from between his bars, reaching out towards me. I reach my one of my hands out as well, as if the space between us didn't exist and I could touch him.

I hear another muffled sob from next to me and I turn to see Tristan, who is still sitting down with his head in his hands.

After glancing at Ian one more time, I walk over towards the wall facing him, putting my face up to the bars.

"Tristan" I say.

He looks up at me, his eyes red and his face tear-stained.

"Don't cry. We're going to be okay" I lie.

He looks at me, then shakes his head.

"Tessa, why are we in these cages? Who are these wicked people?" He asks, his voice trembling.

If I knew the answer, I would tell him. But of course, I do not.

"I don't know. But at least we're all still alive" I say, trying to sound as optimistic as I can, even though the pit of despair in my stomach is threatening to swallow me.

He looks at me with his red eyes, sniffing.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this" he whispers quietly, looking down again.

"Tristan, don't be sorry about anything" I say, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

He nods, then leans against the back of his cage, closing his eyes for a moment.

I turn back to see Ian, still facing me, his hands wrapped around the bars of his cage.

"So, how did they capture you two?" I hear Dylan's voice ask from behind me.

He is still laying down on the floor of his cage, tossing a rock up and down repeatedly.

"They had a boat out in the water, off of the coast. Tristan and I thought they were rescuers, so we swam out to the them, and then...they got us. I should of known that no one was coming to rescue us. We're on an remote island in the middle of the ocean; no one will find us" I say sadly.

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"Wanna know how they got me?" Dylan says, sitting up and looking at me.

I don't know if I really want know, but I nod.

"I was walking through the jungle by myself to take a piss, when all of a sudden I stepped onto a piece of metal on the ground. And the next thing I knew, a net flew down from the tree and captured me, pulling me up into the air. I tried screaming for help, but no one came. Then, those two men came and got me" Dylan says.

"A booby trap..." I whisper.

They must have them set up all around the jungle, waiting to capture us.

"What I really want to know is why they have us in these fucking cages? I mean it was bad enough being trapped on the island, but now trapped in cages? I mean come on, how evil can they get?" Dylan says.

Pretty damn evil.

"I don't know" I reply, shuddering at the thought.

We are probably going to find out soon enough why we are here, and I don't think that it is going to be pleasant. I don't want to even fathom what they are going to do to us.

I turn back, looking at Ian who is sitting on the floor, facing me.

"When did they get you?" I ask him.

"Right after I left you two" he says quietly, looking at the ground.

"What happened?" I ask.

He looks back up to me.

"I was walking through the jungle. It was dark, and I had no idea where I was going;