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

his voice weak.

Before he can continue, I lean down and cut him off by pressing my lips to his.

I kiss him softly, releasing all of the emotions that I have been keeping in. When I pull away, tears of relief well up in my eyes. He looks up at me.

"Ian, you...you were dead. You stopped breathing" I whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek.

He stares back at me, confusion in his eyes.

"What happened?" he murmurs.

I don't want to recite what happened.

He looks at me, waiting for an answer. My throat tightens and another tear rolls down my cheek.

"You hit your head on a rock at the bottom of the lake when you jumped in with Tessa" Tristan says suddenly.

I turn around, looking at Tristan.

"You sank down to the bottom of the lake and I brought you back up" he continues.

Ian reaches his hand to the back of his head, putting it under the shirt that is tied around him.

"No don't touch it!" I exclaim.

When he pulls his hand back out, it is smeared with blood.

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but how do you feel?" Dylan asks.

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Ian sits up slightly, resting on his elbows.

"I don't know; I can't really remember anything that happened. And my head hurts. But otherwise I think I'm alright" Ian says.

"So do you think you can move on?" Dylan asks.

I turn around, looking at Dylan with wide eyes.

"He just hit his head and stopped breathing! You think he can walk?" I exclaim incredulously.

Dylan shrugs.

"I'm fine. I can move on" Ian says.

"No, you shouldn't. You need to rest" I say, looking at Ian pleadingly.

"Tessa, I'm fine. See? I can stand up" Ian insists.

He then stands up. After wobbling slightly, he regains his balance and stands up straight.

"We should go now. They could be coming for us right now" Tristan says.

We all stand up. I remember that our shirts are still at the top of the waterfall, and offer to get them. Ian says that he will get them, but I refuse. I don't want him to get hurt again.

I walk up the muddy hill to the top of the waterfall, my mind racing with thoughts. How is it that Ian hit his head on a rock, drowned, stopped breathing, and now says that he is completely fine? It doesn't make any sense. When I reach the top, I grab everyone's shirts then walk back down, handing them each their shirt.

I pull my tank-top over my wet bra, which immediately soaks the fabric. So much for trying to keep my shirt dry.

Before we leave, I ask Ian one more time if he is okay.

Of course, he says he's fine. But when I see the blood stained shirt tied around his head, I start to doubt it.

We begin to walk again through the jungle. Tristan leads and I walk next to Ian in the back. The whole time, I keep glancing at him. He looks different. Distant. Disorientated.

A few times he loses his balance and stumbles, catching himself on a tree. Every time this happens my stomach sinks even further.

He is not okay, even if he says he is.

Something is wrong.

We keep walking. My legs are on fire; every step sends a burning sensation throughout my legs. I want to stop so badly, but I keep going. I don't want to be the wimp.

I don't know how much time goes by, but suddenly Tristan freezes. We all come to halt behind him. I am panting and beads of sweat roll down my face.

"Oh my god" Tristan whispers.

"What?" Nikki asks.

Without a word, Tristan walks through a large brush of bushes, disappearing. After glancing at each other, we all follow him through the thick cluster of bushes, emerging into the clearing on the other side.

When I see what is on the other side, at first I think that I am imagining it. But then I realize that it is real.

It can't be.

My jaw drops at the sight in front of me.

There, in the center of the clearing is a large building with a roof-mounted satellite dish.

"Holy shit" Dylan murmurs under his breath.

We all stare at the building for a moment transfixed,

Then, Dylan says,

"What the hell is a building doing in the middle of the jungle?"

"I don't know" Tristan says quietly.

"Well let's go check it out!" Dylan exclaims, starting to walk towards the building.

"No wait!" I call out suddenly.

Dylan turns around, looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"What if it's one of their buildings?" I ask nervously.

"Well I guess we'll find out" Dylan says, then turns around and continues to walk towards the building.

We all watch and wait as Dylan walks inside the large opening. My heart pounds in my chest when Dylan disappears. A few moments go by. Then, Dylan sticks his head out and shouts,

"The coast is clear!"

We all run towards the building, entering it through the large open doorway. I look around at the place in awe. The place looks untouched, as if no one had been in it before. Two couches sit in the center of the floor, and in one corner of room is a small kitchenette. Dylan immediately runs towards the kitchenette, screaming excitedly that there is a fridge.

He opens the fridge and immediately groans. It's empty.

Something about the place makes me feel uneasy. I have the strange feeling that we are being watched, even though I looked around and didn't see any surveillance cameras mounted in the lofty roof.

"Um, I don't know if we should be here" I say.

Dylan turns around, looking at me.

"Tessa, do you know how to have any fun?" he asks.

I roll my eyes at him. Being on this island is far from fun.

We all walk around, inspecting the room. I glance at Ian, who sits down on one of the couches, putting his head in his hands. I want to walk over to him, but I know that he won't want me to ask him how he's feeling. I then walk towards the back corner of the room, which is divided off from the rest of the room by a partition. When I see what is in the corner, my heart skips a beat.

There, sitting on a desk, is a computer.

"Oh my god" I say out loud.

A few seconds later, everyone rushes over except for Ian.

"Holy shit" Dylan whispers.

"Maybe we can use it to get someone to rescue us!" Nikki exclaims hopefully.

"Well turn it on!" Dylan cries.

I quickly sit down at the desk chair and search for an "on" button. Finally, I find it on the back of the computer and press it. For a few seconds, nothing happens. But then, a whirring noise starts and the computer screen lights up. I am filled with feverish excitement. But then, all my hopes are crushed when a screen pops up that reads, "ENTER PASSCODE"

"Fuck" Tristan swears under his breath.

I stare at the blinking cursor, trying to think what the passcode could be.

"It could be anything" I say grimly.

"Maybe the passcode is passcode" Dylan says.

"Your a fucking idiot" Nikki says, rolling her eyes.

Just when I am about to say something, I hear Ian's voice call from the main room.

"Guys?" he calls out.

"Yeah?" I call back, turning away from the screen.

"We have a problem" he says.

"What?" Tristan asks.

There is short pause. Then Ian says,

"Someone is coming. Right now" Chapter Twenty-Three

I freeze, my fingers still hovering over the keyboard.

"What did you just say?" I say, my voice trembling.

"Someone is coming right now. One of them" Ian calls out.

I immediately stand up, shaking with fear. We all run out into the main room, where Ian is still sitting on the couch. He stands up, pointing out the window. I look and my heart skips a beat when I see a man in a white lab coat walking towards the building.

"What do we do?" Nikki asks frantically.

I look around the room, searching for a place to hide, but there is none.

We are screwed.

The man is coming closer and closer and the pit of dread in my stomach deepens every step he takes.

Suddenly, Tristan exclaims,

"Look!"

He points his finger to the floor across the room. At first I don't know what he is pointing at. But then, I see it.

There, cut into the wooden floor is what appears to be some sort of trap door. We all run over to it, kneeling down. I glance out the window again and my stomach flips when I see that the man is almost here. Tristan quickly pulls the handle and lifts the trap door open. I look down apprehensively into an abyss of blackness.

Without a word, Tristan drops down into the blackness. I hear him crash down below, grunting in pain. Dylan goes next, then Nikki. I glance up at Ian with fear in my eyes.

"You go first" he says.

I take a deep breath, then jump down into the darkness. I fall a few feet then crash onto a cold, cement floor.

Ouch.

A few seconds later, Ian drops down, landing right next to me. He immediately stands and reaches up, closing the trap door. I stand up as well, unable to see anything in the blackness.

We wait in an eerie silence. Then, I hear the loud creak of the door opening from above.

The man is here.

With my heart pounding in my chest, I listen as the man walks across the floor, his footsteps making the floorboards creak. I pray to God that he won't open the trapdoor and find us. The footsteps get closer and closer, then stop right above us.

Sheer panic floods throughout my entire body as we all wait in a tense silence. Then, a few moments later, the footsteps continue as the man continues to walk.

Phew.

The footsteps continue, getting further and further away until they finally stop. Another long silence passes by. I stand completely still, rooted to the spot with fear.

Then suddenly, the silence is broken by the man's voice.

"Yes. This is John, reporting from Building 1B"

Another pause. He seems to be on the phone with someone.

"Yes, I am currently looking for the subjects who escaped"

My blood runs cold when I realize that he is talking about us.

"No, I haven't found them yet. But I will keep looking. They don't have anywhere to go, so someone will find them eventually"

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Another long pause.

"Yes, I'll go get it from downstairs. Goodbye" the mans says.

It takes a moment for me to process that downstairs is where we are.

He is coming down here.

I feel an arm grab me, pulling me through the darkness until I feel my back press against some sort of table. Without even thinking, I bend down and crawl under the table. The person who grabbed me comes under as well.

My heart races as I hear the mans footsteps come closer and closer until they stop right above us.

What the hell are we going to do.

I