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

hear the creak as the trapdoor swings open. Then, there is a click as the beam of a flashlight shines down into the darkness. The man jumps down, landing on the ground. I hold my breath as he shines his flashlight around the gloom. I see Dylan and Nikki hiding behind a rack of lab coats. I then turn and look to see Tristan next to me. He looks at me, putting a finger up to his mouth.

Where is Ian?

The man finally focuses his flashlight on a shelf on the wall opposite from us and my heart stops when I see what is on the shelf.

Guns.

The man walks over to the shelf, his footsteps echoing in the darkness. When he reaches it he grabs a large gun and slings it over his shoulder. He then begins to walk back towards the trap door, the beam of his flashlight pointed almost directly at us. If he moves his flashlight beam down just one inch, he will see us.

Then, my worst wishes come true when the flashlight beam moves down, pointing directly at us. The man stops and I grip Tristan's arm in pure terror. The man then begins to charge towards us. I squeeze my eyes shut, gripping Tristan's arm even harder.

Suddenly, I hear the man yell out in pain. My eyes flash open to see Ian, lunging at the man. He grabs the gun off of the his back and before the man can react, Ian hits the man over the head with the back of the gun.

Hard.

The man falls to the floor, his head smacking the ground. The flashlight falls out of his hand, rolling across the floor.

Ian stands there for a moment over the man's motionless body, panting.

"Whoa" I hear Dylan's voice say from across the room.

I crawl out from under the table, followed by Tristan, who grabs the flashlight from the floor. I look down at the unconscious man, and just when I am about to look away I notice something sticking out of his lab coat pocket. I bend down and pull out a folded up piece of paper.

"What's that?" Nikki asks, her voice trembling.

Tristan shines his flashlight down on me and I unfold the paper. When I see what is on it, my heart skips a beat.

In a messy scrawl, it reads,

Tessa

Tristan

Ian

Dylan

Nikki

"It's a list of our names" I say.

"Well he said it before; they're looking for us" Dylan says.

I crumple up the paper and stand up, throwing it to the ground.

"Well too bad because they're not going to find us" I say.

 I then look up to Ian. He looks at me, the gun still in his hands.

"Thanks for...attacking him" I whisper.

He nods.

"Let's get the fuck out of here. This place is giving me the heebie-jeebies" Dylan says.

Tristan shines the flashlight around the ceiling until he finds the trapdoor. He stretches his arm up, pushing the door open. Light shines in, blinding me temporarily. Tristan jumps up, using his strong arms to pull himself up onto the floor above. I know for sure that I am not strong enough to pull myself up.

Ian goes next, followed by Dylan and Nikki. Now it's my turn. I stand under the trapdoor, looking up at them.

"Here, grab my hands and I'll pull you up" Tristan says, stretching his arms down towards me.

I take a deep breath, then jump up. My hands grip Tristan's and he uses all his strength to pull me up onto the floor above.

"Thanks" I say breathlessly, looking up at him.

"No problem" Tristan says, grinning at me.

He looks at me with his stunning blue eyes, then looks down at our hands, which are still interlocked together. I look down at them as well.

"Sorry" Tristan says, dropping his hands from mine, his cheeks burning bright red.

"No, it's okay" I say, smiling at him.

Tristan then looks behind me.

I turn around to see Ian, standing right behind us.

Glaring at us. Chapter Twenty-Four

Ian's dark eyes burn into mine, his gaze penetrating. His eyes flit to Tristan then back to me.

"Ian.." I start, standing up.

Before I can continue, Ian turns and walks away towards the door. My heart sinks. This is all just a huge misunderstanding. Even though Ian thinks there is, there is nothing going on between Tristan and I.

I turn back to Tristan who raises his eyebrows at me.

"What's going on with Ian?" he asks.

"I don't know" I say sullenly.

"Well we should go now" Tristan says, standing up.

I nod, wanting to get out of this place.

"Hey what about the computer?" Nikki asks before we leave.

"Remember there was a passcode?" Dylan says.

"Yeah I know. But maybe that guy went on and unlocked it" Nikki suggests.

I walk back over to the computer, and to my dismay the lock screen is still up, with the words, "ENTER PASSCODE" still up on the monitor.

"Nope. Let's go" I say, walking back.

We all leave the building, walking back outside. I spot Ian, sitting on a tree stump a few feet away, the gun still slung over his shoulder. Even when he is angry, why does he have to look so damn hot?

"Ian, we're going" Tristan calls out to him.

Ian looks up at us then gets up wordlessly. We walk across the clearing then into the jungle on the other side. I walk up front with Tristan, Dylan and Nikki, and Ian trails far behind us. I keep glancing back at him and find him staring at me, his dark eyes piercing into mine. I want to go and talk to him, but I don't know what to say. And besides, he does not look like he is in the state to talk to me right now.

The sun shines down through the trees, making me sweat even more. It is hotter than usual today; the air is thick and humid, making it harder to breathe. Beads of sweat trickle down my face uncontrollably.

Finally, to my relief, we stop for a short break. I lean against a tree, resting. I close my eyes for a few moments until I feel someone's arm touch my shoulder. My eyes flash open to see Tristan, his hand lightly resting on my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" he asks sincerely, looking into my eyes.

"Fine" I lie, giving him a small, weak smile.

I look behind him and see Ian, glaring at us. My heart sinks as he shakes his head then walks away from us, sitting down on a rock across the jungle. I don't know why he is overreacting like this.

"Okay" Tristan says, smiling.

He then drops his hand from my shoulder, then turns away and walks towards Dylan.

I close my eyes again, feeling nauseous.

"Hey" I hear a voice say from behind me.

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I turn around to see Nikki. She gives me a small smile.

"Let's sit" she says, pointing to a log on the ground.

We both sit down. I let out a huge sigh, completely exhausted.

"Are you okay? You look like something's bothering you" Nikki says, looking at me.

Yeah Nikki, there's a lot bothering me. I'm not really loving the fact that I stuck on an remote island and being hunted down by evil doctors.

"I'm fine" I lie.

I turn around, glancing back at Ian, who is still sitting on the rock across the jungle.

"It's about Ian, isn't it?" Nikki asks.

I turn back to her.

"Yeah" I say, sighing.

"I mean I know we're complete strangers, but you can tell me what's wrong. And don't worry, I won't tell Tristan or Dylan" she says quietly, giving me a weak smile.

I turn around to make sure that Tristan and Dylan are not close enough so that they hear what I am going to say. When I see that they are far enough away, I turn back to Nikki, sighing.

"I don't know, but I think Ian's mad at me because he thinks that something's going on between Tristan and I. But there's nothing going on between the two of us" I explain.

Nikki nods, looking at Tristan, who is sitting on a rock about twenty feet away.

"Well I think he definitely likes you" she says.

I turn around again, looking at Tristan. He glances up at me then smiles.

"I don't know..." I start, looking down at the ground.

"Tessa, he totally likes you. There's no denying it" Nikki says.

"Okay, but the problem is Ian thinks I like Tristan back and that's why he's so angry. This is all so stupid" I say.

"Well you should go talk to Ian" Nikki suggests.

I look up at her, raising my eyebrows.

"I don't know what to say" I say embarrassedly.

"It's easy, just go over to him and ask him what's wrong. When he says that he's angry because he thinks that you like Tristan, just tell him you don't"

Nikki is making it seem much more simple than it will be. I highly doubt that Ian will directly say that he thinks that I like Tristan, I will say I don't, and everything will be better. It is going to be much more complicated.

Ian is complicated.

"I don't know..." I say, glancing at Ian again.

"C'mon Tessa, you can do this. If Ian really likes you, he'll come around again if you go talk to him" Nikki says.

"Okay, fine" I say, standing up.

Nikki smiles at me, standing up as well. She puts her hand on my shoulder, then says,

"Everything will be okay"

Chapter Twenty-Five

I jump, ducking down at the loud bang of the gunshot.

What the hell just happened.

"Holy shit!" I hear Dylan cry from across the jungle.

With my ears ringing, I turn around and gasp. There, lying dead on the ground about fifteen feet behind me is a deer. It lays on its side, motionless, blood seeping out of a hole on it's side where the bullet from Ian's gun hit it.

I hear Nikki gasp as well.

"Ian..." I start, my voice cracking.

Suddenly, tears begin to well in my eyes. I don't know why, but the sight of the dead deer makes me start to cry. Something so innocent, so harmless, killed in an instant by the bullet from Ian's gun.

I turn to Ian, the tears in my eyes starting to stream down my face.

"Ian, why did you do that?" I ask, my voice trembling.

He looks at me intently, then says softly.

"Tessa, we need food or else we're all going to die"

I look up at him,