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

only noise being the soothing chirping of the crickets. The whole time Ian keeps his arm wrapped around me, making me feel much more safe out here in the dark depths of the jungle. My eyelids begin to feel heavy and I have to force myself to keep them open.

And then suddenly, I hear it.

Voices.

Ian must hear them too because we both stop. Although low and distant, I can definitely hear voices talking. Men's voices.

Ian holds a finger up to his lips and pulls us up behind a large tree. I strain my ears, trying to make out what the voices are saying.

"...yes, of course. We will find them out here eventually. They can't hide forever; there's nowhere for them to go"

Panic immediately floods throughout my entire body. They are out here looking for us.

I suddenly feel dizzy and have to steady myself by grabbing onto the tree trunk.

"Do you think they've found the other stations on this island?" one of them asks.

"Let's hope not" another replies.

My heart begins to pound frantically in my chest as I hear the men's footsteps, coming closer towards us. I look up at Ian, my eyes wide with terror.

"What do we do?" I mouth to him.

Instantly, Ian pulls me and runs towards a clump of bushes. We both dive into them just as the men arrive. I squeeze my eyes shut, praying to God that they didn't just hear us.

"Did anyone just hear that?" one of the men asks.

Great.

I reopen my eyes and look through the bristles of the bush to see four men in the clearing, all wearing white lab coats. I grip Ian's arm as if I am holding on for dear life.

"It was probably just an animal" someone says.

The men look around. Suddenly remembering the knife in my pocket, I silently take it out, holding it at the ready.

"C'mon, let's go" one of the men says.

Three of them begin to walk away, but one of them stays. My heart stops when I see that the man is facing our direction.

Staring right at us.

"I don't think you guys want to leave yet" he says.

The other three stop, turning around.

"What is it?" one of them asks.

The man points directly towards us and smiles, revealing crooked yellow teeth.

"Two of them are right there" Chapter Forty-One

"Two of them are right there"

The man's words make my heart stop.

He can see us.

They begin to walk towards us with a hungry look in their eyes, like a predator closing in on its prey.

"RUN!" Ian shouts, grabbing my wrist.

Before I can say anything, Ian jumps up and starts to run, dragging me behind him.

"SHOOT THEM!" one of the men shouts.

I duck as tranquilizer darts silently whiz by my head. We keep running as fast as we can, with the men close on our heels. Every time they shoot, I think to myself how lucky I am that I haven't gotten hit yet. Just one good aim and I am out.

With my heart pounding in my chest, we sprint through the darkness, dodging past trees and bushes. I can hear the men getting closer and closer behind us and the feeling of hopelessness inside of me grows stronger and stronger. They are going to catch us.

Then suddenly, just when I think that I cannot run anymore, I hear a loud bang of a gunshot. Then another. Jumping with fright, I turn around to see two of the men, slumped on the ground.

Dead.

There is another loud bang as another one of them falls, crashing down onto the ground. Now there is only one of them left.

"What the hell was that!" Ian yells breathlessly as we continue to run.

I am so out of breath that I can't even tell him what just happened.

BANG!

I turn around again to watch the last man stop and crumple to the ground.

"Stop running!" I gasp.

Ian immediately stops, letting go of my arm. We both turn around to see the four men, all sprawled out on the jungle floor.

"What the..." Ian murmurs under his breath.

"S...Someone shot them" I whisper breathlessly.

"Who?" Ian asks.

We look around in the darkness, trying to see who did it. Then suddenly, a girl's voice says,

"I did"

I jump and swivel around to see someone step out from behind a tree.

Eve.

She slowly walks out from the darkness, a gun in her hand. I swallow hard, still in shock.

"You're welcome" she says, looking up from the dead bodies to us.

Eve looks at us, raising her eyebrows slightly when neither of us respond. Finally, I blurt out,

"Thanks"

Even though I may despise her, she did just save us from being captured. I wonder why she did. Especially after I called her a bitch.

"Yeah, thanks" Ian says.

She nods, pocketing the gun.

"Where did you get that gun?" I ask.

"I had it the whole time" she says flatly.

"And how did you find us?"

"I heard shouting so I ran over to find you two being chased by those men. So I shot them down for you" she explains.

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"Thanks" I say again.

"So you don't hate me anymore?" Eve asks, looking up at me earnestly.

I can't tell if she is being serious or not. Even if she did just save us, I still do not completely trust her.

"I don't know" I reply quietly.

Ian glances at me and I look at him.

"We should be kissing her ass now. She just saved our lives" he says

"See? Even your boyfriend likes me" Eve says, crossing her eyes and grinning.

I roll my eyes.

"Okay fine Eve, I don't hate you anymore"

I even force a smile onto my face.

"Good, glad to know that we're friends now Tessa" she says.

Friends? That's the last word that I would use to describe us.

"C'mon, let's go back to the others" Eve says.

We begin to walk through the jungle, Eve leading the way. As we leave, I step over the bodies of the doctors, grimacing when I look down at their pale, lifeless faces. We continue to walk, our feet crunching loudly through the thick underbrush. There better not be any more of them out here looking for us because if there are, they will find us immediately; we sound like a stampede of elephants.

Somehow, we make it back to others. When we arrive, Tristan, Nikki and Dylan immediately stand up, rushing over towards us. Nikki pulls me into a giant hug, then exclaims,

"I'm so happy that you all are okay! We heard gunshots and we were so worried!"

When she pulls away, she asks,

"Did you hear those gunshots?"

"Yeah. It's them; they're out here looking for us. They found Ian and I and chased us, but luckily Eve shot them" I explain.

"Damn right I did" Eve says.

I roll my eyes.

"Th...They're out here in the jungle looking for us?" Nikki asks worriedly.

I nod.

"There might be more of them, I don't know" I say gloomily.

"We should move to a different spot in the morning" Tristan says.

We both look at each other for a moment and immediately, his eyes flit to the ground. My stomach flips.

"Well at least you're back Ian" Dylan says, clapping Ian on the back.

Ian smiles slightly.

"Let's all get some rest now" Tristan says.

I have no complaint to this. I am completely exhausted, and right now sleep sounds like the best thing ever.

Everyone nods and moves, scattering across the ground. Ian and I both lay down next to each other. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to his body and sending shivers throughout my entire body.

"Goodnight Tess" he whispers.

He then leans in and plants a soft kiss on the back of my neck.

"Goodnight" I whisper back.

Before I close my eyes, I look across from me to see Tristan laying down on the ground. Then, Eve walks towards him.

"Mind if I sleep by you?" she asks.

Tristan shakes his head and Eve lays down on the ground right beside him.

"I have to protect you until you get rescued" I hear Eve whisper to Tristan.

My stomach clenches at her words.

Tristan look at her, then says,

"I think I can protect myself, thanks"

Eve stares at him for a few moments, then nods.

Before I can hear what she says, my eyelids become too heavy to keep them open. And the next thing I know, I drift off into a dreamless void.


"Wake up Tessa"

I open my eyes to see Ian leaning over me. The sun shines down from above, blinding me temporarily.

"Huh?" I murmur groggily, rubbing my eyes.

"We're leaving now" he says.

"Ughh" I mutter.

He then leans down, kissing me quickly on the lips. After he pulls away I sit up, stretching. Everyone is already up and ready. Wow, I was the late sleeper today. Once I stand up we begin to walk.

I am starting to get really sick of walking through the jungle. It is hot and everything looks exactly the same. Every tree, every plant, every flower; they all look the same wherever we are in the jungle. Tristan and Eve lead the way as we trek through the underbrush. I look down and my heart skips a beat when I see Eve's hand lightly touching Tristan's.

Interesting.

Today, it is more humid than ever. The air is thick and soupy, making it much more difficult to breathe. God, how I miss air-conditioning.

Within a few minutes, I am soaked from head to toe with sweat. I glance up at Ian to see that he has barely even broken a sweat.

"How are you not sweating?" I ask incredulously.

He shrugs.

"I don't know, it's not that hot"

I look at him, raising my eyebrows.

"How? I am dying right now" I say, laughing slightly.

He grins at me.

"Even for the sweaty mess that you are right now, you are still pretty cute"

His words make my stomach flutter. Tristan turns around and looks at us, before quickly turning back around.

Awkward.

We keep walking, the sun rising higher in the sky and the temperature rising even higher. When the sun is right above us, I feel as if I may actually pass out.

"Can we take a break?" I finally ask, completely exasperated.

"Sure" Tristan says.

Phew.

We all stop and everyone sits down on rocks. Wiping sweat off of my forehead, I walk over to a tree, leaning against it. I close my eyes more a few moments, trying to savor this rest.

Before I know it, we begin to walk again. By now, my legs are burning and my throat feels like sandpaper. Oh what I would do to have water right now, even just one sip.

To my relief, the ground begins to slope downwards underneath our feet. We must be heading down towards the beach.

And that's when a hear it right under my foot.

Clank.

I stop.

A few moments later, everyone turns around, looking at me.

"What is it?" Dylan asks.

"I...I just stepped on something" I say.

"Stepped on what?" Nikki asks.

I don't know what, but I definitely just stepped on something strange. I turn around, retracing my steps to try to find what it is was.

And that's when I see it.

I stop, looking down at the ground with wide eyes.

"What is it?" Ian asks.

I swallow hard.

"There's...there's a..."

"There's a what?" Eve asks.

"There's a door on the ground"