The Island (18 page)

“We don’t have time to talk about it anymore.” Chase said, staring up the cliff face. “We’re still being followed, remember? We need to make a move.”

Ryder glared at him, and then spat on the ground. “Fine. Let’s go. Just keep your distance from me, killer.”

“Same goes for you, murderer,” Chase fired back. With exhaustion setting in and tension at breaking point, they started the long climb a further two hundred feet to the summit and whatever waited for them beyond.

STACKING THE DECK

DAY FOUR

INSIDE STATION THIRTY TWO

9:36 PM

Damien Lomar sat at the console, looking at the computer screens in front of him. Station Thirty Two was just one of over a hundred that were positioned at various strategic locations on The Island. Designed for both monitoring and giving veterinary care to the animals which roamed The Island, each station was kitted with an armoury, computer station, medical supplies and sleeping quarters. Over the years, he had used the stations for overnight sleeping when on one of his various hunts. While his terrified prey had huddled in the dark and tried to survive against the threat of the dinosaurs on the elements, Lomar was usually close by in one of his hidden stations, taking full advantage of the fact that, as a manmade island, there were certain privileges he had been afforded.

He stretched and took a sip of his coffee as he watched the group make their way up the cliff face. True enough, he could kill them. There was a way to the top of the hill to Station Thirty Five from this very chamber. A short walk down a hallway and an elevator ride through the central core of the cliff face would bring him out on top of the cliff. From there, he could lean over and pick them off with his rifle if he wanted to, and there was nothing any of them would be able to do about it. He wouldn’t do it though. He still had a television show to produce, and even with the editing team working around the clock to control what was outputted to the public, no contestants meant no show, no matter how good the digital wizardry might be. Also, part of him was curious to see how they progressed. This was a tough bunch now that the weak had been weeded out. He saw that they were nearing the summit, and decided how he was going to proceed. His bony fingers danced over the keyboard, bringing up commands, asking for and receiving his passwords granting him access to the secret set of menus. He selected the option he was looking for, was asked to verify h wanted to go on. He moved the pointer to the ‘Y’ button and selected it, then looked at the GPS map on his wrist. The red and yellow dots were joined by a series of green ones all across The Island map. Lomar referred to the map on the wall, a static one split into a grid. He found the coordinates of the sections he was looking for, and typed in more commands. The green dots in area the contestants had already covered disappeared, leaving just the remainder of The Island they hadn’t yet reached. He typed in another command, hesitating as a second window flashed up on screen.

ACTIVATE PHEREMONE EXCRETION IN ZONES 39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48?

He selected yes, and waited as the system processed his commands, and brought up another message, this one in bold and surrounded by a black and yellow border.

WARNING!!

PLEASE ENSURE ALL PERSONEL ARE OUTSIDE OF SELECTED ZONES.

He pushed enter and waited. For a few more seconds. A chime told him he had been successful in his command.

PHEREMONE EXCRETION IN ZONES 39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48 NOW ACTIVE. DO NOT ENTER SELECTED ZONES UNTIL 12 HOURS AFTER PROCESS IS COMPLETE.

Lomar grinned. The pheromone excretion programme had been his idea. When they had first started to populate The Island with dinosaurs, getting them to breed had proved tricky. Not only was The Island large enough that certain species of the same animal might never encounter each other, sometimes there was a certain unwillingness for them to engage in reproduction. The solution had been quite simple. Baseline pheromones from all species of the dinosaurs on The Island had been taken and synthesised in the lab. These had been placed into steel rods which ran across the entire island beneath ground level. When activated, the chosen rods would rise from the ground and excrete the chosen pheromone, and in doing so draw the selected creature to a specific location. By using a series of rods excreting the pheromone in turn, it was possible to manipulate where the creatures would go at any chosen time. Some of the pheromones were for the purpose of breeding; others were designed to invoke aggression and to keep territorial boundaries between species. It was also useful if a team needed to go out into the field to perform maintenance. If such a thing needed to be done, the pheromone secretion system would draw any creatures away from the selected areas, allowing the maintenance crew to get in and do their work. It was the same principal Lomar was working on now. He was keeping the three act structure in mind for his production, and thought the people might appreciate this next build until the grand finale. The public had been introduced to their characters and seen their individual motivations. They had witnessed their gradual breakdown as they had dealt with the trials of survival. What they hadn’t yet experienced, was a full on attack by an aggressive pack of dinosaurs, all between them and the way off The Island. Even without his help, The Island was a killer. He would just give it a helping hand. He liked that idea. He was sure the public would love it too, so would the sponsors. One potential problem was that they knew he was involved now, and so might act differently. He was sure he could fix that. He would just have to wait until they reached the summit of the cliff. Once they had seen what he had in store for them, he was sure that he would be seen as the last of their worries.

TWO

Fingers numb, arms, shoulders and legs screaming in protest, Chase inched closer to the summit. He found a solid foothold, and pressed his forehead against the rock face. He had been expecting to hear Moses scream out and fall almost all the way up the cliff, but he was still there. Still grimacing, still coughing, but just a little way below. Ryder was around ten feet higher. As Chase watched, he pulled himself up and to safety, rolling out of sight. The idea of a rest felt almost heavenly. With renewed determination, he resumed his climb, double checking every hand hold, every position of the foot. If he fell, he knew it would be to certain death. Images of Alex filled his mind, ones which he quashed. He had done what he had to, and even if the others didn’t understand, he knew he had done the right thing. He pulled himself closer to the top. Ryder leaned over. The cocky, arrogant man who had started the journey had gone. Now he was just another tired survivor hoping to live to see another day. Ryder reached down, and Chase took the offered hand. He was pulled up, Ryder’s muscles bunching. He was as strong as he looked. Safely on top of the cliff top, Chase lay on his back, panting as he tried to get his breath back. Everything ached. He had been on the move without stopping for what felt like an eternity now and his body was desperate for respite.

Moses was next to be helped by Ryder. He too looked exhausted, and lay on the ground next to Chase, his breathing sounding wet and ragged. Something inside him was definitely broken. Ryder was the only one who didn’t seem to be exhausted. He crouched on the edge of the cliff, staring out over the plains.

“You better both take a look at this.”

As exhausted as they were, the urgency in his voice compelled them to drag their weary bodies to where he was. They looked down at the moon-bathed landscape which stretched for miles as far as the eye could see.

There were dinosaurs. Countless species, all sizes. All of them were heading in the same direction they were. Ryder let his eyes follow the cliff. It stayed at the same height for around a mile, then tapered off into hills again. The dinosaurs were heading for this lower ground, s drawn to it by means none of them could understand.

“Where are they all going?” Chase whispered.

“Same place as us. South.”

“Why?”

Ryder shrugged. “Who knows? Nothing in this fucking place makes any sense.”

“It’s like they’re migrating, almost,” Chase said.

“Birds migrate. Dinosaurs, I’m guessing don’t. Whatever they’re doing, it’s not a natural thing.”

“Can you all hear me?”

It was Lomar. They whirled around, staring down the rocky plateau and towards the trees which awaited them. All of them as one expected to see him standing there, rifle in hand. But there was no Lomar, no waiting party. Just rocks and in the distance, trees.

“You won’t find me down that way. Look up,” Lomar’s voice said again.

This time, they zeroed in on the source. It was coming from one of the tree cameras. It had been strapped to a scraggy, half-dead pine. The black sightless lens stared at them, Lomar’s voice coming from the tiny speaker below it.

“There you go. Do you see me now?”

They looked at each other, unsure how to react.

“Don’t bother to reply, this isn’t a two way system. Instead, just be quiet and listen to what I have to say.”

Chase glanced at the dinosaurs, which were still making their way across the plains some three hundred feet below.

“I’m broadcasting to you now on a closed private channel. This isn’t being recorded for television. I wanted to speak to you in person. It seems one of you stumbled across my little hobby and has told the others. That, as I’m sure you are aware, changes things as far as this game goes. In my defence, those I hunted, the bodies that were found, were immigrants. I paid good money to own them. Like any animal, it was my choice to do with them what I wanted. If I choose to set them loose on my island then hunt them down like dogs, that’s up to me.”

Chase glanced at Ryder, who was staring at the camera, open-mouthed. Moses had his head down, staring at his boots. Lomar went on.

“That aside, the rules of the game have not changed. One of you will win the ultimate prize. You will win anything you want. Think about that. Anything. Are a bunch of stinking immigrants worth losing that prize over?”

He paused for effect, then continued.

“I’m prepared, under the circumstances to offer an olive branch. Now I’ll admit. I came out here with the sole intention of killing you. All of you. We have footage of lookalikes being eaten by dinosaurs here that were pre-recorded. It would be easy to splice that footage into the feed and let the world believe you have met a gruesome end. Things, however, have changed. The fact is, you have reached further than anyone had ever anticipated. The world is inspired by your journey, and as I have a second season in mind, it would not be good business for me to kill you all over a misunderstanding. So, here is how it will happen. There will be no more interference from me. No more hunting. The three of you will go on and face the challenge of The Island without further interference from me. I won’t bother you, nor will I hunt you.”

Chase looked over his shoulder at the dinosaurs.

“One thing you will have noticed,” Lomar said, “was the sudden movement of The Islands inhabitants towards your general direction. That is a very deliberate move to ensure that the public get the finale they deserve. Instead of being spread about The Island, all of the creatures will be diverted to the southern quarter. There will be no avoidance. No strolling through valleys and skirting around watering holes. There will be constant danger. Constant threat. The fun ride is over. True enough, I’m not hunting you. But you will die. Rest well tonight, my dear contestants. Sleep in the knowledge that you won’t be troubled. Tomorrow, everything that has gone before will seem like child’s play. Tomorrow, the public will see death, and one of you will see freedom.”

The speaker clicked, and Lomar was gone. The three of them stood there, dazed and confused.

“What do we do?” Moses asked.

Chase glanced at Ryder, who met his gaze.

“We make a fire,” Ryder said. “Then we get some rest.”

“You believe him?” Chase said.

“I think so. It’s the perfect ending for him. Push all of the dinosaurs into a small area then make us go through it.”

“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” Moses said.

“Essentially, we’re fucked. All that is for tomorrow though. I don’t know about you, but right now I could use some shuteye.”

“Should we set up a watch?” Chase asked.

Ryder shook his head. “For what?” Everything on this damn island is going to be ahead of us and waiting for us to get there tomorrow. Make the most of it, Riley. Get some shut eye.”

THREE

The small boy ran outside, legs pumping as he moved across the field, sun beating down on his face. The house backed out onto the glorious green Oregon forest. Creeks filled with salmon provided plentiful food for the brown bears which roamed the forest. The boy’s father had warned him about going there, but he couldn’t help himself. To him the woods were a magical place, a place that was his alone. His secret. He plunged into the tree line, the temperature cooler here, that gorgeous smell of pine and tree sap filling his nostrils. He knew the way well. He had been here countless times. He wound through the trees, hopped over a small stream, and then made his way to his secret place.

The natural hollow in the woods was where he had been keeping the cat.

He had borrowed the plastic box they used when they had to take it to the vet. Nobody had noticed the box had gone missing, but they definitely noticed the cat as gone. His father especially loved that cat, and in the four days since it had gone missing, had even gone into town to put posters up in shop windows and on telephone poles offering a reward for information leading to the cat being found safe. Of course, nobody would ever find it and claim the reward.