Dark Island Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 27

I started to regain my consciousness, when an icy wind rustled over my skin from between the crack in the wall. My eyelids slowly opened, from one darkness to another. My face appears to be lacerated; my crimson blood is semidried over the surface of my skin. My wrists are bound with a tightly wrapped roped, it began to lacerate my wrists and forearm. I violently shook my entire body, I felt the vibrations leave and return into my body again. This made the rope dig deeper into my skin. I released a sharp gasp of air and deeply inhaled to recompose myself. My vision slowly returned. My eyes started darting around the ominous cavern, looking for any means of escape. I see Ronnie, a few feet from me, tied up and still unconscious. I tried to sat up more straight, wincing in pain, because of my aching head and sore neck.
“Hello,” I yelled.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this? What do you want from us?”
And then, a blinding light shines in my eyes out of nowhere. Incredible bright- as if I’m staring directly into the sun. Before I can even draw a breath to scream again, a hand clamps down over my mouth, stopping the shriek in my throat
“Be quiet,” a male voice tells me.
The voice doesn’t sound very old. But where’s that terribly bright light coming from?
“ If you promise not to scream and do what I say, then maybe I’ll cut you loose. Okay?” The voice continues. That’s odd this person also speaks English, that probably means he’s not one of them. Perhaps a fellow castaway?
I nod silently.
He takes away his hand. I breath deeply in and out and then started batting my eyes against the light that shines in my face.
“Can you please get that light away from my face?” I hiss. “You’re blinding me, for crying out loud!”
Thankfully, he takes the light away. For a moment, I see spots dancing before my eyes. Then the man – he does not look much older than I am – shines it at his own face. The light travels from his bearded chin upward to the rest of his face, distorting his features with sharp shadows.
“Where did you get that light from? How did you end up here?” I whispered.
“And who the hell are you?”
“My name is not important,” he replies. “I got this lamp from one of the ships that were shipwrecked, after I...we ended up here.”
“Ship...what?” I mumble. “So you’re not one of them? You’re a castaway just like us?”
“One of them?” he asked. “So you have encountered them?” his gaze sharpened. He pulled a piece of log closer and sit on it, facing me directly. His face more intense as he waited for a response.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve killed two of them at some kind of burial grounds. I believe it’s theirs.”
“Two of them?” he asked astonishing.
“Yes, and we believe that they took our friend. He’s been missing for quite some time now.” I said intensively.
“Well, if they’ve got him he’s probably dead by know.” He said.
“How do you know?” I asked with a trembling voice as sweat started to roll down by face.
“ I just do...but to get back to where we were. We were sailing, everything was fine until we discovered a strange looking light in the far distance of the night sky. At first we thought that it was nothing, nothing to worry about perhaps. But it started to appear every night thereafter, but with each passing night we noticed that the light was getting bigger and brighter, until it felt like you’re being blinded by a spotlight almost like those of prison towers. Then, on the last night before all the chaos, the light appeared again, but this time it somehow fried all the electronics on the ship. We lost total control of the ship could not signal anyone. It was then we realized that the light somehow pushed us to this island. And that’s how we ended up on the beach alongside the other ships.” He gestures toward the west side of the island. “I have been stuck here for as long as I can remember.”
I stare at him incredulously.
“What about you?” he continues, moving the light away from his face a little. It now illuminates the cavern wall next to us. He was probably blinding himself too.
“Who are you?” he asked curiously.
“I’m Jack.,” I answer softly. “We also experienced the same thing, the light. And after that it was like something, some kind of force, pulling us into the direction of the island. We’ve encountered a lot of weird and strange things, the sand; mica crystals, the enormous plants, the tribe and the list goes on. Everything here is messed up. We have been trying to survive throughout this place, the fear, the horror. Fighting, hiding, and running to stay alive. Starvation. And now we’ve lost our friend and you think he’s probably dead!” my voice lit up as the words fell out my mouth.
“Yes, he may be for all we know.”
“How can you be so sure about that? Where’s your people?”.
“Their all dead! Do you hear me!” his voice staggered through the air like a lightning strike. “I saw them getting killed; torched and burned, until there were nothing left, only a few bones! They were screaming in agony as I stood there helplessly. I tried to help believe me! But there was nothing I could do! My own...my own people, dead!” he said with a raging voice.
“Do you believe in the devil, Jack?” he asked, his voice now more calmer and intent.
“No.”
“Well I do! I’ve stared him directly in his face...his featureless face. A being not like any other. A being of no human morals. Stronger than any man I’ve ever seen. You think you have seen it all on this island? Witnessed it all? Do you? This whole fucking island is a death trap! Oh, you’ll see, this island will make you a 'believer', you just wait and see for yourself.”
I raise an eyebrow. What did he just say? What is he talking about? He obviously has no clue what’s going on, faceless beings? He probably lost his mind after spending all this time on a deserted island. I thought to myself.
“You’re crazy! You’re a fool to believe in something like that!”
He chuckles. “Is that what you think about me?”
I fall silent. Only now do I realize how wired and abnormal all this sounds. I’m sitting here in a cave, tied up, and talking and listening to a mad man, who lost his mind. On top of that, going on about faceless, human-like beings. Whatever next?
“Yes, that’s what I think,” I say snippishly. “You have been on this island for so long that you have started to lose your mind.”
“You’ll be surprised,” he said. “Now listen up. I’m going to cut you loose. If you try anything stupid, you’ll regret it,” he said, leaning closer with a small rusty knife.
“I won’t.”
My eyes scanned his face as he moved closer to me, which looks less threatening in the half darkness than when he used that lamp to illuminate his pale figures. His long, light brown hair is clearly visible in the light hitting the cave wall. He bent down, took the knife, and cut the ropes loose around my wrists. His attention drifted upward to the dog tags around my neck. He gently grabbed hold of them with one hand and scanned it.
“This...this is mine,” he said cocking a brow.
“What?” I asked with a shock in my voice. For a moment, I was stunned by what he had just said. I breath in a gasp of air trying to make sense of it all, and my mind. Could this be him? I thought.
“Are you Joe Franklin?”