Dark Island Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 31

Seconds later, the bullets found their way to the ground, piercing holes into it. I then fired in different directions hoping for a blind to hit to pin point it’s location. I managed to spot him, but it did not last long. Seconds later, the creature disappeared into the dense jungle. I weaved at Joe – who was busy regaining his footing- to where the creature had disappeared.
“Joe! It is gone. Both of them!” I yelled.
Scanning the vegetation in bewilderment, I spotted Ronnie’s lifeless body.
“Oh fuck! Ronnie!” I cried out as I made my way towards were he laid. I can’t stop my emotions from bursting out. The grief, the pain, the fear. I couldn’t stop the feeling, that I’m to blame for what had happened. I lost both my friends.
“Jack! Are you okay,” said Joe as he approach me.
“Oh gosh, no. Ronnie! What have they done to you?” he started tearing up.
“We have to go now Jack, we’ll come back for them later.”
“For fuck sakes Joe! I just lost both my friends! Can’t you see that?” I yelled. For a moment, my emotions got the better of me. I didn’t have time to think about anything else, not even the beings. Joe finally managed to pull me up to my feet.
“Now Jack, come on! While we still can!”
We started walking in the opposite direction from where the last Sky-watcher had disappeared. My hands and legs trembled uncontrollably at the thought that one of them could jump out at any moment. My heart beating faster and faster with every step. Joe grabbed his machete tightly to end the nervous shakes, but his legs wouldn’t stop.
“Over there!” Joe bellowed. “The other one’s over there!” he pointed wildly with his index finger. I fired my .38 to wherever his finger pointed.
“Over there! No over there! No, no, over there!” He changed his finger's direction with every word, so did my firing.
“Damn! I can’t keep up. They’re too fast!” I shouted.
The Sky-watcher kept on disappearing and re-appearing, jumping furiously across the jungle floor around us, as if he is trying to mock us. I kept on firing, even though it was blindly and at an unseen target.
‘klick’
“Fuck! I’m out!” I yelled.
My left hand swiftly reached down into my left pocket, pulling out another few rounds. I tried to reload, but with my quivering hands, the bullets fell down to the ground. I hastily dropped to the ground, and grabbed the few bullets. I quickly gazed behind me to see if it’s clear but my eyes caught something else; a bloodied scene. I painfully stared at the altar, on which Harold’s body were lying, including Ronnie’s, stretched out on the ground, lying in puddles of blood. They had met the same fate as the people before us. Killed brutally. The Sky-watchers is responsible for the deaths.
“Quickly said Joe. “I think I know the way to the shipwrecked beach. I think it is this way. But we have to move now!” continued Joe.
I frantically followed Joe as we fled toward the jungle. Loud, horrified screams still hammered in my head and ears as I pushed my sore body through the vegetation, hoping that we will make it to the beach in one piece. My pace slowed as I thought about the screams and terror that I had just witnessed, powerless to intervene.
“Hey Move it, Jack. This is the wrong time to think about everything!” wailed Joe while staring back to check up on me.
I snapped out of my thoughts and started picking up the pace. After a few minutes of running and dodging branches, we finally reached the shipwrecked beach.
“Quick, over there,” said Joe pointing at the ship that he had stranded on. “We can hide in there. The structure of that ship is far more steadier and more secure than that of the others.”
I dashed to the ramp, Joe followed.
“Close it,” I said with a panting voice. Joe darted to the control panel, and slammed it with his fist. The ship’s ramp hissed and vertically closed.
“How is it that this ship still have power? Before crashing here, our ship lost all control of all the electronics.” I asked confusingly.
“It’s only parts of the ship that still have power,” he said. “I don’t know how or what but luckily some still work.”
“Do you think we lost them?”
“I don’t know,” said Joe.”
I sat down beside him, putting my gun down. My breathing still loud and labored. And my body still sore.
Joe’s lips were about to move but I beat him to the words, “Are there anymore ammo here on this ship?” I asked with a still panting voice.
“No, nothing. I moved the last crates not so long ago when I noticed that the Asmats had been poking around here.” Said Joe, placing his hands over half of his face. I just sat there, motionless, staring down at my .38. we need to get the hell out of here somehow. We need to formulate a plan somehow, I thought. We had decisively lost so much; Harold, Ronnie. My friends, gone. I felt a whole lot of guilt building up inside me. But know we know what we are up against. However, knowledge is only power when it is applied.
Joe stood up, walked to the control panel, and slammed a switch upwards to open one of the windows.
“It still works,” he said peering out into the darkness that lay across the jungle.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No, nothing. It’s quiet. Too quiet,” said Joe.
“I say we take a stand and fight. We can try to make use of anything on board as a weapon, perhaps try to lure them in separately.” He continued.
“Are you crazy? They have unique abilities. They can appear and disappear- turn invisible at will. And you saw what they did to Ronnie.” I said. “There is something I find a bit troubling, though,” I continued, “There were two Sky-watchers, yet three people had been sacrificed.”
“The other one could be dead or something.”
“He could be, I don’t know. I’ll leave it to your discretion to make that assumption,” I said turning my gaze to the window.
Joe turned back, facing me, he reached down and pulled a cigarette out of a drawer and lit it.
“I thought you didn’t smoke?” I asked
“I do now. I need something to calm my mind.”
He stretched out his arm holding another one. “Do you want one?” he offered.
“No thanks,” I declined.
A long, uneasy silence passed the room as Joe puffed his cigarette. Smoke clouds swirled and curled in the air.