ARK: The Island

Chapter 2: Extinct

The longer I walk the more I am convinced that this is not a dream. After wandering up the beach a ways, I round a large bed and see... Ok Josi, get your head out of the sand. Seriously. A brontosaurus? Nope, not happening. Really? My mind keeps thinking on without me. Oh shut up. Your dreaming. Am I though? I walk up to the thing, and then I do something stupid. I touch it. Just to be sure. All I feel is scaly, yet smooth hide under my fingers. So it is real. Wow. I just touched a brontosaurus. Talk about crazy. Wait until... until what? I don't know a way out of here. Nor do I know a way back to Kentucky, or maybe just the USA in general would be nice... Or am I already there? Oh gosh, am I going insane? Ok, calm down. You probably just have a fever, or amnesia, or something... My world spins, then goes black.

I wake up to darkness. The sun is going down. The sun is going down. I need shelter, and fast. Who knows what comes out at night in this crazy place. I run quickly to the nearest tree, a kapok tree, by the looks of it. How did I know that? Doesn't matter. I reach the top just as the sun sets. And that's when all hell breaks loose.

Immediately, a pack of velociraptors burst out of the woods, straight towards my tree. They stop underneath it and try to jump up to me. I grab sticks and leaves and whatever else I can get my hands on and hurl it down at them. After a while, they stop jumping, and just stare at me with their beady intelligent eyes. They know they can't get to me, but they can still terrorize me.

After about 20 minutes the raptors seem to give up and leave. I tried to stay awake most of the night, but next thing I know, my eyes are opening and the sun is rising. Yet another day. Thinking about last night, I make sure there is nothing around my tree before I get down. As soon as I land, I feel something. Starvation. Land to skies, I haven't eaten since I got here! There is nothing on the beach, so I turn to the water, and without thinking, I dive in. What I see almost takes my breath away, which would be unfortunate under water. Directly in front of me, there is a colorful reef with all kinds of fish in them. But right after that, there is a massive drop off straight to the bottom of the ocean, I assume. I quickly get out. Ok, there's food, but I need tools first. Maybe a spear?

Three hours later, I tie the last plant fiber into a tight knot on the end of my spear. Not perfect, but it will do. The last few hours of making it however, were brutal. I spent at least and hour pulling thatch off of some stupid trees in the blazing hot sun, only to find out I needed wood as well. That took another hour. The only good thing was that I found a source of food in the process. The red and blue berries on some of the plants are indeed edible! And delicious, at that. I sit down under my kapok tree and admire my work as the sun begins to sink behind the clouds. Then I think about those raptors again. What if they come back? Then I'll be ready, I think confidently as I pick up the leftover pieces of thatch.

Another hour and I'm back in my tree, alert and ready. At first it's silent, then I hear it: the soft scuffling sound of feet in the sand. I turn around just as a raptor leaps halfway up the tree in an obvious attempt to get a chunk of my face. I pull back the string on my newly acquired sling shot and hit the raptor square in the muzzle. It screeches in surprise and backs off, as does the rest of the pack. Eventually, they leave, and I am left to myself again. Although proud of my victory, I can't help but to think what else might be on this island. Or is it an island at all? If there is raptors and brontosaurs, does that mean there are T-rexes and pteranodons too? What would it be like to come face to face with one of those? Not good, I imagine. As these thoughts swirl through my head, I fall into a deep slumber.