Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 58226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, Cy. Jesus, man, I’m sorry. I’m just fucking starving.” Then he blinks as I stare at him. “Did you hear that?”
Oh no he does not. “You’re not going to fucking distract me,” I tell him. “I should kill you right now. I should fucking kill you.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he growls. “And listen.”
Still pinning him beneath me, I do. But I don’t hear the crash through the underbrush or sound of human life I expect, but something very, very different. The sound’s so foreign to my ears, it takes me a moment to realize what’s happening.
It’s… people. Chattering.
“What the fuck is that?” I ask him in a whisper.
“If you let me up, I can help you look,” he says, glaring. “Christ, I’m sorry, okay? I won’t take your food.”
I hold his gaze with mine and give him a warning I mean to my core. “If you step one goddamn toe out of line again, I will end you. You will do exactly what I say, or I’ll slice your goddamn throat. You get me?”
I fucking mean it, and he knows it. I’ve schooled this son of a bitch with more than one beating, and it’s clear he remembers. This time is different, though. This time my warning holds more weight.
He swallows, his eyes wide and a thank fuck, fearful. “Yes,” he says, nodding. “I get it. I made a mistake. Now get off me.”
With a reluctant growl, I do. And just to keep things quiet while we figure out where the voices are coming from, I take the scorching meat out from the flames with a stick and toss it on some clean leaves. “You get half, but not yet. Let it cool, and you don’t touch it until I give you permission.” I let him live but he’s under my command now and he’ll listen.
He swallows hard but nods. It’s a good sign.
“There,” he says. “On the beach. Look.”
I drag Will in front of me where I can see him and look to where he points. I blink in surprise. For once, I’m glad he’s with me, because if he wasn’t, I’m not sure I’d believe what I see. I’d convince myself I was hallucinating or something.
There’s a ship. A huge cruise ship or something, anchored just off our coast. And aboard the deck are at least a dozen people dressed in clothes you’d wear on vacation… swim suits and sunglasses. It’s so surreal, we both watch in amazement. My heartbeat accelerates, sweat breaking out over my body.
People.
Civilized people.
Who are they? Are they here to hunt us? Will they take the limited food we have?
“Get them off this island,” I growl. I blink and shake my head. What the hell am I saying? “Get them off.” I poise my slingshot at the ship inanely, as if somehow, I can shoot rocks at them and make them retreat.
“Maybe they have food,” he says in a fevered whisper. “Cy, what if they have food? Cruise ships have… oh, God, everything.” He swallows, and saliva drips down the corner of his mouth. “Let’s go, Cy. We need to get them.”
“Don’t let them go. Call to them. We have to fucking call them and get off this island!” I whisper, my pulse pounding. “We need to kill them,” I amend, as if this makes perfect sense.
“All of them,” he agrees. “Kill them and take their food and water.”
“We’ll deal with killing them when we find them.”
There’s something off about this conversation, but I’m too desperate to care what it is. We need food and we need it now.
“Heyyyy!” Will shouts, screaming so loudly my ears ring.
“Up here!” I scream, louder than him. “Help!”
They’ve got to hear us, but no one even looks our way. But we’re deep in the woods and we can’t run down to them. The only way down is back to the cave, then down to the rocks, then across the beach. We can’t get to them from up here.
“Go,” I tell him. “Get down there. We have to go.”
We pause just long enough to grab the roasted carcass. I clumsily tear it in half and give him the larger portion, shoving the meat in my mouth as we run back toward the cave. I choke it down, not caring it’s nearly burnt and tasteless. My stomach growls appreciatively. It’s not delicious, but it’s food.
“We have to get to the cave,” I tell him. “If we don’t, there’s no way back down to the beach.”
“Jesus,” he mutters. We’re both panting, when I stumble. I go flying headfirst, blocking my head with my arm, but he grabs my arm and yanks me back up, and we’re running again, the two of us. We’ve been here all this time and never once seen a boat, a ship, nothing at all that would indicate human life until now.