Z Island Series (Book 1): Escape From Z Island Read online

“You know, I’ve just about had it with you, you stupid-”

  Sarah slams the rock over Mike’s head causing him to pass out. Melissa jumps with shock, but Sarah gives her no time to react and they make a run for it.

  “Don’t look back!” she reminds Melissa.

  Meanwhile, Sam and David are trying to lose the infected, but they are too close to them. While they’re running, Sam hears water.

  “You hear that?” Sam yells while he’s still running.

  David hears it too, but his mind focused on running away from the infected. They ran up to a cliff in which both of them manages to stop just in time. It was a pool of water at the bottom of the cliff, but when Sam and David turn around, the infected sends all of them plunging into the water.

  Falling underwater, Sam tries to get an advantage at swimming away, but two of the infected attacks him from both below and above him. Sam kicks the bottom infected off him and it sinks to the bottom. Sam then grabs the other infected and stabs it in the head with Mike’s weapon. Sam bursts from underwater, gasping for air and David, who is already out of the water, call on him. David sees the other infected behind Sam, but he doesn’t worry because he sees that they are slowly sinking into the water. David reaches out to Sam, grabs his hand, and snatches him out of the water. Breathing heavily, Sam begins to laugh. Serious enough, David looks at him, “What?”

  “Well, for one, we found the water, but it’s no good,” he laughs, “It’s filled with infected blood now.”

  David thinks about it and begins laughing too. Sam gets up and extends his hand to David to help him up.

  “You know what I’ve been thinking?” David asks.

  “What’s that?”

  “How many of those fuckers are there? There wasn’t many of us, to begin with.”

  Sam eyes widen, “So that means there are others scattered around the island?”

  “It’s a thought.”

  David looks at the water, “Man, those things are scary.”

  “Thank God they can’t swim. Okay, we have to keep going. We need to find Sarah and the others. They probably headed back to the cave. Once we find them, we can go search for other survivors and figure a way off this goddamn island.”

  “If there’s still others.”

  “Hey. Their alive and so are others. We have to believe that.”

  “I know, but we have to be prepared for the worst.”

  “This is the worst,” Sam replied.

  “This is a bad idea. Those things are still out there. Going back to look for Sarah would be dangerous. Can’t we just go around?”

  “Look around David! They are everywhere. If it means they may still be alive, I’m going. That goes for the other survivors also! We might as well go straight forward.”

  Sam starts to walk up the cliff, but David grabs his arm, “Hey, Sam! I’m coming with you.”

  “I know.” Sam continues walking.

  David scoffs and follows behind him, “No you didn’t.”

  While headed back to the cave, Sam ran many scenarios in his head on how the outcome could turn out and it made him even more nervous.

  “The truth is, I do think about what would happen if Sarah and the group were dead. I just don’t want to believe it yet.”

  “I understand. I just don’t want you to give your hopes up to just thinking that they will be alive.”

  “Yeah.” Sam looks away, but he knew deep down, he wanted to believe that they were all right.

  Soon they arrived at the cave, but the area was clear. There were infected bodies on the ground and blood everywhere, but Sarah and the others didn’t show. Sam starts panting because he wanted Sarah to be there and he starts to think what David said. David walks up to Sam and lays his hand on his shoulder.

  “I know what I said, but this doesn’t mean-”

  “Yeah. I know. I just wanted to see Sarah. I can’t lose her too. I already lost one friend.”

  David looks around and tries to cheer Sam up, “Hey, there are no guts or anything around, so they have to be alive.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Well…” David shuts up and walks around.

  “So, what now?”

  Sam looks at David and sighs, “Now we keep going. Find survivors and hopefully find a way off this island.”

  “What about Sarah and the others?”

  “We’ll look for them on the way.”

  “Well, can we find food first?” David point to the rabbits, “Our food was someone else’s meal apparently.”

  “Yeah. And water too.” Sam mentioned.

  “But…What are we going to use for the water?”

  “Huh. I never thought about that. We’ll think about it as we go.”

  A branch snaps behind them and they both turned around and pointed their weapon towards the noise. A girl came out of the bushes with brunette hair and brown eyes. She has terror in her eyes as she glances at them.

  “Oh my God!” she whispers.

  The girl walks towards them, but Sam points the weapon at her, “Wait! How do we know you’re not infected?”

  The girl scoffs, “Uh…because I’m not chewing on your bones right now!”

  “But you could be bitten.”

  “I’m not.”

  “So, you wouldn’t mind if we search you?”

  David walks up to her, but she pulls a large pocketknife out of her back pocket and points it at them.

  “Look, I’m not infected and I am not letting you touch me!”

  David puts up his head and backs up, “Okay, take it easy.”

  David continues to back up while the girl kept her knife up, but Sam kept his weapon up also.

  “What’s your name?” Sam asked as he slowly lets down his weapon.

  The girl decides to lower her knife and responds, “My name is Jessica.”

  Sam notices what Julie said on the ship before it crashed, “Is your sister named Julie?”

  “Yes, I’m looking for her now. We split up. How did you know?”

  “I was talking to her before we crashed.”

  “Have you seen her since then?”

  “No. Where was the last time you’ve seen her?”

  “Going that way, a couple of minutes ago.”

  A scream roars through the woods and Jess freaks out. “I know that scream!” She takes off running towards the sound and Sam and David runs with her. Jessica starts screaming as infected surrounded a body.

  “Julie!” Jessica screams.

  Sam was just as shocked as Jess when they had seen someone they cared about eaten alive. Jess pulls out her knife and starts stabbing the infected in their heads with the assist of Sam and David.

  They finally clear the way of infected and Jess starts crying and drops next to Julie’s body.

  “I’m so sorry Julie. I’m so sorry.” she cried.

  Julie gurgled on her own blood while trying to stay alive. Blood gushes out of her throat and arms and Sam could barely watch, so he walks away. Julie starts to cry as Jessica pulls out her knife. She pulls Julie close to her and lifts her head up.

  “I’m sorry,” Jessica stabs Julie in the head and watches her die instantly. Jessica lets her go and rolls on the ground next to her dead sister. Sam holds back his tears, but one manages to escape his eye and slides down his cheek.

  “I’m sorry Jessica,” David says.

  She remains on the ground crying while Sam walks up to her, trying to help her up. When Jessica gets up, she hugs Sam and continues crying. Sam hugs her back, but he knew that she is suffering the most horrific moment ever, but she must be strong to survive.

  “I know this is hard for you, but we have to go. There isn’t enough time.”

  Jessica backs off Sam and wipes her face, “I’ll be okay. I have to be.”

  “I’m sorry Jessica.”

  “Call me Jess.”

  She walks over Julie’s body and looks at her deeply and emotionally, “I’ll survive…only for you.” Je
ss wiped her tears and walked away.

  She approaches Sam and David, “I know I barely know you guys, but can I go with you? I figured we would be safer together.”

  “Yeah. Sure. We’re trying to find my friend and other survivors.”

  “Okay, it seems like you were kind of looking for me in a way.”

  “Yeah,” David replies.

  “Okay, let’s go.” Sam leads David and Jess to find other survivors.

  Sarah and Melissa are still running from Mike, whom they’ve now lost, and they stop at a small log. Melissa, breathing heavy, pushes her hair to the back of her head and sits down. Sarah also sits down next to her and exhales.

  “I’m glad you did that,” Melissa said with appreciating voice.

  “Me too.”

  “Now I’m not alone with him.”

  “Yeah. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

  “Thanks.”

  When Sarah looks up, infected runs and tackles both of them. Both of them scream and it echoes into the sky.

  “Did you hear that?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, and it is close. It might be-” David replies.

  “Sarah!”

  Sarah tries to get up, but another infected comes at her, but she manages to hold it off with her hand. She then notices other infected coming after her, but she kicks the infected into one another. She pushes the infected off Melissa and picks her up.

  “Go!” she shouts.

  Sarah and Melissa start running, but the infected quickly ran behind them. They ran as fast as they could, but the infected were too fast for them. Suddenly, Jess and Sam attack the two infected while David gets the third infected. He stabs the infected in the head and its blood spits on his chest. Sam swings at the infected but miss and cut its stomach open. With its guts hanging out, it still came at him, but he finally slices the top portion of its head off, killing it instantly. Jess struggled with the infected, but Sam helps her out and stabs the infected in the head.

  Sarah turns around and notices them killing the infected. She runs up and hugs Sam, “We can’t separate again.”

  “Noted,” Sam replied.

  “Hey, where’s Mike?” David asked.

  “I knocked him out and we ran.”

  “Saw that coming,” David replies.

  “Who’s this?” Sarah asked.

  “This is Jess. Julie’s sister. We met her right before we came to you.”

  “Have you seen Julie?”

  “Julie didn’t make it,” Jess responded with a depressed face.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Are you okay?” Sarah asked Melissa.

  “Yeah. I’m fine,” she replies.

  “Ok, I hate to interrupt, but we have to keep moving. We made noise and they’ll be coming any minute now,” Sam demanded.

  “Can we just go back to the cave?” Sarah asked.

  “You guys found a cave?” Jess interrupts.

  “No, we can’t. Mike probably went back there and more infected might be there as well.”

  “But we have to! Infected are out here too you know.”

  “I know that, but we have to stick together. We keep moving if we want to get off this island now!”

  “I just want us to be safe.”

  “Me too. We’ll be safe though. I promise.”

  “Alright, so what’s the plan? We have to stop somewhere.”

  “Right now? Make weapons and search the island. Hopefully get off.”

  “Sounds good, but what weapons?”

  Sam smirks, “I have an idea about that.”

  Sam and the group walk deeper into the forest in hope to find other survivors or something better; a way off the island.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  HELP

  Jess blows the extra wood shavings off of her weapon, a stick that was shaved at the end and made a sharp point, while Sam and the others are preparing their weapons too. They were at a new spot that was in the middle of an uphill and downhill. David was putting up sharp sticks around them and had a fire in the center with food.

  “Well, thank God we found food,” Melissa smiles.

  “I’ll second that,” Sarah smiled back.

  Three rabbits piled up in the center of them and they all seemed to be enjoying the rabbit very well.

  “Only if we had water.” David groans.

  “Alright. This should do,” Jess says. “How’s it going for you guys?”

  Sam observes everyone else’s weapon and nods his head, “Yeah. We’re good to go. That was smart of me. I mean with the sticks and all.”

  Sticks surrounded them in a circle, so if any infected comes at them, the sticks will stop them, which could give them time. Jess, however, did not agree.

  “Yeah, but we really won’t be here long anyway, so in a way, it’s time wasted.”

  “At least we have something to run to in case we come back. Maybe we could set the sticks around the cave we found and that’ll be our camp to keep this time.” Sam jokes.

  “So, we had food with no water, we had rest, so now we should be good to go, right?” David asked.

  “Yeah, I guess so, but we have to find water,” Sam responds.

  “We will,” David says.

  Melissa stares at the sharp end of the stick and imagined how she would be able to protect herself from now on, but Sarah interrupted her thoughts.

  “Hey. Ready to go?”

  “Yeah.” Melissa stands up and wipes the dirt off her butt.

  “Alright, our priority now is to find other survivors,” Sam announces.

  “Hey,” David questioned, “What if we find part of the ship on the island? You know, the other part?”

  Sam looks at David puzzled, “Well, then we search it I guess. Maybe there might be supplies we need to get off this island, but that’s highly unlikable due to the other one.”

  “Yeah, supplies as in...” David indicated Sam and the others to think harder, but Sam shrugs his shoulders in confusion and everyone else just stares at him.

  “Supplies. Kits. Radios. Help.”

  “No. Sorry, but no. There is no way that could even be possible. That ship ripped apart. You saw the other half of the ship! Probably all the supplies and things are gone and no kit has no radio,” Sarah explains, “And if the ship is there and if a radio is there… we have been here for 2 days. It’s probably no good now.”

  “Shit.” David turns away feeling dumb in the mind and bites his fingernails as he thinks of another idea.

  Sam clears up the confusion by giving them a proper plan, “So, now that that’s over, we can go back to finding other survivors, yes?”

  Everyone agrees and Sam smiles, “Okay then. Let’s go.”

  “No! I can’t go!” Melissa yells. She throws down the stick and starts panicking, “I can’t go! I can’t!”

  Sarah puts down her stick and walks towards Melissa, “Hey. I need you to calm down now!”

  Melissa starts freaking out and swings at Sarah while she tries to calm her down. Before Jess gets to her, Melissa instantly faints.

  “Great!” Jess throws her hands up and walks away.

  “So, what now?” David asks.

  Sam grunts with disappointment and walks to Melissa. He squats down and begins to pick her up to lean her against the tree trunk.

  “Ok. None of us will clearly carry her because that would too big of a risk.” Sam exhales.

  “I’ll stay with her,” Sarah suggests.

  Sam denies her quickly, “No. No, that is dangerous. I cannot do that. You know what happened before. Plus, you just said we shouldn’t split up.”

  “Yes, you can. Look, I understand why you don’t want me to stay, but I can take of myself-”

  “It’s more than just taking care of yourself now. You need more than just yourself now.”

  “Then I’ll stay with her,” David suggested.

  Sam looks at both of them, but he suddenly got the feeling that there no poin
t in arguing anymore.

  “Ok, fine,” he says, “But I need you guys to please be safe, okay?”

  “We’ll be fine,” David responds.

  Sam looks at Jess, “You ready?”

  “Been ready.”

  “Okay, we’ll be back before dark. Promise.” Sam tells them.

  Sam and Jess head out while David keeps watch and Sarah sits next to Melissa.

  “This is really showing how some people take situations like this,” Sarah tells David.

  “Yeah. Not everyone is fit to survive like this. Not with things like this wandering about. And with someone like her, it’ll definitely be hard to survive.”

  Sarah looks at Melissa because she knows everything that David just explained was true. Melissa was not fit to survive in this world, but Sarah knew that she was there to protect her. That was the only way for someone like her to survive, but what does that mean for protectors?

  In New York, Tina walks to her desk in an office building downtown and she sits down. She opens her computer and a picture of her and Sam shows up as her wallpaper. She stares at the picture and worries about Sam. Her friend, Sally, walks up to her and caught Tina in the middle of her daydream, “Hey you.” Sally says with excitement.

  “Hey.”

  “So, he’s off, huh?”

  “Yeah. I’m nervous for him. I just want him to have an enjoyable time before he goes off to college, you know?”

  “Yeah. I said the same about my son, but I learned we just have to trust that they can take of themselves now. Our job raising them is through. Well, a mother’s job is never done, but you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah,” Tina continues looking at the picture on her computer.

  “Ugh, would you relax already?” Sally said in a joyful tone. She turns Tina away from the computer and looks directly into her eyes, “Your son is safe. I can guarantee it. I’d stake my life on it.”

  As soon as Sally make that comment, Tina glimpsed at the television and notices that a news report was airing about the ship Sam was on.

  “Oh, my God.” Tina jumps out of her seat and rushes up to the television to turn it up.

  “Still no word about the disappearance of ‘The Sanctum’, the ship that was supposed to be docking in the Bahamas early this morning. The marine and Coastal guards are trying to figure out what may have caused the ship to disappear…” the television’s sound decreases in Tina’s mind as she froze with the thought of another one of her children dying all the exact same way. Sally runs up to her and hugs her. Tina begins to cry in her arms, “My baby! He’s missing! I cannot lose him too! I can’t!”