Chapter One

The first thing that I register is the blazing sun burning on my skin. It is hot. Like over 100 degrees hot. But this is not the most shocking thing that I observe. What I register next is this; I am tied up in a tree.

Daring to look down, I see that I am a good 25 feet above the ground. My heart begins to pound in my chest like a hammer and beads of sweat roll down my face. Where the hell am I?

When I try to recall where I am, my mind is foggy, like a swirling mist. I can't remember anything. Sheer panic floods throughout my body when I comprehend that I am trapped up in a tree high above the ground. Thick tawny ropes bind my arms and legs to a branch jutting out from the trunk of the tree, and I am extremely uncomfortable.

"HELP!" I call out, my voice ragged. The only reply I get is the twittering of birds. Helpful. I twist my head around, looking for any sign of help, and realize that I am in some sort of tropical jungle.

"Please someone, HELP ME!" I cry out again desperately. But no one is there; I am alone.

"Shit" I mutter under my breath. My shoulders are beginning to throb with the pain from being twisted backwards. What the hell am I going to do. I suddenly begin to hysterically cry, out of the fear, pain and confusion that I am experiencing. I know that crying won't help me at all, but there is nothing else that I can do. The tears stream down my face and free-fall 25 feet down to the ground. Then suddenly, there is a noise that makes me stop crying immediately and freeze in utter terror.

Crrrrack.

It's the tree branch, bending down from my weight.

Holy shit, I am going to die. The branch slowly begins to dip down. Panic floods throughout my body like ice; I can't move or cry. All I can do is pray. Hard.

I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for the moment when the branch will completely snap and I will plunge to my death. I continue to pray, even though I know that I am doomed.

Then, a miracle happens.

Chapter Two

I hear a boy's voice shout from below. At first, I think I am just imagining it, but then I know it's real when I hear it again.

"I'm coming up to get you!" it yells.

The only thing is I will probably be dead on the ground by the time he reaches the top of the tree. Somehow, the branch hasn't snapped yet, but it is hanging on for dear life. I pray some more, my eyes still squeezed shut. Then, I hear the sound of the boy quickly climbing up the tree. How the hell can he climb a tree that fast?

"I...I don't think you can get me out of this!" I cry, my voice shaking.

Even if he does make it in time before the branch snaps, how will he cut me out and not have me fall?

"Yes, I can. Don't panic" His voice is now very close.

"How?" I ask.

"I'm going to pull you towards me then cut the ropes. Don't worry, you won't fall. I promise"

Something about the confident tone of his voice assures me that maybe, I might make it out of this.

"Just stay as still as you can" he says.

I feel his hand reach out and grab the ropes around tied around me. He then gently pulls me closer towards him. I precariously slide along the branch, praying to God that the branch doesn't snap now, when I am so close to being rescued.

"Okay, now I'm going to cut the ropes" he says.

"With what?" I ask, my voice shaking.

"With my pocketknife" he replies.

He then begins to cut the thick ropes, which takes some time. Somehow, the branch still hasn't snapped. Finally, all of the ropes are cut.

"Now, on the count of three, get up and come right into my arms"

"How is this going to work, aren't we both going to fall?" I asked, panicked.

"No, I'm standing on a sturdy branch. I'm going to count down now. One..."

"I can't do this" I say.

"Yes you can. Two..." This is not going to work.

"THREE!"

Bracing myself for the worst, I jump up and fly forward towards the boy. I feel his strong arm wrap around me, pulling me close to his side. There is the sound of a deafening crack, then the branch that I was on just a moment ago falls to the ground. I am panting and my heart is still thundering inside my chest, but I am alive. I look up into the face of the boy who saved me and my heart skips I beat. He is extremely handsome, with blue eyes and dark hair.

"Thanks" I whisper breathlessly, my eyes still locked with his.

He smiles, his flawless jawline curving into a perfect smile. I know that I shouldn't be thinking about how hot this guy is while I'm dangerously standing at the top of a tree, but I can't help it.

"Let's get down" he says.

Right. I completely forgot the fact that we still have to get down from here. Great.

"Um...how are we going to do that?" I ask uncertainly.

"The same way I came up, just going down. I'll go first, and you follow. Just hold on tight to the branches" he says, then turns around to begin climbing back down.

Holy shit, I cannot climb down trees. Especially ones that are 25 feet above the ground.

"I don't think I can do this" I blurt out, my nerves taking the best of me.

He turns around, looking back at me, then says, "How about this; I'll go down first then I'll wait right at the bottom when you come down. So just in case you fall, which you won't, I'll be there to catch you"

"Okay" I whisper, nodding.

The boy nods back, then begins climbing down the tree with ease. I'll never understand how some people are so daring. About a minute later, he reaches the bottom, then looks up to me and shouts, "Your turn!"

Shit.

After taking a deep breath, I take a slow step forward then stretch out my right leg to the branch below. Fear pulsates throughout my entire body, making me feel stiff and rigid.

"I really don't think that I can do this!" I cry, after wobbling slightly.

There's a pause, then he shouts back, "Trust me, you can! I'm right here in case anything happens, I promise"

After taking another deep breath, and lower my left leg down onto the branch below. Woohoo, I have officially descended 4 inches. All this time, I have completely forgotten the question of "Where the hell am I?". That's something that I need the answer to, but right now my only focus is getting to the ground not via falling.

Surely but slowly, I continue to scale down the tree. A few times I lose my footing and scream, but then I regain my balance by wrapping my arms around the tree trunk.

"You're almost there!" he shouts.

Thank god.

Then, to my relief, my foot touches the ground. I hop down, then turn to face him.

"See, you made it" he says, smiling.

I nod breathlessly, smiling back.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"Tessa" I reply. That's about the only thing that I can remember. I also remember that I am 17 years old.

"I'm Tristan. Nice to meet you Tessa" he says.

Then, it finally kicks in. Where the hell am I?

I slowly spin around, looking at the surroundings. We are in the middle of a dense jungle, and I have no recollection at all of where I am or how I got here.

"You're probably wondering where you are, right?" Tristan asks

I nod. Yes, it's not your common, everyday situation that you wake up with no memory, tied in up in a tree in the middle of some tropical jungle.

"Hate to tell you this, but we have no clue where we are or what's going on either. We all woke up here with no memory except for our names"

"We? There's others?" I ask, looking back at him.

"Yeah, with you now that makes twelve of us on this island" Tristan says.

"Twelve?" I whisper.

"Yeah, twelve teenagers. Six girls, six boys. We all woke up here today"

"Where are the others?" I ask

"Everyone else is on the beach right now. I went into the jungle to check this island out when I heard you screaming for help. It took me a little bit to find you, but then I did" Tristan explains.

"Did everyone else wake up tied up in a tree?" I ask

"Some did, but some others woke up in other places. I woke up on the beach" he says

Hah. I would of much rather woken up on a beach than stuck up in a tree 25 feet above the ground.

"Well let's go back to the beach" Tristan says.

It's taking my mind some time to process all of this. I am confused. Why can't I remember anything? And why are there twelve teenagers all on this island with no recollection of what happened?

"Do you think that there's others that we haven't found yet?" I ask

Tristan shrugs. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. C'mon let's go" he says

We begin to walk through the thick jungle. The only noise is the loud chattering of exotic birds perched up high in the canopies of the tall trees. Minutes pass by as we continue walking. Somehow, Tristan knows his way through the jungle. If it were me on my own, I would be completely lost. Everything looks exactly the same.

"Here we are" Tristan finally says. We have finally arrived at the beach. The sun blazes down on the white sand beach that stretches for miles along the shore. Crystalline royal blue water laps up on the shore. It's the bluest, clearest water that I have ever seen in my life.

"There they are" Tristan says, pointing to the right. Farther down the beach, there is a group of people. We begin to walk towards them and my heart beats faster. When we are close, they see us and turn around. I can already hear them murmuring amongst themselves.

Then a girl shouts out, "Who the hell is she!?"

Chapter Three

A blond haired girl stands up, glaring at me.

"Where'd she come from?" she exclaims

The rest of them just stare at me silently. Wow, I feel very welcome.

"This is Tessa. I found her up in a tree in the jungle. She's one of us" Tristan says.

One of us. Who are we?

A few of the kids smile at me, but the rest of them continue to stare at me as if I have three heads.

"So how many of us are there now? Twelve?" a boy with red hair asks.

Tristan nods. "Six girls, six boys" he says

"Do you know why we're here?" the blond girl says to me. There is something about the tone of her voice that rubs me the wrong way. There is a hint of menace in her voice.

I shake my head no.

"Great. We're trapped here on this island and no one has a clue where we are or how we got here. I want to go home" she says bitterly.

"Jessica, you think that anyone wants to be here? Of course not, everyone wants to be home. But we're not so we've got to figure things out here" the red haired boy says to her.

Jessica turns around then stomps away to the water. I can already tell that I do not like her.

"Hey, where did Ian go?" Tristan asks.

"He went into the jungle to look for water" someone replies. Water. It suddenly hits my how thirsty I am.

"There's no clean water?" I ask nervously.

Tristan shakes his head no.

"As of right now, no. But there has to be some source of clean water out somewhere in the jungle. We'll keep looking for it and find it eventually" Tristan says

"It would be nice if we found it before we die from dehydration" Cara, one of the girls says sarcastically.

I suddenly feel dizzy and overheated. The sun is beating down, bright and shining in the cloudless sky. All of a sudden, everything is too bright. I shut my eyes, wobbling slightly.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tristan asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just need to get into the shade for a little" I say. I need to get out of this blazing sun now.

"How about you go sit in the jungle for a little bit? Just don't go too far" Tristan says

I nod, then turn around and begin to walk back towards the jungle.

"Hey, are you sure that you're okay?" I hear Tristan call out.

I turn around and say yes, even though I am not sure if that is the truth.

As I walk back towards the jungle, I feel everyone's eyes on me, but I don't care. I finally arrive into the shade. Sitting down on a rock, I rest my head on my knees. Exhaustion immediately creeps into my body and my head begins to pound. I begin to think things through, trying so hard to remember why am I here and what is going on. But I can't. No matter how hard I try to remember, my memory is a blank slate.

Everything is just so confusing. Why are we here? Who are these kids? Where are we? Then, a thought occurs to me that I hadn't thought of before; maybe this is all just a bad dream? Maybe I will wake up in a few hours back in my own bed living my normal life. But something deep inside of me tells me that this is reality.

Suddenly, I begin to cry. And it's not just crying; it's loud sobs that shake my entire body. I don't want to be on this strange island with these strangers. I want to be home. The tears spill out uncontrollably from my eyes as I continue to sob, gasping for breath.

Then suddenly, I freeze when I realize that I'm not alone in the jungle.

Chapter Four

My entire body tenses when I hear the snap of a twig behind me. Someone is here, watching me. I slowly turn my head around and my heart skips a beat. A boy is standing behind me, about ten feet away, just staring at me. My cheeks immediately burn bright red when I register that he saw me sobbing my eyes out. And they burn ever more when I realize how hot the boy is.

He is just standing there, his arms crossed and a stolid look on his face. And damn, he is hot as hell. The next few moments, I am frozen, just staring at him. Then I finally break out of it and begin to stutter, "I...um...I..." I cannot make any words. It's as if I have forgotten how to put words together to make a sentence.

"Who are you?" he asks brusquely, his tone of voice sharp and clipped. He continues to stare at me, his dark eyes burning into mine.

"Tessa" is all that I manage to say. I quickly wipe the tears from my face.

"You weren't there before" he says. The tone of his voice is still cold and impassive.

"Yeah, I know. I...well...Tristan found me. I...well...I was tied up in a tree" I stutter. Smooth, Tessa, smooth.

He continues to stare at me, not breaking his gaze. Something about him is making me feel uncomfortable.

"Why were you crying?" he asks. I am suddenly filled with anger.

"Why??? Because I'm confused, okay? Because I have no clue where the hell I am, who any of you guys are, or how I got here!" I exclaim.

There is a long silence, then I say, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just really frustrated"

"We all are, aren't we?" he says.

Just then, I turn to see Tristan coming towards us.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asks me. He then turns and looks at the boy.

"No water?" Tristan asks. I realize that this boy must be Ian, the one they said went looking for fresh water out in the jungle.

Ian shakes his head.

"Nope, no sign of it. Guess we're going to die pretty soon" Ian says, chuckling. Neither Tristan nor I find it funny at all. I realize how thirsty I am and how dry my mouth is.

"I want to look for water" I say.

"Tessa, you should get some rest instead of go trekking through the jungle" Tristan says.

"But I want to look for it. There must be a source of fresh water somewhere in this jungle. I can't just sit here and wait for fresh water to magically appear" I say.

Tristan looks at me, unsure of what to say.

"Let her. She can come with me. We'll be back by sunset" Ian says.

I look at Ian, then back to Tristan.

Finally, Tristan says, "Okay fine. But be careful. And make sure that you two are back before it gets dark"

Tristan then turns to me.

"Are you sure that you want to go?" he asks.

I nod.

"Alright, good luck" Tristan says, then turns around and begins walking back down towards the beach.

"Let's go" Ian says. We begin to walk through the jungle. After a few minutes, Ian breaks the silence.

"Why do you want to come with me?" he asks, glancing at me.

"I can't just sit around with the others on that beach. I need to be doing something, or else I think I would go crazy on that beach with them" I say.

"Big groups of people not your thing?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"I guess not" I reply.

His lips curl up into a smirk.

"Same here. The moment I met them today, I couldn't stand them. Everyone's yelling and arguing. That's why I left to go search for water" Ian says.

There's a few moments of silence, then I ask,

"Um...do you know how to get back?"

He turns around, looking back at me.

"Worried you're not going to make it back home?" he asks, a derisive glint in his eyes.

My cheeks burn red again. Why does he have to be so attractive when he makes fun of me?

"No, it's just that I prefer not to be lost in the middle of a wild jungle" I say.

"Well if we do get lost, you'll be with me. And I don't think that you could ask for more than that" he says, smirking.

Damn, why does he have to be so freakin hot.

My legs start to burn as the ground begins to slope upwards. Now is when I wish that I were in better shape.

"You need a break?" Ian asks when he hears me panting. I can hear an edge of mock in the tone of his voice.

"No" I say quickly, even though I dying for a break. I don't want to seem wimpy.

"You sure? Because you seem pretty tired" Ian says, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Okay fine. A quick break" I say.

We both sit down on rocks across from each other. My legs are now on fire and beads of sweat are cascading down my body. If we don't find water soon, I am going to die from dehydration.

I close my eyes for a moment, then snap them back open when I remember that Ian is facing me.

"It's okay, you can close your eyes for a little. I'm not going to attack you" he says, smirking.

I roll my eyes at him, then shut them again. The only thoughts in my mind are of water. Clean, crisp, cool water. I have never needed water this bad.

I am suddenly broken out of my daydreams by Ian's voice.

"Tessa, we are being watched"

Chapter Five

"Tessa we are being watched"

I freeze midstep as I process what Ian has just said. It's as if all of my blood has run cold. I look at Ian with wide eyes, who is looking at something behind me. Too scared to turn around and see what he is looking at, I whisper, "What?"

"Look" Ian says, and he points his finger upwards behind me.

I slowly turn around and look up in the direction that he is pointing at. There, mounted up in a tree, is what appears to be a security camera. Focused directly on us.

"I don't think that's part of the natural wildlife of this island" Ian says sarcastically

I shake my head.

"Someone is watching us" I whisper, confirming the truth to myself that someone must have been on this island before us.

"I don't know if I want to know who because whoever it is is probably the person who is holding us captive here on this island" Ian says.

"I wonder if there are more cameras" I whisper.

"Why are you whispering? Afraid that they're listening to our conversation right now?" Ian says mockingly.

I roll my eyes at him.

"C'mon, we should go back soon. It's starting to get dark" Ian announces. The sun has begun to set, turning the sky above the canopy of trees a faded pink. We turn around and begin walking back the way that we came. The thirst that I am feeling is becoming unbearable. Must. Stop. Thinking. About. Cold. Water.

"Well today was a success" Ian says caustically.

"Hey, at least we found something. The security camera"

"Well would you rather have a security camera or fresh water?" Ian says, glancing at me.

"What do you think?" I reply, rolling my eyes again.

We continue to walk, in silence until I say, "What if there's no fresh water on this island?"

Ian looks at me, then replies, "There's always fresh water somewhere on an island of this size. There has to be a river or a lake or something. I know it"

I hope so. Because if there isn't, we are all going to slowly and painfully die of thirst.

A few minutes later, I ask Ian if he knows where he is going. He immeadiately snaps back that he is good with directions and knows the exact path back to the beach. I have no clue how he knows where we are going because every inch of the jungle looks exactly the same to me.

We finally arrive back to the beach just when it is dark. The group is still at the same spot and they have lit a bonfire. When they see us walking towards them, they all look up.

"Did you find any water?" A boy asks eagerly.

We both shake our heads no. Everyone looks utterly defeated.

Tristan walks towards us.

"Did you find anything out there in the jungle?"

I am about to open my mouth and mention the security camera that we found when Ian abruptly says "Nope"

I turn and look at Ian and he looks at me. He has a look in his eyes that says "Don't say it" I immediately close my mouth.

"What were you going to say?" Tristan asks, looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Uh...um...just that there are a lot of trees"

Smooth.

Tristan stares at me for a second, then nods. My cheeks burn bright red and I swear that I hear Ian snicker.

"Well we'll have to keep looking tomorrow. For now, we should all get some sleep" Tristan says.

We walk back to the rest of them. I know that I won't sleep at all tonight. There is just too much on my mind and I feel so out of place. People are already sprawled out, laying down around the fire to go to sleep. I sit down on the sand then lay down. Exhaustion creeps into my sore and aching body. I see Ian walking away towards the water and I call out, "Where are you going?"

He turns around, then says, "Away from you all. I want to sleep alone by the water"

I don't respond, but I don't blame him though. He turns around and continues to walk away.

I try closing my eyes, but crackling of the fire is too loud. And although my body is exhausted, my mind is wide awake, trying to sort out of the questions in my head that are exploding like fireworks. An hour goes by, and I am still laying there, wide awake. I sit up and look around at everyone else, who all appear to be sleeping. I then turn and look down at the water, seeing the dark silhouette of Ian. I guess I'm not the only one awake because Ian is sitting up. Since I have given up on trying to fall asleep, I stand up and find myself walking down the beach towards Ian. Once I reach him, I sit down next to him.

"Can't sleep?" He asks.

"No, of course not. I don't know how anyone can" I reply.

The waves break against the shore, creating a soothing sound to fill the silence between us.

Finally, I say, "Sorry for coming down here. I know you wanted to be alone and all but..."

Ian breaks me off.

"No, it's okay. I don't mind"

We sit there, staring out into the endless abyss of the dark ocean for what seems like an eternity. Somehow, I feel calm. Maybe it's the water, or maybe it's being with someone who isn't asleep like the others. Whatever it is, I want it to stay.

"We're going to feel like shit tomorrow" Ian says, breaking the silence.

I laugh slightly, but then realize that we are really going to feel like shit tomorrow if we go another day without food or water.

"I'm going to try to rest for a little" I say, laying down. If I can at least get one hour of sleep, I might feel slightly better. I close my eyes, trying to clear my mind. Now that I feel a bit more calm, the firework show of questions and thoughts that was exploding in my head before has died down. Finally, I feel sleep beginning to come on, and before I know it, I drift off into a dreamless void.

Chapter Six

I am laying down on a hard bed. Bright white fluorescent lights shine from the ceiling, not helping the dull throbbing in my head. I feel lightheaded and dazed, as if I have just woken up from a deep sleep. Suddenly, someone is leaning over me, wearing a surgical mask and a white lab coat.

"Hello?" I say, my voice ragged.

The person doesn't respond and continues to scrutinize me with dark, beady eyes. Suddenly, another person appears, also wearing a mask and lab coat.

"She's ready to be put out" one of them says in a muffled voice.

"What do you mean?" I ask, panic rising in my voice.

All of a sudden, I see a long, sharp needle coming right towards me. Coming closer and closer towards my neck until...


"AHHH!"

I wake with a start, jolting up. I am panting, and Ian is staring at me.

"What the hell just happened?" he asks.

"Bad dream" I respond quickly.

He nods, still looking at me.

"It felt so real, I almost thought that..."

No, it couldn't have been a memory. I still can't remember anything except my name.

"What was it about?" he asks.

"I...I was on this bed, in some sort of hospital room or something. And...there were these two doctors. And then..."

"Then what?" Ian asks, looking at me intently.

"They...injected a needle into my neck" I immediately reach up and rub my neck, cringing at the thought of a needle stabbing into it.

Ian is silent for a moment, thinking. By the look of the dim, hazy grey sky, it is just about dawn. Turning around, I see that all of the others are still sleeping.

"Do you think that's it's a memory?" Ian asks.

"I thought it might be, just because of how real it felt. But I guess I can never be sure" I say.

A few moments later him if he slept at all. He says no. I tell him that he should get some sleep, and he says no again. Well at least I can say that I tried to help him.

I lay there for another hour or so, until it's morning. Today, thank god, the sun is not beating down on us. The sky is filled with dark, ominous looking clouds. I pray that it will rain because rain means fresh water.

I turn around and see that the others have just woken up. I see Tristan look around, then spot me down by the water with Ian. I can't tell, but I almost see a look of jealousy flint across Tristan's face for a moment when he looks at us.

"We should probably go back to them" I say.

"Why?" Ian asks.

"Because, we can't just sit here excluded from everyone else. We all have to figure out what to do together"

He sighs, then stands up, stretching. When he stretches, his T-shirt lifts up, revealing his rock-hard, perfectly toned abs. I find myself staring at them, then I quickly look away, blushing.

"What?" he asks when he sees me turn away.

"Nothing. C'mon let's go" I blurt out.

When I stand up, I immediately feel dizzy and a wave of nausea passes over me. It must be the lack of sleep and dehydration combined that is making me feel like I got hit by a bus.

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We walk back towards the others, who are now all up.

"What were you two doing over there?" Jessica asks in her high-pitched, obnoxious voice.

"None of your business" Ian snaps at her.

Jessica eyes the two of us, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, why did you leave?" Tristan asks me.

I really don't feel like talking at all right now. If I speak, I might vomit. My head is now spinning, so I sit down on the sand.

"Are you okay?" Tristan asks, kneeling down next to me.

No. I feel like absolute shit and I'm pretty sure that I am going to die of dehydration if I don't get water within the next hour.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I lie.

Suddenly, a there is a low rumbling sound that reverberates through the air. Thunder. A storm. Rain.

"It's going to rain!" someone shouts excitedly.

Then, there is another rumble of thunder, this time much louder. The rain should be here any minute now. The thought of water in my mouth makes me giddy with excitement.

A drop of water lands on my shoulder. Then another. And another. Until suddenly the sky opens up and rains pours down. I stand up, looking up to the sky and opening my mouth wide. Rain cascades into my mouth, replacing the sandpapery feeling on my tongue. Water has never ever felt this good before.

Everyone else does the same, trying to drink as much water as they can before the storm passes. A few minutes pass, and then the rain begins to lighten until it is nothing more than a slight drizzle. I lower my head back down. Even though it wasn't enough water, it was still sufficient. I am soaked from head to toe, but I don't care at all.

Finally, the rain completely stops, but the sky is still cloudy.

"Well that was awesome" a boy named Peter says.

"Yeah but I still don't have any food. And I'm starving" Jessica says, crossing her arms.

"We're all starving Jessica, it's not all about you" Tristan says.

"Fine! I can't take it anymore, so I'm going to look for food by myself!" Jessica says, storming off towards the jungle.

"Damn that girl is a handful" Ian whispers into my ear. When he leans in, his lips graze my ear ever so slightly, sending shivers throughout my body.

"Tell me about it" I reply.

"Jessica! You shouldn't go into the jungle by yourself! Come back" Tristan yells. He begins to chase after her, but Jessica begins to run. Tristan stops when Jessica disappears into the depths of the jungle. He then returns, sighing.

"Okay, we've got to have at least a few rules here. First, no one should go into the jungle by themselves. We don't know what's out there, so if you do go into the jungle, make sure that you go with someone" Tristan says.

"Rules? What are you, the leader or something?" a boy named Daniel asks, crossing his arms.

"No, no one is the leader here. But since we all don't know what is going on or where we are, we have to make some rules and have some sort of plan" Tristan responds.

"Well what is our plan?" Daniel asks.

"Look, I don't have a plan right now. But we've got to find out why we're here and where we are. Obviously, something weird happened to the twelve of us. I mean think about it, all of us woke up here yesterday with absolutely no memory of how we got here or where we are"

"So what are we going to do?" Daniel asks.

Tristan runs his fingers through his hair.

"Look, I don't have all the answers. But our best bet is to explore this entire island to see what we can find. I say we split into pairs of two and explore different parts of the island" Tristan says.

Everyone looks around at each other, nodding.

"And if anyone finds something, like food or fresh water, they should start a signal fire. So we can all meet up" Tristan says.

"So how are we going to divide up? There's eleven of us now that Jessica is gone" a girl, Allison, says.

"We'll do pairs of two and one group of three. I don't know how to divide this, so everyone just pick a partner to go with" Tristan explains.

Everyone begins to partner off. I stand there awkwardly, not knowing who to go with. I don't know if anyone will want to go with me; I have an absolutely awful sense of direction.

Tristan turns to me, and walks over.

"Want to go with me?" He asks, smiling slightly.

I nod, relieved to go with Tristan, who seems level-headed and confident.

"Who's the one person left over?" Tristan asks.

I look around, then spot Ian, standing alone.

"Alright Ian, I guess your with Tessa and I" Tristan says to him.

Ian slowly walks over towards us, looking at me.

"So how are we dividing up the island" Allison asks.

"I say we all go in different directions. Two pairs should explore the beach, and the rest should explore the jungle. By the looks of it, this is a pretty big island" Tristan says.

We split up different sections of the beach and the jungle between the pairs. Tristan, Ian, and I will be exploring the jungle, heading towards the mountain in the middle of the island.

Before we split up and begin exploring, Tristan reminds everyone to set off a signal fire if they find any food or water. The thought of food makes the empty hole in my stomach grow even wider.

"Alright, ready guys?" Tristan asks, turning towards Ian and I.

"Ready as I'll ever be" Ian says, his characteristic smirk playing on his lips.

"Ready" I say, nodding my head.

If only I knew what was awaiting us out in the depths of the jungle.

Chapter Seven

Something about the jungle makes me uneasy. I don't know what it is, but I continually feel like someone is watching me. As we walk through it, I keep turning around when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. But of course, no one is there. I'm just crazy I guess.

We keep walking, the ground below us gradually inclining until my legs are on fire again. I want to take a break so badly, but I don't want to become the wimp of the group. Oh wait, I already am the wimp.

Every step I take, the pit in my stomach grows deeper and deeper. I am absolutely starving right now, and I am almost at the point where I will eat tree bark. Seriously.

Finally, to my relief, Tristan calls for a break. I collapse onto the jungle floor, my legs aching. I am also profusely sweating. The sun has broken out from behind the clouds, shining through the canopy of the trees and creating scattered patches of light across the floor.

"You alright Tessa?" Tristan asks, sitting down on a rock across from me.

Nope, not at all. I feel like absolute shit, if you'd really like to know.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I say.

I turn around to see that Ian is leaning against a tree, his eyes closed. A patch of sunlight shines down upon, making him look angelic. His bronzed skin appears to be glowing in the light. I quickly turn around, my cheeks burning, not wanting to stare at him for too long.

After about five minutes, we starting walking again. I find myself walking next to Tristan, and Ian is a step behind us. This whole time, he has been very quiet. I turn around, glancing back at Ian. His dark brown eyes lock with mine for a moment. I hastily turn back around. Why can I not make eye contact with him for more than one second?

The silence between us is filled by the buzzing of insects and the melodious chirping of birds. I really don't have any conversation to make between the two of them; first because they are still basically strangers to me and second, because I am out of breath. Very out of breath.

Finally, Tristan breaks the silence.

"So Tessa, I would ask you to tell me more about yourself, but based on the fact that we all don't have any memories, I don't know if that's possible"

He grins, revealing perfect, white teeth.

I laugh slightly.

"Well, I do know a one thing about myself. I must not be very athletic because this feels like the most exercise I have done in my life" I say.

I don't bother mentioning the fact that my legs are in excruciating pain and that I feel like I am going to pass out.

Tristan grins, looking at me.

"I wouldn't say that many people have walked in a jungle all day in 100 degree heat" he says.

This whole time, Ian has still remained silent. I turn around, and notice that he is not behind us anymore.

"Where's Ian?" I say immediately, a slight edge of panic in my voice.

Tristan turns around, looking just as confused as I am.

"I didn't hear him leave. But then again, I didn't hear him at all in the first place" he says.

I scan my eyes around the jungle, looking for Ian, until I finally spot him. He is to my left, about twenty feet away, standing completely still.

"Ian? What are you doing?" I call out.

But he doesn't respond. Instead, he holds a finger up to his lips.

"What is going on?" Tristan calls out.

"Do you hear that?" Ian says.

"Hear what?" I ask, bewildered.

"Listen" he says.

I strain my ears, trying to hear whatever Ian is hearing. At first, all that I that I hear is the familiar chorus of birds and insects. But then, I hear something else.

Although it is very faint, I hear a rushing noise. Like the sound of rushing water. Fresh water.

"What the hell is he talking about? I don't hear anything" Tristan whispers to me.

But I don't respond. Instead, I begin running towards Ian. As I run, the rushing sound gets louder and louder. There has to be fresh water nearby, and the thought makes me exhilarated. When I reach Ian, we both beginning running towards the sound. I hear Tristan running after me. Adrenaline pulsates through my veins as I run next to Ian. The rushing sound keeps getting louder and louder until...

We emerge out of the trees and immediately stop. Tristan arrives a few moments later, then instantly stops as well. My jaw drops at the sight in front of us. It can't be real. At first, I think that my eyes are deceiving me. But after blinking my eyes a few more times, I know that it is real.

"Oh my god" Tristan murmurs under his breath.

Chapter Eight

Before us us is a majestic waterfall, crashing down into a small lake. I can't believe my eyes how vibrantly blue the water is. It is the bluest water that I have ever seen in my entire life. My mouth breaks into a huge smile. We have just found clean water. Although we may die of starvation, at least we won't die of dehydration.

Positive thinking, right?

"Wow" I murmur, taking in the ethereal sight.

"Well what are we waiting for? I'm going in" Ian says. It's the first thing that he has said this entire time.

 He pulls off his light-grey T-shirt, revealing his chiseled abs. Then, he unzips his pants, and pulls them down so that he is standing in only his boxers. I try hard not to stare at him, but I find my eyes glued to his body. He then looks up at me, his eyes meeting mine. After giving me a quick grin, he turns and jumps into the lake, disappearing under the water.

For a few moments, he doesn't come up, but then his head finally resurfaces. He grins again at the two of us, then calls out, "C'mon in guys! What are you waiting for?"

Tristan glances at me, then says, "No, first I should go start a signal fire so that the others can come"

"You really want to share this with everyone else? Why can't it just be ours?" Ian says, an edge of spite in his voice.

"Because everyone else needs water too! We can't just keep this to ourselves because we all promised that if we found anything, we would start a signal fire to notify everyone else" Tristans exclaims.

Ian floats for a moment, staring at Tristan, only his head above the water. I glance at Ian, then to Tristan, not saying a word. I know what Tristan is saying is right, but it would be nice to have this to ourselves.

"I'm going to go try starting a fire" Tristan says, looking at me.

"Okay" I reply, nodding.

I don't know if Tristan wants me to help him or not, but I know that I will be of absolutely no use when it comes to starting a fire in a jungle. Tristan turns around and heads back into the trees.

"So, are you going to come in?" Ian asks, looking at me with a playful glint in his eyes.

There's something about that look in his eyes that make my cheeks blush red. I hope that he can't see me blushing.

"Um, I don't know" I say.

"Why not? It's refreshing. And I'm wearing nothing but my underwear" he says, smirking his all-too-familiar smirk.

My cheeks go from blushing slightly to red as a tomato. He did not just say that to me.

"No, I think I'll stay here. Besides, I don't want to get my clothes soaked" I say.

"Then take them off" he says abruptly.

My heart skips a beat. The thought of removing my clothes in front of Ian makes my heart beat faster and my cheeks burn even brighter, if that's even possible.

"I won't look, I promise" he adds.

"Okay fine. But don't look until I get in" I say.

"Alright, if that's how you want it" Ian says.

He then turns around, facing the waterfall. Once I make sure that he is completely turned around and Tristan is not nearby, I pull off my tank top so that I am standing in my bra. After double-checking that Ian is still completely turned around, I quickly unzip and pull down my jeans. Now, I am standing in only my bra and underwear.

I quickly wade my way into the lake until the water is up to my chest, covering my bra. The water is very warm, and the lake is much deeper than I thought it would be.

"Okay, you can turn around now" I say to Ian.

He immediately turns around, facing me again.

"Nice, isn't it?" he says, smiling slightly.

I nod, smiling back. This is really nice. In this moment, I almost forget that I am captured on a remote island.

He continues to watch me as I slowly wade my way towards him, his dark brown eyes focused on mine. As if on cue, my heart rate begins to quicken.

Suddenly, I am splashed with water. When I open my eyes, I am looking right at Ian's mischievous grin.

"Hey!" I exclaim.

I then splash him back. He returns by splashing me back even harder. When I try to splash him back again, he ducks under water, disappearing. I look around, trying to see where he is swimming. Suddenly, water sprays my back and I whip around to see Ian behind me, the same mischievous grin plastered on his face.

After splashing around a bit more, I am breathless. We then float around the lake. I look up at the canopy of the trees, high above us, that is keeping us in the shade. After a few moments of silence, I finally ask,

"So why didn't you want the others to know about the camera that we found?"

Ian is quiet for a moment. He then says,

"Because"

What an informative answer.

"Because what?" I ask, looking at him.

"Because I didn't want everyone to start panicking and looking for all of the other cameras that may be on this island. I thought it was something just the two of us could know"

I nod.

"Fair enough" I say, smiling.

"Just like how I was the only one that you told about the dream you had last night" Ian adds.

True. I didn't tell Tristan about the dream.

"I've been thinking about why we are here. And I'm really getting the feeling that we've been kidnapped or something" Ian says.

"Yeah, but who kidnaps teenagers and puts them on a remote island in the middle of the ocean? It's a strange place to hold people captive" I say.

Ian shrugs.

Suddenly, I feel my foot step on something on the bottom of the lake. And it's not a rock.

"I think I just stepped on something" I say, stopping.

"What?" Ian asks.

"I just stepped on something weird. It feels like a glass object" I say.

I move my foot around the floor of the lake until my foot finds it again. It's definitely some sort of rounded glass object.

Ian walks closer towards me, interest on his face.

"Let me grab it" I say.

I duck my head under and reach my hands out around the grimy floor until one of my hands closes around it. I resurface, lifting the object out of the water with me. It is a glass bottle.

"Hey, what's that inside of it?" Ian asks, pointing at the bottle.

I look at the bottle, and notice that there is a piece of paper rolled up tightly inside of it. A message in a bottle.

I quickly uncork the bottle and slide the rolled up piece of paper into my hands. I then carefully unroll it, trying not to get it soaked, until it is completely unrolled.

It is a list of names, scrawled in black pen. It takes me a few moments to read all of the names, and when I am done, my heart skips a beat. These aren't just any names. These are the names of the twelve of us who are on this island.

"Holy shit. That's us" Ian murmurs.

But that's not the strangest part.

Out of the twelve names, one of them is circled.

It's my name.

Chapter Nine

My heart skips a beat.

It can't be.

Why is my name the only name that is circled on this list?

"Oh my god" I whisper, still staring at the paper.

Ian glances at me, then back at the paper.

"A list of the twelve of our names? This is fucking weird" he murmurs.

"They know who we are" I whisper.

Suddenly, I get the chilling feeling that someone is watching us. I look around at the trees, spinning around in a slow circle.

"What's wrong?" Ian asks, watching me.

"Nothing...I just have the feeling that..."

My words trail off.

"The feeling that what?" He asks

"The feeling that we're being watched. But it's gone now" I say.

He looks around too, but of course, there is no one there.

"Creepy" Ian says.

"Yeah, tell me about it" I say, laughing slightly.

Suddenly, I jump when I hear the snap of a twig. Whipping around, I see that it is just Tristan, standing at the edge of the lake. He stares at the two of us for a moment, then says,

"I started a signal fire. It's not a big one, but hopefully some of the others will see the smoke eventually"

I nod. Tristan stands there awkwardly for a moment, his hands in his pockets, looking at us.

"Well if you guys are done, we can keep going for a little more. The sun's starting to go down, so we will have to camp out for the night somewhere"

"Okay" I say.

He then looks down at my hands, which are holding the piece of paper.

"What's that?" He asks, pointing at me.

"It's a list of all of our names. We found it in a bottle at the bottom of the lake" Ian says.

Tristan raises his eyebrows.

"Is there anything else on it?" He asks.

"Well, there is one really strange part about it. One of the names is circled" Ian says.

"Whose?" Tristan asks.

"Mine" I say abruptly.

Tristan eyes widen. He opens his a mouth for a moment, then shuts it.

"Hey, let's not worry about it okay? It could mean absolutely nothing for all we know" Ian says, breaking the silence.

I highly doubt that my name is circled for no reason. But Ian is right, there's no reason to waste time worrying. We have to move on.

Ian and I wade over towards to edge of the lake. It suddenly hits me that I am in my bra and underwear and my clothes are in a heap on the shore of the lake.

Ian gets out first, quickly putting on his t-shirt and jeans.

"Why aren't you getting out?" He asks me, shaking his wet hair out.

I stare at him, my cheeks burning bright red. I then point to my clothes on the side of the shore.

"Oh right. You don't have your clothes on. C'mon, we won't look. Right Tristan?" Ian asks, grinning at Tristan.

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Tristan nods.

"If it makes you more comfortable, we'll turn around" he says.

"Okay" I say.

When I see that both Tristan and Ian are turned around, I quickly run out of the lake to my clothes. Standing behind a bush, I throw my clothes back on to my wet body and try my best to squeeze the water out from my hair. Just when I am about to leave, I notice something something strange. There is a red light glowing from inside the bush. I quickly push aside the leaves and gasp. There, carefully mounted inside the bush is another surveillance camera. Pointed directly at me.

"Guys, come and look at this" I say, my voice shaky.

They both immediately rush over to me.

"What is it?" Tristan asks.

I point into the bush at the camera.

"Is...is that a surveillance camera?" Tristan asks.

I nod.

"They're watching us" I whisper breathlessly.

"Well not anymore" Ian says.

He reaches out his hand, yanking the camera out of the bush. He then turns around and hurls it at a rock, smashing it into a million pieces.

I gasp.

"Let's go" Ian says abruptly.

We continue our trek through the jungle. I feel much better now that I am cooled down and refreshed, but the empty pit in my stomach feels deeper than ever.

The sun is beginning to set, turning the sky a magnificent mixture deep orange, pink, and purple. If I weren't being held captive on this island, I think I would actually appreciate its beauty.

As we keep walking, the sun sinks lower and lower into the sky. I cannot stop yawning; I am completely exhausted. Finally, to my relief, Tristan calls it a day.

I collapse onto the jungle floor. The sun has almost completely set, and Tristan goes off to look for some wood to start a fire, leaving Ian and I alone.

I sit across from him, my eyes drooping with exhaustion. I cannot imagine how awful I must look right now. And somehow, both Ian and Tristan still are managing to look good. Very good actually.

I feel Ian's eyes on me, so I look up into his face. He gives me a weak smile.

"How are you feeling?" He asks me.

"Like absolute shit. I don't think I've ever been this hungry before. I think I might have to eat tree bark soon" I say, smiling weakly back at him.

He laughs, a true laugh. Not one of his usual smirks.

"Same here. Or maybe some leaves. We could roast them over the fire you know, to give them some flavor" he says.

I laugh, shaking my head.

"I still can't wrap my mind around everything that has happened. " I say a few moments later.

"I know, me too. I just wish that we had some answers" he says.

Just then, Tristan returns, carrying pieces of wood and bark in his hands. He kneels down, arranging them on the ground and covering them with leaves. He then takes two sticks together and begins rubbing them back and forth rapidly. For a while, nothing happens, and I hear Ian snicker under his breath. But finally, a small fire starts.

"We should all get some sleep. We need it" Tristan says, laying down by the fire.

No problem. That's all that I want to do right now.

I lay down on my side. The jungle floor is extremely hard, much more uncomfortable than the beach. I shift back and forth a few times, trying to get more comfortable, but all my efforts are futile. I finally accept that there is no way to make the ground cozy.

Laying on my back, I stare up at the starry night sky through the trees. The jungle is alive with the sound of crickets chirping. Everything just feels so strange and out of place. I don't want to be here anymore. I am so lost and confused. All I want is to be home, even though I can't remember where home is.

Suddenly, tears well up in my eyes, blurring the starry sky. I try my hardest not to cry and wake up Tristan and Ian. Besides, Ian already saw me cry once. I don't want him to see me crying again.

I draw a shaky breath in, trying to make as little noise as possible, but my breath hitches in my throat and a small sob escapes. I quickly shut my mouth, hoping that no one heard it.

Then, I hear a voice whisper out of the darkness,

"Tessa?"

It's Ian.

"Yeah?"

My voice trembles, then cracks. I have let my guard down again in front of him again.

"Are you okay?" He whispers.

I turn my head to look at Tristan. He appears to be fast asleep, so I turn back to Ian.

"Yeah. I''m fine" I lie, my voice still shaky.

"You're crying. You're not okay" he says flatly.

I breathe in slowly, and another sob escapes from my throat.

"Tessa, come over here" Ian says.

I find myself crawling across the jungle floor towards him, on the opposite side of the fire. He sits up and opens his arms. And I collapse into them.

He wraps his strong arms around me, pulling me close to his body. I rest my head on his shoulder, and the tears begin spilling out. He doesn't say a word, instead he pulls my closer.

We stay just like that, until my tears begin to slow down. They finally stop. I have ran out of the energy to keep crying.

Ian slowly releases me. Our faces are only a few inches apart. He puts one of his hands up to my cheek, and gently wipes the tears away with his thumb. His touch sends tingles throughout my entire body.

"I'm sorry. I'm such a baby" I say, looking down at the ground.

"Don't be" he says.

I look back up into his eyes.

"I'm going to go back to bed" I say, and start crawling back when I feel his hand grab my shirt. I turn around.

"Don't leave. You can stay with me tonight" he says.

Another wave of tingles travels throughout my body.

"Okay" I whisper.

I crawl back to him. He lays down on the ground and I lay right beside him, facing the fire. I feel his hand graze mine slightly, and our fingers slowly intertwine. Chills spread throughout my entire body.

"Goodnight Tessa" Ian murmurs sleepily.

"Goodnight" I whisper back.

I close my eyes, and before I know it, I drift off into a dreamless abyss...

Snap.

My eyes flash open. It is the middle of the night, and Ian is sound asleep beside me, our fingers still intertwined.

Then, I hear it again.

Snap.

I sit up, my heart beat quickening. There is something out there.

I look around, but it is too dark to see anything.

"H...H..Hello?" I whisper.

Silence.

Then another snap, this time much louder.

Sheer terrors flood throughout my body, turning my blood to ice.

I reach out my hand to wake Ian.

But I am too late.

Hands grab me from behind, pressing a wet cloth into my face. Before I can even try to scream, I plunge into complete darkness.

Chapter Ten

When I wake up, my head is pounding. It's as if there is a hammer smashing my skull repeatedly. I open my eyes, at first blinded by bright sunlight. But then, my eyes adjust, and my stomach sinks.

I am in a cage.

That's when I remember that last thing that happened to me; someone putting a chloroform cloth to my face in the middle of the night. Then blackness.

I have been captured.

I am in a small metal cage in the middle of the jungle. I immediately begin to feel claustrophobic in the small, confined space. Standing up slowly, I look around at my surroundings. No appears to be there, but I have the strange feeling that I am being watched.

When I look up, that thought is confirmed. A surveillance camera is mounted in the top corner of the cage, pointed directly at me, it's red light flashing.

I am suddenly filled with rage and I begin banging on the metal bars of the cage, screaming in anger.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" I scream, over and over until my voice hurts.

Even though I know it is completely useless, I continue screaming and banging at the bars until my voice is nearly gone. I slide down to the ground, collapsing. The throbbing in my head has intensified to the point where I cannot even see straight anymore.

Why am I the one that they took?

Then I remember; my name was the only me circled on the list of the names we found at the bottom of the lake. They must have been planning it this whole time. But why me?

I put my head into my hands, trembling with anxiety. I think of Ian and Tristan. They must have woken by now and realized that I am gone. I am filled with a slight bit of hope when I realize that they will probably come looking for me. But then that slight bit of hope is extinguished like a candle when I realize how big the island is and how slim the chances are of them finding me in the vast jungle. And even if they somehow do find me, how will they get me out of a locked cage?

Minutes turn into hours as I sit there, slumped over on the jungle floor. I have ran out of the energy do anything, even to cry. The sun beats down on me, burning my skin. I am dripping with sweat and it feels as if my head is spinning.

Then, just as I am about to doze off, I hear footsteps. Coming towards me.

I quickly pick my head up to see two men in white lab coats coming towards me. They are wearing all white, from the surgical masks covering their faces to the shoes on their feet.

I immediately begin to panic, edging back into the far corner of the cage. My heart is racing with terror as the two men arrive at the cage.

"Who..who are you?" I shout out, my voice quaking.

Neither of them respond or even look at me. Instead, one of them reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ring of keys. After finding the correct one, he puts it into the lock and twists it. There is a click and the cage door creaks open.

I press my back against the cage, my eyes wide with fear as they both walk in. I can only see their dark eyes above their surgical masks, which cover the rest of their face. One of the men walks into the cage and grabs me roughly. I scream, but it's of no use. No one can hear me.

He drags me out of the cage. Each man grabs one of my arms, and begin to walk, dragging me along. My heart is racing with fear.

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"Where are you taking me!" I yell as they continue to pull me through the jungle.

Neither of them respond.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!" I scream, this time much louder.

Still no response. The men don't even flinch; they just continue walking, dragging me along as their prisoner.

Finally, we stop. I look down see some sort of a hatch built into the jungle floor.

One of the men releases my arm and walks towards the hatch. He kneels down, grabs the handle on the hatch door, and pulls. The door slowly creaks open.

This can't be.

My stomach flips when I look down into the opening and see utter darkness. It is a chute, leading down to an abyss.

The man then points his gloved finger at me.

"You go down first" he says in a muffled voice.

No way. I am not going down there. I begin to panic, realizing that there is no way out out of this.

"No" I say shakily, even though I know that they won't take no for an answer.

The man still holding me pushes me towards the edge of the shaft. I look down, immediately feeling dizzy. A rusty ladder extends down into the blackness.

"Go down. Now" the man says again.

I have no choice. I have to go down.

I slowly kneel down, terror quaking my entire body. What is down there?

The two men stand right in front of me, preventing any chance of running to escape. With dread filling my stomach, I carefully lower my right leg onto the first rung of the ladder. Then my left. I start climbing down, descending into the abyss. The two men come after me, just a few rungs above me. There's no way out of this. I am doomed.

Darkness envelopes me like a cloak as I continue going down. How far underground are we going? I don't think I want to know.

Finally, my foot hits the ground. I step off of the ladder, and the two men arrive a few moments later. Suddenly, there is a click as when of the men turns on a flashlight.

"This way" one of them says curtly, shining the feeble glow of the flashlight towards a steel door that is built into the dirt.

Now this is getting weird.

One of the men takes out the ring of key, fumbling until he finds the right one. He then sticks it into the handle and twists. The heavy door slowly opens and I am instantly blinded by bright light. Squinting, I find myself facing a long hallway. Everything is white; the ceilings, walls and floor. Bright fluorescent lights shine from the ceiling, hurting my eyes to look at.

The men push me forward and we begin walking down the hallway.

I must be dreaming. How is it possible that I am in an underground tunnel on an island? But the pit of dread in my stomach tells me that I am not dreaming. I suddenly begin to think of Ian and Tristan, and tears well up in my eyes.

We turn around a corner sharply, and enter another hallway. This hallway is nearly identical to other one, but it has doors. The doors are all identical, plain white and windowless. I wonder where they are taking me.

We suddenly abruptly stop in front of one of the doors. There is a sign on the door that reads, "LABORATORY 1A" in large, black letters.

One of the men opens the door and pushes me inside. Before I can turn around, the door is shut behind me. I hear the twist of a key, then their footsteps walk away.

I am locked inside.

The room is all white, just like the hallway, resembling a hospital room. Just like the room in my dream. I suddenly get the chills, even though its not cold.

The room is bare except for a patient bed and a countertop. It smells strongly of antiseptics, which makes my head pound even more.

What the hell is going on.

It was bad enough being trapped and starving on an island, but at least I wasn't alone. I had Tristan and Ian. Now, I am utterly alone, and imprisoned. I think back to my name being that only name that was circled on the list. These sickening people want just me. I have no clue why, but the mere thought makes me nauseous.

Suddenly, I hear the door handle twist and the door squeak open. I whip around to see a man standing in the doorway. Like the others, he is also wearing a white lab coat. But he doesn't have a surgical mask on, so I can see his entire face. He is middle-aged, with cropped greying hair and piercing blue eyes.

I immediately recoil, leaning back against the wall, staring at the man with fear in my eyes.

The man smiles. But it is not a friendly smile; it is a wicked one that sends chills down my spine.

"Hello, Tessa. I've been waiting for your arrival" he says frostily.

Oh no.

Chapter Eleven

"Who are you?" I ask out, staring at the man with wide eyes.

He his false smile is still plastered on his face, making me irate.

"I said, who are you!" I cry out, trembling with both fear and rage.

"My name is Doctor Bennett. But you can call me Hal" he says, a clipped voice.

"And what the hell is going on?" I yell.

Hal looks at me for a moment, then laughs. It is a cold, heartless laugh that reverberates throughout the small room. I stare at him with hate burning in my eyes.

"You really think that I'm going to tell you that?" He says, raising his eyebrows.

I guess not.

"Well then why are you here?" I ask.

He walks closer to me, his icy blue eyes burning into mine.

"Sit" he commands, pointing to the hospital bed.

"No" I spit back, trying to sound as defiant as possible.

Trying not to show that I am scared as hell.

"Tessa, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You decide" Hal says crisply.

Reluctantly, I sit down on the edge of the bed. I don't want to know what the hard way is.

"So Tessa, you are probably wondering why we took you down here" Hal says

I glare at him, with the words "no shit" painted on my face.

"We brought you down here because you are showing us some...unusual results"

"Results? What results?" I ask.

"Let me show you something" he says.

Hal turns around and walks over to counter and opens up a drawer. He pulls out a laptop computer and walks back to me. He then opens the laptop.

"These are each of your vitals. We've been recording them the entire time you've been on this island"

"How?" I whisper breathlessly.

I stare at the screen. For each of the twelve of us on the island, there is a column with our vitals. Under our name is our current body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and blood sugar levels.

"As you can see, almost everyone's vitals are decreasing. Body temperature raising, blood pressure going up, heart rate slowing down, blood sugar decreasing"

"It's because you are killing us by keeping us captive on this island! We are starving to death!" I exclaim, infuriated.

"Ah, but now to my point. Look at your vitals, Tessa"

I find my name on the screen and look at them. My heart skips a beat.

My vitals are completely normal.

"Your body temperature, blood pressure, pulse and blood sugar levels are completely normal. Very healthy, in fact" Hal says.

It can't be.

Everyone else is dying, except for me.

"Why? What is going on" I ask, my teeth clenched.

Hal closes the laptop.

"At first, we could not figure out why all your vitals were healthy, while everyone else's were falling. We finally looked at your blood sample, which we have, and then we figured it out. You, Tessa, have an extremely rare blood type. It's sometimes referred to as 'the golden blood'. It's a blood type so rare, that only about fifteen people in the entire world carry it. And you are one of them"

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I stare at him, dumbfounded. Me, out of fifteen people in the world have this blood type?

"So why am I here?" I finally ask.

"Because we need more of your blood. It is...special" Hal says.

I recoil backwards.

"You're not taking my blood" I say, my voice trembling.

"That is not your decision Tessa" Hal says.

"Yes it is. It's my blood!" I cry.

"Tessa, if you cooperate and let us take your blood, we will let you leave" Hal says.

"Let me leave? You mean go back to the starve in the jungle? Tell me right now, why are the twelve of us here on this island!" I exclaim.

"You cannot, and will not know that. But I will tell you one thing; that it is for the greater good"

Hal looks at me with his cold eyes and I stare back at him, hatred burning in mine.

If I do cooperate and give my blood to them, I can go back to Tristan and Ian. But they are slowly dying. And I can't save them.

"So Tessa, are you or are you not going to cooperate with me?" Hal asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Fine" I say through gritted teeth.

"Good. Now someone else is going to come in and take some of your blood, and then you are free to go. But one last thing, you cannot tell anyone about me or this place" Hal says.

I just continue to glare at him.

"We will know if you do. Remember, we are always watching"

His voice sends chills down my spine. Hal gives one last unsettling look at me, then leaves the room.

A few moments later, the door reopens and a woman walks in. Just like all the others, she is wearing a white lab coat, medical gloves and a surgical mask that covers her entire face except for her eyes. Silently, she walks over to the counter and opens up a drawer, taking something out. She then walks over to me, carrying a needle connected to a clear bag.

"Lay down" she says curtly, her voice muffled through the mask.

I lay back on the hard, uncomfortable bed.

She grabs my right arm and wipes it with an antiseptic.

"Put your hand in a fist" she says.

I ball my hand into a tight fist, my heart beating in my chest.

The needle then plunges into my crook of my elbow. The feeling of blood getting drawn out of my body is very uncomfortable. I begin to sweat as minutes and minutes go by. Still, she hasn't pulled the needle out yet.

"How much are you taking?" I ask nervously.

No response.

Then suddenly, my head starts spinning and my vision begins to blur. I can't take it anymore. Just when I am about to pass out, I feel the needle come out. The lady presses a bandage onto the spot, then I sit up. She is holding the bag, which is now filled to the brim with my blood. Looking at it makes me feel queasy.

"Under the directions of Doctor Bennett, you are free to go" the lady says, her voice hard and emotionless.

I slowly get up, and walk towards the door. Opening it, I walk out into the hallway and begin walking the way we came in. Then all of a sudden, I break into a run, sprinting down the long hallway. All that I want to do is get out of this place.

I finally reach the large steel door and heave it open, entering the blackness again. My heart pounding out of my chest, I sprint towards the rusted ladder and begin climbing it as fast as my legs and arms can go. When I reach the top, I use all of my arm strength to push open the hatch door. I am immediately greeted by bright sunlight.

I hastily climb out, then slam the hatch door shut. Then I keep running. I run as fast as my legs can carry me through the jungle. My legs are on fire and I am gasping for air, but I keep going, to get as far away as I can from that wicked place. I don't know where the hell I am, but I keep running until I finally can't go anymore and fall, collapsing down onto the jungle floor.

I am gasping for air and I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I slowly sit up and lean back against I tree, trying to catch my breath.

My thoughts go back to what Hal said. How everyone else is slowly dying, and I am the only who is not. Because apparently, I have an extremely rare blood type that almost no one else in the world has. This is all too much for me to think about now, and I put my head into my hands. I have run out of the energy to cry.

Once I finally catch my breath, I stand up. I look around at my surroundings to try to find out where I am, but it is completely useless. Every inch of the jungle looks exactly the same. Every tree and plant is nearly identical to all the others.

Then, my blood runs cold when I see a surveillance camera mounted up in a tree, pointing right down at me.

Hal's last words reverberate through my mind,

"Remember, we are always watching"

I suddenly get the unnerving feeling that they are watching me right now. I look up into the camera, anger rising up inside of me. Then, I swiftly bend down, pick up a rock and throw it at the camera.

Bulls-eye.

The rock hits the camera and it crashes down to the ground. I am filled with an ephemeral feeling of defiance, which quickly fades away.

I lean back against the tree, closing my eyes, utterly exhausted.

Then all of sudden, I hear the snapping of twigs, getting louder and louder. My entire body tenses. Someone is coming.

I impulsively jump out from behind the tree, whipping around to see who it is.

My heart stops.

It's Ian.

Chapter Twelve

For a short moment I stand there, transfixed, staring at him. He gazes back, mesmerized as well.

"Ian" I finally whisper under my breath.

Then suddenly, he is running towards me. I begin to run towards him, adrenalin pumping through my veins as we get closer and closer until I crash into his arms.

He pulls me close to him, wrapping his arms around me. I melt into him, flooding with relief.

And the next thing I feel are his lips, crashing onto mine.

At first, I am completely taken by surprise.

But then, I am overtaken by an explosion of passion.

His tongue presses against mine, gently revolving in slow circles. I am overtaken by a feeling of euphoria, and I wrap my arms around his neck. His hands slide down to my waist, pulling me even closer against his body.

My mind has completely shut off. All that I know right now that Ian.

I lift my hands, running my fingers through his messy hair. A low moan escapes from his throat, sending a shivers of ecstasy throughout my body. He moves his tongue faster, pressing it against mine.

Finally, I pull back slightly, completely out of breath. Our foreheads still pressed together, we both stand there, breathless. His arms are still wrapped around my waist, eliminating the space between our bodies. I am utterly speechless, my heart racing in my chest, still not able to process what just happened.

I. Just. Kissed. Ian.

I pull away, looking at him. He looks down at me, his face flushed. Then, I notice something behind Ian. Mounted on a tree, pointed directly down at us is another surveillance camera.

I point to it, then whisper breathlessly,

"They're watching us"

He turns around, looks at the camera, then turns back to me.

"Well fuck that" he murmurs huskily.

Then, in a split-second, his lips are back on mine. Taken by surprise, I throw my hands up in the air, then wrap them back around his neck. The next thing I know, my back is pressed against a tree. A moan escapes from my throat, and Ian's tongue moves deeper into my mouth. Pure adrenaline and bliss courses throughout my veins.

He grabs my arms and presses them up against the tree. He holds my wrists together above my head, deepening our kiss. Ian has trapped me. But I feel freer than I have ever felt before.

I don't know how much time goes by, but we finally break apart. I am completely winded.

Ian looks at me, his dark eyes burning into mine. He is fucking gorgeous. My lips break into a smile, and he smiles back.

"Holy shit" Ian finally says, looking at the ground and laughing slightly.

I laugh back, adrenaline still pumping through my veins.

"I'm sorry....I don't what just happened" he says again, in the same shock that I am in.

"Don't be sorry" I say.

He looks back up at me, his eyes locked with mine.

I know one thing for sure; I am not sorry that that just happened. I still feel like I am flying.

"I was so worried, what the hell happened to you? I woke up in the middle of the night, and you were gone" he finally asks.

I can't tell him.

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I remember Hal's words:

"You cannot tell anyone about me or this place. We will know if you do. Remember, we are always watching"

What do I tell Ian?

"I...I..um" I stutter

Ian looks at me, searching my face.

"What?" he asks, a look of concern on his face.

Oh so badly do I want to tell him about everything. About their sinister underground place. About Hal. About my extremely rare blood type. About how I am the only one who is not slowly dying.

But I can't. They will know if I do, and I don't want to know what the consequence will be. And even if I do tell him without them hearing, I know that he will want to go to their place. There's no way in hell I'm going back there again.

"I...I woke up really thirsty in the middle of the night, so I got up and tried to find my way to the lake. But it was dark, so I got lost and I couldn't find my way back" I lie.

I feel terrible lying to him.

"Why didn't you wake me up? I would of gone with you" Ian says, studying my face carefully.

My heart pangs. I absolutely hate lying to him.

"You were dead asleep, and I didn't want to wake you. Look, I know that it was stupid of me, and I should of woke you up, but..."

Ian cuts me off by gently pressing his lips against mine. My heart flutters and I kiss him back. A few moments later, he pulls away.

"We were so worried that you were taken or something because we couldn't find you anywhere" Ian says, looking at me intently.

"No, I'm okay" I lie, giving him a small smile.

Then I remember Tristan.

"Where's Tristan?" I ask.

"We split up to search for you, so he's somewhere out here looking for you right now. And oh yeah, I forget to tell you. Remember that bitch Jessica?" Ian says.

I immediately remember Jessica, the highly annoying blond-haired girl who stormed off into the jungle by herself the first day.

"Unfortunately, we found her when we began looking for you. She's with Tristan now, and damn, she is fucking infuriating" Ian says.

I laugh.

"Every second she whines about how hungry and tired she is. I can't fucking stand her" Ian mutters.

"Well at least she's with Tristan right now" I say.

Suddenly, as if on cue, I hear a high-pitched voice shout, "They're they are!"

We both whip around to see Tristan and Jessica, standing about fifty feet away. Jessica is pointing right at us.

"Speak of the devil" Ian mutters under his breath.

"Tessa!" Tristan calls out.

They run towards us. When Tristan arrives, he grabs my arms and looks at me, a concerned expression on his face.

"What happened Tessa? Are you hurt?" he asks, searching my face.

I turn around quickly, glancing at Ian, who is standing there staring at us. His arms are crossed and he has a stolid look on his face.

I turn back to Tristan.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got up in the middle of the night to go get some water because I was really thirsty, and I couldn't find my way back. I know it was stupid that I went myself. And no, I'm not hurt" I say.

Chapter Thirteen

My blood runs cold when I hear Tristan's words.

Jessica is dead.

I suddenly feel nauseated and stumble backwards, stepping away from her dead body.

"No" I whisper under my breath.

Anger boils up inside of me. They did this to her. They are the reason that she is dead.

Then, that anger turns into fear when ask realize that this could very well happen to Ian. Or Tristan. The thought of losing them is terrifying.

I take one last look at Jessica's body. She looks strangely peaceful, as if none of the violent convulsions had occurred just moments ago. I close my eyes, unable to look anymore. Ian pulls me close to him, turning me away from her body.

I bury my head into his chest, and that's when the tears start. They are hot, angry tears that burn my eyes. They got what they wanted. Ian rubs his hand on my back, encircling his other arm around me.

"It's okay" he whispers.

"No, it's not okay that someone is dead. This is what Hal and the others wanted; for some horrible reason they want us to die on this island" I say, my voice trembling with rage.

It takes me a moment to process what I just said.

I have said too much.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Ian asks, looking at me with a confused expression on his face.

Oh no. I shouldn't of said that.

"Umm...nothing" I say, backing away from Ian slowly.

"No, you just mentioned something about someone named Hal and the others. What is going on?" he asks, his gaze piercing.

I begin to sweat nervously.

I turn around, looking at Tristan who has stood up. He looks at me, his eyebrows raised.

"Tessa, what are you not telling us" Tristan says, crossing his arms.

My stomach sinks. I have been caught in my lie.

"You didn't go to get water in the middle of the night last night. Something else happened" Ian says, his voice suddenly distant and cold.

I look back at Ian, who is staring at me. He does not look happy at all.

"Tessa, what happened last night" Tristan says.

"They took me" I blurt out, my heart racing.

"Who took you?" Tristan asks, crossing his arms across his chest.

Tears begin to stream down my face. I am an absolute mess right now.

"The people who are holding us captive here" I say, my voice shaking.

Ian has not broke his impassive glare.

"What happened? Where did they take you?" Tristan asks.

"They drugged me and I...well I woke up this morning in a cage, somewhere in the jungle. Then later, these two men came and got me, and they took me to their underground headquarters " I say, tears filling my eyes.

"Underground headquarters?" Tristan asks, confused.

"Yeah...they have this hatch that leads to their place under the ground" I say.

"Who are they? And what happened down there?"

I close my eyes, shuddering. I do not want to recount what happened.

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"They're some sort of doctors. But they're wicked. They put me in this room, and then this doctor named Hal came in and he took a lot of my blood. He...he said that my blood type was extremely rare, and that they needed a sample of it"

The thought of Hal sends chills down my spine. I leave out the part about how I am the only one who is not weakening.

"Did they say why we are here?" Tristan asks.

"No, they didn't say, but they have us here for some sort of wicked experiment or something" I say, my voice cracking.

"And then they just let you go?" he asks.

"Yes, they said that if I cooperated and gave my blood to them, they would let me go"

Tristan is silent for a moment. I glance nervously at Ian, then quickly look away.

"Tessa, are you sure this really happened?" Tristan asks.

I am suddenly filled with rage.

"You think I'm crazy, do you?" I exclaim.

"No, Tessa, I don't think you're crazy. It's just that this sounds kind of unrealistic. I mean, an underground headquarters? Doctors? You having a rare blood type?"

"Tristan, I am not lying. I swear on my life, all of it happened" I say, my voice shaking.

"Well then why didn't you tell us this?" Tristan asks.

I let out another sob, looking down at the ground with shame.

"B..B..Because he told me I couldn't tell anyone. He said that they are always watching, and they'll know if I tell anyone about them or their place" I sob.

It's too late; they are probably listening us right now. I'm doomed.

"So you fucking lie to me instead? I trusted you Tessa...until now" Ian finally says, bitter resentment in his tone.

I look at him, my heart aching.

"Ian, I'm sorry. I didn't know what to tell you and..."

"Just stop it right now. I don't want to talk to a liar anymore" Ian says coldly.

His words make me feel sick with guilt. I cannot believe that just earlier today, we kissed. Now, those memories seem faraway.

"Ian..." I whisper, tears rolling down my cheeks.

Ian shakes his head, then turns and walks away.

I collapse onto the floor, crying and feeling absolutely horrible. Tristan comes over and kneels down in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Hey Tessa, it's okay. I'm not angry at you" he says calmly.

I continue to cry. I have lost Ian.

Tristan gently tilts my head up so that I am looking at him straight in the eyes.

"Stop crying Tessa, it's okay" he says.

Nothing is okay. We are trapped on an island. Someone is dead. And everyone else will die sooner or later.

I just shake my head, sighing.

"What are we going to do with her?" I ask quietly, referring to Jessica's body.

Tristan turns his head, looking at her.

"We'll go to the beach tomorrow morning to bury her" he says.

I nod. It would be nice to get out of the jungle and go back to the beach. Bad things happen here in the jungle.

"So how about we forget about everything and go to sleep. We'll figure things out in the morning" Tristan says.

"Okay" I whisper.

Tristan stands up and walks back to where he was sitting before by the fire. After moving as far away as I can from Jessica's dead body, I lay down. The thought of Ian makes my heart break, so I try push him out of my mind. But I can't. I just want reverse time to earlier today. Before Jessica died. When Ian and I were together.

I close my eyes, trying so hard to clear my mind. And before I know it, I drift off into a dreamless void.


I wake to bright sunlight streaming through the canopy of the trees. I open my eyes and I am immediately blinded. For a ephemeral moment, I forget everything that happened last night. But then the memories from last night resurface and I feel nauseous.

I sit up, looking around. Tristan is sitting up, leaning against a tree. He gives me a small smile, but I am too miserable to smile back. I suddenly think about Ian and stand up, looking around. There is no sign of him.

"Ian?" I call out, panic rising in my voice.

I walk around, searching for him, checking behind trees to see if he is there. But he is not there. He has left.

"Ian's gone" I say, my voice faltering.

"Tessa, he overreacted. He'll come back soon when he realizes it" Tristan says, standing up and walking towards me.

I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat. I cannot cry again; it's not worth it. I need to toughen up.

"C'mon, let's go to the beach" Tristan says.

I turn around and nod at him. Before leaving, Tristan picks up Jessica's body, slumping her over his shoulder. I honestly don't know how he can carry a dead body. The mere thought of touching a dead person makes me shudder.

With Tristan leading the way, we start walking through the jungle. I cannot stop thinking about Ian, wondering where he went. My heart pangs when I remember how I was in his arms yesterday. How things changed so drastically between us in a flash.

I don't know how Tristan knows what direction we are going but about an hour later, we arrive back on the beach. The waves lap up serenely against the shore, and a salty smells fills the air. I close my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath of the salty ocean air, trying to calm myself down. Somehow, the sound of the waves and the air relieves me slightly. I am just glad to be out of the jungle.

Tristan and I begin digging a hole in the sand to bury Jessica's body. It's tiring work, but it feels good to be doing something. The ocean breeze blows through the air, whipping my messy hair all over the place.

Finally, when the hole is dug, Tristan lifts Jessica's body and lowers her carefully into the hole. We take one last solemn look at her, then bury the sand on top of her until the ground is level again. I sigh, then walk down to the shore, sitting and putting my toes on the water. The waves lap over my feet calmly, and I close my eyes, trying to clear my mind.

A few minutes later, Tristan comes over and sits down next to me. The silence between is actually quite peaceful. I don't want to talk about anything anymore; all I want to do is try to relax right now.

I think that I doze off because I am startled when I feel Tristan's hand grab my shoulder, shaking me.

"What?" I mutter groggily, my eyes still shut.

"Tessa, look" he says urgently.

I open my eyes and see him pointing at something in the ocean. I follow the direction of his finger and when I see what he is pointing at, my heart skips a beat.

It can't be...

At first, I think I am still dreaming.

But I'm not.

There, out in the water, about a quarter of a mile off the shore is a boat.

Chapter Fourteen

"Oh my god" I whisper.

We both immediately bolt up, looking out across the water at the boat. It is an average-sized, white skipjack with words painted in the side that are too far away to make out.

"We need to get its attention!" Tristan exclaims.

"I think it's going away from us!" I cry out.

I can't tell for sure, but it does look like the boat is slowly going in the opposite direction of the island.

Tristan immediately dives into the ocean, swimming towards the boat. I stand there for a moment, unsure about whether I should go with him. I don't know how strong of a swimmer I am. But then, on impulse, I dive I to the water as well.

"I'm coming!" I shout, my mouth filling with seawater.

"Okay, but we've got to swim fast! We need to get that boat to see us!" Tristan yells.

He then dives under and begins to swim. His muscular arms power him quickly through the water. I on the other hand, struggle to doggy-paddle behind him. Every single wave knocks me under the water, and I have to fight to resurface. Pretty soon, my lungs and legs are burning.

To my dismay, the ship seems to be getting farther and farther.

"Tristan, it's leaving!" I shout, seawater immediately filling my mouth.

Tristan begins shouting and waving his arms up in the air.

"Hey, over here!" he yells.

I begin waving my arms as well and shouting at the boat. But it's of no use; they can't hear us.

We both finally stop, exhausted. My legs are so tired that they can barely tread to keep my afloat anymore. Tristan turns around, beginning to swim back to me.

"Wait!" I shout suddenly, pointing at the boat.

The boat has stopped moving, now bobbing up and down on the surface of the water.

"They stopped!" I exclaim.

We both begin swimming as fast as we can to the boat. The pure adrenaline coursing through my veins is the only reason that I can keep up with Tristan. When I resurface my head above the water to take a breath, I see that the boat is now slowly coming towards us.

"They see us!" I scream ecstatically.

Soon, the boat is only a few feet away. It slows down to a stop, and Tristan and I both grab onto its side. For a few moments, we hang there, trying to catch our breath. Still, no one has come out of the cabin of the boat, which has tinted black windows, making it unable to see who is inside.

Tristan, who catches his breath much quicker than I do, begins to climb up the side of the boat. I am still too tired, so I stay there, holding on.

Looking at the boat's side, I see the words painted on it that I couldn't make out before.

In large black letters reads, "THE BLAIR INSTITUTE"

The Blair Institute...

It sounds so familiar. I close my eyes rack my brain, trying to search through the fog to find out where I have seen those words before. Then, the memory comes crashing in.


I am laying down on a cold metal table. A bright, fluorescent light shines over me, blinding me.

"Hello?" I call out.

Then suddenly, someone is leaning over me, holding a large needle.

"Hello Tessa" he says, his voice muffled through the surgical mask covering his face.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I say weakly, my voice strained.

"Just remember, it is for the greater good" the man says.

Then, the next thing I know, the needle coming down, getting closer and closer to my neck. And the last thing that I see before the needle plunges into my skin are three words, embroidered on the shoulder of the mans white lab coat:

The Blair Institute


My eyes flash open.

These people are not here to rescue us.

It is them.

"Tristan, wait stop!" I yell, panic rising in my voice.

Tristan is already on the landing of the boat and looks down at me, confused.

"What?" he says, confused.

"Tristan, these people are not here to rescue us" I say.

Tristan looks down at me for a moment, raising his eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" he says, confusion in his voice.

"It's them; the people who took me" I say gravely.

"Wait, what! How do you know?" he exclaims.

I open my mouth to explain, but then realize that it is too late.

The sliding door of the cabin opens and two men in a white labs coat slowly walk out. My blood runs cold.

"Tristan, run!" I scream.

But it is too late.

The two men grab Tristan from behind, dragging him.

I scream as I watch Tristan try to fight the men off. But it is two to one, and Tristan cannot escape their grasp.

Without thinking rationally, I frantically climb up the side of the boat. When I reach the top, I run towards them, reaching out for Tristan. I grab his shirt, but I immediately feel one of the men's hands grab me. I try to kick the men and get free, but all my efforts are futile. They drag Tristan and I towards the other side of the boat.

One of the men bends down and opens up a hatch on the floor. Then, the next thing I know, Tristan and I are shoved down through the opening into darkness underneath the boat.

"Where are you taking us!" I yell, my voice shaking with both fear and anger.

Neither of the men respond. Instead, they close the hatch door, leaving us in utter blackness.

I hear the click of a lock.

Then a few moments later, I hear the loud rumble of the boat's motor and feel the boat begin to move.

We are doomed.

Chapter Fifteen

I guess you really never appreciate what you have until it's gone.

That's what I think right now, locked in the darkness under the boat, speeding away in the clutches of our captors.

It was bad being in the jungle with no food and limited water.

It was bad when Jessica died.

It was bad when Ian left us.

But nothing can top the hopelessness that I feel right now.

We fell right into their trap.

The boat is now at full speed, bouncing up and down over the waves. The rocking motion makes me feel nauseous. My eyes still haven't fully adjusted to the dark, but I can make out Tristan's face.

"Tessa?" He whispers into the darkness.

"Yeah" I reply glumly.

"I'm going to try to get is out of here" he says.

"There's no use in trying Tristan. We're locked in here" I mumble.

"Well it's worth a shot" he says.

He sits up, banging his head hard on the low ceiling.

"Fuck" he swears under his breath, rubbing his head.

He then begins to bang repeatedly on the hatch, trying to bust it open.

Finally, I shout,

"Tristan stop! It's not going to work"

He sinks to the floor, defeated.

I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment. Water drips from the ceiling, landing on my head and shoulders, and the stench of mildew fills the air.

"Tessa?" Tristan calls out into the darkness.

"Yeah?" I say.

"What do you think is going to happen to us?" He asks quietly.

I am silent for a moment. I don't want to think about what they are going to do to us. I am so scared and confused.

"I don't know" I say gloomily.

"Why do they want us?" he murmurs.

"I don't know" I whisper again.

The pit of despair in my stomach makes me feel as if I am empty and lifeless. I suddenly find myself crawling in the darkness towards Tristan. I finally reach him and slide back against the wall. It feels a little better to be next to him.

I don't know how much time goes by, but suddenly, the loud roar of the motor begins to lessen. We are slowing down. Finally, the boat slows to a stop. I sit up, tensing.

A few moments later, I hear footsteps from right above our heads. Then, the click of lock. The hatch door swings open and sunlight streams in, completely blinding me.

"Get out" one of the man says impassively.

I glance at Tristan, and he stands up, climbing out first. Once he reaches the top, he kneels down, holding a hand out to me. I stand up, wobbling slightly, then grab his hand. With his help, I climb out of the darkness into the blinding light. Once on the boat's surface, I look around. We have pulled into a dock, and one of the men is tying the boat to the dock with rope. We must be on the other side of the island. Their side of the island.

The other man pushes us towards the railing of the boat, our backs to him. I immediately feel him tie my arms together behind my back with rope.

"What the hell is this for?" I say angrily, trying to wrench my arms out.

The man doesn't respond. Instead, he points to the dock, signaling for us to get off the boat. When neither of us move, he says gruffly,

"Get off of the boat"

Reluctantly, we both step off the boat onto the wooden dock. With the man right on our heels, we walk down the dock until we reach the beach. The other man finishes tying the boat to the dock and walks in front of us. We are trapped.

We walk across the beach then enter the jungle. I glance at Tristan, who glances back at me. The fear and hopelessness in my eyes reflect in his. I then see a tear rolling down his cheek and my heart aches.

"What do we do?" I whisper to him, as quietly as I can.

"Stop talking" the man behind us says curtly.

I close my mouth and look forward. We keep walking through the jungle, taking various twists and turns along the way. The whole time, my heart is beating like a drum in my chest.

We finally arrive at a clearing in the jungle and my heart sinks. It was where they took me before, when I woke up in the cage. But now, there are multiple cages, lined up in two lines across from each other. And three of the them have someone in it. We walk forward towards the cages, and I try to see who is inside them. All of their backs are turned towards us, but I can tell that one of them is a girl and the other two are boys.

We pass by the girl first and she turns and looks at us with fear and misery in her eyes. I recognize her as one of the girls on the beach the first day. She is one of us. I rack my brain trying to remember her name. Then, I remember; Alyssa.

Alyssa looks at me, with a pleading look in her eyes, recognizing Tristan and I. She moves up against the wall of her cage, gripping the bars with her hands. I make eye contact with her for one moment before we pass by.

The next cage we pass on the other side contains Dylan, one of the boys. He has dark hair and dark eyes, and is slumped in the corner of his cage. When we pass by, he looks up at me, recognition spreading across his face.

"Tessa..." Dylan murmurs.

I stare at him for a moment longer before we pass by.

We stop at the next cage.

I turn, glancing past Tristan to see who is inside the cage to my left.

And heart skips a beat when I see who it is, slumped in the corner.

It's Ian.

He glances up, his face weary and drained. His eyes immediately meet mine, and my heart begins to race even faster. Before I can say anything, the man behind me grabs me and pushes me into the cage opposite Ian's and right next to Dylan's. He immediately closes the door and locks it. They then push Tristan into the cage on the other side of me, locking him in as well.

The men take one final look at us.

Then, one of them says,

"Remember, this is for the greater good"

"Bullshit" I hear Dylan mutter under his breath.

Then, they walk away.

Once they are gone, I hear a sob escape from next to me and I turn to see Tristan, with his head in his hands, sitting on the cage floor. My heart pangs.

I then turn to my other side to see Dylan, who gives me a small, weak smile.

"Hey, welcome to the fun" he says sarcastically, leaning against the wall of his cage and tossing a rock up and down.

I am too upset to even force a smile back.

I then turn my head forward, bracing myself to look at Ian again.

He is facing me, his hands gripped on the bars. His eyes immediately lock into mine. I am suddenly filled with a flood of emotions and stand up, gripping the bars of my cage and facing him directly.

Then, I hear him utter two words, barely audible, but just loud enough for me to hear.

"I'm sorry"

Chapter Sixteen

Ian's words echo in my mind.

I look at him, and he looks back, his eyes pleading.

Suddenly, a lump forms in the back of my throat. I try to force it down, but my emotions overtake me and a tear rolls down my cheek.

"Tessa..." he says quietly, reaching his hand through the bars, as if he could touch me.

Another tear rolls down my cheek.

"I'm sorry about everything I did. I was stupid and I overreacted. And I understand if you don't forgive me for what I did" he says, his eyes still locked into mine.

I stare at him for a moment, then turn away, the lump in my throat growing bigger.

I don't know what to say. Everything has just been so crazy the past few days, and I am a jumbled mess of emotions. But something about hearing Ian's voice again stirs something deep inside of me. I look back up to him, tears pooling up in my eyes and blurring my vision.

"It's okay Ian. I forgive you" I say softly.

He looks at me for another moment, his gaze penetrating. Then, his mouth breaks into a small, genuine smile. I give him a weak smile back. And in that moment, I want to be in his arms again. I want to feel his soft lips on mine again. He reaches his hands out further from between his bars, reaching out towards me. I reach my one of my hands out as well, as if the space between us didn't exist and I could touch him.

I hear another muffled sob from next to me and I turn to see Tristan, who is still sitting down with his head in his hands.

After glancing at Ian one more time, I walk over towards the wall facing him, putting my face up to the bars.

"Tristan" I say.

He looks up at me, his eyes red and his face tear-stained.

"Don't cry. We're going to be okay" I lie.

He looks at me, then shakes his head.

"Tessa, why are we in these cages? Who are these wicked people?" He asks, his voice trembling.

If I knew the answer, I would tell him. But of course, I do not.

"I don't know. But at least we're all still alive" I say, trying to sound as optimistic as I can, even though the pit of despair in my stomach is threatening to swallow me.

He looks at me with his red eyes, sniffing.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this" he whispers quietly, looking down again.

"Tristan, don't be sorry about anything" I say, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

He nods, then leans against the back of his cage, closing his eyes for a moment.

I turn back to see Ian, still facing me, his hands wrapped around the bars of his cage.

"So, how did they capture you two?" I hear Dylan's voice ask from behind me.

He is still laying down on the floor of his cage, tossing a rock up and down repeatedly.

"They had a boat out in the water, off of the coast. Tristan and I thought they were rescuers, so we swam out to the them, and then...they got us. I should of known that no one was coming to rescue us. We're on an remote island in the middle of the ocean; no one will find us" I say sadly.

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"Wanna know how they got me?" Dylan says, sitting up and looking at me.

I don't know if I really want know, but I nod.

"I was walking through the jungle by myself to take a piss, when all of a sudden I stepped onto a piece of metal on the ground. And the next thing I knew, a net flew down from the tree and captured me, pulling me up into the air. I tried screaming for help, but no one came. Then, those two men came and got me" Dylan says.

"A booby trap..." I whisper.

They must have them set up all around the jungle, waiting to capture us.

"What I really want to know is why they have us in these fucking cages? I mean it was bad enough being trapped on the island, but now trapped in cages? I mean come on, how evil can they get?" Dylan says.

Pretty damn evil.

"I don't know" I reply, shuddering at the thought.

We are probably going to find out soon enough why we are here, and I don't think that it is going to be pleasant. I don't want to even fathom what they are going to do to us.

I turn back, looking at Ian who is sitting on the floor, facing me.

"When did they get you?" I ask him.

"Right after I left you two" he says quietly, looking at the ground.

"What happened?" I ask.

He looks back up to me.

"I was walking through the jungle. It was dark, and I had no idea where I was going; I just kept walking. Then, I saw someone shining a flashlight at me from across the jungle. I should of stopped and realized it was one of them, but instead I walked towards them. And the next thing I knew, my hands were tied behind my back and a blindfold was put over my eyes. I tried to fight him off, but he was too strong" Ian explains solemnly.

I am silent for a moment, thinking.

"I don't know who the fuck these people are or what they're doing to us" Ian says, bitterness in his tone

"They're called the Blair Institute" I say suddenly.

"The what?" Dylan says, sitting up.

I look at Dylan, then back to Ian, who is staring at me.

"These people, they are from the Blair Institute" I say.

"What the fuck is that?" Dylan asks.

"I don't know, but it was painted on the side of the boat that they captured us on. And I saw it embroidered on their lab coats in a memory that I had" I explain.

Ian raises his eyebrows at me.

"You had another memory?" he says.

"Yeah, but it was a really short one" I say quickly.

"You had a memory? We can't remember anything!" Dylan exclaims.

"Look, I barely remember anything at all except my name. Except I've been having a few flashbacks come back to me. They come randomly, and I don't know what they are, but I think that they are bits and pieces of my memory back to me" I say.

"What happened in this one?" Ian asks me.

"It was just like the first one I had. I was laying on a hospital bed, with this bright light shining over me. And then this doctor, one of these people, leaned over me. That's when I saw it, embroidered on the shoulder of his lab coat; The Blair Institute. He told me, just like those men just told us, to remember that this is all for the greater good. And then..."

Chapter Seventeen

I stare down into the black abyss, my stomach churning. The thought of going back down there makes me nauseous.

The man gruffly unties the rope around my wrists, then pushes me towards the edge of the hatch. He shines the flashlight down into the tunnel, right onto the rusted ladder.

'Go down" he says coarsely

I swallow hard, looking down into the blackness.

"Now" he demands.

Reluctantly, I kneel down then slowly begin to climb down the ladder, descending into the gloom. The man stands above, shining his flashlight down on me. My entire body is trembling, and often my sweaty palms keep slipping on the rungs of the ladder. Finally, my feet hit the ground. After wiping my palms onto my shirt, I look up at the man, who is about thirty feet above me.

"Go inside. They are waiting for you" he shouts down.

Fear pulsates throughout my entire body as I turn around, facing the large steel door built into the earth. I reach one of my shaking hands out and twist the door handle. Slowly, the door creaks open and I am once again blinded by the white, fluorescent hallway. I walk inside, closing the door behind me. My nose is immediately greeted by the sharp, pungent odor of antiseptics.

I stand there for a moment, unsure what to do. The silence of the hallway is unnerving, making the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I back up against the metal door, my heart racing. Then, I jump when someone rounds the corner into the hallway.

Hal.

He looks at me, his blue eyes piercing into mine. I recoil back even further, sickened to see him again. He then begin to walk towards me slowly, his arms crossed across his chest. His pale lips break into an unpleasant smile that sends shivers down my spine.

"Hello Tessa, what a pleasure it is to see you again" he says icily, his false smile still plastered on his face.

I glare at him, trying not to let fear show on my face.

"You are probably wondering why just you are down here right now" he says, stopping right in front of me.

I continue to glare at him, thinking about how bad I want to kick him in the shins as well.

"You are down here Tessa because we have been listening to you. And we heard something you said that was quite...unusual"

I immediately know what he is going to say.

"You have had some memories, is that right?" Hal asks.

I don't respond.

"Now Tessa, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. So I'll ask again, you have had a few memories, is that right?" Hal says chillingly.

"Yes" I say curtly.

He nods, eyeing me.

"Well that's quite peculiar" he says.

"And what are you going to do about it?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"We are going to stop it" he says sharply.

My blood runs cold.

"H...H...How?" I ask, fear spreading across my face.

"Just a short, quick procedure. So short that you'll barely feel a thing. And if you cooperate, you will be released back to your cage" Hal says.

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I shake my head, backing up as far as I can away from this vile man. My heart pounds, and I suddenly feel extremely light-headed.

"Tessa, it will be short, quick and only hurt for a second" Hal says.

"Why do you need to wipe my memories away?" I ask, my voice trembling.

Hal looks looks at me, raising his eyebrows.

"You really don't think I'm going to tell you that, do you?"

"And if I refuse?" I say daringly.

He grins again, a wicked, crooked grin.

"If you refuse, something quite unpleasant will occur. Far worse than the procedure"

"If I do this procedure, I want you to let us all out of the cages" I say, trying to sound as defiant as possible.

Hal laughs coldly.

"No can do. But if you do this, I will send you back to your cage, unharmed and healthy" he says.

"Fine" I say,

I have no choice.

"Good. Now follow me" he says.

He turns around and begins walking down the hallway. I reluctantly follow him, my head spinning as I wonder what they are going to do to me.

We turn the corner and begin walking down the hall with the doors.  Finally, we stop in front of a door with a sign that says, "CRANIAL OPERATIONS"

Panic rises up inside of me. "CRANIAL OPERATIONS" does not sound pleasant at all.

What have I gotten myself into.

Hal opens the door, revealing a small room similar to the one I was in a few days ago. Except this room contains a large CAT scan machine in the center of the room. I feel dizzy wonder how the hell they have a CAT scan machine underground on an island. And I feel even dizzier when I realize that I am going to be put inside of that machine.

A man is already inside the room, standing by the machine and wearing a white lab coat and mask. He looks up at us.

"She's ready" Hal says, pushing me into the room.

The man nods and Hal closes the door behind me. There's no turning back now.

My heart thuds in my chest as the man motions for me to come over. I take slow, wobbling steps, the feeling gone throughout my limbs.

"Lay down" the man says, his voice muffled through the surgical mask covering his face.

I climb up onto the table and lay down on my back, my entire body quaking with fear. Bright fluorescent lights shine down from above, making me squint. The man leans over me, placing a clear mask over my mouth. 

"Now stay still, and this will be over very soon" the man says.

He walks away and presses a button. The machine immediately turns on, making a loud humming noise. He presses another button and I feel the table I am laying on begin to move slowly into the machine. I grip the sides of the table, my eyes widening with fear. The humming gets louder and louder as I enter the machine until it is unbearable. It screams, blasting my ears and vibrating my entire body. I want to scream and run, but I am completely trapped.

Then, just when I think that I cannot take it anymore, a gas sprays through my mask. I breathe in and the next thing that I know is blackness.


When I wake up, my head is pounding. I open my eyes and for a few moments, my vision is blurred. But when it refocuses, I see that I am staring up at the white ceiling. I sit up, dazed and disorientated. Then, I am knocked out of my haze when I see Hal, standing across the room, staring at me.

"See? That wasn't that bad, right?" he says, smiling.

I close my eyes, trying to remember what happened. The last thing that I remember is going into the machine, then blackness.

"What did you do to me?" I say, my voice shaking.

He steps forward, coming towards me, that unpleasant smile still wiped across his face.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you Tessa. But now you are free to go" Hal says.

"Yeah, free to go back to being trapped in a cage" I say, rolling my eyes at him.

He nods, holding his hand out to help me down from the table. Disgusted, I jump down from the table myself, refusing to touch him. When I hit the ground, I instantly feel unsteady and wobble slightly. My vision fades out for a moment, then returns.

Hal opens the door and I follow him out. The man who took me here stands in the hallway, waiting.

"Escort her back to her cage" Hal says to him.

The man nods, then grabs me by the arm, pulling me down the hallway. Every step I take sends pulsating throbs of pain in my head. We finally arrive at the steel door and the man opens it, pushing me into the darkness.

I begin to climb the ladder, the man right behind me. My weak body can barely climb; every movement makes my entire body ache. When we reach the top I use all of my remaining strength to push the hatch door open. I climb out onto the ground, and the man immediately grabs me before I have the chance to even try to run.

We begin walking back towards the cages. It is still nighttime, and the moon shines bright in the night sky, illuminating our path. Finally, we reach the clearing where the cages are. The man brings me up to my cage, unlocks the door then pushes me inside. I collapse onto the floor, my entire body giving out. I hear the click of a lock, then the footsteps of the man walking away.

"Tessa?" I hear Ian's voice call out.

"Yeah?" I reply, my voice weak.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asks me.

Suddenly, I begin to cry. Tears cascade down my face uncontrollably.

Ian rushes forward to the front of his cage, grabbing the bars and looking at me.

"Tess..." he whispers.

I continue to cry. Everything is just so messed up right now, and my head is still spinning.

"What did they do to you?" he asks.

I shake my head, wiping my eyes. I don't want to recount what they did to me.

"They are horrible people Ian" I say, my voice trembling with anger.

"But what did they do to you?" he asks, looking at me intently.

"They...they said that they had to remove my memories. And then they put me into this machine, and I don't remember anything else that happened because I blacked out" I say.

"They have machines down there?" I hear Dylan's voice say next to me.

I nod.

"What the fuck?" he says incredulously.

I turn back to Ian, who is still standing and facing me. Hot tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision.

"I can't do this anymore..." I whisper, my voice failing me.

Right now, all I want is to be with him. I want to feel his strong arms around me, numbing the pain. I want to feel his lips on mine. I reach my arms through the bars towards him, wishing that I could touch him.

"We aren't going to do this anymore" he says quietly.

"What?" I say, confused.

Ian looks at me, his eyes trained into mine.

"We are going to escape"

Chapter Eighteen

"What?" I say, my eyes widening,

I couldn't of just heard Ian correctly.

"I said, we are going to escape from here" he says, lowering his voice to nearly a whisper.

"Ian, we are trapped in locked cages" I say.

"Yes, I know that" he replies.

"So what are you talking about?" I ask.

"I'm coming up with a plan to escape. It's not fully developed yet, but I have an idea" he whispers.

I stare at him, dumbfounded. If he can think of a way to escape a locked cage, he must be going crazy.

I guess we all are going crazy.

Since my head is still spinning, I lay down onto the metal floor of the cage, closing my eyes. I never thought that there would be anything more uncomfortable than sleeping on the jungle floor, but metal floor of the cage proves me wrong. I shift back and forth, futilely attempting to get comfortable until I finally give up and lay flat on my stomach.

All that I want to do right now is sleep. Forget about everything going on for just a few hours. I try clearing my mind of everything, and although it is hard, I finally do. And that is when sleep comes.


I am running through the jungle. I don't know where I am going, but my heart is pounding in my chest. I am being chased by someone.

I suddenly emerge into a clearing and stumble to a stop when I see the someone, their back towards me.

Ian.

"Ian?" I call out breathlessly.

He doesn't turn around; he just stands there as stiff as a board.

"Ian! They're coming for us, we have to go!" I shout frantically, panic rising in my voice.

Then slowly, he turns around. And all the blood in my body runs cold when I see that it is not the face of Ian.

It is the face of Hal.

I slowly begin to back up as he stares at me with his piercing blue eyes and his malicious smile.

"Tessa, where are you going?" He asks icily.

I shake my head, starting to back up faster.

"You can run away. But remember, we will always find you..."


I wake up with a start, gasping for breath. The suns streams down from the sky, blinding me for a moment. I I immediately notice that I am soaked in a cold sweat, even though it is hot.

"Tessa?" I hear Ian's voice say.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes then looking up at him. He is sitting in his cage, looking at me intently.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Nothing, just a bad dream" I say quickly.

He nods.

I look next to me to see that both Tristan and Dylan are up as well. Dylan is laying on the floor of his cage, tossing his rock up and down.

"Morning" he murmurs.

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Tristan is sitting in the corner of his cage, a distant look on his face.

"Hey Tristan, you okay?" I ask.

I realize it's a stupid question right after I ask him. None of us are okay.

He looks up, his eyes tired and puffy. I force a small, weak smile onto my face, and he smiles back weakly.

Suddenly, I hear distant shouting. It is coming closer and closer. I immediately rush up to my bars, trying to crane my head to see what is going on. Then, I see what the noise is coming from.

Two of the men is dragging a girl towards the cages. One of us. She is kicking and screaming, but the men have a firm grip on her.

"Let me go you bastards!" she shrieks.

I stare at her, trying to recall her name.

Then I remember it; Nikki.

She screams as the men push her into a cage, diagonal from me. Then, there is a loud clang as they slam the door shut, locking her inside. Then the men walk away.

Nikki bangs on the cage, rattling the bars in frustration. After a few moments, she gives up, collapsing to the floor. She looks up, then says,

"Dylan?"

Dylan rushes forward to the front of his cage, facing Nikki.

"Dylan, what the fuck is going on?" she asks, her voice trembling.

"I don't know" Dylan mumbles.

Nikki then looks at me, Tristan and Ian, who are all staring at her.

"Do any of you guys know what the hell is going on?" She asks, looking at me with wide eyes.

I shake my head miserably.

"Shit" she mutters under breath, running her fingers through her dirty blonde hair.

I glance at Ian, who glances back at me.

That's when I remember what he said to me last night. That we are going to get out of here.

"How's your plan coming?" I mouth to him.

"Still thinking" he whispers back.

I nod, then sit back, leaning against the bars. I try to think of a way to escape, but there is none. We are trapped inside of locked cages. How the hell does Ian think that he can devise a plan to escape?

I think I doze off for a little bit because I wake up to hear everyone shouting. Opening my eyes, I see that four men in lab coats are walking towards us, carrying trays in their hands. Trays of food. My starved, empty stomach immediately growls at the sight of food. I cannot believe that they are actually feeding us.

The men stop in the center of of the clearing, and one of them says,

"This is the only meal that you will be receiving today"

They then walk up to our cages and unlock the doors, opening them just wide enough to slip the tray of food in. Then, in a split second, the men slam our doors shut again and walk away.

I rush forward to my tray and when I see what is on it, my heart sinks. On the tray sits a small bowl of grey, lumpy mush. I knew that they weren't going to give us a five-course meal, but this looks absolutely revolting. But my hunger overtakes me and I pick up the bowl, spooning the mush into my mouth. It is tasteless and has an awful texture, but hey, it's better than nothing.

When I finish my bowl, I look up to see Ian. He has pushed his tray away from him, the bowl untouched.

"Why aren't you eating it?" I ask him.

Chapter Nineteen

The next few minutes are utter chaos.

The second that the man opens my cage door, I lunge forward, pure adrenaline coursing throughout my veins. I force all of my body weight onto the cage door, driving it open and tumbling out onto the ground. Before I can get up and run, I feel the man's arms grab me violently, dragging me back into the cage. I scream, trying to break out of his grip, but he is much stronger than I am.

Just when I am about to get locked back into the cage, the man is suddenly slammed to the ground. I look up to see Ian, tackling him. I quickly scramble backwards, standing up. Ian wrestles the man, pushing him hard onto the ground.

"Run Tessa!" he shouts.

My heart pounding in my chest, I look around. For a few moments, it seems as if everything is happening in slow motion.

Both Dylan and Tristan have broken out of their cages, and are wrestling the other three men to the ground. Nikki and Alyssa are still in their cages. And I am standing there, frozen in place.

"Run!" Ian shouts again.

But I can't move.

I watch in terror as Ian is violently slammed to the ground.

I can't just stand here anymore.

A surge of adrenaline flows throughout my body and I lunge forward, jumping on top of the man wrestling Ian. I wildly punch the man repeatedly until he falls backwards, releasing Ian. Quickly, I stand up, and before the man can attack again, I kick him in the head.

Hard.

He falls backward, slumping onto the ground. Knocked out cold.

I stand there breathlessly, my heart racing.

I cannot believe that I just did that.

I look at Ian, who is still laying on the ground. He looks up at me, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Holy shit" he murmurs, standing up quickly.

Ian immediately runs towards Tristan and Dylan to help them fight off the other two men. I stand there rooted to the ground, still shocked that I knocked someone out cold.

"Tessa, run!" Ian shouts.

I shake my head, unable to move. It's as if all of the muscles in my body have stopped working.

"RUN!"

Finally, I run. But not away from them.

I run straight towards them.

"Tessa, what the fuck are you doing!" Ian yells, right before he is pummeled to the ground.

I jump onto the man on top of Ian, pushing him to the ground. Then, before the man can get up, I shove him into one of the cages and slam the door, locking him inside.

Ian gets up and slams the man who is fighting Tristan to the ground. Hard. I cringe as I hear a loud crack.

Now there's only one of them left.

Dylan is on the ground, trying to wrestle the man. He yells out in pain as the man punches him in the jaw. Ian instantly jumps on the man, wrestling him off of Dylan and aggressively shoving him onto the ground. Knocking him out cold.

I stand there, panting, adrenaline still pulsating throughout my veins.

"Oh my god..." Nikki whispers from inside her cage, her eyes wide with fear.

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Dylan stands up shakily, wiping blood off of his forehead.

"Well that was fun" he mumbles.

"We have to go now. Before others come" Tristan says quickly.

"There's no use in running. We will find you" a voice says.

I whip around to see the man who I locked in the cage. I almost forgot about him. He grins, a wicked, evil grin that reveals his yellow, crooked teeth. I glare at the man, wishing that he was knocked out like the other three.

"We've got to get them out" Dylan says, pointing to Nikki and Alyssa.

I look down at one of the men laying on the ground and spot a ring of keys hanging out of his lab coat pocket. Bending down, I grab the ring of keys and walk over to Nikki's cage first. I begin to try every key in the lock, trying to find the right one. I notice that my hands are still trembling. Finally, there is a click as Nikki's door swings open. She crawls out, standing up.

Next, I quickly walk to Alyssa's cage. She is sitting in the corner, crying quietly. When I starting trying keys in the lock, she shakes her head.

"Stop" she sobs, looking up at me with red, puffy eyes.

"What?" I say, looking at her.

"Just leave me" she whispers, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"What? You have to come with us" I say.

She shakes her head.

"No, please, just leave me" she murmurs.

I turn around, looking at Ian, Tristan, Dylan and Nikki. They all look at me, shrugging.

"If she wants to stay, then leave her. We have to go now" Dylan says.

I turn back to Alyssa.

"Are you sure?" I ask her.

She nods.

"Alright then. Let's go" I say, standing up.

I want to get the hell out of here.

We begin to run through the jungle as fast as we can. My legs are burning and I am gasping for breath, but I don't care. All that I want to do is get as far away from their place as we can.

There's no use in running. We will find you.

The man's haunting words echo through my mind as we sprint through the jungle, with absolutely no idea where we are going. My mind is racing so fast that I still can't even process everything that has just happened. Running away is all that I know right now.

Finally, we break out of the trees and screech to a stop. When I see what is in front of us my jaw drops. We are standing on the edge of a rocky cliff.

My stomach flips when I look down. Twenty feet below, waves crash over large jagged rocks jutting out along the coast. Gasping for breath, I stand there for a moments, transfixed. We must be on another side of the island.

I am broken out of my trance when I feel hand on my shoulder, pulling me away from the edge. Turning around, I see that it is Tristan. He immediately drops his hand from my shoulder, looking at the ground furtively.

"Holy shit" Dylan murmurs, stepping back as well.

Nikki and Dylan sit down by the edge, exhausted. Nikki leans her head on Dylan's shoulder, closing her eyes.

I suddenly feel wobbly and dizzy.

"I'm going to go walk for a second" I say breathlessly.

I turn around and begin to walk through the jungle, my head still spinning. A wave of nausea passes over me and I lean against a tree, closing my eyes. My heart is still pounding in my chest and my legs are burning. Then suddenly, I feel two arms wrap around my waist from behind.

I don't have to turn around to know who it is.

He presses his lips onto my cheek, kissing me softly. I lean backwards onto his chest, relaxing onto his body. Chills shiver down my spine as he plants a trail of kisses down my cheek then down the side of my neck. Then suddenly, I whip around and crash my lips onto his. Passion explodes throughout my entire body as his tongue presses against mine.

My entire mind has shut off. All that I want right now is Ian.

He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I run my hands through his tousled hair as his tongue revolves around mine.

Damn, he is a good kisser.

He deepens our kiss, and I small moan escapes from my throat. He pulls me even closer, completely eliminating any space that there was between us.

I don't know how long it lasts, but finally we break apart. He presses his forehead against mine, panting. I am gasping for breath as well, my heart pounding in my chest. We are silent for a few moments, our breaths intermingling with each others.

"I missed you so much" he whispers huskily, his arms still wrapped around my waist.

"Me too" I say.

"You know, you were a fucking bad ass with those men. I didn't know that you could beat up full grown men like that" he says, grinning.

I laugh slightly.

"Yeah, me neither" I say, grinning back.

Just then, I hear the snap of a twig.

I lift my forehead off of Ian's and look across the jungle to see Tristan, standing about twenty feet away.

Staring at us.

Chapter Twenty

My cheeks immediately burn bright red when my eyes meet with Tristan's. He looks at me for a moment, then looks down at the ground furtively.

"What are you doing here?" Ian calls out, sounding agitated.

Ian's arms are still wrapped around my waist, keeping me close to his body. Tristan looks back up at the two of us, his cheeks red as well.

"I...I was just checking to see if Tessa was feeling okay" he says.

Before Ian can say something rude to him, I quickly say,

"Thanks Tristan. I'm feeling better now"

Ian glances at me, then back at Tristan, who is still standing there.

"Well is there anything else you want?" Ian asks.

I can't tell I am detecting a slight edge of hostility in his voice.

"I guess I'll go back now" Tristan says awkwardly.

He puts his hands in his pockets and after glancing one last awkward time at me, he turns and walks away. My heart pangs for a moment, feeling bad for Tristan. I want to call after him, but I don't know what to say.

Once Tristan is gone, Ian turns back to me.

"You know you didn't have to be so unfriendly to him" I say, looking up into his eyes.

"He was stalking us" Ian says flatly.

"No he wasn't. He was just coming to see if I was okay" I say.

Ian nods.

"So try to be nicer to him next time?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"Okay" Ian says, smiling slightly.

He looks into my eyes and pushes a stray piece of hair behind my ear. My hair is an absolute rat's nest. Thank god that there are no mirrors on this island because I don't want to see how awful I look.

"You know, you're beautiful" Ian says softly, pushing another loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My cheeks immediately burn bright red. I smile, looking down at the ground then back up to him.

"Ian, I haven't showered in days and I've been sleeping on the jungle floor. I'm pretty sure I look like shit" I say.

"Well if you look like shit, then shit is pretty damn hot" Ian says, grinning.

I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss him softly on the lips, letting my lips linger on his for a few moments before I pull away.

"We should probably head back" I say.

"But I want to stay like this; just us" Ian whispers, leaning forward and pressing his forehead gently against mine.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach as his breath intermingles with mine.

"No, we have to go back to them and figure out what we are going to do" I say.

He nods. We began to walk back through the jungle to the cliff. Ian slips his hand into mine, which sends tingles throughout my entire body.

We finally arrive back at the edge of the cliff. Dylan and Nikki are still sitting together at the edge of the cliff, Dylan's arm wrapped around Nikki. Tristan is standing by the edge, alone.

He turns around, looking at us. I give him a small, weak smile, which he returns. I see his eyes dart down to our hands, which are still clasped together. My heart pangs again.

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Dylan and Nikki turn around, standing up.

"Okay so these people are probably coming for us right now. What are we going to do?" Dylan asks, crossing his arms.

I don't know what to do. We are stuck on an island with water surrounding us on all sides. There is no where to go.

"I don't know" I say solemnly, looking down at the ground.

Ian squeezes my hand lightly.

"They're going to find us eventually, aren't they?" Nikki says, her voice trembling with fear.

There is a long silence.

Finally, Tristan says,

"Not unless we stay hidden from them"

I look up at him and his eyes meet mine.

"We should stay on the move. In the mean time we should try to look for some water. Or food. And hopefully if we stay on the move they won't be able to find us" Tristan says.

On cue, my stomach growls.

We all agree, since we have nothing better to do. We then begin to walk through the jungle. It is still cloudy, so for once, the sun is not blazing down on us. The entire time, I have the unnerving feeling that we are being watched. Then I realize where this feeling is coming from; we are being watched. By the cameras mounted up in the trees.

They are always watching.

I keep expecting one of them to come jumping out from behind a tree, but it doesn't happen. The jungle is silent, except for the chorus of exotic birds. Ian's hand is still in mine, which makes me feel slightly more at ease.

Suddenly, Tristan stops, putting a hand to his ear.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Do you hear it?" He says, turning around and looking at me.

At first I don't hear it. But then, my ears pick up on the sound that he is hearing.

I am unmistakably hearing the sound of running water.

"Do you guys hear it?" Tristan exclaims.

"I don't hear anything. I think you're going crazy." Dylan says.

"Listen!" Tristan shouts.

"It's the lake" I say.

"The lake? What lake?" Dylan exclaims.

"There's a fresh water lake and waterfall we found a few days ago in the jungle" Tristan says.

"There's a fucking freshwater lake in the jungle and you guys didn't tell us!" Dylan shouts incredulously.

"We tried to! We set up a signal fire, but you guys must of not seen it" Tristan says.

"Well let's go!" Dylan exclaims.

We all begin to run through the jungle, towards the sound of the rushing water. Adrenaline courses through my veins as the rushing noise gets louder and louder. Finally we screech to a stop and I gasp. We are standing at the top of the waterfall.

The water roars, cascading down into the crystalline lake below. We stand there for a few moments, breathless, taking in the surreal sight in front of us.

"Holy shit" Dylan whispers under his breath.

"I can't believe we didn't find this" Nikki says.

"Well wait are we waiting for! Let's go in!" Dylan exclaims.

In an instant, he rips off his shirt and jumps in.

"Dylan!" Nikki shouts as Dylan jumps from the top of the waterfall and plunges down into the water.

My heart skips a beat when Dylan disappears under the surface of the water. But then, I am flooded with relief when he resurfaces, a huge grin on his face.

"C'mon in guys!" he shouts.

Nikki is the next one to jump in, followed by Tristan. Now, it is only Ian and I standing at the top of the waterfall. Ian takes off his shirt, tossing it to the ground. I find myself in a trance for a few moments, staring at his tanned, chiseled abs.

Damn.

I broken out of this trance when Ian says,

"So are you going to jump in or what?"

"What? Oh, no I don't want to jump in" I say.

Jumping into a lake from the top of a waterfall is definitely not my thing.

"C'mon Tessa, you can do it. Don't be afraid" he says.

I shake my head.

"I'll jump in with you" he says, looking at me earnestly.

Something about his eyes convinces me that I can do it.

"Okay" I say, smiling.

He smiles back.

"Let me just take my clothes off" I say.

I turn around, pulling off my tank top. But this time, I don't force Ian to turn away. I turn back around, standing in my bra and shorts. His eyes rake my body up and down, causing my cheeks to burn bright red.

"Holy shit...you are beautiful" he whispers.

I smile, my heart fluttering.

"C'mon, let's go" I say, trying to sound as confident as I can.

I walk to the edge of the waterfall and Ian stands beside me. I feel his hand clasp mine and he squeezes it.

"On the count of three. One..."

I take a deep breath.

"Two..."

I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Three!"

I jump and scream as we free fall through the air. My hand lets go from Ian and I feel myself falling until SMACK.

I plunge underwater, sinking down far until my feet touch the grimy floor. I immediately push off the ground, swimming up until I finally resurface. Gasping for air, I tread water, wiping the water from my eyes.

"Ian I did it!" I shout excitedly.

But Ian isn't here. I spin around, looking for him, but he still hasn't resurfaced. Maybe he's still swimming up.

But then, all of my blood runs cold when I see what is in front of me.

There, spreading throughout the water is something that makes my heart stop.

Blood.

Chapter Twenty-One

The scream that comes out of my mouth is blood curdling.

I watch in utter terror as dark red blood floats to the surface of the water. I can't move; it's as if all the muscles in my body have stopped working.

"Holy shit" Dylan says.

I scream again, trembling with fear. The sight of blood makes me queasy.

"I'll get him" Tristan says, then quickly dives under the surface of the water, disappearing.

I feel sick to my stomach. The pit of dread worsens when Tristan doesn't resurface.

I have to go under.

Without thinking, I take a deep shuddering breath and go underwater. I begin to swim deeper, looking around for them through the murk.

Then, I see him.

And my heart stops.

Ian's body is sinking down, blood pouring out from the back of his head. I immediately realize why he is bleeding; there is a tall, jagged rock protruding from the floor of the lake.

He must of hit his head on it.

This cannot be good.

I scream, bubbles erupting from my mouth, then begin to swim towards his descending body as fast as I can propel myself through the water. After a few seconds my lungs begin to burn; I need oxygen. But I cannot go back up to the surface. If I do, Ian will sink to the bottom and die.

If he isn't dead already.

With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I finally reach Ian, grabbing him by his arm. I try to swim upwards, but he is too heavy and I can barely lift him up an inch. I look up at the surface, which seems miles away. My lungs are on fire and my head starts to pound.

I'm not going to make it.

We're both going to die at the bottom of the lake.

I close my eyes, my hand still clasped around Ian's arm.

I'm sorry Ian.

By now, my lungs are screaming for air. I can't hold on anymore.

Then suddenly, I feel two strong arms wrap around me. My eyes flash open and through blurred vision I see Tristan. He begins to swim me up towards the surface, but I don't think I am going to make it. The only thought in my mind is Ian. I want to scream to Tristan to take Ian up to the surface instead of me, but I don't have enough air in my lungs to do so.

Just when I think I am going to die, I feel my head rise above the surface. I take a huge breath of air and immediately begin to cough up water. Before I can say anything, Tristan dives back under the surface.

Coughing, I shakily swim to the side of the lake and crawl out onto the shore. I collapse onto the muddy shore, my entire body trembling. That's when I begin to cry. Not just soft crying; loud sobs that shake my entire body.

Ian is gone.

I still cannot process this through my mind.

I bury my face into the ground to muffle my screams.

Why did this have to happen?

I feel someone's arm touch mine and I look up to see Dylan and Nikki on both sides of me. I look up at them, tears streaming down my face.

"He's...he's...he's gone" I sob.

Nikki puts her arm on my shoulder, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry" she whispers.

Just then, I hear a splash in the water and turn to see Tristan resurfacing, Ian's body slung over his shoulder. Tristan coughs, gasping for breath. He then swims over, laying Ian down on the shore.

I rush over to Ian's motionless body, my heart pounding in my chest.

Tristan collapses onto the shore, panting.

"Is...is...he dead?" I stutter.

Tristan looks up at me, a grim look on his face.

"I don't know" he says.

"We have to stop the bleeding!" I say, lifting Ian's head up.

My stomach sinks when I see a gash on the back of his head.

"I need someone's shirt!" I shout.

Dylan quickly gets up, running to go get his shirt. When he returns with it, I take it and with trembling hands, tie it around Ian's head so that it covers the gash.

I then press my ear to Ian's chest, listening to see if he is breathing.

"He's not breathing!" I scream in horror.

In an instant, Tristan pushes me off of Ian's body and leans down over him. He puts his mouth up to Ian's and begins breathing into mouth. I watch, frozen with fear. After breathing a few times into his mouth, Tristan pushes down hard over and over again on Ian's chest. He then does that same process over and over again.

But it isn't working.

Finally, Tristan collapses to the ground, completely exhausted.

"He's gone Tessa" he murmurs breathlessly, looking at me with a miserable look on his face.

Even he has tears in his eyes.

Ian can't be gone.

Not yet.

"No" I say.

Tristan looks at me, utterly confused.

"What do you mean? He's not breathing Tessa; he's dead" he says.

"No" I say again, then climb on top of Ian.

"Tessa, it's not worth trying. He is gone" Tristan says.

But I block his words out. I look down at Ian, whose eyes are shut. He looks as if he is asleep; not dead, just sleeping.

I then lean down and begin to breathe into Ian's mouth. I breathe out as hard as I can, pushing all of the air out of my lungs with as much force as I can. I push down hard on his chest, pumping up and down as rapidly as I can.

"Please Ian" I whisper, tears streaming down my face.

I keep trying, over and over again until I finally collapse down onto him, giving up. I take a shuddering breath in, sobbing.

"I'm sorry Ian" I whimper, resting my head onto Ian's chest.

The tears roll down my cheeks, cascading down onto his chest.

I feel Tristan's arm grab me, trying to pull my off of his body.

"No! Go away!" I scream, holding on tight to Ian's body.

I won't let him take me away.

I close my eyes and hear the others walk away, leaving me alone.

"I'm so sorry" I whisper again.

Why wasn't I the one that hit my head on the rock? Why was it him?

I let out another wretched sob that racks my chest up and down.

But then, I stop crying when I realize that my chest was not the only chest that moved up and down.

I freeze, completely still for a moment, holding my breath.

And that's when I feel his chest slowly rise up and down.

He is alive.

Chapter Twenty-Two

My heart stops.

"Ian?" I whisper, my eyes widening.

He still looks rigid and lifeless.

Did I just imagine him breathe?

I rest my head back down on his chest, waiting. Waiting for any sign of life.

Then, I feel it.

Ian's chest slowly but surely rises up and down again.

Tears of joy begin to cascade down my face as I am flooded with relief.

"He's alive!" I scream ecstatically.

Tristan, Dylan and Nikki all turn around, looking at me with their eyebrows raised in confusion.

"What?" Tristan says.

"He's breathing! He's alive!" I shout.

They all run over, gathering around Ian. His eyes are still shut and he is motionless except for the rising and falling of his chest. I lean over Ian, and softly whisper,

"Ian?"

At first he doesn't respond. But then, I hear a low moan from the back of his throat.

"Ian, it's me" I say, trying to stop my voice from trembling.

I place my hand into his, squeezing it gently. Slowly, I feel his fingers intertwine with mine. He groans again, stirring slightly, his eyes still shut. I wait, my heart pounding in my chest, still filled with the relief that he is alive.

Then suddenly, his eyes flutter open. I lean over him, my eyes wide. At first, he looks disorientated, but then his eyes focus on me. He stares at me for a few moments, his dark eyes penetrating into mine.

"Tessa, I..." he murmurs, his voice weak.

Before he can continue, I lean down and cut him off by pressing my lips to his.

I kiss him softly, releasing all of the emotions that I have been keeping in. When I pull away, tears of relief well up in my eyes. He looks up at me.

"Ian, you...you were dead. You stopped breathing" I whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek.

He stares back at me, confusion in his eyes.

"What happened?" he murmurs.

I don't want to recite what happened.

He looks at me, waiting for an answer. My throat tightens and another tear rolls down my cheek.

"You hit your head on a rock at the bottom of the lake when you jumped in with Tessa" Tristan says suddenly.

I turn around, looking at Tristan.

"You sank down to the bottom of the lake and I brought you back up" he continues.

Ian reaches his hand to the back of his head, putting it under the shirt that is tied around him.

"No don't touch it!" I exclaim.

When he pulls his hand back out, it is smeared with blood.

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but how do you feel?" Dylan asks.

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Ian sits up slightly, resting on his elbows.

"I don't know; I can't really remember anything that happened. And my head hurts. But otherwise I think I'm alright" Ian says.

"So do you think you can move on?" Dylan asks.

I turn around, looking at Dylan with wide eyes.

"He just hit his head and stopped breathing! You think he can walk?" I exclaim incredulously.

Dylan shrugs.

"I'm fine. I can move on" Ian says.

"No, you shouldn't. You need to rest" I say, looking at Ian pleadingly.

"Tessa, I'm fine. See? I can stand up" Ian insists.

He then stands up. After wobbling slightly, he regains his balance and stands up straight.

"We should go now. They could be coming for us right now" Tristan says.

We all stand up. I remember that our shirts are still at the top of the waterfall, and offer to get them. Ian says that he will get them, but I refuse. I don't want him to get hurt again.

I walk up the muddy hill to the top of the waterfall, my mind racing with thoughts. How is it that Ian hit his head on a rock, drowned, stopped breathing, and now says that he is completely fine? It doesn't make any sense. When I reach the top, I grab everyone's shirts then walk back down, handing them each their shirt.

I pull my tank-top over my wet bra, which immediately soaks the fabric. So much for trying to keep my shirt dry.

Before we leave, I ask Ian one more time if he is okay.

Of course, he says he's fine. But when I see the blood stained shirt tied around his head, I start to doubt it.

We begin to walk again through the jungle. Tristan leads and I walk next to Ian in the back. The whole time, I keep glancing at him. He looks different. Distant. Disorientated.

A few times he loses his balance and stumbles, catching himself on a tree. Every time this happens my stomach sinks even further.

He is not okay, even if he says he is.

Something is wrong.

We keep walking. My legs are on fire; every step sends a burning sensation throughout my legs. I want to stop so badly, but I keep going. I don't want to be the wimp.

I don't know how much time goes by, but suddenly Tristan freezes. We all come to halt behind him. I am panting and beads of sweat roll down my face.

"Oh my god" Tristan whispers.

"What?" Nikki asks.

Without a word, Tristan walks through a large brush of bushes, disappearing. After glancing at each other, we all follow him through the thick cluster of bushes, emerging into the clearing on the other side.

When I see what is on the other side, at first I think that I am imagining it. But then I realize that it is real.

It can't be.

My jaw drops at the sight in front of me.

There, in the center of the clearing is a large building with a roof-mounted satellite dish.

"Holy shit" Dylan murmurs under his breath.

We all stare at the building for a moment transfixed,

Then, Dylan says,

"What the hell is a building doing in the middle of the jungle?"

"I don't know" Tristan says quietly.

"Well let's go check it out!" Dylan exclaims, starting to walk towards the building.

"No wait!" I call out suddenly.

Dylan turns around, looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"What if it's one of their buildings?" I ask nervously.

"Well I guess we'll find out" Dylan says, then turns around and continues to walk towards the building.

We all watch and wait as Dylan walks inside the large opening. My heart pounds in my chest when Dylan disappears. A few moments go by. Then, Dylan sticks his head out and shouts,

"The coast is clear!"

We all run towards the building, entering it through the large open doorway. I look around at the place in awe. The place looks untouched, as if no one had been in it before. Two couches sit in the center of the floor, and in one corner of room is a small kitchenette. Dylan immediately runs towards the kitchenette, screaming excitedly that there is a fridge.

He opens the fridge and immediately groans. It's empty.

Something about the place makes me feel uneasy. I have the strange feeling that we are being watched, even though I looked around and didn't see any surveillance cameras mounted in the lofty roof.

"Um, I don't know if we should be here" I say.

Dylan turns around, looking at me.

"Tessa, do you know how to have any fun?" he asks.

I roll my eyes at him. Being on this island is far from fun.

We all walk around, inspecting the room. I glance at Ian, who sits down on one of the couches, putting his head in his hands. I want to walk over to him, but I know that he won't want me to ask him how he's feeling. I then walk towards the back corner of the room, which is divided off from the rest of the room by a partition. When I see what is in the corner, my heart skips a beat.

There, sitting on a desk, is a computer.

"Oh my god" I say out loud.

A few seconds later, everyone rushes over except for Ian.

"Holy shit" Dylan whispers.

"Maybe we can use it to get someone to rescue us!" Nikki exclaims hopefully.

"Well turn it on!" Dylan cries.

I quickly sit down at the desk chair and search for an "on" button. Finally, I find it on the back of the computer and press it. For a few seconds, nothing happens. But then, a whirring noise starts and the computer screen lights up. I am filled with feverish excitement. But then, all my hopes are crushed when a screen pops up that reads, "ENTER PASSCODE"

"Fuck" Tristan swears under his breath.

I stare at the blinking cursor, trying to think what the passcode could be.

"It could be anything" I say grimly.

"Maybe the passcode is passcode" Dylan says.

"Your a fucking idiot" Nikki says, rolling her eyes.

Just when I am about to say something, I hear Ian's voice call from the main room.

"Guys?" he calls out.

"Yeah?" I call back, turning away from the screen.

"We have a problem" he says.

"What?" Tristan asks.

There is short pause. Then Ian says,

"Someone is coming. Right now"

Chapter Twenty-Three

I freeze, my fingers still hovering over the keyboard.

"What did you just say?" I say, my voice trembling.

"Someone is coming right now. One of them" Ian calls out.

I immediately stand up, shaking with fear. We all run out into the main room, where Ian is still sitting on the couch. He stands up, pointing out the window. I look and my heart skips a beat when I see a man in a white lab coat walking towards the building.

"What do we do?" Nikki asks frantically.

I look around the room, searching for a place to hide, but there is none.

We are screwed.

The man is coming closer and closer and the pit of dread in my stomach deepens every step he takes.

Suddenly, Tristan exclaims,

"Look!"

He points his finger to the floor across the room. At first I don't know what he is pointing at. But then, I see it.

There, cut into the wooden floor is what appears to be some sort of trap door. We all run over to it, kneeling down. I glance out the window again and my stomach flips when I see that the man is almost here. Tristan quickly pulls the handle and lifts the trap door open. I look down apprehensively into an abyss of blackness.

Without a word, Tristan drops down into the blackness. I hear him crash down below, grunting in pain. Dylan goes next, then Nikki. I glance up at Ian with fear in my eyes.

"You go first" he says.

I take a deep breath, then jump down into the darkness. I fall a few feet then crash onto a cold, cement floor.

Ouch.

A few seconds later, Ian drops down, landing right next to me. He immediately stands and reaches up, closing the trap door. I stand up as well, unable to see anything in the blackness.

We wait in an eerie silence. Then, I hear the loud creak of the door opening from above.

The man is here.

With my heart pounding in my chest, I listen as the man walks across the floor, his footsteps making the floorboards creak. I pray to God that he won't open the trapdoor and find us. The footsteps get closer and closer, then stop right above us.

Sheer panic floods throughout my entire body as we all wait in a tense silence. Then, a few moments later, the footsteps continue as the man continues to walk.

Phew.

The footsteps continue, getting further and further away until they finally stop. Another long silence passes by. I stand completely still, rooted to the spot with fear.

Then suddenly, the silence is broken by the man's voice.

"Yes. This is John, reporting from Building 1B"

Another pause. He seems to be on the phone with someone.

"Yes, I am currently looking for the subjects who escaped"

My blood runs cold when I realize that he is talking about us.

"No, I haven't found them yet. But I will keep looking. They don't have anywhere to go, so someone will find them eventually"

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Another long pause.

"Yes, I'll go get it from downstairs. Goodbye" the mans says.

It takes a moment for me to process that downstairs is where we are.

He is coming down here.

I feel an arm grab me, pulling me through the darkness until I feel my back press against some sort of table. Without even thinking, I bend down and crawl under the table. The person who grabbed me comes under as well.

My heart races as I hear the mans footsteps come closer and closer until they stop right above us.

What the hell are we going to do.

I hear the creak as the trapdoor swings open. Then, there is a click as the beam of a flashlight shines down into the darkness. The man jumps down, landing on the ground. I hold my breath as he shines his flashlight around the gloom. I see Dylan and Nikki hiding behind a rack of lab coats. I then turn and look to see Tristan next to me. He looks at me, putting a finger up to his mouth.

Where is Ian?

The man finally focuses his flashlight on a shelf on the wall opposite from us and my heart stops when I see what is on the shelf.

Guns.

The man walks over to the shelf, his footsteps echoing in the darkness. When he reaches it he grabs a large gun and slings it over his shoulder. He then begins to walk back towards the trap door, the beam of his flashlight pointed almost directly at us. If he moves his flashlight beam down just one inch, he will see us.

Then, my worst wishes come true when the flashlight beam moves down, pointing directly at us. The man stops and I grip Tristan's arm in pure terror. The man then begins to charge towards us. I squeeze my eyes shut, gripping Tristan's arm even harder.

Suddenly, I hear the man yell out in pain. My eyes flash open to see Ian, lunging at the man. He grabs the gun off of the his back and before the man can react, Ian hits the man over the head with the back of the gun.

Hard.

The man falls to the floor, his head smacking the ground. The flashlight falls out of his hand, rolling across the floor.

Ian stands there for a moment over the man's motionless body, panting.

"Whoa" I hear Dylan's voice say from across the room.

I crawl out from under the table, followed by Tristan, who grabs the flashlight from the floor. I look down at the unconscious man, and just when I am about to look away I notice something sticking out of his lab coat pocket. I bend down and pull out a folded up piece of paper.

"What's that?" Nikki asks, her voice trembling.

Tristan shines his flashlight down on me and I unfold the paper. When I see what is on it, my heart skips a beat.

In a messy scrawl, it reads,

Tessa

Tristan

Ian

Dylan

Nikki

"It's a list of our names" I say.

"Well he said it before; they're looking for us" Dylan says.

I crumple up the paper and stand up, throwing it to the ground.

"Well too bad because they're not going to find us" I say.

 I then look up to Ian. He looks at me, the gun still in his hands.

"Thanks for...attacking him" I whisper.

He nods.

"Let's get the fuck out of here. This place is giving me the heebie-jeebies" Dylan says.

Tristan shines the flashlight around the ceiling until he finds the trapdoor. He stretches his arm up, pushing the door open. Light shines in, blinding me temporarily. Tristan jumps up, using his strong arms to pull himself up onto the floor above. I know for sure that I am not strong enough to pull myself up.

Ian goes next, followed by Dylan and Nikki. Now it's my turn. I stand under the trapdoor, looking up at them.

"Here, grab my hands and I'll pull you up" Tristan says, stretching his arms down towards me.

I take a deep breath, then jump up. My hands grip Tristan's and he uses all his strength to pull me up onto the floor above.

"Thanks" I say breathlessly, looking up at him.

"No problem" Tristan says, grinning at me.

He looks at me with his stunning blue eyes, then looks down at our hands, which are still interlocked together. I look down at them as well.

"Sorry" Tristan says, dropping his hands from mine, his cheeks burning bright red.

"No, it's okay" I say, smiling at him.

Tristan then looks behind me.

I turn around to see Ian, standing right behind us.

Glaring at us.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ian's dark eyes burn into mine, his gaze penetrating. His eyes flit to Tristan then back to me.

"Ian.." I start, standing up.

Before I can continue, Ian turns and walks away towards the door. My heart sinks. This is all just a huge misunderstanding. Even though Ian thinks there is, there is nothing going on between Tristan and I.

I turn back to Tristan who raises his eyebrows at me.

"What's going on with Ian?" he asks.

"I don't know" I say sullenly.

"Well we should go now" Tristan says, standing up.

I nod, wanting to get out of this place.

"Hey what about the computer?" Nikki asks before we leave.

"Remember there was a passcode?" Dylan says.

"Yeah I know. But maybe that guy went on and unlocked it" Nikki suggests.

I walk back over to the computer, and to my dismay the lock screen is still up, with the words, "ENTER PASSCODE" still up on the monitor.

"Nope. Let's go" I say, walking back.

We all leave the building, walking back outside. I spot Ian, sitting on a tree stump a few feet away, the gun still slung over his shoulder. Even when he is angry, why does he have to look so damn hot?

"Ian, we're going" Tristan calls out to him.

Ian looks up at us then gets up wordlessly. We walk across the clearing then into the jungle on the other side. I walk up front with Tristan, Dylan and Nikki, and Ian trails far behind us. I keep glancing back at him and find him staring at me, his dark eyes piercing into mine. I want to go and talk to him, but I don't know what to say. And besides, he does not look like he is in the state to talk to me right now.

The sun shines down through the trees, making me sweat even more. It is hotter than usual today; the air is thick and humid, making it harder to breathe. Beads of sweat trickle down my face uncontrollably.

Finally, to my relief, we stop for a short break. I lean against a tree, resting. I close my eyes for a few moments until I feel someone's arm touch my shoulder. My eyes flash open to see Tristan, his hand lightly resting on my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" he asks sincerely, looking into my eyes.

"Fine" I lie, giving him a small, weak smile.

I look behind him and see Ian, glaring at us. My heart sinks as he shakes his head then walks away from us, sitting down on a rock across the jungle. I don't know why he is overreacting like this.

"Okay" Tristan says, smiling.

He then drops his hand from my shoulder, then turns away and walks towards Dylan.

I close my eyes again, feeling nauseous.

"Hey" I hear a voice say from behind me.

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I turn around to see Nikki. She gives me a small smile.

"Let's sit" she says, pointing to a log on the ground.

We both sit down. I let out a huge sigh, completely exhausted.

"Are you okay? You look like something's bothering you" Nikki says, looking at me.

Yeah Nikki, there's a lot bothering me. I'm not really loving the fact that I stuck on an remote island and being hunted down by evil doctors.

"I'm fine" I lie.

I turn around, glancing back at Ian, who is still sitting on the rock across the jungle.

"It's about Ian, isn't it?" Nikki asks.

I turn back to her.

"Yeah" I say, sighing.

"I mean I know we're complete strangers, but you can tell me what's wrong. And don't worry, I won't tell Tristan or Dylan" she says quietly, giving me a weak smile.

I turn around to make sure that Tristan and Dylan are not close enough so that they hear what I am going to say. When I see that they are far enough away, I turn back to Nikki, sighing.

"I don't know, but I think Ian's mad at me because he thinks that something's going on between Tristan and I. But there's nothing going on between the two of us" I explain.

Nikki nods, looking at Tristan, who is sitting on a rock about twenty feet away.

"Well I think he definitely likes you" she says.

I turn around again, looking at Tristan. He glances up at me then smiles.

"I don't know..." I start, looking down at the ground.

"Tessa, he totally likes you. There's no denying it" Nikki says.

"Okay, but the problem is Ian thinks I like Tristan back and that's why he's so angry. This is all so stupid" I say.

"Well you should go talk to Ian" Nikki suggests.

I look up at her, raising my eyebrows.

"I don't know what to say" I say embarrassedly.

"It's easy, just go over to him and ask him what's wrong. When he says that he's angry because he thinks that you like Tristan, just tell him you don't"

Nikki is making it seem much more simple than it will be. I highly doubt that Ian will directly say that he thinks that I like Tristan, I will say I don't, and everything will be better. It is going to be much more complicated.

Ian is complicated.

"I don't know..." I say, glancing at Ian again.

"C'mon Tessa, you can do this. If Ian really likes you, he'll come around again if you go talk to him" Nikki says.

"Okay, fine" I say, standing up.

Nikki smiles at me, standing up as well. She puts her hand on my shoulder, then says,

"Everything will be okay"

Chapter Twenty-Five

I jump, ducking down at the loud bang of the gunshot.

What the hell just happened.

"Holy shit!" I hear Dylan cry from across the jungle.

With my ears ringing, I turn around and gasp. There, lying dead on the ground about fifteen feet behind me is a deer. It lays on its side, motionless, blood seeping out of a hole on it's side where the bullet from Ian's gun hit it.

I hear Nikki gasp as well.

"Ian..." I start, my voice cracking.

Suddenly, tears begin to well in my eyes. I don't know why, but the sight of the dead deer makes me start to cry. Something so innocent, so harmless, killed in an instant by the bullet from Ian's gun.

I turn to Ian, the tears in my eyes starting to stream down my face.

"Ian, why did you do that?" I ask, my voice trembling.

He looks at me intently, then says softly.

"Tessa, we need food or else we're all going to die"

I look up at him, my vision blurred from the tears welling up in my eyes. I know what Ian said is true, but some for reason I am sad. I never thought it would get to the point where we would be eating deer that we killed.

"What's wrong?" he asks, looking into my eyes and pulling me close.

I shake my head, wiping the tears from my cheek.

"I...I...I don't know" I stammer.

Wow, I am an emotional wreck. I guess being on this island has turned me into one.

Ian cups my face in his hands, wiping tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.

"Tessa, I know it's sad but had to do it. We need food" Ian says.

I nod, then give him a weak, forced smile.

"Are you okay?" he says.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I say.

He gently wipes one last tear away from my cheek then lowers his hands from my face.

"What the hell did you do that for?" I hear Tristan's voice shout from behind us.

We both turn around to see Tristan, Dylan and Nikki standing right by the deer. Nikki looks down at the deer, petrified.

"We need food" Ian says bluntly.

"And we're going to eat a that?" Tristan exclaims incredulously, pointing to the carcass.

"This is not a gourmet restaurant, okay? You're not going to get a five course meal" Ian snaps, an edge of irritability in his voice.

I look up at Ian, raising my eyebrows. He needs to learn to control his temper.

"Okay, calm down. We'll eat it" Tristan says.

"I'm not eating that" Nikki announces, disgusted.

"Yes you are Nikki" Dylan says.

Nikki sighs, then says,

"And what the hell is a deer doing in the middle of a jungle on a tropical island?"

We all shrug. It is kind of weird.

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"I don't know. This is a strange place" Tristan says.

You said that right.

The sun has begun to set, turning the sky a beautiful blend of deep orange, pink and purple.  I find it ironic that the place we are kidnapped on is so tranquil and beautiful. We decide to set up camp here tonight, with someone keeping watch at all times throughout the night.

Tristan sets up a fire to cook the deer, and the three boys work on cooking the deer. Both Nikki and I cannot watch, so we walk away, sitting down together on a rock.

"So, how did it go?" Nikki asks.

"It...it went fine" I say.

I can't stop the grin from spreading across my face when I think about our kiss.

Nikki smiles, raising her eyebrows.

"So tell me, what happened?" she asks, a playful glint in her eyes.

"I told him that nothing was going on between Tristan and I. And then...well then..."

"Then what?" she asks.

"We kissed" I blurt out.

Nikki grins.

"You're blushing" she teases.

"No I'm not" I say, trying to suppress the burning feeling that I can feel in my cheeks.

"Yes you are" Nikki says.

"Okay fine, maybe I am" I say.

"How was it?" Nikki asks, smiling.

I close my eyes for a moment, remembering the feeling of Ian's lips on mine. Remembering when he lifted me up in the air.

"Really good" I say, my cheeks blushing even redder.

Nikki grins again.

"He's probably a better kisser than Dylan" she says.

I laugh, then ask,

"Oh so you two are together?"

"Yeah, I guess so. We kissed when it was just us together in the jungle. But he wasn't too good of a kisser" Nikki says, laughing

I laugh back.

I find it funny that Nikki and I are having a conversation about kissing when we are stranded on an island and being hunted down by our captors. But I guess we need to have a little bit of fun and silliness to get our minds off of everything.

"Food's ready!" I hear Dylan's voice shout from across the jungle.

"Mmm, can't wait!" Nikki calls back sarcastically.

We both stand up and begin to walk towards them.

"This is going to be interesting" Nikki whispers to me.

When we arrive, I almost lose my stomach at the sight in front of me. There, roasting over the fire is the deer. The three boys are all sitting around the fire, and Tristan is cutting off hunks of the deers flesh with a sharpened stick.

I sit down next to Ian and Nikki sits down on the other side of me.

"Here you go" Tristan says, giving the first hunk of meat to Dylan.

"Well here goes nothing" Dylan says, then takes a huge bite of it.

I watch as Dylan chews it slowly. Once he swallows, he exclaims,

"Hey, it's not that bad! Actually it's pretty tasty!"

"Ew" Nikki says, rolling her eyes at Dylan.

Tristan gives the next piece to Nikki and she looks at it, repulsed.

"C'mon Nikki, it's really not that bad" Dylan with a full mouth.

Nikki plugs her noise, closes her eyes, then takes a tiny bite.

"Yuck!" she exclaims, spitting it out onto the ground.

Tristan comes over, handing one piece to Ian and one piece to me.

I stare at the blackened piece of meat, my insides churning. Ian glances at me.

"On the count of three. One..."

I swallow hard.

"Two..."

I close my eyes.

"Three"

Bracing myself for the worst, I open my mouth and take a bite. At first, I don't really taste anything. But a few seconds later, the flavor starts to come in. It is pretty nasty, but I guess it could be worse. The entire time I'm chewing I try to block it out of my mind that I am eating deer. But since I am absolutely starving, I end up not minding.

Once we are done eating, the sun has almost completely set and the night of jungle comes alive with the chirping of crickets. The night sky is speckled with bright stars that appear to twinkle. Ian volunteers to take watch first, and I volunteer to go after him. We will all take one shifts, keeping watch to see if anyone comes.

If they find us.

Tristan, Dylan and Nikki all lay down around the fire, which has begun to die out. Ian sits on a log and I decide to sleep beside him so that he can wake me up in an hour without waking the others. Before I lay down, I lean in and kiss him softly on the lips. He kisses me back softly, wrapping his arms around me.

"Good night" I whisper when I finally pull away.

"Good night Tessa" he murmurs huskily, letting me go.

I lay down on the ground, a few feet from him and close my eyes. The melodious chirping of the crickets lulls me off into a dreamless, ephemeral sleep that seems to last only a second because before I know it, I feel a hand tap me on the shoulder.

My eyes flash open to see Ian kneeling beside me.

"Hey, I can stay up with you for your shift if you want me to" he whispers.

I sit up.

"No, it's okay. You need to sleep" I say.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

I nod, then get up and sit down on the log that Ian was sitting on.

Ian lays down on the ground beside me and closes his eyes, drifting off to sleep almost immediately. I watch him as he sleeps. He looks so peaceful and relaxed; it is the only time that he can forget everything that is going on.

I yawn, my eyes feeling heavy. I try my hardest to force myself to stay awake, even though all that I want to do is sleep. I turn around and look at the others, who are all sound asleep as well. Dylan and Nikki lay next to each other by the fire. My heart warms slightly when I see that Dylan's arm is wrapped around Nikki, keeping her close to his body. But then my heart pangs when I see Tristan, laying all alone.

I turn back around and stare out into the dark jungle.

And that's when I hear it.

Snap

At first, I think that I'm just imagining it. But when I hear another snap, this time much louder, I know that I'm not.

Something is out there.

On impulse I stand up, my heart pounding in my chest. I am frozen, rooted to the ground with terror and unable to move a muscle.

The snapping of twigs becomes louder and louder until someone emerges from the trees. At first, I cannot make out who it is through the darkness. But then, once my eyes adjust, I see who it is.

And I cannot believe my eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Alyssa?" I whisper out into the darkness.

She stands there, motionless, staring at me.

"Alyssa?" I ask again.

She still doesn't respond. She just stands there, frozen in place, staring at me through the darkness. Something about her looks off. I take a small step backward, slowly inching away from her.

She is starting to scare me.

I start to bend over to wake Ian when all of a sudden she breaks the silence.

"You have to come back" she says robotically.

I look up at her, my heart begin to pound in my chest.

"What?" I ask, trying to hide the fear from coming out in my voice.

"You have to come back. Or bad things will happen. Really bad things" she says mechanically.

It seems as if Alyssa is possessed; her voice does not sound like it belongs to her body. I stare at her, widening my eyes. She still hasn't broken her penetrating gaze, her eyes boring into mine.

"Why...why we would we come back to the cages? Why would we go back to the people who are holding us captive?" I ask nervously.

"Bad things will happen if you do not. This is your final warning; you have until tomorrow at sunset to return" Alyssa says.

"What bad things?" I call out, my voice trembling.

But it's too late. Alyssa stiffly turns around and walks away in the dark depths of the jungle. I stand there, listening to her footsteps fade away as I try to process everything that just happened. I turn around to see that everyone is still asleep.

Bad things will happen if you don't come back...

Alyssa's words echo in my mind, sending shivers down my spine. There was definitely something off about her; they must of somehow programmed her and sent her to say that. I shudder when I try to think of how they could of programmed her.

I don't want to know.

I then realize that I have to tell the others.

After taking a deep breath, I bend down and shake Ian lightly. He grumbles, then rolls over, turning away from me.

Great.

This time, I shake him harder.

"Ian" I whisper.

"Huh?" he says groggily, rolling back over and opening his eyes.

He looks at me for a few seconds, his eyes adjusting in the darkness.

"What is it?" he asks, propping himself up on his elbows.

I immediately blurt out everything that just happened. When I am done, Ian stares at me for a few moments.

He then asks,

"Are you sure this actually happened?"

Does he not believe me?

"Yes I am sure" I say flatly.

He nods slowly, still looking at me curiously.

"So you're positive that you didn't just imagine it?" he asks.

Now I am mad.

"What, do you not believe me? Do you think I'm crazy?" I exclaim hotly, raising my voice.

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A few moments later, I hear groans and grumbles as the others wake up. Whoops.

"No, it's just that it seems a little strange that Alyssa came here, told you all of this, then left"

I stand up, glaring at Ian and crossing my arms.

"So you really don't believe me" I say bitterly.

"Tessa, I don't know, it's just that..."

Before Ian can continue, I turn away angrily.

"Tessa..." Ian starts.

"What happened?" Tristan asks, sitting up.

Dylan and Nikki sit up as well, looking at me attentively.

I retell everything that happened; how a possessed Alyssa came, told me that we had to return or bad things would happen, then left.

When I am done, they all stare at me.

"Oh, so you guys think I'm crazy too?" I say sharply.

"No, I don't think you're crazy Tessa. I believe you" Tristan says softly.

Thank god, at least someone believes me

"Me too" Nikki whispers.

"But don't you find it strange that they sent Alyssa to tell us to return when they know exactly where we are? I mean why didn't they just come and take us?" Dylan asks.

I don't have the answers. I wish I did. I wish I knew who these evil people are and why they captured us on this island. I wish I knew what the hell was going on.

"I don't know. All I know is that if we don't go back to them, something really bad is going to happen" I say

"Maybe they're just trying to scare us. I mean c'mon, how much worse can this get?" Dylan says.

I don't want to know how much worse they can makes things get.

We are all silent for a moment, thinking. The only sound is chirping of crickets and the crackling as the fire slowly dies out.

Nikki breaks the silence.

"We're not going back to them, are we?"

"Of course not. Why the hell would we choose to go back to being imprisoned in cage?" Dylan says.

"But she said really bad things would happen if we don't" Nikki murmurs.

"Just forget about it Nik. We're not going back" Dylan says flatly.

"Let's just go to sleep and think about it in the morning. She said we have until sunset tomorrow to go back" Tristan says.

"You would actually go back?" Dylan asks incredulously.

"Look, I don't know right now. But for now let's go to sleep" Tristan says.

I turn around, my head spinning, and sit down by the edge of the dying fire. Just as I am about to lay down to go to sleep, I feel a hand touch my shoulder lightly and turn around to see Ian kneeling beside me.

"Tessa, I'm sorry for not believing you at first. I believe you now" he says quietly.

He looks at me, his dark eyes locked into mine.

"I understand if you're mad at me, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry" he says.

I decide to have a little fun with him.

"Yeah, I'm mad. Really mad" I say, trying to suppress myself from smiling.

Worry spreads across his face. I look at him, trying to look as angry as possible. I can feel a grin curling on my lips and try as hard as I can to keep a straight face.

"I am so mad that I'm going to do this" I say, then lean in and kiss him on lips.

For a moment, he is taken aback by surprise and pulls away, looking at me with wide eyes. But when I grin at him, he leans in and kisses me again. His lips press against mine softly and I feel his arms wrap around me. I wrap my arms around his neck and just as Ian deepens our kiss I hear someone catcall.

I break apart from Ian and turn to see Dylan, laying on his side, grinning at us playfully. My cheeks immediately burn bright red and I turn away as Dylan whistles again. Ian smiles at me and I force myself to smile back.

"Good night Tessa" he whispers, then lays down on the ground.

I lay down on the ground as well, then find myself move over closer towards Ian until I am laying next to him. I close my eyes as I feel his arms wrap around me, pulling my close to his warm body. Then somehow, I drift off into a dreamless void.


I wake up to the bright sun shining down from the sky. For a moment, I am blinded by the brightness, but then my eyes adjust. Ian's arms are still loosely wrapped around my body and I turn around to see that he is still asleep. A few moments later, his eyes flutter open and he looks at me.

"Good morning" he says groggily.

We both sit up and a few minutes later, Tristan, Dylan and Nikki wake up as well. Today feels hotter than the past few days. The air is thick and the bright sun shining down through the canopy of the trees does not help.

"We should get going. We need to find water" Tristan says.

Ian grabs the gun, slinging over his shoulder. I don't like the gun, but I guess it's good to have it. We all stand up and begin to walk through the jungle. The sun beats down on us and in a few minutes I am already drenched in sweat. I cannot imagine how disgusting I must look.

Ian and I walk together up front, navigating our way aimlessly through the jungle. Every part of the jungle looks exactly the same; the same trees, the same plants, the same rocks. We walk in silence, too tired and out of breath to talk. The dryness of the mouth begs for water and I try to suppress my longing thoughts of cool, fresh water.

Finally, to my relief, we stop for a break. Completely exhausted, I walk over to a tree, leaning against it and closing my eyes. Beads of sweat roll down my face and neck.

Damn, it is hot.

When I open my eyes and when I see what is on the other side of the tree, my blood runs cold.

I scream as I look right down at a girl's body, sprawled out on the ground.

The body of Alyssa.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The scream that comes out of my mouth is blood-curdling. I stand there, rooted to the ground with fear, staring at the pale, lifeless body of Alyssa.

Immediately, the others rush over and gasp when they see her.

"Oh my god..." Nikki whispers, her voice shaking with terror.

I turn away, unable to bear looking at her body for any longer. Ian wraps his arms around me, pulling my close against his chest. Suddenly, I begin to cry. Hot, angry tears roll down my cheeks, burning my eyes.

They did this to her.

"It's okay" Ian whispers soothingly, running his fingers through my knotted hair.

Nothing is okay. Alyssa is dead.

I look up at him, shaking my head miserably.

"This is not okay. Nothing is okay" I sob.

I force myself to turn back around and see Tristan, kneeling beside Alyssa's body.

"She looks as if she was poisoned or something. There's no wounds or anything on her" Tristan says.

I close my eyes for a moment, shuddering.

Then, I hear Tristan shout,

"Hey, she's holding something!"

I open my eyes to see Tristan uncurling Alyssa's fingers, which are closed around something. He finally wrenches a balled up piece of paper from her hand.

"What's that?" Dylan asks, taking a step closer.

Tristan unfolds the paper then scrutinizes it.

"What is it?" Nikki asks.

"It's a map. A map of this island" Tristan murmurs.

We all instantly crowd around Tristan, peering over his shoulder at the map. I try as hard as I can not to glance at Alyssa's lifeless body because I know that if I do, I will most likely lose my stomach. The map of the island is neatly hand-drawn in black pen on a tarnished piece of paper.

"Whoa, this place is huge" Dylan murmurs.

All across the map are various locations, marked in pen. The first one that I see is a black dot with the word "CAGES" written underneath.

That's where we were.

"Look!" Tristan exclaims, pointing his finger to a spot on the map.

I look at what he is pointing at and at first I don't believe my eyes. There, on the beach, marked under another black dot is the word "AIRPLANE"

"Airplane? They have an airplane on this island?" Nikki asks in awe.

"Well if there is one, let's go find it!" Dylan exclaims, standing up.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a second" Ian says.

Dylan turns around, looking at Ian.

"What?" he asks.

"Stop for a second and think. What if this is just one of their traps? What if they are trying to lure us somewhere so that they can capture us?" Ian says.

I glance behind me, looking at Ian who is standing there, with his arms crossed. I have to admit, he does have a point.

"So you're saying that you don't even want to check it out? C'mon, we are trapped on this island no matter what, so we might as well check things out. And if there's an airplane on this island, we could escape" Dylan says.

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"Oh please Dylan, you're telling us that you know how to fly a plane?" Nikki asks, raising her eyebrows.

"No, but I could figure it out" Dylan says resolutely.

"Yeah, but what if there is no airplane? What if they are there, just waiting for us to come? Think about it; they obviously put this map in her hand. They wanted us to find it" Ian says.

Dylan is silent for a moment, staring at Ian. I can feel the tension raising between them and I want it to stop.

Finally, Dylan announces,

"Well I'm going. Whoever wants to come with me can come"

"I'm coming" Nikki says firmly, standing next to Dylan.

"How about you three?" Dylan asks, looking at me, Tristan and Ian.

"I'll come too" Tristan says.

Ian glances at me.

"Are you going?" he asks impassively.

I look at the others, then back to Ian. I am torn. I want to go with them, but I know that I can't leave Ian alone.

"Ian, please come with us?" I ask, looking at him pleadingly.

He stares at me for a few moments, then shakes his head.

"Ian, I promise, if we suspect anything, we'll leave immediately" I say.

"Fine" Ian says abruptly.

He then adds,

"But if anything seems fishy, we are turning back"

"Of course" I reply, nodding at him.

"Alright, let's go then" Dylan says.

After examining at the map, somehow Tristan figures out what direction to go to get to the airplane. I have no idea how he figures it out because I have an absolutely awful sense of direction. Once he figures it out, we begin to walk through the jungle, leaving Alyssa's body behind. I felt bad not burying her body, but the others said that we didn't have time to. We only have until sunset. That is when the bad things are supposed to happen.

I don't want to think about that.

Every few minutes Tristan stops and looks at the map, and then we begin to head in a different direction. No one questions how Tristan know where we are going; we just keep walking, hoping that we are heading in the right direction.

"We should be there any minute now" Tristan says after an hour or so.

Thank god. My legs are burning and I am completely drenched in sweat. The sun still blazes down from the cloudless sky.

Then finally, we emerge out of the jungle onto the beach.

And there it is.

A plane.

It's a small plane, but large enough to fit all of us. Painted on the side of it in large black letters reads, "THE BLAIR INSTITUTE" Just those three words sends chills down my spine. We all stare at it for a few a moments in awe, shocked that it is really there.

Then, Dylan exclaims,

"C'mon, what are we waiting for? Let's check it out!"

We all walk over to the plane, which sits in the middle on the sand, close to the water. Ian and I walk behind the rest of them, who run towards it excitedly.

"Don't you find it a little strange how they left a plane out here in the open?" Ian murmurs to me.

I look at him, shrugging.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hal's malicious cackle continues, reverberating in my ears.

I sit there in the chair, frozen with both fear and disgust for this terrible man.

Then suddenly, filled with a rush of rage, I pick the phone off of the floor and scream into it,

"What the hell do you want!"

Hal continues to laugh; a cold, unpleasant laugh.

"I said, what the hell do you want!" I scream again, my voice strained.

His laughing finally stops, replaced with the low static noise.

Then, he says,

"I'm afraid that's classified information Tessa"

Overtaken with another wave of rage, I shout,

"Why did you kill her?"

Another pause, then Hal says,

"Alyssa? She was a worthless coward"

This time, I seriously lose it.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU KILL SOMEONE AND NOT CARE AT ALL!"

I am cut off when I feel someone's hand grab my shoulder, pulling me backwards. The phone falls out of my hand and onto the dashboard. I turn around to see Ian.

I look at him breathlessly, anger still boiling in my veins.

Then, I hear Hal's voice again.

"Tessa, you obviously do not understand the reason why we are doing this"

"The reason why you have kidnapped twelve teenagers on a island, killed Alyssa, imprisoned us in cages, and did some wicked medical procedure on me! It's because you and all of your people are sick, fucking psychopaths"

I have never felt this angry before.

Hal chuckles again, which makes me literally want to strangle the man.

"Remember Tessa, you have until sunset to return to us. And if you don't, you and the others you are with will face the consequences" Hal says coldly.

Then, before I can reply, the line goes dead.

Still breathless, I slowly bend down and pick the phone off of the ground, putting it back on the receiver.

"Holy shit" Dylan murmurs under his breath.

I then around, facing them. I can feel that my face is bright red from the anger boiling up inside of me.

We all stay there in silence for a few moments, all having nothing to say.

"Well we're fucked" Dylan grumbled, breaking the tense silence.

I suddenly feel claustrophobic inside of the small cockpit. Getting up out of my chair, I walk out of the cockpit and into the main section of the plane. When I still feel claustrophobic, I open the door and exit the plane, walking down the stairs and onto the hot sand.

The salty ocean breeze whips my messy in hair in all directions. I close my eyes for a moment, digging my toes into the sand to try to stabilize myself. The hot sun beats down on me, but it feels better to be outside in the fresh air, rather than in that hot and stuffy plane.

My eyes flash open when I hear the door slide open behind me. I turn around to see Ian, standing at the top of the stairs. He then walks down towards me.

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Without a word, he takes my hand in his and we begin to walk down towards the water. When we reach the shore, the cool water laps over my feet. Somehow, it calms me down a little bit.

I look out across the horizon at the endless sea of blue, wondering where the nearest land is. I have a feeling that it isn't for hundreds of miles. We seem to be isolated in the middle of the ocean.

"If only we could swim away" I murmur quietly.

"We'll get off the island. I know it" Ian says.

I turn to him, raising my eyebrows. I'm not sure if he is saying it just to make me feel better or because he truly believes that we are going to get off this island.

"How? We're trapped here" I say glumly.

"I don't know how. But eventually, we'll have to be rescued" he says.

"You think we're going to be rescued?" I ask.

"I mean c'mon, don't you think our parents would call the police when we all went missing?" Ian says.

Our parents.

One of the many things that I cannot remember.

My throat tightens.

"Yeah, I guess. But I don't think that they would send out a search team to look out in the middle of the ocean" I say.

Ian shrugs.

"All I'm saying is that eventually, someone has to find us here. I promise"

He then squeezes my hand comfortingly. I force a smile onto my face and nod, even though I don't believe what he is saying.

We are not getting rescued.

I begin to think about what Hal said. How we have until sunset to come back to them, or bad things will happen. Very bad things.

Suddenly, I blurt out,

"I'm scared"

Ian looks at me, his eyes locking with mine.

"I'm scared about what's going to happen to us when we don't go back to them" I say, my voice cracking.

The lump in my throat grows even bigger and tears threaten to spill out of my eyes.

Keep it together Tessa.

Ian turns me around so that I am facing him. He puts his hands on my shoulders, looking me directly in the eye.

"Tessa, I won't let them hurt you. No matter what happens tonight after sunset, I will be there to protect you"

I look up at him, tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

"I'm just so scared" I say again, my voice trembling with fear.

Before I can continue, Ian leans, cutting me off by pressing his lips against mine. He kisses me slowly and softly, his tongue gently circling around mine. For a few moments, I forget everything that is going on. All that I know are his lips on mine.

He pulls me closer to him, running his fingers through my hair. After a few long moments, we both pull apart. He looks at me then says,

"Remember Tessa, I will protect you. No matter what happens"

My heart melts. Here Ian is, promising to protect me, while I can barely protect myself, let alone someone else. I am helpless on this island.

I hear voices and turn around to see Tristan, Dylan and Nikki exiting the plane. They see us and walk over towards us.

"We searched the plane and found nothing useful" Tristan says once they arrive.

He then looks at me then asks,

"Hey, are you okay?"

I realize that there are tears still welled up in my eyes and fervently wipe them away.  I don't know how many times I have cried in from of them, but I do not want to make this another one.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks" I say quickly.

"So how about we stay here for the rest of the day? Just to get out of the jungle for a little bit. Besides, I feel a little safer here because we can see everything for miles and miles" Dylan suggests.

Everyone nods, having absolutely nowhere else to go. We all sit down on the sand, our feet outstretched in the water.

A few minutes go by, then Tristan turns to me and asks,

"Hey Tessa, do you want to go on a walk for a little bit?"

"Sure" I reply.

I can feel Ian's eyes on me and turn around to see him staring at me. His eyes then divert to Tristan.

"Why do you need to go on a walk just with her" Ian says brashly.

"Ian, it's fine" I say to him quickly.

I don't want him to get angry again.

Tristan and I both stand up, then begin to walk down the beach along the shore. I know for sure that Ian will watch us suspiciously the entire time.

After a few minutes, Tristan asks,

"So Tessa, have you had any more memories?"

I turn to him.

"No, remember? They removed my memories that night that they took me from the cage" I say.

"Yeah, I know. But I was just wondering if it worked. So you haven't had any flashbacks or memories?" he asks.

"No. I guess I haven't really tried to remember anything since. My mind just feels all foggy when I try to go through my memories" I say.

"Okay. I was just wondering" Tristan says.

I nod.

"I'll keep trying to remember, but I don't think any memories are going to come back. I don't know what they did to me, but they tried to block my memories and I don't think they messed up" I say.

Tristan nods again, giving me a small smile. His bright blue eyes meet mine.

We walk for a few more minutes, then turn around to return back to the others. Even from afar, I can see Ian facing and staring at us.

Oh Ian.

We walk back until we reach them again. I sit down, exhausted from the heat. The sun has begin to dip down lower into the sky, making me even more nervous.

Sunset is coming soon.

As soon as I sit down, Ian wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. I know that he is staring at Tristan now, trying to figure out what we talked about. I sigh, leaning my head against his shoulder and closing my eyes.

I think that I doze off for a little because when I wake up, the sun is much lower in the sky.

It is almost sunset.

The sky is beginning to turn from blue to shades of dark purple, deep orange and pink.

"Fuck, the sun is setting" Dylan mutters.

Him and Nikki are sitting next to each other, their legs in the water. Tristan is sitting alone a few feet behind us. My heart pangs slightly when I see him alone.

"I guess we will just wait" Tristan says.

My heart has already began racing in my chest. I don't want to think about what is going to happen to us once the sun goes down.

We all stand up and Ian picks up the gun from the beach. At least we have one weapon.

The sun sets lower and lower into the sky. We all wait apprehensively, facing the shadowy, ominous jungle. Ian holds the gun in his hands, aiming it in front of him.

We wait.

And we wait.

And we wait.

If only we knew what lay ahead of us when the sun went down...

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Maybe nothing's going to happen" Nikki says, breaking the foreboding silence.

By the now, it is dark. The moon has risen in the sky, a full moon that bathes the beach in an eerie light. We all stand there on the sand, facing the dark, ominous jungle. Waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

And still, nothing has happened.

As much as I want to believe what Nikki said, I have a bad feeling that it is not true. They are not going to leave us alone. We didn't come back like they wanted us to, and I know that we are going to face the consequences.

A chill shivers down my spine as a gust of wind blows the air, whipping my hair in all direction. It has finally cooled off.

Ian shifts the gun in his hands, still pointing it at the jungle.

"It's strange how nothing has happened. They said that we had until sunset to come back or else something would happen. It's nighttime now" Tristan says quietly.

Even though no one has come, I have the strange, unsettling feeling that we are being watched. The hairs on the back of my neck are spiked up in apprehension. I look behind me, but there is nothing but the calm waves lapping up on the shore.

Then suddenly, I hear it.

A faint crack sounds from the jungle.

I immediately tense up, my heart beginning to pound in my chest. I try to remind myself that it could be nothing. It could be just animal. But something deep down inside of me tells me that it's not.

They're here.

Ian raises his gun, putting his finger on the trigger when we hear another crack, this time slightly louder. Still, no one has emerged from the jungle yet.

I want to run, but I physically cannot. I am rooted to the ground, frozen with pure fear.

Crack.

Then, my heart stops when I see people emerge from the dark depths of the jungle. People in long white lab coats, holding guns in their hands.

Pointed at us.

Then, bile rises in my throat when one man walks forward in front of the others.

Hal.

He walks forward, stopping about fifteen feet away from us.

"Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way" he says icily, breaking the deafening silence.

None of us reply. Instead, we all glare at him with hatred in our eyes. Hatred for the man who has imprisoned us here on this island.

"If we do this the easy way, no one will get hurt. All that I'm asking that you come with us" Hal says.

Still, no one moves or says anything. We continue to stare at fiercely.

"I promise, if you come with us, no one will get hurt" Hal says again.

Then Ian says,

"We're not coming back"

Hal eyes Ian, smiling his malicious smile.

He then asks,

"Where did you get the gun Ian?"

"It's none of your fucking business" Ian growls.

"I believe it is my business. Everything that happens on this island is" Hal says coldly.

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Ian glares at Hal, aiming the gun right at him.

"You're not going to shoot me Ian. I know that you won't" Hal says, taking another step towards us.

"Yes I will. If you take another step closer to us, I will fucking shoot you" Ian says.

I look up at Ian, shaking my head. He glances at me for a moment. No matter how much I hate Hal, Ian should not shoot him because if he does, they will kill him.

"Oh really? So if I take one more step towards you guys, you will actually shoot me Ian?" Hal asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Ian, don't..." I whisper to him.

Ian turns away from me and looks back at Hal, hatred and anger burning in his eyes.

"Yes" he growls.

Then, to my horror, Hal takes another slow step towards us.

"Ian, wait..." I scream.

But then, I am cut off by a earsplitting bang as Ian pulls the trigger.

The next few events that happen are utter chaos.

I watch in alarm as Hal yells out in agony, grabbing his leg as he falls to the ground. Ian has shot him square in the thigh.

"SHOOT THEM!" Hal screams.

Then, before I can do anything, the men behind him point their silver guns at us and pull the triggers.

But there is no loud bang. Instead there is only a small pop.

On instinct, I duck as silver darts fly through the air towards us.

Tranquilizer guns.

"RUN!" Ian screams, grabbing my hand and pulling me. We begin to run across the beach towards the jungle. I don't know how I am running right now because my legs feel like jelly, but somehow I do. More tranquilizer darts soar through the air right past us, but don't hit us.

I turn around to see some of the men chasing us. The others are running after Nikki, Dylan and Tristan, who are running in the other direction. Then, I watch in horror as Nikki suddenly jerks to a stop and slumps to the ground.

They got her.

"Ian, they're coming after us!" I shout, panic rising in my voice.

We begin to run faster, bursting into the jungle. With my heart thundering in my chest, we run through the dark jungle, twisting and turning around trees. Ian leads the way and I honestly don't know how we don't run straight into a tree. It is so dark that I can barely see him in front of me.

I can hear the men behind us, crashing their way through the underbrush. Small popping noises continue as the men keep shooting tranquilizer darts. Luckily, none of them have hit us yet.

Even though my legs and lungs are burning, I keep running, determined to stay with Ian. I don't think that I have ever ran this fast before, but the adrenaline coursing throughout my veins keeps me going.

Then suddenly, I crash into the back of Ian as he falls to the ground.

He has been shot.

Flooded with sheer terror, I kneel to the ground and roll Ian's body over. In the faint moonlight coming through the trees, I can see a silver dart lodged in his neck. He is knocked out cold.

I hear the men coming closer and closer, their footsteps getting louder and louder. We are absolutely doomed. Without thinking, I grab Ian's body and pull it behind a large tree just as the men arrive into the clearing. They stop, looking around and gasping for breath.

I stand behind the tree, my heart pounding in my throat. If I move a muscle, they will find me. I stand as still as possible, praying that they won't see Ian's body laying out across the ground.

"Where did they go?" one of the men asks breathlessly.

The other two men shrug.

"I think we lost them" another says.

I wait there, as still as statue, hoping that they will leave.

Then, my heart stops when one of them turns towards the tree, looking at the ground.

"What the hell is that?" the man asks curiously, pointing his finger towards Ian's body and walking closer.

Then, without thinking anything through, I begin to run, bolting away from the men.

Leaving Ian behind.

"There she is!" I hear one of them shout.

I run as fast as my legs can carry me, dodging past trees and underbrush through the darkness. I don't know how I keep going, but somehow I do. I hear one of the men chasing me, his footsteps coming closer and closer. Even though I am running fast, he is faster than I am and catching up quickly.

Tears suddenly begin to run down my face when the implications of what I just did kick in.

I left Ian behind.

I left him behind to get taken by them, while I selfishly ran away to save myself. I am a horrible person. The tears stream down my face as I keep running, with no clue as to where I am going.

Suddenly, I feel my feet trip over a root and I crash to the ground, my face slamming into the dirt. Before I can yell out in pain, I feel two large arms grab around me. I scream, trying to push the man off of me. But it is too late.

Before I can try to the fight the man off, I feel a sharp needle plunge into my neck.

Then, there is only darkness.

Chapter Thirty

For a moment when I first wake up, I am actually pleasantly surprised.

First, I am not in a cage.

Second, I am in air-conditioning.

And third, I am on a bed.

But then this feeling subsides when the memories of what happened last night begin to creep back into my mind.

We have been captured by them.

I am laying down on a cot in a small, white walled room, similar to the one that I was in the first time I came down here. Bright fluorescent lights shine down the ceiling, immediately making my head begin to pound. I still feel lightheaded and disorientated, as if the tranquilizer dart is still in me. I touch my neck, feeling the spot where the dart was plunged into me. There is a small, swollen lump.

I sit up and jump when I see that I am not alone in the room. There, sitting on a bed across from me is Tristan.

He looks up at me and I can see that his eyes are red and puffy. We both look at each other for a few moments, hopelessness reflecting in both of our eyes.

I wonder why they put me in a room with only Tristan. That's when I remember.

Ian.

The memories flash back, staining my mind. I left him when he get shot. I left him for them to take.

A lump forms in my throat as tears threaten to spill out of my eyes. I try fight the tears back, but before I know it, tears begin to run down my face.

I am an absolute mess.

"Tessa..." Tristan murmurs, his blue eyes locked with mine.

Before I know it, I find myself sobbing in Tristan's arms. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a close hug. We stay there for what feels like an eternity. I cry into his shirt, soaking it with my tears.

"It's okay" Tristan whispers soothingly.

That might be the biggest lie that I have ever heard.

"Tristan, we've been captured by them. We're locked in this room and we don't where the others are. Nothing is okay" I sob, my voice trembling.

"Yes but at least we're still alive" Tristan says.

I don't know how he can manage to be so optimistic. I have completely lost hope.

"I...I don't know what happened to Ian" I whisper, pulling away from him and wiping the tears from my face.

Tristan looks at me, then asks,

"Did they get him too?"

I pause, the lump in my throat growing even larger. I don't want to recount what happened.

"I...um..." I stutter.

"Just tell me, did they capture him?" Tristan asks gently.

Finally, I blurt it out. I tell him everything. How we were running through the jungle and Ian got shot by the tranquilizer gun. How I hid with him when they arrived. And how I ran away when they found us, abandoning Ian and leaving him for them to take.

The tears begin to stream down my face again after I tell him this. Damn, I am a crybaby.

"I...I just feel like a terrible person. I was so selfish for leaving him behind" I say.

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Tristan shakes his head.

"Tessa, you're not a terrible person at all. You were just trying to save yourself, which is completely understandable. If Ian was here, he would understand"

If Ian was here...

I close my eyes for a moment, thinking about Ian. Wondering where he is and what they are doing to him.

"What happened to Nikki and Dylan?" I ask.

"They got Nikki right away on the beach. And when Nikki got shot, Dylan turned back to get her and got shot as well. I kept running down the beach, thinking that I could outrun them until I felt the tranquilizer dart hit the back of my neck. Then it was blackness" Tristan explains.

I nod miserably.

"Well we're captured for good now" I say hopelessly.

"No, don't say that. We'll find a way out, I know we will" Tristan says.

How can he be so confident?

"Tristan, we're in their underground facility. The only way out of here is through the hatch, and to get there we have to get out of this room. And even if we could get out of here, where would we go? There is nowhere to go on this island; they would find us again" I say.

Tristan walks over to the door, jiggling the handle. Predictably, the door is locked. Then, Tristan begins to pace the small room back and forth.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"Thinking of a way to get out of here" he replies.

"Tristan, I hate to break it to you but there is no way out of this room. We are locked in" I say.

But he doesn't reply. Instead, he stops and looks up at the ceiling.

"Aha" he murmurs.

"What?" I ask, looking up at the ceiling.

There is nothing but ceiling tiles and an air conditioning vent. I don't know what Tristan is talking about.

"I think I just found our way out of this room" Tristan says.

"How?" I ask, looking at him with raised eyebrows.

Tristan points to the ceiling, then says,

"Through that vent"

It takes me a few moments to process that Tristan is suggesting we escape via the air conditioning vent.

"You are crazy" I finally say.

"What's so crazy about that?" he asks, looking at me.

"Maybe the fact that you are saying we climb through the air conditioning vents? What if they don't hold us up?"

"Oh c'mon Tessa, they will hold us up. We have barely eaten in a week, so I don't think that we weigh too much" Tristan says, a small grin playing on his lips.

A small smile breaks out on my face.

"So what do you say Tessa?" he asks.

"I don't know..." I say.

As much as I want to escape from this room, I don't know if escaping via the air conditioning vents is going to work. I look at Tristan, and the pleading look in his eyes finally forces me to say yes.

He grins, revealing his perfect white teeth, then hops up onto one of the beds, standing up on it. I watch as he reaches his arms up and wrenches the vent cover loose. We both look up into the dark metal shaft above.

I cannot believe that we are actually doing this. But hey, I never thought that I would be kidnapped on a desolate island by evil doctors.

"I'll go up first then help you" Tristan says.

He then swings his arms and jumps up, gripping onto the edge of the metal shaft. I watch in awe as he swings his entire body up, the muscles in his arms bulging. I honestly don't think that I could ever muster the strength to do that. 

Once he is up in the shaft, he leans over the edge, holding his arms out to help me up. Shakily, I climb up on top of the bed and look up at him.

"On the count of three, you jump up and grab my arms" Tristan says.

"I...I don't know if I can do this" I say nervously.

"Yes you can. I know that you can" he says confidently.

"Okay" I whisper.

Tristan nods, then says,

"Three..."

I take a deep breath.

"Two..."

I look up into his eyes.

"One!"

Squeezing my eyes shut, I jump up, stretching my arms out to him. Bracing myself for the worst, I feel Tristan hands grab my arms. He pulls me up and it literally feels as if he is pulling my shoulders out of their sockets until I finally crash onto the metal floor of the shaft.

Breathlessly, I look at him in the gloom.

"See? You did it" he says, smiling.

I force a smile onto my face, trying not to express how it feels as if both of my shoulders have been dislocated.

"C'mon, let's go" Tristan says.

We begin to crawl through the dark shaft, Tristan leading the way. The shaft is so small that if I move my head up slightly, I will bang it on the metal ceiling. I instantly begin to feel extremely claustrophobic.

We take a few twists and turns. I feel as if I am in a labyrinth; a twisting and turning maze in which I have no clue where I am going. Luckily, the shaft has held as up so far. We are as silent as possible, trying to minimize how much noise we make when we crawl. Every time my knee hits the metal it makes a small echoing sound. I pray to God that no one below us hears it.

I don't know how long we crawl for, but suddenly Tristan abruptly stops.

"What is it?" I whisper, my heart beginning to pound in my chest.

"Look, it's another vent" he whispers, pointing in front of him

I immediately wedge myself next to Tristan to see another vent in the floor. Tristan puts a finger to his lips and that's when I hear it.

Coming from the room below are voices, and the beeping of some sort of machine.

Tristan quietly lowers himself to the floor, squinting through the narrow slits of the vent to see what is in the room below.

A few seconds later, Tristan murmurs,

"Oh my god..."

On impulse, I lower myself down as well, my heart racing as I peer through the slits of the vent. At first, I see three doctors, all wearing white lab coats, and a large machine that is hooked up to someone's head. Quickly, my eyes travel from the machine to the person that it is operating on and my heart stops when I see who it is.

There, laying on a bed, hooked up to the machine is Ian.

Chapter Thirty-One

When I open my mouth to scream, Tristan presses his hand against my mouth, clamping it shut. He puts a finger to his mouth, raising his eyebrows at me.

It takes every bit of strength inside of me not to. I want to call out his name. I want to scream at the doctors to stop doing whatever sick operation they are doing on him. I want to jump down and save him. But I can't.

Instead, I watch in frozen terror as the doctors continue to operate on Ian. A large machine, standing upright beside his bed, is hooked to his head. Various wires connect to different parts of his head, and he appears to be out cold. The machine is humming, an ominous humming noise that sends chills down my spine.

I don't know what they are doing to him, but whatever it is, it cannot be good.

I swallow, trying to push down the large lump that has formed in the back of my throat. Angry tears fill my eyes, blurring my vision.

Tristan looks at me, a pained expression on his face. He must know how how hopeless and fearful I am feeling right now.

Just when I am about to look away, I hear a door open and watch as someone enters the room below.

My heart skips a beat when I see Hal slowly wheel into the room in a wheelchair. The leg that Ian shot is wrapped up in a large cast that is stained with blood. Instantly, one of the doctors presses a button on the machine, turning it off. The ominous humming noise is replaced by an unsettling silence.

The three doctors turn around, all facing Hal as he wheels into the room.

"How is your leg feeling Doctor?" one of the doctors asks.

"Never better" Hal says, sarcasm apparent in his voice.

Just his voice sends chills throughout my entire body. Peering through the slits of the vent, I watch as Hal wheels himself over to Ian's bedside. Everything inside of me wants to scream, "Get the fuck away from him!" I literally have to bite my tongue not to do so.

"Is the operation finished?" Hal asks, glancing up at the doctors.

"I believe so" one of them says.

Hal looks back down at Ian, who is still unconscious. My stomach flips when I see that his face is as white as a sheet.

"Excellent. This is the proper punishment for what he did to me"

My blood immediately runs cold.

"You're job is finished here" Hal announces.

The three doctors all nod, then file out of the room, leaving Hal alone with Ian. Once the door is shut behind them, Hal leans in close to Ian. I can barely make out what he whispers to him, but I do hear this.

"You'll regret that you shot me Ian" he says coldly.

I recoil, and the vent moves slightly, making a small grating noise. Instantly, Hal looks up at the vent. My heart racing, I jump backwards. Tristan grabs me, holding me still. Hal slowly wheels himself across the floor until he is right underneath the vent. He looks up at it suspiciously.

For a few moments, Tristan and I stay as still and silent as possible, barely breathing. Then finally, Hal looks back down and wheels himself towards the door and leaves. Once he is gone, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"That was a close one" Tristan whispers.

I glance up at him and see a sheen of sweat covering his forehead.

"We have to go down there" I say.

"Tessa, we can't. What if they come back? We'll be caught and then who knows what they'll do to us" Tristan says.

I look at Tristan, locking my eyes with his.

"They did something to him Tristan. I have to go down to him and see what happened" I say.

"Tessa..." Tristan starts.

But I cut him off abruptly.

"You can come or stay, but I am going down" I say flatly.

Tristan opens his mouth, then closes it.

"Okay fine. But only for a little bit. Then we should go back to our room before they figure out that we escaped" he finally says.

I nod, then carefully lift the vent open. I jump down first, crashing down painfully on the white tile floor. Then, Tristan jumps down, landing much more gracefully than I did.

Immediately, I rush to Ian's side. When I look at his face, tears well up in my eyes, slowly beginning to roll down my cheeks. He looks sickly and is covered in sweat. I take one of his hands in mine and feel that his is ice cold.

"Ian..." I sob quietly, looking down at him.

Then, I slowly lean down and kiss him softly on the cheek. I let my lips linger on him for a few moments, hoping that he will stir and wake up. But he doesn't. He is out cold.

What the hell have they done to him?

I then rest my head against his chest and am relieved to hear his heart beat. Even though it is beating slow, at least it is beating.

I lean back, glancing at Tristan who is standing awkwardly across the room, looking at us.

"Hey, I'm really sorry Tessa" he says.

I sniffle, wiping the tears away from my face.

"We can go back now" I say quietly.

After taking one last sad look at Ian, I turn away and walk back towards Tristan. Before we climb back up into the vent, Tristan wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I cry onto his chest for a few moments, soaking his shirt. I wonder how many times Tristan has seen me cry.

I don't want to know how many.

Once I pull away, Tristan jumps up, pulling himself up into the shaft. He holds his hands out and I jump up, grabbing them. Using all of his strength, he heaves me up until I crash down into the shaft. After placing the vent cover back on, we begin to crawl back through the narrow shaft. A few times I bump my head onto the ceiling, making a loud clanging sound on the metal. Each time I pray that no one hears it from down below.

I cannot get the lump in my throat to go away. I cannot stop thinking about Ian, wondering what they did to him. Hal's words echo in my mind,

This is the proper punishment for what he did to me...

I close my eyes, trying to push all of the bad thoughts out of my mind.

Finally, we arrive back over our room. I am relieved to get out of the cramped, claustrophobic confinement of the air-conditioning shaft. Tristan lifts the vent cover then jumps down, landing on top of one of the beds. He looks up at me, holding out his hands. I hop down and he wraps his arms around me, preventing me from losing my balance.

Once I land, he looks at me, his blue eyes meeting mine. For a few moments we stand there, his arms wrapped around my waist. I realize that it doesn't feel right. I want Ian's arms to be around me. 

I want Ian.

Then suddenly, my thoughts are broken when I notice something behind Tristan that I didn't notice before.

Something that is out of place.

Someone that makes my heart stop.

There, sitting in his wheelchair in the corner of the room, is Hal.

Chapter Thirty-Two

My heart stops.

I stare at Hal and he stares back at me, his icy gray eyes burning into mine.

"What is it?" Tristan asks.

He then turns around and jumps.

"Hello" Hal says, his thin, sallow lips curling up into an unsettling smirk.

I suddenly feel nauseous. Neither Tristan nor I respond. Instead, we just stare at him, hatred and anger blazing in our eyes.

Hal slowly wheels forward, the wheels on his wheelchair squeaking.

So badly do I want to jump down on top of him and knock his wheelchair over.

"Look what your friend Ian did to me" Hal says.

"You deserved it" I murmur under my breath.

"What was that Miss Tessa?" Hal sneers, looking up at me.

"I said, you deserved it" I say through gritted teeth.

Hal laughs, a laugh that turns my insides cold. I continue to glare at him, trying not to show the fear that I am feeling inside.

"What did you do to him?" I ask, my voice trembling slightly.

"You already saw, didn't you?" Hal asks.

"Yeah, but what did you do to him?" I demand.

Hal laughs again, his laugh reverberating throughout my skull. God, I truly hate this man.

"I am not going to tell you that Tessa. But you will find out soon enough"

My stomach sinks.

"So, it looks like you two found a way to escape this room. How clever. We didn't expect you to be able to find a way out" Hal says chillingly.

We must be in big trouble.

"We're going to have to move you two to a place where you cannot escape"

Oh no. I have a horrible feeling that wherever they are going to move us to is going to be much worse than this room. Before I can say anything, the door opens and two men in white lab coats enter.

"Take them there" Hal says brusquely to the men.

The men silently nod, then walk over towards us, pulling us down from the top of the table. Before I can fight them off, my hands are tied behind my back with rope. The men begin drag us out of the room.

"Enjoy your new place" Hal says, grinning and revealing his crooked teeth.

We are led down the white-walled hallway. It is eerily silent except for the clicking of our footsteps on the tile floor. With every step the pit in my stomach grows larger and larger. I glance at Tristan and he looks back at me with fear and hopelessness in his eyes.

We take a turn and continue down another hallway that is identical to the other one. Except in this one, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling are flickering on and off, making me feel uneasy. We walk and stop at a large steel door at the end of the hallway.

"Where are you taking us?" Tristan asks nervously as one of the men pulls out a ring of keys from his coat pocket.

Of course, he does not respond. Instead, he finds the correct key and twists it into the door handle.

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Click.

I wait apprehensively as the heavy door slowly swings open. My heart sinks when all that I see is blackness. The next thing that I know, the two men untie the ropes and push us into the darkness.

"Wait!" I cry out desperately.

But it is too late. The door slams shut behind us, locking us inside. Water drips from the low ceiling and there is a strong musty smell. A single, extremely dim lightbulb hangs from the center of the ceiling, barely giving off any light.

I close my eyes, completely defeated, having run out of the energy to cry. All that I feel is emptiness inside.

Suddenly, I hear a voice call out of the gloom.

"Tessa?" a girls voice says, echoing.

I jump, turning around. Barely able to see anything in the gloom, I look around. That's when I see the silhouettes of two people, crouched in the corner of the room. They both stand up.

"Y...Yeah?" I call back.

"It's us. Nikki and Dylan" the girl says.

I am suddenly filled with a flood of relief.

"It's me and Tristan" I say.

Tristan and I begin to walk towards them. When we arrive Nikki pulls me into a huge hug. I can't help but smile.

"Are you guys okay?" Nikki asks.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why are you guys down here?" Tristan asks.

"Dylan caused a little bit of a problem with the doctors when they came in our room" Nikki says.

"What did he do?" I ask.

"I beat the shit out of them" Dylan says triumphantly.

My eyes have began to slightly adjust to the darkness, and I can see that there are bruises all over Dylan's face.

"Why did you two get taken here?" Nikki asks.

I explain how we escaped our room through the air conditioning shafts and got caught when we came back.

"That's genius. I can't believe we didn't think of that Nikki" Dylan says.

A few moments later, Nikki asks the question I knew was going to come up eventually.

"What happened to Ian?"

Immediately, a lump forms in my throat. I swallow hard, pushing it down.

"They...they did something to him. To punish him for what he did to Hal" I say.

"What did they do to him?" Nikki asks.

I shake my head.

"I...I...I don't know. But whatever they did to him was bad. They...they were operating on his head with this huge machine, and he was out cold when they finished" I say.

I don't want to remember what they were doing to him.

"I'm so sorry Tessa" she says.

I sniffle.

"It's okay" I lie.

"Nothing is okay. We're locked in an underground shithole that smells like feet" Dylan says.

I sigh.

"Well at least we're together" Nikki says.

I turn around to see that Tristan is gone.

"Tristan?" I call out, my voice echoing in the darkness.

That's when I hear it. Quiet wracking sobs, from across the room. My heart aches.

I turn back to Nikki and Dylan.

"You should go over to him" Nikki whispers to me.

I nod, then begin to walk towards Tristan, who is standing in the opposite corner of the room. He is leaning the wall, his back towards me and his head down. His entire body shakes as he sobs.

When I reach him, I take a deep breath, then softly say,

"Tristan?"

He turns around, looking at me with red eyes. Tears are rolling down his face, staining his cheeks.

I don't know what to say. There is nothing that I can say that will make him feel better because the truth is, nothing is okay. I am not going to lie to him and tell him that everything will be fine.

So I pull him close, wrapping my arms around him. He leans his head onto my shoulder and sobs again.

My heart is broken.

"I'm...I'm so sorry. I'm being such a baby" he says.

"It's okay" I whisper back.

We stay like that for a few moments; my arms wrapped around him and his head on my shoulder. He then pulls away, looking down into my eyes.

"Like Nikki said, at least we're still together" I say.

He nods, wiping the tears from his cheeks. I look behind me to see Nikki and Dylan walking towards us. Once they arrive we all sit down, leaning against the cold, grimy wall.

We all have nothing to do or say. All that we do is sit there, hopelessly staring into the gloom. I look down to see Tristan's hand brushing mine. Closing my eyes, my thoughts immediately go to Ian.

Where is he right now?

What have they done to him?

Is he okay?

All of these questions explode in my head like fireworks. Questions that I will never get the answers to.

Suddenly, I jump when I hear the door creak open.

Someone is here.

We all stand up and watch as someone walks in. The man is wearing a white lab coat and has mask on, hiding his face. He is carrying a tray of food that has four bowls of steaming mush.

"Here's your meal for today" the man says, his voice muffled through the mask.

We all stand there, staring at the man.

"We don't want your fucking food" Dylan spits out.

"You must have it" the man says, then lowers the tray down onto the floor.

Something about his voice seems so familiar. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel as if I have heard his voice before.

I have to find out.

The man stands back up and begins to walk towards the door.

"Wait a second!" I shout out.

The man stops and slowly turns around, facing me. Before he can say anything, I walk towards him and rip the mask off of his face.

It takes me a few seconds to realize who it is.

And when I do, my heart stops beating.

I take a shaking step backwards, all of the blood in my body running cold.

I now know why I recognized the man's voice.

That is because it is Ian.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The scream that comes out of my mouth is blood-curdling.

It can't be...

I stare at him with wide eyes and he stares back, a glazed, distant look painted on his face.

This is what they did to him.

They brainwashed him into being one of them.

I suddenly feel queasy, as if I am going to vomit.

"Ian?" I say, my voice trembling.

"How do you know my name?" he says sharply.

I take a shaking step towards him, feeling dizzy with fear. This is my worst nightmare, coming true right before my eyes.

"Ian, it's me Tessa" I say, tears filling up in my eyes.

He stares at me blankly for a few moments, no sign of recognition on his face.

He doesn't know who I am.

"Ian, it's us, Dylan, Nikki, Tristan and Tessa. Don't you remember us?" Dylan says from behind me.

He stares at us for a few moments, appearing to be thinking hard. I close my eyes for a moment, praying that he will remember.

"No" Ian finally says.

Tears begin to roll down my face.

"Ian, what is going on?" I ask.

"I work for the Blair Institute" Ian says flatly.

"No you do not. They did this to you. You're not one of them; they brainwashed you into thinking that you're on their side. But you're not." I sob.

Ian continues to stare at me, his jawline set and hardened.

"You're wrong. I work for the Blair Institute and we are working for the greater good" Ian says mechanically.

He has been completely brainwashed by them.

"Please Ian..." I sob, moving towards him.

I put my hands on his arms, looking up into his eyes. He stares at me, and for a split-second, I think that I see a look of recognition appear on his face. But this look quickly passes away and is replaced by his stolid, emotionless gaze. He then pushes me off of him and turns around, walking towards the door.

I cry as he opens the door, walks out and closes it behind him, locking us inside. For a few moments, everyone else stands in silence, still trying to process what just happened. I slowly turn around, facing the others. They all look at me with pained expressions on their faces.

Tristan walks towards me and the next thing that I know, I am sobbing in his arms. Now I am the one crying on his shoulder. He pulls me close against his body, rubbing his hands on my back as I cry even harder.

I am an absolute mess.

I cry burning tears of anger and hatred towards people who did this to Ian. The people who turned him into a walking and living robot.

Finally, I pull myself out of Tristan's arms, wiping the tears from the cheeks. There's no point in continuing to cry; it's not going to help or get me anywhere. Also, I have run out of the energy to keep crying.

Tristan looks down at me and rubs his thumb across my cheek, wiping away the tears.

"Hey Tessa, I'm really sorry..." Nikki says.

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I nod, sniffling.

"I mean c'mon, he'll break out of this trance eventually right? There has to be some part of the real Ian still inside of him that will come out" Dylan says, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

I hope so.

"If he comes back to this room, we'll try to break him out of his trance" he says.

I look at him and he looks back at me earnestly.

"H...How?" I ask.

Dylan shrugs.

"I don't know. You can try to tell him some things that happened when we were in the jungle. Maybe that will bring his memory back" Dylan says.

"Okay" I reply, nodding.

Even though I highly doubt that Ian is going to break out of his brainwashed state, it is worth a shot. Now I just have to hope that he comes back tomorrow to give us our food.

We leave the bowls of grey mush on the floor, untouched. Even though we are starving, no one wants to eat the foul-smelling mush that looks as if it has the consistency of slime.

I wonder if it is daytime or nighttime right now, and wish that there was at least a window to see outside. Being in this dark prison is starting to make me feel as if I am going crazy.

After everything that his happened on this island, I think I am.

I doze off a few times into a dreamless void, then wake up with a start only to find that I am still trapped in the room. Time goes by ever so slowly, each second feeling like an hour. I have never felt this bored and lifeless before.

Tristan wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. Even though I know he is trying to comfort me, it doesn't feel right. I want Ian's arm back around me.

But I know that that will probably never happen again.

At some point I fall asleep again and this time I am woken up to the sound of the steel door creaking open. I jump, my eyes flashing open.

Someone is here.

Quickly standing up, I turn to see who is here. And when I do, my heart stops.

It's Ian again.

He walks in, carrying another tray of steaming bowls of mush. I swallow hard, watching as Ian robotically places the tray on the floor.

"Tessa, go talk to him" Dylan whispers to me.

It's now or never. After taking a deep breath, I walk towards Ian. He stands up, staring at me with an impassive look on his face.

"Ian..." I start.

"How the hell do you know who I am?" he asks.

Where do I even begin?

"Because you are one of us. You were with us in the jungle. You are also being held captive by these people" I say, trying to keep my voice level.

He scrutinizes me, confusion apparent on his face.

"Look, I have absolutely no clue who you are or what you are talking about. But I do know that I work for the Blair Institute and I'm not being held captive by them" he says flatly.

How am I going to break him out of this?

Ian turns around and begins to walk towards the door.

"Wait! Please..." I cry out.

When he doesn't turn around, I do the only thing that will prevent him from leaving. I run towards him and push him up against the wall.

"What the hell do you want?" he cries out, his eyes widened.

He wriggles, trying to get free from my grasp.

"Listen to me right now. You are the one that shot Hal and they punished you by brainwashing you into thinking that you are one of them" I say.

"Why the hell would I shoot Hal? I work for him" he says.

"Because he is the one that has captured us all on this island" I say.

He shakes his head.

"And you're wrong. No one shot Hal; he told me that he had an accident and that's why he is in a wheelchair" Ian says.

"He's lying!" I exclaim.

Ian shakes his head again.

"Hal wouldn't lie to me. Look, you are crazy and I don't know what you are talking about. I have to go" he says.

"I'm not crazy and you are not leaving!" I shout, pushing him harder against the wall.

He glares at me.

"Don't you remember being with us in the jungle? And don't you remember when they trapped us in cages?"

"What are you talking about!" Ian exclaims.

But I don't stop. I continue blurting out things, trying to spark Ian's memory.

"Don't you remember the waterfall! Don't you remember when you shot the deer and we ate it! Don't you remember when we found the airplane on the beach?"

Ian continues to stare at me. And for a short moment, I think that I see a look of recollection fleet across his face.

Breathlessly, I exclaim,

"Do you remember anything?!"

We both stare at each other for a few moments, our eyes locked.

Then suddenly, Ian says,

"I remember something"

My heart starts to beat faster.

"What do you remember?" I ask, looking into his eyes.

"This" Ian whispers.

And then, he fills the gap between us by pressing his lips against mine.

Chapter Thirty-Four

When his lips crash onto mine, I am completely taken aback by surprise.

He cups his hands around my cheeks, pulling me even closer to him.

The one thought going through my mind is,

He remembers...

I am flooded with an overwhelming sense of euphoria and relief, and I wrap my arms around him. I think that I hear someone catcall from behind us (definitely Dylan), but I don't care at all. All that I care about right now is the fact that Ian is back.

When he finally pulls away, I look up at him breathlessly to see that there are tears welling up in his eyes.

Tears welling up in Ian's eyes.

Well that's something I never thought I would see.

"I...I remember now. It's all coming back to me" he stutters.

No matter how hard they try to control us, they cannot. And although they have captured us, we will never be under their power.

I smile, tears welling up in my eyes. Ian looks down at the lab coat that he is wearing, then looks back up to me.

"I don't know what happened..I think that they brainwashed me or something" Ian says, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"They did. But it didn't work" I say triumphantly.

I hear clapping and turn around to see Nikki and Dylan, applauding and grinning. Tristan has a weak smile on his face.

"Well now that you're back, can you let us out of here?" Dylan asks.

"No. If he does, they'll find out that his trance wore off, and who knows what they'll do to him then..." I say.

Dylan crosses his arms.

"So you're telling me that we still have to stay in this shithole when Ian can easily let us out?" he asks incredulously.

I sigh. As much as I want to leave this room, I know that we will be caught if we do. And worst of all, Ian will be in trouble.

Big trouble.

"I have an idea" Ian says suddenly.

I turn back to him.

"What?" I ask.

"They have this supply closet full of lab coats and masks. I can go and get some, then come back down here. We can all wear them to disguise ourselves, then escape" Ian explains.

"You really don't think they'll notice that it's us?" I ask dubiously.

"If we all wear the lab coats and masks, we'll look like all of the others doctors and blend in. I promise" Ian says.

He then reaches down and squeezes my hand comfortingly.

"I'm in" Dylan says.

"Me too" Nikki adds.

"I guess I am too then" Tristan says.

Ian looks at me.

"Fine" I say.

He smiles, then squeezes my hand again.

"I'll go get the disguises now. I'll be back here as soon as possible" Ian says.

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"Okay" I reply, nodding.

This seems like a crazy idea, but hey, everything that has happened the past week has been far from normal.

Before Ian leaves, he leans in, kissing me softly on the cheek and sending shivers throughout my entire body.

"Be careful, make sure they don't suspect you" I say when he pulls away.

He nods, then walks out, locking the door behind us. I close my eyes for a moment, smiling to myself. I  can't stop thinking; Ian is back.

"Well that went well" Dylan says.

I turn around, grinning at them through the gloom.

"I guess now we wait for him to come back" Nikki says.

I nod, then lean back against the wall and close my eyes again. Time ticks by as we all wait. And wait. And wait. I don't know how much time goes by, but I start to get nervous.

What happened to him?

What if they know what he's up to?

Worried thoughts crowd my mind like a virus, spreading and multiplying. Just when I am about to say something, I hear the sound of a key twisting into the lock.

Filled with excitement, I rush over to the door, waiting as the person pushes it open.

"I'm so glad you're..."

But I am abruptly cut off when I see that it is not Ian. Instead, I find myself staring into the rough face of an middle-aged man with a beard. My heart pounds in my chest as I take a shaking step backwards.

Something is not right.

"Are you Tessa?" the man asks in a dull, monotone voice.

"Y...Yes" I reply.

Without a word, the man grabs me.

"Leave her alone!" Tristan shouts, running towards me.

I look at Tristan panickedly as the man ties my arms behind my back.

"What are you doing?" he shouts.

"Don't worry, she'll be back soon" the man says gruffly, starting to pull me out of the room.

Before I can say anything, the man shuts the door, locking them inside. He begins to drag me down the hallway. I have a sickening feeling in my gut; this cannot be good.

We turn the corner and begin walking down the main hallway. The bright fluorescent lights blind me, making my head start to pound. Suddenly, we stop in front of a door to my left. The man twists the handle and opens the door.

When I see the two people who are inside of the room, I nearly faint.

One of them, sitting in his wheelchair, is Hal. And the other person is Ian.

This is why he hasn't come back yet.

They both look up at me and my eyes immediately lock with Ian's. He has that same distant, glazed look painted on his face from when he was brainwashed.

"Come in Tessa" Hal says.

The man unties the rope behind my back then pushes me inside, closing the door behind me.

"Aren't you glad to see your friend Ian again? Except, now he is one of us" Hal sneers mockingly.

I swallow hard and clench my fists, trying to stop myself from punching him square in the face.

"Sit down" Hal says, pointing to the cot.

I stand still, rooted to the floor.

"I said, sit" he demands.

Reluctantly, I walk over and sit down on the edge of the bed.

"What the hell do you want" I snap, looking into Hal's grey, lifeless eyes.

"We need more of your blood. Your special blood" Hal says.

I shake my head.

"Tessa, I don't think that you want to misbehave. We can easily do what to did to Ian to you" Hal says coldly.

"Fine" I spit out.

"Don't worry, it will be quick and easy; just like last time. But this time, I thought I could have Ian take your blood. He needs to get trained as a doctor" Hal says.

I glance up at Ian, hoping to see an emotion on his face. But instead, he wears a distant, impassive visage. Either he is really good at acting, or he is brainwashed again.

I really hope it's not the second option.

"You may begin" Hal says, looking at Ian.

Ian mechanically walks over to the counter and opens up a drawer, pulling out a needle connected by a tube to a plastic bag. I gulp as he walks towards me.

"Roll up your sleeve" Ian says mechanically.

I look up at him pleadingly.

"I said, roll up your sleeve" he says again.

Grudgingly, I roll up my sleeve. Ian wipes the crook of my elbow with an antiseptic pad, then takes the needle, hovering it over my skin.

I look up at him again to see a pained expression on his face.

He mouths the word "Sorry" and then plunges the needle into my skin. I wince as he begins to draw my blood. Hal sits behind us, watching us intently. Watching to see if Ian does anything wrong.

A few minutes go by and I begin to feel nauseous and dizzy, breaking out in a cold sweat. My vision starts to blur. I don't know how much longer I can handle this.

"Please, make it stop..." I murmur.

"Not yet" Hal says.

Ian looks at me, a worried look on his face.

"Please..." I murmur to Ian.

I begin to sway back and forth, slipping in and out of consciousness. They must literally be taking almost all of the blood out of my body.

"Okay, you can take it out now" Hal finally says.

To my relief, Ian pulls the needle out. It takes a few moments for my vision to return. I watch as Ian hands the bag to my Hal, which is filled to the top with my blood. The sight of all the blood in that bag makes me want to lose my stomach. Hal looks at the bag with a greedy, malicious look in his eyes.

"You're free to go now Tessa. Ian, bring her back"

Ian nods robotically and grabs me, pulling me down from the bed. As we leave the room, Hal wheels out behind us and heads down the hallway. Ian grabs my arm and begins to lead me down the hallway in the opposite direction. Once we turn the corner, he stops and pushes me against the wall.

"I am so sorry..." he whispers.

"It's...it's okay" I say woozily, still dizzy.

"I had to do it. Or else Hal would know that I broke out of my trance" Ian explains.

"I know. I understand" I say.

Ian nods.

"Are you okay?" he asks, looking at me intensely.

"Er...yeah" I say, even though I feel as if I might vomit any second.

"Good. Well now we have to go back and get those lab coats and masks" Ian says.

Right. I almost forgot.

"How about I go back and you go and get it?" I suggest.

He nods and we begin to walk down the long, dim hallway towards the steel door at the end. When we reach it, Ian reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key, sticking it into the lock. Once he twists the handle, the door creaks open, revealing the dark gloom.

I walk inside. Before Ian leaves, I feel his hand touch my shoulder. I turn around to see his face, looking intently into mine.

"When I come back, it's go time. We are all getting the hell out of here"

Chapter Thirty-Five

Ian closes the door, leaving us in the gloom.

Before I can even turn around, Tristan rushes over towards me.

"What happened? What did they do to you?" he asks worriedly.

I turn around, facing him.

"They took more of my blood" I say.

"Then why did Ian bring you back? I thought he was getting the lab coats and masks?" he asks.

"They forced Ian to take my blood. He had to; if he refused they would know that he wasn't brainwashed anymore. And he's going to get them now" I explain.

Tristan looks at me intently, his bright blue eyes radiating in the darkness.

"Are you okay?" he asks softly.

I nod, even though I still feel dizzy.

"I'll be fine" I say.

Nikki and Dylan walk towards us.

"Hey, so even if we do escape from this place, where are we going to go? We're still stuck on this island; they'll find us and capture us again" Nikki says.

I bite my lip, unsure. The fervent dreams of escaping this place had overshadowed the harsh reality that we are still stuck on this island.

"Hey, I still have that map of the island" Tristan says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the crumpled piece of paper.

He unfolds it and we all crowd around him, looking at the hand-drawn map. Most of the handwriting labeling the various locations on the map is so sloppy that it is nearly illegible. Tristan points his finger to a dot that is at the peak of the mountain. I squint, unable to read the writing that is beneath it.

"What does that say?" I ask.

"Radio tower..." Tristan murmurs.

"As in a radio tower that we could use to call someone and get rescued?" Dylan asks excitedly.

"Maybe. I say we go there. It's at the highest point on the island, so it's going to be quite a hike up there" Tristan says.

The thought of calling someone to rescue us makes me giddy with excitement. I try not to get my hopes up though. First, we have to escape this place without getting caught. And the chances of that happening are very slim.

As Tristan begins to fold up the map, the door opens and Ian walks inside, carrying a heap of white lab coats.

"Got everything" he says.

I smile, relieved that he didn't get caught.

Ian tosses us each a lab coat, mask and surgical hat. I throw on the coat and put on the hat, stuffing all of my knotted hair underneath. Finally, I put on the mask and nearly vomit when I do. It is damp and smells like mildew.

Yuck.

"How do I look as a doctor?" Dylan asks, twirling around in front of Nikki.

"Hot" Nikki says, laughing and rolling her eyes.

"So what's the plan exactly?" Tristan asks, looking at Ian.

"We will walk to the hatch and climb out" Ian says flatly.

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"I know. But what if they ask why we're leaving?" Tristan asks.

"I don't know. We'll just say that we're going to get some fresh air or something" Ian says.

Tristan nods.

"Are we ready?" Ian asks, looking at all of us.

His eyes meet mine and I nod, even though my heart is pounding in my chest.

"Alright, let's go" he says, then opens the door.

We all walk out of the room and into the hallway. Before we leave, Dylan turns around, taking one long, last look into the gloom.

"Goodbye prison. I'll miss you" he says in a mock-sad voice.

We begin to walk down the hallway. With every step my heart pounds faster. One step out of line and we're all doomed.

We turn the corner and start walking down the main hallway. I begin to sweat uncontrollably when I see many doctors walking back and forth, leaving and entering rooms. A few of the doctors stare at us when we walk by, but then resume what they are doing. We are almost at the end of the hallway when I hear a voice behind us call out,

"Where are you all going?"

We all freeze mid-step. Shaking, I slowly turn around to see the man who I despise the most, wheeling towards us. I swallow hard, trying to calm myself down.

He doesn't know it's us. At least not yet.

"Er...we just wanted to go up to get some fresh air. It's getting a little stuffy down here" Ian says.

Hal eyes us and for a horrifying moment, I think that he sees through our disguises. But then, he says,

"All of you?"

"Yeah, we all want some fresh air" Dylan says, making his voice sound deeper.

"Don't you all have work to be doing in the labs?"

"We'll be quick, I promise sir" Ian says mechanically.

Hal nods slowly.

"Alright then" he says, then turns around and begins to wheel away.

Phew.

By now, I am completely drenched in a nervous sweat. We all turn around continue to walk towards the large steel door at the end of the hallway. Once we reach it, Ian reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key, sticking it into the knob and twisting. I look down to see that his hands are trembling.

There is a click and the heavy door swings open, creaking on its hinges. We all walk into the blackness and close the door behind us. Once the door is completely shut, we all sigh huge sighs of relief. I cannot believe that we actually made it this far.

"That was a close one" Dylan murmurs.

"C'mon, let's get the hell out of here" Ian says.

He reaches around in the darkness, searching for the ladder.

"Found it" he finally says.

Ian starts to climb up, his feet clanging on the metal rungs. I go next, followed by Tristan, Nikki and Dylan. The ascent seems endless; every time I except to reach the top I just reach up onto another rung of the ladder. All that I want is to is be outside again.

Finally, Ian stops, halting the rest of us. I hear a loud creak as he pushes open the hatch door. Sunlight shines down, blinding me temporarily. It feels as if I have never been out in broad daylight before. We all climb up and out onto the soft earth. I stand up shakily, my legs feeling like lead, and rip off my mask. I close my eyes and slowly spin around in a circle, holding my arms out and breathing in the sweet scent of the jungle. For a fleeting moment, I truly feel free.

Chapter Thirty-Six

"There is no island there"

The man's words reverberate in my skull over and over again like a broken a record. It can't be right.

"What do you mean?" Tristan asks, gripping the intercom speaker so hard that his knuckles turn white.

"I mean, we looked up those exact coordinates and there's no island there. Your coordinates are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean" the man says.

I suddenly feel dizzy. What the hell is going on?

"But we're on an island I swear! Are you sure you entered the coordinates correctly?" Tristan exclaims, frustration evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry kids, but there is no island there. How about you all just stop playing make-believe and go home" the man says.

"You think we're making this up?!" Tristan yells incredulously.

He is abruptly cut off by a crackling noise as the line goes dead. Suddenly, Tristan lashes out in rage, punching the wall. I swallow hard, feeling like a deflated balloon. All of the hopes of being rescued have completely diminished.

"Well this sucks" Dylan murmurs grimly.

None of us respond. We're all too miserable to do so. Tristan storms out of the room, walking outside. I've never seen him flip out like this before.

"I'll go try to calm him down" I say.

Ian glances up at me, his eyes locking with mine. Before he can say anything, I get up and walk out.

A strong breeze blows through the air, whipping my hair around in all directions. Ominous, dark storm clouds have begun to settle in the sky, masking the bright sun that was out before.

At first, I can't find Tristan. I look around, spinning around in a slow circle until I spot him. My heart skips a beat when I see him standing on the edge of the cliff, his back towards me.

"Tristan!" I exclaim, starting to walk towards him.

A low rumble of thunder resonates in the humid air and the wind begins to pick up.

"Please...get away from the edge" I say, my voice cracking.

He doesn't move.

"Please!" I cry out, approaching him from behind.

When he still doesn't move, I grab him by the back of his shirt, pulling him away from the edge. He turns around, a grim look on his face.

"We were so close to being rescued..." he murmurs.

"I know..." I say, my voice trailing off:

I don't know what to say to him. There is nothing that I can say that will make him feel better. I'm not going to lie and tell him that everything's going to be okay.

He rakes his fingers through his hair.

"What is going to happen to us..." he asks sorrowfully.

"I...I don't know" I reply.

Suddenly, I hear someone shout and whip around to see Nikki poking her head out of the radio tower base.

"Guys come in here!" She shouts.

Without thinking, Tristan and I run towards the building. Rain has begun to fall; large drops cascading down from the sky. My heart begins to race as one thought pops into my mind; they connected with someone else who is going to come and rescue us.

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Don't get your hopes up Tessa.

We burst into the room to find Ian, Nikki and Dylan, all crowded around the control panel.

"Listen!" Nikki exclaims excitedly, pointing to the intercom.

Tristan and I rush over to hear. At first, I only hear crackling static. But then, I discern voices.

"We connected to another line! But no matter which way we turn this dial, their voices aren't getting clearer" Dylan says.

I strain my ears, trying to hear what the voices are saying. But I can't. There is too much static.

"Did you try speaking to them?" I ask.

"Yeah, we told them everything. How we're kidnapped on an island and we need to be rescued. But we don't even know if they can hear us" Nikki says.

Boom!

I jump as a loud clap of thunder sounds from outside. As if on queue, the rain begins to torrentially downpour, drumming loudly on the roof.

"Well at least we're inside" Dylan says half-heartedly.

Right after he says this, there is a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud surging sound.

 "That didn't sound good..." Nikki murmurs.

Suddenly, there is loud noise as all of the lights go out. Across the control panel, all of the flashing lights and screens start fizzling on and off.

"Uh oh..." Dylan whispers under his breath.

All of a sudden, sparks begin to emit from the panel and an acrid, burning smell fills the air.

"We have to get out of here!" Tristan yells.

Instantly, we all get up and sprint out of the building into the pouring rain. The wind howls, blowing the rain straight into my face, and making it nearly impossible to see anything in front of me.

I feel a hand grip my wrist and look up to see Ian. At least I think it's him.

"C'mon we have to get out of this open space! We'll get struck by lightning!" I hear Tristan's voice shout over the roaring winds.

Ian runs, dragging me blindly behind him. I don't know how he can see anything in front of him because all that I can see is a white sheet of torrential downpour.

A deafening roar of thunder rumbles, seeming to shake the earth beneath my feet.

Damn, this is one hell of a storm.

Soon, I know that we arrive in jungle because the rain lightens up. I look up to see the thick canopy of the trees, blocking most of the rain. All of us are completely soaked, dripping from head to toe.

"Holy shit" Dylan murmurs, wiping his forehead.

The wind continues to howl, rocking the trees and blowing leaves around in all directions.

"Let's wait this out until it passes" Tristan says.

And so we wait. Ian and I sit down on the ground, leaning up against a tree. He wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side. I rest my head lightly on his shoulder and close my eyes, praying for this storm to pass.

A few minutes later a low rumble of thunder sounds, resonating through the air. But this time, it doesn't stop. It keeps getting louder and louder.

"What's that sound?" Dylan asks, breaking the silence.

"Thunder, duh" Nikki replies.

"No, that's not thunder" Dylan says quickly, standing up.

"Yes it is. What else would it be?" Nikki asks.

I'm starting to agree with Dylan. This noise is definitely not thunder. It almost sounds like...

"I don't know, but I'm telling you this; that is not thunder" Dylan says.

He begins to run towards the clearing at the top of the mountain.

"Wait!" Nikki cries.

We all stand up and begin to run after him. The rumbling noise is so loud now that it is nearly deafening.

"OH MY GOD!" I hear Dylan's voice shout, echoing throughout the jungle.

My heart begins to race in my chest. When we emerge from the trees into the clearing, the rain is still coming down in down in buckets. I look up into the sky, and when I see what is overhead, I nearly faint.

At first, I think I must be imagining it.

But I'm not.

There, flying over the island is a helicopter. The gusting winds blow, shaking the helicopter as it lowers from the sky. Without thinking, we all begin to jump up and down, throwing our hands up in the air and screaming incomprehensibly.

The helicopter flies over us and continues over the top of the trees. We all turn around, continuing to shout and yell at it. And that's when I see it.

Black smoke is pouring out of the back of its engine.

I don't know much about helicopters, but I do know one thing for sure.

This helicopter is going down.

To our horror, we watch as the helicopter violently jerks back and forth, lowering closer and closer to the tops of the trees. The black smoke continues to billow out of its back. Then, I gasp as someone jumps out of it.

We all watch in a stunned silence as the person free-falls from the helicopter. I clasp my hand over my mouth, silently screaming as the person plummets from the sky. Then suddenly, a parachute is released from the person's back, slowing their fall. The burning helicopter spiral downwards, crashing through the canopy of the trees.

I want to scream and run, but I physically cannot. I am rooted to the ground, paralyzed with shock and fear.

The person descends through the air, their parachute flapping in the wind. Then, we all watch as they silently disappear through the canopy of the trees.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

For a few moments, we are all too stunned to say anything or move. We watch in pure shock as the parachutist descends through the canopy of the trees, disappearing from sight. The rain continues to pour down, soaking us to the bone.

"Holy shit" Dylan whispers under his breath, breaking the deafening silence.

I swallow hard, trying to clear the lump of worry  in my throat.

"Well what are we standing here for? Let's go!" Nikki finally exclaims, starting to run.

"Wait!" I cry out.

Everyone turns around, looking at me.

"What if it's one of them?" I ask, my voice trembling.

"What do you mean?" Dylan asks, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

"A few days ago, Tristan and I found a boat out in the ocean. We swam towards it, thinking that it was rescue. But it turned out to be them and they captured us" I say.

Everyone stares at me. As much as I want to go see who it is, a small part of my instinct has the bad feeling whoever it is is not here to rescue us.

"But what if it is someone who has come to rescue us?" Nikki asks.

Ian's eyes lock with mine. He stares at me with an impassive look on his face.

"Okay fine, we can go" I say reluctantly.

We begin to run towards the jungle in the direction of where the helicopter crashed. As we keep running, the acrid burning smell gets stronger and stronger. We must be getting close.

My heart pounds in my chest nervously. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this.

"There!" Dylan shouts, pointing his finger.

We all slow to a stop and look to see the helicopter on the jungle floor. It's rotor is smashed into pieces on the ground and black smoke is still billowing from it's engine. We walk towards it slowly, as if it is going to blow up any second.

I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

As far as I can see, there is no Blair Institute painted on the side of the helicopter like the boat had. But still, I have a strange, unsettling feeling about this.

"Where is the person?" Tristan asks, looking around.

We all look around us, but there is no sign of the parachutist on the ground.

"What the hell? It's like they disappeared into thin air" Dylan murmurs.

"No. Right there" Ian says quietly, pointing his finger upwards.

We all look up, following the direction of his finger to see the parachutist hanging from the top of a tall tree. I gasp when I see that they are precariously hanging by the strings of their parachute, which are looped around one of the branches. They must be at least a good thirty feet off of the ground.

 I squint up at the person, shielding my eyes from the drizzling rain. By the looks of it, it is a female. Her hair is sticking out from underneath her helmet and she is wearing a black body suit.

"Hello!" Tristan shouts.

The person remains motionless.

"Are you okay?" Tristan cries out.

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Still, the person doesn't move.

"Shit. I think she's out cold" he mutters.

"What are we going to do?" Nikki asks.

"I'm going to go up to get her" Tristan replies.

He walks towards the base of the tree, gripping the trunk. Just before he is about to start climbing up, I cry out,

"Wait!"

He turns around, looking at me.

"Be careful" I say quickly.

He nods.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine" he says, giving me a small smile.

He then begins to climb up the tree. I honestly have no clue how he has the strength and agility to scale the tree as fast as he does. Within minutes, he is almost at the top. I watch, praying the entire time that he doesn't lose his grip and plummet to his death.

I remember the first day on this island, when he climbed up the tree to rescue me. If he could do it then, then he should be able to do it now. Right?

Finally, he reaches the girl. He sits down on the branch that she is hanging from, cautiously sliding towards her. My heart pounds in my chest as a horrifying thought pops into my mind.

What if the branch breaks?

I find myself gripping Ian's arms so hard that my fingernails dig into his skin. He glances at me and I glance back, my eyes wide with fear.

"Sorry" I mutter, loosening my grip.

"It's fine. And don't worry, he'll be okay" Ian whispers.

I nod, then look back up. Tristan has reached the end of the branch, where the girl is hanging.

"How the hell are you going to bring her down!" Dylan yells up.

Tristan looks down at us.

"I'm going to untangle these strings, open the parachute back up, then send her down!" Tristan calls down.

"Wait, what! Your'e going to throw her down?!" Dylan shouts up incredulously.

"I have to! I can't climb down with her; she's out cold! Don't worry, the parachute will slow her fall" Tristan says.

He begins to work on detangling the strings of the parachute, unraveling them from around the branch.

"This is insane" Dylan murmurs to us.

I watch as Tristan continues to untangle all of the strings. I don't know how he does it. If I were up there, I would probably tangle the strings even more.

"Okay, I'm going to open her parachute and let her go! I need one of you get below to catch her!" Tristan shouts.

"Not me" Nikki says, taking a step backwards.

"Me neither" I say immediately, taking a step back as well.

"Alright we'll do it" Dylan says.

Both him and Ian walk towards the base of tree, standing right underneath the girl.

"Okay, on the count of three. One...two...THREE!" Tristan yells.

On three, Tristan lets go of the parachute. She immediately begins to fall from the tree, her limp body sailing through the air. Luckily, the parachute opens, slowing her fall slightly. Before I know it, Dylan and Ian hold out their hands and catch her in their arms.

They bend down, placing the girl's body on the ground. Nikki and I run over, hovering over her. Within a minute, Tristan is back on the ground and we all kneel down beside her. Her dark brown curls escape from underneath the helmet on her head. She looks slighter older than us and has light brown bronzed skin. Her face bruised and scratched with cuts.

"Is...is she alive?" I ask.

Tristan leans down, pressing his head to her chest. After a few moments, he sits back up.

"Yes. Her heart is beating" he says.

Tristan leans over her again, shaking her lightly on the shoulders.

"Can you hear us?" he asks.

The girl remains motionless, her eyes and mouth shut. I look down at her then notice something I didn't notice before.

"Hey, what's this?" I ask, reaching down towards the pocket on her bodysuit.

There, sticking out slightly from the pocket is a folded up sheet of paper. I grab it and unfold it. Everyone leans over my shoulder, examining it. It is a neatly hand-drawn map of an island.

This island.

"She must of wanted to come here..." I murmur.

"Yeah, to rescue us!" Nikki exclaims.

I flip the map over to see something written on the back. In neat cursive handwriting, there are three words that make my blood run cold.

The Blair Institute.

"Guys, this is not good..." I whisper, dropping the map on the ground.

Before anyone can say anything, I jump when I hear the girl gasp for breath. Instantly, we crowd around her, watching with wide eyes as she gasps for breath, coughing. I recoil when I see that she is coughing up blood.

Suddenly, her eyes flash open, revealing her dark brown eyes. She looks around, her eyes unfocused and flitting around in all directions. Tristan leans over her, looking down into her face.

"Are you okay?" he asks urgently.

All of a sudden, she stops coughing and her eyes focus on Tristan. For a few moments, there is only silence as she stares at him with wide eyes.

Then, she murmurs in a rasped voice,

"Tristan?"

Chapter Thirty-Eight

My heart stops.

"Tristan?" the girl asks again, her voice hoarse.

I look up at Tristan, who is looking down at her with wide eyes.

"Er...yeah?" he asks, shock evident in his tone.

"Is that really you?" she asks dazedly.

Tristan nods, confusion and surprise painted on his face. The girl sits up slightly, propping herself up on her elbows. When she looks at him, her eyes light up.

"I can't believe I actually found you" she murmurs.

The rest of us all stare at each other, unsure of what to say. Ian's eyes lock with mine and he looks at me, raising his eyebrows.

"Um...you were looking for me?" Tristan asks hesitantly.

The girl looks back at Tristan, her dark eyes meeting with his.

"Of course I was. My name is Eve and I'm here to rescue you Tristan" she says.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. You're to rescue just Tristan?" Dylan asks incredulously.

Eve turns and looks at Dylan, confusion on her face.

"I don't know who you are. I don't know who any of you are actually" she says, looking around at the rest of us.

I am so confused right now.

"Tell me right now, what the hell is going on!" Dylan shouts.

"I'm here on specific orders to rescue Tristan Reyes. Age nineteen, blue eyes, dirty-blond hair" Eve says.

She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out a photo, showing it to us. I lean in to see a picture of a boy. Although blurry and faded, it is definitely a picture of Tristan. He is smiling, his bright blue eyes shining even in the picture.

"Orders from who?!" Dylan asks.

"I'm afraid that's confidential" Eve says, putting the photo back away.

"What the fuck are you talking about!! Confidential?! I swear to God I..."

Nikki immediately cuts Dylan off, pressing her hand over his face. If we want to get any information, Dylan should not be the one talking.

"I'm sorry about him. It's just that we're all a little confused right now" Nikki says hurriedly.

"A little confused?! I'm fucking a lot confused!" Dylan shouts.

Nikki shuts him up by cupping her hand over his mouth again.

"It's just that we all have been kidnapped on this island, and we're just confused why you came here to rescue only Tristan" Nikki says.

Eve looks at Nikki, then says,

"I'm sorry, but I received strict orders from my boss to rescue only Tristan Reyes. If I were allowed to, I would rescue you all, but my helicopter only has room for one other person and that person must be Tristan" Eve explains.

"Um...but your helicopter is kind of destroyed" I say.

Eve looks at me, her dark eyes locking with mine.

"I know. That's quite a problem, isn't it?" she says.

I nod awkwardly, unsure how to reply.

Eve turns back to Tristan.

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"It's okay. When my boss tracks me down and sees that I'm still here, he'll send another helicopter here in no time to rescue you" she says.

Tristan finally breaks the silence.

"I'm not leaving unless you rescue everyone. That means all ten of us who have all been kidnapped on this island" he says flatly.

Eve shakes her head.

"Tristan, please listen to me. I am on very strict orders to rescue only you. I'm sorry that I cannot tell you the reason why, but just know that it is for the greater good"

The greater good...

These word echo in my mind, reverberating in my skull. Then it hits me. I remember what was written on the back of her map, and suddenly exclaim,

"You work for the Blair Institute, don't you!"

Eve looks at me, surprise on her face.

"What?!" she says.

"It's on the back of you're map!" I exclaim.

Eve takes out the map, flipping it around. Sure enough, those three words are written there.

The Blair Institute

She suddenly laughs, tossing her head back in the air. We all stare at her, utterly bewildered. I clench my hands into tight fists, ready to punch her at any moment.

When she is finally done laughing, she looks back at us.

"You thought that this meant I work for the Blair Institute?" she asks, pointing to the writing on the back of the map.

I nod.

"We'll you are sorely mistaken because the Blair Institute is my enemy. It's everyone's enemy where I work, and my job is to rescue Tristan from their evil clutches" Eve says.

Phew. At least she's not one of them.

I then ask,

"Well can you at least tell us what the Blair Institute is and why they captured us?"

She shakes her head slowly.

"I'm sorry, but my boss made it very clear to me that I am to keep all information classified" Eve says.

"Bullshit" Dylan mutters under his breath.

Eve turns to Dylan, looking him in the eye.

"I have no idea who you are, but I'm sorry. It's not my decision" she says.

Dylan rolls his eyes then stands up, walking away.

"Wait!" Nikki cries out, standing up and following him.

I watch as Nikki grabs Dylan's hand, stopping him. I then look back at Tristan, who looks very troubled. I don't blame him though. To have someone fly down from a helicopter and say that they are only there to rescue you is very overwhelming. The scary thing is that when I think about it, I don't know what I would do if it happened to me. Would I go with her and leave everyone else behind? A small selfish part inside of me says that I would. But Tristan is too good of a person to leave all of us behind.

"I...I think I need to take a walk" Tristan says quietly, standing up.

He begins to walk away through the trees. Now it's just Ian, Eve and I. Ian and I both stand up, glancing at each other with the same expression on our each of our faces.

Unease.

"Can I have a hand?" Eve asks, holding her hand up.

"Oh...yeah" I say.

I hold my hand out and help pull her up from the ground. She stands up, wiping the dirt off of her bodysuit. She is tall and thin, with long legs. She takes off her helmet, letting out her dark curls.

"So I guess everyone hates me now?" she asks with a small grin on her face, tossing her luscious curls over her shoulder.

"Basically, yeah" Ian says.

I look at him, thinking that he is joking and am surprised to see a stolid glare on his face.

Eve grins, revealing perfect white teeth.

"Well you're going to have to learn to like me because I'm staying with you guys until another helicopter comes" she says.

Ian shakes his head at her.

"C'mon Tessa, let's get away from her" he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me away.

We begin to walk away until I hear her call out something from behind us.

"It's not my fault"

I stop, turning around and facing her.

"Please, understand that it's not my fault I can only rescue Tristan" she says again.

Just as I am about to open my mouth and say something, Ian shakes his head and continues to walk away, pulling me with him. We walk through the jungle in a tense silence. I know that Ian is furious because he gripping my hand so hard that his fingernails are painfully digging into my skin. I understand why he is angry of course; we all want to get rescued obviously. I wriggle my hand, trying to loosen his iron grip.

"Sorry" Ian mumbles, loosening his grip on my hand when he realizes that I am trying to get it free.

Phew. At least my hand won't fall off.

We continue to walk through the dense underbrush. Thankfully, the rain has stopped and the only water falling now is from the wet leaves of the trees.

Suddenly, I hear it.

I stop, looking around.

"What is it?" Ian asks.

I put a finger up to my lips, silencing him. Although quiet, I can definitely hear someone sobbing.

"Stay here" I whisper.

I slowly begin to walk towards the sound, my feet padding silently on the wet ground. The crying gets louder and louder until I walk into a clearing and find Tristan, sitting on a rock with his head in his hands. My throat immediately tightens at the sight of him so pained and broken. I quietly walk towards him, my heart stuck in my throat.

"T...Tristan?" I ask.

He quickly looks up at me. His eyes are red and tears are running down his cheeks. Without a word, I sit down next to him on the rock.

"I...I'm sorry. I'm an absolute mess again" he says, his voice cracking.

"It's okay" I say quietly.

"This is all just so complicated. I don't know who this girl Eve is and why she is here to rescue only me" he says.

"I know. None of us do" I reply.

Wow, you're such a help Tessa.

He sniffles, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

"Why wouldn't you want to leave with her? You would get to leave this island forever. No more Hal. No more Blair Institute. You could go home" I say.

"I...I'm not leaving you all behind. It would be selfish. Either all or none of us gets rescued from this island" Tristan says.

I nod, unsure what to say.

"And...well there's one more reason" he says, looking up at me.

I look at him, his blue eyes locking with mine.

"What?" I ask.

He swallows hard, then says,

"Because I love you"

Chapter Thirty-Nine

My heart skips a beat as he stares at me, his crystal blue eyes locked with mine. I open my mouth then close it, completely speechless. Immediately, his cheeks burn red and he looks down at his feet.

"Tristan, I..." I start to say, my voice sounding foreign to me.

I honestly don't know what to say. He just told me that he loved me. What am I supposed to say to him?

My heart breaks when I realize that I cannot return those three words back to him.

"I...um...I'm sorry. I shouldn't of said that I..." he mumbles, his cheeks burning even brighter.

"It's okay Tristan" I say softly.

He stares at the ground and swallows hard.

"Forget about it, it was stupid of me to say that. I understand why you're taken aback; we've only been together for a week on this island and I barely know you" he says hurriedly.

He is obviously humiliated; I can tell by the way he is avoiding eye contact with me. I don't want him to feel this way, so I lightly place my hand on top of his. He immediately looks up at me, a pained expression on his face. I compose myself, then say,

"Tristan, don't be sorry. We're all just really troubled and confused. I can barely get a grip on my feelings either"

I look at him earnestly, hoping that he won't take what I just said in a bad way. To my relief, he nods, then says,

"Okay"

Before I can respond, I hear the snapping of a twig and look up to see Ian, standing across from us. He is glaring at us and it takes me a few moments to realize why. When I see that he is staring at our hands, I finally realize why.

"What the hell is going on over here?" he asks sharply, his dark eyes glaring my hand, which is resting upon Tristan's.

Instinctively, I pull my hand off of his. This is all just a big misunderstanding.

"Ian, it's not what you think..." I start.

But before I can explain myself, Ian cuts me off.

"Oh I think it is what I think it is. I see the two of you together. The way that you look at each other. The way that you always go and comfort him Tessa" he says bitterly.

"Ian, what are you talking about?!" I exclaim, standing up from the rock.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Tessa" Ian says.

"No I don't!" I shout.

"I'm talking about you two. Don't lie to me Tessa, I know that you want to be with him" Ian says.

I have never seen him be this irrational ever before. Something seems off about him. The anger in his eyes is so intense that I feel that if I look at him too long, his gaze will set my eyes on fire.

"Ian, you are overreacting and you know it! There is nothing going on between us!" I exclaim.

All that he does is shake his head. I begin to walk towards him but he instantly turns around and storms away.

"Ian..." I call out.

But he continues to walk away, disappearing into the thick foliage of the jungle. I swallow hard, trying to push down the huge lump that has formed in the back of my throat. Tears well up in my eyes as I collapse onto the ground.

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Before I know it, Tristan is beside me. I almost forgot that he was still there the whole time that I was arguing with Ian. For a few moments, there is a tense silence between us. Then finally, Tristan breaks it.

"Tessa, can I ask you a question?"

I turn to him, my vision blurred from the tears pooling in my eyes.

"Yeah?" I ask miserably.

"Why do you like Ian?"

I look at him for a few moments, processing what he just said. Did he seriously just ask me why I am with Ian?

"I mean don't take this the wrong way, but he's kind of an asshole. He doesn't treat you right and you know it. I don't think that you should be with him" Tristan says.

I am suddenly filled with a swell of anger towards Tristan. Why does he think he has the authority to choose who I should be with?

I immediately stand up and begin to walk away from him.

"Tessa! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" he calls out from behind me.

But I don't turn around. Instead, I keep walking away as fast as I can. Tears roll down my cheeks and I wipe them away hastily. Everything is just so complicated. When I think about it, I honestly don't know what draws me to Ian. He is asshole (kind of). He is rude. He is irrational. He overreacts to everything.

He is complicated.

But I am complicated too. And I am the only one who know his other side. The side that comes out of him when just him and I are together. When he smiles. When he jokes around. When he kisses me.

I think more about why I am not with Tristan. I mean why aren't I? He is extremely attractive, kind and caring. But the more that i think about it, I realize that I am afraid to be with him. I am afraid that I cannot be as good of a person as he is. I am not as kind and caring as Tristan. Although I may not show it, there is a selfish and rude person that lives inside of me; a person like Ian. It is scary to think about it but I know that if I were given the opportunity the leave this island and go back home, I would probably go and leave everyone else behind.

That's why I find myself falling back to Ian. Although he might not be a good person, I understand him and he understands me.

And now he hates me.

I continue to walk, with absolutely no clue where I am going. The twigs snap under my feet as I trek through the jungle aimlessly. I look up at the trees and stop when I see two beautiful parrots, perched on a branch. The parrots are side by side with their wings wrapped around each other. One of them is nuzzling the other ones feathers. I think to myself,

They truly love each other.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, I begin to cry.

The parrots look down at me, their beady eyes looking into mine. I keep crying and crying, big fat tears rolling down my cheeks.

Damn, I am an absolute mess.

After a few minutes, I find the strength to pull myself together and keep walking. As I walk, I wipe the tears from my cheeks and try to push the thoughts of Ian out of my mind.

"Tessa?"

I jump and look up to see Dylan, Nikki and Eve, sitting beside the wrecked helicopter. They look up at me and I realize that they must be able to tell that I was just crying.

"What's wrong?" Nikki asks, standing up.

I don't want to tell her in front of everyone. Especially in front of Eve, who is a complete stranger.

Chapter Forty

The first thing that I do is scream. And then, I run. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I charge behind her, my arms outstretched in front of me.

"STOP!" I yell.

When she doesn't turn around, I lunge forward, grabbing and slamming her to the ground.

Hard.

She screams out in agony as I jump on top of her, pressing her arms to the ground. Before she can make a move, I wrench the knife out of her hands and hold it to her throat.

"What the hell are you doing!" she cries, her eyes wide with fear.

"Do you want to explain to me why you were going to kill Ian?" I ask through gritted teeth.

Ian.

I look up to see him standing a few feet away, staring at me with wide eyes.

"What are you talking about?!" Eve exclaims.

I look back down at her, anger burning in my eyes. Why is she trying to cover it up that she was just going to kill him?

"You know exactly what I'm talking about" I say bitterly.

"Tessa, I don't know what you are talking about. I saw one of the doctors, and I was going to attack him until you tackled me to the ground" she explains.

I stare at her for a few moments, utterly bewildered.

"So you're telling me you saw one of the doctors?" I exclaim outrageously.

"Yes!" Eve shouts.

"You didn't see a doctor! It's Ian; you were about to kill him! How did you not recognize him?" I ask.

"It was dark! I thought that he was one of them and I'm sorry!" Eve exclaims desperately.

I scrutinize her. No matter what she says to try to defend herself, I do not trust her. Ian doesn't have a white lab coat on; there is no way that she could of thought that he was one of the doctors.

"Can you please take the knife off of my throat! It hurts" Eve says.

Reluctantly, I pull the knife away from her throat. She sits up and rubs her neck, looking at me.

"Geez, you are a psycho" she mutters.

No, you are.

"Can I have my knife back?" she asks, holding out her hand.

"No way" I say firmly, standing up and putting the knife in my pocket.

I look up to see Ian, still staring at us silently. When my eyes meet with his, my cheeks begin to burn and my heart starts to beat faster.

Finally, he breaks the silence and asks,

"What the fuck just happened?"

I swallow hard. How do I explain to him what just happened?

"She tried to kill you" I say quickly, pointing at Eve.

Eve crosses her arms, rolling her eyes.

"I did not. My eyes deceived me and I thought that you were one of the doctors. I'm sorry Ian, you know that I would never hurt you. Tessa is just overreacting" Eve says to Ian.

A wave of rage passes through me. She is lying, and I know it.

"Bullshit!" I yell at her furiously.

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Eve looks at me, a smirk on her lips. And in that moment, I wish that I had slit her throat.

"Look, I don't have time for your fighting. Leave me alone" Ian says.

He then turns around and begins to walk away.

"Wait!" I shout.

But he doesn't turn around. He keeps walking away into the darkness, trudging through the thick underbrush. I hear laughing and turn around to see Eve, smirking at me.

"Looks like you guys are still having problems?" she snickers.

"Fuck you" I spit, then turn around and start walking after Ian.

Damn, I have never met someone who made me this angry ever before. She is a complete stranger, yet she thinks that she can get involved in my problems. And I don't trust her at all. Especially after what she just did.

"Ian!" I call out, searching for him.

I walk aimlessly, trying to follow the sound of his footsteps.

"Ian, please stop!" I call out again.

I suddenly emerge into a clearing and find him, sitting on a rock with his back towards me. He is illuminated in the darkness by a beam of moonlight shining through the thick canopy of the trees.

"Ian..." I whisper.

"What do you want" he snaps, his back still towards me.

"You have to come back" I say.

"And why should I? Aren't you happy that you get Tristan all to yourself now?" he asks, turning around and glaring at me.

"Ian, what the hell are talking about? You're completely overreacting!" I exclaim.

How can I get it through his head that I am not with Tristan?

"You know exactly what I'm talking about; I told you before. You want to be with Tristan. And I get it. He's kind. He's smart. He's caring. He's actually a good person. I don't see why you would ever choose me over him" Ian says bitterly.

I take a step towards him, compose myself, then say,

"Ian, I will say this one last time. I want to be with you, not Tristan"

He stares at me for a few moments, then asks,

"Why?"

"You want to really know why?" I ask.

He nods.

"Because I'm not as kind as him. I'm not as smart as him. I'm not as caring as him. And I am most definitely not as good of a person as he is. I am flawed"

I pause, then add,

"Just like you are"

He stares at me, his eyes locked with mine.

"And if that's not enough, then I don't know what to say" I say.

Ian stands up and begins to walk towards me. With every step that he takes, my heart beats faster and faster. Finally, he stops right in front of me. I swallow hard, looking up into his eyes.

"You don't have to say anything else" he murmurs.

And then, he leans in and presses his lips against mine. He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close to his body. In this moment, I forget about everything else going on. All that I know right now is Ian, and all that he knows right now is me.

He lifts one of his hands, running his fingers through my hair as he deepens our kiss. I moan as his fingers run down the back of my neck, sending shivers throughout my entire body. I don't know how long we kiss for, but we finally break apart when I cannot breathe anymore. With our foreheads pressed together, we stay like that for a few blissful moments. When my breath finally returns back to normal I take a step back and look up at him. And for the first time in what seems like a forever, he smiles. But not his typical smirk. It is a true, genuine smile.

I can't help but smile back at him, my cheeks blushing.

"You are so damn cute" he murmurs.

I giggle, my cheeks burning even brighter.

"Hey, I'm really sorry. I'm going to try not to overreact as much anymore" he says.

"That would be nice" I say, laughing.

He grins back at me then wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side.

"Let's go back" he says as we begin to walk through the jungle.

A few moments later, he asks,

"So what's the deal with that Eve girl?"

"Don't even get me started. She is a bitch and she is not trustworthy. Something is up with her; she tried to kill you" I say.

"But she said that she thought I was a doctor? That's why she was going to attack me" Ian says.

I look up at him.

"She was lying! How could she think that you were one of the doctors?" I ask.

He shrugs.

We continue to walk in silence, the only noise being the soothing chirping of the crickets. The whole time Ian keeps his arm wrapped around me, making me feel much more safe out here in the dark depths of the jungle. My eyelids begin to feel heavy and I have to force myself to keep them open.

And then suddenly, I hear it.

Voices.

Ian must hear them too because we both stop. Although low and distant, I can definitely hear voices talking. Men's voices.

Ian holds a finger up to his lips and pulls us up behind a large tree. I strain my ears, trying to make out what the voices are saying.

"...yes, of course. We will find them out here eventually. They can't hide forever; there's nowhere for them to go"

Panic immediately floods throughout my entire body. They are out here looking for us.

I suddenly feel dizzy and have to steady myself by grabbing onto the tree trunk.

"Do you think they've found the other stations on this island?" one of them asks.

"Let's hope not" another replies.

My heart begins to pound frantically in my chest as I hear the men's footsteps, coming closer towards us. I look up at Ian, my eyes wide with terror.

"What do we do?" I mouth to him.

Instantly, Ian pulls me and runs towards a clump of bushes. We both dive into them just as the men arrive. I squeeze my eyes shut, praying to God that they didn't just hear us.

"Did anyone just hear that?" one of the men asks.

Great.

I reopen my eyes and look through the bristles of the bush to see four men in the clearing, all wearing white lab coats. I grip Ian's arm as if I am holding on for dear life.

"It was probably just an animal" someone says.

The men look around. Suddenly remembering the knife in my pocket, I silently take it out, holding it at the ready.

"C'mon, let's go" one of the men says.

Three of them begin to walk away, but one of them stays. My heart stops when I see that the man is facing our direction.

Staring right at us.

"I don't think you guys want to leave yet" he says.

The other three stop, turning around.

"What is it?" one of them asks.

The man points directly towards us and smiles, revealing crooked yellow teeth.

"Two of them are right there"

Chapter Forty-One

"Two of them are right there"

The man's words make my heart stop.

He can see us.

They begin to walk towards us with a hungry look in their eyes, like a predator closing in on its prey.

"RUN!" Ian shouts, grabbing my wrist.

Before I can say anything, Ian jumps up and starts to run, dragging me behind him.

"SHOOT THEM!" one of the men shouts.

I duck as tranquilizer darts silently whiz by my head. We keep running as fast as we can, with the men close on our heels. Every time they shoot, I think to myself how lucky I am that I haven't gotten hit yet. Just one good aim and I am out.

With my heart pounding in my chest, we sprint through the darkness, dodging past trees and bushes. I can hear the men getting closer and closer behind us and the feeling of hopelessness inside of me grows stronger and stronger. They are going to catch us.

Then suddenly, just when I think that I cannot run anymore, I hear a loud bang of a gunshot. Then another. Jumping with fright, I turn around to see two of the men, slumped on the ground.

Dead.

There is another loud bang as another one of them falls, crashing down onto the ground. Now there is only one of them left.

"What the hell was that!" Ian yells breathlessly as we continue to run.

I am so out of breath that I can't even tell him what just happened.

BANG!

I turn around again to watch the last man stop and crumple to the ground.

"Stop running!" I gasp.

Ian immediately stops, letting go of my arm. We both turn around to see the four men, all sprawled out on the jungle floor.

"What the..." Ian murmurs under his breath.

"S...Someone shot them" I whisper breathlessly.

"Who?" Ian asks.

We look around in the darkness, trying to see who did it. Then suddenly, a girl's voice says,

"I did"

I jump and swivel around to see someone step out from behind a tree.

Eve.

She slowly walks out from the darkness, a gun in her hand. I swallow hard, still in shock.

"You're welcome" she says, looking up from the dead bodies to us.

Eve looks at us, raising her eyebrows slightly when neither of us respond. Finally, I blurt out,

"Thanks"

Even though I may despise her, she did just save us from being captured. I wonder why she did. Especially after I called her a bitch.

"Yeah, thanks" Ian says.

She nods, pocketing the gun.

"Where did you get that gun?" I ask.

"I had it the whole time" she says flatly.

"And how did you find us?"

"I heard shouting so I ran over to find you two being chased by those men. So I shot them down for you" she explains.

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"Thanks" I say again.

"So you don't hate me anymore?" Eve asks, looking up at me earnestly.

I can't tell if she is being serious or not. Even if she did just save us, I still do not completely trust her.

"I don't know" I reply quietly.

Ian glances at me and I look at him.

"We should be kissing her ass now. She just saved our lives" he says

"See? Even your boyfriend likes me" Eve says, crossing her eyes and grinning.

I roll my eyes.

"Okay fine Eve, I don't hate you anymore"

I even force a smile onto my face.

"Good, glad to know that we're friends now Tessa" she says.

Friends? That's the last word that I would use to describe us.

"C'mon, let's go back to the others" Eve says.

We begin to walk through the jungle, Eve leading the way. As we leave, I step over the bodies of the doctors, grimacing when I look down at their pale, lifeless faces. We continue to walk, our feet crunching loudly through the thick underbrush. There better not be any more of them out here looking for us because if there are, they will find us immediately; we sound like a stampede of elephants.

Somehow, we make it back to others. When we arrive, Tristan, Nikki and Dylan immediately stand up, rushing over towards us. Nikki pulls me into a giant hug, then exclaims,

"I'm so happy that you all are okay! We heard gunshots and we were so worried!"

When she pulls away, she asks,

"Did you hear those gunshots?"

"Yeah. It's them; they're out here looking for us. They found Ian and I and chased us, but luckily Eve shot them" I explain.

"Damn right I did" Eve says.

I roll my eyes.

"Th...They're out here in the jungle looking for us?" Nikki asks worriedly.

I nod.

"There might be more of them, I don't know" I say gloomily.

"We should move to a different spot in the morning" Tristan says.

We both look at each other for a moment and immediately, his eyes flit to the ground. My stomach flips.

"Well at least you're back Ian" Dylan says, clapping Ian on the back.

Ian smiles slightly.

"Let's all get some rest now" Tristan says.

I have no complaint to this. I am completely exhausted, and right now sleep sounds like the best thing ever.

Everyone nods and moves, scattering across the ground. Ian and I both lay down next to each other. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to his body and sending shivers throughout my entire body.

"Goodnight Tess" he whispers.

He then leans in and plants a soft kiss on the back of my neck.

"Goodnight" I whisper back.

Before I close my eyes, I look across from me to see Tristan laying down on the ground. Then, Eve walks towards him.

"Mind if I sleep by you?" she asks.

Tristan shakes his head and Eve lays down on the ground right beside him.

"I have to protect you until you get rescued" I hear Eve whisper to Tristan.

My stomach clenches at her words.

Tristan look at her, then says,

"I think I can protect myself, thanks"

Eve stares at him for a few moments, then nods.

Before I can hear what she says, my eyelids become too heavy to keep them open. And the next thing I know, I drift off into a dreamless void.


"Wake up Tessa"

I open my eyes to see Ian leaning over me. The sun shines down from above, blinding me temporarily.

"Huh?" I murmur groggily, rubbing my eyes.

"We're leaving now" he says.

"Ughh" I mutter.

He then leans down, kissing me quickly on the lips. After he pulls away I sit up, stretching. Everyone is already up and ready. Wow, I was the late sleeper today. Once I stand up we begin to walk.

I am starting to get really sick of walking through the jungle. It is hot and everything looks exactly the same. Every tree, every plant, every flower; they all look the same wherever we are in the jungle. Tristan and Eve lead the way as we trek through the underbrush. I look down and my heart skips a beat when I see Eve's hand lightly touching Tristan's.

Interesting.

Today, it is more humid than ever. The air is thick and soupy, making it much more difficult to breathe. God, how I miss air-conditioning.

Within a few minutes, I am soaked from head to toe with sweat. I glance up at Ian to see that he has barely even broken a sweat.

"How are you not sweating?" I ask incredulously.

He shrugs.

"I don't know, it's not that hot"

I look at him, raising my eyebrows.

"How? I am dying right now" I say, laughing slightly.

He grins at me.

"Even for the sweaty mess that you are right now, you are still pretty cute"

His words make my stomach flutter. Tristan turns around and looks at us, before quickly turning back around.

Awkward.

We keep walking, the sun rising higher in the sky and the temperature rising even higher. When the sun is right above us, I feel as if I may actually pass out.

"Can we take a break?" I finally ask, completely exasperated.

"Sure" Tristan says.

Phew.

We all stop and everyone sits down on rocks. Wiping sweat off of my forehead, I walk over to a tree, leaning against it. I close my eyes more a few moments, trying to savor this rest.

Before I know it, we begin to walk again. By now, my legs are burning and my throat feels like sandpaper. Oh what I would do to have water right now, even just one sip.

To my relief, the ground begins to slope downwards underneath our feet. We must be heading down towards the beach.

And that's when a hear it right under my foot.

Clank.

I stop.

A few moments later, everyone turns around, looking at me.

"What is it?" Dylan asks.

"I...I just stepped on something" I say.

"Stepped on what?" Nikki asks.

I don't know what, but I definitely just stepped on something strange. I turn around, retracing my steps to try to find what it is was.

And that's when I see it.

I stop, looking down at the ground with wide eyes.

"What is it?" Ian asks.

I swallow hard.

"There's...there's a..."

"There's a what?" Eve asks.

"There's a door on the ground"

Chapter Forty-Two

For a few moments, they all stare at me with shock and confusion on their faces.

I look down at my feet and sure enough, there is a small glass panel on the jungle floor.

"What did you just say?" Ian asks.

I point to the ground.

"Th...There's some sort of glass door on the ground" I say.

Without a word, they all rush over, looking down at the glass panel.

"Holy shit..." Dylan murmurs, slowly tracing his fingers along the glass.

I suddenly remember the words of the men in the jungle last night.

"Do you think they've found the other stations on this island?"

"Let's hope not..."

Well I am pretty sure that we just found one.

Dylan begins to lift the glass panel up and I grab his wrist, stopping him.

"What's wrong?" he asks, looking up at me.

"Don't you guys think that we shouldn't go down there? It's one of their stations" I say warily.

"Yeah, I know. But what if there's food or supplies down there?" Dylan asks.

"What if they're down there?" I ask.

Dylan swallows.

"Then we shoot them" Eve says, taking out her gun.

I sigh. There's no way that I am going to win this argument.

"Fine. But if there is anything fishy down there, we leave immediately" I say firmly.

Everyone nods. I let go of Dylan's wrist and he continues to wrench open the glass panel. Once it is removed, we all look down to see a rope descending down into a brightly light room. For a few moments, we wait, listening to hear if there is anyone down there. When all that we hear is silence, Dylan begins to slide down the rope.

We all wait apprehensively as he shimmies down the rope into the room. Finally, he jumps down onto the floor and spins around in a slow circle, looking around him.

"What's down there?" Nikki calls down.

"I...I don't know" Dylan murmurs, his voice echoing.

A few moments later, Dylan cries out,

"Whoa, wait a second!"

"What is it!" I call down frantically.

"THERE'S FOOD!" Dylan shouts, running across the room.

Excitement rushes throughout my entire body. Food; that is something I haven't seen the past week. The mere thought of it makes me giddy.

We all instantly begin to scramble down the rope. When it is my turn I slide down as fast as I can, even though the rope burns my hands and legs as I do so. Once I reach the bottom, I look in the corner of the room to see everyone crowded around a refrigerator. I run over to them, my heart hammering in my chest with exhilaration. As I run over, I don't even bother to look at the rest of the room. The only thought in my mind right now is food.

Dylan has the refrigerator door open and is pulling out an assortment of food and drinks. On cue, my stomach growls. We all greedily reach for it, grabbing random items. I look to see that I have grabbed a block of cheese, and think of something that I hadn't thought of before.

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"Erm...what if this food is really old?" I ask, skeptically looking at the cheese.

Dylan, whose mouth is full to the brim, exclaims,

"Ooo cares! It's food, izznt that awl that madders!"

True. Bracing myself, I unwrap the block of cheese and take a huge bite out of it. Even though tastes funny and is probably moldy, I don't care at all. The mere presence of food in my mouth is enough to make me not worry about how rotten this cheese may be. As I swallow, I can literally feel energy flowing back into my body.

We all devour the food from the fridge like savages. In less than a minute I have finished the block of cheese, and I am still starving. I reach into the fridge and grab a can of something. I look at the can and my stomach flips when I read the label.

Diced peaches. Canned by the Blair Institute.

Okay, if I wasn't absolutely starving, then I would refuse to eat anything from them. But this is a different situation.

I pop the lid of the can open and begin to gobble down the peaches with my hands.

Wow, I am literally the definition of a savage right now.

About halfway through the can of peaches, I begin to have sharp pains in my stomach. I set down the can and look around at everyone else. They have all stopped eating and are holding their stomachs the same way that I am.

"Is it just me or do your stomachs hurt?" Dylan asks.

"Nope, it's not just you" I groan.

"It's because we ate too fast. Our stomachs went from empty to full in a matter of minutes" Tristan says.

Dylan suddenly belches. Loud.

"Eww!" Nikki exclaims, elbowing him in the side playfully.

Ian stands up and begins to slowly walk around the room. Right; I almost forgot that we were in an underground station.

I look around, surveying the room. Basically, it is bare except for the fridge, a few couches and a bookshelf against the wall.

"This place is so strange. Why do you think that they have this room down here?" Eve asks.

None of us reply. We don't know the answers.

I get up and walk over towards the bookshelf, where Ian is standing. In silence, we look at the books. Most of them appear to be old and tattered, with yellowed pages sticking out in all directions.

Ian reaches up to grab a book, but when he pulls on it it doesn't budge. He pulls again, this time harder, but still the book won't come out.

"What the..." he murmurs under his breath.

He tries to pull a different book out but the same exact thing happens. I try too, but nothing will budge. It's as if all of the books are glued to the shelf.

Sighing with exasperation, Ian leans against the bookshelf. And that's when it happens.

Slowly, the entire bookshelf begins to revolve. I gasp, jumping backwards and watching as the bookshelf completely rotates.

The others rush towards us at the sight of the revolving bookshelf. Definitely not something that you see on a daily basis.

"What do you think is on the other side of it?" Dylan asks excitedly.

The bookshelf continues to slowly revolve, making a horrible grinding noise in the process. Then finally, it completes it's rotation, clicking into place.

We all look in awe at the other side of the bookshelf. There, carved into the wall is a small door.

"Holy..." Dylan murmurs under his breath.

He then reaches out and grabs the knob. He begins to twist it until Eve grabs his arm, stopping him.

"What the hell is your problem?" Dylan asks sharply, looking up at her.

"Do you think that it's good idea to go into a secret door of theirs?" Eve asks, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't see why it would be a bad idea" Dylan says.

Eve rolls her eyes, then says.

"This door is kept secret because obviously there is something behind it that they want to keep hidden"

"And your point is?" Dylan asks.

Eve sighs.

"My point is that I don't think that it's a good idea to go through this door. We don't know what is behind it and I don't think that we want to find out" she sighs.

"Well I'm sorry Eve, but I want to. Anyone who doesn't want to come can stay here" Dylan says defiantly.

He then continues to twist the knob. I swallow apprehensively as there is a small click and the door begins to creak open.

The door swings open to reveal utter darkness. My stomach flips nervously.

Dylan steps in first, disappearing into the darkness. Next Nikki goes, followed by Tristan. Ian begins to go through next until I call out his name. He turns around, looking at me.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"I...I don't know about this" I say nervously.

"See? I told you all it's not a good idea. I'm staying right here" Eve says firmly.

Ian glances up at Eve, then back to me.

"Tess, we'll be okay. Just come with me" he says, holding out his hand.

After taking a deep breath, I step forward and take his hand in mine. He squeezes it once before we walk into through and immediately get swallowed up by the darkness.

"Can anyone find a light?" Dylan asks, his voice echoing off the walls.

Ian and I walk through the blackness, trying to follow the sound of his voice. I suddenly yelp out in pain as I stub my toe on something hard.

"You okay?" Ian asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I murmur.

We continue to walk cautiously through the dark abyss.

"I found some sort of button on the wall! Do you think it will turn the lights on?" I hear Nikki exclaim.

"Yeah, just press it!" Dylan yells.

"Wait!" I cry out.

"What?" I hear Nikki ask from somewhere across the room.

"I don't know if you should press it" I say cautiously.

"C'mon Tessa, don't be a scaredy cat. What's the worse that can happen from pressing a button?" Dylan asks.

I don't know, and I don't think that I want to know.

"So should I press it?" Nikki asks after a long silence.

"Yeah, just do it" Dylan says.

"Alright then" Nikki says.

I hear a soft click as Nikki presses the button. At first, nothing happens. I swallow hard, waiting tensely for something to happen. But nothing does.

Yet.

Then, all of a sudden and I am blinded by bright white light. I squeeze my eyes shut as brilliant, fluorescent lights turn on from above.

When I finally open my eyes, it takes a few moments for them to adjust and see what is in the room.

And when I see what is in front of me, I scream out in terror.

There, lying on a bed in the center of the room is a girl. She is hooked up to a large humming machine and appears to be unconscious.

But that's not what caused me to scream.

What caused me to scream is that the girl lying on the bed looks exactly like me.

Chapter Forty-Three

I am pretty sure that I must have passed out because the next thing that I know, I wake up on a couch. There is a dull pounding in my head, like a hammer constantly hitting my skull. When I open my eyes, I groggily look up to see everyone leaning over me.

"She's up" I hear someone murmur quietly.

I slowly sit up, looking around the room.

And that's when I remember what happened.

The memory of who I saw laying on that bed in the secret room comes crashing back into my mind.

The memory of seeing someone that looked exactly identical to me.

I suddenly feel dizzy again and have to grip the sides of the couch to keep myself stable. I feel someone's hand clasp mine and glance up to see Ian. He is looking at me with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are...are you okay?" he asks me.

I swallow hard.

There is one thing that I have to do.

I suddenly stand up and immediately walk towards the bookshelf. Just as I am about to lean on it to make it revolve, I hear Ian shout out,

"Tessa, wait!"

I turn around.

"Why?" I ask.

"You shouldn't go back in there..." he murmurs.

"Yeah, your boyfriend's right" Eve chimes in annoyingly.

I stare at all of them for a few moments.

"I...I need to see her again" I say.

Ian shakes his head.

"You shouldn't Tessa. It's too creepy" Nikki says.

But I don't listen to them. Instead, I lean against the bookshelf, causing it to slowly revolve. It completely rotates until there is the door on the other side. I put my hand on the knob and twist. Slowly, the door creaks open, revealing the secret room. After taking one deep breath, I step inside.

In an eerie silence, filled only by the ominous humming of the machine that the girl is hooked up to, I slowly walk towards her. I can literally hear my heart, which is pounding in my chest like a drum. Goosebumps prickle up on my skin as I get closer and closer to her.

Finally, I arrive by her side. When I look down at her, I nearly faint again.

She looks exactly like me.

From her dark wavy hair to the freckles lightly speckled on her cheeks, there is no doubt that this person is identical to me.

I stare at down her for a few moments, frozen in a sort of sinister mesmerization. I would of thought that she was dead, but after further examination, I can see that her chest is slowly rising and falling. Cautiously, I reach out and lightly place my hand on her arm. Her skin is as cold as ice.

"Tess?"

I jump, whipping around to see Ian standing a few feet behind me.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

I am currently staring at my unconscious doppelgänger, Ian.

"Erm...I don't know" I say quickly.

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He nods slowly.

"This is just really strange. I...I mean someone who looks exactly like me? This can't be a coincidence" I say shakily.

"It's not a coincidence. This is what they did" Ian says flatly.

"But...how did they do this? How did they make an identical copy of me?" I ask.

Ian shrugs.

"I don't know Tess" he says.

I look back at down at her, swallowing down the lump that has begun to form in the back of my throat. I suddenly feel one of Ian's arms wrap around me and turn around, looking up at him.

"We should leave this room. This is all just too weird" he says.

I nod.

"C'mon, let's go"

After taking one last long look at Tessa #2, I begin to walk away with Ian. Before we leave the room, Ian presses the button on wall, turning off all of the lights. When we arrive back into the main room, Ian rotates the wall until the bookshelf is back into place. Once I hear the click as the bookshelf locks into place, I feel a small wave of relief.

Ian puts both of his hands on my shoulders, looking at me in the eye.

"Let's forget about what's in that room, okay?" he asks.

"Okay" I reply, even though I know that the image of Tessa #2 is never getting erased from my mind.

He gives me a small smile, then leans in, pressing his lips softly against mine.

"Hey, there's a shower in here!" I hear Dylan shout excitedly from across the room.

I break apart from Ian and turn around to see Dylan standing by a door that none of us saw before. We all rush over and look in to see a small bathroom with a shower.

A real shower.

The thought of a nice, warm shower right now seems like the best thing ever.

"Who's going first?" Dylan asks.

"Let Tessa go first" Ian says.

I look up at him, raising my eyebrows.

"You should get to go first" he says, nodding.

"Alright then. Tessa, you're first. But please, don't be a girl and take two hours in the shower" Dylan says.

I shake my head, rolling my eyes.

"Girls do not take that long in the shower" I say, walking into the bathroom.

I close the door behind and walk towards the shower. Even though it is dank and grimy, it still has body wash and shampoo. I twist the knob and water begins to rush out of the head. While I am waiting for the water to warm up, I take off my clothes and put them on the sink counter.

And that is when I see my reflection in the mirror.

All the time on this island, I haven't seen myself in a mirror. I look at myself and gasp. My hair is one huge knot, matted haphazardly in all directions. But that isn't the worst part. The worst part is the scrapes, cuts and bruises that cover my entire body. I stare at myself with my jaw open, lightly tracing my fingers over them. When I finally cannot look anymore, I turn away and step into the shower.

I close my eyes, trying to relax as the hot water cascades down over my body. I try to clear my mind, but I cannot shake off the unnerving thought that my clone is in the next-door room. I don't know how long I stand there but I jump when I hear a knock on the door.

"Hurry up Tessa!" I hear Dylan shout.

Rolling my eyes, I quickly wash my body. My attempt to shampoo my hair is utterly fruitless; there is no possible way that I can lather and untangle my knotted hair. Finally, I turn off the shower and step out. After drying myself off with a towel, I throw my clothes back on and walk out of the bathroom.

Everyone looks up at me.

"How was it?" Dylan asks.

"Um...as good as a shower can get" I say.

"Sweet" he replies, grinning.

I sit down on one of the couches as Dylan goes into the shower next. Ian sits down next to me, wrapping his arm around me.

"Where's Eve?" I ask, looking around the room when I see that she isn't there.

"She went outside to get some fresh air" Ian replies.

"I think I may need to do that to" I say.

The stuffy air in this room is starting to get to me.

I stand up.

"Do you want me to come?" Ian asks.

"No, it's okay. I'll be really quick" I say.

I walk over to the ladder and climb up it, pushing the glass hatch open when I reach the top. Shakily, I climb up and out onto the jungle ground. A soft, cool breeze greets me and I close my eyes for a moment, breathing in the sweet scent of the jungle. It really does feel much better to be outside.

I begin to walk around. Judging by the deep orange and pink colors of the sky, it is nearly sunset. The birds in trees have begun to quiet down and are replaced by the chirping choir of crickets. It's funny how familiar and almost comforting these sounds have become to me.

I continue to walk through the jungle, trying not to stray too far from the hatch. Knowing me, I will definitely not be able to find my way back if I walk too far away.

Suddenly, I stop when I see Eve, walking towards me.

Ugh.

She smiles, but I can't tell if it is genuine or fake. We begin to walk next to each other, a tense silence between us. Finally, Eve breaks it.

"So, how are you feeling about your clone?"

I look up at her.

"Uh...I don't know. A little weirded out I guess" I say.

A little weirded out is a total understatement.

She nods.

"Yeah, it is pretty weird. Kinda fascinating though, isn't it?"

I stop, looking at her incredulously.

"You think that it's fascinating?" I ask.

"Yeah, don't you? I mean think about it; it is an identical copy of you!" she exclaims.

"I mean, I guess" I say.

"Wouldn't it be cool to talk to her?" Eve asks.

"She's unconscious" I say flatly.

Eve stares at me for a few moments, then says something that makes my heart stop.

"So let's wake her up tonight"

Chapter Forty-Four

I stare at Eve for a few moments, my eyes widened in both shock and confusion.

"What?" she asks bluntly.

I swallow hard.

"Um...don't you think that it's not a good idea to wake her up?" I ask hesitantly.

Eve stares at me for a few moments, then says,

"Why would it be a bad idea?"

How do I even phrase this.

"Because I don't want to wake up my clone! It's really creepy!" I exclaim.

"But wouldn't it be cool! It would be like having an identical twin! And who knows, maybe she knows some information that we don't" Eve says.

"I...I don't know" I murmur.

"I knew you were a scaredy-cat" Eve mutters under her breath, crossing her arms and turning to walk away.

I suddenly snap.

"Fine! We can wake her up tonight!" I shout.

Eve turns around, looking at me with raised eyebrows. Then suddenly, her lips break into a smile.

"Sweet" she says.

I sigh.

What have I got myself into?

It has begun to get dark. The bright, silvery moonlight filters down through the canopy of trees, illuminating the jungle floor.

"We should head back" I say.

We begin to silently walk back towards the hatch, Eve leading the way. Finally, we arrive back to the glass hatch and I kneel down, sliding the door open. I carefully climb down the ladder, followed by Eve.

"Where the hell were you two?" Nikki exclaims. rushing towards us once we enter the main room.

"We were just talking about something" Eve says.

I glance up at her and she looks down at me with a don't-tell-anyone-what-we-just-talked-about look in her eyes.

"Talking about what?" Nikki asks.

"About life" Eve says quickly.

Nikki looks at us suspiciously, her eyes meeting with mine.

"Alright then" Nikki says, nodding her head slowly.

Exhausted, I walk over and plop down onto one of the couches, letting out a huge sigh. Ian must be in the shower; I can faintly hear the water running from the bathroom. Dylan is back in the kitchen area, pounding away at food, and Tristan is sitting on the couch across from. His eyes flit up for a moment, locking with mine. I give him a small smile and he awkwardly smiles back.

Just as I am about to say something to him, Nikki and Dylan come over and sit down on the other couch. Dylan wraps his arms around Nikki, pulling her close against his chest.

Damn, they are cute together.

Suddenly, Tristan stands up.

"I'm going to go get something to drink. Do you guys want anything?" he asks, turning to Dylan and Nikki first.

When both of them shake their heads, he looks at me.

"Do you want anything Tessa?" he asks.

"I'll have a glass of water if you don't mind" I say.

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He nods.

"Sure" he says, then walks over towards the fridge. A minute later, he comes back with two glasses of water in his hands. After he sets his down, he walks over and hands the other one to me. When he hands it over, his fingers wrap around mine for a moment.

"Erm...sorry" he says awkwardly, immediately letting go.

"It's okay" I say, smiling.

I don't want him to feel this awkward anymore around me. I want him to know that I'm not angry at him anymore.

He nods, then sits back down on the couch right as Ian walks out of the bathroom. I stare at him as he walks across the room, wearing nothing but a thin towel wrapped around his waist. His rock-solid abs are completely exposed, and I find my eyes glued to them. When he sees that I am staring at him, my cheeks burn bright red. He grins.

"Hey Tessa" he says, smiling.

"Hey" I reply. Finally, I ask,

"Um where are your clothes?"

"I'm looking around this place to see if there are any new clothes. I can't wear those grimy, blood-stained clothes of mine anymore" he murmurs as he walks around the room.

I watch as he walks around the room, looking around. When he finds that there are no extra clothes, he walks back into the bathroom. A few moments later he walks back out, dressed in his grimy, blood-stained clothes.

He plops down on the couch right next to me and immediately wraps his arm around me.

"Sorry that my clothes smell like shit" he whispers.

"It's okay. I'm pretty sure that mine do too" I reply, laughing.

We all sit there in silence until Tristan finally says,

"Well I guess we should go to bed"

No has an objection to that.

Tristan gets up, looking around for a light switch to turn off the bright, annoying fluorescent lights above us.

"I found it" Tristan exclaims.

Just before he turns the lights off, I look up to see Eve staring right at me.

"I will you wake up later" she mouths to me, an excited look on her face.

I nod miserably, my stomach flipping upside down. Even though I am terrified of the Tessa #2 in the other room, the curiosity that I have about her is killing me. A small part of my instinct tells me that Eve is right; I need to wake her up.

There is a click as the lights turn off, leaving us in utter blackness. I curl myself up against Ian's body, resting my head against one of the pillows. By far, this sleeping arrangement is one thousand times better than sleeping on the jungle floor.

"Goodnight" Ian whispers.

After he gives me a soft kiss on the back of my neck, I close my eyes, trying to clear my mind of the racing thoughts going through my mind. But I can't. There is only one thought going through my mind; what is going to happen when we wake her up?

A few minutes go by and Ian breaths become heavy. He is already passed out and I am laying here, wide awake.

Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

I repeat this chant in my head, hoping that it will actually work. And I guess that it finally does because somehow I eventually drift off into a dreamless void.


"Tessa"

"Huh?" I murmur, shifting slightly.

"Tessa, get up!" I hear someone's voice hiss.

Groggily I open my eyes and jump when I feel someone's hand grab me.

Eve.

"C'mon, let's go before we wake anyone up" she whispers.

Reluctantly, I stand up, rubbing my eyes. We both silently walk through the darkness, feeling along the walls until we finally find the bookshelf.

"Ready?" Eve whispers.

Suddenly, a wave of fear rushes over me. My heart begins to hammer in my chest and the pit of dread that has been in my stomach ever since I woke up on this island deepens even further.

"I...I can't do this" I say panickedly.

"You cannot back out now. You said you would do this with me" Eve says fiercely.

I gulp.

"Okay fine" I say, even though every part of me wants to get as far away from this door as possible.

Eve presses against the bookshelf and there is a loud creaking noise as the bookshelf revolves to reveal the secret door on the other side. I'm surprised that no one wakes up.

Once the door is fully rotated, Eve grabs the knob and twists it, pushing it open. I swallow hard as we both walk into the dark room. When Eve shuts the door behind us, my heart begins to race even faster.

It's time.

Eve presses a button on the wall and all of the lights turn on, blinding me temporarily. Once my eyes adjust to the brightness, I look across the room and sure enough, Tessa #2 is still there. She looks exactly the same; hooked up to a machine with ghost-white skin. 

We begin to walk towards her. The only sound is the ominous humming of the machine, reverberating in my ears. When we finally reach her side, I look down at her. It is unnerving how she looks exactly like me. And although it is almost imperceptible, her chest is still slowly rising up and down.

"Let me try to turn this machine off" Eve says, walking around the machine.

As she inspects the machine's buttons, I continue to stare down at her, my heart stuck in my throat. I cannot believe that we are doing this.

"Aha, found it" Eve finally says.

She presses a button and suddenly the humming ceases, leaving us in an unsettling silence.

"So, do you want to wake her?" Eve asks, breaking the silence.

"I...er...I...um"

It's as if I have lost the ability to string words together to make a sentence.

"Alright then, I'll do it" Eve says.

She leans over her and shakes her shoulder lightly.

"Wake up" she says.

When she doesn't stir, Eve shakes her again, harder this time. Still, she doesn't wake up.

"Wake up!" Eve shouts, this time much louder.

Nothing.

"I give up. You try" Eve says, crossing her arms against her chest.

After taking a deep breath, I lean over her body, bracing myself. I then reach down and shake her shoulders.

And that's when her eyes flash open.

Chapter Forty-Five

I jump backwards, my heart stopping on my chest as her eyes flash open. My blood runs cold and I find myself rooted to the floor, paralyzed with fear. She slowly sits up, a dazed expression on her face as she props herself up on her elbows.

And that's when her emerald green eyes lock with mine.

I can't even utter a word. This is all just too creepy.

She stares at me unblinkingly, as if she is possessed.

"Um...hello?" Eve says.

No reply.

Eve takes a step forward towards her, when suddenly she says,

"The Blair Institute is for the greater good"

I jump again. Her voice sounds exactly like mine.

"What did you just say?" Eve asks.

"The Blair Institute is for the greater good" she says robotically.

I swallow hard, beginning to sweat.

"They're not for the greater good" I murmur under my breath.

"What did you just say?" she asks me, her eyes burning into mine.

This is so strange; I am literally talking to myself.

'I said, the Blair Institute is not for the greater good. They are evil people. And you're not even a real person; they created you to..."

But before I can finish, Tessa #2 jumps off of her bed and grabs me, slamming me against the wall.

Hard.

I scream as she violently puts her hands around my neck, her fingernails digging into my skin.

"What did you just say!" she shouts maniacally.

I kick her, trying to get her off of me, but instead she squeezes her hands around my neck harder. She is going to kill me.

Then suddenly, just when I think that I cannot take another breath, there is a loud crash as Tessa #2 falls to the ground. Breathlessly, I look up to see Eve standing over her body. She looks up at me, then asks,

"Are you okay?" Eve asks.

Yeah. It's not like I almost just got choked to death by my clone.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I lie.

Rubbing my neck, I look down at her. She is definitely out cold. Blood pools out of her nose, staining the white floor.

"Let's get out of here" Eve says.

I have no objection to that. Quickly, we rush over towards the door. All that I want to do is get out of this room and as far away from my clone as I can. When I grab the door handle, I look down to see that my hands are trembling violently. I twist the knob and pull the door open, walking through the doorway. After Eve comes out behind me, we both turn around and quietly close the door shut.

"I'm sorry Tessa. That was a bad idea of mine; we should not have done that" Eve says.

"Yeah, it was" a voice says curtly from behind us.

I jump and turn to see a shadowy figure standing up in the darkness. Immediately, I know who it is.

Ian.

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"I thought you promised me that you would never go back in that room" Ian says.

"Ian, I..." I start, my voice trailing off.

"Forget it Tessa. You never can keep your promises" he says coldly.

His words hit me hard, causing my heart to ache. I watch hopelessly as he lays back down on the couch.

"Uh oh" Eve whispers to me.

I suddenly am filled with a surge of anger.

"This is all your fault. You forced me to do this when I knew all along that it was a bad idea!" I whisper furiously to her.

Eve shrugs.

"Sorry" she whispers, then walks away towards one of the couches.

I clench my fists, trying to stop myself from punching her. Everything is just so messed up right now, and I cannot sort things out. If I could make a list of all the shit going on right now, it would look something like this;

1. I am kidnapped by psychopath doctors on a remote island

2. I cannot remember anything

3. There is a clone of me in the other room that just tried to kill me

4. Eve is a psychobitch

5. Ian is angry at me (again)

And the list goes on.

I sigh. The best thing that I can do right now is go to sleep.

Since there are no more couches open, I sadly slump to the ground and lay down on the hard, concrete floor. This is by far worse than sleeping on the jungle floor.

I close my eyes, trying clear all of the racing thoughts in my mind. I keep trying to tell myself that I'll deal with Ian in the morning. Maybe I'll wake up and everything will be okay with him. But the more that I think about it, the more I realize that that's not going to happen.

After about an hour or so, I am still laying wide awake on the floor. Frustrated, I stand up and walk towards the ladder.

I need to get out of this stuffy place.

It takes a few minutes, but finally I navigate my way through the darkness and find the ladder. I carefully climb up and slide the glass door open when I reach the top. Hoisting myself up with all my strength, I climb out onto the soft earth.

Standing up, I close my eyes and take in a long deep breath of the fresh air. Just being outside makes me feel a lot better. After sliding the door shut again, I begin to walk around aimlessly through the jungle. The bright full moon from above the trees illuminates the ground, lighting up my pathway. Even though I should be scared walking through the jungle alone in the middle of the night, I am not. The chirping of the crickets in the trees makes me feel less alone.

I continue to walk around in aimless circles around the hatch, trying not to stray too far from it. If I do go too far, I know for a fact that I will not be able to find my way back.

Finally, I plop down onto the soft ground next to the hatch door. And that's when I see something that I can't believe I never saw before.

There, sticking out of the ground between two trees is a metal pole. Curious, I get up and walk closer towards it to see that there is a screen with a small keyboard attached to the top.

Huh.

I look down to see at the screen. It reads, "ENTER PASSCODE"

My fingers hover over the keyboard.

Well I guess it's worth a shot trying.

I type in "THE BLAIR INSTITUTE" then hit enter

The screen flashes and the words, "INCORRECT, TRY AGAIN" flash across it.

I then type in, "PASSWORD", just for the heck of it.

Again, the words, "INCORRECT, TRY AGAIN" display on the screen.

I then type "123456789" and hit enter.

But this time, the words "INCORRECT, TRY AGAIN" do not come up on the screen. Instead, two words pop up that make my heart stop.

"IMPLOSION INITIATED"

I jump back, staring at the screen with wide eyes. The words, "IMPLOSION INITIATED" continue to flash on and off on the screen.

What have I done...

Just when I about to try to reverse what I have just done, there is an a deafening boom. I duck down the ground, covering my ears and whipping around to see what happened.

And when I see what is in front of me, my heart stops beating.

Smoke and acrid ashes are billowing from the ground.

From the hatch.

When I register that I just blew it up, I nearly faint.

Curiosity does kill the cat.

Chapter Forty-Six

I cannot move.

I cannot scream.

I cannot react.

All that I can do is stand there, frozen in a state of shock, as I watch the hatch explode in front of my eyes.

My friends are in there.

And I just blew them up.

It takes me a few moments to process this. And when I finally put it together, I nearly faint.

I want to run towards them, but I physically cannot. My heart has stopped and my legs have turned to Jello. I watch with wide eyes as dense, black smoke billows from the hatch door. Hot tears begin to run in my eyes when I realize that I have probably killed them all. All because I was stupidly curious and entered a password wrong.

And then suddenly, I hear a screams from inside of the hatch.

Some of them are still alive.

My legs instantly unfreeze and I find myself sprinting towards the hatch door and into the swirling cloud of smoke. My lungs immediately begin to run as I breathe in the burning air, causing me to violently cough. But I don't care. Even if just one person is still alive, I have to get them.

I kneel down, leaning over the edge and closing my eyes as the smoke billow out, burning my eyes.

"HELLO!" I scream.

Smoke immediately fills my mouth, causing me to hack up a lung.

Then, I hear a boy's voice.

"HELP!" the voice screams.

Bracing myself, I grab the ladder and climb down into the hatch. The acrid burning smell heightens as I descend, threatening to choke me to death. When I finally reach the floor, I open my eyes, only to be greeted by a swirling hurricane of smoke.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" someone shouts frantically.

I recognize the voice as Dylan's and my heart surges slightly when I realize that he is okay.

And I definitely do not have time to explain what happened right now.

"I...I DON'T KNOW. BUT WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" I scream, before going into another coughing fit.

"I CAN'T BREATHE!" I hear a girl's voice scream.

I can't tell if it is Nikki's or Eve's, but at least another person is still alive. My mind instantly goes to Ian and Tristan.

"IAN? TRISTAN?" I call out desperately.

No reply.

My heart sinks down into my stomach. If they died, I will never be able to live without the guilt.

Two figures emerge from the smoke. I squint to see that it is Dylan and Nikki.

"Go up! Get out of here!" I shout.

Without a word, they rush towards the ladder and quickly begin to climb up. Once they reach the top, they shout down to me.

"Tessa, you have to come up too!"

"I...I can't. Not without the others!" I shout up to them.

I have to find them. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I run through the swirling smoke, searching from Ian, Tristan and Eve. My heart skips a beat when I see orange flames licking up the sides of the walls.

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"IAN! TRISTAN! EVE!" I yell, my voice cracking.

I hear someone's voice, but it's the voice of the person I despise the most.

Eve.

"What the fuck is going on!" I hear her yell from across the room.

Immediately, I begin to run towards her voice in hopes that maybe Ian and Tristan are by her too. By now my lungs are on fire and I don't know how much longer I can last. I finally find her sprawled out on the ground. She holds her hand out and I pull her up off of the floor.

"Tell me right now, what the..."

But before she can finish, I abruptly cut her off.

"Just get out here. Now!"

After staring at me for a few moments, she runs away.

Now it's just Tristan and Ian left. And of course, it has to be the two people that I care about the most.

"T...Tristan! Ian!" I shout.

By now, the flames have gotten bigger, stealthily crawling up the walls of the room. I begin to cough again; loud, dry coughs that rack my entire body. My head is spinning and have to lean against one of the couches to steady myself.

And then, the last thing that I remember is me blacking out.


"Is she okay?"

"I don't know...I think she's still breathing though"

Suddenly, I gasp for breath as my eyes flash open. I squint as bright sunlight shines down through the trees, blinding me temporarily. Before I can say anything, I begin to cough. My lungs are still burning; every coughs makes them feel like they are about to collapse.

And then, the horrifying memories of what happened come back to me.

The explosion.

The fact that I never found Ian and Tristan.

I instantly sit up and look around to see Nikki, Dylan and Eve, all surrounding me with concerned looks on the faces. All except for Eve of course. She doesn't look too concerned. In fact, she has no emotion on her face.

"W...Where's Ian and Tristan?" I ask panickedly, looking around at the three of them.

Nikki glances at Dylan, and pained expression on her face.

"What is it! Tell me right now!" I shout, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Sh...should we tell her?" Nikki whispers to Dylan.

"Tell me what?! Because if it's that they died, get it over with and tell me right now! There's no need to hide it" I exclaim angrily.

"Yeah, just tell her" Eve mumbles.

A lump has formed in the back of my throat, so large that I can barely breathe anymore. Nikki turns back to me and I see that there are tears glistening in her eyes. She swallows hard, then says,

"Well Tristan...he's okay. I mean he's banged up pretty bad, but he's alright. He's sleeping now"

The pit of dread in my stomach sinks even further. This cannot be good. Already, tears have begun to stream down my face uncontrollably.

"And what about Ian?" I whisper, my voice quaking with fear.

Nikki takes a deep breath.

"Tessa...I don't think that he made it"

It's as if one thousand bricks have just fell on top of me. Even though I knew it, just hearing Nikki say those words makes it a thousand times worse.

"W...Where is his body?" I sob, looking up her miserably.

Nikki begins to cry as well and turns to Dylan.

"We went back down and searched and searched, but we couldn't find him anywhere. We think that he was completely burned up by the flames" Dylan murmurs.

I begin to sob even harder, unable to fully wrap my mind around the fact that Ian is gone.

"Are you sure you searched everywhere?" I cry.

All three of them nod.

"We looked everywhere in that room Tessa" Dylan says solemnly.

Everywhere in that room...

Then suddenly, I think of something that I hadn't thought of before. Something that gives me the smallest glimmer of hope.

"Did you check the secret room?" I ask.

"No, we didn't" Eve says flatly.

I immediately stand up.

"Where are you going?" Nikki cries out as I begin to walk back towards the hatch.

But I don't respond. Instead, I continue to walk towards it. By now, most of the smoke has cleared, leaving only a hazy mist of debris. I arrive and quickly begin to climb down the ladder.

"Tessa, you shouldn't go back down there!" I hear Nikki shout.

But I completely ignore her.

With my heart racing, I jump down to the floor and begin to run towards the bookshelf on the wall. When I reach it I lean against it, using all of my body weight to rotate the shelf. It slowly spins around, creaking loudly on its hinges until it locks into place on the other side.

I reach down and grab the handle, closing my fingers around it. Before I twist it, I close my eyes and pray.

Hard.

When I am finally down praying, I take a deep breath and twist the knob. Slowly, I push the door open.

Maybe, just maybe...

Once the door is fully open, I finally open my eyes.

At first, I think that I am dreaming.

But then, I realize that it must be real.

He is right there, standing across the room from me.

Ian.

Chapter Forty-Seven

At first, I am so distracted by the fact that Ian is alive that I don't even register what he is doing.

"Ian!" I shout out, relief flooding throughout my entire body.

But then, I look at him and when I see what he is doing, a wave of nausea passes over me.

Ian is kneeled on the floor, cradling Tessa #2's unconscious body in his arms.

What. The. Fuck.

He looks up at me and furtively drops her body back onto the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" I ask quickly, trying hard to keep my voice level.

"I...um...this looks weirder than it really is" Ian mumbles.

"What is going on? Why were you holding her in your arms?" I ask again, taking a step towards him.

"I...I just wanted to see if she was okay" he says.

"Why? She's not real!" I exclaim angrily.

Just yesterday he told me never to go back into this room ever again. And now here he is, cradling her unconscious body in his arms to see if she is okay.

"What do you mean?" Ian asks.

"She's my clone; she's not a real person!" I exclaim lividly.

"Sorry" Ian says bluntly, standing up.

I swallow hard, composing myself.

"It's okay" I say.

But I don't really mean it. Something about the way he was holding her body in his arms weirds me out. I shudder, trying to shake the disturbing thoughts from my mind.

"Is everyone okay?" Ian asks, walking towards me.

I nod.

"Yeah, everyone's fine. Tristan's a little banged up but other than that everyone made it" I say.

When Ian reaches me he puts his hands on my hips and gives me a small smile.

"I'm glad you're okay" he whispers.

"Me too. And um...I think we should get out of here" I say.

"Right. Probably not safe being in an underground room that could crumble at any minute" Ian says, laughing.

I force myself to laugh slightly, despite the fact that my heart is still pounding in my chest.

"C'mon let's go" he says.

We turn around and walk towards the door. Just before we leave Ian turns around, looking one last time at Tessa #2. She is sprawled out on the floor, immobile with her skin white as a ghost. I eye him sharply as he continues to stare at her for a few moments. Finally, I grab his arm and pull him out.

In a deafening silence, we walk towards the ladder. Smoke and debris are still swirling around in the air, causing my lungs to burn again with every breath I take. When we finally reach the ladder I climb up first, followed by Ian. Once we emerge up and out into the fresh air, I take a huge deep breath, sucking in all of the fresh, clean air that I can.

Damn, it feels good to be outside again.

"Ian!" someone shouts.

I turn around and look to see Nikki and Dylan rushing over towards us.

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"How the hell are you alive man?" Dylan asks, clapping Ian on the back.

"He was in the secret room" I say.

"You were right Tessa. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you" Nikki says.

"Don't worry about it" I reply.

That's when I remember. I glance over Nikki's shoulder to see Tristan, still laying on the ground. Eve is knelt down on the ground next to him.

"How's Tristan doing?" I ask.

Nikki turns around, glancing back at the two of them.

"I don't know" she murmurs.

"I'll go check" I say, and begin to walk towards the two of them.

Before I even arrive, Eve whips around, staring at me with her dark, beady eyes.

"What do you want?" she snaps.

"Geez! I just wanted to see if Tristan's okay!" I say, stopping in my tracks.

"He's fine" Eve says abruptly.

When I look down at Tristan, I notice that he looks nothing close to fine. Blood is oozing all over his face from a large cut on his head and there are many nasty bruises trailing up his arms.

"Um...he doesn't look too good" I say.

"He'll be fine. They told me he has to be healthy when they come and rescue him" Eve says.

"You mean the people who are coming to only rescue you and Tristan?" I ask angrily, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Yes" Eve says flatly.

"When are these people coming? Because to me, it seems like might of forgot about you" I sneer, grinning.

"Oh they'll come for us, believe me. Just watch; they'll be here any day now" Eve says defensively.

"Uh-huh" I say, nodding slowly.

All of a sudden, there is a loud cough. I look down at Tristan, who has fallen into a coughing attack. My stomach flips when I see blood coming out of his mouth with every cough.

On instinct, I kneel down on the other side of him. Both Eve and I watch nervously as he continues to cough; wretched coughs that wrack his entire body. Eve grabs his hand in hers and squeezes it gently. Finally, once his fit ends, his eyes flash open. First, they focus on Eve. But then, they swivel and lock with mine.

"Tess..." he whispers, his voice raspy.

He wrenches his hand free from Eve and lifts it up towards me, placing it lightly on my shoulder. Eve looks up at me, an enraged look on her face. All I can think of right now is how angry Ian must be if he is watching this.

"Hey" I say.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Yeah, why did the hatch blow up?" Eve asks, looking at me.

I swallow hard. I can't tell them that I am the one that caused it. If I do, everyone will hate me.

"I..I don't know. I was outside and all of a sudden it just randomly blew up. They must of figured out that we were inside one of their stations" I lie.

"Is...is everyone okay?" he asks.

I nod.

"Good" he murmurs.

"I don't know if you are though" I say nervously.

He then slowly sits up, leaning up against a tree.

Chapter Forty-Eight

I watch, frozen in a shocked silence, as Eve's body falls from the lifting helicopter down to the beach.

Ian. Just. Killed. Eve.

It's as if everything is going in slow motion; I cannot process what just happened. All that I can do is stare at Eve's crumpled, lifeless body. My insides churn when I look into her glassy eyes, which are illuminated by the moonlight.

And then, before I can move a muscle, the gunfire starts.

I duck as the men from the helicopter begin to shoot down with their guns.

But not at me.

At Ian.

I watch in horror as Ian runs, dodging the bullets as they zip past his head. He is going to get shot; there's no denying it.

I have to do something.

"STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW!" I scream at the top of my lungs, throwing my arms up in the air.

But the men continue to ruthlessly shoot at Ian. He continues to run away as fast as he can, but the bullets whizzing through the air nearly hit him every time. Then, my heart stops when I hear Ian scream out in pain. I whip around to see him laying on the ground, holding his leg and shouting out in agony.

He has been shot. And they are still continuing to shoot at him.

They are going to kill him.

I then do something that requires every ounce of courage I have inside of me. I step right in front of where they are firing.

Immediately, all of the men stop firing and stare at me, with their guns at the ready. The helicopter stops lifting and hovers in the air a few feet above us. I stare back at them breathlessly, utter terror in my eyes.

"What do you want" one of them says gruffly.

"Stop shooting at him. Please" I say weakly, my voice trembling.

The men raise their guns and point them at me. Instantly, my heart begins to pound in my chest. I throw my arms up in the air, then shout,

"Please, don't shoot! You shot him already, isn't that enough"

By now, tears are uncontrollably screaming down my face. All of the men continue to stare at me, bewildered looks on their faces. I can hear Ian whimpering in pain behind me.

"Please...we're all innocent" I say desperately.

"That boy just killed her. He is not innocent" one of the men says, pointing the tip of his gun down to Eve's body.

I turn around and look back at Ian, who is laying down on the sand and grasping his bloody leg. I then turn back to them and cry,

"Look, I know he just shot at her. But listen to me right now; we all have been kidnapped on this island for weeks. We are starving. We are tired. We have no memories, and we are starting to go crazy. I swear to God, Ian did not mean to shoot her. So please....please don't kill him"

The men scrutinize me for a few moments.

"I think she's gone mad" I hear one of the men say to the others.

"I'm not crazy!" I shout, my voice rising with anger.

No one can understand everything that we have been through.

"Please, all that we want is to get off of this island and get far away from the horrible people that have trapped us here. We...we want to go home, wherever home is" I say, my voice breaking.

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"Look, we were sent here to rescue Tristan Reyes and only Tristan Reyes. We weren't informed that other children were kidnapped. And where is Tristan?" one of them says.

"Here"

I turn around and watch as Tristan's steps forward. He swallows hard and looks up at the men in the helicopter.

"Who are you people? Who sent you to rescue just me?" Tristan asks.

"Can we tell him?" one of the men murmurs to what I assume to be their leader."

The man nods, then says,

"We are from the US National Guard. And I know that you cannot remember this, but you Tristan, you are the son of the President of the United States"

What?

I turn and look at Tristan, whose face has turned pale. He takes a slow step backwards, shaking his head.

"No...what the hell are you talking about?" he asks.

"Yes Tristan. You are the President's son. Right after you were kidnapped your father ordered the CIA to track down where they took you. It took us a long time, mainly because the Blair Institute, your captors, wiped this island off the radar. But through advanced military technology we finally cracked the code and found your location. And now we're here to rescue you" the man explains.

It takes a few moments for all of this to sink in. Finally, Tristan says,

"What is the Blair Institute and why did they kidnap us?" Tristan asks shakily.

"They are a highly confidential organization, so we do not know much about them or why they kidnapped you children. All we know is that they are human cloning research institution. But they are not good people" the man says.

Tristan nods slowly, then says,

"Well if you're here to rescue me you're going to have to rescue all of us. Or else I'm not going"

I look up at the men, a pleading look in my eyes.

"Well I suppose we can. But it's going to be a tight squeeze; this helicopter is not that big" the man says.

A huge flood of excitement flows through my body. I am going to go home.

Home.

The word rings in my mind, sending warm tingles through my veins.

When the helicopter begins to lower to the ground and suddenly remember Ian. All of this new information almost made me forget about the boy with the shot leg behind me.

I turn around and quickly run towards Ian, kneeling down on the sand next to him when I arrive.

"Are you okay?" I ask, even though I know that it is probably the stupidest question I can ask.

"No" he says, his voice pained.

I look down and see that he has been shot in the thigh, just slightly above the knee. I have absolutely no clue how to treat a bullet wound. He needs a doctor. Not the doctors on this island though.

"Tessa, I can't walk" he says miserably.

"Don't worry about it. Once we get off of this island you'll receive medical treatment somewhere. And hey, at least you weren't killed" I say, trying to sound as reassuring as I can.

He shakes his head.

"C'mon Tessa, we're going to go look for the other kids who are still on the island!" I hear someone call from behind me.

I turn around and look to see Tristan, Nikki and Dylan all beckoning me to come over. The helicopter has landed and all of the men are standing on the beach next to them. I bite my lip and turn back to Ian. He is looking at me with a look so downcast that my heart breaks.

"I can't leave Ian" I call back to them.

"Tessa, please come with us. And don't worry about it, one of these men will stay with Ian" Tristan says to me.

I turn around to see one of the men step forward and nod.

"Tessa, please..." I hear Ian whisper.

I turn back and watch as a tear rolls down his cheek.

"Ian, I am so sorry but I have to go with them. Don't worry, we'll be back soon" I say.

Before he can reply, I lean in and kiss him softly on the lips. After I pull away I stand up and walk towards the others. The man walks forward towards Ian and says to me,

"Don't worry miss. I'll watch him"

"Please don't do anything to him" I say.

"Don't worry, we'll deal with him later" the man says.

I nod, trying to swallow down the huge lump that has formed in the back of my throat.

"C'mon, let's go" Dylan says.

After giving one last sorrowful glance back at Ian, we begin to walk towards the jungle. I feel much safer with the presence of these military men. They all have guns and flashlights, which they shine around the jungle as we trek.

"How many other kids are there?" one of the men asks.

"Well there were twelve of us at first. But then Jessica and Alyssa died, so that makes ten. And minus us, that means there are five others out here" Tristan explains.

"Do you have any clue where they might be?" he asks.

"No. We split up the first day and that's the last time that we saw them" Tristan says.

"So they could very possibly be dead?" the man asks.

"I...I don't know" Tristan murmurs.

"Okay. We'll still look but if we don't find them by morning we have to go"

We continue to walk, our feet crunching through the thick underbrush as we trek through the jungle. As we walk, the men shine their flashlights around through the trees but there are no signs of the others. If they are still alive, they could be anywhere on this island. The chances of finding them are nearly zero.

As we keep walking the trees begin to become more and more sparse. We seem to be heading into some sort of clearing.

And then, wave of fear passes over me.

I know exactly where we are.

"Guys, we're at their headquarters" I say.

We all stop and the men shine their flashlights in front of them. And sure enough, there are the rows of cages on the ground that we were once trapped in. Farther away is the hatch that leads to their headquarters; where all of the doctors must be right now. But not all of the cages are empty; four of them are occupied.

"Hello?" Tristan shouts out.

Instantly, the people in the cage whip around and stare at us with wide eyes. I immediately recognize them. Although I don't remember their names, but I know for sure that they were there with us the first day.

"What the hell is going on? Who are those men?" one of the girls cries out panickedly, backing up against the bars of her cage.

"Don't worry. We're here to rescue you. And these men are here to rescue all of us. They're from the US Coast Guard" Tristan says.

The four kids; two girls and two boys all stare at us, mesmerized.

"How are you going to get us out of here?" one of the boys asks.

I suddenly remember his name; Daniel.

"We'll get you out of those cages, don't worry. And then we will get all of you kids off of this island" one of the men says.

All of their faces break into wide, excited smiles.

"Wait, there's one more thing you have to do before we leave this place" I say quietly.

"What?" the man asks, looking at me.

I swallow hard.

"I want you to kill Hal"

Impressum

Texte: J. B. Everett
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.05.2016

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