He looks human, and he’s alive. But I don’t trust anything after what I saw on Island Three. He could be a clone.
What else can I do, though? I need to get to Island Four and I don’t know where it is. Using the joystick on the control panel, I maneuver the sub over to the dock.
The guy who looks like I’m interrupting his fishing trip points to a spot in the water closer to the shore. I ease my pod over to it, and he gives me a thumbs-up.
Suddenly, the sub gets sucked into the water, the force so powerful and fast that I’m looking at the guy one second and I’m back underwater the next.
Fuck. I frantically push buttons, but this vessel isn’t under my control anymore. A powerful force that feels like a vacuum pulls me through the darkness. After around fifteen seconds, the bottom of the vehicle locks onto something, jolting me.
I brace myself, one hand on the dash and another on the door, as the sub is raised by something mechanical, the trip smooth and quick.
When the water slides away from the windows, I find myself in a dry dock. It’s like the one on Island Three, but smaller. Three people stand on a walkway, one of them holding a sign with letters printed in blocky black letters.
It’s not contaminated
Adrenaline is still pumping through me. I’m alive, and I could be dead if they wanted me to be. Still, I wish I had aweapon. I push the button to open the sub’s door and step out onto the adjacent dock.
“It’s okay,” the woman holding the sign says. “We got a message from Island Three that you were coming. There’s no contamination. That’s just how we keep everyone away.”
I breathe slightly easier, sizing her up. She’s tall and lean with shoulder-length black hair. She looks me up and down, her smile widening.
“Come on, cowboy. Let’s have a chat. I’m Cress.”
“I’m not staying long.”
The guy in the fishing hat walks in through a door on the side of the dock. He looks me up and down, too, shaking his head.
“Damn, dude. It’s Tarzan.”
“Evander sent me.”
Cress tilts her head to the side. “You’d be sitting at the bottom of the ocean if we didn’t know who you are, Marcus.”
“So you know what I want, then?”
She arches her brows. “You just knocked on our door and we’ve invited you inside. Come on.”
I want to secure a boat and get back to my island as soon as possible, but I guess I need to convince Cress I’m trustworthy.
I join her and the others, the fishing hat guy opening a heavy steel door.
“Hey, I’m Seth,” he says as I walk through the doorway.
He’s average in height, and he tilts his head back to meet my eyes.
“Marcus.”
We climb a flight of stairs that leads to a large room with nothing in it but a table and four chairs.
Cress takes a chair and gestures to the one across from her. I sit down there and one of the people with her, a man, sits beside her. The other two leave the room.
“Tell us about your island,” Cress says.
They’re both wearing regular clothes from before the virus. T-shirts and lightweight pants. I don’t know how much I want to say, but I’ve got no leverage. The only way I can leave here in one of their boats is by giving information.
“Our leader died. Dr. Randall McClain.”
“And which team was he playing for?”
