Share
5
Related chapters
The Island 6
Chapter 6SpencerFor a moment, I wanted to kill Foster. Not literally, because he was my baby brother, and I guessed he meant well, but he had certainly lured me to this island under false pretenses. “You said this was a hunting trip. I told you I don’t hunt, and you told me it was no big deal. I could learn. You impressed upon me the importance of male bonding, but you never mentioned just exactly what we were hunting. I should have been suspicious when you said I had to submit a letter from my doctor declaring me healthy.”Foster had the grace to look abashed, and it was obvious he was unprepared for both me and Nash to not be as receptive to the surprise as he’d expected. “It’s no big deal. You guys, the women participate of their own free will. They’re paid to do this, and they know what to expect. It’s just for fun.”When he spoke, Nash went up a bit in my esteem, even though he was Foster’s best friend and just as reckless as my younger brother usually. “I don’t feel right abou
The Island 7
Chapter 7AnyaI finally got to meet Sid Moreau the next morning and quickly identified him as the narrator of the program. There were five of us together, standing at our start point, and he stood in front of us. The hunters were over to the left, cordoned off behind a section of paper tape while another staffer went over the rules with them as Sid was doing with us.“Remember, you can use whatever is at your disposal and in the environment, including to fashion weapons. You can’t kill someone, and you can’t cause grievous bodily harm, but everything else goes.” He looked at us expectantly, and several women around me nodded, so I did the same. “Also remember there are no safe words, and anything else goes. There are cameras everywhere, so we’ll be able to monitor you at all times. You each have dedicated camera people tracking your every move to ensure your safety throughout the process. You might not walk away without pain this weekend, but you will walk away. That’s my personal gu
The Island 8
Chapter 8SpencerThe fucking jungle was all around me, and I couldn’t make head or tails of any of it. I could see an occasional broken branch where someone had crashed through, but that was the extent of my tracking ability. It certainly wasn’t easy, and the spongy floor covered with dying and dead vegetation did a surprisingly poor job of maintaining shoe prints. It was frustrating and maddening as hell, but at least I wasn’t bored.I stumbled down what could’ve been a path in front of me, but it was hard to tell. There was slightly less vegetation growing here, but there were no formal trails, and there sure weren’t any markers to help us find where we were or discover our prey. I could hear other men crashing around me in the bush, and they were making enough noise to scare away any prey animal—especially an intelligent woman.That was good though, because I didn’t want anybody finding Anya before I did. I had a name now, having looked her up last night in the paperwork we receiv
The Island 9
Chapter 9AnyaI think I was getting on Dai’s nerves, but I was doing my best. She could move with stealthy silence, as though she was floating over all the obstacles in her path despite our rapid pace. Whereas I seemed to find every single one of them and crashed through the jungle with enough noise to attract every hunter in our vicinity. I was frankly amazed she hadn’t ditched me yet, though I appreciated her allowing me to keep tagging along despite slowing her down.She paused for a moment, leaning against a tree to open her backpack. I took advantage of the moment to collapse onto a log nearby. It felt spongy and weak under my butt, but it didn’t crack with me.My hands were shaking as I opened the backpack, and that was pure exertion. I was already worn out, though we’d only been at this a little more than an hour. I had no clue how I was going to make it through the whole weekend if I somehow managed to avoid one of the hunters. If I didn’t, there was little doubt how I’d make
The Island 10
Chapter 10Anya I literally crashed into the short blonde who the other man had identified as Kelly. The name sounded familiar, but I hadn’t been formally introduced to her, since I’d missed the first part of the meet-and-greet party. She hadn’t been in the group that came with me from Bali on the yacht either, though I had deliberately avoided most of those people, because all had been hunters except me. I hadn’t seen her at all since she split off with that other woman at the start of the hunt.“I’m sorry.” She had a deep, throaty voice.“I think it was my fault.” I took a moment to make sure my zip and snap were secure, somehow having managed to get them back in place even though I had been rattled a few minutes before.“Do you want to stick together for a while?”I nodded eagerly at the question, knowing I’d appreciate having someone at my side. As we started moving, it quickly became obvious she was more proficient at moving through the jungle than I was, but not nearly at Dai’s
The Island 11
Chapter 11SpencerWhen I first approached her fire, I had every intention of claiming her right then, but she looked so cold and miserable that I couldn’t bring myself to do it yet. Instead, it seemed kinder to allow her time to rest, and she was reasonably safe with me. It would’ve taken a brazen hunter to try to take her when I was sitting just a few feet away. If one had been brave enough, he would’ve quickly realized the error of his ways, because I wouldn’t tolerate anyone putting their hands on her, or trying to claim her as theirs. I wish I knew who had ripped her shirt, because I would have hunted down his ass too.No, I would focus on her, because she was the most important part of this. I was starting to feel a bit of desperation to possess her, which made it all the more noble and self-sacrificing that I’d given her a brief reprieve. I snorted aloud. “Yeah, I’m practically a fucking saint.” I was talking to myself too, so did that mean Anya was driving me crazy?The need t
The Island 12
Chapter 12He was a large man, and his light-blond hair whipped around his face when a breeze stirred. He had hazel eyes, and they were focused solely on Dai. There was hunger there, but he didn’t seem creepy. Maybe it was because he wasn’t looking at me that way, but I had no fear.Dai stiffened again, and she held out her spear in a threatening fashion. “Walk away.”He lifted his hands in a gesture that suggested he was approaching peacefully. “Why do you keep shutting me down?”My eyes widened at the information, and I looked closer at Dai. She trembled for a moment, and I was certain she wanted to surrender. I could sympathize, as I felt the same way with Spencer.A second later, her backbone stiffened, and she shook her head before gesturing with her spear. “Go back the way you came, and I won’t have to use this on your bony white ass.”He looked wounded. “You haven’t even seen my ass yet. I’ve been told it’s perfectly taut and downright gorgeous. It’s never been called bony befo
The Island 13
Chapter 13AnyaIt wasn’t quite light out yet when I woke up fully, with no hope of getting back to sleep. I shifted restlessly in the tree, counting down the minutes until it was light enough to depart. I glanced over and upward, finding Dai still sleeping. I waited until the sun broke over the horizon, though it didn’t do a whole lot to improve the gloominess of the jungle. Abruptly, I recalled I was wearing the headlamp that I had switched off last night and switched it on.When the beam of light accidentally arced to Dai’s face, her eyes blinked open, and she sat fully upright. She appeared instantly alert, and her hand gripped the spear. I didn’t think she’d dropped it all night.“We should probably get going.” I whispered the words so she could hear me, but hoped no one else was nearby to hear them.She nodded and gestured downward. “I’ll go first and stand guard, and then you can start down.”Before I could agree, she was already scrambling down the tree. She made it look easy
Latest chapter
