by Mark Mosley
“Good point,” I conceded.
We took off, and this time I ran. I’ve never been a fan of running. Why anybody would voluntarily run for an extended amount of time for pure enjoyment is beyond me. Long-distance runners should all be placed in insane asylums.
The path we followed was the same one Xavier and I traced to the first X before turning northeast. After a while, Danny slowed to a walk and explained what was going on. “I was pouting in my hut when a piece of paper slid in between some bamboo poles of the wall.” He handed me a crumpled paper.
I read it as we moved slowly: Your brother lives. Do nothing for now. Have hope. Stay alive. Visit pit tomorrow night.
“Meanwhile,” Mitch jumped in, “I got a note dropped in the pit. Told me to expect a visitor soon. Turns out the visitor was this bastard,” he pointed to Danny, who laughed as if they were the best of friends. “But my note instructed me to get involved in one of Mason’s fights.”
“And while Mitch danced around with you like you were his prom date,” Danny said, “I had to do the dirty work and stab Mason.”
“Dancing?” I asked.
Danny smirked at me. “That’s what it looked like to me. You two were adorable.”
I expected Mitch—my former abusive cellmate—to jump Danny. But he chuckled. The way they acted made me feel like I was in a Twilight Zone episode. Everything about Mitch was different—wasn’t he the guy that snapped another guy’s neck not that long ago?
“How’d you know to stab Mason?” I asked Danny.
“The morning after I visited Mitch, I got another note to kill Mason at the fight and escape with you two.”
I nodded. We veered from one path and turned down another, heading north. Leaves still wet from the humidity and earlier rainfall moistened my shoulders when I got too close to the edge of the trail. “How’d you manage to get in the ring?” I asked Mitch.
“Someone told me to call one of Mason’s goons over and tell him I wanted to get out,” Mitch explained. “Mason blew me off until today. Said if I got in the ring with you, he’d let me go.” He stopped and raised his eyebrows at me. “But I couldn’t just fight you. I had to kill you.”
Mason put a hit on me? I felt like a badass. Then I thought about the timing. Mason went back to Mitch just after Xavier and I found the pot fields, and around the time Smiley and Devin re-decorated my hut. Were we close to figuring something out? Perhaps the same thing Robbie discovered before Mason killed him?
We finally reached the end of the island at its northeastern-most point. We were in an open area of grass, on a cliff. The river emptied itself into the ocean water about forty yards away. To our left were rocks spearing out into the sea, waves violently slamming into the rock face, ocean spray shooting up and making rainbows in the nearly-gone sunlight.
We were alone. Danny and Mitch thought it had been The Solos contacting them. But nobody had interrupted our flight to take us into their abode or group like they’d expected. Masonites would surely be sent to hunt us down like boar with the goal of sticking us on the fire spits. Would they wait until morning or pursue us through the night? And I couldn’t stop thinking about Mason’s comment about Chris.
“Well,” I said, laughing at our pitiful odds. “We’ve reached the end of the world. What do we do now?”
“You go off it.”
We turned at the new voice suddenly upon us. Maybe The Solos really were ghosts—I hadn’t heard this creeper sneak up at all. But I looked around, and there was no one. I furrowed my brow, confused about where the ghost voice had come from. My companions didn’t know either, and the three of us stood, spinning in dizzying circles, attempting to find the source of the words.
“Down here, in the rocks, yeah?”
We slowly made our way to the edge of the island. I looked over the edge and saw someone with hair so blonde it was almost white. No shoes. Blue eyes sparkled up at us, squinting in retaliation to the mist and weakening sun.
I stood speechless for a moment. We all did. Because hanging on to the face of the cliff was a girl.
Chapter 20
It wasn’t just a girl hanging off the cliff. It was a hot girl. Like, one of the hottest I’d ever seen. I mean…damn.
“Has it been that long since you’ve seen a female?” She smiled. “My name’s Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam. Now follow me and do your best to not stare at my ass—if you fall off and die then this will all be for nothing.” She winked at me.
I was in love.
Pearly white teeth seemed even whiter against her darkly tanned skin, her eyes were bright blue, and she’d managed to keep her hair shiny despite living on this island. She looked like a magazine ad that’d been altered to an impossible perfection.
Behind my soulmate was a small ledge she must’ve inched across. Sam turned and walked the ledge, which veered out of sight to the left. Mitch, Danny, and I exchanged glances. I shrugged. “What the hell. Why not?”
Feeling brave, I swung my feet over the cliff’s edge and found a large rock to drop to. From there, I slid over to the ledge and used the handholds, swallowed hard, and made my way along, scared a massive wave would knock me into the rock face then pull me into the water and pound me into submission against the rock.
Flinching at every wave that pummeled the island thirty feet below me, I followed the random girl we trusted for absolutely no rational reason. Well, other than the fact we had no choice—it was either go with her or wait to be hunted by Masonites.
Catching up to Sam, I got a better look at her. She was close to my age—which meant that maybe I wasn’t the only person under twenty on the island. Was I the only innocent one? Was she a murderer? A thief?
She stood tall and faced us as if our meeting was the most normal thing in the world, and the three strange men she’d just met weren’t convicts she should be wary of. “Welp,” Sam clapped her hands. “I expect you’ll want to visit our setup, yeah? There’s one thing you need to understand first.”
Beyond Sam was a small cave opening. I panicked for a moment—if that was where we were going, we’d have to get on our hands and knees and squeeze through. She gestured to the opening. “This place I’m takin’ you has been concealed from Mason’s gang a long time. Never seen by his folks—at least, nobody’s ever seen it and been able to go back and reveal anything to that psychopath.”
The three of us nodded to signify our understanding: we were either with them or against them, and if we were against them, we were dead and thrown into the ocean for fish food.
“If we’re all good, then I’ll welcome you to our home. We don’t have much, but we survive, and we do it together, yeah?” she smiled. It was a good one.
I read warmth in Sam’s eyes and honesty in her expression, which made me doubt the group had ever killed a Masonite that stumbled into their camp, unlike the stories told in Masonville would have us believe.
She wore baggy cutoff shorts peppered with holes, like they were hand-me-downs from an older sibling. “You all don’t talk much, do ya?”
Mitch and Danny didn’t answer. I shrugged. “Sorry. We’re just tired. I think our adrenaline has crashed.”
Sam glanced at Danny and Mitch. “And you didn’t expect to discover it was a girl that passed you notes and saved your asses.” We still didn’t answer. “Real hornet’s nest you all kicked up. I bet the Masons aren’t thrilled with you all. Let’s get you inside and meet some folks and eat some food, yeah?”
She turned before we could respond and bent to enter the tiny hole in the cliff, then stood back up like she just remembered something. “You may have some trouble here, mister,” she said to Mitch. “You might be the biggest person we’ve ever tried to get in. It’ll be tight for ya. Hope ya aren’t fearful of close quarters.”
Mitch took a deep breath. “I’ll manage.”
Sam made her way into the entrance. Mitch was the first to follow. He struggled as his back scraped the ceiling several times, eliciting curses from him
. But he made it through. Danny followed, and I pulled up the rear.
Now, I dislike close quarters—tally “claustrophobic” to one of my many heroic characteristics. I didn’t know how Mitch did it. When I entered, I felt like the massive rock ceiling and wall pulsated with life, growing and growing and squeezing down on me. I panicked halfway through and rushed, which led to bruised elbows and knees and a nice bump on my head. When I emerged, I was glad to be through. I had conquered the great villain of rock—bona fide hero.
I stood to see that we made it into a decent-sized cave with holes piercing through the wall to let sunlight through. Moving on, we stayed close behind Sam, our tour guide. I sensed we were going deeper into the island. We then weaved back toward the ocean and reached a wide opening. There was a fire and a tall ceiling that smoke drifted toward before disappearing.
Nobody was in the cave. A rush of concern flooded through me that we were being duped and would be jumped by ragtag rebels. But I looked to the right and saw the exit, outside which was the beach.
“Let’s get you all to meet some of our folks, yeah?” She led us outside. “I’m kinda the boss here, but I use that term loosely.”
I was a bit taken aback. She was the boss? There was no way she was the oldest. Why would she be the leader? Outside, three people tended to small cooking fires. Three girls. Small logs were placed around the fires that served as benches. It was then when I realized that the government didn’t limit the isolation punishment to male convicts. I don’t know why I’d never considered whether female cons were ferried there.
“We have small fires with dry wood so we can’t be seen,” Sam explained, pointing to some female cons in an area of water up to their ankles, surrounded by small rocks. “The tide brings in little fish. When it goes out again, they get trapped. Easy pickin’, yeah?”
“We had a spot like that, too.” I thought of Darryl and wondered how he was recovering. Was he alive? Thrown in the pit for further punishment?
I turned away from the ocean. Jungle met the beach to the right. Some low-swinging palm trees made U’s for sitting on.
“How come you’ve never been found?” I asked. “Seems like it’d be easy to find with the jungle right there. Or just by looking over the edge onto this little beach.”
Sam smiled. “You’d think so, yeah? But that jungle there? Not as big as you’d think. It’s cut off by some monster rocks with smooth faces on the other side that are impossible to climb. And the beach can’t be seen overhead because there’s a boar’s nest. The only way here is off that ledge and through that hole.”
“Nice,” Danny said.
“Ah, he talks,” Sam teased, winking at him. I’m embarrassed to admit that a rush of jealousy flooded through me.
“Typically neither of ‘em shut up,” Mitch said.
Sam laughed. None of the other female cons approached. I felt like a new kid in class that kind of wants the teacher to introduce me to get it over with, but also wants to blend into the back of the classroom wall and disappear.
“What now?” Mitch asked Sam.
Sam looked him up and down. Again, I got jealous, thinking Sam was checking him out. “Well, my friend,” she said, “I suppose we ought to have a meeting with the other folks.” She whistled so loudly that I feared Masonites would come bounding over the cliff onto the beach, riding boars as their steeds.
The others finished working then came over—an obvious contrast from Masonville, where if Mason called, everything was stopped. There was respect for what everyone did, and Sam waited patiently, leading us around one of the fires. We sat on logs. Mitch sprawled himself on the sand, lying down on his back, wincing and caressing his leg.
One by one, the members found their way to us, forming a large circle. The group was a mix of guys and girls, but the girls outnumbered the guys three-to-one. I couldn’t get over the fact that there were females on the island. Did Mason know?
Sam announced to the group, “Alright, the new converts arrived.” She gestured toward us, then pointed as she said our names. Then she told them, “They hail from Mason’s group.”
Reactions ranged from moans and groans to chuckles and tsks.
“This is the group we sent for,” Sam concluded.
Danny asked, “You sent me the letters?” He pointed to one of the guys. “And I recognize you. You were there at the fight when my brother was taken! Where is he? Is he alive?”
“You are Eric’s brother?” The man asked. “Eric’s fine. He’s out now but will be back in the morning. We took care of him, and he’s been working hard to get you here.”
Danny smiled for the first time I’d known him.
“Are you the ones who told me to get into the fight?” Mitch piggybacked onto Danny’s question.
“Aye,” Sam said. “Well done on that.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” I said. “I’m confused. How the hell has the fact that there’s girls on this island eluded me?”
The guy Danny pointed to earlier answered. “Most of the ladies usually stay around camp. When they do head out, they remain incognito. That’s why Danny recognized me and nobody else. Only me and Sam venture out with the guys in the open.”
Yep—like an idiot, I’d thought this girl was a dude. I wondered if I’d used a male pronoun in reference to her. In my defense, she looked like she played linebacker for the Cowboys, her hair was basically non-existent, and her face had nothing to suggest her gender. Regardless, she could’ve kicked my ass without breaking a sweat, so let’s keep this fact off the record.
Vines used as rubber bands attempted to braid back her loose dreadlocks, but they only held a few random strands together. She had a muscular build with a face that was neither masculine nor feminine. It was easy to see why she was able to pass for a guy when going out on errands.
“I like it,” Mitch said. “The women stay home to do all the cooking and—”
“Watch it. I’ll chop you to pieces myself,” Sam said. “We stay incognito. That means we don’t get seen, jackass. The less Masonites know, the better. Them knowing women are here wouldn’t pan out very well for us.”
“How has Mason never even seen you at drops?” I asked.
“Mason knows we’re here. He just keeps it to himself.”
I thought of Mason’s map. That might’ve been why he marked the drops. Maybe he wasn’t trying to get more convicts into his group, but was trying to figure out where the female convicts were dropped.
“Are you put on separate boats?” Mitch asked.
Sam shook her head. I envisioned the ship that brought me here. “The other room in the ship cabin…there was a locked door below decks, right next to ours. I thought it was full of weapons or something. It was full of female convicts, wasn’t it?”
“We’re gagged for the trip, like you,” Sam confirmed. “The guys get dropped off first, then the women are released on the opposite end of the island.”
I thought of the possible ramifications of the Masonites knowing women were on the island. The testosterone would throw them into a frenzy. And the women, as tough as they may be, would be in real trouble. A sudden thought occurred to me. “Did you have Darryl collect knives?”
Sam furrowed her brows. “Yeah. How’d you know? Is he on his way?”
Shaking my head, I told them about Darryl being caught and the beating he received. Sam slowly shook her head along with me.
The woman I had mistaken for a guy said, “Damn. Those knives would’ve been a huge help—so we could have ‘em and so Mason and his cronies couldn’t.”
The sun had dipped below the horizon, and the moon had taken over the sky, joined by the numerous stars.
“Darryl told us about you, Jhalon,” Sam said. “Told us you were asking a lot of questions. He thought you’d be happy to join us, and I’m glad to see he’s right. The knives and recruitment of more guys are important steps.”
“For what?” Mitch asked.
“We’re aimin’ to finally take down
their gang.” The masculine girl punched her fist into her other palm.
“But we gotta find out what they’re doin’ first,” Sam said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Sam arched her eyebrows. “You never questioned how Mason’s gotten everything he has?”
“Took time to build his empire,” I said. “Makes sense he’d acquire the knives and get things built.”
“There’s more than that,” Sam said. “The man’s got a gun, yeah? He’s got paper. He’s got crap ain’t nobody s’posed to have on an island.”
“He’s got a gun?” Danny asked.
Sam and I nodded together.
“You mean he has things like the walkie-talkie?” I asked Sam. “And the map?”
“I didn’t know about any walkie-talkie,” Sam confessed. “But that’d be a good example of something that doesn’t just show up on an island, yeah? Can’t exactly make that out of materials here. And you’ve seen the map?”
Everyone crept forward on their seats as if my words were profound. “Yeah. On my first visit. Woke up in his room. Saw his little treasure map. I even went to one of the spots where an X was.”
“What’d you see?” Sam asked.
“You haven’t been there?” I asked in disbelief. They weren’t far from their camp. “Do you never leave this place?”
“I know what’s on the map and what’s at the locations,” Sam corrected me. “I want to know what you know.”
“There was a field that used to be full of marijuana.”
“What’d you think?” the masculine girl asked.
“Nothin’. I don’t smoke it. What do I care?”
“Are you stupid, yeah?” Sam seemed frustrated with my nonchalant attitude. She leaned forward on her log. “You didn’t think to yourself what the hell all that pot was doin’ out there? Let alone empty rows of it—you weren’t curious about what happened to it?”
I shrugged. “Kinda. Thought maybe you had somethin’ to do with it.”
“Guess again. And think this time, yeah?”
“We can’t,” Danny interrupted. “We’re exhausted.”