Survivalist Reality Show: The Complete Series

by Grace Hamilton

  Regan looked at Tabitha, then RC. For the first time since she’d met the older man, she could see worry on RC’s face. It wasn’t a comforting sight.

  “Let’s get out of here,” RC said with a nod.

  Wolf spun around, walked to the window and looking straight at Virginia. “We’ll help put out the fire and then we leave.”

  “Fine. Whatever!”

  Wolf raised his hands, gesturing. “So, open the door!”

  She seemed to only then realize that Wolf couldn’t magically appear on the other side of the window. Without a word, she ran from the window and, a minute later, they could hear her outside the door.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” a man’s voice questioned.

  “Do you want a roof over your head? Food, water, a place to live!” Virginia shouted.

  The sound of something heavy being pushed across the floor was the answer. The door opened to reveal a man holding a gun on them. Regan inhaled, appreciating the fresh air that permeated the room and not caring about the gun pointed in their general direction.

  “Move, and don’t try anything stupid,” the man growled as Wolf made his way toward the front door.

  The rest of them left the room in single file, following behind Wolf. Regan shuddered with revulsion as the man met her eyes and winked as he waved her out with the gun barrel. He ordered them outside, following behind Fred, who was the last one out of the room. She could smell smoke, but couldn’t see anything. That had to be a good sign, she thought.

  “Where’s the fire extinguishers?” Virginia shouted to be heard over the howling wind.

  “Shed!” he shouted back. “Geno, help me grab them.”

  The man with the gun followed them away from the front of the house, clearly not trusting them.

  “Go!” Virginia screamed at the rest of them. “Get over there and help them put it out!”

  Without another word, they raced toward the end of the house that was on fire. Regan’s mouth dropped open when she saw the flames shooting out the windows of what she knew to be Wolf’s room, at the far right of the house’s front corner—if she’d leaned over from the front door, she might have seen the extent of the fire and understood what they were facing. Ahead of them, Virginia had run off to talk to the other men who were using shovels to throw dirt on the raging fire. Even with the light rain coming down, it was ridiculous. The sand would do nothing for the fire eating through the walls of the house—the wind was spreading it faster than they could dig their shovels into the dirt.

  RC gave her a pointed look, and then hurried toward the group of men as if to help, gesturing for Lily to stay with the women and Fred, who stood examining the scene with a critical eye as if looking for options.

  “It’s gone. The fire’s already up on the roof, so there’s no way we’re going to save the house,” Regan said close to Tabitha’s ear. “RC knows that and so does Wolf.”

  “We need to get those bug-out bags. We can’t possibly survive without any gear,” she replied.

  Regan turned to look at Lily, who was staring at the devastation with a stricken look on her face.

  “Lily!” Regan shouted, grabbing her attention.

  Regan took a few steps away from the house, the heat getting worse as the flames began consuming the roof.

  “Stay with Tabitha. I’m going back in to get some of those bug-out bags,” Regan said.

  “No, it’s too dangerous,” Tabitha hissed.

  “I have to!” Regan insisted over a boom of thunder.

  Fred put a hand on her shoulder. “No, I’ll go.”

  “I’ll go with him,” Lily volunteered.

  Regan’s eyes went wide. “No way!”

  “I can run fast and I’m small. They aren’t going to do anything to me if I get caught,” Lily argued.

  Fred, Tabitha, and Regan exchanged a look. She was right. And the fire was concentrated at the opposite end of the house right now, so the danger was minimal if they acted quickly.

  “We’ll open the window as far as it can go. She can throw gear out the window and then crawl out without having to go in the front,” Fred said. “We wouldn’t fit through it, but she will.”

  Regan didn’t get a chance to respond. Wolf and Geno came running back into the clearing carrying several fire extinguishers. Wolf handed two to the men closest to him as Geno pulled the pin on his extinguisher and began to aim the spray at the wall. Wolf gestured at Regan with his head, quietly telling Regan to make their escape.

  She looked back at him and debated running over to give him a kiss in case things didn’t work out as they had planned, but decided that would only incite Virginia’s rage. The woman and another man had just run back from the beach carrying buckets of water. Regan tried not to laugh as she watched the nominal amount of water hit the fire.

  Virginia turned to glare at her. “You! Take the bucket and get more water.”

  Tabitha and Regan traded a look even as they moved, realizing she had given them a perfect cover to escape.

  “I’ll help!” Tabitha shouted, grabbing the empty bucket from one of the men.

  Regan and Tabitha ran toward the tree line before stopping.

  The second Virginia had turned her attention back to the fire, Fred and Lily had raced around the house, heading for the back door. Regan and Tabitha moved for the trees, Regan carrying the one empty five-gallon bucket. They stopped as soon as they were in the cover of the tree line.

  “What about Fred and Lily?” Tabitha panted as she gasped for air.

  “We stick to the trees and circle around the back. We can go in the back door and grab more stuff.”

  Tabitha grimaced. “It’s too dangerous. That fire is spreading fast.”

  “Let’s go!” Regan shouted, ignoring Tabitha’s protests. She sprinted through the thick layer of slash pines mixed with various poking shrubs, praying she didn’t run head-long into any poison ivy. As quietly as they could, they made the circle around the house.

  “No one’s here!” Tabitha said gleefully.

  Regan didn’t stop moving. She raced across the cleared area and pushed open the back door that led to the kitchen. The smoke wasn’t too bad. Thankfully, Wolf’s bedroom was at the far end of the house and the door was closed.

  “Stay outside. I’ll help Lily throw stuff out. Take this!” Regan hissed, handing her the bucket.

  Tabitha nodded and raced back around the house as Regan made her way down the hall, crouching low to avoid being seen through the windows. The others should all be focused on the fire, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

  “Lily!” Regan shouted, turning the handle of the storeroom’s heavy door.

  A gust of wind threw the door open as she pulled.

  Lily spun around, fear in her eyes. “It’s just me!” Regan shouted, yanking the door closed behind her.

  Fred had the window wide open, and Lily was tossing out as much stuff as she could. Regan grabbed a box of heavy-duty trash bags and pulled one out, immediately tossing in medical supplies as fast as she could, trying to grab things she thought were the most important.

  “Come on!” Fred shouted.

  “That’s enough. You two get out of there before they notice!” Tabitha yelled.

  Regan helped boost Lily out the window before hurrying back to the door with a quick nod outside. She was out the back door and back at the window in seconds, just in time to help settle a backpack on Tabitha’s back.

  “We split up,” Fred said, handing Regan an over-stuffed backpack.

  She slid it onto her back and picked up the trash bag full of medical supplies. Tabitha had the backpack that had been settled onto her shoulders and the five-gallon bucket that was now filled with stuff Regan couldn’t make out in the darkness.

  “You two head east; we’ll go to the north and we’ll all meet at the boats!” Fred ordered.

  Regan nodded her head, happy to have a plan and hoping that Geno, RC, and Wolf would be on their way soon.

>   With nothing more to say, they split up, loaded down with all the gear they’d been able to escape with. Regan and Tabitha ran as fast as they could toward the beach, their heavy packs and gear slowing their pace. Tabitha tripped once and nearly fell headlong into a pokey bush, but managed to recover quickly, and that slowed them further, signaling to both of them that they better slow down on the wet ground before one of them got hurt. Still, they hurried, and Regan hoped everyone else would be on their way soon. This was their one chance to escape. If Virginia caught them, she knew it would end badly.

  23

  Tabitha and Regan stopped to drag in air once they hit the sandy beach before they kept moving around the north side toward the dock. The wind was making it difficult to see or hear anything. The light rain still came down, but did little more than taunt them and make it harder to see as it was whipped around by the wind. More than anything, Regan could hear the water lashing at the island, slamming into the beach as she pulled along the supplies she’d escaped with.

  “You think the guys will know to meet us here?” Tabitha asked.

  “Yes. They’ll know. They’ll be here soon. Maybe they’re already there.”

  Sea spray hit Regan in the face as they rounded the head of the island, losing the buffer of the smaller islands. It was an angry sea, which seemed fitting. The entire island was angry and revolting right now.

  Within minutes, the women made it to the dock only to discover that no one else was around.

  “Let’s load the boats and get ready to move,” Regan shouted over another loud crack of thunder.

  Tabitha moved to the end of the dock where the sailboat was bobbing violently up and down. They threw their supplies on board, immediately feeling the relief of losing the weight of the heavy packs.

  “Where are they?” Tabitha shouted, her voice filled with fear.

  Regan stared up and down the beach, looking for silhouettes and finding nothing.

  “They’ll be here,” she said, hoping that was true.

  Tabitha walked back to the beach and Regan followed, fighting back the worry that they might have been the only two to escape. If that turned out to be the case, they’d have to rescue the others. But how?

  “There!” Regan shouted, pointing to the trees where Fred had just emerged, carrying two backpacks; one was on his back, causing him to hunch forward while he dragged the other in one hand and a bucket in his other. Lily was right behind him, carrying another pack and dragging a bucket.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Fred asked when he reached them. Shaking her head in response, Regan rushed to take the bucket and extra pack from him while Tabitha took the bucket from Lily.

  “They’re not here yet,” Tabitha answered simply, and Regan turned to head back toward the boats. They loaded the gear onto the boats while Fred and Lily caught their breath. “Lily, you and Tabitha get those boats ready to go. Load the bags up. Regan, we need to get more supplies. We need everything we can get our hands on,” Fred said, surprising Regan with the authority in his voice.

  “The sailboat is ready,” Tabitha announced.

  “Good. Stay here with Lily—we’ll be back,” Fred said, still taking in deep breaths of air.

  Regan dumped out one of the buckets that had previously held heavy bags of beans. Lily had been smart enough to dump the beans and use the bucket to carry other lightweight gear like rope, tarp, and a box of protein bars, hurriedly beginning to spread the supplies among the packs. Tabitha took over for her, and Regan grinned at Lily before she turned away to follow Fred, proud of the girl for thinking so well under pressure. Wolf was going to be proud of her, too.

  “Good job, Lily, this was a genius idea,” she said, holding up the empty bucket and smiling.

  “Let’s go!” Fred shouted at her.

  Regan nodded, and hurried to follow him off the dock. Together, they ran against the wind and back into the trees, taking the long way around back to the house, hoping to sneak into the storeroom and gather more supplies.

  When they broke through the clearing, though, Regan paused to look at the sight of the frame of the house, which was now exposed. Several tall palm trees were also burning in the distance, on the other side of the greenhouse, reminding Regan of giant torches. The wind was sending sparks every which way. It wouldn’t be long before the entire island was up in flames.

  “We need the hygiene stuff. We didn’t grab it in the first run because it wasn’t as important,” Fred said, motioning for Regan to hurry.

  “Hygiene?” she asked.

  “Soap, TP, wipes,” Fred said, gesturing in frustration.

  “Got it!”

  She hesitated for another second more when they got to the back door, not thrilled with the idea of running into a burning house to grab toilet paper. The fire was far enough away that she felt she could get in and out before she ended up trapped, but what they were doing still seemed mad.

  The smoke was getting thicker inside as she pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth, her eyes burning as she grabbed another trash bag and blindly reached for soap and whatever else was nearby. Able to keep her eyes closed once she found the section of items they were targeting, she felt unbelievably thankful that Fred had had the foresight to keep like items together. With the bag stuffed as full as it could get, she hefted the back over her shoulder and hurried after Fred, who had his own load to carry ready to go.

  She sucked in deep gulps of fresh air the second she stepped outside.

  “Let’s go!” Fred shouted, grabbing her arm. “Geno went to the tool shed to get what he could. We have to get back to the boats!”

  Regan coughed, nodding her head as she ran along behind him. Passing beyond the tree line, she glanced over and saw Wolf spraying water from a garden hose onto the fire. He may as well have been peeing on the house, as much good as the hose was doing, but Virginia and the men seemed satisfied enough with the efforts and still had shovels in their hands.

  Wolf waved a hand at her, telling her to keep going. The rest of the men were busy using their shovels and arguing, with Virginia shouting at them in sheer panic. Regan remained looking around the area before she went out of sight of the house, but didn’t see RC.

  “Where’s RC?” she shouted to Fred as he came back to hurry her up.

  Fred didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed her arm and kept dragging her through the trees until they reached the beach. It was then that she saw RC climbing into the motorboat; Lily was already in the boat with the engine running.

  “Go!” Fred yelled, pointing for her to get on the sailboat with Tabitha.

  Regan carried her bag full of supplies down the dock and climbed into the boat, but her eyes remained on the beach. Geno had been right on her heels with his own arms occupied by two buckets, and was in the boat a moment later.

  Tabitha embraced Geno, tears flowing down her face. “You made it!”

  “We need to get ready to go. Wolf was going to stay as long as he could!” Geno shouted, over Tabitha’s head.

  “How is he going to escape without them noticing?” Regan demanded, fear thinning her voice.

  Geno shook his head. “I have no idea. He had me dump gas out around the shed while I grabbed the last fire extinguisher. He wants to make sure everything goes up in flames.”

  Regan’s mouth dropped open. “What if he can’t get away from them?”

  Geno shook his head. “He will.”

  Regan stood up in the rocking boat, her eyes focused on the small trail leading into the trees. With each flash of lightning, she strained her eyes, looking for Wolf’s outline. The wind and rain had calmed some, making for an easier sightline, but that wasn’t helping. Where was he?

  “There!” Regan cried out in relief, pointing to the shadowy figure coming down the trail.

  Her relief was short-lived when she realized it was one of the men coming their way. She heard the motor of the boat RC was in rev up then, and turned to look at what he was doing. Fred was pushing away
from the dock.

  “Where are you going?” she shouted.

  RC pointed to the trail and Regan saw another one of the men coming.

  “We have to go!” Geno shouted. “They’ll take the boats!”

  He used a long stick to shove the sailboat away from the dock. Tabitha already had one of the sails unfurled. With the wind grabbing at it, they were quickly being blown away from the dock.

  “Wait!” Regan shouted. “What about Wolf?”

  “We have to get out of here or they’ll take us all out!” Geno argued. “Go, go, go!”

  “I’m doing everything I can!” Tabitha shouted back.

  Regan stood at the back of the boat, watching the men rush onto the dock as they gained more separation. One of them raised their rifle to shoot, but decided against it. Regan stared helplessly at the smoke billowing into the sky as the island got further and further away. The island was burning. Her heart lurched in her chest as she struggled to see the path, willing Wolf to appear.

  Geno was beside her. “We’ll come back around. Wolf knows this island better than any of us. If there’s a way off, he’ll find it.”

  “How? We have the boats. There isn’t another way!”

  “His ex-wife got out here somehow. They must have a boat stashed somewhere on the island,” Geno reasoned.

  Regan shook her head, watching the island get smaller and smaller, the more they drifted into the rough seas. The flames cast an eerie, orange glow over the place they had called home for the past month.

  Somewhere in the smoke and flames was Wolf. Regan wondered if he was alive and still fighting, or if Virginia had killed him. She’d looked at him with such malice, it had been disturbing. The woman should have been locked up somewhere with padded walls. Maybe she had been, which would explain why Wolf had never talked about her.

  The sound of the boat engine coming across the water snapped Regan out of her thoughts. RC cut the engine as he moved in closer to the sailboat.

  “We’ll give him some time. He knows to get to the docks,” RC shouted across the short distance between the two boats.

  Lily was sitting on the back bench seat of the boat, her face stricken with grief and worry. Regan wrenched her eyes away from the girl, not letting herself think about how lost she looked—they’d get her father back, one way or another. She wouldn’t allow herself to think otherwise.