The Other Side (The Other Side Trilogy Book 1)

by Anna-Marie McIntyre

  “JUMP!!!” I yelled, with all the strength I could manage to put in my voice, hoping the others would get the message.

  Then, I pushed off the ground, and leaped off the cliff and towards the churning waves below.

  24

  Falling through the air, screaming a scream even I couldn’t hear, I only had a split second to consider that maybe it had been a terrible decision to jump. Then I hit the water.

  The waves pulled me under and I struggled to try and get out of the water, but it was pushing me in all directions. The water in the test had done nothing for me to prepare for it. This water was so strong; it was completely pointless to even try to swim. For a second I thought I was going to drown, but then I was thrown into the air above the waves. As I gasped for air, a wave slammed me in the face. Water still in my lungs, I was once more pulled under and I fought another hopeless battle against the waves. Again and again, I was thrown into the air and yanked back under, eventually concentrating on not getting water in my lungs, rather than thinking about getting air in my lungs. Then finally, I was hurled out of the river, and flung onto the hard ground.

  After that, everything was a blur. I remember trying to find Priscila and Kendall. Then someone (I think Vanissa) was pulling me away to some sort of hollow in the cliff-side. And I’m not sure if I fell asleep from exhaustion, or passed out from the pain of my shoulder combined with the water in my lungs, but after we made it to the cave, everything sort of faded away.

  When I awoke, it was early morning, and Vanissa was outside the cave, cooking something over a fire, that I honestly didn’t know how she'd started with everything as wet as it was. The others, except for Owen and Livia, were all lying in various places around the cave and looked like they might sleep for a while.

  I got up and walked out of the cave and over to Vanissa. Then I looked at the thing she was cooking and frowned.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a fish,” she said.

  “Oh.”

  “What, you don’t like fresh fish?” she asked, pretending to be surprised.

  “I do. But I’m not sure that is fresh fish.”

  “It is. I caught it in the river.”

  “Where did you really get it?”

  “I found it after the storm, lying dead on the bank. It had some sort of gash in it, but I cut that part off of it.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” I said. “Do you actually think that thing is not going to give us some disease?”

  “Are you actually not going to eat it, when it might be our only food for days?”

  I smiled. “Where are Owen and Livia?”

  “Over there,” she said, pointing downstream. “They went to try and find something to carry water in. But I’m not sure if we should even drink it. It would be awful if we made it through that tornado only to die from contaminated water.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But, I think we should drink at least a little now, so we don’t get dehydrated.”

  So once everyone was up, we divided up the fish and each drank a little bit of river-water. Everyone seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood and no one even mentioned that the fish tasted like it had been rotting for days. I thought it tasted absolutely disgusting, but I didn’t say anything. After all, if I didn’t eat it, then I’d probably regret it later on when we couldn’t find any food or water.

  “Do you think we’ll make it to the Dread Domain today?” Kendall asked, as he bit into the fish, without giving it a second thought.

  “Well,” said Vanissa. “There’s really no telling how big each Domain is. But I don’t think we have much farther to go. Because The Island Program really wouldn’t have much reason to make the Domains very big. As long as they could make them seem big on camera. So yes, I do think we’ll reach the Dread Domain today.”

  “So you think it’ll take us less than a day to get through each Domain?” said Owen quizzically.

  “I think it’ll take longer as we get further into The Other Side,” said Vanissa. “The Risk Domain might take longer. And I know the Horror Domain is going to be the hardest, but I’m not sure if that will necessarily mean it takes longer.

  “Why are we worrying about how long it will take to get through The Other Side?” Livia said. “If you ask me we should be worrying about just getting through The Other Side.”

  “I think what they’re getting at, is that how long it takes could decide whether or not we make it,” I said. “Eventually, The Island Program will fix the controls for The Other Side. And if they do before we make it out then we’ll be dead in seconds.”

  “I don’t know if—” Livia began. But she didn’t get to finish, because, just then, we heard a scream that came from just above us.

  “Hide!” Vanissa hissed, diving back into the cave.

  We all ducked into the cave and remained motionless. I heard some voices and then another scream. Then I saw four figures falling from above and landing in the river. For a moment everything was still, as they were drug under. But since the water was much calmer that day, they almost immediately surfaced. Then one of them, a girl who I thought I recognized, looked right at us.

  “Don’t look back!!!” she yelled. “You can’t look at them!”

  “What? What do you mean?” Vanissa shouted back.

  “They’ll kill you! Don’t look at them!" The girl yelled, as she made her way to the other side of the river. If you make eye contact you’ll die!!!”

  “Look at what?” But the girl didn’t get a chance to answer, because just then, a huge shadow appeared over us.

  I didn’t hesitate; springing to my feet, I sprinted across the beach, the others following close behind. I plunged into the river and began to swim, calling for the girl to wait for us. Once on shore, I ran as hard as I could with the water weighing me down, until I was right next to the girl and her companions.

  “What is it?” I asked, breathing heavily. “What’s chasing us?”

  “It’s these things,” she said, out of breath, as we ran. “I only ever saw them out of the corner of my eye. They’re tiny…like bugs. They’ve got some kind of stinger that sends…poison I think?—to your heart. On the way it…sort of eats away at your flesh. I…I think they’re trying to kill us anyway, but if you make eye contact…it’s like they’re hooked to you. You can’t escape then.”

  "A creaticall," I murmured. "It's one of the things that Challan said people call

  My friends had now caught up, and that was when I realized, who the beat-up girl in front of me, who looked like she’d been running for days without anything to eat was— Every! With Every, were a boy and a girl (two of the fifteen-year-olds that had been in the ‘council’ back on the island) and another girl I didn’t recognize, who looked about nine or ten.

  We kept running as hard as we could manage for about ten minutes, without any problems. But when we’d reached an especially rocky area, scattered with huge boulders, I heard a shrill high-pitched scream calling our names— and it sounded human! I forced myself to keep facing forward. But the fifteen-year-old girl with blond hair and brown eyes, whose name was Lenna, whirled around, as if to answer the cry—then something horrible happened.

  A tiny creature that looked exactly like a wasp—except for the fact that it was blood red and had an unnaturally long stinger—flew towards Lenna. She shrieked and tried to run, but it was too fast and it shot forward; piercing its stinger into her shoulder! She staggered forward and fell to the ground, screaming and gasping for air.

  “Lenna!!!” Every cried.

  The boy rushed forward and knelt down by Lenna, trying desperately to find a way to stop the poison.

  Lenna’s flesh was turning red from the poison and it was spreading through her body towards her heart. Then it became brighter and brighter, until it was literally ripping through her skin, as if burning it away. It was like there was something under her skin, eating away at her flesh from the inside. She was shaking and moaning, no longer able to scre
am. She coughed out blood. Then the poison reached her heart and she lay still.

  “We have to run!!!” Vanissa yelled.

  I felt a great feeling of relief at being able to turn away from the horrific sight before me. But as we ran away, I glanced back once at the grotesque, mutilated form covered in blood, which was Lenna’s body. She’d been so pretty back on the island and in only seconds—she’d turned into something unrecognizable. And only a single one of the tiny things had done it to her—there were thousands of them right behind us.

  Since we couldn’t look back, the only thing we had that let us know how close the things were getting was an odd buzzing sound that almost seemed to vibrate.

  After running for while more I was beginning to feel extremely hot. I remembered what Vanissa had said about it getting scorching hot during the day and thought that if this was what it was like in the morning it must get ten times worse in the afternoon. How would be make it? We’d surely get heat stroke if it got any worse than it already was. I felt like I’d pass out if I kept running much longer. And the further we ran, the closer the things seemed to be getting.

  As we ran farther and harder, it became clear to me no one could go much farther. I could see sweat dripping down everyone’s faces and my own vision was growing shaky in the desert sun. I could see Vanissa’s hands trembling, Kendall’s face was unnaturally bright red, and everyone was struggling to get enough air.

  Just then the ground began to tremble. At least, I thought it did. Or could I have already been so bad-off that I was imagining it? But I don’t think I imagined it because soon everyone was looking at the ground as they ran, sometimes tripping and nearly falling.

  Then, just as I was about to look back up I tripped on something and fell down a steep hill that I hadn’t seen before. Tumbling down it, I saw the others all falling as well. I banged into someone and I heard someone else yell something I couldn’t make out. Then I rolled to a stop and dizzily lifted my now throbbing head. I could see a wide river on one side of me and the steep hill I’d just rolled down on the other. And that was when I saw Kendall a few feet away from me, backing up and trying to get to his feet, as one of the red wasp-like creatures sped towards him!

  I got to my feet, still feeling shaky and dizzy and tried to run towards Kendall. Kendall had just managed to get to his own feet and was about to turn and run, when the thing shot forward, plunging its stinger into his ankle!

  25

  “Kendall!!!” I screamed, getting up and stumbling towards him.

  The thing had stung his leg, just between his knee and ankle. I was horror-stricken. I realized Kendall was going to die.

  But before I could reach him, the nine-year-old girl sprinted over, holding a knife! For a moment, time seemed to slow down and the rest of the world faded as I realized what she was about to do. Then an expression of dismay came over my face and I screamed for her to stop. But when I tried to run at her, someone grabbed my arm and held me back.

  “Let go of me!!!” I screamed, struggling to free my arm from their grip. But they were too strong, so I just kept screaming at the girl to stop. But she ignored my screams. And, instead, without a moment’s hesitation, she raised the knife and plunged it into Kendall’s leg!

  He screamed in pain and all around me, my friends yelled for her to stop. She dug the knife into his skin and under the red lines from the poison. I felt as if I was going to be ill, my vision was flashing and I simply couldn’t believe the horrific sight before me was real. The girl yanked upward with my knife digging out the poison and all the flesh around it. Blood was gushing from his ankle and half his leg was now covered in mutilated, torn-up flesh. Kendall’s eyes rolled back and his head fell to the side. (I guess, really, it was a good thing he passed out.) I was still screaming for her to stop and it wasn’t until the girl ripped off part of her jacket she was carrying and tied it tightly around Kendall’s leg, that I finally realized what she had done and stopped struggling. Because I realized, that this little girl had just saved my brother’s life.

  I didn’t even have time to recover from shock or think over what had just happened, because Vanissa was yelling for everyone to cross the river.

  As it turned out, the river was shallow and we didn’t even have to swim. The fifteen-year old-boy picked up Kendall and carried him across the river, as if he weighed next to nothing, and none of the others seemed to have any trouble getting across. I on the other hand, felt like I’d fall over into the water at any moment and drown. This was new for me, because usually I had such good balance. But, somehow I managed to splash across the river without toppling over.

  On the other side of the river, was a completely different landscape and I realized it must be the Dread Domain. The ground was softer and covered in soft purplish plants and grass. There were clumps of tall trees all around. A rocky slope with hollows and caves cut into it, in various places was just in front of us, leading to higher land, just like back in the Danger Domain. It already felt much colder and, at first I liked the new scenery, but I knew that soon, when its threats appeared, I’d grow to hate it just like in Danger.

  Fifteen minutes later, we had once more begun our journey. Kendall could now walk, but only with help.

  I’d found out from Every, that she and her friends had all been taken together and thrown into The Other Side. I’d told her what had happened to us, how we’d figured out about The Island Program putting us in The Other Side just to give people hope, how they would then kill us and how The Other Side was no longer controlled by them so we had a chance of getting through. She hadn’t seemed very surprised when I told her that, but I guess maybe she’d been suspecting something similar herself.

  “How did they capture you, to take you to The Other Side, without anyone seeing?” I’d asked her.

  “Well,” she’d said, “early yesterday evening, I was walking back to my room after dinner. I was going to Lenna’s room, because I hadn’t seen her at dinner. Everything seemed quiet…too quiet. There wasn’t even anyone else in the hallway.

  "When I got to Lenna’s room, I knocked on the door, but she didn’t answer. I knocked again and again. When she still didn’t answer I began to get worried. So, I opened the door and ran into the room. But she wasn’t there. I was so shocked, I just stood there for a moment, trying to think of a place she might be.

  "Then I felt someone come up behind me and the cold needle of a syringe sunk into my neck. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the hard ground in The Other Side and my friends were next to me.”

  Every’s story was chilling, and I knew the same thing would have happened to me if I hadn’t figured out what was going on in time. Maybe I’d already even be dead if I hadn’t found out.

  For hours, we walked in the cold wind, and all the time there was the same voice in my head; calling out to me. No one really had much to say. I guess we could get introduced to the new people, but I don’t think any of my friends really cared to. They probably just thought since they knew Every and trusted her; there really wasn’t much reason to get to know the other two with her. I however, thought differently. That little girl had saved Kendall’s life and all three of them had survived this long. Together, we could be a great team and have a chance of making it out of The Other Side. But, if we went on like this, practically ignoring each other, we might end up distrusting each other, which could eventually lead to a disaster. But, then again, Every might have told her friends to trust us, because they’d both already demonstrated that they cared somewhat about what happened to us. After all, when that girl had helped Kendall, she’d taken a risk on those creatures catching up to us. I just couldn’t figure out why she would do that if she didn’t even know us.

  For the first time, I really looked at her. She had dark brown hair and matching eyes. Her features were sharp, her eyebrows well-defined against her pale, but slightly darker than mine, skin. She seemed somewhat…fierce, but like maybe she could also be nice. So, as I kept walking, I found myse
lf glancing over at her a lot, as if that would help me find out anything about her.

  The other boy that was with Every’s group had reddish brown hair and bright green eyes. He was tall and thin, but Owen was still the tallest in our group.

  Sometime around four o’clock that afternoon, I heard what sounded like thunder. I looked up to see dark black and purple clouds gathering above, at an unnaturally quick speed. I heard the sound again and this time stopped. Looking up again, I suddenly felt dizzy and experienced the feeling that the sky was falling. Then in a split second it was over. I don’t know why, but a horrible feeling passed over me then. It was like nausea, and fear, and a sense of wanting time to stop; it was like dread.

  And that’s when I knew something was wrong. But it wasn’t wrong in the same way it had been in the Danger Domain. It wasn’t like I was running from something and failing to keep ahead. It was like I was hiding from something and whatever I was hiding from was about to find me.

  “Did you all hear that?” I said.

  “I did,” said Vanissa. “It sounded like thunder.”

  “But that’s not a big deal, right?” said Every. “I mean we’ve been in hundreds of thunderstorms.”

  “Well, did you not see that tornado yesterday?” I said.

  “What tornado?”

  “Oh, never mind. But, I think we should get out of here. Look at those clouds.”

  Every‘s head turned toward the thick clouds above. And just in time, too. Because just then, they literally began to fall from the sky!

  As they fell, some of the clouds in the middle separated, leaving a perfect, clear circle right above our heads. I began to feel dizzy and lightheaded watching the clouds plummet towards us. All around, the others were screaming and covering their heads with their arms, as if it would shield them from the clouds. But I didn’t scream or make an attempt to shield myself. I was too petrified to move. So I just stood there, unable to pull my gaze away from the falling sky.