Mega 6: No Man’s Island

by Jake Bible

  Personal survival came first and Kinsey had no problem with that.

  On she swam, her arms and legs tiring quickly. The past few days hadn’t been exactly restful and the fatigue was catching up to her right when she needed as much energy as she could get. But she didn’t slow down. She pushed her body to its limit then finally rolled over and started to float on her back so she could rest.

  Kinsey stared up at the clouds as the rain began. It was a warm rain. It was a heavy rain. Kinsey opened her mouth and let the drops sate some of her thirst.

  “We’ll never get a head count in the dark,” Lucy said as she floated up next to Kinsey. “Want me to get a verbal roll call?”

  “Yeah,” Kinsey said.

  Lucy started yelling names of the B3 crew members. Everyone except for Ronald, Boris, and Dr. Morganton replied.

  “Shit,” Kinsey said as Lucy called for Ronald, Boris, and Dr. Morganton again. “Lucy, stop. If they didn’t hear you the first time, then they won’t—”

  The water next to the women exploded and a dark shape came up sputtering and growling. Kinsey nearly punched the shape in the face, but realized in what little light there was that she was staring at three faces.

  “I found them,” Ronald gasped before vomiting a massive amount of water. “Oh, that feels horrible.”

  Boris and Dr. Morganton were turned onto their backs to float once they’d puked up their lungfuls of ocean water.

  “We need to strap everyone together,” Lucy said. “Otherwise, we’re going to drift apart in the dark.”

  “We do that and we become an easy target for the shark,” Kinsey said. In response, there was an explosion then the deafening sound of tearing metal.

  Everyone looked back at the ship and watched it split in two as one end was lifted high into the air. The explosions lasted a few seconds, giving everyone a hard look at the death and carnage that surrounded them.

  Corpses everywhere. Corpses that were bleeding and emptying themselves of bodily fluids. Corpses that were acting as beacons of food for the massive shark that none of them had yet to see. Kinsey knew that wouldn’t be for long. There was a giant shark mouth about to start gulping down bodies, alive or dead.

  “We swim,” Kinsey said and rolled back to her stomach and started paddling.

  “Kins, some of these people are hurt,” Lucy said as the light dimmed then went out, the source submerged. “They can’t swim.”

  “Then they don’t live,” Kinsey said. “Gunnar!”

  “Here!” Gunnar called back from a few meters to Kinsey’s right.

  “Good!” Kinsey said. “Everyone listen up! We keep swimming towards the island and we don’t stop unless we’re dead! That shark is going to catch up with us! That’s a fact! But some of us might make it if we can get close enough to land! If you want to live, you do not stop swimming!”

  Kinsey took her own advice and began paddling harder. She aimed her body in the direction of the island. She hoped. That was the major flaw in her orders. She honestly was not sure she was swimming towards the island. Her gut said she was, but for all she knew, she was leading everyone out into the open ocean.

  But no one argued with her direction, so she pushed her body to its limits and never stopped moving.

  ***

  Mordecai and the men with him had the advantage. They were heavily armed, had position as they came down the gangplank, and Grendel and the B3 crew were unarmed. Or at least didn’t have ammunition for their firearms.

  But Mordecai made a gross miscalculation when he and his people approached Thorne and his people. Mordecai simply forgot who he was dealing with. He’d been so happy to have avoided Darby’s wrath, that the sight of normal people made him beyond cocky. Trouble was, Grendel weren’t normal people.

  Knives flashed fast as soon as Mordecai’s team of sailors and deckhands were in striking reach. Blood splattered this way and that, arcing high into the air as arteries were slashed and veins severed.

  Gunfire erupted, but Thorne and his people were ready. They moved low and to the side, avoiding the hot slugs that went flying this way and that, and within seconds, they had either subdued or killed every man that had come down the gangplank.

  Mordecai Jones lay on the dock, a hand pressed to a wound in his abdomen, and stared up as Thorne stood over him.

  “You should have shot us when you had the higher position,” Thorne said. “Maybe Wire told you she wanted us alive, I don’t know, but you screwed up.”

  “I’m…seeing that,” Mordecai replied then gasped. He squeezed his eyes shut. “What now?”

  Thorne picked up a pistol from the dock and put a bullet between Mordecai’s eyes.

  “Not a damn thing you need to worry about,” Thorne said as more gunshots rang out. “We clear?”

  “Clear,” Shane called.

  “Clear,” Max agreed.

  “Clear,” Darren said.

  “Well, I caught one,” Lake said.

  Everyone looked about until they saw Lake seated on the dock, both hands pressed to his right thigh. He gave them a weak smile and his fear was evident.

  “Yeah, I think if I let go I’m going to die,” Lake said.

  Thorne pointed at Darren who scrambled to help Lake instantly. Then Thorne pointed at Max and Shane.

  “You two up for a sweep?” he asked. He groaned and closed his eyes.

  “Are you up for it, Uncle Vinny?” Max asked. “Shane and I can handle the sweep of the ship. Stay here and rest while—”

  “Fuck off, Maxwell,” Thorne snarled. “We do not have time for the luxury of me taking a nap.”

  “You sure?” Shane asked. “Old people like naps. I don’t have any Jell-O or graham crackers for when you wake up, so it won’t be a proper nap for a man your age. But you understand that our options are sort of limited.”

  Thorne stared at Shane. Then he burst out laughing. Max and Shane recoiled.

  “Oops,” Max said. “Bro, you triggered the Alzheimer’s.”

  “Fuck off,” Thorne said as he wiped at his eyes then nodded at the bodies on the dock. “Pick up some weapons and let’s get…out…of…”

  He trailed off as his eyes caught sight of a dim light far on the horizon. The Reynolds brothers followed his gaze and they watched the light until it faded away and was gone.

  “Kinsey,” Thorne said.

  “You think?” max asked.

  “Yes,” Thorne said.

  “Let’s sweep this ship,” Shane said. “Ditcher? Lake gonna live?”

  “I’ll live, asshead,” Lake snapped. “You just worry about killing all the fucks on that ship so I can get on the bridge and get us off this island.”

  “A born leader, that one,” Max said.

  “I will follow him to the ends of the earth,” Shane said.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Lake replied.

  “Come on,” Thorne said. “We sweep and clear then get out in the water and save your cousin.”

  “How do you know Sis is out there?” Shane asked.

  “Dude,” Max said. “If Uncle Vinny says Sis is out there, then Sis is out there.”

  “She’s out there and we’re going to find her,” Thorne snapped. “No room for failure.”

  “Hooyah,” Shane and Max said.

  Chapter Eighteen: Nut On The Run

  Darby had to admire the island that Wire had built for herself. Freedom of movement was seriously restricted due to the way the buildings were laid out and the fences that surrounded everything. The path she took was nothing more than a twisting, turning cattle chute.

  Or cattle shoot, considering the murderous nature of Darby’s target.

  “Hey, guess what?” Ballantine’s voice asked in her ear. “I can track your movement with that com piece. Isn’t that nice? I don’t feel so alone anymore.”

  Darby didn’t respond. She wasn’t about to give her position away by answering Ballantine’s rambling. Plus, she knew the man. He talked to hear his own voice more than to commun
icate with others.

  That thought hit her hard and she almost stopped walking. She knew the man. She did. The Darby of old was resurfacing inside her mind. Thoughts and feelings that had taken an almost permanent vacation came slowly home. There was still that split in her, like she wasn’t quite comfortable in her own skin, but the feeling of the “other” running the psychological show was nowhere near as powerful as it had been only a few days before.

  “I am trying to see if I can get a lock on Wire,” Ballantine continued. “The more I play with the console, the more I realize that Wire didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. This is standard tech used on most of the islands I’ve overseen.”

  Darby had to snort at that statement. Ballantine overseeing anything was like letting a toddler be in charge of a litter of puppies.

  “I doubt Wire would let herself be tracked on her own island, but you never know,” Ballantine said. “I might be able to trick the system and lock onto her cybernetic anatomy. If I can do that, then she’d pretty much have to strip herself down to her titanium-reinforced bones to hide from me. I’ll keep you posted.”

  Darby shook her head as she came to the corner of a building. She gripped the bullpup firmly and counted to three then ducked her head around the corner and brought it back just as fast. There was no gunfire. The corner of the building didn’t explode into splinters of metal and wood. If Wire had seen her, the woman had restrained herself and hadn’t opened fire.

  None of which helped Darby in any way, shape, or form. Wire could still be there, waiting. Waiting for Darby to feel confident enough to come around the corner right into a stream of bullets.

  Darby ducked her head around and back again.

  That time, the corner was torn apart by heavy-caliber bullets and Darby threw herself backwards and to the ground as a good foot of the corner disappeared into nothing. Darby could hear the belt gun whirring and the brass cartridges clinking onto the ground. Then the gunfire stopped and Darby waited.

  “You still breathing, bitch?” Wire called. “Or did I finally put down Ballantine’s favorite dog?”

  “I heard the gunfire from here,” Ballantine said over the com. “You good?”

  “Good,” Darby whispered.

  “What did you say?” Wire shouted. “Didn’t catch that! Did you say you give up? That would be the smart thing to do. Give up. Then we can get to what has needed getting to for so many years now.”

  Things clicked in Darby’s head.

  “She knows,” she whispered.

  “She knows what?” Ballantine asked.

  Darby stayed silent.

  “Oh, you mean she knows that you are the item,” Ballantine said. “Yes, I told her back on the ship when she was having her torture fun. Not in so many words, but my hints were obvious. She didn’t believe me. Then I reiterated that fact early this afternoon. Or evening. Time is flowing by. Hard to keep track. Still didn’t believe. I think she might now.”

  “Why?” Darby asked. “Why fucking tell her?”

  “I can hear you, Darby!” Wire said. “I figured out you were chatting with Ballantine so I dialed in the com. Hello, Ballantine!”

  “Well, hello to you too,” Ballantine responded. “So that everyone is up to speed, I was telling Darby that you are now aware she’s the item. Darby asked why I would do that and I was about to tell her.”

  “Yes, I know,” Wire snarled. “I just told you I dialed in the com. I heard all of the last part of your conversation.”

  “Lovely!” Ballantine exclaimed. “Then we are on the same page.”

  Silence. No one said anything.

  “Ballantine,” Wire growled. “Why do you sound fine with the fact that I know that Darby is the item? You realize that for me to get what I want, I’ll have to saw open her skull and slice into her brain to get that chip you had installed.”

  “Me installed? What?” Ballantine scoffed. “The chip was there when we found Darby. A feral animal in a cage was what I stumbled upon. So, with help from your late mother, we rebuilt Darby into the woman she is today.”

  “What? You never told me that part,” Darby gasped. “I have memories, Ballantine. Memories that are not your daughter’s. Memories that are mine and mine only.”

  “Oh, yes, you do,” Ballantine said. “And those are your actual memories. After some searching, and perhaps a little arm twisting then arm breaking followed by arm tearing off, I was able to ascertain where your persona was kept. We uploaded it and waited for your brain to sponge up the memories. It took a few weeks, but it did. That left the chip open for another set of memories. Another personality. You didn’t expect me to walk away from a chance like that, did you?”

  “That’s me in there, Darby,” Wire said. “The me before all of…this happened. I want that me back.”

  “Good to know you’re embracing your past,” Ballantine said. “But you’ll never get that part of you back, Wire. You’ve gone too far into Cuckootown. Kill Darby, take the chip, upload the memories. Won’t make one ounce of difference to who you are. It won’t save you from the way your mind is degrading. You gave up your humanity, Wire. Looking back on your childhood birthdays won’t get that back for you.”

  “Bullshit!” Wire shouted.

  Darby leapt to her feet, rounded the corner, and opened fire.

  Wire screamed as bullets hit her and she was thrown off her feet and knocked to the ground. Then she was up and running, lost in the ever-present shadows that filled the compound.

  “You turned your com on, Wire,” Ballantine said. “I can see you.”

  Darby sprinted to where Wire had dropped the belt gun. It was a massive weapon and if it wasn’t for Wire’s enhancements, the woman would have never been able to wield it. Darby stripped it of its ammunition belt and flung the ammo on top of the closest building. Then she took aim with her bullpup and fired, destroying the gun’s trigger mechanism.

  “She’s gone dark again,” Ballantine reported. “She turned off her com.”

  “I might do the same,” Darby said. “Getting real tired of you narrating my life.”

  “But I have such a great voice for narration, don’t you think?” Ballantine said. “I should look into recording audiobooks. It would be nice to have a hobby outside the business.”

  “Shut up,” Darby said as she slowly made her way to the next building, ducked and pulled back, then proceeded around the corner.

  There was a trail of blood to follow. It was barely perceptible, even with the compound’s lights on, but Darby caught sight of it and traced the trail to the edge of the compound. And the beginning of the fence line.

  A fence line that had a hole in it and was obviously no longer electrified.

  “I’m going into the bush,” Darby said. “She’s leading me off the compound.”

  “Careful,” Ballantine said. “If it was me, I’d lead you to an already pre-planned ambush spot. A spot that has plenty of armaments and excellent cover so even if you do survive the first attack, your counterattack won’t be very effective.”

  “Yes, Ballantine, I understand how this all works,” Darby said. “It’s why you kept me around.”

  “Darby, I’m offended,” Ballantine said. “I kept you around because of your warmth and kindness. And because you’re really my only friend. I can admit that. I may have burned a few bridges along the way, but you have always been there for me.”

  Darby paused at the hole in the fence. “Ballantine?”

  “Yes, Darby?”

  “We need to find you some new friends,” she said as she slipped through the hole and into the cover of the trees and the pitch blackness that spread away from the lit compound. “Friends that are just as fucked up as you.”

  “Oh, I don’t think we’ll ever find anyone like that,” Ballantine said. “Trust me. I’ve looked.”

  ***

  The ship was gone.

  The Fallback had sunk and all that was around the group, the group that was desperately swimming in the direct
ion they all hoped was where land would be, was open water. Survivors from the ship had found Kinsey and her group. Their numbers grew from a couple dozen to nearly a hundred.

  Kinsey had the distinct feeling that those numbers were going to drop significantly. And soon.

  “Kins?” Gunnar asked, his voice weak and exhausted. “We’ve been swimming for almost an hour. I don’t see land.”

  “It’s there,” Kinsey said. “I know it’s there. We have to keep going. We’ll find it.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know if I can keep going,” Gunnar said. There was the sound of gasping then choking and gagging. “Fuck. I’m not going to be able to keep my head above water much longer, Kins. Neither are the others. Look around. Our numbers are thinning. We’re losing folks to exhaustion.”

  “And what do you want me to do about it, Gun?” Kinsey shouted. Or tried to. She was so weak that her voice was only a harsh bark, not the bellowing vocal grenade she’d meant it to be. “What can I do? I don’t have a boat tucked up my twat that I can yank free and hand to everyone.”

  “That’s more graphic than I needed to hear,” Lucy said from the other side of Kinsey.

  “I’m not asking you to do anything, Kins,” Gunnar said. “Except maybe tell everyone they can stop and rest. Only for a few minutes. We float on our backs and recharge a little. Just a little. Enough so people can keep their heads above water.”

  “We stop, we die,” Kinsey stated.

  “Kins, I have to agree with Gunnar,” Lucy said. “We have to rest. Yes, sure, that may mean the shark catches us. But Jesus Christ, if that thing wants to eat us all there is nothing we can do to stop it. It’s either still messing with the Fallback underwater, it’s gone, or it’s playing with us.”

  “The latter,” Kinsey said. “It’s a Ballantine original. It’s playing with us.”

  “What we’re saying is it doesn’t matter if we keep swimming if we’re all going to die anyway,” Gunnar said. “We stop and rest and it gets us. That’s how it goes down. Or we don’t stop and eventually, we all drown from exhaustion. We die or we don’t, Kins.”

  “Fucking bunch of quitters,” Kinsey grumbled.