by J. Axbridge
Chapter 72 - Where Is She
Arthur
“Can anyone see anything?” Addie shouted over the racing motor.
“Not a thing sis, but it looks like we’re safe now,” I set my gun down and returned to the controls making sure the pre-programmed auto-navigation was still working and that we were on course to wherever it was my dad had programmed this boat to take us.
“That . . . that thing, why did it help?” Adelaide questioned herself, as the rest of us continued to stare back into the empty darkness making sure nothing was sneaking up on our boat. “We must go back and save it, that thing saved us. It’s only right.” Adelaide pleaded.
“No.” Ravot hissed, “If we go back they may kill us, I’m sorry young Adelaide, it’s unfortunate. Do not forget there are thousands of other vampires that can run on water and if they were to attack, I could not protect our group alone. For now, it is best we continue on and find the safe place your father spoke of. Remember, he gave his life for you five, he helped save the twins, he was a brave man that I will never forget and you’d do his memory no good in dying this day.”
“Speaking of safe places, where the hell is Mayumi?” I said, as a pang of guilt stabbed my gut before panic set in, “We totally forgot about her, holy shit Ravot . . . I agree we can’t go back for that ‘thing’ or for my dad’s body but for Mayumi, we must turn back, vampires or not. She is one of us!”
“I’m sorry young warrior, but we cannot go back for the Gushiken also. She will be safe on the small island where we left her tonight; the vampire’s do not know she’s there. It is well known she is a smart and strong Gushiken, she will survive, and I will go myself to fetch her in the daylight hours. I promise you!” The dragon’s eyes flickered with sincerity. “But first I must regroup with my fellow GuDra, we are scattered about and it’s not safe for us to be separated at this time.” Ravot hissed solemnly and I knew he shared our grief and worry. As our family that had promise to be whole only a day earlier, was now once again ripped apart at the seams.
Chapter 73 – Waiting
Mayumi
I sat in silence although I was a little excited; trying to patiently wait for the boat with the twins to arrive so I could execute my end of the plan. Not that I was overconfident with my abilities but I could not wait to take my shot at the menacing vampire after he was given the Book of Symbols. It was time to show him that we were not just a bunch of teenagers who could be pushed around by a bully. We were fighters and would never give up.
I was dug in deep on the small, sandy beach; only the top of my head could possibly be seen while I peered over a small pile of sand. Yet with such darkness I doubt even my head could be seen unless a light was shown directly on me and even then my black hair mixed in with the night effortlessly.
Far in the distance I began to hear screaming, and then gunfire rang out into the night continuing without pause. It was true, I was expecting some shooting but it sounded like an all out war had begun and I knew things were not going as planned. Peering tensely in the direction of the shore I could see nothing in the thick cover of night. As the minutes passed and the shots continued, worry crept into my mind until finally I heard the roar of a boat motor heading in my direction and I emitted a small sigh of relief as I steadied myself, preparing for the shot of a lifetime.
“At last,” I whispered, lifting my bow and arrow into position, my fingers itching to shoot as I began to visualize every aspect of the shot in my head.
“Wait, where are they going?” I uttered surprised, listening as I heard the boat veer off course and begin moving away from my position, the roar of the motor immediately fading instead of becoming louder.
After five minutes of near silence waiting, the sound of the boat motor gone and the shooting stopped, reality overcame me. They’d left me. . . Think Mayumi, you are a ‘Gushiken’ . . . calm down, relax and think. . . It must have been bad; they would not have left me here otherwise. I will be alright! I thought, pulling myself out of the tight hole I’d dug earlier and sat on the beach looking into the darkness, setting my bow by my side.
More time passed and still no one came for me, I was on my own once again and would have to figure my situation out alone as I had done before, during the showers. Sitting in thought about how quiet my world had suddenly became, I heard a large splash nearby and my senses heightened. Rolling onto my stomach instinctively, I crawled up a small hill and peered over in the direction of the noise. In the darkness I still could not see very well, so I reached over my bow and grabbed the gun with the night vision scope Mr. Allister had given me. I was just able to make out a figure crawling onto my little island clearly exhausted by the way they collapsed breathing heavily. Guess I’m not alone anymore. I thought.
I had to move quickly, I had the element of surprise on my side and whoever it was appeared extremely tired. I jumped up and ran over the small hill and shown my flashlight directly into the eyes of a ‘thing’, a grotesque looking thing and aimed my gun at its head. “Move one inch . . . and I will take your head off!” I ordered, not even knowing if this creature understood a word I spoke.
The silence was deafening and only broken by the creature’s labored breathing before it spoke. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” the thing said in as normal a human voice as mine, even sounding a bit elated rather than fearful of me. “Yu, are you still using that line?”
“What . . . Wait? This cannot be – you are dead! Addie said so!” I said confused, my gun still trained on the creature.
“No Yu, I’m very much alive!” Jax rolled flatly onto his back, the only recognizable feature on his face being his one shimmering blue eye that hadn’t been crushed from the toss off the cliff at the Elder’s cabin.
“JAX!” I yelled, and knelt beside him, lifting his head gently before hugging him tightly in the darkness, as he rested his weary hand on my leg.
Chapter 74 - The Mysterious Island
Adelaide
Our large boat raced on throughout the darkness and into dim daylight as we continued our journey to a secret destination our dad had preprogrammed into the boat’s navigation.
“Arthur, you do know we need to get back ASAP. Karayan killed our dad, and Mayumi, my best friend in the world, is stuck on that small island all alone. And that strange creature,” I thought out loud looking back in the direction we’d come from, “How did it swim so fast to catch up to Karayan? It’s not like it was a dolphin, it had legs. We saw it run through the city with our own eyes.”
“No need to wonder Addie,” Caelyn walked over to Victoria and sat down. “Victoria and I have been studying the Book of Symbols since we left shore as best we could in all the craziness. It says that when you ‘Save a fairy’s life’ you receive a magical symbol if the fairy is grateful. So that thing that saved us from Karayan back on the dock may have received two symbols since Vic and I are both very grateful for its action . . . That’s what we think anyway.”
“Swimming . . . it chose to swim fast, but what about the second symbol?” I looked at Caelyn for an answer.
“The other symbol, we don’t know, but that means it used its new powers to help save us when it could have chosen anything. . .”
Arthur looked away from the GPS he was studying to the three of us, “But why didn’t it come after our boat after taking Karayan down?”
“Well, we thought about that too and figured it was just like the two of us and you, it has to learn how to control its powers. It’s hard to turn them on and off until you know how to use them. Once the creature was sure we were safe or after it crashed into the water it probably lost control of the symbol’s power and couldn’t get it back.”
Just then our boat motor rapidly slowed with a jerk causing all of us to stumble forward latching onto anything to keep upright. Regaining our balance we ran to the front yet could see nothing until a large island magically appeared directly ahead of us in the morning mist, similar to when our house first appeared to Jax when we met h
im down our demolished street after the meteorite storm.
“This must be the safe place dad talked about, its way larger than I thought” Ethan said, looking around in his childlike wonder once again. “And look, we’re not the only ones coming here.” He pointed excitedly around us.
Ethan was right! Looking around, peering into the morning mist still floating on the water, we saw not only some of the boats that had escaped the city with us, but what looked like hundreds and possibly thousands of other boats of all shapes and sizes slowly appearing almost magically heading to the same large island from all directions. It was a scene out of a dream but this wasn’t a dream at all, this was our new reality, our new life, our new world, and for us and others like us, it was still a world we were willing to fight and die for.
Slowly our boat idled up to the end of a long dock where an Angelic-like figure stood alone in a white flowing gown waiting patiently with a smile.
“Took you long enough to get here Addie, I’ve been waiting for you to arrive for months. What held you up?”
“Sky. . .”
…To Be Continued
* Thank you for reading “A Time To Survive: Verge of Extinction – Book One,” and joining in the world ending adventure of the Allisters’, Jax Morgan, Mayumi Gushiken and friends. If you loved this book and have a minute to spare, I would really appreciate a short review on the page or site where you bought this book. Your opinion matters greatly to me and other avid book readers of YA Fiction Novels. You’ve taken time out of your busy life to read my book which hopefully you enjoyed and reviews from readers like you make a huge difference to helping new readers find stories similar to “Verge of Extinction – A Time To Survive.”
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J. Axbridge ([email protected])