《The Island》


 Chp 1 - Arrival

    I woke in white sand and warm sun. My legs were halfway in the water. It was cool and nice, a contrast to how I felt which was exhausted, hungover, sicker than I''d ever been.


    Little wavelets broke over my feet and shins. It took a while just to push myself up. The beach was a long strip of glare out to either side. The sea a glassy, azure plain. It was beautiful. But I¡¯d never been anywhere like this in my life. Had I? I couldn¡¯t seem to recall... anything really. Nothing specific anyway, just a blur of cars and city streets, of working late and studying hard. What was my thesis? How could I forget it?


    This was paradise. The sea. The sand. Everything felt new to me, but there was something wrong with the light, with the horizon, with the sounds, even with the smell. Not wrong in a bad way, you understand, just different to how I felt it should be. People say you can¡¯t see the Earth''s curve, but trust me, you notice when it''s gone.


    The air didn¡¯t smell of salt. When another little wavelet broke I caught up some of the water in my palm and sipped it to confirm. This ¡®sea¡¯ was fresh. It tasted so clean and sweet that it made me realise just how thirsty I was. I staggered a few steps until I was waist deep and dunked my head right right in.


    The next little wave broke over my neck and shoulders. It felt so good. Some of the nausea and the throbbing confusion started to recede. The sea''s embrace was so cool and inviting that I wanted to dive deeper. But when I opened my eyes I got a blurry impression that the bottom dropped away very quickly from the shore. A large shadow circled in the depths and I jerked back. I splashed out of the water into the light, air, and dry sand.


    There were other people scattered across the beach. There were palm trees and jungle slopes beyond. Six other people, all of them white. The pang I felt on noticing that made me look down, but I was relieved to find that my skin was brown.


    ¡°Thank fuck!¡± I thought, and then. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m racist?¡±


    One of the whiteys came stumbling over, a middle aged lady, fairly broad. She had the slacks, blouse, and professional expression of concern that I associated with teachers back when I was in school.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± she asked me, coming closer.


    Her accent was broad as well, but it felt natural. It felt the same as mine. I just... didn''t know where it was from.


    That clutch at mental emptiness folded me. Panic drove out my air. How the fuck could I not know that? You should know where you''re from right? I¡¯d been aware of lapses, but this was like putting your foot through a missing step, or groping for a light switch and not even finding the wall. So much that I should have known was missing from my head. All the most important stuff was gone.


    ¡°You right darling?¡±


    The lady stopped just outside arm¡¯s reach, hesitating like she wanted to move in closer. Gasping I waved her off.


    ¡°Yeah. Nah. Yeah, I will be.¡±


    She waited for me. For some reason it was my clothes that helped me get it together. Tee shirt, board shorts, skate shoes. That felt right. It should be... Saturday night. I should be... on my way home from a shift. But what store? Where? Who? It hurt to even think about it.


    ¡°Took me a while too,¡± she said understandingly. ¡°Something very weird is going on.¡±


    ¡°I bet.¡±


    ¡°Do you know your name?¡± she asked after I''d taken a few more big breaths.


    ¡°Tumai,¡± I told her. It took some hard thought to get it. I forced myself to leave the rest and straighten up.


    ¡°Tommy,¡± she said smiling. ¡°Good to meet ya. My name¡¯s Jan. I... can¡¯t remember the rest of it.¡±


    She offered me her hand. I tried to smile back and shook without correcting her mistake. Part of the reason was that her getting it wrong irritated me, and that little spurt felt so familiar that it was actually comforting just then. If people stuffed up my name often enough that it gave me the shits then I must be a real person. A real person with a real history, just one I couldn¡¯t reach.


    The other part of the reason was that Jan¡¯s smile was shaky. Her hand was cold and clammy in my grip.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to meet you,¡± I told her. ¡°Have you talked to any of the others?¡±


    ¡°A couple,¡± she said. ¡°We should go meet the rest.¡±


    So I followed Jan away from the water and up into soft sand.


    The others turned out to be three men and two women. We came across Eric first, a florid faced man with a big beer gut sitting in the middle of the beach in his boots, work shorts, work shirt, and a high vis vest. He looked like he was getting on in years but he must have been just as racist as me because the first thing he did as we approached was spit.


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    ¡°Who brought the runt?" he asked with twist to his mouth. "He¡¯ll be fucking useless.¡±


    Jan introduced us both, seemingly undaunted. Eric gave me a nod without getting up, but the other men weren''t as rough. Andy and Ryan both seemed like business types with starched shirts, ties, slacks, and leather shoes. Both of them were taller and older than I was, but still what I¡¯d call young.


    Andy looked only a few years older than me, late twenties at a guess. I thought he must have been in sales. You could tell from the way he smiled as we shook. He eyes though seemed a bit too wide and a bit too wild. He was freaking out as well.


    Ryan was one of those people who make a hand shake into a competition. He had at least a decade on Andy and me and was much richer, I''m guessing. His clothes looked well cut. He carried a suit folded over one arm and must have been much better at covering how he really felt because his smile seemed genuine. His eyes were assessing.


    Jan introduced herself and me to the other two women next.


    Vanessa was intimidatingly beautiful, elegant even. Somewhere between Andy and Ryan in age she was very fashionably dressed. She had the demeanour, and makeup, of someone for whom beauty was a part of their job. Despite being barefoot with her high heels in one hand she seemed very composed, very well put together. I couldn''t really tell if she was freaking out at all.


    Chloe was younger, maybe twenty? She wore that expensive kind of active wear and declined to shake my hand. Out of all the others she was the only one who wasn¡¯t completely white bread, with long dark hair, dark eyes, and a caramel tan. The look she gave me though made it clear that she thought herself far above my kind. I knew we were all out of sorts just them but it hurt more than I would have liked.


    They all called me Tom, of course, or Tommy. Jan¡¯s introductions sealed that. For a while we just stood around on the beach asking each other questions that none of us could answer. The idea of kidnapping came up, the drug trade, some kind of sick game, a survival bout, or a battle royale. None of us could remember what hell had happened. There seemed no reason for it. None of us could remember anything important at all really. Generalities yes, but nothing specific, no last names, no addresses, no friends or family faces.


    Chloe started crying first. But I wasn¡¯t far from it myself.


    ¡°I just wanna go home!¡±


    She sank down to the sand in her expensive sports shoes with her hands up over her face. Jan and Vanessa rushed to comfort her, Ryan and Andy to reassure. They almost competed with each other to explain how everything would be alright. The seven of us could pull together. We just needed keep calm and stay together until rescue came for us. The police or the government or someone would sort it all out.


    I wasn¡¯t quite so sure.


    Looking away I saw Eric. He sat staring at the ocean. All the bluster had left his face. He looked old and very pale, almost green beneath his grizzle. We locked eyes for a second and I knew he felt the same. Turning I staggered away. I needed a walk. I needed to get away from so much loud and social talking.


    It was definitely not a game show. There were no camera crews, no drones, nothing of the sort. The beach stretched empty before me for at least a kilometer toward a headland in the... east. Yes east, the sun was rising from that direction. Behind me the beach stretched even further, a long, pristine strip of white curved around a deep bay to another headland across the water.


    Another world.


    The thought kept bubbling up. I stared over the bay at the green clad slopes of the far shore. Palm trees and pandanus on the foredune, but behind them it looked like jungle hills.


    Were all of those plants from Earth? I couldn¡¯t make out the trees clearly but that forest looked lush and primal. Where there any countries with beaches that had both pandanus and whatever kind of palm this was? Maybe somewhere in Africa? Sri Lanka? The Caribbean? It was somewhere with coral sand.


    The strength left my knees and I sank. It wasn''t any of those places, but how the fuck could I remember all of them and not the country that I came from? Not my family and friends? Someone, or something, had deliberately removed information from my head. The important information. My family and friends. They''d done it while I was unconscious, probably without my consent. It felt bad, realising that, really bad, so bad that it almost made me want to quit.


    For a while I sat alone on the dune with my head in my hands wondering who the fuck, and why the fuck, and whether they¡¯d do it again. That¡¯s what was worst about it. The fear that someone might just put me under again and I''d wake up somewhere else. If they could wipe my fucking memories then they could do this to me whenever they wanted. This might be all I ever did.


    Now of course I know that''s not how it worked at all. Plenty of other evils existed but Arrival was its own thing and not so easily repeated. Back then on the beach however, newly woken, ignorant, it really fucking threw me. It made everything feel useless. It made me physically ill.


    I sat for a long time. Gradually the warmth of the sun drew my attention and I watched its shadow creep under my legs. It was shining down at a slight angle from out over the water. I realised without intending to that that meant it had a southern bias. It felt like I was used to the sun passing north of overhead.


    For some reason that thought lifted up my spirits.


    "Fuck you," I thought, lifting a finger to whoever had sent me. "I can work it it out from what''s left."


    The beach was beautiful. The jungle dark and a little bit scary. The sea was paradise. It stretched with barely a ripple out into the distance, to that horizon which looked so wrong. Like a line drawn. Like the end of existence. Like only the Island behind me was real.


    Another world.


    It was the horizon that convinced me. This was not Earth. The supernatural was real. There were a heap of other differences but this was not a show, or a prank. Rescue was not coming. We had the air, the wind, and the waves. We had water. We had shade. I did not know how cold it would get but it felt tropical enough right now that I thought it might not be too bad at night.


    Eventually we would need food. We would need something to cook it on. I remembered that shadow in the depths and thought we might need something to defend ourselves as well. Back down the beach the others were still clustered. It looked like their conversation had become more argument than talk.


    I didn¡¯t want to rejoin them yet. Being young and stupid I didn¡¯t give my own safety any thought. I didn¡¯t think that I should tell someone what I was doing, where I was going. I just pushed myself to my feet and started climbing up the foredune.


    I thought I might take a little bit more of a walk.

 Chp 2 - Exploration

    I might have already mentioned this but pandanus and palm trees grew all along the top of the beach. There was also the occasional clump of dune grass and patches of some kind of small leaved vine. It all looked familiar, but I didn¡¯t know if any of it could be eaten.


    None of the pandanus had any fruit, but I did find a couple of palms which bore long clusters of orange brown drupes. Each individual drupe was about the length of my thumb. They had an ovoid shape with an almost scale like skin. There was a little bit of give when I gave one a squish. They might have been edible or they might not. There was a lot of pith and torn husks around the palm tree''s base so I guessed that something had been into them, but I didn''t have the guts to try one for myself. Not yet. I resolved to remember where these palms were and moved on.


    Beyond the foredune there were a couple of smaller dunes before the jungle proper began. These sandy valleys were choked with pandanus, and palm trees, and cycads. They cycads were big prehistoric looking things with spongy trunks and massive fans of foliage, deep green and spiky at the ends. I knew better than to look for fruit on these. I was pretty sure they would all be poisonous, something about cyanide or arsenic or some kind of heavy metal. I was a bit worried about even getting jabbed by the one, but if I wanted to get to the jungle I would have to pass through the trough.


    Eyes wide open for snakes I picked my way carefully in, thankful for my shoes among all the fallen fronds. It was quiet behind the foredune. Really quiet. One of the things that had been bugging me finally sank in. There were no birds. No bird song. No seagulls screeching, no finches chirping, no birds at all, just the sound leaves rustling in the breeze. It felt kind of spooky.


    Picking my way through the clumps of palm and cycad almost got me lost. They were way over my head, a green maze of spikes and spreading foliage. I would have given a lot for a decent stick to push things back. Eventually though I stepped from sand onto a slope of rich, red volcanic loam covered in a litter of normal leaves. I climbed into a new kind of quiet, a new kind of still, caused by a canopy far over head. The light dimmed to a kind of diffuse green and by the time I''d climbed a few meters in it was at least a couple of degrees cooler.


    The palms disappeared entirely, and the distance between cycads opened right out, giving way now to the trunks of true forest giants, and the occasional tree fern with delicate curling fronds. The first real tree I came to looked almost like a strangler fig. It had buttress roots almost as tall as I was, a massive trunk, and broad spreading branches. I didn¡¯t see any fruit. I could have climbed up for a better look. There were plenty of gaps for hands and feet but anything could have been living in those and I didn¡¯t want to risk it. I pushed further up slope.


    Most of the real trees were some kind of grey skinned hardwood. These had a moderate sized buttress and very column like trunks which went way, way up overhead before spreading into the glorious canopy. It was kind of intimidating really. The beach had felt almost normal but the jungle made me feel small. It occurred to me that I think I came from the city. I didn¡¯t really know what I was doing, and I¡¯d come quite a way from the others.


    But I didn¡¯t have anything to show for my efforts yet, so I searched around that forest slope for just a little bit longer, collecting a bundle of fallen sticks. Pretty soon I came across a big fallen branch which must have split off from the tree above. It was too big for me to shift on my own, half buried in leaf litter, and covered in moss and fungus, but I thought I might be able to break some decent pieces from the smaller end.


    The crack when I put my foot to it seemed very loud in the forest. I almost fell on my arse, then froze as it was echoed by a call I¡¯d never heard.


    ¡°Rrrrrrrrrk!¡±


    For a long time I didn¡¯t move, didn¡¯t dare breath, as with eyes alone I searched here and there up the slope for whatever could have screeched. That was not the sound of any animal I knew from Earth, but I couldn''t see anything, only ferns and trunks, leaf litter and dark rocks, no creature of any kind.


    ¡°Chak Chak!¡± came from higher in the forest.


    Then the sound of something heavy moving off.


    Very slowly and very carefully I gathered up my sticks, trying to breath as quietly as I could. One step after another I crept back down that slope. Realising as I retreated. I¡¯d heard no insects, no cicadas, no frogs, no small creatures of any kind since we¡¯d woken in the morning.


    My trip back through the thicket was significantly quicker. I got spiked by cycads a couple of times but by then I didn¡¯t give a fuck. I knew I wouldn''t feel truly safe until I was on the other side and back in open air.


    I spotted Jan and Eric almost immediately. They were sitting on top of the foredune a little way from where I came out, under the shade of a couple of palms. Panting a bit I stumbled up to them and dropped my pile of wood.


    ¡°Holy shit!¡± said Eric looking up. ¡°You might be worth more than I thought!¡±


    He sounded a lot less angry and lot more amenable to talking. I almost read apology in his face so I grinned.


    ¡°Yeah I ain¡¯t going back though. Not on me own. There¡¯s some kind of creatures in the woods.¡±


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    Both Eric and Jan grimaced. They exchanged a look as if they weren¡¯t really surprised.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come with you in a bit,¡± Eric promised. ¡°We can bring the boys, but we gotta let them get that out of their system first.¡±


    He jerked his chin toward the middle of the beach where the younger four were clustered. Ryan and Andy were digging a hole in the sand, with their hands, under the full midday sun. It was a big hole. They¡¯d both half disappeared into it. Chloe and Vanessa stood watching them. They seemed to be either arguing with them or cheering them on. It was kind of hard to tell.


    ¡°What the fuck are they doing?¡± I asked, honestly confused.


    Eric just shook his head.


    ¡°They are digging a well,¡± Jan said, speaking slowly and enunciating each word so carefully that I had a fair idea what she thought of it.


    ¡°But the sea''s fresh,¡± I said.


    ¡°Mmmhm,¡± Jan said. ¡°Eric and I have had a nice big drink from it. But both the young men insist that all fresh water should first be filtered through the sand.¡±


    ¡°Bloody hell,¡± I said. ¡°None of them have drunk anything?¡±


    ¡°Vanessa had a water bottle in her purse,¡± Jan admitted. ¡°They shared it just after they started.¡±


    I settled down next to the older two at the top of the foredune. I don¡¯t know if the men below were competing for the women¡¯s attention but all of them looked sunburnt. Andy in particular was going cherry red. I guessed he was the kind of guy who got most of his exercise in a gym.


    ¡°You don''t wanna stop them?¡± Eric asked.


    I shook my head, ¡°Fuck no! They wouldn¡¯t listen to me.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Sometimes you¡¯ve just gotta let people wreck themselves before they¡¯ll listen to anyone.¡±


    We watched the others for a bit. Vanessa at least looked like she was helping, kneeling in her pencil skirt to scoop back some of the sand as the two men threw it out of the hole. Chloe, still talking, looked like she was getting very frustrated. She started waving her hands and shouting. I couldn¡¯t make out every word but ''fuckwit'' was in there a lot.


    ¡°How far down they gonna dig?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well,¡± drawled Eric. ¡°Given how far up in the dry sand they started... Maybe two meters? Bit more? Should be halfway done.¡±


    ¡°Bloody hell,¡± I muttered again. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of work.¡±


    We watched from the shade of the palms as more sand came flying out. Chloe threw up her hands and stomped away toward the water. Vanessa followed her. Jan laughed as that made Ryan and Andy pop up out of their hole like gophers. Eric and I exchanged a grin as Chloe waded knee deep into the little waves to get herself a drink.


    Then she screamed. Something dragged her in.


    It was like getting electrocuted. I grabbed the biggest stick and sprinted down that foredune as hard as I fucking could. The sand was loose and it wasn¡¯t just the width of the beach between me and Chloe, we were up from them as well. I wasn¡¯t going to get there in time. She''d be pulled right out and under. The sick certainty beat inside me. It drove me to run harder. I¡¯d seen those shadows and I hadn¡¯t told anyone. I hadn''t warned them that there was something lurking in the depths.


    Vanessa got there first. Her fancy clothes hindered her a bit but she grabbed hold of Chloe¡¯s arm and shoulder and she hauled. The younger woman managed to get her feet under her and together they¡¯d dragged her attacker back up into the shallows by the time I got to them.


    It was some kind of silvery lizard-fish thing with a big, broad, flat head clamped over Chloe¡¯s lower leg. At the time it looked fucking huge but it was only really a bit over a meter long, and flat too. It wouldn¡¯t have weighed much more than the average dog.


    I skipped through shallows around the women¡¯s reaching hands and swung down on that monster as hard as I fucking could. My stick broke. I flung myself after it, trying to wrestle the creature away from Chloe¡¯s leg.


    I got a bunch of spines in my forearm for my troubles but discovered that I¡¯m not the kind who backs off from pain. The thing had big bony scales like an ancient fish. I tried prying its mouth open but my fingers slid. One hooked into an eye socket and I gouged as hard as I could. That made it hiss and thrash. It tried to snap onto my arm. Vanessa and Chloe lurched away, suddenly free.


    For a moment me and the fish-lizard thing wrestled in the water. It was trying to bite me and I was trying to get a grip. It was surprisingly strong. I got spiked again and discovered that it¡¯s fin-feet things had little claws, but I managed to get one hand round a hind leg and the other round its lobed tail. I got my feet under me. lifted that thing, and swung it bodily into the beach.


    Once, twice, three times I smashed it onto wet sand. Still it writhed and snapped.


    ¡°Get out of the way kid!¡±


    Ryan thundered in, spearing the creature right through the head with a piece of driftwood. He almost speared me with it. I was still holding onto the monster when it died and something rose beneath my touch, a vital spark, an unseen glimmer. On instinct I opened to receive it. I swallowed it down.


    I Devoured the creature¡¯s soul, or a fragment of it anyway.


    Sky spun. Water rushed. I fell, sick and dizzy. So much was changing in me that I was unable to keep my feet. The silvery little mote I¡¯d taken settled down through my consciousness, drifting ever deeper like the scale of a fish. It was echoed by the sea beneath my unconscious dreams.


    Fever took me. The Island spun. Senses unfurled beneath my skin. It felt like my soul inverted. I Consumed that mote to form a little void, a tiny unfathomable point of space deep within my core. It was done on instinct. The mote was gone in a second as if a bubble burst, leaving something unexpected and profound.


    There was overflow, Essence shed from both the devouring and consumption. A tiny glitter of the raw stuff of life but my body had no Tolerance for it. It was the first I''d ever felt. The essence spread in trace amount through veins and bone, muscle and limbs. It made my nerves crawl and my skin twitch. On top of the other changes it made everything lurid and weird.


    A little wave broke over me. I gasped like a wounded fish, lying, staring with glassy eyes as Ryan lifted his kill up into the air on the end of his stick like a caveman with his spear. I think he roared in victory, but it was a yell I could not hear.


    Andy reached Chloe and Vanessa. They lowered her to the sand to perform first aid on her leg. It looked badly lacerated. Things were falling out of order for me but I saw blood streaming from her exposed skin.


    Jan ran in panting. Eric stumbled in her wake. His face was mottled purple red from the effort of trying to run. It crossed my mind to hope he wouldn¡¯t drop dead from a heart attack.


    I felt drunk. I felt like I was sinking into the depths. Ryan was looking down at me. Someone said something. I felt hands upon my shoulders but it was all a bit too much. I closed my eyes and was aware of nothing more.


    Nothing but the sweetness of sleep.

 Chp 3 - Reawakening

    I dreamed of swimming in the depths, of promises both forgotten and kept.


    For the second time that day I woke lying in the sand. I was dry this time, up on the foredune. A glorious sunset coloured the sky beyond the western headland and coloured the bay between me and it. The sea to the south was an open spread of black, beautiful and secret.


    At the bottom of the dune, maybe ten meters from me, a little campfire burned. In the circle of its light sat the other six, Chloe with her leg outstretched. They seemed to be talking happily among themselves and when the breeze blew the smoke my way it brought with it the smell of roasting fish.


    I pushed myself up, hungry despite the weird essence saturating my flesh. Trembling just a little bit I staggered down into the light. Andy must have heard me first.


    ¡°He lives!¡±


    It was met with a general cheer.


    ¡°Hero of the hour,¡± Ryan declared, leaning back and patting the spot between him and Andy.


    I ducked my head and sat where he indicated, feeling awkward and out of place.


    ¡°We were worried for you dear,¡± Jan said from across the flames. ¡°Those spines must have had something in them. You slept most of the afternoon.¡±


    My right hand and left forearm had been wrapped in strips of cloth. They throbbed so the fish-lizard thing must have spiked me pretty deep, but I don¡¯t think it was poison that took me down.


    ¡°You gotta take more care man!¡± said Andy. ¡°You can¡¯t just jump on the first creature we see!¡±


    Chloe leaned over from Andy¡¯s other side, ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.


    They were the first words she¡¯d spoken to me. I rubbed my neck and ducked my head. Her leg was wrapped up in the same material as my arm. Strips, I realised, torn remains of Ryan¡¯s coat.


    ¡°No problem,¡± I muttered. ¡°Any of us would have done it. Ryan¡¯s the one who killed it.¡±


    Vanessa leaned across Ryan holding out a cupped bit of palm leaf piled with pieces of smoking hot fish.


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who pinned it,¡± she said. ¡°You must have been a fighter yes? You were really trying to batter it to death.¡±


    The others all grinned happily but I thought that her smile looked forced. Her eyes looked at me uneasily as if I might be a threat.


    ¡°I guess so?¡± I tried, even more embarrassed. ¡°I can¡¯t really remember to be honest.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well... We all know that feeling,¡± laughed Andy. Even by firelight he looked horribly sunburnt. I thought for sure that he''d be blistered by the morning.


    He pointed at Jan, ¡°Retail Manager.¡±


    At Eric, ¡°Truckie.¡±


    At Chloe, ¡°Student.¡± He made a face at her, ¡°Arts.¡±


    At himself, ¡°Sales!¡±


    He skipped me and went to Ryan, ¡°A Banker!¡± There was some envy in his voice.


    Lastly he pointed at Vanessa, ¡°Real Estate Law.¡±


    Then he looked at me, ¡°What about you?¡±


    I dredged through my mind. ¡°Student?¡±


    Andy laughed. ¡°Eric had money on you being a dole bludger!¡±


    Across the fire Eric had the grace to look embarrassed. He was sunburnt as well, although it was harder to tell against his normal colouring.


    ¡°High school or uni?¡± Chloe asked, her tone more lively than before.


    ¡°Uni!¡± I said, a bit offended. ¡°Postgrad. I think I¡¯m older than you!¡±


    ¡°So what did you study?¡± she challenged.


    It stumped me for a bit.


    ¡°History?¡± I ventured.


    ¡°Ha!¡± Andy laughed again. ¡°That¡¯s fucked!¡±


    I looked at him quizzically until he expanded.


    ¡°Think about it. History¡¯s nothing but names and places and countries. They¡¯ve taken all of that!¡±


    He sounded a bit wild in the last bit, a little bit distressed. It resonated with how violated I''d felt earlier when I¡¯d tried to work out how much I¡¯d forgotten, or been made to forget.


    All of us went quiet. For a little while it was just the sound of the fire, the wavelets on the shore, the breeze across the sand and among the palm leaves further in. Sunset faded to stars overhead. Eric said something to Jan. Ryan joined in. I picked at my fish and found that it was fucking delicious. The most flaky, savoury, wholesome flesh I¡¯d ever eaten. There was essence in it, like a shot of caffeine, if you can imagine that being good with meat. But I couldn¡¯t be worried about potential effects when it tasted so... good!


    It was hard to believe they¡¯d just cooked it on the fire. It tasted like what you''d dream of getting from a five star chef.


    I ate with increasing quickness until there was nothing left on the bit of green palm leaf that I¡¯d been given. My belly felt stretched but I could have eaten the same again. A hunger was on me and filling it was deeply satisfying. I looked up hopefully to Vanessa but she shook her head and handed me a crinkled plastic bottle half full of water instead.


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    ¡°We¡¯ve decided to ration the rest,¡± she said, giving me a much more genuine smile, one that made me think that they must have all enjoyed the food too. ¡°It was hard, but we¡¯ll all want to eat again tomorrow.¡±


    She pointed to the spot between her and Jan where picked remains of the roast lizard-fish lay wrapped in more green leaves. There were a few half woven fronds beside it and on one of them Vanessa¡¯s handbag as well as a pile of phones and keys, our wallets, a lipstick, and a single muesli bar, wrapped in plastic.


    I took a swig from the bottle. The water tasted of sand and grit but it was very welcome. Andy jogged my elbow and nodded at the bottle so I passed it to him. He took a swig for himself and grinned, passing it on to Chloe.


    ¡°Bet you¡¯re glad we dug that well now,¡± he said.


    I started to scoff and then thought about how it would feel to splash down to the water¡¯s edge for a drink in the dark with monsters in the depths.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That, ah, turned out to be a good idea.¡±


    He laughed.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the stuff?¡± I asked, pointing at the little pile.


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± said Andy. ¡°Forgot to tell you. We went through your pockets while you were out of it.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how I felt about that. ¡°Anything useful?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Andy shook his head. ¡°Only good thing is Eric¡¯s lighter. He¡¯s got half a pack of cigarettes and my vape doesn¡¯t even work. All the phones are useless. They¡¯re fake, just solid pieces of plastic. Even the writing on the cards is gibberish. It¡¯s like they duplicated what we were carrying without knowing what it was for.¡±


    That... gave me a lot to think about.


    ¡°Bizarre,¡± I said. ¡°You vape? What will you do?¡±


    ¡°Dunno,¡± Andy replied. He shrugged, sounding stressed. ¡°Quit I guess. I¡¯m not gonna start sucking on Eric¡¯s death sticks even if he¡¯d let me.¡±


    I nodded without really paying attention. Even if the writing was gibberish I still knew what writing was. I could picture the alphabet in my head. I was confident that it wasn¡¯t one of the things I¡¯d forgotten. Why would they replace our phones with duds? We had to be out of service. Who could even make licenses and bank cards without being able to write on them?


    ¡°Where¡¯d you get the tat?¡± Andy asked.


    I looked at him blankly, ¡°What? What tat?¡±


    Then some kind of residual echo of memory struck me. I should have tattoos. I was working on a sleeve. I looked down at my arm and found only blank brown skin.


    ¡°Not your right arm,¡± said Andy. ¡°Your left! That blue scale pattern all up your inner forearm. I saw it when we were wrapping you up.¡±


    I stared at him in the fire light and then at my left. With a feeling a bit like going down the basement stairs I began to unwrap the makeshift bandages. There was a puckered little row of sore and clotted holes, but other than that just brown skin. I looked up at Andy, expecting to find that he¡¯d been having me on, but he was looking at me in confusion.


    ¡°They were there!¡± he insisted. ¡°Silvery blue scales all up your inner arm. Like this really deep marine blue. You¡¯re the only one of us who has a tat. Even Eric doesn¡¯t have any. You¡¯d think he¡¯d be covered in them.¡±


    From across the fire Eric gave Andy the figure and turned back to his conversation. He had fat arms, truckie¡¯s arms, wrinkled, hairy, and muscular, but Andy was right. There wasn¡¯t a tattoo anywhere on them.


    Ryan fed the fire a couple more sticks. They must have been into the forest and fetched a few more loads. He and other older folk were talking about how big the Island could be and what we might expect. The water bottle was empty by the time it got back to Vanessa. She rose, still in her business dress, and went to fill it up. We were only a few meters from the well but she came back quicker than I expected.


    ¡°There¡¯s a glowing light!¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s some kind of light across the water!¡±


    We all got up in a rush of hope and noise, Andy helping Chloe with her leg. Vanessa led us across the sand into darkness and pointed with outstretched hand. Sure enough, once my eyes adjusted, I could make out the shadow of the headland to our west, and at its end a diffuse orange-red glow like a bonfire shielded from sight.


    ¡°What is that?¡± asked Jan.


    ¡°Dunno,¡± replied Eric.


    ¡°It¡¯s gotta be people!¡± Said Andy. ¡°Right?¡±


    Then we were all talking at once, excitement rising. In turning I saw that there were more lights on the shore.


    ¡°More! More!¡± I shouted. ¡°They¡¯re coming around the bay!¡±


    The new lights were a small constellation of three, flickering yellow, like they might have been burning touches. They were a long way off but coming towards us, following the beach around the water.


    We were all talking together again.


    ¡°It¡¯s a rescue!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re coming right towards us!¡±


    I felt swept up in giddiness. You¡¯ve got to understand I¡¯d given up on rescue. I knew we weren¡¯t on Earth, and for some reason that had made think there were no other people. The idea that others were out there, that they were doing better than we were, came as quite a shock.


    A good shock. Maybe not as amazing as discovering how that fish tasted, but it changed my whole outlook. If we weren¡¯t alone in being stranded here then everything was different. A lot more things were possible! Other people might even know what was going on.


    Ryan ran to to fire and grabbed up a burning stick to wave it overhead. The first of those distant lights waved back and we all cheered and shouted.


    Andy and Eric and I rushed to get more sticks while Vanessa collected up our stuff. She left the remains of the fish. We wouldn¡¯t need to pick the bones if these other folk had tucker.


    Without really talking about it we all headed down the beach, into the dark, towards the oncoming torches. We soon discovered that our sticks weren¡¯t very good as light sources. Ryan led the way with his but mine went out and Andy handed his to Jan in favour of helping Chloe. Even the one¡¯s that stayed alight weren¡¯t very bright. All we really succeeded in doing was blinding ourselves with smoke and waving around orange coals.


    The sand was soft however and the beach was fairly level. We stumbled along through the dark without too much trouble, tired and sore but relieved. It became obvious from things some of the others said that they still expected a return to civilisation. The coast guard were mentioned, and the police. I¡¯m not sure if all of them thought we were still on Earth but it was definitely more than just one or two.


    Those oncoming torches were really quite steady, yellow flames held high. I¡¯d seen a couple of flickering drips which made me think they might be soaked in pitch or a fuel of some kind. They were approaching us much faster than we were moving and as they did so I saw outlined the bearers¡¯ arms and torsos.


    ¡°Are they riding something?¡± Vanessa asked, suddenly sounding uneasy.


    They were. At first I thought that the three people coming toward us were each riding an oxen. Their mounts had the same swept back horns and stood about as tall but their skin was scale and their faces lizard-like. Their necks and bodies and tails were longer. They were riding giant lizards, like the biggest komodo dragons you can imagine if komodo dragons held their bodies up higher.


    ¡°Fuuuuuuck!¡± Breathed Eric.


    ¡°Run!¡± screamed Andy and turned to do so, tangling with Chloe.


    I turned too, stumbling in the soft sand. Before I could make a dozen steps however two of the riders had spurred their monsters forward and around our group, flanking either side. The creature¡¯s legs churned like a lizard at full pace, hideously fast over such a short sprint. Something fell over my arm and shoulder and jerked me backward so hard that I fell onto my side. The others were screaming. I¡¯d been lassoed! The rope tangled and tightened and I struggled against it while all around me the others were brought to bay, surrounded by the trio of monsters and their riders.


    The leader dismounted, torch in one hand and reins in the other, he approached out group.


    ¡°Hey now! Hey now,¡± he said calmingly. ¡°Don¡¯t be running away. There¡¯s wild monsters in the jungle.¡±


    His accent was lilting and with shock I recognised it.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t be after hurting you,¡± he continued. ¡°We¡¯re here to be your rescue!¡±


    This fucking dude was Irish!

 Chp 4 - Rescue

    The Irish cowboy¡¯s name was Connor.  He insisted that he, his friends, and the giant lizard things they rode on were all here to rescue us.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t last long on your own now.  Not out in the open like this!¡±


    I call him a cowboy because that¡¯s how he was dressed.  He had the big hat and a buckskin jacket with some kind of rifle slung over his shoulder.  He had a big machete at his belt and his shirt and pants looked like they were made from some kind of rough spun fabric.  The metal of both gun and knife was black, almost like wrought iron.  It looked fucking weird.


    His friends were dressed similarly.  Including Connor there were four of them, not the three we¡¯d originally seen.  Connor and the two who¡¯d gone round us bore torches while a fourth had ridden lightless at the back.  He was a younger looking man, a teenager really.  I wondered if he was just along for the ride.


    ¡°There are seven of them!¡± the woman untying me called to Conner.


    She was the one that lassoed me, but she called out the number seven as if that was something really weird, maybe even bad.  She had a strong Indian accent.  It disturbed me that I could place her and Connor but not the accent of me and Jan and the others I''d woken up with.


    ¡°Aye,¡± said Conner.  ¡°I see it.  We¡¯ll just let the Baru work that out.¡±


    The woman let me up and stepped back to her mount, that hideous ox horned lizard thing.  I stumbled toward the others in my group, a little bit dazed.  When she¡¯d touched me I¡¯d sensed power in that woman, essence beneath her skin.  It a lot.  Far more than in the fish-lizard we¡¯d eaten.  When her knuckles brushed my skin it felt like she was a demon, the dense presence of power within her.  But when she moved just a few inches I could not Sense anything.  It made me wonder if my head was cracked, or if I¡¯d just been dreaming.


    ¡°Who are you people?¡± Ryan was demanding.  ¡°Where are we?  And what is going on?¡±


    ¡°Oh aye, well we are of the Kigali,¡± Connor answered, spreading his hands.  ¡°You are on the Island.  You¡¯ve all been spirited away my friends.  My tribe rescues new Arrivals who appear along these beaches.  Although you usually only appear in sets of six.¡±


    ¡°You mean this has happened before?¡± Vanessa asked.


    Connor laughed.  ¡°Oh yes.  It¡¯s been happening quite a while.  I was rescued some fifteen years ago myself.  I remember it like it was yesterday, waking up on a beach on the east coast.¡±


    He looked at the woman who¡¯d lassoed me and she nodded.


    ¡°Twelve years," she said.  "East coast as well.¡±


    ¡°Hugo?¡± Connor asked.


    ¡°Four,¡± the man on our other side answered.  ¡°Over there.¡±


    He waved his torch toward the far headland.  He was a fair haired man with a wind burned face and some kind of European accent, almost German from the sound of it.


    Connor laughed again, ¡°So recent!  But our real baby boy was born on the Island.  Hans!  How long ago did your parents get here?¡±


    ¡°Too long!¡± the teenager called back.  ¡°Can we go back yet?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t make out Hans'' accent.  It seemed like a really broad mix.  He was dark haired and lean with very tan skin for someone with such a European name, although that was hard to judge by the light of the burning torches that the other cowboys held.  Hans was the only one who remained mounted and he carried his rifle over his lap.  He seemed nervous, eyes scanning along the foredune as if expecting monsters at any second.


    ¡°Oh well sure,¡± Connor grumbled.  ¡°Always in a rush.¡±


    But he turned back to us.  ¡°You can see that we¡¯re just ordinary people looking to rescue folk like you before you get lost in the woods.  It¡¯s eh...  not really my tribe¡¯s territory you see.  There are Baliti in the jungle and you wouldn''t want to get caught by them.¡±


    He leaned in closer.  ¡°They make slaves of all the men folk, or so they say.  Come back to our camp.  We¡¯ll keep you safe.¡±


    What could we do but agree?  It wasn¡¯t like we had much choice.  Soon we were walking along the beach, back the way they¡¯d came, with Connor next to us and the three other riders flanking.


    He said the creatures they rode were called Raksasa and insisted that they were perfectly tame.  Chloe¡¯s leg gave out after a couple of hundred meters and Connor had her boosted up behind Sunita to ride the rest of the way.  In the process of helping I brushed against both Connor and the creature and felt them with my strange new Sense.  Both of them were horrifyingly dense with essence, way worse than Sunita, a truly monstrous internal strength.


    For a while I walked with eyes lowered and as close to the middle of the group as I could.  The other''s didn''t seem to notice anything.  Connor continued talking just as friendly as before.  He told us that the camp were were headed was called Leptis, that there were deserts in the Island''s west and mountains in the north.  He described his home, the territory of the Kigali tribe, as a land of limestone hills where lotus blossomed in hidden waters and ginkgo groves grew on the slopes.  He talked of towns, whole towns, called Avaris, Adulis, and Lothal.  It sounded like his people held a country rather than part of an Island.  I began to wonder how big it truly was.


    Some of the others seemed to realise we weren¡¯t ever going home.  Jan straight out asked Connor how to get back to Earth.


    ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± he sighed.  ¡°No one knows what causes Arrival, but there¡¯s no way off the Island bar death and you don¡¯t want that.  Join our tribe!  It¡¯s not a bad life really, once you get past the initiation.  Just don¡¯t annoy any of the higher ups or you¡¯ll end up exiled out to a distant southern camp to patrol the beach for newcomers.¡±


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    He shot a knowing expression up at Sunita but she just shook her head and looked away.  Hugo snorted.


    ¡°Some of us volunteered.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this initiation you mentioned?¡± Ryan asked.  It sounded like he was on the alert.


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about that,¡± said Connor, suddenly all blarney again.  ¡°You¡¯ll see it soon enough.  There¡¯s nothing you can really do to prepare for it.  Just don¡¯t be stupid and do whatever the Baru says.  You¡¯ll be fine I¡¯m sure.¡±


    Vanessa asked what Baru meant and Conner told her it was the title of the man who ran the camp called Leptis.


    ¡°He¡¯s kind of like a priest really.  Pierre¡¯s a little bit scary but he¡¯s an alright sort.  Just do what he says.  You¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Eric¡¯s face scrunched up at the mention of religion but I didn¡¯t really notice that.  Connor had some kind of green mark around his wrist.  I¡¯d seen it a couple of times now when his sleeve rode up.  It looked like a band of talons and fangs.  At first I¡¯d taken it for a tattoo but the green was so virulent that I didn¡¯t think it could be ink.


    Sunita had the same mark around her bicep, and Hugo round his neck.  Hans bore his across his chest.  I could just glimpse green in the vee of his open shirt.  All the raksasa were marked as well.  On them it looked more like a brand, a palm sized mark on their forequarters, small fangs in the middle and talons strung around it.


    That green was unbelievable.  It tickled my newborn Senses, even from a distance.  Sometimes you just know magic when you see it and I looked and looked again, walking and glancing and listening and thinking.  I fought a sinking feeling.  Maybe Andy had been lying about those blue scales on my skin.  Maybe he¡¯d been hallucinating.  Or maybe it had something to do with Devouring that mote, that glimmer which rose from the lizard-fish we killed.


    Even now I could feel the small new void which had opened in my core, an unfathomable point of space right below the center of my chest.  It lay where my diaphragm was, not in the real, behind it, as much a part of me now as any other organ.  On instinct I Reached for it with my mind.  It felt like groping for a hidden pocket and at first nothing seemed to happen, which made sense, my void was empty after all.


    Then I glanced down and stumbled.  A pattern of silvery blue scales glittered on the skin of my inner forearm.  Like Andy had said it looked like a tattoo but to my eyes it felt like more, just like the green talons each of our ''rescuers'' wore.


    ¡®Initiation¡¯ might have nothing to do with the marks, but I wondered...  Was there a tribe of the fish?


    There was nothing I could do but hold my arm in against my shirt and keep on walking.  It wasn''t like I could make a break for it.  Connor and Sunita hemmed us in on either side, Hans from the back and Hugo from the front.  Even if I got away I didn''t think I could make it alone, not if some of the monsters Connor talked about were real.  When Andy asked about wild creatures he said that there were dinosaurs.


    Chloe asked him about swimming, or about sailing across the water.  Connor told her there were very aggressive sharks and...


    ¡°Prehistoric creatures the likes of which could swallow you in one bite!¡±


    I decided to try and bluff it out and hope there was nothing to it.  Maybe the scales would disappear again?  Maybe it wouldn''t be a big deal?


    It took us two or maybe three hours to walk around the bay.  It must have been at least ten kilometers.  The torches burned through their fuel and our captors lit new ones, but even in their ruddy flicker the sky seemed very dark without the pollution from street lights and highways and the buildings of the city.  The stars were clear and bright.  The moon rose higher behind us.  It seemed full, and huge!  Like some kind of primal version of the moon we''d left on Earth.


    We got closer and closer to the distant glow of fire on the headland until it was no longer across the water but further up the shore.  By now we could see that it was the reflected light of a bonfire behind walls, a palisade, Connor told us.


    ¡°Something to keep the beasts out.¡±


    We came to a point where our escort led us up into the dunes onto a path.  It was well beaten.  The vegetation had been cut back wide enough for two raksasa to walk abreast and we passed up in that order.  Connor and Sunita riding in front, us Arrivals next, then Hans and Hugo behind.  Their lizard mounts scrabbled a bit more on the rocks and sometimes dragged their bodies but by torchlight we followed the path around the edge of the forest and up onto the headland proper.


    The headland was very rocky, full of boulders and cracks, but the path got wider and rose higher as we headed toward the sea.  The palisade loomed above us.  The walls of Leptis silhouetted against the firelight behind them.  They must have spanned eighty meters, enclosing a circular area right at the headland¡¯s peak.  The palisade itself was made from hardwood logs, each sharpened at the top.  There was a catwalk and tribes folk walked along it, manning the battlements with rifles and torches.  Around the base of the wall were row after row of sharpened stakes, all of them pointing outwards at an angle.


    ¡°A bit overkill isn¡¯t it?¡± Ryan muttered, but Connor laughed from the front.


    ¡°Oh but you haven¡¯t seen the creatures!¡± he called back.  ¡°You¡¯ll be glad for all our protections then!¡±


    He waved his torch in what looked like a signal pattern, three forward and three to the right.  One of the people on the wall repeated it back.  As we got closer chains clanked and an actual damn portcullis rose from the wall in front of us.  Gates opened and light spilled out.  The raksasa rushed forward and we with them, herded into the town while guards on the walls above us covered our entrance.


    The portcullis crashed down behind us.  The gates were shut.  People actually cheered.  There was a crowd of maybe fifty people around us, many of them with torches or candles, waiting for Connor and his squad, waiting for us, the new Arrivals, who¡¯d they¡¯d brought in to the fold.


    It¡¯s hard to describe my first impression of Leptis.  It was a warcamp, built on a slope.  There was only one road within it.  It ran from the gate ahead of us to an open space in front of the Baru¡¯s hut up at the far end of the settlement.  That¡¯s where the flames were burning, not one bonfire but two.  On either side of the road there were row after row of timber longhouses.  Barracks really.  I think the Kigali had a hundred people in the camp back then but they could have easily have slept a hundred more.


    Around the inside of the walls were pens and stables for their tame monsters.  The raksasa of course, but probably some other ones as well.  There were also hovels for their slaves, although I didn¡¯t know about them then.  In the open spaces were gardens.  Painstaking cultivation of the rocky headland soil which I skipped over in my first glances.  What hit me most was that everything was made from timber, timber and ironwork lit by flames.  It felt like some kind of medieval recreation.


    And the crowd!  The crowd seemed huge, pushing in around us as if we were guests at a festival, as if we were the winners of some kind of prize.  They wore leathers, woven wool, and rough spun linen.  All kind of faces from all kinds of places.  There was so much brown skin.  Asians and Indians, Africans and Islanders, Americans, Middle Easterners, and even the occasional European.


    It was probably just the shock of coming in from the open but it felt like we got cheered and catcalled in a hundred different languages.  Even through the tumult though I glimpsed that green mark everywhere, on brow or cheek or wrist or shoulder, on throat or arm or shin, everyone in the crowd bore the Kigali claws.  All of them seemed eager for us join.


    Connor and his squad dismounted.  People came to take the reins and lead their mounts away.  A drum beat out at the top of the hill, a big drum, the kind that calls for the starting of a ceremony.  The crowd split, opening along the road before us, and Connor straightened his jacket and hat.  He walked to where we clustered together like a mob of huddled sheep.


    ¡°Come now,¡± he said.  ¡°It¡¯s time for you to see a man about a priest.¡±

 Chp 5 - Initiation

    We walked up the street of Leptis in the middle of a procession.  The crowd seemed excited.  You would have thought Connor and his squad had snatched us from the jaws of death rather than a beach-side camp.


    At the top of the street was a large open space in the middle of which two bonfires burned quite close to each other.  The crowd spread out around the square but about half of them jostled us closer.  They spoke all kinds of tongues but some of them seemed to be placing bets, the others wishing us luck.


    On the other side of the flames a tall man stood, situated so that we could only see him through that gap between the fires.  He seemed impossibly tall, a bald man, lean and tan, with very wide hands and long strong fingers.  It may have been the wavering light but his eyes and skin seemed to gleam.


    The crowd gave him deference.  This must be the priest.  Behind him steps led up into a dark wooden building.  I presumed it was the headquarters of the camp.  Connor strode through the gap between the fires and knelt in the smaller space before priest and building both.


    ¡°Baru Pierre, as commanded, I bring you Arrivals from Earth!¡±


    His words were clear and loud.  They had the air of ritual, as if more for the crowd than us.


    ¡°There are seven,¡± I saw the tall man murmur.


    Connor nodded, and said something something to him quietly with a single glance back at us.


    ¡°No matter,¡± the priest said more loudly.


    He dismissed Conner with a brief shoulder grip then turned to us and spoke.  His voice was rich, resonant, and deep.  It kind of flowed...  like he was French?  The words rolled easily through the flames to where we huddled uncertain.


    ¡°Welcome to the Island!  We are the Kigali!  You may not have Arrived by choice but we offer you refuge from the monsters and the darkness.  Join us!  Receive the mark of Tiamat!  She will bless you, protect you, and bring you plenty.¡±


    A beat of silence, and then.


    ¡°Who will be the first to walk through the flames?¡±


    I saw that we much each pass between the bonfires like Connor did to reach this priest.  A trial of sorts.  It probably wasn¡¯t actually that dangerous.  The fires were a few meters apart.  But with our exhaustion, with the excited crowd pushing in on us, and the a big drum thumping out there somewhere in the dark, it seemed like stepping off a cliff.


    We kind of jostled in on each other: Andy, Chloe, Vanessa, Ryan, Eric, Jan, and me.  Strangers thrown together, now hemmed in and confused.  I for one was feeling close to panic.  The skin on the inside of my left forearm still seemed clear of symbols but Andy had sworn he¡¯d seen scales there, silvery and marine blue.  A magical, disappearing tattoo.  A ¡®mark¡¯ if you will.


    Hell knows enough other changes had happened within me since I Devoured that lizard-fish.  I did not doubt Andy.  I bet this ¡®mark of Tiamat¡¯ of which the priest spoke was the band of virulent green talons and fangs I could see circling every tribesperson¡¯s arms or neck.  I bet that whoever, or whatever, this Tiamat was she would not be willing to grant her blessing to a soul that was already taken.


    Jostled in among the others I struggled to keep my breathing straight.  I needed a way out.  I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever been inclined to feel crowd phobic, but in this one I certainly was.  It felt like I was being crushed.


    None of the others seemed inclined to take the obvious route at first.  The line of the priest¡¯s mouth flattened.  He pointed through the flames.  He pointed right at Eric.


    ¡°You!  Will you be the first to brave the flames for salvation?¡±


    ¡°Fuck no!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±  The priest¡¯s thin eyebrows rose, but he¡¯d made a bad choice.  The old truckie uncrossed his meaty arms.  He pointed a thick finger at the priest.


    ¡°You heard me cunt!  I¡¯m not joining a cult!  Just fuckin let me out and I¡¯ll make it on me own!¡±


    The tall man stared at incredulously at Eric for several moments.  Then he shrugged.


    ¡°Tant pis,¡± he said and waved his hand.  "Very well."


    The crowd parted and Eric pushed through.  We all looked at each other for a second and Jan and I tried to follow but the crowd closed us back in.  They closed on Eric too before he''d gone more than a dozen steps.  Tribals grabbed him from either side.


    ¡°Get off me!  Let me go!  Let me go fuck ya!¡±


    They dragged Eric off.  I swear we rushed to help but it was like pushing into a wall.  Those tribesfolk piled onto us.  There were too many of them and they were all too strong.  Andy got put in a headlock.  Ryan got slammed to the dirt.    Even Jan got tackled and Vanessa forced back.  I almost slipped in among their legs, my world all elbows and shins, but a big Asian looking woman punched me in the side of the head.  My world flashed black.  I went sprawling among their feet.  Other hands caught me.  They dragged me back to the middle of the crowd, the priest and his trial of the flames.


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    Half a minute of violence later and we were all lying or crouching or standing right back where we started.  Except for Eric of course.  I¡¯ve no idea where he went.  The crowd around us seemed a lot less friendly now with our little breakout aborted.  Some of them had rifles unslung and looked just about ready to shoot.


    We¡¯d never stood a chance.  These were hunters and soldiers, hardened to Island and a life of violent work.  We were just a bunch of disorientated city folk.  I know I¡¯d been proud that my culture was rough and I thought the others were too, but we were fucked coming up against folk for whom everyday life was brutal.


    ¡°Well,¡± the priest said in his sort of French accent when the crowd had settled to silence again.  ¡°I repeat my offer.  Which of you will be the first to take my hand?¡±


    Ryan was still pinned face down.  I was lying curled, breathing against the pain and wondering if my nose was broken.  Someone had kicked me while I was fetal too and that didn''t help as well.  It was Chloe who raised her voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Andy protested.  He would have tried to stop her but the tribals held him back.


    Released by her captors Chloe stood straight.  With one last glance at the rest of us she walked between the flames.  She stepped through quickly and was not burned.  Emerging into the space before the priest she stopped as if asking what was next.  Curtained from us by fire the priest looked down at her.  He really was inhumanly tall.  In the unsteady light it seemed like he swayed.


    ¡°Remove your shirt.¡±  His voice was level and quieter as if just for her, but it carried all the same.


    Chloe froze.  Andy struggled, and was quickly put down.  Then with quick, nervous, movements the young woman lifted the hem of her stretchy top and pulled it over her head.  Standing in leggings and what was really quite a modest sports bra she stood beyond fire before the priest and a hundred other tribals with her shirt in her hand and her shoulders squared in defiance.


    The priest smiled.  He did not ask her to remove anything else but lay one of his long, almost talon fingered hands over each of her now bare shoulders.


    ¡°Close your eyes and concentrate,¡± he told her.  ¡°Try to take what I offer.¡±


    He closed his eyes himself..  They were still for a moment.  The crowd around us tensed.  Then Chloe jerked as if stung.  She staggered a step and I knew that her world was spinning.


    Fuck! I thought.  Fuck, shit, fuck fuck shit fuck.  This really was the same as me and that fish-lizard thing.


    A green mark appeared around Chloe¡¯s left bicep, vivid and virulent, talons and curving fangs.  The tribals around us let out their breaths.  Some of them cheered.  I fought against a feeling of doom as some of them helped Chloe off to the side and the priest turned to us again, raising his palms for quiet.


    ¡°Who will be next to brave the trial?¡±


    Andy raised his head.  ¡°Me!  Let me up.  I¡¯ll try!¡±


    The men and women holding Andy helped him up.  One of them, a big black bearded fellow who looked Middle Eastern even clapped him on the back and wished him the best of luck.  Pulling off his white collared shirt Andy strode between the fires.  On the other side he took one long look at Chloe and then stopped before the priest.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± he said.


    The priest smiled again.  ¡°You have heard my instruction?¡±


    Andy nodded.


    ¡°Then concentrate,¡± he said to Andy.  ¡°Try to receive what I offer.¡±


    He closed his hands over Andy¡¯s bare shoulders and for a moment they both were still.  Then Andy jerked and his knees buckled.  The vivid green band of fangs appeared around his throat.


    The whole crowd cheered this time.  The tribals let Ryan up.  He checked on Vanessa who shook her head.  It was actually Jan who volunteered next.  She braved the flames like an unsteady battleship, but once she stood before the priest she removed her blouse and shirt with a quiet dignity.  The old woman stood before us all in slacks, an old fashioned bra, and a couple of rolls of fat.


    The priest''s smile for her was gentle as he repeated his instructions.  When his hands closed over her shoulders she bowed her head.  A moment later she staggered.  The green mark appeared across her chest, just above her cleavage.


    Only Vanessa, Ryan, and I were left.  Ryan whispered something to her but Vanessa shook her head.


    ¡°You first,¡± she said.  ¡°I¡¯ll come next.  I promise.  I¡¯m just not quite ready yet.¡±


    Then they both turned to me as if remembering I was there.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I waved them on.  ¡°You two go ahead.¡±


    I was still looking around for some way, any way, that I could possibly escape.


    Ryan carefully unbuttoned his shirt.  The man was ripped.  He must have been used to spending hours in the gym, although I thought now that he could fight as well.  The fires did not bother him.  Ryan went through it as if setting an example.  He bowed before the priest who wiped sweat from his brow before placing his hands over Ryan¡¯s shoulders.  It occurred to me to wonder if what the priest did cost him effort.


    After a couple of seconds Ryan¡¯s knees folded.  The mark appeared across his forehead, the same as on the priest, and the crowd gasped.


    ¡°Four of six!¡± I heard one tribesman tell another in some kind of South American accent.  ¡°A very good intake!¡±


    But there¡¯s seven of us!  I though to myself, wild eyed, suppressing another spurt of panic.


    Vanessa looked like she wanted to let me go first.  I waved her off and gestured for her to go ahead.


    "Really," I said.  "Take the chance."


    She sighed and then nodded once.  Like Ryan she was very careful undoing her buttons.  Her blouse looked expensive.  In torn stockings and pencil skirt she trod the path between fires.  Her bra was black and surprisingly racy.  She was the tallest and most beautiful of all of us.


    The priest smiled for her as for all the others and repeated his instructions.  As he placed his hands she lowered her head and for a long moment they both stood motionless.


    Nothing happened.


    The moment stretched.  The crowd around me grew restless.  Then Vanessa jerked.


    ¡°Ow!¡± she said and grabbed her arm.


    She did not sag.  She did not faint.  No colour emerged.  It was hard to see through the flames but it looked like she¡¯d been burned.


    The priest opened his eyes and lifted his grip.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Vanessa asked him.  ¡°Why is it like this?¡±


    ¡°You are a failure,¡± he said, still gentle.


    Then he shrugged and gestured for some tribals, a man and a woman, who came to drag her off.


    ¡°No!¡± she shouted as they lay hands on her.  ¡°Don¡¯t do this!  Give me another chance.  Ryan!  Andy!  Jan!¡±


    But our friends were laid out to the side, all of them unconscious.  I tried to fight my way over to help her but the tribals around were ready for it.  Monstrous presences, dense with essence.  They held my arms back and lifted me from my feet no matter how much I pulled or kicked.


    I¡¯d never felt so helpless as I did listening to Vanessa¡¯s screams without being able to move an inch.  They dragged her away, somewhere into the lower camp, probably wherever they''d taken Eric.  The tribesfolk restraining me were saying various things in various accents even as I struggled to get free of them.


    ¡°A waste.¡±


    ¡°A failure.¡±


    "Not worth it."


    ¡°Don¡¯t blow you chances of getting a blessing.¡±


    The priest however wasn''t offering anything.  He drew himself up and pointed through the flames.


    ¡°Bring that one to me!¡±