The Stranded, The Missing, The Forgotten [Ch. 5]

Crashing water sounds were heard, indicating there was a waterfall nearby. As Joseph and Talen followed the three men back to their base, they felt a sense of calm. For the first time since they arrived on the island, they felt safe.

A gentle, subtle breeze blew down from the Northern Mountain. Tree branches rocked back and forth as the leaves rustled in the wind. The fog that had engulfed the coastline of the island had cleared out. Up above, the clouds had dissipated, revealing a clear star-filled night sky.

"We're here," the man said.

Joseph and Talen had placed all their trust in these people. Still not knowing who exactly they were, why they were roaming the island at night, and how they got here. Much was still to be revealed about who these people were. But judging by their clothing, they weren't cannibals in any way.

After walking for quite some time, they had finally arrived back at a camp. Surrounding the perimeter of the camp was a defensive wall, with the tops of tree trunks sharpened to keep cannibals and mutants from climbing over the wall. On the inner side of the wall, there were two very tall towers. They were also made from wood, with a platform at the very top of them.

WHISTLE. "They're back. Open 'em up," a man said as he instructed the people on the ground to open the gates. As the gates were opened, the wood creaked.

In order to come back to camp with the guys that they had stumbled upon, they had to give up their weapons temporarily. Talen had to empty his gun, giving the ammunition it had over to the men. Joseph was asked to put the ax away into the backpack until arriving back at camp. In the case of coming across cannibals or mutants, using their weapons would be allowed. By now, another forty minutes or so had passed according to Joseph's watch. The time now being 5:32a.m.

Walking into camp, the gates were closed behind them. There were dozens of houses. Their appearance and design resemble those of houses in suburban areas and neighborhoods. A dirt path ran throughout the camp, lit by ground skull lamps and torches. In the center, there was a large bonfire, with wooden benches surrounding it.

For food, they were growing fruits and vegetables in the gardens nearby. For water, they made use of the eternal, never-ending waterfall. Filling up pots of water and boiling the water to kill off any harmful bacteria and such. Growing in the gardens were: Aloe Vera plants, blueberries, marigolds, cranberries, tomatoes, lettuce, watermelon. You name it, they were growing it.

With how established and settled down these people were, it made Joseph wonder how long they've been here. They couldn't have gotten here anytime recently. They've been here longer… like way longer.

The sun was starting to rise on the horizon, the beginning of a new day. By 5:49 a.m, almost everyone in camp was awake or just starting to wake up. There were tasks that needed to get done. Those tasks wouldn't finish themselves.

"Morning Mike," a man said as he approached them. He was holding a white glass coffee cup in his hand, taking a sip of it before talking further to Mike.

"Morning Darrel," Mike responded.

"Anything exciting happen last night?" Darrel questioned.

To Joseph and Talen, Mike sounded like he was the camp's leader. They were starting to catch on to the chain-of-command and how the camp was run. Talen turned around, looking up at the people on the elevated platforms. There were two people assigned to each tower. Both parties were putting their weapons away and climbing down the ropes.

"Name's Fred," he said as he turned around to look at Talen and Joseph. "To keep the camp secure and safe, we have people on watch 24/7. Night shift's done, first shift starting their watch shortly."

"Ezmerelda, this is it. This time it'll work. I can feel it," a faint man's voice said from inside his house.

Joseph, Talen, and Fred all looked over at the house. There were no windows, but drapes covering the window-opening from the inside. As the wind blew, the drapes flapped and moved around.

"Who's that?" Joseph asked.

Fred rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He pointed over at the house, rolling his eyes again.

"He calls himself the Doctor," Fred said. "Arriving on the island after his plane went down four miles from shore. He was the sole survivor."

"You don't like him, do you?" Talen asked, budding into their conversation. When he heard them overtalking about a plane crash, that peaked his interest. He joined in on the conversation.

"What gave it away?" Fred asked, "not that we don't like him. He's actually done a-lot of good for the camp. He's the reason we're still around today. Without him and his crazy experiments, we wouldn't have survived one night on this island."

"He's a crazy old man," Darrel budded in, further fueling Talen and Joseph's curiosity. "I advise you to stay clear o–."

BOOM! The ground briefly shook and rumbled. The trees swayed back and forth as they shook. Leaves fell from the branches, fluttering their way down to the ground. Green smoke spewed out of the house the Doctor was in, followed by gray smoke. The front door slammed open, with more green and gray smoke coming out of the house.

Walking outside, came the Doctor. His entire face, shirt, pants, and arms were covered in green substance. He was stunned and surprised.

"Esmerelda, I'd like to recant what I said about this being the one," he said.

"Who's Esmeralda?" Joseph asked.

"A rock he named after his late wife," Fred said, "she was among the victims of the plane crash."

"He's unstable," Mike stated. "Do as Darrel says. Don't go anywhere near him. If he approaches you… RUN!"

"Mike? Hey Mike? It's me Scott. Hey!" Scott shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"I'm just gonna…," Darrel said as he backed away from Mike, turning around to walk over to the elevated platform to start his watch.

"Follow me," Mike said.

At the North Mountain Sahara Therapeutics Research Facility, Matthew and Eric walked into a small room. There were small monitor screens mounted to the back wall. Each monitor showed a different part of the island. In total, there were twenty monitor screens, with only two being blacked out.

"Remember when I asked if you were helping anyone?" Matthew asked Eric.

Eric was standing a few feet behind him. Matthew pulled out a leather desk chair, taking a seat. Eric had no idea that he had placed cameras around the island to monitor what's going on outside of the facility. But now that he did, he felt the need to warn Joseph and Talen. They were being targeted by Matthew.

"I do believe I said no," Eric said. He knew he didn't answer that question. So he lied to Matthew to try and keep Joseph and Talen safe. He did feel a sense of relief though. If they hadn't escaped from his home in a cave, they'd be locked away in a containment chamber like the other test subjects.

Matthew examined each monitor carefully, moving the mouse around on the mousepad. He could click on one screen to enlarge it and make it bigger. Doing that gave Matthew a more detailed image of what the area around the camera looked like.

"There's a camp somewhere on this island," Matthew said. He turned the chair, looking back at Eric over his shoulder. He didn't make eye-contact with Eric though. Clicking on a monitor that was in the bottom right of the bunch of screens, a recorded video feed replayed.

"Well, well, well," Matthew mumbled, "what do we have here?"

Eric approached the chair, standing behind it. The archived footage revealed a group of five men walking through the forest. Joseph and Talen were amongst those five men. The only thing keeping them safe now, was that he didn't know what they looked like physically. One had a backpack with the handle of an ax sticking out. The other had a pistol tucked into his pants behind his back. A pistol that had no ammo loaded into it.

"Useless," Matthew mumbled.

"When will you stop? Haven't you had your fun?" Eric questioned.

Matthew clicked the screen, pausing the recorded footage. He spun his chair around all the way, slapping his hands down onto his thighs. He stood up, approaching Eric. Backing up, Eric was now trapped in the corner of the small room. Matthew was breathing heavily, his face only being inches away from Eric's.

"Liar," he said. "Liar, liar, liar. I set you free to live out your days on the island. I only asked that you bring new visitors back here to me."

"Big mistake," Eric responded.

Matthew turned around, beginning to pace back and forth. He held his hands behind his back. Eric remained in the corner.

"Your loyalty to me remains absolute, yes?"

"Define loyalty," Eric said.

"Loyalty [noun]. Definition: A strong feeling of support or allegiance," Matthew answered in a snarky attitude and tone.

"That was rhetorical," Eric mentioned.

When he realized he wasn't going to get anything out of Eric by talking, he decided to elevate his interrogation tactics. Getting Eric to talk was like trying to crack open a coconut.

"I remember that night… the night your plane crashed. I took your son. Help me remember his name would you?" Matthew began talking. Eric knew who he was referring to. He grew hostile towards Matthew.

"Watch what you say next," Eric threatened.

"Timmy! That's his name… or was. Such a handsome young boy. Shared the same looks as his father. If you tell me where you're hiding your little friends, I'll tell you where you can find Timmy."

He's alive? Eric thought to himself.

After all these years of depression and remorse, his son is revealed to still be alive? How. He'd originally thought Matthew had kidnapped him and killed him. Just the way he said that to Eric made him wonder… what if?

"Tell me where they're at," Matthew said.

Eric shook his head and looked down at the floor. As much as he wanted to keep Joseph and Talen safe, he wanted his son back. Now that he knew he was alive, that's all he could think about. He raised his head, glancing ahead over at Matthew.

"They're on the island," Eric said, giving Matthew what he wanted but vaguely giving Matthew what he wanted to know. "They're on the island," he repeated.

"Not good enough," Matthew said, "tell me where and you can have your son back."

"Why don't you use your cameras to find them? The last I saw of them was when they fled from my home in the cave. That's the last I heard from them, I swear."

Matthew sighed and glanced down at the floor briefly. He then turned around, resting both hands flat on the table. Next to the keyboard and mouse was a button panel. There were five white buttons. Each were labeled: Containment Chamber [1], Containment Chamber [2], Containment Chamber [3] and so on.

That's when a sudden idea struck him. If Eric wasn't going to share their whereabouts, then he'd have to turn to more…bloodier tactics. A mutant he favored more than the Worm was housed in Containment Chamber [3]. By pressing the button, it would release the mutant.

"Fly," Matthew mumbled as he pressed the button. When he did, the button began flashing. He turned around to look back over at Eric in the corner. "You're unfaithful. You disgust me. To ever consider us friends was far-fetched."

The mutant that was housed in that containment chamber closely resembled the Worm mutant. But it had its differences. In short, it's more deadlier than Armsy or Virginia or even the Cowman. This was Matthew's prized creation. He hasn't been able to replicate this mutant ever since. Hence why its so valuable to him.

"You didn't!" Eric shouted.

"I did!"

At the camp on the other end of the island, Joseph and Talen had been in deep conversations with Mike [the camp leader], Fred, and Bernard. They ached to know more about who these people were and how long they've been here. They're also dying to know why the mutants are targeting non-mutated beings. There's so much to be discovered about the island. So many secrets. So many stories.

Once the flaps to Mike's tent were closed, he turned around and walked over to the table near the back of the tent. On the table were pictures of his yacht, his wife, and their two children. The photos were aging horribly, the color of the pictures fading away slowly.

"Roaming about in the middle of the night? Looting that cannibal village? You were asking to be killed, weren't you?" Mike questioned.

"No," Joseph responded, "borrowing, not looting. We weren't going to keep anything."

Mike scoffed and rolled his eyes. He rubbed his forehead as he turned away; his back facing them. "How'd you end up here anyways?"

"Curiosity. Thrilling. Wanted a taste of the experience. We read the stories, did our research," Joseph responded.

"Clearly not thorough enough," Fred said. "You should've never came here. Now that you are, there's a chance you may never leave."

"What do you mean?" Talen asked. "Our boat's still anchored in the bay."

"On the northeastern end of the island," Joseph added.

"It's time we bring you up to speed," Mike said.

In the corner of the tent, was a cart stand. A boxy tv was strapped to keep it from falling off. An orange extension cord ran from the power cord, down the back of the cart stand, and under the side of the tent and outside. A constant humming sound was heard. Outside behind the tent, there was a generator. It was responsible for producing electricity. Instead of running on gas, this generator ran on solar power.

Because gas supplies was scarce, it was only to be used for necessary tasks. The gas they did have had to be used wisely. The diversity of the people really benefited the camp. There were people that were once doctor's, police officers, fire-fighters, and so on. Everyone contributed something to the continuous survival of the camp. Each had their own abilities and skillsets. Not everyone was skilled like most others, no. There was also normal day-to-day people amongst them. Mothers, fathers, siblings, grand-parents, etc.

Bernard turned the tv on. The screen was staticy. Adjusting the volume, a recorded video log popped up. Sitting and looking into the camera, was a young man. Somewhere in his last twenties, give or take. Dark brown hair that was only spiked in front. Wearing a white lab coat, a name was sown onto the front coat pocket: Cross. By pressing the play button on the remote, the video began to play.

"Day 296. Dr. Matthew Cross. Date: April 27, 2010. Time of entry: 11:24:32p.m. After five years of failure after failure, I had run out of subjects to experiment on. I resorted to finding other ways to acquire more test bodies. With the artifact shut down permanently, I lost the ability to bring down planes. As of this log, I acquired a mass sum of bodies from a small ocean liner."

AHH! Joseph turned around to look out of the window and outside. A sudden, fast-moving shadow sped across the ground. Joseph tilted his head slightly and squints his eyes. Others who were outside all noticed the shadow. From what Joseph could tell, they didn't bother to think much of it. But as it circled around above camp again and again, causing some of them to begin to worry. What's garnering all this attention?

Joseph tapped Talen's shoulder, making him turn his head to look at Joseph. Instantly, he knew something was wrong. He could see it in Joseph's eyes. Fear. Danger.

"There's something out there," Joseph stated, "I saw it."

Mike and Fred turned around to look behind them at Joseph and Talen. What the two of them were talking about attracted the attention from Mike, Fred, and even Bernard. The recorded video log was paused; Bernard still holding the remote.

"A shadow?" Talen questioned.

"A shadow?" Mike repeated the same question. Joseph looked over at him, nodding his head.

Mike walked over to the flaps, pulling it to the side. Bernard and Fred exchanged eye-contact briefly. Talen and Joseph made eye-contact too.

Bernard threw the remote onto the table. Fred pulled out a long metal spear from his backpack. Covered in blood with chunks of flesh stuck to the tip of the spear. Joseph pulled out his ax as Talen withdrew his gun. Together, all four of them rushed back outside.

On their way out, Talen happened down at Fred's metal spear. Standing behind Bernard and Fred was Talen and Joseph. The lookouts in the elevated platforms were all showcasing their bows and arrows. Each of them had an arrow that was ready to be fired.

Looking up into the sky, Mike figured out what Joseph had seen. Something far beyond this world was flying overhead. It was the mutant everyone feared the most. No, not the Armsy or even the Cowman. This mutant differed from the rest and was twice as dangerous and deadly.

"The fuck is that thing Mike?" Joseph asked.

Looking back down and over at Joseph and Talen, he gave them the answer to their question.

"That, my friends, is–," Mike said as Fred cut him off and finished his sentence for him.

"The Bird!" Fred told. "That's the fucking BIRD!