Survivor Planet Series 2-Book Box Set (2 page)

The droop of Jack's shoulders told me I'd led them on a merry chase. How much of it had been real I wasn't sure. The canoe part was sketchy. Sure, I could paddle one well enough, so it could have happened. I'm sure I'd climbed the big rock face as well. My aching limbs gave testament to that little stunt. The cottage at the point had once belonged to my aunt and uncle, now it was held in trust for me, as was their entire estate, me being their only heir. They were dead and had been for much longer than a year, more like four. I'd been sixteen at the time. And since that time, when they'd found me rocking back and forth amongst the blood and guts, I'd been the youngest resident ensconced in the Lindove Asylum.

To this day I couldn't tell you what happened. My only memory of the Event is that Uncle Mick and Aunt Erin and I had been sitting around the fireplace after eating dinner. All at once things had started to rattle like an earthquake, and then a bright white light blazed in through every window. After that, nothing. No memories. No anything. Not until I snapped out of my trance three days later and learned I was no longer at the cottage. I'd been bundled up and taken to the asylum.

They'd been kind to me at Lindove. They'd filled me in on the Event, gently and with a great deal of sympathy. Told me that someone must have killed my guardians and decided, for some unknown reason, to let me live. No one had been caught and punished for the crime. To this day the whole thing remains a mystery.

For the most part, I liked Lindove. It was situated in the small northern town of Graneden, not far from the cottage I'd loved so much. I felt safe there. Well, most of the time, that is. It was only when I had an Episode—became all weird and stuff—and people would look at me as if I was crazy, that I didn't like it. Not that it happened often, but when it did...

We reached the rock face and Jack helped me climb back down. Behind me I could hear Danny doing a lot of swearing. He said “pain in the ass” several times and I knew he was talking about me. At the bottom of the hill rested the canoe, gently rocking against the shore in the lapping waves. So, I had taken it then. The poor guys had had to take the long way round to get me. No wonder Danny was annoyed. Jack maneuvered the canoe so he could sit in the back. Danny climbed in the front, and I sat in the middle. I didn't get to paddle. Once across the lake we all got out and the men pulled the boat up onto the shore and tipped it over. I was pretty impressed I'd managed that feat all on my own. I guess fear was a pretty big motivator.

Since the Event, the huge, faceless man of my nightmares had haunted me mercilessly. First, only when I slept, but then, over the past eight months, he'd begun to appear when I was awake. Gradually, his face became clearer, until one day I could see him as well as I saw anyone else. The only problem was no one else ever saw him. He was real careful, see, only showing up in empty corridors or empty rooms and always when I was alone. It didn't help that my mind got confused a lot. I'd thought naming him would be a good idea so he became Kale. Kale began visiting me so often that I'd begun to think of him as my boyfriend.

Call it wishful thinking, coping, or just plain crazy, but I invented an entirely new reality in which Kale and I had fallen madly in love and moved in together. Of course, he'd been insanely jealous over anyone else in my life—he loved me
that
much. In fact, he loved me so much he became obsessed with me. I'd never had a boyfriend, but I'd heard some of the older women in here talk about it. One of them had been so in love she'd actually tried to kill her boyfriend. None of them had had what you'd describe as a healthy relationship—at least, according to the doctors. Sometimes this fantasy life I'd created got confused with my real life. I got all mixed up with what was real and what was not. In the middle of the night I'd wake up in a cold sweat, sure that Kale was just outside my door. I can't exactly remember when I'd started to be afraid of him. My fantasy had gotten out of control over the months and the more I imagined Kale loving me, the more I figured he'd become obsessed, and then violent. I hadn't meant for things to become like this between us. It was just that, listening to the other patients, it seemed to me all relationships turned bad eventually.

Jack and Danny had parked the white van with the little dove emblem out front of the cottage. I kept my eyes focused on the dove while I walked, not daring to look at the cottage. Seeing it brought back painful memories and I wondered why I'd dared to come here. I got the creeps just being close to it.

“Should be home just in time for dinner,” Jack said. He smiled kindly at me and even winked as he pulled open the sliding door and ushered me inside. Danny jumped into the passenger seat in the front, and after Jack slid the door shut, he climbed behind the wheel of the van. From the backseat, through the windshield, I could see the cottage clear as day. I kept my eyes directed up over the roof at the sky. It'd begun to grow dim out since it was getting on in the year. No more bright sunshine till nine o'clock. Now it was practically full dark by eight. Dinner was always at six o'clock sharp so I knew it was getting late. Jack put the van into reverse and began to back up to curve around the driveway so he could straighten out the van and drive out. All of a sudden he slammed on the brakes.

“Damn!” he swore, which was out of character for him.

“What's wrong now?” Danny demanded. I knew he didn't like to miss meals, always being cranky before lunch and dinner. The small paunch of a stomach he sported had grown a good size over the years.

“The door's wide open,” Jack said, gesturing towards the cottage. “You guys sit tight and I'll check it out.” He didn't wait for a reply before he put the van into park and jumped out. Danny just snorted in agitation, sending me a glare, which told me how annoyed he was. As soon as Jack was out of hearing range, Danny lit into me.

“How the fuck did you get out here anyway? Hitch a ride, you little tramp? I bet some old guy diddled you the whole way.”

Used to his attacks, I ignored him. Despite not wanting to look, I watched as Jack entered the cottage and disappeared from sight. For some reason, seeing him step into the void made me extremely worried. The laughter began again, Kale's cruel voice drumming inside my head. Even when I put my hands up to cover my ears, it still continued on.

“Shut up! Shut up!” I began to holler, rocking back and forth in my seat.

Danny looked at me like I was an even bigger freak than I was. “What the fuck?
You
shut up. Shut your damn mouth!” His loud yelling joined in with Kale's until I couldn't differentiate between them. I shut my eyes tight.

Suddenly he pounded his fist against the dashboard making my eyes bulge open in fear. Everything stopped. The voices, the yelling—everything but the fear. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Jack hadn't come back out. Why he was taking so long was anyone's guess. Danny swore in frustration and climbed out of the van. He slid open the side door and told me to get out. With me in the lead—not by choice—we began walking towards the open door of the cottage. My heart started racing and my breath became heavy in my chest. Every step I took was like walking towards the executioner's block. I hadn't crossed the threshold since the Event and even though Danny was with me and Jack was inside, I didn't want to do it now. When I reached the door I hesitated.

“Inside,” Danny growled.

My hand shook as I reached for the screen door. It was the heavy wooden door that had been left open. I stared at it once the screen was wide enough to step past. Scorch marks were scarred across the deep red paint as though left by the fiery hand of a dragon. When my feet refused to move, Danny gave me a not so gentle shove from behind. I practically fell into the room beyond.

“Jack?” Danny yelled over my head. He walked around me and went into the living room where there was a fireplace and a big picture window that faced out towards the lake. To my right was the galley kitchen. Just beyond that was a long hallway with doors leading to a bathroom and bedroom on the right, and another two bedrooms on the left. The entire cottage felt completely still, yet, not quite empty. My eyes darted around searching the corners in the dim light expecting something terrible to spring forth.

“Where are you, Jack?” Danny demanded. He began stalking down the hallway and systematically opened each of the closed doors. At the last door he hesitated. He turned to look at me from where I'd wandered another few steps and could now see down the hall. I wanted to shout at him not to open the door. There was no reason why that I could logically explain, but whatever was behind it, I felt should stay hidden. Danny smirked at me and his hand reached for the knob.

That's when everything began to shake. Just like I remembered from four years ago—it's how the nightmare had begun. As the door swung open I saw Danny raise a hand to his eyes as a blinding white light shot out. He turned away and took one step before he gripped the wall as though something had a hold of him. This time, when his eyes met mine, they were full of fear.

“Jack?” I yelled. Danny was pulled back into the room, slowly, his nails grabbing at the wall, fingernails leaving scratches. Once he disappeared from view the door slammed shut. “Jack, Danny needs help!” The floorboards continued to rumble and shake and when I backed up towards the door my legs were unsteady. I moved in slow motion, like the way I sometimes did in dreams when I was trying to get away.

Blinding light suddenly lit up every window and I had to sink to the floor and cover my eyes to escape the glare. I spun round and crawled forward but the scorched wooden door slammed shut making me turn back toward the living room. I got in front of the fireplace and faced the other door—the one leading to the front deck—before everything stopped and became still. The light was gone and slowly I got to my feet. It was then I became aware I was no longer alone.

I turned in resignation, ignoring the screaming voice in my head that urged me to flee, and faced my tormentor. The man who'd hounded me endlessly, first as a nightmare, then as my lover, then as my enemy, since I was sixteen years old.

“Kale?”

He stood tall and unmoving, his face a mask of cold determination. “Ayres, actually,” he said.

“For real?”

His hand reached out and unwillingly I moved forward to take it in mine.

He smiled. “For real.”

Just like all those years ago, I awoke with a head full of cotton and a dry mouth. This time, however, the now familiar pristine white walls of Lindove did not surround me. Instead, everything was cold metal. And bars.

I became aware I was curled up on the floor in a thick rough blanket that scratched at my skin. The floor was clean and bare and looked to be made of concrete. Was I in jail? It would explain the barred window at the top of the imposing steel door of the cell.

There'd been an earthquake, I remembered that, and the bright light. Then...there'd been Kale, yet he'd said his name was Ayres. I'd taken his hand. After that everything was a blank. A terrible thought entered my mind. Had Jack and Danny been found dead, just like Uncle Mick and Aunt Erin had?

Shit!

Maybe they thought I was a killer. I mean, to have the same crime committed in the same place leaving only me left alive was pretty convenient. It definitely smacked of guilt. But I hadn't killed anyone. It was a mistake. I got up on shaky knees and used the wall for leverage as I climbed to my feet. That's when I noticed I was naked. The blanket had pooled around my feet. I reached down and snatched it up, pulling it around my shoulders, and crept toward the door. I peered through the bars and from what I could see it appeared I was in some sort of cellblock. A prison no doubt. They'd locked me up in a place nowhere near as nice as Lindove this time.

From my vantage point it was impossible to see too far. There was a cell directly across from mine and I noticed the bob of a head just below the bars. I waited until the head came up again and called out, “Hey. Hello?”

A small pale face framed by a riot of dark curls came into view. “Hello?” a young female's voice answered.

“My name's Mandy. What is this place?”

“I...I dunno. Been here for a few...days...I think.” She took a moment to get out her words. Maybe her throat was as dry as mine?

“Did you do something? Something bad?” Must be a prison for women.

“No. Nothing. There was...bright light. A man...”

What?
Sounded like the same shit I'd seen. “What's your name?” Dammit, I needed water.

“Lissa.”

“Lissa?” Sounded like a lisp.

“Yeah,” she said. “Oh, no! Someone's...coming.” She ducked out of sight. When I heard the steady tread of boots in the hall I did the same, moving as far back as my cell would allow. I wrapped up tightly in the blanket and sat down, trying to conceal my nakedness as my cell door began to rattle. A moment later it swung open. A very large man stood in the doorway.

Perhaps it was the poor lighting, or my fanciful if somewhat crazy imagination, but it appeared half of the man's head was made of metal. I squinted my eyes and blinked several times before I confirmed my suspicion. Yep, definitely metal.

“Rise,” he said, his voice gruff and as cold as my ass had been on the floor. Despite what was assuredly a wild Episode I was having, I didn't want to take any chances so I rose to my feet.

“Come,” he said, gesturing me forward.

Taking a big gulp I did as instructed. He reached out suddenly and snatched my blanket away, tossing it aside.

“Hey!” I made a move to retrieve it, but froze when he raised a hand to strike me. He wore a long gray lab coat over his clothing, which appeared to be a one-piece black jumpsuit. Lowering his hand he reached into his pocket and removed a strange handheld instrument. I stood, stiff with embarrassment, as he waved the device over my midsection and then lower toward my womanly parts. The object hummed and little lights flashed on and off. He grunted with satisfaction before he put the device away.