The Order by Jeremy Robinson

Author:Jeremy Robinson [Robinson, Jeremy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Breakneck Media
Published: 2022-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

31

“I’m sorry, did you say, “North Sentinel Island?”

“Yah,” Burnett says, all casual, like he hasn’t just made a catastrophic error. “Have you visited before?”

“Of course not!” I shout. “Not only is it illegal to come within miles of the island, but everyone who comes here dies!”

“Dies?” Burnett sounds surprised. “How?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s the poison-tipped arrows!”

“That sounds horrible,” Burnett says. “Should I rotate us away?”

Normally, that would be the obvious choice. I don’t want to be killed, but I also don’t want to disturb a tribe of people who have successfully existed for 60,000 years without influence from the outside world.

“It’s not just poison arrows,” Wini says over comms, voice low like she’s Large Marge, about to recall the horrors of her past. “We’ve heard reports of…strange things happening on this island, and a trio of people from the outside world—”

An arrow whistles past my head, hits the ramp, and ricochets up into the cargo hold, silencing Wini.

To rotate away, would mean first rotating a few feet to get our new dino-pal back in the cargo bay. Might also mean killing some of the tribal people slowly encroaching on our position. The arrows are keeping us pinned down. I can hear bare feet slapping on the earth. I want to save Mazzola, but I’m not about to kill the North Sentinelese to get it done.

“There is no need for concern,” Mazzola says in my head. His black eyes open wide. “I have…impressed the situation upon their minds. They will not attack us if we do not leave the ship.”

“And if we do leave the ship?” I ask. I have no plans to do so, but I want to know what I’m up against should the need arise.

Goose bumps rise all over Mazzola’s body. “Unimaginable horrors.” He gasps, and not just in his mind. He crushes his eyes shut and shakes his head. “The island is forbidden. That is enough.”

Mazzola pushes himself up with a grunt, so unconcerned by the poison arrows that I believe he truly did make peace with the natives. But how? What kind of ancient people could have a spaceship appear in their midst and just roll with the psychic explanation delivered by an albino dinosaur?

“This planet is more mysterious than you know,” Mazzola says. I’m getting accustomed to his mental speak. If you don’t look at his unmoving mouth, his transmitted thoughts sound a lot like someone talking aloud. “Best to not question it, if you want to survive.”

“It’s in my nature to—”

Images flow into my consciousness. Being hunted. Paralyzed. Dark creatures closing in. Monstrous things. Babies thrown like projectiles. All of it smeared in a sense of dread more profound than anything I’ve felt before—and that’s saying a lot, because despite my macho exterior, I’ve spent a lot of the last decade a jump scare away from needing to wear adult diapers on mission.

“Okay, okay. I got it.” I take a moment to recover from the hellish vision. “Everyone stay on Lil’ Bitch’n. No one goes outside for any reason.

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