The Island

I looked over the list again and had to roll my eyes again. Apparently Lindsey and Erica did not want a healthy kidney at the end of our little vacation. We had finally done it, graduated college and came out of it relatively unscathed. Erica was nursing a broken heart, but Lindsey assured her and I both that two weeks at Myrtle Beach at her parents beach house was the answer to every problem.

I could use a little fun after all the cramming and finals and the rushed ceremony after news of the 'pandemic' sweeping across the other side of the world. It was far away from us and we didn't have second thoughts about it.

I was in charge of the alcohol for the trip and apparently they didn't plan to be sober any part of the entire two weeks. From each of their lists, they planned morning, noon and evening drinks. I had never been a huge drinker, but when in Rome!

I pushed the heavy cart to the checkout line, looking over the cheesy headlines from The Globe and other tabloids. I glanced up and the man in front of me was looking me over. He was older, much older and actually completely hot for an older guy. Even if he was dressed like a douchebag in a shirt that was too tight to show off his very toned body and cargo shorts with expensive sandals. His watch screamed money and the sunglasses hooked on his shirt probably cost more than my car payment. Since it was night and he didn't need them, they were an accessory and a statement. 'I am loaded'.

His blue eyes sparkled as he gave me a heated smile, looking me over again. I looked away quickly, knowing better than to give an older guy an inch. A single smile and they thought they could come on to you and make you uncomfortable by asking you out or worse, offering money to do something gross.

My freshman year at the university, one of the older faculty members had offered me a $100 bill to put on high heels and stomp on his junk as hard as I could. I still wished I had slapped him harder.

I pretended to look at the sunglasses, angling the mirror so I could see him. He was still checking me out, his look appreciative. His gray hair was styled like the cut was expensive and the gray got darker as you lowered your eyes, until the immaculately trimmed facial hair on his chin was black. I half laughed. Aged hombre chic.

"Looks like quite a party," he said, making me look at him.

"It's a long vacation," I shrugged, then looked at his cart. It was full of fresh fruits and vegetables and a few toiletries. That seemed an odd combination.

"You from here?" he asked, starting to pile his things on the conveyor belt. His smile was still very interested. He was going to be a creeper, I just knew it.

"No," I answered, then pretended to get a text on my phone and focused on it. I opened a text I had gotten earlier from Lindsey and replied to her, telling her I was about to get the alcohol and I would meet them at 7 AM at her place to pick them up. I kept staring down at my phone, peeking up through my lashes to see if he was still being a skeez. He was focused on piling things on the belt and opening canvas bags to put everything in. A rich activist. Right. He probably did it to be trendy.

He moved his cart when he finished piling things on, then stepped back closer to me to reach for the divider. He set it down and stood a moment, looking down at me from two feet away. I could see him in the reflection of my phone and I felt completely weirded out.

"Works better when it's on," he said finally, tapping the top of my phone.

I blushed, realizing I had been staring down at a black screen, using it as a mirror to watch him and he had stood there watching me do it.

I turned my back to him as I started stacking bottles on the belt, mortified. Ugh.

"Have fun on your trip," he called, carrying his bags out, flexing ridiculously as he did.

The clerk smiled at me as she rang me up. "He was hot! Talk about a silver fox!" the older woman giggled.

"Yeah, he knew it too," I said, pulling out my card. This was going to be painful.

I had to push the cart out to my car, the bottles clinking noisily on the asphalt and I saw 'Mr Fox' leaning on the back of a nice truck. It was dark enough that I immediately felt uncomfortable walking past him. I hesitated, looking back inside, but the woman who had been behind me was still piling her overloaded cart onto the belt.

He spoke suddenly, making me jump. "Babe, I just got out of there! You should have called sooner!"

He was on the phone. I let a breath out and kept walking, pushing past him to my car. I opened the trunk, listening to him talk as I set bags inside.

"For how many people?... Yeah, I guess I can do that, what kind?... All of them?... And what kind do you want?... Ok babe, anything for you," he laughed.

I put my cart up as he hung up his phone and reached into the back of his truck, pulling out another canvas bag. I turned and hurried to my car, opening the door to get in as a soft hand closed around my face. I screamed into the cloth that I had mistaken for a soft hand as I was yanked back hard against a tall, hard body. I inhaled to scream again, stabbing at his arms with my keys and a sharp, chemical smell filled my lungs, making me dizzy. I stabbed futily, feeling my strength draining away from me as black closed in.

Pain. Pain and white light. Bright stabbing light.

I groaned, hiding my face from the light and turned over in bed to pull the blankets up over my face.

I sat up, stunned. Not my bed, or my blankets! I kicked the blankets off, breathing heavily as I looked around the large, open room. It was square and there were three huge open windows almost as large as the walls on three of the walls. The far left side of the fourth wall held a door, an old wooden door with two iron hinges that spanned the door. It was stone. All of it. The room was stone, like a castle. The windows had flowing, gauzy white curtains that fluttered in the breeze and I could hear seagulls.

I was nowhere near the ocean! I wasn't supposed to be. Not until we drove the fourteen hours to Myrtle Beach.

Holding my head, I stood up and went to the window to look out. I was three stories up and I looked out at the beach and the ocean. The second window behind the bed that was parked in the middle of the room showed hills and trees and sandy dunes beyond, and further than that, through the trees, the ocean. The third window showed more trees and a long beach stretching down and curving. I could also see a boathouse and a dock, as well as a large yacht out in the ocean itself.

I stumbled back, sitting on the bed, then looked down. I was in a dress. A long, white sundress that went sheer just past my hips to show my pale legs. No shoes. Where had my dress gone? My shoes, my purse, my phone? I stood, looking around but the room was empty except for the bed with the white linens and gauzy canopy.

I turned to the door, terrified that it would be locked, but went to it anyway, yanking on the round iron ring. It pulled open soundlessly and easily and I stared down the blind stairwell that took a hard right. There was a smaller, arched window in front of me and from it I could see the fourth side of the island. I knew it was an island now. There was a helicopter pad with a helicopter on it and another squat, square building with no doors or windows that I could see. Past that, beach and ocean. Straight down I could see the top of the second story of the building I was in. It looked like an old stone fort or maybe a castle. I couldn't tell.

I looked down the stairs, but all I could see was the faint outline of another door. I tiptoed down carefully, my hands on the walls since there was no railing and paused at the door to listen. I heard nothing. Still, I waited, my ear pressed to the wood.

After a full three minutes, I pressed lightly on the door, opening it an inch. Peeking in, I could see that it was the same as the room above, but this room held expensive looking outdoor furniture and tables, arranged to sit and talk in the breeze of the three huge openings.

The breeze smelled like the ocean as I stepped in and looked down the wall to the other door. It was in the same place as the one above, the far left of the room. I circled the room, looking out the windows again as I dabbed sweat off my head and neck. The heat was oppressive and the breeze wasn't helping much. It had been better in the room above.

I went to the other door and it pulled open as quietly as the other two had, but this time there was pitch blackness. There was no window on the wall, just a blind stairwell and another line of light at the bottom from the door at the bottom. I hurried down and listened again, but there was no sound. I was feeling braver, so I peeked out quickly to another square room.

"You are finally awake," Mr Fox said, setting a book down and standing.

I stared up at him, stunned. "You... kidnapped me?!?" I asked incredulously, furiously.

"Some would argue that I saved you. And for the record, no. I did not kidnap you, I was merely an accomplice. Come in and sit down, Holly."

"How do you know my name? Were you following me? Have you been stalking me?!?"

He gave me a derisive laugh. "Do I look like the sort of man who needs to stalk a girl? No, I saw you and thought you might provide a bit of fun out here. Your ID, Holly. Your purse?"

Right.

"Where is out here? Where are we? What do you mean, 'fun'? Is this some fucked up island where you are going to hunt me? People will be looking for me!"

He laughed, sitting down in the chair he had vacated when I opened the door. "Sit down. I am not going to hunt you, or kill you or anything like that. You are on my private island, my... bug out island if you will. There is no way off the island unless I take you off and no way onto the island unless I bring you on. As for people looking for you? Perhaps eventually. 'Lindsey' believes you bailed on the trip and went home instead. Your parents think you are in Myrtle Beach with your friends. It will be a couple weeks before anyone thinks to look for you. Probably never at this point."

I felt a panic welling up as I looked around the room for something to use as a weapon. There was another door on the far side and I could see that it went into another room, a room with electricity from the look of it. I might be able to make it before he caught me.

"Why don't you have a seat, Holly?" he asked again, gesturing to the chair across from him. "I will send for something to drink and something for your headache."

"Like I would drink anything you gave me!" I said angrily, skirting around him to the window. The ones down here had screens.

"If I had wanted to harm you, I could have done it already."

"Doesn't mean you won't roofie me!" I accused, moving to the next window and shading my eyes to look out.

"If I had wanted to do that, I would have done it already too."

"How do I know you didn't?" I asked angrily, circling to the next window.

He chuckled. "You would know. The view is pretty much the same as it was from upstairs. Come sit down now."

I glared over my shoulder at the smug man sitting in the chair. I started towards the door and a man stepped into view, blocking my path.

"It's alright Ihvon, she isn't going to try anything. Are you Holly? Come sit down and we will talk."

I started at the giant in the door with his arms crossed. I knew looking at him that he had been the one who had taken me. Tall and muscle bound, he looked cliche as a bodyguard. Even his name was cliche.

I turned and threw myself into the chair angrily. "Who are you and why am I here?" I demanded, finally looking at 'Mr Fox' in the eye.

"My name is Anthony, but my close friends call me Tony. You are here because you amused me for a moment. You amuse me less now, but done is done, isn't it?"

"So let me go! Take me back to my home!"

"There you are Bonita," he said happily as a large older woman came waddling in with a tray. She smiled at him as she set the tray down. "Were the vegetables satisfactory?"

"Yes, thank you sir, they were exactly as I wished! You will see for yourself soon!"

"Bonita, this is Holly, my guest. I found her in Coventry when I was stopping in to see your son and picking up the vegetables."

"She is lovely, sir! Beautiful and so young! I had to take in that dress but it fits you nicely now!"

"Bonita is the one who changed you," Tony said mildly, as if trying to allay my fears.

"It wasn't hard!" she said happily. "You are a slight thing, I have lifted children heavier than you!" she laughed. "Will you need anything else, sir?" she asked him.

"Something for her headache. Thank you Bonita."

"Of course! And just you wait on dinner! You will see!" she cackled as she waddled away.

I watched her go, a little wide eyed before turning back to Tony. "She doesn't care that you kidnapped me?" I asked in shock.

He gave me a tight lipped smile. "Here in a few moments, I will take you and show you something. For now, I want to discuss the rules."

"Rules? You expect me to just obey your rules? You kidnapped me!"

"My rules are simple. Do not be rude, not to me or my help, or any other guests when they arrive. Watch your language, there is no call to be crass. If I tell you to do something, you do it without question."

I laughed. "Yeah, not going to happen. I want to go home."

"There is no getting off the island, Holly. Not now that you are here. There are two ways off, and I hold the keys to both. Even if you managed to get a key to one, you could not fly a helicopter. The other, you have no idea how to drive a yacht. It would do you little to no good and it would only upset me. Look at me please Holly. You may explore as you please, but you will quickly find there is nowhere to go and if you wish to eat, my table is the only place to do so. Do you understand?"

"You will starve me if I fuck up," I said acidly.

"Language, Miss Brooks."

"Fuck you!"

"Ihvon," he said, waving a dismissive hand at me.

Ihvon stepped in and took me by the arm, pulling me up out of the chair and then up the stairs to the bedroom I had started in. He pushed me towards the bed, then pulled the door shut. I heard a lock slide into place. I tried it anyway.

I ran to the huge open window and stuck my head out, looking down. "YOU SUCK!" I screamed angrily. "YOU OLD ASSHOLE! LET ME OUT!"

There was silence. I paced, then decided I was going to escape. I yanked down the curtains and pulled off the canopy on the bed and started tying them together, anchoring it to the bed. I threw the makeshift rope out the window and started trying to climb down. I made it down just past the second opening when a knot slipped out and I fell the last several feet to my back.

All the air I had ever breathed in my life left my lungs as I stared up at the sky and tried to catch my breath.

"I imagine that hurt," Tony said from the other side of the screen.

I could only lay there, stunned and dazed.

"Did you break something?" he asked curiously.

I managed to roll my eyes towards the screen where his voice was coming from, then looked back at the sky wondering what in the hell I had done to deserve this.

He sighed, sounding put upon, then moments later his face was above mine, looking down at me. He knelt next to me in the grass. "Look at my finger, follow with your eyes. Good. Take my hand, squeeze. Very good. Can you lift your arms? Move your feet? Your legs? Your head? Good. I think you are fine. Try sitting," he demanded, pulling me up to sit. "Does anything hurt?"

"My head."

"Worse than it already did?"

"No."

"Ok, let's stand. There you are," he said politely, a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

I shrugged him off, embarrassed and angry as I looked up at where the curtains had come untied.

"You aren't a sailor, are you?" he asked with a smile. "Not with those knots."

"I hate the water," I said angrily, rubbing my head. "I hate the beach and I hate the heat!"

He chuckled. "A bold statement from someone who was about to vacation at a beach."

"A beach HOUSE. With air conditioning. Out of the sun."

"I imagine the sun might disagree with your complexion. Come back inside before you burn."

I scowled, but let him lead me back inside as I looked around. He took me in a side door in the kitchen and Bonita was there waiting with two pills and a glass of ice water. I wanted to dump the water over my head! I took the pills with a mumbled thanks, then drank the water gratefully. It was cold and I felt the cold all the way down to my stomach as it went down. I was sweltering.

Tony was standing back, waiting for me patiently. I saw the look on his face again, the speculative look that said he liked what he was seeing.

I turned back to Bonita. "May I have more water please?" I asked, going to the sink.

"Of course!" she said happily.

I had to go on my tiptoes to reach the tap, but I got more water as I looked around for a knife or something sharp. There was nothing near the sink.

I turned and Tony was right behind me, close enough that I jerked in surprise. "I am not so foolish as to allow you access to anything that might harm myself or my employees," he said gently. Come along, I wish to show you something," he said, putting his hand on my back and pushing me out of the kitchen and into a hallway. This was the other building and I could tell it was newer. Not just because it had electricity, it just felt newer and looked newer. He led me to a large room with a large screen TV and pressed me to sit on the couch as he flipped switches and then picked up the remote. He accessed the satellite and punched in an area code, then the news came on.

I watched in shock. Widespread panic as the pandemic sweeps the world. Millions dead, more sick and dying. Looting, riots, chaos. Entire cities burning. I sat there for half an hour, watching coverage of major cities all over the United States.

"What happened?" I finally asked. "How... how long was I out?"

"I kept you sedated for the trip and while I gathered the last of the supplies I would need, then another day after we arrived so that I could get settled in. So you see, when I said some would argue that I saved you, I was being completely honest."

"How did you know?"

"I make it my business to know things like this."

"Why did you save me?"

"Who wants to spend the rest of their life alone?"

"I can never leave? I can never go home? What about my family?!? My friends?!? How do I know they are safe?"

"You cannot know, not for some time. Eventually, this will all blow over and die down and people will emerge from the rubble. We will know then who made it out and who did not. In the meantime, I am making ready for guests."

"Guests?"

"Yes. Come along," he said, standing and putting a hand on my shoulder to guide me to stand as well.

I felt numb as he led me down the hall to another, smaller hall and then down a set of stairs. It felt cool and damp the further down we went. He entered a code on a pad, then held his hand to a panel for a handprint, then a vault like door unsealed. He pushed it open and lights flickered on in a huge warehouse. There were shelves and walls full of water, food, dry goods, everything. It was massive.

He led me further into a side room with a hall that was lined with doors to smaller rooms. They were full of bunk beds and full sized beds with footlockers. Every fourth door was a bathroom with shower stalls. Three of the four walls were lined with the same long hall with the rooms off of it. The hallway circled all the way around the main warehouse. On the fourth wall, there was a larger sort of dayroom, a kitchen area, a kids play area and at the end, four large walk-in freezers and two walk-in fridges.