“I’ll handle the rest of the watch,” Denise said after she finished going over how I was to search the island. “Go ahead and just jump off from here,” she went on. “That way no one knows you’re gone, in case one of the others is a spy.”

I looked over the edge of the roof and felt slightly dizzy even though we were only a few stories up.

“Go on, you’ll be fine,” Denise reminded me.

“I know,” I replied. “It’s just still a bit weird.”

With that I climbed up over the short wall that ran around the perimeter of the roof and let myself fall. I’d only participated in the throwing game by being the thrower, never the one being thrown, so this was my first time falling from such a height. I knew at once I didn’t like it. All of my instincts were shouting at me that this was a mistake and that I was about to be severely injured, but when I did hit the ground my knees barely needed to bend to absorb the impact. The ground was slightly dented from where I’d landed but other than that there was nothing to really show for it. All in all it was rather anticlimactic.

As soon as I’d collected my self, I set off towards the road. The buildings all had security cameras so Denise and Penn could check on those to see if anyone was hiding in them so it was up to me to check the surrounding forest and coastline. It would need to be a place with access to power and Denise had explained to me where such places could be found. My first stop was going to be the docks. I could examine the checkpoints once more along the way and see if there was anything I’d missed from the last time I’d been through them. Both Denise and I doubted anyone would be hiding there but it was worth checking all the same.

I moved along at a regular walking pace this time, keeping an eye and ear out for anything out of place. Regardless of how relatively invincible I was, I still tried to keep my head down in the hopes of seeing them before they saw me, if there was anyone out here to be seen.

The first checkpoint was just as I’d left it. There were signs of a struggle but no bodies The gate was broken open and the mechanism that would normally raise and lower it was in pieces. That could be the work of a strong super, but not necessarily. The second checkpoint was very much the same as the first, as was the third. I didn’t see anything else that would help me in my search so I continued on. The airport was abandoned as before with no planes and no one about. I made a mental note to check it out on my way back from the docks since Denise hadn’t mentioned it as being under video surveillance like the other buildings. She hadn’t mentioned it at all, actually. Perhaps she’d just forgotten to go over it with me.

I had a pair of binoculars to scan the horizon once I reached the docks. I climbed a short ways up onto a hill to get a wider view of the horizon and began looking from left to right. All I saw was ocean, which was a relief. Part of me had worried I’d see their boat again but only waves were moving out there. I kept looking all the same for several minutes just to make sure I didn’t miss anything before turning back around and heading towards the airport once again.

The only buildings at the airport were the tower and a one story shed of a building. I checked the shed first. Inside were a few workstations, their computers missing, and a small break room. On the wall was the first map I’d seen of the island. The interior was labeled with all the buildings, as well as the few roads that crossed the island. On the north eastern edge was the airport and docks. I was about to move on when I noticed another dock on the southern edge of the island.

Denise hadn’t mentioned there being another dock. A worry began to grow inside me. Wouldn’t this be important for me to know about? Did she maybe have someone else checking that dock that I didn’t know about because she thought that maybe I was the spy? Worse yet, what if Denise was the traitor and was just trying to keep me away from the southern dock?

I searched the rest of the small building but didn’t come up with anything. I almost headed straight back to Cain Hall but instead went into the tower first. I wasn’t sure what I might find there but I figured it was worth checking while I was here.

Someone had already been here and tossed the room at the top of the tower. Papers and folders were strewn around and, as with everywhere else, the computers were gone. One thing did catch my eye, however, and that was a binder labeled ‘Flight Logs’. I picked it up and began turning pages. They recorded every person who had flown onto or off the island. Beside each name was a designation for whether they were a super, if they were staff or a student, and so forth. It didn’t take long for me to notice a pattern of staff being cycled out every couple of weeks and that gave me an idea. I began searching for Penn’s and Denise’s names.

They weren’t in the log. I went back a full month to make sure and they weren’t there. I went back another month and still no mention of their names. That growing worry in the pit of my stomach burned within me as I set the log book down and turned back towards the valley. I must have been too strong for them, too uncontrollable, and so they’d sent me on this wild goose chase. I would have been out here for hours looking in all the wrong places while they did what?

Denise had said it herself. They were going to take the dead and revive them, using them for their own devices.

I had wasted too much time already so without waiting any longer, I ran at the far wall and crashed through it, tumbling down to the ground where I landed, rolled and began running as fast as I could straight for Cain Hall. As it was I’d already been gone for at least an hour, maybe longer. How much could they get done in that time? Was I already too late?

I crashed through trees as I threw myself into the forest and down the valley wall. I hardly even noticed the trees this time as I carved a path through them. Every second felt like an hour as I tried to hurry myself along, willing myself to go even faster. When at last I burst out of the trees and began tearing across the campus I could see motion by the Pinegree building as lines of bodies hovered out the door and down towards a large bus.

Something flashed to my right and I turned just in time to be hit by a rocket. The explosion caught me off guard and I stumbled, tripping over my own legs and hitting the ground. I was back up on my feet a moment later when another rocket struck me, this time from the left. Each explosion was like getting kicked but I weathered the second explosion and kept running. I could make out Penn by now, using his telekinesis to move the bodies.

I scooped up a stone mid stride and flung it at him. I missed, and he noticed the projectile, taking cover behind a tree. Another rocket pelted me from behind and made me drop the next stone I’d just picked up. I scooped again and grabbed a boulder twice as tall as I was and lobbed it at the tree sheltering Penn. This time my aim was true and the tree collapsed on top of Penn, dropping the dead students. The bus they had been loading into revved it’s engine and began accelerating. I wasn’t sure if Penn was still alive or not but I needed to stop that bus and get to the boat at the southern docks as soon as possible. If I could stop them from leaving, then there would be no escape for the rest of them.

I followed the road south, ignoring the shouts and occasional rocket blasts until I finally reached the southern dock. It was smaller than the other one but no less serviceable. A large boat was docked there and the bus drove onto it over a ramp even as the boat was beginning to pull away, leaving the rest of their people behind. I saw Emil on the deck of the ship, watching me, a faint haze of poison hanging around him.

I was about to leap off the dock to jump onto the boat when an explosion erupted from beneath me. I fell and hit the water, splashing and struggling to reach the surface. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t swim up. It was as if I had weights holding me down. I turned and marched back up the shore until my head poked back up above the water. The dock was destroyed and the boat was significantly farther away now.

Emil raised an arm and waved. I grabbed a long piece of broken wood and threw it at him. He ducked as it tore through the railing where he’d been standing. I grabbed another piece of the dock, this time one of the poles that had served as it’s foundation, and hurled it at the side of the boat. It struck and splintered on the metal, leaving a deep gouge but not breaking through. I grabbed another such log and threw it with similar results. I kept at it until the boat was out of range, then I turned back towards the rest of the island. There were people to hunt and questions to be answered.