0. Arrival

We live in a world driven by desire where every human being present in it, has a goal to achieve. From doctors in search for cures to stoics in search for the hidden truth and to the lost in search for their purpose in life.

Honestly, this world is driven by this metric whereby the fortunate get to attract their desires.

But if there was a man who longed for knowledge, for power, for control of this chaos filled world would he be able to get what he wanted in the end? I wonder....

The gun shot rang loudly in my ear drums as the bits of blood sprayed across my face. Followed by multiple screams coming from all directions. This was carnage. Stemming from a simple message.

And humans would turn on each other at the drop of a hat. Another gun shot. And another and another. A I lost count. I was terrified. How did something like this even happen? How did I get mixed up in this situation? Sorry those weren't the questions that were prominent in my head. What kept gnawing at my hedges was the unbearable feeling known as fear. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to be next. I couldn't be next. I still had things I had to accomplish. This wasn't my end this wasn't my-

"Forward everything to me." A familiar female face said pointing the gun at me.

"Give me all that you've got. Or die." I see.... now this was what she had hoped for from the beginning huh.

"Am not going to repeat myself" She removed the safety from the gun then. Shot at me.

Did I die? well in order for you to get a better picture of this entire situation I need to take you all back to how it all started. At the beginning. At my arrival.

*

Blinded and tied to a chair. I could faintly pick up the noice from all around the place. I had been drugged after signing the contract but now as I was awake I could clearly decern that I was no longer in the US. And if I was I was near a harbor of some sort.

The ship docked and I was thrust outside. Where my ground seemed to sink with every footstep.

Sand?

I continued walking along. Pulled from behind by the ropes tied to my hands. After a minute or so we entered some sort of shade. I knew this since I couldn't feel the sun on my back anymore. I was thrust onto a chair and had my blindfold taken of same goes for the ropes on my hands.

On opening my eyes I found myself in a large room. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one who got such a treatment. There's was about 40 I presume.

"Hello" a girl who was placed to my right broke the silence. And to be clear she was talking to me.

"Hey." My throat was parched and dry from dehydration. The trip had taken us the time we had been drugged to get here. Wherever here was. Assuming everyone here went through the same experience as me.

"Am Nina. What's your name?"

"Kai"

"Kai huh. That's a cute name."

"Really? Thanks." My name has always gotten everyone who heard it were skeptical faces or confused looks, but this girl just readily accepted it. Huh interesting.

"Do I have something on my face?" she asked after being caught staring at her.

"No your good."

"Is that your way of calling me cute?"

"You could say that."

"Sigh. That's a relief I thought I looked weird after the rough treatment I got while getting here."

"Rough treatment?"

"Yeah I was drugged can you imagine that. I sure hope they didn't do anything to me while I was..." she placed her hands on her upper thighs. Which were hidden behind her short skirt. Then looked at her lower area with unease.

"I don't think they would do something like that."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. And besides if they had you would definitely be feeling it by now. Do you by any chance feel something?"

"Actually No I don't. I guess you are right." relief washed over her and she relaxed. Letting her guard down then turned to me.

"But you know this drugging thing was uncalled for if you ask me. You agree with me don't you?"

"Yeah getting drugged and waking up in a totally unfamiliar place was never on my bucket list." She laughed after my comment.

"So where do you think we are right now?"

"Probably in some harbor in the US."

"In the US? Wait are you from the US?"

"Aren't you?"

"No am from the UK."

The UK? Huh was I missing something? If that was the case then it wouldn't make sense for us to be shipped to a given point on the US. But even if that was the case did that mean that they were conducting whatever this was in collaboration with the UK?

I had initially thought that they were recruiting people from the US alone but now.

Did this mean that US and the UK could be possible clues as to where we were right now?

But wait. Why blind us and drug us only to take us to places we were bound to be familiar with. It doesn't make any sense. Unless, that wasn't the case and blinding us and drugging us was a way to conceal us from the fact that we were taken some other place other than those two areas.

And that's not all what's stopping them from recruiting people from other countries? I slowly scanned the room. Amongst the people present in the room I could clearly identify a Chinese, Japanese, Korean and an Mexican. But who's to say that all of them weren't recruited from the US. I couldn't just base it on pure appearances. For all I knew those very people could be Americans. I could know if I asked them directly. But did that really matter? For now I would just put figuring out that criteria later. And focus on what was going to happen next.

"Is something wrong?" Nina asked.

"No. Where do you think we are right now?"

"I did have similar thoughts as to yours. I had initially thought we were in some harbor in the UK but now that I know you're from the US I really can't say for sure where we are. And also..." She said looking around the room filled with people that seemed to be of different ethnicities.

Yeah with the limited information we had so far we could just be able to make wild guesses and nothing more.

A woman dressed in a lab coat walked in and made way to the podium that was placed in front of the room.

"Greetings all of you and welcome." she paused and looked around the room which was busy with conversations between different people. She glanced to a man dressed in black to here right. The man took out a gun and fired it pointing to the ceiling.

Everyone went silent afterwards. Most were shocked others seemed terrified. But I have to admit that was a good attention grabber.

"My name is M. And let me take this time to formally welcome you all to this place know as Desire Island."

Island? We were on an island? But hold on how long were we asleep for?

"Don't be alarmed. We are just following the contract in which all of you readily signed."

She said and everyone gasped. Trying to remember a clause in the contract that stated being dragged on to an island.

"Now as for what all of you will be doing here. As per the contract. You will be undergoing testing. But aside from that you are free to live your lives as you see fit." She paused and a box was brought to her.

"Each of you will. Be given a watch and a phone. The watch will be automatically synched to the phone. Meaning you will be able to monitor your vitals."

So. The watch could measure things like blood pressure heart rate and body temperature.

The men standing by at the door came in and began distributing the phones and watches then customizing them. After the watch was placed a click sound could be heard and it seemed like you couldn't remove them all willy nilly.

"The watches are water proof. Meaning you are allowed to shower with them and even go swimming with them. But I guess that would be natural since removal of them is forbidden. And as some of you seem to have figured out. Would be a challenge to do so."

Given that the watch was advanced and looked slim enough and sturdy repairing them was bound to be a hassle.

" Should the watch you are wearing happen to be damaged beyond repair you will be charged immeasurable"

Charged?

"Speaking of charges. I would like for all of you to place all of your fingers one by one on the screen for authentication."

We complied and afterwards I saw a picture of me in a profile that was generated.

It had some rather unique information that only I would know and not just that. It had a number next to my profile. Stating Rank 35.

Then at the bottom was seemed to be some kind of money value of 10,000$.

"At the bottom of your profile you will see a total sum of 10,000$. This value has been alloted to all of you. And from here onwards you will be required to procure your own funds. As for any expenses, should you incurr any. You will get a dudction from this sum here."

I listened in closely so that I'd be able to discern any hidden messages within if there were any.

" As for the place each of you will be staying at. If you go to your map application. You will see an Icon shaped like a home. If you press on it it states your current residence. Here your will be expected to prepare your own meals and keep yourselves alive. Failure to do so will lead to elimination. "

People started murmuring after that then went quiet after she looked up at us.

" Now am sure all of you have seen a number next to your profile named rank. This is alloted to all of you. The highest being rank 1. But for this lot none of you are Ranked 1 sorry to say. Well now from here you are expected to go to your residence first before doing anything else. You will receive communication on the next course of action afterwards. That will be all."

She finished her explanation and left followed by the men who were on guard.

We then received a notification of the rules of the Island which should be adhered to.

I Opened the rules page and started going it over quickly.

" Hey Kai do you think we could exchange contacts?" Nina asked while showing me the chat feature in phone.

"Sure why not." I placed my phone forward and she did the same and automatically our contacts were added to each phone.

"Wow nice. I have a cute boy in my contacts." She whispered to herself then looked at me hoping I didn't here that last part.

We made eye contact. Then a short awkward stare.

"You heard that?"

"uh yeah."

"Please just forget about that last part." She pleaded her cheeks flushed from embarrassment.

Well I wouldn't even if I wanted to. But I had to reassure her.

"Sure."

She calmed down after that then stood up ready to go following her map.

I did the same also wanting to get the first huddle of locating my place done with. Most of the others present in the room had already started to move, clearly heading to their places. And as am sure they had noticed it was around 4pm and if you waited here too long you would have to try locating your place in the darkness in a completely unfamiliar place. Noone wanted to risk such a thing. And there was also the bit about us being in an island. As all of you know as far as islands are concerned, depending on the layout of the island and it's inhabitants traveling at night would be tantamount to stupidity.

But the map didn't show any real high areas from where we were now. Just huge steep slope something anyone would be able to maneuver through well in daylight I assumed.

Well then how about we get this show on the road.

I started walking following the map then.

"Um... Do you mind if I tag along?"

"Hmm? But are you sure? What if we aren't headed in the same direction?"

"Then mind if I confirm?"

"No go right ahead." I gave her my phone and she confirmed the coordinates with hers and oddly enough we were headed exactly at the same place.

"Seems like we're headed in the same place after all."

"I guess we are. Then it's fine I don't mind."

"Great." she smiled and we walked out of the room to the evening sun.

To our right was a huge forest and to our left was the beach. Then I guess the forest it is. We checked the map again and walked on into the forest.

*

It had been around an hour or so since we started moving and this girl: Nina was out of breath. It might be because of the small hill steps here and there. It wasn't anything that seemed that much taxing to the average person gender irrelative but when it comes to her. This was totally different. She was struggling to keep up with me. Not that I was moving fast or anything she was just having trouble moving about in this new terrain.

"You okay?" I stopped and asked.

"Yes i am." She stopped and started panting heavily.

"Sorry for being a bother." She said clearly distraught to. My initial concern.

"I didn't mean it like that. But by any chance are you not good with the out doors?"

"Yes. You could say that this is the very first time I have actually tried something this intense. The thing is, I really don't have that much stamina, that's why I avoid such exercises." she said while wearing a look of remorse on her face indicating that she knew she was being a bother and dragging me down.

"Well it can't be helped I guess. Shall we keep going. "

We had roughly about a mile left which was equal to about half an hour walk. And so we continued on untill we reached a town of some sort.

It looked to be in good condition. I guess this was the place we would be staying at from here on wards.

The town had the making of an actual town. If I didn't know any better I would confuse it for a real town in the outside world. But here granted that this island may have had inhabitants before us it could've been an actual town. Either that or this people spent an awful lot of money turning this place into a habitable reserve.

Not gonna lie. The buildings looked good. And I could see all types of stores here and there. Even a mall was stated to be nearby in the map. This could even turn out to be heaven with the right mindset.

The stores were open and people were getting in and out. Which meant that they were busy buying and selling. Just like the outside.

We continued walking along the street passing by a Cafe some distance back and reaching our destination.

I would really love to check out that Cafe and sample their products. Being a coffee enthusiast I was looking forward to it.

"Wow this place is unreal."

"Yeah"

"Like they even have a mall." she said. Her voice trembling with excitement.

So that was the reaction of a typical mall girl. Interesting, you could say it was synonymous with my enthusiasm with cafes minus that little happy shriek at the end there.

"Hey Kai we should check it out right?"

And now she just got carried away and invited me to tag along. Not that I mind but doesn't she realize that her intentions could be interpreted wrongly?

Ah but who cares, I am also curious about it so why not.

"Sure just say when."

I replied and then checked my phone. The home icon was glowing and a number of 11 was hovering over it. Does that mean that I was in room 11 of this apartment?

We were in front of a huge apartment building. Which was top tier out of the typical apartments you'd normally find where am from. It looked stunning and expensive. And this was the place I was going to be staying at? Damn this better not be a joke.

"Are you in the same building?" I asked Nina who by now had pulled up a real image of the place she was supposed to be at. I guess the location feature really was outstanding. Using the satellites for real time imagery was brilliant and beneficial to us.

The building she pulled up was the same as the one In front of us. There were many apartment buildings nearby so having to proof check was time efficient. Imagine having to check every building only to find out that you missed your initial area by only an inch.

"Looks like this is the place. And I am in room. 27" she said. And we both entered the building.

We got inside the lobby and found a woman at the reception desk who was kind enough to explain everything to us.

For starters. This building had stairs and an elevator. You could choose which way you wanted to go by. Which was convenient. And Secondly you were issued a key card for your room which also could unlock with your fingerprint should you happen to loose it.

We got on the elevator and each of us went to our respective floors given that 11 and 27 were in two completely different floors.

And now I was alone in front of my new room. I placed my hand on the fingerprint lock and opened it. Then in I went.