Chapter 51

Ahh, the desert. Barren, chapped drylands as far as my eyes could see. The landscape was just a merging of browns, tans, and a couple of dots of spiky greens. There seemed to be elevated cliffs hidden by sand dunes that whistled in high-pitched screams as we walked by. The san overloaded the environment with unbearable heat. Even with the sun covers, it was still scorching. When the heat began to get to me, I could see mirages of water. I laughed; the same water we wanted to avoid became something that we direly needed. "Hey, guys, do you think there's going to be an oasis around here?" I asked.

"Even if there was, I don't think it will be finders-keepers," Bill slurred his words. The heat was getting to him too. We were about halfway across the desert by now. We tried to travel through the night, but there were too many wild animals- dangerous ones- roaming around. It looks like the heat scared them back into their underground holes. Maybe, they were smart enough to go back. Unlike us, they did have a choice.

George pepped up, "Bill's right, finding ourselves an oasis doesn't mean that no one is going be around it."

I tried to justify my suggestion, "Well, yes, but who would hang around an oasis when they know that the water is the push factor. Not to mention, there are less than seven hundred people now."

"Still, I wouldn't take the chances. Cleaning the dessert path would put us directly in front of the mountains. Mountains have vegetation, water, and food that we could potentially hunt. I don't think it is wise to risk getting ambushed when we're almost there," Bill stated. He tucked his spear away on his back and drank some of his water from his canteen.

George chirped, "Besides! It's not like we're ever going to actually find one!"

"Guys, look!" I pointed my finger at an oasis, or at least I think it was. Crystal blue water surrounded by tall desert trees that cast a dark and cool shadow upon everything below it. "Tell me that I'm not dreaming!"

George squinted before saying, "This is amazing, maybe it's another blessing like the crate!"

Bill disagreed with our pleasant thoughts, "Or a curse, look closer." We followed his instructions only to see two other people sitting down by the water. They were setting up camp, I think. They got a small fire going, and they were picking out dates from the trees.

George pumped his fists and said, "We can take'em! Three of us and two of them!"

We crept a little bit closer when -suddenly- I felt a blade pressed against my throat. A deep voice crept into my ear, "Another step, and you'll be sent to the sky." I very slowly turned my head to meet the assassin's eyes. He was covered in black fabric that was wrapped around his body tight. He almost looked like a real ninja. I nodded to him, and he seemed to understand. He let go of the blade on my neck, and I swiveled my head to see that George and Bill were also restricted in the same way. The enemies behind us led us to the campsite, were -presumably- their boss was. A total of five people, so much for the advantage in numbers. Or skill for that matter.

We were led near the small body of water and tied up to one of the trees. The shackles were made out of plastic or something because my hands were getting cut every time I tried to struggle against them. The three of us were tried to the same tree. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here!" said one of the men. All of them were wearing identical clothing, and they all had similar statures so it was hard to tell them apart. I think they were brothers or at least close relatives. The same man that said something earlier was digging through our backpacks. "Dudes, you have gotta look at what these kids are packing. I mean, look at all of this," he dumped the contents of the backpacks on the sand, "Firestarters, lighters, flashlights, canned food, even chocolates!" The other men did not say anything but raced over to examine our goods. "To think that we were scavenging for shit when all we had to do was find the right people!"

For the next hour, they sorted through our stuff and indulged in the luxuries. All of the men lay lazily on hammocks they built out of the sun covers while we were struggling to not collapse from the heat. The sand was a fire that burned my knees, my legs, my butt. I sweltered and so did George and Bill. This was worse than what we had in the jungle. At least there, we didn't have to watch a bunch of overgrown children roll in our supplies like food.

The talkative man awoke from his hammock and walked towards us. He scratched his head and asked, "Hey, kid, you don't happen to have one of those evolution pills, would ya?"

I shook my head and said, "Nope."

"Interesting, so none of you have even one?" I nodded my head, and so did George and Ben.

The man snapped his fingers and said, "Boys, check them out." Three men arose from the hammocks and wiped their cover fingers on our bodies. Each of them found one pill. Fuck. In the end, they gathered all three of the pills. Red, blue, yellow. Fuck, fuck. That could have been the only way out! The man came to me and said, "So, sewer rat knows how to lie?" I defiantly looked him in the eyes. "I don't like that look, kid." He collected all the pills into his hand and punched me in the stomach. My breath flew right out of me and my head face the sand with pain. I tried to reach my stomach, but I remembered that my hands were tied. Shit. He punched me again in the chest this time; several of my ribs cracked. I didn't scream though, I couldn't give that. The man sneered, "I'll give you some advice, kid." He pulled my head up to look him in the eyes. His hand grabbed my hair really hard. "Toss your dumbass pride away; you might actually live to see yourself a man one day." He slowly let his hand trace my head. His finger gingerly smoothed over my forehead, then my temple, then my cheek, until it reached my lips. The hand still held onto the pills. His hand was near my mouth. My brain flipped a switch. *BITE* "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FUCK!!! LET GO!!! LET GO OF ME YOU FUCKING ANIMAL!!!" My teeth sank into his index and middle finger. Blood flowed like a river down to the sand, coating the sand to look like a blood-soaked battlefield. Some of it even went into my mouth. Still, I didn't let go. Instead, I wrenched my head up and down until his two fingers slowly began to rip at their second joint. His face was as pale as a ghost and then he fainted. When he fainted, his body collapsed in the sand, but my teeth still watched on to his fingers, tearing them out for good.

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Micheal Grey POV:

He reminds me of me. Vincent. Damn, even I wouldn't have the guts to bite of another person's fingers. Well, maybe. The other men jumped out of their own hammocks and surrounded the boys. They looked they wanted to do some serious damage. I think this is my queue. "Operator seven, come in."

"Yes, sir."

"Open the floodgates."

"But, sir that woul-"

"Just do as I say, or you're fucking fired."

"Yes, sir!"

I find the button that switched the view from the boys getting beaten up to one showing a whole island. Once the floodgates open near the ocean and jungle biomes, the whole island is going to flood up to the mountain biome. Now, Vincent must use his pill to swim himself over. That is exactly where I measure his aptitude. Good. Perfect. "Let's flood this bitch."

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Vincent POV:

The men were surrounding us. Fuck, I shouldn't have done that. Maybe they would have let us go by now. But, then again, maybe not. Two of them picked up their boss and laid him in a hammock, but they missed the pills that he dropped near my feet. I shuffled them closer to me with my feet, burying them with some sand as well. Next, all of the men cracked their knuckles and walk closer to us. One step at a time. Ten steps away, nine steps away, eight steps away, seven steps away, six steps away, fi- *WHOOSH* Everyone jerked their heads to the noise. My eyes bulged as I saw a tsunami racing its way over to us. "Holy Shit!!" Some of the men cried, including George. The men panicked and grabbed their boss. They started to run, swallowing pills that may save their lives while they were at it. Some of them started to jump phenomenal distances away, while others ran faster than cars. But, we were stuck here. Tied to a motherfucking tree while a wave as big as the mountain on this damnable island. Wait! I remember the pills.

"George, Bill, kneel down with me, will you?" They complied without any snarky remarks. They were scared. And rightfully so. Once I got close enough, I started to think. Do I need to take these. I looked at the wave and back at the pills. Yes. I do. But, will I be happy if I take them? Isn't this what Grandpa decided not to do? I looked back at the twins. The terror on their faces reminded me of myself when my grandpa died. I remember myself counting the infinite raindrops that hit me relentlessly. Maybe I really did need to do it. If not for me, then for the twins that trusted me with their lives at one point. But, if I take my drug only, then I won't be able to save them. What if I take two, the yellow and the blue? One for my lungs and the other for the strength needed to save everyone? Wouldn't that count as an overdose? Did evolution pills even have overdoses? Fuck it. I planted my face on the ground and dug through the layer of sand with my face. I found them. Red, yellow, blue. I carefully licked the yellow and blue ones into my mouth and swallowed them. The sand that I picked up was coarse against my throat, leaving blood to gush down my esophagus. *Cough* Blood came out my mouth. The tsunami was nearing. I could see the towering height. I smell the ocean breeze once again, but this time it had a different undertone. Fear.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of power overwhelm me.