The grounds near the lighthouse were empty, but I didn’t switch off the noisy jeep engine until we were ten feet near the door. Once I came close I switched off the headlights and looked around to see anything approaching. If worst comes to worst I had time to do a quick U-turn and drive all the way back to the shores. Now that the lights were dimmed, and the dusty lighthouse loomed over us like a shadow I was starting to lose the confidence I had before.

“You have the gun?” I asked Tara.

She grabbed the shotgun and nodded. I picked the pistol. Tara was better with the shotgun. She was faster. I didn’t know what sort of thing I’ll see in there, and whatever it was, Tara will take less time to recover than me.

The rusty grilled door to the lighthouse was slightly ajar. It gave a soft creak when the sea breeze passed over, but remained intact.

“Let’s go,” I signaled Tara, and in one dash, I was near the door. The lower floor was almost dark, and the only light was the morning light creeping out from a small window sill. A single staircase spiraled upwards, moving round and round before disappearing at the very top.

“That’s going to be a long climb,” Tara muttered.

“A climb we’ll have to take. Stick to the shadows.”

There was no way another Rampage is going to come crashing down on us. The entire lighthouse was too small for even one of Vincent’s bodyguards to fit in. But there still could be guards.

I kept my foot on the first stair and there was a clap from the top. I looked up to see a shadow on the very top.

“Alex! Come up. This place is getting crowded, but new guests are always welcome.”

I squinted my eyes, trying to take a good look at the figure. He wasn’t someone I knew, so how the fuck did he know my name?

“Alex!” my sister’s voice came, somewhere behind that same voice. “Don’t come in here! Go back! Run!”

“Oh come on Alyssa, you know he’s curious.”

“I don’t like the way he’s talking to us,” Tara grumbled behind me.

I didn’t like it either, but I knew one thing - I was going to find out what the fuck was going on. I climbed two stairs at a time, and Tara came behind me. I still had my pistol in hand, but judging by the guy’s voice, he wasn’t someone who was good with surprises. He was curious to show me something, not to kill me and throw me down the staircase.

Even with curiosity biting me and my legs moving faster it took a damn long time for me to reach the top. Somewhere in the middle Tara started panting, and I stopped. It was then I realized I was sweating like a man who had three rounds of sex.

“We need to keep moving,” I said, grabbing Tara.

“If it was just you and me I would have taken off the clothes and run naked,” she muttered but started moving.

The thought of her running naked help me reach the top of the stairs. Our mysterious guest was gone, but there was a small door beside it. I had to bend down and get inside, but once I did, I came into a room with glasses all around me. It faced the entire island, and a very thin metallic staircase led to a small platform on top, which held a large beacon lamp.

At the very center of the room was an Asian woman with a short skirt and a very tight blouse keeping a laptop in her palm. She was typing something rapidly, and barely even noticed us. But two other figures noticed us.

One was Alyssa, who was leaning on one of the glass panels with her arms folded. She didn’t look harmed, just a tiny wound on her arm, and judging her look, I didn’t know if she was angry or happy to see me. Pacing around the room was a boy a year or two older than me wearing a business suit with a loosely hung tie. His long black hair covered one side of his face, which was burned, but he stopped once he saw me and scrutinized me with a clear blue eye.

“How nice to see you Alex!” he widened his arms and came towards me. I flinched and stepped back, almost slamming onto Tara. “Don’t worry, I’m unarmed.”

I pointed the pistol at him. The Asian woman spared a look at me and then went back to typing.

“Say who you are, and give me my sister back.”

He chuckled then adjusted his tie. “I thought you had your sister's brains, but the year gap seems to have taken a couple of brain cells.”

“I’m adopted, you moron!” Alyssa snapped.

“Ah, so that’s why you have no problem dreaming of fucking him.”

I looked at Alyssa. “What?”

Her face was in the shadows, but I swear to god there was a faint pink blush on her cheeks. “He’s manipulating you,” then she glared at the business suit boy. “Fuck you, Marco.”

I put down my pistol, but behind me, Tara still held her gun. “Alyssa, you don’t seem troubled by being around strangers.”

“So you haven’t told them about me?” The boy chuckled. “How naughty!”

“Enough with this crap!” I snapped. “I know all of you in here have some relation to the beasts roaming on the island. That includes you too Alyssa,” I glared at her. “You knew about this death game even before this happened, didn’t you? Coming at my house at the exact right moment, warning about some fucking culling, and then disappearing in the middle of all of this.” I stared at the three of them. “Who the fuck are all of you?”

Marco looked at Alyssa like he won the betting match. “I guess we’ll have to tell him.”

“Alex, please,” Alyssa came out of the shadows, and I saw the same face she had when she left me after Mom and Dad died. “Get out of here and hide somewhere inside this lighthouse. Pretend you don’t see us, and then when the raft comes in the morning get back to the boat.”

And there it was. It was the same as before. Pushing me away and running on her own. But back then I was just a fourteen-year-old boy who lost his parents. Now I was something else.

“No,” I said grimly. Then I walked to Marco and kept the pistol on his head. “You’ll start talking right now.”

Alyssa grimaced, her face turning dark. For a moment I didn’t know if it was the same anger she had when she first left me. But I didn’t care. I was going to get answers.

“We have some time before departing,” Marco didn’t look intimidated by the gun. He looked at the glass doors and then gave a thin smile. “Alright Alex, since your sister didn’t have the balls….or ovaries to do it, I’ll do it myself. I’ll tell you how all of this started and how your dear mommy Maria is walking towards her own doom.”