As I slowly watched the big chunk of rock fall down upon me, something pushed into me, and even with my screaming ankles, I managed to tumble to my left and then fall on the rough ground back again. I turned to see Alyssa on top of me, and she suddenly gave a loud scream, her hands gripping mine.

I grabbed her in a frenzy, pulling her close. “A-Are you alright?”

She was gritting her teeth, and she had tears similar to mine. She yelled something, but with the ringing in my ears I only caught one word - “leg”.

I hugged her to my chest and lifted myself and looked up. A part of the wall had fallen upon her leg, and it had fallen right on top, twisting her foot at an angle…that wasn’t possible according to human autonomy.

“At least we’re alive,” I spluttered, the pain in my legs still spreading into my head. My vision doubled, and I saw faint colors at the edges of my eyes, but when I looked up at the broken building I saw dark red blood splashed across the walls and debris. It’s like someone stole a red bucket of paint and threw it across really hard. But what was even more grotesque was the bits and pieces of pink flesh that was splattered across the blood, and even the ground.

At least that made sure the beast was dead. And that should be the last beast in the game.

I pushed myself up, biting my lips to hold the pain, and I gently laid Alyssa on the ground. In the distance through the shadows of the forest, I caught the familiar beaming headlights of the jeep. I should probably search for that vehicle’s brand because I was starting to love it more than anything I’ve seen on the island.

“They’re coming,” I tried to crawl to where the floor was and gritted my teeth and lifted it up. It was like someone was hammering a nail right into my elbow, but I let it out in a scream and lifted it just enough for Alyssa to drag herself a few inches from the debris. And then I let the chunk down.

The jeep stopped right to our side. Maria was in the driving seat, her skin now splattered with blood. She gave me a knowing glare, and despite her weapon being the thing that saved us, I also had the desperate urge to slap her in the face.

“Alex!” Tara jumped from the side, rushed towards me, and hugged me. “Jesus that plan was stupider than….anything stupid you’ve done.”

She kissed me. A big long kiss. A kiss that was good enough to melt the pain away at least for a few seconds.

After I get out of this island I’m going to keep fucking her for a whole day. I’m not going to do anything, I’ll just keep fucking.

When she pulled back I heard my sister groan, and I scrambled towards her.

“Let’s get you up,” I said, putting one of her hands over my shoulder.

Maria honked her horn. “Faster, if you can Alex. Han is somewhere on this island burying his brother and going on a rage-killing searching for us, and this time we have no leverage.”

“You want to help?” I snapped.

“I will,” Tara said, pulling Alyssa up and putting her right hand over her shoulder.

The two girls gave some acknowledging nods. As far as I understood it was half anger, half gratitude.

Both Tara and I pulled my sister up, and the three of us stumbled towards the jeep where Maria was waiting for us like an impatient mother.

“So you two are dating now,” Tara grumbled. “Could have been nice to know as someone who is dating you.”

She was looking at me. And I was looking at anywhere but her.

“I’m in too much pain,” Alyssa said with a straight face. “Therefore I’ll leave all explanations to my brother.”

“Look,” I said before either of the two girls could come to me. “How about we get off this island, go back home, have a nice cup of coffee, and then talk about the matter? We already suffered enough problems-”

My knees started to spasm again, and I could swear my legs were going numb. I was glad my statement silenced the two girls. Tara helped Alyssa up, and only when I reached the back I saw a naked Amy once again tied and sprawled on the floor. This time she wasn’t gagged, and she didn’t make a single sound. Her face was like an old woman who had seen too much. She gave me a numb glance and looked away.

When Tara got to the back with my sister I staggered front and pushed myself beside Maria.

“Never knew you could drive, Mom. Or did you just adapt again?”

“My dead husband was rich enough to buy me my own car Alex,” she shifted gears. “Of course, I learned how to drive.”

The jeep lurched forwards, and I didn’t have any snarky comments left for her. But I had questions. A ton of questions. If she was an Elite, why didn’t she kill Kaylee so easily? What happened to her beast? What’s her relationship with the mods of Unet?

There were too many I wanted to ask. But now wasn’t the time. All I wanted was to sit back and get to the fucking boat so I can get out of this hellhole.

“Amy is in the backseat,” Maria said after a while. Her voice was thin, almost so the girls at the back couldn’t hear a word. “She betrayed and got you caught Alex. Still don’t want your revenge?”

I looked back at the girl with numb eyes. She was already tortured enough.

“I’ll put it this way,” Maria said. “There’s ten minutes more to sunrise, and I’m sure they have dispatched boats to get us. Once Amy is inside that ship it becomes a no-kill-zone, and I lose my chance for revenge. So I’ll be doing something else. Before we get there I’ll stop at the woods, drag her out and shoot her knees. I’ll let her bleed and die like a pig. Or you could fuck her, take your revenge, take my revenge, and then we send her off back to that ship with a slap in the ass. What’s your choice?”

I stared at her. “You are a bitch Maria.”

She took it better than I expected. All I saw was an impassive face. Her fingers tightened around the wheel, but that was all there was for a reaction. No answer. No snarky comments. No wisdom.

“Fine,” I leaned back. “Stop somewhere. We’ll finish this off.”