***
John, Jimmy and Ben were all recollecting upon the last tour as they watched the humming TV. They didn't even lift a finger when they heard the problems arise in the next room. The silence between them was so empty even air couldn't pass through it. Jimmy felt bad for not believing John but, didn't want to say anything. He was afraid of causing problems with his boss, Ben, who as friendly as he is, he is still his boss. Ben felt insecure about the situation; he kept looking for a logical and completely reasonable explanation for what they all just experienced but, he kept stumbling over what John had said earlier. John appeared to be paranoid, constantly jerking his neck around to see if something unusual was behind him or beside him.
Breaking the silence he whispered quite shakily, "Should we evacuate the island now?" He raised his eye brow at his friends who just looked away.
"Nah man, if we leave now I won't get to finish the rest of my show." Jimmy made a gesture to the TV which was broadcasting a squad of police chasing a criminal.
“Are you serious?” John stood up, outraged by the previous statement. “All the anomaly’s that occurred today and you still don’t believe anything huge is about to happen! We need to leave now before things get worse.”
“Calm down John.” Ben was standing now and talking in his regular voice but, still had a bit of pirate grammar lurking about his words. “I’ll admit that nature today was a little odd but, nature is odd. Think about it-”
“I don’t need to think about it, I know many strange spectacles that happen or are caused by nature and this is bigger than all of them. You two have no idea what we will be dealing with.” John staggered back a bit, then after a long glance at the cold floor he said, “It will be us against the island.”
“All this information you’re spitting out is based on a hypothesis. There is no need to jump to any conclusion about the wellbeing of the island and those who stand upon it.” Ben was a lot more relaxed now however, he still made John feel like an infant.
“While you pretend that nothing’s going to happen I’m taking a row boat and some guests and leaving ASAP!” John spat as his face red face lit up the room.
Not a moment passed between the time it took the words to finish rolling out of his mouth to the event that happened next. There was a thunderous boom that propelled from the roof of the building as straggly brown claws tore it to shreds in wide ridged stretches. Boards and shingles rained down into the small room knocking over the men and almost burying them completely in rubbish. The building still shook even after the attack, shivering with fright.
Jimmy struggled to lift a large plank off himself as it suffocated him under its heavy mass. His muscles ached and burned as he lifted the plank off and threw it onto more planks that had fallen. He stood up out of breath and noticed the disaster as he caught it. Gnarled branches the size of grown men protruded out of the far from fixable floor like ghastly fingers reaching out to harm him. Snapped and cracked panels laid in odd positions all over the destroyed room. Jimmy’s hand twitched as a hollow cry for help slithered through the mess. Spinning around almost robotically, Jimmy began to dig and push his way through the debris, desperately trying to find the source of the cry within the transformed room. His fingers began to bleed when he discovered John withering in pain beneath a pile of sharp shingles. John’s eyes reflected the troubled sky and the jagged hole that now resided in the ceiling.
“Where’s Ben?” John croaked as he suddenly realized Ben had not yet been found.
They both shot up and quickly found where Ben was buried for he was swinging his shiny peg leg wildly in the air while ruffled brutal swears emitted from beneath it.
Once Ben was free, without showing the slightest bit of gratitude, he rushed out the door into the restaurant crazily muttering more obscenities to himself. His eyes searched the lifeless restaurant rapidly, as he discovered that all the guests had disappeared.
Jimmy peered through the cracked windows in curiosity to find what hit them. The windows had not shattered completely but, had long lighting like cracks that formed brilliant spider webs across the glass surface. His eyes bulged as they noticed a thirty foot evergreen tree with roots and most the branches still attached, lying next to the building. What could have thrown that? Jimmy’s heart and mind raced for an explanation. Could it have been the wind? Jimmy knew the wind had been very subtle today but, when he continued to look around his eyes caught the sight of the angry outer world.
John was hollering “hello?” into the kitchen where the stove was still on and the pots were boiling over. Nobody was in there either. With one concerned look shot from John, the obnoxious thumping sound of Ben’s peg leg rang throughout the room as he waddled hastily out the front doors where a preposterous sight took his breath away.
The mischievous wind blew in every direction possible in forceful gusts that could knock a semi-truck over. The sky was a dark gray with an overcast of thick purple clouds that swirled and churned above the landscape like a ravenous dragon hungry and ready to chomp into dinner. The ocean was the same unusual colour of purple that the clouds wore, with seven meter waves that were at the mercy of the atrocious controlling wind. They curled and smashed into one another causing extreme water explosions all over the place. The commercial ships that were once scattered amongst the harbour were either sinking into the violet abyss or had sunk already. The humans watched in awe as two old military looking boats collided with each other, forcing the less dense of the boats down into the depths like tectonic plates at a divergent boundary. The shorelines of the islands were too dangerous to approach for the waves were smashing over top of them, engulfing the rocks with their fury.
The only sounds that could be heard were intensely frightening. The wind squealed as it carried many small whistling objects that pelted the frightened listeners. The waves made wispy noises after the booming crashes when they hit something. The trees swayed with the rogue wind, producing creaking and heart-stopping crackling.
The noise they all heard, the sound that made them all stop dead in their tracks as shivers crept invisibly all over their bodies, was the demon like heckles beckoning from the far side of the island. The screams bounced off walls and trees, penetrating the eardrums of all who heard it. The wind created a whispering effect as it carried the demonic cackles, making it seem like the devil was chanting right into one’s ear.
The group stood paralyzed, trapped inside amongst the satanic madness, so overwhelmed with emotion they almost didn’t show any at all. Jimmy started tumbling towards were the sea taxi once sat frantically bellowing above the chaotic sounds, “Let’s get out of here!” Ben picked him up by his shirt, holding the tall man off the ground as he raised his voice over the howling wind. “It’s too late, we need shelter.”
“What about the restaurant?” asked Thomas, seeing if he could assist in this life threatening situation. Close to them another full tree landed on the ground with a tremendous ground breaking thud, almost squishing Angela flat.
“It’s too close to the trees and the water level is rising too fast!” Ben made a good point, but considering the island is covered in trees it would be challenging to find a spot without them.
“Let’s try the campsites.” John waved his arm in the direction. “It will be cold but, we will be covered.”
At the time it seemed that it was the only way to stay alive. The cover over the benches would protect them from falling branches hopefully and being able to sit would help them from not falling at every gust of wind. The group began weaving like drunks, receiving cuts and bruises as organic debris slashed at their skin. The campsites were about a minute away, which would be the longest minute any of them had ever endured. About fifteen seconds into moving they all began clinging to the elderly people’s scooters to keep themselves stable however, this didn’t alleviate the pain.
“Where did the cooking staff go?” Ben questioned the old man, trying to distract himself from his own pain stricken body.<
br />
“That lady, Berta, took them on her sea taxi before the storm got this bad. It came out of nowhere. She was going to come back for us.” Upon hearing the struggled words, Jimmy grabbed his hand radio out of his pocket and tried contacting Berta. There was only static. Berta and the full cooking staff were gone.
The group’s hearts were lifting as the campsite came officially in sight. It was swinging compulsively back and forth but, it was still predominantly intact. Jimmy released his tight grip from the old woman’s scooter and grasped the structures beam which was definitely a lot weaker than it appeared. The whole thing began tipping towards the side opposite of him, eventually detaching itself from the concrete and completely flipping over in a stray, wooded mess. Jimmy was thrown with it, landing with a roll before it completely collapsed. The last one adjacent to the fallen began to lean with an attention alerting creak. Jimmy seemed frozen with fear as the towering structure began toppling towards him as if it were a hand ready to capture his soul. Angela’s scream awoke him from his frightened daze and at the last second he dove out of the way, lying a foot away from the warped structure. In a matter of seconds, they had lost another form of shelter.
“Great, what now!” John exclaimed before dodging a rogue branch.
“I’ll tell you what now! We’re going back!” Angela spat as she began stumbling towards the building with Thomas hot on her heels.
“You can’t! You won’t-” John began but, there was no use for they were already too far away to hear, flailing their appendages in the harsh wind to dodge the airborne objects that were bombing them.
The weather continued to bully the earth with a mischievous grin. No regret was felt as it tossed matter around, seeming as if the world was on a tilt-a-whirl that was covered in knifes and swords. To make things worse, the orchestra of hellish sounds was louder than before. The ground rattled with every vicious call for blood. The air seemed thicker when growls were heard between the screams of whatever ungodly creatures were creating that dreadful sound.
Yet, human stupidity knows no limits. The suspicious group seemed drawn towards the ridge that leads to the beach. John and Jimmy walked like zombies ahead of everyone else as pine needles torrentially rained down upon them. They crossed the patch that separated the once peaceful rock beach from the once stable campsite and stopped dead in their tracks, as if they were being petrified by what disturbing sight lay below them.
Timothy was more anxious to see what ghoul was making that god awful sound, then earlier today when he desperately wanted to see a sea lion. He broke from his grandfather’s tight grip and caught up to the two idiotic men.
Together, at the edge of the cliff, they looked upon an ocean of snarling, fighting and howling sea lions. The rocks were smeared with the blood that leaked from the wounds of the nine hundred beasts that were making the demonic chatter. Their jagged canines swung with the rock hard heads of the insane animals in a display of ferocity. Some were biting and slapping other mounds of flesh around them; others were just barking into the sky possessed by whatever cruel soul had taken over their blubbery bodies and many were immersed in the purple water, struggling to stay alive in the harsh waves. The one sight that stood out and burrowed a permanent hole for fear to stay in their hearts, were the bright red soulless eyes that occupied the sockets of the satanic predators.
“Well kid, there’s your sea lions…” Jimmy choked.