Inexistent: From the ashes of war - Chapter 1
The mysterious island
SUMMARY
After the proxy world war, a group of criminals are assembled as the Inexistent team by the private company WCC a company that technically is not affiliated with any countries or corporations.
The Inexistent must investigate an uncharted island that has recently arose. Anything coming close to it gets destroyed. The team has managed to get on the island, but they quickly realise nothing on this mysterious island is as it should be: No animals, out of place vegetation, strange stoned monuments and parts of the island are in ash. The Inexistent will have to improvise and find a way out when they discover the island is not a piece of land and they are not alone…
Fog floats around a strange piece of land, not far from the Hanga Roa island in the South Pacific Ocean. This new island is filled with an abundance of vegetation blowing in the calm wind, following the gliding vapor with soothing waves sliding onto the island’s shore. The ambiance is broken by the sound of angry voices that dispute from afar, hidden by the grey veil. Suddenly, bursting through the fog, a red and yellow hot air balloon comes out with its basket holding the noisy people, barely touching the ocean just beneath it.
The Brazilian killer in red, Nicky Hiller, continues an ongoing argument that the Inexistent have been having since the start of their journey.
- This is so stupid!
The hot air balloon lands on the very edge of the shore as a chubby Australian bookworm dressed in green named Eli Reed defends his idea like a child being told that he’s wrong.
- No! This is great! This is just like in Jules Verne’s book, prisoners arriving at this weird island right after a big storm…
All four members of the Inexistent are fully dressed in what appears on the surface to be a modified, matte skin-tight diving suit. The suits are a dark-colored version of their code names: Blue, Purple, Green, and Red. It covers their whole body except their heads. This reveals Ryan’s serious look and shiny bald head; Alyssa’s silver hair framing her discreet, cat-like features; Eli’s innocent round face and chestnut hair; Nicky’s natural beauty is distorted by her frowning look while her curly hair flows. The Inexistent open the small door of the light basket and step out of their transport, walking onto the soft sandy ground that rudely cuts to grass as if they just stepped on a carpet, but the team is too fired up to notice the change. Instead, Nicky continues to reprimand Eli’s creative choice of transport.
- Exactly! That’s a book, this is a real reconnaissance mission, and from all the transport we could’ve used to get on this island, we are stuck, all squashed together, into a bright-colored hot air balloon, which took much longer to arrive here! Not to mention we could have been blown to bits or crashed in the middle of the ocean, cause you know, it happened to everyone before us!
- But we didn’t, did we? Like I said earlier, trust me, since we saw in the briefing that a bird could fly over the island, but not even a small drone could fly close to it, I knew we would be fine. There’s probably an EMP zone around the island-
- Why didn’t you explain all of this before leaving?!
- I did say it! But you don’t listen, you just yell lies and stupidities.
- It’s not a lie, your gadgets never work! They’re always broken and anybody in their right mind would oppose to infiltrate an island with that thing!
- You-
Ryan King rolls his eyes and intervenes in the conversation, breaking it with his menacing voice.
- Enough you two! Leave everything at our base, we have a mission to do here… work together, no bitching.
Nicky’s frowning look changes into wide disbelief, amazed by the answer. She cannot help herself but to question Ryan.
- But we can’t even come back! There’s no gas… it’s a fucking island, Ryan!
Eli answers while turning towards the hot air balloon behind the Inexistent.
- Of course we can come back, I have made a few modifications…
Once Eli has fully turned to where the transport was, he sees sand and the ocean stealing away a bright-colored silhouette. The four Inexistent look at the balloon being swept away by the current. Nicky scoffs as Eli takes out a hand control from a small pouch on his hip.
- No worries, observe!
Eli presses the button. With a small delay, the hot air balloon fires up into an explosion, sinking out of view. Nicky lets out a big sigh before mocking Eli.
- Well that’s just great… And I think I don’t have to mention to anyone here that all of our weapons and gears were inside that thing?
Eli, with a very small and humiliated voice, answers.
- Yeah… I forgot about the electromagnetic pulse field.
- Those modifications came in real handy Eli.
- Shut up Nicky!
Eli pushes Nicky making her fight back and as they start exchanging blows, Ryan, again, has to separate the two by pulling them apart with both hands. As he frowns, he looks at Nicky and then Eli while reminding them of their code names.
- Both of you shut up! On a mission we use our codes not our names… are we clear? Red and Green?
Both Nicky and Eli look at each other with hate in their eyes. Then, they calmly answer together like twin siblings.
- Yes Blue.
The fourth person in the group, an ex-French assassin named Alyssa Curate, taps on Ryan’s shoulder from behind.
- Blue, I kept a suppressed .22 pistol with me… at least we have one range weapon with a couple of bullets.
Ryan softly smiles, he’s glad that at least someone on the team is acting like a professional. Nicky straightens up with over-confidence and shows her belt with throwing knives while mocking Alyssa with an exaggerated enthusiastic, girly voice accompanied by an arrogant smile.
- Blue! Blue! Me too I kept something! I still have my knives!
Ryan lowers his eyebrows and glares unamused with Nicky before returning his attention to Alyssa.
- Okay… I will repeat what plan Purple and I established while you two idiots were arguing… Purple will scout the area. Red you’re with me, we will scout in the other direction, Green will establish a small camp, get a connection to base so that the general can track us and hack the systems here if possible.
Eli rubs his hands, afraid of pointing out the flaws in the plan.
- It, uh… it cannot be done…
- You don’t have a phone on you or something?
- No, but even if I had the equipment that are now ocean treasures, it wouldn’t have done anything… something, somewhere is causing electronic interference, EMP probably, like I said.
- The others before us crashed because of the electromagnetic pulse or field, well assuming it’s an EMP…We need to find out what’s causing this and when we do… We’ll have to act fast; the agencies will know almost immediately… Since we have no equipment, we have to rely on our partner.
Ryan thinks for a minute; he looks at the tall trees and lush vegetation, as if he were looking for a surveillance system and then checks his watch, looking at the compass feature on it. While he inspects the environment, seemingly lost in his thoughts for a new plan, Alyssa comes up with a new improvised plan.
- Red you’re with Blue, me and Green will scout the right side of the island, my right-
Ryan cuts-in.
- That’s the North-West direction, you could also establish a small camp… Even though it’s your first mission in the field Green, I’m sure you can find stuff in the wilderness to help us survive.
Eli, not understanding the situation they are in, asks for clarification.
- Stuff so we can survive?
- Wood, fire, animals to eat, you know, stuff we need to camp, we lost everything that we brought and I think we’ll be here a while.
Alyssa is annoyed at Ryan cutting in to tell the rest of her plan as if it were his but lets it slip away. Eli rubs his palms, clearly uncomfortable.
- Right… Okay, I can do this.
Nicky asks again her first question spawned by Eli’s mistake.
- Blue, how do we get off this rock? Cause it seems to me that if we have to make a quick getaway, we have to know how to exit in the first place.
- Don’t worry, one way or the other we can’t do anything as long as that EMP field is up… Once that’s taken care of, we can discuss options.
Ryan nods at Alyssa, having nothing else to add. Alyssa gives the order to start their task. She then discreetly goes beside Eli and whispers:
- I can hunt if you don’t have the stomach for it.
Eli relieved, lets out a breath of air accompanied by a timid smile and thanks Alyssa under his breath. Just before the group separates itself, Ryan Goes to Alyssa.
- I guess you’ll be our huntress.
- Oh?
- You’re the only one with a weapon so…
- Killing animals unarmed is too much for the great soldier Ryan King? Might as well give you my weapon then!
- No that’s not it, it’s just…
- I’m just teasing you Blue! Good luck out there!
Alyssa playfully slaps Ryan’s shoulder before walking away towards Eli as they start to move towards their side of the island. Ryan looks longingly at Alyssa, mesmerized while muttering to himself “You too.” He clears his throat and yells out an order as if the world around him didn’t move.
- Okay team, move out!
The team separates itself into two groups, like semi-planned, penetrating the vast jungle-like forest. Ryan and Nicky are towards the left of the forest while Alyssa and Eli head towards the right of it. Even though they have all individually and as a team already experienced strange and traumatic events, nothing has prepared them for the bizarreness awaiting them on this misleading island.
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Copyright© - Jessie William Foster, 2021