I open the door just slightly and see a man lying on the floor in the lobby. Surely they don’t think I will fall for such an old trick. Now I’m supposed to go out and look at this guy who’s just pretending to be dead, which brings me into the open. Then the others jump out from behind the furniture and I’m dead. Do they think I’m going to fall for that one? Hmm, they will all be out there, so I’m going out the window. This suite is on the main floor so out I go after looking around carefully. But maybe they wanted me to think they were out in the lobby so I would go out the window. Then a noise behind me.

I turn quickly, ready to shoot. A man is there but he just groans and falls to the ground. Now this is getting weird. Is this really happening? Or am I dreaming this? Things like this happened before when I was “nowhere”, is that what’s going on now? How can I tell? I run across the yard to the bike shed. Two shots are fired hitting the wall of the shed right next to me. A true miss? I think it’s more like a warning, he could have shot me if he wanted to, but that would be too quick. I think Katharina wants to enjoy her “game” a little longer than that. From the shed I run off into the jungle. There is a problem to this, it’s kind of hard to walk through all this thick undergrowth without making a noise.

I make a large circle around the hotel and go off toward the caves on the main hill. I decide to go higher and see if there are other natural caves that might make a good hiding place. It’s also possible that Katharina and her crew know about any other caves too, so it could end up being a trap, instead of a place to hide. Hmm, there’s an idea. I turn and start heading to the other side of the island and that little village. I stop. Thought I heard a noise to my left. I wait a little. Sure enough, someone is walking not far from me. There’s a more open area just ahead and a man comes out, stops, and looks around. I fire one shot and get him right in the neck. He staggers a bit and falls.

The darts do work good, that’s nice to know. I move out into the open area and turn away from the village and down to the bike path. Once there I head back toward the hotel. Everyone will be heading to the village so it should be safe to be in the open for now, that way I can make better time going back. Suddenly I had to stop, my head was pounding again. I made my way down to the ocean and walked out about knee deep, then turned and kept going toward the hotel. Those pills are not lasting long enough. I try to contact Baldwin, but no answer. This is a new way to contact each other, perhaps he’s not paying attention. I contact Calanthe, she answers right away.

I tell her what is going on and to contact the doctor to see if I can take more pills, it’s just not enough this way. This is better than using a phone, we don’t talk and we have our own secret code for writing. Baldwin came in to the room with Calanthe and she told him what was happening. “Tell Steve if the doctor says no more, than he’s coming off that island, even if I have to go there myself and drag him off,” he said to her. He contacted the doctor who said I could double the amount I’m taking now, but only for 48 hours.

That’s more than enough. Either I’ll be out of here by then, or I’ll be dead. I get back out of the water and sit in the sun to dry off a bit. My head, it’s still pounding, but the pills haven’t had a chance to start working yet. I’m going to explode! Then a man standing beside me with his gun pointed at me. But he just crumples and falls to the ground. I start to run back to the hotel but a sharp pain from my old back wound hit me so hard I fell to the ground. I manage to get up on my knees. A man was standing in front of me. That’s it, I can’t move…

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.