Written and expressed painstakingly long by Stephen Lubega. If you like adventure books, you're going to love this... Rated: 10+
epilogue*
I'm an explorer, not like the others. I'm a globetrotter who's gone on missions like no others and nothing's going to stop me from getting to the secret island off the coast of the British Virgin Islands. (I hope...)
Chapter 1
It was 2 in the morning. I woke up to grab myself a ticket to the British Virgin Islands. If you haven't read the epilogue, you have no idea what I'm talking about. God, I need to get out of here by Sunday which is tomorrow. Once I was done, I ran out of my apartment and got to the Legislative Assembly of Colorado, fashionably late. "You're late, young whippersnapper." I went up onto the stage, in front of 50 people at their desks in that large room. "Uhh, sorry." They all looked at me with a stare. After some moments, someone said: "Well? What will you present us? We don't have all day, y'know." I set up my computer and started my presentation. "So, I believe that-in fact-there is a hidden island that was habited by the indigenous people-" Everyone started murmuring to their friends. I heard one of them call them 'scum bags'. I swear, I would've slapped him silly. "I know you guys hate their guts but we need to love each other. You don't want us protesting outside your house, don't you?"
"Damn right, we don't," everyone agreed. "So listen to me! They all are on that island with no one to rescue them. We can provide hospitality and help then. We can share our resources with the natives! They are in need of our help and that's why I and my team of 3 people are going to that island to retrieve them and hopefully survive. Who's with me?"
"Pardon my french but, what the hell are you trying to do?! What if you and your team of immigrants-" I interrupted him. "And what's wrong with that?" He thought about it for a moment. Some of the members of the congress left the auditorium with relief. "Well, you all are... different?" I was stunned by that comment. "I don't need you. I'm leaving this sick country to go to the British Virgin Islands with my culture. You all are welcome to kiss my butt. And you: god bless you." The guy that I 'insulted' pulled out a gun and tried to shoot me while I was running for the exit. "You don't deserve this! You're lucky, I tell ya! LUCKY!"
I jumped into the taxi that took me to the airport. "Jesus, I wonder what was up with that guy." I found my team in the lobby. "We were looking all over for you! You don't look so well..." I had a depressed expression on my face. "I'm- uh- okay. Heh. Shall we walk to the helicopter?" One of my disabled friends tried to stand up. "Shall I mention that I'm in a wheelchair?" Don't worry, I got him covered. "The helicopter is accessible for people with disabilities. Including people like you." I gave him a wink. He exchanged one back. And just before I knew it, I was on the helicopter.
Chapter 2
Once it was in the air, my guy with the stats got out his computer and went to the app that he designed himself. "There's a brutal storm foreshadowing the island in a circular formation. Weird, eh?" Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, he's Canadian so don't worry so much if he's saying 'eh?' a lot. "Yeah, weird. Ash, how's driving the helicopter going?" He gave me a hard stare. "Not so smooth. It feels like I'm not controlling it although I can but only for a moment." Moments later, all of us in the back heard a loud noise blaring in the front. "Ash? Status check?" No answer. The only thing I heard was static. "Dude, please tell me that's your phone." He gave me a shrug. The next thing we knew: we were going down. "Oh, shiitake mushrooms..." I took off my seat belt and jumped into the passenger seat. The next thing I knew: the driver was dead. He got shot in the neck by a poisonous dart. "Damn it! Who did this?" I threw him back with everyone in shock. "What are we supposed to do with a corpse?" I shrugged. I tried to land the thing but I had no control over it. The only thing we had to do was to brace for the impact of a crash landing. And with a storm around, it's not our best of luck. "Everyone, brace yourselves for a hard impact!" They all now stopped looking at the corpse and looked at me in shock. "Are you flipping crazy?!" There was no other option. The helicopter didn't have parachutes which is a stupid idea. "Only if you want to live!" We all agreed to the plan. We attached ourselves to the back of the helicopter and hit the beach. To attach my friend here in the wheelchair was the hardest part because he lost his leg in the war and doesn't need any more bad memories of that. Most of us were injured. The helicopter had a First Aid Kit inside so I grabbed it and ran out right before it exploded. Everyone was now relieved that they found the island. We looked back and saw the giant storm surrounding the island. We stumbled upon what had to be or what was a pirate ship with pirate skeletons who'd obviously found this place before us but apparently did not survive. We were in shock.
Chapter 3
"What are we supposed to do now?" I had an idea. "Okay, so, we find the natives and politely ask them if we can use some of their supplies to create a boat so that we and the natives can go back to America." They all smiled. I was now happy that they were happy. My wheelchair friend came up to me and asked me if we could go to Canada instead. Somehow my fellow Canadian buddy overheard and walked up to me and said: "Yeah, that would be a good idea, eh? Don't worry, Toronto's just like Colorado. Aah. Hometown, here I come!" I thought about it. There's no racism there... okay a bit of racism but not as much as in the US of A. "Yeah, but are you guys up for the long journey?" They looked at me with a stare. "Heck yeah!" "Of course!" And we were on our way to the locals. We turned back around and found a large forest that looked like it never ended. Something like an illusion... We got some hiking sticks and walked into the large forest. The day became night. We were hungry. "Who's down for some coconuts?" Both of them raised their hands. I climbed up the tree and shook it until it fell. I also got some leaves so that when it rains, we would have some materials to start the construction of a temporary shelter. We became nomads; for the time being, at least. "How do we open them?" No idea... I made up a fib. "Bang it onto a scaly tree and it will crack open." They actually took my advice and it worked! Sometime later, we needed to create a shelter to sleep for a bit once we finished our coconut. I took the leaves out of my empty bag, which was emptied into the ocean after the crash, and laid it down to create the floor and the 2 of them found sticks and bark to create the walls and roof. We started a cult- only kidding. We started a plan: 2 of us will sleep while one of us keeps the lookout. They all voted for me for some reason. "Fine, I'll do it." They all fell to the ground, snoring like a bear that was hibernating. After moments of silence, I fell on the ground, sleeping as well. I woke up in my dream. I was back in Denver, Colorado in the room of congress. Everyone actually liked my presentation and came to the island with me including the guy that tried to shoot me in past unfortunate events. We found the locals and they agreed to come with us to America. We saved them. I woke up to a small fire. "Oh, goodie! You're up! We made a fire. Like it?" I nodded. "Yeah... we found a hut that was definitely man-made." I looked at them with delight. We ran there. My buddy in the wheelchair changed into the other clothes that he put in his small storage area just underneath it.
Chapter 4
"Well, buddy," my fellow Canadian said. "Here it is!" The hut was made out of straw and sticks. I don't know if they had inspiration from the three little pigs but hey: it's a hut! We walked inside and instantly got shot in the neck by a guy with no shirt and a necklace that I'd never seen before. We all hit the ground. Minutes later, we woke up and to our surprise: found the natives. "Ubi es," A guy sitting on a throne with a headdress made of feathers said. "What are you doing in the territories of Ka Poina?" I answered with a straight answer: "We are here in peace. We came here to rescue you and your natives, I'm guessing." He laughed. "Ha ha haa! Hoc guy cogitat opus auxilium!" Moments later, all of the natives started laughing. "Hey!" My friend in the wheelchair stood up to them. "Placet tibi res nostras necne?" I was stunned that he himself spoke Hawaiian. "You speak-" "Only a bit." The chief, I'm guessing, looked at him, intrigued by what he just asked him. (You can Google Translate it if you want.) "My name is Lao Waialiki. What kind of resources do you 'Amerindians' have?" And then the Canadian stepped up. "Americans and one Canadian. You're lost, eh? Stuck on this island with no help. We can help you guys. We have iron, coal, silver, gold, and diamonds. All you need to do is ask." There was silence. "Well, I only have one thing to do." He gave the soldiers a sign. They all started throwing darts at us. We were sprinting as fast as we can. "We're screwed! What do we do now?" I looked back at them. The chief gave us the middle finger. I was so angry but I kept it in.
Chapter 5
"I can't do this anymore," said my wheelchair friend. "I'm getting out of here." He picked up a large rock from the ground and threw it at one of the trees. Some pieces of bark fell from the tree. He rummaged into my bag with only mints and bungee cords inside. "Hey! That's my stuff!" He gave me a stare. "Not anymore." He tied them together with the cord and threw them into the ocean. I knew that it wasn't strong enough for the wave that was coming up because it was shaking. "Goodbye, guys. This was the best adventure I ever went on." I am a globe-trotter after all. He jumped onto the raft and went off into the ocean. The wave hit him and the raft broke. He drowned in the depths of the ocean... or did he? "Hey! There's another island over here! Come and look yourself!" Both of our jaws fell wide open. He found another island. "There's a volcano! It looked like it just erupted. I don't know why but over the volcano, there's a storm that looks like it comes from inside and goes out and surrounds the island so that intruders won't come in." He just gave me a theory. It's an illusion. When we entered the storm, there was no rain and once we got onto the island, we didn't see the storm. So, in theory, I believe that the natives used it to see the intruders and shoot them with darts! We swam to the island and constructed another small shelter. We slept there overnight. Once I woke up, I felt tired as a dog after swimming for hours. When I got up and looked at the sunrise, I also saw another thing that caught my eye: there were 5 more islands in the distance. I squinted my eyes and it wasn't another illusion. They were under the storm so that no one would see them. I woke up everyone else and they saw the same thing. I had a new plan.
Chapter 6
We ran to where the natives set up base. He had people feeding him bananas probably because he was too lazy to just get up off his wooden throne and get them himself. "We found the other islands." He was startled by the comment. "I- Uhh- What are you talki-"
"Cut the bull. We found them. Now, we have another offer. Would you like for us to help you guys upgrade your small not-village-but-call-it-one village into a large civilization including all of the other islands?" He put his hand up. He walked into a medium-sized hut with other people joining him. I couldn't hear him but I knew that they were talking about the offer. They finally came to an agreement. "Yes," the chief said. "I accept. Now, let's start, shall we?" Out of nowhere, my Canadian friend went from standing up straight with a serious face to dancing his tail off. "Buddy, please stop. It's cringe." He looked at me with a sad face. "Fine..." We started the construction. I walked up to the chief. "So, why were the islands hidden so perfectly so that no one could see them?" He looked down at his necklace. "Some Americans decided to come and stop by to look at the island. At first, I was fine with it until they started killing us like NPCs in video games. My great-grandfather cast a spell onto the island for it to be hidden and preserved from the outside world forever and no one could break that curse." I gasped. "Whoa. That's deep." He nodded. He walked away to grab some bricks that they made from the beach. Now I finally realized that they went through a lot and... we were the reason for it.
Chapter 7
I felt discouraged that I won't be able to make him feel better so I just helped him along the way. I told the crew about his story. "Dude," the Canadian said. "That's messed up." From afar, we heard people chanting something that sounds like a paean, a song of praise.
"Oh no..." The chief had an unpleasant look on his face like he knew that they - whoever they are - were coming sooner than later. "What is it? Who are they?" He looked away. "They are the sea tribe. We are the archipelago tribe. For years, they've been living on rafts, eating seaweed and drinking water and they're tired of doing so. They've tried to conquer our islands and our materials so that they could live a normal life but-" We heard a loud howl. They all jumped off their rafts. Then, this guy came at us and said: "Mahalo. Mahalo for this very privileged experience. Now, you're going to see you and your tribe crumble." He put his fist up and people from the back came behind him in a position that looked like they were going to use their spears in hand and kill us. Then, the chief put his fist up and our tribe did the same thing. "I hope you'll learn your lesson." He gave a 'stop' signal with his hands and then everyone started fighting. For some reason, my wheelchair guy came in the middle of the fight and started fighting for the archipelago tribe. The Canadians did the same. Moments later, I jumped in as well. And then I thought after I punched a guy in the face that I should stop this. "Hey!" Everyone stopped and looked at me. "We should stop fighting. We should come together and live in harmony instead of being rivals for the rest of our lives!" Some people nodded. The chief stood up. "Yes, we should. Thank you for reminding me." And then, a special thing happened: the chief and the other man in charge of the sea tribe shook hands. We are now a tribe together.
Chapter 8
I felt relieved until the man in charge of the other tribe gave him a stare and then he put two fingers on his neck and dragged it across to the other side. He only did that so that he and his tribe can dominate and enslave the others. I wanted to tell the chief but instead, I let everyone sleep so that I could spy on them. "Hey... are you okay," my wheelchair friend asked me. "Ye- Yeah. I'm totally fine. I'm just surprised that they could all-" I stopped. He nodded with a smile and then started sleeping. Then, I snuck out of the hut and followed the other man in charge to this... secret base? I know it's weird that I'm thinking about this but I think that the chief doesn't know about this. He opened the door with a retinal scan and voice activation. The entrance was well hidden behind some trees and tall grass. I didn't want to tell Chief about this yet. I followed them in. Inside, there were workers that looked like they were working on the inside for days without food. In the short term: they looked malnourished. It was large. There were some people in offices that moved up and down like elevators, a waterfall & an armoury. It's like they were planning this moment forever. "E mākaukau e hakakā." I had no idea what he said but the only word I could make out was 'fight'. I ran to the exit but I stopped when he said: "Stop!" He gave me a stare. Then, he walked to the offices while he said: "E pepehi iā ia." The three guards took out their swords. I hit one of them on the head and he fainted. I picked up his sword. Now it was down to two. They ran at me. Somehow, I kept them from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw their attacks coming. I countered and one of them fell down. For the next one, I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. His eyes narrowed and he started to press me with more force. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before the guy took me down, so I figured, what the heck? I tried the disarming maneuver. My blade hit the base of his and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust. Clang. His sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest. Everyone else in the base went silent. "You are going to tell me the plan that your boss that just turned incompetent told you and your little friends." He nodded and put his hands up. I won my first sword battle.
Chapter 9
"Okay. So, my 'incompetent' boss created this base when we were all one tribe. It used to belong to everyone until the other guy decided to claim this island and make his own tribe right here. This place belonged to them, not us. All they think of it is abandoned and empty. They were wrong. Our plan is to stop them with their own plan but with our stuff. When everyone is sleeping, we will conquer and put everyone on rafts so they can feel how we feel. They need to. They were the ones who kicked us off the island in the first place anyway." In return for telling me his plan, I spared him. I ran out - this time not getting caught - and told the chief and the others the plan. We were going to make a stakeout. Once the other guy in charge of the other tribe comes out of the base, we were going to catch him and make him stop his plan. Then, we're going to tie him on a raft and have him float in the middle of the ocean. "Great plan," the Canadian said. "When do we start?" Just when he said that the guy came out of the man cave. Get it? Because it's- never mind... We jumped out of the bushes and tackled him. My wheelchair friend got his crutches and started hitting him with them. "What are you going to do, you sick... uhh, sick..." I couldn't figure out a word to insult him with so I just let him talk. "At certe non noverunt de hoc." He waited for us to respond and then he whistled with his fingers and three other guys came behind him. "Have fun." He pushed me off of him and ran away but not for long the other clan was behind him. The chief stood up: "Aureliane, hoc facere debebas? Hoc unum facere potuimus. Me paenitet sed ha-" Aureliane interrupted him. "Habes me occidere? denique, tunc. interficite me." They both got their swords out, one a dagger, the other a blade. Now we knew the other chief's name: Aureliane. The chief launched in first but Aureliane moved to the right and pushed him down. "Ecce," he said and his soldiers lined up behind him. "Aai eh," said the other chief and his soldiers lined up behind him. He said something that sounded like a prayer and then, magically, his soldiers looked like millions of people and Aureliane's team- well, he didn't have one anymore.
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