Authors Note:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters within .
This is set in an AU, far more mature and with far realistic dangers and consequences than on the show. Rated M for drug references, violence, sexual situations (there be slash here !), rape and death of multiple characters. The Captain's bizarre actions on the show have far more sinister connotations here.
Prologue
Day 26: Night
22,300 miles above the Earth, the elderly weather satellite looked down upon the vast northern hemisphere of the Pacific Ocean. It had done its job faithfully for over twelve years, but the faithful metal servant abruptly met its end . Not through age or lack of power but suddenly and violently as a tiny micrometeorite, scarcely twenty ounces in mass and virtually undetectable by Man, sliced cleanly through it. For the military meteorologists in the Guam area, it was an irritation, potentially a fairly serious one as the newly born Class 1 tropical storm dubbed Melissa was steadily building in power and bore watching. For twelve lost souls on an all but forgotten island well over two hundred miles away, its loss would help ensure a chain of events that would effect their destinies forever.
Chapter 1: Checking in at the Hotel Tango
Day 27 Mid-Morning
The four youths stood on the top of the hill, gazing at the dilapidated shell of a building across the small plain. The crumbling walls of the wreck, festooned with jungle vines that hung from long shattered windows looked far from inviting, even for four teenagers who had been stranded on this isle for nearly a month.
Man, thought Jackson, the larger of the two boys there, somehow it figures that if we did find signs of life here, that they'd be long gone. Nothing else has ever been easy here on "Reality Island", as Eric calls it. "Well guys," he said, looking over his shoulders at the three others , "think we should check this dump out or not ? "
" I think we have to." came the strong contralto voice of Abby Fujimoto, walking up to Jackson's left side. The once beautiful but now battered Amerasian girl irritably pushed her somewhat damp blond streaked dark hair out of her face as she looked up at the nearly foot taller Jackson. " I'm not leaving a single rock on this island unturned if it means we don't find Ian, Jory or the Captain. I want to get off this rock at least as bad as anyone else but no way am I leaving without finding them first !" she said firmly, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at the other boy and girl standing to Jackson's right.
"No one is saying anything to argue about that with you Abby," came the quiet reply of Melissa Wu, another strikingly attractive Asian American girl, " we just need to be careful looking around in that old building. It definitely doesn't look safe." she added in a reasonable tone.
" No kiddin'!" snorted the other boy in the group, the inimitable and irrepressible Eric McGorrill. " I've seen safer looking places that had already fallen down. But I, for one, am tired of wandering through the jungle and pounding sand on the beach too. We may at least find a place here to sit down and eat a nice early lunch. I am starving already guys!" he said , rubbing at his flat stomach.
" Maybe we'll even find a nice place for you to take one of your hours long after meal naps too, huh Eric ?" Jackson replied, an unwilling grin playing briefly on his face as he looked at the smaller ginger haired teen. "God knows you need your naps to rest between your six times a day snoozes." he said, teasing the notoriously lazy Eric, who managed to find the energy to stick out his tongue at the over 6 foot tall Jackson. Surprisingly, both Melissa and the far more somber Abby both laughed at the boys . Surprising in Melissa's case because she had barely spoken to Eric since he had nearly gotten the two of them drowned just a day earlier, but more so in Abby's case since she had barely even smiled, much less laughed, since she has came back to the main camp four days ago.
Maybe she has started to heal a little, Melissa thought to herself, looking at the other girls' back as they started towards the building, I hope so. Abby was always so kind and outgoing before we got stuck here and before her two solo trips in the jungle here nearly got her killed.
Nearly a month before, a group of high school sophomores had left out for a island retreat adventure on the island of Palau. That was the plan , anyway. A combination of pilot error, an unexpected storm and lightning knocking out two of the four engines on the De Havilliand plane carrying the unsupervised half of the group to their crash landing on a small and remote island , at least two hundred miles off course. Worse, the pilot had skimped on the mandatory GPS black box for his plane. Captain Bob Russell had led two trips into the wilds to try to find help. The first one had only lasted a day. Unfortunately, his second one had been an unmitigated disaster due to another storm separating him, Jory Twist and Ian Milbauer from Abby nearly three weeks ago. Abby had barely survived and had caused a rift between the other seven survivors, one that had led to three of them accompanying her now. Personally, Melissa had always been astonished that someone as grumpy as Russell would even want company, much less three teenagers from L.A. in the wilds with him.
" Hello ? Is there anyone in here?" called out Jackson's baritone voice as he peered into doorway after doorway.
"Jory! Ian! Captain Russell! " cried out Abby as she did the same, followed closely be Eric and Melissa.
" Man," Eric grumbled, " don't tell me this place is just as empty as the rest of this damn island. I didn't walk ten miles just to play Casper in the haunted house." he said sourly, stumbling over a piece of crumbling debris.
"Quit moaning and keep looking Eric," hissed Abby angrily, shoving at the slim boys' shoulder as she brushed by him to look into another shattered window, "if they are here, they might not be able to answer. They could be sick or hurt."
" Abby's right. I remember how I felt after my round with unboiled water," Jackson added, walking towards the cluster , "I didn't want to do anything but sleep and try not to crap in my pants or sleeping bag." he said with a rueful smile. The experience with a tropical water born parasite had caused the normally composed Jackson no small amount of embarrassment, particularly since he had drank the tainted water deliberately after an incident in which Eric's laziness had temporarily left them without fire for water boiling. The sandy haired sixteen year old glanced at the other boy with a slightly menacing face, " That reminds me, I still owe you a serious beat down over the busted lighter deal.", he growled, barely concealing a grin as Eric winced at the idea of what the far larger and stronger Jackson would be able to do to him in any type of fight.
Suddenly, Melissa gasped and pointed a finger at the window. "Someone or something just ran through that room!" she cried, her white hat falling by its cord to her neck as she jumped towards Jackson and Abby. Abby rushed into the nearby doorway, pausing to call out "Hello! Jory? Ian? It's me, Abby!"
Jackson shouldered past he and cried out " We don't want to hurt anyone! We've been stranded here since our plane crashed last month. We just want to find help and go home!"
" Quiet everyone, please!" Melissa urged, "Listen, your can hear someone on the other side of the room breathing hard.", the raven haired girl whispered to Abby. Abby looked across the vast, dimly lit space.. She strode forward slowly, reaching out with both arms as non- threateningly as she could. "Whoever you are, we don't want to hurt or scare you, " she pleaded, slowly advancing, "We're just trying to find our lost friends." she said, her voice cracking with the effort to project calm.
A familiar voice sent a thrill throughout Abby Fujimoto as one of her most fervent prayers was answered as the shadows shifted to reveal the heavyset form of her best friend, Jory Twist, who lurched forward into the smaller girls arms, "You just found us girl." she replied, tars coursing down her stained face, "You just found us." she repeated as they hugged each other fiercely.
"Welcome to the Hotel Tango." came a gruff voice from the dark corner past Jory, "Hope you enjoy your stay." rasped the barely visible Ian Milbauer from the floor.
"Ian, what happened to you ?" groaned Abby as she looked at the long figure laying on the wooden floor and realized that there was a crude splint on his left leg. " I fell through the rotten floor in another room here almost as soon as that psycho captain led us here over a week ago," the shaggy headed boy grunted, breath whistling between clenched teeth as he struggled to sit up. Jory, Melissa and Abby hastened over to try to help as Jackson and Eric set their gear down on the slightly damp floor.
"Psycho?", Eric snickered, "Captain Chaos is more like it. I'm amazed he ever found his own shadow, much less this place.", he said, casting wide eyes on the shambles around him.
"That's just it ," Jory exclaimed, gesturing around towards to walls, "he didn't "find" this place. It took us a while to realize it, but I am positive he knew exactly where he was taking us." she said, nervously fingering the oddly bumpy blue bandanna on her neck.
Suddenly, Jackson realized that Ian too had a bandanna, also lumpy, covering his neck. "What's up with the neck gear guys ?" he asked, blue eyes narrowing slightly in puzzlement.
" Yeah," Eric butted in, " got vampire mosquitoes here or what ?", he added. Jory suddenly sprang to her feet and whirled to face Abby.
"GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" she roareed , to the amazement of the our newcomers. "You don't know what that psycho has been doing to us for the last week and I don't ever ever want you to go through it too !", she moaned, tears coursing down her agonized face.
"She's right," Ian interjected heatedly from the floor, a look of blended hatred, disgust and pain on his plain features, "if he gets back and catches you guys here, he will do God knows what to you, if he can."
"What the hell's been going on here ?!", Abby asked angrily, " Has that old man been molesting the two of you ?" she cried as the twin looks of shame told her all the answer she needed.
"Screw that." Jackson said flatly, his face reddened with anger, " We're getting the two of you outta here right this minute and if that pervert gets in the way, he'll wish he was never born." he said, the bleak look on his face belying the heat in his eyes as he turned to gesture to the gear on the floor. "Eric,", he said, pointing at the backpacks on the floor, "the two of us are gonna have to try to improvise some kind of sling to carry Ian. Mel,", he added, turning to where she was kneeling by the crying Jory, "can you help us with that while Abby helps Jory grab her and Ian's stuff ?" he asked , hoping that since Melissa's parents were both doctors that she might have any helpful ideas.
"Sure,", the young woman started to add more but was interrupted by a gravely voice from the doorway.
" No need to pack just yet kiddies," sneered Captain Bob Russell from the doorway, " It's just now time to check in at the Hotel Tango." he rasped, a demonic grin on his wide, tanned face.