Horror Island

Horror Island Ch 4

Mia barely had time to say, "What?" before the capsule struck the water with a dizzying blow, turning over and then right-side up, the bright orange parachute covering the window.

As soon as they settled down, Yuri and Mark high-fived each other. Mia breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of disturbances throughout the entire trip. At least the only things that had gone wrong was the GPS and the radio.

Yuri was the first out of his seat, standing and stretching his legs, Mark following his lead. Mia unclasped her buckle, untangling herself from the web of straps. Yuri reached above her head and began opening the hatch.

Once he got it open, fresh, salty air streamed into the capsule and all three astronauts simultaneously breathed in, smiling at the taste of it. Orange light dimly lit the interior as it filtered through the parachute still covering it. He stepped up onto a ladder and began gathering up the parachute in his arms. The wide fabric took many minutes to get out of the way.

When he had pushed it away from the hatch, real, unfiltered sunlight streamed into Mia's face. She squinted and held up her hand to block it, laughing. They had made it back to earth safely and in one piece.

Yuri hadn't moved from his position perched on the ladder. Mark pushed on his leg a little. "Hey, come on man, we want to get out too."

Yuri didn't bother looking back down at them. "Guys, you really need to see this." He climbed the rest of the way up the ladder.

Mark was next up. When he got to the top, he looked around and then back down at Mia and said, "Wow. You need to see this."

Mia scurried up the ladder, wanting to see what the excitement was about. When she got there, she was stunned.

It was an island.

It wasn't very big, maybe two square miles. It rose up out of the water in a gentle slope, trees obscuring most of the interior. But the scary thing was how close they were to it. It couldn't have been more than a quarter of a mile away.

Yuri headed back into the capsule, presumably to find the inflatable life raft stored below. He came back up less than a minute later, lugging a suitcase so wide that it cleared the hatch by less than an inch.

He pushed it to the side of the MARC, dropping it into the water, away from the giant rubber buoys that had inflated on impact and now kept the capsule afloat. Upon hitting the water, sensors in the suitcases exterior sensed the seawater and deployed the life raft. It unfolded explosively, instantly inflating with gas.

Mia was hesitant to step into it. "Come on Mia, it won't be that bad. They'll find the capsule on satellite and be here in a few days to pick us up. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"Mark, we can't just abandon the capsule. There are thousands of islands just like this one all over. There's just one capsule. If we stick with it, then when they find it, they'll find us. If we don't stay, there is a possibility of us never being found." A tear leaked down her eye.

"Mia, we don't know how long it'll take to find us. It could take more than four days. The amount of water in the capsule is negligible. There just isn't enough for the three of us to survive. We have to go. It'll be okay, I promise."

Yuri yelled at them to hurry up. Mia looked at him then turned back to Mark and nodded her head just a little. He hugged her and then took her hand, leading her down to the life raft.