You hide

The scream stops you in your tracks. If you are to survive you have to be clever!

To your right, a crumbling tool shed almost eaten away by the vegetation. You change direction. The door has not been opened in ages but you force it, it yields and you swiftly slip inside. An eye to a hole in the wall, you see a creature run through the forest in the direction you just abandonned.

You slide against the wall and bury your face between your legs, letting the torpor guide you into a dreamless sleep.

***

For a moment you panic. Where are you? What happened? Why the fuck is Godzilla on your foot?

You kick the large, yet perfectly natural, gecko off your trotter.

Slowly things come back into place. The boat trip, the cave, the escape, the separation, the piña colada, the creatures...

You do not feel so sure anymore. What were those creatures? Vampires? Were they “creatures“ or simply normal people?

All in all, you only heard a couple of screams, and that leap... maybe it was just an illusion due to the sun, the swim and the Piña Colada.

Did Nicole’s affabulations go to your head? Did you loose sense of reality?

After a while, pondering all the facts and realizing that you will not find any answers in this dusty shed, you decide to take action.

Your back is terribly stiff. You stand, stretch out and look around. The shed has not been used in years, probably built long before the touristic resort was built. The tools hanging from the walls are all rusted and completely useless. You pick up the dirty towel laying on the ground by you side and wrap it around your chest.

By the position of the sun in the sky you estimate that it must be mid afternoon.

As you reach the edge of the forest, you spot the imposing silhouette of the Caron in the distance but oddly the beach is empty. No one on the sun loungers, no one by the sea, no laughs nor voices. Not a peep except for the birds in the forest and the wind in the trees.

The bar has also been abandoned, a couple of chairs have been pushed over but nothing out of the ordinary. Driven by the thirst and hunger you step behind the counter. Nothing out of the ordinary here either.

You walk to the fridge and take out a cold bottle of water. You knock it back in one go. That feels nice. You take another one and start sipping on it as you look for food. A can of olives, you take a couple but they are too salty. You look further until you find a plate with what looks like the remnants of a continental breakfast. The bread is stale but you do not care. You are feeling better already.

Nothing to see here, no help either, maybe you will find people at the bungalows or in town, you reason. People who will help you get back on the Caron.

As you step out of the bar you find a large Hawaiian shirt waiting for you on a chair. Wrapping the towel around your waist you put on the shirt.