The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 51

'What is this place?' I asked, astounded.

We were walking through a long network of tunnels, with no end in sight. Nearly tripping over some rocks, I put my hands on the deathly cold, slimy walls. Shivering, I took my hands back off and carried on walking.

'These are the tunnels under the island,' Peter explained. 'In the long time I've been here, I found a notebook lying on the ground in one of these tunnels, and it said that the prisoners brought to this island had to dig many tunnels as punishment.'

'Oh my,' I said, not daring to think how awful it would have been to be sent here as a punishment.

It was bad enough just being shipwrecked here, but being made to dig tunnels as well would have been terrible.

'Why are we here?' I asked suddenly, not really knowing what to say. Plus, I had no idea why we were walking through this underground network.

'We need to look for something,' Hendrick explained. 'Well, it's more that Peter does.'

'Okay then...' I said slowly, confused.

Arriving at a small cavern, I tried to dodge the numerous stalagmites and stalactites in my path as I followed my guides, not knowing where else to go. And I really wanted to know what Peter wanted to find.

We were gathered round important looking cases, their tops dusty from years of lying here. Peter grabbed one of the cases, brushing the dust off and making me cough.

'Sorry,' Peter apologised as he opened the case to look at its contents. They were clear syringes with a strange looking liquid inside, which had clearly not been used in the slightest from their telltale seals still deeming them unopened.

'What is that?' I asked.

'Its called Mirakuru,' Peter explained. 'Its was made by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War Two as a type of supersoldier serum. And it needs to be destroyed.'

'Why?' I wondered. 'Is someone after it?'

'I don't know,' Peter shook his head. 'But this book does.' He said, holding up the notebook he had been reading earlier. 'Many people come to this island to try and find this Mirakuru. It's dangerous stuff. And we need to destroy it, now.'

We all picked two cases up and followed Peter, who was leading the way out to open ground.

'I still don't understand why we have to destroy it,' I commented. 'Why's it going to effect us?'

'If someone gets hold of it, the consequences will be great,' Peter explained. 'They could kill us in seconds if they injected themselves with it. I've lived long enough on this island to know not to take any chances, so when I read about it in this journal, I couldn't just leave this to be used by someone else.'

'But how do you destroy something like this?' I asked.

'By burning it,' Hendrick cut in, taking some flint and creating a spark to ignite a fire.

Peter threw his supply of Mirakuru on the floor in a pile, and beckoned me to do the same with the Mirakuru I was carrying. Peter then threw some wood on the stash, and Hendrick threw the burning wood he held in his hand down. The flame spread throughout the wood, and the Mirakuru ignited, giving the fire a strange smell.

'Its pretty dark already,' Hendrick said, looking at the starry night sky above us. 'We should probably get some sleep.'

'Yeah,' I agreed, yawning and nodding at the same time.

Taking my sheet from my pack, I laid it on the ground, its thin material the only comfort I could get. The cold air had made the recent nights harder to bear, the warmth of the fire making everything seem better.

As I drifted to sleep, I felt I could finally escape this purgatory I was in. My dreams were the only escapism I had, but they always seemed to turn into nightmares about the boat crash. About Sara shouting for help. And about losing Oliver too.

Suddenly, I heard a shout awaken me, it's urgency scaring me. Peter and Hendrick were tied up and at gunpoint, armed men surrounding us. Grabbing my bow, I aimed my shot at the men, but they didn't seem intimidated at the least. Wondering why, I could feel someone binding my hands together as I struggled for freedom, but I was too weak against their strength.

As I tried to shout for help, another captor tied a rag round my mouth. Tasting sedative on the cloth, I started to become drowsy, and I fell asleep.