A few moments earlier
“What the…? What in the world is this thing? Somebody help me!!!”
Somsak, sitting up in a tree, screamed in horror. Just moments ago, he’d been left behind by Kiya and Kevin. He then followed Kevin’s advice to stick to the right side of the Block One building to catch up with Kiya. Assuming she wouldn’t take the darker, tree-lined path, he confidently chose a wider, brighter route instead.
However, his confidence quickly turned to fear when he stumbled upon a horrifying scene. Not only did he come across many injured soldiers along the way, but he also spotted strange people with blood on their mouths lurking around from afar.
Then, right in front of him, Somsak saw a soldier writhing in pain from his injuries. Concerned, Somsak approached to check on him. But somehow, things went south, and he ended up being chased by the soldier until he had to scramble up a tree in sheer panic.
“Get away from me!” Somsak yelled, swinging the small branch at the soldier’s head. “We never had any personal grudges before, right? Just go away!”
But his hopes were dashed. Instead of scaring the soldier off, Somsak’s shoe was yanked off by the soldier below. Seeing the soldier biting his shoe, Somsak realized something was seriously wrong with him.
In a panic, Somsak scrambled higher up the tree. But he almost slipped and fell as the soldier grabbed onto his pants. In a moment of shock and fear, Somsak hastily let go of his pants.
“Take them if you want!” he shouted, now only in his underwear and shirt. “They’re just cheap pants from the medical staff. If you’re collecting clothes and shoes, just say so! I’ll get you plenty if you leave me alone!”
Seeing the soldier now eyeing his underwear, Somsak frantically shook his head. “Oh no… no, you can’t have this either. It’s Calvin Klein!”
“Please!” Somsak cried out. His voice trembling with panic as he attempted to climb higher. “Somebody, please help! There’s a f**kng creepy soldier here!'”
Somsak’s desperate cries echoed through the air. But in his frantic attempt to escape, he stepped on a small branch above him, which snapped, causing him to lose his balance. Moments later, he crashed to the ground, landing face-first in the sand.
Aware of the imminent danger, Somsak quickly tried to get up, suppressing any groans of pain. But before he could flee, the soldier swiftly grabbed the back of his shirt, tearing it apart in the process.
Shocked to the core, Somsak swiftly shed his torn shirt and tossed it at the soldier’s face in frustration.
“What’s wrong with you, huh?!” Somsak yelled. “Why are you obsessed with everything I wear?'”
The man, now only clad in underwear, continued to run while screaming hysterically. However, the soldier remained undeterred, relentlessly pursuing him. Fortunately, when Somsak was just a hand’s breadth away from the soldier behind him, a loud gunshot suddenly rang out behind his head.
Stunned, Somsak halted and spun around. To his amazement, he saw the soldier lying motionless, with a gunshot wound to the head.
“Are you okay?” shouted someone, suddenly appearing at Somsak’s left side.
As Somsak turned, he saw the jet plane captain he and his friends had hired, Tyrell, approaching with a long-barreled weapon in hand.
“Captain?” Somsak exclaimed in surprise at Tyrell, who was carrying a large backpack on his back. “What just happened?”
“Be careful, there seems to be a viral outbreak spreading here,” Tyrell quickly explained while keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings. “Those infected seem to turn into cannibals and view us as their prey.”
Somsak’s eyes widened. “Pr… prey?”
Without a word, Tyrell immediately crouched beside the soldier he had shot earlier, rummaging through the inner pocket of the dead man’s shirt to retrieve the ammunition.
“We need to gather as much ammo and weapons as we can to defend ourselves,” Tyrell said to Somsak, who still appeared dazed. “Can you and your friends handle firearms?”
Somsak slowly shook his head. “I don’t like the sound of gunfire. Among us, Kevin is the most proficient with firearms due to his somewhat tough family background. Bayu is also decently skilled, but he’s more into martial arts. Since childhood, he’s been trained in Karate and Krav Maga.”
“Krav Maga? Interesting,” Tyrell commented with a smile. “And what about you?”
Somsak scratched his head. “Um, I’m not really skilled in self-defense either, but I’m decent at ice hockey and darts.”
“Darts, the game where you throw small arrows at a target?” Tyrell asked, not mocking.
He then reached into the soldier’s uniform again, pulling out a knife from the soldier’s waist and tossing it towards Somsak’s feet. “In that case, use this as a substitute for arrows.”
“Huh? A knife?”
As Somsak picked up the knife, a shrill scream echoed from behind Block One. Recognizing the owner of the scream, he turned to Tyrell.
“Captain, that’s Scholarship Girl’s voice,” Somsak said tensely. He then furrowed his brow. “Could she have gone into the dark tree area over there?”
“Scholarship Girl?” Tyrell asked, puzzled. “You mean Kiyati, one of our group from the plane?”
Seeing Somsak nod, Tyrell instantly ran towards the area mentioned, with Somsak following closely behind. As they penetrated the dense tree area behind Block One and beheld the situation there, both of them suddenly halted, witnessing the dire situation Kiya was facing.
Kiya was there, lying on the sand, trying to fend off a soldier who was attempting to bite her from atop her body. Not far from Kiya’s position, there were Bayu and a stranger girl who also seemed to be in great trouble. They were struggling to fend off several strange pale people running towards them.
Somsak’s eyes widened as he saw Kiya struggling alone in such a disadvantageous situation. Feeling sorry for Kiya’s ripped clothes, Somsak involuntarily moved forward and yelled at the soldier.
“You f**kng weirdo cannibal! Are you all obsessed with people’s clothes?!”
Hearing Somsak’s voice, the soldier abruptly turned towards him. Somsak hadn’t anticipated the soldier’s reaction when he yelled. And now, faced with the soldier’s attention, fear surged through him. Instinctively, he hurled the knife from his hand at the soldier with all his might.
Somsak was stunned as he watched the knife pierce through the soldier’s eye and into his head, causing him to slump to the ground. Witnessing this, Somsak dropped to his knees in shock.
“Is… is he dead? Did… did I kill him?” Somsak stammered, his body trembling.
Tyrell, now beside Somsak, simply patted the shocked man’s shoulder briefly. The pilot captain then hurried over to Kiya, helping her to sit down and calming her trembling form.
After assisting Kiya, Tyrell rushed to another critical spot, where Bayu appeared to be losing focus and the woman beside him, Danica, seemed to be in a state of utmost panic.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Danica snapped at Bayu, while still aiming her arrow at the approaching horde of pale people. “You’ve been holding a weapon, but why haven’t you been shooting and helping me at all?!”
“Mental block,” Tyrell interjected, suddenly appearing behind Danica’s back.
Stepping into the front line, Tyrell swiftly fired his weapon at the strange people about to pounce on Bayu and Danica. Only after he had taken down all the menacing creatures did he turn back to Danica, who still seemed stunned by his sudden arrival.
“Mental blocks often hit those who are fully capable but suddenly lose their ability under intense pressure or stress from shocking situations,” Tyrell explained, glancing at Danica, who was drenched in sweat.
“His friend Kevin went through something similar earlier,” Tyrell continued. “He experienced dissociation due to the shock of witnessing gruesome deaths around him. I’ve seen this happen to a few people during my time in the US military.”
Danica glanced at Bayu, who seemed guilt-ridden as he looked toward Kiya. Spotting a dead soldier near Kiya, Danica turned back to Tyrell.
“I haven’t seen you around before,” Danica said, eyeing Tyrell sharply. “And judging by your attire, you’re not a new recruit soldier here.”
“I’m Tyrell,” he replied, adjusting the large backpack attached to his back. “I’m the captain of the jet these people hired, and I happen to have served in the US Air Force.”
He then glanced at the large bow in Danica’s hand. But instead of asking about it, Tyrell turned and ran towards Kiya, who was still sitting in shock on the sand — just as shocked as Somsak, who was still staring blankly at the dead soldier.
“Are you okay?” Tyrell asked Kiya.
Instead of responding to Tyrell right away, the girl turned her attention to Bayu, who was approaching with Danica. In a sudden burst of fury, she seized a handful of sand from beside her and hurled it into Bayu’s face.
“You knew very well that I was in a more urgent situation!” Kiya suddenly shouted at Bayu, her eyes welling up with emotion. “You heard me asking for help from you earlier! You saw that soldier about to attack me!!!”
Bayu didn’t react. He just remained silent, rubbing his face where the sand had hit while bowing his head. Seeing him not saying anything, Kiya immediately stood up from her spot.
“I regret worrying about you,” Kiya muttered in Indonesian. “I thought, because you’ve always been capable of everything and we’re both from Indonesia, you would be able to get me and the others off this strange island. That’s why I risked leaving Block One to make sure you were safe.”
“Turns out, I misjudged you as my biggest hope,” she continued, tears streaming down her face. “As usual, Bayu, you’re just a selfish jerk who only cares about your own interests!”
With her face flushed with anger, Kiya stormed away towards Block One. Seeing her alone, Tyrell immediately followed to protect her.
Danica, on the other hand, observed Bayu with sympathy as he appeared devastated. However, realizing they couldn’t afford to stay shocked and silent, she quickly guided Bayu closer to Somsak. Once they reached the Thai guy, Danica surprised everyone by delivering a hard slap to Somsak’s face.
“Snap out of it!” she said fiercely to the bewildered man, who was nearly naked. “We need to find shelter fast before they come back to attack us again!”
Somsak, who had just snapped back to reality, gaped in astonishment at Danica’s striking face, the one that had just slapped him. With a quick reaction, he immediately got to his feet and instinctively followed Danica toward Block One.
“Two of my friends, Daniel and Gina, are in Block Two now,” Somsak said with a worried expression. “Does that mean they’re infected with the virus?”
“Not everyone taken to Block Two is necessarily infected. I’m proof of that,” Danica replied. “But what’s certain is they call the infected individuals ‘predators’. There are many predators on this island, and they’re all very dangerous.”
“And one of them has been loose since last night,” Tyrell mumbled, recalling what he heard from the communication radio of their jet plane. However, before Danica and Somsak could ask him further, he stepped back from the terrace and stood outside, looking up at the top of Block One.
“All the windows on the second floor aren’t barricaded from the inside,” he said to Danica and Somsak as the rain started to fall heavily and dampen him. “We might be able to get inside Block One if we can climb up there.”
Danica stepped outside and looked up. “You’re right, we could enter from above if someone inside opens a window for us. But… who would do that if they won’t even let us in from below?”
“We’ll have to do it ourselves,” Tyrell asserted, eyeing a medium-sized water pipe near one of the second-floor windows. “One of us who is light-bodied can climb that pipe and then break the second-floor window from the outside, and set up a rope using a sheet or blanket to help the rest of us climb up.”
Danica glanced at Kiya, who still sat silently near the entrance of Block One’s lobby. “She’s the lightest among us. But given her current condition, can we rely on her to climb up there and open the way for us? Especially in this drizzle, which would make the pipe slippery.”
Tyrell didn’t answer Danica’s question. Instead, he quickly directed his head towards the other side of the terrace.
“Do you hear that?” he asked Danica. “There are footsteps approaching here.”
“Hear what?”
Tyrell suddenly sprinted towards the far end of the Block One’s terrace, peering behind the building. Then, he dashed back towards everyone on the terrace, visibly pale.
“Climb now!” he yelled urgently amidst the heavy rain. “Quick, climb! A large group from Block Three is heading this way!”
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Somsak 😭 ngabrut banget sih 😂😂 deg2an bkln ada banyak yg nyerbu jgn sampe ada yg berkorban, maunya mereka semua selamat..