She stopped at a ring of rocks.

  “Someone made camp here.” Fyga bent down and picked up a handful of nails from inside the ring. “And they burned a boat.”

  “How do you know…”

  She tossed me a piece of wood. To be precise, it was a flat piece that had been an oar. It also had a bite taken out of it, despite being charred.

  I tossed the burnt scrap back into the circle. “So somebody burned a boat.” I shrugged. “Does that mean there’s someone else on the island? Because I doubt they would have burned something that significant near their hideout.”

  “People do lots of stupid things when they don’t think anyone will ever come along to see what they did.” The short woman gestured around. “An abandoned island that the locals think is cursed?”

  “You have a point.” I looked around. The shades of purple that I was seeing the world in didn’t give me any indication that there was a secret door anywhere close. I looked back at Fyga. “All that means is that there were people here.” I sighed when she rolled her eyes. “AAnd the locals think it’s haunted, so they wouldn’t have been here.”

  “You believe me now?” She stood up and brushed herself off.

  “I never thought you were lying.” I took her hand. “But what you heard about could have been a one time thing. Just because they were here, doesn’t mean they still are.”

  She snatched her hand away. “UGH!”

  “Hey!” I caught her shoulder as she turned away. “I said I never doubted you.”

  “It’s fine.” She resisted my attempt to turn her around so I could look at her. “Let’s just find this cursed thing.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I thought about grabbing her again as she pulled away a second time. I had no idea why she was upset, but I could tell that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  I stayed two arm lengths behind her as we walked back towards the shore. Theo was still frozen and struggling to pull his feet out of the ice. He fell on his rear when Fyga snapped and the ice vanished.

  “WARN-” He started waving his arms in front of him. “I’m fine! Don’t worry about me! Thanks for getting me out!” He splashed his hands in the water. “I love playing in the water!”

  I walked past her, but her expression wasn’t any different. Her glare didn’t last long, but it was very effective.

  “Where should we look now?” I nodded back towards the campfire pit. “Fan out from there?”

  Fyga sighed. “Once his highness stops playing in the ocean we can-” She grabbed my arm. Her nails bit into my skin, drawing blood as her grip increased.

  “GET DOWN!” She hissed as she pulled me into a squat. “We need to get in the trees!”

  “Why-”

  SHHH!!!” Fyga started moving as fast as she could while hunched down and dragging my arm. “THEO! NOW!”

  The blonde man rolled over and mimicked how she had fled to the trees.

  “What-”

  “SHHH!!!” Fyga put her finger to her lips, then pointed up the coast.

  “I don’t see anything.” I spoke as loud as I dared.

  “Ship.”

  “The ghost ship?” Theo didn’t bother whispering. He clamped both hands over his mouth when Fyga glared at him.

  I would have been able to see the fog, so it wasn’t the ghost ship. But now that I was looking, I could see the outline of a ship. As small as it was, I had no idea how Fyga could have seen it. I knew her goggles didn’t just filter the light in her eyes so she looked normal, but they had to be very impressive to amplify her eyesight that much.

  Fyga shook her head. “But they fought it.”

  I leaned against a tree while we waited for the ship to get closer. If we were lucky, then maybe this ship would lead us to the storehouse. It seemed like recently I was fighting more humans than Zombies, even though I knew I’d killed more Zombies. Maybe it was just that in the heat of a fight, my hesitation to kill people made the fight seem longer. It was something that I was going to have to think about later. For now, I was going to stay hidden and see what the ship did.

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild