Land of the Wanted: Plane Crash on Carakulin Island (Novel Snippet)

“JESSICA!” A faded familiar voice screamed. I felt a strong arm grab my shirt collar. 

“W-W-Who-” I was so cold, and so overcome with fear that I couldn’t finish my sentence. I suddenly felt a stabbing, burning pain in my arms, “OW!” I screamed. It was the ropes from the parachute. They were getting tighter with every movement, and they slowly dug into my skin, My head then went underneath the water again, and the strong arm pulled me up. After a few moments, I was placed on dry ground. My head was pounding, and my eyes hurt so bad from the salt, that I couldn’t open them.

“MARK! COME HERE! QUICK!” The voice screamed again. I picked this voice out as Seth’s voice. 

“JESSICA!” Mark’s voice sounded foggily in my ears. I then felt him pulling the ropes. They tightened painfully, resulting in fresh cuts to be ripped into my arms and legs. I couldn’t help but scream in pain.

“STOP-” I was interrupted by a fit of coughs. With every cough, it brought up a mouthful of salty water. I turned to the side, and allowed for the water to flow out of my mouth. When I got all of the water out of my lungs, I slowly blinked my eyes open, and tried talking, but my throat was so raw and dry that it hurt to try. The ropes prevented me from taking deep breaths so the air that I did take in got stuck. 

“YOU CAN’T PULL THE ROPES! IT’LL JUST TIGHTEN THEM!” Seth spoke again. “MADDY! GO FIND A ROCK OR SOMETHING! WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME BEFORE THE ROPES SUFFOCATE HER!” My vision slowly focused, but not fully, which made Maddy’s fiery orange hair a smudge in the distance.

“You’re gonna be okay, Jes. Don’t move, or you’re gonna get hurt. Maddy’s getting something to cut you out of the ropes,” I looked up and saw the vague shape of his emerald green eyes, and dirt streaked glasses. I laid there in pain for about five minutes before I heard Maddy’s voice.

“I FOUND A ROCK!” She yelled.

“Gimme it!” Seth said. I saw him grab the rock out of Maddy’s hands, and he started to slice away at the ropes. With every pull, I felt more pain, so I bit my tongue to prevent myself from screaming.

“SETH! BE CAREFUL! YOU’RE HURTING HER!” Mark screamed. Tears stung my salt filled eyes.

“THEN YOU DO IT!” Seth yelled, tossing the rock in his direction. Mark picked up the rock, and carefully started cutting the ropes off of me. The pressure of the tightened ropes slowly released my arms and legs. After about ten minutes, the ropes were completely off. I lifted my arms, and gasped when I saw them. They were imprinted with deep lines, which were seeping blood. Wet sand caked my skin, and salt stung the cuts.

“Alvin!” Mark said.

“What do I need to do?!” Alvin demanded.

“Go get some water! Her cuts can’t have sand in them.” Alvin nodded and ran towards the ocean.

“Jessica, This is gonna sting, like, a lot, but this is the only water we have.” Mark said. My face tensed. “Just close your eyes, and breath through your nose, okay?” I nodded slowly.

“I have the water!” Alvin said, holding his tennis shoe.

“Perfect!” He took the shoe, and poured the water on my arms and legs. I clenched my teeth as the salty water washed the gritty sand out of my stinging cuts.

“That’s enough!” Seth said. Mark stopped pouring the water on me.

“Jes, can you sit up?” Mark said.

“I don’t know.” I whispered. I slowly lifted my back up off of the sand, and flinched as the burning pain came back. 

“Jes, those cuts look bad.” Seth said.

“Ya think?!” Maddy said, sitting beside me. “What’re we gonna do? We can’t have her laying around in the sand with open wounds!”

“I have an idea,” Seth and Mark said at the same time.

“What is it?” Alvin said. Mark and Seth both pulled their shirts off and started ripping them.

“Hey! Put your shirts back on!” Alvin said. 

“What do you mean, shirts?” Seth said. He then looked at Mark. “Hey! This was my idea! I wanna do this!” He said.

“Why do you wanna do it?! You don’t even have any abs to show off!” Mark said. Seth rolled his eyes.

“I DO!” Seth said, “LOOK AT ‘EM!” he stood up

“THERE'S NOTHING THERE!” Mark yelled. “If you wanna see REAL abs, look at THESE!” He said, pointing to his torso.

“SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID ABS! Well, Mark anyway. You, Seth, can shut up about your torso! WE ALL KNOW YOU BOTH HAVE TORSOS!” Maddy yelled at him, “Just let Mark do it! I don't want you to get burned again! Jessica is in pain here!”

“Yeah! If anyone’s gonna get burned, it's gonna be me! WAIT-!” Mark paused for a moment.

“Yes! I got toasted last time! It’s your turn! So go on ahead and use your shirt.” Seth said, putting his shirt back on. Mark scoffed and continued to rip his shirt into strips.

“WAIT!” Alvin said.

“What?” Mark said.

“I got a better idea.” He then pulled out the Karaclista vial from his pocket.

“WHAT?! I RIPPED UP MY SHIRT FOR NOTHIN?!” He yelled.

“Sorry,” Alvin said dryly.

“Well, I guess that’s better then walking around in pain with wet strips of fabric,” Mark said, throwing his wet shirt on the ground with a loud slap.

“You’re not gonna leave that there, are you?” Maddy said. Mark growled, and picked his shirt up. He then walked to the water, and threw it in there.

“MARK!” Maddy yelled.

“THE FISH WILL ENJOY IT!” Mark said. Alvin ignored them, and continued opening up the vial. He took a small amount of the purple substance in the dropper, and dropped it on my arm. Within minutes, every single scratch and cut on me disappeared. I was dumbstruck. Alvin then took my hand, and pulled me up. I felt no pain whatsoever.

“WOAH!” I said. Mark and Maddy stopped their stupid argument about how a shirt can kill a fish, and looked at me.

“JESSICA?!” Maddy said, running over to me. “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CUTS?!”

“Remember the magical potion thingamabob that Alvin brought to class last week? It worked on me!” He said.

“HE BROUGHT THAT?!” Maddy said, looking over at Alvin. He held up the small vial.

“I, uh, wore the same pair of pants for a whole week, and I never took this out of my pocket.” He said. Just then, a loud whirring sounded above us. I looked up, and saw a gigantic silver spaceship. 

“ALIENS!” Alvin screamed. He started running away and he hid behind me. “HIDE ME!” 

“I’M TOO SHORT TO HIDE BEHIND, YA DINGUS! Hide behind Mark! He’s a legit mountain over there!” Alvin took my word and hid behind Mark. Just then, a voice spoke from the inside.

“KIKI! NOW!” Just then, a trapdoor opened from the bottom of the ship. Somebody then started screaming, and they fell out of the trapdoor. They landed on top of all of us, crushing us into the sand.

“OW!” Everybody screamed.

“MY APPENDIX!” Seth yelped.

“YOU DON’T HAVE AN APPENDIX! YOU GOT IT REMOVED WHEN YOU WERE SIX!” Mark yelled.

“Oh, yeah…” Seth said.

“SORRY!” A snobby voice yelled from the spaceship. I was pinned underneath the person who fell, so I couldn’t get up like all my other friends did. I couldn’t catch a glance of what the person looked like either since my face was buried into the sand.

“KIKI! YOU PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON!” An unfamiliar voice yelled. They had a smooth voice that sounded like a mix of a British and German accent.

“GET OFF MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU CREEP!” Mark yelled. I felt him shove the person off of me. He pulled me up, and I spit the wet sand out of my mouth. 

“I’m sorry! My brainless assistant pressed the wrong button!” I turned around, and saw a really strange boy. He looked to be a little older than us, maybe in his early twenties. He had a slick black leather jacket with silver spikes jutting out of the shoulders. A big dog skull was stamped on the back, with the name DINGO printed in flaming letters underneath it. A blue and yellow ombre shirt was underneath the jacket. He had chalky white skin dotted with grey freckles, and purple spots. His spiky hair was a pastel purple, and was pushed out of his red and green eyes with a plaid bandana. And lastly he wore black jogger pants, and slick black lace up boots.

“Who are you?” Maddy asked. When he looked at her, he did an impressive wolf whistle.

“Hello there madam! I’m Dingo Darkheart, head of Carakulin Island.” He said. He then took her hand, and kissed it. Maddy quickly pulled her hand away.

“Ew.” She said.

“STAY AWAY FROM HER!” Seth screamed, slapping his hand away. Dingo glared at him.

“Sorry! I was just being a polite gentleman, thank you very much.” He said. His accent was surprisingly attractive. 

“Wow! Nice accent!” I said under my breath.

“Don’t get any ideas, Jes!” Mark snapped. I snapped out of my daze.

“Sorry.” I said.

“Now, let’s get to the point. How exactly did you heal this lovely lady here?” Dingo said, pointing to me. I blushed.

“Um...thanks?” I said. 

“My pleasure, m’lady!” I could feel Marks temperature rising from behind me.

“Stop hitting on our girls, kid!” Mark sneered.

“A kid? I happen to be twenty earth years old, thank you very much.”

“Earth years? Are you not human?” Seth said.

“OF COURSE NOT YOU DUMMY! Does a simple human, as yourselves, look anything like me?” He said.

“Touche.” Seth shrugged.

“I happen to be half Tungan, and two hundred and five space years old.”

“Tungan? Is that like an alien, or something?” Seth said.

“Sure, whatever. Now back to the point. How exactly did you heal the girl?” He said to Alvin.

“I ain’t telling you nothing.” Alvin said.

“Oh, you won’t, will you?” Alvin shook his head. Dingo walked over to him slowly.

“Did it happen to be with…this?” He then held up the vial. Alvin’s eyes went wide and felt his pockets.

“WHA-? HOW’D YOU GET THAT?! GIVE IT BACK!” Alvin screamed, grabbing for the bottle.

“No chance, old man! It’s mine now!” Dingo said, shoving the vial in his pocket.

“OLD?! I’M TWENTY FIVE! And what use do you possibly have for that?!” Alvin demanded.

“You see, my big bro is seriously injured. I mean, seriously. Huge burn marks, broken bones, spinal injuries, and many more. He fell over a hundred feet from getting hit in the shoulder with a ball of fire while hanging onto some kid nemesis or something in the air. He’s counting on me to help him, and this could do just that!” He said.

“Oh. Who’s your brother?” I said, feeling slightly bad for him.

“I call him Tobes, or Toby, but his real name is Tobias.” That made Maddy snap like a stick under a foot.

“TOBIAS?! I KNEW I HEARD YOUR LAST NAME SOMEWHERE BEFORE! I THOUGHT THAT DUMB GALOOT WAS DEAD!” She screamed. Dingo glared at her.

“HOW DARE YOU CALL MY BROTHER THAT?! I was gonna kindly return this to you after I helped him, but now I think I’ll keep it! KIKI! BRING ME UP! DON’T PRESS THE WRONG BUTTON THIS TIME!” He screamed. A few seconds later, a beam of green light went over him, and pulled him upward.

“AH NAH Y’DON’T!” Maddy screamed. She jumped and tried grabbing his legs but he was pulled up into the ship too quickly for her to succeed on grabbing his legs. The magical green light pulled her up with him.

“MADDY!” Seth screamed. Dingo looked underneath him.

“Oh! You decided to come with me, lovely? I don’t mind if you do!” He then grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her through the trapdoor.

“HEY! LET HER GO!” Alvin screamed.

“SEE YA LATER SUCKERS!” Kiki yelled.

“WAIT! YOU CAN’T USE THAT ALL AT ONCE! IT’LL GO WRONG!” Alvin screamed.

“YEAH RIGHT! YOU’RE JUST SAYING THAT SO I WON’T WASTE IT!” Dingo yelled. The spaceship flew out of sight. Alvin looked at me nervously.

“We have to get that back! If he puts too much, he can really hurt someone!”

“His stupid brother is our nemesis! I don’t care if anything goes wrong with him!” Seth sneered.

“Hey! Seth! Calm down! Even though we really hate him, we shouldn’t want his brother to accidentally kill him.” Mark said. Seth sulked and crossed his arms.

“Fine. But I still hate him with a burning passion.” Seth said.

“Wow Jes! You’re right about her!” Alvin whispered softly.

“Told you so!” I said, sliding my glasses back onto my face. “Now let’s get back that Karaclista, and Maddy!”

...

“Jessica, how’re we gonna do this?” Seth said.

“Just go in the direction that the ship went!” I said.

“And how are we gonna find that out? We don’t have a compass or anything like that.” Seth replied.

“Well, we would if that stupid potion stuff wasn’t in the other one we had!” Mark sulked. He crossed his arms.

“And if you didn’t lose it!” Seth said.

“Hey! I didn’t lose it! Acrius did, remember?” Mark said.

“What kind of name is Acrius?” Alvin said.

“Guy! We’re getting off topic! Let’s just eyeball it!” I said, walking towards the bright green trees.

“Jessica! Wait up!” Mark said, running towards me. Everyone else did the same.

“Let’s be careful now, shall we? We don’t know what’s lingering in here and want anybody dying on the first few minutes of this quest.” Alvin said.

“True that.” I said. We started through the trees, being mindful of our surroundings. 

“This place reminds me of Shadow Cress Island.” Seth said.

“What in the world are you guys talking about?!” Alvin demanded.

“We’ll explain later, Alvin. Right now we just need to get back that-AHH!” Something wrapped around my foot, and yanked me in the air. My glasses slid down my nose, and clattered to the ground.

“JESSICA!” Alvin said. I sighed, and stared at the vine holding my foot.

“Seriously?! This is the oldest trick in the book. DINGO, YOU DINGUS! THIS TRICK HAS OFFICIALLY MADE YOU AS SMART AS TOBIAS!” I screamed.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I looked to my left, and saw Dingo chilling on a nearby branch of one of the other trees.

“How did you get there?! You’re just like our principal! APPEARING OUT OF NOWHERE!”

“O….kay? You might wanna watch your feet next time you walk down here. THINK FAST!” He snapped his fingers, and a second later, Mark, Seth, and Alvin were hanging by one leg just as I was. 

“US TOO?!” Seth screamed. “HOW’RE YOU DOING THIS?! ARE YOU SOME KINDA CRAZY HIPPIE HILLBILLY WARLOCK?!” Dingo chuckled.

“I guess you could say that.” Dingo said. “However, I have to go tend to that beautiful redhead of yours.” Dingo said, slapping Seth with his left hand. Seth pressed his hand against his face.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!” Seth screamed, re-adjusting his glasses.

“Sorry, Sir Specs-A-Lot. She’s chilling in the ship with Kiki. She’s only, i dunno, tied up in a chair.” He said snobbily. He then snapped his fingers, and disappeared into thin air. I tried to undo the knot on my ankle, but it was extremely difficult being upside down.

“How’re we gonna get out?” Alvin side, struggling to reach the knot. 

...

“This is just stupid. Ten minutes into the quest, and we’re already trapped.” Seth said.

“We’re not trapped, just tested. Dingo’s just trying to find our weaknesses. He’s-” Just then, a loud whirring noise filled my ears. I turned my head in annoyance.

“DINGO! WHAT’RE YOU DOING N-AHH!” Something sharp clipped my ear. The whirring got louder and louder. I looked over, and saw a swarm of tiny, metallic turquoise birds. They kind of reminded me of hummingbirds, except bigger, and with razor sharp beaks. 

“WHAT IN THE HECK ARE THOSE?!” I screamed, dodging the birds as they zoomed towards me.

“I DUNNO, BUT I KNOW I DON’T WANT ONE!” Seth screamed. I winced as the sharp beaks of the birds jabbed into my skin. More of them zoomed past my vine, making it fray at the edges.

“HEY GUYS! I THINK THESE THINGS CAN BE HELPFUL TO US!” I yelled.

“HOW?! WE CAN’T SURVIVE TEN MINUTES WE THESE THINGS FLYING AROUND!” Alvin yelled.

“JUST DODGE THEM! THEY’LL RUN INTO YOUR VINE EVENTUALLY!” I swung myself back and forth, and eventually caught hold of the vine. When the birds came flying at me, I let myself fall back upside down,resulting in the birds to slice away at the vines. 

“GUYS! LET THEM COME AT YOU!” I yelled.

“ARE YOU NUTS?!” Mark screamed.

“NO! I’M YOUR GIRLFRIEND! JUST DO AS I DO!” I swung up, and grabbed the vine again. Everybody did the same, and when a swarm of the birds flew toward them, I dropped.

“LET GO!” I screamed. Everybody let go, and the swarm of birds sliced away at everyone’s rope at the same time. Everybody crashed into the bushes below them. The birds disappeared into the trees.

“MY SPLEEN!” Seth screams.

“WHAT IS WITH YOU AND YOUR ETERNAL ORGANS?!” Mark screamed.

“FOR YOUR INFORMATION, IT’S ‘INTERNAL’, YOU MORON!” Seth yelled. When I got my head outta the bush, I looked over at my friends, who were busy picking leaves and sticks out of their hair. Marks torso was smeared with dirt. Everyone was dripping with sweat and ocean water from earlier, and we were all covered in cuts and scratches.

“This is disgusting.” Mark said, looking at his dirt smeared arms.

“Ya think? We just got attacked by a bunch of crazy hummingbird things, fell into a bunch of bushes, and to top it off, we were left in the SUN! Of course it’s disgusting!” Seth said. 

“No more fighting! Seth, every second we waste is another second that Maddy is being left with Dingo.” I said.

“Right.” Seth said. “Let’s get back to finding that kara- whatever stuff, along with Mads.” 

(This is a small snippet of a book of my series, called Land of the Wanted. This snippet is part of Deserted, which is the third book. THere are parts you will not understand like the part with Shadow Cress Island, Acrius, Etc. Those are from the previous two books. Hope you enjoyed reading this little clip!)