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It was warm, it was summer after all, Jack reminded herself as she stepped out onto the tarmac that led to the small private plane they would be taking to the resort. She had won an all-expenses paid trip to an alumni of Cambria University’s private island where he had built a beach resort. They would be one of the first guests, some people with loads of money had been given the opportunity to purchase the vacation package early and arrived on the island just a few days before Jack and her fellow raffle winners would be.

She had her football bag slung over her shoulder packed with her clothes and things. She was wearing black and white Nike trainers with lime green shorts and a lime green football jersey, it was what she was most comfortable in. She was the first one on the plane, greeted by the gruff pilot, who didn’t introduce himself and their tour guide, Amelia.

Amelia was maybe a few years older than Jack with curly blond hair and girlish figure, obviously hired to make people feel at ease. She was wearing a bright blue polo with khaki capris, two palm trees crossing was the logo on her shirt next to her nametag.

“Let me take that for you,” Amelia smiled sweetly as she reached for the beaten up strap on Jack’s shoulder. “Welcome to Kamatayan Airways! Pick any seat you would like Miss Rogers.”

“Thanks,” Jack handed it to her with a practiced sweet smile of her own, her perfectly straight teeth bleached white for appearance sake. 

Jack ran her hand absentmindedly through her long brown hair, even though it was pulled back into a straight ponytail, pulling her bangs out of her hazel green eyes. She took a window seat and waited for her classmates to arrive.  Amelia walked by, handing her a tropical drink with a little pink umbrella in it. Jack took a small sip and was extremely glad she had. “Tequila sunrise? It’s my favorite but isn’t it a little early to be drinking?”

Amelia winked at Jack as more students boarded the plane. “Never too early in paradise!”

Jack settled back into her seat and sipped quietly on her drink, wondering if it was coincidence that the drink was her favorite.

[hr]

Meanwhile on Kamatayan Island….

Red lights were flashing all through the paradise resort. Guests of the resort were running in a panic out of the building. A prerecorded message played over the speakers. “This is Kamatayan Island Emergency Broadcasting System. Please evacuate the resort immediately. This is not a drill. Please evacuate the resort immediately. A hurricane has been spotted heading towards the island. Please report to the emergency shelter.” The message played on a loop as the guests ran as fast as they could down the sandy path leading to what resort staff indicated was the emergency shelter.

Guests ran into a concrete building and were herded by resort staff into a large platform elevator. Once everyone was accounted for the staff activated the elevator and they started heading down. They were maybe 30 feet below ground when the elevator came to an unexpected halt. The staff seemed just as perplexed as the guests as they tried to get the elevator moving again.

A TV screen mounted to one of the elevator walls flickered to life, an image of Dr. Edgar Stewart, the resort owner, displayed on screen. “Please remain calm, I can assure you [i]the storm[/i] is nothing to be worried about.”

There was something about the way he delivered the line that made the blood of every person on the elevator run cold. A guest stepped forward. “Stewart, the elevator isn’t working properly.”

Dr. Stewart smiled, giving him the appearance of someone who was just slightly off somehow. “It’s working just as I designed it to. I regret that I couldn’t be there in person for this, it seems my time table was slightly off. No matter, those kids couldn’t have helped you anyway. I’ll deal with them when they arrive. Please, enjoy your ride.”

Before anyone could say anything the TV flickered off again. The next thing anyone knew after that was just darkness….