Dusk: Death Island

by Jervis T C H

Overview

It is 2415 as Dusk Cooper, a thirteen-year-old half-human and half-Scentellian, happily explores the beautiful planet of Amiros with his two best friends, Keegan and Raven. But when an explosion suddenly rocks their spaceship, the crew has no choice but to crash-land on the nearest island. Moments later, the three crawl out of the disabled ship to find they are sharing the island with ravenous creatures. After the crew radios for help, they are told to head to the highest point on the island to wait for rescue ships. But first, they must battle the ferocious plant-like creatures determined to stand in their way. As an epic battle rages, the crew soon runs out of ammo, leaving Dusk to brainstorm an alternative solution. With the help of Raven's PDA, he transforms himself into a fire-breathing dragon who, with Raven and Keegan riding on his back, must fight his way through the creatures to what he hopes will be an eventual rescue. But just when he thinks things are on the upswing, the PDA's batteries begin to run out. Unfortunately, it is just the beginning of their challenges. In this exciting tale, three explorers in a futuristic world must do everything in their power to escape the island of death, before it is too late for all of them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781482823837
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	06/19/2014
Pages:	118
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)

Read an Excerpt

DUSK

Death Island

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By Jervis T.C.H.

PartridgeSG

Copyright © 2014 Jervis T.C.H.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4828-2383-7

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CHAPTER 1

THE ARRIVAL

December 18, 2415

In a star system far in the Milky Way Galaxy, three good friends, Dusk, Keegan, and Raven, were on an expedition of planetary exploration in a small frigate known as the Heron.

At the age of thirteen, Dusk was short and thin, and being a half-human and half-Scentellian, his skin was partially covered in hard, yellow scales, similar to those on snakes. However, he also had certain physical characteristics that resembled ordinary human beings, such as smooth, peach-colored skin, as well as black hair.

They were flying high above the surface of an extraterrestrial Earth-like planet called Amiros, greatly enjoying its scenic geographical landscapes (primarily oceans and islands) and even some of the largest wildlife it harbors. Its skies high above were also decorated with magnificent, brightly lit ring systems that were as broad as a quarter of its diameter. It appeared whitish in color and comprised millions of smaller ringlets, rendering it a splendid icon in the skies.

Amiros, being one of the planets of Ektha, its parent star was well known for harboring an extremely vast array of bizarre life forms, creatures, and even monsters, ranging from crawling vegetation to gargantuan rocs and gigantic sea hydras. Because of all these, it was a place rich with exploration opportunities and mysteries, only waiting to be discovered by space explorers and capsuleers.

For about two hours, their exploration went smoothly until suddenly, a violent shudder shook the entire frigate, shattering every glass, and throwing almost everything in it. The entire area immediately turned into a complete mess.

At the same time, loud emergency alarms also began sounding and ringing everywhere, together with repeated warning statements made by the artificial intelligence of the frigate, "Warning, engine failure at all chronium fuel cores. Warning, engine failure at all chronium fuel cores. Warning, engine ..."

Twenty-six-year-old Keegan, who was piloting the frigate at its bridge, felt the violent tremors and immediately shouted while gripping tightly onto the side handles of his seat, "Whoa!"

He then quickly glanced through all the holographic screens along the control panels and realized that an explosion had occurred at the engine compartments, which was leaving behind a long trail of black fumes through the air.

In great distress, he exclaimed in agony, "What? How ... how can this be? Shit!"

He then tried several ways to recover the engines by activating fire-extinguishing systems and restarting them. However, it was to no avail.

When Dusk who was at the back of the frigate, enjoying the view in his private accommodations felt the sudden shudder, he quickly dashed out into the main lobby at the center of the ship. There he saw twenty-three-year-old Raven using her PDA and ran to her, shouting, "Raven! What's happening?"

Raven quickly slid her PDA back into her pocket and answered, "Oh, Dusk! Relax, relax. I guess it's just an engine failure. I believe Keegan'll get it fixed soon."

Back on the bridge, Keegan still couldn't recover the engines, despite countless attempts.

"Crap! Why must this happen at this time? Ugh!" exclaimed Keegan in great fury. Having no other choice, he finally decided to crash-land the frigate. However, there was no suitable surface beneath, as he was still flying in the middle of an ocean, in which there were only small and bumpy islands.

Upon realizing this, Keegan groaned and made the final decision to settle on the nearest island instead.

"Crap, This is gonna be some really hard landing. I gotta let my friends know about this fast!"

Quickly, he turned the announcement system on and spoke.

"Dusk, Raven! This is Keegan! What you've just encountered is an engine failure. As I couldn't resolve it, I regret to say that we'll be crash-landing on the nearest island ahead of us!"

"What?" exclaimed Raven in absolute shock. "Isn't there another way to resolve this?"

"Keegan! You outta your mind?" exclaimed Dusk terrifyingly.

Keegan heard his friends and answered, "There's no other way! There probably won't be any more islands for me to land on if I continue to stay in the air! Besides, I don't wanna stall and let us all die! Hurry! Run for cover! This is gonna be a bumpy landing!"

Raven quickly looked into Dusk's eyes and exclaimed, "Hurry! Seek cover in your room while I seek cover in mine! Move!"

"All ... alright!"

In a flash, Dusk and Raven disappeared into their respective private accommodations and braced for impact by hiding in a safe spot. Back on the bridge, Keegan slowed the frigate down and lowered its flaps and landing gear as it slowly descended, much like an airliner at the end of a flight.

"Come on, come on, come on ..." murmured Keegan softly, hoping for a safe and successful landing.

At just 100 feet above the surface, the frigate flew past the beach of the island at a speed of 180 knots. A split second before touching down, Keegan quickly ducked down under the control panels and curled himself into a ball.

The frigate violently crashed against the sandy surface of the beach beneath and pummeled through the green vegetation deeper inside. The force of the crash was so monumental that the back half of the frigate literally broke off, exposing its interior.

CHAPTER 2

ESCAPE PLAN

The front half of the frigate continued sliding across the uneven ground, smashing through every rock and vegetation that came in its way before crashing into the thick buttress roots of a large tree. At the point of impact, it immediately came to a complete stop while its front hull sustained severe dents. Thereafter, there was total silence.

Dusk, who was hiding under his bed, slowly opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. His room was completely thrashed to bits, with shattered glass everywhere. Distressed, he cried, "Oh, no ... not this again!"

He then slowly crawled out, stood up, and cautiously made his way to the main lobby by taking small steps. To his utmost shock, the main lobby was also in the same state. Almost everything in it was completely deformed, destroyed, or shattered. Furthermore, half of the lobby was also exposed to the forested environment outside as the back half of the frigate had been ripped off.

Meanwhile, the danium fortified door (DFD) leading to the bridge slid opened. Dusk looked towards it and caught sight of Keegan slowly limping out in great pain.

"Ugghh!" groaned Keegan.

"Keegan!" exclaimed Dusk. "You okay?"

Keegan looked toward Dusk and answered in misery, "Argh ... yeah! Don't worry, Dusk, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

Feeling dizzy, Keegan quickly held on to a railing ahead of him and answered, "Yeah! Just need ... time to recover."

"Okay. Let me help you!"

As Dusk began jogging over to help him up, he caught sight of Raven appearing at the entrance of her accommodations and called, "Oh, Raven! You all right?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine. Took cover in a corner. How 'bout you?"

"Same. Keegan don't look so good. Let's help him up."

"Roger!"

The two ran over to Keegan and helped him stand firmly on his feet. Once he was feeling better, Keegan apologized to his friends. "Sorry about what just happened. The engine just ... blew off, and there's nothing I could do to resolve it. Sorry, it's my fault. I should've inspected the ship more thoroughly before taking off."

Hurt by Keegan's words, Dusk answered, "Oh, don't say that, Keegan! People make mistakes and learn from them."

"But, I'm ... really sorry."

Raven intervened. "Come on, Keegan, we're best friends, and we're all in this together."

Keegan pondered and answered, "You're right, Raven. Perhaps I should pick myself back up."

"There you go. Now, we need to find a way to get off this planet."

"But how?" said Dusk.

Keegan answered, "Let me make a call to the headquarters of the nearest Hexiron space station. Perhaps they could send a ship or something over to pick us up!"

"Okay, but ... do you think they'll be able to find us in time?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look around outside! This island is full of ravenous creatures, so I don't think it's wise to wait here for too long. We may need to move."

Raven said, "Dusk's right. They may just find our frigate, but not us."

"Hmm ... so should I or should I not make the call?"

There was a moment of silence before Dusk finally agreed to Keegan's decision.

"Make the call; there's still a chance that they'll find us."

"Alright."

Keegan took his PDA from his pocket and accessed the "Contacts" application. Once inside, he scrolled through his list of contacts and made a call to the headquarters of the nearest Hexiron space station.

"Hello?"

"Hello! This is Keegan, a student from Telrux University in Acratum. Is this the headquarters of Skylon space station?"

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"My frigate malfunctioned and ended up crashing on a super-Earth called Amiros; parent star is Ektha. The name of the island is ..."

Unsure what the name of the island was, Keegan quickly removed his PDA from his ear, looked at its holographic interface, and placed it back to his ear.

"Droughalis; requesting a dropship to pick me and two of my other friends up."

"Okay, where exactly on the island do you want the rescue dropship to be deployed?"

Unfamiliar with the island, Keegan just said the first thing that came into his mind, "Er ... the tallest point on the island."

When Raven heard what Keegan just said, she mumbled loudly, "What? Do we know how to even get there?"

Quickly, Keegan signaled her to stop with his palm facing her and continued listening.

"Tallest point? Alright, But please ... be careful out there. Amiros is home to all sorts of creatures that can kill humans. So if you get caught by them, I'm sorry to say that I can no longer help you. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" answered Keegan confidently.

"Great! Two dropships will be sent to your location in case something happens to one, so be ready. ETA 30 minutes."

"Two dropships? 30 minutes?"

Keegan received no response and ended the call by thanking, "Okay ... thank you."

CHAPTER 3

LINE OF DEFENCE

Suddenly, the entire Heron frigate shook with a loud thud coming from outside. It appeared as though something heavy had collided against its external hull.

Alarmed by what just happened, the trio quickly looked around in silence.

"What was that?" exclaimed Dusk.

"I dunno ... but I've got a bad feeling about this." said Raven.

The entire Heron shook once more with another loud thud, but this time coming from the part of the lobby that has been torn off.

Quickly, the trio looked towards where the sound came from and saw a gigantic green colored pear-shaped plant-like creature sitting just outside.

"Whoa! What's that?" exclaimed Dusk in surprise.

"It's ... It's just a plant."

"But ... but ... it's moving!"

When Keegan and Raven observed the mysterious plant-like creature more closely, it appeared to be arranging its roots in such a way for a leap. Sensing that danger was imminent, Raven quickly stretched her left arm ahead of Dusk and Keegan, and shouted, "Stay back! It may be preying on us."

Suddenly, the plant-like creature abruptly jumped into the lobby and landed with another loud thud.

Aware that they were in grave danger, Raven quickly exclaimed, "Shit! It's coming for us! Quick! Grab your weapons!"

Dusk and Keegan loudly acknowledged at the same time, "Yes Raven!"

Quickly, the trio ran towards a weapons storage compartment located right next to the DFD leading to the bridge, and drew out weapons and ammunition.

When fully armed, they quickly returned to the railings and aimed their weapons at the gigantic pear-shaped plant-like creature, which was already starting to make another jump.

"We need to get outta here fast! Prepare to fire!" exclaimed Raven as they were strafing towards the stairs leading down.

"How did you know it's hostile?" exclaimed Keegan.

"You never know! Predatorial-like creatures without any form of sentience like this one are usually threatening! Better to be safe than sorry!"

"All right! Let me make the first shot then!"

Keegan, who was armed with a FT34 Phoenix freezethrower attached with a Plasma Vector Sight (PVS), a pair of forcefield generators, a position locker, and a Laser Aiming Device (LAD), activated the position locker and locked the weapon in free space. This was to absorb all of the weapon's recoil and weight. After which, with only one hand holding the heavy weapon, he squeezed the trigger and in the next moment, blue flames began gushing out from its muzzle.

Everything, including the railings nearby was immediately covered in ice. When the gigantic plant-like creature began experiencing severe frost bites, it quickly jumped towards where Keegan was standing.

"Keegan look out!" exclaimed Raven.

Quickly, Keegan dodged to one side while leaving his freezethrower still spatially locked in the air. At the same time, Dusk, who was armed with an M777 Wingman (assault rifle) attached with a JI72 digital scope, a pair of forcefield generators, and a Laser Aiming Device (LAD), pulled the trigger, discharging danium rounds (diamond bullets) at the plant-like creature.

Immediately, the plant-like creature, cracked into countless pieces of ice while still in mid-air.

The cracking sounds were no different from cracking glass, and were so loud that the trio quickly ducked for cover. After a moment of silence, they heard many more weird and awkward noises outside.

"EEEAAAOOOWWW! HOOH!"

"What did I just hear?" exclaimed Dusk fearfully.

"Crap! Looks like we've unnecessarily attracted the attention of more of them!" exclaimed Raven.

"What? Are you serious?" exclaimed Dusk.

Raven loaded a pair of rail magazines into her weapons as she spoke, "Oh come on Dusk! How can I not be serious in this kind of situation! Get ready! Expect a hoard of them sooner or later!"

"A hoard of them?"

"Then what do you think?"

Stunned, Dusk stared into Raven's eyes without saying a word.

"Keegan, you all right?" exclaimed Raven.

"Yeah! Much better now!" said Keegan while getting back on his feet.

"Excellent!"

Suddenly, about 10 more gigantic plant-like creatures emerged from outside. Quickly, Raven yelled to the top of her lungs, "SHOOT!"

"DUSK! I'LL FIRE FIRST! WHEN I RELOAD, YOU START FIRING! WE TAKE TURNS, OKAY?" exclaimed Raven.

"YES RAVEN!" exclaimed Dusk.

Without delay, Keegan quickly dashed back to his freezethrower, which was still spatially locked in the air and pulled its trigger, while Raven quickly aimed her two S84 Shatterer submachine guns, each attached with a Plasma Vector Sight (PVS), a suppressor, a flashlight, and a Laser Aiming Device (LAD) at the plant-like creatures and began discharging rail rounds.

The overall suppressive fire was so potent that every single plant creature that passed through the boundary between the lobby and the environment outside was immediately frozen and cracked thereafter, resulting in a huge pile of ice accumulating at the scene.

When the number of plant creatures seemed to be increasing despite consistent suppression, Dusk threw a Blazer fragmentation grenade into the kill zone.

"Grenade!" shouted Dusk as he threw. When the grenade landed, the trio quickly ducked down for cover. The grenade exploded, killing numerous plant creatures at the same time while ricocheting ice fragments from the ground in all directions.

Dusk and his friends quickly stood back up and continued suppressing their fire. The kill zone was a total mess as more plant creatures were attracted and getting killed in frozen form by Keegan's deadly freezethrower.

Huge heaps and piles of frozen ice began accumulating till the exit became totally inaccessible. Nevertheless, the plant creatures never gave up in their pursuit for the trio.

"When will they stop? We'll run outta ammo if we continue like this!" exclaimed Dusk, but received no response.

Sooner later, Dusk's M777 Wingman depleted its last round on its last magazine.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from DUSK by Jervis T.C.H.. Copyright © 2014 Jervis T.C.H.. Excerpted by permission of PartridgeSG.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

About the Author, 1,
Message from the Author, 2,
How this Novel Series Started, 3,
Story Timeline, 4,
Chapter 1 The Arrival, 7,
Chapter 2 Escape Plan, 12,
Chapter 3 Line Of Defence, 15,
Chapter 4 Dragon's Wrath, 22,
Chapter 5 Creepy Crawlie, 29,
Chapter 6 Time Ball, 40,
Chapter 7 Mobile Toilet, 43,
Chapter 8 Ideas and Plans, 45,
Chapter 9 Ant War, 52,
Chapter 10 The Raging Bird, 65,
Chapter 11 The Mysterious Bird, 71,
Chapter 12 One Final Effort, 76,
Chapter 13 The Revelation, 82,
Chapter 14 Power of Hexiron, 86,
Chapter 15 Home Sweet Home, 89,
Map of Droughalis, 93,
Details of Amiros, 94,
Duskpedia, 96,
Theme Song, 109,