Soul Survivor: The Island of Terror

By Lecy McKenzie

Davilla English knew nothing of her childhood, but that she could only depend on herself, or so she thought. Trying out for the game show, Take The Dare, to please her best friend, Davie never dreamed that being chosen as a contestant was about to open a dark secret that had been buried deep within her soul. After the group gets stranded on an isolated Island, it doesn't take long to realize an evil has followed them there, when one by one contestant are eliminated in a most grisly manner. Everyone begins to suspect Davie, and it doesn't take long before Davie begins to doubt her own sanity, and is not so sure it isn't her. Tormented by dreams and visions, while being stalked by a twisted creature, Davie will soon learn that things are not always as they seem, and instead of being the predator, she may just be the prey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491829479

Lecy McKenzie

Author Lecy McKenzie was born and raised in Bastrop, Lousisana Lecy's great passion in life was always writing. As a young girl, she gave away hundreds of short stories. She remembers always having a notebook in her hand, with one great novel or the other in various stages of completion. She would write her inner most thoughts, and she was thrilled when people told her they were really good. Lecy's favorite stories were those about super natural and ghostly encounters. Lecy credits her mother of instilling that passion in her by telling her of hauntingly scary tales regarding her travels across the country when she was a young girl. My mother would have been a great author, Lecy writes, but a young marriage, and raising her children dominated her life, and never gave her the chance to prove that talent. She could tell amazing stories better than any book I ever read, , and she was truly my mentor. She always had faith in me, and now, I hope I honor that faith and her memory.

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© 2013 Lecy McKenzie. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/29/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2774-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2947-9 (e)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1   On With The Show

Chapter 2   Arriving At The Island

Chapter 3   A Predator Of Terror

Chapter 4   Fighting To Survive

Chapter 5   The Soul Protector

Chapter 6   A Deadly Surprise

Epilogue:    The Show’s Finale

A Message From: Lecy Mckenzie

About The Author:

DEDICATION:

This book is dedicated to my son:

Morris

He is my Soul Survivor.

Soul Survivor: The Island of Terror

Get ready for a journey to an Island of Terror that will take one of its contestants to a discovery that was buried deep within her soul. The prize here is the ability to survive.

CHAPTER 1:

ON WITH THE SHOW

CHAPTER 1

ON WITH THE SHOW

The day began with a sky that was grey with an ever so hint of black a warning that the sun would not be lighting the way today. I was getting ready for the adventure of my life. I had the feeling that this journey would be the beginning of a change in my life that I had wanted for such a long time. Little did I know that the changes coming were some I had never imagined? I knew that any minute now, the sky would open up, and lash out with a storm of undeniable wrath, and I was just hoping I could get going before that happened. How I hated rain, or mostly driving in it.

Please wait. I called out to the sky. I was really looking forward to this trip. I remember the day my sister by heart, Brittany, called me at work suggesting it. I really thought she had lost her mind.

Hey, Davie, guess what? She said in that same high pitched New Jersey twang that I had grown to love.

What, Brit? I decided to play along.

That new show is in town looking for people to take the dare. She said her voice trailing off as I could tell she was giving this some deep thought.

And your point is . . . I said, still not sure what she was getting at and trying to get her to finish her thought.

My point is, let’s do it! She said excitedly.

For Gosh Sakes, Brit, are you losing your mind. I said back to her, laughing at the very idea of her even suggesting this, sure she was only kidding or that she really had lost her mind.

No, you know how we both want to do something different, to travel down a different road. Well here you go another path we can travel. It could be everything we have ever wanted. I hear the dare this time is they are going to put a group of people on a deserted Island, with nothing but the clothes on their back and a camera. They are going to leave them to record themselves for six months and it is going to be up to them to fend for themselves. At the end of six month they bring them back and America decides which one did the most with what they had from the recordings they do. The prize is the one who shows the most ump will end up owning the Island. She said, her breath going weak from trying to get it out all at once.

Brit, what in the world would anyone do with an Island. I said laughing at her now, still sure she was only joking with me.

Davie . . . She said in exasperation, you get the Island and ten million dollars to do whatever you want on the Island. Now, do you think you could do something with ten million dollars!

What makes you think they would even choose us? I said, still sure Brittany could not be serious and trying my best to make her hear how outlandish this idea of hers was.

I guess I should have expected this of Brittany. We had been together and had been best friends since we met at my third foster home. We were kindred in the fact that neither of us knew our parents, and both of us had been thrown around from home to home since we were babies. I remember the day she came to the home as a new member of the hard to place as we were called. One look at her made me wonder how she had ever been in foster care this long, how could anyone not want such a dynamic person as she was.

Brittany was so pretty with long black hair and sparkling blue eyes. I was sure she was going to be adopted in no time, her only issue was she was so tiny, a little person, and she had medical issues that came with her small size. In my eyes she was adorable, always happy and smiling, she could light up a room just by being there. She had a bit of a speech impediment but her tiny little voice just added to her appeal in my eyes. I just knew someone would fall in love with her and take her away, so I basically decided I would stay away from her. I had been hurt before getting close to other children, and then having to watch them go taking with them a piece of my heart. After the second time of crying myself to sleep when one of my foster siblings left I promised myself I would never let it happen again.

She came right up to me the minute she came through the door. My names Brittany. She said in that tiny little voice with her very distinctive sound even at that young age. What’s yours?

I looked at her for a moment and then decided I would end any aspirations she had of us being friends with each other right from the beginning. Davilla. I said sharply turning and walking away.

I went into my room and closed my door. I was so determined not to let her into my life. I had not been there long, maybe only a matter of moments, when I heard a gentle tapping on my door. Da . . . Dav… I think I’ll just call you Davie. She said opening my door and coming in without an invitation.

Did you hear me tell you to come in? I said harshly trying to make myself sound just as disgusted as I could. The first thing you need to do is learn to respect other people’s boundaries if you want to get along with them.

She came over to me and meekly taking my hand into hers she looked me right in the eyes. I just don’t want you to be alone. She said sweetly as she pulled my hand up to her face.

My heart just melted instantly. I knew there was going to be no way for me to keep this little girl out of my life girl even if I wanted to. I could tell she was frightened and confused at being brought to a new home, and she just wanted a friend. From that day forward we were inseparable with her becoming the best part of me. She made me enjoy life as I never had, and through her I was constantly doing one adventurous thing after another. She brought more joy to me than I had ever known, but of course, just as I knew it would, in less than two years after she came, we were moved again to different homes. The family at the home deciding we were getting too attached to each other and had to be separated. We swore to each other that no matter what, no matter where they sent us, we would never let them keep us apart. We would find a way to be together forever. That was a promise that both of us had kept.

Brittany Morgan grew up to be a real go getter. Life in foster care meant never having stability. You never knew how long you would be in one place before circumstances or decisions were made that sent you to the next. You learned that no matter how hard you tried you were just there temporary and most of the families were nice to us but it was not the same as having your own family. We called them our loan families and for every good one you had there was always that bad one so you had to be prepared to deal with anything. Brittany with her sweet little voice and tiny little stature could come across as weak but looks can be deceiving for what she lacked in size, she made up for in energy and determination. She was a dreamer and her dreams almost always somehow got me in trouble. There were days that I tried to hide from her, as try as I might, I could not keep up with her. She always had a get rich quick scheme, and I did things for her that I knew I should not be doing, such as taking money I was saving for school to invest in some silly plan she heard about. She was the only family I had, so I normally did what she said even when I knew there would be consequences that most times were not good. That was until she came up with the crazy scheme for us to Take the Dare. I still don’t know how I let her talk me into trying out for the show. I guess in a way I wanted to be a dreamer too so I just live my dreams through her.

Take The Dare, was a new television show that was really ratings block busters and the talk of the country. They did crazy stunts that took months to finish. The show was based loosely on a party game in which people would dare each other to do outrageous things and the one who did the dare before them with the most originality and skills was judged the winner by the group participating in the game. The show took that game and would send the contestants all over the world to do their dare. Each person was given the same dare so they all could be sent to the same place and to make the game the same. They would have to make a video of themselves as they competed against each other with each person left to their own devices in which to complete their dare. It could take as long as a year for the contestants to do their dare, which seemed to be much to long for someone to dedicate their lives too but the prizes definitely worth it. The winner would become a multi-millionaire winning enough for a lifetime but all the losers got was absolutely nothing. It really was taking a huge risk as some of the dares seemed almost to be life threatening so if you lost not only did you lose a year of your life, you could just lose your life. Each dare could take the show as long as a year to bring to the screen as the episodes were all based on the contestants videos as their were no professionals allowed to participate in the filming. I had heard that their next dare was for a group of people trying to survive after being left out on a deserted island, with only their wits to help them.

Please . . . Davie. She had begged. Let’s just try.

Of course as with all her schemes I gave in. So, here I am, ready to leave, with a group of people I don’t even know, with basically the only things I was allowed to take with me would be a video camera, a toothbrush and hair comb. There would be no modern conveniences available to us not even a bed or a restroom. I was thinking that I hope the brewing storm was not a premonition of what I was getting myself into, when the ringing of the phone brought me back.

Hello. I said, my heart suddenly racing as I knew who it was calling me.

Davilla English. I recognized the voice of Art Warner, the show producer.

Yes. I said.

Are you ready? He said eerily, as I was sure he was recording this for the show.

Secrecy, they had told us, was of the utmost importance. We were not even told what day we would be leaving, our instructions were to just wait by the phone for the call. No one was to know our destination, and we were not sure ourselves all we knew was it was a deserted island. Even the few things we did know, should we tell anyone, we would be disqualified, and a law suit would be brought against us. We were totally at their mercy a fact that had me very concerned.

I had been waiting for three days when this morning I had gotten the call that this was D-Day, as in Dare Day a pun intended, and to wait by my phone for the call telling me when they would be coming to get me. For the first time, since all this began, I was starting to have some serious doubts. What had I gotten myself into? I had a knot in my stomach with a feeling as gloomy as the skies looked outside. I was instructed to meet the van on the corner of Seventh Street. They would check me to make sure I was in compliance, and give me my final instructions then.

Davilla, I hope you have a great time, and our wishes are with you. Now, let us make this a great show. Art said, as we hung up the phone.

I called Brittany to tell her goodbye. That’s right, after all this, to her great disappointment she had not been chosen. She did not meet the profile and she has not been able to pass the tryout physically. We had to basically run an obstacle course that was set up for Special Forces officers. They wanted people who could be the elite of the elite and they needed people, they had said, that they felt could meet their mental as well as physical requirements. You had to be strong, athletics, with a devil may care attitude, and I definitely met those requirements.

I don’t even remember my mother. I felt I saw her in my dreams as my desires to know who she was had consumed me for as long as I can remember. All I ever knew about her was evidently she was from some other country, came here looking for a better life, got pregnant, and then couldn’t take care of herself, much less a baby. The first memories I have of my childhood was that I was a foster child. There was no Mother or Father, no family structure or stability, just people who were taking care of me until the next ones came along. I was never in one place long enough to establish lasting relationships with the exception of Brittany. At first I tried so hard to be wanted as I could never figure out why I had to move constantly. Before long I realized no matter what I did these were just dropping off places and that even those that did care about me were never going to be able to keep me. I had to learn how to survive until I went to the next place. I realized the only person I had was me, so I had to take care of myself and that is exactly what I learned to do.

I guess I was lucky that I was big for a girl with a powerful physic and athletic skills that came easy for me. I was awkward and gawky in my teens, but I guess you can say I grew into it. I worked hard to put myself through college, and now I worked for a law firm as a paralegal trying my best to get my law degree. I wanted to become a legal child guardian to protect the rights of children who were wards of the state through no fault of their own as I once had been. I wanted to make sure they knew they had someone who really understood what they were going through, someone who had been where they were and who really cared about them.

I rode a bicycle everywhere I went to build up my stamina and to save on money. I was at the gym five days a week basically just so I did not have to go home alone. So this was my lonely life, structured and uneventful, most of the time down right boring. I could always depend on Brittany to come up with some kind of scheme for her and I to do every now and then, for a bit of excitement, but she was so very popular she always had something to do, and most of the time I was like a third wheel just following her around. I guess until now I had never done anything that was totally not studied and planned from beginning to end so this was totally new territory for me.

It was not as if I could not have had someone else in my life, it was just that I had built up a protective shield around me to try to keep from getting hurt that even I could not tear down. I was very pretty with long silky brown hair, and big almond shaped brown eyes accented by my dark olive skin, a fact that made me wonder about the ethnics of my parents and being of mixed race was what made me one of the hard to place. My skin was flawless; I never needed makeup and Brittany would always pretend to hate me for that. I stood almost six feet tall with a very feminine muscular build a wonderful result of my daily work outs, that made the people I worked with nick name me Amazon Davie. I was a natural athlete, and every time my company formed a team for any sport, I was always the one they wanted on the team. I felt I was ready for anything, that I