Jake Morrison's Arc

Chapter 19 of 54

Frank's words hung in the room. Others had come ashore. Jake couldn't wall a shore he didn't understand. He needed to know every spot where a creature could climb from the water. So he stopped planning and started asking. He gathered his people in the cabin's main room and made them each answer one question. What can you do? Marcus spoke first. He tapped the wrench on his belt. "I fix engines. I fix anything with parts." Jake already knew this. Marcus had hotwired a truck in ninety seconds and killed wretches with that same wrench. Their trust was earned, not given. Jake nodded and moved on. Sofia looked at her hands. "I stocked a supermarket. I know how to lay out supplies and ration them." Her voice was quiet, but Jake remembered the iron gates she'd found. She noticed systems other people missed. "I can map what we have and what we need," she said. Marisol didn't wait to be asked. She was already crouched over the dead radio, back panel off. "I fix signals," she said, not looking up. "Give me an hour." Jake watched her strip a wire with her teeth. She'd built a radio from junk once and saved them all. He trusted her hands more than his own. Frank cleared his throat. "I've walked this island for years. I know every cove." That was it. That was the missing piece. Jake grabbed a scrap of paper and set it in front of him. "Draw it," Jake said. "Every place a person could climb ashore. Every low rock. Every beach." Frank drew. His pencil marked six spots. Two wide beaches. Three rocky coves where the water ran shallow. One old dock with a broken ladder. Jake stared at the map. Six weak points. Not the whole two miles, just six. The problem shrank from impossible to a list. He could seal a list. Marcus leaned over the map. "Lumber in the boat shed. Fencing. We start with the beaches, then the coves." He was already counting boards in his head. Sofia added a mark for the supply cabin. "We store tools here, close to the work." Then the radio crackled. Marisol sat up. A voice came through, faint but real. Not a rescue team. A woman, tired, asking if anyone could hear. "This is the mainland shelter," she said. "How many are you?" Marisol's eyes went wide. She looked at Jake. Jake had his map and his weak points. He had a crew that could build. But the voice on the radio meant they were not the only survivors reaching out, and Frank had already said strangers walked this island. Sealing the shore against creatures was one problem. Now Jake had to decide who he'd let inside the wall, and who he'd keep out.