Jake watched—his eyes darting from one person to the other—as everyone took in the scene of the dismembered body. As far as he knew, this was not what any of them were expecting. If Dylan or Savannah knew about dead park rangers before they arrived on Cocos, they showed no evidence in their facial expressions or body language. They seemed as shocked as everyone else.

The park ranger's uniform was discernible even if it was ripped and shredded by whatever animal had feasted on his flesh. Tony held Rachel around the waist as she calmed herself, panting and wired eyes still locked on the corpse. Sarah broke into Jake's view, stepping in front of him and squatting next to the body, her burnt-orange hair falling wildly past her shoulders. Finally, Dylan and Savannah crowded around, their jaws sagging.

As Jake studied the ranger—the man's missing arm and leg stood out grotesquely as dried bloody stumps—he began to ponder the true reason of why the island had been evacuated. And he realized something rather obvious...not everyone made it out alive. Now, here they were in the middle of it all.

"He's been dead for a while," Sarah said. "Likely since the ban went into effect two months ago. You can tell by the rapid rate of decay."

Tony snarled his nose. "I'd say that's a fair statement judging by the way his skin is sticking to his face like a piece of beef jerky."

Jake knelt next to Sarah, caught her gaze. She was solid as a rock, not the least bit disturbed. "So," he said, "having any second thoughts? Say the word and we're back on the Zodiac, heading for the yacht."

"The camp is grown up with weeds; no one has been here recently. I'd say we're safe for now, but we need to do a thorough search to see if there are more bodies."

"Fair enough." Jake nodded and stood. "You heard her. Spread out in two's and turn this place upside down."

"Good idea," Dylan replied. "Savannah and I will take the side with the tool shed."

"Tony, Rachel...take the cabins," Jake said. "Sarah and I will comb the perimeter."

In eerie silence, each group set off for their assigned search areas. Jake followed Sarah as she hiked over dead tree limbs and small scrubby bushes. Her focus seemed razor sharp and dialed in on their surroundings. Jake felt hypersensitive to the sounds of the jungle—his boots squashing dried leaves, morning sunlight penetrating through the canopy above, and the caws of birds somewhere near the beach. The air smelt of salt from the ocean and somewhat sweet from the fruit and coconut trees. If he remembered correctly, the island was supposed to harbor a few species of cats, wild boar, rats, and maybe deer. Nothing big enough to devour a man.

They searched the outskirts for at least ten to fifteen minutes without much luck, until...

"Here's another body," Sarah said, pointing to a depression in the tall grass.

Jake stopped in his tracks and swallowed a hard lump in his throat. He concentrated on keeping his stomach from retching up his breakfast. Another ranger...this one with half his torso missing. His gaze skimmed over the body and then looked away. Put a hand to his mouth and swallowed again, this time forcing the queasiness down. "This is not looking good."

"I'm beginning to form a hypothesis." Sarah never took her eyes off the body.

"Please share."

"A wild animal killed the park rangers and they closed down the island in a panic."

"That seems obvious, but what kind of animal? From recollection, I don't think there are supposed to be any man eaters in this habitat."

"That's correct. But obviously, something killed this man." Sarah turned to Jake. "Two weeks ago, I would have said that we get out of here as fast as we can, but..."

"But what?"

"Now..."

"Yeah..."

"We need to see what's going on here?" Sarah stared at him resolutely. "I know the ocean is our expertise but something is wrong with this island. Seriously wrong."

Jake exhaled a deep breath and turned his back to the body. "I agree."

Sarah brushed against his side and grabbed his hand. "That one was a little gross."

"Try a lot."

After a few more minutes, Tony and Rachel joined them.

"We found another dismembered body by the cabins," Tony said. "Nothing inside the structure but personal articles like clothes and such. You would've thought with park rangers, we would've found a rifle or two. But not a one."

"That is a little odd," Jake replied.

"That's three dead people." Rachel crossed her arms, caressing her biceps like she was cold. "We should get out of here. This place gives me a chill."

"We're here to stay," Sarah replied. "We need to find out what's going on."

Rachel slung her hands to her side and then jabbed a finger into the heart of the jungle. "You've got to be kidding me? There's a bloodthirsty animal out there, right now, ready to kill us too."

"Maybe...maybe not."

"Are you serious?"

"Completely."

"This could be some bizarre experiment gone horribly wrong," Tony said. "A zombie apocalypse. Ground zero."

Jake miffed at that with a scowl. "I know you're joking?"

"Sort of, but you never know these days. I never thought I'd see a madman create an army of superhuman soldiers either."

"You got a point."

Dylan and Savannah approached them with grimaces plastered on their faces.

"The shed was used for tools and equipment," Savannah said. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"But we did find three more bodies in the tall grass." Dylan aimed a thumb back toward the shed.

"Six corpses in all," Jake replied. "I guess the ones you found were park rangers, eaten like the rest of them?"

"Yep. All we found in the shed out of place was an empty gas can on the earthen floor."

"Oh yeah," Savannah replied. "I guess there was one thing out of place in there."

"Looks like we have the island to ourselves," Dylan added. "Which is good; we can get back to the first clue."

"The first what?" Sarah asked.

"I think I know," Tony said. "The map you overheard them talking about on the yacht the other night. Not the store bought one."

Savannah's cheeks reddened. "You know about the...what else do you know about?"

Sarah folded her arms. "I needed some fresh air the other night. I wasn't eavesdropping, but we know you two have ulterior motives for coming to the island."

"Whoa, slow down," Dylan replied. "The cover story we're doing on you guys is for real. Our orders were just that...get the Sea Lab team on a secluded location, something big for the article and get a story for Adventure Magazine. That much is straight up."

"But," Jake stared at Dylan with a sly sidelong gaze, "you chose Cocos Island intentionally."

"You're right, Jake, we had a plan in the back of our mind the whole time. But we didn't know you'd expedite it by finding that gold coin."

Savannah shifted her stance and stiffened her facial expression. Then her lips puckered for a moment and then her nose scrunched up, eyes rolled. "You got us pegged. We bought the old map from a couple in Hawaii. They'd been diving here, found it in an old bottle. Rather than look for the treasure themselves, they sold the map to us for a quick cash hit."

"And that's it?" Sarah crooked her neck forward. "Who were these people? How do you know they're not going to show up later...with guns?"

"It's not like that," Dylan said.

"Really?" Rachel replied.

"Yeah." Tony wagged his head. "This could get heated real quick-like."

"Let's have a look at that map," Jake said. "If I'm risking my life, I'd like to know more about this treasure and this island."