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  Atlantic Island

  ( Atlantic Island Chronicles - 1 )

  Fredric Shernoff

  For once, seventeen year old Theo Essex thought he could put aside his worries and just enjoy himself. A summer weekend at the shore. An evening with his friends. A beautiful girl in his arms.

  That was before the event.

  Now Theo finds himself stranded in a strange new world, surrounded by death and the sea, and trapped between rival forces determined to take control of survivors like him. Facing overwhelming odds, Theo must search for the strength to escape Atlantic Island.

  The critically acclaimed title from author Fredric Shernoff has garnered national attention by bringing sci-fi, action, adventure and romance to the popular locale of a Jersey Shore that is both sentimentally similar and eerily different from our own.

  Atlantic Island is the first book of a planned trilogy.

  Fredric Shernoff

  ATLANTIC ISLAND

  To Ty and Anna: You are my purpose.

  Book 1: The Event

  Chapter 1

  Theo had never expected life to be so unsatisfying. It wasn’t as if he felt entitled to anything in particular; no brass ring being held extra low for him to grab or crown to be placed on his head. It was that he always assumed he would know his purpose when the time was right.

  As a cool Philadelphia spring gave way to the heat of summer, the students of the junior class at Mifflin High School filled the halls with talk of SAT scores, campus visits and summer plans to pad the ever-important college application. Theo walked among these conversations not quite eavesdropping, more like observing with a goal of understanding.

  It wasn’t that Theo’s grades weren’t up to snuff. Although he had floundered in middle school, he had redeemed himself over the past few years and now held a strong B average. He knew that he would be applying to colleges after what would most certainly be an embarrassing series of school tours with Mom and Dad along for the ride. The problem was that Theo didn’t care about anything in particular.

  He had briefly considered the notion that he may be what the school counselor called “clinically depressed.” Theo didn’t agree. He had seen depression personified among the outcasts in school trying to “express themselves.” That wasn’t him. Black wasn’t his color.

  No, depression wasn’t the diagnosis here. If he had to label himself, Theo would go with “disappointed.” He had spent his seventeen years believing that he was following a pre-determined course. True, he didn’t know where that road was leading him, but he was resigned to follow. Now, when it seemed everyone else was taking charge of his or her destiny, Theo had turned to his trusty muse and found that his travel guide had abandoned him.

  Theo’s friends shared his habit of dabbling in school activities without being too involved in any one thing. They also shared his confusion and uncertainty about the future. What they seemed to lack, Theo reckoned, was his frustration. They appeared content to say, “screw it, life makes no sense and we’ll figure it out when and if we can.” Theo’s difficulty was that he expected to know the answers. He thought the goals would be self-evident and he would just have to strive for them. No such luck.

  When summer break finally arrived, Theo did what any teenager without any particular plans would do. He met up with his friends for pizza. Bill, a baseball player who dabbled in the world of the “cool” crowd but spent most of his time out of it, sat down at the table with his two slices of cheese steak pizza. It was Wednesday afternoon late in June and the shop was busy serving the liberated high schoolers. Theo and Bill sat at a table for four. Soon Mark and Ryan would join them. Mark always drove Ryan, and Mark was always late.

  “Don’t you think we should go to the shore?” Bill asked.

  “Why the shore?”

  “Well, for one, it’s ridiculously hot out here. For another, the girls are ridiculously hot down there. It’s a no-brainer.”

  Theo thought about it. “Well, we could stay at the motel near where my grandparents have their condo.”

  “Why can’t we just stay at the condo?” Bill asked. “It’s cheaper.”

  “Dude,” said Theo, ” it’s my grandparent’s place. I don’t want their friends checking up on us and reporting back.”

  “Fair enough. The motel it is then.”

  The door jingled as it was opened. Mark and Ryan made their way to the table.

  “What’s up boys?” Mark said.

  “We’re going to the shore.” Bill said. “We’re going to stay in a motel, and there will be girls, and Ryan will remember what it’s like to be touched by a woman.”

  “Hey,” Ryan laughed, “I had a girlfriend more recently than the rest of you losers.”

  Theo grinned. “He does have a point, Bill. Why don’t you guys sit down? We were just laying out the details.”

  The four boys spent the next hour consuming too much pizza and vast amounts of soda while plotting their conquest of the New Jersey shore. They agreed to stay in Ventnor, just south of Atlantic City but on the same island. One night would absolutely have to include a trip to Ocean City on the next island down because, as Mark put it, “that’s where the action is.”

  Ryan, who was never without his smartphone, clicked away as he researched what it would cost for this little adventure. He had not actually had a girlfriend recently or at all. His friends didn’t know this because Ms. Linda Fine attended Jenkintown High. Although Linda, like everyone else, had a Facebook page, the other guys couldn’t see her profile because the whirlwind romance had imploded quickly and friends don’t “friend” their boy’s ex. In reality, Ryan and Linda had met at a programming competition and he had been too nervous to ask her out (though not too nervous to send that one-click request for friendship).

  That weekend, the guys all piled into Mark’s Honda Accord and hit the road. As they approached the rest stop on the Atlantic City Expressway, Bill asked if he could visit the men’s room. All four were in agreement that this was a great idea, so Mark pulled into the rest stop parking lot.

  The facility, recently remodeled, was the only place to take a break along the Expressway without bailing at one of the exits. Families and groups of teens and young adults streamed in and out of the doors, filled the tables in the rest stop’s main cafeteria and waited in long lines for the artery-clogging goodness that one finds along the country’s highways and byways.

  Theo went to the bathroom with the other guys and spent a little extra time at the sink examining his reflection in the mirror. This was the last chance to make some appearance adjustments before arriving at the shore. He listened to the conversations around him. A trucker at a urinal argued with his buddy about whether the President should do more to protect the “danged homeland” instead of worrying about “all them Arabs in Iraq and them places.” He pronounced “Arabs” like “Ayrabs.”

  “I’m telling you Lennie, one of them brown skinned sons of guns is gonna blow this whole country straight to hell and that damned President will be sitting twiddling his thumbs.”

  Lennie grumbled his agreement and Racist Trucker adjusted his zipper and made his way to the door. He did this, Theo noticed, without bothering to stop by the sink. Lennie, who had to be six foot six and three hundred pounds, also showed his disdain for personal hygiene on his way out of the men’s room. Theo had a passing thought about Racist Trucker and Lennie swapping germs with a big high five, maybe after Lennie made a great point about those “brown skinned sons of guns” running wild in the homeland. He chuckled as he turned back to the mirror.

  Theo dried his hands after putting the finishing touches on his short hair. The music playing from the restroom speakers ended and a news report came on. “Scientists wa
rn that a comet the size of Manhattan has a one in ten thousand chance of hitting the Earth.”

  Good Lord, Theo thought, do they ever come up with anything positive to report?

  “Let’s go buddy, the chicks are a-waiting.” Mark came up behind Theo and shocked him out of his thoughts.

  “Alright, I’m ready, just want to grab some coffee before we go.”

  Back on the road, Theo stared out the window thinking about the trucker and the announcement on the radio news. Mark fiddled with his iPhone and soon the sounds of Maroon 5 blasted from the Accord’s speakers.

  As the car passed Exit 6, Theo thought, “The exits count down because we are heading to the edge of the world.” He shuddered. What the hell kind of thought was that? Just then, a blue Mazda 3 sped by giving just the flash of what appeared to be young, female occupants. “Whoa,” Bill said, “speed up and let’s see what we’ve got here.”

  Mark stepped hard on the accelerator and the Accord moved up until it was neck and neck with the Mazda. Sure enough, the driver and two passengers were all teenage girls. Bill waved, and the girl in the rear driver’s-side seat waved back with a smile. She had long brown hair and judging from the waving arm was on the skinny side.

  The driver was blonde and gorgeous in profile. She kept her eyes firmly on the road in a way that said “Yes, I know there are boys to my left, so I’m going to ignore them. So there.” The front passenger was hidden from view.

  “My friends,” said Mark, “These girls are headed to the same place as us.”

  “Mark,” said Ryan, “We still have a couple more exits and even then we are heading to an island of three different towns and a city. What makes you so sure we’ll ever see them again?”

  Mark sat back and smirked. “When you know, you know. Those ladies are ours.”

  “Works for me,” said Bill. Theo doubted Mark’s prophecy, but thought it would be interesting to see how far they travelled the same route as the girls.

  The green sign for Exit 2 (Atlantic City via Black Horse Pike) approached and Mark turned on his signal to shift lanes. Theo was not surprised to see the Mazda, now a few car lengths ahead of them, do the same. After rounding the exit ramp, the car came out on Route 322. From there, it was just a mile or so to West End Avenue. West End was a brief trip past the wetlands and bay of Ventnor Heights. As a child, Theo had passed these sights many times. His mother used to encourage the kids to sing “Down by the Bay” each time they drove by. Theo and his two older sisters had always obliged.

  Ventnor Heights was home to a small shopping center that stood three quarters abandoned. The economy had taken its toll, but things had rarely ever been good here. Businesses couldn’t survive when most of the action only happened three months out of the year. Atlantic City and its suburbs were supposed to have been rejuvenated years ago by the Casino industry, but instead the big corporations got richer and the city became more depressed.

  The Accord crossed the bridge to the Ventnor mainland and soon pulled up next to the Sea Sons Motel. Theo thought the play-on-words was ridiculous. The motel took its blue and white color scheme to an extreme, though some of the blue was wearing away and in need of a fresh paint job. The town’s battle with the infamous Hurricane Sandy probably hadn’t helped maintain the buildings.

  The guys took their bags from the car and entered the small lobby. The manager, an older Hispanic man with greying hair and a small scar on his cheek fixed his gaze on them and frowned. He continued to stare as they approached as if to say, “Oh yes, I’ve seen your kind before. I know what kind of mischief teenage boys are all about.”

  Mark stepped forward. “Top of the morning, good sir! My colleagues and I request your finest room.”

  The manager scowled but said nothing, shifting his glance to the computer monitor on the desk. He found a room and took Bill’s credit card. The others would split the charge at the end of the trip. And so, Theo thought, the ritual of the motel check-in is complete. He wondered how many strangers the manager had seen pass through the lobby doors. Families seeking easy access to the beach, co-ed groups of teens seeking easy access to each other. This made him think of the girls in the Mazda. They should have been here by now, if they were actually staying at the Sea Sons. Clearly Mark’s intuition was off, not that that came as a surprise.

  Their room was on the second floor on the far side of the building. It faced the street but the ocean wasn’t far away. The second floor walkway wrapped around the whole building. Theo had once been visiting his grandparents and had seen kids jumping off the top of the motel into the pool. Someone called the police and the nonsense was resolved. Theo always enjoyed seeing obnoxious people get their comeuppance.

  Bill slipped the key card into the scanner, saw the light turn green and opened the door. They entered a small living room with a sofa bed along one wall. A small television sat on a shelf, and a comfy red chair (just a shade darker than the red of the sofa) nestled in the opposite corner. A small hallway led to a back bedroom with two twin beds.

  The group quarreled briefly over sleeping arrangements before agreeing on a rotation that forced each boy to have to share the sofa bed at least once. Ryan grabbed the remote from on top of the television and pressed the power button while he walked backwards toward the chair. The television, a thick, old-fashioned model, came on and he flipped through the channels.

  Ryan paused on CNN, which at the moment featured Anderson Cooper interviewing a seismologist about some suspicious tremors somewhere in Iowa. “So you’re saying the American people don’t have any reason to be concerned?” Cooper asked.

  The scientist, wearing thick spectacles beneath his greasy hair, stared into the camera. “I’m saying that we have no evidence to suggest that anything significant is happening. What we have seen are a few minor incidences that barely register on the scale.”

  Bill reached over and grabbed the remote from Ryan. He turned the television off. “Enough of that crap. Let’s get changed and hit the beach while the sun is still good.”

  The four teenagers, now dressed in swim trunks and flip-flops, walked down to ground level and crossed over the boardwalk onto the sand. The beach was crowded and Theo had to carefully avoid a minefield of sand castles and kid toys as he ran to the ocean’s edge.

  Theo sat down on the wet, hard-packed sand and allowed the waves to lap around him. He looked out into the great expanse in front of him. Off to the side, the Pier Mall was visible even here, miles away from Atlantic City. Beyond that, nothing. Theo loved that about the ocean. Sure, he knew that Europe or Africa or whatever was somewhere on the other end of that vastness, but for all intents and purposes, this was the edge of all things. There was a strange peace in that thought.

  “You know, you might want to look around you and check out the girls instead of the fish.” Bill spoke from behind Theo. He wore a sleeveless shirt, though he was the only one of the four with a defined six-pack.

  “Hey man,” Theo said, “If you want to go and be a creeper that’s fine but I’m good right where I am.”

  “Alright bro. You and Ry can do your thing. More for Mark and me.”

  They stayed on the beach for three hours. Bill and Mark spoke to every girl they could find and Theo eventually joined them in tossing a Frisbee. Exhausted, they made their way back to the motel to shower and change for the night.

  At 6 PM, they piled back into Mark’s car for the half hour drive to Ocean City. They settled on one of the numerous pizza parlors for dinner, choosing one by the entrance to the boardwalk. Walking up the wooden ramp, Theo was swept up in the atmosphere. The boards were packed with people, mainly teens of both genders. Theo felt his eyes drawn from one girl to the next. The bright lights of the signs above the shops hypnotized him.

  The pizza parlor was different from the usual hangout at home. With its doors wide open, the oceanfront shop filled with the scents and sounds of the boardwalk. The guys ordered a giant pepperoni. Mark wanted to discuss the plans for the evening.
Bill had his heart set on going to the Surf Mall, a collection of shops selling t-shirts, collectibles and other, unusual items. Ryan and Mark insisted on hitting up at least one arcade. Theo didn’t really care where they went. He was enjoying himself and drinking in the experience.

  As Theo reached for a second slice, Ryan changed the subject. “Have you guys figured out where you want to go to school?”

  Bill faked a yawn. “Really? You want to talk about this now?”

  “Well,” Ryan said, “I just think it’s important that we focus on the future. We aren’t going to be young forever.”

  “And I think,” Bill said, “that you’re killing me. Can’t we focus on the present?”

  Ryan shrugged and went back to playing with his iPhone. Theo heard female laughter and looked up toward the entrance. Leaning against the counter was the blonde from the Mazda. Next to her were the thin brunette and a short, Asian girl. She was almost definitely the girl from the passenger seat.

  “Guys, we’ve got company,” Theo said. The others looked up.

  “I can’t believe it,” said Mark, “this is fate.” He was already getting up and making his way over to the girls. Theo and the others followed. Mark introduced himself and his friends.

  The blonde girl (whose name was Jamie) clicked with Mark right away. She invited the guys to sit with them. Over the course of the next hour, Jamie and Mark laughed it up while Bill awkwardly flirted with Michelle, the Asian girl. Ryan seemed more interested in his phone, so Theo had no trouble focusing on Kylee, the brunette.

  Kylee was beautiful. She had her hair styled so that a chunk of it fell over one eye and she continuously brushed it back with her hand as she talked. Theo was entranced. The girls were all from the town next to Mifflin and were about the same age as Theo and his friends. Jamie and Michelle had been friends since childhood, much like Bill and Ryan. Kylee had met them in middle school and they had been close ever since.