Day 2,277

An island loomed out from the dense ocean fog, densely packed trees swayed as an unseen yet enormous creature barged through them and headed for the shore and the ship that swiftly approached. There wasn't supposed to be an island this far out at sea - there was no continental shelf for it to perch upon nor did it appear on any map or satellite image.

The team even went so far as to request for their location to be remapped whilst they were still there and within hours the updated images arrived showing their little ship sitting next to nothing but pure blue waters. This was a stark contrast to the sand that their dinghy rested on as they departed to explore the anomaly.

They all felt that they were being watched and they all tried not to stare at the sizable footprints that led from the jungle to the shoreline beside their dinghy and abruptly stopped a few feet from their landing point. Aside from this, their main focus was the utter silence that surrounded them - even the waves seemed muted and there were no other signs of life.

Nobody felt like they should openly speak, not when the air itself seemed to be listening so intently as if waiting for them to slip up so it could pounce. Their whispered plan was to take as many samples as possible in as little time as they could and hightail it back to the ship in one piece.

It started out well with them quietly scooping sand and shells as they slowly made their way towards the treeline. The remained quiet until someone trod on a fallen branch that snapped like gunshot and broke the silence completely.

The footprints thundered towards them - still no body in sight - and the air filled with the calamitous roar of a thousand tropical birds all awoken at once. They barely made it back to the dinghy, dodging the footprints that seemed intent on herding them into the jungle as they set sail faster than they ever had before.

The moment they set foot back on the ship, the ocean fog began to rise and the island seemed to melt into it. Within a matter of minutes that felt like hours, they were left staring at the near endlessness of the deep sea with nothing to show but empty sample bags and a ringing in their ears.