by M H Ryan
It also continued to go up at a good angle for about fifteen feet, until we reached a plateau. The top flattened out to about the size of our platform back on our island. The floor on the plateau felt just as hard as the hill leading up to it. On the back side, it descended into a dark area I couldn’t see. I squinted, trying to peer into it, when Kara took my hand tight and pulled me closer to her. She took both my hands in hers.
I turned her hands over and rubbed my thumb over the tattoos on her wrists, a familiar circle with a few lines inside the circle.
“Twenty One Pilots,” I said.
She gave me a wry smile. “You knew?”
“I knew.”
“You part of the clique?”
“Let’s just say I’m an honorary member.”
I’d studied her body art when I could, and the more I did, the more I realized how much of it was from Twenty One Pilots. On both of her wrists were the band’s main symbols, with circles and lines in the middle. Their position led me to think she was hiding something under the symbols.
I let go of her hand and touched the side of her stomach, above her hip, gliding my hand over the words inked into her.
“Truce.”
She looked at me with the same kind of wonder as she had the ceiling when we first saw it. I didn’t get a whoa but an open-mouth stare.
“Holy shit, why didn’t you say something before now?” Kara asked.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk about it. That song, these tattoos, felt as if you might have gone through a tough spot at some point.”
Our words played with the lights, sending shadows over her beautiful face.
“I did, and I thought it was behind me, until I woke on that hell island. I think these,” she moved her hand over her tattoos, sliding her hand up her stomach and to the bottom of her left breast, contained in her thin black bikini, “saved my life out there. They were my armor against the evil.”
“ ‘Truce’ is one of my favorite songs from them,” I said.
“Are you even a real person?” she whispered, moving close to me and pulling my hands around her waist. She pressed her head against my chest, and I held her under the soft glow.
“Truce” was a song by Twenty One Pilots, talking about death and living your life, just staying alive for another day. I always took it as an agreement with the listener to not kill yourself. If she had these tattoos, I suspected the bumpy line I felt on her wrist wasn’t a result of the tattoo but rather the reason for the tattoo. She had covered her past.
“We’re alone in here,” Kara said against my chest.
“Yeah, this is nice,” I said, my fingers combed through her hair.
“Do you want to fuck me?” Kara said.
I stumbled back half a step, and the lights danced strangely, as if they too shared my shock.
“Yes.”
Her hands went to my chest and started working the buttons down. Unbuttoned, she yanked my shirt off me and lay it on the ground behind her.
Now, up to this point, I’d seen Kara as a demure type, with an overall temperament of a quiet introvert and soft eyes that you could drown in and be happy because of it. The Kara ripping my clothes off had—and I don’t know how it was possible— larger eyes. As if she could devour me with them. The soft light of the cave was enough to see the desire on her face. She wanted me, and I wanted her as well.
“The other girls—” I managed.
“What about them?” Kara said, reaching to my shorts and finding the button holding them together.
“I’ve had sex with Sherri and Aubrey.”
“I know. It’s okay, Jack. They let this happen.” She reached into my shorts and under my underwear, grabbing me. “They weren’t lying.” She moaned out as she squeezed me.
“This is fast,” I said, trying to catch up to where she was. It didn’t take long, running my hand over her soft skin, touching the various tattoos along her stomach and cupping her breasts.
I grabbed her by the face and kissed her as she kept her hand on me. I could feel myself growing against her grip, and she moaned as I kissed her. The vibrations and sound of her pleasure sent me to another world.
Her bikini was a maze of strings wrapping around her body, and my searching hand couldn’t find a clasp, so I grabbed from the top of it and just slid the black bikini down to her waist, exposing her breasts to me. They were B-cup perfections, and her nipples were a deep red that came to a point, giving me another color along her monochromatic skin and hair.
My shorts fell to my ankles, and I kicked them back. My boxer briefs were still on, and her hand was still inside them, gliding up and down my shaft as we kissed.
Breathing hard, she went to my neck, kissing and then biting some of my skin as she moved to my chest, coming back to my mouth with an aggression I wasn’t expecting but welcomed. She grabbed the back of my head as she kissed me, massaging and pulling at my hair. Her strength came as a welcome surprise.
“Lay down with me,” I said, freeing her hand from my boxers.
“You first,” she said.
I lay down on my shirt. She kneeled between my legs, bent down as she ran her hands up my legs and over my erection. Her black hair fell over her face as she kissed my navel and went lower. Keeping my underwear on, she put her mouth over my shaft, and I could feel her hot breath through the fabric as she applied pressure and only a hint of teeth biting down on me. Her finger worked through the material of my underwear until I felt her bare fingers touching me. She had worked through the double flap thing most men’s underwear had. With a few motions, she pulled me out from the flap and slid her fingertips along it.
She looked up, laughing, and had the cutest, most mischievous smile I’d ever seen. Her laugh sent waves over the lights of the cave, and she looked up at the display.
Crawling over me, she adjusted the bottom of her bikini to the side and straddled me. She slid her slick sex over mine and then put me inside her. Her face winced for a second before melting into a look of ecstasy.
She started with a slow movement, as if getting used to me but she quickly went to faster and her small body began to grind against mine. With each thrust she moaned louder.
Each sound sent waves over the cave lights, and as she kept crying out in pleasure, the whole cave dimmed to near blackness. My hands found her stomach and then her chest. I felt her as she pounded against me. If she kept this pace up, I wasn’t going to last long.
I sat up, gripping her sides in an attempt to slow her down. She looked down at me, smiling and shaking her head. She wasn’t going to slow down, and that turned me on even more. She sped up, and I felt her deep and wet.
“Do it…with me,” Kara said in a panicked breath. “Now, now, now.”
She cried out, and I obeyed her, finishing in her. I reeled forward, grabbing her in an embrace as I released. Her cry went into one heavy breath and then I fell backward, pulling her onto me.
We kissed as the lights of the tunnel returned. We didn’t kiss long, and she rose up, keeping her face near mine. Some of her beautiful black hair clung to her face and she smiled.
“Thank you,” she said, still puffing a bit.
“Well, normally I last a bit—”
“No, I needed it fast. Oh God, did I need you fast. That was so fucking perfect.”
She rolled off of me and then slid against me, putting her head on my chest and her leg over my crotch. We lay there for a few minutes until we heard a roar of thunder outside. It sent a wave over the ceiling, dimming the cave for a moment.
The storm had arrived.
Chapter 10
We rushed out of the cave just as a massive lightning bolt struck the ocean in the distance. It had to be many miles away, and I counted the seconds before the boom. It had to be a good thirty miles away. The wind had picked up considerably as well and blew at us with powerful gusts.
The waves, still large, were crashing at the shoreline more frequently, creating a continuous noise. The
sky had darkened as well. I searched for the sun, but couldn’t locate it through the cover.
“Come on,” I said, running down the beach that I was pretty sure connected to the one we landed on.
We climbed over a finger of rocks pointing out to the sea and spotted the girls on the beach and next to the plane.
“Hey!” I yelled at them.
Kara and I ran through the shallow water and got to the beach before the plane. Sherri, Aubrey, Benji, and Eliza got to the sand at the same time. Eliza held onto Moshe that seemed perfectly content to being held. Dang cat was getting soft on me.
“This is bad,” Aubrey said, looking to the sky.
“Did you guys find anything?” Sherri yelled out over the sound of the wind and waves.
“We found a cave, not far from here,” I said.
“It’s amazing,” Kara said.
“Why are you so happy?” Eliza asked, petting Moshe’s head, but no one answered.
The other girls smiled and nodded their head, as if they knew.
“What?” Eliza asked, getting annoyed. “She’s all big smiles over there, and we are looking at one nasty storm here, people. Nothing to be happy about here. The storms can get bad out here and I don’t think Moshe likes the thunder.”
“My parent’s dog hated thunder,” Sherri said. “Poor pug would hide under the bed.”
“Let’s secure the raft up high on the bank and get to the cave before it starts pouring,” I said.
That’s when I noticed the girls had gotten off several panels from the plane. They sat on the shore, rocking in the wind.
“Nice work, ladies,” I said, admiring the sheets of aluminum.
We pulled the raft high up the hill and onto the green grass and stuffed the aluminum panels under it. Thank goodness, Aubrey had found the balsa wood. If we had used palms or some other tree, there would have been no way we could have lifted it onto the bank. With the raft secured, we grabbed our supplies and made our way down the beach to the mouth of the cave.
The storm had worsened, and the gray clouds were now closer to a shade of black. The wind whipped across the beach, sending stinging grains of sand against us. The wind swept over the ocean, creating a constant mist in the air that seemed like rain. We were going to be soaked again if we didn’t get in the cave.
Lightning struck closer and the some of the girls gasped, Moshe hissed at the noise.
The boom hit us, and it wasn’t more than five miles away now.
I picked up the pace and led the way into the cave, with Benji taking up the rear. I had my knife out, and she had her bow. While Kara and I hadn’t seen anything in the cave, that didn’t mean it was empty. We didn’t spend much time exploring it. Moshe ran up next to me, smelling the ground and pacing around my legs.
We stepped into the larger, glowing room, and I felt the same awe as I did the first time. It was just as fun to see everyone else’s reaction to it.
“Holy shit!” Aubrey said, looking at the glowing ceiling.
“See, it’s incredible!” Kara said.
“It’s reacting to our sounds,” Sherri said. “Usually things that glow are predators, though, so I wonder what they are scared of.”
“This cave smells like sex,” Aubrey said.
Kara laughed and leaned against me, wrapping her arms around me.
“You guys had sex in here?” Eliza asked, confused and appearing to sniff the air for this smell Aubrey mentioned. “Are you trying to get pregnant?”
“What?” Kara asked. “No. We’re all on the shot.”
“Got a sorority discount on birth control. We’re good for a few more months,” Sherri said. “And sweetie, we’re going to have to another talk soon.”
“I know stuff,” Eliza said, setting Moshe down on the sand. “But it’s not like men were falling out of the trees while I was growing up. Jack is the first one I’ve seen, remember?”
“Well, maybe Jack here can help us with the lesson. Nothing like a visual representation,” Sherri said, looking at me and winking.
“That would be really helpful, actually,” Eliza said, and I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not.
“Umm, there’s a place up at the top of the hill that flattens out. Perfect for setting up a camp while this storm clears,” I said, thinking the girls seemed to get pleasure in making situations uncomfortable for me.
Most of the girls seemed amused by this, but Eliza seemed confused and looked at my crotch for a while before looking at the rest of my body. There was no way I was going to be some visual representation for Sherri. Eliza was a woman, just like the rest of them. If she wanted to see me and my…male parts, then that would be something that would have to come from her.
At the plateau, Sherri called out, “Is there anyone here?”
Her voice echoed around the cave, dimming it to near blackness for a moment.
“That echo is so cool,” Aubrey said.
“I’m an idiot!” Benji yelled.
To which I replied, as her echo lessened, “You’re an idiot!”
She laughed and rushed to me. “Yes. The Grinch. Such a classic. If we are here for Christmas, I’m reenacting the whole movie for Eliza.”
On the plateau, we spread out one of the emergency blankets on the ground, and I took notice of the holes, tears, and ripped edges. It wouldn’t be long before the whole thing ripped apart. Thankfully, whoever the ditch bag came from had put in a thick, high-quality blanket. That cheap, regular blanket wouldn’t have lasted through the first night. Moshe paced around the edge of the plateau, looking down the sides before moving on and looking again. I reached out to her and knew she wasn’t scared but rather curious, just like every other cat I’d known.
The cave opening brightened with a flash of light and then thunder rocked the cave, sending us into complete darkness. After a few seconds, the ceiling lit up again.
“That was close,” Benji said.
“I hate these kinds of storms,” Eliza said, holding her bag against her chest.
“How many types are there?” I asked.
“Most just rain, but these one's boom. I don’t like the booming ones,” Eliza said.
“Yeah, well, we should be okay in here,” I said.
“Did you guy explore the cave?” Sherri asked, looking at the back end of the platform and into the darkness.
“I didn’t feel anything back there,” I said.
“I think we should check it out, all the same,” Sherri said. “I think there is another room over here.”
I followed Sherri down the back side of the plateau and to a dark space near a rock wall. As we got closer, I saw the shadow was actually a doorway into another room. The glow creatures weren’t in this room, but their soft light illuminated the room enough to see the dead body inside.
Chapter 11
Sherri’s screech at the sight of the body had everyone at our side in seconds and briefly extinguished what little light we had. I walked into the dark room first, trying to use my senses for any creature that might be in the room, but it felt blank.
“This must be the pilot,” I whispered, as if a loud sound might entice the spirit of the pilot to reanimate its long-dead corpse.
On the chest of the pilot’s jumpsuit was a name: LT. Danforth. At least I had a name to the skeleton now. The suit sagged around the body that looked as if it had been dried to nothing but skin on bones. The skin stretched over the pilots face like some horrible surgery gone wrong, with his teeth exposed in some strange, open-mouth look of surprise. His eyes and nose were nothing more than dark holes in this dark room, and I imagined at some point the odor in this confined space would have been unbearable, but now, it smelled like the rest of the cave.
Next to the body was a small booklet and a backpack spread over what looked like a green blanket. Moshe went next to the body, smelling it before moving on. Apparently, a long-dead man didn’t interest her as much as the corner of the room she was smelling.
“Is he dead?” Eli
za asked.
“As a doornail,” Benji said.
“What does that mean?” Eliza asked, clutching her bag.
“I actually don’t know what that means,” Benji said.
“It just means that a doornail has no life and neither does he. Might as well say dead as a rock,” I said.
“Dead as a rock makes more sense,” Eliza said.
“Good, now that we have that settled,” Aubrey said, getting closer to me and looking down at the body.
“I’ve never seen a dead body,” Eliza said, looking to us for some kind of acknowledgment that this was strange for us as well.
“You think something killed him in here?” Aubrey asked.
I wondered the same thing, but none of his clothes appeared to be marked with slashes or even blood. His face, while terrifying and looked more or less like a thin leather bag pulled over a skull, didn’t appear to have any damage.
A pencil sat in his right hand with a booklet on the ground near his hand. I knelt and picked up the booklet. The hard leather binding over the hand-sized book had cracked, and I shook the dust off as I opened it.
At first, it was just numbers or calculations on what I thought was fuel. A few longitude and latitude numbers were spread over the book and I thumbed ahead, skimming the many pages of numbers. The numbers were written with hard straight lines and were clear to read. They kept in the lines and were evenly spaced. Most of it had been written in a black pen. A few ink blotches were the only fault I spotted. A flipped the pages until I spotted the lighter writings of a pencil about halfway through the book. In pencil, the letters were neat as well but I quickly realized that it was closer to a diary than some flight log.
11/28/1951
Bad storm last night and crashed on the shores of an island. Transponder and radio appear to be broken. Trying to make repairs.