Island Jumper 2

by M H Ryan

  I felt the notebook in my pocket. I wanted to look at it again. It felt like this mystery I could solve with a fresh look at it, but that would have to wait.

  “The snakes are getting closer,” Benji said.

  I turned the raft a hair, making sure we were pointing right at Eliza’s island and then looked back. A snaked bobbed in and out of the water not ten feet behind us. The damn Michael Phelps of snakes was chasing us.

  “Tag it,” I said, motioning to Benji.

  She pulled her bowstring back and held it for a second against the side of her face. The raft bobbed up and down as much as the snake did, making for a tough shot. She let the arrow fly and breathed out. I almost didn’t want to take my eyes off of her. Shooting gave her a joy that was hard to describe, but her face brightened after she fired, as if she had released an enormous pressure that had been building and released it all into the arrow.

  The arrow struck the snake right in the face. It dipped into the water, disappearing below. Another aquatic reptilian wonder took its place just a few feet behind.

  Aubrey and Sherri left Cass’s side and went to their paddles.

  “We’re going too fast for that,” Kara said, kneeling next to Cass and securing her.

  “Oh yeah, just watch,” Aubrey said and swung the paddle through the water.

  Sherri matched her and soon they were a flurry of speed, moving their paddles through the water.

  The raft didn’t move much faster, but it did increase just enough that the closest snake began to slip further and further behind us. I felt the fury in it but also the extreme fatigue. It wouldn’t be much longer until it either died from a heart attack or gave up. The snake mass of lesser snakes still held back a few hundred feet. If this wind or these ladies quit, we’d be covered in the green nightmare in less than a minute.

  I kept steering, keeping the raft in line with the island even as it wanted to pull off course. The wind gusted and blew ocean mist over us again. I glanced at Cass, thinking the cool splash might jolt her awake like it did in the movies, but she seemed to be in a coma or something.

  Even lying down, I could see how tall she was, over six feet for sure, with long legs and a thin waist. She had broad shoulders and muscular arms. She wore a conservative bikini that looked more like a sports bra than a bikini, covering her modest breasts. Her face, while pale from whatever was ailing her, looked pretty, with the larger features of a large woman. I suspected she might be able to row this raft hard enough that we could put away the sail and sit back for the ride.

  Eliza’s island came into view as we neared it. It was a larger island, about the size of Food Island, with a large, rocky hill on the far left side. The trees were thick but also brown and dead looking. The whole place had a brown cast, as if something had gone through and killed all the greenery.

  “What happened here? Everything is dying,” I asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s been getting worse for months now. I’ve never seen it this bad,” Eliza said and held her hand over her mouth.

  The shoreline was much like Yin Island, with long white beaches. The waves weren’t as gentle as the wind continued to whip around us.

  “Keep pushing hard until we get close to shore,” I said, and the girls complied. “Are there any dangers?” I asked Eliza, searching the dead forest.

  “No, not really,” she said.

  “Good,” Sherri said, breathing hard. “I’m sick of wildlife.”

  As we neared the breaking waves, I looked back and couldn’t find the snakes anymore. I searched the waters and didn’t feel that rage anymore. They could still be coming, but they weren’t close. Then I felt that feeling I hadn’t felt since the cave—the sense of something out there watching us. The watchers. They seemed to torment Danforth into a murderous rage, but he never explained any of the dangers or what they even were. Maybe I missed something in the text or there was more to it, but I hated the feeling of being watched. The watchers were getting angrier with each passing day.

  “Here come the waves,” Aubrey called out as we rose onto the back of one.

  We were coming in hot. Maybe too hot.

  “Pull the sail down,” I said.

  Kara and Benji jumped into action and yanked the sail down as we crested over the wave.

  “Brace,” I said, kneeling down and grabbing a piece of rope to hold onto.

  The front of the raft moved down, riding the wave, as the back of the raft lifted up. Kara, Sherri, and Aubrey held onto Cass as we rode down the wave. The raft dipped into the water before bouncing back up and leveling out as the wave pushed us closer to the shore.

  Another wave hit us from behind and shoved the raft further. We came to a sliding stop in about foot-deep water, with another waved hitting us, driving us a few inches more onto the shore.

  I jumped out, looking for any creatures on the islands or snakes in the waters. Where were the damn sharks when you wanted one? A great white would have probably gobbled those snakes up like spaghetti. I felt a few things on the island but nothing dangerous. Just a few simple-minded things. I wondered what Eliza had on this island.

  “Let’s pull it up,” I said, grabbing the front of the raft.

  The girls jumped off, landing in the water, and got to their assigned lift points on the raft. With Cass on it, it was heavier, but we lifted it all the same. We carried it away from the water and up near the dead trees.

  Aubrey lay on the sand, breathing hard and looking at the sky. Sherri bent over next to the raft, trying to catch her breath.

  Kara knelt down, feeling the sand with both hands. I waited for her assessment of the island. The island had a smell to it that felt familiar, almost like a nutty smell mixed with a hint of smoke. There was a slight has to it as well, as if the sun was burning off the last remnants of fog.

  “Something bad is here,” Kara said, looking at me with wide eyes.

  Chapter 15

  Eliza went to the tree nearest us and ran her hand along the bark. A few chunks fell off in her hand. She looked at them, confused. A gust of wind roared, pushing at what few leaves were still clinging onto the dying tree.

  “It wasn’t this bad when I left,” she said. “This nut tree hadn’t turned yet.”

  “What happened?” I asked, projecting my voice loud enough to be heard over the wind.

  “I don’t know. A few months ago, the island started rumbling, and then there were a few cracks in the ground where steam would rise and then trees and plants started turning brown, dying.”

  Aubrey got closer to me and said, “This storm is going to be hitting here soon, and we need to get Cass somewhere safe.”

  The wind kicked up, sandblasting us from the beach. I held my hand close to my face, trying to block the onslaught. Cass still lay on the raft with Kara and Sherri covering her face and body as best they could.

  “Do you have a shelter?” I asked, though what we needed was a rescue helicopter and a hospital. None of us were adequately equipped to deal with whatever was wrong with Cass. I didn’t want to think of the worst, but I couldn’t help it.

  “Yes,” Eliza said urgently. “It’s not far.”

  “Everyone grab their supplies and follow Eliza,” I said, getting next to Cass. “Sherri, you want to help me with Cass?”

  In less than a minute, we had our bags and weapons and headed into the dead forest. I held Cass from under her arms while Sherri had her feet. Thankfully, she was lighter than she looked. She weighed maybe a hundred and forty pounds. Each time she breathed, the six-pack on her stomach formed, and I felt her firmness of her muscles in my hands. Another athlete—my guess was a volleyball player or perhaps a swimmer.

  Moshe ran around us, darting off into the forest before coming back. She seemed on edge, and maybe it was just the storm, but as I carried Cass, I kept my senses open, feeling for a creature with murderous intent. I felt a few things in the forest, but nothing malevolent.

  Eliza walked briskly ahead, sometimes slowing to feel a
tree or run her hand over them as she looked at their dead limbs. Each sign of death on the island visibly upset her, and I could only imagine how much each of these trees meant to her.

  There were different types of trees along a dirt path covered mostly in brown leaves. Some trees still held what looked like nuts and even one dead fruit tree that had dried remnants of what might have been an orange at one point on the ground.

  We neared the rocky hill on the far side of the island, and in front of it stood a shack. Maybe shack was too harsh, but it landed in-between cabin and shack, with the wood structure attached directly to a steep rock wall behind it. It appeared to be mostly constructed with a mixture of branches, woven together tightly and then layered with a thatch. The roof was of similar construction and sloped toward the front door. The front door itself looked like a thinned log, slid behind the rock next to it. I imagined they could slide the wood, and my theory was confirmed when Eliza lifted the door and slid it to the left, with the rock keeping it in place.

  A gust of wind ripped through the forest, sending a branch falling within a few feet of Kara. She jumped back from it, and we all looked up. The trees were massive, and the tops of them swayed in the wind, their branches creaking at the strain.

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone,” she said, standing at the door with her long hair whipping in the wind and a hint of color blooming on her cheeks.

  “No judgments here,” I said, adjusting my grip on Cass. I really wanted to get inside.

  Eliza stepped in, hugging her bag to her chest, and I walked in backward, angling Cass’s body carefully through the doorway. The wind slowed considerably once inside, and I was impressed at how well the cabin blocked the weather. The ceiling held of another layer of wood on it, almost like paneling, and the walls were of a similar material. It was actually awe-inspiring, and it gave me a good idea of what could be built if proper time and materials were applied.

  It appeared to be one room with a bed at the far end, which carried on the built-by-branches look. A chair and a table were built similarly. I hurried Cass over to the bed with Sherri’s help, and we lay her down on what looked like cotton. The bed creaked and popped, as if screaming out at the weight being put on it.

  Sherri went to Cass’s face and brushed back some of her dirty blonde hair from her face.

  “Whoa, what’s up with the stick people?” Aubrey said.

  “Umm, I just…uh…it got lonely here and I…” Eliza said, turning a deep shade of red.

  I hadn’t noticed, but near the bed, there were a few…sculptures. They were crude representations of the human form, made from bent branches and a batch of what I thought was old pine needles on their heads. The faces were formed like a child might a snowman, with walnuts for eyes, a small chunk of wood for a nose, and a couple of branches, painted a soft red, for the lips. They stood about five feet tall and appeared to have apposable arms with stick fingers. The legs and feet were also bent branches that seemed larger than humanly possible but were able to keep the figures standing on their own. One appeared to be a woman, with longer hair and two coconuts for breasts. The male had short hair but no anatomical features to speak of.

  “You made these?” Sherri said, getting closer to the female.

  “Uh, yeah, just… you know, passing the time,” Eliza said, still red and not looking at any of us. In fact, she kept looking out the door and I suspected she wanted to run out of there.

  Eliza moved to the open and I thought she might just run out in the storm but she pulled the door close and the cabin fell silent. There were no windows in the cabin but the walls had enough cracks between the paneling, that light got through, giving us a warm light as if the room was lit by a candle.

  “These are amazing,” Sherri said. “If you brought these to New York, with your story behind them, you could sell these for a fortune I bet.”

  “Sell them?” Eliza said, looking confused.

  “You know, for money,” Sherri said and touched the women’s coconuts breast. “This must have taken forever.”

  “I made them a while ago,” Eliza said, glancing at me and then at Sherri. “After my mom left, I really didn’t have anyone to talk with, so I created things—friends and objects.” She gripped her bag and looked down at it.

  “Hey,” Aubrey said. “This one time, when I was a kid, I tried to convince everyone that I had a friend named Penelope that only I could see. We’d perform surgery on my stuffed animals with an emergency stuffing replacement procedure. Penelope, I need cotton, stat.” Aubrey laughed.

  “Really?” Eliza asked, brightening up a bit. “I thought this might be weird or something.”

  “Oh it’s weird, but you’re my kind of weird, Eliza,” Aubrey said.

  “Me too,” Sherri said. “I think what you made here is awesome.”

  “Thanks,” Eliza said. “I’m glad you like them. I don’t really need them since I have you guys now. You guys are so much better to talk with…. I really can’t believe I found you. These days with you have been the best days of my life.”

  “Me too,” Sherri said. “Snakes and sharks and all.”

  “Yeah, well, being chased by water snakes, twice as long as I am, doesn’t quite make it to my top ten of awesome days, but pretty close,” Aubrey said with sarcasm.

  Thunder boomed outside and rattled the cabin. We all looked at the ceiling as the structure creaked and groaned under the pressure of the outside wind.

  “Is it waterproof?” I asked.

  “It usually is. It needs patching sometimes,” Eliza said.

  I kneeled next to Cass and studied her face, looking for any signs that something had hit her. Her face had bits of sand on it, but no bruising or blemishes. I brushed some of the sand off her cheek, making sure nothing got in her eyes. I moved my hands through her thin, light brown hair and made it down to her shoulders, feeling her scalp for any damage. On the back of her head, I felt a lump.

  Aubrey, seeing the look on my face, ran her hand next to mine, feeling it as well.

  “She took a few good headers while we transported her. Especially when we fell from that cliff,” Aubrey said.

  “A knock on the head wouldn’t do that anyways,” Kara said.

  “Unless it put her in a coma,” Sherri added.

  “We need smelling salts,” I said. “Kara, you had the first aid kit.”

  Kara went to her bag and pulled out the small, white bag with a red cross on it and handed it to me.

  I opened it the bag, sorting through the supplies until I found the small tube of smelling salts. I brought it over to Cass’s face and broke it open. I got a good whiff of the ammonia as I passed it under her nose. It brightened me up, and I took a deep breath, blinking my eyes from the odor.

  Cass’s hand moved and pushed my hand away. She groaned and rolled to her side.

  “Cass!” Aubrey said. “Wake up.”

  She didn’t move.

  Sherri shook her, pushing on her shoulder rather hard, but she didn’t respond.

  “Wake up, sweetie!” Sherri said. “She’s not in a coma… people in comas don’t move. It’s like she’s heavily sedated or something.”

  “Wait,” I said, spotting something on her side. “Look at this.”

  On her side were two red dots about three inches apart. I got close to her body, looking for more, and I found another pair. I rolled her over and looked at her other side and spotted another two. Each set came in a pair and was roughly the same distance apart.

  “What are they?” Sherri asked.

  “Bites and I bet from those snakes,” I said, pointing to one bite. “Look, each one is like the others, coming in a pair.”

  “Oh my God. You think she’s been bitten multiple times?” Benji asked.

  “Constrictors aren’t poisonous though,” Sherri said.

  “We don’t know what those snakes were. They weren’t like any snake I’d ever seen.”

  Aubrey sat on the bed, looking at her legs. “She has red in
dentations on her legs.”

  They were in a series of lines, across her legs. They were about a half inch wide and wrapped around the outsides of both her legs.

  “Constriction marks I bet,” I said, feeling them to make sure they weren’t hot with fever. They were cool to the touch and I felt the groove bumps in her skin. “They must have dragged her to where she was by her legs.”

  “How long do you think she’s been like this?” Aubrey asked.

  “Couldn’t have been long,” Sherri said. “She would have, you know, soiled herself if it’d been for days.”

  “Gross, Sherri,” Benji said.

  “It’s true,” Sherri said.

  “Okay, so do we think she was poisoned?” Aubrey asked, raising a brow.

  “Look at her bites,” I said, pointing at two of them. “If they were poisonous, like a rattlesnake bite, the skin would be red or even blackened around the bite. But these bites look more or less as if she was poked with a clean needle.”

  “So why isn’t she waking up?” Aubrey asked.

  “I don’t know what else we have to go off of here but remember that capybara looking thing lying next to her?” I asked.

  “No,” Aubrey said.

  “I remember,” Benji said. “That brown, hairy thing about the size of a small dog.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Wasn’t it dead?” Benji asked.

  “That’s what I thought at first glance, but then I saw it breathe, and it looked peaceful, like it was resting on the floor with its snake buddies, but when we grabbed Cass and made all kinds of commotion, the thing never moved.”

  “You think whatever happened to that thing happened to Cass as well?” Sherri asked.

  “Yes, and I think the snakes could have been storing her, like a spider does for her young.”

  “Storing her, for what?” Benji said hesitantly and braced herself.

  “Snake babies,” Aubrey said. “Maybe when their snake babies are born, they’d eat Cass and whatever else the snakes brought down there for them,” Aubrey said. “Or suck their blood like some vampire snakes. Who knows what these islands are capable of holding.”