Island Jumper: An Archipelago Series

by M H Ryan

  “You’re so smart,” Benji said. “We’re so lucky to have you here.”

  “Oh my God, Benji,” Aubrey said rolling her eyes. “I think you’ve got his attention already.”

  “What?” Benji said.

  “Uh, hello, don’t you see the way he looks at you?”

  “I see the way he looks at you,” Benji said.

  “Well, he looks at you the same way. He’s plenty interested in us; you don’t have to go buttering him up like that,” Aubrey said.

  “I’m not…” Hints of color reached Benji’s cheeks as she looked away from Aubrey. “It’s just I’m not used to a manly figure in my life, and he’s saving us.”

  Aubrey sighed. “I know, Benji. I’m sorry.”

  “You know I’m right here, right?” I said. “Let’s just get the rest of the raft built and back to saving Sherri.”

  “I can see why you like him,” Aubrey whispered. “He’s cute, and he’s got this dominating presence out here that wasn’t there on the boat. I’d bet if it weren’t for Sherri’s rescue, he’d take us into the woods right now and…”

  “Shut up, Aubrey,” Benji said under her breath.

  “Still here, guys,” I said.

  I gazed at Benji, making eye contact with her. She looked away and starting tying off a portion of the outrigging together. I thought I’d say something, but I said nothing. The idea of someone like Benji or Aubrey being interested in a guy like me, some deckhand, was more than I was willing to take in at the moment. I couldn’t ignore I had feelings for her, though, and Aubrey as well, which was a weird feeling, to say the least. They were both giving me glances now.

  “Knots,” I said. “Let me show you a square lashing on this. Very similar to the ones you tightened up the raft with, but we’ll need to cut a notch into the wood to it doesn’t slide right out of the knots if a shark… you know.”

  They both looked at my hands intently as I rushed through the process of securing the poles that would be crossing the bamboo in perpendicular lines. The knot wasn’t a simple tying your shoes kind of knot, and when I gave it over to Benji, I watched her, impressed at how quick she picked it up.

  “This look okay?” Benji asked, showing me her knot and tie-off.

  “That looks perfect,” I said.

  Aubrey took a look at what Benji was doing and went back to her knot. In a few seconds, she finished hers as well, to near perfection.

  In another thirty minutes, we had the outrigging on and tightly secured with a mixture of string and duct tape. I didn’t like that we’d already gone through half the roll of duct tape and about two-thirds of the string, but we were talking about the life of another. We had to do what it took to get to Sherri. After that, we could go back into survival mode.

  Before putting the raft in the water, we went back into the forest and gathered a varied supply of fruit from the trees with Benji taking liberties with the number of mangos she could fit on the raft.

  “You think it’s seaworthy?” Aubrey asked, looking at the loaded raft.

  “All I ask for is a ship and a star to sail her by,” Benji said.

  “Willie Wonka?”

  “The original, yes,” Benji said.

  “Is there any other one?” I said with a laugh.

  “Oh Jesus, you are a movie quote person, too. And that’s not even originally from…” Aubrey took a deep breath and said, “How about we get off our asses and get to Sherri? How about that movie?”

  With Aubrey signaling the time to act, we pulled the raft to the water’s edge.

  “You think it’s going to handle all three of us?” Benji said, giving a wary eye to the sea.

  “With the outriggers, the raft should handle the three of us. It might make things even better, as you two can paddle while I pole push.”

  “Oh yeah, are you good at pushing pole?” Aubrey snickered.

  “He’s pretty good,” Benji said, and Aubrey rolled her eyes. “What?”

  “Let’s just see if this things seaworthy,” I said. “And for the love of God, watch for sharks in the water.”

  We pushed the raft into the ankle-deep water. We all kept an eye on the waters. It seemed clear, but that didn’t mean shit in the ocean. A shark, the size of a bus, could be hiding just under the surface, looking for a human-sized snack, and I probably wouldn’t see it. I tried to use my sixth sense, if that was what I was going to call it, but trying to listen to the ocean was like watching static on TV and trying to find a picture. It was nothing but noise. Too many things made for too many noises.

  We got the raft to knee-deep water, and I felt the outriggers. They were flexible, but not too flexible. If I had more time, I’d test it more and make adjustments, but it didn’t look like Sherri had much more time.

  “If a shark comes at us, I’m going to kill it,” Aubrey said, holding her spear. “Do you know how much I’ve trained in javelin? A lot, plus about a dozen other sports that make me a damn-near expert in spears.”

  “I’m glad we found you,” I said. “Now let’s push the raft around to the back side of the island. Better to stay in the shallows as long as we can.”

  We pushed the raft in the shallow waters around the island and then to the edge of the lagoon. Soft waves splashed against the rocks. I could see the island Sherri was on from there and focused on it for a second. I thought I could make out the tree she was on near the shore.

  “Okay, you sure you’re clear in the head?” I asked Aubrey. “We can’t make any mistakes out there.”

  “Yeah, I’m good, but once we get to Sherri, I’m getting fucked up, and I suggest the rest of you join me. We can just kick it, eat mangos, and wait for the rescue in some style.”

  “You guys ready for this?” I asked.

  “Let’s do this!” they both said in unison.

  With all of our supplies strapped and tied to the raft, including a bottle of vodka, I helped the ladies get onto it. Then I shoved off, jumping onto the back of the raft before the water got too deep. The first thing I noticed when I stood was the raft didn’t shift hard in the water. The outriggers had helped stabilize the boat significantly.

  Benji laughed and bounced lightly up and down, testing it. “You did it, Jack. This is amazing. You have no idea how sketchy it felt before this, Aubrey. I can actually get a decent shot off on this, and the sharks can’t just push us around as easy.” She smiled and hugged me.

  “Oh…well…I’m just glad it worked.”

  She let go, and I grabbed the pole. I pushed off the sea floor and sent us toward the island with Sherri on it.

  After we landed on the island with Aubrey on it, the last thing in the world I’d thought we’d be doing in the same day was getting back on this raft and traveling to another island. I wish we had more time to gather more of the resources, as it appeared to be the largest island in the area. Plus it had a crazy wide diversity of fruit-bearing plants, and that lagoon—ugh, that was amazing, and I hated leaving it, but we had a friend to save.

  Aubrey and Benji were on their knees, paddling in between the outriggers while I kept pushing from the back. The difference in speed with three of us was outstanding. We were easily going twice if not three times as fast. I could see the smile on Benji’s face as she glanced back at me; she was thinking the same thing, that having Aubrey with us was an awesome thing.

  The light breeze made the water a little choppier than in the morning, but this ocean would be called calm by any sailor. The outriggers rose and fell with each small wave, adding to the orchestra of noises around me. The girls paddled in complete unison, and the only difference between the two was the small grunting sound Aubrey made when she pushed the paddle through the water.

  Watching them paddle gave me an appreciation for how much work they had put in to get those sculpted bodies of perfection they had. Each muscle along their back and arms bulged as they paddled.

  Aubrey glanced back. “Don’t forget to work that pole, dick boy.”

  I smiled a
nd pushed the pole against the bottom.

  That’s when I saw a bloody dorsal fin pop out of the water, an arrow sticking out of it, not thirty feet in front of us.

  Chapter 9

  “Shark!” Benji yelled, and got to her feet.

  She grabbed her bow, and Aubrey grabbed a spear.

  “That’s the same God-blasted shark,” I said.

  “God blasted? Wow, the language on you,” Aubrey teased.

  It was the same shark from before, with a memento from our last encounter. Its gray fin slid through the water with a bit of blood trailing along. It swam to our left about fifty feet before turning sharply around and heading back, keeping in front of us.

  “Let’s keep paddling and moving.”

  “I can take a shot, maybe scare it off again,” Benji said, holding an arrow.

  “No, we keep pushing toward Sherri. The longer we’re in the water, the greater chance things can go bad. I bet we could be to Sherri in less than thirty minutes if we keep pushing.”

  I glanced up at the sun, well beyond high noon now. I’d guess we had a few hours of daylight left. We had to keep moving.

  Aubrey went back to her paddle first and then motioned for Benji to do the same. In a few paddles, they were back in unison. I pushed hard on the pole and pulled it out, then slid it back down. The water was shallow still, and I could give it a good heave each time, even as I felt the blisters on my hands' building.

  The shark swam closer, maybe twenty feet ahead of us, and Benji growled at it, paddling all the harder. Aubrey tensed up and slowed down paddling.

  “Come on, girls, we got this. Keep pushing.”

  Aubrey went back to paddling harder, matching Benji.

  If the shark got closer, I’d use my pole to hit it, and if it breached, I just hoped Aubrey was as good at that spear as Benji was with her bow.

  That’s when a second dorsal fin popped up on the opposite side of our raft, not twenty feet behind us. Its tail fin rose out of the water and slapped down, creating a splash. I yanked my pole from the water and pointed it at the beast. Aubrey jumped up with Benji as they both spotted the shark as well.

  “What the hell? Did some shark aquarium let loose?” Aubrey asked.

  “I don’t know, but they don’t like we’re here,” I said.

  “Okay, Mr. Shark Whisperer,” Aubrey said.

  Nothing seemed to like us here, from the boars, to the small islands, to the vicious storms. Everything seemed to want us dead and gone. Maybe that’s why no one was here, and there were no signs anyone had been here any time recently. The islands and waters had killed them all.

  “It’s bigger and different than old arrow-in-the-back,” Aubrey said.

  “It’s about to get a matching one, if it gets any closer,” Benji said, holding pulling back the bowstring.

  I saw the same thing. The one with the arrow still stuck in its fin had a light grayish cloud on its fin, but this one was bigger by half again and had a much darker color to its fin. Then, as if planned, both fins dipped under the water. A sharp feeling jumped from them, but I couldn’t understand it—it almost felt like respect.

  “Something spook them?” Aubrey asked as she held onto her spear.

  “When it did that last time, it jumped up from below and attacked us from underneath,” I said.

  “Oh, great,” Aubrey said, pointing her spear at her feet.

  “Get back to paddling,” I said. “We just need to get to the other island.”

  “Yeah, then we’ll just have sea hogs to deal with,” Benji said.

  “Sea hogs…I like that one,” I said.

  The girls went back to paddling, but all of us were distracted, keeping one eye on the water for this new and old beast. I could almost feel them in the water, circling us. It was a strange feeling, being the prey to some mightier beast. But if we got past one, we could do it again. Maybe even kill it altogether.

  Then out of nowhere, the larger, darker gray shark breached out of the water about thirty feet away from us. It launched itself all the way out of the water. We all jumped to action, but it was too far away to be any danger to us. In its mouth was an alligator, maybe ten feet long, thrashing around in the grip of the white, triangular teeth. The monster shark’s teeth had sunken into the gator’s flesh, and nothing was going to escape its clasp.

  For a moment, the shark and I made eye contact. It seemed to hover in the air for a moment before turning back toward the water. This shark didn’t send a wave of hate toward me, more like curiosity. Its attention was on the reptile, and I’m not sure if it had even noticed us until that moment.

  Right then, an arrow struck it in the head, just behind its eye. The thing slammed back in the water, gator with it. The water splashed out and sent out ripples for a few seconds. Then there was nothing but a bit of white foam on the surface as evidence that anything incredible had just happened.

  “Whoa,” Aubrey said. “That thing could smash this craft like a wet paper bag.”

  “I know. I said we needed a bigger boat,” Benji said. “Not that this raft isn’t awesome, Jack.”

  “Let’s just get back to paddling,” I said, going back to the pole.

  I wanted the image of the shark from my mind. I just wanted to help Sherri and find some kind of stability in this environment. When we could, we’d make more improvements to the raft.

  The girls went back to their knees and paddles. This time, they gave a little more, and we started making some of the best time yet.

  In another ten minutes, the other shark appeared, the one with the arrow in its fin. Blood trickled from the wound, and I felt a shift in the waters, an attitude change, as if the crowd of underwater dwellers were turning on us. There was an anger, but also a cautious kind of mood as well.

  All the more reason to paddle harder, and that’s what we did.

  We got close enough to the island to see it in detail. The first thing we saw was Sherri standing on a branch, waving frantically at us. The wind carried a few hints of screams from her, but I couldn’t make out any actual words.

  “Dang, I was kind of hoping those sea hogs would run away at the sight of us,” Aubrey said, breathing hard. “They tough?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I only see three of them, can you guys confirm?”

  “I see the same as well,” Benji said.

  “I see a fourth, just in the bushes, left of the tree trunk,” Aubrey said.

  I squinted and saw it as well. There was a fourth boar, almost hidden.

  “How many arrows you have left?” I asked.

  “Three,” Benji said.

  “Okay, use them all when we get closer. Aubrey, think you can hit one when we get close?”

  “I know I can,” Aubrey said.

  We paddled closer, and the sounds of Sherri’s screams carried over the water in near clarity now. She was yelling for help. I waved back to her, and she seemed to be leaning down, trying to get a good look at us. I was sure she would recognize Aubrey and Benji, but I’d only met her briefly. One thing she had to know is that we were coming to save her.

  “The boars, they won’t leave,” Sherri said as we got to yelling distance of her.

  She looked as if she hadn’t slept for days, and the fear on her face contorted her otherwise beautiful features. Her bright, bleached blonde hair went to her shoulders and seemed thick and wide, like southern beauty-pageant hair. Her large breasts were held back by her American flag bikini top, with matching bottoms. I wanted to help her and protect her, and I hated myself for not getting there sooner. How long did she have to deal with this all alone?

  “Just stay up there; we’ll get rid of them!” I yelled back and she nodded.

  “Get me a bit closer,” Benji said. “This bow isn’t that powerful.”

  Aubrey had a spear in her hand, in a cocked-back position. “I need to be way closer.”

  I pushed the raft closer to the shore with my pole; we were only a hundred feet off the island, and the small waves we
re rocking our raft back and forth. Some water rolled over the bamboo and then disappeared between the slats.

  “Okay,” Benji said with an arrow nocked and pulled back.

  The boars under the tree had noticed us moving closer to them, and I wondered if any were of the same group we dealt with last night. They seemed just as pissed off.

  Benji pulled the string and arrow back toward her cheek. She breathed and released. Before the first arrow landed, she had the next one nocked. I watched the first one fly over the water and strike the pig in the bushes, right in the chest.

  It squealed and ran for a few feet before falling to the sand. The next one got hit right in the neck. Blood spilled out from it like someone poked a water balloon. The third arrow landed on the boar’s shoulder; it yelped and bit the arrow, yanking it out. Blood ran from its shoulder and down its leg, but it didn’t go down.

  That’s when a spear struck it right in the neck. The foul thing fell onto its side and didn’t move. One more to go.

  Our raft floated closer to shore, fed by the waves and our momentum. With one boar left, I had my knife in hand and ran toward the end of the raft. I leaped off the end. The boar spotted me flying through the air at it and turned, exposing its tusks. I crashed against it, stabbing the thing in the back of the neck as I did. It lurched back from me, but I dug the knife in and cut across, slicing through it. It fell lifeless to the sand.

  “Watch out, Jack,” Sherri yelled from the tree.

  A rustling noise came from the bushes, and two more of those boars charging out.

  “Jack!” Benji yelled, tossing me a spear.

  I dropped my knife as I snatched the spear from the air. I used the forward momentum of my catch and swung the spear like a bat, hitting the closer boar across the head. That stunned it, and it staggered, but the other one was right on me. It was too close to stab with the spear, so I grabbed the spear with both hands, wide apart, and shoved the spear into the hog’s mouth as it went to bite me.