“Who gets Monster?”
“I’ll have to think about that one.” Damon pulled Alex into his arms and held her against him while nuzzling her. “How about we meet tomorrow on the west beach? Say late morning? I’ll bring a deck of cards and teach you poker.”
“Stud or draw?”
Damon frowned and reconsidered the comment. “Maybe I’ll bring the chessboard instead.”
He kissed her long and passionately then smiled and headed toward the nearby path. Alex turned and headed for the lighthouse, although her mind was still back at the hot spring, reliving their passionate lovemaking in the water and then the follow-up session on the blanket. She paused and looked back; wanting one more peek at her newly acquired boyfriend. Damon had turned as well and watched her. They exchanged lustful smiles and continued on their separate ways.
§
Alex entered the lighthouse clearing and paused a moment to stare at the cabin, which somehow seemed different now. Monster scurried up the side of the lighthouse, but Alex was reluctant to enter and face Holt after her afternoon of unbridled passion with the forbidden outsider. While she attempted to psych herself to face Holt, he walked out of the cabin, saw her, and smiled in his usual cheerful manner.
“Have fun today?” he asked.
Alex felt her heart skip a beat while her thoughts strayed to her erotic afternoon and how disappointed Holt would be if he found out. She forced a smile and attempted to act as if nothing had happened, although it wasn’t easy.
“Oh, yes,” she announced while attempting to keep from sounding too cheerful. “A spider tried to abduct me, but Monster saved the day.” She then made a face. “And ate it.”
“Keeping the island safe one spider at a time,” he teased while grinning. “And will you be meeting Damon tomorrow as well?”
Alex stared at him with shock. Her heart nearly pounded from her chest, but she couldn’t seem to control it. “What makes you think I saw him today?”
“I spotted his tracks in the woods earlier,” he informed her. “Out of respect for you, I didn’t get close enough to spy. Judging by the sounds I was hearing, I suspect I would have been rather upset by what I may have seen.”
Alex felt her heart sink and didn’t know what to say to Holt. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Holt.”
Holt smirked and raised his brows. “I’m pretty sure you’re not,” he remarked then shook his head. “I’m just looking out for you, Alex. I know why you felt you had to lie. I won’t stand in the way, but if anything happens, be honest with me. I just want to protect you.”
She thought for sure he’d tear into her about lying and for having sex with the man he specifically asked her to avoid for her own welfare.
“No more lies, I promise,” she replied gently.
Holt inhaled deeply and managed a smile. “Good,” he announced a little more cheerfully. “Now let’s go inside and discuss your birth control options.”
As he turned and headed inside, Alex lowered her head and groaned. She followed him into the cabin, reluctant to have that uncomfortable conversation.
§
Damon walked along the bland prison corridor and headed for the cellblock he called home. Everything seemed unusually quiet for early evening. There was a faint clunk echoing from somewhere within the prison, although its origin would be difficult to detect. A man was heard crying out. Damon tossed his pack down, removed his machete and hurried back along the corridor toward the kitchen area. The male cries turned into bloodcurdling screams. Damon picked up his pace and ran along the corridor as the screams became louder. He ran around the corner and suddenly slid to the floor. His machete flew from his hand.
Damon was momentarily dazed and attempted to sit up as the screaming stopped. He looked to his right where his machete had fallen and saw a large streak of fresh blood. He soon realized he had slipped in a pool of blood. Damon grabbed his machete, sprang to his feet, and followed the blood to a man lying on the corridor floor. His throat was torn out, and he appeared to be gutted. Apart from the body, there was no one else in the corridor. He heard another scream coming from deeper within the prison walls.
“Bundy?” Damon gasped.
Chapter Thirty-four
Alex slept peacefully in her bunk while Holt tossed and turned on the lower bunk. Alex woke, sensing Holt’s restlessness. When she opened her eyes, she saw Monster hanging from the ceiling above her bunk with his face directly in front of hers. Alex jumped and kept from screaming. Monster wailed softly, indicating something was wrong. As Alex sat up, Monster leaped from the ceiling and onto the floor, causing the entire floor to vibrate. He wildly scratched at the door, leaving deep grooves in the wood. Since he was able to leave the lighthouse through the open upstairs window, it was unusual for him to be at the door. Alex and Holt jumped from their bunks, startled by the noise and his actions.
“What’s going on?” Holt gasped.
“I don’t know,” Alex cried out with alarm. “Something has Monster upset.”
Alex opened the door and watched Monster run from the lighthouse cabin. Holt tossed her a pole, grabbed his own, and they hurried after him. Once outside, Alex and Holt spotted Monster on the path leading into the woods. They hurried along the dark path following Monster.
“What’s gotten into him?” Holt demanded.
“I don’t know,” she announced with concern, “but it’s not like him to stay on the ground. He definitely wants us to follow him.”
Monster stopped and nudged something on the path. Both slowed. Holt approached cautiously. Alex raised her pole defensively and followed. As they got closer, they saw Damon sprawled on the ground badly beaten and bleeding. Alex cried out and hurried to his side. Holt took a defensive stance and looked around the dark woods with his pole raised as if expecting someone to leap out and attack them.
“He’s alive, but he’s been hurt badly,” she announced while casting a quick glance at Holt.
Holt still wasn’t convinced they were safe from whatever attacked Damon and remained on high alert. “Let’s get him back to the lighthouse,” he remarked. “I don’t like being exposed out here. We don’t know who attacked him and if he’s still out there.”
§
Damon remained unconscious on the bottom bunk. His shirt had been removed revealing scratches across his chest, strange marks on his arms, and bruises on his body. Holt cleaned the scratches while Alex applied pressure with a cloth to his bleeding temple. She cast several looks at Holt.
“Will he be okay?” she asked with concern.
“Nothing appears to be broken,” Holt informed her while tending to his first aid. “I’m guessing he made it quite a distance before collapsing, possibly from exhaustion.” He straightened on the edge of the bunk and observed the unconscious man. “I don’t think any of his injuries are life-threatening.”
“Why won’t he wake up?”
“Give him time, Alex,” Holt announced while casting a glance at her. “It’s possible he has a concussion. He’ll wake up when he’s ready.”
An hour had passed, and Damon still remained unconscious. Alex sat on the bed alongside the injured man while Holt made tea. Damon slowly woke and groaned. Monster peered down from the top bunk, studied the injured man, and gurgled softly. Alex gently touched Damon’s face.
“Hey, can you hear me?” she whispered.
Damon stared at her with disorientation. “What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?”
He appeared confused then looked at Monster staring down at him from the top bunk. Damon suddenly sat up with alarm.
“It was Monster,” he cried out in panic. “He attacked us. He tried to kill me!”
Holt approached them and stared at Damon with concern and confusion.
Alex stared as well as her mouth hung open. “Damon, Monster found you,” she informed him. “He took us to you in the woods.”
“He was at the prison,” Damon insisted while glaring at the creature. “He
attacked Bundy. I tried to stop him, and then he turned on me.” He pressed his back against the bedframe while staring with fear at Monster. “I’m telling you, he scratched and bit me! He killed one of the other men!”
Alex and Holt exchanged puzzled looks then returned their attention to the fearful man.
“We were on the beach until dark,” Alex informed him. “He had dinner with us and spent the rest of the evening chasing rats around the lighthouse. He never left. He couldn’t have been at the prison.”
Holt’s eyes suddenly widened with concern. “Monster was washed downstream from the south side of the island,” he announced. “There could be another.”
“But that was six years ago,” Alex protested. “Surely, they would have seen one during that time.”
“Monster is reptilian. Reptiles come from eggs,” Holt informed her. “He could have hatched and been washed downstream to us. The eggs could lie dormant for years. Something may have caused another egg to hatch.” He raised his brows while staring at her. “It only took a few months for Monster to grow full size.”
“I know every inch of that prison,” Damon insisted. “I never found any eggs.”
“Just because you didn’t see them, that doesn’t mean they weren’t there,” Holt insisted. “Some reptiles bury their eggs. When the right environment stimulates the egg, they hatch.”
Damon straightened and attempted to climb from the bed. “I have to go back,” he announced. “I have to make sure Bundy is okay.”
“You’re in no condition to go anywhere tonight,” Holt insisted. “You need to rest.” He stared at him a moment and appeared curious. “Why did you come here? You would have been safer in the prison.”
“When the creature took off, I was afraid he was coming back to kill you and Alex. I needed to stop him,” Damon informed them. “If it wasn’t Monster, it could still be in the prison. Bundy’s in danger. We don’t leave our men behind.”
“You’ll be no good to him injured and exhausted. Running through the jungle in the dark with a vicious creature on the loose is just plain foolish,” Holt remarked sternly. “When it’s light, Monster and I will accompany you back to the prison. He’ll be able to alert us to any creatures lurking around.”
“You’re not going without me,” Alex protested.
“You’re not going into that prison, Alex,” Holt snarled.
“I go where you go,” she retorted. “If something happens to you, I’m not doing this alone.”
Damon was just as concerned as Holt was for her safety. “You stay outside the fence. I mean it,” Damon stated firmly. “I don’t want those horny bastards knowing you exist.”
Holt muttered, “Look who’s talking.”
Damon glared at Holt.
Chapter Thirty-five
The following morning, Holt, Damon, and Alex approached the overgrown fence surrounding the prison. Holt and Alex carried their poles for weapons as they approached the opening several yards away. Monster could be heard jumping around within the trees. They stopped several feet from the opening in the gate.
Holt turned to face Alex. “You wait out here. Make sure Monster stays with you,” he insisted. “We don’t want the others to see him.”
Monster crawled down the tree headfirst. He had a Chinese warrior symbol painted on his forehead in bright yellow. It was Alex’s idea to mark him, so he wouldn’t be accidentally mistaken for a hostile creature, in the event there was another like him lurking about the prison.
“I will,” she announced. “I certainly don’t want him accidentally killed either.”
“Well, he’ll be hard to miss, that’s for sure,” Holt replied and eyed the symbol on the creature’s forehead. “If there’s any trouble, I want you to go back to the lighthouse.”
Alex nodded in response. As Holt hugged her, she returned the long embrace with her own concerns.
“You intend to come back, don’t you?” she whispered as he held her.
“Yes, of course,” he replied and released her.
Alex appeared unconvinced as Holt turned and walked away. Damon approached and kissed her warmly then held her face in his hands.
“I want you to know if anything happens to me,” he announced delicately, “don’t date other men.”
Alex smiled and playfully slapped his shoulder. As Damon approached Holt, Holt glared at him.
Damon glared back. “What?”
The men entered through the opening in the gate and disappeared into the prison grounds. Alex looked at Monster and gave him a slight nod. Monster backed up the tree in reverse almost as fast as he had moved forward. Alex jumped into the tree after him. They climbed high enough to see over the gate. For the first time, Alex was able to view the large, stone prison complete with guard towers surrounded in overgrown fences. Despite its age and neglect, the building was sound and solid with no noticeable breaches or broken windows.
The fence had some breaches, particularly among the barbed wire covering the top. The wildly growing jungle vegetation was more than the barbed wire could handle. Most of the yard was overgrown with vegetation as well. There was little reason or ambition among the prisoners to maintain the large yard. Despite the condition of most of the grounds, a large portion appeared to be a well-cared for garden. She could see Holt and Damon heading toward the building. No one greeted them, which made Alex nervous. Alex looked at Monster on the branch above her.
“I wonder if it’s always so quiet this early in the morning,” she remarked.
Monster watched Damon and Holt in the distance, not taking his eyes off them until they disappeared into the building. He gurgled a soft response but remained focused on the prison. Monster suddenly sniffed the air and appeared excited. Alex looked around at his oddly alert state. His reaction was unusual, considering he didn’t give her the usual warning sign.
“What is it?” she asked and continued to scan the area. “Is something wrong?”
Monster leaped to another tree with speed and agility. Alex climbed down the tree, landed on her feet, and took off through the woods after the swiftly traveling creature, following the sounds of rustling trees above her.
“Monster! Get back here!”
Alex reached a clearing several yards away. She listened to the rustling within the tree while attempting to locate him.
“Monster?”
A large black mass fell roughly to the ground with a loud thud, startling Alex. At first, she didn’t understand how he’d fallen from the tree without a branch breaking. She then realized Monster rolled around in a tight ball with another creature exactly like him. They leaped apart, took defensive fighting stances, and wildly swished their tails while hissing at each other. Their teeth were bared as they slowly circled the other. Alex clutched her pole and stared at the scene in horror. Holt had been right. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it for herself.
Monster leaped for the other creature, tackling it to the ground. They rolled around violently while biting and slashing at each other with claws and their tails. Monster ended up on top of the other creature from behind while clinging to it and bit it on the back of its neck. Alex stared a moment with concern then uncertainly straightened as her expression dropped.
“Okay, that’s not fighting.”
Alex grimaced and turned her head as Monster mated with the female creature. She could hear their loud wails as Monster humped the female. After several minutes, Alex eyed the mating pair and frowned, wishing they’d wrap things up a little faster. Monster finally leaped away from the female, who immediately turned and hissed at him as if displeased with their romp. Monster playfully bounced around then tossed himself to the ground and rolled around, displaying his enthusiasm.
“Okay, you got laid,” Alex grumbled with disapproval. “Enough celebrating. How do we stop your new girlfriend from trying to kill people?”
Without warning, the female creature leaped on top of Monster’s back and bit him on the base of the neck. Monste
r violently rolled, taking the female with him. This time, the sounds weren’t that of play or mating. The new frightening sounds were vicious. Monster slashed at the female with his tail, preventing her from ripping out his throat. They circled each other while hissing then lunged for each other. Alex watched in fear, uncertain if Monster could stop the female from killing him.
Monster took the female down, grabbed her by the throat with his mouth, and violently tossed his head. With a hideous crack, he snapped her neck. The female creature fell limp. Monster released her throat with bloodied, exposed teeth, and growled. He leaped off her, spun toward Alex with bared, bloodstained teeth, and wildly thrashed his long tail. It cracked like a bullwhip. Alex stared at Monster, paralyzed with fear at the rage that seemed to be directed at her. Had he gotten a taste for killing? Is that all it took to turn his kind violent?
“Monster, what’s gotten into you?” she gasped while clinging defensively to her pole.
Monster suddenly leaped for Alex ten feet away from him. Alex screamed and rolled with her pole into a crouched position, prepared to defend herself even though she’d never beaten Monster in their play fights. Monster collided with another creature mid-air not far from Alex’s back. Both creatures fell to the ground while clawing and biting each other. Alex stared with horror. There had been more than one? They pulled apart for a brief moment and circled each other while growling and hissing.
The female creature leaped for Monster. Monster spun and whipped his tail at her, striking her harshly across the chest. The force of the hit sent her backward into a nearby tree. She struck the tree with tremendous force. The creature fell to the ground, twitched slightly, and stopped moving. Monster wailed loudly as if asserting his dominance. He suddenly turned, leaped into the nearby tree, and thumped his tail against the trunk as a warning to her. Alex climbed the tree and joined him. Monster snarled toward the prison. Alex looked from the silent prison to Monster’s frozen gaze at the building.
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