by Jill Myles
“I’ll be careful,” I assured him, and knelt down at the side of the pit. “I won’t leave you, Susie,” I said. “I promise. We’ll get you out of here.”
“What about me?” Mr. Wingarde’s sulky voice rose up.
I sighed. “Of course we wouldn’t leave you behind.”
Susie continued to cry quietly as I hovered near the edge of the pit, clutching my spear and looking around with nervous eyes, expecting to see a dinosaur come charging at me. To my relief, though, the only dinosaurs I saw were the duck-billed ones, and I’d learned to ignore those cow-like creatures long ago.
As we waited for Eustace to return, Susie sobbed out their entire story to me, randomly interrupted by terse, angry interjections by Mr. Wingarde. They’d woken up at the crash site, covered in bruises and bumps, but otherwise alive. They hadn’t seen me (since I was two beaches away), and assumed I was dead like the pilot. Hungry, frightened, and blistering under the intense island sun, they’d taken to the jungles and had been captured in a net by the cavemen.
For the past month or so, they’d been living down in this hole. One of the males had tried to touch Susie, but when she’d fought him and knocked him unconscious, they decided that she was bad luck and stuck her in the pit with Mr. Wingard.
I felt guilty that I’d been living in safety, eating good things and enjoying the company of others, and falling in love with a hunky conquistador while they’d suffered. “We’re going to get you out of here,” I assured them. “And then we’re going to take you home. There’s a small group of castaways living on the far side of the island, and they’ll treat you well. Trust me.”
“Thank you,” Susie sobbed up at me. “Oh, thank you, Diana.”
Just when I’d begun to get nervous about how long this was all taking, Eustace returned with the makeshift rope, his forehead beaded with sweat. “Sorry about the delay,” he said, panting. “I had to avoid a few of the flock-lizards that were in the area. I’ve never seen anything like it – there are more of the great lizards here in this area than on our side of the island.” He shook his head. “Agitated, too. It’s almost like they’re waiting to be fed.”
“Who cares if they’re waiting?” Mr. Wingarde called up. “They’re lurking around camp all the time. We can’t wait for them to leave, because there won’t be a time. ”
My eyes widened and I exchanged a worried look with Eustace. That didn’t sound good.
“Let’s hurry this up, then,” Eustace said, lowering down the rope. I hurried to his side to take the other end, bracing myself and readying to pull them up. “We need to get them and get out of here.”
We both felt the first heavy tug of the rope when the first grimy hand grasped it. “Tie it around your waist,” Eustace instructed, bracing himself.
Before long, Susie’s shaky voice crawled up the hole. “Ready.”
I gave the rope an experimental tug, and winced. Lord, but it was heavy. “Tell me when you’re ready to pull, Eustace,” I said, wrapping the braided vines around my hands.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped the rope. In surprise, I looked up from the rope and stared across the pit, into the cunning black eyes of Bgha.
The caveman stood across from us, a horrible grin on his face. He clutched his spear and behind him stood a dozen other cavemen, all angry and armed. Bgha looked me up and down, and suddenly smiled. It chilled me.
“Bgha meh.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
All I could think was Thank God for Eustace.
Once Bgha had made his little announcement and stared me down, Eustace stepped up to the plate. He pushed me gently behind him, hiding me from the angry cavemen. “Not yours,” he argued. “Salvador meh.” He drew three straight lines on his forehead. “Salvador.”
Bgha spit in anger. “Sav dor na meh! Na meh! Bgha meh. ”
I could hear Susie begin to cry again, down in the hole, and felt Eustace falter.
Uneasy and uncertain what else to do, I leaned into Eustace. “Could we trade them something? In exchange for the prisoners?”
Eustace shook his head. “I left everything valuable back at camp.”
“Well, think of something,” I said, trying not to hiss at him in frustration. “We can’t leave them here now that we’ve found them. There’s got to be something we can do, even if we have to run all the way back to camp to get it.”
The cavemen grew annoyed with our low conversation, and Bgha started spitting words at Eustace, words that I didn’t understand.
Eustace glanced back at me, and at my nod, he handed me his spear and spread his hands, indicating that he meant no harm. He spoke in a low, calm tone, in the language of the cavemen. The guttural words sounded nonsensical to me, but Bgha appeared to be listening closely to him. And when Eustace gestured at the hole, Bgha nodded.
“Chi’nga meh na su de meh vulah.” It was the longest phrase I’d ever heard Bgha utter, and my heart thudded when he pointed at me. “De me vulah, tu chi’n meh.”
“Out of the question,” Eustace snapped.
“What?” I said. “What does he want?”
He turned back to me, an angry, dark look on his face. “He’ll exchange the two of them for you.”
Dread coiled through me, but I replied instantly, the only way I could reply. “Let’s do it, then.”
“Are you mad?” Eustace shook his head at me. “I’m not going to leave you here with them. Look at how poorly they’ve treated these two. And Bgha has something against you...some sort of personal vendetta I don’t understand.” He shook his head again, vehemently. “I can’t do it.”
Susie began to cry again, down below, and it nearly broke my heart. “We can’t leave them,” I said, anguished. I grabbed Eustace’s hands. “Look. You just leave me here with Bgha like we’re going to do the trade, okay?” I glanced over at the caveman leader, where he watched us from across the pit. His dirty head was cocked to one side as he regarded us, his brows drawn down in a scowl when he couldn’t understand what we were saying.
“Ridiculous—“ Eustace began again.
I cut him off. “Salvador won’t leave me behind,” I said. “You know that’s true as well as I do. Leave me here for the night, and go back and get him. Trade something else for me and rescue me, and the only thing I’ll have to do is spend a night here in the caveman camps. It’s a good plan,” I pleaded, dreading the outcome of this.
I didn’t want to spend the night here. I didn’t want the others to leave without me, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave the others behind. So I smiled brightly and tried to make it seem like it wasn’t so bad.
Eustace wasn’t fooled. He was clearly torn between my ‘brave’ face and Susie’s pathetic sobbing below. He glanced over at Bgha, and then back at me. His face was tight. “I don’t like the way he looks at you, Diana. How can I face Salvador if I let you get hurt?”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Trust me. I can handle myself.”
“You’re decided on this, then?”
Hell no, I wasn’t decided. I wanted to run away, scream, shout, cry, anything to get me out of this fate. But I sucked it up and kept the bright smile on my face. “Let’s do this. Remember, bring Salvador as soon as you can.”
He nodded, and glanced back at Bgha. “Diana tu meh.” He pointed at the hole. “Tu meh.”
It was done.
I ignored the unholy glee that crossed Bgha’s small, animalistic features, forcing myself to become numb to everything. What would it take for Salvador to get here? A day? Maybe two? Tops? Piece of cake. So when the cavemen gathered around me and poked me with their crude spears, I meekly followed their lead.
And when they helped Eustace pull the half-starved, filthy Susie out of the hole, and Mr. Wingate’s scowling but emaciated form free, and Susie showered Eustace with thankful kisses, I didn’t flinch.
And when they disappeared into the jungle, both of them weakened and clinging to Eustace’s strong form, I did
n’t cry then either.
I was too numb to cry. I’d done the right thing, I repeated to myself over and over again. I’d saved two lives. Even if Bgha had in his mind to torture me with hot sticks, or try to rape me, I’d saved two lives, and it was worth it.
To my shame, big fat tears slid down my face as soon as Eustace and the others were out of sight.
*** *** ***
“Meh! Meh ito, f’sbah.” A grubby hand shoved rotten fruit my way.
I wrinkled my nose and pushed it aside. “Gross. I am not eating that just because you found it on the ground and think that makes it worthy captive food. Think again.”
Bgha grew angry and drew a fist back, but I ignored him, huddled in the back of their cave with my arms wrapped around myself.
The cavemen had retreated back into their cave for the evening, and they’d forced me to go along with them. It was common sense; no sooner had we headed to the back of the small, dank cave, than I heard the roar of the tyrannosaur.
I’d figured out why the dinosaurs seemed so plentiful on this side of the island; Bgha and his people were absolute slobs. One would catch a small island mammal to eat (I didn’t call them rats for my own personal sense of pride) and would pick at the entrails, eating the tastiest parts, and then tossing it aside for others to eat the remains. The result was a plentitude of half-eaten dead animals around the campsite, and the stench attracted predators.
I huddled in the back of the cave with Bgha and the others. He’d tried nothing all afternoon – much to my surprise – and seemed more focused on bragging to the others that he’d caught me rather than molesting me. Maybe it was a pride thing. At any rate, they’d had a long, noisy celebration and then one by one, dropped off to sleep. There was no posted guard; they didn’t think that far ahead. It didn’t matter, because I couldn’t leave anyhow. Even if I managed to sneak out of the cave – and every square foot of space was covered by a snoring caveman or cavegirl – there was still endless acres of jungle crawling with hungry dinosaurs.
No, I was pretty much stuck.
I must have drifted off to sleep at some point, because the next thing I knew, someone was touching my knee. I woke with a start, squinting at the bright light that streamed in through the cave entrance, and looked over at Bgha in surprise.
He slid his hand further up my knee, growing bolder. I slapped it away. He put it back, his fingers digging into my thigh. His expression was obvious – he wanted a piece of me, and he wanted it now. I stood abruptly, sliding away from him and down the wall, trying to edge out of the cave. I’d take my chances with the dinosaurs at this point.
He wouldn’t be deterred. Bgha followed me, and as I stumbled away from him, he reached for my skirt and gave it a hard rip.
The aged, worn material tore. For some reason, it didn’t upset me as much as it made me blisteringly mad. I turned, curled my fingers into a fist, and smacked him in the jaw as hard as I could.
It turned out to not be very hard, but my fingers felt numb, and I gasped in pain. The camp had gotten silent around us, and I saw the others staring at me in shock, and I knew I’d crossed some sort of line. I’d put a hand on their leader.
Oops.
Within moments, Bgha had a fisted handful of my hair and dragged me across the campsite, shouting angry words at me. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I fought back, struggling to free myself and wincing with every hair torn from my scalp. The other cavemen surrounded us, hooting and pelting me with mud and rotten fruit.
He dragged me across the grounds near the cave, and despite my protests, through the woods. I fought, kicking and screaming the entire time, but it didn’t do much good – Bgha ignored any and all hits from my fists and the other cavemen that surrounded us made sure that I kept moving, no matter how much I lagged behind. When I fell down completely in an effort to thwart him, he struck me in the temple, so hard that stars flew and the world weaved crazily around me.
Blinded with pain, dazed and confused, I didn’t notice when we stopped at first. Rough hands grabbed my wrists and tied cords to them, so tight the tips of my fingers began to tingle. My second hand was jerked outward and lashed as well, and it was then that I realized what they were doing.
We were back in the clearing, my wrists lashed to each one of the posts that we’d seen, and I was trapped. I jerked at my wrists again, ignoring the vibration of pain that it shot through my arm, but it was no use. They were lashed tight, and I couldn’t get away.
Bgha slid around me, his hands touching my legs. “Cgo na meh,” he said slyly, looking up at me and putting his hand on my leg.
The message was clear. If I wanted to behave, I could go home with him. I sent him a clear message of my own, kicking at him and yelling an obscenity.
Bgha barked something else at me, then turned to his followers. “Cho sayn,” he bellowed. “Cho sayn!”
They repeated his words, and as I watched, they brought a feast of half-eaten dead animals from around the cave and laid them at my feet.
“Ew, gross!” I kicked at the corpses, scattering them as far away as I could, but they neatly stacked them out of my reach, repeating “Cho sayn” over and over again.
Bgha continued to smirk at me, watching the ceremony.
My skin began to crawl as they ignored me, busily intent on laying the half-eaten carcasses in a perfect circle around me. What was this, some kind of ceremony? Was it enough to frighten me, and then they’d move me to the pit soon enough? I glanced over at it, on the far end of the clearing, and tightened my lips. Well, if the others had endured it for a month, I could certainly endure it for a day or so, until Salvador got here.
Just thinking about him brought tears to my eyes. No doubt he was frantic with worry over my well-being. Either that, or he was furious at me. I bit my lip at that. I hoped he wasn’t going to stay away an extra day or two just to teach me a lesson.
Thump thump thump thump.
I froze, my heart clenching high in my throat. I glanced around at the trees at the far end of the clearing, but I didn’t see anything. Still, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was never a coincidence.
The cavemen erupted into shrieks of glee, scattering to the wind like errant children. Bgha looked over at me one last, smug time, and then ran as well, his spear clutched in hand.
“Hey!” I called after him. “Let me go! The T-Rex is coming!”
But he didn’t look back. Instead, he melted into the underbrush, leaving me alone with nothing but a bunch of dead animals.
Thump thump thump thump.
I froze in place, hoping that if I didn’t move, he’d never notice I was there and would continue on his merry little way. I shut my eyes and prayed fervently that he wasn’t going to appear behind me, because then I’d never see it coming.
Thump thump.
Then came the roar of angered, primal outrage, so close my teeth chattered. My eyes flew open, and I saw the T-Rex, standing across the clearing, tail swishing like an angry cat.
He was coming for me.
I screamed, then. It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, or something that would get me results, but all I could think about was getting away, and I screamed and screamed and jerked at my bonds.
They held tight. Of course they would. Life was not fair – never fair – and it was about to be over. Frightened tears rolled down my face, and my screams died to a choked sob as the tyrannosaur slowly turned my way, sniffing the air.
Maybe it’d be fast. Maybe he’d eat me whole, and Salvador would never see the half-eaten body parts sure to be left behind. Maybe he wouldn’t cry for me. Maybe Susie would take my place, and he’d be happy with her like he was with me. A fierce stab of jealousy shot through me at the thought. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.
“Diana! Belleza! Don’t move!”
Oh, that sweet, glorious voice. My eyes flew open and I scanned the clearing. “Salvador?”
“Don’t move,” he called again, and as I watched, his lean, t
anned body stepped out in front of the tyrannosaur, sword in one hand and spear in the other.
If I thought I’d been afraid before, my heart stopped cold in my chest at the sight.
He was so small up against the large tyrannosaur – he barely cleared the stunted front paws. The jaws were massive, though, and they snapped at him as he approached.
“Salvador, no,” I cried, jerking at my bonds and writhing desperately. I didn’t want him to risk his life for me.
It didn’t matter what I said. He stepped in front of the creature and held out his sword, like a knight readying for battle.
The creature leaned in and bellowed at him, gaping jaws showing the dagger-like teeth, and I cringed.
Salvador didn’t flinch, though. Instead, he threw the spear at that gaping mouth.
It hit the mark, and the creature’s jaws snapped shut on the spear. The end splintered off, but the rest of it was firmly lodged in his cheek, and as I watched, the T-Rex shook his head back and forth, trying to dislodge the painful sting. He roared again, tiny fore-claws batting at his mouth, and shook his head.
So engrossed in watching this, I didn’t notice that Salvador had ran to my side until his hands touched mine, and he began to saw at my bonds.
“Salvador,” I said, sobbing his name. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing my bride,” he said tersely, glancing over at the dinosaur as it lashed its head from side to side. “She has trouble staying put.”
The first of my hands was free, and I jerked it clean, flexing my fingers. My next one was free instants later, and I nearly collapsed onto Salvador. I felt this insane urge to kiss him and hug him and make love to him right there, but the grim look on his face stopped me, as did the angry roar of the tyrannosaur to the side.
We both turned. The tyrannosaur had shaken the spear free, and was now lurching forward again. “Quick,” Salvador said, jerking me with him.
We ran to the far side of the pit. The tyrannosaur moved toward it, and then started to move to the side. We moved in the opposite direction, careful to keep the pit between us. As it circled, we circled in time with it.