The Island of the Skull

by Matthew John Costello

  The vet moved closer, and aimed the gun at Belle’s head.

  “Maybe you…want to go away? We can wait,” the vet said.

  But Ann, eyes burning, shook her head.

  Nadler nodded to the vet.

  He raised the rifle.

  A moment’s hesitation, with the barrel close, aimed right at Belle’s head.

  The click, the explosion—and then it was over.

  46

  On an uncharted island

  NO ONE IN THE CAVE MOVED.

  Sam looked at the girl cowering, her eyes wide. She didn’t match any image of a native Sam had seen. Her hair was straight, a lustrous brown but matted with mud. The color of her skin was nearly bronze.

  Who is she…what is she?

  And it was clear that she didn’t trust him. If she pressed any closer to the wall of the cave, she’d melt into it….

  The dinosaur, the mammoth V. rex, still patrolled outside, marching back and forth. Every now and then they’d see its giant foot, claws grasping outward, land right in front of the opening.

  Sam thought of one good thing about having it outside: nothing smaller could sneak into the opening, something smaller…nastier.

  Because Sam was sure that on this hell island, such things had to exist.

  And what else?

  The other men also lay still, and Sam imagined that they were quiet out of a combination of fear and shock.

  He looked out the opening. The light outside was fading. Night was close.

  Do we really want to be here when it turns dark?

  As if in answer to his thoughts, a giant foot landed outside the opening. He heard a bit of a snort.

  I wonder how patient a dinosaur can be?

  “Turn on your lights,” Sam said.

  He said it quietly, but it was an order. He was in charge now. Getting them out of this would be his job.

  Rosa clipped on his flashlight, and it made a pale yellow light.

  “Shit, batteries,” Sam said.

  He imagined that the other flashlight from Bakali would be in the same half-dead state.

  Bakali turned it on, and a bright light shot out of the foot-long flashlight.

  “This one…is good,” he said.

  Then Jorge turned on the last flashlight, and it too sent out a bright light. Jorge waved it around, a quick glance into the gloom of the cave.

  Sam looked at the ground.

  “Somebody’s been here. Look.”

  On the ground, the imprint of shoes, a waffle shape—certainly not something from the natives.

  Did that crew end up here, or some other trapped sailors?

  Another thought that made Sam’s stomach go tight. Could it be something on this island, something here that killed them?

  Then he looked up at the cave walls…to see:

  Images.

  “Hold on!” Sam said. “Let me see.”

  He extended his hand to take the flashlight, but Jorge pulled it close, reluctant to let the precious light source go.

  “Give it to him,” Rosa barked.

  Jorge slowly, reluctantly handed the light to Sam.

  He turned and pointed it at the wall opposite them, an area that had just been briefly illuminated.

  Now, the light cast a yellow blotch on the wall, and Sam moved the blotch, tracing through the painted images.

  Some of the strange images meant nothing. He saw what looked like more eerie statues, carved images. Someone replicating idols maybe, drawing them in the cave?

  Maybe praying to those faces while they too were stalked by something outside.

  Then other images, dinosaurs, attacking, eating—something remembered? And other creatures, winged things with ratlike heads, but drawn as big as some of the dinosaurs.

  Things that never existed. Or maybe—we just thought that they never existed.

  “What is this?” Rosa said.

  Sam turned, keeping the light down so as not to blind anyone.

  “I don’t know. Cave drawings. Someone else has been here. They’re old. Maybe…ancient.”

  He turned back to the wall, letting his light trail farther into the darkness.

  “Hold on. What’s this?” he said. He went closer. For a moment it looked like the drawing of a crab, or a lobster, then—when Sam turned his head—one end looked like a skull.

  He put his fingers on it.

  He saw a bit he recognized, a stretch of the outlined shape that was familiar.

  It was the island.

  “It’s the island. This is a map of the island.” The others came and stood by him. “See, here’s where we landed.”

  Rosa translated for the crew who spoke no English.

  “We landed here, so we are here. And the jungle reaches there, to—”

  He followed what appeared to be a ridge that ran close to the shore. An oddly shaped mountain that hugged the shore, leading to a small mountain range….

  Looking closer, Sam saw that whoever drew this image showed plumes of smoke gushing out of the mountaintop.

  A volcano.

  Great, we’re near an active volcano.

  Just when things couldn’t get any better.

  Sam turned to Rosa.

  “You carrying any paper?”

  “I always keep copies of my charts with me.”

  “Let me have one.”

  Rosa hesitated.

  “Come on,” Sam barked.

  Rosa reluctantly dug into a large side pocket and pulled out a folded wad of paper. He peeled off one of the folded charts and handed it to Sam.

  The floor was littered with charred bits of wood, wood turned jet black, into charcoal. He ripped his shirt until he had a nearly square piece.

  He gave Jorge back his flashlight.

  “Hold this. Keep it on the map.”

  And looking up, Sam grabbed some of the blackened wood and then began copying the map of the island, their prison, onto the back of the thick, parchmentlike paper.

  “What are you doing that for?” Rosa asked.

  “I imagine if we are to get off this damn island, having a map might be useful.”

  He didn’t say his other reason for copying the map.

  If they got off…If they got away…

  His eyes followed the strange outline of the island.

  He felt movement behind him. The girl. She crept close, slowly. Sam looked back at her. She seemed curious about what he was doing, now not afraid any longer.

  She came up beside Sam and looked down just as his drawing was done. He put some swirls around the island to indicate the fog.

  Done.

  She shook her head, A universal language, yes, no…wrong.

  She reached out, tiny fingers, all scratched from whatever ordeal she had been through.

  She took the charcoal and then pointed to a spot on the island. Then she spoke: “Nore la…tore. Kong ka! Tore…lama Kong!” She turned and looked at Sam. Her thin lips mouthed a word again….

  “Kong…”

  And she drew on a corner of the map. She drew a face. At first Sam thought that it was just another idol face, that the girl was simply doing something to acknowledge the gods who put her into such a god-awful situation.

  But then, when she was done, he could see that the face was that of an ape, a gorilla.

  She said the word again…“Kong…”

  Sam repeated the odd word, a word that almost seemed to have a strange power.

  “Kong?”

  Jorge shut off the light, and then rattled off some Portuguese.

  Three of the crew gathered together, talking, planning.

  Sam stood up and went to Rosa, giving the girl a look and a nod. “What are they saying?”

  “They think there may be another way out of here.”

  “Out of here. How the hell—”

  Rosa gestured to the interior of the cave. “Through there, maybe another way out, another way out and back to the ship.”

  “Or maybe they’ll
get lost.”

  Rosa spit on the ground. “Better than staying here.”

  Sam started to say something. But what? How good were their chances with the giant carnivore on guard outside?

  “Yeah. Okay. Who?”

  “Jorge, Luis…they take one flashlight. If they find something, they come back and tell us.” Rosa turned and spoke to Jorge.

  “Tell them fifteen minutes. Then they should be back.”

  Wouldn’t it be great if they split up? Nice way to have this whole thing turn even deadlier.

  As he stood there, the girl came beside him, secretly, in the shadows; he felt her tiny hand grab his.

  That’s one ally I got, he thought.

  “Okay,” Rosa said. “They’re ready.”

  A rumble echoed from outside. Not the roar of the dinosaur, but thunder, a storm beginning as the light faded from this island of the skull.

  Sam made three flashes of five with his hand. “Fifteen minutes?” he said to them.

  Then Jorge and Luis set off.

  Jorge felt Luis walking right next to him while he made the flashlight sway back and forth.

  “Frigida, sí?”

  “Sí…” said Jorge.

  The cave turned cold, and now Jorge’s sweat made him feel chilled, icy.

  And as the cave tunnel chilled, it narrowed, so now they had to crouch down, stooped over, marching through the tunnel.

  It certainly didn’t seem like a way out. But then—suddenly—the narrow chute opened up.

  Jorge turned to Luis and grinned.

  “Bueno…”

  The tunnel opened up into a large irregular cavern. Jorge quickly scanned the cavern, and his light picked up a chunk of rock that glistened and glowed even with the flashlight off it. But under the light, the rock glowed with a color that Jorge had never seen.

  It filled the cavern.

  And Jorge thought: Maybe this is valuable. Maybe this will make us wealthy . When we get off the island.

  Because certainly they would get off the island.

  With Luis still glued, he walked over to a boulder-sized chunk of the odd outcrop.

  There were some loose pieces that he picked up, glowing in his hand. Then both he and Luis touched the boulder.

  “Stupendo, Luis, no?”

  He looked up. With an opening this large, surely it must lead to a way out.

  He let his light swing around the cavern, when it picked up something moving.

  Moving, then vanished. He searched again, the light circling around, like a moth drawn to a summer light.

  Then again, more fast movement…

  Only now the thing that moved stopped atop one boulder so they could see it.

  And Jorge felt Luis’s hand dig into his forearm.

  47

  On an uncharted island

  JORGE SHRUGGED OFF LUIS’S VISELIKE GRIP.

  The insectile thing on the rock was as long as a man. The head had twin pincers, and a row of legs ran down a body as thick as a tree trunk.

  It looked right at them, the pincers opening and closing in slow motion. With the light on it, Jorge could see that the legs ended in hooks that looked as dangerous as the head pincers.

  Like an insect he’d find scurrying on the floor of a fishing hut, no bigger than a thumbnail.

  “Luis,” Jorge whispered. “Vámonos…”

  He started to turn around. The thing could move fast, but it was still far away. They could get back to the narrow tunnel, back to the others, still be safe.

  He turned around.

  And between them and the opening, he could see twenty, thirty, maybe more of these things, all sizes, but not one shorter than the length of his arm—all with their pincers waving.

  He heard water.

  Luis was urinating as he stood there.

  Jorge began to pray, to the Son of God, to His Mother, the Virgin.

  Because when those things moved, there was not even time for a prayer.

  The storm raged outside, sending down a wall of water.

  Outside the cave puddles bloomed, then the puddles turned into ponds. When Sam edged closer, to look outside as lightning flashed, he could still see the dinosaur.

  They were still trapped.

  The girl stayed close to him. No one said anything about it, no one questioned her holding on to Sam.

  The map was tucked deep into his pants pocket.

  “It’s been more than fifteen minutes…” Sam said to Rosa.

  “Yes. You are right. What…do we do?”

  Good question that. He turned to Bakali. “Give me your light.”

  Bakali shook his head. “My light. Get your own.”

  He took a step closer to Bakali.

  “Your light. Por favor.”

  Bakali handed Sam the light. Then Sam unhooked the girl from his hand, which she quickly reattached. He shook his head, no. He said the word. “No.”

  But she shook her head back.

  “Okay,” he nodded.

  He turned back to the others, “I’m going to go in a bit…to see if they are on the way—”

  A giant clap of thunder, and all of their eyes in the half-light went wide. It was turning into a storm beyond anything any one of them had ever heard.

  “Okay. I’m going in….”

  Sam started down the tunnel with the girl in tow.

  The light was still bright, but Sam knew they didn’t have much time. They would have to do something soon.

  He heard a sound and stopped.

  The first insect thing appeared, corkscrewing its way toward them, then another.

  The light made them stop. From the massive sound of chittering, there had to be dozens more coming.

  The light showed one of the pincers with a red smear.

  That…answers that, Sam thought.

  Jorge, Luis.

  He grabbed the girl’s hand and turned back, running hard.

  The thunderous storm meant that Sam had to scream to be heard.

  “We have to leave!”

  But Rosa didn’t understand, so Sam yelled again. “We have to leave now!”

  “But what about Jorge? What about—”

  One of the crewmen yelled.

  Sam spun around with the light.

  The first of the things, the giant insects, was there—and had curled around one of the crewmen.

  They watched what happened—blazingly fast.

  The pincers grabbed the small crewman’s body, and the flesh began flying off, as if the man was being peeled layer by layer. The insect chewed as it cut, but others had appeared, pausing now to grab chunks of the flayed skin and muscle.

  Sam handed Bakali his light, which wouldn’t make a difference anymore.

  He looked at the girl. She squeezed his hand painfully tight. But Sam didn’t doubt that she knew what had to happen.

  “Now!” he yelled out to the wall of water, the flashing lightning, the rolling waves of thunder.

  As soon as the four of them emerged, the roar of thunder was joined by a new sound—the dinosaur’s bellow.

  Fortunately it had been prowling at the far end, closer to the jungle.

  They had a dozen meters’ lead on it.

  Not much. But maybe—Christ!—maybe it would be enough.

  Sam ran full out, the rain so heavy that it was hard to breathe. The puddles had turned into slippery ponds.

  He heard the dinosaur roar, now aimed right at them.

  Then—not from the sky, not from the dinosaur—another great roar.

  Deep, rumbling, challenging all the other sounds.

  The girl yelled out the word again.

  “Kong!”

  Whatever made that sound…

  That—was Kong.

  Bakali was just behind them, Rosa a few steps behind.

  Not breaking his stride, Sam looked back as they reached the paths that girded the cliff. The creature wasn’t as fast as he feared, trudging more slowly through the mud pools.

  Bu
t then he saw Rosa slip in one of the new pools.

  The V. rex had moved more slowly than Sam thought it would; but now it also moved in a way that seemed impossible. Almost like a snake, it lowered its massive head nearly to the ground, tilting forward, its legs somehow letting its upper torso become almost horizontal.

  It scooped up Rosa like a steam shovel grabbing a ton of rock.

  Rosa’s screaming head was the last thing to vanish into the gigantic maw.

  The act gave Sam, Bakali, and the young girl more time.

  “Come on!” he yelled, the girl holding on to him, Bakali bug-eyed.

  They ran through a dense stand of trees. It was possible that the dinosaur would be stopped by the foliage…but Sam didn’t want to take any chances.

  He kept running to the ledge.

  For now, any thoughts of repairing the ship vanished.

  The heavy rain had created a dozen small streams that cascaded down the ledge, tumbling over the rocks. Sam scanned the ledge looking for a way down.

  One section, filled with a jumble of sharp-edged, table-sized boulders, looked navigable.

  He pulled the girl in that direction, and a few steps behind, Bakali followed.

  48

  On an uncharted island

  THEY HALF-CLIMBED, HALF-LIPPED DOWN the rocky slope made glassy by the downpour.

  Every few seconds, another lightning bolt would flash, and Sam could see the next few feet clearly, avoiding the sharp edges that had already cut jagged red lines into his hand.

  He saw Bakali slip, falling backward, then yelling as his head smacked backward, hard onto one of the rocks.

  He looked to see if he needed help, but Bakali scurried up quickly.

  Near the bottom, the girl slipped too and her hand slid away. But—so fast—she hurried to grab Sam’s hand again.

  The climb down seemed to take forever. Until, so unexpected, they were at the bottom.

  The crewman who was supposed to be by the dinghy was gone.

  Water streaming off his face, Sam looked around. Where the hell could the crewman be? Bakali looked too, searching as the lightning lit up the shore.

  Then the answer came.

  The flying reptile swooped out of nowhere.

  It had a long, U-shaped head, and a sleek body with two clawlike legs.