by catt dahman
Hysterically, Joy cried all over Tyrese; he was too devastated and tired to push her away, and besides he wasn’t that cruel. Helen sat so that Scott was able to wrap both arms around her and so they could cry and whisper their fears and sadness; Helen cried hard.
Tom sat and punched his leg, then picked at his bandage, cursed, and punched more. He cried over Fish.
Alex sat alone, his face toward where they had been. He saw nothing and took time to pray to a God he had given up years before. He prayed hard, hoping to be heard. “Scott, again, let me say I am so sorry I snapped and cursed at You. Fish never said anything like what I yelled. I am sorry.”
“Stop. It’s okay.” Scott nodded solemnly.
“He was the best. He was strong. Why Fish?”
“Tom, he knew what he was doing. All of us are in a bad place, and it could have been any one of us. He was brave, and we should understand that that was how he wanted to stay. He couldn’t have lived with anything less,” Scott said.
“We could have, though,” Tom was petulant. He felt guilty and angry. He was scared and sad. He was also growing more feverish and berated himself for this additional weakness.
They stayed there for an hour, and then Scott suggested everyone take food and water from his own pack and eat and drink. The water wasn’t boiled. Come on cholera or typhoid fever. E Coli? Sure, Scott thought.
Tyrese bandaged Joy’s scrapes as best he could, but some were impossible to dress because they were so very painful yet were only skinned places. Helen unwrapped Tom’s arm and caught her breath. The gash wasn’t very long and was closed in most places, but all around, it was deep red and purple. Helen pressed, and thick, slimy infection popped out at once. She pressed all over, despite his protests, and wiped and scrubbed away a huge amount of infection.
Without a word, Alex handed over his flask of rum and shrugged.
Forcing the wound open again, Helen used it to clean the wound and rub away skin that looked as if it were dying. Tom was red faced with fever, but he went pale.
“Scott, give me your coconut and the purslane you have; I don’t need a lot.” After cutting them up, Helen packed both into the wound. She added some rum and wrapped all of it with a bandage.
Tom groaned and moaned.
“So?” asked Tyrese.
“Well, T, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know anything, but they both are nutritious to eat and have good things in them, so why not? I’m out of ideas, and the man who could do what might have to be done just died.” Helen wanted to sit and cry again. She doubted either of what she packed into the wound would help, but she was out of ideas. She felt that they needed Fish so much, but he was gone.
“You’re not taking my arm,” Tom said.
“I think there are red streaks beginning,” Helen replied.
Tom spat and said, “I don’t care. You aren’t taking it. Let me die if it gets to that. I won’t stand it. No one will do that to me.”
“Oh, Tom!” Joy slid over and lay against him, holding him close.
Tyrese winked at Alex. “We need to get out of here. These rocks are useful. We can go that way to see if we can get to the other trail and then back track to where the trail splits, then get water, and get out of here.”
“Tom needs rest,” Helen said, “so can we scout it out, and then half way there, some can come back and get him? Then, we can go the rest of the way to something? Let’s be sure we have a place to go.”
“He can’t stay alone, but Helen, you’re coming with me, period,” Scott said. She didn’t argue. They both picked up the few weapons they had tossed up onto the rocks as they climbed. Helen handed hers to Tyrese. Alex was going because he understood the creatures the most.
“Joy, can you stay with him and be calm and keep him calm?” Scott asked. “We need you to do this one thing.”
“I can! I’ll help Tom! Poor thing, so sick.”
“Ok, give us about half an hour, no more than an hour,” Tyrese said.
“Got it, T,” Joy said as she nodded.
The others left, looking back a few times. The raptors had finished and had taken the scraps back to the nest, but they couldn’t see any of that. They looked back but were glad they couldn’t see Fish’s remains. It wasn’t something easy explained, but they couldn’t stop looking; maybe they were scared the raptors might be coming after them, sneaking along the rocks.
The ground was easy to walk over, and a sort of trail was there that Alex thought compys used to stay away from the big predators. Little dinosaurs could run a long way without being in reach of the deadly claws of the big creatures.
“A trail down! The biggies can’t walk that with twists and turns, but compys and people can.” Helen felt hopeful.
“Hey, look over here. Is that a cave?” asked Scott.
“I think so. It makes sense there would be a place to hide up here where it’s safer from big things,” Helen said to Scott.
They followed Scott. A woven gate of some type had fallen over and was dusty. It made them feel there was no one there. But the weaving work made it clear that someone had been.
“Hello!” they called out, but it was quiet.
Tyrese held a hand out to warn them to wait as he got a fire going to light the room. Someone had left kindling and large pieces of wood in a fire pit near the entrance. He wanted light to see by; they didn’t need any shocks.
A few threadbare, blue blankets with matching cushions that leaked stuffing, as well as some clothing, were stacked neatly, along with a few suitcases, a few cups, plates, and random items, and then there was some junk littering the camp. Spears were set against one wall, but it looked as if half of the weapons had been removed because of the way they leaned in a line with gaps where none were. Animal bones, clean and bleached, were in a pile along the cave’s side. If there had been food, small animals had taken it.
“There’s been no one here for a month or two. Maybe they are the ones…you know…back there.” Scott had to stop and tell the rest what they saw in the nest and what the dinosaur was called.
“In the nest?” Helen asked as she shivered, “that’s sickening. I know they are animals, but it makes me scared to think of them here, preying on people.”
“See the logo? I think this was a small plane,” said Alex as he kicked a cushion, making dust fly.
“Didn’t Southern Flights lose a plane a few months ago? Remember? They looked all over the Bermuda Triangle and around Florida and then said it was high jacked and had crashed,” said Scott.
“I remember that,” Helen said as she dug around, feeling there was more, and then she held up a little book. “Ah, ha! We have a diary. We can find out who they were and what happened.”
“You are sharp. Now, let’s take the knives and the spears; they don’t need them,” Tyrese said, “anything else?”
“The blankets are rather ratty. The cups and plates?” Helen slid everything into her rucksack. She shook her head at the pile of dead cell phones. “I feel as if there were quite a few people here at one time. You saw the remains of two. I wonder what happened?”
“I think we can guess,” Scott said.
“You have a diary, so we’ll find out,” Alex said.
Helen nodded to Alex and said, “I thought there might be one. I should be keeping one. I’ll start one soon.”
Alex smiled sadly and responded, “We know the way down. Let’s go get Tom and Joy, get water, and take Tom to Kelly to see if she can save his arm, and then eat some eel tonight. Joe promised.
Helen made a face, and they went back to get the other two of their group.
“And we have to tell the rest about Fish,” Tyrese added as they walked. “I dread that. I feel as if we failed.”
As soon as they rounded a boulder, they had a surprise.
Joy was standing beside Tom and was just slipping on her panties. Her shorts were on the ground. Tom’s shirt was removed, and his shorts were down by his feet. They were talking quietly.
“I…we…don’t you yell at me. He’s hurting and sick, and I made him feel better. I think his fever broke.”
“If so, it was because of something else. How could you? You know he is going to propose to Kelly.” Helen helped pull Tom’s pants up, fasten them, and put his shirt back on him. Dully, he watched her, but he did help Helen dress him. His eyes were not shining and bright, but sunken and flat. There was no emotion.
“Oh, Tom, why? Why did you do this? Why? Were you conscious?”
“Yeah, I was hot. She was cool. It happened. I dunno.”
His arm was leaking green ooze down his hand. Helen cleaned it again, shuddering over the foul odor, packed it again, and wrapped it. She flashed Joy dirty looks.
Joy stuck her tongue out. She adjusted her shirt over her swimsuit and rolled her eyes.
“Is there anyone who has not been with you now?” asked Helen as she gave Tyrese and Alex dirty looks.
“Huh?” Joy asked.
“My God, Joy,” Alex said as he shook his head.
“Me. I mean not me. I don’t intend to either, so stay the hell away. Jeez, Tom is practically engaged,” Scott raved; he was as furious as Helen.
Helen believed Scott. If he had been with Joy, too, she couldn’t have taken anymore. “This is tacky, Joy. You knew better and took advantage when Tom was very ill.”
Slowly, they helped Tom to his feet so they could leave. They walked toward the way down to the trail.
“He wanted to,” Joy said as she shrugged.
“So? You get around all over?”
Joy smirked behind Helen’s back and said, “You’re tense ‘cause you aren’t getting any.”
Helen snapped. That was her limit. She spun and slapped Joy’s face. “Come at me. You want to go a round? I am telling you right now that you did something immoral. You are a slut. And this time you messed up. Big. You wanna talk about me; I will slap you every time,” Helen yelled into Joy’s face.
Joy lowered her eyes.
“Good call,” Scott said.
“We won’t tell, right?” Tyrese said as he helped Tom.
“We won’t, but a secret is only safe if two people know and one is dead,” added Scott.
Tom sighed, “I may be dead soon. I am done.”
Helen pushed forward. She dared a dinosaur to get in her way. She was a fury storm. They got water and followed the path as fast as they could with Tom injured. She encouraged Tom, and when he lagged, she begged and prodded and pushed him to keep going.
At the sled, Helen ordered Tom to get on. “I’ll pull it alone if I have to, but I want to go back to camp and get Kelly to fix your arm.”
Tyrese made big eyes at Scott, and they nodded.
“Joy, you’re pulling, too. Get over it, and do it. We need to get back quickly.”
No one objected to Helen’s orders.
Straining with the loaded sled and Tom’s weight, they had to work at it, but soon they were moving across the sand, and when they hit the flat part that was smoothed by the ocean waves, they zoomed over the land, moving fast. Helen felt her anger releasing as she sweated and worked. She felt better.
As soon as they saw camp, Tyrese waved as he always liked to, but no one waved back. In fact, the camp looked wrong. It wasn’t tidy and organized. It was messy, and of all things, something huge was right by the water. Brown. A little blue. Big. It was Big Brown. And he was dead.
But what happened before he died? What happened to the camp?
“Run,” Scott ordered.
Their sled began to move, but as they drew close, they knew things would be different, and some things would never be repaired. Joy and Tom having a dalliance was nothing compared to losing Fish. Losing Fish was nothing compared to how the camp looked.
Helen set her teeth and pulled. She ran.
Chapter 6: Day Three At Camp
Amanda had watched the group go off earlier to explore, feeling envious that Fish was going along this time, but she had a lot to do. She had a long mental list of chores that needed to be completed around camp, and with her hand still healing, she wasn’t ready for exploring the jungle. She wanted to get back to normal, at least as normal as possible, considering she was missing two fingers.
Captain Worthington sat at the fire, glad to be up and around, but he allowed Amanda to stay in leadership of the camp and watched her work, proud of her determination. He had been down for the count, but she and Fish and Joe had stepped up and assumed the burdens. He couldn’t think of a better crew. A shipwreck was the nightmare of any captain, but his crewmembers had held on and protected everyone as best they could.
Stu and some of the others were fishing. The captain wished he could be out there with them in the place he loved most. He didn’t blame the sea for the situation, and he didn’t blame the storm, for storms were as natural as the sea, no matter how violent this one had been. Even losing his arm and watching the rest of the tragedies were acceptable as a hard part of life. It was the island he blamed. They were supposed to die at sea, get rescued, or land on a normal island; they were not supposed to land on an island inhabited by monsters that supposedly had died millions of years before. He still had no theories.
He couldn’t explain what was here, but it didn’t feel right to him; it felt all wrong in so many ways that he couldn’t wrap his mind around the possibilities. He may have played it off as normal, but he’d never seen the yellow mist before, and he felt it was somehow to blame. Maybe he wasn’t imaginative enough to figure it out.
“Durango? How are you, my friend?” Captain Mark Worthington asked.
“My head. It hurts.” It was a complete thought, which was better than he managed a lot of the time.
The captain nodded.
“I know it aches, but your family needs you.”
“You need to push through and help us, Durango. Vera is complaining all the time. She is using illegal drugs if you can imagine, and the so-called nurse advocates it, and Stu is an ass in general as always. They need you to make them behave,” Connie said. She scowled as Amanda handed her more tangled fishing line to unravel. “And get your crew to stop working us to death.”
“Connie, Amanda is asking very little. I’m afraid the work will get far harder,” the captain said. He had noticed that Connie was adjusting poorly to the situation, complaining loudly and often. Maybe Durango failed to get better because it would mean dealing with his wife.
“Durango hired you to do one thing, and you failed. We’re here on this stupid island. Don’t bitch at me about work when you’re just sitting there,” Connie said. She was angry. She loved the yacht, but she wasn’t the type to do well in these conditions. Was that so hard to understand? They had failed to save the boat, and Connie was the one to suffer.
Connie dreamed of a hair appointment, a nice massage, or just a hot bath and a clean bed. She didn’t expect everything to be perfect, but some bare minimums weren’t too much to ask for. Didn’t people understand? One stepson hardly spoke, one played hero and boss, and one was a total jerk, and her stepdaughter was a whining distraction. Of the crew, Fish was a muttering idiot, Amanda was a brute who demanded work get done, and the captain had allowed all of this to happen.
Amanda stopped in place. “With all due respect, you are not in charge anymore.”
“It was our boat!”
“Was. Durango is in no shape to lead, and you are incapable. Fish and I have assumed authority while the captain recovers. If you think you can do any better, then I have a news flash: You can’t.”
Connie sniffed and replied, “You must love being in charge.” If it had not been a bother, she would have stood and slapped the woman.
“Guess again. It’s the last thing I ever wanted, especially under these circums
tances. Please, for everyone’s sake and for your family, try to help and stay calm and get along with everyone else.”
“Fine. I’m reporting you when we get back.” How could she say Connie was anything but calm?
“I really hope you get that chance,” Amanda said. Connie’s shallowness set her on edge.
“Davey,” called Vera.
Davey ignored her. He was helping Joe, and Vera was insatiable about getting pain relief and wouldn’t believe he was out of dope. He didn’t tell her about what he shared with Kelly. That was his secret, and if Vera knew, she would begin begging Kelly for more. He felt sorry for Vera; she was just a kid, ten years younger than he was and scared. And spoiled. He didn’t feel sorry for Connie Jones at all.
Opening a can of food, Davey thought about how he once would have grimaced to see carrots but now was glad and appreciative. Joe was working on something as a treat: mangoes, carrots, coconuts, and bagged nuts they had salvaged. It would be a nice addition to dinner, but Joe claimed it was also nutritious. Davey tried to learn all he could.
That morning, Tyrese talked to Davey as they walked for a little while, still finding random items that washed up. Davey snagged a piece of a snorkel. He kept it, unsure what it could be used for but unwilling to leave it on the sand. He never knew what could be valuable now that they had so little.
Tyrese had told him, “Learn all you can, Davey. We’ll survive through brains, and what will happen if we lose our nurse, cook, or leaders? Be ready to help out if you need to. You are important.”
It made Davey think. He didn’t want to lose anyone, but he understood that some brought more to their survival than others, and he had to pay more attention. If they lost Kelly, something Davey couldn’t think about, then he could help a little. His next goal was to learn what Joe did and how to do it.
“Vera, hush. Your leg looks much better. The sleep made you stronger, and you are healing,” Kelly said.