by catt dahman
“I agree,” Tyrese said.
“And if it exists, despite the odds, why can’t it help heal because that is scientific, but not really possible,” Scott summarized.
“Therefore, my hand feels better,” said Tyrese as he laughed. “And scrapes are better, yet nothing else exactly makes sense here on this island. Do you think, I mean…did we go somewhere else. Alex?”
“I would say no, but honestly I don’t know at all. I don’t think our brains are capable of understanding what happened to us or where we are, but it isn’t the place we knew before. I hope we can get back to our place….”
Helen said quietly, “I don’t think we can. I think we are here and have to accept it. You know what I thought of? Yeah, we landed on a place with dinosaurs, maybe in another time, for all we know, or another plane of reality, who knows, but my point is what if we had landed somewhere worse?”
“Worse?” Scott asked. He was digesting the information and was unsure what he believed. It was like God: God either was or was not and certainly didn’t depend on Scott’s belief to exist. In this situation, Scott’s opinion didn’t matter, either; they were here, among living relics that were real, and the way they got here was not dependent on his beliefs.
Helen went on, “I mean, we don’t understand, and I doubt we ever will, really. But I was thinking that if we came to be here with of all things, dinosaurs, where is it we could have landed? What if another small island is filled with hot lava and man-eating fire squid? Stop laughing.”
They all laughed anyway, and she grinned.
Alex sobered and agreed, “I think that’s true. Not the lava squid, maybe, but we don’t know what could be here in this universe.”
“I think we didn’t switch universes,” Scott said, “maybe this is hell.”
“You believe in hell but not a different universe?” Tyrese asked, amused.
“I think, I mean, I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter what I think. We’re here. I have a bad feeling that it’s as if you are hinting that there won’t be a rescue, and if we had a magic boat and sailed away, there might not be a better place.”
“Depressing.”
Alex nodded at Tyrese and said, “That’s why I haven’t said anything but to you guys. I think a few may be catching on. Not sure. But this turned into a long discussion about everything else when I wanted to say this pool is strange and impossible, but I think we can expect the impossible to be real sometimes.”
They finished picking the beans, and Helen dug up the Suma roots for Kelly. Helen had felt tired this morning, but now, the exhaustion was gone. Maybe it was magic, here. She saw the others were more energetic.
Tyrese liked the water enough that he drank a lot and ate the beans.
They hated to leave and understood how the children became addicted. They had more energy and felt clean, and small aches and cuts were no longer stinging. Helen pulled her long, dark hair back and let it stay wet. Kelly was right, and they were excited to tell her.
First, they went in the direction they thought the plane was.
It wasn’t difficult to find because of the trails. But as Helen figured out the sketchy directions, they found what they were seeking. There it was.
Slightly crumpled, the plane sat at an angle to the ground, and the angle of the wing made a gentle slope up to an emergency door. Scott pegged a few stones at the plane and waited. It was likely there was no one there, just like the cave. In seconds, a face appeared at a window. A woman looked out and then closed the shade again.
“Did you see that? There’s someone here,” said Helen who was excited and nervous.
“They will be as scared of us as we are of them. They don’t expect to see anyone. Same as us,” Tyrese warned.
It took several minutes, but the door opened, and a man looked out. “I am air marshal of the plane. Who are you, why are you here, and what are you seeking? How did you come to be here?” he asked, sounding strong and stern.
“We were on a yacht in a storm and shipwrecked four days ago. We have lost almost half our people to the injuries in the wreck and from the monsters. We are the same as you…lost here. We found you through a diary one of your people wrote and kept in a cave. His name was Jim. We seek answers to this place since we are newcomers,” Tyrese called.
“How fairs Jim?”
“There was no one in the cave. We found a few remains in a Utahraptor’s nest. It looks as if they have been gone a long time from the cave. Months.”
The man leaned back to speak and then nodded and asked, “And the kids?”
“We have seen no children. No signs of them.”
“Come up. If you try to rob us, we’ll fight back.”
“We have no intention of robbing anyone,” Tyrese said.
The plane was tidy and shadowy. They sat across from the man, who said he was Lynn, the leader or the marshal. There were four other men and five women, and they were told another woman was in the other section. “She’s dying. She is trying to give birth, and the baby won’t come, and she’s bleeding to death. Her name is Shelly.”
“Lynn, we have a real nurse at our camp. If we took Shelly there, she might could be saved.” Tyrese shared some dried fish with them, some peanuts in a package, and a few fava beans.” He grinned at Helen over the last offering.
“We don’t leave here. It isn’t safe; we barely forage.”
“And you’re thin and pale,” Helen said honestly. How many from your group have died? Half? More than half? Two-thirds?” She thought that was right when Marshal Lynn dropped his eyes.
“You could die with us, too, but you’d die with sunshine on your faces and fresh fish and vegetables and fruit in your bellies,” said Scott; he was being honest.
“Man can’t live in caves and go backwards. We can’t devolve the children….”
“We figured out what caused it. Too much of a good thing. And I agree caves aren’t a good place to run to. For all that, Jim’s group must not have survived. The caves weren’t the answer.”
Lynn nodded at Helen.
“Who leads you?” a woman named Lilly asked.
“Tyrese,” Helen said. Alex and Scott, whom she had already spoken to, nodded. Tyrese was surprised but nodded, too.
“I try, but there are ones who would want to lead; it’s a slippery slope.”
“That’s why Jim left. He was a steward and thought that gave him power. I was an air marshal, all out of bullets.”
Helen heard more in Lynn’s voice. She knew he had tried to lead, had been left, and had felt hopeless now that his gun was useless. The lines on his face were from worry and fear. These people were a glimpse into her future, possibly. Their group could separate. All that they had better was that they were on the beach and well fed and had been here only a little while.
Who were they to give advice to those who had survived a longer time here? But to see people starving and afraid was more than Helen could stand. She thought Amanda and Fish would have led them to help these people.
Tyrese was a leader, after all. He said, “We have some injured in the wreck. We have some who were injured in attacks by the monsters, but we have a roomy camp. If you just wish to visit, we could learn more about your experiences and tell you ours. I promise dino steaks, eel, crab, oysters, squid, fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and a real, certified nurse. We would welcome you, marshal, and treat you as an equal to us.”
Helen knew Tyrese was the perfect choice. He was very political, after all. There was a reason they had been attacked and then found the cave and the diary that led them here. There was always a purpose even if it weren’t always clear at first. A devout Catholic, Helen believed in purposes and felt there had to be a bigger plan, even if she hated it so far and questioned it.
Lynn looked at all the faces in the plane, and asked, “How can we get Shelly there?”
“You have some litters here, right? Something from the plane? Once we get to the beach, we have a sled.”
“She’ll die for sure if we don’t try,” Lilly said.
“What if the children see an attack? The creatures carry people away, and those never return,” a woman said, shaking.
“If they attack, we’ll fight them. If they are a threat, I’ll get people and go clean them out once and for all,” Tyrese declared.
“They won’t win,” said a woman said.
“It’s what we’ve prayed for: someone to come and take them out so we can live peacefully in the place without fear,” a man whispered.
Air Marshal Lynn stood. That made up his mind, and he said, “Take your bedrolls and what you can carry on your backs. Your hands are for weapons. RJ and Shona, you get Shelly on the litter, wrap her well, and then get her down. We’ll help.”
It wasn’t easy, and they almost dropped Shelly several times. On the trail, Helen got Shelly to eat a few fava beans and some sea grapes and to drink the mysterious water. She placed clean rags that were soaked in the water against Shelly’s privates, hoping the water was a little magical.
Marshal Lynn leaned over to Helen and said, “Thank you.”
They followed the trails, showing new ones to the new group. They had impressive weapons, sharp spears, and deadly spikes. Nothing and no one approached them. They settled Shelly’s litter onto the sled, and this time, the new people did all the pulling, and they made good time.
Helen noticed she still wasn’t tired, and she liked that.
When they saw the camp this time, it looked normal and busy, well-guarded, and tidy again. Unfortunately, the big carcass of the Big Brown they had killed was washed up way down the beach, and they could see medium-sized and little predators gorging on the rotting flesh. At least it was a long way down the beach where it was barely visible.
“See what washed up again? Yuk,” Stu said as he walked over. He was stunned at seeing new faces but was curious. What stories did these skinny people have to tell?
Everyone was welcomed and tentatively sat down to talk. Any worries were dispelled as Joe served lunch: scallops, oysters, and crab in a purslane salad, and dinosaur steaks topped with crispy, fresh fish. The newcomers’ stomachs had shrunk with near starvation, but they ate all they could and actually laughed and relaxed.
Helen whispered to Kelly and caught her up on what Alex had explained about natural steroids and added that they thought there were minerals as well. “Kelly, I am not crazy. Our smaller cuts healed right then.”
Kelly examined Shelly who was terrified and found the bleeding was almost stopped. “Get her more of those beans and water…just a little, and I’m going to clean her well with the water. It may be that the stuff is just saturated with steroids.”
Helen nodded and added, “Vera, Tom, Durango, Pamela, Amanda, maybe it will work for all of you.”
“Well, it sure as hell can’t hurt. This stuff clots blood almost instantly, too. Helen, you are a genius and life saver!” said Tom.
Kelly finally went to eat her meal and smiled broadly at Air Marshal Lynn. “The bleeding has stopped, and her labor is very normal now. The baby seems to be fine so far. It’s still alive. She is worn out and weak, so we’ll have to see how she does.”
There were cheers all around, and of all things, the air marshal went to his knees before Kelly and looked up at her and said, “You are an angel.”
“No way, Helen helped the most. Shelly is still worn out, and it will be a hard delivery, but she seems far better, and I am going to take her some food and water as soon as I finish my lunch.”
“May I do it and see her?” he asked as his grey eyes kit up with hope.
“Why sure, Marshal.”
As soon as they finished eating, Helen and Kelly went to bathe Amanda’s back and hand while Alex gave her the water to drink, Kelly bathed Durango’s head, and Helen gave him water. They did the same for Vera’s legs and got her to eat fava beans, and Kelly mashed up Suma root and packed it on the wound. They went to Pamela and bathed her poor face. Then, they went to Tom, fed him the beans, gave him water, and bathed his stump before bandaging it with the Suma root. But Kelly frowned.
“What?” asked Helen.
“My hands were raw from all the scrubbing, and the skin was cracked. Look. They aren’t healed, but they look better, Helen.”
“It works, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, I hope it does.”
The new people were not ones to sit around. Some helped fish, enjoying it and laughing; others walked guard duty with weapons and looked deadly; and others helped with cooking or washing. Other than having to learn new names, it was if they had always been with the original group. Their moods had changed at once.
Over hearty dino and vegetable stew, the newcomers had explained what had happened to them.
Four months before, their plane hit a yellow fog(Stu used this to say he had told them so) and lost altitude. Only because the pilot was gifted and caught a perfect wind, did he manage to keep the plane in the air and stable so that they glided into the trees. But they glided in much too fast, however, and the pilot and copilot and everyone in first class were crushed and torn apart. Many others were hit by flying objects that bounced around the cabin, there was one heart attack victim, and a fourth of the passengers were killed in the crash.
“We thought help would come. We waited. I didn’t understand,” Air Marshal Lynn said.
“We were the same way,” Scott told them, “and we waited and asked each other why someone hadn’t come; it was the hardest part. We felt….”
“Forgotten,” Alex supplied.
“We buried all of them and figured out fairly fast that we were on a terrible island filled with monsters. We lost two more to the creatures. It seemed impossible, but it was real,” Shona said, “and we didn’t understand. No one came, and we were all alone. A week passed.”
“Very upsetting,” said Alex as he nodded.
“We explored a little. Jim decided he was in charge and that we would move to the caves, but the air marshal appealed to us, saying that we couldn’t devolve and that the plane was well built and very safe. We debated for weeks. If not for the plane, we would have been killed,” said Shona.
“The plane saved you, I think,” Alex said, “and it gave you a strong, sturdy shelter. Seems they should have listened to an air marshal. We have no cops with us, nothing like that. Jim made a mistake, but I guess he thought he was in charge?”
“He did. I get that, but he was wrong about caves; the little creatures could get into caves, but they never got into the plane.”
“I shot a few monsters,” the air marshal said, “and we ate them.”
“Jim took his followers and the children, theirs and those who had been orphaned when their parents died in the crash, and left for the caves. We stayed in touch,” said Shona, shivering, “but it didn’t get better. None of us knew how to survive in this kind of situation, and it had been a long time since the crash. Of those who had been hurt, half died.”
“And then Jim sent word to us about the children. It felt as if everything were over and that we’d fought a battle for nothing,” Marshal said.
“What happened?” Scott asked.
Air Marshal Lynn explained that there was a pool of water. All of them thought it had certain excellent properties and helped many of the wounded recover. People were less tired and felt stronger.
“We know that pool,” Tyrese said.
“The kids and teens began to stay in it all the time, we heard. They were in all day and half the night. They quickly reached sexual maturity, but they became aggressive and combative. They became too strong and threatened Jim’s group: their parents. Only the smallest children were safe. It must be an evil pool of water,” Bobby said.
Kelly shook her head and said, “No, It isn’t at all. It’s very natural but unusual. Minerals are in the water, and two plants live there that add steroids to the water. Used as a medicine only, the water and plants are like a miracle drug. It’s what I used to save Shelly because she and the
baby were a few hours from certain death.”
“That water?” asked Marshal Lynn who looked worried. It terrified him as nothing else did. He had seen the children, ripe with fertility, covered in bulky muscles, and mean. Dangerous.
“As I said, it should be used in small amounts, only as medicine, and with someone like me…a nurse…to watch the results and adjust the dosages. A small amount can work miracles, but jumping in for hours and being saturated in it for weeks, I can’t image the bad effects. Those children would be feral and enraged. Very dangerous.”
“Shelly seems so much better.”
“I think she is, Marshal Lynn. I treated her with just a little.”
“I can see why your people spoke so highly of you and about having a nurse. Thank you. Her husband was killed in the crash, and she’s been weak and sickly since.”
Helen broke in and asked, “And you’ve had no sunshine, not any good food, and nothing to nourish your soul, maybe?”
The air marshal nodded.
“Bless you,” Bobby said, “I am Robert Paul, actually. Father Robert Paul. I think God sent you to us.” Several of his people nodded.
“I don’t know. I do know that we are glad you are here with us, for however long you want to stay. Right, Tyrese?” Helen asked. Finding a priest was amazing to her. She thought that even the non-believers could benefit from someone who was loving and kind if this man were like that. “I don’t think God is involving Himself here, or someone like Fish would still be with us.”
“Indeed,” Bobby nodded kindly, “it’s nothing we can understand, and I shouldn’t have made it seem He was dishing out favors. I suppose we are only thankful for anything good since we’ve seen only the worst since we crashed here.”
“One question?” Scott asked.
“Yes?”
“You were in a plane, a big plane. We heard you were lost, there were searches, and some said maybe you had been hijacked. They couldn’t find you. You had to have some beacon, or you were on radar. Why didn’t they find you in all this time?”