Extinction Island

by catt dahman

  Chapter 11: Day Six

  The morning arrived slowly because the storm stayed with a deluging rain, making it chilly and damp. Most, if they slept at all slept an hour and then wrung out water from their covers and clothing and tried to sleep again in another corner. The camp members had used all their strength and power to move the other section over so they made an L shape for places to sleep and for protection. Joe had taught some, Vera in particular, how to weave palm fronds and then coat them in coconut and fish oil, to make them extra water proof, but it was slow going as she learned, and only part was covered and tied to the wreck.

  The fronds were over the wreck on the back side, the side that was not against the other wreck and hung over the front, making a cave. Vera slept there as dry and warm as she could be, and beside her was her father Durango; stepmother Connie; and her brother Vaughn. It was the Jones’ area.

  Stu took Kelly there and tucked her in even while she sobbed. After a while of his patting her, she fell asleep, and he left to stand in the rain to guard the camp. The last little part of dry space was where Amanda lay because her back had to stay dry, and Helen got a place because she watched over Amanda and rubbed oil and the water into her burns. Scott got a place because he was with Helen.

  Tom could stay wet for all Vera cared after she found out he really was with Joy. She had resented Kelly for being smart, pretty, and good hearted, but Vera didn’t hate those qualities right now. She disliked Joy because Joy was a whore, and if Tom wanted a whore, he could lie in the damp section.

  She would weave again though, and make Connie weave, and they would get the entire place covered because that was her goal.

  During the morning, people were coming and going for guard duty, gathering full buckets, and leaving empty ones. There was a real bath tub in the yacht, and they had it, unsure why or what they would do with it, but Davey stoppered it perfectly, and all the fresh water went there. Buckets were dumped into the tub and set back to refill. Anything possible was used to gather water.

  “Kelly?”

  Kelly followed the air marshal.

  He knelt and said, “Look at Andrea’s arms. Deep slashes covered them going up and down; she bled out, dead. “How did she get the bruises on her arms?”

  “I guess when climbing around to get away from those monster at the wreck.”

  Kelly thought they looked like bruises from hands. Helen, standing beside her, pointed to bruises around her throat.

  “You don’t think…did someone do this? No, she did it, right?” said Helen.

  “I don’t know. The bruises suggest something else. She was catatonic. Could she possibly have been alert again to do this?

  Lynn shrugged and replied, “She couldn’t stand losing Lilly.”

  Kelly and Helen thought of Stanley’s dying the same way. Neither said anything but would tell Scott and Tyrese later. And Kelly wanted to tell Stu, making Helen frown.

  There was another burial at sea, made only a little better by having Father Robert Paul or “Bobby” officiate.

  “We need more of the magic water,” Kelly said.

  “More? You had a lot.”

  “I seem to be missing some, and we’re low on the beans and Suma root. Could some of you go get more and get back safely?”

  Tyrese looked worried and said, “I guess. Who?”

  Scott spoke, “Helen and I. We know the way.”

  “I’m part of your group. I’m the third wheel, and I wanna go,” Alex said.

  “I’m going this time,” Stu announced.

  Before the rest could say anything, Kelly replied, “Good, I know you’ll keep everyone safe.”

  Helen, Scott, and Alex traded glances.

  “I’m in,” Mick said, “we went through hell together, so I’m a part of you guys now.”

  Scott shook his hand and responded, “Glad to have you.” He felt Mick was brave, and with the good food and sunlight, Mick already looked as if he had gained weight, and his skin color was healthy again. He would be a fighter if they were attacked.

  “I have no right to ask, but will some more of you go get items out of the plane that will be useful. Joe and I have been modifying the sled with some wheels from the carts that washed up. You can get to the jungle and slide the wheels on, slide on a nut, and twist it tight, and it will roll,” said Alex.

  Scott looked at Alex who nodded and told Lynn they would.

  “There are another few litters on there. You can drag them back with stuff,” Lynn said.

  Tyrese asked, “Is there that much?”

  “Sure, cushions to sleep on will be wonderful. We brought only a few blankets, but there are pillows. We didn’t let Jim take the stuff from the place because if they were to live in caves, we said they could be cave people,” the air marshal told them.

  Vera was making Connie help with palm fronds, and Pamela was working with Sue, learning how to use the spears and clubs. They were fine with guard duty.

  “We may stay overnight. If it’s late, we won’t chance returning at night. We’ll sleep at the plane,” said Alex.

  Tyrese and Lynn both nodded.

  “You need more help. I wanna go,” Davey said.

  Harold, Mattie, and Lorie asked to go since they also knew the plane.

  “Ga. Ga. Go. Yeah, go.” It was one of the first things Durango had said.

  “Dad? We’re going on a long walk and may be in danger.”

  “’at’s fo me,” said Durango, slurring his words as if he had a stroke. Kelly checked him and said the swelling was down and his pupils were small. He followed her finger, stood on one foot, walked back and forth across the camp, and followed the conversations. He had trouble only as he tried to speak, “I nee to ge up and do sings.”

  “I don’t wanna have to stop and bring you back if you get weird and stop talking or if you get tired. It’s a hard walk and overnight,” said Stu as he warned him like a parent would a child.

  “I ca talkf good now an I ant to be out and do. I ca walkf fine. I talkf. I fi the dinoaos.” His slurring bothered him, and he grimaced, frowned, and clenched his eyes shut at times as he spoke.

  “My Durango is back!” Connie cheered.

  “Okay,” Stu said, and then he paused, “okay, Scott? It’s your lead, right?”

  Scott nodded. Tyrese shrugged, but Scott said, “Not this time.”

  They left for the trip to the jungle, worried about who would die this time since every trip went badly. Helen spoke quietly to Alex, Scott, and Davey since he was sticking close. Mick leaned in to listen, and Helen sighed; she had meant it for only Alex and Scott.

  “Have you noticed that we are still the same…we are us, but we’re also changing?”

  “Are you getting supernatural now?”

  “No, Davey, I need a psychologist for this. The extra is falling away, and we are being refined by this. Like you find a diamond and chop away the rock, and then you cut it and make facets and shine it…it becomes refined,” said Helen.

  “We’re refined? Fancy.” Davey teased her.

  Helen snickered and said, “I think our true selves are showing, and the other has been cut away. Deep down, I am a straight shooter, but I don’t say things. I tend to hold back. I say what I think. I’ve moved past the other. Tom has changed; he is more real and less starry eyed. Davey, you’ve changed. You don’t add Dude to every sentence. You don’t fake being a druggie nut; you are smart and brave, and you’re being that part. You shed the rest.”

  “Is that good?” Alex asked.

  “That’s why we need a psychologist. I don’t know! For some. But some may not be good at the core when they shed the rest and are refined into whomever they really are.” Helen cut her eyes, and they knew she meant Stu.

  “We’ll be vigilant and assess each person as he changes. I mean we were wrecked, we found extinct animals, we saw people we cared for slaughtered, we watched Kelly have to do horrible things, and we saw the baby die,” Alex said.

  Because A
ndrea had bruises, I think someone killed her. No knife was beside her. And Stanley, same thing,” said Alex.

  “Damn,” Davey said. Mick breathed out hard.

  “What’re you talking about?” asked Stu as he walked up to join them. He had been behind, telling Harold and Lorie about the ship wrecks and their histories.

  “We’re talking about our being sorry Andrea killed herself,” replied Alex.

  “She couldn’t stand this new life, I guess. Seeing Lilly die was very bad. She was right with me, and if I had not let her go first,” Stu paused for effect, “she would be alive. It would have gotten me. I feel so guilty.”

  “The pool!” Alex again knew no modesty and stripped and dove in, swimming across where he plucked fava beans to eat. He didn’t want to talk anymore and felt drained.

  “Not much. Kelly says medicinal only,” Helen warned all of them.

  Mattie waded alone in the shallow parts that had flat, rock slabs along the bottom, careful to sit only there or wade. She didn’t trust the center of the pond where the others dove a few times.

  Helen and Scott went in, Helen blushing again. Davey joined them after a few seconds of embarrassment. Stu dove in, gulping water and eating the beans as fast as he could; he was craving this so badly he was about to jump out of his skin.

  Mick dove in, guzzling the water and rubbing it all over his head. Harold and Lorie were a little afraid and began by putting their feet in and testing the water.

  “I feel good,” Stu announced. He stayed in the water, filling himself with it and filling all the bottles for them, so that chore was finished.

  “Thanks, Stu,” Helen said.

  “No problem, Baby.”

  Helen looked at Scott and mouthed the word Baby at him. He gazed with daggers in his eyes and cast a dirty look at Stu. Helen found that after about twenty minutes, her small cuts were healed, and the bigger ones were almost well. Davey told them his sore shoulder was painless. Scott reported the same, and so did Alex.

  “My feet were cut from walking, but look, they feel better now,” said Lorie as she held a foot out.

  Stu caught her foot and said, “Come into the water.”

  “I’m okay here. It feels wonderful. I feel so strong and healthy.”

  Davey whispered, “Is it me, or has Stu suddenly beefed up? Look at his flat belly, and his arms are as big as Tyrese’s.”

  Scott nodded and said, “I know. I thought I was imagining it.”

  Helen smiled and asked, “Can you see my scars from my gall bladder surgery? Only one was big and ugly. Look. Nothing. My God, this water is magic.”

  “Get in,” Stu said as he pulled on Lorie’s foot.

  “She said no,” Harold said, getting angry.

  “Are you putting it to her? Huh? Are you her man?” Stu asked.

  Harold blushed deep red and shifted his eyes; Stu continued talking, “Nope, she needs a man; Lorie, come play in the water.”

  “I…I don’t swim well. The attention was making her giggle. She didn’t get the rising anger and discomfitures.

  She slid and squealed softy. Harold grabbed her arm, glaring at Stu.

  “I have you,” said Stu as he yanked her off the ledge and into his arms in the water. They went under and rose, both laughing.

  “You got me all wet.”

  “Hmmm. Well. Take your clothes off to dry.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Helen is naked. Helen, show us your boobs.”

  Helen sank lower in the water, close to Scott and blushed. She knew Scott was angry.

  They picked beans, dug the Suma root, and packed everything. Harold helped strap items onto the sled but kept looking back at times. Lorie giggled often. Mattie shook her head at Harold.

  “None of my business, but what is the relationship with all of you?” Scott asked Mick, Harold, and Mattie, and he looked over to Lorie to include her.

  Andrea and Lilly were lovers. Harold was crazy about Lorie, but they had no physical relationship, yet they were close. He had said he loved Lorie, but he said she wasn’t ready. Her husband was killed in the crash, suffering for days before dying. Harold explained it very openly.

  “Thanks, sorry it’s a mess,” Scott nodded towards Stu and Lorie who played in the pool.

  “Mattie was married and was on the plane with her husband Jack and her teenaged son, Jody. When they got home, she was going to file for divorce on the grounds that Jack was sleeping around with every woman he could. If a person had a vagina, he was there, and he had even fooled around with a transgender woman because she had a vagina. That was all it took. He had been sorry every time she caught him and swore to be good, but this was the tenth time, and she was out of forgiveness. Also, this time he didn’t swear he’d dump the transgender woman but claimed he loved them both.” Harold shivered as he told the story.

  “Imagine this. I sat with Jody and was livid, just wanting to land and file for divorce, take every penny he had, and make him a pauper with the she male,” Mattie sighed. And several rows behind, that son of a bitch sat next to his woman. His fake woman. I wanted to scratch her eyes out. But we crashed.”

  She said she hoped that the crash had killed the transgender slut. She hoped Jack was dead or dying slowly. But neither was injured past cuts and bumps.

  “When Jim made his stand, the group was split. Jim demanded to live in the caves and make a life there and to live like cave men; he said he had been on a Paleo diet anyway. Jack was all for that, too. They went to check it out and found this pool. Jim said they stayed in it a lot, looked over the caves, and thought.”

  “The cave is just right up there; it’s not a half minute away,” said Helen as she pointed.

  “They were gone a week…a little group of them. Men and two females. One woman acted normal, her cuts were healed, and she looked stronger and healthier. She was grouchier; that was all. The other female, Jack, and Jim talked about how they were gonna have sex one-third of the day, hunt for food and do cave stuff a third, and then have sex in the pool the other third. They didn’t need sleep. It was weird and unlike even Jack. And they used crude terms. They didn’t say have sex but…you know...the F-word….they would F-word all the time and have babies and populate the island.”

  Helen told her, “That wasn’t in the diary. He skipped this part, but there were pages removed.”

  “I bet he was embarrassed when he got this water out of his head. It affects people differently. Like Kelly said, ‘As medicine, it’s very good. As a habit, it’s bad.’ ”

  “I think like this: it magnifies the personality or doesn’t do much but energize. I feel stronger, energized, positive, and…kind of…brave,” Alex said.

  “I feel that, too. I was embarrassed to be nude in front of everyone, but then I felt fine; I relaxed,” said Helen.

  “I feel clear and tough. I feel in charge but not in an angry way. I have more confidence,” said Scott.

  “Me, too. But Stu, he is wilder and more predatory,” Davey said, “and Lorie is acting sexy. The hormones are being boosted. I admit sex is on my mind but not like Stu is acting.”

  Helen bit her lip, remembering that as they swam to the far side earlier and picked beans that hung over like a green tent, they had stopped, and she and Scott had hidden behind the heavy vines and had sex several times. She wanted to go do it again. She knew it was the water and tried to clear her head.

  Scott looked at her with need in his eyes.

  “What happened, Mattie?” Alex asked.

  “Jim and Jack took their group back to populate the world,” she told them. “Unfortunately, the transgender woman couldn’t have babies, of course. She balked. She didn’t like the plans to repopulate the island with humans. She and Jack had a fight that was loud, long, and physical. They traded blows, but everyone stayed out of their argument.

  Jack came to Mattie and asked her to join them because she could have babies. She yelled for awhile and refused to go. Had he tried to make her, she woul
d have tried to kill him.

  They left, Mattie stayed, but Mattie’s son, Jody, went, tempted by the orgies and free sex that was promised; he was a teenager after all. She cried when her son went, wondering how he could leave her but also understanding that his hormones were wild.

  “What about the other woman?” Alex asked.

  Mattie laughed and said, “We are friends kind of, or rather we have a truce. You know her: Shona.”

  Alex grinned. What a story. A second later, he sobered and realized it wasn’t that amusing. “I’m sorry, Mattie. I know that was horrible to lose your husband and then have your son leave that way. You’re doing the right thing by getting along with Shona.”

  “She’s pretty cool. I can’t blame her. Jack was a smooth talker, and she isn’t weird or anything. I mean I said those things and thought bad things, but she is just like any other woman. Normal. I think she felt as cheated as I did.”

  “You were both smart to stay with the air marshal,” Scott said, “just my opinion, but he’s a solid guy, isn’t he?”

  “He’s brave and smart and dependable, something my husband wasn’t. We think a lot of the marshal. It was the water, but it wasn’t. Does that make sense?”

  Helen nodded and said, “In moderation. We were in too long today, actually. It’s addictive because it makes people feel better. Too much is a very bad thing.”

  “I think so, too,” Mattie said.

  “We have to pack some before it gets dark. We were in there for hours, weren’t we?” Helen asked.

  Scott nodded and answered, “I think so. It makes you stay. The water, I mean.”

  “When they got to the caves, they realized that, and Jim said to stay out of the pool, for it was only for medicine like Kelly believes.

  But the kids sneaked back to it, and then they just wanted to be there all the time. Kids! They stayed in all day and half the night and a six-year-old girl began to develop breasts and menstruate. They had a lot of sex, and in a short time, they wouldn’t leave the pool. Then for some reason they did get out, and they were aggressive and mean. They ran away from all of those at the cave…their parents. All the children. My seventeen-year-old baby Jody led them.”