by C. G. Mosley
Lucy drew near him and poked a finger in his chest. “I’ve seen dinosaurs today, so I’ve accepted that they are real. Have you seen this fountain?”
“No, not yet,” he answered.
She laughed, in a psychotic sort of way. “Then how in the world do you know it is real?”
“Because there is someone among us that has seen it,” the old man shot back.
Osvaldo stood up. Travis pointed the barrel of his gun at him. “It’s true,” he said. “The fountain does exist. I am the one who was seen it.”
Lucy’s mood softened a bit. She hardly knew Osvaldo, but she was more interested in hearing him speak than to listen to anymore of Angus’s dribbling. “Tell me more,” she said.
“The one and only time I found the fountain was almost five-hundred years ago. I drank from it and I have lived ever since. I don’t age, I don’t get sick, and I’m always full of energy. You might say it was a blessing, and some would call it a gift.” He paused a moment and let out a deep breath. “I call it a curse. I’ve seen generation after generation of my family die. After a while, you get tired of burying your family members. You get tired of burying your friends.”
There was no mistaking the pain in Osvaldo’s eyes. Lucy could see it, and she was actually beginning to believe him. “You’re telling me that you are unable to die?”
He shook his head quickly. “Oh, I can certainly die. I am able to be mortally wounded.”
“You can kill yourself?” Lucy didn’t mean for the words to come out so blunt, she spoke them as soon as they popped into her head. Osvaldo seemed unaffected by the coldness of it.
“Yes, and do not think I haven’t considered it,” he answered. “It simply is not an option for me at this time.”
“Suicide is never an option for you, Osvaldo,” she replied.
There was a moment where no one said anything. Lucy used the precious time to attempt to process what she had heard. Osvaldo was either an Academy Award winning actor, or he was telling the truth. She chose to believe the latter. Actually, the more she thought about it, the more a lot of it made sense. The island, seemingly undiscovered (except for Osvaldo of course), had been inhabited by dinosaurs for millions of years. Somehow, they had managed to avoid extinction. It was possible, she supposed, that if the fountain of youth did indeed exist on the island, it could’ve had something to do with that fact.
Osvaldo began to speak again, shattering her thoughts. “I know this is all hard for you to believe, but I am telling you the truth. I’ve been forced against my will to find the fountain again.”
“I am not done living,” Angus said abruptly. “Lucy, I need to find the fountain. I just turned seventy-four years old. I don’t have nearly as many years left as I would like. You must understand why this is so important to me.”
“Oh, I understand,” she snapped. “I understand that you want to play God and you don’t care who gets hurt along the way.” She sighed and pointed toward Osvaldo. “Did you just hear everything he said? Living forever sounds great, but it isn’t. Osvaldo just did a pretty darn good job explaining why.”
Angus shot her an icy gaze. “I’m not Osvaldo. I’m Angus Wedgeworth and I will live forever.”
The statement chilled Lucy, but she did her best to hide it. The old man was clearly obsessed and that one statement cemented the fact that there was nothing she could do to persuade him to abort the search.
Angus sensed the wheels turning in her head and tried to throw a different angle at her. “My dear, I’m not just doing this for me. I want us all to experience it.”
Lucy smiled, and shook her head in amazement. “You’re crazy. You’ve completely lost it.” She allowed another hint of that psychotic laugh to escape her. “I do not want to live forever, Angus!”
“I do, boss,” Travis said, awkwardly interrupting the conversation.
“Drinking from the fountain won’t be forced on any of you,” Angus replied. “On the other hand, helping me find it will be.”
Lucy sat back down and held her head in her hands, her black hair cascading down around her face as she let out another sigh. “Fine,” she said finally. “But we’ve got to stop for the night.”
“We can’t stop, we still have another hour of daylight,” Angus said firmly.
“We need that hour to find a place to camp. We need to build a fire. There are lots of meat-eating dinosaurs out there that will be very active at night. If we try to make camp after nightfall, we won’t have a chance.”
Angus turned away from her and stroked his chin, obviously mulling it over.
Lucy stood and approached him. “Angus, we’ll help you find the fountain of youth. You haven’t given us a choice on that matter. However, it won’t do you much good if you die before you find it.”
Angus looked over his shoulder back at her. He took his hat off and fanned a buzzing insect out of his face. “Alright. Frank, take Armando and start gathering firewood. Travis, take Osvaldo and gather some large rocks to make a fire pit. We better make a large fire to keep the hungry dinos away.”
The four men trotted off and began gathering. Lucy and Angus sat back down on the damp, moss-covered boulder.
“You think I’m mad, don’t you?” he asked her.
“I think you’re insane,” she replied.
“I will do what I can to make sure you’re protected above everyone else, please believe that. Jonathon made me aware of your concerns about Travis. I will keep my eye on him.”
“I can take care of myself,” she snapped back, but secretly she hoped he was telling the truth.
***
Nightfall was fast approaching. As soon as Silas stopped the ATV next to the shipping container, an idea occurred to him.
“It won’t be long before it’ll be pitch black darkness out here. We’ve got to camp somewhere for the night, and I don’t think the Bethany is an ideal place to spend the night,” he said.
Annie clutched Jonathon’s arm. “I’m not going anywhere near that ship tonight,” she said.
“Well, what do you suggest?” Jonathon asked.
Silas slapped the metal side on the shipping container. “This thing should provide more than enough protection to get us through the night. We’ll shut the door and spend the night right here.”
Jonathon peered back in the direction of the woods. He wanted to continue searching for Lucy, but he forced himself to accept the fact that the search would have to wait until morning. It would be far too dangerous to venture into the jungle after dark. Silas was right when he pointed out that the island would soon fall under a veil of pitch black darkness. Even if the moon was out tonight, it was pretty unlikely that the silver beams would be able to penetrate the thick mist in the sky above.
“Alright, we’ll spend the night here,” he agreed. “I think we better get your four-wheeler in as well.”
Silas pushed it inside and the trio spent a few more minutes out on the beach. Annie stared out across the rolling ocean and secretly hoped that she had just dreamed this entire day. She hoped that when she woke up in the morning, she would be back at home in her own bed, safe and sound. She knew, of course, that it was all just wishful thinking. The night would allow her a few hours to dream; to escape. She knew that in the morning death would be breathing down her neck once again. The thought made her tremble. She couldn’t shake the horrible feeling she’d had since things began to spiral out of control. She had a sick feeling that she was going to die.
Chapter 21:
Travis and Frank took shifts during the night. It took a long time for Lucy to finally feel comfortable enough to drift off to sleep. Even then, she tossed and turned on the hard earth, unable to fall into a deep sleep. The ground, she knew, had little to do with it. The dinosaurs, which were quite noisy during the night with odd chirps, growls, and moaning, had little to do with it either. It was the two men taking shifts all through the night that made it nearly impossible for Lucy to get a good night’s sleep. She believed tha
t Angus would keep an eye on Travis, and she was now grateful that Jonathon had said something to him about the unwelcome advances. However, Angus was now sound asleep. The night seemed to drag on endlessly. She opened her eyes and glanced down at her digital watch. One-thirty-five glowed orange on the screen, illuminated by the nearby campfire. She was pleasantly surprised at this as she realized the last time she’d glanced at the watch it read eight-thirty. She’d gotten around five hours of sleep so far, although none of it had been constant.
She turned over on her side to see who was standing guard at the present time. She closed her eyes, and then opened one slightly to take a peek. It was Travis. He was seated straight across from her on the ground, his back against a tree. He was staring straight at her. It frightened her to see him looking at her and she shut her eye tightly, doing her best not to tremble as her heart rate sped up. Just go back to sleep, she thought.
“Honey, you okay?” he asked in a slight whisper.
She kept quiet and closed her eyes even tighter. Act like you’re asleep, he’ll leave you alone.
“What’s the matter, honey, you don’t want to talk to me?”
She remained silent.
Travis crossed his arms and let out a deep breath. His displeasure was evident, although he said nothing. Lucy kept her eyes closed and tried to relax her breathing. It became an even harder task when she heard him get up and walk toward her. She heard his knees pop when he knelt down beside her, and moments later, she felt his hot breath on her neck.
“I know you’re awake,” he whispered. “Open your eyes.”
She didn’t.
“Honey, you really shouldn’t fight this. I want you, and I always get what I want. Now let me see those beautiful brown eyes.”
Lucy tried desperately to remain calm, but it was a losing battle. Don’t give up…keep your eyes closed. He’ll give up any minute now.
For a moment, she thought that he was going to leave her alone. He quit whispering to her, and he no longer felt his breath on her cheek. Just as she was beginning to feel relief, something much more horrifying happened. She felt a tug at her shirt. Oh my God, is he unbuttoning my shirt?
Travis looked around to make sure the others were asleep. They were, and once he was satisfied that Lucy was asleep too, he decided to take a peek under her shirt. It would be tricky, but he had a couple of hours before his shift was up. He’d use all the time he needed to delicately open her shirt.
Lucy now held her breath, she wanted to scream, but wasn’t sure if it was the best course of action. She had almost decided to open her eyes and slap him when Angus’s ragged voice spoke from nearby.
“Travis, what do you think you’re doing?”
Travis immediately jerked his hand away and scrambled to get on his feet. “Nothing, I thought I heard her talking in her sleep. Just checking to see—”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Angus was clearly angry. He was doing his best to whisper, but it was difficult. “Go back to where you were and do your job!”
Travis wanted to argue. He wanted to tell the old man not to speak to him in that tone. But he knew Angus better than anyone. He knew Angus would kill him if he felt it necessary. He bit his tongue. “Yes, boss.” He plopped back down where he had been and crossed his arms as if he were pouting. Angus stayed awake the rest of the night.
***
Jonathon rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he awoke from the most uncomfortable night of sleep in his entire life. As he sat up on the hard metal floor, his back popped loud enough to wake Silas and Annie.
“Geez, you should get that looked at,” Annie said, then immediately released a long yawn.
“Yeah, that isn’t all I need looked at,” he grumbled, clutching his sore leg.
Silas stood without speaking, obviously sleep deprived. He just marched straight to the door and opened it just enough to peek his head out.
“Is the coast clear?” Jonathon asked.
“Affirmative,” he replied, swinging the door open the rest of the way. There still was no sunshine, but the piercing white light still forced them to squint.
Jonathon limped out onto the sandy beach, his leg throbbing more than ever. The breeze was cool, but it wasn’t until he splashed icy saltwater against his face that he became fully awake. Annie clumsily strolled out of the shipping container; she looked as if she’d aged no less than ten years in one day. Her makeup had all but disappeared, her eyes were bloodshot, and there were signs of the tremendous amount of stress she’d been under etched all over her face.
As he examined her, it suddenly occurred to Jonathon that the three of them had eaten very little since they’d arrived to the island. The day would most certainly bring about new dangers and challenges. A few hours of sleep had helped tremendously, but eating was absolutely essential if they were going to venture back into the jungle.
He stumbled back to the shipping container and looked around for a crate or box that they hadn’t noticed before. When he found none, it became obvious that if they were going to eat something, the island would have to provide it.
“Any ideas on what we could eat for breakfast?”
“I don’t care what we eat,” Annie replied; she was just happy someone brought up breakfast. “I’m hungry enough to eat sand if that’s all we’ve got.”
Jonathon smiled at her nervously. He truly hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“There wasn’t anything in the container?” Silas asked.
Jonathon shook his head.
“Maybe we could catch some fish,” Annie said, gazing across the rolling surf.
“With what?” Silas asked.
Jonathon scanned the environment and just as he was beginning to ponder what Parksosaurus meat would taste like, something else caught his eye.
“Coconuts.”
Annie’s face lit up. “Oh, of course! I love coconuts.”
Coconuts were plentiful near the edge of the jungle and they were a safe distance from the shipping container. Jonathon and Silas collected more than enough for them to get their fill. Cracking the coconuts open was no easy task, and Jonathon found himself missing his trusty knife for the first time since he’d lost it. It did not take them long to find a solution. When slammed hard enough, the heavy shipping container door cracked them nicely.
“Okay, we’re burning daylight,” Jonathon said as he wheeled out another four-wheeler. He walked over to Annie and put an arm around her. “Annie, I’m going to have to insist that you stay here and wait for us.”
Her eyes widened, she clearly didn’t like the idea. “Stay here? Alone?”
“I can’t think of any place on this island that would be safer than right here.” He rasped his knuckles against the metal side and it clanged loudly in response. “Do you hear that? That’s strong metal. A tyrannosaur can’t chew through that.”
She looked into the empty container, then back into his eyes. “How long will you be gone?”
“At least all day. If we haven’t caught up to them on four-wheelers by the end of the day, then we probably won’t ever find them.” He paused a moment and looked down as the words he’d spoken registered.
Annie put a hand under his chin and lifted his head back up to meet her eyes. “You’ll find her. Don’t worry,” she said confidently.
He nodded. “Go on and get in. One inside, I would prefer you not to come back out, but I know that would be asking too much.”
“Uh, yeah…you think I’m going to go to the bathroom in there?”
“You will if it’s necessary,” he replied. “Annie, promise me you won’t take any chances. If and I do mean if you have to go outside, you don’t go any more than ten feet from the container.”
She rolled her eyes and let out a little chuckle.
Jonathon grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Promise me! This is serious!”
Her expression immediately turned somber, his words obviously working the way he intended. “I promise,” she said finally.
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“Alright then, wish us luck.”
She did just that and gave them both hugs before they went on their way. She closed the door on the container and listened until the hum of the four-wheeler engines were swallowed up by the jungle. She prayed a silent prayer that they would return for her.
***
The panicked screaming of a man echoed loudly throughout the vast jungle. The alarming sound startled Lucy out of her sleep and she was on her feet in seconds. The screaming man turned out to be Frank, and it seemed surreal that the first sound she’d ever heard pass the man’s lips was screaming. Loud, terrified, blood-curdling screaming. At first, she thought that surely he was being attacked by something nasty with plenty of sharp teeth. She was relieved (and a dark part of her was disappointed) to find that Frank wasn’t being eaten after all, but he must have thought he was about to be.
A large duck-billed dinosaur was munching on some attractive greenery near the spot Frank had been sleeping. Lucy figured that it probably was a horrible thing to wake up to, but yet it was still quite amusing to her all the same. It had scared him so bad, that apparently he was too shocked to reach for his nearby rifle. The dinosaur seemed unaffected by the noisy man and continued feeding as if nothing had happened.
“What is it?” Angus asked, a little worry in his tone. “For God’s sake, what is that thing?”
“It’s a hadrosaur, and don’t worry, it’s an herbivore,” she replied quickly. “Judging by the front limbs, I’m guessing it’s an anatotitan.”
“A what?” Travis asked, wide-eyed like the others.
“Don’t make me repeat it,” she answered. She really didn’t want to say anything to Travis, but she didn’t want him to know she knew about his unwelcome advances during the night either. It was best for her to act as normal as possible.
“It looks like a big duck,” Travis said.
“Yeah, its name literally means ‘giant duck’.”
“You sure it don’t eat meat?” Travis asked, still gawking at the creature.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Good,” he replied, and he took off running and waving his arms at the dinosaur like a madman. The anatotitan immediately darted away, and they could all hear it crashing through the dense foliage for quite a while before it was gone.