Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:05:24 -0500
From: Tinnean <tinneantoo@embarqmail.com>
Subject: Stick With Me, Kid Part 14

Note: Stor is Norwegian for large. Helstrom is nothing if not repetitive.
Carl Mays, who pitched for the NY Yankees from 1919-1923, caused the first
fatality in baseball's history by beaning Ray Chapman, shortstop for the
Cleveland Indians, in the head with his 'fast-rising submarine ball',
August 16, 1920.  http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/mayscarl/

Stick With Me, Kid
Part 14

The most violent tremblor to yet shake the island didn't last long, but it
felt as if it did. It struck shortly after Helstrom found his way back to
camp, and I didn't see any reason not to blame him for it.

The ground rocked so viciously we went flying off our feet. This time the
quake was accompanied by a thunderous explosion. A rain of soot and ash
showered down on us, as well as shattered bits of heated rock that burned
holes in our clothes.

"Johnny! Watch out!"

Carl Denham rolled over, and I found myself under my lover, his body angled
above mine to protect me. I tried to change our positions, the better to
keep him safe. His eyes were dark and fierce as he stared down into my
face.

"Stop squirming," he ordered, "or I'll blister your backside as soon as
this lets up!"

"But..."

"Shut up, kid!" His voice was hoarse. "How do you think I'd feel if
anything happened to you? Johnny." His lips grazed over my cheek to my
ear. "Let me do this for you."

I was struck dumb by those words. They brought it home to me, as not much
else could, how very much he cared for me. I subsided and cradled his body
in the vee of my thighs.

When the shaking finally stopped, it was a couple of minutes before any of
us recovered enough to move. We coughed to clear our lungs of the noxious
dust.

"Is everyone all right?" Captain Englehorn climbed unsteadily to his feet,
then reached down to give Charley a hand.

My lover ran his hands over my body, then nodded, relieved. "We're good."

"A little singed, but otherwise we're oke, too, Skipper." Jimmy had
shielded Hildy, and I was thankful, because my first concern had been for
my lover and not the little girl.

"We were lucky this time." Captain Englehorn took out his tobacco pouch,
looking for all the world like a man who didn't have a single worry in the
world.

"What d'ya mean, 'lucky'? I got a stor big hole burned in my jacket!"
Helstrom complained, picking at it and making it larger.

The Skipper ignored him. He started to fill the bowl of his pipe, but his
calm facade was belied by the tremor in his fingers, and flakes of tobacco
spilled to the ground.

"Frank." Charley took the pipe and tobacco from the other man and prepared
it for him. He placed the stem between his own teeth and lit it. Once the
pipe was drawing to his satisfaction, he handed it back to the Skipper.

"Thank you, Chi."

"It is my pleasure, Frank." The Chinaman dusted some ash from the Skipper's
shoulder, and his palm lingered for a moment.

I could see the feelings they had for each other in their eyes.

"Now what, Skipper?" Jimmy was busy making sure that Hildy hadn't been
burned by the slivers of heated rock that had spewed from the eruption, and
he didn't witness the interaction between the ship's captain and the ship's
cook.

"I think it might be to our advantage to put out to sea until we see how
bad this situation becomes."

"Good idea," Carl Denham agreed. "What about food?"

"Food? You got food? You gotta share! I ain't et nothin' since those
miserable cans of beans yesterday!"

"'Cans'? Everyone else limited himself, or herself," the Skipper
acknowledged Hildy, "to a single can."

"I... er... uh... I got to keep up my strength!"

"Beans?" Charley wrinkled his nose. "Ah, so."

The Skipper gave a bark of laughter. "Well, there is no more food,
Helstrom. The knapsacks are gone. And with no more rifles, we'll have to
take our chances on what we're able to catch."

"No knap... *What d' you mean, no more rifles*?" The Norwegian's voice was
shrill.

"Just what I said. It seems we weren't the only ones to have a run-in with
a denizen of Skull Island. Jimmy and Carl did, as well. Not a single rifle
survived."

Helstrom's legs gave out from under him, and he fell to his knees. He
rocked back and forth. "This can't be happenin' to me! I ain't done nothin'
to deserve this! It ain't fair, I tell ya! It ain't..."

"Knock it off, why don't you, Helstrom? You don't see Hildy whining like a
yellow-bellied coward," Jimmy snarled.

Helstrom shut up, but I didn't like the look in his eyes. I didn't blame
Jimmy for losing his temper with the man, but I was unhappy that he'd
brought the Norwegian's attention to the little girl. I shifted until I
blocked his view of her. His eyes narrowed, and he surged to his feet, his
fists clenched.

Before he could take a step toward me, "Charley, my shiv needs an edge."
Casually, I reminded Helstrom that I was armed. "Can you sharpen it for
me?"

Only my plan backfired. "I am so sorry, Johnny. The grinding stone was
something else I did not pack." Charley had lost the sing-song cadence to
his English.

"You did the best you could in the short amount of time you had, Chi." This
time it was the Skipper's hand resting on the Chinaman's shoulder. "If it
hadn't been for your foresight, we'd have been marooned with nothing more
than the clothes on our backs."

Helstrom shook the canteen that had been looped around his neck. He'd come
into camp clutching it possessively. "Empty." He tossed it away. "Well, we
ain't much better off right now," he sniped.

"That's your fault as much as circumstances, Helstrom. *You're* the reason
the men mutinied, you no-good, miserable sack of...!" The Skipper had
maintained his patience until Helstrom attacked Charley. With a visible
effort, he brought himself under control. His teeth bared in a parody of a
grin, but his eyes were dark with menace. "I'm sick and tired of your
mouth, Helstrom. Keep it shut, or I'll shut it for you."

"I got every right..." No one saw the blow coming, least of all the
Norwegian. "Ow!"

"We're not in the United States. You've got *no* rights!"

Helstrom was flat on his back. Tears streamed from his injured eye, and he
cupped a hand over it.

The Skipper stood over him, his hands bunched into fists. "Now get
up. We've wasted enough time as it is."

Helstrom staggered to his feet, and his other hand crept to his
pocket. There was something about that gesture...

****

Captain Englehorn chose a different path for the journey back to the bay in
hopes of finding a possible food source. It didn't look manmade, and then
the Skipper confirmed it.

"This seems to be a game trail, gentlemen. Look sharp. The last thing we
want is to become the dinner for *our* dinner." He puffed on his pipe. "Did
I mention we nearly had an encounter with a bear on our way back to camp?"

"No, you didn't, Skipper."

"An unbelievably huge bear! I'd say it rivaled the size of the horned
dinosaur that chased us into that cave, wouldn't you, Charley?"

The Chinaman made an absent sound of agreement. He was intently studying
the undergrowth.

"Fortunately it was too busy raiding a honey tree to take any notice of us,
but if any of the creatures on this island crosses our path, we're going to
be in serious trouble!"

With no firearms to protect ourselves, that was an understatement.

"Strange island," my lover mused. "Not only dinosaurs from prehistory, but
animals from more recent eras. And there's not a chance in..." He glanced
at Hildy and bit his tongue to keep the word between his teeth. "... It's
not likely we'll learn how that came about."

Hildy smiled at him sweetly. "You could have said 'hell', Mr. Denham. I've
heard worse."

"Well, not from me you haven't, young lady!"

She giggled and gave a skip. I smiled down at her and held out my hand for
her to take, and we walked on.

>From time to time, Charley would stop to gather thorns, which he threaded
through a pocket of his tunic, or long, slender vines, which he looped
around his shoulder.

"What's he doing, Mr. Denham?"

"He's finding us hooks to fish with. Isn't that right, Skipper?"

"Yes, Carl. And the vines will prove excellent fishing lines." The Skipper
noted my surprise, and his moustache twitched in a small smile. "I've known
Charley for more than thirty years, Mr. Smith, and it never ceases to amaze
me, his vast store of knowledge."

"Ah! Oyster mushrooms!" Charley trotted to a rotted log that was not too
far from the path, where a number of the white clusters grew. "Very tasty!
Johnny, take these for me, please. We will have something to eat until we
are able to catch fish."

I pulled my shirt from my trousers, placed the mushrooms in the tail, and
caught the ends together to make a sack to carry them.

The Chinaman snapped a large leaf off a nearby tree. He squatted beside the
log and began picking carefully at the bark.

"What are you looking for now, Charley?"

He put what he found in the leaf. "Bait."

"Bait?"

Charley came gracefully to his feet and handed the Skipper the leaf, which
he'd folded to form a pouch. "Here, Frank."

The Skipper accepted it, looking pained.

"What's in it, Captain Englehorn?"

"Grubs, Mr. Smith."

With thumb and forefinger, I eased open the top of the pouch and peeked
in. There had to be almost two dozen in there, each about an inch and a
half long, pale, ridged, moistly glistening, bodies that wriggled in a
stomach-churning mass. I snatched my hand away and swallowed, stepping
back; I understood the expression on his face.

Charley's smile was that of a placid Buddha, but there was deviltry in his
dark eyes. "Frank, I will forage in that direction." He pointed to the
East. "Perhaps I will find something that will go well with the
mushrooms. You keep on, and I will catch up with you as soon as I can."

"Not alone, Chi. Take Jimmy with you."

"Me, too? Please?" Hildy begged. "I can help, too!"

He worried his lower lip, then glanced at Helstrom, who was again staring
avidly at the little girl. "Very well, Hildy. Make sure you stay close to
them, though."

"Aye, aye, Skipper!"

I watched as the three of them vanished into the undergrowth. "He'll be
able to find his way back to the bay?"

"Yes. Chow Chi... Charley... is more than he seems, Mr. Smith." He resumed
the trek.

"And he'd find his way back to the Skipper come hell or high water!" my
lover whispered, his breath warm in my ear, and I started. I hadn't
realized he was so close to me. "Just like I'd find my way back to you!"

My lips parted, and I became breathless. I wanted to lean into his embrace,
wind my arms around him. I wanted his hands on my ass, his thigh between my
legs, urging me to ride him, to rub my groin against the erection I knew
was concealed by his trousers.

He smiled and took a lock of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers and
then bringing it to his lips. I bit back a groan, my eyes on his mouth.

"Gentlemen?" Captain Englehorn paused by a bend in the trail.

"Let's get moving, kid, before the Skipper sends the cavalry after us."

We hurried to catch up with the other two men, then continued, side by
side, keeping an eye out for game.

"Hey, look!" Mr. Denham came to an abrupt halt and pointed to a long-legged
creature that stood some feet from us. It vaguely resembled an ostrich, and
it observed our sudden appearance unalarmed. "Lunch!"

I dropped the ends of my shirt. The mushrooms tumbled to the ground and
would no doubt be bruised, but I was more interested in our prospective
meal and reached into my pocket. My shiv was pretty much useless, but I
carried something else, a part of the treasure of Skull Island that I had
tucked away; Mr. Denham had taken the rest of the jewels, diamonds,
emeralds and sapphires. As large as they were, they were still smaller than
the red stone I held in my palm. I hurled the fist-sized ruby at the
creature before it even realized it was in danger.

The large jewel hit its head with a solid, crunching sound. Its feet flew
out from under it, and it landed heavily on its side.

"Come on, kid! We'd better get it before it comes to!" Mr. Denham ran to
where the creature lay motionless.

I just stood beside the Skipper, smugly examining my fingernails, a corner
of my mouth kicked up.

"Ho-ly smokes! It's dead! You've got an arm like Carl Mays!"

"The possibility of going hungry'll do that to you." I joined him, and bent
to retrieve the ruby and replace it in my pocket. "That thing's got a
mighty big drumstick!" I licked my lips and pulled out my shiv. "Here you
go, Mr. Denham." I offered it to him.

"I get to do the honors again, kid?" he asked dryly.

I smiled at him through my lashes. "I'm just a city boy, Mr. Denham. If
Charley were here, you could use his cleaver."

"If Charley were here, *he* could be gutting this thing," he grumbled. "And
guess who's going to pluck the feathers."

"The Skipper?"

He bumped his shoulder against mine. "Scamp." And I grinned.

"Men of my position do not remove feathers from their dinner, I'll have you
know." The Skipper met my eyes, and his moustache twitched.

"I'll bet you would if Charley asked you," I teased, feeling very daring.

"Well, of course!"

My lover shook his head and laughed softly. He finished dressing the
carcass as best he could and gave it to me, then tore off a handful of
leaves from a nearby bush and wiped the gore first from his hands, and then
my shiv.

"What about Little Kong, Mr. Denham?" I spoke quietly so Helstrom wouldn't
hear me. The young animal still hadn't returned, and I hoped he hadn't had
a confrontation with one of the big meat-eating dinosaurs or wound up in
quicksand from the almost constant quakes that were now shaking the island.

"I don't know, kid. I hate leaving him behind, but he isn't going to fit in
the lifeboat." He slid his arm around my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"We don't even know if he can swim."

"It's not right."

"I know, Johnny. I'm sorry." He handed me my shiv, and I put it in my
pocket.

"It's just... I know it's silly, Carl; we've only known him a little while,
but I feel like he's family too. Dumb, huh?" I passed the bird back to him
with a small smile and bent down to pick up the mushrooms.

"Not dumb at all, kid. He's saved both our lives. If there was anything we
could do..."

"If we had time, maybe we could build a raft."

"Time is something I don't think we have."

"No." Something was nagging at me, and I looked around.

The Skipper was frowning at the leaf with the grubs, which he held between
two fingers. He sighed. "At least it's not leeches."

My lover was tugging at the creature's feathers, swearing mildly as they
clung to his clothes. A few even wound up in his hair, giving him a
surprisingly dashing appearance.

Helstrom...

Helstrom was gone.

****

Jimmy came tearing through the brush. A stray branch must have caught him
across the face; a red welt marked his cheek. "Skipper! Skipper!" He
skidded to a stop, just missing barreling into the older
man. "Helstrom... He's grabbed Hildy!"

I started off in the direction Jimmy had come from. My lover grabbed my arm
and yanked me to a halt.

"Carl, he's going to hurt her!" I was almost dancing with impatience.

"We'll stop him," my lover asserted with the utmost conviction, displaying
the self-assurance of the entrepreneur who was going to make a million
bucks off King Kong. "We don't want to go off half-cocked, Johnny. It could
cost us valuable time."

Captain Englehorn took the pipe from his mouth, tapped it against his palm
to empty the bowl, and placed it in a breast pocket. "Where's Charley?" His
voice was deceptively calm.

"He's gone after them, Skipper. He told me to come get you and meet him at
the bay. He's sure Helstrom is making for the lifeboat."

The Skipper growled a curse and pulled out his compass. He studied it,
gazed up at the sun, and then chose a direction. "This way,
gentlemen. We've no time to lose, but remember, this is a hostile
island. We must use caution! It will do neither Hildy nor Charley any good
if we get ourselves killed! Use whatever you can as a weapon."

"Aye, aye, Skipper!"

Captain Englehorn and my lover found a couple of stout branches that had
snapped off during one of the quakes.

"Let me have your shiv, Smitty."

"It's too dull to do much good, Jimmy."

"Don't need to be sharp if it's thrown hard enough. I can throw it hard
enough."

I gave it to him without another word and curled my fingers around the
gemstone in my pocket. I might not be much good in a knife fight, but as my
lover had observed, I could hurl a rock as hard as the one-time Yankee
pitcher.

The Skipper nodded in grim satisfaction and took the lead. The journey was
accomplished in silence, and in a surprisingly short amount of time, we
reached the edge of the jungle that bordered the bay.

"Shhh." The Skipper hadn't needed to tell us to keep silent.

Helstrom was a couple of yards away from the lifeboat. He had an arm around
Hildy, a shiv to her throat.

That was how he'd been able to open his can of food the day before. "I
*knew* there was something..." I was disgusted with myself for not having
put two and two together before this.

Mr. Denham squeezed my shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, kid. None of us
thought to frisk him when we pulled him into the lifeboat."

The Norwegian's attention was fixed on Charley, and he was unaware of our
presence. "Stay back or I'll kill her, I swear it, ya goddammed Chink!"

Charley responded in a soothing tone, although we couldn't make out his
words. He took a step forward, and Hildy squeaked as the tip of the shiv
dimpled the skin of her throat.

"Stay back, I tell ya!"

There was a questioning rumble from behind us, and I knew it was Little
Kong, who had somehow managed to find us. Helstrom's eyes widened as he
took in the sight of the young animal, and he uttered a high-pitched
shriek.

"What... No... There's not supposed to be..."

He scrambled backwards toward the lifeboat, dragging Hildy with him. The
ground shimmied, and his footing became unsteady. He slipped in the lichen
that covered the ground at the water's edge and wind-milled an arm to
regain his balance.

The usually calm waters of the bay were roiling from the constant agitation
of the island's quakes. The lifeboat rocked and bucked like a living thing
desperate for freedom, tethered only by the line that fastened it to the
ancient pier.

Charley leaped forward to grab Hildy from Helstrom's lax hold, but
unexpectedly, he tightened his grip. The Chinaman arced his cleaver down,
separating hand from wrist, and pulled Hildy away. He flung the hand into
the water just as the Norwegian, screaming in fear and pain, lost his
battle to remain upright and tumbled backwards.

He vanished beneath the surface. For a second there was nothing, and then
he exploded from the water, clawing at the sky with hand and stump, his
mouth stretched wide as he vomited a fountain of blood.

The monster shark had somehow made its way into the bay, and it had the
Norwegian in its lethal jaws.

Charley's skin took on an ashen hue, and he spun Hildy back toward us. "Do
not let her see!"

I went down to my knees and pulled the little girl into my arms, keeping
her head buried in my shoulder. Jimmy stepped behind her and placed his
hands over her ears in an effort to block out Helstrom's screams. His eyes
met mine, and they looked sick.

The quake subsided, the waters grew calmer, and silence fell over the bay,
but the atmosphere had the tingling feel that preceded a storm.

"We must leave this place, honorable one. Now." Charley's expression was
inscrutable.

The Skipper nodded. He appeared unaffected by the events that had just
unfolded. No doubt they had both witnessed attacks such as this
before. "Hold the lifeboat steady, Chi. Mr. Smith, if you'll see to Hildy?"

I swallowed heavily, reluctant to approach the spot where Helstrom had
disappeared, but knowing it had to be done. The island was no longer safe,
had never been safe.

"Don't look, honey."

Thick gouts of blood were splattered over the lichen and dribbled down into
the bay, turning the water there momentarily pink.

I lifted the little girl up and stepped into the lifeboat. The others
followed until only the Skipper remained on land. He untied the line,
jumped into the boat, and used an oar to push us away from the pier.

Little Kong stood on the land, his eyes blinking as he watched us pull
further out into the bay, and then head toward the narrow channel that led
to the ocean. His hand reached out toward us.

My eyes burned, and I looked away, concentrating on my oar strokes.

****

Puffs of white smoke rose from the mountains.

We could hear the explosions as once dormant volcanoes came to life and
erupted, triggering other, more powerful eruptions.

"Keep rowing, gentlemen. We aren't out of danger yet."

Jimmy and I put our backs into it, but the ocean was against us. For every
three yards we gained, we lost two. Our shirts split across the shoulders,
blisters formed on the palms of our hands and broke, mingling blood with
our sweat, and we rowed until we thought our lungs would burst.

Captain Englehorn and my lover spelled us. We moved aside and slumped in
our seats, our chests heaving like bellows as we struggled to catch our
breath.

"I guess it's my turn," Jimmy panted.

"Huh?" I was too tired to try to decipher his words.

He ripped a strip off the shirt he wore and tore it in two, handing one to
me. He tore his in two again and bandaged his hands.

"Thanks, Jimmy." I followed suit.

After we'd got our second wind, we took frugal sips of water, and then it
was our turn again, and still we made poor headway.

And then it was too late.

A hot blast of air swept over us, stealing the oxygen from our lungs, and
we watched in horror as abruptly, the perpendicular cliffs that surrounded
Skull Island collapsed into the ocean. The ear-shattering roar followed
moments later.

Huge waves pitched the lifeboat to and fro. We clung to each other and the
boat and rode it out, and finally the ocean calmed.

What remained of Skull Island was just a smudge on the horizon.

"Ship oars, gentlemen. Is everyone all right?" He waited for our
acknowledgment and nodded in relief. "Very well, then. How are we set for
supplies?"

Carl Denham wearily held up the bird. Its shower bath courtesy of the ocean
had not done it much good, and its remaining feathers were sadly
bedraggled.

"I was able to keep hold of those bloody-be-damned grubs."

"And I the vines." They were still wound around Charley's shoulders.

I untied the tail of my shirt and spilled the mushrooms into the water that
washed over the bottom of the boat. They were bruised but edible.

"Was anyone able to save a canteen?"

"I did, Skipper." My lover held it up and shook it. From the sound, it was
about half full. "No matter how careful we are, this isn't going to last
long."

"No, wait! Charley found something!" The bottom of the shirt Hildy wore had
been tied to form a pouch. She pulled out an orange, tore at the peel with
her fingernails, and broke off a segment of the fruit. "See?" She squeezed
it, and a trickle of liquid ran from her fist down her arm. "This will
help."

"I have some, too." Jimmy's pockets were filled with the same fruit,
although they were regrettably squashed.

"And if we lay out clothes during the night, it will help to catch
dew. There are also fish in these waters whose flesh can supply us with
enough fluid to survive until we can find a safer island."

"Ah, Chi, what would I do without you?"

The Chinaman's eyes glittered, and I suddenly saw past the veneer of thirty
years to the young, vibrant man who had drawn the Skipper to him. His words
were so low I could barely hear them. "It behooves me to keep what is mine
alive, honorable one."

The Skipper gripped the other man's hand. "Always yours, Chi."

Charley's hand turned under the Skipper's and returned the pressure.
"Always yours, Frank."

tbc