Author's Notes: Okay, I suck at trying to release chapters over longer spans of time. Here's numero dos.

Running again; I couldn’t tell if it was toward something or away. The jungle gave me its leave, moving slightly out of my way as I bounded with long strides past tree after tree, leaping over the fallen without breaking my rhythm.

Something was different this time; the drums. Boom-Boom-Cha, Boom-Boom-Cha. It reminded me of an old Queen song, but I knew it meant something else.

Out of the thick leaves something joined me, matching my pace, but I was too focused to pay attention as to what it was.

Boom-Boom-Cha, Boom-Boom-Cha.

Boom-Boom-Cha, Boom-Boom-Cha.

~O~

Zach wanted to accompany me the next morning. I wasn’t so amicable. “I don’t trust the others not to do something stupid. You need to stay here and guard Evelyn.”

“I need to do something, Chase. I can’t just sit here all day.”

I could feel for him. Digging into my jeans pocket, I pulled out my utility knife. “Here. Find some sticks, no more than two inches thick, and about five or six feet tall. Sharpen the ends to a point, as many as you can.”

He didn’t seem to be too happy, but it gave him something useful to do. I grabbed my walking stick and backpack. “Watch out for Brian today. He’s going to do something stupid here pretty soon.”

My running shoes were still wet from the day before so I stayed with the swim shoes. They were high quality, but not really made for hiking. I was hoping that they’d at least last me a few days.

We bagged up an equal amount of empty soda and water bottles on the off chance that one of us would come across something drinkable. A swimming pool full of Gatorade wouldn’t really go amiss. Each of us had half a bottle of water left, and if it didn’t rain or one of us didn’t find something then we were screwed.

Oh, the moisture collector they tried to rig up? It didn’t work, well not in the way it was intended. As a trap for insects it was top notch.

~O~

Thirty minutes into my hike, and I knew I was being followed. Whoever it was, sucked at stealth. I moved ahead quickly and concentrated on leaving as little evidence of a trail as humanly possible. When I’d found a good enough tree, I scrambled up and hid myself behind some gigantic elephant leaves.

It was the douchebag, Brian. In one hand he held what looked to be a jagged piece of the airplane hull wrapped in cloth on the end he was gripping. His face was red from overexertion and sweat was dripping. He was ten yards away when he came to a stop, looking around for what I guessed was my trail.

I came to two possible reasons as to why he was tailing me. One: he was offering his help in our search for water and or shelter. Two: he was going to attempt a little revenge.

“Where the fuck did you go you little bitch?” he whispered to himself, or so he’d thought.

I suppose that answered my question.

“You know, bitches are typically female,” I said from my perch well above his reach.

Brian jerked in my direction and frantically looked around. The idiot hadn’t even bothered to look up. His weapon was held out before him in a grip so tight his knuckles were white. I was guessing his experience with improvised knife fighting was picked up along with his vast firearm training. Perhaps he’d seen some prison movie or something, or maybe prison porn movies. I found the latter more likely.

“You might as well come out. If I have to hunt you down, I’ll just make it last longer.”

I actually chuckled out loud to that one. “Brian,” I said as I moved the elephant leaf out of the way. “If I come down there, I’m going to take that really bad knife of yours and cut your balls off. Imagine how embarrassing that be when you make it back to camp and try to explain that you really didn’t try to act cool and stick another weapon down the front of your pants.”

It was mostly bravado on my part. I had the advantage at the moment. He couldn’t climb the tree properly without doing something with the knife, and he couldn’t put it down without evening the odds. Plus I had my walking stick to whack him with.

He was just now figuring this out. “You’re not making it back to camp tonight. I can wait you out.”

“Really?” I put a finger to my lips. “The way I see it is that you’re sweating an awful lot and all that running you had to do to catch up must have made you reaaaaaaaly thirsty. Have you finished your allotment of water, Brian?”

His lips thinned and I knew he had. “Plus there’s the wildlife out here. I’m nice and safe in the tree and you’re...”

A flash of black raced through my field of vision. The next thing I knew, Brian was crumpled to the ground screaming.

“…not.”

The panther from yesterday had him pinned. A set of its front claws were embedded in Brian’s chest and its gigantic mouth was worrying his knife arm. It didn’t take more than a couple of seconds to separate Brian from his knife… and most of his forearm.

I was transfixed on the panther’s movements. No effort was wasted; nature’s simplicity in itself. The giant paw flexed and I saw the claws dig deeper until Brian shuttered to a halt. That’s when I noticed my breathing was coming in short pants. Licking my lips, I watched as the panther turned around to look up at me.

The strangest thing was I wasn’t scared.

After withdrawing its claws, it padded over to the base of the tree and dropped Brian’s severed hand, still clutching the knife, at the base and then returned to its meal for the day. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. It was a him panther, which was obvious now from the angle I was watching from.

He was beautiful. Sleek elegance, deadly intent, infinite grace, all packaged under black fur, firm muscle, and deadly claws.

I don’t know what made me do it. I seriously don’t. But I climbed down from the tree, ignoring the prize, this beauty gave me, I crouched on the ground about halfway to the body, watching the feline work.

“Were you protecting me, boy?”

He looked up at me briefly before returning to his own prize.

I know. I’m probably grossing you out at the moment, but I couldn’t look away and I couldn’t move until he was finished. I’ll just say that he pretty much ate what normal predators ate and left the rest. What I’m getting at is, there wasn’t much left.

He padded back to the tree and nosed the severed knife wielding hand back at me.

“Uh, no thanks. I’m not really that hungry quite yet.”

But he wouldn’t leave it alone until I tore off a couple of elephant leaves and wrapped it up for storage in my pack. I am so never going to be able to get that clean.

After taking his time with proper panther grooming, he settled down and watched me. It was like a repeat of the day before, except I didn’t have the time to waste.

“Sorry, boy, I hate to watch you eat and run, but I’ve got to find some water for some very thirsty people, or we’re all going to die.”

He blinked at me and stood before trotting off the way he came. I watched him for a moment, until he stopped and looked back at me.

Again, I don’t know why, but I went ahead and asked. “Do you know where the water is?”

He took a couple of steps and looked back at me once more. I shrugged. “Okay then, lead away.”

~O~

The panther started slow until I caught on that he wanted to increase the pace. Pretty soon, I was running full out trying to keep up. There were times that I almost stumbled, but eventually I found a rhythm which conveniently matched the heartbeat I was hearing in my head. I’d tuned everything else out until that was all there was: me, the panther, and running.

I would have never found it on my own. I don’t think anyone would have. We went up the side of the mountain at first and then jogged over and went back down again where a large bolder sat at the base. From the front, it was all major undergrowth that would be next to impossible to wade through unless you were armed with a seriously large machete.

He dropped down behind the bolder where an opening was in the side of the mountain. I followed. I had to crouch to make sure I didn’t bang my head, but it wasn’t for long. The mouth opened up into a really large natural cavern, and at its center was a really large pond or a small lake the edges of which disappeared into the darkness.

There was a little light that filtered down from four different places, and I could hear water dripping in the distance.

The panther went up to the edge of the water and drank its fill before returning to sit beside me. I knelt down and for the first time, touched him. My fingers side over his head and behind his ears.

“Thank you.”

Satisfied, he got back up and found a perch above the entrance. It was then that I understood. This was his home, his lair, and he’d brought me there.

“I won’t tell anyone where this is, boy, but they need water.”

His mouth opened up, impossibly wide and then closed before he lay his head down and closed his eyes.

I wanted nothing more than to jump into the water and just lay there for an hour, but the others might object to Chase flavored drinks. Taking my time, I went through bottle after bottle, submerging and filling each. It was fairly cold and very refreshing when I emptied one over my face and through my hair.

After securing the bag to my pack, I made my way out, only taking a few moments to pet a currently comatose jungle cat. I hoped he didn’t get heartburn after eating the douchebag.

The hike back took about an hour, since I knew where I was going finally. I didn’t take the most direct route, knowing that if I made a natural trail then my panther’s secret would be out, plus the others would find the water. At the moment, I had leverage.

It was the welcome I received when I’d gotten back that annoyed me. Evelyn was leaning over Zach, moping at his face. The others watched me warily. When Zach saw me, he cringed a little. I saw that his nose was swollen and looked like it had been bleeding.

When I set my pack and the bottles down beside the tree, I squatted down and asked, “What happened?”

“They took your knife, that Stuart guy,” Evelyn said. “Zach tried to stop him, but…”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I reached into the bag and passed over two bottles.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened and she rushed to open hers and swallow about a quarter of it in one shot before I slowed her down. “Easy. We need to move and you can’t do that if your stomach is cramping. Start packing.”

She got the gist of what I was suggesting. “Are you sure, Chase?”

I nodded. “I’ve got a climate controlled cave with an endless water supply and natural protections. They won’t be bothering us.” Looking back at the group, I saw a few of them already up at seeing that I had found water.

“Did any of them try to stop Stuart?”

“Three of the girls, those over by the fire. Pete and his grandson…,” said Zach.

“Brett. Good. I’d hated to have left them behind.”

I shifted two bottles into my pack and took out the present I had for Stuart.

“What’s that?” asked Evelyn.

“You really don’t want to know. Now start packing.”

I leaned my walking stick against the tree and picked up the bag of filled bottles, pulling two out in the process. Making my way over to Pete and Brett, I held them out.

“We couldn’t stop them, Chase. I’m sorry,” said Pete.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I found shelter. Pack your bags and anything you want to take with you.”

His eyes widened and then shifted to the others. “You’re not leading everyone are you?”

“Nope.”

He sighed and nodded with resignation. “Perhaps they’ll come around eventually.”

The three girls were my next stop. “Thanks for trying to help.” They greedily drank at the bottles. “I’ve found shelter and water if you want to join us.”

One of them was the crying lady from before. “What about the fire and the rescue teams?”

My eyes flicked up to see Stuart and his group were watching us, but not really doing much else. “There’s not going to be any rescue. By day’s end, they’ll be shutting down the rescue portion and moving on. We’re on our own.”

I could see denial behind their eyes. “But I’ll be setting something similar up at our site, just in case.”

The crying lady shook her head. I could see I wasn’t getting through to her. One of the others, a young brunette in her twenties looked somewhat resigned.

“You’re leaving now?” she asked.

I nodded. “Right after I get my knife back.” They didn’t look too hopeful about that happening, but I gave them a small smile anyway. “Go get packed if you want to come with.”

There were eleven bottles left and quite the number of people behind Stuart, waiting for theirs. When I approached, I already saw a number of them holding their hands out, expectantly.

“My knife, I want it back.”

His hand instinctively went to his right front pocket. “It’s everyone’s knife. You can’t have a resource and not share it with the others.”

I gave him a calculating smile. “Is that the new law?”

He only nodded in return.

“You know, Stuart, when you send someone to kill me in the jungle next time, you might want to arm them better.”

The blond-haired guy that got Stuart to back off from the beginning started looking around. “Where’s Brian? Stuart, what did you do?”

I gave the blond a look. “He gave him a shiv made out of the plane’s hull and had him follow me this morning… or at the very least encouraged him.”

“What happened?”

Stuart took a step forward, closing the distance between us to about five feet or so. “He’s lying. Brian’s hunting for shelter and water like everyone else.”

With an underhanded toss, I lobbed the wrapped present to him. The elephant leaves fell open on the way over. It got a little loud after that. Even Stuart looked surprised. Several of the others backed away. The blond guy looked at his friend with disgust, turned and walked away.

“My knife,” I said.

His paled face lifted to me. “I didn’t… I didn’t send him after you.”

As much as I wanted to deny it, I believed him. “Fine. Then this is how it’s going to work. Gather your water bottles and give them to me. Each morning you’ll find them filled on the beach. In return, I’ll want fish. If anyone tries to find out where we are, I’ll know and you might or might not find yourselves in the same straights as Brian here. I highly suggest staying away from the south side of the island.”

Stuart’s eyes narrowed. “You found a cave, didn’t you?”

I nodded. “Yep. Find your own.”

He wasn’t happy. The muscles in his jaw tightened and his fists clenched. “I’m keeping the knife.”

Without waiting for anymore talk, I took out a bottle, unscrewed the top and upended it on the sand.

“Give him the stupid knife,” one of the guys said.

Dropping the bottle, I reached into the bag for another. Right when I started unscrewing it, Stuart lunged. I tried to dance out of the way, but he wound up clocking me hard on the shoulder, knocking me to the ground. I lashed out with the heel of my foot, as hard as I could right below his knee. A loud pop sounded and Stuart went down screaming and clutching at his dislocated knee.

My shoulder felt like a pile-driver had at it, so I scrambled away as best as I could. He flailed at his back pocket withdrawing a sharpened stake. It was crude, but it would be effective if he reached me. Luckily, I had two functional legs.

A loud growl sounded behind me, and Stuart’s eyes went wide. I didn’t spare a glance back, because I already knew what was there.

Holding my hand out, I waited. The panther eventually made its way over and brushed his head underneath. There was a constant low growl emanating from his throat.

The others were already making tracks far away, leaving Stuart to his own just rewards.

“Now, you can give me my knife or I can wait until my friend here rips out your throat and then I can get it myself. Your choice.”

I got my knife back.

~O~

The ones that joined us included the blond guy, Dane. The crying lady bowed out. Janie and Sara, the two new girls walked along with Pete and Brett, while Zach and Evelyn flanked me, and the panther disappeared into the jungle.

“Was that really Brian’s hand,” asked Zach.

I nodded. “What’s left of him is about twenty minutes in that direction. There wasn’t much.”

“How did you…” Evelyn started. “The cat.”

“I really don’t know. He surprised me the first time I came out, but he didn’t act like he wanted to eat me or anything. Then this morning he came out of nowhere and took down the douchebag. After that he led me to the cave and the water.”

Evelyn gave me a really weird look. “How did he know to do that?”

I shrugged. “I asked him.”

“You can talk to animals now?” she asked with a little bit more disbelief than I thought the situation deserved.

“He understands me. I don’t really understand him. So, if that’s your definition of doing a Doctor Doolittle…”

She was silent for the rest of the hike.

When we arrived at the cave, the panther was asleep on his perch, but he opened an eye for a moment to make sure it was me leading the bunch and not a mid-afternoon snack waltzing in.

“Oh my god, it’s like air conditioned,” Sara almost squealed with a bounce.

Zach couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. It made me smile a little. There was nothing like an exuberant blonde with large breasts to perk any guy up.

Pointing along the sides of the cave, I noted, “There are a lot of recesses in the walls. I suggest that for your beds. We can scout around for stuff to pad it. I plan on going back to the plane for cushions for myself.”

There were nods of agreement and everyone picked out one for themselves. Evelyn chose one near mine and Zach coincidently chose one near Sara.

Once everyone dropped off their packs they gathered around looking at me like I was the leader. Since I’d found the new digs, I could see their train of thought.

“Look, I don’t have rules or laws. We can divvy up the chores equally if that’s cool with everyone.”

Dane raised his hand a little. “I’ll go get some deadwood and start a fire.”

Pete nodded. “I’ll help you. Brett, why don’t you and Zach take the girls and find something to eat, but don’t try anything that you don’t recognize until Chase okay’s it first.”

Janie, the brunette, edged up, looking at me like I was the second coming. “I’m not really jungle certified, yet. What can I do?”

I took that to mean she didn’t feel safe enough to help the others, and with a giant panther on the island, there was no telling what else could be out there. “I was going to explore the cave and see if there were other ways in. You’re welcome to come with me.”

She looked around, somewhat tentatively. “Okay. Do I need anything?”

I shrugged. “Just yourself.”

That brought a quick smile from her.

~O~

Somewhere along the line Janie’s hand found mine. I think it was the third time we were surprised by a small cavern full of bats, well not entirely full, maybe a few dozen, but still. After an hour or so of backtracking because of dead-ends, we’d come across my paradise: a natural hot spring.

Both of us stared at the steamy water that was trailing off through an opening in the side of the mountain.

You must understand something at this point. It had been almost three days since any of us had anything resembling a hot bath. My scrubdown in the sea water didn’t count. The sand that coated our skin, especially in places that it shouldn’t be was more than an annoyance. And frankly, we reeked.

All it took was a glance and a nod at each other before we both stripped down to nothing and eased into the perfectly hot water. I retrieved my travel kit and pulled out a fresh bar of soap, handing it over.

Janie might have squealed a little when she saw it. Her exuberance totally erased any thought of modesty that might have existed. I was right there with her.

Fifteen minutes later and I’d scrubbed every inch that was within reach. We even did each other’s backs, before setting the soap aside and simply enjoyed the water.

“You won’t tell the others that we did this together, will you?”

My eyes were closed, as my head hung backward on the lip of the pool, but I smiled. “Already regretting?”

She giggled. “Not really. It was worth you seeing me naked and not having to take turns. This is heaven.”

“Well, we’re even. You saw me too. Don’t worry about it. I don’t scrub and tell.”

“Really?”

I nodded and smiled again. “Besides, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I should be thanking you.”

That’s when I felt her hand slide across my chest. My eyes fluttered open and I saw her face was only inches from mine. She smiled very seductively down at me. “Feel like a proper thank you?”

My lips parted as I sucked in a breath when her hand dipped down to grip a very sensitive portion of my anatomy. “You really don’t…”

I didn’t even get it all out before her lips dropped on mine. By the time she’d pulled back, I was raring to go and she was breathing heavy.

“I really do.”

With a swift motion, she straddled me and worked me up inside her. The water did nothing to help matters. Whoever says they love having sex in a hot tub hasn’t really had sex in a hot tub. Water washes away the natural lubricant making it a much rougher ride than normal, if you get my meaning.

But that didn’t matter at the moment, not when I was fully inside her. We stopped all movement and just sat there relishing the feeling. Janie shuddered and then gasped out loud before leaning back and dipping her hair in the water again.

“Oh god, I needed that.”

What? She came already?

Her grin turned wicked. “Now, are you ready for the main event?”

~O~

After the mud fiasco of the previous day, I’d taken to store a pair of shorts and a shirt in my pack. She got the shirt, I got the shorts. After rinsing the swim shoes, I slipped them on and we made our way back.

Before entering the main portion of the cave, Janie stopped, pulled me back and then pressed herself onto me. A really nice kiss later and she smiled. “Thanks Chase, really. I almost feel like a new person.”

Her fingers danced down my chest tweaking playfully at my left nipple. “And if you can keep this between you and me then I’d like to maybe make our bath time a regular thing.”

Considering we tested the limits of my endurance, three times actually, I was all for sealing my mouth shut. To show compliance, I mimed a closed zipper on my lips. It goes to show exactly how exhausted I was since I followed Janie straight into the cavern afterward. Her teasing should have brought a reaction out of me, but I was limp as a spaghetti noodle. After so many hiking trips and the work out we’d just had, I wanted nothing more than to curl up and relax for the rest of the afternoon.

“Holy cow, you’re clean!” Sara nearly crapped herself right there. She ran up to Janie and sniffed. “And you smell good too!”

Janie looked back at me and grinned, so I took the lead. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have hot running water.”

That brought gasps of excitement from the rest of them. After a brief explanation, Janie got dressed and escorted a group of them back to the spring. I totally enjoyed some of the fruit that the others gathered and then totally crashed out in my hard rock alcove.

~O~

No running, no drums, only sweet oblivion.

~O~

A shaft of sunlight met me when I opened my eyes. I winced and turned away to let my vision adjust to the low light of the cave. The bare rock wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep. The acquisition of several seat cushions was paramount amongst the things to accomplish for the day.

Brushing my hair out of my eyes, I grimaced. There had to be something in the fruit that had been found around the island. My hair was growing like crazy. I don’t normally wear it really short, but it had never touched my shoulders either, like it was doing right then.

I worked a kink out of my back before slipping my swimshoes back on. They were already too loose, stretched from constant use. I could probably use some thread from my sewing kit to tighten them up a little, but I’d wait until it was necessary. There’s only so much thread and no store around to buy more.

My muscles were a little sore from overuse the day before and my hips a little tender from overuse with Janie, but that was a good kind of tender. Routing around in my clothes suitcase, I pulled out a tight tank and a pair of jeans. I wasn’t pleased to find myself tightening my belt by a notch more than normal. All the running around and limited diet apparently had made me lose a little weight. Even the tight tank wasn’t very tight anymore.

That was a concern. I wasn’t fat, not at all. So if I was losing weight up top that meant it involved muscle mass. We needed red meat, or at least more meat in our diets. That meant hunting.

Pete was up before me again, sitting at the small fire, poking it with a stick. I guess it was an old guy thing to do. He poked a lot. When I approached, he looked a hundred percent better than the day before. It’s amazing at what a hot bath and shave can do for a person.

I sat myself on the ground and warmed my hands on the fire.

“What’s the plan today?” he asked.

It was weird how used to running the show had become for me. I sighed and thought of what needed to be accomplished. “Foraging. I’ll run the water down to the beach and pick up a bunch of seat cushions, and then we scout around here and see what we can come up with. We need real meat. Fish is okay, but something heartier would be better.”

He nodded. “If you want to leave your knife behind, I’ll start on some spears.”

I didn’t even question Pete’s motivation or the others I’d brought along with me. After passing it over, I made a few more suggestions. “If you can get everyone to do the first day duties all over again, we should be in a better position later today to actually make some headway.”

He nodded in agreement. “Do you think we should find out what everyone’s strengths are and assign duties?”

“No assigning anything. Everyone should learn what they aren’t good at from the others, become more self-reliant.”

Pete grinned. “Then you’re going to be a very busy teacher, Chase.”

I filled up the twenty some odd previously empty bottles and piled them in the sack before seeing the panther. He had been watching me the entire time.

Reaching up, I scratched behind his ears. “You mind sticking around here and keeping an eye out for my friends?”

His pupils dilated a little before he nudged me with his nose.

“Cool, thanks…” I smiled at him. “We need to get you a decent name. I can’t keep calling you boy.”

~O~

The run through the woods was a little slower than normal, since I was carrying what amounted to a case of bottled water. You try it and see how much it throws you off balance.

In time, I made it to the beach and saw that things had reverted to their original state, just with less people. When Stuart saw me, he pushed himself upright with the use of a makeshift crutch. His face was red and he was sweating hard. Life must be a serious bitch without pain killers and a dislocated knee.

They’d probably popped it back in since the nurse practitioner wound up staying with them, but it still had to hurt.

Stuart’s stake was back in his hand, like I was going to come close enough for him to use it. Whatever. A couple of the others noticed me and one of the guys approached, scanning the tree line for the panther, I suppose.

Handing the bag over, I said, “Dump it and give me your empties. I’ll be in the plane.”

He didn’t bother with small talk and simply followed orders like a good little drone.

Once inside, I noticed the heat was oppressive and there was a smell of something gone bad hanging in the air. Starting at the back, I worked a couple of seatbelts loose and started working them through the handholds on the cushions so I could carry more. It wasn’t a matter of weight since they were fairly light, but they were bulky as well. In the end, I’d managed twelve per hand.

The plane had been stripped of a lot, but I could already see things I could use. I shrugged. That would be for the next trip. I had too much already.

When I made it back to the doorway, there were a number of people waiting, including gimpy. I still had to jump down, but until I’d ascertained their intent I wasn’t going anywhere.

“What?” I asked with as much authority as I could manage.

The guy that took the water from me before stepped up. “One bottle of water a day isn’t enough.”

I shrugged. “It’s all I can manage. Where are my fish?”

He frowned. “We only caught five yesterday. We’re trying different bait, but there are only so many hooks we can drop at one time.”

From the look on the faces of the others, I knew he wasn’t bullshitting me. I sighed and looked down at the floor of the plane. They were dirty, dehydrated and hungry. Pretty soon, even common civility was going to go to the wayside and someone would do something stupid. For my friend’s safety, I had to help them.

“Fine. Give me a few minutes and I’ll work something else up. Get into the shade; you’ll stay hydrated better if you’re cooler.”

I set the cushions down on the floor and walked the aisle thinking about how to capture a whole lot of fish at once. It would be great if I had some netting, but that isn’t really standard issue on airplanes. On my third pass through the rear galley, I noticed a floor panel with a latch on it. The problem was, it was locked, and no, I had no idea how to pick a lock.

The guy was still standing there when I returned. “What’s your name?”

“Wallace.”

“Well, Wallace, anyone have something that can double as a crowbar?”

~O~

We couldn’t find anything that was thin enough yet strong enough to fit between the seams of the hatch so we could pop the lock. From what Wallace had told me, the people they buried, had their pockets gone through before they were covered and no keys were found on the stewards. That meant the flight crew were the only ones that were likely to have them.

With all the upgrades to the cockpit since 9-11 getting though the door from the inside was virtually impossible without explosives. We’d never gotten the flight crew’s bodies out. That meant they’d been baking in the sun for more than three days. That’s probably where the smell was coming from.

“I need some volunteers. Six guys, strong stomachs, a long sleeve shirt, a tee shirt and if anyone has some perfume it would really help.”

He gave me a weird look. “What are you, MacGyver?”

“Who?”

He shook his head. “Never mind.”

I got my volunteers. One of them gave me a boost to the top of the plane and I walked down to the nose while some of the more curious people watched from the tree line. I could smell it much better from the top, or I should probably say much worse.

The main windows were broken out, for the most part. With my walking stick I knock a few pieces out of the way so I wouldn’t cut myself, then I tossed it over the side. Taking a moment to dab some perfume under my nose, I capped off the bottle and tossed it too, then I covered the lower half of my face with the tee shirt. Steeling myself for what I was going to see, I took several deep breaths and slid down and through the open window.

Not wasting any time, I opened the cockpit door and two by two the guys rushed in and carried three dead bodies out. With the door open, and the bodies gone, the smell was bearable. I shrugged out of the long-sleeve shirt and tossed it back in the cabin while I went to work seeing what I could salvage from the cockpit.

There was another first aid kit, which I claimed, since we didn’t get one of the others. Oh, and goodie, another gun. Before anyone saw it, I stashed it in my pack. There was nothing else worth of note.

The pilot had the key.

The hatch led down to the baggage area which had these neat nets to hold everything in place. The crosshatch was too big, but doubled-up, they’d make a decent, if not extremely secure net. We found some more luggage that didn’t fly out the back during the crash. Wallace and I went through them, one representative from each of our factions.

“Whoa,” he said and stepped back from one.

I looked down at the suitcase and laughed. “Apparently we have some bondage lovers on the flight.”

He kicked it over to me. “You can have that one.”

I didn’t bother arguing with him. He didn’t really think outside of the box; I did.

“Score!”

I looked up and Wallace was holding a fairly nice knife that would do Rambo proud. With a nod, I agreed. “Good, now maybe Stuart will ease up off my ass.”

There were some gifts that someone was bringing across the ocean with them that we tore into. A laptop with a dead battery, a spice rack which we divvyed up, and various sexy selections from Victoria’s Secret. I called the hiker’s pack, which Wallace started an argument on, but I won with the excuse that I could bring more bottles of water if I had a better way to carry them. I didn’t bother to tell him that it wasn’t empty.

Once I’d secured my pack to the back of the newly acquired one, I arranged the cushions on my walking stick that I balanced on one shoulder and the bondage gear suitcase was held with my left hand.

In other words, I was seriously loaded down and it took me forever to get back to the cave. Dane and Brett came to rescue me about three-quarters of the way back. They were out foraging and heard me cussing.

Dane relieved me of the suitcase and Brett the cushion-laden walking stick. “I’ll go with you tomorrow. Oh, and we’re having roast boar tonight.”

I did a double-take at him. “Really?”

He nodded with a shit-eating grin. “You’re not the only one with mad nature skills. Brett here bagged himself one that has to weigh thirty pounds or more.”

Brett’s face was glowing red by that time. “It was charging me. I had a spear that grandpa made.”

I laughed with relief. “I don’t give a shit. You rock!”

~O~

Everyone listened to the sob story about the other camp, while I went through the hiking pack. It was standard day hiking stuff: compass, first aid items, ten snack bars, rope, small cooking stove, travel cups, map of Hawaii, toiletries, some clothes, a rain poncho, and another Rambo knife except less Ramboish. There was a large plastic ziplock bag with several useful things like matches, sewing kit, etc.

It was a decent haul.

“What’s in the suitcase?” asked Zach.

I grinned. “Something, considering your age, you probably shouldn’t see.”

He gave me a minor glare of death before I relented. “Fine, but I didn’t bring this here for its intended purpose. I plan on using the materials for other things.”

Unzipping the suitcase, I turned it around and opened it in full view of everyone. Pete’s eyes got the widest, before he went all old man on me.

“Chase, there are impressionable minds here.”

I shrugged and turned it back around. “There’s a lot of leather in here that I can make things with, like slings for one.”

“What’s a sling?” asked Sara.

“It’s what they used before guns came along. You put a rock or whatever in the pouch portion swing it around and let one end go. Takes a lot of practice to do it right, but it’s effective.”

Evelyn leaned in and held up a really big vibrator. “What are you going to make out of this?”

I grabbed it and threw it back in. “Cruise missile.”

She laughed.

Spirits were up a little with the promise of a hot entrée for dinner. Dane took Brett and Zach out to skin and gut the boar while Evelyn and I foraged for incidentals. The panther stalked behind us and then took off down a natural path to hunt, I suppose.

“Hey Chase?”

“Hmm?” I turned around to find her looking at me oddly.

“Uh… have you…” It really wasn’t like Evelyn to stammer if she wasn’t nervous about something. “Have you noticed anything different about yourself?”

I shrugged. “Like what?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the situation.”

Turning back, I closed in on her and maybe invaded her personal space a little, so she could see I was serious about wanting to help her. Evelyn had seriously dark brown eyes with one tiny fleck of green in her left. You had to be really close to see it.

She seemed more nervous with me that close. Even though we were close friends, we’d never been intimate, maybe because we knew each other too well. Don’t get me wrong. Ev’s a babe and I love her like a sister. Sure there were a few times I wished our relationship could be more, but over the last year we had cemented each other a into firm friends category.

“Talk to me Ev. What’s up?”

Her hands pressed onto my chest and then slid around as she laid her head on my shoulder for a brief hug. “I’m worried about Zach.”

I took a step out of the hug so I could see her better. “What’s wrong? Is it the head wound? I thought that healed up?”

“Exactly!” she said. “In one day? It’s not like I’m not grateful. I thought he was going to die, but for it to just heal like that. And there are other things.”

Hooking my thumbs in my pockets, I looked around until I found a decent place to sit. Then I led Evelyn over and we made ourselves comfortable under a tree out of the afternoon sun.

“Okay, so what am I missing?”

She seemed a little embarrassed. “It’s not… I’m betraying his confidence by telling you, Chase.”

It was then that I saw her problem. “Alright, how about if I promise to keep whatever it is a secret? I can’t help unless I know what’s wrong and if it has something to do with the wellbeing of our little group then I need to know, right?”

All Evelyn needed was a decent rationalization. “Right. Okay, you promise?”

I nodded.

She looked at me for a few moments before pulling at a few weeds in the ground. “Ever since Zach woke up after the crash he’s been obsessed with you.”

Both of my eyebrows shot up. “What?”

Ev palmed her face and shook her head slightly. “He’s always watching you and not in a hero worshiping way. That’s what I thought it was at first, but I see the difference now. Plus, there’s other things.”

Not knowing what to say to that, I just let her continue.

“Every time I look up, something’s changed. Did you notice he doesn’t shave anymore?”

I cracked a smile. “Ev, he’s sixteen. Even I don’t shave every day. In fact I haven’t since we’ve been here.”

Her face showed her concern as she searched mine. “Really?”

Reaching up, she ran a hand across my chin. “Chase?”

I did the same, running a hand over my entire face. I’m the kind of guy that has to shave portions of my face, because I’ve never been able to grow an entire beard. My dad was the same way until he was about thirty, or so he told me. Basically I needed to shave my chin and side burns about once every two or three days. Even then, it’s more like fine hairs instead of stubble. But at the moment, I was smooth like I’d just ran a blade.

Shaking my head, I brushed it off as unimportant. “It could be anything, Ev. If our diet changes drastically enough then our bodies are going to compensate in strange ways, sometimes.”

She pursed her lips. “Okay, then can you tell me why he’s wearing his sister’s underwear and looks like a lovesick puppy whenever you’re in the room?” When my eyes bulged in shock, she pressed on. “Or maybe you can tell me why he’s speaking Latin in his sleep, or I find him doing these weird exercises when he doesn’t think anyone’s watching.”

Some of that could actually be explained. We don’t know everything about everyone we know. Maybe Zach was a closet crossdresser who worked out different than other people, but the Latin thing threw me. We all went to public school. The only foreign languages they taught were French, Spanish, and German. There was talk about adding Russian or Farsi, but not Latin.

I couldn’t begin to guess where he’d been exposed to the language so much that he was actually speaking it.

“And then there’s you,” she declared.

“Me?”

Evelyn nodded. “When’s the last time you took your meds?”

I swallowed. “The day before we left.”

“Right, and look at you now, sitting in the dirt. The Chase I knew before would be having a fit right now. The panther… how in the world did you domesticate a wild animal like that in less than a day? It’s impossible. You talk to him like he understands you… and for some reason I really think he does.”

“Ev…”

“And you’re shorter. And your hair! Hair doesn’t grow that fast!”

I held up a hand and hopefully her oncoming hysteria. “Hold on. I’m shorter?”

Grabbing my hand she pulled me up with her as she stood. “I’m five-ten and you’re six feet even. Now tell me why we’re looking in each other’s eyes.

I rolled mine. “Because you are in regular shoes and I’m in swim shoes. I’m not shorter, you’re taller.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. She immediately kicked off her shoes and looked around for even ground. “There, come here.”

I closed in, like before. It was easy enough to see that I was taller than her now, but not like before. One of us had definitely changed heights, and the logical answer to this was that Evelyn had grown since the last time we compared ourselves. The alternative was not realistic at all.

Informing her of this made Ev reconsider her observations. “You think I’m overreacting.”

Shaking my head I set my hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her fears. “I think that you have nothing to concentrate on without your computer and games. You just might be more focused on others.” That was a better way to say, you’re imagining things.

The look of self-doubt on her face was disconcerting, so I tried to redirect her focus. “We’re all stressed out right now. So, here’s what we’re going to do.”

Raising my hand, I made the sign of the cross over her and tried to look vaguely priest-like. “In the name of the gods of the island, I hereby dub you Evelyn, our entertainment director. It’ll be your duty to make up stress relieving games… oh, we can roleplay! All of our gaming stuff made it through the storm well enough.”

Her eyes lit up at something to do. “Really? Don’t you think that I should help out with other things more important?”

With a shake of my head, I smiled. “Nope. Entertainment is just as important. If we keep going on like this then we’ll be at each others throats before long. Work something up, Ev. You’re the goto person for this. I know you’ll do great.”

TBC...