Chapter 5
Slaves to the Island
They must have run through the jungle for hours because night was fast approaching. Everybody was out of breath including Derek. They both looked exhausted and looked at the point where they were about to give up. “I don’t think they are even chasing us,” Colin spoke so breathless, he seemed to be pleading with Terry to stop running. “We should find shelter,” “Shelter,” Derek coughed out. His breathing had turned into a wheezing sound. Terry could not act like she was tough, her lungs felt drained and all she wanted to do was sleep. Derek’s comment had hit her hard. It seemed to echo through her mind the entire time that they were running. “We should have hit the beach now,” Derek leaned himself onto a tree, “We are lost, and I think we are going in circles.” Terry began to search wildly into the jungle. Terry thought that if she just headed straight they would make the beach. “We need to keep walking . . . find something we can make a shelter,” Colin looked like he was about to die, “Please I can’t go on.” Terry wished that she could have laughed, “We will walk. We just need to keep moving.”
It took awhile for her to get them both to keep walking. The sun was setting in the sky and darkness seemed to be creeping into the forest. “Wait,” Terry stopped in her spot, “You hear that?” Colin’s face went into a smile, “Oh my god”! He bounded blindly through the jungle, letting branches and vines snap the air, only missing Terry’s face by inches. Colin seemed to fall onto the sand of the beach and began to swim in it. “I have never been so happy to see the shore.” Derek could not help but smile as well, Terry was however distracted. “What is it Ter . . .” Derek stopped talking midsentence as they all were now gazing at a giant ship. The ship was straight out of a history book. It was rotted and looked to have sat on this beach for centuries. It had giant holes in it, and looked as though the slightest breeze would transform it to a pile of dust. “We should stay here for tonight,” Derek nodded his head in agreement to Colin, but Terry protested. “No, they probably know about this place. We stand a better chance if we stay in the jungle tonight.” “The jungle . . .” Derek looked at her as if horns had sprouted out of her head. Colin shook his head, “You can stay out there, but I am staying in the ship.” Colin walked towards the ship, and Derek followed suit. Terry following at their heels, “I don’t think you guys understand the gravity of the situation.” Colin turned back to her, “Rescue is coming we stand a better chance of seeing them if we stay on the beach.” Terry tried to protest more but her words were useless.
Colin and Derek entered a giant hole in the side of the ship. Terry was about to walk into the ship as well, but Colin and Derek came almost running out of it. “Well,” Terry said her hands were on her hips. Colin seemed to read the expression on Terry’s face. “We can’t stay in there tonight”. Terry groaned and began walking back towards the jungle, “Where are you going?” Derek’s comment seemed to twitch a nerve in Terry’s face, “You guys are all excited about the stupid boat, and you didn’t even spend thirty seconds in it.” “Those roaches are all over the place, we couldn’t sleep in there.” Terry turned from Derek almost ignoring his comment. What was the deal with all these roaches, nothing on the island seemed to make any sense. And where was the stupid rescue boat? “Are you proposing that we sleep in the jungle?” In truth Terry did not know what she was doing. “Yes,” she blurted out as she entered the darkening jungle again. “It’s stupid to go out into the middle of the jungle at night,” Derek did have a point. “I am staying out there, you can do whatever you want Derek.” Terry walked into the jungle, and a couple seconds later she heard two sets of footsteps entering the jungle. A mysterious clicking seemed to be wafting through the air like a fog rolling through the jungle. Terry marched deeper into the jungle and the clicking become more noticeable.
“Let’s not go in so deep. We really should stay near the beach.” Terry stopped dead in her tracks as Colin comment fell on deaf ears. The sun was now gone, and Terry knew the dangers if they would venture any deeper into the jungle. Terry fell down and leaned her body onto a large tree. Her head fell against it. She knew that Colin and Derek were staring at her. “So,” said Derek sounding a little uncomfortable. The clicking seemed to get louder with ever inch of darkness that crept into the jungle. Terry kept her head on the tree waiting for Derek to finish his sentence. “Are we going to stay here for the night”? “I don’t care what you guys do, but I am not going anywhere tonight.” Derek seemed confused by her action, “Don’t you think we should keep moving, I mean those women could find us.” Terry raised her head in anger, “One of you has to stay awake, and you know . . . keep watch. Jesus you guys act like you have never seen a war movie before.” Colin and Derek slumped onto the ground a couple minutes later. Colin was about to speak up, but Terry’s head leaned back onto the tree, “Oh will you just shut up Colin!” Terry could hear Colin and Derek whispering softly, but Terry was unable hear them. She could feel her body almost shutting down as if it had been pleading for sleep for days. Terry could hear soft rustling in the jungle, and the clicking began to grow louder.
“Terry wake up,” Derek was shaking her, “What,” yelled Terry in such a sleepy tone. “They are coming,” Terry’s eyes open wide. She saw Derek’s hand on her shoulder grazing her left breast. “Don’t touch me,” Terry shot a fearsome look as she pushed Derek away. “We need to get out of here now,” Derek seemed unconcerned by her reaction. Terry saw that the sun was now rising. Terry saw lit torches coming from the beach, “We need to get out of here now!” Colin was already trampling through the jungle like a large elephant escaping a predator. They did not run very far until Colin started screaming. He stopped dead in his track. He began to rip off his clothes as Derek grabbed at Colin, “Come on Colin we have got to get out of here!” Terry put her finger to her lips, “Colin you need to shut up.”
Colin continued to scream as his clothes began to fall off at an alarming rate. “Please, get them off of me,” Derek looked as confused as Terry did. “There is nothing on you,” Colin began to scratch his skin digging into it, tearing out hunks of flesh as the blood began to splatter all over the leaves and trees. “What do we do,” Terry asked, but Derek however seemed to have a different plan of attack for the situation. “Run,” yelled Derek now bolting towards what Terry assumed was the heart of the jungle. Derek was almost through a particular large set of leaves when Terry shouted, “Oh my god Derek look!” Derek stopped, “Terry, they are almost here . . . we need to,” but his face widened in horror. Colin had bumps moving under his skin, almost like something was crawling under his skin. They began to move up his arms and back to his head.
A crashing sound from behind Terry was the only thing that could have taken her eyes off of the sight before her. A group of women stood there outfits made out of green leaves as some of the pregnant women began thrusting spears at them. They began shouting and grunting loudly, but they suddenly stopped at a screaming Colin. They all stepped back as blood now began to pour out of his mouth. Terry even had to take a step back. Colin gave one final shriek as two cockroaches came out of his mouth. Colin fell to his knees as a cockroach came spilling out of his left eye. Terry gagged several times before she spewed over the jungle floor. The thought of a cockroach eating its way out of the back of his eye was the most horrible thing that she had ever seen, well besides the roaches feeding off of the dead babies.
Terry and Derek were marched back towards the beach taking the exact route back to the camp. The ocean was empty not a ship in sight, and the sky looked as if it had not seen a plane since the island’s existence. The sun was rising high in the sky, and Terry felt the helplessness of the situation sink into her stomach. This seemed to weigh her down, making her sink deeper into the sand. Terry did not know if she could ever get Colin’s screams out of her head. Derek did not seem worried about the situation, “Don’t worry everything will be alright.” “YOU ARE A FREAK!” The guards pushed Terry grunting at her obviously trying to tell her to keep quiet. They continued to walk, “I wish the roaches would have killed you instead.” Derek ignored her comment as he continued to walk. Terry could feel her eyes beginning to fill with tears as the only thing that she could taste was vomit. She was so thirsty, and her stomach now rumbled from lack of food. “Water,” she said looking towards the most pregnant girl out of the guards. The girl grunted again, and continued to walk clearly not understanding what she was saying.
The sun was high in the sky when they arrived back at the camp. The women brought them both straight to the hut in the middle of the village. All the women stared as some pointed and grunted with malice. Their daughters lay in the dirt making mud castles. When they entered the hut, Xuhu was laying down on a hammock that seemed to be made from jungle roots. A man was standing aside her feeding her slices of a white fruit, which Terry assumed was pineapple. Xuhu smiled at the guards and quickly slide off of the hammock. The man standing at the side of her held his head down, and looked like he had not seen a bath in over a month. He was a short man and was dressed in a type of wooden diaper.
Xuhu walked past the man, who Terry guessed was one of the oldest men on the island. Terry glanced over at Derek who did not show any fear in his face. Xuhu pushed the man out of the way as she passed. The man fumbled and dropped the fruit onto the dirt floor. The man straightened himself up and terror spread in his eyes. Xuhu’s eyes fell to the fallen fruit and then back up to the man. Terry saw the light hit him, and he quickly kneeled down picking up the fruit. Xuhu picked up her muddy foot and slammed it into the man’s face. He fell to the ground which only seemed to add another thick layer of dirt to his almost muddy, brown skin. She grunted, waving her hands almost in a flaying sort of way. The man continued scooping up the slices of fruit simply nodding his head bowing deeply. Xuhu lifted her head and looked around taking hard glances at Terry then proceeding to Derek. “Where,” Xuhu motioned her hands around herself clearly indicating the whereabouts of Colin. “Dead,” Xuhu’s eyes narrowed into that piercing catlike stare. “Water,” Terry asked trying to make a drinking motion. Xuhu made a clicking sound to the slave and he walked out of the room. She eyed him almost with disgust in her eyes. The man brought over a cup of water, and Terry made a motion for it. The slave stepped back, and Xuhu grunted really loud. Terry looked back towards Xuhu her hands still outstretched. Xuhu said with what seemed to be in a very unusually calm voice, “Where.” Terry’s groaned, “Food”, she replied back with such a mocking tone in her voice that Xuhu’s eyes if possible grew even narrower. “I told you food, your god ate him!” Xuhu walked towards her and for a second Terry thought that she was going to strike her. Xuhu pointed her hand towards the cockroach that sat in the middle of her new headdress. This headdress was simply made out of what seemed like smaller flowers which wrapped around her forehead. In the middle of the headdress sat another blood red cockroach. “Yeah, the roaches ate him,” Xuhu shot a wild snort and began grunting furiously at the guards.
The slave brought forward the cup of water, which Terry drank in one large gulp. Xuhu shot her head back so fast that a red flower fell to the dirt floor. “You were in forbidden zone.” “Please,” Terry pleading her mouth still dry motioning for more water. Xuhu began pointing grunted at the guards that lined the wall of her hut. “Please let us go, we just want to get home,” Xuhu waved her hand, and the guards began thrusting their spears at them again pushing them out of the door. Terry was trying to shout but the guards were now grunting so loudly that her voice seemed to be swallowed up by the many guards. Xuhu smiled widely answering Terry’s question with a loud comment that rang in her ears, “You’re home now.”
The guards pulled and dragged them up the hill towards the huts that lined the top of hill. Terry and Derek walked by the hut that had the small boys in it. Flies began to shoot in and out of the hut, and the children seemed to be getting worse by the minute. The small boy that Terry had seen earlier with the older women was now lying down on the ground. Flies crawled over his muddy face. He looked to be one of the dirtiest kids in the whole hut, which was certainly saying something. The ground was covered in feces, and smelled as if they slept in their own filth. The guards brought Terry over into a particular shabby hut with half of the roof was missing. The guards marched them both into the hut, which had a table with ropes fashioned to the side of it. The guards now began to rip off Terry’s office suit, “What the hell are doing you!” She pushed the guard away and one of the guards took the spear and jabbed it at Terry. Terry felt it slice her skin as it just missed her stomach. The cut was shallow and seemed to trace her ribs, Terry let out a little whimper as she felt more hands ripping at her suit.
Terry began to flay wildly as she felt one of her fists collide with one of the guard’s faces. If Terry thought that things could have gotten worse, she was very mistaken. The guards began to beat her throwing their spears to the side and began to repeatedly punching her. Terry tried to fight back, but felt a spear jab into her leg. She fell throwing up her hand, which one of the guards grabbed. They dragged her over to the table. Derek on the other hand just stood there. They pushed her down on the table as she tried desperately to fight back. The pain in her leg began to throb as she felt the blood beginning to run down her leg. “Please, don’t do this”! Terry felt more hands grabbing her forcing the rope around her wrist and legs. Terry felt her naked body being spread wide like a starfish. The last strap went around her stomach tying her completely down onto the table. The other guards moved over to Derek and began jabbing there spears at Derek. “What you want me to do,” the guards began to rip off his clothes. Derek did not put up a fight.
Derek let the guards rip off every article of clothing without any sign of protest. One of the guards which had long greasy brown hair pushed him towards Terry. Derek was now standing in between Terry’s tied down legs. “What do you want me to do”? The guards now seemed to be getting frustrated with Derek as they pushed him closer to Terry. “Well,” Derek said smiling, “I know that you are not a rotting corpse, but the situation is different.” “Don’t you dare touch me,” Derek gave the creepiest smile that he had ever given her, “Well, I don’t really think I have a choice now do I”? Terry fought against the ropes which seemed to cut into her wrists. Terry let out a horrible scream, “Relax Terry you might like it. Let’s make the most of the situation.” Terry fought and screamed as Derek’s face smiled widely as he rocked back and forth. “Being a slave does have it privileges,” Derek moaned loudly. Terry felt her lungs explode in screams, and knew that they would be swallowed up by the jungle eliminating all hope for Terry. Xuhu’s words echoed in her head, and now would become engraved in her mind “You’re home now.”
The End?