Stick With Me Kid

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