Island Jumper: An Archipelago Series

by M H Ryan

  The raft had held together remarkably well from the attack, and only one outrigger lay broken and dragging in the water. I couldn’t find my pole, and we were down to two paddles, so Benji and I kept an eye on the sea and the sky while Aubrey and Sherri paddled.

  Kara had taken a sitting position at the center of the raft and looked around as if something was going to kill her at any second, and she wasn’t half wrong. I thought I heard her crying, but from all the other noises, I could have been mistaken.

  The birds above screeched, and one flew down at us.

  I grabbed one of the last two spears and pointed it at the bird. It swooped down, causing us to duck as it flew right over us. Benji trailed it with her bow and arrow but didn’t shoot.

  “I think it’s just trying to scare us,” I said.

  I’d seen birds do it many times when someone or something got near their nests. A small bird would fight with a hawk, dive-bombing it but not actually ever making contact.

  “Shark up front,” Benji said, and I spotted it, right in front us.

  “Just keep paddling,” I yelled.

  When or if we got to shore, we could deal with just the birds, but as long as we were on the water, I always felt as if I was on their home turf.

  “You okay, Kara?” I asked.

  “No, no, this can’t be happening,” Kara said, looking to the sky and then covering her ears with her hands and burying her face between her legs.

  “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, Kara,” Benji said, watching the sky.

  Sherri laughed, paddling hard toward the shore. “Come on, you stupid shark! Get just a bit closer, and I’ll stick you.”

  “The second we get to our island, I’m never leaving again,” Aubrey said.

  “Oh come on, what’s the fun in that?” Sherri asked. “How often do you get attacked by the sea like that? That shit was straight out of Moby Dick.”

  “Yeah, and how did that end?” Aubrey said.

  The bird dove down again, heading straight for us just as Kara looked up. She squealed and curled into a ball as the bird swooped by us again. I yelled at it, thrusting my spear as the gust of air from its wings blew back my wet hair. It flew back up to the other bird. If I had jumped, I was pretty sure I could have hit it that time.

  “If it gets one foot closer, I’m going to take a shot,” Benji said, holding her bow.

  “The shark’s going low,” Aubrey said.

  I moved toward the front of the raft and spotted the dark figure in the water moving under us. The tar seemed to be having less and less effect on it, but the shore wasn’t far away now. We could be there in a couple minutes. Wow, the women were strong paddlers.

  “It’s moving to the side,” I said, walking across the bamboo raft and taking a big step over the food bags.

  The shark moved out toward the side of the raft just as I heard a bird screeching, and glanced up to see it dive-bombing us.

  “This is it, fucker,” Benji said, pull back her bowstring.

  I kept low, with a spear in hand, standing next to Aubrey at the side of the raft. The shark moved up and away from the raft before turning completely around and biting the already weakened outrigger.

  Its mouth clamped against the wood, and I heard the cracking sound as the sticks broke. The shark jerked and shook as it held onto the raft like an angry dog with a chew toy. I wanted to stab it, but the sudden shift in the raft made me drop to my knees for balance.

  I heard the twang of a released bowstring and glanced back to see an arrow strike the diving bird. It hit the thing right in the chest. The massive bird screeched out and went stiff, still plummeting straight for us. I yanked Aubrey back just as the feathered beast struck the outrigger right next to us, as well as the shark that had been currently chewing on it.

  Water splashed up and over us, and as the mist cleared, the shark was gone, and the bird floated on the surface, not moving. The outrigger floated on top of the water. Bits and pieces of it floated away, but the majority of it seemed to be intact.

  Aubrey held me, staring at the bird.

  “That thing almost hit me!” Aubrey said.

  “Nice fucking shot,” Sherri yelled out, standing up, holding her paddle high. “Tell me you meant that bird to hit the shark.”

  Benji looked pale but smiled and said, “Yeah, totally.”

  “Let’s paddle before the Kraken comes out of the damn water,” Aubrey said, getting back to her paddling spot.

  The solo bird in the sky screeched out and flew higher up, circling above us. With some good tree cover, I’d be less worried about it.

  Kara looked around with tears flowing down her face. “Are they gone?”

  “We’re not safe yet,” I said and went to the front of the raft, paddling with my hands.

  Staring into the water, it changed from the dark blue to a lighter shade as the white sands came into view.

  Near the shoreline, I jumped off in the waist-deep water and pulled the craft toward the shore. Benji jumped into the water to help. Soon, the four of us were pulling the raft onto the beach with Kara and Moshe still aboard.

  I glanced to the sky to see the bird had disappeared.

  “It flew off,” Benji said, breathing hard.

  Aubrey crawled on the sand and just lay on it, making some version of a sand angel. “I’m never leaving you again,” she said.

  Kara walked off the raft, came up to me, and leaned her body into mine. She didn’t say anything, and I just held her.

  Chapter 27

  A life-threatening incident will usually bring a person to self-reflection and the realization that life is precious and fragile. It took many such events for us to get there, and I saw it on all their faces as we sat around the fire. Behind the girls, moonlight danced on the black, nighttime ocean.

  That day, we’d been almost killed by whales, birds, sharks, crocs, and even the ocean itself, but we made it. We lived to sit around this fire. Sherri seemed to be the only one that didn’t seem affected by any of it. She smiled and looked thrilled, even as we all sat in silence.

  More than the life-threatening situations we lived through, a simple thought was cementing in my head: we might never be rescued off these islands, because they seemed as if they shouldn’t exist to begin with. From the second I landed on the sandy shores of Tiny Island, I knew I was somewhere different. The girls were probably feeling it as well. The night sky held no planes, the day sky held no jet trails, and the shores were clean of trash. If we were still off the coast of Florida, none of that would make sense.

  “Anyone want some more mango strips?” Benji asked, holding a mango and my knife in her hands.

  “Nah, go ahead,” Aubrey said.

  Benji smiled and cut another strip from the mango. Even with as much time as we’d spent together these last few days, she still took my breath away. In a way, it made me realize how lucky I was—and how lucky we all were—to have each other in this place that seemed hell-bent on killing us. Yet, I knew we could do more.

  There were more women out there, and I had a horrible feeling they needed us. It seemed as if the very act of us looking for them made them appear. It made no sense, but I felt it all the same. It made it easier to tell these women, that had been through so much, that we were going to do more.

  “At least the raft didn’t get too damaged,” Sherri said.

  “I have wished it had,” Aubrey said. “The last thing I want to do is go back on that water.”

  “It’ll just make us do those modifications we talked about,” I said. “And I think we should start looking at some more long-term options regarding our camp here, our water storage, waste, and just about everything else.”

  “You don’t think we’re getting rescued, do you?” Aubrey asked.

  “I hope we do, but I’m going to plan for both ways,” I said. “We need to have a plan for smoke fires. We should have one ready to go at any moment.”

  “I can handle that,” Aubrey said.
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  “Great, thanks,” I said. “We also need to build a better shelter, and it’s going to take all of us for that. We might have to take down a few of these big trees to do it but it needs to be strong, waterproof and big enough to fit us and more.”

  “With a kitchen knife?” Aubrey asked, skeptical.

  “Benji here said she can make an ax with the proper rocks. So we will be making sure we do that as soon as we can. We can also use fire to burn through the trees.”

  “Wow, you are thinking long-term,” Sherri said. “If we have the logs like you’re talking about, we can create a larger base and roof, then it will just be about filling in the in-betweens with branches and a shit-ton of weaved palms.”

  “Yes,” I said. “And we can use them for a better raft, as well, and maybe even a sail, but I haven’t figured that one out yet. We need not just a raft, but a craft we can take on the water. Something large enough to survive the impact we took from the whale.”

  “I can come up with a plan for that,” Sherri said. “And I think a sail is a brilliant idea. Less energy needed to paddle, and that will help conserve food and water.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “We also need to start filtering the water. We have a dozen or so tablets left, but we’ll be running out soon.”

  “I can use a few of the zipper bags and make some squeeze filters,” Benji said. “Basically it’s just sand or charcoal, and we run the water through it. It won’t catch everything, but it will get most of it, I’d bet.”

  “Nice, Benji,” I said. “The bags probably won’t last long, so we can use them in the short term, but we’ll still need to figure out a longer-term plan.”

  “I kind of like the water the way it is,” Kara said.

  We all turned to her, as it was the first thing she’d said since the landing.

  “You doing okay, Kara?” I asked.

  “The water here is nice,” Kara said. “It makes me feel better.”

  She glanced at me and then looked at the sand between her feet. I thought I saw a bit of color hit those pale cheeks, but I didn’t understand the reaction. Benji slid closer to her friend and put her arm over Kara.

  “I agree,” Benji said.

  “Well, besides the water, we will have food issues going down the road, so I think we should dry out some of these fruits for later use.” “I have like a dozen mango recipes in mind,” Benji said and then muttered, “I could have hundreds if I had my phone.”

  “Thanks, Benji,” I said.

  “We could start farming salt water for salt,” Aubrey said. “It’s just an evaporation process, but salt could preserve the food longer and ad some flavors.”

  “Love it,” I said. “Once we get the shelter built, we’ll start shifting to these lesser tasks.”

  “I can make stuff from clay,” Kara said.

  “Oh yeah, that could be super useful,” I said. “Has anyone seen clay?”

  “Near the geyser pool,” Benji said. “There were clumps of what I think was clay.”

  “Great, can you show Kara tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” Benji said, and Kara didn’t have a full smile, but the corners of her mouth crept back in a half smile.

  She looked so good with a bit of hope in her.

  “We might need to build a hotter fire, but I think I can help with that too,” Kara said.

  I shook my head, smiling. “I am so lucky to have you ladies here with me.”

  “Without you, I doubt any of us would be alive,” Benji said.

  “I don’t know,” Aubrey said. “I was on Food Island, sitting pretty with my…Where the hell is that vodka?” She looked around for the bottle and then settled her attention on me. “But I’m definitely happy to have you here, Jack. You are fun to have sex with, as well.”

  “Aubrey!” Benji said, in shock.

  “You watched it,” Aubrey said. “I think Jack here would be happy to fuck you as well.”

  Sherri laughed and slapped her legs in delight. “When do I get my turn?”

  “We can double or triple up,” Aubrey said. “I bet he can handle it. He’s strong down there, if you know what I mean.”

  I wasn’t sure if I did.

  “You know I’m right here,” I said.

  They all laughed—well, except Kara, who seemed to be very interested in the conversation but remained silent.

  Right then, the geyser blew. A rumbling bass sound, followed by the higher-pitched sound of the air escaping the hole and blowing the water a couple hundred feet into the air.

  The girls looked up and cheered. I looked up as well. While we were too far away, and there was too much forest between us and the geyser to see it directly, the air temperature increased as the heated mist of water spread over the forest.

  Aubrey ran into the forest, pulling Benji with her. Sherri jogged right behind them. I laughed and ran into the forest as well.

  The hot water dripped from the trees, almost hot enough to sting. The thick drops of water hit my head, back, and arms, and the warmth felt good. The whole forest felt like a sauna. The water dripped down my face, and I tasted its sweet flavor on my lips, then I unbuttoned my shirt and let it rain over my bare chest.

  Sherri, Aubrey, and Benji encircled me, dancing in the hot rain next to me. Sherri’s patriotic top came off quickly, and she spun it over her head like a lasso, yelling as she did. Her large breasts shook from the effort as she tossed the top over my face.

  I pulled the partial flag from my face and dropped it on top of my shirt.

  “Fuck it, it’s not like anyone here hasn’t seen the girls by now,” Aubrey said, untying her top from behind her and then throwing it onto my shirt.

  “You guys,” I said, admiring their natural beauty.

  Benji went behind me, and I glanced over, a little disappointed to see her top was still on. “You have fun with them, okay?” she whispered.

  I turned, sliding my hand around her waist and bringing her close to me. I wanted to taste those mango lips again, so I kissed her. She kissed me back, and I smelled the scent that was all her own. She pressed against my chest and her body felt slick and wonderful against mine.

  Then she stepped back, releasing our kiss. She gazed at me with lust-filled eyes.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Not this time. I’m not…” She seemed conflicted with her words, but I wasn’t about to push it if she wasn’t ready. “I’m going to check on Kara.”

  With that, she faded into the fog, leaving a swirl of it in her wake.

  “She’ll be okay,” Aubrey said. “Just give her some more time.”

  “I’m not sure what she’s waiting for, but when she’s ready, I’ll be ready,” I said.

  “Freaking Benji,” Sherri said, moving closer to me.

  Sherri was the tallest and was probably the only women on the island to move further down the alphabet than D in the bra size. She moved closer to me, only inches shorter, and rubbed her cheek against my cheek, pressing her chest against mine and sliding down my body and then back up as she rubbed my back.

  “I seemed to remember we were interrupted last time we got to this point,” Sherri whispered in my ear. “You ready to complete this part of the adventure, Jack?”

  “Oh yeah,” I said.

  Aubrey pressed against my back and kissed my shoulder blades. Her nails slid across my skin, giving me the chills.

  “Oh, I can feel the hairs rising on his arms,” Sherri said. “Is that the only thing rising?”

  She reached down to my shorts and unbuttoned them. Aubrey took them in her hands and ripped them down in one swift motion.

  “Something else is definitely rising,” Sherri said. “How about I get the front this time?”

  “He’s yours,” Aubrey said.

  “Just so you two know, I have a choice in this,” I said.

  Sherri smiled and then went to her knees in front of me. She took me in her mouth, and the world seemed to slip from reality. The birds could have been flying above, baby crocs coul
d be crawling between us, and hogs could be snorting in the bushes, and I would have missed it all from the feeling of Sherri’s mouth, tongue, and hand.

  Aubrey stood next to me, looking down with me at Sherri and then kissed my neck, sucking lightly and gliding her tongue along my skin. I turned just enough to kiss her. She slid her tongue in my mouth, rubbing it against my tongue and sending more chills over my body.

  I felt as if I was sinking into quicksand, as if the whole world seemed heavy and pressing on me, a comforting lead blanket, pulling the air from my lungs and any thoughts from my head. The back of my neck pulsed with my heartbeat as I felt Aubrey moving down my body and next to Sherri.

  “I want some,” Aubrey said, and Sherri let me go, handing me off to Aubrey.

  Aubrey touched me, massaged me, and then kissed me all over before taking me in.

  Sherri stood up, moving to my mouth and kissing me deeply. I moved my hands over her breasts, not coming close to holding them entirely with one hand. I moved down, kissing and licking her nipples, while giving enough space for Aubrey to continue.

  “Come down here with me,” Aubrey said, taking my hand.

  I went down to my knees and faced Aubrey. She kissed me and then turned my face to Sherri, who had knelt next to me. I moved my hand down Sherri’s body and felt the edge of her bikini bottom, tugging it down to her knees.

  At this height, the fog built up and around us, and the feeling of being buried in ecstasy intensified. The hot mist covered Sherri’s body, and I was happy to lap it up off her chest and down to her navel.

  I pushed her back as I slid my hands behind her, supporting her all the way down to the bed of ferns. I pulled the bikini bottoms off her the rest of the way and stared at her naked body. The mist gave her a hazy look, as if we were in the clouds. Her tan skin carried all the way over her body without a single tan line. She was completely bare. I moved between her legs, suddenly hesitant.

  Aubrey moved behind me and nudged me forward. I turned back and kissed her.

  “I want you to make love to her,” Aubrey whispered in my ear.