Extinction Island 2

by catt dahman

  Shannon was as tough as Sarg and the others, and as strong and tall as Tyrese, pretty in a classical African Princess way, and a Marine. She made friends with Tyrese and Davey as they talked about working out and maintaining a muscular physique. Davey was proud to be included.

  A scientist with them named Michael, was louder and more opinionated than the rest. He wasn’t good with social cues, and most began to avoid him or roll their eyes as he lectured and tried to tell everyone what each was doing wrong. Even though he was similar to Stu, he and Stu didn’t hit it off, and Michael stayed alone, studying various plants.

  Jerry was the final member of the group, and he interviewed everyone about any experiences. He was not only interested in his research but also practiced with spears and worked out with the rest.

  More strong people available meant they would be able to repair a little of their camp. The beach was altered, and an enormous amount of clean up was required. Brush, leaves, and small branches littered the sand, along with two large uprooted trees tossed across the beach. As the trees dried out, some of the men cut them for firewood.

  Tyrese suggested that a tree probably was carried by the wind and slammed into part of the yacht, breaking it away. Deep holes made him also assume that more trees had been washed out to sea with the storms. The tree line looked different, and so did the yacht and sand around it. Their beach had increased because of the missing trees, but the area from the wreck of the yacht to the water had decreased. Had there been much more of the stormy conditions, no yacht would be left, and most of the group would be dead.

  “You’ve done well here. Good leadership,” Sarg said one day.

  “Thanks,” Tyrese and Stu said as they looked at one another.

  “I’m not one to give you orders even though I lead a platoon, but I can give you some advice. Seems to me you’ve done well with what you have going on here.”

  “We do at times,” Tyrese said. He was glad the others had arrived in time to help with the camp. It made him feel safer to have the military around, too. Sarg was helpful, but never tried to take over, and only made suggestions at times.

  Sarg went on, “Maybe that’s been a lot of luck, too. What I’m saying is that at some point, you may wish you had a definite leader. Frankly, me and my team would like to know who we’re reporting to.”

  “Is this how you start taking over?” Stu asked.

  Michael chuckled, but his Sergeant gave him a hard look. “That’s not what I said at all. I said what I meant.”

  “I don’t think we ever voted,” Kelly said. She gave Stu a slight nod and said, “You and Scott decided.”

  Helen frowned and then exploded, “I saw that little nod. Why would we vote when we were the ones who went out to get water each time and had to fight for every supply we had? We picked Tyrese.”

  “You did. He’s an easy choice since Scott can ramrod the leadership,” Stu said.

  “I pull my weight. Are you a nurse? No. That’s all me,” Kelly went red-faced. She was tired of Helen’s opinions. Kelly valued those who benefitted the group, and Helen paled in Kelly’s view.

  “That’s not fair, Stu,” Tyrese complained.

  “Now, I have my answer,” Sarg said. “What I get from this is that I need to report to Scott. If he comes back.”

  Tyrese narrowed his eyes and sighed, “Sarg is right. Scott tried to get me to lead, but Scott has been making the tough choices. He stepped up far more often than I ever have. He’s a better leader.”

  “But we didn’t vote for him,” Kelly said.

  Shannon smiled and said, “And we know whom to go to in the meanwhile. Tyrese. Sarg is good at figuring things out.”

  “You don’t know everything. You act so smug, but you have no idea what we’ve been through: Fish died, and so did Amanda, Durango, and some of the rest, and even Tom’s arm had to be removed.”

  Helen huffed, “And you weren’t there when we had to fight troodons and Utahraptors time after time or when the slugs attacked us. Also, you weren’t there when Lori was murdered. I’ve been there for every dinosaur battle.”

  “And?” Kelly’s eyes glittered.

  Sarg and Shannon backed off and looked surprised at the hidden emotions that were coming out. Sarg had wanted to discover one bit of information but had seemingly broken into a hornet’s nest he didn’t know even existed.

  Days passed, and the tension tempered.

  Helen and Davey and sometimes, Tyrese, often stared off across the beach, wondering if Scott and the rest would return and when. They wondered how long to wait before they gave up. Helen felt eyes on her and turned to see Littleton watching her.

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  “I was just looking to see if well…it’s been weeks now.”

  “And?”

  “Helen, I like them. Tom is funny and easy going. Alex is smart. Scott is…well…Scott, but I think they aren’t coming back.”

  “What does that mean? What is ‘Scott is Scott’? And how can you say they have deserted us?” Helen felt her temper flaring, aware of all the reasons she was so upset but unwilling to talk to Littleton about her reasons.

  “I didn’t say they deserted us, Helen,” he tried to be gentle with his words. “We know how much danger there is out there. Scott and Alex don’t have much back up. I just think we have to be realistic.”

  “You just don’t think at all. He is coming back.”

  Littleton shrugged and said, “Maybe. Until then, Benny and Amy are my responsibility, too. Even if Scott returns, I’ll help with them.”

  Helen understood he cared about the teenagers and respected that. However, she hadn’t missed the fact that he tried to initiate a family-like atmosphere with them that included her. She knew he tried to sit near her or do chores with her, and it made her feel petulant.

  She also saw things that Littleton didn’t see, or maybe he saw the same things as she, but didn’t understand the relevance.

  In the last few weeks, Benny trained with the Marines constantly, and he went with them frequently, as did Tyrese and Davey, to hunt for meat. He hadn’t lost his boyish interest in the dinosaurs and loved to talk about theories and paleontology, but he was becoming a fighter as well, knowing he needed to survive if he still wanted to watch the beasts safely.

  Amy took her mother’s death hard and never forgot that Jada and Amanda had given their lives to save her. She had no love for Vera, but she was one of the few who cried when Vera died, upset to see someone her own age die.

  While Amy was quieter and prettier than she was bright, she used all of her time to learn how Joe worked, helping him with the cooking, and she had a definite skill for preparing smoked meat under Joe’s tutelage. Helen was immensely proud of her for also learning how to shape spear tips, by banging away at the stones to make sharp edges.

  Both of the teens had learned important skills. Helen knew they were becoming self-sufficient, something Littleton was still lacking. Helen felt vile, obscene words about to come out of her lips and bit back a response. That he might be right about Scott dying out there away from camp was also infuriating and something Helen didn’t want to hear.

  She refused to speak to Littleton for days, not caring who noticed. Everyone snickered when he wasn’t looking. Helen preferred to be with Amy and Benny or with Tyrese and Davey or with another female, Rita, who was funny, honest, and very positive.

  Several times, Helen felt as if Davey wanted to tell her something, something so deep it might be his way of unburdening his conscience, and she tried to encourage him to share his thoughts, but he clammed up each time. Something nagged at him, and Helen knew he wanted to share with her for some reason but forced herself to wait until he could open up.

  One morning, Davey said he saw smoke from far away, but when he tried to point it out, it was either gone or the wind was blowing it in a way so no one could see it any longer. He complained and swore he saw the smoke; no one tried to say he had imagined it, but as to whom
the fire belonged, there was no way to know.

  “I think it’s Scott, and he’s coming home,” said Davey.

  “What the hell? I need help,” one of the soldiers yelled. It was the one called Iowa, and his face was battered and bloodied, and he struggled to run, despite wounds in his side and thigh that both bled badly down his leg, making it dark red and wet. Everyone liked him for his humor and bravery; he was easy-going and friendly, and seeing him wounded was horrible. Of all the soldiers, he was one of the toughest.

  “Iowa! Damnit, Jana,” said Sarg.

  “I’m with you, Sarg,” said Iowa as he ran behind the Sergeant, Shannon, and Trent. Jana noticed Iowa hadn’t called for Kelly but then remembered that Kelly had been with Iowa in a group that went for water.

  Tyrese and Davey ran toward the tree line. Nervous and scared, Davey was sure they hadn’t heard any trampling, stomping, or roaring which usually indicated there was a pack hunting near the closest water source that the group used for clean drinking and cooking. It wasn’t very far and had been safe to use for weeks. Even when predators came around, they didn’t stay long after Benny taught the group to use urine-marked mud to keep a perimeter around the spring safe from most nosy beasts.

  “What’s going on, Iowa. I need your status ASAP,” Sarg said. “Talk to me, man.” He watched Jana apply pressure to Iowa’s wounds and needed to know what was going on before his soldier passed out from shock. Like the rest, Sarg was perplexed because he had not heard any loud noises. While he awaited Iowa’s report, he watched and listened for anything indicating a pack was attacking them.

  Iowa and Rita and Jerry, one of the scientists on board the ship, Helen, Kelly, and Amy had been gathering water at the spring. It was a safe place to go, and Iowa and Rita were tough as old leather and dependable. Jerry was a bit of an egghead and talked about theoretical physics and biology with Benny and Susan until everyone else became bleary-eyed. While Jerry was an intellectual, he was a formidable fighter, having acclimated to the situation quickly.

  Sarg couldn’t imagine how any animals managed stealthily to attack his people. He couldn’t have provided better security had he been at the spring himself. He knew his people were good.

  “Awe, Sarg, they hit us hard. They killed Jerry right off before we knew what was going on. Rita is dead, sir. There’s no way her head could pop like that and…”

  “Who? What? What did this?”

  “Not a what. It wasn’t a dino. Not claws or teeth, Sarg,” Jana said, “a spear, I think.”

  “Kids. Kids, but they had dead eyes,” Iowa shivered and passed out.

  Chapter 23: My Past or Your Future

  This was the morning Scott and his group returned.

  “You didn’t do anything?” Scott demanded. He looked at the faces before him.

  “We were about to, but first we had to get Iowa settled, and we couldn’t let Rita and Jerry lie in the trees and get munched on.” Sarg paused and held up a hand. “Yes, we searched for the women. We went after them; we think Jody and Ricky got them. They were just gone, but I think we can track them. Davey here said you were on the way.”

  “How could you wait a minute to go after them? How could you wait this long? You know what they’ll do to Helen, Kelly, and Amy. You know,” Scott said as he looked at Tyrese and then Sarg.

  “I do know. I understand, and I assure you that we’ll move fast and do everything we can to bring the women home and eliminate the enemy. There’s more to us being here, and this unfortunate...well…piece of shit timing.”

  “I don’t understand, Sergeant White,” Scott said as he paced the camp and at any second was about to run into the trees to find Helen.

  Stu paced as well, stopping only to curse.

  The sergeant and his troops stayed alert, ready to grab anyone who tried to leave before the situation could be explained. The time for complete honesty was upon them, and ethically, there was a need to share it.

  “I have to explain first.”

  “Then do it,” Scott told Sarg. He didn’t like that they were being kept from going after the women.

  “I know it’s as foreign for you to hear this as it was for Littleton to hear when he appeared five years into the future.”

  “Or all of them came back to my present time,” Littleton said.

  Sarg raised his eyebrows to show his point was made. “All of you are either my past, or I’m your future. It hardly matters here, does it?”

  “I wish Alex were here,” Scott said. “He understands this. Understood it.”

  Sarg spoke a long time, “The point is that it doesn’t matter here. We’re all in the same place at the same time. Susan and the rest have explained it, and we understand as best we can. Now, I need you to understand a few things. First, as you can see, a storm is rolling in. Usually they come in as a strong front, but if you look, well, Susan said that it’s huge…”

  “It’s probably the biggest storm we have seen in this area. We’ve tracked hurricanes that didn’t look this bad. It’s moving slowly, but it’s enormous. It’s storm season here, yes, but that’s one big storm that’s coming,” Susan said.

  “And? We may be swept away, you mean? It might be better to go to the caves where Mattie’s husband and the rest lived a while? Is that your plan?” Tyrese asked.

  “Normally it would be,” Susan admitted, “but there are a few other issues,” she said as she sighed. Explaining, she told them something that her group had held back until they were sure about it. Even though the ship crashed and they lost their weapons, research, and the lives of many aboard, that didn’t mean the mission was over with.

  They had been on the sea to find out why more ships and planes were vanishing at the rate of almost a half dozen per year, counting only those they were sure couldn’t be explained any other way. Several major airliners and a hand full of military planes and boats had disappeared, and Susan was part of the team assigned to discover the reason.

  Tyrese blinked as he asked, “What is the reason?”

  Susan looked shocked that she was asked that of all questions. “I…we…that’s something we don’t know. We know that the storms do some horrible things. Before we were sent out here, a boat had washed up on the coast of Florida. The results of that are confidential, but…”

  “Was it us?” Scott asked.

  “Or us?” Littleton asked.

  “Me?” Mattie joined in.

  “None of you,” said Susan as she saw relief on their faces. She could only share that much, but it was what they were most concerned about. “It was the third anomaly. Until then, it had never happened, and then there were three instances of lost wrecks showing up. The yellow-looking storms occurred right before those three appeared. Look at this place. Doesn’t it seem as if there were suddenly more wrecks here?”

  “Storm season,” said Tyrese.

  Scott frowned at Tyrese. Maybe, but he wondered and tried to think as Alex would while he waited for a chance to run past the soldiers and get to Helen. He was like a caged animal.

  He tilted his head with some curiosity. “It’s happening more, and it’s spreading, isn’t it? The time loops? The whatever it is? That’s why this was so important to you. Everyone…the higher-ups became worried. Those wrecks that showed up scared you, Sarg,” said Scott.

  Sergeant White nodded. “Exactly. Right before our ship went down, we got one more communication sent. It was to come get us only when we set off a homing beacon. We had to finish this mission. We thought that even if no one could rescue us in the storm we were in, we might could find something.”

  Tyrese’s face lit up as he said, “You have a beacon? Can they find you? Us?”

  Everyone began talking at once.

  Stu grunted and said, “But if we return with you, it’s to your time, right?”

  No one had thought of that except for Susan and the other scientists and the soldiers.

  She nodded and said, “We planned to wait and gather more research before
setting off the beacon, but that storm you see rolling in, what if it’s as bad as we expect? What if it tosses things here that are far worse? What if…well, I could go on.”

  “You set the beacon off?” Scott asked.

  Sarg shrugged. “Yeah, we did. If there is anyone out there, we’re going home. We have a specific amount of time.”

  “We’re wasting it by not looking for Helen, Kelly, and Amy!” Stu thundered.

  “Iowa knows where they’re going. He heard enough to know. We can find them and get them back. We have to make sure all of you understand this. If anything goes bad, there is no waiting. Be here; there won’t be another chance. We just hope they can get to us. We may be too late because of the storm.”

  “You can’t come back?” Scott asked Sarg.

  Benny piped up and said, “No, because if that storm alters anything, then we don’t exist here or there or anywhere. We’re invisible again, lost in a loop. That beacon is just for the time periods when we match up.”

  “We are only in the right time and place for a little while,” Scott said. “Okay, then why are we wasting time here?”

  “If we chase them and if Jody and Ricky kill the women, we will be sad and regret it, but we will think it would be over for them, right? Scott, if we cause those men to kill the women, then there is a possibility that they will come back in another scenario. They will return here. Again. They will relive this in a new way.”

  “That’s why we can’t meet ourselves. We have to die, don’t we? Once dead, we can loop again, and if the scenario is just right, we land here,” Benny added.

  “That means you have to think. Before we go, you need to reconcile in your head that you may sentence them or yourselves to be stuck here, and to repeat the wreck they were in. Maybe. We don’t know.”

  Stu looked at Scott, and they both grinned.

  “What?” Sergeant White asked. He didn’t understand the looks on the men’s faces.

  “Dude,” Davey laughed, “you are slow. We never did expect to go home.”