by catt dahman
“Oh, Mattie,” Helen said.
“I heard he had claimed the six-year-old girl and three other girls as his. It makes me sick. She’s a baby! I want to find him and bring him to his senses. I could get to him if I found him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Harold said, “he’s changed, Mattie. We know that.”
She nodded absently.
Alex called out that they were leaving, and as they walked away, he looked back and saw that Lorie was nude and that she and Stu were very busy in the pond. Each time she cried out, Harold shuddered and looked more sad.
Stu and Lorie dressed again and caught up with the others on the trail, and they walked to the plane and surveyed it. Scott made a list of what to take, and they began to load the sled and then load two litters they could drag. The seat cushions, blankets, and pillows would be great. He also wanted the carpet pulled up to take.
“What about the cargo hold?
Harold looked blank, and then his eyes went big.
They had never been into the cargo bay, but Alex knew a way in, there they found bags and suitcases full of clothing, including sock and shoes; medication; and other items that would be useful.
Harold said they had talked about their luggage but didn’t know how to get to it from inside the airplane, so they gave up on that idea quickly. He wanted to kick himself for forgetting.
“It’s okay. You had a lot going on, and most people don’t know about this way to get in. I saw a show on television once….” Scott laughed.
“But we needed all of this,” said Mattie as she shook her head and wiped her face of sweat and tears. She felt they had been going through motions and dealing with a lot of drama and had missed what really mattered.
It would take three trips at least to gather all of the items, but they could do it: bypassing the pool except if Kelly needed the beans, Suma, or water. For the first time, they felt a trip out of camp had paid off.
“I want to get into the other airliner and see what it has as cargo,” said Alex as he smiled.
“Me, too. I’m in.”
Helen laughed and nodded. Mick said he’d like to go as well, and Davey asked to be a part. They would have a strong team, get it done, and find a lot for the camp. They would survive with better things. The random knives, medications, shoes, and crates made this a perfect payoff. Who would have guessed this plane was carrying supplies for a resort; it was like winning the lottery, and it was the first time the group felt lucky.
Fish would have smiled at that and said they were fortunate, indeed.
They kept enough to make comfortable beds in the plane and half of the groups already had favorite places to sleep. Helen slept hard: exhausted from the night before, tired of the drizzling rain, safe in the plane. Should they live here instead? If they did, they would have to walk the trail and go fishing a lot. It would be dangerous. Maybe they should rethink this and move here.
She wondered what Tyrese would think. And she wondered if Alex and Scott would consider it. They were smart.
As she dreamed, Stu walked by her, naked, muscular like he was a statue carved to perfection. His body was perfect, but stronger. He moved with grace he had never displayed before. She tried to wake fully but was so tired that she drifted, instead. In her mind, Stu was there, and then he was gone. Or maybe she dreamed it.
In the morning, she awoke to the plane’s door squeaking and saw her dream was somehow real. A very naked Stu Jones fiddled with the door. She asked, “Where were you? I saw you hours and hours ago…maybe eight hours…nine, and you were naked.”
“I sleep naked.”
“Why are you walking around. Did you go out?” asked Helen who was confused and still sleepy.
“Go back to sleep, Helen,” he whispered, “I went out to pee.”
“Oh.” She saw he was wet. Maybe it had been the rain. That made sense. He was out in the rain and got wet.
“Sleep. Shhhh.”
She lay her head back, but something tickled at her brain. Helen opened her eyes wide. He had left eight hours ago and was just retuning. That was why she heard Lorie call for Stu several times in the night because he was gone. He was eating something, too, when he closed the door. Wet fava beans. She didn’t dream that; she was awake!
She rolled over against Scott, afraid.
Stu had spent the entire night in the damned pool. Eight hours. She was sure. They had eaten fish and other food Joe packed, but they had not brought any beans up to the plane; they were wrapped and packed, and he didn’t go pee and unpack them.
He had been in the pool.
What did that mean?
Chapter 12: Day Seven
They finished the packing and had all they could take. The best stuff, they would come back for; it was heavy but would change their living conditions in wonderful ways. As they packed, Stu disappeared for a while. Because it was still misty and raining a little, Helen couldn’t quite accuse him of anything, but he didn’t hide it this time. “I went for a bath. All of you should go.”
“We have enough,” Scott said, but he did think he wanted to go back and make love to Helen in the waters. He took her hand and felt she was wavering. When the sun was right overhead, they stopped and took a long break from packing. Alex suggested a quick trip to the stream, and Mick said a branch was just through a small copse of trees and was deep and clear. They had used that water.
They washed there. Helen scrubbed her hair, hoping to get every drop of the other water off her skin and out of her hair; it made her mind go in peculiar places. She didn’t want to behave in bizarre ways. There was nothing they could do since Stu and Lorie went to the other pool.
“It’s for medicine only,” Helen whispered.
“He’s addicted, just like the kids,” Mattie said. She looked sad. Harold had a dejected face.
They bathed in the clear water and then ate the rest of what Joe had packed for them, but missed hot, fresh food.
Mick showed them the sea grapes and berries. The best was when Mick found a tree that had a unusual prickly fruit, but the skin was easily removed and fell away as a whole piece, leaving the inside to be enjoyed. The taste was sweet and tart with a creamy, but solid texture. It tasted somewhat like a peach mixed with a pear and lime sherbet. There was a tiny seed deep inside. They ate several and picked them to take back.
“They grow fast. See all the flowers? Those will be little bulbs in a day and a fruit within a few days. They keep growing. We lived on these.”
“What do you call them?”
Mick laughed and said, “We called them peachy tarts.” He laughed.
“I love peachy tarts!” said Davey as he ate a fifth one.
“We’ll get more when we come back for the good stuff, the miracle crates.” Helen smiled.
A faint cry made them pause. It wasn’t clear what made the noise. It sounded like a cry of pain. Alex asked how long Stu and Lorie had been gone.
“Over an hour. Two? We need to go back,” said Helen as she gritted her teeth, “I’ll get them.”
Alex nodded but said he would go along. He had a bad feeling. And they still had to watch for dinosaur attacks. It could happen.
At the pool, neither Helen nor Alex understood exactly what they were seeing. But it seemed to be something terrible. Lorie was on her back on rocks right above the pool; it was a small ledge that almost touched the water but was covered when they were in the water because it was so low.
All around Lorie was blood. It dripped into the cloudy blue-white water. Her lower half was bleeding. When she twisted, they saw her back was scraped and her mouth was bleeding. So was her nose. Had something hurt her and Stu was there trying to help? She cried and moaned, “No. No. NO!”
Alex ran because he understood before Helen did. He had a spear and a big club for protection from the dinosaurs. He dropped the spear, afraid he would use it. Leaping into the water from the edge, he slammed the club against Stu’s head. Stu went rigid and fell back into the water. Alex
dragged him to the side and dropped him.
Helen was shocked. Why had Alex hit Stu? What was wrong with Lorie? She ran to her, and her jaw dropped. She wasn’t sure, but Lorie seemed to be saying no. Helen didn’t know if this were the result of a consensual rampage of sex, or if she said had said no and Stu still raped her; whatever the reason, her female parts were gushing blood. Helen pushed her into the water and jumped in to keep her from drowning. Maybe the water would help her wounds.
Helen shivered, wondering what it took to do the damage she saw between Lorie’s legs. How had this happened?
“What’s going on?” Scott asked. Mick, Mattie, Harold, and Davey followed.
“My, God,” Mattie cringed as she saw the bloody water. “What happened? What happened to Stu?”
“I don’t know. She looks as if she were beaten and raped almost to death. I hope the water can help her. As for him….”
“I hit his ass with a club. I knocked him out,” Alex said, “he didn’t even act as if he saw us and was…he kept…he was still…he wouldn’t stop….”
Scott kicked Stu in the ribs.
Startled, Stu woke and sat up, grabbing his ribs and then grabbing his head where a nice lump had formed over an ear. “What the hell?”
“You tell us. What were you doing to Lorie? She was bleeding and begging you to stop.”
“Huh? She…we were….”
“No, you were. Stu, she is bleeding badly and torn up. You must have….” Scott was at a loss for words. He glanced down and felt his legs go numb and ice fill his veins. No. He prayed it wasn’t real. Tears stung his eyes, and he felt a rage building. Without a word, Scott spun and hit Stu in the jaw and stomach quickly. Stu might have been getting stronger and leaner, but Scott was, as well, maybe only through hard work and not water with steroids; he was just as tough.
Stu swung; Scott ducked, and then he pounded Stu again in the face. Stu fell, but Scott kept going. With a knee across Stu’s stomach, he slammed his fists into Stu’s face over and over. Blood poured. Before he knew it, he had Stu’s head and was slamming it on the ground. Davey ran and tackled Scott, knocking him away.
“Scott, Scott, you’re killing him. Stop it. What is it? You have to stop and talk.”
Scott sat back. He saw the mess he had made of another man’s face in his absolute rage. Helen slowly walked out of the water, pulled Lorie and put her on the rocks. “We need to dig a grave,” she said simply.
“No, no, she’s? Is she? How? What happened to her? He raped her? How did that kill her?” Harold wailed and paced around the area. Mattie crouched and cried.
Lorie was on the rock, and Helen sat beside her, drying off. Mick went to get a blanket from the sleds, and he carefully wrapped Lorie. “We’ll take her back and send her to the sea. Like the rest. I don’t want anything getting to her. Helen, Scott, we don’t understand really what happened,” said Alex.
Helen shook her head and said, “She was all torn up, but even rape, I don’t know what happened. Scott?”
Alex found the item Scott had already seen, but everyone else had overlooked it because they were looking at Scott, Lorie’s body, or Stu. It was the club that Stu carried in case he were attacked. This time it seemed he had hit Lorie in the mouth and nose, beat her, raped her, and then used the club as a sexual sadistic device of torture. After that, he raped her again. But the club was so big and rough that it must have torn up her insides, making her hemorrhage. Her neck and stomach were chewed. Not just bitten, but there were pieces ripped and torn away, leaving livid tooth marks.
Alex stopped, walked over to the side, and vomited. Mick grabbed Harold as Harold lunged for Stu to hit him again. The man was just coming around, and he face looked like raw hamburger meat. Alex took the bloody club and threw it at Stu, hitting him on the shoulder.
Scott motioned them to come with him.
They added Lorie’s body to the sleds, making them heavier, so they had to leave one behind. Scott didn’t care. They pulled them along the trail and didn’t talk. There wasn’t anything to say.
Davey wondered if Stu would follow them, or if he’d go away, or if a dinosaur would find him and eat him. Would he get in the pool again? He had so many questions, but none that anyone could answer. He felt dejected. For once, no creatures attacked the group out exploring, but Stu had to ruin everything, so they were going back to tell everyone that another person was dead.
As for Stu, Davey didn’t know what they would say. They had to wait.
Chapter 13: Day Eight, Evening
That evening they lowered Shelly, her baby, and Lorie into the sea. Shelly had not recovered from having her child. Kelly said it was as if Shelly’s heart just stopped because she didn’t want to go on.
The mood was up and down. This also meant the water wasn’t a miracle cure-all but only a tool, like a needle and thread, or antibiotic cream, or a bandage. It didn’t ensure anything. It certainly didn’t save Shelly and her baby; Kelly felt cheated by this turn of events, but she could give up or learn from this, and do better next time.
How foolish she had been to believe in magic. It was only a natural pool of concentrated substances, and there were no magic, no gold, and no unicorn; she giggled a little to herself with that thought. Silly Kelly. But Tom, as mean and mad as he was and snotty old Joy couldn’t take away what Kelly believed in and trusted. She would heal everyone she could, no matter what it took. She would not allow respected suicide. Nope. Before she would have allowed it, she would have nodded and thought each person should decide his own terms of life and death, same as a book she read once about some stupid zombies. But the main character believed in respect of choices.
Kelly did, too.
Right before she sat down and motioned for Joe to lay a red hot blade against Amanda’s back, she saw the char, heard the screams, and smelled the stink of burned flesh that baptized her into a new line of thinking. She would save all who were sick or injured. Period, like it or not because she needed them and because after all this, they didn’t have the right to die. They had the responsibility, no matter how agonizing, to live.
She had changed.
People were angry with Stu; sad about Lorie, Shelly, and her child; excited about the cargo that would be brought; happy with what the team managed to get back; confused over what had happened; and worried about what else might happen. The emotions were flittering all around, and there were tears at the same time as there were laughter and whispered uncertainties.
Joe calmed them and said, “Stop. All of you are guessing and feeling down, but you are living another day, something many wish they had. Don’t insult their memories. Look what I have.”
“What is it?” Kelly smiled, trying to get the others to look and see.
A huge pan of coconut breaded shrimp, and that wasn’t easy to manage, and I have a sweet, hot dipping sauce, I do. There is my version of scampi with oil, garlic, and a little wine. Those shrimp are happy fellows. The squid is marinated with canned tomatoes, so sorry they aren’t fresh, and some Mexican seasonings, peppers, and wild onions. Canned beans. It’s a sort of stew, but you eat it on this flat bread I baked for it, okay?”
“That’s wonderful, Joe.”
“Hey, I love squid,” Davey said.
“The other steaks that we didn’t smoke I wrapped with fat, thick fat, and purslane, and wild onions, and beside the steaks is sort of a salad made of the palm hearts, canned green peas, canned mushrooms, carrots, and some shrimp in a ginger white sauce that is thick, and oh, so delicious. I outdid myself.”
“It’s like a fancy restaurant, Joe. Amazing. How can you do this?”
“I can’t when we are out of canned vegetable, but you said you found crates of them?”
Scott laughed and said, “A hundred times what we scavenged here.”
“Then, with the fish, all kinds of fish, we’ll eat like kings. And we’re going to trap those compys and fix them like chicken, stuffing and all, fry them, bake them with veggies, and keep
eating. Now what do you wanna stop there for, Davey? Try a bite of each dish.”
Davey grinned and replied, “I don’t mind if I do.” Alex, Scott, and Helen motioned the others to come eat which they did, complimenting Joe over and over.
Bobby said, “The Lord provides the fish, the fruit, the vegetation, the foodstuffs, and a good cook. We are thankful that this is tasty, hot food and that we’re not in a desert. Feed the belly well; feed the soul. Amen, let’s eat.”
The mood was better after that little prayer, and everyone eagerly filled plates and ate hearty.
“You rock, Joe,” Mick called.
Marshal Lynn laughed quietly and added, “I’ll gain the weight I lost. Cheers to our cook.”
Joe smiled and blushed.
After their delicious meal and while relaxing, they were lax in guard duty; they jumped up in alarm as a figure darted through the trees. It was smaller than the troodons, but it broke through and came towards them. The weather was misty, and when the lightning lit the sky, they saw black clouds boiling in. Between the thunder and rising wind, they nervously watched the strange, hunched figure.
Spears ready, they waited.
“Stu,” Durango called out.
It was him. He was pulling the litter they had to leave, a heavy litter, but he kept his head down and used his strength to bring it with him. When he was at camp, the spears remained upright, but he set the litter down with all of the bundles in view and sat down on the sand and drank from his bottle. It was plain water. He showed them it was clear.
“Yeah, I washed my face in the pool, and it helped. I used the pool,” he said, “I drank and ate from it, or I’d not be here now. I would be back there and dead.”
“You have a lot of nerve returning here,” Lynn said.
Tyrese added, “You aren’t welcome anymore. Why would you dare return?”
Stu shook his head. “Scott is one bad ass fighter. I’ll give you that, but I could have taken him. Think. The reason I didn’t was that I couldn’t. Kelly, look at my back. Please. Just do that one thing, and then I think we can discuss this.”
