

THE ULTIMATE TRIP

By

Jez Matthews

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Jez Matthews on Smashwords

The Ultimate Trip

Copyright © 2012 by Jez Matthews

Thank you for downloading this free eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form, with the exception of quotes used in reviews.

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Adult Reading Material

*****

Many thanks to Rebecca Kent who helped me edit and revise this story and also to Abida Khan for the cover design.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

### THE ULTIMATE TRIP

*****

Chapter 1

**T** he three of them arrived at the busy port in Southern Thailand. The adventure was about to begin. All of them seemed enthusiastic, but they had some apprehension about their journey over to the island. The plan of action was to spend thirty days on the deserted island; relaxing, swimming, and fending for themselves but most of all having fun.

Gus was the youngest of the three and had long sun-bleached dreadlocks. He was striking in appearance with a ragged scar on his left cheek. When asked about his scar he simply replied that he couldn't recall how he got it. It gave him an air of mystery. Another distinguishing feature was that he had the strangest feet. They were unusually big, but very narrow and the toes were almost totally webbed together. He chose to hide them as much as possible to avoid the stares and numerous comments, which he always got when they were on display.

Kyle was the second of the trio and was one year older than Gus. He was very slim, yet muscular. He had the textbook washboard stomach, was always clean-shaven and never seemed to be without a stunning girl on his arm. You could understand why these two had become good friends. They both had the same interests: women, partying and going on reckless jaunts.

Chas, on the other hand, was no babe magnet. Far from it, he had a skinhead and a full wiry beard. He was fat, ate like a horse and always had a fag on. People knew him as Topsy, as in topsy-turvy head.

Wherever they went, the local people were always very inquisitive. With a constant flow of questions, they always, well almost always, kept their cool and generally minded their own business.

It was a blisteringly hot day as the three intrepid explorers walked towards the boats. There was the constant hassle from beggars asking for loose change and people trying to sell their wares. Slowly, they managed to fight their way through the multitude of people to the area of the harbour.

The harbour wall was small and about a dozen boats were loosely tied to the rotting wooden stanchions standing over two metres above the ever changing water line. The boats were of various sizes, ranging from two metre dinghies up to twenty metre cruisers.

Gus walked up to an old fisherman, who was sat bunched up and alone in his small wooden boat, looking out to sea. He asked how much the boat was to hire. The fisherman said nothing. Gus spoke a little louder and then louder, still until the fisherman finally acknowledged him and turned his head very slowly. His vacant expression was quickly replaced with a poker face as he quoted a price of three hundred dollars for the full month. Gus shook his head and asked again and the price was dropped to two hundred dollars. Gus turned to confer with the others. Between them they were well short of the figure that had been quoted. Plus they knew they would have to buy some essential supplies.

Chas waved fifty dollars in the man's face as if to entice him. The man laughed at him, turned round and resumed looking out to sea. The lads walked away and sat down feeling totally dejected. Kyle got out a pen and some paper from his rucksack and began writing a list of the supplies they would need. Another fisherman approached; enticed with the banknote and after a few minutes haggling they settled on seventy dollars.

The lads smiled back and in turn shook the old man's hand. They agreed to leave in one hour. They went over to their discarded rucksacks and decided to find a place to buy supplies.

For the next two hours they sat in silence, taking turns at rowing. It was about 6:30am when the sun started to rise. This was a welcome sight as it helped them gauge where they were. They all anxiously looked three hundred and sixty degrees around but were none the wiser.

'When we arrived in the town yesterday and we were talking to the old man, it was mid afternoon and the sun was setting behind us. The man pointed to the island, which was directly out to sea, so if we continue to row in the direction of the sun, we should see the island,' Gus pointed out.

The others just nodded their heads in agreement as they didn't have a clue where they were, or the energy to argue.

The sun seemed to be getting higher by the minute and the intensity of the rays were getting unbearable. Every so often Kyle took off his top, dipped it in the sea and wrapped it over his head. He then passed it to the others who did the same. The conversation was almost non-existent except for the occasional comment about the obvious heat, the need for a drink and sentences regarding the rowing.

It was now midday and they had been out at sea for nearly eight hours. The sun was directly overhead and it was a blistering heat with very little breeze. Then, without warning Chas suddenly leapt to his feet, causing an oar to fall out of the rowlock and plop in to the sea. On realizing this Kyle immediately dived overboard and recovered the oar. As he climbed back in to the boat he yelled out, 'What are you doing? We could have lost that oar and then we'd be really screwed.'

Chas didn't respond. He just carried on looking out to sea. After a few minutes he pointed over to where he had been staring and shouted out, in a delirious way, 'That way, there's an island over there.'

Gus was not impressed with the change of course given by his friend and assumed the baking sun was causing him to hallucinate. They carried on rowing towards the sun but Chas, who was now sat at the front, would not give up. He was convinced that there was an island and that if they continued in the same direction, they would miss it and the likelihood was that they would all die.

After listening to this, Kyle was starting to believe that Chas could, in fact, see an island and was willing to change direction. Gus, on the other hand, was still adamant that his course was the right one. A heated argument took place and when it came to the vote, Kyle sided with Chas and the direction of the rowing was decided. Gus remained silent, feeling totally isolated, while the others chatted about what they were going to eat and drink when they arrived.

It was now a little after two thirty and their spirits had diminished even further. The rowing was being done in a very lethargic manner and in complete silence. One by one they laid down, giving up hope and finally falling asleep.

Gus woke up hours later and leaned his head over the side. He couldn't believe what he was seeing and shook the others until they were awake and got them to confirm the sight. As he'd expected they all saw the same. It was an island, probably not more than two hours away. They dug in and mustered every last bit of energy and all pulled together.

By six they had made it to the island and they all fell out of the boat onto the wet sand. The fire-red sun was starting to set over the horizon as they pulled the boat on to the sandy beach and Chas looked over to Gus, in a very cocky way and told him to secure the boat.

The island was just what they'd imagined. The turquoise sea was unbelievably clear and very still, which then gave way to a slightly sloping beach. This was about ten metres wide and was covered in beautiful fine white sand. As they looked along the beach it seemed to go on for miles. Further inland were green palm trees overhanging the sea, topped off with the red sky.

They knew that time was running out, they probably had less than an hour of daylight left, but they were all totally exhausted. They agreed that a quick five-minute rest wouldn't make any odds. They plodded over to a collection of palm trees and one by one they slumped down, their backs lent against the smooth tree trunks. Chas looked up and saw some coconuts about fifteen metres up.

'Anybody thirsty?' he asked knowingly.

They gave him their obvious response.

'Wait five minutes, I have an idea.'

With that, he got up, studied the tree in question and began to climb. The others looked in total amazement as they saw this very overweight person shimmying up this almost vertical tree. There were no branches for him to grab and footholds were nonexistent. They couldn't believe their eyes that a man of over one hundred kilograms could shoot up a tree like a monkey. His hands were gripping the trunk while he was walking vertically up the tree using his feet.

What Gus and Kyle were witnessing was a miracle and they were both speechless. Chas soared to the top within minutes and was casually holding on to one of the branches while the other hand wiggled the coconuts loose. He threw them on to the beach where they landed and half buried themselves. Gus ran out and collected them. Chas climbed further up and shouted down to the others. 'Hey guys. I can see a lush green mountain in the distance. I think we should head over there.'

Gus and Kyle didn't respond, as they were desperately trying to get a drink. Guy smashed one of the coconuts against the tree trunk, in a crazed manner, but to no avail. Chas had since climbed back down, took one of the coconuts and walked off to the beach. Gus asked him where he was going but he didn't turn around, he just carried on. Chas walked over to a huge rock by the water edge and hit the coconut against it. Nothing happened, so he repeated it again and again until it split. He then picked up a small splinter of rock, which was half hidden in the sand, wedged it into the crack and used it as a lever and broke a piece of the coconut off. Inside was the creamy milk, which he immediately poured into his mouth. Most of it missed and went over his face and ran down on to his t-shirt. The others came running over, each carrying their coconut and began smashing them against the same rock. Gus got in to his pretty quickly, but Kyle seemed to be struggling and you could hear him talking to it, wishing it to split. He raised the coconut at full stretch away from the intended point of impact and smashed it down as hard as he could. It hit the rock and finally split. Kyle screamed out with rapture and turned around displaying a victorious smile. His smile immediately disappeared when he saw Chas clutching the side of his forehead, his hands covered in blood. Kyle went running over to find out what had happened. Gus told him that when he smashed the coconut on to the rock, a splinter had hit Chas in the head. Kyle took hold of Chas's other arm and started to apologize. Chas mumbled that it was okay; he was all right, just a bit of a sore head. Gus and Kyle helped guide him over to the water. Blood was all over his face and shirt, so they sat Chas down, preceded in cupping the seawater in their hands and pouring it over the cut. Once the blood had been washed away they could clearly see it. It wasn't big, but it looked pretty deep and was still bleeding. Kyle, feeling very guilty, suddenly stood up, took off his t shirt and quickly washed it in the sea. He started pulling at it, one hand grabbing the sleeve, the other the chest until the sleeve came off. He washed the sleeve again and went over to Chas.

'Sorry.'

Then he stretched the piece of cloth and gently put it on Chas's head as a sort of bandage.

'It might help keep it clean and it also makes you look like a Vietnam soldier.'

They all laughed, and then Kyle put his t shirt back on which made Chas laugh even more.

'Come here and take that off.'

Kyle passed Chas the shirt and he took hold of the other arm and started pulling that apart until that was also detached and passed it back.

'Now it makes you look like a soldier as well.'

All three of them started laughing again and there were no hard feelings. Chas got up and went into the sea, carefully took off his shirt, avoiding touching his new headgear and began to scrub the shirt against a rock in the sea, trying to get the blood red shirt back to its original colour. He knew this was highly unlikely, as the original colour was a very impractical white.

Minutes later he went and got three more coconuts and began smashing them open. As he did this he looked across at Kyle and said, 'If you don't mind, I'll break these open.'

They both nodded dumbly, but readily accepted a second coconut. They drank the milk and then proceeded gouging out the inside using their fingers and ramming it into their mouths. There was a look of contentment on all of their faces.

Chas was the first to get up and went wandering off. He walked inland and was only gone five minutes when he came charging back shouting, 'Get yourselves over here. I've found something for dessert.'

They immediately got up and followed him towards the edge of the jungle. He stood there, as proud as punch, and pointed over to a group of trees. The others couldn't work out what it was he wanted them to see. They just looked into a dense jungle and saw nothing.

'Don't you see it? Come on look closer. It's a banana tree.'

The others still couldn't see it, but didn't dare question it. He was the one who had seen this island. They said nothing and watched Chas go off lumbering over the tall grass. He disappeared from sight and Gus and Kyle just sat down on the dry long prickly grass and waited. It wasn't long before they heard the noise of something moving. They lifted themselves to their feet and were greeted by Chas, complete with bloodstained headgear, clutching a large bunch of bananas.

'I told you it was a banana tree. You two need some bloody glasses. First the island and now this!' he jubilantly exclaimed.

Both Gus and Kyle looked completely puzzled by this and knew something was amiss. They followed Chas back to the beach and sat down patiently and waited for a banana to be handed to them. Chas individually pulled them off the main stem and put them in to three piles. It came to the last few and as always there was an unequal amount. Chas generously gave the extra two to his friends, telling them that he could go and get some more if they wanted.

They reached for their pile and began to tuck in. The bananas were fairly small and the outer skin was green, but on peeling them open and tasting them, there were instant noises of 'umm' and 'delicious'.

Gus was thinking to himself that this was the best thing he'd ever eaten He turned to his friends who looked to be in total bliss and decided to keep quiet and leave them to their thoughts.

After devouring all of the dessert, they all lay there, silent and content. The last of the daylight was rapidly vanishing, so they got themselves in as comfortable position as possible and went to sleep. After their action packed day, they fell asleep almost immediately, none of them knowing what was in store for them tomorrow.

Chapter 2

**K** yle and Gus woke up and were greeted with a huge pile of fruit that Chas had gathered. Slowly they lifted themselves up off their beds of sand, feeling very stiff and lethargic. Before their eyes they saw a selection of fruit: small green bananas, mangoes, papayas and coconuts. With difficulty they eagerly broke into the coconuts and drank the milk and then stuffed themselves on the fresh fruit.

After their feast they went for a quick dip in the sea. On land Kyle began his morning workout with numerous sit and push-ups. While Kyle looked as though he was getting ready for the Olympics, Chas on the other hand, was dividing his time between coughing up his lungs and dragging hard on his fag. Gus looked across at them, laughed quietly and thought what a strange set of friends they were.

After the muscle beach gym sessions had finished, they decided to have a look around the close vicinity of their new, temporary home.

On walking around, they started to notice something very strange and unnatural about the tropical surroundings. Things were just not how they should have been. Trees had branches sprouting off at very peculiar angles. Some were horizontal; others grew downwards and actually grew back into the ground. The other thing they thought was odd was that the whole area was a complete sandy floor. That was not unnatural as they were near the sea, but the odd thing was that there were very small areas of greenery which looked totally out of place and completely unauthentic.

On seeing a few of these areas, they went over to one of them for a closer look. They immediately realized that this had been manmade. The green area was numerous branches that had been cut off of a pine tree, woven together to make some sort of sheet.

Chas headed back to the beach and returned within a few minutes carrying a large rock. He stood by the side of the area and threw the rock directly on to the sheet. The others watched as the rock went straight through and then disappeared below, leaving a hole.

'Did you see that?' Chas shouted.

The others nodded and watched as Chas grabbed hold of the branches and tried dragging it along the sand. It didn't move.

'Are you two idiots going to help me or just stand there?'

They didn't wait to be asked again and both took a firm hold of some of the branches and on the count of three pulled. Again nothing happened. It wouldn't lift or drag so they started to clear away the sand around the edge. It didn't take many minutes of rapid sand clearing when they discovered that between the branches were small wooden stakes that had been driven into the ground.

Gus got up and ran off to the beach. Chas saw him.

'Where are you going you lazy sod?'

'Sod off! I'm going to get some stones so we can try and loosen the stakes.'

He returned minutes later with three stones. Angrily he threw the stone over in Chas's direction marginally missing him. Chas chose to ignore this, feeling his earlier outburst was uncalled for. They all chose separate sides and began hitting the wooden stakes from side to side in order to loosen the sand enabling the wood to be pulled up and out.

This was taking longer than planned and all three of them were dripping with sweat. Gus was facing the sea and every time he looked up he saw the sparkling turquoise sea. Imagining the refreshing water he thought 'sod this'. He put down the stone, got up and looked across at Chas.

'Before you say another word, I'm going in the sea to cool down and I don't care what you think.'

Chas looked at him, then looked across at Kyle and laughingly said. 'Good idea, come on Kyle. Let's get our sweaty bodies in that sea.'

Chas got up, pulled off his t shirt, displaying his potbellied stomach and went running towards the sea. As he got closer to Gus, he speeded up, lifted Gus completely off his feet and over his shoulder. He then charged towards the sea, Gus hanging over his back, and they crashed into the first oncoming wave. They both rose to the surface laughing, the earlier comments well and truly forgotten.

Kyle watched from the beach, fully entertained then went running along the sand into the sea, doing his very poor impression of 'David Hasselhoff.'

'You really are a bunch of,'

His sentence was abruptly stopped as he stubbed his big left toe on a half-hidden rock and ungracefully fell over into two feet of water. As he turned around, squeezing his very sore toe, Gus looked over and laughed out. 'What's that Kyle?'

Kyle laughed and then realized his toe was actually really hurting him.

After prating around in the sea for some time they went back revitalized for their task in hand, always knowing that the sea was only a short walk away for some much needed stress relief.

Within the hour all of the pegs had been removed. They all stood on the same side and pulled the lid along the sand until it was totally free of the hole. Chas walked back towards the hole and let out an almighty scream. The others, not far behind, looked over and did the same. With a slight trembling in his voice he said, 'What the heck is it?'

'I don't know, but I'm glad it's dead,' Kyle replied.

What they were looking at was a large pit, about two metres deep. This wasn't the problem. The frightening thing was that the pit was completely full of vertical spikes, and there pierced on the spikes were the remains of some type of animal.

'I've had a thought. Why don't we eat the animal? It looks like it hasn't been dead long and I am getting sick of fruit. Do any of you know of an animal you can't eat?'

'Shut up Kyle. I might be fat and need more food than you two, but there's no way I'm eating that thing. We don't know how long it's been dead.'

'Yes, you certainly are on the large side.'

'Shut up you two! You're acting like a couple of kids. We need to all sit down and think what the heck we are going to do?'

'Look over there, there's another and over there and there,' announced Kyle.

There were loads of these traps around them.

'I've got an idea,' said Kyle.

'I hope it's better than your last stupid idea. I'd prefer to go on a starvation diet than eat that thing.'

'No! No! No! Hear me out, and then criticise off my idea. Okay. We should go to each pit and take off the covers.'

'Why?'

'Please Chas, just listen for a minute. After we've done this, we can somehow fix them together and make a sort of shelter. I don't know about you but I got very little sleep last night because of all the creepy crawlies and I'm covered in mozzie bites.'

'He's got a fair point Chas. I'm covered as well and we don't want to be ill out here. I haven't seen a doctor on the island.'

Chas agreed with them, got up, picked up a rock and walked over to a nearby pit, sat back down and started dragging the sand away with his hands.

'Hang on a second, how are we going to fix it together?'

'I've already thought of that. Look, we are surrounded by hanging vine and it held _Tarzan's_ weight, so it should be strong enough for our shack.'

The others got up and found separate pits and did the same. Every so often one of them would call 'time out' and they would go charging into the sea, rest for ten minutes and then back out to work.

Within a couple of hours, three further covers were dragged off and placed on top of the first one. Kyle had somehow worked out that they needed two more, so Gus and Chas went off to find them, while Kyle went to the beach to look for some sharp splinters of rock to cut through the vine.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan and by mid afternoon they had the necessary things to build their shelter. Only Kyle could see the end product. The others were just looking at some matted woven sheets and didn't picture an end result.

'Okay, first we need to pick an ideal location, with some protection.'

'Protection from what Kyle?'

'Well, the dead animals' mates, for a start. We've uncovered six pits and only one was full. The rest were empty, complete with spikes waiting for the next victim.'

'Is this shelter going to protect us from them?'

'It might do Gus. If we find a spot amongst the trees, we will at least have some protection. It's got to be better than last night, when we just laid out on the beach with nothing to protect us.'

Nothing was said for a while then Chas got up and said, 'Come on then. Let's build our dream beach shack! You know what, I used to actually dream of this exact situation. That was a good dream, so why is this turning into a nightmare?'

They all searched around for a suitable spot and after numerous discussions a place was agreed. It was just at the end of the beach near to the semi dense maze of trees. A big advantage, as Kyle was more than happy to point out, was that it had a natural canopy of palm leaves therefore the shelter might be partially protected from the intense heat blazing down from the sun.

With everything ready and the praise given where due, everybody's ego had been slightly lifted, so the construction work could begin. Unknowingly, Kyle took immediate control, which didn't bother the other two, as they had no idea what he was trying to build.

'Right you two. Before you start getting angry with me I'm going to tell you what needs to be done so that we can hopefully get this finished. Then we can shut ourselves away from the bloody creepy nightlife. Well, that's the plan.'

The first thing they did was to flatten the sandy area and removed all the various bits of debris. The first piece of matting was laid down and then shifted about to ensure it was firmly set in the sand.

Kyle proudly stood up, pointed to the ground and said, 'This is our sleeping floor gentlemen.'

'Not trying to dampen your obvious joy, but how about getting four walls and a roof fixed to the floor?' Chas asked in a very composed manner.

Not deterred by his noticeable sarcasm, Kyle took hold of some of the lengths of vine and a thin stick. He calmly walked over to the second piece of matting, dragged it away from the others and then forced the stick into each corner making a hole. After doing this he went back over to the floor area and did exactly the same thing plus some additional holes along the four edges. He then looked across at the others, very coolly, who by this time were both looking quite comfy in the sand, and said, 'Give us a lift over with this so we can match up the holes. Then it will be easier to bind together.'

Sudden realization came to Chas and he was actually beginning to understand how the puzzle ended. He jumped to his feet quickly followed by a less eager Gus.

Within the hour two sides were secured to the floor and fixed to each other. This was the time for a much-deserved break and they all walked away feeling very satisfied. Almost half of the shack was finished and there were still a few hours of daylight left.

Then Kyle shouted over to the others. 'Anyone for a drink? I'll get some coconuts and Chas, why don't you get some more of that fruit we had for breakfast?'

Before a reply could be given Kyle scampered off in search of a palm tree to climb. He returned ten minutes later, his hands full of coconuts. He joined the others on the beach and they tucked into the assortment of fruit while Gus picked up three of the coconuts, walked a safe distance away and smashed them open. He handed them over one by one, the first going to Chas, who this time got it minus the blood.

'So how was the climb Kyle?'

'I wasn't quite as nimble as you, but I eventually made it Chas.'

'It looks beautiful over there, doesn't it?'

'Over where?'

'Where the mountain is?'

'I didn't see any mountain Chas.'

'You must be really blind! There's a massive mountain over in the distance.'

'All I saw was the tops of loads more trees.'

'Alright you two. Give it a rest and let's get back to work.'

They finished their fruit and lifted another piece of matting over.

While the third wall was been fixed in place, Kyle went over to the first piece and tried to think of a way of making an entrance. He stared at the hole, which had been previously made by the rock that Chas had thrown.

Suddenly he leapt to his feet and screamed out, 'Why has this only got one hole in it?'

'What?'

'Why has this only got one hole in it?'

'Because I only threw one rock on to it, stupid.'

'So explain this. How did that thing get into the pit? What, did it fall through, land on the spikes and then the matting miraculously wove itself back together?'

The others stopped in their tracks and stared at each other without uttering a single word.

'There's definitely something weird going on around here.'

They stood in silence for a while.

'Come on lads, let's finish this and we can talk about this later. At least then we'll be sheltered from all the flying bugs out here,' said a clear thinking Kyle.

Kyle pulled at the vine around the hole, trying desperately to make the small hole at least large enough to climb through. It was useless pulling at it and after the complete X-rated dictionary had been spat out of his mouth; he decided to un-weave the matting.

This was done in a very agitated fashion, as he knew the sun was starting to go down and they still had to sort out the roof. Kyle shouted over to the others and the final wall was put in position and fixed. Once this had been secured with the vine thread, it was quite sturdy and they knew it would be even stronger when the roof was on.

Kyle left the others to fix the roof while he went off to look for a door. He returned with a large palm leaf and pushed it inside the small entrance. He then climbed inside and joined the others. They had lifted the rest of the fruit and coconuts inside and were sat cross-legged admiring their handy work He pushed the leaf up against the hole and said. 'That'll do.'

'Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a dip and watch the sun go down. Does anyone care to join?'

Kyle moved the door, climbed out and made his way to the beach. The others got up and followed.

They stayed in the sea just over an hour and quietly watched the red sun slowly fall towards the horizon and then disappear out of sight within seconds. Nothing was said of the earlier realization.

All three of them then headed back to the shelter and with the aid of the palm leaf shut out the unwelcome nightlife. The fruit and coconuts were eaten and within half an hour it was pitch black. They had all found a suitable area to lie down and actually commented to each other how soft it was. After a few meaningless conversations about the great taste of the small bananas and how they differed from the big English ones, Chas totally turned the conversation much to the relief of the others. 'Where are we?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, where are we? As I can work out, we're on an island in the middle of no-where and some very strange things have been happening.'

Gus interrupted him. 'Hang on. You're telling us that you didn't have a clue where we were! It was you who told us to change the direction and row towards the island that you saw. Were you having a sodding laugh or did you actually see an island?'

'I don't know what is real anymore. Yeah, I saw an island but how? My eyesight's rubbish. I should have got some glasses years ago.'

'After you saw the island, you then climbed up that tree like a bloody monkey and then told us we needed glasses because we didn't see that banana tree! And not to mention that stupid argument we had earlier about the mountain I didn't see.'

'I know Kyle. Don't you think I know?' he said, lighting up another cigarette. 'And another thing, how did we manage to lose all our clothes yet you still managed to keep hold of your fags?'

'They were in my pocket and I dried them out in the boat. You two were asleep at the time.'

Chas finished his fag and the conversation filtered out. Nothing was mentioned of the animal in the pit.

They lay there silently, each one deep in thought until finally, one by one they fell asleep.

Chapter 3

**T** hen, they heard it.

'What the heck was that?'

'What was what?'

'That noise Gus, you deaf idiot!'

'I didn't hear anything.'

'Did you hear anything Kyle?'

'Nothing, let's get back to sleep.'

'I definitely heard something. I'm going to have a look.'

Chas got up and stumbled over to the door, tripping over a trailing foot.

'Fat boy, look where you're going.'

Gus rolled over and ignored the numerous insults that were thrown back in his direction.

Chas went to the door, pulled it to one side and walked outside. Outside was total darkness and he stood still, while his eyes adjusted. After a few minutes he slowly wandered around but he saw and heard nothing. He went back to the shelter and flicked on his Zippo so he avoided tripping over Kyle again and then he laid back down and went to sleep.

Within an hour of resumed sleep, they were all woken up by a loud, screeching and hissing noise coming from not very far away.

'Don't tell me you didn't hear that?' yelled Chas.

'Yes. We both heard it and so will whatever is outside if you don't shut up.'

Chas shut up and slowly made his way to the door. He then flicked on his lighter.

'Turn off that lighter,' said Gus quietly.

The noise outside was getting more ferocious and even closer. Chas slowly moved the leaf away from the exit. The others had moved and were looking outside. They couldn't see anything but still heard the piercing noise from nearby. The noise was getting nearer but they still didn't see anything.

'Where is it?'

'I can't see it Gus, so keep quiet.'

'It's here! It's behind us. Look!'

Kyle and Chas both looked and heard it behind the wall, scraping up against the vines.

'I thinking you're right Gus. I'm not staying in here. Are you two coming or what?'

Kyle and Chas were directly behind Gus as they all made their way out of the shelter and headed to the clearer surroundings of the beach. They got to the beach and hid behind a large rock close to the water's edge. The noise was still coming from behind their shelter.

Suddenly, they saw two animals come crashing through the front wall of their shelter, totally destroying it. The lads hid further behind the rock but still kept a constant eye out for the two animal's next move. As the animals headed out away from the cover of the trees, they became more visible with the help of the moonlight.

'What are they?' asked Gus, in a very calm voice.

'They look like huge lizards! In fact, they look like that thing we saw earlier in that pit!'

'Are they dangerous?'

'I don't know, but I'm not sticking around here. Look at them! They are trying to kill each other.'

'Chas, they can't see us here. There're too interested in each other. We're safer here.'

'What? You mean like we'd be safe in that shelter we spent all day making Kyle.'

Kyle didn't respond to that as he had also just seen these humongous lizards plough their way through it as if it wasn't there.

They decided the best thing to do was to stay there and keep quiet. This was until the creatures moved closer.

On closer inspection these animals had triangular shaped spikes running down their backs all the way along to their tails. They resembled a cross between a crocodile, lizard and some type of dragon. Whatever they were, the lads all agreed that they were not safe staying where they were. One by one they slowly moved away from the rock and quietly ran along the beach and then went in to a small area of trees. Chas went first and wasn't spotted by the unwelcome visitors. They were still pre-occupied, each having a firm hold of their opponent's neck. Chas was quickly followed by Gus, who sped across the beach to join his friend. Kyle was the last to leave and as he headed over, he never took his eyes off the fighting beasts. Then he fell to the ground, grabbing his left foot.

'Get up!' yelled Chas.

By this time Gus had ran over and grabbed hold of Kyle's arm and helped him stumble over to join Chas.

'What were you doing?'

'I hit my same toe on a rock and I think I've cut it open again?'

He looked down and saw blood pouring out and his toenail hanging off.

'That looks painful. You won't be able to walk very far on that.'

'I'll pull it off for you and then it won't hurt as much,' said Chas in an unfamiliar caring voice.

'No you won't'

'Okay, fine. Get up and see if you can walk on it.'

He got up, walked a few steps and immediately sat back down. It was too painful.

'I told you. The twigs and stuff that's on the floor are continually hitting your nail and bending it over, causing the pain.'

'Okay, okay doctor, just be quick eh?'

Chas bent down, took hold of the nail and, in a totally uncaring way, yanked it off in a split second.

'You tosser. That hurt,' screamed Kyle.

'Did I tell you it wasn't going to hurt? Stand up and see if it's better.'

He stood up and walked around and suddenly noticed the silence around them. He looked out and saw that the fighting had stopped and the fiends had gone. Kyle turned around to tell his friends the good news, but as he spun around he saw that the dragon like animals had moved directly behind them. He was speechless.

'What's up Kyle, have you lost your voice?'

Chas looked at Kyle and saw the colour draining from his face.

'What's wrong mate? You look like you've seen a ghost.'

Without saying a word he grabbed hold of Gus's arm and looked directly at Kyle, giving a slight nod of acceptance.

'Listen. Very slowly we're going to walk away, back to the beach. Okay?' Chas whispered.

The others acknowledged him and Kyle slowly turned back around. As he did this, one of the creatures flicked its long tail and hit a tree while letting out a loud roar. With that new cue, the previous instructions were immediately forgotten.

'Run, run, get out of here!' Kyle shrieked.

They all sprinted away and headed along the beach and then in to the jungle. Kyle was leading the way and he had quickly forgotten about the pain that was no doubt coming from his toe. He looked behind and saw his mates close behind but could only hear the roar of the dragons. They sounded like they were still in pursuit, but a long way back. By this stage Chas was breathing heavily and having a fat moment, as sweat was oozing out of every pore and dripping off his chin. With that, he stopped. 'I've got to have a breather.'

'We're being chased by these man eating things and you want a breather. Great timing Chas.'

'Go on without me Kyle. I'll be fine.'

The noise from the dragons was getting louder and descending on them quickly.

'Come on Chas. We've got to go, now!'

Chas stood up and started to follow the others. As they carried on running he was finding it harder to keep up and started to drag behind. The others ran past a small opening, so Chas slipped off to the side and took another short rest. By the time Chas got on his feet again, the others were way ahead of him. He carried on running at a leisurely place until he could definitely hear the dragons were rapidly catching up. He speeded up and while he was running he kept looking over his shoulder. He sprinted around the next tree and had another look over his shoulder. He saw nothing but then he turned back around and smacked his head on a low branch protruding from a neighbouring tree. It sent him crashing to the ground. He laid there, totally dazed and unable to move. His head was pounding and he could feel blood running down over his temple. He forced himself up on to his feet and staggered along. Further ahead, Kyle finally stopped running and Gus caught up. 'Where's Chas?'

'He was behind me last time I looked.'

'And when was that?'

'I don't know, maybe about ten minutes ago.'

'Where can he be?'

'Kyle. We're not all as fit as you are. You were running along like you're in one of your stupid marathons. I couldn't keep up so Chas definitely wouldn't have kept up. He'd have stopped for another rest and a fag.'

'You seem to forget that we're being chased.'

'I know we're being chased but there're three of us here, not just you. If it hadn't been for him we'd probably still be in that boat floating aimlessly out at sea.'

'Okay. Let's head back and look for him.'

'Can we rest for just one bloody minute please Kyle?'

'Then we'll go back the way we came, right?'

'Yeah, whatever.'

Chas was managing to stumble along at a brisk pace but he was severely hampered by the blood running down his forehead and flowing down the sides of his nose straight into his eyes. He continually had to stop and rub his eyes and this was significantly slowing him down. He could still hear the roars and shrieking noises in the very close vicinity and that motivated him to keep running as quickly as he could.

Gus and Kyle were cautiously walking, making their way back towards Chas. The noise from the predators was very distant so they decided to quicken their pace and speed up the search.

They jogged along and then stopped in a small clearing and had a short break. Gus wanted to shout out but Kyle didn't agree.

'Well, how are we going to find him in this jungle? The trees are that closely packed that we'll never find him.'

'We'll head back the way we came and we should find him.'

'Is this the way we came? You haven't got a clue and neither have I?'

'If we shout out, then we're going to attract those things and they'll start chasing us again.'

'Alright, but let's get a move on.'

With that, they got up and ran through the dense jungle narrowly missing several jutting out branches and hidden rocks.

Suddenly, they heard Chas screaming out. 'Will someone please help me? They are getting closer.'

Gus heard his friend's voice and the running immediately became sprinting. Gus felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest but it didn't slow him down. Chas's voice was getting louder and they felt like they were almost on top of him.

'They're here. They're really here!' Chas bawled out.

The others were helpless. They could hear the dragon things but still had no idea where Chas was. All they heard was his screams for help.

Chas was aimlessly running along, the blood was streaming down his fore head and running off the tip of his nose on to the ground. He felt very dazed and his head was pounding. He carried on staggering between the trees and headed for the dimly lit openings. The predators were catching quickly and he couldn't seem to lose them. He didn't hear his friends and his cries for help were useless. The only thing they were doing was attracting the big lizards.

Chas saw a group of trees and decided to take another untimely break and a much-needed fag. He sat down, hidden by the tree trunks, took a fag out of the crumpled packet, broke off the filter, lit it and gave an almighty suck. After only a couple of drags he felt his second, or was it fifth wind, coming on.

Within five drags the fag was finished and he lifted himself back to his feet and headed off in to the darkness again. Then, relief, he thought. He heard Gus's voice nearby.

Gus had been told by Kyle not to shout out but as per usual, totally ignored him and was now continually yelling out Chas's name.

'I'm over here Gus,' bawled Chas.

Both Gus and Kyle heard their friend's voice and were both screaming out, letting him know they were coming.

'Stay where you are Chas,' screamed Gus. 'We're not far away.'

'Okay. But hurry, these things are nearby.'

With that, Chas turned around and saw them behind him. 'They're here. They've found me.'

The others could hear Chas as he was screaming out, the predators were right on his toes.

'We're coming Chas. Just hold on mate.'

Chas looked behind and saw them but the odd thing was they weren't gaining ground. He thought they were just playing, toying with him. Maybe they're veggies, he thought.

His levels of stamina were getting lower and lower and his pace was down to just above walking. But still the crafty predators didn't close the gap.

'They are playing with us,' he screamed out.

'What?'

'I said they are playing with us. I'm stood here and they're not coming any closer.'

'Are you sure?'

'Course I'm sure Gus. Well, it's time for my turn in this game.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Just give us five minutes.'

'Don't be such a prick.'

'I'll be fine Gus, don't worry.'

With that, he started meandering his way through the jungle, continually looking behind, to check that they were following. His energy levels were soaring as he wove a path around trees and bushes. The lizards followed closely but were never closing. Chas was beginning to enjoy this and started to double back on himself.

The others could hear him laughing and shouting back to his new playmates to keep up and enjoy the fun.

Chas continued to dart around the trees. He started running towards a clearing. When he looked back, one of the lizards wasn't giving chase anymore.

'That's one out of the game,' he thought, laughing to himself.

As he turned back round, he screamed, 'Nooooo!'

The second lizard was still in the game. It was straight in front of him and when he turned around it calmly flicked its long tail and sent Chas flying in the air towards an area of green woven matting.

All of a sudden everything was silent.

Chapter 4

'Can you see him,' shouted Kyle.

'No. It's impossible to see anything in here. Stay where you are and I'll come and find you.'

After shouting at each other for ten minutes, Gus and Kyle finally found each other.

'So what's the last thing you heard from Chas?'

'Same as you Gus, it was Nooooo! Then it went quiet.'

They carried on heading back to where they thought Chas might be, but the jungle was dense and still dark. The area was totally silent apart from the occasional birds squawking high in the trees and the noise of something that resembled a monkey.

Gus and Kyle sat down on a small log and rested. 'I need a drink.'

'So do I, but let's just sit here a minute and think what to do.'

'Can't we think while we try to find some coconuts Kyle?'

'Gus, let's just sit and think for one minute.'

Gus could tell from Kyle's tone that he was probably feeling guilty for running off so quickly in the first place and leaving Chas to fall behind.

'Don't worry about Chas. He'll be fine. He's probably still prating around with those lizard things, playing his stupid hide and seek game,' Gus said, trying to lift Kyle's diminishing spirit.

'I'm not so sure. But I think we should do this.'

'What?'

'We should head back to the shelter. I think there's still some coconuts and fruit back there, plus we know where we can get some more.'

'Then what?'

'Then we should rest until the sun comes up. It's useless trying to look for him now. It's too dark. It'll be easier when it's daylight.'

They both agreed on this plan and slowly made their way back to the shelter or so they thought. After over an hour of trudging through the various crap on the floor, trying their best not to trip over, Gus started to question Kyle's orientation skills.

'Are you sure you know where you're going?'

'Yes, positive,' sharply replied Kyle.

'Well I'm not convinced. I think, in fact I'm definitely sure that we're lost.'

'We're not lost. When those things were chasing us I led the way and we ran in an almost totally straight line. So all we're doing now is re tracing our steps.'

'Okay, but I still think we're lost, but I'll follow you as I haven't got a clue which way to go.'

Hours passed and still no sign of the shelter.

'It should start getting easier now,' Gus proudly announced.

'And why is that?'

'Look above you. It's starting to get light.'

Kyle looked above him and saw that the sky was becoming significantly lighter but refused to acknowledge Gus and kept quiet.

'Straight ahead, look, straight ahead,' yelled Kyle.

He bolted off, closely followed by a very confused Gus.

'Where are we running to?'

'I told you I knew where I was,' Kyle said in a smug way.

He then saw what Kyle had obviously seen and he made his way to, what remained of the shelter, to get the coconuts and fruit. All they found were the coconut husks and brown banana skins.

'That greedy sod must have finished these off while we were sleeping last night. Wait until I get my hands on him.'

'Chill out Gus. I know where to get some more. Same place as yesterday.'

He went off and found the same tree, climbed to the top and knocked down six coconuts. When he got to the top he looked across in the direction of the mountain. But still he saw nothing, but what he did see was a tree loaded with bananas.

He climbed back down and walked towards the palm tree with all the bananas. Unfortunately, he realized that everything looked so different from down on the ground. He wondered around, his eyes searching the tops of trees for those bananas. All he could hear was Gus bawling out. 'I thought you knew where the coconuts were. I could of fou.'

'Aargh, no!'

'What's up Kyle?'

'Come here, I've found Chas!'

Gus darted through the trees and found Kyle with his head in his hands, shaking.

'What's wrong?'

'Look!' Kyle said trembling.

Gus looked down on the floor and saw a broken piece of matting that was lying in front of them. What?'

'Look in the hole you idiot.'

Gus looked in the hole and saw his mate Chas, dead in the pit. The body had been completely pierced by the wooden spikes. Gus turned away and puked up.

'How did this happen?' shouted Gus.

'It must have been when he was messing about with those lizards.'

'What are we going to do now?'

'I think we should give him a proper burial.'

'And how are we going to do that?'

'We could bury him on the beach. You know how he loved the sand. If you have any other ideas, now's the time to tell me Gus. If not, then let's dig a hole on the beach.'

'That sounds good to me,' agreed Gus.

They walked back to the beach and looked for a suitable place.

'What about here?' said Gus, pointing to spot on the beach in the shade underneath a large tree.

He was never a big fan of the sun but loved the beach.

Kyle agreed and went off and found a couple of large splinters of rock. He then handed one to Gus.

'What's this for?'

'It will help you dig the hole.'

With the thoughts of coconut milk and fruit furthest from their minds they both began shovelling the soft sand away. After only digging less than a metre deep, they had to stop and re-energize themselves with the limited choice of refreshments.

Throughout the morning they persevered with the digging, in total silence and eventually the hole was about two metres deep and big enough for Chas to fit in.

'Okay Gus, let's have a break and then go and get Chas.'

Gus tried to get out of the hole but as he pulled himself up, the weight was causing the edge to collapse and more sand had to be emptied out. Gus kept trying and wouldn't give up.

'Gus. Stop it, I'll help you out.'

'Get me out quickly. This is far too creepy. We're here digging a bloody hole in the ground for our best mate.'

With that Gus started to sob.

'I miss him already.'

'I miss him too Gus, but we've still got to be realistic else we're going to be in the same state as Chas.'

'Yeah, I know. Can you give us a lift up?'

Kyle helped Gus climb out of the grave hole. They both went for a quick dip in the sea and sat down on the sand and rested.

'Do you think those things have gone?' asked Gus.

'I don't know, maybe.'

'Was Chas right, do you think? Were they toying with him, or were they chasing him down.'

'I think a bit of both. Like that scene out of _Jurassic Park_.'

'Oh yeah, that one with those two velop... bird things.'

'Yeah that's it.'

Coming from the trees was the shrieking noise of the giant lizards again.

'They're coming back again, Kyle.'

They didn't have much time to decide before one of the lizards came charging out of the trees closely followed by a second. Gus got up and headed for the hole.

'Where are you going?'

'I'm going in the hole. It's the safest place.'

Gus jumped straight into the hole and within seconds Kyle was there with him.

'And this was the safest place you could find!'

'It looks a lot safer in here than out there.'

They were both peering over the edge, watching the animals attacking each other. One had hold of the other and they could see its teeth firmly clenching in to the tail of his opponent. The shrieking noise was deafening, until it broke free of the grip and speedily scampered off in to the dense undergrowth. Gus and Kyle thought that would be the ideal time to escape their hole but the victorious lizard looked as if it was doing a lap of honour, as it majestically strolled around the clearing.

It then caught sight of the two heads peeking over the top and immediately bolted over causing both of them to drop to the floor and get down as low as possible. As they looked up, they saw the large head looking down, its mouth wide open displaying hundreds of huge pincer like teeth. By this time, they were laid shaking side by side, holding each other. Gus then felt some sand fall on to his chest.

'The things going to bury us alive,' bawled Gus.

'No it isn't. It's not that clever.'

'Well I've just felt sand fall on me. Try and explain that?'

'Listen. Let's just lay here quietly and it will go away, eventually.'

As per usual Kyle was right and the lizard didn't stay long before he too ran off back into the jungle.

They helped each other out of the hole and quietly walked over to where Chas was lying. Gus tentatively looked into the hole and had to run off to the bushes to be sick again.

'I can't get him out. It's gross!'

'I've already worked that out for myself.'

'I'm sorry mate but there's blood everywhere.'

'Alright Gus. Calm down. Go and get a piece of that matting and we can wrap him up in it.'

While Gus was dismantling a wall from the shelter Kyle carefully eased himself into the pit and tried to lift up Chas's body. It was no use and he needed some help.

Gus returned carrying some matting and looked across at Kyle.

'What's up?'

'I can't get him out on my own.'

'Oh no, no way!'

'You've got to help me. We can't leave him here.'

'Why not?'

'He was killed here, that's why not. Look, we can put this matting around him and then we won't see his body and we won't get any blood on us.'

Gus thought about this for a while and then agreed. The matting was laid over Chas and pushed down the sides. Gus and Kyle slowly climbed into the pit and grabbed one side each. They slowly lifted the body up and eased it off the spikes. They got it as high as waist high and Gus was deathly white.

'Right, let's lift him so that he's above the ground.'

Gus kept silent and just carried on lifting.

'Okay, now we need to gently put his feet on the sand and then push him along so we can then let go of him. Are you alright with that Gus?'

'Hmmm.'

It wasn't long before they were both out of the pit and Kyle wrapped the matting completely around Chas while Gus went off into the sea.

'I just need your final help on this,' shouted Kyle.

He came back with slightly more colour in his cheeks and silently took hold of one end of the body and they carefully headed to the beach. When they got there, they laid the body by the side of the grave.

'How are we going to get him in?' asked Gus.

'I haven't thought of that.'

'Don't even suggest us climbing back into this pit.'

'I wasn't going to. I know! Why don't we get some of that vine we used for fixing the shelter together?'

'And do what?'

'We can tie one end around Chas and slowly lower him to the bottom.'

Kyle went off, holding a splinter of rock in search of some vines. He came back with two lengths about three metres long. They each took a piece of vine and laid it on the sand at a right angle to Chas's legs and his chest. They rolled him over the vine until there was enough to tie a knot and moved back to the edge of the hole. Gus and Kyle each held the vine and with their feet gently pushed Chas over the edge of the hole. They carefully lowered him down until he was resting on the bottom and then let go of the vine and watched as it fell onto the body.

'So what now?' enquired Gus.

'Let's push the sand back into the hole and then we can make a cross and, let's just push the sand in first and then we can decide what to do.'

Gus got on his hands and knees and pushed the sand into the hole as quickly as he could. Kyle could see that he was in charge of this, so he went to look for something to make a cross with. He was gone less than ten minutes and the hole was completely re-filled and looked no different from the rest of the surrounding beach.

'You don't waste any time, do you?'

'Look here. I just want to forget about this whole thing. What happened to Chas is spooky and I don't want the same thing happening to me.'

'Neither do I either,' Kyle pointed out.

'Please just make a cross and then we can say a few words and work out what we're going to do next.'

Kyle took hold of the two small sticks and tied them together and they walked over to the grave. He knelt down and gently pushed the stick into the sand. Gus knelt by the side of him and they sat there in complete silence, each busy with their own thoughts.

'I'm just going to say a few words. Is that okay if I go first and then you can say something?'

'Course it is,' said Kyle quietly.

'Cheers. Here goes. Err. I've known you for a while now and we've had some great times and also some close scrapes. I still don't know what happened but we'll try and find out. Wherever you are, go and get yourself a pint and a fag and enjoy life to the limit. You always did mate.'

Gus put his head in his hands and tipped his head down.

'Well mate. I think Gus said similar things to what I was going to say so be happy where you are and have a drink on us.'

They stayed by the grave for a short while and then went off in different directions to deal with the loss of their good friend in their own personal way.

Chapter 5

**A** fter spending the remainder of the day keeping themselves to themselves, they met each other in the sea and watched the sun as it was setting, disappearing over the horizon.

'Let's get some food!'

'Ooh please,' Gus replied sarcastically.

'Can you order me a chicken tikka masala, Kyle? No make that a vindaloo. I could do with a good clean out,'

'How about some delicious tropical fruit?'

'Oh go on then,' said Gus, wearing a big grin.

They got out of the sea and headed inwards towards the same palm tree. The tree that Chas had first discovered and scaled like a monkey.

'Why do we keep going back to the same tree and bush?' queried Gus.

'Because it looks easier to climb than the others.'

'Can I climb it and look for myself for those mountains that Chas said he saw?'

'Go ahead Gus. I've climbed it already and it wasn't easy. I'll go and get some bananas and some other stuff.'

Gus grabbed hold of the tree and got a secure foothold and made his way upwards towards the top. Kyle returned, loaded down with bananas and mangoes.

'Can you see any mountains?' shouted Kyle from the bottom.

'Nothing, besides more trees.'

'I've told you that already. Forget it and just knock down some coconuts.'

He did this and carefully climbed back down.

'You were right. It isn't an easy climb is it?'

They walked back to their partially destroyed shelter and drank yet more coconut milk and more fruit.

'How did Chas see those mountains? My eyesight's pretty good and I couldn't see anything, except more trees.'

'Well at least now you believe me Gus. And remember what Chas said about the weird changes that had happened. One of them was his amazing eyesight that he suddenly had. Plus, how did he climb that tree in such an agile way. We've both climbed it and it was very difficult and we're quite fit.'

'So why did those animals chase him and not us?' questioned Gus in a way that he wasn't really expecting an answer.

'I'm going outside for some air.'

'It'll be best if we stick together. We don't know where those things are.'

'Well I'm not staying in here Kyle, so are you coming or not?'

Gus headed outside into the rapidly reducing light, followed by Kyle and headed to the pit where Chas had met his death. Gus stood there staring into it, the blood still visible on the wooden spikes.

'It's not going to bring him back mate,' said Kyle in a sympathetic way.

'Don't give me one of those speeches you've heard on TV, like time is a great healer, because it won't work.

'Screw you Gus.'

Kyle headed back to the shelter and left Gus staring into the hole.

Kyle was woken up by Gus, who came charging into the shelter shouting, 'Look what I walked in to.'

'What?' inquired Kyle in a half sleepy voice?

Gus then threw it over to where Kyle was lying, causing him to rapidly move.

'What are you doing you stupid idiot?'

'This is the tail of one of those animals that killed our mate.'

'Where did you find that?'

'When you came back here I went over to the grave and just sat down and then I saw something in the moonlight. I went over to it and realized it was the tail of those things.'

'It must have happened earlier when they were fighting in front of us,' Kyle pointed out.

'Anyway, what did you bring it in here for Gus?'

'I thought we could think of some sort of plan to get revenge on these animals and we can use this as bait.'

'Don't be an idiot Gus. Let's just leave it. They've already killed Chas. Who knows which one of us is going to be next?'

'Just leave it! That's so typical of you, the easy option.'

'I'm not going for the easy option, just the sensible one. Anyway, it's late so let's try and get some sleep.'

The conversation ended there and they both lay silently until eventually they were both asleep.

Kyle was the first to wake up and decided to get up and go and find something for breakfast. A way of trying to make amends. He walked out, his eyes still half closed and looked at the sea and then over to where Chas was buried. Something wasn't right. He rubbed his eyes and then ran over to the grave. He stood there looking down, not believing what he was seeing and then ran back to get Gus so that he could confirm that he was not going mad.

'Wake up mate, come on! You've got to see this. I think I'm going mad.'

'Okay, okay. Just give me a second to open my eyes.'

Gus got up and followed Kyle outside to the grave.

'Look!'

'What at?' asked Gus as he was stood behind Kyle.

'Look at the grave!'

Gus moved to the side of his mate and looked down.

'What has happened?'

'I don't know, but this place is getting spookier by the day.'

'It was flat last night and the small cross was erect in the centre.'

'Why has it sunk and where's the cross gone?'

'I don't know but I think we should go and find the boat and get off this island,' Gus stated in an assertive tone.

'I agree. Let's get some supplies and we can leave today.'

'Can you remember where we left the boat Kyle?'

'No. Not really, but I remember when we arrived I told you to secure the boat.'

'Did you?'

'I can't remember.'

'The best thing to do is to walk along the beach and we'll find it eventually. That's the way we found this place.'

They both grabbed a few coconuts and some more bananas and then headed back to the beach and started the search for the boat, their only way of getting off of this island.

They had been walking for over an hour and still there was no sign of the boat.

'Are you sure it's this way?' asked Gus.

'Yes it is and it can't be that far now.'

They carried on their search for close on another hour, but still nothing.

'Maybe it's more inland,' said Gus.

'Why would it be more inland?'

'Because it could have been washed up and then beached.'

'I suppose. We'll head back but we'll look further in.'

They turned around and walked inward about five metres. Their progress was a lot slower because of the multitude of trees, twigs and the occasional cleverly covered pit. They were both getting severely fed up after both tripping over countless times and the mosquitoes that were buzzing around the lower parts of their exposed legs.

'Sod this! I've had enough. It must be lost, or some stupid person didn't secure it,' said Kyle in a very sarcastic way.

Gus chose to ignore this snide dig, as he couldn't remember if he had secured it or not. He just carried on looking and listened to the continual moaning from his mate.

'Hey look! It should be near here because there's an oar.'

Gus walked over to join his mate in the search and tripped over again, his head falling to the ground hitting something solid. He cleared away the vegetation and discovered the second oar.

'I've found the other oar.'

'Oh good, how did you find that?'

'I was very lucky. I tripped over again and hit my head on it,' replied Gus in an even more sarcastic voice than he had previously got from Kyle.

'The boat's got to be near here unless it's floated away.'

'I can't remember you telling me to tie the boat up.'

'Well I did! If it's gone then there's nothing we can do, so I suggest we go back to the shelter and think of some other way off of this island.'

'I'm going to walk back this way and keep looking. It could still be here,' Gus said feeling slightly guilty.

Kyle headed back along the beach while Gus continued to fight his way through the jungle. He then saw in the distance a clearing, which didn't look like a natural clearing. As he got closer he could see that the trees surrounding the area were all broken and the thick branches had been split open. The split was still a light colour, which led him to believe it had been made recently.

He got to the edge of the clearing and saw the top of a plane propeller sticking about half of a metre above the broken branches.

'Get yourself over here quick Kyle. I've found something!'

Kyle heard his mate's excited voice and made his way back to see what he'd found.

When he arrived, Gus had already pulled away a lot of the branches and seemed to be uncovering a small light aircraft. The cockpit had been smashed and there was some dry blood on the control panel.

'Someone else is on this island. I'm telling you.'

'How do you know Gus?'

'Because there's blood in this cockpit and no people and if you look at the trees, you can see that they've been split recently.'

Kyle had now joined Gus at the plane and was looking in the cockpit. It was empty.

'If your theory is true, then let's see if we can find them. Come on; let's go back to the shelter.'

'I'm going back this way to see if I can find anything else.'

'I'll come with you.'

For the first time since Chas was killed they finally seemed to be friends again and the snapping had finished.

As they walked back, everything was again looking totally unnatural and more and more manmade. They saw another small clearing and tried to speed up their already very slow progress through the undergrowth. They were walking side by side trying to help each other out.

'Watch out! To the right!' screamed Gus.

Gus looked down and saw an old rusty animal trap.

'Cheers mate. What is that doing here?'

They sensibly slowed their pace back down, but kept on persevering through the almost impossible ground underfoot. Gus was now leading the way and was weaving his way around the trees and through small holes in the bushes. Kyle was silently following close behind. Ahead of them was another small clearing, which Gus was heading for. They entered very carefully and then suddenly Kyle stepped on something.

'Let's move, now!'

Kyle didn't have to wait to be told to move again. He darted backwards and just avoided eight wooden spikes passing straight through his body into a tree. They both stood there in total silence looking at the tree and the spikes. After a short moment Gus was the first to break the silence.

'See the blood?'

'What?'

'Look closely Kyle. You can see on the tree, blood.'

'It was probably one of those people from that plane.'

'How could it be? If it were, then there would be a body of something! Maybe it's the blood of an animal.'

'Yeah but where are the bones?'

'I don't know and more to the point I don't care. Let's get back and think of a way to get off of this island.'

Kyle immediately changed direction and walked back towards the beach. Gus reluctantly followed behind him. Kyle was looking directly ahead and within minutes he was back on the relative safety of the soft sand. He looked behind him and couldn't see Gus.

'Gus, where are you?'

'I'm just back here. I've found something.'

'What now? Come on, hurry up.'

'I won't be a second mate.'

Gus stood up and was less than three metres from his mate.

'Look out mate. I'm going to throw this stuff to you!'

Kyle instantly became more alert as an old boat anchor went whizzing past his ear.

'Watch where you're throwing that. You almost hit me.'

'I knew where you were. It was miles off.'

'What else have you found?' asked Kyle, as Gus was dragging something behind him.

'Look! I'll show you.'

Gus had found some thick rope, an old fishing net and wrapped up inside it was an axe, a very basic hammer and some old fishing hooks.

'This stuff might be handy Kyle. We could try and catch some fish. It'll make a change from eating more sodding bananas.'

Kyle nodded in agreement and Gus proudly wrapped his findings back up in the net and dragged it back along the beach in a very nonchalant way.

When they got back to the shelter, they saw that it had been completely destroyed. Everything had been flattened and they saw below one of the pieces of matting was the discarded tail that Gus had found the previous night. He walked over, picked it up and announced to Kyle. 'That's it! We're not going anywhere. We can and will get these animals. It's time for revenge! Are you in Kyle?'

Kyle looked over to Gus, who was seething and calmly replied. 'Too right I am!'

Chapter 6

**T** hey needed some sort of plan. They sat by the sea and started to discuss their various ideas. Still behind them was the sunken grave of their friend and a constant reminder of why they had to get this plan right. If not, they could both end up the same way, dead!

Gus spoke out first and spurted out his plan of action.

'Right, first we need to decide what we are after and how we're going to do it.'

'I know that! We're after those animals that killed Chas.' answered Gus in an obvious tone.

'No I mean are we after killing all of these predators or just one, simply for revenge?'

'We don't know how many there are, so I think we should get as many as we can and then get out of here.'

'But where are we going to go?'

'We should head in the direction of that mountain.'

'But we haven't seen this mountain. Only Chas has seen it,' pointed out Kyle, much to Gus's annoyance.

As the two of them had made less than zero percent progress, Kyle walked off and did some more of his own planning. He went over to the pile of things that Gus had found earlier. He opened it up and took out the findings. Still, none the wiser Gus came over and joined him and told him his idea.

'We need to set a trap for these things and well, hear me out and let me know what you think.'

'Alright then. Go on,' replied a calmer sounding Kyle.

'We should first, lay the netting out and cover it over in sand. On each corner we tie a length of vine and then hang that to a tree.'

Kyle looked at him, totally mystified.

'I'll try and explain clearer. What I'm trying to say is that if we pull back one of those branches so we get loads of tension on it, then if the vines, which of course are attached to the corners of the netting, are tied around the branch. Are you keeping up?' asked Gus looking over at his mate.

'Yeah, I think so.'

'Well, where was I? Oh yeah. If the vines are attached to the branch then we just have to lure those animals in to the right place and then cut the rope and we'll catch them in the netting and they'll be hanging in the air.'

'That sounds like a good idea but?'

'What do you mean but?' interrupted Gus.

'Hear me out. I mean, how do we get them in the right spot and if by some miracle we catch them, what are we going to do with them then?'

'We kill them of course!'

'How are we going to do that Gus? Throw the axe at them and hope it hits their heads,' responded Kyle in a very mocking way.

'If you don't like that plan, then tell me yours?'

'No, your idea is good, but it just needs the small gaps filling in.'

They both remained silent for a while, both deep in thought.

'I've got it! We can use that thing that almost pierced you earlier. We can lie that flat in a pit and when they're there hanging, we simply cut the vine and they'll fall onto the spikes,' said Gus, feeling that his plan was getting better by the minute.

'So we need to dig a pit and go and get that spiky contraption?' asked Kyle, just to confirm to himself that he actually understood the plan, which he didn't totally.

Kyle was thinking about his other questions, but could see Gus's new lease of excitement so he decided to keep quiet.

Gus was looking skywards trying to find a suitable tree branch that he could spring back.

'That one will do!' he shouted after scanning all the nearby overhanging branches.

'Which means we need to dig the pit right here,' pointing directly at the sunken area of sand.

'You've got to be joking. We're not digging up Chas's body Gus.'

'There's no other suitable place, plus it will be easier to get the sand back out.'

'You're sick. And what makes you the expert on traps all of a sudden?'

'I don't know, but I know that the most suitable branch is the one directly above this place here.'

Kyle looked up and saw the branch in question and he was right. He agreed and went and got some splinters of rock and they both started to re dig the hole.

It took no time at all before they were deep in the hole. The digging started to get slower as they knew they would soon be at the depth of Chas's body. They continued to dig but still no sign of anything, except more sand. After a while Gus stopped digging and looked up to the top.

'We have to be near now.'

'I don't know but I've got a funny feeling we're close to the bottom of the original hole we dug.'

'So what are you saying Kyle. Has his body just disappeared?'

'I'm not saying anything, but it would explain why the sand had sunk.'

'This is nonsense! A body just doesn't disappear,' screamed Gus.

'Think about that dry blood on the tree yesterday and no body or bones near it.'

'Yeah, but that could have been carried away by those things.'

Kyle chose to shut up and carried on clearing out the loose sand. It wasn't long before the hole had been completely emptied down to the original level and below their feet was hard compact sand.

'So now that Chas's body has completely disappeared, what are we going to use for bait?' asked Gus.

'You what? We've just lost our best friends body and your biggest concern is what are we going to use for bait!'

'I just thought that he would make great bait for our trap.'

'You really are a sick person Gus. Is that why we dug the grave back out?'

'No, that wasn't the intention at first, but then I got thinking and the vital bit missing from my plan was something to use as bait. Chas would have had no qualms about using one of us as bait.'

'So why don't we use this?' Kyle said, holding up the discarded tail.

Gus agreed and they carried on with the plan, again in complete silence.

They both walked back along the beach and dismounted the wooden contraption that almost killed Kyle and carried it back to the pit. They needed to slightly widen the pit to allow it to drop in horizontally. Gus then grabbed hold of the fishing net and laid it out flat on the sand in position and tied the vine to each corner. While Kyle was covering the net with sand, Gus had climbed up the tree and shimmied along the branch overlooking the pit. As he pulled himself further along away from the main trunk, he couldn't help notice how the branch was getting decidedly smaller causing the branch to start to seriously bend downwards towards the trap. Gus was trying to get the rope firmly fixed around the branch, trying to avoid looking down into a pit full of vertical spikes, which were waiting for any slight error. Once it was tightly fastened, he carefully backtracked along the branch and climbed back down to the safety of ground level.

While all this excitement was happening, Kyle was still covering the sand in a trance-like fashion, totally unaware of what Gus had been doing. Gus had now taken hold of the other end of the rope and was tying it around the base of the tree. He looped it around the tree and tied it back on itself.

'How are you getting on?'

'Sorry?'

'I said how are you getting on?'

'Oh, you're still speaking to me.'

'Leave it Gus. I don't agree with your sick blasé ideas at times, but we do need this to work and we need to work together.'

Gus accepted his friend's opinion and in many ways agreed with him, but didn't tell him that. Kyle had now finished covering the netting and came over to where Gus was. He was over by the old shelter, with the hammer in his hand, knocking out one of the wooden stakes.

'What do you need that for?'

'I need something to tighten the rope so that the branch starts bending,' answered Gus knowingly.

'I don't understand.'

By this time Gus had the stake in his hand and was walking back over to the tree. He took the stake and slid it between the rope and the main trunk. He then put a hand on either end of the stake and began to turn it around. This was in turn twisting the rope tighter and tighter. After only a few clockwise turns it had already tightened the rope and the turning was now becoming more difficult. The branch had already started to bend but still needed some more turns.

'I understand, here let me help.'

Kyle took over from his mate and carried on with the twisting. Between them they finally got the branch bent over in the shape of a bow. Gus had since got two thin pieces of rock splinters, which he hit into some small cracks within the trunk. They were hit either side of the stake of wood and jammed it in a position, stopping it uncoiling itself. They then went over to the now hidden netting and took hold of the four ends of vines, but the end of the very spring-loaded branch was still too high. Gus thought of a way and took hold of the ends and then climbed on Kyle's shoulders. He was now high enough and it wasn't long before all four ends were tied together to the branch. The trap was now set and all they needed now were the dragons.

They put the dismembered tail in the centre of the matting and took their positions. Gus was by the tree with a hammer ready to hit the splinters of rock out and Kyle was halfway up the tree, carrying the axe, ready to cut through the rope once the dragons were trapped. They waited patiently in their positions for over an hour.

'This is useless,' said Gus in a dejected voice. 'We need to attract their attention.'

'How do you suppose we do that? You've had all the ideas up to yet, surprisingly,' replied Kyle with a hint of sarcasm.

'What's that suppose to mean?'

'Well, let's say. I'd never had put you down for the master of this contraption.'

'Just like I'd have never thought you could have built a Lego house, never mind a shelter. Not that it did much good!'

'I probably don't know how to build a Lego house, but for some bizarre reason I was totally clear on how to build that shelter. Hey and c'mon, it is hardly my fault that it's now flat.'

Gus looked up, laughed and said; 'To be honest with you mate. I haven't got a clue about traps but like you it has suddenly become very clear.'

'Maybe we've both got a hidden talent that we don't know about,' laughed Kyle.

'Well if we have mate, then I hope one of us suddenly has an inspirational idea on how to get off this island alive!'

Over the next half an hour they were both thinking of ways to lure the prey. Then Gus had a further idea. He worked out, mainly by himself, but with odd comments from Kyle that the reason that Chas was dead is that they were attracted to his blood. His explanation was that when he hit his head, while being chased, the blood was a scent for those animals. Kyle went along with his theory, mainly because he didn't have any ideas of his own and once Gus had told him that he had seen a big open gash on Chas's forehead when he first looked into the pit. With this new realization, they went to work with their new tactics. Kyle climbed back down the tree and with the axe he took hold of the tail and butchered it. He then got the blood and smeared it all over his face, arms and legs. The smell was rancid but he knew it was hopefully a way of getting noticed. The only other option was to cut each other. This was not a favourable choice, so the tail was the only option left.

They went over their revised plan one last time and then both headed together in to the jungle in search of the killers. Within minutes they heard the ominous noise of their target and their heartbeats started to race and beads of sweat were oozing out of their bodies.

'There's one, over there!'

'Where?' stuttered Gus.

'Over there, behind that tree.'

Gus didn't see it but didn't question his mate. Suddenly there were two of them and they were circling them. Gus had completely lost where they were in relation to the trap and started running aimlessly. He looked behind him and Kyle was following right on his toes. They saw in the close distance a large rock, which they sprinted to and hid behind.

'What are we doing here? We should be over by the beach,' yelled Kyle.

'I know that, but I sort of panicked and ran the wrong way.'

They stayed hidden behind the rock and closely watched the dragons in the distance. As they got nearer, the dragons spotted them and both ran further and noticed a tiny opening that led into a small cave. They crawled through and sat inside, safe from the outside, the coolness was a welcome relief to their already very sweaty bodies.

'What are we going to do now, clever boy?'

'Kyle, can't you try and have some ideas and not always leave it all to me?'

'I think we should wait for them to go and then try again, but this time let me go first and I'll lead them back to the right place. Then after we've done that, we should come back here.'

'Why come back here?'

'Because it's safer in here than it is out there, that's why!'

Gus agreed with him and was quite happy to stay sat on the floor knowing that he couldn't be eaten in here, or so he thought. After an hour of sitting in total darkness and complete silence, the dragons had gone, so they crawled back outside and peeked over the top of the rock. There was nothing in sight so they slowly crept out and made their way back towards the beach.

'Why are we doing this?' queried Gus.

'Because we want to get those things for what they did to Chas! Remember?'

'Yeah, I remember.'

They had only walked a few metres and they heard a rustle in the distance.

'Look! Here they come again.'

'Are you ready? And this time you follow me okay?'

'Okay.'

Kyle headed off first and ran in the direction of the beach.

'Are you clear on what to do?' questioned Kyle, while sprinting through the dense undergrowth.

'I'm clear. Let's just get these.'

The noise was getting distinctly louder and closer and they were now running at full speed. Gus thought his heart was going to explode but carried on close behind his blood-covered friend. They arrived at the beach and Kyle ran straight over to the trap, while Gus ran to the tree and picked up the axe. They were both in position and waiting.

'They're coming!' screamed Gus. 'Be ready to get off that netting.'

Gus was cleverly hidden behind the tree, out of sight, waiting for the signal from Kyle.

'Now! Now! Now!' shrieked Kyle.

With that, Gus hit the piece of rope as hard as he could, slicing completely through it, causing the tightly sprung branch to instantly flick skywards, taking the four lengths of vine with it.

'We did it!' screeched Kyle. 'We did it.'

Gus came from behind the safety of the tree and saw hanging from the tree, two very ferocious dragons, wailing out and twisting their long bodies in an attempt to escape. Gus, staying very level headed, knowing that firstly, that noise could attract more of these things and secondly, that the netting isn't the strongest he's ever seen, so he pulled the axe out of the tree and climbed up and along the branch to above where they were hanging. He looked down, over the top of the swinging netting and pointed out to Kyle that it wasn't directly over the pit. Kyle immediately stopped his celebrating and ran and took hold of a long length of bamboo. He then pushed the bamboo into the netting and tried to guide it directly over the pit. As he was doing this, the dragons were snarling and snapping at the stick.

'Just a bit more.' instructed Gus, with the axe ready to slam down on the pieces of vine.

'That's it!'

With that, he hit the pieces of vine and watched from above, as the two dragons fell screaming into the pit. The noise immediately stopped as the wooden stakes punctured their bodies. Kyle ran over and looked down onto the blood-covered fiends and then looked up at Gus, who was already on his climb down. When he got back down to the ground, he was met by Kyle, who welcomed him with a big hug. This was followed by a bunch of high fives until suddenly Gus stopped and pulled away from the celebrations.

'Kyle, you stink! Go and wash that blood off your body.'

'Okay boss,' he replied.

Chapter 7

**A** fter they cleaned themselves in the sea and had yet more fruit and coconuts, they grabbed the hammer, axe and the fishing hooks and made their way over to the cave. Before they left, they said a final goodbye to their great close friend and gave a big long lasting look at the dead dragons lying in the pit. Then Gus went over to the old shelter and knocked out some more stakes.

'What are you doing mate,' asked Kyle.

'I've had another ingenious idea!'

'Don't you think you've had enough? If you have any more your head might explode.'

'Ha bloody ha! I'm getting these so we can make some torches. That cave was pretty dark, didn't you think? I've seen this on those _Indiana Jones_ films. You know, the torch with that dry bracken wrapped around it.'

'Where the heck are all these ideas coming from?' asked a very bewildered Kyle.

'I don't know, but while I keep having them, let's go with the flow.'

While Gus knocked out the stakes, Kyle went picking up anything that he thought they could wrap around to act as a torch. He also cut off some more small pieces of vine. They then both sat on the beach, cross-legged, wrapping the twigs and dead bracken around the wood and then tying the vine around to firm it up so that it wouldn't fall off. It took a few attempts before they had worked out how to do it.

Finally, armed with six newly built torches they found the same rock, when suddenly Gus stopped in his tracks and yelled out, 'How stupid am I, or what?'

'Well, I already know you're stupid, but why has it taken you so long to realise?'

'No, don't take the piss. I don't mean that. I mean we've spent the last hour making these torches and we've got nothing to light them with.'

'Yes we have!'

'What?' replied Gus, abruptly.

Kyle reached into the pocket of his disgustingly dirty shorts and pulled out a lighter.

'Where did that come from?'

'It's Chas's. When you weren't looking, I took it off him after he had been killed. I didn't think it was appropriate at the time, but in hind side I should have told you. Sorry mate.'

'No problem! Great thinking! Does it still work?'

'Yeah, of course, Chas wasn't stupid. He always kept it in a plastic bag so it didn't get wet. This and the fags were the most important things in his life. He always treasured them.'

'Are there any fags left?' queried Gus.

'Why? You don't smoke.'

'I know I don't, but I could murder one now.'

'Sorry mate, but I didn't take the fags I thought he'd like to be buried with them.'

After they checked the lighter, they walked into the cave and lit the first torch. The first thing that they noticed was that in the centre of the cave was the remains of a fire. Kyle lent down and felt the embers.

'Someone else is definitely on this island.'

'Why do you think that Kyle?'

'Feel these embers. They're still warm.'

'Where are they then?' Gus asked rhetorically.

After a few moments to ponder, Kyle walked outside, announcing to Gus that he was going to get some wood to make a fire and Gus promptly followed suit. They both decided to stay just one night in the cave and set off, the next day, after some sleep.

Once a fire was lit, they both just sat there staring into the flames until Kyle notice something on the wall opposite. He got up and walked over but it was too dark so he lit one of the torches and walked back to the wall. Gus was still staring into nothingness until Kyle grabbed his attention.

'Hey! Look here!'

Gus dragged himself away from his own distant thoughts and went over to the wall.

'What did you do that for? I was having a great time, I was miles away.'

'Sorry mate but look at these pictures.'

'It looks like a map, or something. Maybe it's of this island?'

'I don't know Gus but look over here.'

Kyle pointed to an area above the map where there seemed to be lots of small pictures carved on to the wall.

'I think it's telling us a story,' voiced Kyle.

At that point their torch was coming to the end of its life so they returned back to get another one.

Kyle lit a fresh torch and went back over to the wall. The pictures seemed to resemble cave men and women been attacked by animals, flying things and other humans. The pictures shook both Kyle and Gus up so they decided to walk back to the fire and try to put their scary thoughts to the back of their minds and get some sleep.

After what seemed like very little sleep, Gus woke up in total darkness, quietly asking if Kyle was awake. He wasn't, so Gus just lay there silently listening to the distant sounds from outside. The nocturnal animals sounded very active, which made him feel a lot safer, knowing he was in the protection of the cave. This was until he heard a noise that sounded like the flapping of wings. He lay completely still until the noise was getting closer to his now, very sensitive ears. He moved his left hand and grabbed hold of Kyle and shook him.

'What did you do that for?' yelled Kyle.

'Listen! There's something in here. It sounds like a big bird or something equally as creepy.'

They both listened until Kyle felt something land on his leg. He threw his arm out and hit it off.

'What was that?' screamed Gus.

'I don't know but it felt big.'

Kyle blindly felt around for one of the torches. Eventually he found one and took the lighter from his pocket and lit it. Once it was alight he stood up and lifted it up towards the roof of the cave. As they both looked up they saw hanging from every part of the roof, giant bats. Suddenly, what seemed like hundreds left their spot and swooped down towards the light from the torch.

'Put the torch down Kyle!' shrieked Gus.

Kyle stood there dementedly, waving the torch as he was surrounded by hundreds of bats. His actions were having no effect and he was getting hit and cut by the persistent attackers. By now Gus had moved closer to his friend and had picked up one of the old burnt out torches and he too was flapping it in all directions with no effect. They were both getting very cut up and the bats were beginning to cling onto their backs and around their necks. Kyle threw down the torch, which then quickly went out, and ran towards the entrance. Gus was closely behind following, but they couldn't find it.

'Where is it?' yelled Gus, while hitting some bats off his back and neck.

Kyle was running around screaming when suddenly he tripped over something and fell to the ground hitting his head on something soft. Gus was right behind him and did the same. The bats were still around them and they were now both feeling the pain from the cuts on their bodies. Kyle felt around him and felt the shape of a foot.

'Is that your foot I'm feeling.'

'No it isn't!'

Gus did the same and they soon realized that they had tripped over some bodies. They were both screaming and still flapping their arms and legs around to stop the bats taking a firm hold on their prey.

'Get under the bodies!' shouted Kyle.

'What did you just say?'

'Lay down next to me and we'll pull the bodies over us.'

'I'd rather take my chances out here than lay under some dead body.' yelled Gus.

Gus soon knew that his decision was the wrong one. Kyle had moved one of the corpses and was now protected from the bats. Gus quickly followed suit and they both laid there, trembling under two dead bodies. It wasn't long before the bats lost interest and went back to their individual spot within the cave. The smell around them was rancid and they dreaded to think how long these people had been in there. And more to the point what state they were in.

They stayed hidden until light started to filter into the cave. They noticed that this light was coming from both sides of the cave. They tentatively pushed the bodies away and made their way over to the nearest light, neither one of them looking back. When they walked out Gus quickly glanced up to the roof and saw all the bats hanging there. He assumed they were asleep after their night of feeding. Kyle led them out and they realized it was the entrance that they couldn't find hours before.

When they got out in to the light they could both see that their bodies had been cut to pieces and their t shirts had been sliced open. The wounds looked like clean knife cuts. They both headed off to the sea to go and clean themselves up knowing that salt water would take some of the pain away and help the healing process.

After some time, they jointly came to the conclusion that the best option was to go back into the cave and go over to the other side. They knew that staying on this side would only mean more danger and probably death.

They grabbed some provisions and headed back to the cave. Very quietly they started to walk across to the other side but Gus stopped and looked over at the bodies.

'Oh my god, I think I'm going to be sick,' he whispered.

Gus carefully walked over; stepping over a few of the dead bats they had managed to kill, and looked down at the bodies. To their surprise there was three bodies not two, all faced down in the dirt. Gus spotted a bag wrapped around one of them. He went over and tried to pull it off, but it was no use.

'Give us a hand getting this bag off?'

Kyle walked over and they took hold of the body and carefully rolled it over.

'Oh no, poor sods,' said Kyle in a calm voice.

They looked at the woman and saw that her body had been sliced to bits and her eyes had been gouged out. They quickly lifted up the body and slid the strap of the bag under her body and finally over her deathly grey head. Kyle walked over to the last torch and slid it into the bag. They didn't stay a minute longer and headed over to the light that was coming from higher up in the cave.

They began climbing up the steep rocks, carefully choosing where to put their feet and hands. The climb was becoming more difficult as they got higher, not helped by the soreness they were feeling when having to drag up their legs, which were scraping against the rough jagged rocks. After taking a few breathers, they reached a plateau and chose to have a rest.

The light was still above them and they had probably only climbed half way. While they were resting, Kyle was continually looking for the next step and then the next, trying to map a way up the side of the cave. He couldn't see a path but chose to keep these findings to himself. They clambered up a further three metres and then the realization came to both of them that they could go no higher.

To the left of them they spotted a small pool of water. Gus was the first to go over there and quickly dipped his aching body in to the cool water. The pool was deeper than he was and after dipping his head completely under immediately cottoned on that it was clear fresh water. He shouted out his new finding and was instantly joined by Kyle.

They didn't stay in the water that long as it was ice cold and it wasn't long before they both started shivering. Gus was the first to get out and sat down next to the woman's bag. He began opening it and lifted the things out for them both to see.

Inside the bag was some army type water bottles, a first aid kit, a pack of playing cards and some make up. Gus couldn't believe the inclusion of the makeup, joking that she obviously thought she was on a two-week package tour in a five star resort. Kyle took the water bottles and emptied them out and then washed them in the pool and filled them with the fresh water. He handed one to Gus and they both took a long drink.

'Makes a change from coconut milk, don't you think?'

From the visible smile on Gus's face, he didn't have to hear an answer.

After enjoying their third bottle, it then dawned on them that they still had a big problem ahead of them. Gus got back up and promptly removed his t shirt and sandals and headed back to the pool.

'Wait here a minute I have an idea.'

Gus lowered himself back in and then dived down into the darkness below. Kyle just sat there for what seemed ten minutes before he spotted a figure making its way back to the surface.

'We can get out this way! I think.'

'With all due respect mate, but what are you talking about?'

'I've just swum down and, from what I can make out; it seems to be an underwater tunnel.'

'Going where, exactly?'

'I only went so far but there are lots of caves where we can come up for air.'

'Yeah, that sounds okay, but where do we finally come out, if at all?'

'I don't know exactly. I'll go and have another look.'

With that Gus's body disappeared below the surface and he was gone again. Kyle sat there and waited patiently. After, at least five minutes, he was sure that his friend had got lost and was not coming back. He sat there longer still and then went over to the pool and got in and looked down in to the darkness until he suddenly felt something grab hold of his lower leg. This caused him to freak and he leapt out of the water, like a man possessed.

'Did I scare you?' said Gus laughing out loud.

'You stupid fool; you almost gave me a heart attack!'

'Sorry mate. It was only a joke.'

'Enough of your jokes. What did you find?'

'We have a way out but it's a long swim so I'm going to have to tow you along.'

'What do you mean?' questioned Kyle, totally confused.

'What I mean is that I can swim pretty quickly so it would be best if you followed me.'

'And how am I going to do that?'

'We'll need to find something to tie us together so I don't lose you.' Gus said in an almost caring voice. 'I'll have to climb back down and get some vine from outside.'

'Are you serious? Haven't we got anything we can use?'

'Look! We have no other choices. This is our only option and unfortunately it's not a good one.'

'Okay, but I'll go. I'm taller and have stronger upper body weight to pull me back up.' Kyle surprisingly announced to Gus, and himself.

Within a couple of minutes Kyle took hold of the axe and put the handle down his shorts and headed back down the cave wall. It was now Gus's time to wait impatiently. He sat there and watched as his friend quickly descended and, within no time at all, he could see his friend on the floor of the cave walking towards the exit.

Gus was sat there closely scanning the roof for any movement and was nicely surprised when he saw a hand grabbing for the final pull up the rock. Kyle appeared with lengths of vine tied over his shoulder and around his waist, looking like a sash.

'You didn't mess about, did you?'

'What do you mean?'

'You went down there like a monkey and you must have climbed back up like one.'

'I don't know how I did it. I've never climbed before.'

'It certainly didn't look that way.'

Kyle took the vine off and tied three long lengths together and then Gus tied one end to his foot and the other to his own waist. Kyle put the things back in the bag, plus the axe and the fishing hooks and threw it over his shoulder.

'Now, are you sure about what we're doing?'

'Yeah, just go and I'll wait for your signal.'

Gus got in to the water and soon he was gone. Kyle lowered himself in and waited. He then felt a sudden tug on the vine and knew it was his turn. He took a deep breath and went under. He couldn't see his hand in front of him and just had to help himself along as the vine was dragging him. He then noticed the water was getting slightly lighter and knew he was coming up to the surface.

'Was that alright?' asked Gus.

'Yeah, fine.' Kyle replied, even though he had been scared senseless.

'Where you all right for breath?'

'Well, I'm here breathing, aren't I?'

They didn't wait long until Gus went under again, followed by Kyle. This had to be done a further three times, each one getting slightly longer. The final swim, or drag, was the longest and seemed to go on forever. As Kyle emerged from the water, gasping for air, he was welcomed with a very smug looking Gus.

'Cheer up mate. Don't be such a drag.'

'Ha ha! Anyway, where did you learn to swim like that?'

'Let's just say, my weird feet have finally been useful. I had years of teasing at school, _Man from Atlantis_ and all that fish stuff.'

Gus helped his mate out and untied the vine. He then rolled up the vine and put it in the bag, thinking that it might be useful later. Kyle looked up and saw the rays of sunlight shining into the cave. They drank some more water; re-filled the bottles and headed on up the rocks. The climb was slightly easier and it didn't take long before they were within walking distance of the exit, out of the cave. Gus looked at his cuts and knew he would remember this place for a long time.

Chapter 8

**W** ith the exit only a few feet away, they clambered over the last rock and squeezed through the small opening. They walked out onto a thin ledge and below them was a massive volcano. As they looked down into the crater, there was visible smoke, bubbling mud and black ash.

They carefully walked along the thin path, which was less than a metre wide in places. Their walk took them meandering around black rocks and trees, which had been totally scorched. Their dangerous path was the outer rim of a huge active volcano.

By now, both of them were totally exhausted and decided to rest on a relatively larger ledge. Kyle took the bag off his shoulder and got the things out. As expected they were all totally sodden, so they lay them out in the hope that the things would dry out. Inside the medical kit they found some antiseptic cream, so they carefully squeezed some out and gently rubbed it into their numerous cuts. They both sat there, looking over the edge in silence until finally Gus broke it. 'Who do you think those people were back there?'

'I've been thinking the same, and my theory is that they might have been the people from that plane we found.'

'Do you think they could have survived that plane crash?'

'Maybe Gus, but I don't know. Mind you, remember we saw the dried blood on that tree by that wooden contraption that almost killed me.'

'Yeah I remember that, but why didn't we find any bodies?'

'Maybe they weren't that badly injured and made it in to the cave.'

'Another thing I've been thinking about is that, why did we only find one bag? There were three of them!' Gus cleverly pointed out.

'There might have been more than one bag but we didn't really look that hard.' replied Kyle.

After the conversation slowed down and eventually filtered out, with nobody really answering the questions, they got up and carried on along the path. They hadn't walked that far when Kyle spotted something peeking out behind the rock directly ahead of them.

'This is why we didn't find the other two bags!'

He pointed over to two small backpacks lying in the black dirt. He looked over at Gus,

'Before you ask, I don't know why they're out here.'

He took hold of one of the bags and tossed the other over to Gus.

'Let's look inside and see if there's anything useful.'

Gus was in total agreement and they both emptied them out and found some waterproofs, but nothing else.

'That's why they left them out here. What would you want waterproofs for? Plus, that girl had packed make up. It didn't make her look any better once her eyes had gone.'

'You can be a real sick bloke at times Gus.'

'I know, but eh, that's me. Love me or hate me.'

They transferred the stuff from the shoulder bag and put it into the two backpacks, deciding to keep the waterproofs and the makeup, not knowing what was in store for them later.

As they passed around the next rock, the very narrow path had fallen away and directly in front of them was a sheer drop.

'That's why they probably went back in to the cave,' said Kyle.

'But why, what's out here that's so bad?'

They both looked down into the crater and thought; maybe that's what's so bad.

'Well, I'm going down. I'm not going back in to that cave. I'd quite like to keep my eyes. What about you Kyle?'

'I'm with you. We can climb down if we want to anyway. We still have the vine.'

'Good thinking mate.'

Kyle took the vine out and tied it around a large rock. He then threw it over the side, but it was about five metres too short.

'What are we going to do now?' asked Gus. 'No, don't answer that. I know a way of getting it lower.'

He untied the vine from the rock and looped it right around the base of a small burnt out tree.

'Are you sure that will hold our weight?' questioned Kyle.

'Trust me mate! Have I ever let you down before?'

'What, this last week or today?'

'Oh, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?'

'Okay, let's get on with this before I change my mind.' answered Kyle, not wanting this conversation to go on any longer.

Gus was the first to climb down, carefully putting his feet against the vertical side of the crater. As he got further down, he could feel the heat increasing and the souls of his feet were starting to burn. He quickened up and finally got to the bottom. The heat was intense and he had to keep moving around so as not to burn his already sore feet. Gus signalled up to Kyle and told him to be quick. Kyle followed him down and they were soon running across the flat plain heading over to some trees they could see in the near distance.

As they were running the temperature was fierce and the smell was potent, stinking of very strong sulphur. They had only run a short distance and already their shirts were dripping wet with sweat. Gus was leading the way and had to carefully steer his way across the ash-covered base, avoiding the multitude of huge holes. As they stopped to have a very quick breather and drink, Kyle went over to the edge of the nearest one. He stood and tentatively peered over the edge. Once he had got used to the strong smell and the boiling steam, he made out that the seemingly bottomless hole was a mass of yellow stained rocks. He couldn't look for long and a few seconds later he was been beckoned by Gus to carry on.

They were now about half way and were been severely hampered by the sheer amount of steam coming from the small craters plus the added addition of some tiny streams of boiling water that they had to carefully step over. As they passed one of the holes, Gus came to a sudden halt and was looking at a human skeleton. Around its neck was a silver chain. Gus leaned over and grabbed hold of it but it was too hot. On closer inspection the chain looked like a set of dog tags. He put his hand under the leg of his shorts and grabbed the chain, quickly yanking it free. As he pulled it, he dislodged the skull away from the neck. Kyle just looked away, choosing to keep quiet on yet another sick act by Gus. With the tags now in Gus's hand he had to quickly let go as the cotton material had given very little protection to the heat coming from the metal. He opened the front of his bag and threw them into a small pocket. Without saying a word they carried on running. They'd only gone a short distance when a jet of boiling water erupted out of one of the holes and narrowly avoided scolding Gus.

'You almost paid for that, didn't you?' shouted Kyle, the first sentence to be spoken since climbing down the vine.

'What's that suppose to mean?'

'We'll talk later! Let's try and get out here alive first.'

They carried on in silence, desperately wishing themselves safe over on the other side. Kyle and Gus had to stop a further two times and were glad when the trees, where they were heading, were quite visible in between the belts of steam. As they were resting, drinking their warm water, Kyle heard a voice. He put the water back in the bag and without saying a word to Gus wandered off in the direction of the voice.

'Where are you going?' asked Gus.

Kyle gave no response and carried on walking. He'd only walked about ten metres and his body had already disappeared into the thick steam. As he slowly trudged along, the cries were getting louder. He tried to quicken up his pace but there were too many potential dangers ahead of him. As he stepped over another boiling stream of water he saw a man, of similar age, looking directly at him.

'Wow mate, are you okay?' Kyle asked stupidly, knowing full well that he wasn't.

'Gus, get over here. I've found somebody.'

Gus made his way over and kept asking for Kyle to keep talking so as to act as a guide.

Kyle didn't have any more conversation, as he'd felt he'd already made a complete fool of himself with his opening line. He stood there, silently waiting for his friend. When he finally found them he immediately looked down at the man's feet.

'What happened to your feet?'

'The heat!' the man replied in a very scared voice.

As Gus continued to stare down, he could make out that the guy's sandals had literally melted and were stuck to his burnt feet.

'Come on, let's get you out of here.' said Gus, breaking his stare away from the hideous site.

Gus and Kyle carefully lifted the man to his feet and lifted him up, so that his feet were not touching the hot surface. It didn't take too long before they were on the edge of the crater and the final part was to climb up a slight incline and then they were amongst the trees, seemingly out of obvious danger. They cautiously lowered the man back down to a seating position, with his back propped up against the trunk of a black scorched tree. It wasn't long before the guy passed out.

With their new companion visibly dead to the world, Gus and Kyle went and looked around the vicinity. All they could see were more of the same trees and some peculiar looking vertical columns, which closely resembled termite mounds. The ground was a lot cooler and their feet were started to get back to a normal temperature. Kyle headed back, to check on the man and Gus came back shortly after. When Gus returned Kyle was sat cross-legged, deep in thought.

'What are you thinking about?'

'Gus, what is happening here? We've lost our friend, seen dead people with their eyes missing, a skeleton and finally this severely messed up guy. I just don't know what to do anymore.'

'I'm the same mate, but I know one thing for sure and that is, we will find a way off this island. That, I guarantee.'

Chapter 9

**T** he stranger with the cremated feet had been asleep for over two hours when Kyle took a bottle of water and rubbed some into his very split lips. The man immediately woke up and was frantic with shock. He was acting completely crazy and seemed to be showing a psychotic reaction to his traumatic experiences. Eventually he calmed down and took hold of a bottle of water and downed it. They didn't have much water left but didn't want to stop him having his first drink in, who knows how long.

Both Gus and Kyle had so many questions for him but felt it better to sit there and listen to what he had to say. He told them that his name was Bret and he was twenty-three years old. From his physical appearance, he certainly looked a few years, if not five, more than his actual age. After an uncomfortable silence, Gus seized the opportunity to ask Bret some of the numerous questions he had, whizzing around his head.

'Bret, sorry to ask you this but, did you come here on your own.'

'No, I didn't. I came with my mate, but he's dead.' replied Bret in a very shaky voice.

Again there was more silence until this time; Kyle asked the next question.

'Was your mate in the forces?'

'That's a strange question to ask.'

'I can explain.' interrupted Gus. 'You see, when we were walking down there,' he said, pointing towards the crater, 'We found a human skeleton and around its neck were dog tags, those ID things they wear in the forces. That's why he asked you that.'

'No he wasn't. I don't know who that was.'

Again there was more silence.

'So what happened to your mate? How did he die?' asked Gus, feeling that he now needed to get some proper answers.

'He was killed in a rock slide.'

'Oh, I'm sorry mate. How did it happen?'

Bret remained silent for a while and then plucked up the courage to speak out.

'We were over the other side of the island,' he said, pointing over to where Gus and Kyle had come from. 'We were both walking towards a cave to get out of the heat. I was in front. Suddenly, we heard a noise from above us and loads of rocks came smashing down, out of nowhere. I managed to avoid them by running into a cave, but my mate wasn't as lucky and was crushed to death.'

Tears were now rolling down his cheeks. Gus thought this wasn't a suitable time to ask any more questions, so he got up and went for a walk.

By the time he was back, Bret had regained his composure and started spurting out the answers to their questions.

'Where was I?' spurted out Bret.

'You were going to tell us about your friend and how you got here,' shouted Kyle, trying not to sound too annoyed with the short and slow coming of answers.

'Well, my friend Jake and I were planning to just fly around some of these tiny islands. You see my friend had a pilot's license, so we rented a small plane. Everything was going fine until a bird flew into the left engine and caused us to ditch the plane over there.'

He was pointing over to where Gus and Kyle had come from.

'That must have been your plane we saw quite close to the beach,' shouted out Kyle, finally realizing that two parts of this huge jigsaw seemed to be linked.

'Yeah, it was. We both got a few cuts and bruises but Jake's foot was messed up. A tree branch had smashed through the front of the plane and trapped his foot against the fuselage.'

Both Gus and Kyle sat there patiently listening as the answers to their numerous questions were finally realised.

'Jake's foot was in a real mess so I pulled him out of the cockpit and went to find something to use as a walking stick.'

As Bret continued to tell his story, he kept on grabbing for more of the water. They knew the water was getting pretty low but didn't want to stop him having something to moisten his bone-dry lips.

'Once I'd sorted out a stick we started to make do with what supplies we had and lived on various types of fruit.'

'How long have you been here?' asked Gus.

'I'm not sure, probably about a week.'

'We must've just missed you.'

The next hour was taken up with the accounts of Gus and Kyle's happenings, explaining about Chas and the other strange things that had gone on. As they were telling their tales of the unexpected, Bret was starting to look anxious again.

'What's wrong mate?' asked Kyle.

'You seemed to have had the same strange things that happened to us.'

'What do you mean?' questioned Kyle.

'I mean that, we saw those pits and those dragon things and that thing about,' Bret stopped and started to freak out.

'What's up?' asked Gus in his caring voice, as he looped his arm and rested it on Bret's shoulder.

They waited for him to calm down and shouted words of encouragement to him, not totally for him, just wanting whatever was hidden inside to be shared and out in the open. Eventually Bret continued. 'That thing about your mate's body disappearing, the same thing happened to Jake,' he shouted out.

'What do you mean?' shouted Kyle and Gus in unison.

Again there was silence.

'Come on mate. It'll be better out in the open and we need to hear what you're thinking,' Kyle said, trying to remain composed.

'What I mean is that my mate was crushed by a rockslide and when it had finished I started to clear away the rocks, one by one. I wasn't going to let him stay there and I wasn't totally sure that he was dead. It took me over two days to clear a way out of the cave and then another day to clear away the remaining rocks.'

This was followed by another one of those familiar long breaks that was starting to grind into Kyle's nerves.

'The body wasn't there, was it?' screamed out Gus, stressing the word body.

The loudness of Gus's voice made both the others jump and Kyle gave him a long look, as if to say, 'What did you do that for?'

'No, it wasn't there. The only things I found were his walking stick and necklace.'

'What necklace?' asked Kyle, feeling that the question maybe had some relevance.

'Jake had collected some small shells he'd found walking along the beach and made this,' he said gently pulling out the necklace from the pocket of his shorts.

Both Gus and Kyle looked at it, trying to show some interest, but they were obviously more interested in what had happened to the body.

'So you're telling us that your mate just disappeared, yet the stick and this necklace, things he found on the island, didn't vanish,' said Gus, hitting the nail on the head and not realizing it.

'You've got it mate!' bawled Kyle.

'Have I?'

'It's what you said! What he found on the island stayed here but his body, clothes, in other words the things he came with have gone without a trace,' Kyle shouted triumphantly, like he'd just won the lottery rollover.

The others looked at him and thought he's lost his marbles.

'Remember Chas!' he continued. 'When we dug out the grave and didn't find his body but remember we found that shell in the sand. That was the shell he'd found on the beach that day.'

'I can't remember that,' responded Gus, dumbly.

'It wasn't that important at the time. He picked it up and said that he was going to give it to his mum. He must've put it in his pocket and we then found it in the grave. Like I said it wasn't important at the time so it wasn't worth a discussion and I'd forgotten all about it, until now.'

'Why didn't you mention it when we found it?' asked Gus.

'I don't know.'

By now both Gus and Bret were up to speed and all on a similar wavelength.

'If you're right mate, what is happening to the bodies?' asked Gus.

'I don't know, but why didn't the other bodies disappear?'

Nobody spoke up, as they didn't have a clue, which took some of the excitement away from Kyle's previous theory.

'So carry on with your happenings,' spoke Gus, trying to stop the obvious silence.

Catching Bret off guard, he waited a while, as Bret tried to remember where he'd gotten to and then continued.

'After I'd moved the rocks and stayed in the cave for the following night, I decided to climb along the side and came out on a ledge, overlooking that,' pointing down into the crater tears beginning to form in his eyes.

'Did you see the bodies in the cave?' asked Gus.

'No I didn't. I just sat on the floor and eventually fell asleep.'

'So you didn't light a fire?' questioned Gus but on seeing Bret shaking his head, this reconfirmed his earlier thought that the three dead people in the cave had lit a fire, which had attracted the killer bats.

'You were lucky mate.'

'What did you say?'

'Never mind.'

Kyle interrupted, feeling that Gus's previous comment wasn't called for and he was hardly a lucky guy.

'Look Bret, if you don't want to tell us what's happened then don't, but we both want to know what is going on here!'

'No. No. I'm alright. I want, no, I need to tell somebody. I thought I was going mad.'

'Us too mate, so we're all in the same boat here.'

After Kyle's words of encouragement Bret carried on.

'Once I'd climbed out on the ledge I followed it along until I got to the base.'

'How did you get to the bottom?' asked Gus as he listened attentively.

'I walked along the edge of the ledge and it wove its way to the bottom,' replied Bret, as he pointed over to the other side.

'That's where we came from, isn't it Kyle?'

'Yeah it is. Why?' asked a confused Kyle.

'Because the ledge wasn't there. It was missing! Remember?' pointed out Gus. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that,' knowing that he'd just snapped back.

'That must've happened when the volcano erupted,' Bret calmly informed them.

'What?' screamed Gus.

'Let him carry on and stop blowing a fuse.'

Gus looked over at Kyle and chose to not say anything more and quietly listened. Bret continued.

'It was probably two, maybe three days ago and I was walking down there,' pointing down into the hot steam, 'when there was a deafening noise followed by a massive explosion. Red-hot rocks were shooting out of the ground and hitting trees and the sides of this huge crater. The trees were immediately set on fire and the rocks were sliding down the sides. That's probably what happened to the ledge, I mean, it must've got hit by the rocks and got smashed away.'

'It probably also explains why those three people went back in to the cave and left their bags outside,' said Kyle.

'What a choice, stay outside and get incinerated or pecked to death by those huge bats. Poor sods,' said Gus.

'So how did you manage to escape all that, it must've been horrendous?' questioned Kyle.

'It was, I was so petrified. Because of all the eruptions, there were rivers of lava starting to form and the heat coming from the rocks was too much,' he told them, as he pointed down to his feet.

'What, the heat did that?' asked Gus.

'Yeah, the heat was that hot that it just melted the sandals to my skin. I think that I was pretty lucky. This is the only thing that happened to me.'

He looked down to the ground and saw the remains of the dog tag they had found earlier and tearfully said, 'That person wasn't so lucky.'

Chapter 10

**A** fter some time to ponder their personal thoughts, they reckoned that it might be a good idea to make a move and try to find somewhere that was a bit safer.

Bret was still in a severe amount of pain so Kyle and Gus propped him up on either side and headed along a small narrow trench. The ground inside the trench was made up of black hard rock, which seemed to be easier on the feet than the ground, a metre above them. This consisted of a fine dust that burnt the feet and ankles when you walked along, plus the problem that every time you pushed forward your foot would slide back.

Therefore the easier option was the trench, but this was still made very difficult by the fact that they were not only loaded with backpacks, but also carrying Bret, who wasn't capable of walking unaided.

They hadn't made much progress and were all completely knackered. The drinking water was all but gone and the heat coming from the ground seemed to be intensifying.

Circling high above the smouldering trees were some giant birds, closely resembling some type of vulture. It was as if they were waited for them to give up and die. All three of them were aware of the birds but kept their thoughts to themselves.

It was when they were having one of their numerous short breaks when the relative peacefulness around them was abruptly broken by a deafening noise.

'That's that same noise I heard last time,' shrieked Bret.

'You mean it's an eruption!'

Gus didn't wait for the answer and they quickly got to their feet and sprinted alone the trench. Bret was screaming out in pain, as his feet were continually hitting the black rocks. Suddenly, just ahead of them a massive rock crashed onto an already scorched tree, and they watched in sheer terror as the tree, plus the surrounding trees burst into flames. This was immediately followed by more boulders raining over their heads, one marginally missing them. By now they were all running and the screams of pain coming from Bret had been drowned out by the other two yelling out in terror.

As they were scampering along the trench, Gus had again noticed that the heat from the rocks was getting even higher and they were now too hot to touch. Sweat was hammering out of his pores at what felt like a litre a minute. He was still at one side of Bret but much of the carrying had been forgotten and it was now simply the act of dragging. As the trench took a sharp turn to the left, Bret was the first to see what was directly ahead of them.

'Get out of here now! Get out! Get out!'

The other immediately looked straight ahead and saw a red-hot wall of lava heading towards them.

Gus was the first to clamber out and then pulled Bret upwards, followed by Kyle. They all watched, in complete shock as within less than a minute later the trench was full of a river of lava. Trees and other debris were been picked up on its way down the hill.

'We were just walking in a lava bed,' shouted Gus.

'I think we've already gathered that,' yelled Kyle.

They stood there motionless, watching without noticing that the boulders had stopped raining over them.

'C'mon, we'd better get out of here,' shouted Gus.

The others snapped out of their trances and followed Gus. Bret had blocked out the pain and was limping along, not asking for any assistance. They just followed Gus, who seemed to be heading out, further away from the lava towards an area of trees further down in a dip. It was a long, painstaking walk but they eventually made it to the trees and meandered their way through to the other side. Over in the distance Bret spotted a waterfall. This brought an instant smile to his pained face and he imagined the feeling of the water on his red raw feet. He quickened up his pace and turned round to the others, smiling.

'C'mon!' he shouted. 'There's instant relief over there.'

The others hadn't seen it but when they looked over at Bret and saw what he was pointing at, they, in turn gave out a massive yell and Gus punched his fist into the air and shouted, 'We'll beat you, whoever you are!' looking up to the sky.

Gus went over to Bret and patted him on the shoulder.

'Let's get you to that icy cool water and sort those feet out.'

He caught the attention of Kyle and they propped him up, either side and marched along, all excited in anticipation of the fresh water.

This smile soon left their faces when they saw directly ahead of them another river of lava.

'Just when you think you might have a lucky break, something else just appears!' shrieked Gus.

'What are we going to do now?' yelled Bret.

'Don't worry, I've got an idea,' replied Kyle, very confidently.

'I'm glad you have because I haven't got a clue.'

Gus knew, from past experiences, to be quiet, but Bret was yet to understand so was continually firing questions, which Kyle chose to ignore. He just stood there, looking around mumbling to himself.

'Okay, this is what we're going to do,' said Kyle.

They stood there waiting in anticipation to what he had to say. Kyle calmly took off his bag and opened it up. He put his hand inside and tossed out the axe.

'Where's that vine we got?' asked Kyle as he rummaged inside the bag, throwing out the jacket.

'We used it earlier, when we had to climb down into the volcano,' answered Gus.

'I know we used it then but we didn't use it all,' replied Kyle, with a slight hint of agitation.

Kyle stomped over and grabbed the bag off of Gus's back. He opened it up and tossed everything out onto the ground. Hidden in one of the numerous compartments was the vine.

'This is what I'm on about,' snapped Kyle.

'Well, I certainly didn't put it in there. You must've done it and we just picked up different bags.'

'Okay, maybe. Sorry mate, I'm just getting fed up with all of this stuff,' replied Kyle, in his apologetic voice.

'Don't mention it mate.'

'Before you two start kissing each other, remember we're trying to get over this river,' interrupted Bret.

Kyle and Gus looked over at Bret, laughed and told him not to get so jealous. Kyle took hold of the axe and walked over to a nearby tree.

'So what's the plan?' asked Bret.

'This is what we're going to do. First we have to chop down a couple of trees and then we're going to lash them together using the vine and use them to span the river.'

'Why do we need two trees? Surely one will be long enough. It's not that far,' pointed out Bret.

'I know it's not that far but we don't know how strong this wood is so we're only going to use the thicker part of the trunk.'

'But will the binding stay firm and hold?' questioned Bret, in a very unconvinced tone.

'Don't worry Bret,' butted in Gus, as he took out the axe and headed over to the tree. 'We've both done this sort of thing before and yes, it will hold.'

'Well, in that case, what can I do to help?'

'You just sit there and rest your feet. We've got it covered.'

While Gus started to slam the axe in to the lowest part of the tree with the very old, blunt axe, Kyle was busy walking along the riverbank trying to figure out the best place to cross. This was proving more difficult than he had first thought because the edge of the bank was becoming more and more insecure, as large pieces were continually being broken away making the gap wider.

Gus had chopped halfway through the first tree when he called over to Kyle to come and help him. Kyle walked back over and between them they pulled on it until they heard it crack. They then twisted it round until it finally broke free.

'One down, one to go!' said Gus, as he walked over to the second tree.

Gus went off to start on the second tree while Kyle went back over to the bank. As he passed Bret he could clearly see the pain on his face but he was desperately trying to put on a brave face.

When he got back to the bank, the problem had got significantly worse. The place that he had previously earmarked was now, not an option, due to the fact that a large side of the bank had fallen into the flowing river. He was starting to panic inside, but calmly rushed back over to help Gus.

'We're going to have to get a move on with this,' he said to Gus, very quietly, not wanting to alarm Bret.

'What's the problem?'

'The bank is breaking away and it's getting wider by the minute,' explained Kyle.

Gus didn't reply but instantly speeded up his arm movement and started hitting the tree with more force. After a dozen or so swings, Kyle took over. It wasn't long before they were pulling it over and lashing it to the other tree. Bret was oblivious to the increasing danger because of the others working well together and very soon, both trees were securely fastened to each other.

'Right, we've got to be quick about this and get it right the first time else we're well and truly screwed,' shouted Kyle in an unfamiliar concerned voice.

'So how are we going to do this?' asked Gus, while grabbing hold of one end of the tree.

'We'll have to find a good place, if there still is one and lift the tree up, like a flag pole and then drop it onto the other side. We then just climb across and we'll be fine.'

'Oh, as simple as that,' Gus replied, with a slight grin on his face.

They had now both got an end of the extended tree and were walking towards the riverbank. They dropped it down beside the bank and Kyle spurted off along the edge looking for a place to cross. He wasn't gone long, as he knew time was seriously against them. He came running back, signalling to the others that he'd found a suitable spot. They moved the tree and started to lift it up to a vertical position. This was proving to be more difficult than had been anticipated. As Gus pushed it up, Kyle was holding the bottom steady to stop it sliding. This meant that Gus was on his own and he didn't have the strength to push it all the way up. Kyle saw this was the problem and moved to help Gus, but as soon as Kyle moved his feet away the bottom of the tree slid away. Bret had been watching their attempts and when he saw it fail for a further time he decided to crawl over to help.

'Maybe I can help you guys?' he said.

'I don't think you can mate.'

'Hang on Kyle, I think he can,' shouted Gus.

'Course I can help. I watched your last attempt and you need me to hold the bottom to stop it sliding,' stated Bret, feeling like he was a vital part in this plan.

'He's right Kyle. He can hold the bottom, while we both push.'

Bret crawled over to get himself in position and laid himself on the rocks with the end of the tree pushed up against his hip. The others started to lift it up and then it slipped and was resting just above his hip. It was starting to cut into Bret's side but he kept quiet and kept his face out of sight.

By now Kyle and Gus were pushing with all the strength they could muster until finally it was upright. Bret slid himself out of the way and then watched as they pushed in the direction of the bank opposite. It hit down on the other side and Kyle quickly wiggled it, to check it was secure.

'You go first Gus, then you Bret and I'll come last.'

Gus stepped onto the tree and climbed along on his hands and knees. He did this in total silence and kept quiet about the blistering heat that was coming from below. He was over in no time at all and as soon as he was off the tree Bret was dragging himself on the other end. As he made his way along the tree, he was very careful and was checking every hand and foothold. He took slightly longer than Gus did but was safe on the other side and very relieved.

Kyle got hold of the bags and threw them over to Gus and then got on the tree himself. As he was climbing along, he was very aware that the bank was disappearing from underneath and that he couldn't waste any time at all.

He was almost halfway across and the heat was intense. Suddenly, some of the small branches ahead burst into flames. This was immediately followed by a section of the trunk doing the same. Kyle didn't think. He just got up onto his feet, to a standing position, quickly balanced himself and ran along the trunk of the tree, jumping over the soaring flames. His right foot landed on the side of a small branch and he leapt the final metre, landing safely on the bank. He laid there briefly until he saw a large crack starting to appear just in front of him. He looked up and saw Bret and Gus standing there each holding out a hand. He clasped hold of them and was pulled away from the edge. As he was been dragged to safety, he felt the ground falling away beneath him. When he made it to solid ground, he got up and they all ran a safe distance away, glanced back and saw their make shift bridge collapse into the lava and disappear downstream.

'Are you alright Kyle?' shouted Gus.

'I think so.'

He stood up to check and the others burst out into hysterical laughter.

'What's up?' questioned Kyle.

'Look at your legs mate,' giggled Gus.

Kyle looked down and saw that all the hairs had been singed off and he was now the proud owner of a pair of smooth legs that would have looked good on any lady-boy.

'That was lucky,' he replied.

'Are you sure everything else is fine?' asked Bret.

Kyle pulled open the front of his elasticated shorts, peered down and had a quick check with his hand and told them that everything seemed to be the same as it was.

They turned away and headed towards the waterfall. All of them were still anxious of what was around the next corner. Bret was remaining very calm, when all he really wanted to do was to stop walking, sit down and scream out. But he knew that by the waterfall would be an icy cold river, where he could soak his aching feet and drink litres of fresh water. Thinking of all this seemed like a very large piece of paradise after the previous week, so he bit hard on his top lip and remained silent.

The others knew that he was in pain and therefore didn't make any complaints about carrying him along, even though their bodies ached and they were both completely tired out.

They'd been walking for a fair amount of time and the route they'd taken had taken a few diversions. The straightest route to the waterfall took them to a bottomless crevice, which was too far to jump, especially for Bret.

Kyle took the lead and followed the rock crevice along, until it was less than a metre. Even this small distance caused Bret excruciating pain, which could be clearly seen on his grimaced face, but he still remained silent and therefore so did the others.

The diversion took them to an area full of mounds of varying sizes. Gus remembered seeing something like this before but couldn't recall where, plus he seemed to think that they were a lot smaller than these ones.

They tried to quicken up the pace but everybody was so knackered that they couldn't find any surplus energy. This caused them to eventually grind to a halt and they fell to the ground in total exhaustion. Kyle grabbed the bag and got out the remaining water. They all had a small mouthful, saving just enough for one last water break before they'd be swimming in the stuff, itself.

All of them fell asleep, almost instantaneously until Bret was woken up by something crawling over his face. He brushed it off and saw it land next to him. He watched it, as it disappeared down a hole by the side of one of the mounds. He looked over at Gus and Kyle and saw them climbing all over them as well. This didn't wake them up so he left them to rest, knowing that they must be completely dead to the world.

As time passed, Bret had forced himself to stay awake and watch over his friends, feeling like he owed them at least this much. He sat staring at both of them and was totally unaware of anything else around him, when he suddenly felt his left hand slip away from him. This instantly broke his tunnel vision and he scanned around himself, looking left then right. When he looked again he noticed that the sand and soil were falling away down a big hole. He decided to wait a little bit longer before he woke up his friends. This didn't last long when he heard a loud scratching noise coming from within the hole.

'Wake up!' he screamed, shaking both Gus and Kyle.

They were awake within seconds and were both up on their feet.

'What's happened?' shouted Gus, in a very croaky voice.

Kyle was already looking around and on seeing the large holes appearing everywhere, yelled over to the others. The noise was getting louder and louder and the holes were growing in size.

'Let's get out of here, these look like giant crab holes,' shrieked Kyle.

'Crabs aren't this big and they don't make these mounds,' replied Bret.

'I've got it!' shouted Gus. 'They're not crabs, they're termite mounds!'

'What are termites?' yelled Bret.

'They're like ants, I think, and they make these big mounds,' shouted Gus, as the holes were getting bigger and nearer.

Gus took the lead and ran avoiding the holes. Behind them came a blaring noise, which caused them all to turn back to see a huge insect resembling an ant crawling out of one of the holes.

It had huge bulbous eyes and six long pointed legs. On seeing this, they all yelled out and raced away screaming. Straight ahead of them were more of these insects, clambering out of their holes. The noise was piercing and they soon realised that they were completely surrounded.

They all looked at each other in sheer terror, knowing that their final fate was near. Bret and Gus were standing close to a mound, which blocked out seeing the oncoming attackers. Kyle was still looking out on them as they were closing in. He was still looking around and soon saw how clever they were. It was like watching a well-trained army, one leader positioning his troops ready for the final kill. One of them moved around the back of the mound. Kyle decided to devote his time watching this particular one. Bret and Gus were still facing the mound, unaware of the proceedings.

Kyle tapped Gus on the shoulder and told him to keep an eye out for the one on the left. He remained silent and just nodded. Meanwhile Kyle had moved around to the other side and saw that three more were been ordered into a suitable attacking position. Kyle, even though he was petrified, still managed to focus on the events and couldn't believe how clever they were. He slowly grabbed for the bag containing the axe. As he stretched out, one of the insects spotted him and suddenly a disgusting phlegm-like liquid was projected out of its mouth, hitting the bag.

A tiny amount splashed off and landed on his sandal. The smell coming from the bag was vile and he had to cover his mouth and nose with his hand.

'Get it off! Get it off!' screamed Kyle.

'What?' bawled Gus.

'My sandal, quick my sandal!'

Gus looked down and saw that a thick green liquid had burned its way through Kyle's sandal and was starting to eat in to his skin. He pulled off the sandal and threw it at the nearest insect, unfortunately just missing it. Kyle was screaming in agony so Gus went to get the water bottle but saw that the bag had practically melted away. He saw the bottle and carefully picked it out, avoiding the green liquid and poured it over Kyle's foot. He gently rubbed it over the burn with his hand.

'It's useless,' said Gus, very calmly.

Gus lifted Kyle to his feet and went over to join Bret, who was still motionless by the mound. He wrapped his arm around both of them and they in turn did the same. They stood there in a huddle, looking at each other. The shrilling noise was deafening.

Suddenly, the noise stopped.

Chapter 11

' **A** argh! My foot!' screamed Kyle.

Gus threw the last of the water on it and rubbed it around the open wound, daring not to look outside of the huddle. Kyle, feeling slightly better was the first to break away.

'What just happened there?'

Bret turned away from the mound, the first time since the giant insects had disappeared, and looked in horror.

'What was that noise? I can still hear it now.'

'Didn't you see them Bret?' asked Kyle, still shaking.

'I heard the noise but I couldn't look. I froze. What were they?'

'They were some giant insects that looked like ants. Very clever. I watched them as they were planning their next manoeuvre. A well-trained army.'

'So where are they now?' asked Bret.

'I don't know. I was watching them, until one of them spat at me with some sort of acid. I don't know what happened after that. Do you know, Gus?'

Gus was stood, staring into space.

'Gus, do you know what happened?' questioned Kyle again.

He still said nothing so Kyle carefully took the axe from the melted bag and put it with the empty water containers and put them into the other bag.

'Time we got in that lake,' said Bret and he got up and led the way, still limping very badly.

Kyle went over and took Gus by the arm and led him away from the mounds. His foot was burning but, like Bret, he chose to remain silent and help his mates over to the sanctuary of the icy cold water.

As they got closer they speeded up, but Gus was still in shock and you could see from his face that he was looking into complete nothingness.

Bret was the first to jump into the clear pool of water.

'Get in! This is paradise!' yelled Bret, in joy.

Kyle took off his bag and sat Gus down and looked in to the water. The pool was so clear that you could see the bottom. Kyle picked his spot, pulled off his grubby t shirt and dived in.

'Oh yeah, paradise! Come on Gus, get in here.'

Gus didn't move and just sat staring at nothing. Kyle stayed in the pool until the icy water took away some of the pain that was coming from his foot.

'How are your feet?'

'I've been dreaming of this moment for the last two days. It's nectar. They feel so much better,' smiled Bret.

Kyle left Bret content in the water and climbed out. He went over and sat next to Gus and gave him a big hug.

'Look at it. Jump in, come on,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, come on Gus. This is so refreshing,' shouted Bret, frantically waving his arms.

Gus just sat there on the edge until Kyle lifted him up and gave him a gentle shove and watched as Gus fell in, looking like a dead body being buried out at sea.

'What did you do that for?' yelled Gus.

'Ah, you're back,' smiled a very relieved Kyle.

'What do you mean, I'm back?'

'What he means is that you've been in your own world for the past hour,' Bret called out.

'Do you know where we are now?' Kyle asked him.

'We're by the waterfall. The one that we were heading for,' Gus informed them.

'Yeah but before that.'

'We were near some mounds, weren't we?'

Kyle looked over at Bret and signalled to him not to ask any more questions and then got the empty water bottles and jumped in. He swam over to the waterfall but the current was too powerful and he couldn't get close enough.

'Gus, can you fill these up? I can't do it.'

Gus swam towards Kyle and grabbed the bottles and they watched as he powered himself to within the spray of the falling water hitting the surface. He pushed on the final step and very casually stayed there, treading water, while filling up the bottles with the fresh water from above. He swam back and handed them each a bottle. This much needed drink didn't touch the sides and he was soon swimming back for the first of what ended up being four refills.

After they were full of fresh water, one by one they climbed out and lay down on the grassy bank to relax.

'What happened to your foot Kyle?' asked Gus.

'Don't you remember?'

'Remember what?' Gus asked, totally confused.

'The giant ants.'

'What?'

'We were over there,' Kyle started to explain, pointing over to the dip, 'and we were by all these mounds. You told us they were termite mounds, we thought they were crabs.'

'Did I?'

'Yeah. You said you'd seen them before but you couldn't remember where,' said Bret, feeling like he wanted to be part of this conversation.

'I saw termite mounds a few years ago in Oz. Anyway, what happened after that?'

'The short version is the best Kyle, I think. You can't remember and we don't want to,' said Bret.

Kyle took the hint and continued. He explained it while Gus sat there gob smacked that he couldn't recall any of it. Everything was told, even to the point where the insects disappeared, without trace.

Gus just laid there, not believing what had happened.

'I need another swim to try and clear my head.'

He got up, took off his sandals and t shirt and dived in, this time on his own accord.

'What happened to his body? What are all those burns and scars?' asked Bret.

'I've asked him the same thing and he says that he doesn't know. Maybe he's blocking it out, like what's just happened.'

Kyle grabbed the bag again and took out the first aid kit.

'I think it's about time we sorted out your feet.'

'No way! Leave them alone. They're alright,' yelled Bret.

'No, they're not all right. I've seen your face and I can only guess how much they hurt, but if my foot's anything to go by, then they must be absolute agony.'

'You're right, but what are you planning to do?' asked Bret in a terrified voice.

Kyle unzipped the small bag and took out some scissors, a small container of iodine, some cream and some pieces of lint.

'What we need to do is try and cut off the sandals.'

'That's going to hurt, don't do it?' pleaded Bret.

'Yeah it is, but it will be a lot better once it's away from your foot. At the moment, every time you walk the sandal is moving and rubbing the open cuts. Once it's away, it won't rub.'

'Okay, sounds like a good idea. Can we find a place where I can keep my feet in the water? It might make it less painful.'

'Gus,' shouted Kyle. 'Can you look for a shallow area where we can sit Bret in the water while we cut these sandals off of his feet?'

'Sure thing,' replied Gus, as he went off in search.

Bret was still not sure about this but hoped anything would be better than the pain he was in now and they would start to heal. He stood up and wandered off to a nearby tree.

'Where are you going?' questioned Kyle, thinking that he'd bottled it and decided to carry on with the pain.

'To get this, I think I'll need it,' shouted Bret, holding up a small piece of wood.

'What are you going to do with that?'

'When you start pulling these off my feet, I'll have two choices. One will be to punch you and the second is to bite onto this.'

'Can you choose the second option please?' joked Kyle.

'Pass us those bottles and I'll fill them up again,' said Gus.

'Did you find a good spot?' asked Kyle, very eager to get the show on the road.

'Yeah, there's an ideal spot just around the bend.'

Kyle picked up the scissors and a pair of tweezers, he'd found wrapped up in the lint and headed off to the place that Gus had found.

'Make sure you pick up that piece of wood mate?' he said jokingly to Bret.

'Don't worry mate, I won't hit you. Anyway, have you done anything like this before?'

'What, do you think I look like a doctor? Never done it before, hopefully never have to do it again. I'm not a big fan of blood.'

'So why are you doing it?' Obvious concern showing on Bret's face.

'Gus is queasier than me.'

With that Kyle turned away and went over to where Gus was now sitting, leaving Bret to ponder on his thoughts for a while.

'Come on Bret. It's going to get dark soon,' shouted Gus.

'Surely I'm supposed to get hammered before you do this to me?'

'Oh, that'd be nice, but of course we'd be hammered as well, so we're going to all have to do this sober,' said Kyle, as he thought about a cool beer.

'Not me mate. I'm not sticking around,' Gus quickly made his point.

'I think it would be better if you stayed here and held his feet firm.'

'I'll try but there's no guarantee that I'll stay,' answered Gus.

Bret had now come over and was sitting on a small stone ledge with his feet dangling in the water. Gus was in the water taking a firm hold of the lower part of his left leg.

'Put that wood in your mouth and try not to move,' Kyle said to Bret, in a sort of reassuring voice.

Bret nodded and bit hard on the piece of wood. Kyle started and as he cut through the first part of the leather, saw the pained expression on Bret's face and felt his muscles tense up. He continued to cut the leather so that they were in small pieces and then took the tweezers and slowly pulled the pieces away from the skin, leaving a raw open wound. He tried to look away from Bret's face, as he knew that the pain would have been more than excruciating.

It didn't seem to take long before all the sides and top of the sandal had been pulled away, just leaving the thick melted sole.

Kyle looked at this but had no ideas on how to get it away from his foot.

'I'll do it!' yelled Bret.

'Are you sure mate?' questioned Kyle.

'Yeah, I'll grab it and yank it off in one foul sweep. It'll be a bit like getting waxed.'

'I wouldn't know.'

'I do, I suffer from hairy back syndrome so I know what it's like.'

With that, he lifted his foot out of the water and took hold of the remains of his sandal with both hands.

'Count me down.'

'What?'

'Count me down!' he yelled.

'Okay, here you go. Are you ready Gus?'

He nodded and together they counted down from five. They reached one and watched as he tore the heal of the sandal away from the raw skin, immediately followed by the instep and finally the toes. It was free and Bret slammed his foot back in the water, which gave him some slight relief.

'Halfway there mate,' Bret yelled. 'Come on, let's get this over with.'

He sat back down on the ledge and Kyle had moved himself to the other side, ready to deal with the right foot. They did exactly the same with this foot and yet again Bret insisted on doing the final bit himself.

'Does that feel better?' asked Gus.

'Too right it does,' answered Bret, while floating in the refreshing water.

'We should put some iodine on them to stop any further infection,' said Kyle.

Bret carefully got out of the pool and crawled over to where Kyle was, trying to keep his feet clean.

'Thanks for doing that mate. They already feel a lot better.'

'No problem.'

'Where did you learn about that first aid stuff anyway?'

'I cut my foot open on some coral when I was in Indonesia and some nice Austrian girl had some iodine on her and she cleaned my foot up for me and it never got infected, so you should thank her really.'

'I would as well, if she was here.'

'Let's put this on those feet and then try and keep them dry.'

Gus had gone off again to refill the water bottles and soon he was back with fresh water, which they all necked.

'I'm hungry! Anyone else feel the same?' asked Gus.

'I'm starving. I can't remember when I last ate anything,' said Kyle.

'Me neither,' answered Bret, his face showing pain, as the iodine was poured over his feet.

'I've an idea,' said Gus and he went over to the bag.

He took out the fishing hooks they'd found on the beach and tied it to a small length of line.

'Anyone for fish?'

'Oh yeah,' both Kyle and Bret answered together.

'Okay, I'll catch some if you two want to try and make a fire.'

Kyle looked around in disbelief at what Gus had just said but looked around anyway for some firewood, which was in abundance. He got up and told Bret to rest his feet and went off to collect the wood. Gus sat on the ledge with the hook floating on the water.

'I don't think this is going to work,' confessed Gus.

'Don't be such a defeatist,' shouted Kyle.

Gus sat there for quite a while but nothing was happening. Kyle had collected enough wood and the fire was ready to light. Bret was busy watching them both, thinking that he owed these two guys big time. The iodine was now dry and had stained his feet a nice shade of rusty orange.

The sun was starting to set so Kyle got the lighter and after numerous attempts lit the fire. They had all resided to the fact that tonight was going to be a water-based diet, one hundred percent water.

'Come and sit by the fire,' Kyle shouted over to Gus.

'Just five more minutes.'

'You've been there well over an hour. Don't worry about it. It was a good idea at the time.'

Gus stayed there for a bit longer and then came back, picked up the water bottles, jumped in and swam towards the waterfall for yet another refill.

'I think he really wanted to catch a fish,' said Bret.

'It would've been nice. Maybe tomorrow we'll catch one,' replied Kyle.

Bret saw the hook and line and reached over to grab it.

'I'm going to have a go,' he said, very confidently.

'Forget it. It's a waste of time.'

'Let me try. I feel like a complete useless tool sat here. My feet feel a lot better and the iodine's dried so I'm going to give it a go.'

Bret didn't listen to Kyle's answer and crawled to the edge and pushed himself into the water. Treading water Kyle looked on curiously.

'That isn't going to work,' he shouted over to Bret.

'Maybe, maybe not.'

Kyle then watched as Bret ducked under the water and swam away, the hook trailing behind.

'Where's he gone?' asked Gus, as he returned with more fresh water.

'He's gone to catch us our dinner.'

'Well, let's hope he has more luck than I did.'

'I doubt very much if he will Gus, doing it that way. I've never heard of anyone fishing like that.'

The sun had now disappeared over the horizon and it was visibly getting darker.

'Where is he?' asked Kyle, as he started to worry.

'Barbecued or grilled lads?'

Bret popped his head up, directly in front of them and threw over a large fish. It landed next to Kyle and he sat there in total amazement, as the fish flapped away.

'How did you do that?' questioned Gus.

'I'll tell you in a minute but first can you help me out of here. My feet are killing me.'

'Yeah, yeah, sure. Kyle, give us a hand?'

Bret was helped out and then insisted on doing the honours. He took the axe and smacked the fish on the head and then skilfully slit it open, taking out the innards. This was all done very quickly and he laid it carefully on the glowing flames.

'Can somebody get me a couple of sticks please?' asked Bret, very happy with himself.

Gus got the sticks and sat back down next to the roaring, spitting fire.

'So come on then. How did you do that?' asked Gus, dying to know the answer. 'And more to the point, can you do it again?'

'I'm not sure but I'll try. But as for catching this fish, all I can say is that it just came to me.'

'What do you mean, it just came to you?' replied Gus.

'Well it goes something like this. I was watching you and I thought that the problem was that you couldn't get the hook in the water because you had no weights, so I thought if I swim underwater and drag the hook behind me, then I might be lucky and catch one by hooking it.'

'The chances of that happening must have been slim,' said Kyle.

'Yeah slim, but it happened and wow it smells good,' shouted Gus.

'Not that slim, actually. I heard a story from a fisherman back home, who told me that when you swim near fish, if you swim towards them all they do is calmly swim out of your way and then swim back to where they came from. So they aren't expecting a hook to be dragged along in the sea,' explained Bret.

'I think that fisherman was having a laugh but I believe it. How long is it going to be? I'm starving!' Gus chirped in.

'I don't know. I've never caught a fish before,' answered Bret, while carefully turning over the fish.

'What? This is the first fish you've ever caught,' yelled Kyle.

'Yeah!'

'So how did you know how to do all that gutting?' asked Gus.

'I don't really know. It just seemed quite natural and came quite clear to me.'

'That's just like with me and you, Kyle,' said Gus.

'What do you mean?'

'We had this mate called Chas, who we told you about. Well, he was a blind as a bat yet he could see things that we couldn't see. I've also had some weird things happen to me, like been able to set traps. I've never done anything like that before. You're talking to a man here who was kicked out of the scouts after only one month,' said Gus.

'What did you do?' asked Bret.

'Nothing much, I just pocketed the money I made from bob a job week,' Gus announced, proudly.

'What about you Kyle?'

'Same sort of stuff really, we built a shelter when we first arrived and I seemed to know exactly what I was doing. Like you said Bret, everything was clear.'

'Okay, stop there. I think the fish is ready,' said Bret.

He carefully lifted it off the fire and placed it on a nearby rock. Then using the axe, he slide it along the top and bottom of the fish, pulled up the tail and removed the complete top half of the fish with such precision. He turned it over and pulled away the spinal bone, leaving two perfect fish fillets.

'Grubs up lads,' said Bret.

Kyle was the first to pick up one fillet and divided it into three equal parts, handing one to Gus and Bret.

'Bon appetite,' he said.

There was total silence until the second fillet had also been devoured.

'Can you try and catch another one tomorrow Bret? That was amazing!' said Gus, as he patted his stomach.

They had lots to say to each other about all the things that had happened, but the conversation didn't even start. They all just sat still staring into the fire and kept quiet.

Chapter 12

**T** hey were woken up by the cracking, sizzling and sensational smell of cooking fish. Bret had woken up as the sun came up and went in the water to catch breakfast. This morning it hadn't been as successful as the previous night, taking over one hour to finally hook one. He thought he'd maybe lost his new gift, or that first thing in the morning wasn't the best time to be fishing.

'Please tell me this isn't a dream. It smells gorgeous.'

'Morning Kyle and no, it isn't,' answered Bret, feeling good that he'd finally been able to do something worthwhile for his mates.

'Wake up Gus. We've got fish for breakfast,' said Kyle, as he gently shook him.

Gus started to stir and eventually woke himself up with a big rasping fart.

'Morning everybody, did I hear the mention of fish?'

'Yeah, so get up because it's ready,' said Bret.

He pushed himself upright and sat with the others and tucked into the fish.

After breakfast Gus had a refreshing swim to the waterfall to get some fresh water. He was there in no time at all and when he turned to swim back Bret and Kyle saw him flapping his arms around.

Kyle leapt to his feet and dived in. He swam towards him, his arms still waving about.

'There, look there!' shouted Gus, pointing to where Bret was standing.

Kyle looked and suddenly felt a cold shiver go through his body.

'What is happening here?' screamed Gus.

'I don't know, but let's get back to the bank first,' said Kyle as he took hold of Gus's arm and they slowly swam back.

'Are you alright Gus?' asked Bret.

'I'm not sure mate. I think I'm going crazy,' yelled Gus.

'If you're going nuts, then we all are,' answered Kyle.

Gus pointed to behind Bret and told him to turn around.

'What the?'

'I don't know either,' said Gus.

Kyle had kept quiet, trying to analyze the situation.

'Gus, we came from over there, yeah?' said Kyle, pointing to the over side of the volcano.

'Yeah, why?'

'Because I think that's the mountain that Chas told us he could see.'

'But we never saw it and now suddenly, this morning, there's a huge mountain,' shouted Gus.

'What are you two going on about?' asked Bret.

'We told you that Chas was convinced he could see a mountain and told us that this is where we should head to. We couldn't see it and then miraculously overnight a mountain appears,' explained a shaky Gus.

'What should we do?'

There was no response, just a hunching of shoulders.

'Time for more fish I think,' said Bret, feeling very nervous with the silence.

He dived in and was soon dragging the hook behind him. Kyle realised the fire was getting low, so he went off to gather some more wood. Gus stayed still, staring at the mountain.

'Bret's question was right. What should we do?' asked Gus.

'I think we should stay here for a while, at least until Bret's feet start to get a bit better. Plus we have unlimited fresh water and fish.'

'Then what?'

'We all know that something weird is happening here, so I think we need to talk about it and try and come up with some sort of plan and not go from one disaster to another,' explained Kyle.

'We should head to the mountain.'

'Why there?' questioned Kyle.

'Because Chas was always telling us to go that way and we never believed him, because we never saw what he saw. He was the one who found the island, so I think his idea of going to the mountain was a good one.'

'Okay Gus. We'll stay here today and leave tomorrow. End of discussion.'

'Yuk,' shouted Gus.

'I've got us another fish,' shouted Bret, as his head popped out of the water.

'I know that,' said Gus, as he wiped the side of his slimy face with his sleeve.

Bret climbed out and went straight into his cooking duties, by gutting his fresh catch.

'What has happened to your feet?' shouted Kyle.

'Every time I go in I keep on ripping them open when I climb in and out of the water and it's making them bleed again.'

Kyle got the medical kit and opened up one of the rolls of bandage.

'Once your feet are dry, we'll wrap them up in this.'

'Okay, but let's eat first. I'm starving.'

'I'm going for a swim. Anybody for more drinks?' asked Gus.

'No, I'm fine, cheers,' answered Bret.

'Me too.'

Gus went off and headed back over to the waterfall. He'd heard about some waterfalls, which had a sandy beach behind them, so he thought he'd have a look, plus it would take his mind off other things.

The cascading water was about four metres wide and a three-metre fall. The power of the water was painfully strong and it felt like needles piercing into his whole body, as he swam underneath it. He resurfaced behind the fall and was disappointed to see that there wasn't the beautiful secluded beach that he'd heard about, but just a sheer rock face. He swam to the side and held onto the rocks, so that he could have a breather. Looking around, he saw a path to the side, which seemed to lead up to the top.

Gus stayed in the water resting, as he tried to plan a suitable route that they could possibly take. Part of the path had been broken away so the route would also have to include a bit of rock climbing.

When he had fathomed the route, he grabbed hold of the first rock and pulled himself out of the water onto the first step.

Back on the bank Bret was voicing his fears.

'What's going to happen to us?' asked Bret.

'I can't say mate because I simply don't know.'

'Do you think we'll get out of here?'

'You, me and Gus will get out of here somehow.'

'I believe you.'

'Good, you should,' replied Kyle, not actually believing himself.

'Hey, you guys.'

'Look! Guy's up there.'

'Where?' asked Kyle, looking everywhere.

'On top of the waterfall.'

'How did he get up there?' asked Kyle.

They both watched as Gus jumped off the top and landed in the white water below. The smile on their faces changed when he didn't resurface. They were staring at the small area, where he had landed, looking for any signs of Gus. Kyle was now stood up on the side, leaning over.

'Where is that stupid idiot?' yelled Kyle.

'Surprise!' screamed Gus, as he popped out of the water, right next to where Kyle was standing.

This made him jump and he lost his balance, which meant Gus had to instantly move to avoid getting hit by a falling Kyle.

'That wasn't funny!' shouted Kyle, as he came to the surface, coughing out some of the water.

'It's beautiful up there,' replied Gus, trying to quickly change the subject.

'How did you get up there?' asked Kyle, now starting to see the funny side.

'Behind the waterfall, there's a path that leads to the top.'

'What's on top?'

'Maybe it's our way to the mountain.'

'Mountain! What mountain?' asked Bret.

'That mountain! The one we were talking about earlier.'

'Are we heading over there?' asked Bret, sounding a bit confused.

'Yep,' answered Gus.

'I thought we were going to talk about this.'

'We did, you were fishing at the time.'

'And what about me, don't I have a say?' asked Bret, now getting slightly agitated at his non-inclusion.

'Of course you do. What have you got to say?' asked Gus.

'Eh, erm... I, erm,' muttered Bret.

'So it's decided then. We're not leaving until tomorrow, so if you think of anything, let us know,' answered Gus, quite coldly.

Inside Bret was really annoyed, but he knew that it was the right decision, so it didn't take long before it was all forgotten.

'I know what we can do,' shouted Gus, trying to make up a bit for upsetting Bret and frightening Kyle.

'What?' asked Kyle.

'Play cards.'

This suggestion was greeted with more enthusiasm than he'd expected.

'Okay, what are we going to play?' asked Gus.

'Well you suggested playing so I assumed that you had a game in mind,' answered Kyle.

'Shit head!' shouted Bret.

'Oh yeah. That's a great game.'

'I don't know how to play it,' Gus piped up.

'Everybody knows how to play _Shithead_ ; you know twos, threes, and eight's etcetera.'

'Sorry, I don't. You're going to have to explain the rules,' said Gus.

'Okay, you have various magic cards that you.'

'What are magic cards Bret?'

'If you let me continue, then you'll understand,' answered Bret.

'So you have some magic cards, twos, threes, tens, sevens and eight's.'

'How am I expected to remember all these?'

'Just listen and you will. Right, eight means miss a go and seven means that you have to play lower.'

'Look Bret, the best thing to do is to play a game with all the cards face up and I'll work it out from there,' interrupted Gus.

Bret agreed and he dealt out the cards, face up.

'Okay, you go first Gus.'

'Why?'

'Because you have the black four and that goes first,' explained Bret, trying desperately not to lose his temper.

'What would've happened if nobody had the black four?'

'Then it would be red four, then black five, then red five and so on,' snapped Bret.

'Just lay down the four and we can finally start this very relaxing game of cards,' Kyle butted in, sensing the tension.

The first game was a slow and very tedious affair and much to the surprise of Kyle and the annoyance of Bret, Gus won the game, quite convincingly and Bret was _shithead_.

'Let's play another, but this time we'll play the right way,' said Gus in his very cocky voice.

'Yeah, okay. I'm up for another. There's not much else to do,' answered a very peeved Bret.

'Are you in Kyle?'

'Yeah, why not.'

Bret dealt out the cards and gave a loud sigh, when he saw that he had given himself two sixes and a nine. Kyle had one king, one jack and a two and Bret had two ten's and a three.

'I don't need to swap mine around, do I?' Gus asked stupidly.

'No, you don't,' shouted Kyle.

Gus waited for the others to switch their cards around and on seeing that everybody was ready, promptly put down the four of spades and picked up the two of diamonds.

'Twos are good, aren't they?' Gus asked.

'Yes, they are!' yelled Bret.

It didn't take long before Gus won that game and this time, Kyle was _shithead_.

'Beginners luck, I suppose. My deal isn't it?' he asked in his now very smug voice.

'Just deal them out and less of the cockiness,' said Kyle.

Gus dealt out the cards but this time he didn't do so well and ended up picking up a large pile of cards, while the others were playing their blind ones. It was Kyle's go and he played a five of spades, just leaving one final blind card for Bret to put down. He turned it over and it was the three of diamonds.

'Yes, yes, yes. I win,' he screamed.

'No, you can't finish on a magic card, you cheat,' yelled Gus.

'What are you talking about?'

'I said you can't finish on a magic card, like a three, two, ten, eight and seven.'

'Yes, I know what a magic card is, but what I don't understand is how you suddenly know the rules, when you haven't played before,' pointed out an agitated Bret.

Gus went silent.

'How do you know this rule?' questioned Bret again.

'I don't know. I honestly can't remember playing this game before, but it felt almost like, well sort of déjà vous.

They carried on playing a few games more until the others got annoyed with continually taking their turns at being _shithead_.

After winning all but one game, Gus had had enough of playing and winning wasn't such a pleasure anymore, so he dropped out, leaving the other two to carry on.

Gus moved away and tried to think about what was happening at this precise moment in time, as he felt that he'd been here before and trying to remember was proving too difficult. He eventually gave up thinking about it and drifted off to sleep.

While he was sleeping, Kyle took the bandages off of Bret's feet and washed some of the blood away from them, in the water. Then he redressed them as best he could, but the blood was still seeping through the already pink coloured bandages.

'Why don't you take them off and let my feet breathe a bit,' said Bret.

'Okay, it might help them to heal quicker.'

Kyle took the bandages back off, washed them and hung them out on a tree branch. He was immediately distracted when he heard Gus screaming out, flapping his arms around.

'Get away! Get away! Go away!' he screamed out.

'Wake up Gus. It's Kyle mate. Wake up.'

He snapped himself out of his dream and was awake, but completely confused.

'What was all that about Gus?'

'I don't know. I can't remember, but it's a dream or something that I've had before.'

Sweat was pouring out of his pores, so Kyle handed him a bottle of water and left him alone.

'My dream had birds in it,' blurted out Gus.

'What type of birds?' asked Bret.

'I can't remember, oh forget it,' said Gus.

The day was drawing to a close so Bret carefully got himself in the water for the final fishing session of the day. Kyle went to get more wood and Gus brought himself back to the present time and went and got some more water.

They had eaten their third fish of the day, the fire was loaded and the sun had disappeared over the horizon to mark the end of another day in paradise, leaving behind an amazing crimson red sunset.

'My hat goes off to you, our chef for the day Bret, what's your surname?' joked Gus.

'Coxhead.'

'You what?'

'Don't take the mick.'

'I'm not going to, but I'm curious, what's your e-mail address, large coxhead at hotmail,' asked Gus.

'I said, don't take the mick.'

'I'm only joking Bret, but tell us seriously. What is your address?'

'Leave it,' interrupted Kyle, trying to do the dutiful thing.

'It's simple. It's my name bretcoxhead at hotmail,' he replied in a very serious voice.

Kyle and Gus burst into stitches until eventually Kyle gathered himself together.

'So if you are embarrassed about your name, then why did you chose it for your e mail address?' screamed out Kyle, in hysterical laughter.

'I didn't think about that.'

'My name's Kyle, yeah?'

'Yeah.'

'And my surname's Lyle.'

'Yeah, so your name's Kyle Lyle,' said Bret, without seeing anything wrong with it.

Gus is by now rolling around in hysterics.

'I can't see what's so funny,' said Bret.

'Well look, try and guess my e mail address?' asked Kyle.

'Well that's easy, it's Kyle Lyle at hotmail,' Bret powerfully answered.

Kyle had now joined Gus in an uncontrollable state of giggles. Gus had been laughing so long that he was pointing to his stomach because it was hurting so much. Kyle finally got control of himself again.

'No, it's Sir Thrust Master,'

Gus gave another roar of laughter and was once again joined by Kyle. Bret just looked at them and couldn't seem to work it out.

'What is it? Why is it so funny?' asked Bret.

'The moral of the story is that if you have a stupid name, then chose a more suitable address or something less embarrassing,' said Kyle, his face reddened from the laughing.

'Oh, I see,' finally, answered Bret.

'Yeah, you make your own address else I would have been named after a town in Cumbria.'

Bret needed some time to work this out.

'Oh yeah, Carlisle,' finally understanding.

'Anyway, Mister Bret Coxhead, we would both like to thank you for the superb food we've had today and the first thing we're, that's myself and Kyle, are going to do when we get back to some sort of civilization is.'

'Take me to the pub,' interrupted Bret.

'Okay, maybe we'll do it after the pub. Are you ready for this? We're going to get you a new e mail address.'

Kyle was doubled over again and then noticed a big smile and then laughing. Finally Bret saw the funny side.

The sky above was full of stars and the moon was almost full therefore the light was quite good as they all sat by the crackling fire, chatting away between intervals of silence.

Eventually Gus gave one final laugh, rolled over saying his goodnights and left them with a loud, long, wet sounding fart.

'Charming. He greeted us this morning with that and leaves us with the same. I can't wait for tomorrow morning,' joked Bret.

'It must be the change of diet, night mate,' replied a sleepy Gus.

Chapter 13

' **W** ake up Gus. Wake up mate. It's Kyle.'

Gus's body was shaking and his arms were frantically waving everywhere.

'Get away! Get away, please go,' was been screamed out by Gus.

'Come on Gus. It's only a bad dream,' said Kyle.

'What happened!' yelled Gus, as he sat bolt upright, not noticing that it was still dark.

'You were having a nightmare, don't worry.'

'What was I doing?'

'You were shouting out, get away and waving your arms about,' explained Kyle.

'I definitely know that I've been here before,' replied Gus.

'You can't have been mate, you would've told me.'

'Everything has a strange feeling of déjà vous, like I said before. It's weird.'

Gus eventually calmed down so they all laid back down and went back to sleep.

Hours later.

'Birds, birds!' shrieked Gus.

'Birds, you've said that before. What type are they?'

'Those ones that attack you when they think that you're dead,' answered a trembling Gus.

'You mean vultures.'

'Yeah, that's them.'

'What about them?' asked Kyle.

'They've attacked me before and killed my mate,' he screamed out hysterically.

'You're still half asleep, mate.'

'No I'm not, honestly. It's starting to come back to me. The birds attacked me and gave me all these scratches and scars.'

'But what about your burns? How did you get them?' asked Kyle.

He had never approached this subject before, but thought what the hell.

'I don't know about the burns but the cuts are from the vultures. That's how I knew how to play _shithead_ , I think,' he yelled out.

'But when would you have been here?' knowing full well that he had been to most of the places with Gus on holidays.

'I don't know when, but I know it wasn't that long ago. I was definitely here with a friend, playing cards and then something horrible happened.'

'Okay mate, I believe you and you're all right now. There're no birds around here,' answered Kyle, desperately trying to calm down his mate, who was on the verge of freaking out again.

'There are. They're all around us. We saw them just after we found Bret, circling in the sky.'

'Yeah, I remember, but they were only flying around,' answered Kyle, while inside he began to panic.

'They weren't just flying around. They were waiting for death,' shouted Gus.

'He's right, you know,' added a drowsy sounding Bret.

'What do you mean, he's right?' yelled Kyle.

'When you found me, that's all I looked at, all day. The birds circling, waiting for me to give up and let them swoop down to attack,' Bret informed them, much to Kyle's annoyance.

This triggered Gus to start seriously panicking again and sweating profusely.

'Thanks for that,' said Kyle, in a very sarcastic voice.

'Sorry if I freaked you both out, but I'm just telling you the truth and how it happened.'

'Gus, calm down and get some sleep. Bret and me will take turns in keeping a look out while you sleep.'

'What?' said Bret.

'You and I can share the time sleeping and then Gus won't need to panic,' said Kyle, as his facial expression made it crystal clear to Bret not to argue and happily agree.

Gus, against his better judgment, agreed and settled himself back down.

'I'll take first watch and will wake you up in a couple of hours,' said Kyle.

Bret agreed and laid back down. It wasn't long before they were both sound asleep, snoring like pigs, while Kyle remained awake and upright, thinking about what Gus had said. He was almost completely sure that Gus had imagined this and was still, at the time, half-asleep when he was telling them. But there was still a small part of him that wondered if there could be any truth in what Gus had told them.

The night watch went slowly and as the sun rose Gus was woken up by a, not so gentle, kick from Bret, who was feeling totally knackered.

'Did you sleep well, sir?' asked an ironic Bret.

'Yes, not too bad thank you,' responded Gus, not detecting the sarcasm.

Bret had only managed to get a few hours sleep and was feeling very niggily. It had been a real effort to go fishing this morning, but the cold water was a nice refreshing shock to the system.

Breakfast was cooked and eaten and no more was mentioned about the previous night. Kyle re-bandaged Bret's feet and they packed up the bag.

'Okay, so the plan today is to climb up the rocks, behind the waterfall and head in the direction of the mountain. Are you all right with that Bret?' asked Kyle.

'I don't have much choice, do I?'

'Yeah, you have a choice mate. In fact you have two choices. You can stay here on your own because I'm certainly not going to stop here a minute longer than necessary, waiting to be attacked or you can come. So, you see, you do have options,' snapped Gus, angrily.

'You two, calm down. Bret, you're knackered and Gus, you're frightened, so let's leave it and get ready to make a move,' Kyle said, trying to keep the peace.

They both looked at him and then each other and both gave a half-hearted smile.

'Are we all ready to go because we're going to have to do this in twos, 'stated Gus.

'Why is that?'

'Because you two won't have the strength to swim close to the waterfall so I will have to tow you there.'

'I can swim pretty well,' snapped Bret.

Kyle could see that Gus was trying his hardest to keep quiet so that Kyle could intervene.

'Bret, you won't be able to make it. Firstly, your feet are too sore and the current near the fall is just too strong for us. I tried to do it when we first got here and couldn't,' explained Kyle.

'So what makes him so special?'

'These mate.'

Gus took off his sandals and pushed his feet within inches from Bret's eyes.

'They're webbed mate, so I have more speed and strength in the water, but I do have one, no two big problems with them.'

'What's that?' questioned Bret.

'I can't wear toe rings or those flip-flops,' laughed Gus.

'Well, that's okay. Toe rings would make you look very feminine and flip flops are really uncomfortable and they look ridiculous,' replied Bret.

Kyle knew that the tension had vanished in seconds and he did the final check, making sure that nothing had been forgotten.

'How are you going to tow us along Gus?' asked Kyle.

'Have we got any of those vines left?'

'No, they all went on that bridge. How about a long branch?'

'Yeah, that should be okay.'

Kyle broke off two branches off of a nearby tree and gave one of them to Bret.

'Are you ready mate?' asked Gus.

Bret nodded and moved himself over to the side and then plopped over the edge. Gus jumped in and grabbed hold of the branch.

'Keep hold of it, okay?'

Bret dumbly nodded and took a firm hold of the end. Gus began his unique swimming style and Bret was towed behind. He was trying desperately to push his feet below the surface of the water, as it didn't seem to hurt as much. He glanced back at his feet and saw that the bandages were already red raw.

By keeping himself busy, he hadn't realised how far they had travelled and he could already feel the force of the water pushing on his skin. Gus stopped just before the fall and shouted back to Bret warning him that this bit would hurt. He was right; Bret was in agony as his feet felt like they were been ripped apart by the strength coming from the water. Finally he appeared at the back of the fall.

'Are you alright to stay here, holding onto these rocks while I go and get Kyle?'

'Yeah sure, I'll hang on and hopefully I'll still be here when you get back.'

Gus ducked back under and was gone, back under the waterfall and out of sight.

He swam back over to Kyle and saw that he had put on the bag and was already in the water.

'Is he okay?'

'Yeah, he's fine. He's behind the fall, holding onto a rock, hopefully.'

It wasn't long before he was treading water, next to Bret. Kyle saw that his feet were in a bad way and knew the climb up would be impossible.

'Gus, if you go up first with the bag, then we'll follow.'

'You're going to carry Bret up, yeah?'

'Yeah, I'll be fine.'

'Am I hearing this right? You think that you're going to carry me up, because if you are then you can get stuffed, I can climb up myself.'

'With those feet, you haven't got a cat in hells chance of making it to the top,' yelled Kyle.

'Let him try Kyle, then he'll happily accept your help, if by then it's still on offer. Go on Bret, try.'

Bret pushed himself on to the first step and grabbed hold of some rocks. He pulled himself up and as soon as he put his foot against the rock, he screamed out and let go, causing him to fall back into the water.

'Are you alright?' asked Kyle.

'Yeah, I'm fine, just stubborn and stupid.'

'I think you two better go first as you might need the occasional push up. I can tell you where to go from below you,' said Gus.

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, go on Kyle. Take him up and be careful because if you fall, you'll knock me off as well.'

'As always, Gus, thanks for your deep concern,' laughed Kyle.

Bret locked his arms around Kyle's neck and dangled his legs. Gus gave them a push out of the water onto the first step. He shouted instructions but remembered that Kyle was quite a decent climber. Back in the cave he went back down and up again in no time at all.

'Where do I go now?'

'You don't need me to tell you. You can climb, I've seen you, remember?'

Gus had pulled himself out of the water, remembering first to re-fill the bottles, and was only a couple of footholds behind them. It was very slow progress but they eventually made it to the top. Bret gently got off and sat on a huge boulder, while Kyle grabbed the bag off of Gus and then gave him a pull up. He then found a flat area and collapsed onto it.

'That was a killer,' he sighed.

'You were right. I'd have never made it, cheers lads.'

They rested there for a while and then made their way along a small rocky path, all the time carrying Bret. The path took them down into a grassy valley, which made it slightly easier helping Bret. Because of the soft ground, Bret opted to walk unaided, as he was feeling like a bit of a hindrance, plus he knew they were both completely exhausted.

As they sat and rested, the mountain was still straight ahead and in front of it was a small forest. When they got to the outskirts, Gus noticed a cloud of smoke hovering over some trees, on the right.

'Let's go that way,' ordered Gus and pointed to the smoke.

Gus led the way and spotted the culprit. Hidden amongst the trees was an old stone cottage with smoke billowing out of a small chimney.

'Stay here while I go and check it out,' whispered Gus.

Bret was more than happy to let him go off and do a rekey. His feet were throbbing and the bandages were ringing wet with blood.

Gus crept in and immediately spotted a large black cauldron resting on a small fire. As he moved closer he saw that it was full of some type of soup, which smelt delicious. To the right of the fire was a big wooden table totally covered in an assortment of vegetables, including bread, fruit and some very unusual looking produce. His first thought was to sit down and start scoffing, but he decided to go back outside and signal the others.

He went back inside and almost leapt out of his skin when he heard Bret shouting,

'Hello. Hello. Is anybody there?'

Gus ran over to the door and told him to shut up, which he did that instance.

Kyle walked in behind Gus and did exactly what Gus had wanted to do. He sat down and tucked in, not caring about the rules of etiquette.

'You can't do that Kyle,' said Bret, quietly.

'Maybe I can't, but I am,' he replied, while stuffing a second piece of bread into his already full mouth.

'Me too,' said Gus and grabbed hold of a small stool.

Before you sit down Bret, be an angel and pour out some of that soup, on the fire. The bowls are over there. Also, could you have a look around for some salt and pepper? That would be just dandy,' ordered Gus.

He's only joking. Sit over here and I'll get it.'

Bret walked across the stone floor, leaving a trail of blood stained footprints.

'Anybody seen a ladle? There are loads of floating things in this,' asked Kyle.

'It's over there, next to the meat cleaver, no other side, that's it,' directed Gus.

'Oh yeah, got it. Who's for a bowl of broth?'

'Go on then,' answered Gus.

'Might as well,' mumbled Bret, still feeling very uneasy about the situation.

Kyle served up three large bowls, carefully pulling out the floating bits on the top. He managed to finally find some wooden spoons, but had no luck locating the salt and pepper, not that Gus complained.

The soup was speedily gulped down and after it was finished, bread was being dunked into the remaining liquid in the pot. Soon it was all gone and most of the fruit had also been demolished, leaving only a disgusting smelling fruit, which none of them could bring themselves to try, plus some rotten looking skins and a few cores.

Gus got up from the table and went off to have a nose around the mantel.

'Look, fags!'

'But you don't smoke,' said Kyle.

'No, you're right, but I don't think these are just fags. I think they're joints.'

'Oh yeah, take them, I could murder a little spliff,' said Bret, sounding very elated.

Gus put them in the bag, much to Kyle's disapproval.

'Come on, it's time to get out of here,' insisted Kyle.

'Just another minute,' replied Gus.

'No, now!'

'Okay Kyle, I'm coming.'

Kyle walked out and went around the back and saw some trees with some stuff hanging on them. He went closer and was totally bemused.

'Here, you two. Come here?'

'This looks like some sort of voodoo ritual,' said Bret.

'What do you mean, voodoo?' asked Kyle.

'Well, look at this tree. It's covered in coloured wool, loads of shells, beads, a coat hanger and look over there, there's a _Barbie_ doll hanging from a branch. Very spooky, if you ask me,' said Bret, managing to scare himself more than he intended to.

'I'm going to go and have a look over there,' said Gus.

'Gus, don't go wandering off, we'll come with you.'

'Will we?' asked Bret.

'Unless you want to stay on your own,' remarked Kyle.

'No, I'll come.'

They followed Gus; he'd already got quite a bit ahead.

'Wait up Gus,' whispered Kyle.

Gus stopped and turned around.

'What is that on your neck?' asked Kyle.

'Oh this,' taking hold of an eerie looking necklace. 'I found it back there. There were loads of them. Pretty cool eh.'

'Take it off you idiot,' shouted Kyle.

'He's right, you know. It's probably some sort of voodoo thing,' agreed Bret.

'You don't believe any of that stuff, do you?' mocked Gus.

'I'd believe anything at the moment. Please Gus, take it off,' asked Kyle.

'Okay, okay. I'll take the thing off, if it makes you both happy.'

While he waited for them to catch up, he unfastened it and put it in the pocket of his shorts.

'Have you taken it off?' questioned Kyle.

'Yes, you can see that and I'll put it back before we leave.'

'Where is it now?'

'It's safe in my pocket.'

They carried on walking and came to a small stream of green stagnant water, which stunk of rotten eggs. Gus followed it along while the others quietly walked behind until he suddenly stopped.

'Guys, look at this.'

They walked to the side of Gus and saw a huge lake surrounded by more of the same strangely decorated trees and over in the far corner were a dozen, or so stone houses.

'This water's disgusting. What is that floating on top?' asked Bret.

'I haven't got a clue,' replied Gus.

They followed a muddy track, which took them around the edge of the lake. The path was very slippery, which didn't suit Gus as his feet kept sliding around inside his sandals. Kyle had already taken off his remaining good sandal and put it in the bag with the broken one. Bret was the happiest, the sludgy mud helping his tender feet.

As they approached the cluster of houses, again they noticed that the place resembled a ghost town. No dogs, pigs, chickens or any of the other animals that you would have expected to find running around in an area of obvious self-sufficiency.

Smoke was again billowing out of the many chimneys and many of the houses had some sort of broth on the boil and an outhouse full of vegetables and fruit.

They were all still quite stuffed from their previous fill, so didn't feel the need to sit down and gorge their way through this food as well. Gus led them into three of the houses and they were all very similar, so he made his way to a small monument in the centre of a dusty, dirty square. When they got near to it, they saw the entrance to an amazing temple. It was in the shape of a giant bell and looked as if it was solid gold. Wrapped around it was a yellow sash ribbon.

'Shall we go in and have a nosey?' said Gus.

'I don't think we should,' replied Kyle.

'Oh come on! Where's your sense of adventure gone?'

'You must be having a laugh. This whole trip, sorry nightmare, has been an adventure. What more could really happen?'

'Well then. There's no harm in going to have a look. There's nobody around.'

'Just promise me that you'll leave everything as it should be. No picking up anything. Okay!' voiced Kyle.

'Yeah, yeah.'

'I mean it Gus.'

'Okay. I won't touch a thing.'

Bret had wandered off, while Gus and Kyle were having their chat and was already inside the vast hollow expanse.

'This is wicked!' yelled Gus, which echoed around the walls.

'Shut up, else you'll wake the dead,' whispered Kyle.

Bret was off looking around and had noticed that everything was covered with a strange script. He looked at it more closely, but it was something he'd never seen before. The others joined him and they were as mystified as Bret.

'What's this for?' asked Gus.

'Don't touch it,' yelled Kyle.

'Too late mate, but it hasn't done anything anyway, so stop fretting.'

'What did you touch?' questioned Bret.

'That thing over there,' pointing to a stone dial, next to some of the bowls they'd been looking at.

He then went over and turned it again.

'Leave it alone!' shouted Kyle, getting more and more angry.

'Calm down, nothing is going to happen,' Gus shouted back.

'Look lads, look!' bawled Bret.

They all looked and saw that a square section of the floor had dropped down and was sliding underneath the floor.

'Next time just listen you prat!' shouted Kyle.

Bret was the first to be out of the door, followed by Kyle. They waited outside for Gus, but he didn't show. Kyle poked his head back inside, called out but still nothing. He was now getting very agitated and went inside and saw Gus with his back to him.

'Gus, come on. Let's get out of here.'

'Come and look at this. It's beautiful.'

Kyle slowly walked forward and saw a huge bronze pot.

'Did this come from down there?'

'Yeah, I watched it, as it rose up from the floor, through this hole. It's so beautiful, but at the same time so spooky,' said Gus.

Kyle studied it and had to agree. The script and the pictures that they could see were so detailed and intricate.

'Let's get out of here.'

'Yeah, you're right,' agreed Gus.

They slowly walked out and then described, in detail, the pot to Bret, who felt like going back inside, but were persuaded against it by Kyle.

'We should get out of here and take shelter in one of those houses,' said Bret.

'Yeah, I agree but let's find one where we can still keep an eye on this place,' requested Gus.

They walked away and found an isolated cottage on the top of a small hill, which they all agreed, was the ideal place to keep tabs on the temple.

Kyle was feeling very nervous and went outside to check that everything was still deserted. He picked out a tall tree and slowly ascended up to the top. When he got to the top, he could see an abundance of the same small stone houses that they were presently residing in. He then noticed that by the side of the lake there seemed to be some sort of stone quarry, but still no sign of life. Once he'd seen enough, he climbed back down and told the others. Bret was even more frantic, but Gus remained very nonchalant about it all.

'You two need to chill out a bit and I've got the perfect medicine,' said Gus.

'What's that? Have you found some beer?' asked an expectant Bret.

'No, it's better,' replied Gus, as he grabbed the bag and took out one of the joints and the lighter.

'Yeah I forgot about them,' said Kyle, who liked to smoke the occasional joint, if this stuff was in fact the genuine article.

Gus lit it, took a couple of long drags and passed it to Bret. He took hold of it, deeply inhaled and immediately followed it by a coughing fit and then he started to turn a strange shade of green.

'Wow mate, are you alright?' asked Kyle, as he took the joint off Bret.

'Have you smoked this stuff before?'

'No Gus, never.'

'So why now?' questioned Kyle, while taking another long drag.

'Because I don't want you both to be out of it, talking nonsense while I'm the one with the clear thinking head.'

'Fair point mate. Hey Kyle, stop hogging that and pass it on.'

The joint was passed around and Bret started to enjoy it, after he'd taken on board some of Gus's advice not to cane it so hard. After it had got to the point where it was too hot to smoke, Gus stubbed it out on the floor.

'I don't think that was dope, just some local tobacco,' said Gus.

'No, you're wrong because if it had had tobacco in it, I would've gone green like Bret. I don't know what it was but it definitely wasn't a normal fag,' answered Kyle.

'Well I've never tried it before, so I don't know how I'm meant to feel,' mumbled Bret.

'Oh well, we'll just have to sit and wait and see,' said Gus.

They were all sat around the table, trapped inside their own private world, when they were brought back to reality by a loud banging noise.

'Come on, we've got to get out of here,' shouted Kyle.

'Now!' he yelled.

They slowly got up and made there way to the door.

'My legs don't seem to be working right,' giggled Bret.

'Mine too' laughed Gus.

'I told you that wasn't tobacco,' said Kyle, as he gingerly made his way to the door.

'What, you mean I feel like this because I'm stoned?' asked Bret, while still giggling.

'Yeah, you are,' confirmed Gus.

'It feels great. Not a worry in the world,' replied Bret.

Kyle was desperately trying to get his head together because he knew that they would have thousands of worries if they didn't get their backsides out of there and to a safer place.

Chapter 14

**T** hey stumbled out of the door, staggered along the path and plonked themselves down on to a mossy collection of rocks. It was only a hundred metres or so from the cottage, but the walk seemed to have taken a lifetime. In reality, it had taken a short amount of time, but their problem was that none of them were, at that time, in the real world.

'This weed's strong, I'm out of it.' giggled Gus.

'Me too, it's great!' Bret managed to spit out.

'Yeah, but we need to get our heads together and make sure that nobody sees us,' said Kyle, as he tried to act all serious.

'I understand, I'll keep an eye out for any low flying dolphins,' shouted Bret.

'Don't you mean birds?' questioned Gus, while laughing.

'No, dolphins, but I can look out for birds as well. I'm very multi-talented, you know. I can single handedly melt my shoes to my feet. I didn't need any help. I'm the talented one around here,' Bret announced, in his very good public school boy voice.

Gus and Kyle were keeled over in hysterics as Bret continued to spurt out a load of rubbish, followed by even more.

'What other talents do you have?' asked Kyle, once he'd finally got control of himself.

'I can talk to the animals,' replied Bret, in total seriousness.

'Oh really, what type of animals?' asked Gus.

'All types, I remember last week talking to a sex starved bull, which didn't have any horns, or it, couldn't get the horn. I can't remember.'

They were all in stitches and didn't realise that the noise coming from the temple had stopped.

'Where I'm from, they used to call me Dr Dobuggerall. It started off as been Dr Dolittle but then people began to realise what a lazy sod I was, so it got changed,' proudly announced Bret.

'And where was that?' asked Kyle.

'Where was what?' asked a confused looking Bret.

'Where are you from?'

'Oh, York,' replied Bret.

'Ork, as in _Mork and Mindy_ ,' joked Gus, as he and Kyle started shouting out Nanu, Nanu, while trying to separate their fingers like Mork, dancing around to the theme tune.

'York, you muppets!' shouted Bret.

'She was a bit of a babe, wasn't she?' said Gus.

'Yeah, what was her name?' asked Kyle.

'What, in real life?'

'No, the series,' asked Kyle, in total seriousness.

'Mindy, you idiot,' shouted Gus.

'Oh yeah,' replied Kyle, as he burst into another fit of giggles.

Bret was still trying to get back to his story but eventually came to the conclusion to just let it run its course.

'What was her name, in real life?' asked Kyle.

'Pam something,' replied Gus.

'Shriver,' shouted Bret.

'She was a tennis player, wasn't she?' screamed out Kyle.

'I'm impressed mate. How did you know that?' asked Gus.

'That wasn't her name,' yelled Bret, trying desperately to make sure that he was still part of this messed up conversation.

'Yes, it is!' shouted Gus.

'It's Pam, erm. I can't remember,' shouted out an irritated Bret.

'Pam Shriver,' he shouted out.

'Kyle's already said that.'

'No stupid. I said Shriver, but that's irrelevant because that isn't her name. The woman in _Mork and Mindy_ was called Pam something. I can't remember.'

'So what are we talking about Pam Shriver for?' asked a bemused Gus.

'You two started talking about her, not me,' said Bret.

'Did we?' asked Kyle, as he looked at Gus causing them both to crack up again.

'Anyway, getting back to the original question. I'm from York,' said Bret.

This was the final nail that sent then over the edge. They were rolling around, holding their stomachs, tears running down their cheeks.

'The noise has stopped,' announced Bret.

Kyle dragged himself away, still giggling and went to the same tree and carefully climbed to the top.

As he climbed, he was still chuckling to himself, but still managed to take extra care where he was putting his hands and feet. He finally made it to the top, looked over in the direction of the quarry and saw movement. This immediately stopped his laughing, as he spotted people walking towards the village. He literally fell back down to the ground and rushed back to the others. Gus was still giggling.

'People are coming this way!' shouted Kyle.

'What about the dolphins?' asked Bret.

'Screw the dolphins!'

'I never thought of that.'

Kyle went off and moved closer. His heart missed a beat, when he saw a few men walking in to the temple.

'Oh no, they'll know that somebody's here,' he said to himself.

On closer inspection, he saw that the men had long hair with beards and seemed to be totally naked. On mover closer he saw that they were in fact wearing very small pouches.

There was a lot of cheering and he spotted some men who were carrying a big wooden cage. As he looked closer still, he saw that inside the cage was the same type of animal that had killed Chas. Behind the caged animal was a long possession of excited men holding axes, spears and something else that looked like a blowpipe.

'What can you see mate?' Gus whispered, as he crept up behind Kyle.

'Steady on mate! You almost made me jump out of my skin.'

'Sorry, what's happening?'

'They're all going into the temple.'

'Who?'

'Those men down there.'

Gus looked down and saw them all celebrating and shouting.

'Where's Bret?'

'He's still back there, laughing to himself and talking to a tree.'

'What?'

'Yeah, you heard me right, a tree.'

'He's messed up, isn't he?'

'Hey, look there, here come all the woman and children carrying loads of wood,' said Gus.

'They certainly wouldn't win any beauty contests. Look at their teeth. They look as though they've been filed away, in a sort of Shane McGowan sort of style.'

'That must hurt,' said Gus, sending a cold shiver down his spine, as he remembered when he had his front tooth capped and the pain that came from the open nerve.

They hid and watched as they carefully inter wove all the thin branches of wood into something that was resembling a giant birds nest.

They both waited there, very patiently, to see what happened next.

'Shroder,' said Bret.

'Where did you come from?' asked Kyle.

'Shroder.'

'Keep it down,' whispered Gus.

'What are you going on about, Shroder?' asked Kyle.

'That was her surname. You know, Mindy,' explained Bret.

'No, it wasn't. Shroder was that annoying blond haired boy out of that film, _The Champ_ ,' replied Gus.

'Oh yeah, you're right. His name was Ricky.'

And before they could show him what was happening in the village, he'd already turned away and wandered off.

'Where's he going?' asked Kyle, concerned that he might stroll the wrong way.

'Don't worry. He's probably gone back to continue his chat with the tree,' replied Gus calmly.

When they looked back to see what was happening, they saw the men slowly wheeling out a big pot.

'That was the same pot we saw earlier, wasn't it?' Gus said, sounding anxious.

'It must be. It looks the same.'

'They'll know that we're here. Why didn't I listen to you?' said Gus, as he became visibly scared.

'I don't think they've realised, else they'd have probably sent people out looking for us,' said Kyle calmly.

'How do you know that they haven't already done that?' asked a now even more frantic sounding Gus.

'Because they're just carrying on as normal.'

The men had now pushed the large pot to the side of the wood.

'What's going to happen next?'

'I think it's a big cooking pot,' answered Kyle.

They sat there and watched as four men walked up to the pot carrying two large poles. The pot was tipped on to its side and one of the poles was laid underneath it. It was then tipped on its opposite side and the second pole was pushed under.

'I've got it! They're going to lift it up, by using the poles and lift it on to the wood,' said Kyle.

Gus kept silent and watched as, what Kyle had predicted was starting to unfold. They carried on gawping and saw the men lift the pot to the full stretched height of their arms, walk it slowly along and position it in the centre of the pile of wood.

The men then moved away and the women and children moved closer to the pot and formed a long straight line,

'What's happening now?'

'I can't see either. I'm going to move to the other side. Are you coming Gus?'

'Yeah, sure but we'd better check on Bret.'

'Yeah, I'd forgotten about him,' admitted Kyle.

As they were walking back they were met by Bret, who was running towards them.

'They've found out,' shouted Gus.

'Dawber! That was her name,' shouted Bret.

'Who?' asked Kyle.

'The girl from _Mork and Mindy_ was called Pam Dawber!'

'Have you been thinking about that for long?' asked Gus.

'Only since we were talking earlier.'

'You sad fool, but I'm curious to know how you remembered?'

'It was really easy Gus. The tree told me.'

'Okay, fine. Well look, you go back to the tree while me and Kyle go for a stroll.'

They led Bret back to the tree and left him having a very one-sided conversation.

'He's really out of it, isn't he?' said Kyle.

'Yeah, but he seems happy and it's made him forget about his sore feet.'

'How do you know that?'

'Because he's been running back and forth, like an idiot,' answered Gus.

They both sneaked off and went around to the other side. Kyle found a suitable spot and they both crouched behind a large tree and carried on watching the proceedings. Loads of children were in the square and then suddenly everything went quiet and a man, who was covered in some sort of red paint, walked up to the pot. He banged a wooden stick into the dirt and started shouting.

'He must be the leader,' guessed Kyle.

'What do you think he's saying?'

'Who knows. It's obviously their language.'

The man stopped and again banged his stick. When he did this, all the children bolted off and returned minutes later carrying old wooden buckets. These were handed to the women and they were passed along the line towards the lake. At the end of the line there were five women, who were rapidly filling the buckets with water and then the buckets went back along the line and were poured in to the pot.

Both Kyle and Gus watched, totally mesmerised at the sheer speed in which the pot was getting filled.

The leader climbed up the woven wood and looked into the pot. Everything was silent. He slowly got back down, helped by two old looking men, and started shouted again. Then he immediately stopped, banged his stick into the dirt once more and everybody started cheering. Four men came running up to the mound of wood waving blazing torches. They positioned themselves equally around the fire and waited for their instructions. This was given and the fire was simultaneously lit. Again, everybody began cheering and punching their fists into the air. The children ran and picked up the buckets and all the women and children briskly cleared the area. Once they had all vanished some of the men carrying axes raced off and went in to the temple. Again, everybody around them went silent.

'Oh, no! There's one of those dragon things,' said Gus.

'Yeah, I know. I saw it earlier.'

The dragon was still alive, in the cage, as it was been carried to the burning fire. The leader came to the cage and pointed at one of the men, who was carrying an axe. He slowly stepped forward and everybody moved and formed a large circle. The man was left alone, with the caged dragon. A small boy and girl probably five and eight years old walked into the circle and joined the man. He gave them a big hug and a kiss and roughly pushed them away, towards the cage. The children were visibly in tears and they could both be heard crying.

'I think that he's their father,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, I was thinking the same.'

Neither of them broke their stare and watched as the girl and boy removed some pegs from the cage and slowly took away one of the sides. They gave one last look at the man and ran out of the circle, crying.

The dragon remained inside the cage looking very docile. Another man ran into the circle, violently rattled the cage and sprinted back to the onlookers, much to their approval. The dragon still remained static.

The man tentatively walked up to the cage and gently rattled it. Still nothing, so he lifted up his axe and slammed it down, between the slates of the pen, straight into the upper part of the dragon. This caused it to bolt out of the cage and turn towards the man. He was stood there, like a brave warrior, legs apart, ready for battle. The onlookers were going crazy with the anticipation of battle. They were immediately silenced when the dragon ran towards the man, quickly turned its back and then flicked its long powerful tail, hitting the man square on, sending him flying across the dusty floor. The man was now helpless, the axe gone out of his reach. Someone tried to throw him another, but it was too late. The dragon had already seized its opportunity and sunk its long teeth into the neck of the man, killing him in seconds.

A second man ran into the circle, swinging his axe, but the dragon was too quick and repeated the exact same exercise. The death of this man caused a rumble and they all went charging in, waving their axes around.

Gus and Kyle could see the men tightly packed around the small area where the dragon was. The leader calmly walked forward and headed towards the huddle of men. Once, at the front, he signalled for everybody to stop and they made their way back and re-formed the original circle.

Left in the middle was two dead men and a butchered dragon. The leader knelt by the dragon, rubbed his hands in to the pools of blood and smeared it all over his face, finally licking his hands clean.

At this point, both Gus and Kyle were on the verge of throwing up but didn't want to leave.

Six men had been signalled by the leader, two were positioned by both bodies and two by the dragon. Again, he raised his stick, slammed it into the ground and everybody started cheering, as the men smashed their axes into the bodies of the heroic men and the dragon, slicing small chunks off. At the end, all you could see was a pile of meat and bones, with no resemblance of their original state. The men carefully picked up the body parts, walked over to the huge pot and threw them in.

At that very point Kyle turned away and chucked up over a nearby bush.

'Are you okay staying here?' asked Gus, stupidly.

'What do you think?' replied Kyle, looking whiter than white.

Kyle sat with his back to the action and had to listen to Gus's running commentary.

Once the human bodies and dragon were all bubbling away in the pot, the circle broke up and the women marched in holding the wooden buckets again, but this time they were full of vegetables. The women individually walked up to the pot where the leader was stood. He stopped every woman, looked in to the bucket and gently kissed them on the hand. The women then threw the various veggies in to the pot and slowly walked back away. Once this was completed the circle re-formed again.

'They're making a massive stew, or something,' said Gus.

'I know!' said Kyle, as he wretched again and added more of the same to a poor innocent bush.

'Just like that stew we had,' Gus suddenly paused.

'Oh no, like the one we had earlier,' he continued.

'Yep.'

The colour was now draining out of Gus's face as he thought back to what he had demolished an hour before.

'I've seen enough of this. Let's get back to Bret,' suggested Gus.

Kyle didn't need to be asked again, as he got to his feet and slowly headed back, while still feeling very queasy. They walked back the way they'd come and found Bret sat on a rock, inspecting his feet.

'Where have you two been?'

'Just wandering around,' replied Kyle, casually.

'I tried to find you, but I couldn't move far. My feet are killing me, so I've just sat here waiting,' replied Bret.

'Are you feeling alright now?' asked Gus.

'Apart from my feet, fine. Why?'

'Because you were completely out of it earlier, talking to trees and rambling on about nothing.'

'You're winding me up.'

'No mate. You were off your head,' answered Gus.

'We can all talk about this later, but I think we should move away from here, to somewhere a bit safer,' interrupted Kyle.

'What's wrong with this place?'

'It's too close,' answered Kyle.

'To what?'

'To those people down there. We'll explain later, but first let's get our bodies out of here,' said Kyle.

Gus and Kyle got up and helped Bret to his feet and trudged over a nearby hill to what looked like a disused storage shack.

'Anyone for another joint?' asked Gus.

Chapter 15

**G** us had the final drag and stubbed it out on the concrete floor. They all sat there waiting for something to happen.

'This stuff's rubbish,' shouted Bret.

'What are you on about? You were completely trashed after the last one,' snapped Gus.

'That's not true.'

'Bret, we both watched you and I saw you with my own eyes, talking to a tree. Isn't that right Kyle?'

'Yep, he's right mate. The weed isn't bad. It just creeps up on you slowly.'

'Well, I'm going for a walk.'

'But your feet are killing you, aren't they?' asked Kyle.

'They feel okay at the moment.'

'That's probably because the dope is already starting to kick in,' said Gus.

Bret went out of the doorway and strolled to an area of marshland.

'Help me! Help me, somebody!' he shouted.

Gus and Kyle leapt to their feet and ran over to Bret, who was standing in the middle of the marsh, slowly lifting each foot, in turn, in to the air.

'What's wrong?' asked Kyle, feeling very panicky.

'My feet. They're sinking.'

'No, they're not. You're stood in a wet grassy area. You're not sinking, trust me,' answered Kyle.

'No, you're lying. I'm sinking into the sand. Look!' yelled Bret.

'Keep the noise down, else we'll all be tomorrows lunch,' snapped Kyle.

'What did you say?' asked Gus.

'I said we'll be tomorrow's lunch.'

'What's that suppose to mean?'

'What it means is that if we don't shut up, we'll be heard by those animals down there and find ourselves simmering on gas mark four,' replied Kyle, giving a slight chuckle.

'You think that's funny,' asked Gus.

'No, not really but if it does happen, I think I'll look good on a plate with a big Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes. Hmmm.'

Kyle drifted off in to his own private world of roast dinners until he snapped back out, after hearing a sharp scream vibrate his eardrum.

'What are you doing?'

'We've got to help Bret. He's freaking out,' said Gus.

They watched him, still lifting his feet up, his face looking petrified. Kyle ran over and grabbed hold of him.

'Follow me. I'll help you.'

'You're too late. I've sunk too far down. I'm suffocating to death,' answered Bret, his voice trembling with fear.

'You're not, just follow me. I'll pull you out.'

Bret reluctantly took hold of Kyle's hand and slowly stepped out of the marsh and back onto solid ground, where he sat Bret down.

'No more weed for you,' said Kyle.

'Why not?'

'Because you get completely out of control and start tripping badly.'

Bret didn't understand what Kyle was going on about, but just agreed and kept quiet.

Kyle went over to see if Gus was okay. He was sat, knees up, with his head resting on his hands.

'How are you feeling?'

'I'm not sure. One minute I'm alright and the next I'm out of it.'

'Same as me,' agreed Kyle.

'Is Bret okay now?'

'I think so. I helped him out of the marsh and he's now sat down quietly, for the time being.'

'That's good,' replied a very distant Gus.

Kyle couldn't help noticing that although Gus seemed to be listening, his eyes were rapidly flicking all over the place, followed by his head twitching and ducking around.

'What's up?' asked Kyle, worried that his mate was about to lose it.

'Nothing mate, I'm fine.'

'If you're so fine, why are you jerking your head around like a nutter?'

'Am I?'

'Yeah, there you go again,' said Kyle, point to his constantly moving head.

Kyle chose to shut up and paid close attention to his mates, who were both looking in a bad way. He quickly noticed that when he kept quiet Gus was all right, no twitching or sudden spasms. Soon as Kyle started talking again, Gus began twitching.

'What is it that you're afraid of?' asked Kyle.

Gus said nothing, so Kyle turned around and closed his eyes.

'Fingers!' shouted Gus.

'What?'

'Your fingers.'

'What about them?'

'When you wave your hands about, sparks are flying out of your fingers,' he explained.

Kyle knew straight away what he meant. This had happened to him in a pub back in England. One night he was tripping so badly that when one of his mates was talking to him, throwing his hands about to emphasize a point, he ducked trying to avoid the flying sparks.

Kyle told Gus that he understood what was happening and the best thing to do was for all of them to try and get some rest. Gus and Bret nodded in agreement and they all went back into the shelter.

Kyle laid there thinking good thoughts. He thought of the beautiful sea and the fun they had had when they first arrived, living off fresh fruit and coconut milk and just pratting around in the water for hours on end. It didn't seem like fun at the time, but now looking back, they were great times with excellent mates on a perfect, idyllic island of paradise, or so they thought. Kyle picked up on one of the good memories and drifted off to sleep.

He was woken, along with Bret by Gus, who was screaming out.

'No! No! Don't do it. The heat, the heat!'

Kyle rushed over to him and shook him until he finally woke up.

'What are you shouting out for?'

'The pot! They're going to cook me,' he yelled out.

'Calm down and try to be quiet.'

'Kyle, help me. They're going to boil me again, just like last time,' said Gus, trying desperately not to raise his voice again.

'They're not going to boil you, trust me.'

'They are, just like last time. Let's get out of here. I don't want to die again,' said Gus, shaking with fear.

Kyle knew that he was still tripping so told Gus that they'd leave the following morning and try to get some sleep. Gus listened avidly, nodded and turned onto his side.

'Think good thoughts and you'll have good dreams. It always works with me,' said Kyle.

Kyle was unable to sleep, so went for a quiet walk. The daylight was beginning to disappear and the mosquitoes were becoming very active. He wasn't gone long before he headed back. The small forest was getting very dark and while he was sat down the moon started to give off some light. He looked up and saw that it was probably only two nights away from a full moon.

Kyle fell asleep outside and was woken up by Bret, who gently kicked his leg.

'Morning mate.'

'Hey Bret. How's Gus?'

'Still sound asleep. Shall I wake him up?'

'No, leave him to sleep. He needs it,' replied Kyle.

Kyle walked over to check what was happening in the village. The pot had been moved away and all that remained were the charred remains of the fire.

'Bon appetite,' he said to himself.

He got back and saw Bret looking uneasy.

'There are people watching us.'

'You're imagining it,' answered Kyle.

'No, I'm not, believe me. We're being watched.'

Kyle ignored him, sat on a nearby rock and continued to survey the area. He felt that something was out there but kept it to himself. Trees were moving and he could've sworn that he heard some very faint voices, followed by dark figures moving from tree to tree. He was now in total agreement with Bret and went inside.

'You're right,' said Kyle.

'I told you.'

'Wake up Gus and we'll make a move,' said Kyle.

'Where?'

'I don't know, just wake him, will you?' snapped Kyle.

Gus was woken up and was told to get ready to make a move.

'What's the rush?'

'Because there's someone out there,' shouted Bret.

'What was that?' yelled Gus.

The door behind them was smashed off of its hinges and the first of eight, ape like figures, trampled in.

The men grabbed hold of them and dragged them out and they were marched to the village. The centre of the village was the hive of activity, but it immediately stopped, when the three strangers were frog marched into the centre.

Their captors were doing a lot of shouting and pointing, where as everybody else was standing, staring at the uninvited guests. As they came closer to the centre, three further men joined the already eight strong group of men, carrying some long poles and rope. The two men, who were holding Kyle, stopped and motioned for him to do something.

'I don't understand!' he shouted.

The men re-enacted the command.

'What do you want me to do?' shouted Kyle.

Bret and Gus remained silent, thinking that this was their best option.

The two let go of Kyle and pushed him away. He was stood on his own, surrounded by the men and his two friends very still, waiting for something to happen.

'Watch it!' yelled Bret.

It was too late. Kyle was already lying down in the dust, holding his legs. Bret was then released and pushed into the centre, after being given the same command. He instantaneously dropped to his knees and kneeled next to Kyle. This was his only choice, after seeing his mate get smashed on the back of the legs with a thick wooden pole. Gus was the last to be released and copied Bret's actions to a tee, not wanting to anger these men further.

Kyle was still clutching his legs, when two men kicked him until he got the second instruction and laid on his back in a straight line. The others copied, without even being asked.

The men took hold of the rope and lashed it around Kyle's hands and then around the wooden pole. They did the same with his ankles.

'They're treating us like animals!' shouted Gus.

This comment was met with a long pole swinging around, like a hockey stick, catching him straight on the side of the head. Gus was out cold.

Bret kept quiet and co-operated, knowing that his choices were exactly zero.

Once they had all been tied up, the poles were lifted up and rested on the mens' shoulders. They were carried into the centre, weaving their way through the large gathering of people. As they went past, the people spat, hit and yelled at them. They looked ferocious and their teeth were nothing more than sharp pincers, which looked as though they'd been filed to deliberate points.

The men stopped and lowered them to the ground. Gus was still out cold and Bret's feet had been ripped open again. Kyle legs were spasming, which was sending shooting pains up his back.

The people surrounding them quickly dispersed and they came face to face with the leader. He was an old looking man with the compulsory long hair and beard, but the man was different. His teeth were perfectly straight and white and he had very sunken eyes, whereas everybody else had big, round eyes, which beared an uncanny resemblance to insect's eyes.

The man took hold of a large axe and Kyle laid there, rigid. The leader pointed to Kyle's hand, raised the axe, and slammed it down cutting straight through the rope, setting his hands free. The same was done to his feet.

Bret watched the point of the raised axe and then promptly passed out, screaming. He was the next in line and was soon free of the pole, totally unaware of this. The leader walked over to an unconscious Gus and kicked him but he still didn't move. He kicked him again, still nothing, so he walked away leaving him attached to the pole.

As the leader walked away, he was handed a stick. On closer inspection Kyle saw that it was full of very intricate carved pictures, not dissimilar to the ones they had seen in the cave.

He raised the stick, shouted something out and then banged it into the dirt. This signalled the opening of the large doors of the temple. They were slowly slid open and Kyle was the first to see the golden pot.

Behind him, the women were busy inter-twining the branches in order for another fire. Kyle chose not to get eye contact with, the now conscious Bret, as he knew what sort of state of mind he would be in. Gus was still out cold, which was probably a blessing in disguise.

The same exercise was been carried out as Kyle had seen the previous day. This time though, he feared that they were the main course. He thought about the joke to Gus about the Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes and knew that at this exact moment in time, it wasn't funny at all. It was a sick reality.

The fire was ready and the pot was almost in position. Bret was watching carefully the proceedings, while again scanning the area, knowing full well what was in store for them.

The leader went back over to Gus and again he kicked him. Still nothing, so he got two of his men to lift the pole back up and shake it, causing Gus to swing and jolt around. This carried on, until something fell out of his pocket and into the dirt. It was the necklace that he had taken from the stone house. Kyle saw this happen and just wished that Gus had listened to him at the time. Now Kyle feared for their lives, even more and knew this latest incident only compounded their situation.

The leader grabbed the necklace and held it up and shouted something out. Immediately lots of women appeared with buckets of water and they began filling the pot. Bret was now screaming out, as he had now definitely twigged what was in store for them.

Once the pot was full, the wood was lit and the water was left to start boiling.

'Hopefully, this will take a couple of hours,' thought Kyle. He knew it didn't.

Time was running out and Kyle knew that they had to work quickly, otherwise be part of a human hot pot. He shouted over at the leader until he came over to where Kyle was sat.

Verbal communication was useless and he gave up on that idea almost immediately. He remembered back to the cave and all the pictures on the walls, so he decided on this angle of approach.

He smoothed out the dust in front of him and drew a large circle.

'Island,' he said.

The leader looked at him very curiously so Kyle started to do the action of swimming. This caused some of the men to snigger, but this was soon stopped when the leader shouted something out. Kyle tried to explain by drawing a boat, been lost and coming here. He drew his family and explained that he wanted to go back there. None of this seemed to hit home with the leader. Kyle didn't give up and carried on drawing pictures until the leader had had enough and hit his hand away with the stick. Kyle thought that that was his last vain attempt, but was surprised as the leader sat down opposite him and flattened the sand.

He started drawing with his stick and talking. Around him the people were listening in awe. Kyle studied the pictures and tried to comprehend what they meant. He drew a picture of a large mountain and pointed behind him. Kyle acknowledged him by turning around and looking. The leader rubbed out the top and made a boom noise, which Kyle understood as the volcano erupting, killing lots of their people. They had to live in the caves and ate bats and when it was safe to come out, all the trees had been burnt away, so they had to live on birds, dragons and people. As he drew the last picture, he pointed to Kyle and rubbed his stomach. Everybody around started to laugh.

Kyle knew that were all dead meat, but kept on trying to make him understand that they were not bad people. His attempts were in vain and the pictures were immediately rubbed out.

The water in the pot was now beginning to get hot and the leader went back over to where Gus was, still unconscious. Again the leader kicked him, which caused him to give out a quiet groan. The leader got the two men to hold up the pole again and he took out his axe and raised it into the air. At this point Gus had slightly opened his eyes and saw above him the shining blade. He started to scream and tried to break free. This was to no avail and as the axe came down, he managed to wiggle his hand and move it onto the rope. He stared at his hand as the axe cut straight through his four fingers and the rope. The top half of his body fell to the ground and he laid there, in shock, as blood was pouring out of his hand.

The leader casually picked up the fingers, sucked the blood and then threw them into the pot. Bret saw this and chucked up over himself. Kyle knew that this had been a mistake, but the leader made the most of it. They cut the rope holding Gus's feet to the pole and he screwed himself up into a ball, clasping his blood-covered hand. The leader went over and showed him the necklace. Gus began to sob, knowing that he'd messed up again.

The leader then slammed his stick into the dirt again and the men cheered and began stamping their feet. All the women and children had gone, just leaving a circle of angry men. Two men were ordered to join the leader and they leaned down and ripped off Gus's t shirt and shorts. The noise stopped, without delay, as they saw the scarred body. The leader went up to Gus and pointed to all the burns, while shouting something.

Gus was shaking with fear as he knew that he'd been here before and so did the leader. He started speaking to the leader but was immediately hit on his bloody hand with a stick. Kyle tried to get up but was also beaten back down. He finally managed to get face contact with Gus and saw the tears and the terror, which was so visible.

Again the leader got two more of his men and they paraded Gus around the burning fire, for all to see. The men were shouting and prodding him with their spears. Both Kyle and Bret were helpless, both with spears pressed up against their chests.

As Gus passed by his friend, he looked directly at Kyle.

'I told you. I was right!' screamed Gus.

'I know you did,' replied Kyle, tears running down his cheeks, wishing he'd listened more to Gus at the time.

Bret didn't get eye contact and remained staring at the ground between his feet.

Gus was lifted up above head height and the leader picked up the necklace, tossed it into the pot and signalled for the men to do the same with Gus.

Gus was wriggling around; trying desperately to break free of their grip but it was no use. He was yelling out, 'I died this way before. Don't let it happen again, please!'

He kept screaming out the same thing until the leader smashed him on the head with his stick, cutting open his forehead, nearly knocking him out again.

Bret and Kyle painfully heard his screams and it was only Kyle who watched as they skilfully threw him from the edge of the fire in to the steaming water. Kyle couldn't bear the noise, as Gus became conscious. The noise was hideous and the whole situation was too revolting to watch.

The sound soon stopped and the women re-appeared and threw in the vegetables. Kyle and Bret were both physically shaking, as they sat there in shock for, what seemed like an eternity. All around them there was a big celebration happening. Lots of drinking, smoking and singing.

Kyle asked for a cigarette, knowing it would help him forget, but was refused. He did manage to get a drink but this smelt like and tasted like cats' pee.

They were still being very closely guarded, but Kyle was well aware that they'd been drinking and smoking the weed for a fair amount of time, so he eventually tried to speak to Bret, without been noticed.

'On my signal, we go,' he whispered.

Bret nodded as Kyle received a kick in the back for his talking.

The leader returned with a long piece of wood in the shape of a right angle. He moved up close to the pot and dropped one end of it into the pot. Cheers were now louder than ever. He began pulling at the pole and was stirring the contents around. The smile on his face was very evident, until he abruptly stopped the stirring motion and shouted some men over. Everything immediately went silent again.

'Get ready!' shouted Kyle.

The leader turned, looked at Kyle and hit him with his stick. It split the side of his face open, just above the eye, but he remained conscious.

Two men came racing towards the fire carrying two iron picks. They stood by one side of the fire and furiously started pulling away the securing wood and red-hot embers beneath the pot.

Kyle and Bret were looking on, completely baffled by what was taking place.

As they pulled the wood away Kyle could see that the pot was becoming very unstable and was about to topple over. Once the leader had seen that enough had been cleared away, he walked up to one of the men and ordered the other away. He walked away, looking very relieved, leaving behind him a very scared man all alone. This man took hold of his pick and hooked one side of it over the edge of the pot.

'He's going to pull it over,' shouted Kyle. 'Get ready!'

'Soon!' he shouted, getting another kick.

Everybody was silent as the pot started to lift up on one side. As it got higher the man, who was pulling it, became more and more frightened. He gave one final tug and tipped it over, causing the boiling hot contents to come cascading out. The man had already turned and began to run, but he tripped over one of the pieces of wood and was instantly scolded. The screams coming from the man were too familiar. All the liquid and vegetables had poured out, but no body, just a necklace perched on some type of green vegetable.

In all the confusion, the men started running around, as if they were looking for something or someone.

'Now!' yelled Kyle.

With that, both Kyle and Bret jumped to their feet and quickly disarmed one man each. Kyle took the spear and calmly rammed it into the leader's throat.

'That's for killing my mate!'

Kyle yanked the spear out and watched as he fell to the ground. He turned around and saw Bret, who had also managed to kill one of the men. The place was still in complete chaos, so they quickly headed off into the forest, totally undetected by anybody.

'We need to keep running,' gasped Kyle.

'Are they following?'

'Probably, I've just killed their leader,' shouted Kyle.

They carried on running until they arrived at a murky lake.

'Let's rest here. I don't think they're following,' said an out of breath Kyle.

They both sat by a tree and tried to catch their breath.

Chapter 16

' **W** hat just happened back there?'

'What did it look like? Our mate has just got boiled to death and then disappeared,' snapped Kyle.

'Where did he go to? Bret asked stupidly.

'Like everyone else on this island that dies, they vanish,' replied Kyle.

'To where?'

'Look! We can't talk about this now; let's find a way out of here.'

Kyle walked off but could see that the lake was too big to walk around plus the ground was far too uneven for Bret's feet.

'We have to get across the lake. Swim or something because it's too far to walk around,' Kyle pointed out.

'A boat would be good,' replied Bret.

'Of course a boat would be good idea, but we don't have the time or tools to carve one,' snapped Kyle.

'Will this do?'

Bret pointed to a small boat hidden beneath the undergrowth. Kyle darted over and cleared all the plant life and it wasn't long before they were rowing away.

'How did you find this?'

'When you went wandering off, I did the same, or was going to, until I tripped over something and realised it was this,' explained Bret.

'You clumsy sod.'

'We'd better get a move on. Look behind!' shouted Kyle.

Getting into some other well-hidden boats were a group of the village men. They were waving their spears around and shouting. Kyle turned back around and speeded up the paddling, which was instantly mirrored by Bret.

As they were paddling towards the centre of the lake, they started to see small circular currents forming in the water. Bret steered away from them but they weren't anything to worry about, as the strength of the water was relatively weak. But as they got further out, the currents were getting stronger and the water was beginning to dip in the centre, having the typical characteristics of a whirlpool.

Bret was in control of the navigating and their route was causing them to make less ground and therefore the gap between them and the chasing boats was getting significantly smaller. The force of the water's current was getting stronger and they marginally missed getting swept into one.

The pools were four metres across, pieces of broken trees were getting caught in the strong flow and were being swept round and round until they finally disappeared down the eye of the pool.

On seeing this, they both knew it would have the strength to suck both them and the boat down and spit them out somewhere else. This prospect didn't appeal to either of them, so they paddled faster. The chasing men were closing rapidly and it wouldn't be long before they would be in striking range.

Another sharp turn had to be made to avoid a further pool, which resulted in the distance becoming shorter still.

'Keep it straight,' shouted Bret.

'I'm trying!' yelled Kyle.

Bret picked up one of the spears, turned round and threw it, hitting the lead man straight in the chest.

'Bulls eye!' he shouted.

Kyle was completely unaware of what was happening and carried on paddling, like a possessed lunatic.

'Are you going to help, or what?' bawled Kyle.

'Yeah, I'm back with you.'

They both continued to paddle and Bret could see, as he glanced back, that the man in the back of the boat was seriously struggling with the currents, as he was getting no help from his dying partner.

Bret had another idea. He began to slow his own paddling down and started to aim them towards a large whirlpool.

'Where are you taking us?' Kyle cried out.

'I have an idea.'

'What's that? You want to die!' yelled out Kyle, not knowing what his plan was.

'Just do as I say, okay?'

Kyle reluctantly agreed and carried on paddling towards the pool. The chasing man was only a couple of boat lengths behind and close behind him was the second boat.

'Just a few more strokes,' ordered Bret.

The outer water currents were approaching quickly and the centre of the whirlpool was only a couple of metres ahead of that.

'Get ready Kyle to paddle like crazy.'

Kyle kept quiet, just leaving this one to his mate.

'Now!' yelled Bret.

Kyle started to go hell for leather; paddling on the right side as Bret was going from side to side, trying desperately to steer the boat away from the strong currents.

Bret managed to sneak a quick look behind and saw the look of terror on the rear man's face, as he knew he wouldn't have the strength or energy to get the boat out of the strong currents. Bret turned back around, with a slight smirk across his face.

'One down, one to go!' shouted Bret.

Kyle had a quick look back.

'There are still two.'

'Not for much longer mate. Look' replied Bret.

Kyle looked back again and saw the first boat spinning around, one man already dead, the other calling out to the second boat, seemingly knowing his own fate. The boat hit the eye of the pool and was gone.

Kyle and Bret gave a slight cheer and carried on paddling away.

'What's your plan for the other boat?' asked Kyle, gasping for breath.

'They're not that stupid to fall for that one again.'

'Aren't they?' questioned Kyle.

'We can have a go, slide your spear along,' asked Bret.

Kyle pushed it along and listened to his mate's next instructions.

'Do a few miss strokes,' calmed requested Bret.

'What?'

'You know, when the blade misses most of the water. That way they'll get closer and they might think you're panicking.'

Kyle didn't understand what he had been told or why, but did it without any further questions.

'You can miss-paddle well, you know.'

Kyle sniggered and tried to keep his concentration on his bad paddling. Bret took hold of the spear and pushed it under the front of the seat, which Kyle was sitting on. He pushed it halfway and then lifted the end of the spear upwards until it snapped. He twisted it until it broke into two and put them either side of him.

The boat was closing and the men were shouting out. Bret knew the boat was close enough for the spear but waited just a little bit longer. He then picked up the broken end in his left hand and threw it, the front man lent to the side, quickly followed by the back man. Immediately after throwing the first spear, Bret swung his body to the other side and launched the front part of the broken spear. This missed the front man, who had responded quickly, but it hit the man seated behind in the neck, without any such warnings.

Kyle could tell from the noise behind him that it had been a success.

'Back to full speed,' shouted Bret.

'I'm more than pleased about that,' shouted Kyle.

They paddled off and left the one man chasing boat behind them, seeing him ultimately giving up.

They got over to the other side, avoiding all the whirlpools and pulled the boat out of the lake, resting it next to one of the numerous decorated trees.

'Where now?' asked Bret.

'Who knows mate.'

'We'll probably be alright here for a while, so maybe we should get some rest,' said Bret.

They looked over to the other side and saw that the bank was full of hundreds of angry looking men.

'What was all that about over there?' asked Bret.

'We shouldn't have taken their food and dope.'

'If I'd known what was in that soup, I wouldn't have. It still makes me feel sick just thinking about it.'

'And Gus definitely shouldn't have taken that necklace,' said Kyle. 'But that's all too late now. The damage has already been done.'

'Do you think they'd have let us go if we hadn't taken their stuff?'

'We'll never know, but remember we were all guilty, not just Gus,' Kyle strongly pointed out. 'Anyway, let's change the subject. How did you manage to kill those men?'

'You mean you didn't see.'

'No, remember I was the maniac paddler.'

'Oh yeah, I killed them using the two spears.'

'Where did you learn to throw spears?' questioned Kyle.

'I was good at the javelin at school. I just thought it would be the same sort of principle, plus I can throw with both arms.'

'Ambidextrous, yeah?'

'Yeah, that's it. When I was younger it was a bit confusing. I started off writing and doing everything with my left hand, but my teachers kept complaining that my work was never neat. It was always smudged,' explained Bret.

'I had a friend who was left handed and it was a pain because we kept on banging arms when we were writing.'

'Your friend should've sat on the right side of you, and then he wouldn't have hit anyone,' said Bret.

'That still wouldn't have worked because somebody was sat on that side as well. The tables were eight people long.'

'Then you should've sat at the end,' snapped Bret, clearly making sure that Kyle knew what he was on about.

'I know that.'

'So why didn't you move?'

'Because then I wouldn't have been sat behind Valerie Plume and Liz Tandy.'

'And who were they?'

'The two best looking girls in the school of course,' laughed Kyle.

'Well, of course. It all makes sense now.'

'Getting back to your story, carry on,' said Kyle.

'Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten. The teachers used to criticise my work, telling me it was always scruffy. So I used to go home every night and practise writing with my right hand and when it was eventually neat enough, I switched.'

'That's excellent!'

'Yeah, the teachers used to freak out I would be writing an essay and when my hand began to ache, I would just switch to the other hand. In the end I'd mastered it that well that you couldn't tell the difference,' proudly announced Bret.

'So that included javelin.'

'Not just javelin, pool, tennis, in fact all racket sports but the best one was cricket.'

'Why, what did you do?' asked an intrigued Kyle.

'Halfway through an over I would change and bat the other way, so that the whole field would have to re-position themselves. It used to really annoy the opposition and especially the umpires.'

'That's fantastic.'

'It was, but in the end I was banned from changing when I did it too many times in a Lord Taverner's match at Grace Road in Leicester and caused it to run into a second day. I even made the papers. I was famous for a day,' laughed Bret.

Kyle burst out laughing.

'So what's your claim to fame?'

There was silence while Kyle thought back.

'Oh yeah, I remember. I used to be good at rowing.'

'I could see that from the way you got us away from those men.'

'Yeah, I used to take it seriously, but then I got side tracked.'

'How did you manage to do that?'

'Easy, night clubbing, alcohol and girls. It made training at 6am very difficult when you didn't get home until 3am smashed out of your head. One time I did turn up and it was a disaster. I was completely out of time and kept clattering my oar with the guy's behind. In the end I got kicked off the team.'

'Why is that a claim to fame?' questioned a confused Bret.

'Well it wasn't I suppose, but we could have been a great team and become famous. In fact one of them now rows for England and has already won a few Olympic gold medals,' explained Kyle.

'What team was it? The Cambridge University boat team,' replied Bret, in a joking sarcastic manner.

'Oh no!' spitting on the floor. 'It was Oxford.' he announced.

'You were in the Oxford Rowing team,' said Bret, in total disbelief.

'Yeah, briefly.'

'No wonder you found it difficult to row badly.'

'I could've done a better job if I'd been hammered.'

'Oh I don't know. You soon got the hang of it,' joked Bret.

'Cheers,' he scoffed.

'I think we'd better start to make a move. We've been talking for ages and those idiots might be heading around the lake,' said Bret.

'Are you okay to carry on with your feet?'

'Yeah, they seem all right. I now have a constant throbbing pain, so I've just sort of got used to it.'

'Hopefully this won't ruin your budding football career,' Kyle jested.

'I might be ambidextrous but none of that talent passed down to my feet. I was terrible at football. I couldn't kick a ball with one foot, never mind two.'

'That's okay then, let's go.'

Chapter 17

**T** hey walked for hours but couldn't seem to get out of the forest. They weren't even sure if they were heading the right way, but knew that it was the right direction to take them further away from the lake and the group of very angry men.

In the end they eventually made it out of the deep woodland to a small clearing. This was the first time they had experienced natural light since leaving the lake, so it was quite bright on their eyes and it took them a while to adjust.

Ahead of them was a steep incline leading up to a flat plateau on top of a hill.

'Let's head up there,' said Kyle, pointing to the hill.

'We might be able to see the mountain from up there,' replied Bret.

'That's what I was thinking.'

The climb up was deceptively steep and was a lot more demanding than they had first thought. Kyle led the way and tried to map out the easiest route. At points it was so sheer that they had to use any foot hole they could find to climb up further. On a few occasions Kyle had to secure himself and give Bret a much-needed helping hand.

Once they had made it to the crest, Bret instantly sat down, resting his bloody feet, while Kyle walked around the top looking for any sight of the mountain. He found it, or rather the peak of it, beyond more trees and further woodland. Kyle knew that this meant even more climbing and hiking along uneven grassland.

'You should keep them on, you know.'

'No way, I need to get some air to them and these bandages are useless.'

'Okay, but watch out for the mozzies. They're even getting on my feet and that's nothing compared to yours,' advised Kyle.

'I know that, but I think they'll heal better without being covered.'

Kyle could only imagine the pain. His own foot was constantly stinging and the underneath was full of blisters.

'We'll rest here for a bit and then we should make our way over to those tall trees,' said Kyle.

'Can't we stay here tonight?'

'No, we've got to get in some sort of shade. We're too visible here and we're not sure that they've totally given up the chase.'

'Stubborn gits! Just five more minutes, eh?' requested a grim faced Bret.

'Yeah, no problem mate.'

The five minutes soon raced by and Bret, very reluctantly, pushed himself up and went over to join Kyle.

'I'm ready,' he said, trying to force out some sort of smile.

Again Kyle led the way down and helped his mate through the tricky parts. The climbing down was proving to be a lot easier. The only problem was having to constantly stop your legs from running away with you. Kyle was tempted a few times, knowing full well that the running was the relatively easy part, stopping was the problem. The added problem was that following behind him would be an equally out of control friend.

Bret's feet were in continual agony and his thoughts were the opposite. He wanted this climb to be over as quickly as possible and wasn't thinking about the stopping part. The ground beneath him was cutting deeper into the raw fresh.

Bret saw his opportunity and went for it, pushing Kyle out of the way.

'What the heck?' shouted Kyle.

'The quicker route,' interrupted Bret.

Kyle watched, as his friend gently jogged down the hill. It looked simple enough so he thought he'd do the same. Just like Bret, it started with a gentle trot, but as the descent became steeper, so did the trot. It was now a fast running action, which quickly turned into a full on, out of control sprint. He could hear Bret ahead of him yelling out, as he watched him hurtling down the hill. Ahead of him he watched, as Bret suddenly disappeared. On seeing this, Kyle tried to put on the brakes, but it was all in vain, as the speed continually increasing. The point of no return had long passed and he knew he was now at the mercy of the hill.

Bret was laying on the wet grass holding his mouth, when he heard above him Kyle's screams, followed by him running in mid air, like a cartoon character, as he left the end of the hill and came crashing down beside him. He hit the ground with a big thud and momentarily stayed still, groaning in pain.

'That was a good idea of mine, don't you think?' laughed Bret, blood spitting out of his mouth.

Kyle turned around, let out a second loud groan and replied. 'Yeah, I haven't had so much fun since I broke both my legs when I jumped out a tree,' joked Kyle.

'At least you thought it was fun.'

'Yeah, great fun,' replied an ironic Kyle. 'What happened to your mouth?'

'I must of bit my tongue when I hit the ground.'

Kyle looked inside Bret's mouth but couldn't see anything, except lots of blood.

'Is all of your tongue still there?'

Bret felt around and told him it was.

'That's good because when I broke my legs, my mate had kneed himself on the chin and had bitten the side of his tongue off. Well, not quite, it was still attached by a small bit of muscle. Listen to this, this is a classic. Okay, picture the scene. There was my mate and me in a field in the middle of the countryside, not a soul around, my legs broken and blood pouring out of my mate's mouth. So my mate told me that he'd go and get some help. This is what he did,' Kyle started to laugh. 'He went to the river and rinsed the blood out of his mouth and then went straight to my parent's house. He knocked on the door and when my mum answered he said, are you wondering where Kyle is? My mum answered by saying that she wasn't really, because she knew he'd be out playing in the village. My friend then passed out and it was over two hours before the ambulance came to me.'

'Why did it take so long?'

'Apparently my friend went into the kitchen after my mum had seen the blood to get a drink of water and couldn't resist having a look at his tongue in the mirror and promptly passed out. He was taken to a nearby hospital in the local town and my mum went with him in the ambulance. When he finally came too, my mum asked him where I was. He told her that I was below a tree with two broken legs. It's funny now, but at the time my mum almost had a heart attack.'

'At least she would've been in the right place,' joked Bret.

'Hey, I've never thought of that.'

'How did you know that your legs were busted?'

'I didn't really know. They just hurt like mad when I tried to move them,' Kyle replied.

'Did you keep in contact with your mate, after that?'

'Yeah, I did. It's a shame you didn't meet him. It was Chas.'

'Oh sorry mate. I didn't mean to bring it up.'

'No problem, it's a funny story and was always a good one to tell when we were all drunk, or stoned. Chas was always there when I told it and the people listening didn't know that it was him and used to throw in comments like: stupid sod, softy, etcetera, you know the sort of stuff. It was only at the end when, just like you, they'd ask if I was still friends with him and I'd answer. Of course I am, eh Chas. Chas would feel a right prat, but never got annoyed with being the butt of that particular joke. He was a great bloke.'

'He sounds it.'

'Come on, it's time we got a move on,' said Kyle.

'Where are we heading?'

'Over to that small forest. We can stay there the night,' replied Kyle.

The walk was less harsh on their feet because of the soft marshy grassland. They weren't happy when they had to leave the wet sods of grass and step back onto the solid rough terrain. They staggered into the outer rim of the forest and were relieved when the land was covered in soft bark and bracken.

'Can we rest for a bit?' asked Bret.

'Yeah, no problem. You don't keep having to ask, you know.'

They sat by a large tree and felt instant relief.

'These trees are huge,' Bret pointed out.

Kyle looked up and suddenly comprehended how big and tall they were.

'You're right! Look at the height of these things. They must be two, three hundred metres tall.'

'Yeah and look how wide they are. You could drive a car through that one,' yelled Bret, as he pointed to the one next to them.

'I reckon that these are Kauri trees,' said Kyle.

'How do you know that?'

'I was in New Zealand a couple of years ago and we went to this place called Waipoua, North of Auckland in the North Island. There were these trees with massive canopies, just like these. They were amazing, but I never ever thought that I'd be lost on an island, bedding down for the night amongst them, that's for sure.'

'Me too mate, me too,' agreed Bret.

By the time they'd had a brief search around; it was dusk and time for the nightlife to wake up. The mosquitoes were the biggest problem and they were both continuously waving them off of their feet. They weren't certain about the other creatures that lived in the forest, but were well aware of the high potential for deadly snakes and poisonous spiders.

Above them was also a multitude of tree life and some sounded big from the noise that was coming from high up in the trees. Adding all this together, it wasn't a place where you could sit and relax, so both of them were feeling very uptight.

'I can't sit here just watching myself get eaten alive,' yelled Bret.

'We should go for a walk.'

'What, and get bitten by who knows what. My feet certainly don't need any more attention,' shouted Bret.

'If you don't want to walk around, then I suggest you shut up and stop complaining,' Kyle yelled out, stressing the shut word.

Kyle went off leaving Bret slapping more insects away from his feet.

'This place is driving me nuts.'

Kyle ignored him and carefully stepped over fallen branches and rocks, while clapping his hands.

'What are you doing that for?' quizzed Bret.

'What does it look like?' Kyle answered sarcastically.

'I know that you're clapping your hands, but why?'

'To scare away snakes,' answered a slightly less hostile Kyle.

'Where did you hear that one?'

'When we were in Indonesia, we were on this island near Flores, called Lady Diana Island.'

'Lady Diana Island! You're winding me up,' interrupted Bret.

'No serious. It was apparently the last place she went to before, well, you know the rest. Anyway that's beside the point, we were with this Norwegian guy called Tony and he'd read that if you clap when you're walking, it will scare away any nearby snakes. I don't know if it actually achieves a damn thing, but it makes me feel a whole load safer.'

'I'll go along with that. I'm coming with you.'

Seconds later they were both trampling down the undergrowth, while clapping their hands. The forest didn't seem to be thinning out and all they kept seeing was more and more trees.

'At least we'll be sheltered if there's a storm,' Bret kindly informed Kyle.

'Yeah you're right. Thanks for the useless bit of information.'

'I'm the king of useless information, so thanks for that very kind compliment,' replied Bret.

Kyle knew that he was having a laugh, but let him have his brief moment of fun, while desperately trying to think of a good retort.

'I don't believe it,' bawled Kyle.

'What're you on about?'

'Didn't you just see that?'

'See what?' answered Bret, totally clueless as to what Kyle was going on about.

'That flash of lightning!'

'What's the problem with that?' asked Bret, still confused.

'Are you that stupid, or what?'

Bret didn't know what the right answer was, so kept quiet.

'What does lightning go with? You know: strawberries and jam, bread and butter, cheese and jam,' yelled Kyle.

'Cheese and jam, yuk,' Bret said.

'Don't knock it until you've tried it. It's lovely, but what's the answer?'

'Oh hang on a minute. Let me think. Oh yeah, is it lightning and erm.'

'Thunder, you idiot!' snarled Kyle.

'Is it really?'

Kyle knew that he was taking the mick, yet again, but this time wouldn't let him have the satisfaction.

'You're really good at acting dumb sometimes, you know that.'

'Thank you for that and your theory is that you've seen lightning, so that means they'll be thunder, soon followed by a storm. This of course has all happened because of me saying that the trees would make a great shelter. Hang on; let me, the dumb idiot finish. So maybe if I'd said that they would've made a great shelter from the sun, then would it now be bright blistering sun burning down on our faces?'

Kyle kept his mouth shut.

'Come on Kyle, have you lost your voice?'

'Okay Bret, I get your drift. I know full well that you're not dumb. I'm just shooting my mouth off, because I've lost two really wicked friends and I'm scared,' confessed Kyle.

'It's forgotten, but tell me one thing?'

'What's that?'

'Tell me, what is rain because I'm a bit thick, you know.'

'Sod off,' laughed Kyle.

As soon as he had said that, there was a loud crash of thunder.

'I told you, wait for the rain,' said Kyle.

'As I said earlier, we're in the right place.'

The light had virtually gone and they both sat on a large tree stump, waiting for the next flash and crash. When the flash came, it lit up the whole forest and the view of the canopies high above were spectacular. The crack of thunder followed seconds behind and then the rain began to fall. The noise was deafening, as the rain hit the massive leaves high above them.

'I told you that we'd be sheltered. They're like giant umbrellas,' shouted Bret.

'Yeah, but the water has to drain off somewhere,' replied Kyle.

'Yeah, hang on a second; I'm just going to get something.'

He went off and came back with a large leaf.

'What are you going to do with that?'

'Watch and be prepared to learn, as dumbo shows you a trick or two,' shouted Bret.

'I'll wait here in anticipation, oh genius boy,' retorted Kyle.

He watched and studied Bret as he rolled the leaf up into a funnel shape and carefully folded a piece over the top, to stop it coming apart.

'Dah, dah. Please let me present to you, the funnel.'

Kyle gave a rapturous round of applause, but still wasn't sure how it was going to work and he certainly didn't dare ask, especially after calling Bret dumb.

'You know what it's for, yeah?'

'Oh,' thought Kyle, 'He's going to ask me.'

'Yeah, of course I know. It's for water, right,' replied Kyle with a complete stab in the dark.

'Yeah, you see, what I think is that it's hammering down and we're not getting wet, so the water must be up there, collecting on the leaves. Eventually that water will get too heavy for the leaves causing them to bend over. All the rainwater will find a canal and come cascading down to us. All we need to do is put the funnel right where it's falling and position our mouths at the bottom of the funnel. Voila, fresh drinking water,' explained Bret, taking a bow.

Kyle gave a second rapturous round of applause.

Minutes later, Bret was on his feet, darting around looking for the first bending leaf.

'Can you see up there?' asked Kyle.

'No, not a thing. I'm just going through the motions.'

'Okay, carry on old boy.'

Bret was running around like an idiot, while Kyle took a back seat, choosing to sit and listen.

Every hint of natural light had now gone, except for the occasional flash of lightning.

'I can hear falling water!' yelled Kyle, as he got up to his feet.

Bret went charging off in search, but found nothing.

'There's another,' shouted Kyle.

Again, Bret scampered off, but nothing.

'This is useless. I need some more light,' voiced Bret.

'Why don't we wait for the next flash and look then? We might have more luck,' suggested Kyle.

'You look that way and I'll look the other,' replied Bret.

'Which way are you looking?'

'That way, to the left,' answered Bret.

'So which way are you facing?'

'What are you going on about?'

'It's simple. If we're both standing facing the same way, then your left is the same as mine, but if we're facing each other then your left is my right. Wakarimasu Ka?' asked Kyle.

'What?' asked a totally confused Bret.

'Wakarimasu Ka? It means, do you understand?'

'No, I don't and what language is that?'

'It's Japanese,' answered Kyle.

'You can speak Japanese, yeah?'

'Hai! No, I'm joking. I've recently read the book _Shogun_ and there's lots of Japanese in it.'

'I remember that movie, with that Chamberlain guy in it.'

'That was it. Richard Chamberlain,' replied Kyle.

'Okay, I understand the _Shogun_ spiel, but not this direction thing you're going on about,' said Bret.

'Stay where you are and I'll come and find you.'

Kyle waited for the next flash of lightning and went over to Bret.

'By the time we find some, the rain will have stopped,' shouted Bret.

'Have some faith. After all it is your idea.'

Chapter 18

' **G** reat idea Bret! One of your best,' shouted Kyle, as he gulped down more water.

'Yeah, good theory, but difficult to find the rainwater.'

'We found it eventually,' remarked Kyle.

'That's because we were stood right where it fell.'

'So instead of us running around chasing plummeting rainfall, what we should have done was stay put,' Kyle pointed out.

'You're probably right, but I have one question for you?'

'Fire away.'

'And I want an honest answer,' said Bret.

'You'll get one.'

'When I made the funnel, did you actually know what I was planning to do with it?'

'You said an honest answer, yeah?'

'Yep.'

'Honestly, I didn't have a sodding clue,' admitted Kyle.

'I thought so, but you covered it up well.'

'Lucky guess mate.'

'So what's the plan now, dumbo?' joked Bret.

'Sleep, you simpleton,' laughed Kyle.

The rain was still hammering down when they finally drifted off to sleep. It continued most of the night and both of them got an abrupt wakeup call when a stream of rain fell, hitting them both in the face.

Daylight was nearly appearing and they didn't feel that refreshed. The ground was sodden, their clothes were damp and they were both shivering.

'Put the kettle on Bret.'

'Sure thing, would you like tea or coffee sir?'

'Fresh coffee please. It might wake me up,' replied Kyle.

'Wouldn't that be nice, a fresh cup of coffee. Let's just think about that for a minute,' added Bret.

There was a good minute's silence and then Kyle also requested a McDonald's breakfast.

'I could murder one of them and I don't particularly like them,' Kyle answered.

They spent the next hour talking about all the types of food that they were craving, ranging from marmite to marzipan, with the obvious inclusion of Pringles, Mars bars, bacon and cheese. The conversation got that bad that they were even having an in depth discussion on how each of them would spend five English pounds.

Bret's choice was very sweet based, whereas Kyle did try to choose something that was nutritious as well as tasty.

'Now that we've tortured ourselves enough, it's time we made a move,' said Kyle.

'Which way?'

'Towards the mountain.'

'And which way is that?' quizzed Bret.

'The opposite way to where we came from yesterday,' answered Kyle.

'I know that oh smart one, but point out to me which way that is?'

'It's easy Bret.'

'What, just a quick case of eeny meeny miney mo, yeah?' mocked Bret.

'No, you just look at where the sun is and we head towards that,' answered a confident Kyle.

Bret had nothing to say back to him, so turned away in disgust.

'You see, yesterday when we were climbing up the hills and then charging back down, we were always heading towards the sun, which was always above the mountain.'

'But that was later on in the day, probably midday,' said Bret.

'Yeah, I know. The sun was just higher in the sky, whereas now it will probably be just peaking over the top of the mountain. We should stay here until we feel it or see it; else we could be walking back on ourselves.'

'Should we talk about more food?' joked Bret.

'No, let's just chill.'

They hadn't been sat down long when one of the sun's rays appeared giving them their new map reference.

Most of the day was taken up with climbing over fallen branches, stepping over rocks and the occasional clapping of hands. The humidity was ridiculously high causing them both to seat profusely.

As they carried on, there seem to be no end to the woodland. All they saw, in every direction were trees, trees and more trees.

The heat of the day came and went, but still there was no let up. It wasn't until late afternoon that they found a large clearing. This brought a sigh of relief to both of them, as it was a place to rest on the soft grass.

In amongst all the Kauri trees were the familiar smaller trees and again these were decorated with the same sort of things that were on the trees that surrounded the lake. As they'd seen this before they were both on edge, but still tried to enjoy the lush grass.

While Bret was resting his feet, Kyle wandered off. It was only after he's studied some of the hanging items when he saw a small area behind one of the trees. He climbed down a small bank and stood in the centre of a round area full of small wooden crosses. He looked closely at a couple of them, but the wood was so old that any epitaphs had been almost totally worn away. Kyle was about to walk back when out of the corner of his eye; he spotted a freshly made cross. Tentatively, he walked over and knelt beside it. He looked at the writing, but it meant nothing. The only thing he recognised was the numbers. This confirmed what he'd already thought. Kyle knew it was some sort of cemetery, but was unsure for what. Because of the small crosses he first thought it was a pet cemetery, remembering the chilling Stephen King movie, but on seeing the dates knew that it was for people. The most recent person had died aged forty-two. This was not one hundred percent definite, as the numbers beared no resemblance to the western years, but he knew that many countries worked from a different calendar year, the most notable one being Thailand, which was over five hundred years ahead of the West.

He walked back over to where Bret was sat. He thought he'd keep his findings to himself, as he wasn't totally confident with his theory.

Bret was closely curled up in a ball, holding his feet, quietly snoring. Kyle stood over him, watching, deciding what was the next best thing to do. Kyle wasn't feeling confident enough to make a good decision, so found his own area of grass and laid down. It wasn't long before he too was quietly sleeping.

Bret was the first to wake up, totally disorientated. He panicked and shouted for Kyle, who sat bolt upright. They'd been sleeping for a while and woke up to a low chanting noise coming from within the wood.

'You stay here and I'll go and have a look,' whispered Kyle.

Bret nodded and Kyle went over to the wood, remembering what he'd discovered earlier. He crept as close as he dared and saw the ape-looking men stood around the grave yard, gently bowing and muttering something incomprehensible. The noise stopped and everybody bowed down, resting their faces in the dirt, their arms out stretched in front of them. In the centre stood a man wearing a large animal skin. He was waving his arms around and shouting out. Kyle couldn't see him, as he was pointing the other way. He thought about moving, but decided to stay put and wait for the new leader to turn around.

Instantaneously there was a noise coming from behind him. Kyle feared the worse and this became a reality, when he heard Bret's screaming voice.

'Do I help or do I wait? Think! Think!' he thought.

Kyle crouched down low and looked on as two men had hold of Bret leading him out to join the others. Bret was yelling out and tears were rolling down his cheeks. The only saving grace was that he hadn't shouted out Kyle's name. Hopefully the others would think that he was either dead already or had separated from Bret.

The circle momentarily broke to let Bret and his two guards enter it, then instantly re-joined. As Kyle was scanning the area, he counted ten men in the circle, the two guards and the cloaked man.

'Thirteen, unlucky for some!' he thought.

'How can I do anything against thirteen, besides get myself killed as well. I'll sit it out and wait to see what happens,' he whispered quietly.

Kyle's thoughts were instantly interrupted when he saw a figure move about in the trees opposite. He stared at the same spot and saw it again. The figure looked like it was hiding as well, just like he was. He decided to get a closer look, so carefully moved from tree to tree, stopping to check if he could still see anyone. He didn't, but carried on, his eyes transfixed to the same spot, momentarily forgetting Bret's plight. He had now cut the distance between him and the target point by half, but still couldn't see anything. He knelt down again and looked around. The two guards had left, leaving eleven.

'Not so unlucky,' he thought.

Still, the man in the centre was covered up. Bret was sat with his legs folded underneath his backside, bowing like the others.

'Ow! What was that?' he quietly shouted, totally aware of where he was.

He turned around and looked, while rubbing his knee, but he saw nothing, except blood coming from a freshly made cut. His first thought was that he'd been bitten by something, but he distinctly remembered feeling something physically hitting his knee.

He turned back to check on Bret and then felt a surge of excruciating pain, as something struck his back.

'What the?' he said, turning back again.

As he turned, he was face to face with a western woman with her finger over her lips. He kept silent and followed her away from the chanting and praying.

'What were you doing?' questioned Kyle, when he knew that they were far enough not to be heard.

'I had to check that you weren't one of them.'

'By smashing my knee open. What did you use?'

'A catapult,' she replied.

'Well, it hurts!'

'It should. You're lucky I didn't pull it all the way back. It would've smashed your knee to bits if I'd chosen to do that,' she replied, in a very matter of fact voice.

'Oh, in that case, thanks for not making me a cripple,' he replied sarcastically.

'Is that your friend out there?'

'Yeah, it is. Can you help me?'

'That's why I am here. To get those sick animals back for killing my girlfriend,' she snapped.

'Thanks.'

'What for? I have not done anything yet.'

'Yeah, but you're going to help,' replied a hopeful Kyle.

'Yes, but not because of you, or your friend. This is for Tessa and what they did to her. I want to kill every one of them,' she explained.

Kyle thought that this girl was sounding a bit crazy, but his options were limited, to the point that he didn't have any others.

'There's eleven of them, two guards have already left. Our odds aren't good,' Kyle pointed out.

'Maybe not, but we can try,' she replied.

'Do you have a gun or something, in that bag?'

'Better, this.'

She took out of the bag her hand made catapult.

'How did you make that?' quizzed Kyle.

'How about I tell you all that later. Let's get on with this, eh? Take that and let's get back closer.'

'What have you got in here?' asked Kyle, as he struggled to pick up the bag.

'Small rocks, lots of them. This is the plan okay. I will be the one firing the catapult and all I want you to do is keep passing me the small rocks, right?'

'Yeah, sure, but one final question, what are our chances and how good are you with that thing?' asked Kyle, very apprehensively.

'That's two, but I'll answer both. One, okay, two, I hit you right where I aimed.'

Kyle was moderately happy with the answers and lifted up the bag and began to follow her. They got as close as they could without been spotted and positioned themselves down.

'Good. We are here right on time,' she said.

'What do you mean, right on time?' whispered Kyle.

'Later.'

The ten men were stood in a large triangle shape facing the covered leader. Between them was Bret, who was lying on his back. The leader was chanting out some sort of ritual, while holding a spear in his right hand and a small dagger in his left.

'What are they doing?' asked Kyle.

'Getting ready.'

'For what?'

'To sacrifice him, of course,' she said coldly.

'What for?'

'Look up there. What do you see?'

'The moon,' he replied.

'Yes, a full moon. On the last full moon the same thing happened. They killed Tessa by slitting her throat and the leader drank her blood.'

Kyle was wondering why this woman hadn't helped her friend Tessa, but knew that this wasn't the right time to ask.

'So when are you going to start needing me to pass you the rocks?' he asked, fully aware that time was ticking on.

'Don't worry. You will know.'

He didn't feel any more at ease, but decided to shut up.

From the other side of the wood entered the two guards, this time holding a young girl.

'This did not happen before,' she said, sounding concerned.

'What, the girl?'

'Yes, last time they just, well I told you already.'

'So know what to do?' whispered Kyle.

'I don't know. Let me think.'

Before either had time to think the girl had been lifted up on top of the men. The leader walked up to where the girl's head was, lifted up his dagger and with one quick action, sliced straight across her throat. He moved back as the two guards, each carrying a small cup waited until the blood ran down either side of her young neck and then they caught the blood in the cup.

Kyle was almost sick, but kept quiet, as he knew that she was trying to pick the right time to fire and he didn't have a clue what to do.

'Not yet,' she said, as Kyle looked her in the eye.

The guards had now moved away from the girl and she was gently lowered and carefully put down on the ground. They handed the two cups to the leader and again disappeared the way they came.

Two of the men then went over to Bret and lifted him to his feet. He looked in total shock and didn't seem to be aware of what was happening, which Kyle thought wasn't such a bad thing.

He was handed one of the cups and was led by the leader to a wooden cross. The leader then signalled to him to wipe some of the blood onto the cross. Bret was so transfixed on something else that he didn't comprehend what he was actually doing.

He did the exact same thing on ten more crosses and was then led back to the front. The leader made a sign with his spear and the ten men went over and each stood by a cross. The leader moved the girl to the one remaining cross. Bret still remained totally oblivious to all of it.

The leader lifted the remaining cup of blood to the moon and then drank it. Everybody started dancing around the wooden crosses, while the leader took off his cloak.

'He's dead!' yelled Kyle.

'Be quiet or we will be next.'

'No, I killed him. I rammed a spear straight in to his neck,' explained Kyle.

'You must have missed.'

'I didn't miss. I saw it with my own eyes,' he answered in a convinced voice.

'What, and you're going to tell me that's the first strange thing that has happened to you.'

'You must be joking. This whole place stinks of something weird,' replied Kyle.

The leader walked over to where the girl was laid and tapped his spear three times on the cross.

Kyle and the woman stared, as the ground that was circling the cross began to move. While this was happening he went over to the other crosses and repeated the same exercise. After he'd tapped the final cross, he walked back over to where Bret was stood and led him to the dead woman.

They both stood there and watched as the soil moved away and something started to come out of the ground.

'Did this all happen before?' quietly asked Kyle.

'Sort of.'

'What do you mean, sort of?'

'I will explain later. Get ready with those rocks.'

'I'm ready.'

'Just a bit longer. Wait! Wait! Okay, now!' she yelled out.

Kyle watched, in amazement as the woman expertly pulled back the catapult and bombarded the men with the small rocks. He observed as the first rock hit the leader on the forehead sending him falling to the ground. This was followed by a second, which hit Bret on the chest. Kyle was just about to scream at the woman for what she'd done, when he realised that the hit on Bret was deliberate and knocked him back to reality. He looked like he'd just been woken up from a bad dream.

Kyle continued to pass the rocks as she kept firing away, hitting the men, one by one, sending them toppling to the ground.

Bret was confused on which way to turn until Kyle shouted from amongst the trees.

'Are you alright mate?'

'I think so. Thanks mate,' answered Bret.

'Don't thank me. Thank her.'

'Who?' questioned Bret.

'This woman here,' replied Kyle, while turning around. 'Where has she gone and where's the bag?'

'I don't know mate. All I saw was you.'

Kyle's eyes began to dart all over the place, looking for the woman. As he looked back over to the graves he froze when he saw the leader was being dragged in to the ground by a hideous looking body. It had deathly grey skin and its eye sockets were empty. The body was full of protruding ribs and puss- filled blisters. They both glared at the sight when suddenly they saw its head get smashed off by a flying object, which caused them both to snap back to reality.

'She's over there, the woman,' yelled Kyle.

Bret still didn't see anything, but just agreed.

They stayed where they were and watched, as stones were being hurled out from amongst the trees, knocking the heads off of the grave dwellers. The sight left was one of total carnage. The men and the single woman were dead and the dead were dead again.

'Psst! I think we should get out of here.'

Bret and Kyle turned around and saw the woman in the trees.

'That's who you've got to thank,' shouted Kyle.

Chapter 19

**B** ret had problems keeping up with the others, as they wove their way through the trees. It soon became a lot easier when they left the roughness of the forest ground and went out in to the open, with the soft meadow grass under foot.

Kyle and Bret didn't know where they were heading, but assumed the woman did, so just carried on following. They were at least thankful that they were heading in the right direction, towards the mountain.

They were soon running down a slight hill and were surprised when they saw the sea next to the mountains edge. The woman was still commanding the way. Bret and Kyle were happy to follow her, as none of them had really known where they were heading since they'd arrived on the island. They didn't have any idea what physical state the woman was in, but she was quite a bit ahead of them so they assumed she was fitter than the pair of them.

They kept on following and saw her disappear around a large rock. A few minutes later they did the same and stopped. The woman was not to be seen and they didn't know which way to go.

'Which way do you think she went?' asked Bret, while breathing heavily.

'I haven't got a clue!'

'Down here,' came a voice from below them.

'How do we get down there?' questioned Kyle.

'I will come and get you.'

'We're at the entrance, just next to the big rock.'

Even though Kyle's response wasn't that clear on their whereabouts, she did manage to locate them and led them down through the small crevices and eventually into a small cold room, at the side of the water.

'How did you manage to find this place?' asked Kyle.

'By accident. My friend and me found it when we were swimming. We saw the wooden slated walls and finally found our way in.'

'Thank you for helping me back there,' said Bret.

'Let me introduce ourselves to you. I'm Kyle and this is my friend Bret.'

They went over to shake her hand but she turned away.

'What's your name?' asked Bret.

'Marianne.'

'That's nice. Is it English?' questioned Bret.

'No, I am from Norway.'

'Your English is excellent. I would never have known,' said Bret.

She said nothing and this was followed by one of those awkward silent moments.

'So where did you learn all that combat stuff, anyway?' asked Bret.

'I am in the army.'

'I didn't even know that you had an army,' replied Bret, stupidly.

'Every country has an army, are you stupid?' shouted Marianne.

Bret felt a bit offended by her responses, so moved over in to the corner and kept quiet.

Kyle noticed the tension between them all and suggested to Bret that he might want to go and get something to eat. Bret took this as a sign to leave and let Kyle try to clear the air. As soon as he was out of ear shot Kyle started to retaliate.

'You didn't need to call him stupid, you know.'

'But he is.'

'Why, because he doesn't know much about Norway.'

'About anything,' she replied.

'Whatever, but you were still out of order,' he said.

'Maybe I was, but I am not interested in this type of conversation.'

'Me neither, but if we get past the small talk, then we can move on to the more interesting subjects,' explained Kyle.

'Okay, you start.'

'First, I'll go and get Bret; else you'll only have to repeat it.'

'No, I will not,' she yelled back.

'Stop being such a snappy bitch,' he shouted back.

'Do not call me a bitch!'

'I'm sorry. I was well out of order. Shall we start again? I'm Kyle, nice to meet you,' he said, holding out his hand.

'Nice to meet you too.'

'Bret, get back in her,' Kyle shouted.

Bret came back in and sat down. As he caught eye contact with Marianne, she gave him a wide smile. He knew that this was probably a partial apology and returned the smile.

'So, you learnt all that stuff in the army, yeah?' asked Kyle.

'Yes, I was part of a task team. We trained a lot with guns and self defence. I thought that a catapult is similar, so I made one a few days ago.'

'Let's have a look?' asked Bret.

She took it out of her bag and threw it over to him.

'And this is how you killed all those people back there?'

'Yes.'

'How did you make it?' asked Bret, while studying it.

'I found the correct branch with the v shape and a piece of old plastic bottle, which I used for holding the small rocks.'

'What is this?' Bret asked, holding on to some white material.

'Army issue,' she replied.

'What did it use to be?'

'What do you think?'

Bret looked at it carefully; pulling it back and then letting it go.

'It looks like a bra,' he replied.

'Correct. It's an army support bra. Mine, to be exact,' she answered.

Bret's mind began to wander off, as he knew that the pretty blond woman sat opposite him was braless.

'What are you thinking about?' she asked him.

Bret shook his head, but knew that the blood was rushing to his head and he clearly looked embarrassed. Marianne was fully aware of this and quickly lifted up the front of her t shirt, displaying her large breasts. She then let out a loud roar of laughter, closely followed by Kyle and finally Bret.

'Sorry but you are just not my type,' she said.

'And what is your type?' joked Bret, while tensing the few muscles he had.

'Women,' she coolly answered.

'Each to his or her own,' was his quick response.

He still wasn't sure if she was joking or not, so smiled at her and left it at that.

'I've got something that'll make us feel more relaxed,' announced Bret, as he pulled out a joint and lighter from his pocket.

'How did you end up with that?' shouted Kyle.

'It was when you guys went off to look at that village. I was going to have another because I was feeling fantastic, so I went and took them out of the bag,' explained Bret.

'Remember this stuff is so strong. We should only smoke half of it and keep the rest for another time,' said Kyle.

'Are you guys serious?'

'Yeah, we are. Last time we smoked this dope, we were all tripping like crazy. Bret, over there, was talking to a tree. Who knows what will happen to him this time, especially now that he's seen your boobs. He'll probably spend two hours talking to them.'

'Wouldn't that be a fantastic trip,' added Bret.

As soon as he'd said that out loud he thought that Marianne would go nuts, but fortunately she saw the funny side. So he lit the joint and passed it around. The advice that Kyle had given them was completely ignored and it was finally stubbed out, once it had finally got too hot to drag on.

'Okay Marianne, now that we've been formally introduced, what brings you to this wonderful island of paradise?' asked Kyle.

'A short holiday, but it has turned in to a nightmare!'

'Same here,' he replied.

Kyle and Bret spent the next couple of hours explaining their own individual stories, telling her about the friends that they've both lost and the strange things that had happened. As the conversation continued they felt a lot more at ease with Marianne and each other and each talked about feelings hidden deep inside of them. Things that they wouldn't have even discussed with a very close friend, never mind people they had only known a very short space of time.

Kyle and Bret had found out very little about Marianne. They knew that something had happened to her girlfriend, but that was as far as it went. Like them, she also spilled out her heart, but in Norwegian. Kyle and Bret didn't have the heart to tell her this and just left her to tell her story.

After Marianne had finished, there wasn't much the lads could do to console her, so they moved to the other side of the room and like her, found a corner each and sat hunched up, deep in their own thoughts.

They were woken by a noise coming from outside. Marianne leapt to her feet and signalled for the others to stay quiet. She quickly peaked through the thin slats and saw in the distance a small rowing boat. It was too far away to clearly see what the people looked like, but she could hear them shouting, but they were too far away to understand. Bret and Kyle were both excited, but at the same time apprehensive about the two strangers.

'What should we do?' asked Kyle.

'Let's go over to them,' suggested Bret.

'No way. We met some stranger before and trusted him but he was a complete liar and led us to a trap,' shouted Marianne.

'What happened?'

'I'm not going to repeat myself again,' she snapped back.

'What are you talking about?' questioned Kyle.

'Please do not play with me Kyle. I told you this earlier after the smoke.'

'Let's get this clear from the start. One, Bret and me are not playing with you.'

At the mention of the word play, Bret couldn't but display a wry smile.

'What are you smiling at?' she shouted out.

'Just something I've thought of,' he replied.

Kyle had already guessed what might've amused him, but left Bret to fight this battle on his own and watched with hidden bemusement.

'Remove that stupid smirk and tell me,' she yelled.

'Listen you two, keep the noise down else those people will know that we're here, like it or not.'

They both looked at Kyle and gave a gentle nod of their heads.

Bret had wiped the smile away and put on his stony faced expression.

'The reason that I was smiling dear, was that since you displayed your ample breasts to me, I just can't get them out of my mind. Plus the mention of not playing with you caused all these weird thoughts to go whizzing around inside my head, causing the smirk. I do sincerely apologise.'

'You are a sick person,' she replied.

'I'm not, just honest. Where did you say you were from in Norway again?'

'She hasn't told us,' interrupted Kyle.

'What does it matter where I am from.'

'I'm just curious.'

'I am from the South, a little town called Yunton. Why?' she asked.

'Have you got any northern in you?' asked Bret.

'No, I have not.'

'Do you want some?' laughed Bret.

Kyle couldn't help but laugh, but could see from Marianne's expression that she didn't understand. Bret knew that he'd taken it far enough and went over to her, took her hand and gently kissed it.

'I'm sorry. I was only joking, you know, yanking your chain,' explained Bret.

'What?' she replied, even more confused.

'Taking the micky. Winding you up.'

'She won't understand Bret. What he's trying to say is that he was just having a laugh and meant no harm by it,' explained Kyle, as best he could.

'When I have better English, I will learn these and get you back, you son of a bitch,' she casually replied.

This caused both of the lads to crack up laughing.

'What have I said now?' asked Marianne.

'Son of a bitch. It's like, winding you up and taking the micky and so on and so on,' said Bret.

'What are these called?'

'What do you mean?' asked Bret.

'Well, you know; nouns, verbs, adjectives. What are these ones, so I can learn them?'

'Idioms, that's what they are,' replied a confident Kyle.

'An ex-girlfriend used to be an English teacher and we sort of learnt grammar together. We made a game out of it, which made it a lot more fun, if you get my drift,' smiled Kyle.

'That was another, what was it.... Idiom. 'Get my drift', which simply means, do you understand?' explained Bret.

'I think these will be difficult for me,' she responded.

'Getting back to what I was originally saying, if you could try and cast your minds back. One, we're not going to mess with you and.'

'You said play with last time,' interrupted Bret.

'And two, you probably did explain what happened to you earlier today, but it was after a smoke and you weren't speaking English, and we're both typically English, meaning lazy, and can't speak any other languages.'

'Speak for yourself. I can speak Spanish, French and a bit of Thai,' proudly announced Bret.

'Yeah, but not enough to understand an explanation and anyway, that's totally irrelevant. Neither of us can speak a word of Norwegian,' said Kyle.

'I am sorry, I did not realise. I will start again,' said Marianne.

'Can you explain to me what they would've done to me back there, if you hadn't helped me. Oh, yeah, this time, can you tell us in English?' joked Bret.

Marianne saw the funny side, laughed back and then began to explain. 'It's very simple. They would have killed you.'

'Why?' asked Bret.

'It is some sort of voodoo ritual that happens on the night of a full moon. The girl, who had her throat slit, would have been a virgin and when you wiped the virginal blood on the crosses, this was the signal to the un-dead, who would then raise from the ground below and take the body below.'

'So the men that were dancing around the graves would've been sacrificed anyway, irrelevant of you killing them,' questioned Kyle.

'Yes, that is correct.'

'So what was in store for Bret, because every grave had somebody on it?'

'That is true Kyle, but the virgin was already dead, so Bret would have taken her place.'

Bret was sat there listening avidly, but not totally comprehending the fact that they were talking about him.

'This is an honour to the men, who die this way and a big honour for the woman,' she added.

'So what was the leader's role in all of this, the one that I clearly speared in the throat?'

'He would have carried on with the ritual and watched as they disappeared below, one by one,' she continued explaining.

'And that would've included me?' questioned Bret.

'Yes, the two guards would have come back and taken the woman away and you would have been forced to that cross.'

'Thanks again and I really mean that,' said Bret.

'What would've happened to the girl?' asked Kyle.

'She would have been boiled up and eaten,' Marianne calmly replied.'

'How do you know all this?' bravely asked Bret, not really wanting to know the answer.

Marianne went silent.

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry.'

'No, it is okay Bret. You have both told me about your losses, so you should both know about mine.'

'Can we hear about it later, because those two people have gone out of view and I personally think that we should keep an eye on them,' strongly recommended Kyle.

The other two looked out, but couldn't see anyone, so Marianne decided to go out and have a scout around.

'I'll come with you,' said Kyle.

'No, you stay here; this is what I am trained to do.'

'Are you sure?' asked Kyle.

'Positive! Wait here and I will be back soon.'

They both watched, as she climbed out and disappeared behind the rocks.

'I hope she'll be okay,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, I quite like her and I'm curious if she's seen anybody else on this island and to find out what her story is.'

'Me too, but we'll just have to wait for her to tell us.'

'Yeah, I know,' agreed Bret.

They sat still for a while, but couldn't sit for long doing nothing.

'Are you coming?' asked Bret.

'She said to stay here.'

'Yeah, I know, but I owe her a lot and I'm not going to sit here like a spare part. Are you coming, or not?'

'Yeah, okay.'

Chapter 20

**M** arianne looked over at Kyle.

'Can you see her yet?'

'No Kyle. I can't see anything, except rocks, sand, sea and lots of grass.'

'Same as me.'

'I told you two to stay where you were,' shouted Marianne.

'Where did you come from?' asked Bret.

'Over there. I looked all the way down there.'

'Did you see anybody?'

'Yeah, I did, but they were a long way away.'

'What did they look like?' asked Kyle.

'I only saw one of them and it looked like a woman with long yellow hair.'

'You mean blond,' corrected Bret.

'It was more yellow to me,' she replied.

'Where did they go?'

'They walked over to the mountain and vanished. I mean they disappeared. I lost them,' she admitted.

Bret thought that this was what she said she had been trained to do, so couldn't accept that they'd just disappeared. He quite wisely decided to keep quiet.

There was no point staying out in the open, so headed back to their hidden shelter. When they got back Marianne started to tell them the much-anticipated story.

'Here goes,' she said. 'Me and three friends came to the island for a short holiday. We had all met in the army and came out here for a sort of survival holiday. We packed tents and some basic cooking stuff, but our main aim was to survive for three days. We had rented a boat and a local man to bring us here and then he would return in four days to pick us up.'

'Did you pay him?' asked Kyle.

'No, he wanted us to, but we said that we would pay him when we were back at the town. That way, we thought that he would definitely come back and get us. Anyway, we were dropped off over on the other side of the mountain.'

'What, over there?' shouted Kyle, as he pointed.

'Yes, why?'

'No, nothing. Sorry, carry on,' he replied, now listening even more avidly.

'Yes, we were dropped off over the other side and as we got closer it looked absolutely beautiful. How wrong we were. The first morning was what we could only have dreamed of white sandy beaches, different types of fruit just there, waiting to be picked, crystal clear water and not a single cloud in sight. We had packed quite sensibly and did remember the important sun cream. The first day was spent sunbathing, swimming, reading books and occasionally pinching ourselves, just so that we remembered where we were. As the first day came to an end, we put up the two tents, lit a fire and Tess went fishing off of a nearby rock and caught some amazingly coloured fish. We had all packed a bottle of cheap vodka and that night sat by the fire telling ghost stories and getting very drunk. The alcohol was meant to last the full trip, but we did not have a lot of room in our bags to carry any mixers, so the neat vodka was drunk very quickly.'

'You must've been smashed, erh drunk,' said Bret.

'Yeah, we were. So one by one we all disappeared off to our tents. As you would have expected we all passed out quickly. The next day was a lot of vomiting all day long, spending the other time lying in the sea, trying desperately to recover. So that night was a very early one, going to bed just after we had picked off small amounts of the fish. Our stomachs feeling too weak to eat much more food. The next day we woke up to a massive crash outside, followed by the beating down of rain.'

'When was this?' asked Kyle.

'On our second night, hang on; let me think...four nights ago. Yes, that is right. I have been here for just over a week, because today is Thursday.'

'I can't remember a bad storm four nights ago. There was on the night before we met you,' said Kyle.

'No, not that, another.'

'This was probably the time we met up, eh Bret?'

'Yeah, it must be and there wasn't a storm near us,' replied Bret.

'It must have been because we were on the other side of the mountain,' said Marianne.

'Oh yeah! I forgot about that,' replied Kyle.

'What happened next?' asked an impatient Bret.

'We stayed in our tents and I screamed over to the others next to us. By shouting to each other, we all agreed that it was safer to stay inside the tents and this would stop them blowing away.'

'That must've been scary,' said Bret.

'Yes, we were petrified. The tent was been instantly lit up with flashes of lightning, followed by the loud crash of thunder. But what was more frightening was that things around us were getting swept up with the high winds and smashing down next to us. Tess and me were holding each other, screaming in a complete state of panic. It was so horrible. We then heard a loud cracking noise, followed by a thud that was felt as it hit the floor. The screams that were coming from our friend's tent instantly stopped. We both started screaming with panic and I finally got the courage to unzip the front of our tent. What I saw outside was complete devastation. The picturesque palm trees, that we had previously seen gently swaying in the light breeze, were getting forced over almost horizontally by the monsoon winds and rain, which was driving into them. Some trees had been uprooted and the tranquil sea was now a place that you simply would not dare go near. I forced myself out of the tent and saw my friend's tent.'

Marianne stopped there, as she began to sob.

'You don't have to carry on with this, you know?' said Bret.

'No, I am okay. Just give me a minute,' she replied.

'Have an hour, if you want? No problem.'

'No, seriously Bret, I would rather tell you now, but thanks. My friends tent had been completely flattened by a fallen tree. I quickly shouted Tess to help, but it was too late. We could not move the tree and we had to eventually give up.'

'What had happened to your friends?' asked Kyle, sympathetically.

'We felt through the tent material and quickly realised that the tree was laid over their chests and they were both dead.'

'I am so sorry,' said Bret.

'We did not think that things could get worse, but then our own tent was uprooted and one of the hooks must have hit Tess, because she was left with a long open wound along the top of her arm and shoulder. She was screaming out in pain, blood gushing out, while our tent was getting swept away, out of sight.'

'What did you do then?' asked Bret.

'We managed to find some shelter between some rocks. We stayed there until the storm calmed down. I suppose that was about four hours. We were safe from flying debris or falling trees, but we were continually watching the waves from the sea. We had to deal with the constant force of the wild sea smashing into us and getting the continual spray of the salty water. This was a constant reminder of the cut that Tess had received earlier, as the salt water made it sting. After it had calmed down, we went back to the tent. As I have already told you, this time in English, our tent was swept away, so the only tent remaining was the one under the tree. We cut our way in to it using a small penknife that Tess used to carry on her. We first found the two backpacks, so pulled them out and then carefully cut away small areas of the tent material until we got to where the tree stump was. We took it in turns and carefully sliced away, knowing that our friends were very close to where we were cutting. We spent ages and were totally confused. The bodies were not there. All we found was some blood and no bodies. We thought we had both had a bad dream,' shouted Marianne.

'That's just the same as my friend's. The bodies literally disappeared,' shouted Kyle.

'Same with Jake,' agreed Bret.

'Well, after this, it was impossible to think straight, but we quickly realised that we had to, else we would not get out of here alive and Tess did not make it,' as she choked up and started crying again.

'Alright, let's have a break. I'd make you a cup of tea or pour you a large brandy if I had any. Honest I would,' said Bret.

'First impressions are not always right, are they?' said Marianne.

'What do you mean?' quizzed Bret.

'Because you are kind and sweet,' she replied.

'And what did you first think?'

'That you were a stupid idiot,' joked Marianne.

'I still am. I'm just also kind and sweet,' he replied laughing.

'Don't feel like you have to carry on,' said Kyle.

'No, honestly, I am alright. I would rather tell you and then we are up to date and you both know everything. So, the next thing we did was open up their rucksacks to see if any of them had a medical kit. It was once we had opened them, when we remembered that before the trip, we had all agreed to carry certain things, so that we did not have four medical kits and no cooking stuff. We all agreed that our friends would carry the tents, sleep sheets and mosquito nets. I carried the cooking stove, pots and pans and Tess was to carry the large medical kit and the important music system. I wished we had all packed a small kit, as we now had two bags which were not a lot of use to us.'

'At least you had the mosquito nets. I've been bitten so much since I got here,' shouted Bret, showing her some of the bites.

'So, we went in search of our tent and also our bags, so that we dress Tees's wound. We searched everywhere, along by the beach, near the rocks and in amongst the trees, but we found nothing. Both of us spent the whole day searching and then headed over to where the boatman was going to meet us, to take us back to the mainland. Again, we sat there and waited, but he never showed.'

'The man probably drowned in the storm,' said Kyle.

'Yes, that is what we thought at first,' she replied.

'How long did the boat take to get you here?' asked Bret.

'Probably about four hours, so he would have been on his way here when the storm started, unless he knew it was coming. But then the next day we were walking along the beach and saw a boat that had been washed up on the beach.'

'That might not have been your man's boat. We lost our boat when we arrived,' said Kyle.

'But you were around the other side of the island, so how could it be your boat?' she asked.

'Yeah, we were, but it could've drifted around. Where is it now? We can go and look at it to see if it will still be alright to leave the island in.'

'It was not your boat and it was badly damaged,' snapped Marianne.

'You can't be sure of that and we might be able to fix it up.'

'If you listen to me I will explain to you why I am definitely sure that this boat was not the one you came in,' she replied.

Bret and Kyle were even more transfixed to what she was telling them, so kept quiet, sat on their heels and waited for her to continue.

'We had both had enough of that side of the mountain and came to the decision to go to the other side, this side. We walked for hours, but did not seem to ever get closer to the mountain. We had been walking across an open area and the mountain would be clearly visible, straight-ahead. It was when we had to direct our way through the forest when things just did not make any sense.'

'What do you mean?' asked Bret.

'Well, we would carry on walking in a straight line, but when we got out the other side of the forest, the mountain was not there,' she explained.

'You mean it disappeared,' shouted Kyle.

'Well, yes, but not exactly.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'One minute the mountain is in front of us and then it is to the side, but we walked in a completely straight line.'

'You must've lost your way in amongst the trees and turned the wrong way.'

'Exactly what we thought Kyle, so we did the same again. We looked where the mountain was and again headed straight for it, but when we came out from the woodland, it was again in a completely different direction. We did this a few more times and in the end we were convinced that Tess and me were walking around in circles.'

'How did you know that?' asked Bret.

'We kept on seeing the same shaped trees and rocks. I am pretty observant and some rocks were in the shape of animals, such as one, which looked like a camel, complete with a hump. Tess saw a tree in the shape of a face, with some ears and a nose. As we kept on walking, we would keep seeing these and knew that we had been here before.'

'That's weird,' said Bret.

'We were the same. One minute this mountain wasn't there and the next time it just appeared from nowhere. So back to the original story, how did you get here?' questioned Kyle.

'This carried on for the following day, until we gave up on that idea and went back to the beach. We walked along the sand and swam out a while; just to try and take our minds off what had happened. As we were messing around, you know, throwing sand at each other, which is a stupid thing to do as it hurts when it goes in your eyes and chasing each other in to the sea, I picked up a flat circular stone and threw it in the sea to see how many times I could get it to skim. You must have done this before.'

'Oh yeah, how many times did it skim?' asked Bret.

'Only three.'

'That's rubbish,' replied Bret.

'Hang on! I have not finished. It was only three because it seemed to keep hitting a wall and falling into the sea.' she explained.

'Seemed to?'

'Alright, the stone hit a wall and fell down in to the sea, so I did it again and again. Every time it did the same, so then I got Tess to do the same and she got hold of a stone and threw it as high as she could in the air and it did exactly the same. It sounded like it was hitting a plastic wall or something similar.'

'But you could still see through to the other side?' asked Kyle.

'Yes, it is like it was trans.'

'Transparent!'

'That is it. Kyle. It was definitely transparent,' she replied.

'This place is getting weirder by the minute,' said Bret.

'Tess suddenly got it in her head to swim out to sea to where the wall was. She got to it, ducked under, but it was even underwater. I even went in and joined her and we were both completely confused and scared. We swam back to the land by following the route of the wall. This was how we finally got to the mountain. The clear wall took us to the base of it, so we followed it along the route and it took us up the mountain.'

'So you're telling us that all this time you could see the side of the mountain, but couldn't get any higher because of a clear wall,' confirmed Kyle.

'Not exactly, because we did get higher. That was the way the wall went.'

'Yeah, I understand. Well, actually I don't understand any of this, but I understand what you're telling us. I think,' said Kyle.

'We carried on following the wall, when we needed a rest, we sat down and lent against the wall. Very strange, I know. The walking was very difficult and exhausting, so we had to rest a lot. It was one of those times, when we sat down and rested with our backs against the wall, when Tess fell backwards into a tunnel. I saw this happen and instantly followed her, not knowing what was going to happen.'

'You mean you'd found a way through the wall,' shouted Bret.

'We did not know this at the time, but yes, we had,' she answered.

'So where were you now?' asked Kyle.

'We were inside a dark tunnel within the mountain, so we crawled along for about five hundred metres and we came to a large fresh pool of water. This was nice because we could have a much-needed drink plus bathe Tess's arm. We stayed there for a while and then carried on along the tunnel. It eventually came to an end, right here.'

'What, you mean right here?' said Bret.

'It is below us. The tunnel came to an end and above our heads were these wooden boards. We smashed the boards up and climbed up into here. We then laid them back down. They are still loose, so they can be moved again,' she said, as she pointed to the floor.

'So this is the way to the other side of the mountain. Finally we've found it,' shouted Kyle.

'I know you guys are desperate to go to the other side. I'm not totally convinced about this, but I think this side is as bad, so I might as well stick together with you guys, if that is okay?'

'Don't be so stupid, of course it is. Anyway, after that what did you do?' asked Bret.

'After that, we went over to where I first met you.'

'So what actually happened to your friend Tess?' asked Bret.

'Bret, let her tell us when she's ready,' said Kyle.

'No, it is okay. I would like to tell you the full story, like I said earlier. After we had found this place we stayed here and rested and then made our way over to where we had first seen you.'

'But your friend wasn't with you,' said Bret.

'No, she already had been taken away by them. We were there a few nights ago and it started to rain, so we stayed in the forest and tried to keep ourselves dry.'

'That must've been the same night that we stayed in the forest, when we were collecting rainwater. Do you remember Kyle?'

'How could I ever forget that night, running around the forest like a possessed lunatic,' he replied.

'Well, that night was a full moon,' interrupted Marianne.

'How can that be? We only had one the other night,' said Kyle.

'I know, but it was a full moon that night as well and what nearly happened to you Bret, did happen to Tess. I managed to escape, but Tess did not escape.'

'I'm really sorry.'

'So what I did then was run back here and I made a promise to myself to get those animals and kill everyone of them for what they did to my girlfriend.'

'And that's when you made the catapult?' asked Bret.

'Yes, that was it.'

'I'm sorry to ask this, but did you see your girlfriend actually get killed?' asked Kyle.

'No, I did not but I saw them catch her.'

'Do you think they sacrificed her? It's just that I noticed that when you were showing us your boobs, you were wearing some identity tags.'

'What, these dog-tags,' she replied, as she pulled them out of her t shirt. 'All people wear these, if you are in the army. Actually not all, but most. Why?'

'Because just before we found you Bret, we saw a skeleton down by the volcano,' announced Kyle.

'It can't be Tess, Kyle. That must've happened before you found me and what Marianne's told us is that Tess possibly died within the last couple of days. The timing just doesn't add up,' explained Bret.

'What are you two talking about?' asked Marianne.

'This, I found these around the bodies neck,' said Kyle.

He took the charred dog tags out of his pocket and passed them over to Marianne.

'Where did you find these?' yelled Marianne.

'I've already told you, over in the volcano. Do you know who they belong to?'

'Of course I do.'

'Are they Tess's?' asked Kyle.

'No, they are not. But I know whose they are.'

'One of your friends, who was killed in the storm.'

'No!' she replied, seemingly in shock.

'What, you know someone else on the island?' asked Kyle.

'Sorry.'

'I said is there someone else on the island who you know?' repeated Kyle.

'No, I only came with my three friends. I just do not understand how this can be. You see, these tags belonged to a very good friend of mine.'

'You're using the past tense, why?' asked Kyle.

'Because she died last year when a training exercise went wrong and she was killed by an unexploded bomb.'

'What, this is all getting far too heavy for me,' said Bret.

'So how did they get to be here?' questioned Kyle.

'I do not know. I really do not know,' she replied.

Chapter 21

**T** he conversation filtered down into total disbelief and confusion. Nobody knew the answers and certainly weren't going to try and guess. In the end the conversation took a sudden turn and they started talking about going to the other side. It was eventually a unanimous decision, after a long conversation between Marianne and the lads. She wanted to find out about the two strangers, who had arrived on the boat earlier, but Bret and Kyle were adamant about leaving this side of the island. It was agreed that they would leave the following morning.

They were all awake, as dawn approached and Kyle and Bret pulled up the two loose planks and they all climbed down in to the tunnel. Kyle was the last down and dragged the planks back into position, so to cover their tracks.

Marianne led the way and it wasn't long before they were all relaxing in the cold pool, drinking fresh water. Eventually they managed to drag themselves away, which was especially difficult for Bret, as he was in heaven bathing his feet in the icy water. He couldn't remember the last time he was totally without a continuous pain coming from the sores.

After leaving the pool, the tunnel took them through the core of the mountain and out to the other side. They stood on a wide ledge, high above the sea. The picture they saw was one of a winding coastline of white sand with the central part of the island a mass of lush palm trees.

'It doesn't look much like the aftermath of a monsoon from up here. It looks completely idyllic,' said Bret.

'Yeah, you're right. It looks beautiful.'

'Do you two believe what I told you, or not? I told you that it was beautiful when we first arrived, but I am certainly not lying about my two friends who were killed down there somewhere,' she snapped.

'We weren't saying that we didn't believe you, were we Bret?'

'No, of course not.'

'It just looks so, well so untouched by anything.'

Marianne didn't respond and went off down the path, presumably the one leading down to the sea. The others followed, in total awe of the stunning scenery.

As they got closer to the sea, Marianne diverted them away from the path and chose a slightly more difficult descent, between the rocks. Bret was happy, as the walk was coming to an end, plus he'd spotted at the bottom the amber nectar, in the form of a small river. The perfect place to rest and drink.

The river was soon upon them and Bret was the first in, shortly followed by Kyle.

'Are you coming in, or not?' asked Kyle.

'No, not just yet,' she replied.

'Are you alright?' asked Bret.

'No, not really. Everything is different.'

'In what way?'

'Lots of ways. I have been walking around here before and nothing is the same. This river was not here before, the trees were practically all destroyed and I do not know, maybe I am going crazy, but it is just so different.'

'So what should we do next?' asked Bret.

'Can we go and find the place where we camped?'

'Yeah, sure, do you know the way?' questioned Bret.

'I think so; it is over in that direction.'

Marianne didn't sound that confident, but the lads had no idea which way to go, so they thought that some idea was better than no idea.

She led them down to the ground level, which consisted of moss-covered stones and small pieces of coconut husks. As they strode along, the moss felt like an expensive hotel carpet on the soles of their feet.

The route took them up and over slight hills, over small streams and around large pools of water. As they were walking along Bret and Kyle couldn't help but think that they were in paradise, as they picked the fresh fruit off of the trees and bushes.

'Can you catch us some tiger prawns? They would go great with the avocados,' asked Kyle.

'I'll see what I can do.'

Marianne was quite a head of them so didn't add anything to their conversation.

'I think we're getting close to the sea now.'

'Why's that Bret? Can you smell our breakfast?' asked Kyle.

'Maybe, but the other way I know is that the sand is pushing between my toes, which hurts, but at the same time is nice.'

They climbed up one final slope and there was the sea, directly ahead.

'Paradise. Now I know how that guy in _The Beach_ felt,' said Kyle.

'This is gorgeous,' agreed Bret.

Marianne was still quite a bit ahead of them and didn't seem to be stopping.

'Marianne, wait up. We're going for a dip,' shouted Bret.

He pulled off his t shirt and kicked off his shorts and went running off in to the sea, stark naked.

'What are you doing?

'Marianne's not in to men, you're not in to men, so what's wrong with a bit of skinny dipping,' shouted Bret, as he ran along the sand.

'You're right. You're so right!'

Kyle followed him in, also cloth less and sprinted in to the oncoming waves. When Marianne heard all the commotion, she headed over to the sea, where the lads were.

'Come on in. This is beautiful,' shouted Bret.

'I know it is. Remember, I have been here before,' she replied.

'Yeah, I know you have, so get in and experience it again, now!'

'Okay Bret, give me a second,' she replied.

She sat on the sand and took off her sandals and then ran in and joined them.

As she was splashing around Bret couldn't help but notice how clingy Marianne's t shirt had got around her chest. It was so revealing that Bret announced that he was going to go for a swim to cool himself down a bit.

'I will come with you,' shouted Marianne.

'Oh no, not the best time to be skinny dipping, when you've got the horn for the lesbian woman swimming towards you,' he thought.

Bret carried on swimming away, but she was much quicker and easily caught up with him. He was anxiously looking the other way, trying to think of anything but Marianne. After he'd thought of his own dictionary of disgusting things, which included his naked grandmother, the fat girl who worked in the local off license and his mother's Sunday dinner, his embarassment had not receded a millimetre.

'What is wrong? You seem tense,' said Marianne.

'I'm fine, just enjoying the swim,' he replied calmly.

'So when are you going to catch some prawns?'

'Pardon?'

'I overheard you and Kyle talking earlier and you said about getting some prawns to go with the avocados.'

'Oh yeah, right. I'll try and catch some later,' he replied.

'Well, if you find our tent there is a fishing rod in there.'

'Oh, that'll be good.'

'Are there many fish in here?' questioned Marianne.

Before Bret had time to answer, she ducked down beneath him, in search of the fish.

'Sorry I did not realise you were not wearing anything. You could have said something,' she spurted out.

'I thought you'd have seen us running in.'

'What, Kyle is not wearing anything either?'

'No, afraid not.'

'Is this something you do regularly?'

'You mean skinny dipping.'

'Skinny dipping, is that what you call it?'

'Not often, but we knew that you're not interested in men, so we didn't think you'd mind and none of us are bothered,' explained Bret, very coolly.

'Oh right,' she replied and then swam away.

'So explain to me one thing, oh and by the way nice bottom.'

'Sorry?' he replied, not thinking he'd heard right.

'You heard and just because I like women does not mean that I cannot occasionally have a look at what I might be missing out on.'

By this time Bret was feeling very embarrassed and he could feel the heat being generated by his face.

'So will you explain it to me?'

'What do you want to know?' he asked.

'Do I excite you?'

'No,' he yelled out.

'So why have you still got an erection?' she joked.

There was no point trying to disguise it, so he just hunched his shoulders and swam away.

'One, one,' she shouted.

'One, one. What do you mean by that?'

'Remember when we first met and you were oh, what did you say? I remember, winding me up. An idiom or something,' she said.

'I still don't understand,' he replied.

'That was payback. Now we are even,' she laughed.

'Oh very good. You were teasing me,' he laughed.

'Yes and I cannot wait to see you get out.'

'Ha ha very funny.'

She swam away and was soon laid on the beach.

'What was all that about?' asked Kyle, as he'd now swam over to join an angry looking Bret.

'Nothing much, just a game we were playing.'

'Who won?'

'It's one, one at the moment, so there's still all to play for,' replied Bret.

Bret waited until Marianne was laying face down in the sand, until he left the sea and ran up the beach to retrieve his shorts.

They went over and joined Marianne. As she lifted up her face it was covered in sand, which caused them all to laugh. Bret offered her his t shirt to rest her face on, but she refused it and with that promptly pulled off her own, placed it on the sand and calmly laid back down.

'That is better,' she said.

Bret and Kyle looked at each other in amazement.

'I think you will need your own t shirt Bret to put over your shorts,' she said.

'What's she on about Bret?'

'Nothing mate. Game over Marianne, you win,' he replied while giggling.

'Thank you.'

'Now you can put your t shirt back on.'

'Thanks Bret, but right after I have been in the sea and washed all this sand off.'

She got up, leaving her t shirt in the sand, turned in the direction of the sea, took off her remaining clothes and ran completely starkers in to the sea.

'If men can skinny dip, then so can women,' she shouted from amongst the crashing waves.

'Wow, she's sexy.'

'She certainly is Bret.'

When she came out of the sea, both the lads stayed face down, looking completely the opposite way.

'Are you laying that way in order to hide something Bret?' asked Marianne, as she got dressed.

'I've already told you that you've won, so please give it a rest,' snapped Bret.

'I've got it!' shouted Kyle, bursting out in to laughter.

'What are you talking about? You've got it.'

'Forget it. It doesn't matter, boner boy,' replied Kyle.

'What did you just call me?'

'Nothing, rigid man.'

While this was going on, Marianne was desperately trying to keep a straight face, plus ignore the filthy looks coming from Bret's direction. She knew she had to stop it from getting too out of hand.

'Come on. Enough is enough. Let's go and try and find my bag and the tent.'

She got up and ushered both of them to follow and they headed off in to the area of palm trees. Everything was, as you'd expect to find on an island of paradise. There were no signs of the monsoon, no fallen trees, the coconuts and other fruit was still hanging loosely on the trees and bushes, waiting to be picked.

Marianne was walking around like she was lost. Nothing was making any sense and from her expression you could see that she was very agitated about the situation.

'So where were you camping?' asked Bret.

'Just wait, will you? I'll find it,' she snapped back.

'Okay, don't jump down my throat. I've never met anybody who has such dramatic mood swings. One minute you're laughing and happily taking the micky out of me and then the next minute you're this nasty person.'

'I know I am and I am sorry, but we are here. This is where we were camping, but it is as if we were never here or any of this ever happened. What is happening here?'

Bret and Kyle kept quiet, as they didn't know what to do or say without sounding patronising.

'Why don't we widen the search, because it might've blown away in the storm,' suggested Kyle.

'How could it have blown away? It was trapped underneath a huge tree, the same tree that is now totally upright again,' yelled Marianne.

'It was just a suggestion. I'm going to have a look anyway. Are you coming Bret?'

Bret agreed, not really understanding why he did but went off with Kyle, leaving Marianne looking around the area.

'Guys, wait there and I will come with you. If we split up we might not find each other again. Safety in numbers eh.'

They searched around, but it all looked totally untouched. No broken trees and no sign of any tents or bags. They stopped by the side of one of the numerous rivers and had a rest.

'I think we need to wind our bodies down a bit,' announced Bret.

'Oh no, you've still got one of those funny fags left, haven't you?' said Kyle.

'Yep, but this is the last one, so let's enjoy it and try to forget all this that's been happening. Do you agree?'

'Good idea Bret. What about you, Marianne?'

'Why not?'

He took the cigarette out of his pocket along with the Zippo, bit the end off and lit it. After two deep drags he blew out the smoke and passed it to Marianne, who did the same.

'This is strong stuff,' as Marianne was already feeling the effects.

Within minutes they were all laid on their backs, staring up at the palm trees.

'We shouldn't be lying under these palm trees. It's dangerous,' said Kyle.

'You mean because of the falling coconuts,' answered Bret.

'Yes. Imagine if one of those fell and hit you. It could kill you.'

'You're right Marianne. I'm moving,' said Bret.

'Where are you going to move to? Where ever you sit you're going to be under a palm tree. This is the problem with paradise,' said Kyle.

'Did you know that falling coconuts are the number one killer in some country in the West Indies.'

'Which country is that Bret, so that I can cross it off of my list of countries to visit?' asked Marianne.

'I don't know, but at this moment in time, who cares? Anyway, enough of this, who's hungry?'

'I am starving! Are you going to catch some prawns?'

'Not here, but I'll catch some later for you, when we're back in the sea,' answered Bret.

'Oh yes, I am stupid! Prawns do not live in fresh water, do they?' she asked.

'No, I don't think so. We'll have to make do with fresh water river fish.'

'I am sorry to question you, but how are you going to catch these fish?'

'That's easy. I'm going to stand in the water and then grab one and pull it out. Just like Jean-Claude Van Damme in _Bloodsport_.'

'Yeah, that sounds great Bret, but there's one big difference.'

'What's that? Oh yeah, let me guess. He's got an amazing six-pack.'

'Well, that as well, but no the big difference is that he wasn't completely stoned when he did it,' Kyle pointed out.

'You don't reckon. He was a right drug head,' replied Bret.

'Go on, give it a go, but if you are going to go into the water can you keep your shorts on this time? I don't want to lose control of myself.'

'Enough already Marianne,' smiled Bret.

Bret had only been in the water for five minutes.

'I told you I could do it,' shouted Bret, holding a flapping fish in his hand.

'My hero!' she yelled out.

'Come on then, let's get a fire going. We could use the coconut husks and the lighter's over there,' instructed Bret.

Bret was as proud as punch, as he sat there slowly turning the fish in the flames. It wasn't long before the fish had been broken up and they were all devouring the food.

'So where did you learn to do that?' asked Marianne.

'I've seen _Bloodsport_ ten times.'

'No, seriously Bret, because you cannot learn that from a movie.'

'I learnt it here Marianne. That was the first time I've ever tried it,' answered Bret.

'Really'

'Seriously, that was the first time.'

'He's probably telling you the truth. He caught some fish when Gus was with us, by dragging a hook behind him. He hadn't done that before either. It's like it's his special talent. Eh, hang on a minute, that's it!' screamed out Kyle.

'What are you talking about?' asked Marianne.

'Listen to me. Okay, your special talent is fishing, something you couldn't do before right?'

'Yeah, that's true,' answered Bret.

'Your special talent Marianne is maybe using that catapult. Have you ever used one before?'

'No, but I have used guns.'

'Yeah, but surely that's different,' Kyle pointed out.

'I suppose so. What is your talent then?'

'I can build things out of anything. My friend Gus could set traps and he was an amazingly strong swimmer.'

'Yeah, that's true,' agreed Bret.

'Yeah, he helped us, didn't he Bret? Then there was Chas, who suddenly developed amazing eyesight. This guy back in England was as blind as a bat. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?'

'I think so,' answered Marianne.

'Me too. You're saying that we all have some special talent, something that we are good at, but never realised before,' clarified Bret.

'Yeah, exactly. I can build things. I don't really know how, but I know I can. As for you Bret, fishing is yours. As long as we're near water we'll always be able to eat fish and Marianne, if we get in to any more trouble, then you can wipe out a few people with that catapult. What I'm actually trying to say is that if we're aware of our talents, then maybe we might actually get off this place alive,' explained a very excited Kyle.

'So with your special talent Bret, can you get us another fish? It was gorgeous.'

'Yeah, sure thing.'

Chapter 22

' **I** still do not totally understand,' said Marianne, while gnawing the last bits of fish away from the bone.

'Look! I'll explain again. We all have some sort of gift, maybe it's something we've always had or it's something we've inherited since being here,' explained Kyle.

'Could you make things before you came here?'

'No, I couldn't, but then I've never had to do anything like this before, so I don't really know.'

'What about you Marianne?'

'I am the same. Maybe I could do it before, but the difference seems to be that here I feel totally confident. When I am taking aim I know I will hit exactly what I plan to hit.'

'This is scary, but also good,' said Bret.

'What do you mean?' quizzed Kyle.

'Well, it's like you said. If we are all aware of our skills, then maybe we can actually get off here alive. Even though, I wish I'd been given a different talent. It's not very manly or helpful catching fish, is it?'

'As for manly, it looked pretty manly to me earlier,' responded Marianne, while winking.

'Yeah, and we'd all be tired out if we didn't have the fish to give us our energy. So that's rubbish. We're all as important as each other. But just remember one thing.'

'What's that Kyle?'

'That I'm the Ronaldo of the group. In other words we're all required, but I'm required just a little bit more,' joked Kyle.

'Don't worry mate, you can be him. If you'd told me that I was him, then I wouldn't be having these lured thoughts at this moment in time.'

'Give up Bret,' said Marianne.

'Why? Am I embarrassing you?'

'No', she replied, as she started to blush.

'Are you challenging me to a new game?' asked Bret.

'Can you two stop flirting with each other and get it on, for heaven sake,' interrupted Kyle.

'What does get it on mean?' asked Marianne.

'Have sex! Screw! Make love! You know?' shouted out Kyle.

'But she's not in to men Kyle.'

'I never said that I wasn't in to men, did I? It is just that I prefer women and a woman knows what a woman wants. Do you understand what I am saying?'

'Yeah, we do, but you should understand that us men do know a little bit about how the woman's body works, plus sex while on drugs makes everything so hyper-sensitive, it's amazing,' said Bret.

With his final line spilled out, he sat there quietly in his own thoughts, until they were broken by Marianne taking hold of his hand.

'Come on, you only live once. Let us go and have some fun.'

Bret, completely gob-smacked, lifted himself to his feet and was led over to the beach.

'Enjoy yourselves you lucky pair,' shouted Kyle.

They returned to a sleeping Kyle and decided not to disturb him, so they settled down and were soon both fast asleep.

Bret was the first to wake up and went off to get the usual helping of fresh fish. He re-made the fire and woke up Marianne with a freshly cooked fillet. Kyle woke up shortly after, from the drifting aroma and turned over to see Marianne tucking into her breakfast. He rolled back over, thinking that he's now going to have to put up with the two new lovers frolicking over each other. His thoughts were soon interrupted, as he felt a gentle kick to his leg.

'Wake up sleepy head. Breakfast is served.'

He rolled over and was given a huge piece of fish, presently eloquently on a banana leaf.

'Thanks mate, but I thought this beautifully presented fish would be better given to your new love interest.'

'Do not be stupid,' Marianne butted in, before Bret had time to inhale.

'As you've gathered, we aren't an item and things are exactly the same as before,' explained Bret.

'He is right. Last night was good fun and it was very nice. I am not saying that it will not happen again, but we are definitely not a couple.'

'Good, because I was starting to fear the worst. You two walking off hand in hand, kissing and that would've been just too disgusting to be around, plus also a bit depressing,' Kyle pointed out.

'What does that mean?' asked Marianne.

'What I mean is that I'm just like anybody else and wouldn't particularly enjoy playing gooseberry, while you two are having all the fun.'

'I do not understand gooseberry, but I can pretty much work that out. So let us get this straight, what we did last night was good and my theory is that we do not know how long we are going to be here, so while we are here let us all have some fun. That includes you too Kyle.'

'Okay, I think I understand,' stuttered Kyle, believing that he'd just been told that Marianne wasn't just a woman's man but in fact a two man's woman.

'Good, I am glad that is clear,' she replied.

She then got up, took off her clothes and casually walked in to the sea.

'Come on guys, get yourselves in here,' she shouted.

Kyle looked over at Bret, smiled and they both ran towards the sea, discarding the rest of their clothes on route.

The complete morning was spent in the sea which involved a series of handstands, which had a strange look about them when you picture that they were all completely naked. The activity then changed to sand sculptures, in which Kyle spent a ridiculous amount of time designing a dolphin. While this was happening Bret had designed the side profile of a very large chinned male and Marianne did a very unusual naked lady. After they were all finished, Marianne awarded the first prize to Kyle.

After everybody had calmed down and eaten a multitude of fish and fruit, they decided to go for a short stroll. The plan was to follow the river and just do a little bit of exploring, but the walk weaved them through hundreds of beautiful palm trees, until it finally headed out to sea. They carried on walking along the beach and found a superb looking cove. This small turquoise cove was surrounded by a green rain forest. Kyle swam into the cove up closely, followed by Bret and Marianne.

'Let's climb up there. It looks pretty interesting. Are you all right to climb, Bret?'

'Yeah, no problem. Go for it.'

The climb up was quite steep and difficult, but it was made easier because of all the hanging vines, which could be used to help pull themselves up. Kyle stopped halfway up and turned to face the others behind him.

'Can you hear that?'

'Sounds like running water to me,' replied Marianne.

'Shall we head over there?'

'Why not, my feet are starting to hurt anyway, so it doesn't really matter which way we go,' said Bret.

Kyle listened to what Bret had to say and made his way in the direction of the noise. It was only a short walk until they were all met with a beautiful sight. Directly ahead of them was the most magnificent waterfall, which had crystal clear water cascading from high up the side of the forest, falling into an oval shaped lagoon. The scene was idyllic and made even more special when Bret suddenly realised that behind the waterfall was something that seemed to resemble a white sandy beach.

'We have to get down there. I think I've finally found the beach,' shouted Bret.

'Not The Beach?' replied Kyle.

'I think so.'

'What are you two talking about?' asked a baffled Marianne.

'Nothing really. It's just something we've both always wanted to find.'

'What Kyle, please tell me.'

'Sorry Marianne. You see, if you look down there behind the waterfall you'll see a beautiful white beach. This is something that Bret and me have had a thing about. We thought we'd found one before, but it wasn't the case. So this is why we're so desperate to get down there.'

'What is so special about it?'

'Look closely. What a romantic setting, don't you think?'

'I suppose so, but it is hardly going to be romantic with us three down there, is it?'

'No, but we can all sit there, relax and have our own private thoughts,' answered Bret.

Marianne thought about it for a short time and happily agreed with the lads.

Again Kyle led the way and directed them around the edge. It was quite a big drop down to the water, plus looking down from the top it seemed that the water wasn't very deep. It was probably a lot deeper than it looked, but because it was so clear you could see the bottom. This scared all of them so jumping in was quickly ruled out as an option.

As they walked around the edge, it came very apparent that it, in fact wasn't a lagoon, but an almost totally cut off cove. Over on the far side was a very small opening out to the sea.

'That's got to be our way in,' shouted Kyle, pointing over to the tiny gap.

'How are we going to get down there?' asked Bret.

'Easy. You see, we've come from over there, so if we head back to where we've come from.'

'And do what?' interrupted Bret.

'Let me finish. We should follow the coastline along and we'll find the entrance.'

'Are you sure?'

'We have to Bret. We came from over there and the entrance is there. All we have to do is carry on walking along the beach.'

'This waterfall must be important to both of you,' said Marianne.

'It is. For me personally, it's the place I've always wanted to find. It's the place of my dreams, so yeah, it is important,' replied Kyle.

Bret nodded in agreement.

'Where's your paradise?' asked Bret.

'I have never really thought about it. I will have to come back to you on that question, but first why don't we fulfil you two's first.'

With that, Kyle led them back along the path and down the steep hill to the cove below. As he sat on the edge of the water, waiting for the others, Kyle looked around and came to the conclusion that the cove they'd just seen was only around the corner from this one. All they had to do was to swim out around the next headland and into the cove.

He waited for the others to join him and told them his theory. Both of them agreed with him, thinking that it sounded very plausible and easy and agreed to give it a go.

Kyle broke off two lengths of vine and handed one to Bret.

'I know I'm not as strong a swimmer as Gus was, but you'll have to make do I'm afraid.'

'Don't be stupid Kyle. We can both help as well,' Bret replied.

Kyle tied one end to his ankle and told Marianne to tie the other end to her wrist. Bret did the same and it wasn't long before they were swimming across the cove, heading out towards the sea. The going seemed relatively easy, as Marianne looked to be a strong swimmer and Bret was desperately using his arms to help and occasionally his legs.

They'd already swum past the first part of the headland and had made pretty good progress. This was helped by the tide, which must've been going out, making the swimming easier. It was when they got around the corner, to the part of the huge rock, which was parallel to the beach, when they started to have some difficulties. The water was very choppy and it was trying to drag them out to sea. Kyle was having to be very careful and was desperately clinging onto an overhanging rock. The tension on the lengths of vine was now very taut and he was beginning to worry about it coming undone.

Every so often, as the swirl in the sea subsided, Kyle flung his hand along the rock to find another suitable place for securing his, already red raw grip.

Progress was slow but they eventually made it around the bend to seemingly calmer waters. Kyle had already spotted the opening and shouted to the others to just dig in one more time and they'd be there.

All three of them gave a final conservative push and made it through the eight metre wide gap into a surprisingly warmer, calm cove. Kyle led them to the edge, where it was shallow enough to stand and he untied the vines.

His hands had been ripped apart by the rough rocks and there were deep red marks where the vine had been tied.

'Is everybody okay? If I'd known it was going to be as tricky as that, I would never have suggested it.'

'We are both fine. A bit tired and sore, but we are more worried about your hands,' Marianne spoke out, in an unusually concerned voice.

'Don't worry about my hands. This salt water will heal them up in no time at all.'

'Well, now that you guys are in your paradise, why don't we go over there?'

'What are we waiting for Kyle?' shouted Bret.

They all waded around the edge and stopped just before the fall. They all stood there and watched, in awe at the sight of the water crashing down over the edge, hitting the pool of water below. And to top this, they could see the white sandy beach, practically hidden from the outside by the wall of water.

'You are right lads. This is paradise. We should get on that beach.'

Marianne was the first in and had to put some real effort into her swimming in order to get to the pounding water. She stayed still, desperately trying to tread water and then ducked her head forward, directly under the gallons of falling water. She instantly lifted her head back, signalling to the others that it hurt like crazy. Kyle and Bret had now begun swimming out to join her.

'Are you alright?' asked Kyle.

'No, I am not. Putting your head under this falling water feels like somebody is sticking hundreds of swords in to your skull.'

'Yeah, I know that feeling, but to me it feels like needles, not swords,' replied Bret.

'The best way to get through this is to go back a bit, as in a sort of run up and then swim underwater, as deep as you can. The pressure from the water will be less the deeper you get,' explained Kyle.

'I'll go first,' answered Bret.

'Are you sure you can make it with your feet as they are?'

'I don't know, but I'm certainly going to try and get to my paradise totally unaided.'

Bret let himself drift back away from the waterfall and then started to swim back. He then duck-dived and disappeared beneath the foamy white water.

'Woah! Absolute paradise,' yelled Bret, from behind the waterfall.

Marianne was the next to go, closely followed by Kyle. Once they were all behind the wall of water, all three of them stretched out like corpses; happy and content in their own individual worlds.

'What, or rather who are you thinking about Kyle?'

Kyle kept quiet.

'Kyle, are you with us?' repeated Bret.

'Sorry, I am now. I was miles away, just thinking about Gus and Chas. Not very romantic I'm afraid, but I always believed that we'd have found this place together and that we would've been here with our girlfriends enjoying a place not too dissimilar to this. So that's where I am at the moment and they're good, happy thoughts, so I'm pretty content. How about you?'

'Mine's a slightly different story. I'm sort of with this girl, called Sam, who was my first girlfriend,' answered Bret.

'What was so special about her?' asked Marianne.

'Well she was my first real girlfriend, when I was sixteen and she was beautiful.'

'Was she your first, well, you know?' asked Kyle.

'That's the funny thing and probably the reason why I'm thinking about her now. We didn't do anything like that and I had numerous opportunities, but always bottled it. It's still, to this day, one of my biggest regrets. How could I have been so stupid? Anyway, enough of my inability's, how about you Marianne, what's on your mind?'

'Mine is much weirder than that. My thoughts are about me and what I am.'

'What is that suppose to mean?' asked Bret.

'Let me try to explain. I have been a lesbian most of my life and Tess and me were just perfect for each other.'

'Had you ever had sex with a guy before, erm, well us?' asked Bret very tentatively.

'Oh yes, but I was very young, sixteen I think and I already knew that I was not interested in men, but thought that I should at least try it.'

'So what's so weird about your thoughts?' asked Kyle.

'What happened the other day with you two was something that I never thought I would ever consider doing, but yes, I did it and loved it. It was fantastic and now I am thinking, am I interested in guys or not?'

'Wow, we were good, eh Kyle?'

Kyle laughed, but didn't answer.

'No seriously Marianne, I think you're probably a bit confused, as we all are. Especially with what we've all been through and we were just there for each other and yeah, you're right, it was fantastic, but in any normal situation that just wouldn't have happened,' explained Bret.

'Wow Bret, that was very deep. C'mon, let's loosen up and go and paddle in the sea,' suggested Kyle.

'That sounds like a great idea,' agreed both Bret and Marianne.

They all got up and made their way to the water's edge.

Chapter 23

' **H** ey guys! Look what I have found,' yelled Marianne.

Both Kyle and Bret ambled over to join her on the far side of the beach. She wasn't that far away, as the beach was only twenty metres long, but it's width was quite variable, ranging from as narrow as two metres to as wide as seven to eight. Marianne was crouched down, right in the corner near a rock.

'What is it?' asked Kyle, as he lent down next to her.

'Look behind here.'

Marianne moved herself out of the way, allowing Kyle to look behind the rock, seeing a small dark track leading off into the jungle.

'That looks interesting. Shall we go and have a look?'

'Not yet,' shouted Bret. 'We've only just got here. I'd always expected to spend a bit more time in paradise.'

'Yeah, you're right. We've only been here about an hour. We'll go later,' agreed Kyle.

Bret headed back to the sea, closely followed by Marianne.

'Later Kyle, okay?' said Bret.

'Yeah, I know, but I just can't relax when I know that there's potentially something interesting out there.'

'It might be interesting, but it might also be dangerous, so come back here and let's enjoy what could potentially be our last beach.'

Kyle finally got the message and joined the others, who were both laid on their backs staring up at the falling water.

'So what do you think is up there?' asked Kyle.

'Give it a rest will you and enjoy this,' shouted Bret.

Kyle forced himself to lie down and joined the others. As he looked to his left he could see the steep side of the cove, covered in giant trees. He noticed that many of the trees had most of their roots visible and guessed that when the next bout of monsoon rain hit this area, many of these trees would get washed down in to the sea below.

When he switched his vision to the right, the view was much the same except for the small gap in which they'd entered. He was now convinced that this was his place of dreams, but knew it wasn't right without his two friends. Admittedly, he'd become very close to Bret and even Marianne within such a short space of time, but he knew that in the real world he wouldn't have chosen to hang around with any of them. He cleared his mind of every thought he had, which included some peculiar ones about Marianne and drifted off into a deep sleep.

'Wake up! C'mon, it's starting to get dark,' shouted Bret, as he gently shook Kyle out of his sleep.

'What are you talking about? How late is it?' slurred Kyle, still half-asleep.

'We all fell asleep and if you lift your head up, you'll see that the sun is quickly disappearing over the tops of those trees, which means that we haven't got much time before the light's completely gone.'

Kyle lifted up his head still believing himself to be in his dream, when he saw Marianne walking out of the sea, totally naked.

'You should get in the sea. It will certainly wake you up,' she shouted over.

Kyle although more than happy in his present state, did choose the sea, not only to wake him up, but also to cool him down. It did the trick and within five minutes he was firing on all cylinders and walking over to the rock in the corner.

'C'mon guys, are you ready?'

'We have been ready for a while. It is you who has been the sleeping beauty,' replied Marianne.

'Yeah sorry about that, I was having this amazing dream.'

'Tell us more,' teased Marianne.

'Not now. I'll lead the way and you two follow behind,' he replied quickly so as to, change the topic of conversation.

One by one they slowly squeezed behind the rock and headed straight along a narrow, moss-covered path. The visibility was very restricted due to the density of the trees. After Kyle had tripped over an old dead tree trunk, he chose to slow the walking down to a snail's pace, which suited everybody.

As they headed deeper into the jungle, the ground below was becoming more and more squelchy and this was attracting lots of flying things. Mosquitoes were the biggest problem and they were annoying Bret the most, as he had a continual swarm of them feeding on his feet.

The second problem was one that none of them had ever encountered before and that was leeches. These became more and more apparent as they headed further in. It was getting that bad that Bret had the lighter in his hand; ready to burn any of the bloodsuckers.

This was making the walk very difficult, as firstly they were constantly squashing mosquitoes and secondly, getting someone else to continually check for leeches.

'Look up there. I can see some sort of shelter,' shouted Kyle.

He quickened up his pace, which was a mistake as he immediately tripped over a ground clinging branch and he fell face down in the dirt. He jumped back up, but not before scaring Bret, as when he turned back towards Bret, he had collected two leeches on either side of his face. After the initial shock, Bret regained his composure and carefully burnt them off with the Zippo.

They slowly walked into the shelter and on entering it did nothing to boost their very low morale. It had most of its corrugated roof missing and looked like it hadn't been visited or lived in for years.

Marianne spotted a rickety old chair and plonked herself down on it. She screamed and leapt to her feet. 'Something has just bitten me.'

'Where abouts?'

'On my back.'

Kyle ran over and lifted up the back of her t shirt and saw that her back was covered with lots of tiny leeches.

'Get undressed! Everything off, now!' shouted Kyle.

'What is wrong?'

'We're covered in leeches. We've got to check each other. Burn the ones that're on Marianne first and I'll check you.'

Bret was busy burning them off of her back, while she removed the rest off her clothes. Apart from a few on her lower legs and one on her bum cheek, she was clean of them. Bret didn't have many at all, but one was very close to his groin area. Kyle was the last to be checked and had a few near his ribs and some on his upper left leg.

Once they were all clean, they all got re-dressed and tried to relax.

'What a difference an hour makes, eh?' announced Bret.

'Yeah I know paradise to hell. It can change so quickly. I'd suggest going back to the beach, but I don't want to go out there again and if I did it's now too dark and it would be virtually impossible to find our way,' remarked Kyle.

'Time to make the best of a bad situation. We have got no choice but to sleep here tonight, so why don't we look around and see what we have got,' said Marianne, wishing desperately to be back on the beach.

They all searched around the shack and found a number of spears, axes and some animal traps. They moved everything to clear a space on the floor, so that they at least had somewhere to sleep. It was now pitch black and their conversation had already dried up, so they all laid down and tried to get some sleep.

Sleep was difficult for all of them because of the differing noises coming from outside, plus the constant irritating buzzing coming from the very active mosquitoes. All three of them laid on their backs, with both hands clasped over their ears, staring up through the roof, between the trees at the dark sky and the occasional star. They all wanted this night to end and were longing to see the rising sun, welcoming a new fresh day.

Finally, the sun came up after what felt like the longest night ever. Marianne quietly got up and went outside to find a place where she could safely squat, without the threat of getting bitten on her bottom. After searching around, she finally found a spot and pulled down her shorts and bikini bottoms and crouched down.

Suddenly, close by she heard voices. At first she assumed it was Bret and Kyle who had also woken up, but on closer listening she didn't recognise the voices and was too far to understand what was been said. She couldn't move, as she would've attracted some attention, so waited until the voices grew quieter and then she slowly pulled up her bottoms and shorts and stood up. She quickly looked around and saw, walking away, a figure with yellow hair.

When they were a safe distance away, she scurried back to wake the others. They were both awake when she got back and told her that they were about to start shouting out for her, as they didn't know where she was.

'It was a good job you did not shout out. They would have definitely heard you,' Marianne told them.

'What are you going on about?'

'I was outside about ten minutes ago, taking a pee, when I heard male voices talking. At first I thought it was you guys, but when I listened more carefully, they sounded different.'

'What were they saying?' snapped Kyle.

'I could not hear them clearly, but it might have been English.'

'How do you know that? You said that it wasn't clear,' Kyle snapped again.

'Hey, calm down Kyle and let her finish.'

'I heard only a few words and they were possibly English. I am almost certain it was, so anyway, I waited until they were far enough away and then got up and looked around. I would have gone after them, but I did not have my catapult on me. Anyway, when I looked up I only saw one of them and he had long yellow hair.'

'You mean blond hair. Hang on a minute, weren't the people you saw on the boat, didn't one of them have long blond hair?' questioned Bret.

'Yes, but she was a woman and this was a man.'

'How do you know that for sure?'

'Because I saw long yellow, sorry blond hair,' replied Marianne.

'So you assumed it was a woman because they had long blond hair.'

'Yes, I guess so.'

'It's no problem, but the fact is that the person you saw on the beach could be the same person, that you saw earlier,' concluded Bret.

'I suppose so,' she replied.

'Have you finished giving her the third degree, Sherlock Holmes?'

'I don't mean to be difficult, because I know for a fact that if that person had had short, cropped hair I would've naturally assumed that it would've been a guy. So I totally understand why she did that.'

Kyle and Bret were busy discussing who these people could've been and how they got here, while Marianne sat by the open window staring out to the trees.

'Get down and shut up!' demanded Marianne, quietly.

'What?'

'Ssssh, they are back. Stay down!'

Marianne carefully picked up the nearby spears and passed one to Bret and Kyle. She had her catapult ready, but no ammo, so she picked up a third spear.

Kyle had quietly moved to the side of the door and Bret behind it, both armed with their spears ready. Marianne remained hidden behind the window.

'Get ready, they are getting very close,' she whispered, while listening carefully for the noise from their feet.

They all watched, as the door handle began to turn and then swung open.

Marianne was the first to make a move and leapt to her feet, with the point of the spear, aimed clearly at the entrance of the door.

Chapter 24

' **S** top! Stop!' screamed Kyle. 'Gus, how? I, we, saw you boil to death.' spurted out Kyle.

'What is happening here?' yelled out Bret.

'Hiya mate,' calmly replied Gus.

Kyle went over to him and gave him a massive hug.

He spotted another familiar face over Gus's shoulder.

'What the...? I don't believe this. Gus and me buried you Chas,' shouted Kyle, while physically shaking.

'I know mate. Come here and give us a big bear hug and we'll explain everything.'

By this stage Marianne was almost hysterical, not knowing any of these people and Bret was completely silent.

After everybody calmed down, Gus got everybody to sit down and began to answer questions and explain.

'Okay, let me explain and please believe me, so I'll start with the obvious. As you can see both Chas and myself are not dead and are truly alive and kicking no matter what you saw happen to us. Here goes, we are all playing a computer game.'

'I have heard enough of this nonsense. I am leaving,' shouted Marianne.

'That is your decision but it would be better if you stayed,' replied Gus, very calmly. 'But just before you go, can I ask you what's your name?'

'Marianne.'

'Hi Marianne, nice to meet you,' he said, holding out his hand. 'And just one more question, have any of your friends been killed recently?'

Marianne leapt to her feet and charged over to Gus. Kyle and Chas grabbed hold of her arms and held her firm. She was within a metre of Gus's face.

'It doesn't matter if you kill me, so go ahead.'

She couldn't move, so just spat in his face. Gus calmly wiped it off with his sleeve and looked her directly in the face. 'I'll take that as a yes then.'

'Gus, take it easy. She lost her girlfriend and two other friends,' interrupted Bret.

'You mean just like Kyle, who lost two good friends and you, who also lost friends.'

'What are you trying to say?' questioned a much calmer Marianne.

'Okay, let me carry on, but please hear me out and no more spitting in my face,' shouted Gus.

'Alright,' answered Marianne.

'As I was saying, we're all part of a computer game, a survival game and the fact is that if you die here, it's alright. In simple terms, you die here, inside the game, but not in the real world.'

'So you are telling me that Tess and my other two friends are not dead,' yelled out a hysterical Marianne.

'That's exactly what I'm telling you.'

She leapt to her feet and went round and planted a big kiss on everybody's cheek. When she got to Bret, she noticed that he was crying.

'What is wrong?'

'That means my best mate Jake isn't dead and one of my new best mate's didn't get cooked to death,' sobbed out Bret.

'No, he didn't die mate. He's very much alive and ready to do something equally as stupid,' replied Gus.

'I still don't get it,' Kyle spoke out.

'Which bit don't you understand?' asked Gus.

'Pretty much all of it.'

'Alright, let's start again. What's the first memory of this trip to the island Kyle? You first.'

'That's easy, I was with you guys and we were in that town and we saw the fisherman getting some hassle and we burnt that guys boat. You know this, you were there. This is stupid.'

'What's your first memory Bret?'

'I was with Jake and we arrived at the port. I remember we stayed in this guesthouse which was more like a prison, with this really ugly woman behind the desk.'

'I remember her,' shouted Marianne.

'We then met a dodgy looking businessman, who looked like he was the Mafia and we hired a small plane from him. Well, actually we stole it, because we didn't have enough money,' explained Bret.

'Are you starting to see the similarities here yet Kyle?' asked Bret.

Kyle gave no response.

'What I'm trying to demonstrate here is that we all started the game in the same spot, at the port, but then, our choices were all slightly different. Kyle, Chas and me chose the same way to get to the island, whereas you Bret and your friend chose another way, by plane. Marianne, you and your friends chose another way. There are other people on this island now, who would've also chosen another way. There are literally hundreds of ways of getting to this island. Some succeed, some don't.'

'So where are my friends now?' asked Marianne.

'And mine,' added Bret.

'I don't know. They might be on the island, at the port. It depends,' replied Gus.

'On what?'

'If they decided to play another game.'

'I get it, well, sort of. But what I don't understand is why have you got all these burns on your face?' asked Kyle.

Gus removed his top and showed everybody his completely scolded body with numerous scars.

'These are my fighting wounds. I only have these in the game. Do you remember this? It hurt at the time,' said Gus, as he lifted up his hand, minus the fingers.

'What happened?' asked Marianne.

'They were cut off with an axe, just before I was boiled. But I'm only minus my fingers in the game. When the game is over then I'm my normal self. Are you starting to get the picture now?'

Everybody still had a puzzled look on their faces.

'Chas take off your top and show us all your stunning body,' requested Gus.

Chas laughed and slowly removed his top half showing everybody his scared body.

'What are all those circular scars?' asked Marianne.

'Well, I was having a bit of a laugh with a dragon, playing a sort of hide and seek game and he won,' joked Chas.

'How did he win?'

'He casually flicked me into a dragons pit with his tail and I was skewered to death. Apparently it wasn't a pretty sight.'

'You can say that again. Especially when we pulled you off of the spikes, so that we could give you a proper burial,' shouted out Kyle.

'Yeah, I've been meaning to thank you for that, but you did actually dig me up again which I thought was a bit sick.'

'Yeah, but that's another story. Anyway, getting back to my original point, if I'd known all this then I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble, believe me,' joked Kyle.

'Thanks mate.'

'So let me get this straight,' interrupted Bret. 'Both of you are here again in the game carrying wounds from a previous game yeah?'

'Yeah, that's right,' answered Gus.

'But I remember when you first took off your shirt and I saw all those scars and you didn't know how you got them. You must've played the game before,' announced Bret.

'Bingo! I have.'

'And I bet in that game you died the same way. Boiled to death, because you kept freaking out about it,' Kyle butted in.

'You've got it,' replied Gus.

'But how come you know all this now, but previously you didn't?' asked Kyle.

'That's really simple. When you go into the first screen of the game, there's an option of bonus information. The first two times I didn't choose it, thinking I could beat it without any help. This time I thought I'd give it a whirl, so I chose it and this is what it told me in a sort of riddle. I still wasn't totally convinced I was right about my theory until I met up with Chas and then we aimed to find you.'

'But you were close to getting it right last time. You knew that you'd been here before.'

'Yeah, I did Kyle but it didn't help me. I still died the same way.'

'And also I have another theory and that is that we all have some sort of special talent, call it a gift or something. For example, I can build things, Bret, over there can catch fish, Marianne is wicked with a catapult, yours was swimming and Chas's was his amazing eyesight,' proudly announced Kyle.

'I'm impressed. I know we were close to getting it, but never quite did. The fact is that when you start the game you can choose a couple of special skills. The better the skill, the more points it would've cost. You've all probably got some other hidden talent.'

'Wait until you see mine,' shouted out Chas.

'Thank god for that,' interrupted Bret. 'Hopefully this time it'll be a lot more manly than a fisherman,' said Bret.

'You'll have chosen that at the beginning of the game. You'll soon find out what your new skill is, when it's required,' explained Chas.

'So how did you manage to meet up with Gus?' asked Kyle.

'As you know, I was out of the game quite quickly, so I decided to sit and wait for one of you two to die. When Gus eventually got boiled again, we blew all our weeks wages on coming in again. We came in a different route and managed to find our way here,' explained Chas.

'How did you know where we were?' asked Bret.

'We had a rough idea, because we knew your password, so we could hack in and see what you were up to.'

'It's a good job you remembered it,' said Kyle.

'So you could only watch Kyle's action, not mine or Bret's.'

'No, we could see all of your movements, because when you met each other, you chose to link games and this enables you to have extra strength,' explained Gus.

'You saw everything,' she said, as she began to blush.

'Yeah, but remember this is only a game. Whatever you've done here has nothing to do with the real world. It's like a dream and sometimes in your dreams you do strange things and have weird thoughts. Forget about it Marianne.'

'So if we go on a massive hunt for Tess and your two friends, we could have the biggest orgy going, because it's not real. Fantastic!' joked Bret.

'Let us go and find them,' she replied, smiling.

'They might not even be playing the game,' Gus pointed out.

'Yeah I know, but it's worth a try and we might find my mate Jake.'

'Before we start going off in search of your friends, please remember that this is still a game so we don't want you just going off and getting yourself killed. This is my third attempt at this and I don't know about you, but I'd personally like to beat it and then maybe we can have that party you mentioned earlier. So let's think what we're going to do,' stated Gus.

Kyle hadn't said much since the news. He was busy putting the pieces of the jigsaw together in his head. Finally he spoke out. 'I believe what you've told me, but there are a few things I can't fathom out.'

'You always were the thinker, eh Kyle,' joked Gus.

'Well, when Chas was killed we had time to bury him before his body disappeared, but when you were in that pot you immediately disappeared. Why was it different?'

'When you're killed, you have a time limit and I knew that I wanted to start a fresh game, so I selected a new game. Because Chas hadn't decided to play a new one until one of us was killed, his body remained in the computer for a longer time.'

'So my mate Jake must be somewhere around, because he disappeared from beneath the rocks,' shouted Bret.

'Okay, that explains that one, but why doesn't everything go with the body?'

'What do you mean?' asked Gus.

'When you disappeared, the necklace didn't go as well, plus when we dug up Chas we saw only the necklace he'd made.'

'That's because you only leave the island with what you came with. Anything you find or make while you're here stays here.'

'Sometimes the island claims something,' interrupted Chas.

'What are you going on about?' snapped Gus.

'My Zippo lighter and fags. They were always in my pocket and would've been when I died, but they vanished.'

'They didn't vanish. I removed them from your pocket,' admitted Gus.

'You tea-leaf,' yelled Chas.

'Sorry mate, but we really needed the lighter plus the fags.'

'But neither of you smoke.'

'Chas don't worry, because I had a right go at him at the time, but we did use the lighter so don't give him such a hard time,' interjected Kyle.

'So what happened to it when you boiled yourself?' asked Chas.

'Here it is,' quietly replied Bret, as he threw it over to him. 'We had it in the bag and I'd put it in my pocket when I was smoking a joint.'

'Speaking of joints, here look what I've got?' announced Gus.

'Where did they come from? We smoked the last one yesterday,' said Kyle.

'When Chas and me came back here, we did a slight detour and went back to that village and took some more joints. I tell you, it was a heck of a struggle to stop Chas eating that broth.'

'Yeah, it smelt gorgeous. I almost chucked up when he told me what was in it,' laughed Chas.

'Before you light that, can I just ask a question? It is sort of similar to Kyle's, but anyway here goes,' said Marianne. 'I was shown some very burnt army dog-tags, which belonged to my best friend. The problem is that she is dead,' explained Marianne.

'She was probably killed playing the game.'

'No, you do not understand Gus; she is dead in real life. She died last year in a training accident.'

'In that case I just don't know. Maybe she played the game before she died and lost them then. But that's just me guessing,' he answered.

Marianne didn't respond and remained silent. Gus took out a joint and Chas threw over the Zippo.

'No hard feelings?'

'Don't be so daft,' he replied.

'Before you light that Gus, is there anywhere near here which is a bit nicer setting? This shack is pretty grim,' suggested Kyle.

'Yeah, there is actually. Just over the hill is a beautiful white sandy beach. Let's go there.'

They all jumped to their feet and followed Gus through the trees. Kyle was walking behind Gus and in front of Chas, just like the old days, chatting away and slipping straight back in to their insulting banter.

They arrived at the sea's edge and a few chose to go in to the sea to cool down, this time keeping on most of their clothes. After a while Marianne went deathly white and her eyes were transfixed in the direction of a nearby overhanging tree.

'What's wrong Marianne?'

'She is dead! This is ridiculous,' she exclaimed.

'Who's dead?'

'That girl over there Bret, by the tree.'

Bret looked over and saw a long blond haired girl asleep against a palm tree.

'Who is she?'

'It is the one I told you about. Her name is Olga and she died last year in an explosion. It is her dog-tags that you found,' she said, starting to get a bit hysterical.

By this time everybody had gathered around Marianne and was listening avidly to what she was saying. Kyle was the next to tell her what seemed obvious.

'You must be mistaken. If she's dead in the real world then she can't be here playing this game.'

'I know that, but don't you think it is a bit strange that first we find her dog-tags and then we see her,' said Marianne.

'It's simple. Let's go over there, wake her up and ask her,' said Bret.

He was the first to get up and walk over towards the tree closely followed by the rest.

'Excuse me, can you hear me?' he said very softly.

'Of course she can't hear you. You're too quiet,' said Chas.

'Let me have a go,' he said. 'Oi you, wake up!' he shouted out.

She immediately woke up and looked in shock, as she was surrounded by four guys and a woman.

'What did you do that for? You almost scared me to death,' she screamed.

'That would've explained a lot,' replied Gus.

'What did you say?'

'Only joking love.'

'Where did you lot come from? I've only been here a few days and you're the first people I've seen.'

'We just walked out on to this beach and Marianne spotted you sleeping against the tree, so we came over and stupidly woke you up. Sorry about that,' apologised Kyle.

The woman's eyes had turned in the direction of Marianne.

'Do you know her?' Kyle asked the woman.

'No, I've never seen her before,' she coldly replied.

'Is your name Olga?' asked Marianne.

'How do you know that name? Don't ever call me by that name again. You have no right!' she screamed out.

'Is it your name, or what?' Gus asked.

'I said, don't say that name.'

'We need to know. It is very important. You see, my best friend back in Norway was called Olga and she looks very much like you.'

'What did you say?' she responded in a calmer voice.

'You see my best friend died last year in an army explosion that went wrong,' explained Marianne.

The girl lifted up her eyes and fixed them on to Marianne's face. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

'Please tell me if you knew Olga? It is very important,' pleaded Marianne.

'Yes, I did know her,' she replied sobbing. 'She was my twin sister.'

'She was your twin sister!' Marianne yelled out. 'I did not even know she had a sister, never mind a twin. Aren't twins meant to be close?' asked a shocked Marianne.

'She probably never mentioned me or any of our family. You see, we had a big family argument when Olga joined the army. My parents didn't want her to join up because my dad has always felt responsible for his best friend dying when he was in the army himself. We both tried to join, but I was refused,' she explained.

'Why did they refuse you? Sorry, what's your name?' asked Gus.

'My name's Hannah and I was refused because I was born with only one kidney.'

'That must've been quite difficult being twins, yeah?' questioned Kyle.

'Yeah, a bit. We were pretty inseparable up to that point, but I knew how she desperately wanted to join the army so I pretended that it wasn't a big deal else she might not have signed up. From that day on we grew further and further apart. She thought that we didn't care about her, but we all did and I was totally envious of her. When she died I immediately phoned up the camp and asked to be sent all her personal things.'

'Did it include these?' Marianne asked, as she passed her the burnt dog tags.

'Where did you find them?'

'They were laid on a volcano base over there,' replied Bret.

'I thought I'd lost them. When did you find them?'

'About four or five days ago,' answered Bret.

'That's impossible! I've only been here for two days.'

'Anything is possible here, but enough of this idle talking, we'll explain more later. Let's first smoke some weed, get high and plan our strategy,' explained Gus.

'Plus, now that we've doubled the female count that party idea at the end is sounding better by the minute,' joked Bret.

'Here, here,' agreed Gus.

'What are they talking about?' asked Hannah.

'Do not worry. You will find out everything later.'

'Okay everybody, no more talking. Let's chill,' shouted Gus.

Gus lit the joint and passed it around the small circle.

Chapter 25

' **T** his feels great,' said Hannah. 'I haven't felt this good for a very long time.'

'Do you not get stoned that much?' asked Marianne.

'I used to with Olga but of course you'd know that already.'

'I did not know actually. When I knew her we were into our fitness, so we missed out on all this bad stuff. It is a pity really, because this is such a great feeling.'

'Anyway, can you two finish your trip down memory lane and start to help and give us some ideas on what we're going to do,' interrupted Gus.

'I think he's the leader,' whispered Hannah to Marianne, which caused them both to give a little snigger.

'No, I don't think I am. I know I am,' joked Gus.

'Anything I can do for you sir?' joked Marianne.

'Well, there is actually, but let's wait until the party and then I'll claim my prize. It looked great when we watched you on the computer, eh Chas?'

'Too right. You are one sexy lady.'

Marianne had by this time already buried her head and was keeping very quiet.

'What's wrong Marianne, has the cat got your tongue?' shouted Gus.

She didn't acknowledge what he'd said, probably because she didn't understand.

'I suppose that's one nil to me eh?'

'Okay enough of this. Marianne, he was only joking, but he's definitely right about the sexy thing,' said Kyle.

'Hey, Marianne he's right. I was only having a laugh.'

'C'mon everybody we need to go back to the shelter and see what we've got and think of some type of plan,' interrupted Bret.

They all slowly rose to their feet and gradually made their way back to the shelter. Once they were all sat down it very quickly became apparent that they had all had similar encounters, which of course made this easier to format their joint plan.

They discussed the ants, bats, the volcano erupting, the dragons and of course the cannibals. Bret's eyes were visibly watering when they were talking about the red-hot lava, whereas Chas was laughing out loud when the discussion got onto the dragons.

Once they had a loose plan, Kyle suggested that they looked around the shelter and the nearby vicinity to see if anybody could find anything of use.

Immediately Gus picked up an axe.

'This will be handy to cut off a dragon's head or two.'

'There's another here,' shouted Hannah.

'And here,' said Marianne.

'How about ripping the wood off of the walls so that we can make some spears,' suggested Bret.

'Yeah. You should see this bloke throw a spear,' shouted Kyle.

'Is this one of your special skills?' asked Chas.

'I don't really know. One of them must be my fishing skill, but I'm not sure about this. I hope that if it isn't then my second skill is a bit more heroic.'

'What, you mean you'll suddenly be able to darn some socks or do a great flower arrangement.'

'Sod off Kyle.'

'What's your second skill going to be then Kyle?'

'Who only knows, but hopefully something useful.'

'Boys and girls, it doesn't really matter what it is, as long as we beat this game and have that party.'

'Calm down about that party, will you Gus?' interrupted Marianne.

'It would obviously be great, plus easier, logistically speaking if we bumped into two extra girls, then the numbers would be even, Four girls for four lads,' said Chas.

'But what's going to happen when we find Jake?' asked Bret.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about him. When that happens I think that it's going to be a case of simply sharing the girls amongst us,' joked Gus.

'Oi, you lot, we are still here you know,' shouted Marianne. 'If we beat?'

'You mean when,' said Kyle.

'Okay, when we beat this game, us girls would like some say in the organised party thank you.'

'We'll obviously take into consideration your thoughts on the subject. Okay, what else have we found?' asked Gus, trying to instantly change the subject.

'While you lot are looking around for some other stuff I'll go and start pulling off the wood and get making some spears. Who's going to help me? I'll need somebody to hold it while I axe it up,' said Bret.

'I'll come,' said Hannah.

'You're very trusting, aren't you?' said Kyle.

'Well he looks like a nice guy. I'm sure he's not going to try anything on.'

'I don't know love. You just don't realise how horny a man can get when he's got a big chopper in his hand,' joked Gus.

Everybody sniggered except for the girls.

'I don't understand what you mean.'

'Don't worry Hannah, Bret'll explain,' said Gus.

With that Bret took his cue, picked up an axe and made his way to the open doorway. It wasn't long before the wall was being pulled apart.

Meanwhile Marianne had emptied one of the bags and laid the contents on the ground.

'There it is. I need to go and get some more ammo for this. I will take the bag with me and hopefully bring it back full,' said Marianne.

'Well, that's just left us three lads again. Let's try and do this right and no arguing eh,' said Kyle.

'Shut up with the moaning. You know we'll both try our hardest, won't we Chas?'

'Yeah, course we will. Now, who's for another joint?'

'That's exactly my point. You guys never take anything seriously. Put the joint away,' shouted Kyle.

'You need to chill out man. Get laid or something,' suggested Gus.

'Well maybe if we sort ourselves out and don't die on the way then maybe I will get laid. Until then we have to be serious, focussed and stop joking around,' lectured Kyle.

'You're right as always,' said Chas.

'Yeah okay,' joked Gus.

'There doesn't seem to be anything of much help here, so why don't we go and help the others,' suggested Gus, so as to break the tension.

Marianne had found lots of ideal stones by the water's edge and seemed quite pleased to be joined by Gus. Kyle and Chas had gone off separately in search of anything else of use.

For the next couple of hours everybody was busy with their own tasks. The day was beginning to come to an end and everybody instinctively met on the beach for a refreshing swim.

The four lads were sat down on the sand silently watching the two girls splashing around in the sea.

'Sod this lads, I'm off in,' shouted Bret.

'Try and not get too excited and don't get out of control again,' shouted Gus.

'Ha ha.'

It wasn't long before the others joined them and all six were happily messing about in the sea.

Bret was feeling a bit horny after watching both Hannah and Marianne's breasts bouncing about, so he sensibly moved away nearer the rocks and went on his fish hunt. The others were too busy to even notice that he'd moved away until they heard a big splash of water followed by the sight of a flying fish heading towards the beach.

'Do you think one's enough?'

'It certainly looks big enough, but there's no harm having another, is there Bret?' shouted Chas, knowing full well that he was a greedy git.

Everybody watched silently as Bret stood in a metre of water looking down. Suddenly his hands dived below the surface and up out of the water came another huge fish, which was instantly making its way to join his flapping mate on the beach.

'Gives a new meaning to the term flying fish, don't you think?' laughed Gus.

'Great work mate! Time for me to go and get dessert I think,' shouted Chas.

'Throw us your lighter Chas and I'll light a fire,' said Gus.

'It's in the shack, but this time remember to give me it back you thief.'

'Of course I will mate because for one thing this time, you're not dead.'

'Yeah, that's true. Well, at the moment it is, anyway.'

'Let's try and keep it that way eh,' said Kyle.

Chas went off in search of some suitable climbing trees and he didn't look for long before he found his first trunk to shimmy up to collect a couple of bunches of bananas.

Gus was nearby collecting some dry bracken and coconut husks and was still completely confused yet bemused as he watched his very overweight friend climbing up the tree like a monkey.

It wasn't long before the fire was ready to be lit, the fish had already been gutted and a wide assortment of fruit had cleverly been wrapped in a very large banana leaf.

When the fish was cooking, Chas went off and came back with a load of coconuts.

'Sorry, it's not beer everybody but it'll have to do,' joked Chas.

'No problem, but can you do the honours please?'

'Yeah, of course I will Gus. I've still got the scar from the last time,' announced Chas, as he showed everybody the rather nice marking on his forehead.

'Wow mate! You luck like Harry Potter. Do you know any wizardry stuff?' asked Bret.

'What the heck are you on about?'

' _Harry Potter_ , you know the film,' explained Bret.

'Sorry mate but I don't like children's movies.'

'Well, when we get back I'll get all the movies out and we can all watch them, okay?' announced a very pleased Bret.

'Yeah, I can't wait,' answered a very sarcastic Chas.

'But will that be before we get you a new e mail address?' asked Gus.

'What is he going on about?' asked a yet again confused Marianne.

'Don't worry, it's a long story. Another time, yeah,' he answered very quietly.

'Yes, definitely because I want to hear all about this one.'

'You will Marianne, you will. Oh look, I think the fish is almost ready,' yelled Bret.

Chas reached over to the fruit and produced from underneath the parcel six individually cut pieces of banana leaf.

'I thought we could use these as plates. I tried to make some knives and forks but they were a little bit flimsy.'

'Cheers mate, but fingers are the best for eating fish,' said Bret.

'Yeah, fish and chips on a Friday. It was the weekly ritual in our household. Eating them out of a newspaper with your fingers. Fish and chips, yum. That's got to be the first thing I'm going to get,' said Gus.

'Mine's going to be a McDonald's,' yelled out Chas.

'No, it's got to be a Sunday dinner with Yorkshire pudding and roasties,' shouted Bret.

'Can everyone just shut up and stop talking about food that we can't have please,' shouted Kyle.

Everyone went silent and remained this way until the fish was been passed around. Bret did the gentlemanly thing and gave the first two portions to the girls.

'Trying to get yourself in the good books for a potential lay there, me old mucker?' joked Gus.

'No, he is just doing the right thing. You know, manners,' replied Marianne.

'I have manners, very good ones if you must know.'

The conversation stopped as everybody started troughing down the fish. After they'd finished, the remainder of the fish was divided out with Chas getting a load of verbal stick when he gave his extra bit to Marianne.

On seeing this, Gus followed suit and did the same. Hannah was far less receptive and just took it without batting an eyelid, which secretly annoyed Gus.

The remainder of the meal was eaten in silence which was finally broken by Chas letting out one of his rasping farts and voicing his appreciation over to Bret.

'Who's for fruit?'

'Me,' shouted Kyle.

'Me too,' said Bret.

'Please,' said Marianne.

'Yes, please,' quietly replied Hannah.

'If you insist,' laughed out Gus.

Chas lifted the parcel into the middle and carefully unwrapped it.

'Wow, that's amazing!' yelled Hannah.

'Fantastic mate! What have you got us?'

'Well Gus, let's see. We have some green and yellow mangoes, bananas, papaya and this thing here,' proudly announced Chas.

'Oh that, it's a custard apple. I remember eating one of those before,' shouted out Bret.

'And not forgetting of course the coconuts which are over there. C'mon, what are you all waiting for? Dig in,' ordered Chas.

He didn't need to say anything else, as everybody dived in.

'You know what this is like,' spurted out Bret.

'What?'

'It's like the Last Supper.'

'Don't start getting religious on us Bret,' said Chas.

'No, he's right you know. Tomorrow is D-day and maybe some of us will get killed.'

'Again!' interrupted Chas.

'Yeah maybe, so think about it and enjoy this very special night. Great friends, new and old,' Kyle spoke out.

'These speeches normally make me want to puke, as you know, but not today. Very well pointed out old mate. Cheers and good luck to you all. Let's kick ass,' shouted Gus.

Cheers, they all shouted back.

'Now before this all gets a bit too sentimental for me and probably you lot, I'm going for a swim. Do you two ladies fancy coming for a bit of a fooling around session? As Kyle pointed out we could be dead tomorrow,' said Gus.

'Yes you are right, but our only concern is if you can handle two very demanding Norwegian girls,' said Marianne.

'I'm pretty sure I can, but let's put it to the test,' he coolly announced.

Marianne grabbed hold of Hannah and they walked over to where Gus was sitting. They took hold of one hand each and led him away towards the sea.

As they got closer Marianne started stroking his bum cheeks and then whipped down his shorts.

As the other lads looked on she lowered her head.

'Down baby!' she shouted and went running off into the sea laughing with Hannah.

'Okay, yeah, I deserve that.'

'Yes you do and I think it must be one all, eh?'

'Don't play games with her Gus. She's good,' yelled Bret.

'I think I've just found that out, but thanks anyway.'

'Come on you lot, get in here. It is lovely and Gus, come and cool yourself down,' joked Marianne.

'I will and thanks you for that.'

'No hard feelings.'

'Don't be silly,' he replied.

Chapter 26

' **C** 'mon you lazy sods. It's time to get up.'

Nobody made a move as Bret stood in the doorway.

'Alright then, I suppose I'll have to eat all of the fish myself,' he told them and turned to leave.

'Did I just hear the word fish?' muttered Chas.

With that he was straight to his feet and on his way out, gently giving Gus and Kyle a kick on route.

'I'll go and get some fruit for us eh Bret. Just you, and me' said Chas.

More bodies started to stir and within five minutes everybody was sat by the fire, eagerly awaiting their breakfasts.

No one was much in the mood for talking during breakfast and it took until they'd had a dip in the sea before any real conversation took place.

'Okay, is everybody about ready to get going?' asked Kyle.

'Well I have got my catapult and my bag of ammo, so I think I am as ready as I will ever be,' replied Marianne.

All of the others sort of nodded or mumbled a sign of agreement and the axes were handed out. Kyle suggested to Chas and Gus to tie them around their thighs with some string. This idea was received with little enthusiasm, but was done just the same. Bret had hold of his spears and had tied them together and hung them over his shoulder.

'We're ready Hannah. What are you going to use as a weapon?' asked Gus.

'I'll just go outside and grab it.'

Seconds later she walked back inside clutching hold of a bow and numerous arrows.

'Robin Hood, eat your heart out!' shouted Gus.

'Where did you find that?' asked Kyle.

'I didn't. When I was outside with Bret yesterday I came up with the idea and thought I'd give it a go.'

'Have you ever made one before?'

'No Gus, but it wasn't that difficult, really.'

'Well if it works or not I still think it's an ingenious idea,' yelled out Chas.

'So are we ready to go or not?' asked Kyle.

Everybody gave out a slightly more enthusiastic cheer and followed Kyle out of the shack, down the wet muddy path towards the waterfall.

'This path is pretty grim but I promise you that at the end of this hell is heaven. You wait and see,' said Kyle.

The journey took them back down the same route and it wasn't long before they walked out at the back of the crystal clear waterfall and onto the beach.

'Can you pass us your lighter Chas?' asked Kyle.

'Do you want a joint as well? Seems like the ideal place to me,' shouted Gus.

'Let's save it for another time eh. But there is one thing you should all do now and that is get stripped off,' instructed Kyle.

'Fantastic, but don't you think a joint first would be better. You know get us all a bit mellow,' suggested Gus.

'It's not for a gangbang idiot. The thing I didn't tell you is that we are all more than likely carrying a few leeches,' said a very casual Kyle.

'Oh no!' yelled Chas. 'I hate those things.'

It wasn't long before all self-modesty had been totally forgotten and Kyle was going around burning off the bloodsuckers from the various parts of the bodies.

After they'd all been cleared, they all went for a dip in the cool refreshing water.

'Drink as much as you want, it's fresh,' yelled Bret.

'Isn't this place just great?' he said.

'Can't we stay a bit longer?' asked Hannah.

'No, not really. We should really get going.'

'I know what!' shouted Chas. 'Let's come back here and have that party. I can't think of any better place, can you?'

'Great idea. Is everyone in agreement?' asked Kyle.

They all gave the most enthusiastic response of the day.

Gus was the first to head out of the sea and over to his discarded clothes.

'Before you put them back on I'd check them for leeches. You don't want any of them sucking on your meat and two veg,'

'I didn't think of that, cheers Chas,' he replied.

They all watched as he closely inspected his clothes. Once he was happy he got re-dressed and sat calmly on the beach.

'Now it's my turn to watch all you. Well, actually I'm not interested in seeing your hairy bodies.'

'Why not?' questioned Hannah.

'I didn't mean yours stupid. I meant Chas's, Kyle's and Bret's.'

After finishing his sentence he instantly knew from the smirk on everyone's face that she had suckered him in.

Marianne wasn't shy and was the first to casually walk out.

'I don't care; you've seen it all before.'

'Yeah, I know but it's a lot better in the flesh. What do you think Chas?'

He sensibly kept quiet, as he knew his turn was coming and his body was far from appealing.

By this stage Hannah was looking very embarrassed about the situation. Kyle had already spotted this and made the suggestion for them all to get out at the same time, taking the obvious roaming eyes away from Hannah.

As they were getting dressed even Gus did the decent thing and looked away.

'Thanks for that,' said Hannah.

'No problem, just doing the gentlemanly thing,' replied Kyle.

'Hey love birds, are you ready to make a move?' joked Gus.

Kyle chose to ignore his friend's comment and went and grabbed hold of the bag. He opened it up and pulled out some lengths of vine and the empty water bottles.

'Fill them up eh Bret and Gus. Will you be alright to lead if I tell you the way?'

'Yeah, of course I will.'

Everybody tied the lengths of vine to their wrists and Gus tied the five ends to Gus's ankle. Kyle gave him the instructions and told him where the current was the strongest. He took in the information and gently lowered himself into the sea, closely followed by the others.

Gus dragged them under the falling water and he headed in the direction of the cove entrance. The swim was relatively easy and only started to get a bit trickier when they started to head close to the rocks. Even though Gus was completely knackered, he continued without stopping and they were soon in shallow enough water so as to take the strain off.

They all untied themselves from their wrists and Gus's ankle, seeing that he was totally exhausted.

'Great work there mate,' said Bret.

'Yes, it was,' agreed Marianne.

Everybody shouted over their appreciation and surprisingly got no response from Gus.

While Kyle was showing the way to the others Gus dragged himself to his feet and wandered over to join the rest of them.

'Are you back with us mate?' asked Chas.

'It's exhausting dragging you lot you know.'

'Fantastic work though,' said Hannah.

'Okay Gus, ready when you are,' said Kyle.

'No problem, let's go.'

Kyle led the way over to the mountain, via the lush inland area.

'I thought we'd go this way and get some fresh fruit. We were only here a few days ago and the trees were full of delicious looking fruit. Are you alright going this way, Marianne?'

'No problem Kyle. I now know that she is not really dead, so yes, it is okay.'

'So you finally believe me?' shouted Gus.

'I guess so,' she happily responded back.

As they were approaching the area Chas had sneaked off ahead in order to pick some fruit.

'Kyle,' shouted Chas.

'Yeah.'

'It doesn't look much like paradise anymore. This place looks like it's been hit by a huge storm.'

With that Marianne went running towards Chas closely followed by the others.

'This is what I was trying to tell you,' she screamed out.

'The storm could've happened in the last few days,' replied Kyle, trying to quickly calm her down.

'We have got to find the tents,' she yelled out and went frantically running off.

'What is she going on about?' asked Gus.

'No time to explain mate. We've got to catch up with her before we lose her,' replied Kyle.

They all went running off, until finally Hannah was the one to catch up with her, well ahead of the rest.

They sat Marianne down and Kyle was the one to tell her that they would go and look for the tents, but they all had to stay together. She agreed to this and they began a logical search of the area.

This was proving to be very difficult with the amount of fallen trees and debris on the ground.

'This is just what it was like before Kyle, you know, the night my friends died,' she sputtered out.

'Calm down and we'll keep looking.'

'Over here you lot. I think I've found one of the tents,' shouted Bret.

'Here's the other one,' shouted Gus.

'Wait there and we'll come over to you,' replied Kyle.

As they walked over Marianne looked and saw the two tents.

'There should only be one. Our tent blew away. Remember!' she screamed.

She headed to her tent and saw that a tree had fallen onto it. She unzipped the door, lifted open the flap and screamed out. 'It's Tess! It's Tess!'

'What do you mean it's Tess? Didn't she die by getting sacrificed?' stupidly said Bret just loud enough for her to hear.

'Yes, you are right, she did.'

Everyone went quiet realising that yet again none of this was making any sense. Unbeknown to everyone Bret had wandered off to the second tent and looked inside. He quietly walked over to Kyle and called him over. 'Kyle, I've just looked inside the other tent and there are two dead women in there. I'm willing to have as a guess that they're Marianne's friends.'

As soon as Marianne's name was mentioned she shouted over to ask what they were talking about. Bret told her his findings and she immediately ran over to the other tent and from the loudness of her screams confirmed that his theory was correct. While all this panic was happening the usually boisterous Gus was uncannily quiet.

'So, what's your theory on this one Einstein?'

'I can't really say for sure Marianne, but you're forgetting that they're only dead in the game and that as of now they haven't chosen to continue. If they had, then their bodies wouldn't be here,' explained Gus.

'But they've come back into the game, sort of back in time,' Kyle muttered out.

'We don't know that for sure. All we know is that two of them have died in the same way and one hasn't. Bear with me here because I'm thinking as I speak, but what I think is that after they died the first time, they've waited for each other and came back into the game together. Only this time they all got killed in a big storm, like the one when you were here Marianne.'

'I suppose that makes as much sense as anything else I am likely to hear,' answered Marianne.

'Where are you going Chas?' asked Kyle.

'I was going to start digging a hole so that we could give them a proper burial.'

'Do not bother. As you have already said they are only dead in the game anyway. Let us get on and finish this game so I can get back with my friends.'

'You can go back to them now if you want Marianne. All you have to do is die,' Gus callously pointed out.

'What, and let this game beat me. No way and anyway, you need me.'

'That's the spirit girl,' replied Chas.

Chas went off and grabbed some fruit and they all headed off up the mountain. It wasn't long before they found the entrance and headed back down through the mountain. They came out in the wooden storage building by the sea, on the other side of the mountain. Once the last person was through Bret replaced the planks.

'We've been here before,' shouted Gus. 'We came in by boat over there and eventually made it to this place. I certainly didn't know that the floor could be pulled away. It would've been a lot easier than swimming round, eh Chas?'

'I must confess but I didn't really swim that much Gus. I just laid behind you and got dragged behind.'

'I thought that, you lazy sod.'

'Hang on a minute! How did you swim around? There was a clear wall stopping us doing that,' shouted Marianne.

'There wasn't when we swam around.'

'When did you get here again?' asked Marianne.

'Not that long ago.'

'You were the ones I was following. I thought you were a girl,' she laughed out.

'Of course, how stupid of us. You see Marianne kept telling us about somebody she'd seen with long yellow.'

'Blond,' interrupted Marianne.

'Sorry blond hair and she told us it was a woman. We never even related it to being you and when she saw you outside the shelter she knew you were a man from your voice, This is all sort of falling into place,' said Kyle.

'Shall we rest here and eat this fruit?' suggested Chas.

They all agreed and made themselves as comfortable as they possibly could.

Chapter 27

**N** obody woke up in a good mood after a bad night's sleep. Chas was wandering around with the agility of a man three times his age. He'd slept in an awkward position and had somehow cricked his neck. Seeing him helped to ease everybody into a better frame of mind as they watched him, completely unable to twist his neck, and resembling a very large overweight crab.

On realising his unfortunate predicament, Gus and Kyle started to have a conversation with him from either side of the room and much to everybody's amusement watched on as Chas was having to turn his complete body one way and then to the other. It seemed to take ages for Chas to realise that they were deliberately switching the conversation and interrupting each other halfway through sentences. This was making him even angrier until it finally hit home and he stormed out of the shack to a round of applause. Everybody's, except Chas's mood had gotten significantly better. They left Chas outside for five minutes and Marianne and Hannah went out to get him, telling the rest that maybe a woman's touch was needed for this one.

Minutes later Chas entered back in, all smiles with a girl on each arm.

'Ow! My back's just clicked,' shouted Gus.

'Sod off mate! They're looking after me. Go and get your own Scandinavian nurses,' joked Chas, while giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.

'Greedy git,' replied Gus.

Chas didn't respond and sat over in the corner with the aid of the over helpful nurses.

'Okay, enough of this messing about, are you alright to carry on today, Chas?' asked Kyle.

'Yeah I should be okay plus Hannah is going to give me a neck massage.'

'Lucky boy,' shouted Bret.

'I think I've sprained a muscle. Could you massage it for me as well Hannah?' asked Gus.

'Go and massage it yourself,' she calmly replied.

Kyle interrupted the conversation before it got out of hand and told everybody that they would be heading for the forest and to be on the lookout for the villagers. Bret went strangely quiet when he was told of their destination, knowing full well that this was the place where he'd almost been killed, but surprisingly Marianne seemed to have blanked out the fact that her girlfriend was sacrificed there the last time.

The lads watched, in awe, as Chas had his massage from Hannah, It did the trick and Chas felt much rejuvenated and was ready for action along with all the others.

As normal, Kyle took responsibility for leading the way and marched them in the direction of the forest.

The journey was a very tiring one, which led them up and around numerous hills, until eventually they were at the edge of the forest.

As they entered there was something very eerie about the place. Kyle was the first to point this out but nobody could pin point as to what it was.

When they sat down for one of their frequent rests, Hannah felt like they were being watched by something or someone. She didn't voice her thoughts and remained quiet while closely scrutinizing the surrounding trees. Eventually they decided to rest there for the remainder of the day and Gus and Chas went off to get some wood to make a fire. When they returned fully-loaded up with various sizes of branches, everybody was sat on the floor in a circle.

'Hey guys, you look as if you're going to have a séance,' joked Gus.

'What is that on your shoulder Chas?' asked Bret.

'It looks like bird poo or something,' pointed out Gus.

'It's probably from one of those things that's watching us,' said Hannah.

'You get that feeling as well. I thought that it was me being paranoid,' added Marianne.

'Do you think lighting a fire's going to help?' said Bret.

'Maybe not, but I'm starting to get really cold,' said Hannah.

'Me too and it's weird because I've never been cold here before,' said Kyle.

'Go on Chas, do the honours and light the baby,' said Gus.

Chas took out his Zippo, but it didn't work. He tried again and again, but still no success.

'I think it's run out of gas.'

'Didn't you think to fill it up before you came?' shouted Gus.

'I probably would've done if you hadn't stolen it from my dead body,' he snapped back.

'Fair point, sorry mate.'

They all sat in a huddle and tried to keep each other warm, as the temperature dropped further.

'It's so cold. What is going on here?' asked Bret, while shivering.

'I do not know but I need to get warm soon,' said an already numb Marianne.

'Just think about a real fire and you'll feel warmer. Mind over matter or something like that,' said Gus.

'I've heard about this before. How should I do it?' asked Hannah.

'First you have to clear your mind and then think of something or somewhere warm. Go on Hannah, you go first and tell me if it makes any difference.'

With that they all turned to watch her as she cleared her mind, closed her eyes and went deep into thought.

'Are you feeling any warmer?' asked Marianne, who was willing to give anything a try just to get some feeling back into her toes.

'Yeah I am. We're sat by a lovely roaring fire and I'm too close. It's too hot. I've got to move away.'

Bret stood up and knelt by the fire, rubbing his hands together. As he moved his hands closer to the lifeless fire, he quickly moved his hands away.

'Wow That's hot,' he shouted.

'Yeah, okay mate.'

'No Kyle seriously, it's hot, feel it.'

Kyle got up and went over to join Bret. He couldn't believe it himself when he felt the tremendous heat coming from the pile of logs.

'Am I going nuts here or what, but there's smoke coming from the centre,' said Chas.

Everybody turned to face Hannah, who was totally unaware of anything that was going on. She was still deep in thought.

'It's alight, the fire has lit itself!' shouted Bret.

'I think Hannah's done this. She's a fire starter.' said Kyle.

'What you mean is that she's a fire starter twisted fire starter. Yeah, yeah, yeah,' sang out Chas, doing his best impression of Keith from The Prodigy, by sticking his tongue out to the extreme.

The fire was roaring away and Hannah was still deep in thought, totally oblivious of the happenings.

'Hannah, Hannah, you can stop now,' said Marianne.

She opened her eyes and smiled as she saw that the fire was roaring away.

'Oh I see that you got the lighter to work after all.'

'No, you did this,' said Chas.

'Yeah, he's right. While you were thinking of the roaring fire, this one here was getting hotter and hotter until eventually it lit itself.'

'Very funny Gus.'

'No it is true. You started this fire. It is sort of a special skill. Didn't you ever see that movie where the father and her daughter could start fires when they got angry,' said Marianne.

'I remember that, but didn't they have horrendous nosebleeds afterwards,' said Bret.

'I cannot remember that bit, but it is a gift and it is obviously yours as well.'

'This is amazing and also a bit weird. Anyway, let's not think too much. Enjoy the fire because it might be the first and last one I can do,' she replied.

They eventually got themselves warm enough and drifted off to sleep. Gus had unsuccessfully tried to convince Hannah that cuddling up was a much better way of keeping warm. She knew his theory made total sense, but still subtly declined his generous offer. His only choice was to retreat away and wrap his arms around himself.

Hannah kept waking up numerous times in the night, still convinced that they were being watched. She sat upright and again scanned the pitch-black trees. Suddenly something flew down and clipped the side of her face, which caused her to scream out, waking everybody up.

'What's happened?'

'Something's just hit my face!'

'Turn your face towards the fire so I can have a look.'

She did this and they could see that she had what looked like a quite deep cut running along her cheekbone.

'That looks nasty,' said Bret.

'What do you think it was?' asked Marianne.

'I don't know, maybe a bat?'

Chas walked over to Bret and took hold of a couple of spears.

'You'll never hit a moving target with one of those things unless you're very lucky,' said Gus.

'Just watch and learn mate,' he replied, as he put a spear in each hand.

'What are you planning to do? I can't see anything,' shouted Gus.

Chas kept quiet and stayed completely still. They all watched as he swung his first spear through the air, immediately followed by the second resulting in two huge bats being knocked to the ground.

'Throw them in the fire and keep quiet,' he whispered.

Kyle and Bret in turn did this and again complete silence was interrupted by the swoosh noise that was made as the sticks travelled through the air. Two more were hit down and again thrown into the fire. But then Chas had not a seconds break as more came flying down.

'Everyone, get down and cover your faces!' he calmly commanded.

They all did as was asked and left him totally alone slamming the two spears through the air. Kyle had managed to get into a position where he could watch all the action. He was totally amazed as he watched Chas swinging these sticks through the air like some sort of martial arts expert. Bats were falling to the floor in drones and Chas was there casually kicking a few into the fire. As the noise of the flapping wings became louder and louder, it got to a deafening point and then instantly stopped and the bats were gone.

'Okay everyone, they're gone.'

They were all speechless and started picking up the bats from the ground and throwing them into the fire. The ground was covered in the dead attackers and they could not move without stepping on one of the miniature vampires.

'Is everybody okay?'

'We are all fine Chas, thanks to you,' said Marianne.

'You don't look so hot. You're cut all over the place,' pointed out Kyle.

'I'll be alright.'

'I don't know why I'm going to ask this question but I will anyway. How did you do that?' asked Bret.

'To be honest with you mate, I don't really know. All I can tell you is that when they came flying towards us I could sense exactly where they were.'

'You mean by the sound,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, I think so.'

'First it was your eyes and now your ears. It's like your special skills are two of the five senses,' said Kyle.

'Maybe that's it.'

'Well, I think I might have one of those special senses. The sense of smell because these burning bats are smelly,' joked Bret.

'No, I do not think so because they smell pretty bad to me as well,' agreed Marianne.

'Anyway, I think that's enough excitement for one day. Shall we try and get some sleep?' said Chas.

'Good idea, see you tomorrow,' said Gus.

Various goodnight wishes were exchanged.

'Sleep tight, don't let the flying bats bite,' said Gus.

'Shut up.'

'Well said, Hannah,' agreed Marianne.

Chapter 28

**Y** et again, everyone had another bad night's sleep with the constant threat of another bat attack. As it was starting to get light it was becoming very evident that the cut on Hannah's face was quite deep, but was thankfully not bleeding anymore. Chas looked like Freddy Kruger had attacked him; with his t shirt having slice marks from front to back. The cuts were very visible through the open material, but he made no issue about it, even though it must've been stinging like hell.

'If you're all ready, we'd better start making tracks. I want to get to that graveyard before it gets dark,' said Kyle.

'I agree. Especially when you don't know how many full moons they have in this month,' added Marianne.

'Are you serious?'

'Afraid so Hannah, we need to get there in daylight.'

'So let's stop sitting around here and get a move on,' shouted Bret.

They picked up their few belongings and as always fell behind Kyle, who seemed to enjoy the role of leader.

After a couple of hours and a lot of anxious faces, they finally found the small cemetery.

'So now that we're here, what do we have to do?' asked Bret.

'It's simple. We're going to take the spears off of you and one by one hammer them into each grave, straight through their hearts,' said Kyle.

'Will that stop them chasing us?'

'I hope so, Hannah,' he replied.

Hannah took off her spears and along with Bret threw them over to the others. The lads unstrapped the axes and took hold of a spear each.

'Where abouts should we knock them down?' asked Gus.

'About half a metre down from the headstone.'

Bret went over to Chas and told him to take a rest, which he strongly objected to, knowing Bret's reasoning behind this; he sat and rested his aching body.

'Okay lads, after three,' shouted Gus.

All three of them were in position, with the stake pointing straight down into the soil. As expected the ground was very soft, knowing full well that it hadn't been many days previous that some of them had watched bodies crawling out from the ground below.

Once each of them had hit it completely in, they each moved to the next grave.

'Are you sure they're going in deep enough?' asked Gus.

'Yes, they are.'

'How do you know for sure Marianne?' asked Chas.

'Because I was here and have seen these come out of the ground. The bodies were not that deep, I am positive.'

'Okay, I believe you, sorry.'

It didn't take long before all the grave dwellers had had a stake rammed through their chests. The boys were proud of themselves and firmly marched off towards the village, going via the lake.

'Are we going to paddle across the lake Kyle?' asked Bret.

'We'll see if there're any boats first. If so, yeah maybe we should. How many spears have we got left you two?'

'Wait a minute, I'll count them. One, two, seven, I've got seven,' said Hannah.

'And four longer ones,' said Bret.

'That's not many, is it?' said Gus.

'Maybe we should walk around the lake. You know, the element of surprise,' suggested Chas.

'Surely if we arrived by boat or on foot they're both going to be the element of surprise. What people in their right minds would go back to a place knowing that there is a high potential for getting boiled to death,' shouted out a very anxious sounding Gus.

'Yeah, you're probably right,' agreed Kyle.

Everybody was sort of in agreement and carried on walking, and walking.

'Are you sure we're going the right way?' asked Bret, whose feet were beginning to hurt again.

'Yeah, because the sun's behind us and we're doing exactly the same route, just in reverse,' explained a very confident Kyle.

'But if you look over there, doesn't that look a lot like the edge of the volcano.'

'Where are you looking Bret?'

'Over there Kyle.'

Kyle looked over and was in agreement. It was the area of trees by the edge of the huge crater in the ground.

'How do you know that it's the same place?' asked a bewildered Hannah.

'If you look behind the trees, up in the sky, you can see a thick trail of smoke. This is coming from the base,' said Bret.

'Yeah, but those trees were smouldering bare trees. These look pretty green and healthy to me,' Gus observed.

'So where is the lake and village?' asked a very confused Kyle.

'The game's just changed the sequence of events, so as to catch us unaware,' said Chas.

'Can it do that?' asked Hannah.

'It can do anything it wants to,' shouted an irritated Bret.

'So what have we got to expect now?' asked Marianne.

'Who knows? All I know is that the last time I melted my shoes to my feet and I'm not letting that happen again,' shouted Bret.

'Even if we were to let it happen, which we won't, it wouldn't happen anyway,' explained Gus.

'What is that meant to mean?' questioned Bret.

'It's simple. You've got no shoes to melt,' calmly answered Gus, before giving out a wide grin.

Bret found the funny side along with everyone else and Hannah kindly offered her sandals, which he honourably turned down.

As they approached the outer rim of the volcano the heat was already beginning to feel quite intense. Dusk was fast approaching and they settled down in amongst the area of green trees.

'Well, it's certainly different from last night,' said Kyle.

'We won't be needing a fire, that's for sure, so I'm afraid your cuddle's going to have to wait a bit longer Hannah,' said Gus.

'Oh dear that's a pity, but I think I'll manage,' she replied.

As soon as she'd said this, the smiles were quickly wiped from their faces when the ground below them started shaking.

'Earthquake! Earthquake! Run!' screamed out Kyle.

'Which way?'

'This way,' shrieked Hannah.

'Why that way?' yelled Gus.

'Because look behind you,' she shouted.

As they turned to look, they saw the earth breaking apart and trees were falling down between the gaps. The gap was getting wider and rapidly making its way in their direction. All around them new gaps were appearing, causing them to continually change their direction.

Bret was the most scared of all. He was not as quick to keep up and quickly started to lag behind. On realising this Gus slowed down and waited.

'I told you I'd help,' gasped Gus.

'It's my feet mate, they're killing me,' he shouted back.

Because they were both falling behind Gus got Bret to jump on his back, so that they could be quicker and hopefully catch the others up. Bret was hanging for dear life, as Gus kept changing his way, so as to jump over the narrowest gaps he could find. He was doing a great job and was managing to clear gaps of anything up to a metre and a half. He was well aware that anything wider would be impossible.

The group ahead of them were continually looking back, but were waved on by a manic Gus. Gus had noticed that the gaps in the ground were moving away from the direction that they were all running and that the others were almost safe. Just three or four more jumps and Bret and himself would be relatively safe.

He cleared the next two jumps easily. Gus went to jump the next, but caught his foot on a protruding rock and lost most of his forward momentum.

'No, he's not going to make it. I'm going back to help,' shouted Kyle.

'Me too.'

Kyle and Chas headed back and watched as they jumped the widening gap and fell short. There immediate thoughts were that they had perished down into the bottomless pit, but on quickly noticing some hands hanging desperately on the edge, ran over to them.

'Hi there guys. I'm in a bit of trouble,' joked a physically shaking Gus, as he was hanging on the edge of the fissure, with a silent Bret, his arms clasped around Gus's neck.

'Give us one of your hands Bret,' shouted Kyle.

'Listen to us. We need one of your hands mate,' reiterated Chas.

'Yeah, go on mate. Help me out here. I can't hold on much longer,' demanded a calm Gus.

Very slowly Bret unclasped one hand and Chas grabbed hold of it.

'I've got you, now just let us get hold of the other and we can pull you up,' said Chas.

He did this and was pulled up to safety. They laid him down and then lifted Gus to safety.

'Well-done mate, you deserve a medal,' said Kyle.

'Can the medal be Hannah?'

'I don't know Gus, you'd better ask her.'

'We'd better go over and join them. It'll be a lot safer,' suggested Chas.

They lifted Bret to his feet and he went over to Gus and gave him a big hug.

'You saved my life again. Thanks.'

'Watch it!' screamed Chas.

It was too late. He was gone. Gus looked as Bret descended down the gap until eventually he was out of sight.

'Gus, he stumbled and fell. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident,' explained Kyle.

'I should've saved him.'

'You did, but maybe it was just time for him to leave this adventure. He might re-join the game with his mate Jake,' explained Kyle.

'Yeah, maybe you're right. See you in the real world mate,' he said, looking down the bottomless gap.

'C'mon mate, let's go and join the girls. Remember, we've still got a game to win!'

'Too right we have Kyle.'

They slowly walked back over to the others and Gus was consoled by both Hannah and Marianne, which made him feel a bit better.

'So where now, our intrepid leader?' asked Gus.

There was no response.

'Hey, leader boy Kyle, where next?' he asked again.

'I don't know. If the rules have changed then our plan has to, as well,' explained Kyle.

'Don't we need to head to the village and then back through the mountains and back to where we started, by the dragons and then back to the port. It's just as easy as that,' joked Gus.

'Well, I have nothing better to suggest, so let's try and find the village. Has anyone else got any other suggestions?' asked Kyle.

Everybody either shook their heads or hunched their shoulders, telling him that they didn't.

'Right then, let's go and find that lake.'

'Just lead the way and we'll follow you,' said Chas.

Kyle headed off in the direction of the volcano, but taking a longer diverted route around, away from all the numerous gaps that had been caused earlier. It was a very arduous walk and they were all on edge, not knowing what was going to hit them next.

As they got to the side of the volcano, Chas was the first to spot something in the distance.

'There it is! It's over there!' he shouted.

'Where are you looking, Chas?' asked Hannah.

'Down there, past that barren area and down past the hill.'

'I can't see anything, but I'll go with you,' said Kyle.

Both of the girls looked a bit confused. All they could see was nothing but flat dead land and no hint of water. Kyle and Gus explained about Chas's amazing eyes. Chas added that he could also hear the sound of running water.

They didn't know what to believe, but agreed to follow them, seeing that both Kyle and Gus were one hundred percent in agreement with their best mate.

'Take your position at the front of the line,' instructed Kyle.

Chas ambled his way to the front, not caring either way about his new role of responsibility.

The walk towards the lake was a long tiring affair, but there was a welcome break when a small stream was spotted. This was a great relief to both Chas and Hannah, who could bathe their cuts in the cool water.

All of them replenished their thirst and the water bottles were refilled. Some more antiseptic cream was gently massaged into the clean wounds, which was a special treat for Chas, as his nurse was Marianne.

Kyle had disappeared, unbeknown to the others, and had climbed up to the top of a large hill.

'Chas, can you get up here mate? I want you to confirm something,' he shouted.

Chas was secretly annoyed, having to leave the tender care session, but struggled all the same to join Kyle at the top.

'What did you drag me up here for?'

'Look and follow that river and tell me where it goes.'

Chas looked and followed the meandering path of the water.

'What do you think?' asked Kyle.

'I think it's possible to wade or swim down the river and come out over by the hill. Then we would be closer to that area, just in front of the lake.'

'I can't see all that, but I definitely thought it might be an easier way there, plus Gus can help us swim down.'

'Good idea Kyle. Can I get back to my massage now?'

'Course you can, you pervert.'

They made their way back down the hill and told the others their plan. As per usual, there were no complaints from the others and Gus even suggested towing them downstream, which meant one less question for Kyle to ask.

They slowly lowered themselves into the water and gently followed Gus. The current from the water was quite weak, so it was an enjoyable time, as they slowly went around the numerous bends.

As the journey took them further downstream, Kyle was starting to see more and more rubbish floating by the riverbanks.

'Can we stop here for a minute Gus? I've got an idea that I want to share with you.'

They all got out of the water and sat on the bank, waiting for Kyle to begin.

'Okay, here goes. When we get further downstream we're going to be at the top of a huge hill, overlooking the lake.'

'Hopefully,' added Chas.

'Yeah hopefully. If we are, then we've got a long walk down a gradually sloping hill to get there.'

'Get to the point Kyle!' shouted Gus.

'Sorry, I've noticed floating in the water are various pieces of debris, including some oil barrels, wood and lots of discarded rope,' Kyle pointed out in an excited tone.

'And what are you going to miraculously make out of these things. A plane or hovercraft?' mocked Gus.

'No, a sort of go-cart.'

Kyle was the only one at this stage who was not in fits of laughter.

'Hear me out before you take the mick,' yelled Kyle.

'Go on, explain it a bit more,' said Chas.

'Okay, first we collect two of the barrels, which will be the front and back wheels. We can smash a way through the centre on each side of the barrel using the axes. Then we push through a long piece of wood, which will be the centre spindle.'

'Hang on, this is going to look like that contraption out of The Flintstones,' Gus pointed out.

'Yeah, I can see it now,' added Hannah.

Most were now seeing the picture and were pretty convinced so didn't need to hear any further explanations from Kyle. Chas was already in the water and was soon tossing out two oil barrels. Gus had collected varying sizes of wood and Marianne had picked up the lengths of rope.

It was now all on the side of the bank and just needed to be assembled.

'Before we do this, let's have a joint,' suggested Gus.

'Do you not think it is going to be difficult smoking wet joints that will not light because of no gas,' said Marianne.

'No, not really. Firstly the joints are always kept in this amazing polythene bag, which keeps them totally dry and secondly, we have Hannah who can do that fire starting trick.'

'I don't know if I can do that again.'

'Course you can,' convinced Chas, who was well up for a bit of a smoke.

'I'll give it a go.'

Gus took out the joint and put it in his mouth. As he was doing this, Hannah was deep in thought and it didn't take long before Gus was inhaling as it sparked to life with a glowing red end.

'That's a wicked gift Hannah,' he shouted.

'Hannah! Wake up,' said Marianne.

'Did it work?'

'It certainly did. Have a good suck on this?' said Gus, as he passed her the miracle joint.

'I don't want to be the killjoy, but are we going to be able to build this stoned?' asked Kyle.

'I don't know and I don't care,' laughed Hannah.

'Give me that here.'

Kyle was passed the joint, took three long drags on it, passed it to Chas, who did the same. Five minutes later they were all laid on the floor, stoned out of their heads.

'Maybe we'll build the Flintstone mobile tomorrow, eh Fred?' giggled Gus.

'Okay Barney,' replied Kyle, which set everybody into hysterical laughter.

Chapter 29

' **S** o c'mon then sleepy head, how do we go about building this thing?' asked Chas, as he shook Kyle until he finally woke up.

As he rolled over and opened his eyes, everybody else was already awake and milling around achieving nothing.

'We were hoping to have it ready for when you finally woke up, but to be totally honest with you, none of us have a clue what you were going on about last night,' said Gus.

'Is it the next day already?'

'Yeah Kyle, you were out of it, weren't you?' said Chas.

'I don't really remember much,' he had to confess.

'We were all the same, but not quite like you,' said Marianne.

'Let's forget about all that and get on with building this contraption, yeah? Or is it Yaba Daba Do!' yelled Chas.

'First thing we need to do is to axe a hole in each side of the barrel,' explained Kyle.

'Does it have to be in the centre?'

'Yeah, of course it does Gus. Think of it as a very large cotton reel and you're making the hole for the centre spindle.'

'Aargh right. I've got you.'

Gus picked up his axe and went over to the back ordering Chas to go with him.

'Copy what I'm doing Chas.'

Chas watched Gus and copied his actions. Kyle was busy sorting out the wood and Hannah and Marianne were untangling the rope. Kyle picked up two pieces of wood and went over to join Chas and Gus.

'You're going to have to make the holes just a little bigger, so that we can thread this through so that it will be able to turn easily.'

Chas and Gus didn't say a word and did just as Kyle had asked. Once they'd finished, they threaded the wooden stick through the centre and rolled the barrels over to Kyle.

'The wheels are finished. Great, now all we need is the centre part, which is where we'll sit,' said Kyle.

The next two lengths of wood were for the sidepiece and these were put on top of the protruding centre spindle. They were then lashed together with the rope. After this was completed, they fixed the cross members, making the decking to sit on.

It hadn't taken them anytime at all and it was ready.

'I don't mean to pick fault with this because it is great, but how do we steer it?' asked Chas.

'We don't. We just go straight down. When we're up at the top of the hill, we'll point it in the general direction of the lake and go,' explained Kyle.

'I have a suggestion,' shouted Hannah.

'Yeah, go on then,' snapped Kyle.

'Can't we get some more sticks and if we need to turn a little bit, we put the sticks into the ground.'

'You mean a bit like if you want to turn a boat, you drag your oar in the water,' said Gus.

'Yeah, but the water is a bit different to the earth,' Kyle pointed out.

'I know that, but surely the friction from the wood would help turn it,' she said.

'I suppose so,' agreed Kyle.

'For the sake of all having one piece of wood, I think we might as well give it a try. We have got nothing to lose,' said Marianne.

It was all agreed, so the extra pieces were found and put on the new mobile, which was then lifted into the water. They slowly swam in the river, each manning a corner with Gus at the front dragging it along.

They encountered a few problems as they went down river. The main one was trying to keep the holes in the side of the barrels above water to stop them filling with water and sinking. After stopping a few times to empty them out, they finally made it to the brow of the hill. They lifted it out of the water, emptied out the barrels one last time and pushed it to its starting position, facing in the general direction of the lake. As they all studied the gently falling hillside, Hannah was the first to point out the obvious mounds standing out all down the hillside.

'What are all those things sticking out of the ground?'

'Good job we thought about the lack of steering problem eh,' joked Gus, knowing full well what they were.

'They're sort of termite mounds,' said Chas sheepishly.

'And these, how did you say it, termite mounds, must've been pretty visible when you looked over here, eh Chas. Especially with your amazing eyesight,' shouted Kyle.

'Yeah, I can see them, but I didn't want to burst your bubble.'

'What is he going on about?' snapped Hannah.

'The simple fact is that there is a high chance that this whole area is very active with giant killer ants,' shouted Gus.

'And if they spit on you it'll melt whatever it lands on. It's an acid,' added Chas.

'What are we going to do now?' asked Marianne.

'We have no choice, but to go this way. We'll just have to be ready to steer out of the way of them, plus you'd better be a good shot with that bow and arrow,' said Kyle, putting all the pressure on Hannah.

Hannah remained silent, knowing damn well that she'd never even fired one before.

Before anybody had any more time to think about the situation, Chas had already gone over to their new mode of transport and was raring to go, or so it looked.

Hannah was given centre spot, armed with her bow and arrow, with Marianne and Gus in front of her. Marianne was on the left and Gus on the right.

'Before we do this could I just do one thing?' shyly asked Hannah.

'Yeah sure,' said Kyle.

'Fire one of these arrows,' she replied.

'Good idea, get you back into the swing of things yeah.'

'Yeah, I guess so Gus.'

She took out an arrow and put the bow onto her shoulder. She aimed for a tree on the top of the nearby hill, pulled back the string and fired.

'Bingo!' shouted Chas.

'Great hit!' added Kyle.

She looked and saw the arrow had impaled itself straight into the centre of a tree trunk. She looked quite happy, which was a great act, as she'd aimed for a completely different tree.

Everyone was ecstatic, so she kept it to herself hoping that the ants were so huge, there would be more to hit.

Sensing that Hannah had missed her target tree, Marianne got out her catapult and put the stones at hand, telling them all that she was going to give a helping hand. This of course meant that most of the steering would be left to the boys.

'Okay, are we ready for this?' shouted Chas, as he stood at the back, ready to give it a push.

'I am ready, I think,' said Marianne, with her catapult ready.

'Yeah, let's go for it,' shouted Gus, with a firm grip on his stick.

'Are you ready Hannah?'

'Yeah Chas,' pulling back her bow with the arrow in position.

'That just leaves you Kyle.'

'Push away mate.'

'Here goes. One, two, three and push!' he shouted, as he pushed with all his strength.

It started to slowly move and when he thought it was quick enough, he jumped on the back, took his position and grabbed for his stick.

The invention seemed to be working well and was already building up speed. As it clattered down the hill, it continually encountered small bumps, which was making it difficult to keep straight. They could all see a smallish mound fast approaching straight ahead.

'Dig in lads. Sticks down on the right!' shouted Chas.

Gus, ahead of him slammed his stick down into the dust, followed by Chas and then Kyle, who was leaning over the back.

'Harder!' yelled Chas.

It was having very little effect and the mound was getting closer.

'Bump ahead! We'll do it then. Get ready. Now!' shouted Gus.

As the vehicle left the ground, all three of them smashed their sticks into the ground causing it to turn. As they landed, they could see they had changed direction and would miss the mound.

A sombre cheer was given by all, knowing that this was only the start.

'Again now!' Gus screamed out, as he could see the sand falling away to the right side of them.

'Get ready girls, on your right,' shouted Gus.

As the sand was rapidly falling away, the familiar high pitched noise was getting louder.

Hannah was the first to see its head and fired off an arrow, straight into its skull.

'Yes!' she screamed out.

The noise was getting more deafening by the second and Gus had to scream out so as to be heard.

'Second mound approaching,' he yelled out.

Both Chas and Kyle had seen it and were already slamming their sticks into the ground.

'One straight ahead,' yelled Marianne.

She pulled back her catapult and fired. It hit the ant in its eye, causing it to scream out and go back below ground.

'Over there,' shouted Gus.

Hannah was on the case and fired off her second arrow.

'Bulls eye baby!' shouted Gus.

As the boys shouted out instructions and warnings to each other, they managed to negotiate their way around the next couple of mounds.

The lake was fast approaching, but the number of ants was increasing and they were already out of the ground.

Marianne slammed another stone directly into the face of an ant, killing it, but not before it spat out the rancid smelling liquid. It marginally missed them all, but some had landed onto the front drum, and was rapidly eating away at the metal.

'We're going to have to get a move on. It won't be long before that front drum falls apart,' yelled Kyle.

They all looked and saw a hole had already appeared.

'One final surge. C'mon lads,' said Gus.

They all dug in and the three lads negotiated their way around the remaining mounds and watched in awe as both Marianne and Hannah single handily destroyed the rest of the ants, with fantastic firing.

'This isn't going to last much longer,' warned Gus, as the front drum was been held together by the tiniest piece of metal.

'I think we're going to have to bail,' shouted Kyle.

It was too late and immediately after Kyle's warning, the front drum broke apart, which caused the front of the mobile to crash down to the ground, with the wheel axle instantly burying itself. This caused the complete thing to flick over taking Kyle and Chas with it, sending them hurtling through the air towards the dark muddy lake.

'That was a lucky landing eh Chas?' said Kyle.

'You'll have to remind me what the word lucky means.'

Marianne and Hannah had by now lifted themselves to their feet, but Gus still hadn't moved.

As the two began to swim back to the bank, the girls went over to see Gus. They lifted him up and he was grabbing hold of his arm. He instantly looked for both Kyle and Chas and shouted out. 'Watch it!' and then promptly passed out.

Hannah and Marianne turned around and ran over to pick up their weapons.

'Dive below the water, now!' yelled Marianne.

They did as instructed and both Kyle and Chas heard as arrows and stones went firing through the water. They came back up and frantically swam to the edge as the water around them changing to a muddy red colour.

None of them knew if it was their blood or something else's. They were helped out by the girls and then ran over to help Gus.

His t shirt was completely blood red and sticking out of his arm was a piece of metal, which must've ripped off of the front drum.

Gus was semi-conscious and Kyle opened his mouth just wide enough to stick in a small piece of wood.

'This is going to hurt mate, bite hard,' Kyle said calmly.

When he felt the teeth clench onto the wood, he pulled out the piece of metal, leaving a deep open gash.

'You'll be okay mate. Just another scar to add to your body.'

'Is Chas okay?'

'I'm fine mate, thanks to you.'

'We need to put something around his arm. Anybody got any suggestions. Something that we can make tight,' said Kyle.

'How about my bikini top? It's not the cleanest thing, but it's certainly cleaner than any of our tops,' said Hannah.

As she unclipped it and pulled it from underneath her top, everyone had noticed a slight smile forming on Gus's face.

'If you'd only said that I had to cut my arm in order to get you to take off your bikini top, I'd have done it a lot sooner,' joked Gus.

'Even in a time of pain, you still manage to make some smutty comment. Great work mate,' said Chas.

The bikini top was wrapped tightly around Gus's upper arm and secured with the clips. They left Gus to fall asleep and went over to the lake.

'So what did Gus see?' asked Kyle.

'Let's just say, he saved your lives,' said Hannah.

'Yes, when he shouted out, we looked over at you two and saw that there were two massive crocs a couple of metres behind you,' said Marianne.

'Woah,' said Kyle.

'Yes, it is true. That is why we told you to dive down, so that you were not blocking our shot,' explained Marianne.

'So we not only have Gus to thank for saving our lives, but both of you as well. And there's me thinking we were lucky to have landed in the lake. Thank you,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, that goes for me too.'

'That is okay, soon it will be payback time,' joked Marianne.

'Yeah, but we'll wait until we think of a good one, eh,' said Hannah.

Chapter 30

**T** hey left Gus sleeping for a couple of hours while they talked about the next part of the adventure. Hannah went off with Chas to get some more arrows and Kyle helped Marianne replenish her dwindling stone supply. The noise coming from the axe, followed by the cracking of the branches was enough to awaken Gus. He looked around and couldn't see anybody and had a horrible thought that they might've left him. This thought soon disappeared as he spotted Chas carrying back a load of branches balanced on his shoulders.

'Did you think we'd left you to be eaten by the cannibals?' Chas shouted.

'Hey, good to have you back with us Gus. How's your arm?' asked Hannah, who was right behind Chas.

'It's a bit sore, but I was thinking of accidentally cutting my other arm so I could possibly have your bikini bottoms. What do you think?'

'Don't push your luck,' joked Hannah.

'Seems like you're fine to me mate,' replied Chas.

'Good, Sleeping Beauty's awake,' shouted Kyle, as he came back with Marianne. 'How are you feeling mate?'

'I was just telling them that maybe I,' he paused for a moment and then continued. 'Maybe I should shut up and I'm fine mate, thanks.'

Marianne went over to check on Gus, which made him feel a bit weird, with everyone concerned about him.

'When are we going to head off to the village then?' shouted Gus, desperately trying to take the centre of attention away from himself and his arm.

'I think before we do that, we should all say a big thank you for Kyle's invention, which did the job and got us through it, almost totally unhurt,' said Marianne.

'Yeah, you're right. Great work mate. Good job you chose the building option as your skill,' said Chas.

'Certainly better than that shelter you made on the beach,' added Gus.

'Hang on a minute. I can't be blamed for bad workmanship on that shelter. I wasn't really anticipating a couple of dragons smashing through it.'

'I was only joking. The Flintstones mobile was great work and we would've never got through all those ants, which Chas conveniently forgot to tell us about, didn't you Chas?'

Chas ducked his head down.

'So what I'm trying to say is that it saved our lives, but of course, not forgetting that I saved yours, so we're equal,' said Gus.

'Thanks, I think,' said Kyle.

'You lot are totally unbelievable. It is like you do not actually like each other,' Marianne said.

'We don't,' shouted Chas.

'It's what you call banter and we've known each other so long that we've become very good at it,' explained Kyle.

'It must be time to go. C'mon you lot,' said Gus.

'What about my arrows?' said a concerned Hannah, looking over at the broken tree branches on the floor.

'Oops I forgot about them,' said Chas.

They all went over and Chas smashed through the branches and passed the metre-long branches to Kyle, who chopped the ends to a point. Hannah took these off Kyle and made a little cut across the other end, so that the rope from the bow would slide nicely in there. Marianne decided to do a few repairs to her catapult and Gus was deep in thought. The arrows were shortly finished and tied together.

'Stop dreaming and get back to reality,' said Chas.

'Gus, get back here from wherever you are mate,' said Kyle.

'Sorry, I was miles away.'

'Where?'

'Thinking of a way to get all those villagers. They're not boiling me again. I think I've thought of a way, but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to do a bit more planning before I let you know,' said Gus.

'He's our trap man,' explained Kyle.

'I was wondering what his special skill was, other than how to charm the ladies and of course the swimming,' said Marianne.

'That's a point. If what you said is true and that we are getting two special skills, then you must've had both of yours Gus,' said Kyle.

'I've never thought of that. That means I've got no more to come.'

'Me neither,' pointed out Hannah.

'Oh yeah, you've got that fire thing and now the amazing archery skills. The new Robina Hood,' said Gus.

'I've had both of mine as well. Seeing and hearing,' said a disappointed Chas.

'So that just leaves one more for you and Marianne,' said Gus.

'I suppose so,' said Kyle.

They all got up and walked towards the lake.

'I take it we're walking around. You don't fancy swimming across or going in a boat,' Gus said.

'Swimming, not a chance, especially as it's full of crocs and who knows what else. And going in a boat, I don't fancy that either, plus I can't even see any around here. I think walking is good,' said Kyle.

They knew that this was going to be the longer option, but hopefully the safer one. Just as before, the trees were decorated with voodoo stuff, including the standard headless dolls, different coloured wool and wooden and plastic crosses of varying sizes.

The walk around the lake was uneventful and they were soon close enough to the village to hear some activity coming from the main square.

'I think we should stop here. I need to go into that temple again,' said Gus.

'What for?'

'I need to look around Kyle and don't worry, I won't take anything and I mean it.'

'Alright, but I think we should move away from the water's edge, if we're staying here tonight,' suggested Kyle.

They all moved deeper into the trees and sat in silence until the sun began to fall.

'Wait here. I'll be back soon.'

'What do you mean, wait here? We're coming with you.'

'No you're not Chas. I need to do this on my own, plus I know what I'm doing and isn't there that saying, too many cooks spoil the broth, or something like that.'

'Yeah, okay, but don't become part of the broth eh.'

'Don't worry, I'll be fine. All I need is some lengths of vine and your bag please Marianne.'

'No problem Gus, I'll empty it now.'

'And I'll go and get some vine.'

With that Chas took hold of an axe and shimmed up one of the nearby trees.

'How does he do that?' asked Hannah.

'It must have been one of his skills,' said Marianne.

'But then that would mean that he's got three.'

'Yeah you're right! Anyway, it doesn't matter. More the merrier as they say,' said Kyle.

'Maybe I'll get another skill then,' asked Gus.

'A fantastic lover eh,' joked Marianne.

'I'm already that darling. Do you fancy a bit of rough and tumble before I go?'

'No, I have got a headache darling.'

'And before you even think about it, no I'm not being second choice,' added Hannah.

As Chas returned with the vine, everyone was quietly laughing to themselves.

'What's so funny?'

'Nothing, just Gus and his male ego,' said Marianne.

'Anyone for a snack?' asked Chas, as he lifted up a green bunch of bananas, which made everybody laugh again. Again Chas didn't understand but, was told later.

Gus put the vine into the bag and said his goodbyes and told them that he'd hopefully be back pretty soon.

He put the bag on his back and quietly crept off towards the village. It was just starting to get dark and he'd decided to avoid the easier path around the water's edge. This was making it harder work and he continually kept tripping over things, due to the ever reducing light.

He finally made it to the edge of the village and saw the locals all around the fire singing and chanting. On top of the fire was the familiar golden bowl, which made him hesitate a bit. As he watched on, it almost felt like déjà vous as the exact same routine was being carried out to a tee. He felt that this was the ideal time to head towards the temple.

He carefully picked a safe path and on seeing one of the big doors slightly ajar he made his move and sprinted in, totally undetected. Once inside he ran to a safe corner crouched down behind a big Buddha and unpacked his bag. He still wasn't totally sure on how he was going to pull this off, but the way he'd remembered the inside was almost exactly as he was seeing it now.

Directly above where the pot would've been was a small hole situated at the peak of the coned roof. He thought that this was probably a means of ventilating the place when they cooked inside. Either side of the hole were huge wooden beams.

He took the vines and tied them together to make one long piece. Gus then went over and took one of the gold artefacts, which resembled some sort of candlestick. He tied one end of the vine around this and threw it towards one of the wooden supports, high in the roof. After numerous failed attempts he finally hit the jackpot and sent the vine, complete with the weighted candlestick down the other side of the beam. There was enough length on the vine for it to fall to the ground. He carefully untied it and carefully put the candlestick back where it belonged.

'Do you need some help?'

'Wow! You almost scared me to death. What are you doing here?'

'I couldn't sit back there just picking my nose.'

'Has anyone else come?'

'Chas wanted to, but I persuaded him to stay with the girls.'

'I'm sure that wasn't too hard, the lucky sod.'

'Anyway, what's the plan here?'

'I won't explain now, because I'm not totally sure myself. I need to climb up the vine and have a look on the roof,' explained Gus.

'I can do that, as I am the climber, plus your arm's badly cut up, not to mention you're missing a few fingers.'

'Okay Kyle. You climb up and then tell me what's up there.'

Kyle grabbed hold of the two lengths of vine and wrapped them around his ankle. As he climbed up the vine majestically slipped gently around his ankle, but also locking tight when he put his weight on it, enabling him to have a short break.

It didn't take long to get up to the top and he was perched on one of the wooden supports.

'What now?' he whispered.

'Can you stand up and go through the hole on to the roof?'

He nodded and carefully stood up and slowly peeked his head through the hole. As he turned around Gus suddenly saw him flinch.

'What's up?' he asked, thinking that Kyle had been spotted.

'There's a big Buddha thing up here, next to this hole. It made me jump.'

'Yes, fantastic! At last, I've been dealt an ace.'

'What was that?' asked Kyle.

'Nothing mate. My plan is starting to fall into place. Can you pull up on the vine? We need one end to stay here and the other up there.'

As Kyle was pulling it up Gus made a circle with the other end and tied a slipknot around itself.

'What do you want me to do with this vine?'

'Tie it around that Buddha and just leave enough hanging down, so that this circle down here is flat on the floor,' explained Gus.

'I'll untie the surplus lengths and throw them back to you.'

'Yeah, good idea,' agreed Gus.

Once Kyle had finished, he threw down the vine and Gus put it back into the bag.

'Do you want me to come back down yet?'

'No mate, just one more thing. How big is that Buddha?' asked Gus.

'Hang on a sec. Erm, about one metre. Why?'

'So it must be pretty heavy. Say more than the weight of three adults.'

'I guess so, why, what are you thinking?' asked a very curious Kyle.

'Bare with me a minute. Could you move it? Say, push it over so that it falls down the roof.'

'I doubt it. Let me see if I can move it.'

He stood by the side of the Buddha and began to push on the shoulders, knowing that the head was very sacred. It didn't budge. He tried again until finally it tipped up a bit.

'I've got it to move, but I need something to wedge under it,' said Kyle.

'What about a bronze candlestick?'

'Yeah, that might do.'

Gus went off and took hold of the same candlestick that he'd used earlier. He went back over to the rope and pulled the slipknot until it was tight around it.

Kyle slowly pulled it up, untied it and let the vine back down. As Gus got the candlestick he'd noticed a couple of spears. While Kyle was wedging the candlestick underneath the base of the Buddha, Gus went and grabbed them.

'Okay, it's done,' said Kyle.

'How about these two spears? You could use them as a lever. Put them together so that they're strong enough. What do you think?'

'Sounds good Gus. Tie them to the vine and I'll pull them up.'

He pulled them up and laid them carefully by the side of the Buddha.

'You can come back down now mate.'

Kyle slowly slid back down the vine and the circle was re-formed on the ground.

'Are you going to tell me this plan or what?' asked a still very confused Kyle.

'Let's get out of here first and then I'll tell all of you. Let's grab two more spears and get back to the others.'

They quietly left the temple and walked around the edge of the village, totally undetected by the partying villagers. They made it back to where Chas, Hannah and Marianne were waiting.

'You seem to have been gone ages,' said Chas.

'Did you miss us?' joked Gus.

'Not a chance, especially as these fine two ladies have been entertaining me,' he replied.

'Well while you've been enjoying yourselves, we've set up a trap for those cannibals.'

'Great, how does it work?' asked Hannah.

'Yeah, c'mon what do we have to do?' asked Kyle.

'Why are you asking? I thought you were there with him,' said Marianne.

'I was, but I'm not sure what is going to happen.'

'It's very simple really. We get chased and run into the temple.'

'What a great plan Gus. We'll get caught,' said Chas.

'Wait and hear the rest. While some of us are getting chased Kyle will already be up on the roof of the temple. When everybody follows us inside, Chas can shut the doors using one of these, or even better, both spears, to jam it from the outside.'

'So we're inside the temple and Chas is safe outside and Kyle's on the roof,' mocked Hannah.

'It's really simple. In the centre of the temple I have laid a circle of vine on the ground. All we have to do is stand inside this, pull the vine up to our waist height and tighten the slipknot so that we're secure. Then, when the time comes I shout up to Kyle, who will lift us up through the hole at the top, leaving them trapped below in their own temple,' proudly announced Gus.

'It sounds very easy, in fact too east, but they will just try to kill us,' said Marianne.

'No, they won't. You see, like last time what they wanted to do was boil you to death so they need you alive,' explained Kyle.

'Okay, but one last question. I know Kyle's a strong guy but he is never going to be able to lift three of us up and even if he could, he would not be quick enough, would you Kyle?'

'No, Marianne, but attached to the other end of the vine is a ridiculously heavy Buddha. I'm going to be up on the roof and when Gus gives me the signal, I'll push the Buddha over. This will cause it to go crashing down the steep sloping roof dragging you lot rapidly to the top.'

'This sounds good,' said Chas.

'It is good, because it's my plan,' said a chuffed Gus.

'So we are up at the top and they are down below. What are we going to do to them?' asked Marianne.

'This is where you come in Hannah. You can use that fire starting trick and burn all of them. When they are alight we just casually slide down the vine,' said Gus.

'Quite ironic really. The thing that they worship is going to be part of their own demise,' said Kyle.

'It sounds like a great plan to me. All we need to do is put it into action. When?' asked Chas.

'Tomorrow, first thing, so I suggest we get some sleep because we need to catch them before that pot is moved back inside the temple,' said Gus.

'Great work again there Gus,' said Chas.

'Yes, I am impressed,' agreed Marianne.

'Wow, was that a compliment?'

'Please do not get too carried away. The plan has not worked yet.'

'All we need is a little bit of faith, as George Michael once said. Now get some sleep,' were Gus's last words.

Chapter 31

' **T** ime to go everyone. I've already been down and checked out the village and it's already the hype of activity,' said Gus.

'Can I just have five minutes to wake myself up?'

'Yeah, go for it Chas. But we should be heading off in the next twenty minutes. Okay?'

They all agreed with Gus and as they were getting themselves ready, Gus explained the plan again. Time was finally up and he was anxiously hurrying them along.

Eventually they were all as ready as could be, so Gus led the way taking a similar route to the way he'd gone the previous night. They skirted by the edge of the village towards the temple. First they found a suitable hiding spot for Chas and made sure that he knew what he was meant to do and that he had the two spears ready. After bidding farewell to Chas, who received a couple of good luck kisses from the girls, they carefully made their way to the front of the temple. Thankfully the door was still open, so Kyle quickly entered, leaving the others to head back towards the village. They made it to a safe spot that was behind one of the houses overlooking the village centre.

'Wait here a minute, I've just got to go and get something.'

Before Hannah or Marianne had time to blink, Gus was off. He returned within a couple of minutes with a big grin on his face.

'Where did you have to rush off to in such a hurry?' asked Hannah.

'Party supplies!' he replied, showing them a large handful of joints.

'Oh great, and there's me thinking it was something important.'

'It is important when you plan to have a celebration party with no joints, especially as we don't have any alcohol either.'

'Yes, okay,' agreed Marianne.

'Back to the plan. What we have to do now is to get their attention, so that they start to chase us. Any ideas?' asked Gus.

'I thought this was your plan. What are you asking us for?' snapped Marianne.

'Yeah, it is, but all I was asking for was a few suggestions on how to get them inside the temple,' he replied back.

'How about I send a few rocks towards their heads? That should get their attention,' suggested Marianne.

'True, that should do the trick.'

'And I could fire some arrows,' added Hannah.

'How about you light the end of the spears and set a few houses on fire.'

'I'll try Gus.'

She took out a couple of arrows and concentrated until the ends started to glow red and finally were alight.

'Okay, are you two ready?' asked Gus.

'Ready as I'll ever be,' said Hannah.

'Yep!'

They moved away from behind the house and were on the far edge of the town centre, standing there still undetected. Hannah fired the first arrow, immediately followed by a second in the direction of two houses. She watched as they hit their target and caused the roofs to instantly ignite. The noise from the village became louder as people ran around looking for the culprits. While they were doing this, the women were anxiously trying to put out the fires, using the water from the lake.

It didn't take long before the three of them were spotted and an army of ferocious looking apes descended towards them. Marianne fired off a few rocks, which nicely smashed open a few heads.

'Time to make a move,' yelled Gus.

They turned around and followed him, as he sprinted towards the temple. Close behind were hundreds of villagers ranting out something and waving their spears about.

'Remember when we're in the temple, to get inside the rope,' gasped Gus.

'Yes, how much further?' questioned Marianne.

'Not far. You can see it, just over there.'

The angry people were getting closer and Gus was starting to doubt his plan.

'C'mon, let's give it one final sprint. We have to get into that temple.'

The girls didn't reply but responded with a quick burst of energy.

'Just a hundred metres more!'

They sprinted the final bit and went inside the temple. Gus pulled the door shut.

'What are you doing?'

'Don't worry Hannah it's just part of the plan. Get inside that rope and don't lift it up quite yet.'

Bang went the door as it was smashed open, fortunately, staying on its hinges. The group of angry men streamed in and surprisingly went and stood around the edges.

'It's like they're coming in to watch a play or something,' said Hannah.

'They are, but hopefully not a tragedy,' said Gus in a half joking voice.

The noise inside was deafening and was echoing around the walls. The villagers had completely filled it up and the three of them were completely surrounded, only a metre away from the fierce looking men.

Suddenly the noise stopped and the people slowly parted and made a clear walkway from the doorway straight to them.

'Oh no! It's him again.'

'Who, who is it Gus?' asked Hannah.

'He's the leader. He just doesn't seem to want to die, even when he's had a spear rammed into his throat. Plus a few stones from you, eh Marianne.'

'Yes, I remember.'

He walked up to them and Gus noticed that the doors at the back had been closed, hopefully by Chas.

'We're locked in,' he said.

'Great news, thanks for that Gus,' said Marianne.

The leader grabbed hold of Gus's hand and lifted it up. Everybody gave a noise of surprise, as they all witnessed his hand missing the fingers.

'I think he remembers me from last time,' said Gus, as he gave him a big wide smile.

'How's your throat? My friend did a good job. They told me all about it when I came back after you boiled me. Well, you won't be boiling me today. In fact, we have a surprise and a half for you.'

The leader had heard enough and promptly slammed his spear directly into Gus's foot, causing him to scream out, but still he continued. 'Yeah! You are all going to be nicely cooked,' he yelled.

Again the spear was rammed into the same spot. Gus screamed out again, fell to the floor and crouched down grabbing his foot.

'Now Kyle, now!' he yelled.

With that he threw a handful of sand into the leaders eyes, picked up the vine and put it around their waists. The slipknot tightened as the weight from the falling Buddha lifted them skywards towards the roof. Hannah even managed to fire off some arrows, one hitting the temporary blinded leader straight in the forehead, causing him to crash to the ground.

As they got to the top, the vine was removed and Marianne joined Kyle on the roof. As they climbed down the roof to go and join Chas, Gus was having great pleasure in watching the men frantically throwing their spears and trying to break down the door.

'Time to light the oven eh Hannah?'

She took out three of the arrows and went into deep concentration until they were burning nicely at the ends.

'Where do you want them?'

'Maybe one towards that wall. There's a wooden wall over there,' he told her.

The arrow went off and the wall blazed away.

'Excellent shooting squire. How about one over there, inside that big wooden chest?'

'You're enjoying this, aren't you?'

'Too right I am, Hannah. These animals have cut off my fingers, boiled me to death and rammed a spear through my foot. Yeah, I deserve the enjoyment.'

As he watched the chest on fire, he knew that they had to be quick with the final arrow as the place was already ablaze and it was rapidly descending towards the roof.

'For the final one, can you stick it straight into the leaders heart?'

He gladly watched as the arrow embedded itself into the already dead leader's heart, setting him alight.

'Get out now and I'll follow,' he said to Hannah.

As she climbed out he looked down at the screaming men and casually shouted, 'Happy cooking, men!'

With that he climbed out and single handily slid down the vine and joined his triumphant friends below.

They all met him with pats on his back and on seeing the new widows running towards the now visibly burning temple decided to make a hasty retreat.

Gus was lifted onto Chas's back and they headed off into the forest. They ran for a good ten minutes before Chas was pleading for everyone to stop for a bit of a breather.

'Time for a bit of a celebration, don't you think?' asked Gus, as he pulled out a joint.

'Yeah, but let's sort out your foot first. We need to put a bandage around it,' said Kyle, looking over at Hannah.

'No way, I'm not giving you my bottoms. You've already had my top. You'll have to make do with that,' said Hannah.

'We'll have to make our way back to that cave. There was fresh water in there, so we'll be able to bathe your wound and try and wash something to get it clean enough to use as a bandage,' said Kyle.

Gus had insisted on walking the rest of the way unassisted, which Chas was secretly pleased about. Kyle was well aware that all they needed to do was find the cave, avoid the bats and they would be back on the beach. Then they would be able to have the joint they'd decided not to smoke after all.

The problem was that Kyle didn't really know the way because of the constantly changing island, so needed some help from Chas. Finally after hours of walking, a hill was spotted, so they changed their direction slightly to meet with the hill.

The walk there was uneventful and it was a relief to them all when they finally reached the summit. The view from the top was spectacular, but was of no use to anybody, except Chas.

He slowly walked around every side and they could all see the frustration on his face.

'C'mon mate. Show us the way to go home dear, I'm tired and I want to have a sha, oops, sorry go to bed,' joked Gus.

'Just be quiet mate. I might be on to something.'

They all went silent.

'It's over there,' he pointed.

'How do you know that? I cannot see anything,' said Marianne.

'Neither can I,' admitted Chas.

'I'll ask a stupid question, but why are we going that way then?'

'I can hear something Marianne.'

'What, the noise of the cave? What does that sound like?' asked Kyle.

'Yeah, exactly. The noise of people who are screaming their heads off and the sound of flapping wings. Something like a bat,' explained Chas.

'The killer bats! The poor sods. I almost forgot about them,' said Gus.

'So now we're heading towards a cave full of bats. It's just getting better by the hour,' said Hannah, sarcastically.

'Yeah, but we'll be okay. Just don't light a torch or fire,' informed Kyle.

'Great, I can't wait. I suppose I'll lead the way then,' joked Chas.

They all got up again and climbed down the other side of the hill, meandered their way through the scrubland until finally Chas spotted the entrance to the cave.

'It's over there,' he said.

'How do you know that it is going to be the same one?' asked Marianne.

'We don't, but I'm guessing that it's the same,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, it certainly sounds right but that led out to the volcano, not here,' said Gus.

'I know but the scenery's changing, like with the earthquake. That wasn't right. It wasn't in the correct order. Let's just go in and see where we come out,' said Kyle.

'Seen as our options are less than zero I agree with you Kyle. What about you lot?' asked Gus.

They all gave a sort of half hearted nod of approval.

'Follow me then. From what I remember first, we'll have to climb down the side of the cave and at the bottom is a fresh water river. We'll be able to re-fill the water bottles and bathe our aches and pains,' said Kyle.

'That sounds nice,' said Gus.

'After that we'll have to swim underwater to the next pool, which is in the main cave.'

'Look, instead of explaining all this now Kyle, why don't we just tell them as and when it's necessary,' interrupted Gus.

He agreed and stomped off into the entrance. As Kyle was the most experienced climber, it only seemed natural that he was the one finding the easiest route down and instructing them on where to put their hands and feet.

Everybody made it down with relative ease and they were soon all sat in the icy cold water. Gus tried to clean out his wound, but it was already starting to look a little bit infected. He took the makeshift bandage off of his arm, cleaned it as best he could and handed it back to Hannah.

'I'll swap you.'

'For what?' she replied.

'What have you got to offer a bruised and battered dying man?'

'Firstly, you're not dying and what do you seriously think I'm going to swap for that disgusting pink bikini top?'

As they all began to laugh, Gus took the top back and tied it back around his arm, until he was given a helping hand by Marianne, who admired his persistence. Once this was finished he grabbed hold of the bag and took out the remaining lengths of vine.

'Good job we decided to keep these,' he said, looking over at Kyle.

'What do we need those for?' asked Hannah.

'We have to swim underwater, so the best thing to do is, I'll go first and try and find a safe route. When I've done this you will know the way because all you'll have to do is pull yourself along the vine,' Gus explained.

He tied one end around his ankle and told them to slowly feed the vine into the water, announced that he'd tug it two times when it was ready. With that, he disappeared below the surface.

'Has he got to go far?' asked Marianne.

'Hopefully not, else he'll run out of air,' said Kyle.

'You wouldn't get me doing that,' admitted Chas.

'Me neither,' said Hannah.

'Most people wouldn't, but Gus doesn't seem to mind. He's a wicked guy, when you can get past all his crude innuendoes,' said Kyle.

'Yeah, he is,' agreed Hannah.

'Maybe you should donate your bikini bottoms for his foot,' joked Marianne.

'Yeah maybe,' she laughed.

With that the length of vine moved twice signalling that he was safe.

'Great, I'll go first before I lose my nerve,' said Hannah.

She slowly pulled herself along the vine and in the pitch-black water. She was trembling with fear until she felt an arm pulling her up out of the water.

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I am now,' she replied, and gave him a big kiss on the lips.

'What was that for?'

'I don't know. Why, are you complaining?'

'No, no, not at all.'

Their conversation was halted when Marianne was the next to appear, shortly followed by Chas and last of all, Kyle. The vine was untied and put back away in the bag.

'Is this where the giant bats are?'

'Thanks for reminding us Chas,' snapped Gus.

'Sorry, but I don't like them.'

'You seemed to be doing all right back in that forest a couple of days ago,' Kyle pointed out.

'Yeah, I know, but I don't feel as confident today.'

'It'll come back to you. Don't worry,' reassured Gus.

'If everyone's ready, we've just got to climb down to the bottom and then over to that area of light over there.'

'Great, we'll follow you again Kyle,' said Chas.

'Be careful, because it's going to be impossible to see what to grab hold of, so try it first before you put your complete body weight on it,' instructed Kyle.

The climb down was very slow and tiring, but eventually they all made it safely to the bottom. The exit was only a short walk over to the other side.

'I'm off!' shouted Chas.

'Don't run,' warned Gus.

As he said that they heard a loud thump, as Chas hit the ground.

'What was that?'

'Probably those people you heard screaming earlier Chas, remember?' said Gus.

'Oh yuk!'

'Shut up else you'll wake up the dead or even worse, the bats,' said Kyle.

'Too late.'

'What do you mean, too late?' asked Gus.

'I mean, I can hear them flying around up there and it's getting louder,' replied Chas.

As soon as he'd said that, something came flying down and went by his ear.

'Run! Run!' yelled Gus.

They all ran full steam ahead towards the small opening, managing to trip over who knows what on their way. Chas was the first out, strongly urged on by Hannah, who was directly behind him. They all clambered out and ran out from behind the rock.

Chas was the first to pull off his t shirt and run towards the refreshing sea. Everybody followed suit, even Hannah who seemed to have forgotten that she'd given her top to Gus. When she was in the sea, she suddenly realised, but then didn't really care anymore.

'That was lucky,' said Chas.

'Yeah, really. Thanks for that.'

'No problem Gus, anytime,' he replied.

Chapter 32

' **T** hat was a nice swim. What now?' asked Chas.

'Now it's the final bit. The dragons and then game over!' yelled an excited Kyle.

'What are these dragons like?' asked Hannah.

'Do you know or have you ever heard of the dragons that live on the island of Komodo in Indonesia?'

'Them, yeah. They look like a cross between a giant lizard and a dinosaur.'

'That's the babies,' said Gus.

'You have to watch these carefully because they are very strong and clever,' said Chas.

'That's great advice from the guy who died last time trying to kill them,' joked Gus.

'We need to think of a new plan because I don't think they're stupid enough to fall for the same traps as before,' said Kyle.

'C'mon Gus, that last plan was a great one, just think of one more,' said Hannah.

'I can't think of anything constructive at the moment while you're walking around with your t shirt off.'

'Shut up,' she replied as she began to blush.

'Are you getting embarrassed?'

She ran over to her t shirt and quickly put it back on.

'Okay, maybe now I can think a bit more clearly. We still have arrows and stones. Do we need any more of them?'

'Yes, I will go and get some more,' said Marianne.

'I'll help you.'

Chas and Marianne walked towards the shore and Kyle went off with Hannah to axe down a few branches.

Gus was left on his own in order to have some quiet thinking time. As he looked around, he noticed that none of the pits were there anymore and neither was the smashed down shelter. He walked over to see if the plane was still in the wood and that wasn't there either. He was positive that it was the same beach, as the rock formations were the same peculiar shapes.

He wondered what had happened to all the holes and was a plan actually needed. Were there any dragons to kill? Either way a new plan had to be the best solution.

'Come over here. I think I've found something to help your plan Gus,' shouted Chas.

Gus ran over to them and saw him inside a small tin shelter next to the cave. As he walked through the door, he saw Chas with a stick of dynamite in his hand.

'And look, there are boxes of this stuff.'

The other two had joined them and entered with a smile on their faces.

'Great find Chas,' said Kyle.

'Actually it was Marianne who found them.'

'Fantastic, but I saw you both walking along the beach, how did you end up here?' asked Kyle.

'Just a little diversion,' she replied.

'What have you got there Hannah?'

'Not quite as good a find as yours, but it could be good for the party. I found it over there, behind a tree. Maybe we can have a game later,' she suggested.

'I haven't played baseball for years. How about we have a smoke first and then have a game,' suggested Gus.

'Aren't you forgetting about the dragons?'

'Chill out, will you Kyle and no, I've not forgotten about the dragons. The easiest way to sort this out is to have a vote. Who wants to smoke and then play baseball on the beach?'

Gus was the first to raise both hands to his own question, immediately followed by Chas, Hannah and Marianne.

'Come on, it'll be a good laugh,' said Gus, trying to convince an ever sceptical Kyle.

Kyle slowly raised his hand followed by the second.

'Good, now can you light this for me Hannah?'

As they'd seen her do this before, they were all a bit blasé about it as her speed increased. It just needed one last deep suck and it was alight.

'Let's go back to the beach with this. It's not the best place to be smoking a joint near all this dynamite,' said Gus.

After it was finished another was immediately lit, causing them all to be pretty messed up by the time Gus started to organise the game.

'Right, we need to mark out three bases, plus a home base where we stand, so that makes four.'

'How about t shirts?' said Chas.

'Oh come on Chas, you know we haven't got anything on under these,' complained Hannah.

'We know, but it'll make the game more interesting. Chill out girls! Even I am,' laughed Kyle.

'Sod it! Why not?' said Marianne, as she removed her top shortly followed by Hannah and then the boys.

Gus took the t shirts and put them on the sand in the shape of a diamond.

Chas went over and picked up the ball, telling them all that he was going to bowl first. He passed the bat to Hannah and the others went to a suitable fielding position.

He threw the first ball. Hannah swung and missed it by a mile.

'Strike one!' he shouted.

The second attempt from Hannah was no better.

'Strike two!'

'Bowl one under arm. I want to see her hit it,' shouted Gus.

'More like see her run, you pervert,' said Kyle.

Chas bowled another ten, which was totally against the rules, until she finally hit it. Gus deliberately fumbled the ball so that he could watch her run for longer.

Gus was the next into bat and Marianne took over the bowling. He was very clever and on the second bowl hit it to the side of Hannah, therefore having great pleasure in watching her run again. Marianne stayed in bowl and Chas took the bat from Gus. He too copied Gus to a tee and hit it over Hannah's head.

'Are you guys doing this on purpose?' she asked, after throwing the ball back.

'Doing what?' answered an innocent looking Chas.

'Never mind.'

Kyle was the next and when he did exactly the same, she knew and told them all to sod off. Kyle took the ball off her and Marianne was the next in bat. She did slightly better than Hannah did and hit the fifth one. This was made easier by Kyle's ability to throw the ball in the exact same spot. It only became apparent when Gus stepped into bat. Kyle quickened up the pace and was throwing them full pelt. By the third one, Gus knew exactly where to swing his bat.

'I've just had an idea. Can you try and do this for me Kyle?' asked Gus.

'What now?'

'I'm going to stand here with my hand out and I want you to throw the ball into my hand.'

'Why?'

'Please, just do this and then I'll tell you.'

He did this and it went straight into the centre of his hand. Gus moved his hand and got him to do it again and as Gus had predicted, it was a direct hit, inch perfect. All the others started doing the same and Kyle was turning and throwing in all directions and always hitting the spot.

'Okay, you can stop now, but you've got to tell me how long you've been able to do that. I've played baseball with you and you were never that special,' said Gus.

'I didn't know I could,' he replied.

'What are you thinking?' asked Chas.

'I'm thinking of a way to kill those dragons and this is my drug induced plan. If, or when they come, Marianne could fire a stone towards the mouth region, which will hopefully cause it to open its mouth because of the pain. While doing this, you, Hannah, will be doing your fire starting trick and light the fuse wire on the dynamite.'

'What?' yelled Hannah.

'Don't worry, you're going to pass it to Kyle.'

'Me!'

'Yeah, and you're going to launch that stick straight down that dragons' throat.'

'Do you honestly think that will work?' asked Marianne.

'Yeah, stoned or not, I do.'

'It does sound more than possible,' agreed Chas.

Everyone else went silent so they finished off the game and then moved the dynamite to the side of the beach, next to a large rock, which shaded the explosives from the sun. They then went for a long dip to cool themselves down and sat by the rock, ready and waiting.

'We need to somehow attract their attention again,' said Kyle.

'How did you do it last time?' asked Hannah.

'We went running in the jungle and they soon found us,' said Gus.

'I don't think we need to do that this time. I can hear them coming now,' Chas informed them.

He was spot on and within a minute they were confronted by four ferocious looking giant dragons.

'Here goes,' Gus shouted.

Hannah was already deep in thought and the first fuse wire was instantly sparkling away. She passed it to a very nervous looking Kyle. Marianne had the stone pulled back in the pouch of her catapult and fired. It hit the nearest dragon just below the nose, causing it to roar out in pain. Kyle seized his moment and hurled the stick of dynamite.

'Bingo!' he bawled out, as it went straight into the dragon's mouth.

They weren't sure what the full effect of this would be and it was more than they'd expected as bits of exploded dragon scattered the beach.

The second fuse was already alight as Marianne sent the stone directly into the oncoming dragon's eyeball. Just as before, Kyle threw the dynamite.

'Touchdown!' shouted Gus.

They had to quickly duck down to avoid being hit by dragon shrapnel.

'Where's the next one?' yelled Kyle.

'Hannah, pass me the next one,' he repeated.

By this point the two remaining dragons were getting even closer.

'Fire a stone Marianne!' ordered Chas.

'Yes!' shouted Hannah in relief.

She quickly passed it to Kyle and got to work on the next dragon. He threw it and masterfully guided it in to its open mouth. Immediately after he'd thrown it, he was passed another one and casually waited, fuse wire sparkling away, until Marianne fired the stone and threw the stick. They sat and watched the finale as the last two were scattered.

Here you are,' said Hannah, as she passed him another stick of dynamite.

'No Hannah! We don't need anymore,' he shouted.

'I suggest you get rid of that one pretty sharpish,' encouraged Gus.

He casually threw it into the rocks behind him and they all ran for cover. As it exploded small pieces of rock went raining overhead.

Kyle was the first to burst out into laughter.

'That was pretty stupid, don't you think?' he said.

'Great work everyone and if I'm not mistaken, I think we need to be heading to that party,' said Gus.

'What, is that it? Have we won?' asked Hannah.

'We certainly have.'

'So when do we get out of the game?' asked Marianne.

'When you choose to leave. It's up to you in the real world and I'm sure I won't be taking myself out of this game just before a celebration party, will you?' asked Gus.

'Not a chance,' said Kyle.

'Where's Chas gone?' asked Hannah.

They all repeatedly shouted out his name, but got no response. Just as they were starting to get worried, he walked back over to them.

'Hey guys, you'd better come with me,' he said.

'Where did you disappear to?' asked Gus.

'I'm about to show you.'

He took them over to the remains of the demolished rock and pointed to the side.

'Go on, go in there.'

When they'd all got through Chas casually told them to carefully walk forward and look over the edge.

'It's about time you made it! We've been waiting to get this party kicking!' came a voice from below.

None of them could believe their own eyes as they were all on a ledge overlooking the beautiful waterfall, seeing Bret swimming in the water below.

'How?' asked Gus, been the first to speak.

'Pretty easy really, I just sent a message through the game telling people that there was a party behind the waterfall and tried to get a few special guests. Anyway, you lot come down here. I'd like to introduce you to my best, sorry, one of my best mates Jake. Oh and Marianne, I've got a surprise for you.'

'Hi there darling.'

'Tess! Tess!' she screamed as she was the first one to launch herself off the ledge and down into the water below.

'Don't worry lads I took the liberty of inviting some young ladies for us. We've sort of become quite famous,' said Bret.

'This one won't be needing one,' said Hannah, as she grabbed hold of Gus.

'Fair enough, more for us, eh lads. Anyway, enough of this idle chitchat, get your backsides down here and bring down that weed,' shouted Bret.

'As long as you don't start talking to anymore trees,' joked Kyle.

'I promise.'

'Okay you three, are you ready? Let's grab hands and do this together,' said Gus.

'One, two, three. Go! Go! Go!'

###

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