***
Tom edged forward through the trees. He had an enormous branch in hand, and would not be caught by the jaguar that lived on this island. Or panther. Or whatever the fuck that big cat was.
He would survive this.
The thick green foliage stank of death, and he knew that
carrion feeders were scurrying about his feet. He could only thank some god for
the fact that his shoes had survived the shipwreck. Nothing else of note had,
as far as he could tell. Not even any of the other passengers of the cruise-liner.
Something slithered across his foot.
“Fuck me.”
He shrieked, kicking wildly and hopping back. But it was
gone. The jungle would not eat him. Yet.
He finally reached a clearing of long grass, which almost
reached his chin, and didn’t help his calm much. But ahead, after this half
hour of dangerous walking, he found the gravelled rocky edge of the mountain he’d
spotted from the beach. Good. Maybe after this week of hell, he’d finally get a
good view of the place.
Tom began the climb. More of a scramble, really, as the gravelled
slope kept shifting beneath him. But he would get up. And at least it was dry
and devoid of life here.
A shadow passed over. Just a bird. Not even the larger birds
would take on a full grown adult. At least he hoped. And, well, he perhaps wasn’t
the biggest or strongest of adults. In fact, three years of managing a strip
club had hardly prepared him for this. Tom wondered if it was some sort of
karma.
But he would survive. He-
His hand hit another hand. Except, it wasn’t a hand. Not
anymore. It was a skeleton sticking out from the gravel at the wrist.
Tom scrambled back, almost sending himself sliding down the
mountain.
“Fuck me.”
He wouldn’t dig it up. Who knew how long it had been.
Perhaps even a pirate from other stupid era. Before technology and smartphones
and GPS and… everything else which he didn’t have. But the people looking, they’d
have helicopters, and planes, right?
But then again, it had been a week, and he’d seen nothing…
Tom continued upward. The actual peak was hours away, with a
potentially impossible climb. This was hardly some tourist destination, with a
nice mapped out path. But a lower lookout point might do wonders. Perhaps there’d
even be some sign of civilization in the distance.
There was a scrambling on the shifting rocks behind him, and
Tom swung around with his big stick. He caught the cat just in time, sending it
sideways as its claws reached out for him.
It skidded, rolled, then spun back to face him. Ah fuck, it
wasn’t running this time. And he even had a stick.
“Eat something else you cunt!”
It charged.
Tom, in a moment of blind stupidity, charged back.
He tripped, then tumbled, and hit the cat faster than either
of them had anticipated. Before it even had its claws out.
They rolled, cuts and bruises finding new ways to add to the
pain.
Tom bit. The cat roared.
And like that, the cat was scrambling, and running away. Tom
had shown it somebody who could fight back. He couldn’t believe he’d just
bitten a giant cat too, it tasted awful.
He began spitting out hair and who knew what else, then
collapsed.
He couldn’t do this. He wouldn’t survive. Defeating the cat
was no victory, it only rubbed in how helpless he was here. What if he didn’t
have the scrambling stones to give him warning? Or what if he’d been asleep?
He glanced up the hill. What was the point? All he’d see
would be ocean, jungle, and beach. There’d be no modern city on the horizon
like he’d hoped. Hell, he might just find out that he was completely trapped on
an enclosed island, or, that the jungle went on forever. Neither would help him
feel like he had a chance.
Maybe he should just go back down, save the energy, and sit
by his S.O.S beacon.
Ah, fuck it. He’d come this far.
He stood, and continued the climb.
Tom snacked on the berries he’d found. They hadn’t killed
him yet, which was a good sign.
He finally emerged onto the lower peak, and felt a new wave
of wind hit him. Damn, he was actually kind of high. He edged forward, seeing
more of the jungle and ocean sprawling out in front of him.
But there. Way up the beach. Further than he’d walked. There
were buildings. Maybe even a whole town.
Tom didn’t dare cry. But he did find his eyes growing a bit
misty.
***
Tom dropped the stick. He could see the buildings now. He
was half tempted to run. The damn sand didn’t help with that though.
His clothes were a torn mess, his hair in tatters. A week of
growth on his chin and cheeks probably made him look quite the mess. What would
they think of him?
The buildings were one and two story concrete rectangles.
Perhaps even some sort of utility facility. Well, that might not be so good, in
terms of anybody being there to help. But at the same time, he felt like he’d
have a better chance with professionals connected to the world than random villagers
who he couldn’t even speak with.
“Hello?” Tom called, edging forward.
It was only as he entered the compound did he realized that
it was abandoned. Overgrown weeds poked out of every corner, and the bar across
the road gate was rusted.
Still, at least that meant there was a road…
He would check the buildings first. Perhaps there’d be a
phone line.
Tom smashed in windows, finding that many of them already
were anyway, and searched the place. Almost nothing.
He found old jeeps, but they didn’t work, and he hadn’t had much
hope that they would. Still, it was nice to smell a bit of civilization again.
He continued on. Old desks. Rusted lamps. Some magazines
with a red circle and monster skull in the middle. Matching the logo on the
jeeps. This had apparently once been a theme park of some sort.
Well. He had a road to follow now. He would survive this.
Tom edged out onto the cracked asphalt, when he heard the guttural
cry.
They were… giant lizards. Raptors, he thought. And they were
watching him from the rooftops of the compound he’d just exited.
Fuck. What in the flying fuck?
There was no time to think. Tom finally ran.
He sprinted as fast as he’d probably ever run, down the road
which at least provided solid ground now.
But they were following. And damn, they were fast.
But he was made for this, even after years of not doing it.
And they weren’t. Not quite as well.
Tom flew like the wind, somehow managing to ignore the pains
in his body. He just knew that he needed to run. He suddenly understood what it
must have felt like for the wild chickens he’d caught over the past week.
But the monsters gave up chase, and Tom dared to slow and
look back. His eyes were wide.
What in the flying fuck was-
There was a huge crunch to his right, and he whirled back to
the forest beside him.
An enormous creature – a dinosaur, he now understood –
charged out. A Tyrannosaurus Rex, he thought bitterly, somehow remembering a bit
of education from his childhood toys, right as it opened its jaw and ate him.
