“Hey are you two on a coffee break up there or what?” I called out when I noticed no more leaves were dropping down. I smiled in spite of myself as I broke open another leaf. “Bri I know how we could fill that bag up faster!”
Brian glanced up when I spoke and his eyes grew wide for a second and then they just as quickly narrowed. “Nickolas! Don’t you even dare think about that!”
I shrugged my shoulders. “So we got ahold of some overly ripened leaves, who’s to know?”
Lizz stared at the snake that seemed to be content to stay where it was for the moment. She was growing a little impatient with the fact that Brian and Nick hadn’t looked up at them to see if they were doing okay. She looked up at Kevin and she could see that he was looking down at her but at the same time shaking his head - no doubt at Brian and Nick.
“Guys can you drop some more leaves?” I hollered as I broke open the forty millionth leave and dumped a teaspoonful of white liquid into the leather bag. “Coffee break is ova..... oh shit! Brian!”
I threw the bag down and jumped up to my feet when I saw the snake hanging in the tree between Kevin and Lizz. I quickly scanned the forest floor looking for anything to throw at the snake. My eyes fell on some coconuts and I ran over towards them.
As I scooped one up I quickly aimed for the fat snake and threw it as hard as I could. My heart sank as the coconut missed it’s target and I heard Kevin let out a yelp.
“Sonofabitch! Dammit Nick, let Brian throw it,” Kevin stated in an extremely stern voice.
I watched Brian aim and I also saw his lips moving.
“Good god Brian, just throw the damn coconut and say your prayers later!” I yelled.
I cast a look over at Lizz after I yelled and I knew that sort of bugged her that I would yell at Brian for praying but sometimes that got on my nerves and I couldn’t help it. I mean, I admire the guy for his deep faith and stuff, but judas, sometimes it was a pain in the neck at the wrong time.
It seemed to be a sheer miracle when the coconut not only made contact with the snake, it hit the creature directly in the head and it dropped to the forest floor instantly.
“You got it Bri!” I yelled triumphantly. Brian seemed pleased with trace of pure panic still etched in his face.
Lizz and Kevin quickly scaled down the tree and hurried over to the spot where Brian and I stood.
“That really sucked, didn’t it?” I asked, trying to break the ice as I wiped my face off with the bottom of Brian’s shirt.
“Do you mind Nick? My shirt isn’t a handi wipe here!” Brian scowled as he looked at the wetness on the bottom of the shirt where I wiped my face off.
“Well we better get back to filling that bag if we’re ever gonna get out of here,” Lizz remarked as she walked over towards the piles of leaves. “Where’s the bag at?”
I narrowed my eyes as I searched for the black bag to be laying down in the midst of green. “Hey here it is. Oh shit.”
“What?” the trio asked as I bent over to pick the bag up.
“I um, well I knocked the bag over when I jumped up when I saw the snake.” I turned the bag over for the dramatic emphasis. “It’s all gone.”
Kevin grabbed for the bag. “It’s gone? You mean to tell me at least six hours of hard labor went into the ground?”
“Kev, I’m sorry,” I apologized.
“We’re never gonna get the hell out of here---”
“Okay,” I started out as I threw my hands up in the air. “I did it intentionally, I wanted to spill it cause I fuckin love to be here in this damned forest.”
“Guys, stop it!” Lizz cried out.
“Well, what do you suggest when fat boy wakes up and wants to know why our bag is empty?” Kevin spat.
“We don’t,” Brian replied quietly.
“We don’t? What do you mean we don’t?” I questioned.
“I have a plan.”
AJ watched from his vantage point in a dark corner of the cave as a young native girl stood outside the bars. He glanced over at Howie and was a little disappointed to see that he still was curled up, asleep over in another corner of the cave, his arm tucked under his head.
“Psst, hey, darlin, what’s your name?” AJ quiried, trying to turn his charm on full force, quietly approaching the bars.
The girl looked quickly to her right and then to her left before she turned to face the voice that questioned her. “My name is Sasha.”
AJ cocked his head to one side. “Sasha? That’s not a very native sounding name. How did you get that name, oh and it’s pretty by the way.”
“I was the product of an improper breeding and because of my red hair, the colony said I was an abnormal bred so the donor was able to name me instead of the woman that was said to be my mother, the fair skinned, red haired girl replied.
“God, that sounds so awful,” AJ stated. “You aren’t abnormal, you’re a very pretty young woman.”
Sasha blushed. “Oh thank you, but I’ve been told otherwise.”
There was a few moments of akward silence, only the sounds of a crackling campfire pierced the stillness of the night.
“How old are you?” AJ asked.
“I’m eighteen. How old are you?”
AJ softly chuckled at the question. “Too old, old enough to know better.”
Sasha smiled. “No, really how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-three.”
She peered into the cave and looked at Howie sleeping on the dirt floor. “How old is that one?”
“Man, he’s really old. He’s twenty-seven.”
“What about the dark one in your company? How old is he? He seems to be your leader,” Sasha pressed.
“Oh let’s not talk about Kevin, let’s talk about us,” AJ tried to change the subject.
“I really want to know because I was told I am to begin breeding with the dark one. They think he would make pretty babies with me.”
AJ’s mouth dropped open at the innocence of her remark.
“What’s wrong? You seem to be upset about this. Don’t be, it is my duty. I am to breed to produce a strong, hardy stock of more slaves. It is my job.”
“Why the hell was Kevin picked to breed and why didn’t they even pick me?” AJ questioned.
“AJ, for crying out loud, would you just let it go? Man!” Howie yelled as he stood to his feet.
“No, I’m not letting it go, I really want to know!” AJ persisted.
“Well, if you need to know, it’s your build. You are not very muscular and we need strong slaves. We feel that you would only produce girls and they are weak stock.”
Howie couldn’t stifle the laugh that caught in his throat.
“Hey, you weren’t picked either smart one!”
As Howie opened his mouth to respond, a shout in the native language caused himself, AJ and Sasha to freeze in their positions. Suddenly an unusual noise escaped into the air and a cry escaped Sasha’s lips before she slumped to the ground.
“We escape.” Brian said simply.
I know my jaw dropped and Nick blurted, “what?!”
“And where exactly are we going to go?” Kevin gestured around him.
“Yeah, in case you hadn’t noticed, we are on an island.” Nick added, crossing his arms.
Brian sighed. “They won’t be looking for us any time soon. They have to know that it is going to take forever to fill up this entire bag. We can use that time to disappear into the forest.”
“What about Howie and AJ?” Kevin asked. “How are we going to set them loose?”
“Wait! That cave had a hole on the top. When Howie and I went exploring we came to a place that was walled up by boulders. Straight up was an opening. We could try to sneak them out through there.” I burst out, starting to get excited.
“That might work...” Nick said slowly, thinking. “But say we get all get away, then what?”
“We won’t have much time, but I remember Lelani saying something about an island nearby. Sometimes they go there to get other resources. I don’t think it’s inhabited.” Brian told us.
“We could steal one of their boats!” I exclaimed.
“Whoa whoa whoa. This is way too risky.” Kevin shook his head.
“Kev, staying here is going to get us killed. If we can get to the other island, we might actually have a chance.” Brian said quietly.
Kevin sighed in resignation. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re right.”
With less than two hours till it got dark, we weighed our options and planned our escape. Our biggest obstacle was getting our meds. Brian wouldn’t last very long without his considering he wasn’t back to his usual self yet. Nick wouldn’t be able to go long without a seizure and there was no telling how long I could go. The longer I went, the sicker I could get and the bigger chance my body would start rejecting organs. The other problem was the possibility of getting caught and the consequences that would bring. Kevin was laying that out for us when we heard a noise in the distance. It was followed by several more.
“Shit, it’s them!” Nick hissed.
“What do we do?” I whispered, fear seizing me.
“If we try to run, they’ll hear us. If we stay here, we’re gonna get our asses busted.” Kevin said quietly.
“I say we make a run for it.”
I looked at Brian in shock. I never knew him to fly by the seat of his pants. That was something more along the lines of what Nick or I would say. In fact, I agreed with him. “Brian’s right. I’m not looking forward to another punishment for not having the stupid milky shit.” I said quickly.
Brian shot his head around to me. “What do you mean ‘another punishment’?” He said, his eyes wide.
“Later! Let’s go!” Nick interrupted, grabbing my hand and pulling me after him.
“Split up!” Kevin said in a harsh whisper. We’ll meet back here as soon as we can.” He took off with Brian in the opposite direction that Nick and I were running.
“Come on Lizz!” Nick gripped my hand, keeping me with him. I focused all my concentration on not tripping over anything in my path. The forest was pretty dense and I wasn’t the most graceful person on the planet.
The natives started yelling when they got close enough to see that we were trying to escape. Fear-fueled adrenaline made me increase my speed, but we didn’t get more than ten feet before there was a sick sounding thwack behind us.
“Kevin!” Brian’s horror filled voice rang out. Another thwack and a pain-filled scream from Brian.
Nick and I both skidded to a stop calling out for our friends.
“STOP!” Natives roared from behind us. I barely saw one of them raise his arm and pull his other one back before a force crashed into me.
“Lizz!” Nick cried as he knocked us both to the ground. My head hit hard and it knocked the wind out of me. Nick was half on top of me, covering my body.
“Put it down, we surrender. Please. We won’t try anything, please.” Nick was saying to the natives that stood a short distance from us. It was then I realized that he was trying to shield me from whatever the natives were aiming at us. Gasping, I tried to sit up.
“Stay down, Lizz.” Nick whispered.
I didn’t argue, but sank back onto the ground, my head ringing. The natives didn’t say anything, only gestured for us to follow them. I guess they knew we weren’t going to try anything else seeing as how they just nailed half of our escape party. Nick stood up slowly and gently pulled me up.
“What did they do to Kevin and Brian?” I whimpered, scared to death of what had happened to them and what was going to happen to us.
“I don’t know. Shit.” Nick swore. He glanced down at me. “Are you okay? I;m sorry for flattening you like that.”
I managed a weak smile. “I’m sure that’s better than whatever was going to hit me.”
“I swear, they better be okay or I am going to fucking kill them!” Nick growled.
I nodded, regretting it when it made my head ring some more. I gasped when we got closer to the other half of the natives. Kevin was laying prone on the ground and Brian was kneeling beside him, his hand on the back of Kevin’s head. There was blood on Brian’s hands and some on the ground underneath Kevin. When we got closer I saw more blood on Brian’s shirt near his heart.
“Oh my god.” Nick gasped, running towards them and dropping down on the other side of Kevin. I was right behind him.
“You bastards! You killed him!” I cried, glaring up at the natives. Tears filled my eyes and my a lump formed in my throat.
“He isn’t dead, slave.” One of the natives said, his tone almost bored sounding.
I looked down at Kevin and sure enough, his chest was rising and falling steadily. I looked up at Brian.
“It was a sling shot. It hit him in the back of the head.” Brian said, wincing as he spoke.
“Oh god, you were hit too.” Nick exclaimed, reaching his hand out towards the blood that was seeping through Brian’s shirt. Without warning he jumped up and whirled around. “You fucking asshole!” He spat at the one holding the sling shot.
“NO!” I cried, grabbing Nick’s arm before he could lunge at the native. “Don’t!”
The native only shrugged. “Be glad I showed mercy. Any harder and it would have been instant death.”
