𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑬𝑹𝑪𝑬𝑵𝑨𝑹𝒀 - James Conrad

six

6|kong

"As far as I can tell, this ship washed up about ten years before I did." Hank stated as he gestured to the large rusted ship.

"You've been here since '44?" Mason asked him with surprise.

"Yeah." He agreed. "Hey, what happened with the war? Did we win?"

"Which one?"

"Uh huh, that makes sense." Hank chuckled and led them inside the rusted ship. "This is all hallowed ground to them. So if you like your hands, don't touch anything."

"Wow. Look at that." Dorothy hummed in amazement at the sacred scene before them.

"The way they tell it for thousands of years, the people on this island lived in fear." He informed them as they looked at the sacred drawings. "That's a hell of a long time to be scared. And then, one day, the damnedest thing happened. Some of the things they were afraid of started protecting them against the things that were eating them. But nothing lasts forever, I guess. And this is where they honour the last of their saviours. Yeah. That's Kong."

"So the giant monkey is good?" Dorothy tried to understand, speechless over the sacred drawings.

"He's king around here." Hank confirmed. "He's God to these people. Kings a pretty good king. Keeps to himself mostly. This is his home. We're just guests here. But you don't go into someone's house and start dropping bombs unless you're picking a fight."

"Wasn't Kong the one who killed your friend?" Mason questioned, confused by the details.

"No." He said grimly before gesturing to a wall drawing. "One of them did. Kong's God on the island, but the devil's live below us."

"And what are they called?"

"The Iwis won't speak their names." Hank whispered in a hushed tone. "But I call them Skull-Crawlers."

"Why?"

"'Cause it sounds neat." He stated like it was obvious. "Look, I just made that name up. I'm trying to scare you."

"I'm fine calling them that." Dorothy raised her hands innocently before directing her attention to Conrad. "Are you cool with that?"

"Yeah." Conrad quickly agreed. "That seems like a great name."

"I've never said that name out loud before." Hank sighed with annoyance. "It sounds stupid now that I say it. Just, you call them whatever you want. They're big lizard things. Nasty. They come from the vents deep down. That's why Kong got so mad. Those bombs woke up a bunch of them. I tell you what. You're lucky he's out there, too, or you wouldn't have made it this far. They're crafty bastards. Mean as hell. Now, he can handle them as long as he gets to them when they're still small. You don't want to wake up the big one."

"How big is it?"

"It's bigger." He sighed. "It wiped out his whole family. Kong's the last of his kind, but he's still growing. And you better hope he does. Because the Iwis say once Kong goes, then the big one comes up. Then it's "goodnight, Irene"."

"Listen, there's a refueling team coming to the north end of the island in three days." Conrad informed the man of their plan.

"You should come with us." Dorothy added sympathetically.

"To the north end of the island?"

"We're gonna get out of here." Conrad said hopefully with a smile.

"In three days?" Hank chuckled and gently smacked Conrad's face. "You can't get to the north end in three days. It's impossible. That's it. No way. At least not on foot." He led them out the boat and back into the camp. "We were this close to getting it working. Me and Gunpei were gonna take off for the open sea, try to get home. That's when one of them things got him. There she is."

"Well, that's lovely." Conrad stated sarcastically causing Dorothy to slap his arm.

"You're damn right." The man agreed, not realising he was being sarcastic. The men stepped on to the makeshift boat as Dorothy sat down on the grass, the exhaustion and heat hitting her hard.

She lay back on the ground, lowering her glasses over her eyes as she listened to the men work.

"Dorothy?" Mason ran up to her. "Do you hear that?"

"No." Dorothy followed her, reluctantly leaving the safety of the wall as they spotted an animal stuck under the wreckage of a helicopter. "Don't worry, you'll be okay."

"Help me." The two women used their strength to lift the wreck up and off the animal but it was too heavy. "Come on, get up!"

As they stopped to catch their breath, the wreckage is suddenly lifted of the animal and they froze when they spotted Kong staring back at them. The injured animal walked away as they stayed frozen, waiting for Kong to do something. They sighed in relief when he walked away, leaving them alive.