Alone - Kong Skull Island [R.Slivko]

4- By Your Side

"So, tell me about you guys," I say trying to divert the attention from me. Don't get me wrong, I love attention, but just not about my past. They all turn and look at me funny. "Like, why are you guys here? Why were you dropping bombs? And do you have a plan to get out of here?"

"Well," Conrad starts, but is rudely interrupted by Mr. Negative Nieves.

"We are here because no one listens to me when I say to abort the mission," he scoffs out. Man, what a dick. Did he think that they all wanted to get stranded on the most dangerous island on Earth?

"Nieves, enough," Conrad barks out. I'm not going to lie; I was a little taken by surprise by his outburst.

"Mr. Randa found this island on satellite footage and wanted to check it out, so he made up a team and now we are here," Mason briefly explains.

Brooks could tell I wanted to know more, "I am a geologist and San here is a biologist. We wanted to map what's under the ground, so we dropped seismic charges to create vibrations."

"They hired me to take pictures of the mission," Mason quickly added.

"Why are you here Conrad? You're not a scientist or part of Slivko's team, so why did they hire you?" I was starting to suspect something was up like they didn't know much before coming here, or someone lied to get them here.

"You're right, I'm no scientist or military man. I'm a tracker. Randa is paying me to be here and lead the ground expedition."

"I should've known, you're like an owl, always watching," I giggled. "How about my other question, do you have a plan to get off the island?" my voice gets more serious.

"We have a refueling team meeting at the north end of the island in 6 days," Mason says cheerfully.

"It's actually 5 days now," Conrad adds.

It was then my hope wavered a bit. Was it possible to make it to the north end in 5 days? We were on the very edge of the south side, so I changed directions a bit, hoping no one would notice.

"Why are we changing directions?" Nieves asked, you could tell he still didn't trust me. Well, I hope he knows the feeling is mutual.

"I'm going around an area with a lot of aggressive animals," I lied.

"Oh, okay. Just make sure we get to where we need to go," He added. He was going to say more until I turned and glared at him.

Conrad stopped walking so he could walk next to Mason, Slivko to that as an opportunity, and ran up to my side.

"Hey," I said giving him a friendly glance.

"Hey," He said, the tips of his ears started getting red to match his bandana. He lowered his voice, "Do you think we can make it to the north side in 5 days?" He must've seen my reaction earlier. I glance behind me and see Conrad and Mason talking, not paying attention.

"No," He looked at the ground, "Not without help at least," And with that, he looked up at me, half-smiling, half confused.

"What do you mean?"

"We won't make it on foot, but I know someone who might have something faster."

"Might?"

"It's our only chance."

"Okay," he looks me dead in the eyes, "I trust you."

I feel my heart skip a beat. Those three words were almost like an unspoken promise. Almost as if he were saying, I promise I'll be by your side. For some odd reason, I believed him.