The soldier's sister, the tracker's lover

sɪx - sᴋᴜʟʟ ᴄʀᴀᴡʟᴇʀs

"You probably noticed a lot of weird things on this island. As long as we stay in here where the people live, we'll be all right." Marlow explained once they reached village surrounded by a huge wall.

"That wall, is that supposed to keep out that thing?" Mason asked, clearly having the same thoughts as Y/N. "No, he's not the one they're trying to keep out." Marlow answered.

"What?" Brooks asked, following Marlow. "These people live up on top of these trees while we're down on the roots. Some of them don't even seem to age. There's no crime, no personal property. They're past all that." the elder man said.

Two people of the tribe, probably their eldest, approached the group of people. Marlow lifted his hands in the air, only lowering them when the man and the woman nodded.

"Thank you. Thank you." he said before turning to the group once the elders had left. "So, good news. They say you can shack up here." Marlow reported.

"I didn't hear them say anything." Conrad frowned, running up to Marlow and walking beside him. "Oh, they don't speak too much. When you've been here as long as I have, you start to understand them. You'll see." Marlow spoke.

"Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. We can't stay here. We have to get off the island. We have lives. I have a life." Nieves rambled, only to be cut off by Conrad.

"Nieves, now is not the time. All right?" he tried to reason. "What lands here tends to stay here." Marlow added, leading the group to an old gigantic ship called 'Wanderer'.

"As far as I can tell, this ship washed up about ten years before I did." Marlow said. "You've been here since '44?" Y/N asked, shocked that Marlow had been here longer than she was old.

"Yeah. Hey, what happened with the war? Did we win?" Marlow asked. "Which one?" Slivko spoke, clearly forgetting that Marlow didn't know about what had happened since he vanished.

"Uh-huh. That makes sense." the older man scoffed. Y/N was following Marlow through the ship right behind Conrad. Ever since they had started walking through the island, he had made sure that she was always close to him.

"This is all hallowed ground to them. So if you like your hands, don't touch anything." Marlow advised. Once they had entered a huge open room in the ship, he took off his head.

"Wow, look at that." Mason mumbled in amazement. Marlow lead them through the room, the group looking at stones that were placed so different pictures were created.

"The way they tell it, for thousands of years, the people on this island lived in fear. 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 honor the last of their saviors. Yeah. That's Kong. He's King around here. He's God to these people. Kong is 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." Marlow told the group.

Throughout his story telling, Y/N could see the pictures drawn on the stones. One of them was of an ape-like figure, kneeling in front of two skeletons that looked like it, Y/N assumed it was Kong and his parents.

On another one, people were standing in front of Kong, seemingly praying to him while he extended his arms. It reminded Y/N of the statue of Jesus in Rio.

"Wasn't Kong the one who killed your friend?" Y/N asked. "No. One of them did." Marlow answered, pointing to another set of stones that were showing a weird creature with its drawings.

"Kong's god on the island, but the devils live below us." Marlow continued. "And what are they called?" the former British Captain asked.

"The Iwis won't speak their name. But I call them 'Skull-crawlers'." Marlow whispered back in an almost mysterious voice. "Why?" Conrad asked. "'Cause it sounds neat."

Conrad, Mason and Y/N frowned while sharing glances before nodding. "Okay." Conrad and Y/N mumbled at the same time, sharing another glance.

"Look, I just made that name up. I'm trying to scare you." Marlow spoke, looking between the three of them. "I'm fine calling them that. Are you cool with that?" Mason asked.

"Yeah." Conrad said while Y/N shrugged. "I like the name, so... / That seems like a great name." Mason and Conrad said at the same time.

"I've never said that name out loud before. 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 wanna wake up the big one." Marlow said, looking at Conrad with a serious face.

"How big is it?" San asked, unsure of whether she could believe what Marlow said. "It's bigger. It whiped 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.'" Marlow chuckled at the end.

"Listen, there's a refueling team coming to the north end of the island in three days." Conrad told Marlow. "You should come with us." Mason suggested.

"To the north end of the island?" Marlow asked, turning to look at Conrad. "We're gonna get out of here." Conrad spoke, smiling at Marlow who started laughing.

"In three days?" he asked, earning a "Yes." from Conrad. He softly started slapping Conrad's face repeatedly, making the latter stop smiling.

"You can't get to the north end in three days. It's impossible, That's it. No way." Marlow stated. Conrad looked at Y/N sadly, remembering the promise he'd made to her.

"At least not on foot." Marlow continued. "Show us what you got, old man." Y/N smirked, clearly finding new hope in Marlow's words.