Kong: Skull Island- Beneath the Surface

Chapter 11

Mason brushes dirt off herself. The dark doesn't scare her, it's the inability to fight it that terrifies her. The flashlight was a safety blanket for her sanity. A survival tool. Well, she thought, shuddering slightly, if blind people can do it then so can I. Even if blind people don't usually deal with monsters...

Suddenly Mason gasps. Her camera isn't around her neck. Panic takes over. Where the is it! She desperately pats the ground and rubble, cursing when her hand brushes against the mole bear's venom.

"No, it has to be here...." she mutters, crawling on all fours.

Frustration builds up in her chest like a shaken soda bottle. This is the last straw. What if it got smashed? This can't have all been for nothing! That camera has been her passion, her connection to so many people for so many years....

Suddenly a light hits her face. She cringes, her eyes unaccustomed to it.

"Mason?" A voice whispers incredulously.

Mason freezes. She sits on top of the rubble like a defiant child: her body scratched, hands bleeding from searching, tangled hair hanging down, yet her eyes burn with a fire. They don't want to believe--can't get their hopes up--that he is here. That she is no longer alone. Her emotions bend and shift in waves. Joy, anger, relief, confusion, understanding.

"What took you so long?" She says shakily. Rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand.

The light leaves her face for a second and Mason wonders if it was a hallucination. Perhaps her sanity is finally destroyed. And then she feels two strong arms wrap around her. James. He's sweaty and dusty but still smells like...well like James. A smell that has no name but represents that person. He shudders, breathing deep.

"Thank God," James mutters, "You're alive. You're alive."

And it's over. Almost as if a spell broke, Mason's entire body melts. She's exhausted and she feels it. She's finally allowed to feel it. A sob escapes her. Tears carve lines in the dust on her face. She hugs him back tightly because she can't believe he's actually there and is afraid that, if she lets go, he'll vanish. James begins to rock them slowly back and forth, providing what little comfort he can in this dark place. He says something but Mason's brain doesn't register it. She simply exists in this moment, nothing more.

And then the moment is over.

Someone--a woman--stifles a painful scream in the background. Reluctantly Mason pulls away and wipes her eyes with her palms. She inwardly laughs when she realizes her tears are making mud down her face. What a sight she must be. Mason peers over James shoulder.

"Who's with you?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"MONARCH put together a team to help me find you," James explains, glancing back at them. He stands and offers a hand to Mason. "Come on, let's get you introduced and get out of here."

"Yes," Mason says briskly, taking James' hand, "we need to get back. The images on my camera are very import--....oh no." Her eyes widen.

James stops, his eyes watching Mason intensely.

"What is it?" he says.

"My camera...the creature attacked and...and..." she kneels and begins searching again, "I can't find it."

James turned towards her.

"Here," he said, "use my headlamp."

Mason quickly scans the area with the piercing beam. Finally it rests on something shiny. Her camera. Mason sighs. She crawls over to it and picks it up.

"OW!" She shouts, dropping the camera. Orange goo glimmers in the light.

James quickly tears a piece of his shirt off and wipes Mason's hands off. Blood oozes from her calloused palms. She grimaces and looks back down. The front of the camera had melted away to the orange goo. Mason grits her teeth. The orange goo burns badly. But her goal is close enough she presses forward. Using the piece of cloth James had given her she turns the camera over. Popping over the back, she checks the film.

The goo hadn't reached the film yet. She sighs. At least that's safe. But the camera is destroyed. Mason swallows a lump in her throat. Her mother gave her that camera.

James puts his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll buy you a new one love," he says quietly, "but we need to move."

Mason nods and stands, clutching the film to her chest. She takes her now empty food tin out and places the film inside to protect it. Placing the tin in her cargo pants pocket she looks up at James.

"Let's get out of here."