Save One ~James Conrad

The Boat

Loki had grown bored sitting, watching them work on the boat. When none were paying attention, she managed to slip away, making her way through the village. As she reached the settlements, border, she heard what sounded like a distressed animal. She furrowed her brows and did her best to try and find the cause of the sound. As she approached the giant wall, she found a small opening and through it, she was able to heard the distressed sound growing louder and louder. She moved through the opening and saw it immediately. Laying down, pinned to the dirt was a slightly smaller version of the ox like creature from earlier that day. On top of him was a burning Helicopter, its tail laying across the back of the animals neck.

"No," Loki whispered in disbelief as she hurried to it. She looked into its fear filled eyes and wanted to cry. She looked up at the giant hunk of metal, examining the best place would be for her to try and lift it. She moved to the right and got under the tail of the copter, trying her best to squat it into the air. Shocks of electricity blasted everywhere as she let out grunts of determination and the poor animan let out noises of pain. "Please," Loki cried out. In a second she could no longer feel the hot metal of the copter and when she looked up, she saw him. Kong. he stood as tall as a mountain, holding the destroyed Helicopter like a child would a toy car. Loki stepped back out of fear, trying to show she posed no threat.

The ox got its feet under him and stood, talking a moment to look at loki before and moved on walking away. Loki looked back up at Kong, her eyes wide as she took a gulp. He tossed the copter to the side lazily, looking down at her, causing her to hold her breath. He made a slight face before grunting and turning from her, walking away. As he got far enough away, she released her breath and grasped her chest. Before she could stop herself, she snapped a photo of him and began to walk backwards away from him, heading towards the hole she came from.

She had made her way back to the boat, completely awestruck and could hear James trying to plan out how they were going to handle the situation while Slivko tried to hotwire the boat. She stepped onto the boat as james asked, "Slivko, did you get to anything back there?"

"Yeah," he called back. "My pop's a mechanic, if I can't fix this he will disown me." Loki looked to him to see him in a hole in the floor. "If he ever sees me again."

"Hold up on that Churchill, Russia was our ally," Hank said from his spot across from James. "Now you say we are at war with them?"

"It's more of a Cold War," James explained, looking at the man.

Loki began putting her camera into her bag, carefully trying to keep all her film safe. "Cold war as in they take the summers off?" Hank asked and Loki froze, trying to not laugh out at his words. After a moment of no one answering, he then asked, "What about the cubs? They win a world series yet?"

"How did we get to sports?" Loki asked under her breath, shuffling through her bag.

"The cubs?" Slivko asked, popping his head up from the hole. "No, not even close. Were they ever good?"

Hank looked offended as Loki sat down, leaning her back against a small lip of a wall on the boats edge, holding her book in hand, quietly reading to herself. "That happens to be my team. Where are you from?"

"Detroit."

"Oh yeah, the Tigers," Hank said mockingly. "They win at all this year?"

"I don't know."

"I doubt it," Hank shot back.

Slivko stood fully, holding a wrench in hand. "Hey, who do you think would win in a fight, a tiger or a cub?"

"A tiger would win," Hank responded and Slivko nodded his head aggressively as we went back to work. "A cub is a baby bear. A full grown tiger could eat a baby bear. You gotta think it through."

Victor, who sat holding his briefcase, looked out slightly. "We also put a man on the moon," he said.

"No kidding?" Hank asked, resting his hands on his hips. "What did they do, just leave him up there? What does he eat?"

"Tang," Victor shrugged before looking at him. "Spam."

Hank nodded his head slightly and James rested his hands on the metal contraption he was currently trying to fix. "Come on," he sighed out. "We are losing daylight." Loki looked up at him and he continued to work in the heat. His blue short sleeve shirt was drenched in sweat at this point and she continued to look between him and her book for the next hour and a half. The sun had set and they thought it was time to call it a night, seeking shelter in the upper portions of the wrecked ship. Loki stood next to her camera that rested on a tripod she had made out of sticks and string. She was trying to take a photo of the lights that were dancing across the sky in different shades and hues that she didn't even know existed. She was trying to get her flashlight to work but couldn't, the batteries had died and it was more than likely that she lost the chance to take long exposure photo. She could hear music playing further in but she remained alone, trying to take in as much of that view as she could.

A voice sounding behind her made her jump. "Isn't it odd? The most dangerous places is almost always the most beautiful."

Loki kept looking out as James moved to her side. "We appreciate it more."

"You think?"

"We could die tomorrow... this could be the only chance we had to see something like this," Loki said, staring at it. "We take it in and realize it's beauty because it might just be the last snip of it we ever see."

"Does that scare you?" he asked, looking to the side to look down at her.

She crossed her arms. "No... not at. It would just be inconvenient... Houston was telling me I have been missing something, that maybe I could find it here... maybe he meant death."

"Why are you so accepting?"

"Barely anyone knows who I am," Loki said, looking up at him. "I don't have a family back home, no friends other than Houston, no husband or children. The worst thing about me dying, is that there wouldn't be a place for my money to go." she looked back out at the view. "Do you happen to have a flashlight?" she asked.

He began patting his pockets and pulled something out, gently handing it to her. "No, but I have this."

"Thanks, I was trying to take a long exposure picture, but my flashlight's dead." she went to the camera and looked at the lighter, striking it so a small flame arose as she turned the dial on her camera. Once she did what she wanted, she looked at the small lighter. "Royal Air Force?" she asked, peering up at him.

"My father's," James explained, moving closer to her. She watched as he stood about three feet away, towering over her. "He threw it to me from the train as he rolled off to fight the Nazis. It was like John Wayne to me. " he looked out again, gazing at the lights. "Like a mythic hero."

Loki continued to look at the man in front of her. "Did he come back?" she asked softly, stepping towards him.

He slightly peered at her. "His plane went down near... Hamburg. They searched for him for months but..." he began with a slight voice crack. He looked back out, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I suppose no man comes home from war. Not really."

Loki gently moved the lighter from one hand to another. Feeling the engraving with her finger tips. "Did you?" she asked softly and he broke a smile.

"Maybe," he said, looking down at her. "Maybe not... it's funny, Randa said the same thing to me that Mr. Brooks did to you. I just don't see how he could have meant death for someone so young and beautiful," he said quietly, walking away from her. Her jaw had dropped slightly and she looked down. She clenched her fingers around the long thin lighter in hand and looked out among those lights again.