Survivor Story - Kong: Skull Island (Captain James Conrad Love Story)

3. James

Tilda and Mason wandered through the colourful market, searching for snacks and possibly even some souvenirs to accompany them on their journey into the unknown.

"Well, looks like we weren't the only ones with this idea," remarked Mason as the two surveyed a fruit stand. Tilda turned to see the handsome figure of tracker Philip Lance approaching.

"Ms. Weaver, Ms. Riley," he addressed them politely. "Savouring your last hours on civilized land before it's off to sea and, for all we know, an uninhabited island?"

"Preparing for adventure, just stocking up." Mason picked up an apple and tossed it back and forth in her hands.

"Good plan. God knows how this expedition will go."

"You don't sound very convinced or hopeful."

As Mason and Philip continued to chat, Tilda took her items over to the person running the booth so she could pay. Turned out the little money she had stashed in her pocket wasn't quite enough.

"Here, just a moment, just let me get some more money-" She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and began rummaging through it, searching for her other stash of money.

Next thing she knew something ran into her, with such force that it caused her to stumble backward, narrowly catching herself from falling, and the weight in her hands was gone - she just managed to catch the back of a teenage boy sprinting through the marketplace, her bag in hand.

She had just been robbed. There was a moment of stunned silence as what just happened settled in.

"HEY!" she yelled, before shooting off after him without another thought.

She was pretty sure she heard Mason call her name, but she didn't stop. All she was focused on was the back of the boy's head as he cut sharply through the array of stalls and groups of shoppers. A couple of times he threw a look over his shoulder, only to see the furious red-head charging after him. This only pushed him to run faster.

A busy marketplace like this was not ideal for such a chase - or maybe it was, depending on which side of the chase you were on. There were countless obstacles to dodge, hard to keep track of when running and with the adrenaline pumping. They were obviously making a huge scene.

They had already made it to the middle of the market, which was clogged with people and forced them to slow their running to a jog, the biggest challenge now to cut through the crowd. Tilda had lost track of how many people she had bumped into already, and gave up yelling 'sorry!'. A few times now she had lost track of her robber for a split second, but then luckily she would catch his head bobbing through the crowd once again. She pushed herself harder.

He threw another look over his shoulder and sure enough, there she was behind him, and gaining. By the looks of it he wasn't at all concerned now with plowing people over to try and lose her, shoving them aside and out of the way.

The crowds were thickening again, however, forcing the thief to slow down. This worked to her advantage. Thinking fast, she leapt up onto the nearest counter and began running across it, jumping from booth to booth. This helped her keep a better eye on him from this more elevated position, instead of losing him amongst the crowds. She had many product-sellers and booth-runners yell at her angrily in their native language.

Her thief hadn't looked back and so she had the element of surprise on her side. She dove off the next counter and lunged at him, throwing him down. He gave a surprised cry as both crashed to the ground.

The bag had fallen from his grasp during the fall but he quickly leapt to his feet and snatched it up. She hauled herself up, cursing under her breath, ready to resume the chase, only to find that he had stopped.