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

5. All Hail the King

It was strange how quickly the scene changed: One moment, they were soaring through the sky above a serene island.

The next, they were at the centre of pure chaos in the form of a sudden-onset attack that no one saw coming or could have seen coming.

No one could have anticipated this, no one could have been prepared. 

"Is that a monkey?" one soldier cried over the radio.

No one answered; everyone was shocked speechless. Even Mason was too shocked to take a photo of the thing - whatever it was.

It looked like a gorilla, only the size of a skyscraper, and instead of crawling like gorillas usually did, this guy stood tall. Proud almost, one could even say.

The creature didn't move at first, just stared at the pack of choppers moving closer. It looked, well, angry.

With a swing of its giant fist, the gorilla punched one of the helicopters right out of the sky. It exploded into nothing, just fire and smoke.

The one beside it was the next victim. This one he backhanded. This knocked it off its course and it spun out of control, striking a palm tree, doing irreversible damage, damage to both itself and the tree, and not to mention the passengers.

Soldiers spoke frantically to one another over the radio, but it was difficult to hear and understand. Plus, everyone was too focused on the giant ape blocking their path!

Some of the men opened fire and began raining bullets down on the creature, who seemed mostly un-phased by this counter-attack. Un-phased in the sense that it was unhurt, but instead of angry now, it was utterly pissed.

"Pull out, now, pull out!" James yelled to the pilot who replied,

"I don't take orders from you!"

"Just do it, Mate!" screamed Tilda. "Up, up, up!"

"Let's kill this son of a bitch," said Packard over the radio.

"No!" cried Tilda, even though he couldn't hear her. "Can't anyone see that's just aggravating it!"

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" Another chopper went crashing down, followed by another, and then another.

Tilda  moved and leaned into the pilot's seating area. "Get us out of here!"

"What are you doing?!" yelled the pilot.

"You're going to get us killed!"

"You don't know what you're doing, lady! I'm gonna have to report you if you don't move."

"You won't be able to if we're dead! And that'll be on you!" 

She wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but somewhere amidst the chaos, both of their pilots ended up dead. Now they had no one flying the chopper.

Tilda leaned in and grabbed hold of the controls, trying to gain some control over the helicopter, but there was nothing she could do - except prepare to crash. They were going down along with the rest of them.

"Brace yourselves!" she yelled. "Brace, brace!" She managed to tip the chopper so that it fell into some trees, breaking the impact some, instead of nosediving straight to the ground. Everyone from their chopper and the one next to it were alive and mostly unhurt, except for the pilots and copilots.

"I think you saved our lives," Philip told Tilda as they climbed out of the utterly destroyed helicopters.

"Well, don't thank me yet," she said.

"You fly?" James asked.

"Long time ago."

"Wow English, you're just full of surprises," remarked Mason.

Sounded like this trip so far.

The group looked up at the scene they had left behind. With a great roar that seemed to shake the whole island, the giant ape tore the last of the helicopters in half, ripping it to shreds.

One thing was for certain, made blatantly clear: they were not welcome here. 

--------------------------------

Everyone was split up, scattered across the island.  Their group consisted of Tilda, Mason, James, Philip, Slivko, San, Brooks, and Nieves.

Nieves was complaining, but no one could really blame him. No one was really paying attention either, all still shell-shocked. "All of our choppers are down!"

James was trying to keep a cool head. "We'll find a way to signal the ship. They'll send a search party. We'll just have to make it by the exit window."

"I-I should be sitting behind a desk," Nieves sighed. Tilda was inclined to agree. As a writer, she didn't usually get so involved in her projects - certainly not this involved.

"Wait, so are we not going to talk about what just happened?!" cried Slivko in a near yell.

"Nope," said Tilda. Everyone was still processing - or at least trying to process - what had happened, much less in a state to discuss it.

"Well," Philip said, looking to James. "Looks like we're in charge, Captain."

James just nodded. "Everyone grab some weapons and supplies. We all need to pitch in carrying it all."

Everyone except for Nieves stepped in to help.  "This supplies might just save your life, Nieves," James told him.

"Captain's orders," said Mason. 

"I'll take one." Tilda grabbed a machine gun and slung it over her shoulder. Mason didn't take a weapon. "Guess I'm covering for both of us, then."

"My camera is my greatest weapon. Hope you've got a good shot," said Mason. "You know how to use one?"

It's been a while, just like with the flying, but there's always muscle memory.  "Good enough:  Point. Shoot. Done."

"I appreciate your attitude," Philip told her.

"Thanks."

"There's more to you than meets the eye," James remarked.

"Beware of writers, Captain Conrad. We may be quiet, but inside, we're complex creatures."

"I don't doubt it."

(Thank you so much for the 1000+ reads! That's so exciting!

Sorry for the delay in updates - I'm trying - and succeeding! - to finish up some of my older stories. I've got big plans coming for Tilda though! 

Thanks so much for reading  with me and I hope you enjoyed! :))