Lost & Found- James Conrad

Chapter 8

James and I helped Slivko as we got a safe distance away from the graveyard. Hank was trying to reason with Packard as we took a break. "Now look, Colonel. You may outrank me, but I've been here a heck a lot longer. And I'm telling you that thing that shredded us was only the first of them. Now we are on their turf and we need to turn back!"

"Not as long Chapman's still out there." I took a step forward.

"I'm sorry Colonel, but Chapman is dead," I stated as I held up a pair of dog tags. Packard took a huge step towards me.

"I thought you said you can control those things. Didn't look like you controlled it down when we were being attacked!"

"I told you, Colonel before we even left that I cannot control the Skull Crawlers when there are loud noises or bright flashes, so don't you dare say that this is my fault! You are the reason those men are dead!" I yelled at Packard. Packard turned away from me to look at the rest of the group.

"We're still going to the crash site."

"What's at the crash site that you want so badly?" I questioned.

"Weapons! Enough to kill it!" James took a step towards Packard.

"Kong didn't kill Chapman."

"But it did kill these men! My men!" Packard yelled at James and me.

"You can't kill Kong, Colonel. Kong is god on this island. Liz and Kong are the only things keeping those lizard things underground," Hank said, trying to defend me.

"You can't kill Kong, Colonel. The skull crawler, that's the real threat. There are many more beneath us, so if you get rid of their natural competition, then they will destroy everything in their path," I said calmly.

"Then we will end them too! After we bring this thing down," Packard spat at me. Hank pulled out his katana.

"I can't let you do that." All the soldiers grabbed their guns and pointed it at Hank.

"Wait, hold your fire!" James yelled at everybody.

"This is one war, we're not gonna lose!" Packard yelled.

"We're not at war Colonel. You're making a mistake." I stated. He whipped around to face me.

"Your lies got my men killed!"

"You're going to get us all killed!" I screamed. James leaned over to me.

"It's not our fight." He grabbed my waist to make sure I didn't get any closer to Packard. Packard looked at James.

"Whose side are you on, Captain?" James looked at me then back at Packard.

"Okay, Colonel. You will find your Sea Stallion three clicks off from that ridge. Now, I'm going to take these civilians back to the boat, and we will wait for you there."

"Saddle up!" Packard yelled at the soldiers. "Let's go kill this thing." I walked over to Marlow after all the soldiers left.

"Marlow, you okay?"

He nodded. "We need to stop him."

"You want to talk to him about it again? He seemed really for it the first time," said Mason. I turned to look at her.

"He's losing his grip," I said to James. James motioned us forward.

"Follow me." We walked for what felt like hours until James bent down over a rock. "There's water close by. Wait here, I'm going to get to high ground to find the river."

"Hey, I'm coming too!" I yelled. I turned to follow James up the beaten path when I heard somebody else call out.

"Wait for me!" I turned to see Mason following James and me. When she caught up to me she whispered into my ear. "I can't let you and James alone, because I don't know what you guys are going to do."

"Mason! We're in the middle of the jungle, I think this is the last place I would do that."

"I don't know, Conrad seems pretty intrigued by the idea." I turned to see James smirking like he was listening to the entire conversation. I turned bright red. Mason took the lead while James and I followed. James leaned over towards me.

"You know, Darling, I think that Mason had a good idea," he whispered to me. I smacked him lightly.

"If we were married I would have considered it." I smirked at him.

"Stop talking about it please!" I heard Mason yell at us.

"You were the one who brought it up."

"Come on, let's go find the river."

We climbed in silence. When we finally got to the top, James pointed to the river. "The boat must be around that bend." I heard loud footsteps slowly getting closer to us. I looked directly ahead to see Kong walking towards us. I felt James wrap both of his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest. Kong reached the cliff to where the three of us were standing. I finally broke out of James' arms and made my way to Kong. I put my hand on his cheek and began to slowly pet him. I noticed Mason slowly coming towards the both of us.

"He won't hurt you, Mason. He's actually a big sweetheart. Come here." Mason came towards me. "Give me your hand." She slowly gave me her hand. I put both mine and Mason's hand on Kong's nose.I slowly removed my hand and backed away towards James. I noticed that both James and Mason were crying because of what they just experienced. I wrapped one of my arms around James waist, and he did the same thing to me. I heard massive explosions to the right of us. Everybody turned to see massive flames erupt to the right of us. Kong growled and began to head that direction. "We need to go now." Mason, James, and I ran down the hill as quickly as we could. When we finally made our way back to the camp I saw Brooks pointing a gun at us.

"Don't shoot!" I heard James yell at the group. "The boat is that way." James pointed in the direction towards the river. "Wait for us till dawn. If we aren't back by then just go."

"Where are you three going?" Brooks questioned James.

"We gotta save Kong," I stated.

"Not without me," Hank spoke up.