Elements of the Mountains

Marlow

We walk for a while longer before we get back into the forest. As we do James slows down, "Stay tight."

Before long we get to what looks like a building that had been torn down, vines growing over the walls, "what the hell is this?" Slivko questions as we walk into the middle of the ruins.

As we look around, Weaver takes a few pictures, but soon she gasps. It doesn't take us long to realize what it was that frightened her. We all around and see people seemingly coming out of the walls. All of us raise our guns and gather in a circle, even I pull out the side arm James made me take. "Everybody, stay calm, stay calm." James warns.

"Conrad?" Weaver winces.

"Stay back! Stay back!" Brooks shouts.

"No body shot, no body shot." James tries to calm the situation. I step a tiny bit closer to James, so I can feel his arm against mine. I can feel his energy shift as the people close in around us, their spares aimed at us.

But as Brooks cocks his shotgun, I hear someone, a man, speaking in english, but it's no one in our group, "whoa whoa, no, no, no. No need for that. Come on now," a man, who is in what looks like an old pilot's jacket and uniform, walks out in front of everyone, "Everybody, keep your wigs on now!"

Slivko shakes his head, "what?"

"I didn't believe it when they said you were coming. I was up all night just thinking about how me and Gunpei dreamed of this moment. And now here it is. 28 years, 11 months... and eight failed attempts to get back to the world... and instead the world comes to me? Ain't that a crack?" the man looks around to the other people, "They never smile."

"Did you crash here?" I tilt my head a bit as we lower our weapons a bit.

"Sorry, Miss. Lieutenant Hank Marlow of the 45th. Put the old flight suit on for you." I smile slightly "you are more beautiful... than a hot dog and a beer... at Wrigley Field on opening day." Marlow looks at his hands, "but you're real. Right?" He looks around, "I told you. Didn't I tell you? I said... 'it's fine.'" the people put down their weapons, "there we go."

Slivko steps forward a bit, "there's something out there, man."

"There's a lot out there. Now, come on. We gotta get home." Marlow smiles and shakes his head, "you don't wanna be out here at night." Marlow and the people lead us to a small village, behind a very large and impressive wall. As we pass underneath it I look up the face of the amazing structure and Weaver takes a picture. "You probably noticed a lot of weird things on this island. As long as we stay in here where the people live, we'll be all right."

"That wall," I look over to Marlow, "is that supposed to keep out that thing?"

"No, he's not the one they're trying to keep out."

"What?" Brooks comments as he turns around from the wall.

"These people live up on top of the trees while we're down on the roots. Some of them don't even seem to age. There's no crime, no personal property. They're past all that." We walk through the village, seeing people cooking and carrying on their day to day lives.  Soon we are approached by two members of the village. I have to assume these two are high ranking members, because while everyone else is in red, these two are in blue. Soon the two bow their heads, "thank you. Thank you." Marlow turns to us, "so, good news. They say you can shack up here."

James takes a few large steps to catch up with Marlow, leaving me with Weaver, "I didn't hear them say anything."

"They don't speak too much. When you've been here as long as I have, you start to understand. You'll see."

I shake my head, as I almost run to catch up to the two men, "wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait." I try to stay with them so I can hear everything clearly, because it sounds like Marlow expects us to stay here.

"We can't stay here," Nieves nods, "we have to get off the island. We have lives. I have a life."

"Nieves, now is not the time," James turns to him, "alright."

"What lands here tends to stay here." Marlow shrugs as we approach a large, rusted shit, "as far as I can tell, this ship washed up about 10 years before I did."

I shake my head, "you've been here since '44?" This man has been on this island longer than I've been alive. Longer than I've even been a thought.

"Yeah. Hey, what happened with the war? Did we win?"

"Uh..." James clears his throat, "which one?"

"That makes sense." Before we enter a room Marlow turns to us, "this is all hallowed ground to them. So if you like your hands, don't touch anything."

We walk into the room and look around, I gasp at the beauty just in this ship, "look at that."

"The way they tell it for thousands of years, the people on this island lived in fear. That's a hell of a long time to be scared. And then, one day, the damnedest thing happened. Some of the things they were afraid of started protecting them... against the things that were eating them. But nothing lasts forever, I guess. And this is where they honor the last of their saviors." WW walk around the room looking at the rocks the people have painted their stories on. There is a group of rocks at the end of the room that show the animal we saw, the giant gorilla. "Yeah," Marlow walks up beside me, "that's Kong. He's king around here. He's God to these people. Kong's a pretty good king. Keeps to himself mostly. This is his home. We're just guests here. But you don't go into someone's house and start dropping bombs... unless you're picking a fight."

Weaver tilts her head a bit, "wasn't Kong the one who killed your friend?"

"No. One of them did," Marlow points toward a group of rocks that show creatures with white heads that look like skulls, black bodies, with only two limbs and long tails. "Kong's god on the island... but the devils live below us."

"What are they called?" I turn back to Marlow.

"The Iwis won't speak their name. But I call them skull-crawlers."

"Why?" James almost whispers to Marlow, being oh so serious and invested in his story.

"'Cause it sounds neat. Okay. Look, I just made that name up. I'm trying to scare you."

I shake my head and glance towards James, "I'm fine calling them that. Are you cool with that? I like the name..."

James nods, "yeah, that seems like a great name."

Marlow shakes his head, "I've never said that name out loud before.It sounds stupid now that I say it. Just... You call them whatever you want. They're big lizard things. Nasty. They come from the vents deep down. That's why Kong got so mad. Those bombs woke up a bunch of them. I tell you what. You're lucky he's out there, too, or you wouldn't have made it this far. They're crafty bastards. Mean as hell. Now, he can handle them as long as he gets to them when they're still small. You don't wanna wake up the big one."

I take a deep breath, "how big is it?"

"It's bigger. It wiped out his whole family. Kong's the last of his kind, but he's still growing. And you better hope he does. Because the Iwis say once Kong goes... then the big one comes up. Then it's, 'Goodnight, Irene'."

"Listen, there's a refueling team coming to the north end of the island in three days," James turns toward Marlow.

I nod, "you should come with us."

"To the north end of the island?" Marlow tilts his head.

James nods, "we're gonna get out of here."

"In three days?"

"Yes," James smiles.

Marlow begins to laugh and pats James on the cheek, James quickly tires of this from the look on his face, but Marlow keeps laughing, "you can't get to the north end in three days. It's impossible. That's it. No way. At least not on foot."