Under Normal Circumstances

Hope Springs Eternal

Hank and his native friends led us through the ruins and into a clearing, on the far side of which was a huge wall. A few of those huge buffalo creatures were milling about the clearing, eating the tall grass.

"Home sweet home," Hank chuckled as he led us across the clearing, right through the herd.

Conrad matched his pace to Hank's and started asking him some questions. With his departure, Slivko took my hand again and kept as tight a grip on it as his gun, keeping a sharp eye on the creatures and natives around us. I rolled my eyes with a smile. I thought of assuring him that everything was fine but I really didn't mind him holding my hand. Maybe he was the one who needed it. So I stayed quiet and stayed close, hoping it made him feel better.

"How did you get here?" I asked Hank.

"Well, as I mentioned, I was a pilot in world war 2. I was in a dog fight with the Japanese pilot and we both crashed on the beach. Neither of us was a good shot," he chuckled. "With out the war and with out the world, we became brothers."

I was listening but I was also mesmerized by the animals. But I barely noticed certain aspects of the wall till we were right in front of it. Now I was thankful for Slivko's hand. The wall was much bigger up close and covered in spiked logs. Some, or I suppose most, were covered in blood. Some of it old, some fresh, and swarms of flies buzzed around them. Hank led us to a narrow opening in it, just big enough for one person.

"You like it?" Hank asked us, patting the wall affectionately. "It keeps the big stuff out."

"Yes, we saw that," Conrad said, following him through.

"What, Kong?" Hank scoffed. "He's not the problem."

Not letting go of my hand, Slivko motioned for me to go through first and he followed.

"Come on, I'll show you," Hank beckoned us.

We followed him through the natives village and he explained them to us a little. They were called the Iwi's and in their society there was no personal property or crime. But they also never smiled. I saw this was the case as I looked around. The people were somber, clothed in yellow, red, or blue and all were painted with similar art work in those colors. They had small grass huts and they were all at work in one way or another. Some tended to crops, some were spinning thread, and some were cooking. The heavenly smell of barbecue reached my nose and I was suddenly aware of how starving I was.

Hank abruptly stopped when a very old couple painted in blue approached us. They just stared at Hank and he stared back for about ten seconds, before they nodded and walked off.

"Good news guys, they say you can bunk here tonight," Hank informed us and began leading the way again.

Conrad seemed confused.
"I didn't hear them say anything," he said, catching up with the older man.

"They don't really talk," he explained.

"They don't talk, they don't smile," Slivko murmured, shaking his head.

"That's why there's no crime," I whispered to him, making him crack a small smile.

We rounded a hillside and saw two huge ships, broken and rusted, far more inland than it made sense for them to be. It made a little more sense when I made out that they didn't just run aground, but they were practically set here, the gashes in the hull where evenly spaced like fingers or claws. If I had not seen that ape, I never would have come to that conclusion.  Hank led us toward the smaller, more dilapidated one to the left.

"If you value your hands, don't touch anything," Hank warned us. "This is sacred ground to them."

Slivko pulled me closer to him and farther from the wall when he heard this. We entered the hull and saw a memorial of sorts. Slender gray stones, pictures painted in white that you could only see from certain perspectives. Hank explained that the island is full of monsters and the Iwi's lived in constant fear. Then one day, one of those monsters started protecting them from the things that were eating them.

"Kong's a pretty good king. Keeps to himself, mostly. This is his home, we're just guests," Hank said. "But you don't go into someone's house and start dropping bombs, unless you're picking a fight."

"Wait," Mason piped up. "Didn't Kong kill your friend?"

"No," he answered and turned a dark look at one of the paintings. "One of them did."

I turned to look at it, having to take a step to the left. What I saw made me recoil and press myself to Slivko's side.

"Kong's God on the island but the devils live below us," Hank said ominously. "Kong was just mad. All those bombs you guys dropped woke a bunch of them up. Kong can take care of them when they're still little, but you do not want to wake up the big one. Kong is still growing, so we're lucky right now, because when he goes, the big one comes up."

"And what are they called?" Conrad asked.

Hank shifted his gaze before finally answering softly.
"The Iwi's won't speak their name, but I call 'em Skull Crawlers."

"Why?" Conrad pressed, his voice low like Hank's.

Hank seemed to falter here.
"Because it sounds neat," he admitted. "And I'm trying to scare you. I've never said it out loud before, it sounds stupid now that I think about it. You just call them whatever you want."

"I'm totally fine with calling them that," Mason said.
"Are you fine with that?" She asked Conrad who heartily agreed.

I could tell they were just pandering to him because they thought he was crazy.

"Listen," Conrad began. "There's a refueling team planned to rendezvous at the north end of the island in three days time."

"You should come with us," Mason suggested.

Hank smiled and let out a chuckle. Conrad nervously laughed along until Hank patted him a few too many times on the face and told him there's no way you can reach the north side of the island in three days.

My heart dropped to the ground hearing this, but Slivko turned to comfort me. With his free hand he pulled my face to his chest and whispered assurances that we weren't stuck here forever, that there was still hope. I gripped the side of his soft shirt as a tear escaped. But he was right, there was hope. Hank's expression brightened a bit as he added to his statement.

"Unless you had a boat."