Always Surprise Me ~ James Conrad

Chapter 8

Some of the guys followed Marlow while Mason and I went back to the village. She was enjoying herself, taking pictures of the Iwis. I was enjoying myself watching her.

I was sitting on a hill, drawing in my journal. I drew Kong, the giant water buffalo, the village, the drawings in the boat, and the Iwis. This is how I record what I see.

"Wow, that's really good." I look behind me and smile at Mason.

"Thanks." I hear a click of her camera as she takes a picture of me. "Any pictures you take of me, I want a copy of." She chuckles.

"Deal." We both then look over when we here a creature that sounds in distress. I put my journal away as i head toward the sound, Mason right on my trail.

We find an opening in the wall. I don't even hesitate as I go to head through it. Mason stops me by grabbing my arm. I look back at her confused.

"Are you sure?" I smirk at her.

"We will be ok." She nods and we both head through the opening. We quickly end up in a clearing. In the middle of it, is one of those water buffalo with a fallen copter on top of it. It looked like it couldn't get up. My eyes widen and I run over to it. I quickly start pushing on the helicopter, trying to get it off. Mason was beside me, trying to help. The helicopter wasn't budging any.

We both took a second break so we could gain our barings again. All of a sudden, the helicopter was lifted into the sky. Mason fell backward, landing on her butt, while I took a step in front of her, my eyes were huge.

Kong was standing in front of us, looking down at us, holding the helicopter. The buffalo looks at us then wanders away. I was glad that the creature was ok but I had other matters at hand. Kong drops the copter away from us as I stare at Kong. He doesn't look happy.

While staring up at Kong, I stretch both my hands out, palms up, trying to show him that we weren't a threat to him. He looked at me curiously, like I was something new to him. His eyes got a little bit softer as he looked back and forth between me and Mason. He then turned around and walked away. I watched him for a few moments till I heard Mason hiss in pain.

"Are you ok?" I ask her as I kneel beside her. She nods her head.

"I hurt my ankle but what you just did was amazing." She says as I help her up. We start walking back to the wall.

"What are you talking about?"

"What you did with Kong, it was impressive. Also, have you always had a gun?" I chuckle and nod my head.

"Birthday present from my brother when I turn 21. And I just did with Kong what I did with the buffalo earlier, nothing major." We finally get to back to safety and I take her back to the hill. I decided to go check on the boys.

When I get to the river, I see a mesh of planes that looks like a boat. Conrad, Slivko, Nieves, and Marlow are working on it, trying to get it running. I sit on the bank of the river, stretch out my leg with the sore knee, and start drawing in my journal again.

When night fell, I was still out by the boat while everyone else went to Marlow's place. After everything that happened today, you would think I would be exhausted but i really wasn't.

I look down at my brother's letter again, sad that I couldn't read it well in the dark. I had given my lighter to Mason so she could do a long exposure picture. I sigh as I look back up at the dancing colors in the sky. I grab my brother's dog tags as I feel a couple tears slip from my eyes.

The real reason I wanted to be alone right now, was so I could let my walls fall for a few moments. I have been trying to be strong for everyone else but it was hard when I wasn't sure if we really would get off this island or not.

"I thought I would find you out here." I smirk to myself and quickly wipe the tears away. Conrad sits next to me and looks up at the sky.

"It's beautiful." I say.

"It's odd. The most beautiful places are always the most dangerous." I sigh and look over at him.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't traveled as much as I would like to." He looks at me, eyebrows raised.

"What do you mean?"

"Before this trip, I had traveled all over America, working at different zoos, than to the tiger sanctuary in Thailand, that's it. That's why I took this job, to travel somewhere else, and for the money. I'm going to use it to buy a boat, hire a few guys and travel the world: seeing different animal, experiencing different cultures, that's my dream." His eyes widen and he smiles.

"It sounds like a pretty good dream." I chuckle and nod my head.

"It is, it was mine and my brother's."

"You were close with him." I nod my head.

"We were twins, best friends. We got closer after our parents passed away." I look down at the letter again. I see a lighter appear in my vision and look at Conrad, smiling. "Thanks." I look at it, seeing the Royal Air Force on the side of it. "Royal Air Force?" He nods.

"It was my father's. He threw it to me from the train as he rolled off to fight the Nazis. He was like John Wayne to me. Some kind of mythic hero." he stares at the sky

"What happened to him?" I ask. He looks over at me.

"His plane went down near Hamburg. They searched for him for months, but... I suppose no man comes home from war." I nod my head.

"My brother died saving his comrade. Slivko had accidently stepped on a mine, Chapman got him away from it quickly, but my brother jumped on it to minimize the blast." Conrad reaches out and grabs my hand.

"I'm sorry." I shake my head.

"Don't be." Conrad reaches up with his other hand and wipes a tear from my face.

"You act so brave around the others." He tells me. I shrug and look away.

"I want them to have hope, and me crying won't help anything." he chuckles.

"You surprise me." I chuckle.

"You tell me that a lot." He gently grabs my chin and has me look back at him.

"Because it's true." The way the lights in the sky shine in his eyes is magical. The soft smile on his face makes my heart speed up slightly. Our lips were like two magnets drawn toward each other, a force nothing could stop.

When they touched, it took my breath away. His lips were soft and the kiss was passionate. It felt like I was floating on air. Each touch was like a zap of electricity. This kiss made me forget everything that was happening around us for just a few moments. When we pulled away, our foreheads touch as we both had big smiles on our faces.

"Wow." I whisper out. He chuckles and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.

"I agree." We sat out there a little longer, Conrad's arm wrapped around my shoulders and our fingers intertwined, just enjoying each others company and the few moments of calm we had. But I couldn't help but wonder, is this the calm before the storm?