━━━━━ JO-ANN LOOKED AT every one of the pictures that the tribe had created.
"That's Kong. He's kind around here. He's God to these people. Kong's a pretty good king. Keeps to himself mostly." Marlow continued to explain as he walked around the group. "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."
"Wasn't Kong the one who killed your friend?" Mason questioned him. Jo-Ann watched as Marlow's face became more serious.
"No. One of them did." Marlow answered, lifting his arm up and pointing at the picture. Jo-Ann, Mason, and Conrad turned their heads to look at the painting. "Kong's God on the island, but the devils live below us."
"And what are they called?" Conrad asked.
"The Iwis won't speak their name. But I call them Skull-crawlers." Marlow whispered.
"Why?"
"Cause it sounds neat."
Mason looked over at Conrad, as he shook his head. She then looked at Jo-Ann and the two exchanged a look with each other. Conrad soon switched his gaze between the two.
"Okay." Conrad replied.
"Look, I just made that name up. I'm trying to scare you." Marlow told them.
"I'm fine calling them that." Mason said, looking over at Conrad and Jo-Ann. "Are you cool with that?" Mason went on to ask the two.
"Yeah, me too." Jo-Ann told him.
"Yeah." Conrad answered, looking at Marlow. Jo-Ann laughed as the two attempted to compose words for the man to hear.
"I like the name, so..."
"That seems like a great name."
"I've never said that name out loud before. It sounds stupid now that I say it. You call them whatever you want. The 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'll 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 while they're still small. You don't wanna wake up the big one." Marlow explained to the group.
"How big is it?" San asked him.
"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'." Marlow said, laughing soon after.
"Listen, there's a refueling team coming to the north end of the island in three days." Conrad told him.
"You should come with us." Jo-Ann said, looking at Marlow.
"To the north end of the island?" Marlow asked. Laughter filled the air, causing an echo in the ship.
"We're gonna get out of her." Conrad told him, a smile plastered to his face.
"In three days?" Marlow placed his hand on Conrad's arm.
"Yes."
Marlow fell into a fit of laughter, Conrad doing the same thing but stopped when Marlow started patting his face.
"You can't get to the north end in three days. It's impossible. That's it. No way." Marlow said, walking away from them. Jo-Ann looked at Conrad as he looked back at her. "At least not on foot." Marlow turned back around looking at the group.