Island Of Truth And Consequences Pt 03

Part Three: Consequences

Micheal heard her screaming before actually seeing her. When he found her, Lika was already waist deep in the quicksand. As she frantically tried twisting her way out, she only continued to sink further. She looked up and saw Micheal standing ten feet away.

"Oh thank God," she cried, obviously terrified. "Help me, Micheal, I can't get out."

Micheal seemed to stare at her with a cold, impassive, expression. He knelt down so the two of them were at the same eye level. "How did you end up in there?"

"Mukumba pushed me in," she said, her voice rising. "He pushed me in and ran off."

Lika thought she felt something solid beneath her feet, and tried pushing off against it. She seemed to rise a few inches, but then whatever it was gave way, and she started sinking again.

"Oh, God, please help me!"

Micheal stood up, still staring at her coldly, seemingly without any compassion. "You're just out of reach," he said quietly. "Stop struggling. You'll only sink faster. Try keeping your arms up."

He turned and disappeared, apparently abandoning her. Lika screamed, a cry of mixed terror and hopelessness. She could think of no worse death than sinking into the muck she found herself trapped in.

At that moment she realized she would never see Cindy again. With Lika out of the way, Micheal would have everything his own way. He would split his time between his sister and Cindy, having children with them both. His own little harem of two.

Lika knew from the moment she ran from that cave in terror, fleeing from that thing which tried to flood into her body, that something bad was eventually going to happen to her.

She should have followed her instincts that very day. She should have returned to where she'd been living on the other side of the island, with or without Cindy. Killing Micheal hadn't seemed important anymore. He wasn't nearly as dangerous as that monsterous being in the cave.

Sinking... The quicksand closed around her stomach. She felt a strange sexual urgency, the kind she often experienced when she was becoming aroused. She could feel her clit pulsating. Was she going to have an orgasm as she died? Could anything be more degrading than that?

In her minds eye she saw Cindy's face--The expression on her face as Lika made her cum. The two of them naked together, giggling over some girlish intimacy between them. The beautiful face of her "Banker Girl." The one and only person she had ever let her guard down for. The woman she was in love with.

That was all over now. She had a sick vision of Michelle and Cindy taking turns sucking off Micheal. First one, then the other. Whomever got him to cum first would spend the night with him. A sick little game Micheal himself invented.

He would concentrate on doing it in Cindy's mouth, her eyes widening as he powerfully ejaculated deep into it, splashing his jism against the back of her throat. Then, in front of his weeping wife, he would fuck Cindy, telling her how much more attractive she was compared to the now fat, frumpy, Michelle. How much more exciting.

Sinking... The quicksand closed around her breasts, her nipples hard and pulsating in perfect rhythm with her clit. As she thought about Cindy fucking Micheal, Lika actually had an orgasm, but it was a hollow, unsatisfying, climax. Her body merely reacting to her own sick imagination, and her rapidly impending doom.

Lika began to cry, hating herself for her weakness. Hating the world for what it was doing to her. Hating herself for almost allowing herself to trust Micheal.

Sinking... The quicksand was up to her neck. Her arms were still above the surface. She flailed them uncontrollably, grasping for anything that would save her from this hell, yet knowing there was nothing there to grab, nothing to hold on to.

Sinking... As if from far away, she could hear herself screaming. High pitched shrieks of pure terror. Her head was back as the quicksand closed over her. How long would she be able to hold her breath? How long after she died before her rotted flesh fell away, and she was only a slimy skeleton beneath the surface of her quicksand grave?

Darkness...Hopelessness...Sadness...Resignation...Eternity.....

OUCH!

Suddenly her head was above the surface again. Someone had her by the hair and had pulled her up. She blinked her eyes trying to see, her arms still flailing at thin air. She was sucking in lungs full of sweet oxygen.

"Jesus Christ, Lika, what part of 'stop struggling' didn't you understand?"

It was Micheal. He was on his knees, leaning out as far as he could without falling into the quicksand himself. He'd come back for her, and she had fallen just enough sideways in her final plunge that he could reach her. "Hurry up, Doc," he was shouting. "I just barely have her."

The very man who had pushed her into the quicksand suddenly appeared with a long, sturdy, branch of some sort. It was long enough to straddle the pit she was trapped in. He positioned it across the quicksand in front of her. Without needing instruction, both her arms came down over it, and she hung on tightly. At least she was no longer sinking.

"Alright," Micheal said, standing back up. "Move slowly towards us. Slowly, Lika, don't try to pull yourself out all at once. Just a liitle more towards us. That's it... Just a bit more."

Micheal and the president of Zahrain had their hands on her. They struggled to pull her out against the quicksand which seemed reluctant to release her. Slowly, both of them gripping her hard, they pulled her back to solid ground. She lay on her back, still taking air in with great gulps.

Micheal, collapsing next to her, was suddenly laughing. Then Lika was laughing. When the president began laughing too, Lika got to her feet, her eyes full of malice. She was going to break the good doctor's neck, and toss his body into the pit she'd just escaped from.

Realizing his danger, the man was backing away, frantically pointing at something near the quicksand. Micheal, jumping to his feet, managed to get in between them, holding off the enraged Lika.

"Let me at him, Micheal, I'm going to kill the son of a bitch!"

"Whoa, hold on. Is that where you were about to step when he shoved you?"

"What of it?"

"It's a snake's nest. Stop, Lika, look. Look at all the snakes in there! They're probably poisonous. If you'd stepped in there you would have been bitten twenty times. You'd probably be dead now. I don't think he meant to push you in the quicksand. If he had, why would he would have run back to get me? Lika, listen, he brought that branch to lay across there. Calm down!"

Lika looked into the nest of vipers. She could tell by their coloring that they were poisonous. Micheal was right. If she'd stepped there she would have been bitten repeatedly. She'd be laying on the ground in convulsions now, dying.

She owed the president of Zahrain, Doctor Warner Mukumba, a debt of gratitude. She bowed graciously, as was the custom in the orient. Mukumba responded graciously to her bow. Then Lika did what came naturally to her.

She punched Mukumba in the face!

Micheal knelt down beside the president who was on his ass in the dirt, rubbing his cheek where Lika had clobbered him. They watched as she disappeared down the trail.

"You okay?"

"She's got quite the punch. If I ever get back home I should put her in charge of my security detail."

"She doesn't trust you. Communicating in English with her and Cindy would go a long way towards working up some trust with them, and me too, actually. Why go on with this charade?"

"I can learn more from people who don't think I can understand them."

"What more do you need to know, Doc? I don't think there's much more for you to discover about us."

"You may be right about that, Micheal. Help me up."

Just as two men got to their feet, Lika reappeared from down the trail, dragging the tent behind her. She stopped and looked at the two men. "Just don't stand there, go get the other two bundles. I'd like to be clear of this swamp sometime today."

Micheal tapped the president on the shoulder and pointed down the trail. The man started ahead mumbling in French as he passed Lika.

"Speak English, Mukumba," she said sharply as he passed her. The Asian pretended not to understand, but Lika grabbed Micheal by the arm as he started to go around her.

"Hurry up, Doc," she said mockingly, repeating Micheal's shouted words. "I just barely have her."

"So you know."

"Yeah." Lika took a deep breath. "I don't like being lied to, Micheal. I didn't like it in the army, and I sure as hell don't like it here on the island."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

"Good, we'll get along better."

"Fine."

Lika watched as he passed her to follow Mukumba. "Oh, Micheal, there's one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Thanks for saving my life."

They finally made it out of the swamp about an hour before sunset. They continued on for another half hour, then decided to make camp for the night. Lika made a small fire, and the three of them settled in around it.

Micheal shared three cookie bars he'd taken from some MRE's. After finishing his, the doctor curled up on his side and quickly fell asleep. Micheal and Lika sat together in silence for a long time.

"Micheal, I need to ask you something."

"Okay. If it's to ask me about your appearence, you resemble a human fudgical."

"Funny. You're sister's right about your quick wit. No, I've been going over this other thing in my mind. What do think that monster in the cave is?"

"I don't know. Michelle thinks it's something ancient. Some sort of enity that's been there forever. Maybe you should ask him," Micheal said, pointing at the sleeping man. "He seems to know something about it. Michelle thinks the reason this island is forbidden, or sacred, or whatever the hell it is, has to do with the cave. Whatever it is, it's powerful. It causes bad things to happen to people who come here."

"Like what?"

"Two soldiers speaking Spanish came looking for me and Michelle. They had no intention of rescuing us. They intended to kill us, and then sell our bodies back to our family for a bounty. Apparently dear old Dad will pay for us dead or alive."

"That's awful."

"Tell me about it. Listen, though, those two soldiers, nothing more than animals really, repeatedly assaulted Michelle."

"Assaulted her how?"

"Please, Lika, don't make me spell it out for you."

"Oh."

"She managed to kill one by sticking my knife in his back. I killed the other one by crushing the back of his skull in."

"How'd you manage that?"

"With a blunt object. The point is, Lika, both those guys were big, as in professional wrestling, big. There's no way we should have been able to get over on them, let alone kill them."

"Well, Micheal, people can do amazing things when they're hard pressed and have no choice. I've seen things in the army you wouldn't believe. Lived through days when I didn't think we'd get through the next hour."

"Like what we did with those soldiers on the beach?"

"Exactly."

"Lika, do you really think we overpowered all those guys armed with rifles? You really think your dog tag deflected a bullet that should have killed you?"

"Sometimes people get lucky, Micheal."

"Lika, I was there. It was as if those guys were all suddenly moving in slow motion. Sure, Michelle distracted them. Sure, you led the charge, but there's no way we should have come out on top. We all should have ended up dead. We had help."

"What kind of help? What are you talking about?"

"This island. That thing in the cave. It wants us alive, so here we are. That thing in the cave... Michelle and I live with it because it lets us. It uses people, Lika, for it's own purposes."

"Micheal, that just sounds crazy."

"Really? What was it that scared you so badly in there?"

"Probably just an attack of nerves."

"Lika..."

"Alright, I did sense something in there. It was trying to possess me, overshadow me, take control of my body, however you want to put it. I never believed in that sort of stuff, but it was there, and it was real. That's why I'm asking you what you think it is. I don't know how the rest of you can live in there with that thing."

"It mostly leaves us alone."

"Well, I wish it would have left me alone. It wanted me. Not me, really. It wanted my body. It wanted to live again through me."

"How do you know that, Lika?"

"Because I could feel it, feel it's thoughts, as it tried to invade me."

"And you think I sound crazy?"

"Fair enough, Micheal, but I was face to face with it, so to speak. Whatever it is you're right, it's terribly powerful, and evil. It's very, very, evil."

"It's not evil."

Micheal and Lika both turned to look at Mukumba, who was sitting up. "It's not evil," he repeated.

"I knew you spoke English," spat out Lika. "Okay, big man, if it's not evil, what the hell is it?"

"It's the spirit of my people. It's been here since the dawn of time, and will remain here until time's ending."

"What does it want?", asked Micheal. "Why does it destroy some, yet lets others live? What does it want with me and Michelle?"

"I don't know, Micheal. Perhaps it considers the two of you righteous. Perhaps plans are being made around the two of you. It rarely lets foreigners survive here for long. It rarely lets anyone survive here for long, really. If we could talk with it, maybe it would tell us."

"If it's the spirit of your people, Mukumba, why doesn't it just talk to you? Aren't you the leader your people chose?" Lika was taunting him. "Maybe it has a low opinion of you, Chump."

"Doc, why did Lika have such a negative reaction to it?"

"Because she was frightened, Micheal. Lika didn't understand. The spirit was trying to talk through her, but Lika rejected her."

"Her? The spirit of your people is female, Doc?"

"Of course, Micheal. The mother of my people. Of course she'd try entering the right woman."

"The right woman," repeated Lika, sarcastically. "How am I the right woman? Why not Michelle? Why not Cindy?"

"I'm not a spiritual man. All that I know, I learned mostly as a child. I can see some things, however. Things which are plain to see, even to my casual eye. The spirit obviously likes Michelle, Cindy too, on a strictly feminine basis. Living spirit to living women. It wants you Lika, for a different, obvious reason."

"What obvious reason, Mukumba? Start talking sense before I smack you upside your pompous head. Why does it want me?"

It was Micheal who answered, as if he knew she'd take the answer from him easier than from the doctor. Turning to face her, Micheal said: "Because you're Asian, Lika."

"I'm American!"

"A small point, child," said Mukumba.

Before Lika could respond, Micheal asked: "What nationality are your parents, Lika?"

"My father was Chinese. My mother is Korean."

The two men looked at her several seconds without speaking.

"I was born and raised in the United States," insisted Lika.

Micheal was wondering if she was really that dense, or in a state of complete denial. Finally he said: "That doesn't mean anything. It's your Asian bloodline."

"Would you like to hear what I do know about the spirit of my people, and the peoples who came before us, and those who are yet to come?"

"No," insisted Lika.

"Of course I do," answered Micheal quietly, then pointed at Lika. "And so does she."

"Very well then," said Mukumba. "Make yourselves comfortable. Hear me as I tell you about the world before now, the people who settled these islands, and their good and righteous Queen. She who gave up her mortal life so that her children, and the generations that followed, might thrive and flourish. Then hear the promise she made to all those who would someday follow.... "

________________________________________________

Michelle waddled down the path to the pool, and carefully lowered herself into the water at its shallowest point. She felt fat, miserable, and unattractive. Her breasts were sore, and heavy with milk. Micheal was sure they were having a boy, and didn't mind telling everyone around him that he was having a son. Michelle couldn't tell what she was carrying. She hoped it was a boy, but only for Micheal's sake.

After the heavy rains last week, Micheal had decided to retrieve the tent they'd left behind at the crates. Lika had sat out in the rain for two days, refusing to enter the cave. What she'd encountered in the cave, the enity all of them could sense, had terrified her so completely, that she would rather sit out in the open, even through two days of thunderous downpours.

Lika was a captain in the US Army. She'd seen combat in a couple of places around the world. At 30, she was the oldest amongst the castaways. She was a hard, driven, woman, not given to flights of fancy. She was a battle hardened veteran, not afraid to take on any man, as she'd proven at the Bay Beach when she had led the charge against the heavily armed soldiers there.

Still, she was ill equipped to take on the supernatural.

The "enity," which was the name Michelle had given the paranormal force that hovered around them in the cave, had so completely terrified Lika, that she had stumbled back outside and ran off screaming.

Hours later, when she had finally calmed down, she had tried to talk her lover into returning with her to the other side of the island. Cindy had refused, and rather than abandoning her, Lika had chosen to live outdoors beside the crystal pool.

After the nearly two days of heavy rain, Micheal had decided to bring the tent back from the Bay Beach. He had decided that was where Cindy and Lika would live going forward. That was fine with Michelle. Although it had been her idea to bring the two women back with them, she was starting to have regrets.

Perhaps it was only the insecurity of her last few weeks of pregnancy. Yet she suddenly felt Micheal was paying far more attention to Cindy than necessary. What if something should happen to Lika? Would she be forced to fight Cindy to maintain her relationship with Micheal?

She didn't trust Cindy. Despite her supposedly heartfelt love for Lika, her eyes seemed to constantly follow Micheal around. Lika was gay, and had always been openly gay.

Cindy was straight, however, and had been lured into the relationship with Lika because of isolation and loneliness. Was she looking for a chance to reassert herself as a heterosexual girl?

If so, there was only one choice really, and that was to hook up with Micheal. She certainly wouldn't choose to be with the middle-aged, rather unattractive, Mukumba.

Although Micheal professed his love for her, he was a man, and as Michelle knew, men had wandering eyes. If Cindy came on to him, would Micheal refuse her advances? She was the girl he'd spent all his time with on the yacht, after all. The girl he'd tried to reboard the ship to rescue.

Lately, Michelle had become increasingly paranoid. She began thinking Cindy might want her dead. Michelle went out of her way to avoid being alone with Cindy. Now in her final month of pregnancy, she realized how vulnerable she would be if Cindy decided Michelle needed to go.

Michelle remembered her paranoia when she'd first come to the island. How she had worried she and Micheal were actually dead, and the island was their purgatory. She knew she was a worrier, and was grateful she could usually recognize paranoia went it struck her.

Still, the thought Cindy might actually want her dead, and worse, that Cindy might act upon it and murder her, caused her constant stress. The danger, perhaps only imagined, weighed heavily on her mind.

Michelle had been horrified when Micheal left to retreive the tent, taking Lika and Mukumba along with him. It meant leaving her alone with Cindy for two or three days. She had practically begged him to leave Mukumba behind, but Micheal had explained it was a three person job. Did he really not think Cindy was up to the task?