They couldn't find her. They'd been looking for days and all they seemed to be able to find was death, they'd very nearly given up hope. That is, until Jack found his way back with her.
She was barefoot, dirty and battered, but otherwise seemed to be in good health. As the struggle arose, and Kong made his way toward them, the harpoon guns were ready, and Kong was nearly on top of them. In the moment of silence, the sound of a gun cocking drew the attention of nearly everyone.
"Put it down." The words were shaky, but there was an obvious warning under them.
Englehorn set down the harpoon gun and before anyone could stop her, Anne took a leap into the water, landing in up to her waist, turning to point the gun at Carl. "Drop the bottle." She commanded, and Carl did just that, letting the bottle shatter over the rocks.
"Anne, get back in the boat."
Jack recoiled as suddenly the barrel of the gun was pointing directly at him, and Anne began to back away. "I want no part in this, and you won't have the satisfaction of capturing him."
"Please Anne, get back in the boat and we'll just leave." Jack begged, but Anne shook her head, still backing away into the murky water.
"Leave now, all of you." She demanded.
Englehorn reached for the harpoon gun, but Anne pointed the pistol at him again. "Don't even try it." She hissed. "I wouldn't want to shoot you with your own gun."
The water shifted, and as the others watched in complete awe, Anne was picked up by Kong, cradled gently in his palm.
She held onto his thumb for support, as he turned and began to amble away slowly, obviously in quite a lot of pain. They made it to the top of the cliff within a few minutes, and Anne looked back toward the boat, watching it sail away into the horizon. Kong set her on her feet before he set to picking at his wounds, only to have his enormous hands pushed away by Anne.
She pulled out any remaining hooks, throwing them down over the edge of the cliff where they were lost in the jungle below before she went to look for some dry wood to start a fire. The great ape watched her with silent curiosity, obviously wondering what she was up to.
She picked up a couple of flat rocks, striking them together and Kong recoiled in surprise as a shower of sparks fell from them. Anne set the pile of dry twigs alight with some difficulty and Kong let out a very unimpressed sound, turning away.
The blonde woman looked over and sighed, before she walked over to begin tending to Kong's injuries. She managed to find each of them with Kong's help, and she cleaned them well, wrapping them with a few of the enormous leaves she found. The other leaves were set in a heap on the ground near the fire to stand in for a bed, but Kong apparently had other ideas.
As Anne tried to lay down on the bed of leaves, Kong picked her up, setting her down on his stomach as he reclined back against the cliff face where thick moss grew over the stone. Anne let out a breath as she closed her eyes and surrounded by warmth, she fell asleep.
She'd lost count of the days. Kong had showed her the entire island, and every good place to find food. They would spend the day together gathering food, then Kong would leave Anne at his home, and go out to find some meat. He would usually return with something, a boar, or even smaller dinosaurs. Anne- who had studied some things about ancient tribes- had managed to create some crude tools out of stone to prepare any meat that Kong brought back with him.
She was seated near the fire, the thick stone blade of a knife carving easily through the flesh of a small bird like dinosaur. She stripped away the skin, tossing it off the edge of the cliff before she picked up a sharpened spear and shoved it through the dinosaur from one end to the other. She set it over the fire like a spit, hearing the fat and blood begin to sizzle.
Kong was sitting nearby, watching with interest and when Anne looked over at him, he reached up to lightly pat at his chest.
'Beautiful.'