The cell wasn't just pitch black and smelled bad of rotten fish, it was also right muddy in the cell and slippery. She had slipped and fell twice, her head felt like it wanted to fall off. Pushing her hands out in front of her, she walked forward slowly, trying to find a wall or something to grab a hold of. It felt like forever before her hands touched vertical bars, when she felt them she grabbed them and held on tight.
"What's a Gungan?" Wendy asked.
"A tall, sapient, barbaric creature that we've been fighting for months now." the man replied.
Wendy could tell that the man was close, the sound of his voice had gotten closer and more louder even though he was talking in a whisper. She didn't know what a Gungan was and although she was curious she really just wanted to know if her friends were okay and where the horses were.
"Why were we brought here?" Wendy asked.
"The Gungans have reconnaissance missions when the sun sets," the man said. "you and your friends must have been found and captured by them."
"We were by this big lake with a waterfall on one end," Wendy said. "we weren't doing anything but calling out for help from our friends."
"Bad decision," the man replied. "that called them to you."
Not being able to hold it in anymore, Wendy doubled over and vomitted on the ground. She heard the man in the cell beside her move and moan. When she was done vomitting she collapsed to the ground, she fought the urge to curl up in a ball.
"Get use to the smell," the man said. "it'll be with you all night long as punishment."
"Punishment for what?" Wendy exclaimed. "I haven't done anything!"
"Punishment for being a hunter," the man said. "punishment for hurting the Gungan people."
"I haven't hurt anybody," she screamed back. "I wouldn't hurt anybody or anything."
"Den whysa were yousa in da woods?"
All of a sudden lights went on all over the place, she was blinded but could hear well. The man in the cell beside hers was yelling obsenities to the being that had spoken and the being was ordering that the man be gagged and tied up. Closing her eyes tightly and keeping them so for a few minutes, she opened them and got her first look at her surroundings.
She was in a ten by twelve foot barred cell that had no floor except for the muddy ground, the bars and the roof were steel, each bar was a good four inches wide and were a light blue in color. In front of her stood three of the creatures that she and her group had seen when they had entered the creatures camp to take Jar Jar back to his people. The one in front was thin but not as thin as the two beside him, he wore a dark blue robe with silver edges on the bottom, the chest of his robe was open, showing the shirt underneath which was a dull brown in color. Hanging from the creatures neck was a silver and topaz necklace, very beautiful in detail and looked to be heavy, around his waist was a beautiful blue and green belt of delicate fabric. Before she could say anything the man in the cell beside her yelled out and attracted her attention.
"You barbaric bastards!" the man spat. "How dare you kill all in my camp and take me hostage!"
"Silence himsa!" the creature ordered.
"Lady don't believe in that gibberish he speaks!" the man yelled out at her. "They speak perfect english but prefer to speak in that retarded talk to us as if we're inferior."
"Yousa is infer-er," the creature said. "oder-wise yousa wouldn't be hair huntin' ussen."
"You can it coming you great blubbering monster!" the man exclaimed.
The door to the man's cell swung open and the two creatures that were behind the elaborately dressed one rushed in. The man got up and put up a minor fight but once the taller of the creatures swung his wrist and hit him in the jar with his wrist gauntlet he went silent. The creatures quickly tied him up and gagged him, when they were done they stepped out of his cell, the taller of the creatures locked the door behind him. Wendy couldn't stop herself, she pulled her legs in closer and started to cry.
"Stoppin dat!" the creature yelled at her.
"What are you creatures!" Wendy cried. "Why have you captured me and my friends and where are my friends?"
The creatures in front of her stood in silence, the man in the cell beside her and stopped fighting his bonds, Wendy couldn't control herself anymore. She started to cry out for her friends, for anyone who was not captured in her group to come help her. She was crying so loudly that she didn't hear the door to her cell open or hear the footfalls of the taller creature that had subdued the man in the cell beside hers come towards her. When she felt the creatures hand grab around her arm she freaked and jumped up. With all the strength in her body, she shoved him back and luckily for her, since the ground was slippery, his footing gave way and he fell down. Once he was down on the ground she ran forward and made it out of the cell.
"Catch her!" the creature yelled. "Bring her back now!"
Not stopping for the longest time and not looking back, Wendy raced on. She had heard loud thuds behind her and she figured that it was the beasts that the creatures road so she had ducked into the trees were she figured that the creatures couldn't follow. She passed by many trees and many large stones before she got to a big lake. Slowing slightly, she checked around only once then continued on. She wasn't that good a swimer but if the creatures were still following her she would surely jump in the lake and hope that they couldn't follow.
"Gotta get to the boat," she thought. "got to tell Angel what happened and got to safe them."
Her friends were on her mind heavily, she worried about them and about having left them behind. Would the creatures hurt them because of her escaping? Would they leave them alone and was it a good idea for her to of ran off like she was doing? She didn't know how far the boat was or even were it was, all she cared about was finding help for her friends.
"Hang in there you guys," she thought. "I'll get help and get you out of there then we're getting off of this island."
Beth was busy patching up a small hole on the boat when she heard the heavy thuds, she thought at first that it was one of the animals that she and Andrea had seen while on their way back to the boat. Angel had gotten on George real hard for running off and abandoning Wendy and her group, he was up on deck pealing potatoes. Sighing and with a final smooth of the tool on the boat, she turned around and met a sight that made her heart stop. Wendy was racing right towards her with a group of about four creatures that looked similar to Jar Jar riding on two legged creatures racing right behind her.
"George grab your gun!" Beth screamed.
Wendy was running so fast and wasn't paying much attention to were her feet fell that she didn't see the root that was up out of the ground. When her foot got tangled up on it she fell and she fell hard. Screaming loudly, both out of fear and pain, she started crawling. The thuds behind her had stopped but she could hear her chasers dismounting. She pushed herself on to the bushes and hid, hoping that they couldn't find her. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she waited.
"She's around here somewhere," she heard one say. "check the bushes and the trees."
The man in the cell beside hers before he had been gagged and tied up and before she had run off had said that they could speak perfect english and from what she was hearing he was right. She couldn't tell how many there were, but she knew there were more than just two that had followed her. Taking a deep breath in and holding it in, she tried to calm her heavily beating heard. Not one second passed before she felt a pair of tough hands grab her from behind.
"Help!" she screamed. "Help me somebody!"
The hands that had grabbed her pulled her from the bush, one of the hands wrapped around her mouth, silencing her. Kicking her feet out and throwing her hands around, she tried to put up a fight. She couldn't do much because the run had nearly taken all of her energy.
"Wendy," she heard. "it's George!"
George! When she heard the name George she felt like crying. It was such a word and a name that made her spirits go from low to high. George, the accomplished huntsman was alive and was helping her. Turning around quickly, she grabbed him in a tight hug, he moaned but didn't move away but instead patted her on the shoulder. Her moment of happiness was short lived as as soon as he stopped patting her shoulder a bipedal creature jumped out from the other side of the bush and landed right in front of them.
"I'm tired of you bombad humans," the creature bellowed.
That's all the creature was able to say, George pulled his gun up and let it creature flopped to his side once then got up on his knees and threw a pole at the pair. Wendy ducked quickly, but George was impaled. Screaming, both in horror and in stunned disbelief, Wendy crawled over to George who had fallen to his side, the pole had impaled him in his chest.
"George!" Wendy called.
"Run!" George sputtered. "I'll... I'll hold them oph...ah."
Wendy didn't know how many had followed her before she had crawled into the bushes but now she did. Looking back she saw that there were four, she couldn't tell if the one on the ground was seriously injured or not. With a cry she stood up and started running again. Her foot hurt her so she couldn't run very far, she stopped when she heard George yell out curses and heard his gun go off, she wanted to go back when she heard him yell out in pain. Shaking her head, she felt hot tears fall down her cheeks, she limped on. When she reached a downed tree she stopped, crawling under it she curled up and hoped to be left alone.
Beth had heard the shots and had heard George yell out a few times, now it was silent. Climbing up to the tower, she cocked her gun and readied it in case it was needed. It was dark out and Wendy had ran right past the boat, as had her four pursuers. George had raced out after Wendy and she guessed he had found her, she now wondered if both had been hurt badly.
"See anything up there?" Pam asked.
Beth didn't answer, she was too deep in thought. She scanned the area deeply, when she didn't see anything she started climbing down from the tower. Pam was wearing a shawl as it was a bit chilly out at night, when Beth descended the ladder she was embraced in a deep hug by Pam. Taking a deep breath she moved towards the ramp, before she could get there a hand fell on her shoulder, turning around slowly, she looked into the eyes of her good friend Mary.
"I'll go with you." Pam said.
"No, I'm the only one for this job," Beth said. "I'm the militant remember."
"Good luck G.I. Jane!" Pam exclaimed.
When her feet touched the ground she dropped to her belly and dragged herself along until she got to the shrubbery on the other side of the trail, when she got there she started duck walking along the bushes. Her gun was cocked, ready to use if it calls for it. Scanning both ways, keeping all of her instincts up on high alert, she moved along. When she got to an area where the bushes parted she stopped, standing in front of her, about a hundred feet from the boat, were three tall, bipedal creatures, there was one sitting on the ground with his arm held close to his stomach.
"Bombad human!" the creature on the ground growled in pain. "Got me good."
"Quiet up Neb Neb," the creature next to the downed one said. "he only grazed your arm."
"Grazed?" the creature named Neb Neb repeated. "he shot me General! He didn't graze he shot me!"
"You hopped out of the way before it could do much damage," the statused creature said. "you're more scared than hurt."
Slowly duck walking forward, craning her neck as much as she dared without being seen, Beth tried to see if George or Wendy were with the creatures. With a gasp, she pulled back. Another one of the creatures, this one taller and thinner, was walking of the bushes and he was pulling George by his arm. From what she could see, George had a pole stuck in his chest pretty far and he was not fighting the creature, he was still.
"Bombad human!" the creature on the ground hissed at her friend.
"Enough Neb Neb," the taller, thinner, creature said. "he's dead."
He's dead, that all that rang through her ears, nothing else but "he's dead". Lowering her eyes, fighting tears and the anger that was boiling inside of her, Beth moved a little to the side, she didn't see Wendy and she was very worried about her.
"And the other one?" Neb Neb said. "Where is that human?"
"Ran off," the tall, thin, creature replied. "I believe this was her mate."
"Or her brother." the one with the status spoke.
"Knowing these humans," the tall, thin, creature said. "it could be both."
Shaking her head, not wanting to hear anymore, Beth moved on. She duck walked around the creatures silently then when she was on the other side of them she turned around and started crawling. Ever silently, making sure to not touch leaves or rocks, she made sure she had put a hundred feet from her and the creatures before she half stood up. Looking back, making sure that she had not been sighted, she started calling for her friend in a whisper.
"Wendy..." she whispered. "Wendy are you around here?"
Wendy was half asleep from fatigue and fear, she was in deep mourning for her friend, the ground under her was wet from her tears. She didn't care anymore if she was caught or not, she just cared about getting some rest. Her foot was hurting her, she could feel it swelling up, she had scraped her arm on a stick and it was hurting her. With a sigh she rolled over to her other side and allowed her eyes to fall, before she could fall asleep she saw the silhoutte of a woman that she thought was part of her dream about being back home in her bed in her parents house.
