(AUTHOR'S NOTE) Hello, people. Here is the next chapter, all shining new. Written over Easter, I have tried to get this out to you before my workload piles up at an alarming rate, which it has started to do. So enjoy this – you may not see an update for a while, as my free time will be hard to come by. Of course, reviews will encourage me to write more… (END NOTE)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Something loomed through the fog, tinged oily yellow from the flaming pools. A gigantic black shape, growing with every passing second. Ann stared up at it, unable to escape her bonds, at the mercy of whatever this creature was. Then she saw it, as, the fog swirling around its feet, it stepped into view. Right in front of her.

Slowly, Ann lifted her head, realising that the native chants had ceased. Then she saw the creature worshipped by the islanders, their God incarnate, the one to whom they bowed down each and every day, the one to whom they gave flesh and blood. A gigantic gorilla, at least twenty feet, towered over her, staring down at the sacrificial victim before him. Gingerly, he raised one of his hands, pushing a large, black-skinned finger towards Ann. She leaned back, fear in her eyes, and struggling against the ropes, as the gorilla's finger lightly touched her blonde hair.

"KONG!" One almighty shout rose from the top of the Wall, and the gorilla looked up, face twisting at the sight of his subjects. He snarled, glancing back down to Ann, and with a practiced ease, reached out to the knotted vine ropes and snapped the bamboo rods at the centre of each knot. The knots collapsed, loosening the hold on Ann's wrists. Her hands fell to her sides, and she staggered forwards, right into the gorilla's hand. She screamed as the fingers closed round her.

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The Doctor and Hayes led the way back towards the plaza, Jimmy and Peri in tow. Peri occasionally sent a sideways glance in Jimmy's direction, often centred on his bare chest. Well, what was a girl supposed to do when most of the attractive men she'd met on her travels were either dead or were obsessed with something? Jimmy was a nice kid, and years on the ship had given him a lean physique with just the right amount of muscle. Now all he needed was a great taste in cars and music and he'd be perfect. Not that he could drive, or got the chance to listen to a lot of music, and they certainly didn't have pop music in the 1930s.

Peri sighed. A mythical island in the Indian Ocean with murderous indigenous population really wasn't the best place to look at boys. Nonetheless, she should try to get a photograph…

Then Ann's scream rent the air, and everyone froze.

"That came from behind the Wall…" Hayes breathed.

"Yes." The Doctor seized Hayes' gun, and began firing into the air, taking off towards the plaza as he did so.

Jack heard the scream too, and realised where it came from. As the natives scattered at the sound of the gunshots, he leapt from his hiding place, charging towards the steep steps leading to the wall top. Denham followed, heading for the forest of bamboo logs propped up against the gates. He dodged between them, coming to a hole in the metal-clad gate. He peered through, eyes raking the surface of the smog from the oil pools. There was something there! It was gigantic, like a man, and also like a beast. Like both, at the same time. It rose from a crouching position, delicately holding something in its hands, and raised its head, looking towards the Wall, straight at Denham. And it roared.

A deep, primal sound, like thunder from hell itself, splitting the air with ancient fury. Then the creature vanished, melting away into the smog.

Jack staggered onto the bamboo platform, desperately searching for any sign of Ann. He saw nothing.

"Ann!" he yelled, frantic, but the only answers he got were the sound of the jungle over the abyss, and the echo of his own voice.

When he descended, armed sailors were standing around the perimeter of the plaza, and Denham's film crew lugging filming equipment and weapons out of a nearby ziggurat, including Denham's prized camera. Jack slumped, dejected on the central altar, where the Gift had been placed earlier, his head in his hands.

"You find her?" Lumpy rasped, taking the opportunity to light a roll-up.

"She's gone," Jack said, not looking up.

"She's not gone," a voice floated from behind them, "She was taken."

Jack leapt to his feet, spinning to face Denham. The filmmaker was standing in front of the gate, slack-jawed, a haunted look on his face.

"You saw something…" Jack breathed, advancing on Denham, hope lighting in his eyes, "What was it?" Denham stammered something, looking fearful.

"Tell me what you saw!" Jack demanded, getting closer.

Gunshots rang out, and Jack spun round as Hayes, the Doctor, Peri and Jimmy ran onto the plaza, pursued by a horde of armed native warriors. The sailors raised their weapons, but more natives leapt from the roves of the ziggurats, lifting scavenged guns and pulling the triggers.

The attack was so ferocious and sudden, that there would have been no escape, if Jack hadn't been motivated by a desire to recover Ann - the sort of desire only found in the madly in love. He saw no way out, and reacted, diving towards the bamboo logs holding the gate shut. He began dragging them aside as the sailors opened fire on the natives, yelling as he did so.

The Doctor dived in to help, closely followed by Jimmy and Hayes. The natives fell, struck down by gunfire, but each was replaced by another, and another, and another.

Then suddenly, the gates began to swing towards them, pushing the bamboo logs to the floor. Jack dived through, calling out "Come on!"

Nobody needed to be told twice. Jimmy dived after Jack, the Doctor shoving Peri through after the boy, then shepherding the sailors through as they ran for the gates. Denham charged past him, oblivious to anything, his camera clutched to his chest, gibbering slightly. They ran out across the bamboo drawbridge, leaping from strut to strut, not daring to look down. The Doctor turned to see the last sailor, a kid in his early twenties, being pounced upon by a group of natives, and clubbed to the ground. A pool of blood began to form shortly afterwards. The Doctor turned and began to run across the bridge, just as it began to rise.

"Doctor!" Peri yelled on the other side of the cavern, trying to run forwards to help him, but Hayes caught her.

The Doctor forced himself to move faster, although his Time Lord physiology let him run faster than most humans, it was likely he wasn't going to make it. The bridge was four feet above the ledge, and rising. The Doctor charged up the ever increasing angle, then leapt off the end, soaring through the air to roll onto the ledge, safely.

"I didn't think you were gonna make it," Lumpy said, helping the Doctor up.

"Centuries of practice," the Doctor said, "Now shall we get out of here before they start shooting arrows at us?"

A sailor to Jimmy's left staggered forwards, gurgling as the feathered shaft of an arrow appeared in his throat. None needed any encouragement after that.

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The jungle was dark, very dark. It was just possible to discern the outlines of trees and people, mostly because people moved and trees didn't. There were, however, a lot of low shrubs and thorn bushes dotting the uneven terrain. When one sailor became hopelessly entangled with a vine, Peri guessed it was similar to the 'Wait-a-while' creeper – a thorny vine which caught on clothes and equipment, although she couldn't be sure. The way it looked in the light of a torch was unlike any vine she had seen before, so it was probably a new species. Hell, all the trees on this island could have evolved in isolation, so could all be new species.

Hayes called a halt, and broke out a few canteens of water. Then he began to assess his options. First, where were they? Skull Island, but precisely where on Skull Island, he had no idea. Second, what would be the best course of action? Get back to the Venture, obviously. But that would necessitate going back through the village. Unless they got to the coast, and sent up a distress flare. Englehorn would send out the other two dinghies to rescue them. That sounded like a plan. Hayes cast a quick glance over his crew, checking who was there. The Doctor, Peri, helping free O'Brien from the thorn bush. Denham's film crew, minus the sound technician and Leonard; there was Lumpy, Choy, Briggs, Wu, Richards, Wood, Brook, Taylor, Cooper, Dawson and Wallace. Apart from Sam Griffin, they were also missing Burridge and Cochrane. Cochrane had been just a kid, little older than Jimmy. Hayes' eyes slid to the boy, noting the scratches on his arms, shoulders and chest from the thorn bushes. He seemed to be holding up okay, unlike a few other sailors, who looked thoroughly spooked. Hayes felt a surge of pride in the fact that Jimmy was holding out. He checked Driscoll, who was looking distant, and then Hayes realised. Ann Darrow wasn't with them.

He could tell Ann and Jack were in love – hell, it was obvious to anyone who looked. And although he knew how it felt to lose the one he loved, he could only imagine how it felt to have left her behind.

He was about to walk over to Jack and say something, when they heard it. A scream. Ann's scream.

Jack leapt to his feet, eyes wide. Then he ran in the direction of the scream.

"Jack!" Hayes yelled, charging after him, "Wait up!" Hayes glanced over his shoulder, "Come on, then," he said.

Grumbling, the sailors climbed to their feet and began to jog after him.

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Ann was gripped in the gorilla's fist as it pounded through the jungle, leaping across the ground. She couldn't see anything but a dark green blur; she couldn't hear anything but the crashes of the gorilla and her own heart thumping in her ears. She gulped, feeling bile rise in her throat. Completely disorientated, she hung limply from the creature's fingers, squeezing her eyes shut, just waiting for it to be over. She felt the gorilla leap over another of the vast bottomless chasms, and felt another lurch in her stomach. They hit ground again, and Ann's stomach contracted, vomit spraying onto the ground. The gorilla grunted something, and increased its speed, leaving Ann to groan in its grip.

Then it stopped, but Ann continued to move, the world spinning in her vision, as the gorilla hefted her in front of him, shaking her like a rag doll. He snarled, his face twisting into a grimace. His face was covered in old scars under his fur, with one eyelid mangled and his jaw crooked, causing a yellowed incisor to jut up from his lower gums. He leaned forwards, pressing his gigantic face close to Ann's. She smelt his breath, reeking of decaying plants. She gulped, her terror starting to escape, and she screamed. The scream that Jack heard.

He roared, shaking Ann around. She groaned, shut her eyes, but still felt as if the world was hurtling around her head. If she had anything left in her stomach, the gorilla might get a bit of a shock. The gorilla snarled in frustration, hurling Ann into the air and catching her, upside down. Ann moaned, feeling the bone necklace slide up her neck, the sharp bones scratching her flesh. But she didn't notice it. Her swirling vision was focused on the ground, which was littered with a carpet of bones. Recognisable as human. Ann swallowed, as every single skeleton wore a necklace of sharp bone, like hers.

Sacrificial victims. All dead. All killed. By the gorilla. Pulled limb from limb whilst they were still living, then left to die when they ceased amusing the gorilla.

Ann felt herself hoisted up, to face the gorilla's upside-down face, his lips curled in a low snarl. Desperation began to overtake Ann's dizzy fear, she desperately searched for a weapon, something to use against this gigantic creature. There was nothing. And besides, she was in his hand – if she tried anything, he could easily crush her in the same way she might crush an ant. So she had to get out of his hand, and find somewhere he couldn't follow her.

Gunfire. The rat-a-tat-tat of Thompson sub-machineguns echoed around the valley, clearly being fired some way off. Ann's heart leapt. Jack! He was coming for her! (Although she would have preferred him to arrive before she had been sacrificed).

And, crucially, it distracted the gorilla for just a second. And Ann took that second. She grabbed the bone necklace and rammed the sharp point into the gorilla's hand.

The gorilla roared, his hand snapping open on reflex, dropping Ann twelve feet straight down. She landed heavily, staggering to her feet. She began to run towards the trees, ignoring pain in her feet and legs. The natives had taken most of her clothes, leaving her with only her underslip, and running across broken bones in bare feet was quite painful.

The gorilla snarled, spinning at the loss of his gift from the natives. He lunged after Ann, swinging his hand down to sweep her up and into his hand again. Ann screamed as he caught hold of her, and charging into the jungle, leaving her necklace where she had dropped it on the ground, its hair bindings broken.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE) Chapter twelve will be coming soon, because I managed to get that finished off over Easter as well. I need hardly remind you that reviews of this story will encourage me to write more chapters in my free time, so please R&R. Additionally, I desire to place an advert: I am concurrently writing a story titled Jumper: Continuum, of which 3 chapters are up. But my betareader has had to stop due to a mounting workload, so I am looking for someone willing to take up that mantle. Contact me if you want to answer that plea, and remember to review! (END NOTE)