The search party continued to make their way through the jungle, until they came upon a chasm. It seemed that their only way across was a long log that stretched across it. As they made their way onto the log, Cora held out her arms to keep herself balanced, pretending that she was a circus act on a tightrope.
"Just don't look down, all right?" Mr. Driscoll said to Cora.
"Don't worry. I have no intention of looking down." Cora said, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
Mr. Hayes was just ahead Cora, and Jimmy was just behind him. As Mr. Hayes stepped off the log, he paused and looked into the cave that was ahead.
"Go back! Back across the log!" Mr. Hayes ordered.
Everyone began to back away, Cora nearly lost her footing but Mr. Driscoll caught her by her arm and pulled her back up.
"Get Jimmy out of here." Mr. Hayes said, after Jimmy refused to go anywhere.
Mr. Driscoll and Cora began to pull on Jimmy, just as Mr. Hayes began shooting at the darkness of the cave.
What happened next terrified Cora; a large creature swiped Mr. Hayes up with one hand. The creature seemed to be an ape of sorts, but defintely not one that Cora had seen at any zoo. He was at least eighty feet and had a wild look about him; Cora just stood there shocked until Jimmy's screaming brought her back to reality.
"No! Let him go! Kill him! Kill him!" Jimmy yelled.
Mr. Driscoll kept a hold on Jimmy to stop from running forward to help Mr. Hayes. All Cora could to avoid shooting at this creature; this creature that could kill Mr. Hayes and possibly might have been the thing that took her sister, was to dig her fingernails into the palm of her hand.
"Bring him down! Mr. Hayes!" Jimmy continued to yell.
"You've gotta run, Jimmy." Mr. Hayes said.
"No! I ain't gonna run!" Jimmy shouted.
"Do as I say. Go with Jack...All of you." Mr. Hayes ordered.
Mr. Hayes gave one final shout to run, and soon the creature tossed him aside like a rag doll and fell down into the ravine below them.
Mr. Driscoll had to restrain Jimmy and soon everyone began shooting at the creature. Even Cora, whose eyes were stinging from fresh tears and blinding her vision. The creature advanced towards the search party and soon lifted up the log. Everyone began to hang on as the creature did all sorts of things to the log to shake them loose. Cora was so frightened and looked below at her inevitable death.
"Hey! Here! Over here!"
Cora was sure she heard a voice calling out. A very familiar voice. She looked up for a moment and saw something in the distance. Was it an animal? No. This was a human, and it was defintely Anne.
"Anne. Anne, you're alive." Cora whispered to herself.
Cora tried to stand, but it was too late. The creature finally tossed the log into the ravine below. As she fell, Cora closed her eyes tight, and she could not help but smile. If she died, at least she knew that her sister was alive. Anne was alive and that was all that mattered. Soon, she hit the ground and landed hard on her back, and then saw nothing but darkness.
"Cora? Cora, wake up."
Wake up? Hadn't she died? Hadn't everyone died when they fell? Cora struggled to open her eyes, expecting to see an angel waiting for her, but instead what she saw was the bruised and bloodied face of Mr. Driscoll.
"Mr. Driscoll?" Cora said.
"Yeah, it's me, kid. We're alive. Well...some of us..."
Cora turned her head to her right, though it hurt to do so. There, she saw Jimmy crumpled on the ground. "Jimmy..."
"I'll check on him, don't worry." Mr. Driscoll said.
Cora sighed in relief and then gave Mr. Driscoll a weak smile. "I saw her, Mr. Driscoll. I saw Anne. She's okay...She's alive."
Mr. Driscoll looked down at her and Cora saw something reflect in his eyes. Was that pity she saw?
"Can you sit up?" Mr. Driscoll asked.
Cora nodded slowly and Mr. Driscoll helped her sit up slowly, leaning her against a cold, stone wall. As Mr. Driscoll made his way to Jimmy, Cora took in her surroundings. There was nothing but darkness, and she saw three corpses: Mr. Hayes, a sailor that she didn't know well, and Choy who was perhaps one of the sweetest men she ever met on the voyage and Lumpy's best friend.
As Cora sat up some more, she felt a stinging pain in her leg. Pulling up her dress, she saw her leg was swollen to the size of a grapefruit and covered with large bruises. She knew that she could have gotten a lot worse than a broken leg.
Then, she heard it. At first, she thought it was rain, but then she surely would have felt it drop down. She listened more closely and realized it was the patter of something, something coming closer to them. And then, she heard a faint hissing in her ear, and her heartbeat grew louder.
"Cora, don't move!" Mr. Driscoll ordered.
Cora obeyed as Mr. Driscoll picked up his gun and aimed it straight at her. Instead of giving her a bullet to a head, Mr. Driscoll shot a large spider that exploded only inches away from Cora, its blood splattering her on her cheek.
Soon, there was more spiders and more large creatures. Cora saw her gun was only inches away from her and scooted closer to it. She grabbed it quickly and began firing madly at any creature that she saw, as the others took them on as well.
Everyone did all they could, but there was far too many of these insects. They couldn't do it by themselves and soon they would be eaten alive.
"It's no use! There's too many!" Cora shouted out.
Suddenly, there was gunshots from above and Cora looked up. There she could see Captain Englehorn and a few of his men; soon, Bruce came swinging down on a rope and opened fire on the insects. Now, these creatures didn't stand a chance, and soon everyone was beginning to climb a rope to safety. Cora had to be assisted by Bruce, even though he was the last person that she wanted help from.
As soon as reached the top of the chasm, Captain Englehorn was there to pull her up. As soon as he did, Cora couldn't help herself and hugged him tight, tears flowing freely.
"You're alive. I thought I had lost you." Captain Englehorn whispered.
Cora whimpered as Captain Englehorn pulled her closer and pulled his coat around her and then kissed her blonde hair. As Cora looked over her shoulder, she realized that she was the other side of the chasm, and not the side that led into the cave. The cave that could lead her to her sister.
"No! I have to keep going. Anne is alive. I saw her before I fell...She's alive."
"I'm not losing you! You're coming back!"
Cora struggled to break free from Captain Englehorn, but soon realized she had no strength to do it. As weakness overcame her, she prayed silently that Anne would forgive her. She soon fell into a faint into Captain Englehorn's arms, and all he could do was hold her.
"Don't ever scare me again, Cora Darrow. Don't ever do it." Captain Englehorn whispered.
"You love her, don't you?"
Captain Englehorn looked up and saw Preston standing behind him, looking down at the two of them.
"It's not your damn business who I care about, Mr. Preston." Captain Englehorn said.
After everyone was safe again, they made their way to the ship. All expect Mr. Driscoll who continued to go ahead with the search alone. Mr. Denham thought it was a brilliant plan, this way the creature could be captured.
"Cora, do you hear me?"
When Cora regained conscious, she found that her wounds were dressed and her leg had been placed in a set of stilts.
"You've been asleep for three days."
Cora looked up and saw the least expected person: Anne. Her sister was sitting on the foot of the bed, holding her hand and smiling. This had to be a dream and soon Cora would wake up and Anne would be gone again. But then, she never knew anyone to have dreams in so much pain.
"Anne? Anne, is it really you?" Cora asked, feeling tears run down her face.
"It's me. I'm safe." Anne brushed away Cora's tears with her thumb. "So are you. We're both safe."
Cora leaned forward and threw her arms around Anne. All the searching, all the pain and tears, and here Anne was. They were reunited at last.
"I thought that we would never find you." Cora said, finally releasing Anne and wiping away a few stray tears.
"Well, Jack found me with Kong and took me from him." Anne said.
"Kong?" Cora repeated. "Is that what took you?"
"Yes, he took me. I don't think he meant to harm me, Cora. I really don't think he did."
"It doesn't matter what that thing's intentions were, as long as you're all right."
Anne smiled. "Well, you had a pretty close call. Thank God for Captain Englehorn."
"Captain Englehorn? What do you mean?" Cora asked.
"Captain Englehorn is the one who stayed with you and nursed you back to health. He dressed your wounds, brought down your fever-"
"I had a fever?"
"Only a small one. He fed you, he held your hand, and once I had recovered to see you he insisted that I never leave your side."
"He did?"
Anne nodded and Cora laid against the pillows, taking everything in. Captain Englehorn had taken care of her? Kept her alive? He had a ship to run, and instead he chose to help her. Why? She hadn't done anything for him. There had to be a reason, and Cora wished that she knew what it was.
