Chapter 25

Gold Wing - The Isle of Tears

Laura followed the dusty trail keeping a close eye on the array of footprints before her. The prints were of bare human feet, she observed. Only Tim's size nine gym shoes differentiated him from the rest, though the collection of footprints were mostly smaller than his.

The prints led her to a run down, stinking village. The people's homes were ramshackle versions of prehistoric looking huts. To now, Gold Wing hadn't noted any local denizens around, but she assumed that she was being watched, possibly from the trees above, or the rocky crags surrounding the path.

Her above average hearing picked up some murmurs and grumbles, and then she heard Tim's whining cries for help. "I'm coming Tim!" She yelled, as her voice echoed through the canyon. There was no point in a stealthy approach. Laura would simply grab Tim and go. She had no desire to interfere any further in this backwards world. They still had some time to meet their ride to the hotel.

Laura made her way towards the center of the ratty village. The stench increased as she neared what she assumed to be the main group of villagers. At the center of town, hoisted high above the gravely, sandy, road, hung Tim, squeezed into a square bamboo cage. "Laurie! Hurry up!" He squealed.

Gold Wing resisted a laugh at the ludicrous scene. "Tim! Quit fooling around!" She playfully chastised him. Below him a number of naked, dark skinned individuals poked spear-points at Tim's backside and legs. The naked females grumbled and excitedly conversed with the naked males.

"What?" Tim exclaimed. "Laurie! Let's go! I think they're going to eat me!" He tearfully howled. "Tim! Relax! No one's going to eat my buddy!" Gold Wing grinned thinly. Some of the largest males tried to poke Laura in the chest and her stomach, with their sharpened spears. Big mistake.

Even the tallest male was barely Laura's height, and all of the females were smaller than Tim. A number of naked, squealing, children ran around the village center, carefully avoiding the coming confrontation. Gold Wing grabbed the big male's spear, startling him, ripped it out of his hands, and corkscrewed to the right, skillfully bouncing off of the nearest hut's side wall, going first horizontal, and then vertical.

Laura leapt upward like a hunting panther, and sliced through Tim's cage rope, a group of strong, flexible vines that were tied together, with the spear-point. She held the bottom half of the torn vines in one hand, essentially suspending Tim above the startled and angry villagers. Gold Wing briefly perched atop the crudely made crossbeams, which were nothing more than two trees tied together in an 'X' pattern.

The crowd grew ugly, yelling and stomping their prehistoric feet. They began to throw the spears at Tim and Laura, javelin style. One spear actually grazed Tim's discolored cargo shorts, but drew no blood, missing his thigh entirely. Laura threw the spear back at the people, purposely missing everyone. It stuck in the muddy ground, and immediately, two young men tried to pull it out.

Gold Wing continued her vault, extending her leap across the village center, cage in hand, landing sloppily on a stone ridge above two of the muddy, grassy, huts. Laura quickly freed Tim and whipped the villagers' cage back at them. It clattered to a stop amid the confused and agitated aborigines. "Tim, are you okay?" Laura asked with genuine concern.

Tim simply melted into Gold Wing's arms, sobbing quietly. Laura sighed and hugged him."Laurie, let's just get the hell out of here, before anything else happens." Tim brushed the tears from his cheeks as he unclenched from Laura. "Okay! Okay!" She threw up her arms in resignation. "Tim, I swear that I will come back and get to the bottom of all this. Things just aren't right."

"Do ya think?" Tim snapped. "How far are we from the bay?" Laura used her above average vision to make an educated guess. "We're only about an hour's walk from the Tears of the Souls, where Nashika dropped us off." She replied. "Okay." Tim sounded more relaxed, but he still felt uneasy.

They readjusted their backpacks and headed south towards the Isle Bay. "Laura, what do you think is really going on here? I mean, creepy psychotic girls, dinosaurs, and ancient looking aborigines, really?" Tim finally questioned, as his curiosity began to get the best of him.

"I have no idea, Tim." Laura replied curtly. "It's like we're on some lost island, but I can't shake the feeling that this is all manufactured." Tim shrugged. "That's an interesting theory." He commented. "How does one build dinosaurs, or ancient aborigines? They were living beings, right?"

"As far as I could tell." Laura replied. "I don't have Clark's x-ray vision, you know. What bugs me is that all of the creatures and people, Livie not withstanding, seemed uniformly smaller in scale then we've previously thought, including the T Rex. Its almost like they were tailored to fit this island's ecosystem."

"Hmm! You mean like a science experiment in a reasonably uniform, and controlled environment?" Tim rubbed his thin chin, which now had a layer of peach fuzz-like hair growing upon it. "Exactly!" Gold Wing confirmed. "The tropics would be the perfect place to set up such an experiment, don't you think?"

"With the exception of the random tropic storms, cyclones, or hurricanes that come up, the temperatures would be consistent." Laura continued her hypothesis. "The plant life wouldn't vary much, either." She added. "It would take a ton of investing, and an enormous amount of secrecy to pull this off."

"We assumed that Livie was acting erratically, but what if she was actually a victim?" Tim guessed. Laura snickered. "You really liked her, didn't you?" Tim snorted. "Oh yeah! She's just the type of girl I'd bring home to the family." He said sarcastically, as Gold Wing laughed heartily.

The teen explorers climbed up a well-worn path that had been slightly obscured by the out of control tropical foliage, which lined the twisting throughway. The trail looked as if it wound around the dune-like hill, and across, to what they perceived to be was the Tears of the Soul access bay.

As they rounded the ridge, the dune sloped sharply downward, leading to a series of small caves. These caves were fairly common at the base of any hilly, tropical island. Two hundred plus years ago, smugglers, pirates, and other ne'er-do-wells would hide in the caves to avoid the mainland armada patrols. Sometimes they would leave their bootie treasures behind to access them later.

The nearest cave to them, had been partially filled with the bay's seawater, and two others were higher up the hillside. Those caverns appeared to be dry, well, as dry as a tropical cave could be, Laura observed. "Tim, do you remember seeing those caves before?" Gold Wing asked worriedly.

Tim gulped. "No. But then I could've missed them." Laura narrowed her eyes, focusing her slightly enhanced vision on the cave mouths, and beyond. "I do see a small boat berthed at the opposite end of the cove, but I still can't make out the ship's name, or see any people on board." She informed him.

"I guess we head there." Tim offered. "Hopefully, its Nashika's Dahlia, or this is going to be really awkward." Laura agreed, and guided Tim alongside the rocky edge of the bay. Clumsily, the teens were eventually able to drop down to the sandy, seaweed covered beach below them.

In moments, just shy of 7:30 PM, Tim and Laura reached the boat. It was indeed The Dahlia, but Nashika and Tamika were nowhere to be seen. The Dahlia looked to be in disarray, which immediately sent up all kinds of red flags in Gold Wing's heroic mind. "Tim, this doesn't look right." Laura pointed out. "You remember how neat and clean The Dahlia was when we first boarded her?"

Tim shuddered. "Maybe Nashika didn't have time to clean up after her last job?" Laura made a derisive snort. "Ever the optimist, eh Tim? Let's track the footprints, maybe Nashika and Tamika had to go on a nature call or something." Tim winced. "I think The Dahlia has a built in head below deck." He stated.

"Come on." Gold Wing examined the footprints in the sand near the boat. "I think that there was a struggle here." Laura pointed to a few marks in the sand, that looked like something, or somebody was dragged off The Dahlia unwillingly. Tim gulped. "I think that the ladies are in trouble."

"Duh, Tim!" Laura snapped. "This sounds like a job for Gold Wing!" She snickered at the cheesy line. "Tim, you should just stay here and guard The Dahlia." Laura directed. "Guard it? With what?" Tim whined. "I don't know. Find a stick, stone, or rowboat paddle." Laura replied. "Check to see if your cell phone works yet, or Nashika's ship to shore radio."

"What if some of those criminals that Nashika warned us about did something to them?" Tim asked the obvious. "What if they get past you?" Laura laughed sardonically. "Get past Gold Wing? Seriously, Tim! When monkeys fly out my butt!" She exclaimed. "Be careful! On this goofy island, that might just happen!" Laura waved at him before zipping into her hyper speed. Tim was alone again.

He climbed into The Dahlia, and began rummaging through Nashika and Tamika's things. Their personal belongings were scattered throughout the boat, and a few pieces of clothing floated nearby, as the gentle seawater lapped at the bay's beach. Fortunately, the clothes that Tim spotted appeared to be extra things, like a rain poncho or two, some sandals, and a few pairs of grubby socks.

As he feared, The Dahlia's radio console had been smashed, possibly by the butt of a gun, or a lead pipe. This definitely looked like a robbery to him. Every cabinet had been opened and ransacked. A small piece of yellow paper, its edge torn off, had been stuck beneath a cabinet drawer. He noticed some hastily scrawled writing on it. There was only one sloppily written word on it: Pirates.

Tim gulped. Nashika's warning had been proven true. Tamika must have had a few seconds to warn them, and attempt to explain what had happened. Tim knew that modern day pirates prowled the tropical regions, and some of the seas near Africa, but most of the locals were probably drug smugglers.

He wasn't worried about Laura. She could certainly make quick work of some nasty pirates, but were they too late? Had something unspeakable happened to Nashika and Tamika?

More importantly, would the pirates come back and get him? They could always use him as leverage to try and control Gold Wing. His stomach turned over repeatedly as he ducked down low in The Dahlia, vainly in search of a weapon that he could use. Would he have the courage to do so?

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