It started as yet another passing interest spawned from the dying embers of another passing interest. Every so often, Lincoln and Johnny would become obsessed with a topic, skill, idea, topic, or thing, and indulge themselves in it like two kids in a candy store until their interest waned, usually in a week or two, sometimes as long as month. Last fall, it was the Titanic. Mom showed them the super long James Cameron movie and both of them were blown away by it. Not the love parts, but the parts where the ship breaks up and sinks. They binged every movie and documentary on the Ship of Dreams that they could lay their hands on and even read a few books on the subject, a mix of fact and fiction that all started blurring together after a while. Johnny was partial to Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler; Lincoln, more pragmatic, was a huge fan of Walter Lord's nonfiction account A Night to Remember. The sinking of the Titanic was an epic and dramatic event that not even the best Hollywood screenwriter could have dreamed up, and Johnny was so into it that he even joined the local chapter of the Titanic Historical Society.
By the end of October, he was over it.
You know what they say, easy come, easy go.
Over the winter, he and Lincoln got into kickboxing after some guy on NXT used kickboxing moves to take out the champ in less than ten seconds. They'd practice in the backyard until their hamstrings were sore and they could barely lift their legs, then strutted around town just begging for an excuse to open up a can of bleep on some unsuspecting bleeps.
They never got the chance.
Oh, they kicked a few cans on fence posts and stuff, but they never found it necessary to literally knock someone's block off the way that clown did to that biker in Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Johnny was still disappointed about that.
Bitterly.
At the start of spring, they were locked inside because of that whatchamacallit business, the sniffles that killed five people and wrecked the global economy (also something about some buildings catching fire in Minnesota), so they went in for more passive interests. They watched an old school slasher movie called Tourist Trap that they both liked, and decided to watch all the slasher movies they could find, but quickly gave up after a triple feature of suck - Cutting Class with Brad Pitt, Don't Go in the Woods...Alone, and Madman. Shudder, those movies blew with gale force intensity. Next, they tried to watch every episode of The Simpsons but left off at 2002. Hot take: That show, still on to this day, should have ended at the turn of the last century.
During spring, they developed a healthy fascination with the supernatural, which led them to searching for Hill People in the woods around Scratchy Bottom Campground. A few days after getting back, Lincoln read an article online about a supposed prehistoric monster said to stalk the depths of Lake Eddy. Johnny thought that was a load of barnacles, but Lincoln, like Fox Mulder before him, wanted to believe.
He got really obnoxious about it too. Plessy the sea monster IS real, he whined like a baby. You're just too narrow-minded to accept that.
Johnny dealt with a week of this before a little light bulb appeared over his head.
You know what they had that Fox Mulder didn't?
Lisa flipping Loud.
The little Loud girl was the most intelligent person to ever live (of that, Johnny was convinced) and natural science, earth science, whatever the bleep you call it was her area of expertise. Johnny carted Lincoln over to Lisa's place and sat him down in her lab, smug because she was going to tell Lincoln that Plessy wasn't real.
Only something unanticipated happened. When Johnny brought up the lake monster, Lisa's face glowed with excitement and she scooted to literally the edge of her seat. "I have been investigating the possibility of Plessy's existence for months. I believe that she, if she it is, in fact real."
Lisa, as fate would have it, was fascinated by the idea of million year old evolutionary throwbacks still lurking in uncharted locales. She related the story of two dinosaurs said to inhabit a valley in Africa unchanged since the dawn of ages and hitherto unseen by human eyes, and at her vivid (though hypothetical) description of a place where time stopped 65 million years ago, Johnny felt the first faint strains of infatuation.
Bleep it, now he was into Plessy too.
Lisa told them that she was considering an "expedition" to Harmon Island, a remote and deserted island in the middle of Lake Eddy, so far from land that you couldn't even see it. There, she planned to establish a base camp and search for Plessy. Lana and Lucy were attached to accompany them, and Lincoln begged that she let him and Johnny tag along. Look, Johnny wanted to go to, but did Linc really have to get down on his hands and knees and ball his fists in prayer? Did he really? Show some self respect, man!
"Alright," Lisa said, "you two may come. We'll likely need the muscle." She looked at Johnny, blushed, and bit her bottom lip.
Johnny sighed.
Great.
They left on August 2 in a helicopter Lisa slapped together for the occasion, Lincoln, Johny, Lana, Lola (Johnny didn't know why she came along), Lisa, and Lucy. A submarine was bolted to the bottom and the cargo bay was filled with enough supplies to last a month. Knowing that their daughters were as capable as adults, if not more so, Mr. and Mrs. Loud were totally cool with them taking off for three weeks, just so long as they were back in time for the first day of school on September 5. Lincoln and Johnny's parents took some convincing, but they eventually caved and let them go.
From Royal Woods, they flew north northwest. Rolling pine forests and narrow rivers opened up below them and the piercing blue sky seemed to go on forever. Johnny sat in the back with Lucy, Lincoln, and the twins while Lisa flew and Lana served as co-pilot. They reached Eddy Lake near sunset and approached Harmon Island, the orange, sun-dappled lake spreading out on all sides of them. Johnny could just make out a tiny little sliver of land waaaay in the west if he squinted.
Below, white caps broke over a ring of jagged rocks circling the island, making entering by boat impossible. A strip of sand marked the shore, and dense jungle swept back to a giant volcano thrust up from the foliage, its rim belching gray smoke. Johnny pressed his face to the window and ooohed while on the opposite side, Lincoln did the same.
This was going to be awesome.
And it was at that moment that disaster struck. The rotors cut out and the control panel went haywire. Lisa shouted and pulled back on the steering wheel, and the copter began to drop from the sky, straight at first then launching into a spinning nosedive. The belt pulled tight across Johnny's chest and he held on for dear life, his heart throbbing in his throat. Everyone screamed and cried and the world spun like a super charged merry go round, the water getting closer and closer.
Johnny must have passed out on impact, because he woke up on the beach hours later, long after dark. The surf pounded against the shore and moist sand shifted beneath him when he sat up, head aching. The others were scattered around, along with charred bits of wreckage. A full, almost tropical moon sat high above the rim of the world and provided enough light to see by. He got to his feet and roused the others, then built a fire with Lincoln's help. They all huddled close to it for warmth, their clothes wet, and Lisa shook her head. "I don't know what happened. The helicopter simply stalled. I-I wasn't prepared for this."
"Did anything survive?" Lincoln asked. "The sub?"
"Likely not," Lisa said. "The exhaust ports were open for aeration, so the submersible is not doubt filled with water and unsalvageable."
"So we're trapped?" Johnny asked.
Lisa nodded grimly. "In a word, yes."
Great.
Happenin'.
"Alright, what do we do?" Lincoln asked.
Lisa sighed. "At this juncture, there's little we can do. We are over four miles from land and given the unique topography - namely, the rocks that encircle the island - we cannot simply build a raft and sail out. We'll just have to wait until a boat or plane comes close enough for us to signal it, which shouldn't take very long, by my calculations. This area is heavily trafficked and salvation isn't far off. In the meantime, however, we must utilize the resources at our disposal to sustain ourselves until help arrives."
Across from her, Lola hugged herself and rocked back and forth. "I wanna go home."
"I doubt we'll be here longer than a day or two," Lisa said and adjusted her glasses. "But we'd be smart to act as though we'll be here longer." She yawned and stretched. "We can get started in the morning."
Johnny hung his head and let out a deep sigh. A few years ago, his history teacher showed the class footage from 9/11 (why she decided it'd be a good idea to show a bunch of eight year olds the worst act of terrorism in history was beeyond him). As he watched those planes slam into those skyscrapers, he vowed never to fly. I mean, come on, if you're in a plane and it starts to go, brother, it starts to go. There's only one outcome: Fire, twisted metal, and everyone dead. It's like falling off a building. Once you start, you're done for, gone, kaput, nothing can save you.
Then he grew up and stopped being a baby. Air travel is totally safe. Out of all the planes flying around at any given moment (heck, EVERY given moment), like 000.0001 percent of them end up in heaps of flaming wreckage. He was more likely to catch a Kanyon Cutter than to die in a plane crash. And Kanyon, the guy who hit the KC, was dead, so…
Yet here he was, his very first flight, his very first, saw him crash into the freaking water and wash up on a deserted island like his name was Giligan. And for what? A monster that probably didn't even exist?
A hand fell on his knee and he jumped. Lucy snuggled up next to him and he rolled his eyes. Really? They were stuck on a desert island, couldn't she give up this Johnny obsession for two flipping minutes.
That's when he realized she was shaking.
"Uh...Luce, you okay?"
She didn't reply.
Now he was worried. "Lucy?"
"I'm...scared," she said. Her voice was as flat as ever, but Johnny detected the most minute crack. In the jungle, something screeched, and her body went completely rigid.
Never in all the time he knew her had Johnny seen Lucy legitimately afraid. He honestly didn't think she was even capable of fear.
Slipping a comforting arm around her shoulders, he drew her closed, and she melted gratefully into him. "It's gonna be fine," he said. The words felt awkward and dishonest on his lips. Would everything be okay?
Well...it had to, right? It's not like they were on Mars or anything. He remembered a news article he read about a spot out in the Pacific Ocean that was so far from land that sometimes, the closest human beings were on the International Space Station. Talk about isolation. You could get stranded out there and be gone forever. This wasn't like that. The island was only a couple miles from shore. They could build a -
Oh, no, wait, they couldn't build a raft, the rocks would get them.
Hmmmm.
A light bulb appeared over his head, and his face lit up like a Minneapolis police station. "We have a Lisa," he said.
Lucy considered a moment. "I guess."
A bird shrieked in the jungle, and her tiny body shook.
"Can she stop those animals from scaring me?"
Johnny opened his mouth. Her voice sounded so small, so fearful, so un-Lucy Like that his stomach turned. "No," he said, "but I can." He tightened his grip around her shoulders, letting her know that she was safe and protected. After a moment, she laid her head and hand on his chest. "Thanks," she said earnestly.
Later on, they made a crude nest out of leaves and branches on the beach and fell into a fitful slumber, the strange animal sounds drifting from the forest keeping Johnny awake, every horror movie monster he'd ever seen jostling for position in his head. What was out there? The fur pelts wearing weirdo from Don't Go in the Woods...Alone? That bird-faced kid in the trench coat from Cutting Class? The schizo from Nightmares in a Damaged Brain? The PCP-addled Lou Ferigno lookalike from Home Sweet Home? He didn't know, and that made it a thousand times worse. Gasp, what if it was worse? What if it was...wrestlers?
Gulp.
He pictured Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, and (for some reason), New Jack crouching in the bushes, watching him, waiting to hit a high spot on him. New Jack was the scariest one. That dude just didn't care. He'd kill a guy in the ring. Literally kill. As in, whipping out a knife and sticking them in the guts.
A shiver went through him, and he rolled onto his side. Lucy lay facing him, her eyes hidden behind her bangs. He couldn't tell if she was awake or not. "Luce?" he whispered.
Nothing.
Something screamed in the jungle, and to Johnny's tense mind, it sounded an awful lot like Ric Flair. Woooooooo.
Okay.
Stop thinking about a stable of wrestlers coming to kick your butt.
Only they wouldn't.
They'd put on a show for him and make him watch. Vince Russo would write it and Jim Cornette would be there to seethe and shoot spittle like the raging lunatic he was. When it was over, the guys would crap in his bag the way they did to Medusa, or they'd put it in his food like they did with Sunny.
A twig snapped and a moan escaped Johnny's lips. He scooted closer to Lucy and draped her arm over his shoulder. Now it was her turn to comfort him.
In her sleep, Lucy smiled.
At first light, Johnny and Lincoln sifted through the wreckage at the shoreline for anything useful while Lisa cobbled together a rudimentary water filter from rocks, sand, and coconuts. Lucy sat under a tree and stared out at the water, Lana chopped firewood with an ax made of a sharpened rock tied to a club, and Lola ate animal crackers from a Ziploc baggie. That was their only food - if they were here much longer, they'd have to start hunting.
That day, they managed to set up a respectable little camp on the beach. When Lisa's filtration system was done, she sent Lincoln, Johnny, Lucy, Lana, and Lola to a nearby lagoon to collect water in pails she fashioned from cast off pieces of wood. After that, she and Lincoln forged into the jungle with the intention of scaling the volcano, since it was the highest point on the island. They returned three hours later having seen no boats or airplanes in the distance.
"It won't be long," she said that evening at the fire. "It won't be long at all."
On day three, Lola skinned her knee on an outcropping of rocks jutting into the water. She, Lucy, and Lana were fishing and a wave swept over them. Lucy was nearly sucked out into the lake and Lana's pole snapped.
On day five, Lincoln fell asleep on the beach and got a wicked sunburn. His skin literally glowed red. Lisa sent Johnny into the jungle to fetch aloe leaves, and that's when Johnny met his first monkey, a tiny brown thing that dropped out of the trees and mimicked his every move.
Day six saw Johnny build a hammock using vines, leaves, and wood he found in the jungle. He spent several hours weaving, pounding, tying, and banging before it was done. He got to his feet, put his hands proudly on his hips, and drank in the fruits of his labor. He wasn't a hammock expert but it sure looked nice. He sat on it and the vines creaked dangerously, but held. Alright.
Rubbing his hands crisply together, he laid back, covered his eyes with his hair, and laced his fingers behind his head. Ahh, this was -
Something dropped next to him and the hammock dipped. He shook his hair out of his eyes and got a face full of Lucy. "Hey," she said, "pretty cool of you to make this hammock for us."
"Us?"
Ignoring him, she snuggled up to him, laid her palm on his chest, and hooked her leg possessively over his.
Johnny froze up like a tiny mouse in the gaze of a big, big hawk. Lucy wasn't tall...or fat (unless your name is Ultra), but - and call him crazy - he could feel the fire in her eyes. Imagine Johnny as a paper bag wearing steak and Lucy as a goff pupper doge and you'll get the picture. He tried to pull away, but she stuck to him like glue, scooting after him in a game of cat and mouse that sent the hammock rocking. "Stop!" he screamed. "You'll kill us!"
A wicked grin spread across Lucy's face. "Oh? I guess I shouldn't do...this." She rocked her body from side to side, and the hammock creaked back and forth, faster. Johnny's heart jumped into his throat and he held on for dear life.
"YES, YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT!"
"Okay, I won't."
But she lied. She did it again, and Johnny squeezed his eyes closed. She giggled clung to him to keep from flying off, and he laughed too because it was kind of funny. "Luce, seriously, I'm not playing!"
He sat up in an effort to slow the hammock, but instead the motion of the ocean, as it were, knocked him off balance. He fell onto Lucy and their noses bumped. The hammock gradually came to a stop, and Johnny realized that their lips were bare inches apart, their ragged breaths mingling and their hearts beating next to one another. Lucy's eyes, just visible behind the veil of her hair, widened in something like alarm and a pink blush burst across her pallid cheeks. Johnny's face burned hotly and when he sat up, he couldn't suppress a nervous laugh. Lucy didn't move for a moment, as though she were deeply contemplating what had happened, then she sat up and coyly rubbed her arm.
Day seven, Lisa attempted to build a radio out rocks and leaves. That first week, the twins bickered constantly. Sometimes Johnny went into the jungle just to get away from it. He found the perfect hang out spot on the east side of the island - a tall, grassy bluff overlooking the crashing surf, he would sit there for hours on end, keeping watch for rescue. On day eight, he spotted something roughly 90 yards off shore, and his heart leapt. Three feet tall and curved like a giant finger, it looked like a boat at first, but the more he watched it, the more it seemed...alive. After a few minutes, it dipped below the water and disappeared. "What do you think it was?" he asked the monkey, whom he had named Brutus.
Brutus chirped and blew a spit bubble like a brainlet meme.
Day ten, it started to rain, and they retreated to a cave Lucy had found in the jungle. Lisa wanted to stay on the beach so that they could see anyone passing by but they didn't have much of a choice. On day thirteen, they met more monkeys, an entire nation, and Johnny named as many as he could. Duggan, Arn, Superstar, Bruno, Kidman - the biggest one, who stood as tall as Lisa and weighed a good fifty pounds, he named Andre.
On day fourteen, Lana, more to occupy herself than anything, started to build a treehouse. Everyone pitched in, and by day twenty, it was a sprawling complex spread out between five trees and connected by rope bridges and repel lines made of thick vines.
Day twenty-three, Johnny spotted the strange finger-thing again. It moved back and forth some 110 yards off the beach, then went down like a periscope. He told Lisa and she posited that it was either a sub or Plessy the sea monster.
Later, he came back with Lucy and they sat next to each other in the tall grass. Lucy drew her knees to her chest and craned forward to following his pointed finger. "Right out there," he said.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Johnny nodded. "I'm not saying it was Plessy, but it Plessy."
"Okay, Ancient Aliens guy."
"His name is Gerorge Twosockos," Johnny said in faux-pique. "Get it right."
"That's not his name."
"Yes it is."
Lucy turned to him and he could always see her brows raising. "No, it's not."
"What is it then?" Johnny challenged.
"I don't know -"
"So it's George Soreos."
She giggled. "That's not what you said."
Johnny shrugged.
On day twenty-six, Johnny was bathing in the lagoon when something broke the surface ahead of him. At first, he thought it was a log, but as it approached, he realized it was a creature. His heart leapt and he ran out of the water, splashing and falling. On shore, he watched as the thing closed in, then reared up, its long neck towering out of the water.
Johnny gulped.
Plessy - that's the only thing it could have been - was green and scaly with large dorsal fins along its back. It turned its head majestically left and right, spotted Johnny, and seemed to smile. "Uh, hey, girl," Johnny said. The monster craned its neck forward and, after a hesitant moment, Johnny walked over and held his hand out. Plessy sniffed it, then rubbed against it like an affectionate cat.
He went back to tell the others, but when they returned, Plessy was gone.
On day twenty-nine, Johnny, Lincoln, and Lisa were collecting water from the lagoon when Plessy's head broke the surface and rose above them. Lisa screamed and fell back onto her butt and Lincoln shrieked like a woman. Plessy loomed over them, and they clutched each other in fear.
Instead of eating them, Plessy liced their faces.
"Incredible," Lisa said later. Lucy, Lana, and Lola stood in the lagoon up to their ankles and took turns petting Plessy. "I never expected Plessy to be so...socialized. Why, she's a docile as a lapdog!"
Three days in a row around 10am, they all went down to the lagoon to visit with Plessy, splashing with her, petting her, feeding her plants and fish, and taking rides on her. Lisa wondered out loud if it was possible that they could ride her back to the mainland. "We'd have to train her to swim above the surface and not submerge."
The next morning, they were sitting around a campfire when the monkeys started running around and screaming at random. A moment later, a thick bush behind Lucy rustled, and a man in a khaki safari outfit jumped out. He wore a hat and socks pulled up to his knees, and held a rifle. "Tally-ho!" he cried.
"WE'RE SAVED!" Lola cried and jumped to her feet.
Everyone crowded around him and he looked overwhelmed. Finally, he held up his hand and pointed at Johnny. "You, lad, tell me what happened."
"We've been stranded here for a month," he said. "Our helicopter crashed and we've been here ever since. I'm Johnny. That's Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa."
The man threw his shoulders back. "I am Chip Worthington, of the Deer Park Worthingtons." He flexed, aimed his gun off to one side, and flashed a big, toothy smile. "I am an explorer. I've been looking for Plessy the sea monster."
Chip had been on the island for two days, he said. He landed his chopper on the far side and made base camp in the shadow of the volcano. "Can you radio for help?" Lisa asked.
"Indeed, follow me."
Chip led them back to his camp. A large tent big enough to walk in faced the water and a picnic table sat to one side, coolers, bags, and containers stored underneath. Over lunch, Chip explained that he had been searching for prehistoric monsters for over a decade. "Have you seen Plessy?" he asked.
"We have," Lisa said.
She told him everything, and he leaned in to hear better, intrigued. When she was done, he sat back and looked around the table in something like astonishment. "This is true?" he asked.
Everyone nodded. "Yeah, she's really nice," Lana said.
"Kind of slimy and gross," Lola said and wrinkled her nose, "but pretty cool too."
"Amazing," Chip muttered. "Can you show me?"
They made a deal. Tomorrow morning, they would take him to Plessy and in exchange, he would fly them directly to Royal Woods Airport.
That night, they slept in warm sleeping bags around a crackling fire. Chip sat up in his tent, writing in a journal by the flickering light of an oil lamp; Johnny could see his shadow on the canvas side of the tent.
In the morning, Chip made them a breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, and potato hash, then followed them through the bush to the lagoon, his rifle slung across his back. A few spots were so dense that Johnny had to use a machete to clear a path.
They emerged on the west side of the lagoon, along a raised hill that sloped down to the water's edge.
Sitting down, they waited for ten minutes, then Plessy appeared, slinking through the water, her dorsal fins rising above the surface like frozen waves. Johnny pointed and Chip got to his feet. Lola, Lana, and Lucy ran along the ridge, hit the beach, and waited for her while Johnny, Lisa, and Lincoln stayed with Chip. "This is magnificent," he muttered.
At the beach, Plessy stopped and stuck her head out of the water.
"Right?" Johnny asked. "I always knew she was real. Lincoln thought she was fake."
Lincoln's brow furrowed. "No, I didn't, you did."
"Dude, I -"
Chip raised the gun, wedged the butt in the crook of his shoulder, and pointed it at Plessy's head.
Johnny's heart stopped and before he knew what he was doing, he was throwing himself at Chip. He hit just as Chip jerked the trigger. They stumbled and the shot went wild, tearing into the jungle. The gun dropped from his hands and discharged again, the round embedding into a tree trunk. The weapon tumbled down the embankment and splashed into the water. Sneering, Chip shoved Johnny back. "You little cretin," Chip hissed. "I've been waiting to kill that beast for years."
On the beach, Lucy, Lana, and Lola looked over.
Chip yanked the revolver from the holster on his hip, and Lisa, Johnny, and Lincoln all scattered before he could open fire, Lisa going one way, Johnny another, and Lincoln a third. Lisa screamed and Lincoln yelled for the others to run.
Seething with fury, Chip gave chase.
Johnny crashed through the bush, his breath coming in short, hot gasps. He looked behind him and caught flashes of Chip through the trees. He whipped around and pushed himself harder, jumping over a log and splashing through a shallow creek. The land sloped down to a revine, and Johnny slowed to jump in. He ran west, spotted an outcropping of land, and ducked beenath it.
Someone else was already there.
"What do we do?" Lincoln babbled. "He's gonna kill us."
"I dunno, man," Johnny said in a rush.
What could they do? They were trapped on an island with a gun toting madman who was bigger and stronger than them.
An idea struck him.
"Come on."
He got up and ran, and Lincoln waited a second, then followed. They made their way east toward the volcano, and got there a few minutes later. It was the perfect place to hide.
They climbed the narrow dirt trail winding around it and reached the summit a few minutes later. From here, they had a panoramic 360 degree view of the island. They looked around for Lucy and the others. Johnny's chest clutched at the thought of Chip hurting Lucy, and all at once, he felt like he was going to puke. "There," Lincoln said.
Lucy and Lola cowered behind a rock. Chip was on the other side, looking left and right, his nose seeming to twitch like a predator's with the scent of blood in its nostrils. Johnny's heart dropped into his stomach and his mind worked. He had to keep him from finding them. What could he do, though? Chip was too far away to throw a rock at.
Gun in hand, Chip got closer to the rock. Sensing him, Lucy and Lola hugged each other tightly.
Thinking fast, Johnny popped up, cupped his hands to his mouth, and called out, "Hey, idiot!"
Chip looked up at him.
"Come and get me!"
A look of hatred crossed Chip's face, and he disappeared. Johnny turned to Lincoln and looked around. Rocks and tufts of dry brown grass littered the volcano's rim. "Go hide behind that rock," he said.
"What's the plan?" Lincoln asked.
"I don't know," Johnny said, "just follow my lead."
Nodding, Lincoln rushed off and crouched behind the boulder. Johnny looked for a place to conceal himself but it was too late, Chip appeared at the head of the trail. Johnny froze and an evil, satisfied grin spread across Chip's face. He walked along the rim, the gun thrust out in front of him, and Johnny fell back a step. He turned to run, but his shoe must have been untied, for he tripped and went down to his hands and knees. He rolled onto his butt and sat up just as Chip stood over him. "I was going to shoot that stupid creature and mount its head on my wall," the man said and cocked the hammer, "now I'll just have to mount your head."
Johnny swallowed thickly and closed his eyes. This was it. He was done for.
"Leave him alone!"
Lincoln crashed into Chip from behind. Hissing, Chip got him in an epic headlock and held him there. Lincoln swung his fists and tried to pull out, but Chip's grip was too tight. "Ha," Chip said and aimed the pistol at Johnny's head, "now I'll kill BOTH of you."
He cocked the hammer and Johnny squeezed his eyes shut.
The blow didn't come.
Instead, Chip cried out in pain and surprise. Johnny opened his eyes and was shocked to see a half dozen monkeys scrambling over his head and chest like circus motorcyclists in a big steel ball. More monkeys leapt over Johnny and joined the fray, shrieking and clawing at the explorer. He dropped the gun, released Lincoln, and fell backwards. The earth crumbled beneath his feet and, as one, the monkeys jumped off.
Screaming and pinwheeling his arms, Chip fell over the side and plummeted into the volcano below. Johnny crawled over to the rim on his hands and knees and poked his head over the side. Glowing orange lava spat and bubbled like the contents of a witch's cauldron and baking heat broke across his face.
There was no sign of the explorer.
"Are you alright?" Lincoln asked and helped him to his feet.
Johnny turned to look at the army of monkeys now watching him and Lincoln, Andre at the head of the pack and standing tall and proud. "Thank you," Johnny said earnestly.
Andre gave a curt nod, then he and his troops departed.
"Come on," Lincoln said, "let's find the others and get out of here."
Hours later, after collecting Lana, Lucy, Lola, and Lisa like human Easter Eggs, they piled into Chip's helicopter and took off. As they soared away from the island, Johnny was sure he saw Plessy in the water below, come to wish them farewell.
"See you, girl," he said.
Lucy snuggled up to him, her head resting on his chest, and after a moment, Johnny put his arm around her.
And smiled.
