NOTE FROM EBBTIDE: I'm sorry that this chapter was so short. Let me know what you think of the story. R & R!
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't make money off of it, didn't come up with it myself.
The next morning was clear and sunny. Almost too good of weather, at least that's what Kate thought. The fugitive still could not believe that they had really crashed. There was no way that they were stuck on an island…in the middle of nowhere…with a monster in the forest.
No one had been able to get any sleep the night before after the strange sound had echoed through the valley. Kate grinned at someone's comment on it being monkeys. There was no way that several thousand monkeys could make that kind of sound. At least, she didn't think so.
"What's so funny?"
Kate shrugged her hair out of the way and turned to face Charlie, who had stubbornly insisted on accompanying her and Jack to go out looking for the cockpit. He wasn't shaking as bad since Jack had been able to find a stash of heavy-duty pain medication in someone's carry-on bag. Even with that though, the man didn't look very well.
"I was just thinking about that Thing last night. Some of the stuff that people thought it was…ridiculous." She giggled.
Jack heard it and turned back to them. "Something going on between you two I should know about?" he asked in mock suspicion.
Charlie and Kate shared a look and then burst into laughter. It was the first time that either of them had seen Charlie smile. The mood lightened considerably by the time they had reached a wide open, green hillside. Kate frowned though when she heard Charlie humming a tune under his breath. It seemed so familiar and after a few seconds of thinking about it she realized that he did to. She stopped and turned to him.
"Have we met before?" She asked.
He picked up a stick and absently fingered it. "No, that would be unlikely."
She nodded and continued up the hill.
"But I look familiar, right?" He asked. There was a smile in his voice.
"Yep."
"Alright, I think I've got it…" He took a deep breath. "You all everybody, you all everybody!"
Kate stopped again and turned around. She could not believe that he had just sung the chorus to You All Everybody.
"You know that song right?" Charlie asked with a smile.
"Yeah, but what does –."
"That's us – Drive Shaft."
"You were in Drive Shaft?"
"I am in Drive Shaft. I play bass, and do backing vocals…on a couple of tracks."
Kate shook her head. "No way! My friend Beth would freak, she loved you guys."
"Well, give me Beth's number, I'll call her…I'd love to. Does she live nearby?"
"Hey Jack, have you ever heard of Drive Shaft?" Kate shouted forward to the doctor.
Jack didn't stop walking. "We got to keep moving."
Kate started up the hill. "They were really good." She said softly.
Charlie hung back a moment. "We are good. We're still together." He threw the stick away. "In the middle of a comeback actually."
It was another hour before they made it to the cockpit. The large piece of plane was leaning hazardously against a tree. Kate knew that somewhere inside of there was the transceiver…she also knew that there would be bodies, probably dead bodies. She swallowed hard, but stepped in right behind Jack when he motioned them forward. Out of the edge of her eye Kate saw Charlie climb behind her up the steep slope of the plane isle.
She had been right. Half a dozen dead bodies were still strapped to their seats. Blood was everywhere, mixing with the rainwater that was filtering in from some of the broken windows. She slip and slid her way up the isle and pulled herself the last few feet. Jack picked up a fire extinguisher and tried to slam his way through the locked door separating them from the pilot's section of the plane. She readied herself for whatever they might find while searching for the transceiver.
Charlie hung back as the other two ventured into the cockpit. He had been more frightened by the co-pilot's body than he would've ever admitted to anyone. Seeing it had reminded him of Liam's tortured body. Tears stung at the young man's eyes, but he didn't cry. If Kate could take this, then so could he. At least, that's what he kept telling himself. Inside, he knew that he was nothing but a coward.
Jack read the expression on his face. "You don't have to come up here if you don't want to." The doctor nodded in understanding when Charlie didn't move to join him. "We'll be out of here as soon as me and Kate find the transceiver. Hang in there, Charlie."
Charlie watched as they both disappeared into the other section of he plane leaving him alone. The rock star looked down at his hands and saw that they were still shaking. For a second he had almost forgot about the heroin. He wiped a hand across his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed Liam. His brother was the only person on the planet that could have understood what he felt like. Liam never would have left him alone with his pain. Almost without thinking, Charlie found himself clambering into the cockpit, just to be near someone who wasn't dead.
Kate sat in the empty co-pilot seat, Jack was behind her looking through a small storage cabinet. The pilot's seat and window were covered in an arc of blood.
"What do you think happened?" He felt nauseous from the smell, but the others didn't seemed to have noticed and they continued searching.
"I don't know. Maybe it was that thing we heard last night. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions, though. He might've been thrown through the window when the plane crashed."