Chapter One
"Who's in Charge Here?"
Starring: Bowie, Steven, Indy, Rose, Hunter, and Evan
Indy woke suddenly the very next morning, coughing up sea water. He put the fedora back on and stood up. Someone had started a fire, so he went over there to get warm.
Bowie stoked the fire as Steven brought dry driftwood from the shore. Hunter tapped away at his typewriter, which was sitting on his suitcase, and mumbling with a wet cigarette hanging un-lit from his lips.
Rose brought some food that from the boats up by the fire. She looked out by the shore and saw Evan pacing back and forth, hands behind her back for some reason.
Bowie
looked at Indy as he approached the fire.
"There's
a first aid kit over there if you need one.. "
Steven
looked around,
"Hmm. We
should probably either scout out the area or set up a camp after
breakfast.. " Hunter glanced up
through orange glasses and casually slid a stamp sized something
under his tongue and made a squelching noise before going back to
typing.
Evan paced further on for a while, then sat down and proceeded to get her hands back in front of her, succeeding after a few minutes.
Rose set the food down beside them, "Anybody know what's wrong with her?"
Hunter's
fingers slowed.
"The
bats, probably. Damned animals.. " he looked around. "I bet
there is grapefruit..We need some salt.." He got up and walked
around the foliage near him.
Indy
remained standing, staring at the jungle that wasn't fifteen yards
from their fire.
"So,
who's in charge here?"
Bowie's lip
twitched a bit.
"Well
that's not a big concern at the moment I don't think."
Steven
crossed his arms casually,
"I have
to agree. More important now is water and shelter.." He picked
up a biscuit, "Which I'm going to try to solve right now.. if
anyone wants to join me. "
"It's more of a concern that it seems. Someone needs to say what we're going to do with the fugitive." Indy knew that must've been what Evan was doing, struggling to get free of whatever it was binding her hands together.
Rose looked at Steven,
"I'll
come. It would be good to set up shelter as soon as possible."
Steven smirked and gave her a wink, his personality fast returning from the nights scare.
Hunter returned behind
Indy stealthily.
"TIE 'ER
TO A TREE!" He yelled randomly before sliding off again.
Bowie quirked
a brow and looked at Evan.
"Yes.
That's assuredly a problem of some sort.. Someone should keep an eye
on her though until we have somewhere to put her. ... Hmm. I'll check
her for weapons I suppose."
"Take this," Indy passed him a knife. "You might need it." He then followed the tracks that Rose and Steven had made, wanting to get camp set up quickly.
Rose looked
at the boats.
"We could
use those, could we not?"
Evan bit at
the ropes the sailors had tied her hands with. The knots were tighter
than they originally had been because of the salt water.
Bowie came up
behind her with the bowie knife hidden.
"Need some
help...?" he asked carefully.
Steven nodded, " The thing is we could use something rope-like to lash them together, and maybe we could salvage some canvas from the sails in the sea by the boat later... But I think a cave would be ideal.. besides, getting our bearings around here is a good idea.."
Hunter yelled in triumph as he saw a tree that bore a delicious looking fruit that he was pretty certain wasn't being hallucinated. He scaled the thing and prodded the branches with his cattle prod until it was barren, and he returned to his suitcase with his spoils.
Indy reached a
protective hand up to the bullwhip at his side, not wanting it to get
volunteered as rope.
"Let's
get some water and we can go explore the jungle then."
Rose nodded at Indy's
words,
"It
would be better to break into the island from the start anyways."
Evan whirled around
quickly and immediately played the part of innocence.
"Yes. I
don't know what happened last night, but I got blamed for it. Do you
have a knife?"
Bowie smiled.
"Do
you?" he looked over her pockets for any suspiciously shaped
item. "You don't seem capable of murder or mutiny, you.. seem
kinda meek.. " he crossed his arms and sat down.
Steven nodded.. "Well. That way. .would be north, since the sun rose from there.. " he pointed.. " and rivers flow south.. so, I guess that means move inward.." he grabbed up a stick to help clear the thick brush.
Hunter flopped into the sand and tended the fire, his attention span rapidly failing as bats swooped and dove at him. He jumped around waving a cattle prod at them, wishing he had a flyswatter handy.
Indy picked up another stick, following Steven. Then he stopped and let Rose pass him so she would be in the middle.
Evan was about to
argue, but caught his trick, "Exactly. Why would they assume I
did anything? So, do you have a knife?"
"Sorry,
I don't... Pity none of the crew survived.. not.. even the mutinous
one.." he bent done toward her, "lemme get those.." he
began to untie her, but he also checked her very carefully for any
weapons, while he had his own knife under his belt.
Soon Steven stopped. "I hear running water.. " he pointed in the direction is sounded and continued on.
Hunter threw a chunk of wood on the fire before bounding off into the jungle in the general direction the other three had headed.
Indy went
ahead of them, coming out a not just a river, but a waterfall.
"Well,
there's your cave." He pointed to the darkened area behind the
waterfall.Rose hardly expected something to show up this fast, but
she was glad that it did.
Evan smiled, the meaning was secret. She couldn't believe it would be so easy to get out of trouble- and out of the binds.
Steven nodded. "This'll work good until we can build a sturdy shelter on the beach.. But I hope we don't have to stay here that long..."
"Evangeline, right?" asked Bowie as he undid her bindings.
Hunter
caught up to the three in no time. He pulled two brown bottles from
his khaki pockets that almost certainly did not previously contain
water. He opened one..
"Better
rinse this out... before I put some water in.. " he took a whiff
and reeled a bit, giving another high pitch squelching noise.."or..
maybe not.." he finished.
Indy turned
to go back to the beach.
"Well,
better go tell them what we found." Then next part he said to
himself, "and see what's going on with the fugitive."
Rose filled
up a few bottles that she had grabbed before they left.
"Uhh,
yeah. How'd you know?" Evan started to look questioningly at
him, the rope now on the ground before them.
"I think
I've heard you're name around...I'm David Bowie, Bowie for short.. ."
he caught the fedora-ed man slinking into view from the side.
Steven
scratched his head at Hunter before grinning at Rose.
"Nice to
see a prepared chick. What's say we head a bit further inland and
follow this stream?"
Hunter's body
was reeling from the sunshine acid and the ether and he plopped
himself halfway into the water and found himself longing for a tape
recorder..
Indy came up to
Bowie and took him aside.
"We found a
river and a cave inland a ways. What did you untie her for?"
"What's say we leave him here in the process?" Rose looked awkwardly down at Hunter, then started off again with Steven.
"She wasn't armed, and we've no where to put her anyway," he whispered. "Is the cave big enough for the others too?"
Steven nodded, "I think all three of us can agree on that... " He offered her his arm ." Ma'am?"
"It doesn't take a weapon to break a neck, or did you not notice how the captain was killed?" Indy hadn't spoken to her the entire trip, in fact he hadn't seen her at all on the ship.
Hunter knew he would have to socialize soon enough, and planned on doing that after his head got straight, and while he was getting twisted again.. Suddenly a scary thought went through his head. That suitcase... would not last forever.
"It's Rose." She answered as if he had asked for a name. "And you?" She took his arm and walked with him inland.
Bowie's lip twitched, "Well, that's why I'm going to watch her until we can think of something else to do with her, I recommend not allowing her in the cave at any rate, but I'd say she's not as big a threat as this island poses. "
"Ah, a rose is Rose.. Love is a thorn without a Rose." He quoted, "I'm Steven, demon of screamin' and dreamin'..."
"Now with the cave, we can set something up faster. I would advise not letting her go into the jungle alone or really anywhere off the beach until we find out what happened last night."
"Oh, so you're in a band," she suspected. The river soon disappeared from their sight and sound as they pressed on into the jungle.
Evan wasn't paying
much attention to what they were saying. After rubbing the feeling
back into her hands, she looked at Bowie and saw that he had lied. In
the back of his belt lay a knife. She was tempted to just take it.
Bowie felt eyes
on him and swiftly turned around.
"Evangeline,
there's some food over by the fire, would you mind helping me keep it
while the others are out?" he gave her a look of insistence.
"Yeah, a band.. Ha, music is the only really consistent thing in my life. What do you do..?Steven asked.
Indy left them
and started going through the jungle, noting which trees had fruit
and which ones would make good firewood or lumber.
"Could you
not get one of them to help you?" Evan looked at the others who
had stayed around the boats for now.
"You seem
by far more here than the others, and you haven't eaten. " This
patient person was fast losing his patience under these
circumstances.
"You have a
good point, I should go find some food." She enjoyed finding
ways to avoid people and started to leave for the jungle, hungering
for fruit of some sort.
"Well, I'll
go with you. You shouldn't be out there by yourself, little lady..."
he easily caught up to her.
"..I go on cruises, guess this one will be the last one I go on. What band are you in?"
Evan turned
around sharply. "First of all, I'm not little. Second, I'm not
lady. And I'm sure I can take care of myself."
Bowie crossed
his arms, "Well, in that case all the more reason for you to
have been a suspect in last nights events. " He pulled out the
knife, " I strongly suggest you have a seat by the fire and
behave."
"Ahh, Aerosmith.. " Steven paused as he eyed a suspicious looking clearing nearby.
With no other words but a right nice glare, Evan returned to the fire reluctantly and sat down beside it.
The clearing could not be described as much more than just an odd looking clearing that didn't belong there.
Indy had gone out alone long enough and finally returned to the beach. He saw Bowie and Evan at the fire, and from the way she was sulking, Bowie must be in charge.
Next time on Sidetracked...
"A radio!"
Jenn pulled out a black case and opened it. It contained a small Smith and Wesson."This is an odd thing to have in an emergency kit.."
Chapter 2
"The Tape Recorder"
starring: Hunter, Dom, Billy, Kate, Jennifer, and Naomi