2. The survivor

''Marguerite, Marguerite!'' Challenger called the heiress with some annoyance in his voice. ''Will the girl ever learn to get up on time'', he muttered while descending the stairs to her bedroom. Entering her room he started a lecture. ''Marguerite, you know very well that we would leave at seven o'clock. It's five minutes over seven right now and you are still in bed''. One eye of Marguerite opened.

''I'm sure you don't mind to go without me, Challenger, have a nice day'', she yawned before rolling over to the other side, pulling the blanket over her head. Challenger sighed.

''You will help us Marguerite, the job is a lot easier when there are four people who work on it. Now, I'll give you three seconds to get up or I'll throw a bucket of water over your head''. Marguerite remained still. ''One……Two…….

''All right, all right, I'm already out, see!'' Marguerite snarled while getting out of her bed. ''Good girl, now get dressed'', Challenger threw Marguerite's clothes on the bed. ''Do you mind?'' Marguerite growled.

''What?''

''Leaving my room! I'm standing here in my nightdress!''

''I have seen girls in nightdresses before Marguerite, now will you hurry up!'' he said while leaving her room.

''That doesn't mean you have the right to see me like this!'' she yelled back.

''Where is she?'' asked an annoyed Veronica upstairs in the main room.

''She'll be up in a second, now I'll get the last things that we will need today and than we leave'', Challenger left to his laboratory.

''Yeah well Marguerite doesn't know what a second is, she only knows the meaning of an hour'', Veronica complained while plopping down on the sofa.

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Malone took those things that were still intact and good looking from what fell out of the balloon. 'There are no tracks of humans', Malone thought wondering what would have happened to the passengers of the balloon. His eye fell on a book. Picking up the book he saw it was a logbook. Malone started reading. ''May 23th 1922, that's just one week ago'', Malone whispered in surprise.

''What on earth do you think you're doing'', a childlike, girly voice snapped behind Malone's back. Slowly Malone turned around only to look at the end of a riffle, holding the riffle was a tiny, dark haired young girl, not older than thirteen years, with a wild look. Her hair was a mess and so were her clothes.

''I said, what are you doing'', she snapped again. Malone saw that she was shaking, not able to hold the riffle properly. 'Most likely never shot a riffle before', Malone thought.

''Calm down'', he said with a soft voice. ''There is no need to be afraid, I won't hurt you and if you want I will leave these things right here, okay?'', Malone tried to calm her which seemed to work as she lowered the riffle. But she kept clutching it firmly. ''I'm Ned Malone'', Malone extended his hand and took a step forward.

''Stay were you are!'', the girl immediately pointed the riffle back at Malone.

''Whoa, I said I won't hurt you, now I would be very pleased if you won't point that riffle at me again'', Malone said holding his hands up in the air.

''Why should I believe you?'', she growled.

''Why shouldn't you?'', was Malone's answer. ''Look, girl, I accidentally found this balloon, I'm on my way back home, I will leave all these things here with the balloon, there is really no need for you to mistrust. Please, put that riffle away''.

The girl took a good look at Malone, than hesitated, and finally lowered the riffle again. ''You can take those things if you want, I've already got my own belongings'', she said. Her voice and eyes were sad. 'Like she has given up all hope', Malone thought. She turned around and walked away to what seemed a self-made tent.

''Er…. I guess you arrived with this balloon?'' Malone started. ''What happened, when did you crash?'' The girl sat down and stared in front of her.

''Yes, I arrived with that balloon. We crashed three days ago''.

''We? Where are the others? How many of you were there?'' the curious journalist in Malone came to the surface as he asked her the questions. The girl sighed before she continued.

''There were four other people, all men. They have been killed by monsters''.

''Raptors'', Malone murmured.

''What did you say?'', the girl asked.

'She doesn't know at all where she is', Malone thought. ''Nothing, er…why did you get here and how and…….why did they take you with them, this is no place for a little girl like you!'' Malone asked.

''I'm not a little girl!'', she snapped. ''And those men didn't take me with them, I….just…..er…..went with them''. There was a silence.

''I guess you weren't suppose to go with them at all, weren't you?'' Malone asked her.

''Well, er…as a matter of fact I er……..……..'', her eyes met Malone's for a moment, he was staring at her, daring her to lie. After a deep sigh her real story came out. ''No, I wasn't. I ran away from the orphanage where I lived. I wanted to leave and found out that there was a group of explorers that were leaving to an exotic place. Without thinking further about it I took my chance, climbed on the ship to South America as a stowaway and when we arrived there I climbed in the basket of the balloon that was below deck, I waited and waited until they were leaving and now I'm here''.

''Didn't they found out you were in the balloon?'' Malone asked.

''They did, when we were an hour on the way. They were furious at me. Eventually they got into a fight on their own and finally they decided I had to come with them. They were too far away to bring me back. We were flying for over three hours when we were caught in a heavy storm. The next thing I knew I was here lying on the ground'', she continued.

''Are you hurt somewhere'', Malone asked with some concern.

''No, just some bruises and scratches, those men were less lucky, they fell out some metres from here and were attacked by those monsters. Oh, that sight was awful''. There were tears in her eyes now. Obviously the young girl was pretty shocked by all those happenings and she was desperate. ''I really don't know what I have to do now'', she started sobbing. It didn't take long or Malone was trying to comfort the girl who was now sobbing on his shoulder.

''There, there, I'm sure we can think of something, hey'', he soothed. ''Right now I think it's the best if you come with me, I can't leave you here on you own''.

''But where are we going then?'' she asked between tears.

''To the place where I live, not far away from here'', Malone answered while taking the girls belongings. ''Are you ready?'' She gave him a nod and a slight smile.

''All right, lets go!''

There they went, Malone leading the way with his own pack, the pack of the little girl and two riffles. The young girl walked close behind him. Still a bit frightened of him. She didn't know if she could trust the blond guy, but she didn't have a choice. She knew that she would find dead very soon if she had stayed there with the balloon, on her own. She let a deep sigh, again, and followed Malone in silence.