10. Graveyard

Slivko was running to embrace the group of soldiers emerging through the trees towards them.

The very small group of soldiers.

"I never thought I'd see you guys again!"

"I thought you were crazy," Brooks told Randa.

"I wish I had been."

"Is this all that's left?" Tilda asked, shocked.

"What you see is what I got," Packard confirmed.

"We lost one too," James told him.

"Good to see you, fellas." Marlow stepped forward.

"Who the hell is this?"

"We picked up a hitchhiker."

"Lieutenant Hank Marlow of the 45th Pursuit Squadron of the 15th."

"You've been here since World War II?"

"Yes Sir. Did I miss the parade?"

"Well I'll be damned. Snap to, Lieutenant." The two saluted each other.

"We're going to bring him home with us. If we follow this river, we'll make it to the boat, and we'll make it to the North shore in time."

"The ploat," corrected Slivko.

"That sounds good, but we're not leaving just yet."

"Sir?"

"Still got a man out there, Conrad: Chapman. He was downed West of here."

"West?!" cried Marlow. "We can't go West! That's where those skull things live!"

"Your Skull Crawlers?" said Tilda.

"Yeah those! You're gonna need a lot more guns if you want to go West."

"I think we should listen to Marlow," said Mason.

"She's right, he's been here the longest, he knows this place," agreed Tilda.

"Thank you," said Marlow.

"Hey, your job is finding lost men, right?" Packard said to James, who sighed, looking torn.

"Okay, Sir. But if we reach the position and he's not there, we don't send out a search party, we're back here by nightfall, understood? In twenty-four hours we have to be on the other side of this island."

"Roger that, hear you loud and clear." The Colonel turned to his soldiers. "All right, you heard the man. Moving out in ten."

"This is a good group of boys," said Marlow. "We're all gonna die together out here! Yeah, you're a good group of boys to die with - you shouldn't have come here!"

"Do you think there's any chance Chapman could be out there?" Tilda said softly to James.

"It's a very slim chance. But I can understand not wanting to leave anyone behind."

She nodded, then turned to Mason who had been very quiet. "You all right?"

"Yeah, it's just, I can't find my film rolls."

"Oh. Could they have fallen out of your bag? We have been doing lots of running around."

"Pretty unlikely."

The group had stopped.

"Are those bones?" asked one of the soldiers, nodding to the giant pieces sticking out of the grass.

"Yup," confirmed Marlow. "Welcome to the West." They descended further down the hill. "You smell that? That's death."

"What the hell is this place?" asked Slivko, nodding out to a pile of the largest bones any of them had ever seen, a pit full of them.

"This is what's left of Kong's parents," Marlow explained.

"I've taken enough photos of mass graves to recognize one," sighed Mason.

"The crash site's just on the other side of this valley," said Packard. "We'll cross through."

Marlow was furiously shaking his head. "Uh-uh. This place is a real no-no, Sir."

"I'm not leaving Jack out there, now who's with me?"

"We can make it," said James.

"You're mighty right we can make it. Now stay sharp." With that, Packard strode onward, his soldiers following.

"I've only been here twenty-eight years, what do I know?" mumbled Marlow.

They crept down the hill and into the pit - the mass grave. The fog was thick and heavy around them.

"Rifles ready," ordered James, his voice hushed.

Tilda raised hers. "Already on it."

"Let's go, we gotta move," Packard urged them.

A shrill snarling across the whole of the valley made them all jump.

"Run!" shouted Marlow.

They did so, and took cover beneath some of the giant bones. A giant, lizard-like creature was emerging through the fog.

A skull and chain flew from the creature's mouth in a puddle of saliva as it roared, enough to turn one's stomach.

"Pour soul," murmured Tilda, whoever it was.

"Randa!" Brooks yelled. The man had been eaten whole by the creature, camera and all.

The camera still clicked and flashed in the monster's belly, which gave them a bit of an advantage, able to see it through the dense fog, and thus able to tell which way the creature was moving.

Marlow drew Gunpei's sword as the creature charged. The creature didn't seem at all phased by the machine guns or even the flame thrower.

"Gas!" Not only that, but more of those vicious bird-like creatures had descended overhead. "Slivko!" James snatched up a gas mask from one of the fallen soldier's kits, ready to charge through the cloud of gas to rescue the young soldier. "Cover me!"

"Got you!" Tilda called back, rifle aimed and ready.

"Marlow, sword!" James grabbed the sword on his way by and charged through the cloud of gas, slashing with the sword at the bird creatures. For every one he didn't get, Tilda shot with her rifle. They made a pretty darn good team.

Finally, James reached Slivko. Mason leapt in as well, opening James's lighter, which she still had on her, and flicking it on, tossing it into the air. The flame caught the fumes, and erupted, engulfing the creature.

There was a long moment of collective shocked silence.

"Take a damn gun," Tilda said, shoving one into Mason's hands.

"Now look, Colonel. I know that you may outrank me, but I've been here a hell of a lot longer, and I'm telling you that thing that just shredded us was only the first of 'em. Now we're on their turf, and we need to turn back toot sweet!" Marlow cried.

"Not as long as Chapman's still out there." Packard was adamant.

"I'm sorry Colonel Packard, but Chapman is dead." James held up Chapman's dog tags.

"That thing killed him," Tilda confirmed, still trying to get the image of the skull out of her head.

"Doesn't change a thing! We're still going to that crash site."

"What's at that crash site that you want so badly?" Tilda cried.

"Weapons!" yelled back Packard as though it were the most obvious thing. "Enough to kill it!"

"Kong didn't kill Chapman," said James.

"But he did kill these men." Packard held up a handful of dog tags. "My men!"

"You can't kill Kong, Colonel," said Marlow. "Kong is god on this island! He's the only thing keeping those lizard things in the ground!"

"He's right, Colonel," stepped-in Brooks. "We can't kill Kong. Now that other creature? That's the real threat. And there's more of them down there. If you take away a species' natural competition, they'll proliferate out of control!"

"Then we'll end them too! After we bring this thing down!"

"I can't let you do that, Colonel-" Marlow drew the sword.

Packard bashed away the sword and shoved Marlow down. "This is one war we're not gonna lose!"

"This is not a war!" cried Tilda.

"Nuts! You hear me! This is nuts!" Marlow was practically screaming.

"Please, you need to listen to us!" cried San.

"You're not at war, Colonel, you're making a mistake," Brooks insisted.

"Your lies got my men killed." Packard responded by pointing his rifle their way.

"And you're going to get us all killed." Mason stepped in, between them and the rifle.

"Whoa, just calm down. And get your gun out of my partner's face," Tilda ordered.

"I give the orders here, young lady."

"Perhaps to these men, your soldiers, but not to us."

"Not our fight." James stepped in between the ladies and Packard.

"Who's side are you on, Captain?"

"Okay, Colonel. You'll find your crash site three klicks up that ridge. Now I'm going to take these civilians back to the boat and we'll wait for you there. All right?"

Packard must have agreed for he nodded to his men.

"You all right?" Tilda asked Marlow as they helped him to his feet.

"We need to stop him!"

"Well you wanna talk to him about it again?" Mason asked. "He seemed to really go for it the first time."

"He's losing his grip," sighed James.

"Saddle up!" Packard ordered his soldiers. "Let's go kill this thing!"

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)