And so, here we are. Approaching the bitter end. The only adult humans are gone, and the Beast Folk are on the brink of full revolution. Is there any hope left for Rini and her erstwhile allies? Let's find out. But first, the disclaimers!
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei, DiC, Pioneer, and Cloverway, in that order, none of whom are me.
The Island Of Dr. Moreau belongs to H.G. Wells and his descendants(if any), also not me.
This is emphasis, and this is thought. And ((this)) is auditory/visual flashback.
Yes, I am one of the laziest, most distractible human beings on the planet.
And now, the terror continues...
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The Island Of Dr. Tomoe
by Scorpinac
Ch. 8: Hotaru's Madness And The Beast Folk's Regression
I'd like to say I can remember what happened next, but the truth is I can't recall anything clearly from that point until the next morning, when I woke up to the waves of the ocean smacking in to me...and my head hurting like I never thought it could hurt! Plus what looked like throw-up on my dress and the dirt.
The wine bottle? It lay about three feet away from me, empty so far as I could see. I know, I shouldn't have, but frankly, I figured I was dead already anyway, for all that it mattered. I had no way left off the island, no way to call for help, and of my remaining companions, there was only the semi-subservient Beast Folk, one girl who didn't seem to know how to function without being told what to do, and another who was in a state of madness.
In short, I figured I was done for.
As I gathered myself together and looked around, I noticed several Beast Folk lingering by a newly created, and now burning out, funeral pyre that held several torched bodies on it. And since Mimete's and the slain Beast Folk's bodies from the previous night were now gone, I knew who it had to be. Hotaru stood at the head of the Folk, Melanie just beside her, and not far away was the old Sayer. Next to me was Kyusuke and Kit, who looked concerned.
"Are you all right, little Mistress?" Kyusuke asked. I felt my head give another horrid pound, and held it in my hand as I fought a wave of dizziness and the sudden urge to puke again before I replied.
"I've been better," I moaned slightly. "I really shouldn't've done that..."
"Oh, she's awake!" Melanie's voice cried out and I glanced back to the group standing at the pyre, who were now looking my way. Greg and Unazuki started towards me as Hotaru glanced over, and I wondered for a moment if she'd regained her mind. Though I must admit, I had little hope left for her now.
"Oh, hello again," she said, her eyes still lost and dazed. "Did you just come back from the dead?"
"No," I said, though I gotta admit it sure felt like it right then. "I just fell asleep..." I stopped right then as my eyes went behind her to the compound...or what was the compound! I rose, and dove forward through the gate, and saw to my dismay that the fire from the animal storage hut had decided to jump onto the house – now only a pile of burnt wood remained of each. We had nowhere to live!
"All burned away," Hotaru said behind me, and I turned to look at her. "The castle burned up, so now I'll live among my subjects, the pretty, pretty Princess all alone." With that, she turned and started walking toward the forest, the beast folk following behind. The only ones who stayed behind were Kyusuke, Kit, Greg, and Unazuki, the last two looking unsure of who to go with. I just slumped again, this time lying against the wall, lost in thought, trying to decide what I was going to do next.
"Little Mistress?" Kit asked. "Are you alright?" My head decided to punish me again for my naughty act the night before, so I didn't reply for a few moments.
"I think I'm gonna live," I said. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do now..."
"You live with me?!" Kit's eyes brightened, clearly liking the idea of me sharing her home. "My cave have plenty room. Plenty for little Mistress."
"Please, don't call me Mistress anymore," I said, and they all looked shocked. "Just call me Rini, okay?" They looked uncertain, as though the very idea was wrong to them, but to tell the truth, I just didn't care anymore. I was never really their "Mistress", I only ever wanted to be a guest until I could get home, and now I was stuck, and still didn't think of myself as a leader to them in any way.
That was when I heard the sob, and glanced over to notice that Melanie was also still with us, sitting in the remains of the compound. She was furiously digging where I can only think the lab once sat, tears in her eyes.
"Has to be some left," she said, looking a little bit freaked out. "There just has to be!" Greg walked over to her, laying a hand upon her shoulder.
"No, Melanie, gone," he said. "All gone. No more, forever." Melanie sobbed again, making me all the more confused.
"Yes!" Kit agreed, very cheerfully. "We all free forever now, House of Pain no more, never again!"
"But the serum!!" Melanie wailed, then looked at me. She stared for a moment, then dove at me, her hands gripping the front of my dress. "You can make more, right!?" she pleaded. "Please, you just have to make more!"
"But I don't know how," I said. "Only Mimete did, and she's gone."
"But I need it!" Melanie wailed. "It's my day today! I have to have it! I don't want to turn back! I want to stay the way I am!!" I stared at her, trying to understand why Melanie would want to take Mimete's serum, since it was only meant for...and then the awful truth slammed me in the face, and I can't help but wonder if getting hit by a car feels like that.
(("Very well done. Like the other, the one who stays in the compound, with the 'little Mistress'",)) the Sayer of the Law's words when he'd "looked" at me came back into my mind. The constant commentaries about there being only one 'little Mistress' aside of me in the compound, Melanie being allowed only an axe when they sought me out after my second escape attempt, the constant exclusion of Melanie when anyone, including Tomoe himself that fateful day I came to the Beast Folk's "town" for the first time, listed the "true men" of the island. All these clues, and probably more, were there, and only now did they finally make sense; only now did I finally see!
"You..." I breathed, looking Melanie in the eyes, then jabbed a finger on my uninjured arm towards the others present. "You're one of them?!" And Melanie just stared back, as if I should have known that all along.
"Yes," she finally answered. "Dr. Tomoe made me for Hotaru, to be her friend." I felt my heart skip a few beats as I tried to get my head around it. How could I not realize?! How could I miss such a thing?!
"But you look like me!" I finally snapped out the obvious. "You look like a real human, not one of Tomoe's...beast people!" She smiled at me for a moment at that.
"His...greatest...work...," Unazuki commented. "He...said...she...almost...perfect."
"But I need the serum!" Melanie began to cry again. "Good as I am, I still need it, too! Please, please don't let me turn back!"
"Turn back?" I blinked, then remembered Tomoe's explanation for how he had made all of the creatures.
(("The same continual problems of the animal flesh growing back, reverting,")) he had said. (("She[Mimete came to accept my work, and even developed a powerful serum which halts the reversion process, keeping them human longer and more powerfully. But in the end even the serum has proven only temporary, the animal still trying to force itself back, prompting further doses every now and then, to maintain them."))
"You're going to become an animal again," I whispered. "All of you..."
"But I don't want to!" Melanie wailed. "I want to stay human!" The only thing I could think to do right then was hug her, the way my mommy always hugs me when I'm really upset about something and crying. She was so upset she didn't care about the mess on my dress.
"I'm sorry," I told her. "I wish I could help you. I really do."
---
After a few moments I decided that there wasn't really any reason to stay in the compound's remains, and finally stood up, with a little help from Greg and Unazuki. Kyusuke came up to me, his hands outstretched.
"You left this, on beach," he said, clearly still seeing me as being "in charge." I looked at what he held – the spare gun I'd had in my pocket, the one I used to "free" Nephrite from his final moments of pain. I blinked, then recalled dropping it on the sand when I turned to try and help the dying Mimete. I took it, and checked to find that no other bullets but the one I had used on Nephrite the night before had been fired, and that thankfully, by some miracle, very little sand had actually gotten into it.
"Thanks," I said as I returned it to my pocket, hoping I wouldn't have to use it anymore, but fearing I might. Then I turned to Kit. "So, you want me to move in with you?" Kit's eyes lit up happily, her face getting a really big smile on it.
"Yes, yes, you come? Live with Kit?" she asked.
"It's as good as anywhere right now," I said, and we walked out of the gate – and found Beryl waiting for us, crouching near the front of the woods, staring at us with what looked like hate in her eyes. My hand dove back into my pocket and took hold of the gun. I had only nine shots left, and felt certain that I would have to use one upon Beryl – of all the remaining Beast Folk, she I feared the most, as, after her attempt to attack Hotaru while she cried over her father's dead body just the day before, I felt very sure she would take any chance to kill me, as well as Hotaru and anyone else she thought needed to be killed.
"What do you want?!" I shouted to her, trying my best to be brave.
"Only little Mistresses, now," she commented. "I was right, he is dead." At this I must admit, my panic took me over. I pulled the gun out of my pocket and fired a shot at her, hoping against hope to get rid of her quickly, but sadly I forgot to aim, and the bullet harmlessly smacked into a tree a few feet away from her. But either way, she got my message, and quickly turned and ran back into the woods. I pocketed the gun again, and turned to my "followers", feeling a little embarrassed.
"I think she wants to kill me," I admitted quietly.
"But, you are Mistress," Greg said, clearly shocked that Beryl would want to end my life. "We must obey you."
"That didn't stop her from lunging at Hotaru yesterday, Greg," I told him. "It didn't stop Malachite and the ones who came with him from killing Mimete." It occurred to me then that Beryl may even have sent Malachite and the others with him to do it, though I'll probably never really know.
"Mistress...Rini...not...safe?" Unazuki asked.
"Well, from Beryl, probably," I said. "You guys I feel safe with, I'll have to wait and see about the others." Leaving it at that, I went back down to the beach and tried to wash the throw up off my dress. Sadly, I think I waited too long, as I was still left with an unpleasant stain when I finished, but at least it was better than when I first woke up that morning. Then I headed towards the jungle's trees and entered again, the others following, Kit leaping ahead and leading us back to the Beast Folk's town.
---
When we got there, I noticed something new was being built. A bunch of wood had been neatly piled in the center of town, and a high chair was being put together atop it, Hotaru telling Catzi and Zoicite, along with three or four of the untrained Folk, what to do. Greg, Unazuki, Kit, and Kyusuke watched in curiosity, and Melanie went over to Hotaru and started talking to her. In moments she was starting to wail again, and then, to my shock, Hotaru shoved her away, causing Melanie to fall down on her butt.
"There isn't going to be any more, so stop whining about it!" she snapped, then drifted back into her daze. "The Queen has other things to do..." Melanie began crying, and I walked over, laying my hand on her shoulder. Clearly, she'd turned to Hotaru in hopes of new serum, and was once again refused.
"I don't think she knows how to make it any more than I do, Melanie," I told her. "And besides, Hotaru's in her own world now. I don't think she'll ever go back to the way she was. I don't think she wants to." Melanie sobbed a little more then just sat there quietly. A few moments later the three pig-kids came up with trays of food, and Hotaru helped herself, then had them follow her over to me.
"Here, my dear courtier, eat and replenish yourself," she told me, indicating the food.
"That's okay, I'm..." I started, but then my tummy gave a very loud argument to the opposite, and I quickly changed my mind. "Thank you, I think I will," I said carefully, and helped myself to the food and quickly filled my stomach, the whole time watching Hotaru and keeping an eye out for Beryl, who was at that time thankfully missing. Afterward, I went back to Kit – Greg, Unazuki, and Kyusuke had joined the others in building the chair – and asked her to take me to her cave. She lead me over to it, and I slipped inside, set up a simple wall with branches and rocks in the opening, and laid down to take a nap. I needed to relax my still hurting, but much less so, head, and I hoped anyone who came looking to hurt me would make enough noise coming through the wall to wake me before it was too late.
---
When I woke up again, I found I wasn't alone, and my wall had apparently run away. Kyusuke was curled up next to me, snuggling like a normal dog, and Kit was nearby, munching on a piece of fruit. My head felt much better now, so I glanced outside, and noticed the sun seemed to be about half-way across the sky, and my stomach agreed – time for lunch. Glancing back to Kit, I noticed she'd brought in several more fruits and a bunch of vegetables. Sitting up carefully, because the cave's ceiling was maybe only a little higher than I am tall, I scooched over to the food, and reached for a carrot.
"Are you now all better?" Kit asked, her smile apparently stuck on her face for the moment. Not that I could blame her, after all, she had a bunch of reasons to be very happy – Dr. Tomoe gone, no more surgeries, and, mostly, no more "House of Pain." I took a moment to take a bite of my carrot.
"Yeah," I said. "How's everything going out there?" Kit paused, and actually let her smile slip slightly.
"It okay," she finally said. "Mistress Hotaru now saying she Queen, proper ruler since Dr. Tomoe gone forever." I blinked, then froze mid bite. Queen? I thought, and then what she'd been doing earlier suddenly made more sense. Finishing my carrot and grabbing an apple, I made my way out of the cave to have a look.
Outside it looked like someone was having a party, the various Beast Folk dancing and having food from what looked like an all-you-can-eat buffet set up to the side. And in the center, Hotaru sat on her new chair, a circlet of flowers and branches on top of her head. I calmly moved over to her, quietly munching my apple, and noticed Hotaru's circlet even had a couple branches going straight up with more flowers on the end. The "chair" was now clearly her new "throne," and the ringlet her "crown." She had a peach in her left hand and a wood cup, more like a bowl, really, probably made by one of the Beast Folk, filled with water, I think, in her right. She took a bite, then noticed me.
"Why, hello again, my courtier," she smiled after she swallowed. "Do join us in our celebration. The King has died, and now his only child, the pretty, pretty Princess, must rule in his place as the pretty, pretty Queen. Long live the Queen!" The last part she said loudly as she rose her cup/bowl, and then all the Beast Folk around rose up in chorus.
"Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!" they all cried.
"Queen, huh?" I said quietly. "Okay, whatever you want. Um, has Beryl been by recently?" Hotaru looked thoughtful about that, taking a drink from her cup/bowl.
"Beryl, Beryl, Beryl..." she mused. "Who is that?"
"One of your 'adoring subjects,' used to be a tiger once upon a time," I told her.
"Once upon a time?" she looked up. "Are you starting a story?"
"Uh..., no..." I said slowly, hoping she wouldn't get mad and do something bad to anyone, namely me. I took a quick bite of my apple, hoping it looked like I was enjoying the party and wasn't too worried about anything, but I don't know if it really worked or not.
"Oh, too bad," Hotaru looked away. "The pretty, pretty Queen likes stories..." I decided that it would be best to just leave Hotaru to her dream world, and glanced around, spotting Greg to one side with what was left of the trained Folk, looking somewhat uncertain. I moved over to them, and Greg and Unazuki, at least, looked happier.
"Mistress Rini, you all right?" Greg asked.
"Yes, Greg, I'm much better now, thank you," I said. "Has Beryl been around since the party started?"
"No...mistress...Rini...," Unazuki said. "Why...?"
"Do you mean to slay to her?" Catzi asked, looking worried.
"I may have to," I replied. "She's dangerous and ready to kill me and Hotaru, and I think we can all agree Hotaru's too out of it to even consider herself in any danger right now."
"What is wrong with little Mistress?" Zoicite asked. "Why does she call herself "Queen," and not seem like she was?" I blinked, then sighed, not sure if I could explain it. Thing is, I'm not really sure I understood myself. But I decided to try.
"Her father died, Kaolinite died, they were the only parents she knew," I said. "Losing them like that, I guess it was too much. She just...snapped."
"Snapped?" Zoicite stared.
"She's gone crazy, her mind's left her," I said. "Please, I can't explain it anymore simply than that. Just trust me?"
"Okay," Zoicite said. "What do we do now?"
"Well, the compound and the 'House of Pain' are long gone because of the fire, so I guess we just live here with the rest of the...with your fellow men, and just hope for the best," I told him. I changed gear mid-sentence 'cause I didn't really know how they'd react to being called "Beast Folk." I moved back into the party, only then feeling the lick on my hand, and noticing Kyusuke had come out to join me, as had Kit.
"We live here, with Kit, yes, mistress?" he asked.
"Yeah, we do," I told him. "And please, just call me Rini."
"And when Beryl returns, you slay her?" he asked.
"If I have to, yes," I replied.
"We help, Rini," Kit said. "When she come, we fall on her, hold her for you to slay!"
"Yes, we fall on her!" Kyusuke declared to me.
"Thank you, if it comes to it, I will have you do that," I said. "Shall we join the party?"
"Yes, yes," they cried, and we quickly let ourselves get caught up in the festivities. Hotaru being crazy aside, it was actually a lot of fun.
The only one who didn't seem to have any fun was Melanie, who hadn't moved from where she'd been sitting since Hotaru pushed her down, looking like she wasn't sure she even wanted to live anymore. I felt really sorry for her, but what could I do for her?
---
I have only more thing I'd like to add to the events of that day. That night, as everyone went back to their caves, Greg, Unazuki, Catzi, and Zoicite finding lodgings with Hotaru in the Sayer's cave with him by her "royal command," I went back to Kit's cave with her and Kyusuke, and laid myself down just a few feet from the entrance, I didn't want to be too far in case I had to get out fast, Kit curling up as her feline nature willed her to do four or five feet further in, and Kyusuke curled up with me. I began to drift off to sleep, when I heard a shuffling coming from outside, and I looked up. Melanie had appeared at the entrance.
"Can I stay here, too?" she asked shyly.
"Sure," Kit's voice came up from her spot in the cave. "Kit like Melanie, Melanie can live in Kit's cave all time she want."
"Come on in, Melanie," I agreed, and she slipped in, and laid herself next to me, wrapping one arm around me. It was a bit surprising, but after a bit I decided I kind of liked having the three of them with me.
It was much better than being in there alone.
---
Now begins the longest part of my stay on Tomoe's "Island of Horrors." Yes, that's right, the longest part. Over the next few weeks I stayed among the Beast Folk, Kyusuke, Kit, and Melanie becoming my main companions while the others in the town continued to serve under "Queen" Hotaru, who day by day clearly became worse. I think the most frightening thing I saw her do happened about three weeks into our stay there, when she drew a male beast person into a cave. Curious, I followed, glanced inside, and saw they were both naked and doing...I don't really know what it is they were doing, only that he was on top of her, and she was moaning, and then I dove away and never looked back. I'm not even sure if I ever want to know what it was that they were doing!
I kept a constant vigil for Beryl, who never did return to the Beast Folk's village, creating herself a new lair deep in the island's jungle, and stayed to herself, alone. At one time I tried to get a hunting party together to track her down and remove her as a threat, going as far as trying to tell the ones I attempted to recruit that Beryl was plotting their "Queen's" death, but could get almost no help.
On one occasion, well after my arm had healed and no longer sat in a sling so that I could use both hands again, I tried to sneak up on her, take her unawares. By then she had indeed killed, taking another poor bunny, she now clearly following in poor Fiore's footsteps. But she smelled me about a mile away, and easily escaped me, I simply wasting another two bullets when I tried to shoot her.
During those first few weeks of living among the Beast Folk, they seemed to stay more or less "human", they still talked and walked on two legs, and seemed happy to help me when I asked for any aid, and in all accounts I was second in power after Hotaru, though I never tried to make it seem like I was a leader. I just wanted to be me. Even Melanie, at first, seemed normal, though every few days she would still ask about me or Hotaru maybe trying to recreate Mimete's serum, for all the good that did.
It was right around the fifth week or so when I really started to notice it. Dr. Tomoe was right. They were changing back. Sort of. Bit by bit, slowly, day by day, they would get to be less human, and more like the animals they once were. By the sixth week, poor Unazuki became the first to stop talking altogether, her speech replaced by the simple gibbering and cackling of a jackal. Others, including Greg and Kyusuke, began to clearly struggle to still be able to talk. Kit began forgetting words, the three pig kids began to oink now and again while chatting, and even the old, kind Sayer of the Law began having problems recalling the words of said "law."
And as time passed they began slipping in other ways, beginning to stop walking on two legs and starting to go around on all fours again. At first Hotaru, despite her madness, tried to enforce her lost father's "law," tried to punish those who broke it, but as more time passed she soon stopped caring, and just declared herself, loudly, to be a "Queen of the jungle animals." Melanie was the one true stubborn one, constantly fighting the changes her body was going through. Dark hair began sprouting, her eyes slowly started to become cat-like, or maybe they always were and I had simply not noticed it, her nails slowly became claws.
And yet she fought to retain her "human" mind, refused to stop using her ability to talk, even when she every now and then started to have trouble remembering how. When she would start to drop to all fours, she would almost immediately catch herself, and snap at herself for doing so.
"I am not an animal, no matter what anyone says!" she'd screech. "I...am...HUMAN!!" But sadly it was a lost cause, as day by day more and more of her true animal self peeked through, battling for control, a battle poor Melanie was, sadly, doomed to loose. I'm not sure when it was that I asked, but I finally approached Hotaru and asked her what Melanie originally was before Tomoe changed her.
"Melanie?" she blinked, seeming to think. "Oh, the Puma girl, I think I remember her..." She then drifted off into her now permanent daze again, so I left it at that.
As more time passed, the speed with which the Beast Folk reverted into just beasts seemed to get faster and faster. They soon started to suck their drinks regularly, and could no longer hold things in their hands easily, but instead became clumsy about it, and in time abandoned holding things in their "hands" entirely. By the eighth week some began to forget about decency, some without meaning to, others on purpose. The "Law" was falling away, replaced by the random acts of wild animals.
Before I knew it, Kyusuke had ceased to be the simple servant and friend who chose to stay with me, and became the simple loyal pet dog trotting at my side. Kit stopped being a fellow girl I could talk to, and became a happy cat, another simple pet to keep me company, and nothing more. And Melanie...kept fighting it. Yet they, the Beast Folk, didn't really go all the way back to being animals, Tomoe's operations had altered them too much, bits of some animals being attached to others and the general changing of their shape from animal into human. Through it all, there was always some lasting hint of what Tomoe had tried to make of them, peeking out through the animals they had returned to being.
In time, as the Beast Folk became less and less organized, I found I didn't want to live among them anymore, and returned to the remains of the compound, where using large branches, various remains of the house and the wall, and vines, I managed to create a small hovel to live in. The compound, what was left of it, was still a safe place to be, some faint memories of pain being inflicted on them there staying in the Beast Folk's minds. By this time I'd made myself a pair of spears for fishing and catching rabbits for myself, and while I didn't catch too many bunnies, I must admit I became quite a good fisher!
Kyusuke and Kit and Melanie followed me to the compound, the first two always sleeping outside, Kyusuke on "guard duty" like a good dog, constantly vigil and alert for any threats against me. Only Melanie joined me within the remains of the walls, which, by the time I decided to return there, had in fact mostly fallen over, some of the smaller jungle plants attempting to take back the cliff area.
As the creatures changed, slowly but surely, they also, though I suppose it doesn't surprise me that they did, began to abandon the need for clothing, little by little, until finally they threw away their clothes altogether. I don't even remember anymore when Kit threw away the dress I gave her that day so long ago, and even more scary, I don't think I ever really cared that much. Hotaru also began wearing less, her few remaining clothes slowly wearing out, eventually wearing only a few rags over her hips and chest.
As for me, I too slowly began to wear less. My final dress slowly became ratty and filled with holes, as did my panties. At some point, I forget when, I simply tossed my panties away and never thought of them again. Finally, I reduced my dress to a simple jungle girl like outfit, a loincloth over my hips and privates, and a simple sash around my chest to cover my nipples, as mommy had taught me that girls never bare their chests outside, no matter what. Only Melanie, again, refused this change, struggling ever valiantly against herself.
But as I said before, it was a losing battle; she had begun walking on fours more and more, silky black hair now covered her arms and legs, her remaining clothes were just as ratty as mine and Hotaru's had become, and sometimes, late at night, I would wake to hear her yowling to the sky like a cat. I knew in my heart that it was just a matter of time before she gave up, and I felt so sorry for her, wishing there was something I could do for her, but there wasn't. Sometimes I even thought about giving up on clothes entirely, as the majority of the Beast Folk had done, to show her it was okay to give in and let the change take her. I'm still not sure why I didn't. Maybe, because I wasn't yet ready to give up on being human, either?
During those months I set up a pile of branches for a bonfire, which I remade as needed, on the beach, and I sat there on the sands, staring out to sea, waiting and hoping and hoping for a ship to come, for there to be someone, anyone, to rescue me from my island jail. For a while I still considered Hotaru to be coming with me, that she might still be saved, still be helped. As the days went by and became weeks and then months, I eventually accepted that Hotaru was also a lost cause, her mind too far gone to ever retrieve again. Though I suppose if someone had come, we might have still taken her with us.
As I waited and hoped, I even found myself hoping to spy the Nemesis, even that horrid boat and its less than desired crew sounded like a good way to escape, no matter what I had to pay to get them to take me this time. But she never came back, so I never did find out what that could or might have been. It's probably for the best, right?
I'm not sure when it occurred to me to try and build a raft, but when it did I was faced with the problem of how. I mean, what did I know of building things like that? I'm just a kid. But after thinking about it for a while I decided to give it a try, and began going over what was left of the compound and it's walls and the nearby jungle trees to see what I could use. I even had a look at what little was left of the launch and my original lifeboat, but I quickly decided that wasn't going to help me.
Over the next couple of weeks I worked on it, trying my best to put together a simple raft on which to make my final escape. Every now and then one or more of the other Beast Folk, who by then had long since split up and drifted apart from their original town, would appear, watching what I was doing, and darting away when I would move towards them to say hi. A tropical storm hit for a few days, during which I decided to return to Kit's old cave, but I took this small delay in stride. It's not like I could do anything about it, right?
Finally, after about three weeks of work and rework, I had it finished, but realized I'd made it a little too far from the beach. Just as well, for by the time I got it to the ocean, it had come apart on me, leaving me to scream my frustration to the sea. So miserable was I at my failed attempt that I spent the next four or five days sulking on the beach, staring at the sea, and considering turning one of my few remaining bullets on myself. Yes, I actually gave thought to the worst of sins, taking my own life.
But my desire to live, to one day see my family once more, won out instead. I didn't want to die, but I no longer knew what I was going to do next. It was at the end of this multi-day moping session that an incident occurred to revive my determination to escape the island. I was leaning against a tree, once again watching the water and feeling hopeless when something brushed against my leg. I glanced around to find myself staring into the eyes of the pig-boy, Kotaru, – during my stay in the Beast Folk's town I had finally taken time to speak to them and get their identities straight – who now barely looked like the "little boy" I had originally encountered during my first failed escape, his chin now fuzzy, he now unable to speak anymore, or able to walk on two legs, having returned to his birth state of walking on all fours.
When he had my attention he oinked, and trotted off, then looked back and oinked again. I stared for a moment, then realized he wanted me to follow, so I got up and did so, Kyusuke and Kit, who had taken to never leaving my side, following after me. I followed Kotaru into the jungle for several minutes before he stopped, and shook his head, trying to indicate something ahead of me. I came up beside him and looked, and saw his two fellows, or what was left of them. Nanako and Miharu had been killed, their bodies lying on the ground, torn open bloodily, at least one from what I could see by the throat, the other, Miharu, having made a failed attempt at escape, and in the center of this horrid scene was Hotaru, lying on the ground, her own body torn into. She was dead, having finally left the island the same way as her father, Kaolinite, and Mimete. It was the first time I had even seen Hotaru in days, and from what I could see, she had also given in to the wild, as I could not see one stitch of clothing upon her, not that I was looking that close right then. I was staring at her and the pig-girl's killer – Beryl!
She crouched over Hotaru's remains, greedily devouring what I think was her lung or spleen, and looked up at me, no hint of humanity left in her, just a wild tiger on the hunt. I calmly pulled out my gun, which I kept on me at all times just for this moment, and carefully pointed it at her. She snarled, roared, and lunged, and I fired two shots. She kept moving, slammed into me, and, startled, I fired again. It's odd, really, because I know I shot once at the moment, but, as I would learn shortly thereafter, I actually fired three times, even though I still can't recall pulling the trigger another two times.
Beryl's movements stopped, and I glanced up; one of her front legs was stretched across me, the rest of her lay just off to the side, very still. I shoved her paw off of me. Checking her, I found all my shots had struck true, her chest now like swiss cheese, one hole straight into her heart. I breathed heavily – the danger from this monster was finally over. But then it occurred to me that there were other meat eaters among the beast folk, Motoki had come to the island with me as a Cougar after all, and there was also Kakeru, the Cheetah man, just to name a couple. It was just a matter of time before they became as wild as Beryl, and when I checked my gun, I found I had but two bullets left to me, hence how I knew I had fired thrice instead of once. At that moment I knew I had to try the raft idea again!
First I piled up some wood right there, a trench around it to keep the fire from the trees, and placed the four bodies upon it, and set them afire – during my time living with Kit in her cave I had learned how to do so without matches and oils by simply watching the beast folk – and stayed until they were ash. I then returned to the beach and the remains of my first raft attempt.
Over the next many days I tried again, this time working near the shore and paying more attention to how strong it was, learning from my previous errors. When I was about a third of the way through, one final unpleasant incident occurred.
As I worked hard at my chore, another beast person emerged from the woods, looking like some fowl mix of a hyena and pig. By the green hair on it's head I think it may once have been my one time "bodyguard" Juno, but I guess I 'll never really know for sure. When I saw the creature, I immediately moved to get my gun, only to find that in my relief of not having to worry about Beryl anymore I had accidentally left it in my little den. Before I could decide what I was going to do about this, I heard it, the unmistakable 'bang' of the gun going off. The hyena-pig ran off in fright, and I turned to the compound's leftovers. Grabbing the spear I'd brought with me, I always kept one near me if I needed it and the other at my den, I ran back up the cliff to said remains. Within I found Melanie, who had fought the backwards change from "man" to "beast" the hardest and definitely the longest, lying on the ground, my gun in her hand, a bullet wound under her chin and coming out the top of her head.
Melanie had not left the compound remains for three or four weeks, as though she believed as long as she was there she had some hope of staying a 'man'. I guess the despair had finally won, and she had chosen to die as she had lived, as a person. Not knowing what else to do, I picked up her body, after reclaiming the gun, despite knowing I now had only one bullet left to me, and tossed her off the edge of the cliff to the water and rocks below, simple and easy. Then I checked around where her body was, and found a final message left carved in a piece of wood, by what I do not know. It was her constant refrain for all those months.
'I am human.'
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I spent only two more days after that working on the raft. And then it became a moot point. For then came my last day on the island, at long, long last. I woke that morning, had breakfast – fruits, wild roots and veggies, and a fresh caught fish, then headed down to the beach to begin work on my incomplete raft, glanced out to the sea, and saw what I had so long hoped to see – the sail of a boat!
I dove to my unlit bonfire, all thoughts of my raft forgotten as I no longer needed it, finally set the pile of wood ablaze, and waited for the boat to come to me. I waited for many hours, ignoring Kyusuke and Kit's growls and meows of curiosity. I even paid no heed when other beast folk came out of the woods, wondering at my activities. Before long noon came, but I did not care, I gave no notice to stomach until the afternoon when it insisted, and then only made a mad run back to my den to collect and armload of fruit to turn off my hunger, carrying it back to the fire before eating it, my eyes never leaving the boat. When night came the boat vanished into the darkness, and I fought the whole night to keep the fire burning, the eyes of many of the beasts shining from the jungle, whether in awe or wondering when I would finally go to sleep and allow them to have me for dinner I know not, nor care.
By the next morning the boat was in sight again, and much closer. It was then I realized it was a small boat, almost like my original lifeboat from the Millennium. And it sailed oddly, swaying back and forth a bit in the waves. I watched carefully, intently, waiting and waiting. Finally I grabbed a recently broken off branch from a nearby tree, stuck the dying leaves in the fire to light it, and waved it over my head, screaming and yelling to the boat to get its attention. And still they did not respond.
I carried my branch down to the edge of the beach, and waved it even more from there, again shouting for attention from whomever had finally come to save me. Finally I tired out and fell to my knees, by fire branch dropping into the arriving waves. Yet still I watched the boat, and could now make out two people within, one at the front and one at the back, they seemed to be staring at each other. They were also very still, and I got a bit of a sick feeling in my tummy, but still I did not look away.
Finally, in the afternoon, the boat washed ashore, and I carefully walked up to it, noting the only writing on it was a "N," an "E," and a "S," with a space between the last two. Thoughts of the ship this boat had come from passed through my mind as I peered at the men within – they were dead, and had been for a very long time. A third lay within the center, just lying there where he perished. So long had these three been gone that when I used all my strength to tip the boat so as to dump the three of them out, they all but fell to pieces when they tumbled onto the beach. The white hat worn by the man at the front tumbled off, revealing to me the remains of once bright red hair.
I shoved the boat back into the water a few feet and carefully moved it up the shore before tugging it back to the beach. Finding that the three dead men had been far wiser than the two who had originally "kidnapped" me from the Millennium, I claimed not one but three canteens, which I took and filled fully with water from the nearest fresh spring. I then gathered many fruits and wild veggies and roots, used my last bullet and my spears to catch me two bunnies, then wrapped all carefully in the largest leaves I could get and loaded them all onto my new craft.
I then returned to the compound's remains for the last time. During my first check of the ruins for anything to make a raft from, I found that by some miracle one writing desk, I have no idea which room it had originally been in, had survived the fire with only a few scorch marks. I know not how, and it doesn't really matter. But it was to this I return for that last time. From it I took the drawer with the last surviving stack of papers within it and the two surviving pens and three pencils. As my gun was now empty and I had no chance of finding new bullets, I abandoned it to the ruins, and grabbed my spare spear, and returned to my new boat.
I loaded the drawer, filled with its papers, pens, and pencils, and then my spears, before turning to my two final companions. Kit and Kyusuke looked at me, as though some part of them understood what I was doing. I hugged them each goodbye, thanking them for their friendship and companionship. And then once again I pushed the boat out to sea, this time working with the sail to catch the wind and carry me away from the island forever. I glanced back only once, and noticed Kit and Kyusuke returning up to the compound's remaining wall, as if they thought I was going to come back to them. For one brief, shining moment, I almost did. But I knew I couldn't stay any more than I could take the two of them with me.
That was four days ago. Once I was safely out to sea and the island had vanished behind me, I took these pages out of the drawer, and using the spare seats of the boat as my desk, wrote this account, so that even if I am dead when this boat is found I, and my amazing adventure, will not be forgotten. Learning from my first trip alone in a small boat, I am rationing my food and water carefully, so as not to waste it and wind up literally right back where I began. I know not if I will be saved, and, I know this will sound very odd, as much as I wanted to be forever free of the Beast Folk, I find I am in no hurry anymore to return to the world of men, or even my family. My hair I have not done up for a very long time, simply tying it behind me, and it has grown to reach a little below my knees. I look at how long it has become, and I wonder: How long have I lived upon that island, away from the rest of the world? Am I ten years old now? Older? I do not know. And yet, I feel more at peace than I have in a very long time.
And so, dear reader, I now close this account, and will leave it carefully within this drawer which I will place beneath a seat in hopes of keeping my story safe from any weather. I hope I am believed, whatever my fate. Farewell.
Yours truly,
Rini Shields.
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Thus, it ends. For the most point, anyway. Hope you have enjoyed thus far and will return one last time for the epilogue – what, you really thought I was gonna leave her fate up in the air?! What kind of finish is that? No, I have one last little bit to go, one last loose end to tie up. Thanks for reading so far, though, and don't forget to hit that shiny Review button down there!
Scorpinac