Chapter 2
"Here's one, skipper!"
Neither Englehorn nor Jimmy paused before diving into the abandoned blue motorcar they'd found by the roadside. The captain pushed his companion out of the driving seat, however.
"You can't drive!" Jimmy insisted.
"And you can? I've done more driving than you, believe me."
"Not on land. This isn't a tramp steamer."
"I've flown planes, how hard can this be?"
Jimmy stared while Englehorn took in the set-up before him. He turned the key in the ignition and groaned as the engine stuttered hopelessly.
"Damn American machine!"
He thumped the dashboard and the car revved into life, but Jimmy hardly noticed.
"When did you fly planes?"
"Years ago, back in Germany." Jimmy watched the older man expectantly. "And if you think you're hearing more than that you've got another thing coming."
Jimmy was gobsmacked upon hearing of this chapter in the captain's history, but Englehorn continued.
"So how exactly did you plan on helping that godforsaken writer?" he asked.
Before Jimmy could answer, Driscoll's car was away out of the square, the ape close behind, hurling aside anything in his path. It didn't take the youth's yell of "Follow!" for Englehorn to ram his foot down on the pedal, and they were off, hot on Jack's tail.
Jimmy watched the Captain curiously out of the corner of his eye. He desperately wanted to hear more of his companion's time as a pilot, but thought better of asking.
The drive through the streets of downtown New York was a wild and bumpy journey. Englehorn flew the vehicle along at a speed faster that Jimmy had known a car could go, trailing Jack by the screams, scared faces, and general devastation and wreckage in the road. Indeed, the elder seaman noticed, navigating the debris of Driscoll's chase came close to the entry to Skull Island: purely trial and error.
"Skipper!" Jimmy cried, thrown against the window as Englehorn swerved round a corner particularly violently. They skidded straight across a crossroads and past a row of shattered windows.
"Stop!" Jimmy yelled.
The Captain rammed the brake down, eventually bringing the automobile to a stop in the middle of the road.
"What?" he asked, but the youngster was already out of the vehicle.
Englehorn pursued him, and, seeing the scene that had prompted Jimmy's yell, grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and hauled him behind the wreckage of an overturned car.
Englehorn peered through a smashed window at the now stationary form of the giant ape towering over the crumpled heap that was Jack's car. Jimmy let out a whimper: the motionless body of the writer was just visible inside.
The skipper couldn't help the small twinge of sadness at the end of his mind. He made a point of not forming friendships, when he could help it, but Driscoll had been held in high esteem since he'd risked his life for that of Ann Darrow. Jimmy had been fond of the playwright, and Englehorn laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, his eyes lingering in pity on the youth's grief-stricken face.
Turning his blue eyes back to Kong, the captain watched the ape scoop up Jack's body in one huge hand. Jimmy let out a cry of surprise; the limp and lifeless limbs jerked into action. The writer gasped in pain as the beast's grip tightened and Englehorn winced – the crack of bones breaking was audible even from his position.
"He's alive!" Jimmy whispered urgently. "We have to do something!"
"Jimmy!" Englehorn grasped his blue shirt for the second time as Jimmy made to scamper away. The captain's piercing blue eyes locked with the tear-filled ones opposite as he spoke softly. "We can't do anything."
Jimmy let out a sob and buried his face in the skipper's shoulder. For once, Englehorn didn't spurn the sentimentality of the moment, and his pity showed in his eyes as he embraced the youngster.
"Englehorn."
They both started as they heard a familiar female voice. When he first glanced up, Englehorn thought he was seeing an angel, before he recognised the slender form of Ann Darrow. Jimmy gazed at her in amazement, momentarily stunned by her beauty, but she was looking at the captain.
It didn't take the look in her eyes for him to know what she planned to do – he knew she was the only person alive who could control Kong.
"If he survives…" she began quietly, her doleful eyes going to Jack.
Englehorn nodded before she could finish: she wanted him to help the man she loved, and, for both her sake and Jimmy's, he assented gladly.
Then, with no more to say than this, the actress walked slowly and carefully out towards the ape. The low growl it was making ceased instantly as it noticed her, as time seemed to, to Englehorn. Even he was astounded by Ann's beauty, and now, with her white gown glistening and a gentle breeze tugging at her golden curls, the resemblance to an angel was stronger than ever.
The beast absent-mindedly threw Jack away, and he slid close enough to them for Englehorn to see his weary face. He caught the writer's eyes and relief appeared in them instantly, but Driscoll, unconcerned as ever for his own health, used what little energy he had left to raise his head and look at Ann.
Kong held out a hand and she climbed gracefully into it, before being lifted up to sit on his shoulder. This done, the actress was carried away, a calm air of contentment about the animal.
Before the ape was even out of sight, Jimmy and Englehorn leapt out from their hiding place simultaneously and hurried to Jack's aid. Jimmy's face was still wet with tears as they knelt down beside him, but the playwright barely seemed to notice.
"Ann!" he said in a weak and feeble tone.
"She knows what she's doing," Englehorn told him. "Try thinking of yourself for once."
"Are you hurt?" Jimmy asked, ignoring the Captain's swift return to his usual stern self.
"That's a broken leg if ever I saw one," Englehorn muttered, eyeing the limb that stuck out at a far from normal angle.
"We have to help her!" Jack said weakly, his quiet voice desperate yet determined. He tried to sit up, but gasped in pain and thought better of it. Englehorn eyed the writer's pale, slender fingers as he gently patted his own torso through a finely tailored overcoat.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple of broken ribs, too," he muttered. Jimmy glanced up in shock, but Jack ignored him.
"We have to help her!" he repeated, even more faintly.
"Get a grip, man!" Englehorn said sternly in frustration. "What do you want to do, take on the ape? You tried that once already and look how far that got you."
The playwright let out a sigh of despair.
"We could at least follow her," Jimmy suggested. Englehorn glanced at him angrily, but the fading light in Jack's eyes was swiftly rekindled.
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Follow them!"
"Are you crazy?" Englehorn asked, but any arguments he could make were in vain, and, not for the first time that evening, he found himself doing something he was certain he would regret.
Somehow, Englehorn and Jimmy managed to get Jack into the back of the car, into the half-lying, half-sitting position that was most comfortable.
"Where are we going?" Englehorn asked, turning the key in the ignition.
"After the ape!" Jimmy replied quickly.
"That was most helpful, Jimmy. Any better ideas?"
Neither passenger answered, so, sighing deeply, the captain drove in the direction he'd last seen Kong heading, and they reached Central Park as dawn broke.
"Can you see them yet?" Jack inquired feebly from the back seat.
Englehorn didn't get a chance to answer, but swore loudly as a blockade of khaki jeeps suddenly pulled out of a side street and forced him to swerve violently. Still cursing, he drove on down the street he'd been forced into, while Jimmy looked back apprehensively at the weapons on the back of the vehicles.
"That's the army," he told them nervously.
"Wonderful."
Englehorn winced as the first shots were fired, followed by a heart-rending scream that could only have been Ann.
Jack uttered a low moan of despair, but it was quickly drowned out as more shots were fired. Next they heard the all too familiar roar of the beast, and Kong himself came leaping along the very street they were in, a white figure clutched in his hand. He overtook them swiftly, before scaling a nearby building and continuing his journey over the rooftops.
"Where's he headed?" Englehorn asked frantically. The car was still hurtling along at a terrifying speed, but Jimmy hoisted himself up and leant out of the window to get a better view.
"It looks like–"
He broke off and leaned out further, so much so that Englehorn grabbed the back of his shirt to haul him back in, if need be.
"He's heading for the really tall one," Jimmy announced, sliding back into his seat. "I can't remember its name."
Jack mumbled it to them from the back seat, but his voice wasn't audible over the screech of tyres as Englehorn swiftly changed direction.
"Good choice," the captain remarked.
"Why?" asked Jimmy.
"There's not much that can get him up there."
They turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the ape through the windscreen, quickly climbing the towering concrete structure of the tallest building in the world. Ann's in her gleaming white gown was barely visible in his hand.
"What do we do now?" Jimmy asked.
Englehorn pulled up outside a tall office block. "We go upstairs to get a better view."
Together, they managed to life Jack out of the car and carried him up the steps to the large glass doors.
"Locked!" he moaned as Jimmy shook the handle in vain.
Englehorn didn't reply, but simply glanced both ways quickly before putting his elbow through the glass and opening it from the inside, then leading them in.
They were stood in the foyer of offices of a clearly important and wealthy company, with more marble than Jimmy had ever seen all in one place, and a wide, sweeping staircase directly in front of them leading up to the first floor. Englehorn didn't stop to admire the view, and quickly broke into a janitor's cupboard. There was something casual in his manner that told Jimmy he'd done this before.
"Wheelchair?" the captain suggested to Jack, wheeling out a wooden trolley.
Then, pushing a triangular button in the wall, they settled down to wait for the elevator.
A/N: Thanks to those of you who left a review for the previous chapter, all were very much appreciated! I've got mock maths exams coming up and countless essays to write, but hopefully the last chapter shouldn't be too long coming. Please review, and many thanks for reading,
the green lama