Love To Hate You

Run

Mary

Steven shakes Brandon, and he comes awake with his fist reared. Startled, Steven jumps back, falling out of our tent on his butt.

“What the fuck is the matter?” Brandon growls. Steven gets up, adjusting his glasses.

“Its Albert, he’s been gone for hours and I can’t find him!”

Last time we saw him, he was in the jungle.

“Did he come back last night?”

Steven shakes his head, confused.

“He left last night?”

I sit back on my heels as my head bobs back and forth between them. A sour feeling settles in my stomach.

“Yeah, he went into the jungle.”

Steven drops his jaw.

“And you let him?”

Brandon looks offended.

“Of course I did. He’s a grown man, older than me for Christ sakes. Believe it or not, some men can take care of themselves”

Uh oh, I exit the tent standing between them.

“Okay, everyone calm down. We know he went into the jungle… why don’t we all go look for him?”

“A superb idea!”

“Sure, baby.”

Brandon kisses my cheek and my shoulders hunch. I look back at Steven, who’s not so successfully trying to appear unaffected. He gives up and says something that makes me feel terrible.

“It’s okay, I get it… I’m not most women’s type.” He heads out toward the jungle.

“No, Steven, it’s not like that.” Its complicated. I turn back to see Brandon staring back at me, pissed.

“Then what exactly is it like?”

Oh great! I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. So I reach for him instead. Brandon shrugs me off.

“Not now!”

I follow them into the jungle. What I'd give for some coffee right now. I’ve only been up ten minutes and I’ve already gotten two people mad at me. Today is going to suck…
Brandon is an excellent tracker, but there’s still no sign of Albert. We’re an hour into the trek and the only clue is footprints; Albert’s.

“I don’t understand what he’d be thinking running off into the jungle, in the middle of the night.”

I don’t bother answering Steven. They have both decided not to talk to me today. At least they’re not fighting with each other. Small blessings. I keep smiling to myself when I remember last night and stick my tongue out at Brandon’s back. He’s lucky I have a thick hide.  Brandon bends down, tracing his finger over the ground.

“There was a struggle here.”

I look down in the dirt, trying to see what he sees.

“How do you know?”

He crawls further ahead.

“Experience, he started off walking and pausing for a quarter mile. Then he ran fast and here… he either fell and struggled to get up or.”

He leaves off there, and Steven asks before I do.

“or what?”

I follow Brandon’s gaze to a rock and see what’s caught his attention.

“He was dragged.”

It’s a statement, not a question. Steven sees Albert’s shoe movments after me. I lean against a tree for support, feeling light-headed.

“Are you okay?”

Brandon passes me a water bottle and I take it, looking up at him.

“Your talking to me again?”

His lips thin and he looks at me sideways.

“Relax, I’m kidding… Do you think he’s okay?” I ask. Brandon places his hand above my head and leans over me, wiping the sweat off his forehead. The action makes his muscles flex and I feel bad for getting aroused at a time like this.

“I don’t see anything that tells me for certain, but it doesn’t look good. Best case, he’s a little banged up.”
I gulp, my mouth suddenly dry when he doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t have to; I know what he’s thinking because we’re all thinking the same thing. When Steven joins us, Brandon slips his shirt back on and sticks the bottle in his back pocket.

“We can’t do this all day. A couple hours more, tops. If we stay out to long we risk trekking back in the dark and running into whatever Albert has.”

Every step further into the jungle has me on edge. We come across his other shoe and… blood. I know Brandon feels like it’s a lost cause. I saw the thick red trail. There’s no way he survived. I feel sick to my stomach, but Steven is determined to find him. Me and Brandon share a look when the trail stops over a steep cliff. Steven grabs a branch and attempts to climb down.

“Whoa! Whoa, stop! You’ll never make it… it’s over, man. He didn’t survive.”

Steven charges Brandon uselessly pushing at his chest.

“No! It’s not! He could still be okay. He’s just hurt. That’s all.”

Brandon grabs him by the shirt, making him pay attention.

“Your smart, wake up! How much blood can the human body loose before it shuts down? How much?”

Brandon gives him a shake.

“fifty percent… fifty percent!”

He let’s go and Steven falls to the ground. He’s crying and my heart clenches at his loss.

“You know damn well what we saw was more than that… do you want to end up like him? We need to fix the boat and get off this island before whatever got him comes after us next.”

Steven gets up and begins walking back. I sigh, relieved. I’m scared shitless and don’t fall over three or four feet behind Brandon. He turns around every minute or two, checking on me before finally pushing me in front of him.

The mood is dower when we get back to the camp. It takes several minutes before my heart beats at a normal pace. We all help rebuild the boat in silence. The sun starts its descent and my nerves go frantic.

“What’s left to do?”

My question catches Brandon off guard and he takes a moment to respond.

“Not much, I just have to finish sealing the gaps with glue and fix the sail.”

I nod, looking back at the tree line.

“Don’t worry, Mary. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

I bring food over, Brandon doesn’t stop working. Busying myself, I pack anything of importance. It’s darker than light now, and I instinctively move closer to Brandon.

“Did you hear that?”

I punch his arm.

“That’s not funny!”

He gets up out of the boat and takes a few steps forward, looking into the jungle.

“I wasn’t joking… Mary?”

I gulp, looking at him wide-eyed.

“Yes?” I answer,pausing I can hear it now. It’s a terrible sound I can’t describe. Like knuckles cracking and skittering across a floor all at once. It’s echoing off the surrounding water.

“Did you pack the supplies?” He asks,

“Mm-hmm” I respond unable to form words. We’re both staring into the distance towards the sound. Fear clamps my jaw shut as my whole body shakes.

“Good! Get it now, quickly, and place it in the boat… tell Steven we’re leaving.”

I move on wobbly legs, Steven runs over and helps Brandon get the boat toward shore. The noise gets louder and darkness settles in. I’m on my way back when I hear Brandon.

“Mary! Run! Now!”

I listen, pumping my wobbly legs. When I look at the jungle, I misstep stripping over my feet and nearly falling, but Brandon’s there to catch me. The noise is deafening. My skin prickles from head to toe and travels back up again. I have a sudden heat in my entire body and my legs buckle with weakness, I'm about to faint. Thousands of eyes look back at me, extending as far as I can see.