Kong Skull Island: Rewritten

9- Fading Away

As the group continued on their walk, they encountered a broken stone structure, which appeared to have once been an arch wall or something. Everyone continued calmly, until Mason Weaver let out a loud gasp. Everyone who had one pulled out a weapon who had one, and pointed them around, gathering in a circle standing back-to-back. They were surrounded by many individuals with spears covered in a sort of natural paint that allowed them to blend in with the moss-covered walls. Everything was very intense. Until a funny little man came out, running.
"Nobody shoot, nobody shoot," Conrad warned quickly.
"Stay calm and shut up," Carter commanded.

  "Whoa,whoa,whoa,whoa,whoa,whoa, whoa,whoa!" he shouted, obviously an American. "No need for that! Come on, now! Everybody keep your wigs on, now!" he suggested, laughing.

Carter and the rest still held their guns up, confused.

But the natives began lowering their weapons upon the man's orders. They lowered them, but didn't completely put them away. Apparently they understood English, yet said nothing. Conrad and Slivko let out sighs of relief since they now knew that they could at least be understood.
"What?" Slivko asked, confused.
"I didn't believe it when they said you were coming. I was up all night, thinking about how Gunpei and I dreamed of this moment," the man smiled.
"Yeah, not creepy at all," Carter muttered.
"Now here it is," he continued, still smiling. "Twenty-nine years, eleven months," he added. "Eight failed attempts to get back to the world, and now the world comes to me? Ain't that a crack?" he pointlessly laughs to the natives of the island, who were completely unresponsive. "They never smile," he laughed.
"Did you crash here?" Weaver asked.
"Oh, sorry, Miss," he apologized. "Lieutenant Hank Marlow," he introduced himself.
"So you've been here since 1988?" Carter asked.
He nodded. "You are more beautiful.... than a hot dog, and a beer at Wrigley Fields," he smiled, falling into a trance just imagining the hot dog and beer. "But you're real," he continued almost tearfully. Then he squinted. "Right?"
Everyone stared, all nodding slowly.
"I told you! Didn't I tell you?" Marlow asked the natives.
No response.
"I said,"It's fine,"," he sighed.

The natives finally put their spears down, and the team began doing the same.
"There's something out there," Slivko told Marlow.
"Oh, there's a lot out there," he nodded in agreement, worrying everyone.
"Now come on, we need to get home," he said seriously, confusing everyone once again. "You don't want to be out here at night," he laughed, now legitimately frightening maybe half the team.

Everyone hesitantly followed him and the natives through the arch. It only led to more land. They hiked up a mountain and went through some sort of wooden wall. The place they were headed to was surprisingly very heavily fortified. These people apparently formed their own society. It was amazing.
"You've probably noticed a lot of weird things on this island. As long as we stay in here with them, we'll be alright," Marlow told the team.
"That wall. Is that supposed to keep out that thing?" Weaver asked, referring to the gorilla.
"Nah. He's not the one they're trying to keep out," Marlow replied, once again, confusing everyone.
"What?" Brooks asked.
"These people live up in the top of the trees while we're down at the roots," Marlow explained. "They don't seem to age. No crime,no personal property, they're past all that," he added.

Everyone looked around at the silent natives, living in huts and doing everything together and by hand. It was beautiful and fascinating. Everyone had different colors and designs of paint on their face. They seemed very peaceful now that they weren't pointing spears at everyone. Marlow approached two of the natives, who had blue paint on. They seemed as if they were important. They said nothing to Marlow, they only nodded.
"Good news. They say you can shack up here," he announced happily.
"I didn't hear them say anything," Conrad said.

Carter smirked to herself.
"They don't talk much. If you've been here as long as I have, you would understand," Marlow explained.

Carter was stunned by what she had just heard. She related to it so well. From then on, she completely blanked out. She heard nothing. She stared at every one of the natives around her. They were so happy, and they had nice,simple homes and lives with their families. All Carter had ever wanted. Just a nice life with her,Janet,her parents, and Conrad. But she knew she couldn't have that. It just wasn't in the cards for an assassin. But Carter was glad she was able to possibly die alongside Conrad. Not many people got the luxury of dying with someone that they loved close by. Carter completely understood the silence of Marlow and the natives. If you were alone for a long time, you would just keep yourself busy with your own thoughts. And eventually you'd just forget about everyone else, and just fade into a dark tunnel of silence and solitude.