Penal Island (3 page)

“What
is that…
vomit
?”

“No,
Milas
.
 
It’s
flesh…human flesh.
 
I would say from the
putrid smell that it’s about two or three days old.”

“What
the fuck?”

“Cannibals,
Milas
.
 
I’m
never wrong about these things.”

Milas
knew it was the truth.
 
Stein was none
too bright, but he seemed to have a sixth sense about this particularly disturbing
aspect of human nature.

“Where
are they and how many are there?”

“Not
many.
 
We would have been hit by the
smell of burnt flesh long before we landed if there had been enough to feed
very many.”

Milas
had
no idea what they had somehow stumbled into over the past few days, but he
wanted out.
 
Stein was well ahead of him
when
Milas
stumbled.

“Stein!”

The
lumbering steps turned back and the big man held out a hand to his friend.
 
“Don’t yell,
Milas
…ever.”

With
a swollen ankle,
Milas
limped behind his friend who
pushed aside tree limbs and vines until he pushed aside a mass of vines that
led him into a cave.
 
It was dark and the
odor of rotting flesh filled the pungent air.

“What
is this?
 
Where are we?”

Stein
grabbed the arm of his frightened friend and walked further into the
darkness.
 
A light came on, illuminating
the dreary dwelling and the two men.

“Who
are you?”
 
A light was shone in the face
of the inquisitive Stein.
 
Blinking to
avert the stinging rays, he held his arm across his eyes.

“Name’s
Carver and it’s not because of my profession.”
 
He pulled up his sleeve and showed a scar in the shape of a large cat of
some kind.
 
Stein stepped forward to look
at it.
 
“Nice work, eh?
 
I did it myself.”

Milas
pulled his friend away from this obviously demented man.

“Been
watching the two of you…from my side of the island, that is.”

Milas
felt his blood run cold.
 
“Your side of the island?”

The
man’s smile was a wide sneer as he pumped his fist and made the carving in his
arm appear to growl.

Stein
gave
Milas
a questioning look.
 
“It’s warm here.”

Carver
crossed his arms and stared at the dim witted Stein.
 
“Warmest place I could find unless I wanted
to live with humans…live ones, that is.”

“But
Milas
…our island is warm, too.”

“This
is our island, Stein.”

The
big man turned his head slowly back to Carver.
 
Then he saw it.
 
The profile was
the same as one of the men he had seen on that fateful night of Roxie’s death.
 
He gulped and put his hand over his
mouth.
 
“You were…you had…you were
eating…”

“Escapees
like us do what we have to do to survive.”

“There
were two of you that day.
 
Where’s your
friend?”

“He’ll
be back.
 
But if I were you two, I would
get back in that boat of yours before he docks.
 
He’s a whole lot meaner than I could ever be.”
 
Carver took out a huge carving knife that
shone brightly in the dark and thrust it at them.

Walking
slowly backward,
Milas
and Stein left the dark
dwelling and ran through the thick branches, trying to follow the same path
back to their waterborne sanctuary.
 
Pulling up the anchor, Stein was prepared to start the engine when
Milas
stopped him.

“Let’s
cruise down shore a ways and wait for Carver’s friend.”

“Why?”

“See
what kind of cargo he brings with him.”

Stein
adjusted his binoculars and in the distance he could see a dark ship coming
toward them.
 
“Won’t have
to wait long.
 
It’s on its way.”

Milas
grabbed the binoculars from his best bud, wondering how and where he had gotten
them, and brought the ship into his view.
 
“Hmm, looks like an old pirate ship.”
 
The two men were well out of sight of the ship carrying human cargo when
it eased toward the island.

Stein
and
Milas
watched as Carver’s friend left the ship
and followed the same path as they had toward the dwelling in the woods.
 
The man was alone which meant that he either
had struck out in his quest or his human cargo was still aboard the foreboding
looking vessel.

“Let’s
go, Stein.”

“Fuck
man, are you crazy?”
 
He knew that
Milas
was serious and he reluctantly tagged along as they
made their way to the dark ship which had chipped paint and appeared to be
falling apart.
 
It was much smaller than
it had looked from afar and it rocked slowly back and forth as the waves hit
the shore.

When
Milas
stepped onto the old boat, he quickly took a
look around and was ready to leave when he noticed the naked woman lying on the
bottom, with a gag in her mouth and ropes around her wrists and her
ankles.
 
She looked at him with large
round eyes and he took the gag from her mouth.

“
Shh
, who are you?”

“Mika.”

“Where
are you from?”

“We
are brought here from my island and others, rounded up like cattle, with no
knowledge of our destiny.”

“Rounded
up?”

“In
the night the boats come.”

“There
are more boats than this one?”

“Yes,
but this one is the final one.
 
No one
returns.
 
Roxie’s mother was sick with
grief when she heard the news.”

“Roxie…you
knew Roxie.”

“Yes,
and when her parents learned that she had been taken to be married to a foreign
man, they were so sad.”

“That’s
not where you or Roxie were headed, honey.”

“This
is not the isle of the marriage boat?”

“No,
it’s not.”

“But
they promised me a grand wardrobe and riches beyond my imagination.
 
They took my old clothes from me and tossed
them overboard.”
 
She tried to cover
herself with her bound hands and
Milas
took off his
shirt, untied Mika, and helped her cover herself.
 
“Thank you,” she whispered.
 
“Would you have a drink of water or a piece
of bread?”

“Come
with us back to our ship.
 
We have
plenty?”

“Us?
 
I see only one of you.”

Milas
jerked
his head around to where he had last seen Stein but there was no Stein.
 
Where was he?
 
“Oh, my travel buddy probably went back to the ship.
 
He’s a bit shy.”

Milas
helped Mika stand on wobbly legs.
 
She
could barely walk, so he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the
ship.
 
He knew he had to act fast.
 
It was only a matter of time before Carver or
his friend noticed the woman missing.
 
Once safely in the lower level, he laid Mika on the small bed in the
makeshift room.

“When
was the last time you had anything to eat?”

“Two
days ago, I think.”

Milas
sat
down beside her and fed her small pieces of cracker and helped her with sips of
water.
 
He lifted her head onto a folded
blanket and covered her with one of Stein’s extra large coats.

“Where
is your friend?”

“He
gets a little sidetracked now and then.
 
I would guess him to have wandered into the woods in search of wild
geese.”

“Wild geese?”

“It’s
just an expression.
 
He could be swimming
naked for all I know.
 
But I can always
count on him coming back at some point.”

Mika
was beginning to grow tired and
Milas
wrapped the big
coat around her and promised not to leave her there alone.
 
He kept his promise, but he did go up to the
upper level and picked up Stein’s binoculars to survey the area.
 
Where was the big oaf?

Stein
was easily distracted and he had followed the sound of a bird into the wooded
area.
 
He stopped when he picked up the
scent of another man not far from him.
 
Voices of two men could be heard and Stein stood silently hidden in the
trees.

Carver
stood in the doorway of the dwelling and called to his friend.
 
“
Leon
, you’re alone.”

“She
ain’t
goin
’
nowhere
.
 
She’s too
weak to move.”

The
laughter from the two men was sickening even to a man as coldhearted as Stein
and he listened for more.

“Well,
go get her,” Carver barked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“I nearly
got caught this time.
 
We’re going to
have to change our course.”

“No way,
Leon
.
 
I like the
meat from where we’ve been getting it…not too tough, not to chewy, but just
right.”

“I
could have been killed.”

“Oh,
lighten up,
Leon
.
 
You’re so dramatic.”

“
Hmmph
,” he muttered, and walked off toward the boat, with
Carver following close behind.

Stein
waited until the two men were out of hearing range before making his way back
to
Milas
, hoping that the two men didn’t catch his
friend going through their boat.
 
He
watched as the assumed cannibals searched the boat for its tasty cargo.

In
the distance Stein could barely make out the shadow of his confidante as he
stood on the deck of their much sturdier watercraft.
 
“Relief,” he muttered.
 
He would never admit it to anyone, but he
didn’t know what he would do without
Milas
.
 
Milas
had the
mind.
 
Stein had the muscle.
 
He lowered his big body to the ground and
drew vines across his face and chest.
 
He
was closer to the rickety black boat than he wanted to be and he watched as the
two men swore and tore the thing apart looking for any sign of their lost
cargo.

“Where
is she?”

“I…I
don’t know, Carver.
 
She was out cold
when I left her.
 
Here’s the rope I bound
her with and the gag I put in her mouth.”

Carver
reared back and threw the items overboard and then he grabbed his friend and
threatened to throw him to the sharks, but he was more useful to him alive than
dead.
 
“Must have fled
into the woods.”

The
two men hopped off the boat and lumbered into the woods, coming close to
discovering Stein hiding from them.
 
Stein
waited for them to pass, and then he followed them into the woods.

With
no sign of Stein,
Milas
went below to check on
Mika.
 
She was asleep, and as well, a
feast for the eyes.
 
The oversized shirt
had slid upward and her legs were parted just enough to give him a good view of
her perfect pink cunt.
 
The inner beast
began to rise within him as he watched the steady rise and fall of her breasts.
 
His mouth began to fill as he thought of
plunging his cock into the wetness that glistened at the edge of her pussy
lips.
 
He couldn’t wait.
 
Years of being a number had stripped him of
much of his sensitivity and when situations like this presented themselves to
him, he couldn’t fight the animal within.
 
He was naked within seconds and he climbed onto the bed and onto
Mika.
 
She awoke and opened her mouth to
scream, but
Milas
put his hand over her mouth.