~ Island – pacific ~
Tom woke up to the morning sunshine, and for a moment was completely lost. It took him a while for the cloud of sleep to clear before the night’s events came back to him. He looked down and saw that he had been sleeping next to Julia the whole night, and a quiet smile spread across his face as he closed his catlike eyes and enjoyed the sun’s rays warming him, a silent purr escaping his chest. With a jolt he leapt a foot into the air, a yell escaping his mouth, away from Julia. Guilt flooded his emotions in strong waves. He realised that he’d completely forgotten about Martin while he’d been with Julia and the whole reason he was on the mountain right now was because of his best friend, not to spend time getting to know Julia better. Once his heartbeat was back to normal he crouched down to Julia and touched her arm softly whispering into her ear.
Her body remained mute but the instant Tom touched her, her eyes snapped open and took in every detail around her. The moment she realised it was fine she relaxed a little and stood up. No words were spoken between the two, Julia noted the pained look of concern on Tom’s face and his eager impatience to be off on their way to look for Martin, so she transformed into the lemur. With a nimble spring she began her ascent of the mountain. Tom followed suit and both of them were leaping up the rocky terrain. The bright tropical sunshine was blasting its heat onto their backs and presiding over their every move. It didn’t take them long to reach the summit, and with a last glance over his shoulder Tom looked out onto the path they’d just travelled, his gaze drawing a line all the way down to the thin strip of white sand that was just visible and out onto the ocean. He realised that from this moment on, nothing would ever be the same, and his next few steps would take him onto the other side of the mountain. In doing so he would be turning his back on his old life forever.
What they saw on the other side took their breath away. Sprawled in a symmetrical design amidst the jungle wildlife was a compound. A modern one. Next to the compound was a runway that stretched to the end of a cliff where it ended abruptly. Coming off the runway were what seemed like concrete strips that disappeared into the jungle whose canopy hid their contents.
‘There are people on the island?’ Julia’s question was bordering on hysterics. Tom could tell, and quickly interrupted her before she was able to say anything else.
‘Whatever it is, Julia,’ he said her name loudly and emphasised it to get her attention. ‘That place does not look like good news to me at all.’ A small breeze sprang up; it’s warm breath tickling the trees. On it they could clearly smell Martin’s scent. It continued downwards to the base of the mountain, at which a paved road ended. Julia looked up at Tom and reached a comforting hand out to his shoulder. He didn’t flinch away this time.
‘Remember he’s not thinking straight, I’m sure if he wasn’t so scared and angry he would’ve come back to tell us that we can get off the island.’ Tom nodded sullenly in response.
Prowling along the jungle border that separated road from earth they retraced Martin’s steps. Suddenly Tom tensed, every hair on his body raised and Julia shot up into the trees disappearing into the canopy. The smell changed, there were other scents here now, mingling strongly with those of Martin. Suddenly after a few more steps Martin’s faded, was overpowered by the smell of petrol and car fumes. His hearing picked out the sound of an engine in the distance, Tom figured it was best to remain hidden from view when the car rounded the bend in the road, he didn’t know why, but some sixth sense warned him, so he joined Julia up in the jungle canopy and told her to remain silent. After what seemed like an age the vehicle rounded the bend and revealed to be an army jeep, a swivel gun on top. A routine patrol it would seem. Julia was just about to go down and signal to them but Tom held her back motioning for her to watch what was going on. The jeep continued to drive straight towards the cliff, where the road ended. A glance at the rocky wall revealed it sliding apart and then swallowing the jeep. The moment the jeep was out of sight, Tom spoke out loud.
‘That, to me, looks like part of a top secret procedure belonging to the military. Something tells me that if they find out we are here on their island we will never be allowed to leave as we have just discovered their existence. They must be the terrorists your uncle mentioned.’
His voice shook slightly as he said this.
‘We need to find our own way off this cursed place without getting caught by the people who run this show,’ he continued solemnly.
‘Martin..?’ was her only response.
‘If he hasn’t been hurt or killed by these people then we’ll take him with us of course. But if there is no chance to get him we’re gonna have to go ourselves.’ As much as the words pained him and it wouldn’t be easy, he knew it was the right choice to make. He could see from Julia’s facial expression that she too shared his thoughts on the matter.
‘Shall we?’ he indicated the bottom of the tree, covered in leaves and dirt. The first move to get down had barely been made, when suddenly the jeep shot out of the cliff, this time loaded with men; dressed in camouflage and carrying automatic rifles. The radiation of lead was so strong coming off the jeep that Tom felt an uneasy twinge ripple through his panther’s body, nearly causing him to lose his balance and crash down onto the jungle floor.
Luckily the jeep past by quickly, speeding off towards the coast and presumably the complex. Unsettled, Tom clambered down the rest of the way and immediately morphed back into human form again.
‘Did you feel that too?’ was the first thing he asked Julia as soon as she was next to him.
‘If you mean the lead from all the ammunition and the jeep, then yes I felt it too.’
Tom nodded silently, thoughtful about how this one tiny flaw could be a major problem if he was ever surrounded by guns. By now it was late afternoon; dusk was beginning to creep out of its shadow, bringing with it obscurity and the hungry whine of mosquitoes.
The road pursued a winding path which sliced through the jungle. A harsh and unnatural contrast which reminded Tom of where he used to live, strangely enough he didn’t consider it home anymore, living like he was at the moment suited him fine. Although a bed wouldn’t be bad, he thought with a smile. Julia too was reminded of home, and realised just how much she missed it. Her heart was beating in anticipation and excitement; she couldn’t wait till they were off this island and could leave all of this behind her, return back to the luxury of home. A quick shy glance over at Tom saw him with the closest thing to a grin on his feline face. Her feelings for him had gotten stronger ever since she’d gotten to know him. How she hoped the two of them would be able to keep in contact after this ordeal and maybe, who knew something might end up happening. The thought sent butterflies swirling through her stomach.
Rounding the last bend in the road jolted both Tom and Julia. In front of them, sprawled across the land was the compound they’d seen from high up. Eight large buildings nestled into the jungle. An austere tower stretched into the sky and from where they were they could make out three sentries standing guard vigilantly, all of them cradling automatic weapons. Squadrons of soldiers were seen marching into one of the buildings, this one was low slung and shaped like a long oblong with barred windows breaking at regular intervals. Although it was getting late and the light was fading, the place was as busy as an anthill, people running across the place all of them with a purpose. There were three of the oblong buildings right next to each other, the tower was directly opposite the middle one and behind the tower were two more buildings. These were shaped like “L’s” and were the biggest buildings apart from the tower. To the left of the tower was another structure, this one slightly different to all the others, it was also shaped like a long rectangle. Except on one side there was what seemed like an extended entrance in front of which two more sentries were stationed. These were a lot more relaxed than the ones they’d seen on the tower yet they still had rifles slung casually at their waists by shoulder straps. This building on
ly had four windows, tiny ones with lots of bars securing them. On the right side of the tower was the last edifice; the same size as the one with the guards only it had a domed roof, a bit like that of a gymnasium for a high school. The entire area was connected via asphalt roads with small trees and bushes in between.
Without discussing it the pair ducked further back into the undergrowth until they thought it was safe to talk. Slipping into human form they both sat silently for a while until Julia spoke first.
‘What’re we waiting for? This is our chance to get off this cursed island.’
‘You don’t find the whole thing creepy?’
‘Well yes, but I weapons and soldiers and stuff like that is always a bit intimidating. I think that if there were terrorists then they have been defeated, the ones which my uncle was referring too.’
‘Yeah... I just find it odd that there’s not a single flag, or any form of emblem tying this place to a country. Normally no matter how secret a base is there is always a form of patriotism? Also your Roger was talking about terrorists. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure that these people are not friendly.’
Now that he mentioned it, he had a point, she thought. It was odd.
‘OK so then what should we do now? We can’t just sit here doing nothing.’
An edge crept into her voice, ringed with impatience and irritation.
‘I think we should do a bit of snooping first, scope out what this is all about and try to locate Martin. Then go from there depending on what we find.’ The last part sounded ominous.
‘Well we can’t exactly waltz in there in broad daylight. We have to do it at night.’
‘That’s more what I had in mind to be honest. Only problem is that you will have to go in by yourself. It’s more likely to see a lemur in this jungle than it is to see a panther...’
‘That should be fine. As soon as it’s completely dark I’ll head in.’
‘Let’s just hope the guards don’t shoot at wildlife for sport,’ he grinned teasingly. ‘I’m joking of course, you have nothing to worry about,’ he added not to scare her.
‘Well I guess I’ll come back as soon as I’m done and fill you in with what I find.’
‘If you’re not back by dawn I’ll have to assume something happened and come and get you.’
‘Nothing will go wrong, Tom. These people will help us as soon as they know of our plight.’
‘Promise me whatever you do; you won’t do anything rash like forget about snooping and go straight up to one of the guards?’
She hesitated for a minute, before replying.
‘I promise.’
***
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