Chapter 46

Present – Stacy – Travel back to the bunker

Ben is hanging over the edge of a drop off by a tiny root and below him the rhino and crocodiles are fighting in a creek. I lay down and reach my hand over the side. Ben can barely grab it but he does and holds on tight. I try to pull him up but I can't, in fact his weight is causing me to slide over the edge of the drop off with him.

Ben realizes what is happening and says, "Stacy, I can't let you die with me."

I know what he's going to do, so I grab his arm with my free hand and yell, "There's no way in hell I'm letting you die alone. We're a team and we either live together or die together."

I slide even faster now while I keep staring at the hungry crocodiles and the still fighting rhino. All I can hope for is that they are too engaged with each other to bother with us.

Ben yells, "Let me the hell go!" He struggles with his free hand to break my grip.

I hang on for dear life and yell back, "No way in hell am I letting you go!"

I close my eyes because soon I will be too far over the edge and we'll both fall to our doom. Then something grabs the back of my pants and starts to pull me back. It hurts like heck sliding across the ground but it beats the heck out of falling to the creek and those hungry crocodiles.

I turn to praise Bo, see what's really helping me and say, "Uh Ben..."

Present – Ben – Travel back to the bunker

Stacy says, "Uh Ben..." Then she passes out (I wonder what the hell it is this time) and loses the grip on my arm. I almost fall but barely grab the hell out of her arm. Even unconscious she's being pulled up from the drop off so my situation can't be that bad. My head finally gets above the edge and I can see what the fuck scared her!

I assumed it was Bo pulling her up, but he's nowhere to be found! We're being rescued by that big assed gorilla we saw earlier. Now I'm even more thankful I never shot at them. But how do you act when a gorilla (who from my vantage point looks like he's the size of King Kong) has just saved you! Since he's also holding onto one of my friends, I'm not sure what to do.

Since my mother taught me to always be polite, when he gets me up to the top of the drop off, I look at him and say, "Thank you!"

He grunts, pokes Stacy (who moans) then makes some motions with his hands. I figure out it's some sort of sign language and he's worried about Stacy. I nod my head and slowly say, "Yes I think she will be okay. She passes out whenever anything scares her and I guess she wasn't expecting you."

He looks like he's thinking, grunts a few more times, goes over to the edge of the drop off, looks at the rhino and the alligators who are still fighting (it looks like the alligators are going to win). He then shocks me when he laughs (at least I think it's a laugh), beats the hell out of his chest and flips off the rhino (now that's a sign I do understand).

I laugh too because I guess he and the rhino have some bad blood between them. He grunts, waves and takes off into the brush. I shake my head and suddenly know this is going to make a hell of a bar story. But there's no way in hell anyone will ever believe me. I begin to reload the rifle when Stacy wakes up and screams, "Gorilla!"

Present – Stacy – Travel back to the bunker

The last thing I remember is that nasty gorilla had a hold of my pants and I guess I passed out. I wake up and warn Ben, "Gorilla!"

Ben smiles at me and says, "Yes Ann Darrow there was a gorilla and he saved both our asses."

I don't understand Ben so I warily sit up and ask, "Ann who?"

Ben grins and explains, "Ann Darrow was the name of the blonde that King Kong fell in love with."

I think and answer, "Well he's not big enough for King Kong so shouldn't I be Jill Young."

Ben laughs and insults me, "Well you're not as good looking as Charlize Theron. From my view point, when I first saw him he looked more like King Kong than Mighty Joe Young."

I counter, "What the hell! I look much better than that slutty actress anyway!" Ben's grinning and I finally figure out he's been baiting me. I believe two can play this game and I counter, "Well you look older and paunchier than Bill Paxton."

I can tell I finally got Ben when he replies, "Well if I do that's because taking care of you every time you pass out when you see anything unusual has made me that way.

I smile at him and say, "Gotcha!"

Ben gets ready to answer, we hear a noise, Ben shoulders his rifle and points it at the noise.

Present – Ben – Travel back to the bunker

Shit! The rhino is in the creek so what the hell is coming towards us now. You never know in this circus from hell so I raise my rifle just in case. Then I hear Bo whinny as he and Patches walk through the bushes and toward us. I smile and comment, "Thanks for letting us know you were coming this time."

Stacy interrupts and adds, "And for not bringing along something like the rhino you brought last time."

I continue, "But where the hell did you go?"

Bo nods his head but I don't understand. I decide it was easier talking to the gorilla. I ask, "So where the hell is Knacker."