#stranded!

The flare was a brilliant white. Gavin remembered seeing a high school teacher some years ago burn magnesium in front of his students. Was it in a chemistry class? Who was that teacher? For whatever reason, Gavin couldn’t picture the man or recall his name. He could only see those browned and worn-out gardening gloves around metal tong handles, holding aloft the brilliant white flame in front of where his face should be. Gavin had looked too long directly at it, and was momentarily blinded, which he did again in the jungle.

Unable to see, he felt it appropriate to sit where he was on the dirt, which turned to mud on his wet clothing. His pants had become stiff and crusty on the boat ride, then soaked through and heavy in the water. He wondered about the odds of finding a clean pair in his size on the island, or at least a pair within a few inches and a belt. He brushed a hand across his brow, which was also getting pretty crusty.

Gavin yawned. He ate another cheesy cracker from the small pack of six in his pocket. There was only one more left. He noticed that he hadn’t heard Daniel complain about anything for a few moments. He also no longer heard the drums or roaring metal.

The boat cleared a river-wide sandbar. A quick buffet jostled the impromptu crew, but they recovered. Daniel clutched the wound in his leg after the jump. It hadn't time to heal, and the landing twisted the leg even further.

"You cut that a little close, Dad."

"They didn't want perfect out here, Dan. I had to make do."

"And what exactly did they want, Dad? Why are you here? That wasn't really settled before."

"It wasn't?"

Daniel's father choked back on the throttle, bringing the zodiac to a rest in the middle of the river. The heat beat the three men relentlessly as they sat and waited.

"I'm here because of money, Dan, same as you. An old friend told me of a ship, the Cartagena, that was seeking out an experienced… security consultant to deal with the local pirates.  We were struck by a terrible series of waves, washed ashore. Pretty cushy gig gone wrong."

"Sounds, conveniently familiar," Gavin said.

Daniel looked out for signs of life. "Are there any members of the crew left?"

"Aye. We constructed a lean-to on the other side of the island after we landed."

"Some security consultant you are," Daniel said, "leaving them to the island's tender mercies!"

Daniel's father looked out into the distance, trying to peer through the bush and underbrush of the jungle. After a moment, he noticed something and he went to his rifle. The look on his face was that of a hunter whose vigil had finally paid off. As he aimed, there was forethought and calculation in his eye.

"Sometimes security means not waiting for the other guy to make the first move, Dan."

The three men rode in the zodiac as it skipped lightly across the water, even against the current. The river was much wider and deeper than Daniel thought possible on an island. “How big is this place?” he said.

His father didn’t answer, focused on steering the boat and scanning the riverbanks.

“I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” said Gavin. “But taking into account the breadth of the river, the variety of plant and animal life we’ve passed-- The rich assortment of avifauna alone is remarkable--” he then gestured upward, “Adding those things to the fact that that’s the second biplane to go over, I’d probably go with ‘really big.’”

They each looked up as the aircraft flew out of sight and behind the jungle canopy, the sound of its engine covered by that of the zodiac.

Daniel looked to the rifle at his father’s side. “Do we know who that was, Dad?” he asked. The plane was quite far up-river, but he always preferred to be cautious. “Should we even be travelling in the open like this?”

His father shifted on his seat and looked at Daniel, “You always have preferred to be cautious,” he said. “But we’ll probably be okay.”

“I like the sound of that,” said Gavin. “I probably wanted to make it home alive.”

Daniel’s father put both hands to the tiller and pulled. The boat turned sharply and veered into a small, and rocky, tributary. Significantly rocky. They hit one, and the boat leapt. Daniel briefly rose off of his seat.

“What the hell are--”

He landed back on it hard. The boat splashed and rocked as Daniel’s father continued to steer them straight toward the bottom end of a seventy-foot, vertical waterfall.

Daniel's father circled around and extended a hand to each of the boys. Their wounds did not keep them from standing well enough for now, but there were sharp pains in the process of rising which roused the two from rest.

"So," Daniel's father began, dusting the young men off "did you boys have another smuggling job go south?"

Gavin, furrowing his eyebrows and pursing his lips, said "Absolutely yes."

Daniel decided to lead the charge to the plane. It was then that Daniel realized he too had a leg injury, but tried not to call attention to it. He reached the plane, and started taking out the vital supplies. Soon, Gavin and his father joined him.

"What are you doing here, Dad?" Daniel said. "Last I heard, you were in Karachi stealing candy from orphans and the like."

"That only paid so much, Dan."

"In that case," Gavin said, "where is here? This island wasn't on any of my charts."

"Well," Daniel's father said, "there's a lot of legends in these parts about a phantom island. Some say it's the grave of a Japanese Warship trying to get above the waves again. Others say it was commissioned by Dubai industrialists just to mess with cartographers. Real spooky stuff."

Daniel's father walked away from the plane with the supplies in hand. Daniel considered letting him leave again, until he saw what his father was walking towards. The beach of this island was interrupted by a somewhat sizable river emptying out into the ocean, and an old Zodiac was moored on the outlet and pointed inland.