Hello again! Hope you like this chapter, it's the longest so far! I would really appreciate it if more people would review though. I've only received two reviews for the past two chapters, and I know for sure that more people have read them. Thanks! Enjoy.

Chapter 11 - Natives

May had never run so fast in her life. She had warned Peter about stealing, and now they were in this situation. She could still hear angry screams behind her, but even so she kept the golden apple clutched tightly in her hand.

Peter hadn't even attempted to help her, he just ran away; a coward, she knew she would probably never see him again. New York was a busy city after all. This is why she didn't like having friends, they were a nuisance.

She took a sharp left down an empty alley, never stopping for a moment. She wasn't going to let them
put her back in that horrible place.

She came to direct dead end, cut off by a tall barb-wire fence. She cursed loudly and looked all over for a means of escaping but knew it would be no good.

"Looking for a place to hide?"

May turned, startled by the voice. Standing in open door of the building beside her was a fairly young woman, with short dark hair and bright brown eyes. A lit cigarette hung out of her smirking mouth, her face clearly showing signs of amusement. What May noticed most of all though, was the fact that this woman was incredibly pregnant.

May didn't think twice, she booked it past the women in doorway and straight into the building. The room she entered was dark and cold, the only light coming from door leading into another room.

"Climbed right over the fence, looked like a goddamn monkey," The older woman started speaking to someone else outside of the door. She heard a grumbled response and then heavy footsteps grow further away.

May sighed in relief and faced the women in the doorway, who continued to smoke her cigarette, ignoring her completely.

"Well, go on in, it's warm ya' know." The women said suddenly, making May jump upright.

May nodded silently and entered the next room slowly. She gasped at the contents of the room.
Cameras, tripods, lens and other photography equipment sat on every surface. Piles of filters, film paper and boxes full of developer sat untouched in boxes.

She looked down to her worn little camera around her neck; it was a piece of junk compared to everything in this room!

"What're you doing in here?" A deep voice mumbled strangely, his voice thick with an English accent, "We don't open for a few hours."

"The-the lady," She stuttered, pointing blankly towards the door.

"S'alright Thomas, I let her in," The women finally entered the room, closing the door quickly behind her, "One of those nasty store owners were chasin' her, couldn't just stand and watch."

The man did not respond, but instead approached May, whose eyes were now fixed intently on the floor. He took a good look at her ragged appearance.

"What did you steal?" He asked knowingly, "Wouldn't have been that nice camera, was it?"

May shook her head quickly, grasping her camera protectively with her hand. She held out her hand and opened her palm to reveal the golden apple.

The man raised his eyebrow, "All that for a bloody apple!" He laughed, before closing the young girl's hands, "No use wasting it."

May looked up merrily and stuffed the apple back in her pocket, "Thank you sir," She said quietly, "I don't like stealing. I was just hungry."

"Of course you were," He said shortly, finally coming to a realization, "Ran away from home?"

May shook her head. She never really liked speaking about herself to people. Luckily for her, the man did not question her further on the subject, she liked him already. People were usually too nosy for their own good.

"Do you have a place to stay?" The woman cut in, her voice slightly concerned.

May shook her head again, staring at the woman like she had just said the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

The woman raised an eyebrow to the man, who responded with a chuckle.

"What's your name, lass?" He asked gently.

"May Beaulieu, and yours?" She inquired politely.

"My name is Thomas, and this is my wife Angelica." He looked up to his beaming wife, who was holding her stomach with both hands.

"Is this your store?" May asked, shifting her eyes back to the contents of the room, "I remembering seeing it before, but I've never been inside it."

"It sure is," Angelica laughed lightly, "It belonged to his father."

Thomas eyed the camera around her neck carefully, "How did you come in possession of such a nice viewfinder like that? Haven't seen one of those in quite some while."

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean," May blurted out hastily, "It was daddy's before he left."

"That's not what he meant, love," Angelica chuckled, "Where did your father go off to?"

"Heaven." May said bluntly, "Least that what mother told me, before she left as well."

They didn't respond right away. Thomas sighed deeply, taking a hand and moving it his through his prematurely thinning hair.

"Are you tired? You poor thing! You look like you haven't had a decent night's rest in a long time!" Angelica put her hand on the small of her back, "We have an extra room upstairs you can sleep in if you wish."

Thomas exchanged a strange glance with his wife, but she knew what she was doing was right.

May couldn't help but smile at her kindness, "Yes, actually, but I don't want to intrud-."

"Nonsense! It's too cold to be outside all day long, just get a good rest and we'll take it from there." Angelica assured her.

May backed away unconsciously, "I'm not going back." She said in a startled tone.

"Whatever are you talking about?" The woman responded quizzically.

"The orphanage," She nearly cringed as the word left her mouth.

"Of course you aren't," Angelica said in agreement, after a short pause.

"Ang-." Thomas began in protest.

"Oh hush Thomas, you can't blame the girl." She said sternly, "Now let's get you into bed then!"

"O-okay," May said quietly, her eyes still on Thomas as she followed the kind woman out of the room. She had a feeling he didn't like her too much. But she wouldn't be quick to judge him. Both he and his wife were giving her somewhere to sleep after all.

"My clothes might be a little big on you," Angelica laughed, holding her stomach lightly. She followed her up a set of stairs, and Angelica turned on a small switch, "I'm sure one of my shirts we do fine for a night gown."

May responded with only a curt nod. As much as she appreciated these peoples kindness, it wasn't something that she was used to.

The small room that they entered had a small bed in the corner and a nightstand beside it, and an empty bookshelf unused in the opposite corner. There was also a rather large window, with a sitting ledge attached. She could tell that no one came in there often. The bed sheets were untouched, and without a single wrinkle, and there was a thick layer of dust covering every surface.

"I hope this is good enough," Angelica said quietly, as she reappeared in the doorway behind her. She held a plain grey blouse in her hand, "The bathroom is down the hall if you need anything."

"Thank you very much Miss Angelica," May bowed her head shyly.

The woman smiled and exited the room, closing the door behind her.

May turned towards the plush bed, a luxury she hadn't had for a long time. Even at the orphanage, the beds were thin and hard.

After changing and settling herself into the bed, she lay wide awake, staring at the dark ceiling of the foreign room. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come, but as much she wanted it to, it never did.

Sighing deeply, she got out of the bed and wrapped the bed's comforter around her shoulders. She sat by the ledge of the window, opening the glass a crack to let the sounds of New York enter the room.

May rested her head against the wall, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Hayes stood patiently in front of the life rafts, waiting for his Captain to emerge from his cabin. Soon after he had gathered up ten crew members they began to lower the boats into the calmly waving water.

Finally, Englehorn came into view and stepped onto the second boat.

"Lower the boat," He called firmly; they could spare not a second. Whatever was happening on the island surely wasn't good. They could all be dead before they even reached it.

Jimmy approached the second rafts as it started lowering into the water.

"No Jimmy, stay here with the rest of the crew." Mr. Hayes put up a hand against his chest, preventing him from venturing further.

"You heard that scream, somethings happening!" Jimmy said in a frustrated voice, "What if someones hurt?"

"We'll have everyone back safely Jimmy," Hayes said briefly, finally getting into the raft, "In the meantime, get in the nest and see if you can tell what's going on."

Jimmy nodded momentarily, before running off in the opposite direction.

"Let's go!" The Captain ordered, as the boat hit the water.

Mike stood frozen for a moment, caught in a moment between life and death. A long wooden spear protruded from his chest, and stuck out clear through his back. Blood dripped from his mouth, his feet staggering for a moment before he crumpled to the ground; dead.

May dropped her bag, her eyes wide, but her mind not able to comprehend what exactly had just happened, as Ann just continued to scream.

Jack ran to her and attempted to pull her away from the scene, but it was too late.

Some more screams followed Ann's, wild, savage screams. Carl stepped back and tripped clumsily over a loose rock, falling onto his bottom.

Almost at once natives began to surround the area; but they were different than the others. Faster and well built; fully capable of putting up a good fight. Oh what an understatement that was proven to be.

They grabbed whoever was the closest to them, outnumbering them immensely, they restrained them, throwing them around like rag dolls.

May turned to run but felt a strong rough arm grab her around her waist and pull her back.

"May!" She heard Thomas yell loudly in her direction, but she was in too much shock to respond, everything was a blur. She was defenseless.

Her eyes deceived her, taking in no information, leaving her sense of feeling only to judge the situation.
Hands grabbed her aggressively; she felt rushes of pain as her arms were pulled forcefully behind her back. They pulled her hair forward roughly, causing her to fall to the ground. Surrounding her, they began restraining her from every side. And suddenly it clicked in her brain. She should fight back. She wouldn't sit there limply and take it.

One of the men wrapped his filthy arm around her neck, in some sort of attempt to further restrain her, and she responded unconsciously by biting down hard on the skin of his arm. He screeched in pain, an ugly noise that raised her level of fear and caused her to back down. The man took back his arm and slapped her sharply across the face, causing her to go flying to ground. Her face hit the rough dirt. Suddenly another man jumped down onto her back and held her hands behind her back once more. She didn't fight back this time. She knew she could not win.

One of the crew members from before was pinned against the low rock beside her, his face struck in the emotion of pure horror. He noticed her and, sucking in a deep breath, said something she could not hear, for her ears were not working at the moment, but she read his lips and formed two words.

Don't cry.

A long object was placed far above the man's head, pointed and twisted into some sort of weapon. May opened her mouth to warn him, but the words never came. The object was brought down and she saw red.

Blood trickled down from the open wound on the man's head, a man whose name she didn't even know. And still, in his final moments of life, he chose to offer comforting words to someone he knew just as well. Did he have a family, was he loved dearly by someone, who was this man and how did he impact the world on which they lived?

May stared, her mouth trembling and eyes bulging.

A foreign noise shifted her senses. A single pistol shot echoed through the vast space, and cries of fear followed soon afterwards. The weight on her back quickly disappeared, and she was left lying limply on her stomach.

She felt the sharp pain in her cheek where the man had slapped he, sure to leave a rather nasty bruise.

She continued to stare. The man lay unmoving, his chest not falling, nor rising.

She heard the sound of swift feet. Words on which were too far for her to comprehend.

A small pressure was put on the small of her back and she was suddenly on her feet again; the man's face disappearing from view.

"Ms. Beaulieu," A soft voice said with deep concern.

Her eyes focused, and looked to the man in front of her. She knew this man.

"Mr. Hayes." She said calmly, noticing that his arms wrapped around her waist were the only thing keeping her from falling once more.

"Jesus Christ," She heard him mutter, as he looked back at her, although she wasn't sure why.

She didn't respond as he kept one arm around her waist, and directed her away from the scene.

May looked around closely, Englehorn watched her closely, anger flaring up in his eyes as he watched on. He turned to Denham, "Seen enough?" He said harshly.

With the arm still firmly around her waist, she was lead back through the archway and over the bridge to the cavern, and finally to the life rafts. She walked unconsciously, her body on auto as her mind raced to catch up.

Two of the crew members in front of her were carrying the limp body of Jack; she looked on terrified, thinking the worse.

"He'll be fine," Hayes said suddenly, "Just a bump on the head." He assured her.

She was helped into the boat quickly, something large placed by her feet; her camera bag.

"Wipe the blood off her face, for goodness sake."

This brought May back to reality, the harshness of the Captains voice bringing her back to this world. She remembered where they were, why they were there.

She looked to the Captain, who was now looking away from her.

"Look here darling," Thomas' distinct voice said soothingly.

She turned her head in confusion as he lifted a dampened handkerchief and wiped it across her cheek.

Red stained the delicate cloth. Thomas folded the material carefully and put it back into his pocket. May looked on curiously, but none of the men looked to her, their eyes focused on the water around them.

No one said a word as they approached the boat. The sky was beginning to darken drastically, it would be time to leave soon and they would be free of this wretched place.

May looked over to the other boat eagerly, checking to make sure everyone was there. Ann was sitting by herself, her eyes were cold and unreadable. The film crew was also there, dumbfounded by the events that had just occurred. Carl on the other hand, was still filming the island, his tripod resting on the bench of the small life raft.

He really would do anything for this movie. One of his friends was just murdered, and now he acted as if nothing had happened.

To her surprise, Jimmy was not on any of the life rafts. She felt a sudden ache in her chest as she came to this realization.

"Missus," A kind voice said, breaking her from her thoughts. She then realized that they had already arrived back to the ship. One of the crew members, one named Louie she remembered, held his hand out to her to help her off the small boat.

She took the hand and tried to thank the man for his help, but she could not find her voice.

The crew scattered as they made their way onto the deck, continuing as if nothing had happened.

They didn't see what happened. She remembered this.

The world went black, and for a moment she thought she had fainted, but realized instead that someone had wrapped their arms around her. Her face buried in the neck of someone very warm, the strong and comforting smell of salt reached her senses. She closed her eyes and moved into the body. Gripping her hands tightly around the front of his loose shirt.

They stood there for what seemed like a very long time, until he broke free the embrace, moving his hands up to her face.

"Are you okay, you're hurt, who did this?" Jimmy said in a rushed voice, grazing his hand across her swollen cheek.

May searched his eyes for anger, but found nothing but concern.

"I'm fine," She said suddenly, not wanting to go any further into it.

Jimmy didn't look convinced, but didn't push her any further. He was just glad she was safe.

"Lighten the ship! Anything that's not bolted down goes overboard!" Englehorn called from the head of ship. The waves were getting rougher and the ship was rocking dangerously close to the jagged rocks.

Jimmy gave May one last unsure look before rushing away to help the rest of the crew. She stood silently for a moment, before rushing down to Denham's cabin, where she knew that the film crew had most likely gathered down there already.

The crew scrambled to get below deck, they couldn't spare a minute. They brought back up objects like tables, chests and kitchen equipment; things they could afford to lose, and threw them in the waters.

May entered the significantly large cabin without knocking, and noticed absentmindedly that it was at least four times bigger than her own.

"We got away. We gotta be grateful for that gentlemen." Denham said before taking a swig from his flask.

"What about Mike?" May added quietly.

Denham turned quickly at her voice, "May! You're alright! Thank goodness!" He said in a somewhat false voice.

"He didn't get away – he's still there." She continued, ignoring his droning.

"Mike died doing what he believed in! He didn't die for nothing. And I'll tell you something else." He said sharply, stopping only for a moment only to take another gulp of his strong drink, "I'm going to finish this film, for Mike. I'm going to finish it, and donate the proceeds to his wife and kids. Because that man is a hero, and he deserves nothing less!"

"Hear, hear!" Herb said in agreement, raising his glass and taking a swig of his own drink.

Preston said nothing, his face unreadable at he continued to stare at the floor. His eyes were unmoving, his mind in deep thought, he wasn't so sure he had made the right decision coming here.

"So, what now?" May said louder this time, fed up with Denham's feeble attempts at making the situation seem just.

"I have a feeling that our film doesn't end here." Preston said in a low voice, his eyes still on the floorboards.

"Stop worrying May! Come have a drink, in Mike's honor!" Denham said briskly.

"There are far better things I can in his honor, drinking is not one of them." May said angrily, raising her voice for the first time.

Preston looked up from the floor to look at her for the first time, his eyes wide. She saw something there, a look of slight admiration, for something he had never been brave enough to do himself.

May did not wait for anyone to respond. She opened the door once more and rushed down the hall to the galley.

Once she reached the galley she noticed Lumpy working frantically to pile a group of cooking pots on top of each other.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" May asked, stepping out the way of passing crew members.

Lumpy pointed suddenly to the opposite side of the room. She followed his hand to where Jack lay motionless on one of the galley tables. "We need Shakespeare off the table, it's gotta go overboard." He said briefly before taking off out of the room.

May wasted no time as she hurried over to the unconscious figure. His chest was moving in even deep breaths. She shook his shoulder roughly, wasting no time waking him up. To her surprise, he instantly opened his bleary eyes in a daze, his expression confused. He tried to get up quickly but ended up falling to his knees on the wooden floor.

"Thanks, love." Lumpy gave her a half-smile as he rushed back into the room with one of the crew. They took either side and lifted it out of the room.

"May..." Jack said in a groggy voice, before letting out a small cough, "May, where's Ann?"

"I…I'm not sure," May said truthfully, she hadn't see Ann directly since the island. She felt a slight twinge of guilt as she realized this, she should have checked up on her right away.

Jack said nothing in response, his face turning frantic. He pushed her out of the way and rushed out to the hall.

May followed close behind, racing up the hallway. She quickly lost sight of Jack, as the ship was still fighting the waves crashing in from every side, it was almost impossible to keep going for more than three steps without falling over.

She positioned her elbow against the wall and continued walking down the hall. She was sure Jack would have gone to the deck to look for, but she was certain that Ann would be in her cabin, staying clear out of the way of the rest of the crew.

The sounds of the crew became distant. The waves suddenly so far away. The only sound she heard was the muffled cry of a woman coming from the closed door up ahead.

Ann.

May rushed forward and opened the door, she gasped at the sight. The room was a mess, clothes scattered everywhere, and papers strewn across the floor. She moved towards the doorways to outside, but slid across something wet and fell to the ground.

She closed her eyes and waited for impact, but somehow managed to catch herself on something soft.

There was a man lying on the ground. May noticed this immediately as she opened her eyes. What a strange thing to do! Especially in the current situation, the captain would surely hear of this.

She raised her shaking hand unconsciously, feeling some of the liquid, that she had assumed was sea water, she had slipped on before.

Water was not red.

May look down at the man lying in the pool of red.

This man was not alive.

May let out a silent scream and jumped up only to fall on the ground behind her.

"Ann!" Jack's voice came in hearing range, she heard him run down the hall, the heavy sound of his expensive Italian made shoes echoing through the hallway, "Ann!" She heard him open the door.

When he saw her, she was certain for a second that he had mistaken her for Ann, a flash of relief washing over his face. But as the realization dawned, his face became even more panicked.

"M-may," Jack stumbled on the short word, "Where's Ann?"

A single necklace lay on the ground at his feet. A small skull placed in the middle of the tribal piece.

"She's gone." May said in an empty tone, coming only to that realization as she spoke those words.

Jack didn't spare a second. He threw the necklace to the ground and ran from the room.

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