Return To Primordial Island, Rick Poldark [top non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

from fighting the current and barely treading water. Spent himself, he grabbed her and swam sideways toward shore. When they felt the bottom rise up to meet them, they crawled, sloshing through the shallows, until they reached land.

Susan rolled over on her back, catching her breath. Jason lay on his side, panting, re-sheathing his knife.

“Wh-what…are you…doing here?” he asked.

She turned her head toward him. “Rescuing…you…of course.”

They shared a laugh, a welcome dissipation of the high anxiety of moments ago.

“Where’s Mary?” asked Susan.

Jason swallowed, his breathing equalizing. “They took her.”

“You left her?”

“No! I didn’t leave her. I was hurt from the velociraptor attack. They decided I was dead weight and left me behind.”

Susan frowned. “You look all right to me.”

Jason sat up, grunting. “It’s a long story. I had…help.”

Her face lit up. “Peter? He’s here?”

Jason shook his head as he pushed himself to standing. “No, something else.”

“What?”

“We need to focus on finding Mary.” He walked up onto land and scanned the ground for tracks. “They split up into groups…we met the ones waiting in the river…but Mary’s tracks continue to follow the river.”

Susan stood, brushing herself off. “I didn’t even see them coming. Do you think they can breathe under water?”

Jason shook his head. “Probably not. But, many reptiles can slow their breathing and heartrate to stay under for extended periods of time. Hell, I had an iguana that could stay submerged in the bathtub for half an hour.”

 Susan grimaced. “Yuck. Gross.”

“He was a great pet, actually. Smart fella.”

“I’ll stick to dogs,” said Susan.

Jason snickered. “Yeah, they’re not gross at all. They just eat their own poop and use their tongues as toilet paper.”

“That’s charming,” said Susan. “The ladies must be lining up to go out with you.”

Jason’s eyes lit up. “There she is.”

Susan stood next to him as he crouched. “Who?”

“Mary. I see her tracks.”

“What do you think they’re up to?”

“They’re keeping Mary alive. I think they wanted me alive, but in my condition, I was slowing them down.”

Susan wrinkled her nose. “How do you know they wanted you two alive?”

“They could’ve killed us at any time, but they didn’t,” said Jason. “One of them spoke to Mary.”

“Spoke to Mary? How?”

He moved his hands in a circular motion. “It used some kind of a crystal ball. If Mary and the lizard both touched it simultaneously, they could hear each other’s thoughts or something. At least that’s what it looked like.”

Susan raised her eyebrows and let out a big sigh. “Well, now I’ve heard everything.”

Jason was lost in thought. “They’re tracking someone. They’re keeping Mary alive as a bargaining chip.”

She snapped her fingers. “Peter.”

Jason nodded. “He’s still alive. It has to be him. He must’ve escaped their lair.” He looked around. “You’re alone. What happened to Hiu and the others?”

“They went to rescue those taken back to the underground city,” said Susan.

“With most of the warriors taken captive? They won’t stand a chance.”

“Not if most of the lizard men are out combing the jungle for Peter,” said Susan.

Jason looked around and then at Susan. “Something happened. They want him badly. I’ve never seen them come above ground in these numbers before. We’d better get moving if we’re going to help Mary.”

“Maybe we’ll run into Peter along the way,” said Susan.

Jason picked up the trail, focusing on Mary’s tracks. “The good news is she’s still walking and not being dragged.”

Susan walked alongside him. She had lost her spear in the river and was completely unarmed.

Jason looked over and saw she was wringing her hands. He unsheathed his hunting knife and extended it to her.

She was surprised by the gesture. “I-I couldn’t.”

He chuckled. “What? You’re afraid of a little knife?”

Susan laughed. It was a nervous sound. “I wouldn’t know what to do with that. Besides, you’d be completely unarmed. I’d feel safer if you had it.”

“Are you sure? I can fashion a spear out of a tree branch.”

She shook her head. “No, but thank you.”

“When we find Mary, I’m going to need your help,” said Jason. “I can’t do it alone.”

Susan’s shoulders slumped.

He looked over at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, out with it.”

Susan bit her bottom lip. “I feel…useless.”

“What do you mean? You led the rest of the tribe to safety.”

“Only to have them go on a half-assed rescue mission where they’re totally outmatched.”

“Not your fault,” said Jason. “It was Hiu’s choice to do that.”

“I don’t know…back in the world—our world—I was someone important. I ran projects, managed people.”

Jason stared at the ground as he spoke, following the tracks. “You still do. You helped the Umazoa improve their village. Even though you’re an outsider, they look up to you.”

Susan shook her head. “I screwed up the first expedition. People died. I died. Still can’t wrap my brain around that one.”

“And Peter brought you back,” said Jason. “He brought me back, too.”

 “Honestly, I was a screw up back home, too. My marriage was falling apart because I devoted so much time to getting to this damned island. None of it was worth it.”

“Well, we all make mistakes.” He paused a moment, dwelling on his own. “All we can do is learn from them and live with them.”

Susan smiled, looking at him sideways. “Pretty philosophical for a big game hunter.”

He smiled. “When you’ve devoted your life to taking life, you get pretty philosophical. Metaphysical, even.”

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped short, as if wanting to ask him something but thinking better of it.

“Out with it,” he said.

“Have you…ever…you know, hunted a person?”

“You’re asking if I’m a murderer?”

Susan quickly averted her eyes as they walked. “It was just how you said it…taking lives. Sounded like