Chapter 19-An Unhappy Reunion

I began to scream but behind me, Nick clamped his hand over my mouth quickly. I realized now why he seemed familiar, because I had seen his face at night and heard his voice shout in Patois. The other members of Modab chuckled when they spotted me and talked in their language together. I noticed that one of them had the unconscious form in his arms.

"Kyle!" I shouted beneath Nick’s hand, he tightened his grip on me. Kyle was slumped on the ground being dragged by one of the members of Modab. They had him hoisted a bit to look as though he passed out. If anyone could have seen into their tight ring they probably would have assumed Kyle had passed out. He didn’t look harmed from where I saw him, so it would be easily believed. I struggled against Nick, who had me locked in his tight grip. "Just settle down," he whispered. "We’ll find your friends and then you’ll all be together, with us."

My eyes teared and, though it seemed utterly fruitless, I continued struggling. The Modab had begun moving through the crowd instead of with it. They must have been waiting for Nick to return before, I remember that he had seemed like the leader when we saw them in St. Vincent. Now they were prowling, for my friends.

It wasn’t long before we spotted Kat, dancing with an island guy. He glanced over at us and smiled maliciously. "NO!" I thought. I struggled to warn Kat. I did the only thing I could think of and bit into the flesh of Nick’s hand. My desire to help my friend had pumped up my adrenaline and I imagine I must have hurt him pretty badly because he cried out in pain and released his hand. "Kat!" I shouted. "Run!" She looked, confused, over in my direction. Then her eyes widened in horror when she took in the scene.

"Mel!" she screamed. I noticed that Joseph had rushed over to her and slugged the Modab who was trying to grab her. He fell to the ground nursing a bloody nose and then Kat and Joseph ran toward us.

Nick shouted angrily in Patois and sent men at the two of them. Bystanders around us had stopped and watched the scene with a curious fright. Others kept on dancing, either too drunk or caught up in the moment to notice anything. Mitch and Lindsay had also appeared and he said something to her. She replied with a nod and then he kissed her and raced to where Joseph and Kat were fending them off. I realized I had to do my part. Nick was distracted and only he and the man holding Kyle were left with us. I tightened my fists and sent by elbows flying back into him. This knocked him back away enough that I was able to break from his grasp and I turned quickly and kneed him in the groin. He muttered angrily but I didn’t wait around to hear what he was saying.

The man with Kyle had turned his attention to the two of us and his face turned frightened when he saw my fury driven run at him. He dropped Kyle to the ground and prepared to stop me. I uncurled my feather boa from around my neck as I ran and snapped it into his eyes when I got close enough.

"Aiee!" he shouted, stumbling back.

I didn’t have much time so I knelt to the ground and shook Kyle. "Kyle!" I said. "Please wake up, please."

Miraculously, his eyes fluttered open. "Mel?" he asked strangely, after he looked around a moment he said, "Mel! The Modab are here!"

"I know, I know," I said. "Get up, we have to get out of here."

He climbed to his feet with surprising ease and we turned just in time to see Nick lunging at us. Kyle acted quickly and had a heavy punch waiting for him when he arrived. Nick fell to the ground holding his head and we jumped over to him, running over to where the other three were.

All of them looked tired and they were outnumber, we were all outnumbered. There would be no Ted and co. to help us this time. We had to run for it. As Kyle and I approached we shouted, "Come on guys! Run!" I could see their panicked faces. Joseph and Mitch were holding their own but their faces looked strained. Kat looked terrified though and I rushed to her, knocking down the guys between us.

"Woah Mel," she said with a hint of admiration. "Buff girl."

I shook my head and replied, "No time for that now. Come on!" The three guys were already tearing a path through the crowd and shouting for us. I grabbed Kat’s hand and we struggled through, dodging the hands of the Modab. One thing you had to credit Kat for was her speed and she used it now, I could barely keep up. The only reason I could was that her slippers slowed her down a bit. She cursed at them as we ran but I silently blessed them since we managed to keep distance between the Modab and us. Suddenly, we broke through the crowd and the three guys were panting.

Joseph immediately ran up to me and threw his arms around me. "I was so worried about you," he said, it almost sounded as though he would cry. "Why did you guys run off?"

"We didn’t," I said defensively. "We were just dancing, Kyle was leading and-"

"What-what should we do?" asked Kyle, interrupting me.

"I have to go back for Lindsay!" said Mitch. "What if they saw her with me?"

"They didn’t!" shouted Kat. "And besides, I’m sure the crowd saw who attacked who and they wouldn’t let them harm anyone else."

"Still," he muttered, looking at the parade, which was gradually dancing away.

"She’ll be fine Mitch," I said reassuringly and he glanced at me and smiled, then nodded.

"I repeat," said Kyle. "What should we do?"

"Get the *heck* off this island," said Joseph. "What else would we do?"

Kyle shot him a glare. "Obviously," he said quickly. "But how? Where? We can’t just walk off now can we?"

"There has to be some way!" said Joseph angrily.

"Maybe there isn’t genius!" said Kyle, stepping toward him.

"Guys!" I shouted, my arms tightly around Joseph, not letting him go again. "Stop, we have to figure out what we’re doing. They could come out of there any second." Kyle glanced at me and his expression turned strange before he quickly glanced away.

"Yeah," he assented. "Lets go back to the village, get our stuff and find someway out of here." No one argued so we set off for town. I noticed now that the sky had grown dark and ominous. Thick clouds had rolled into the sky but no rain had yet ventured to drop.

"Should we be out on the open road like this?" asked Kat.

"Where else do you purpose we go?" asked Kyle. "On the skytram? Look, I think its boarding right up ahead!"

She glanced over at him angrily. "I just think," she said through what sounded like clenched teeth. "That we wouldn’t want to be out in open sight."

"Well," said Mitch. "Kyle has a point though. There really isn’t any other way. Lets just pick up the pace." We walked quickly, sometimes jogging. On occasion, someone would be spooked and we would break into a dead run.

"We can’t have gone that far," muttered Mitch after awhile, clearly frustrated. I suspected he was still worried about Lindsay and even her family. "That parade was moving about a half a mile an hour. It’s going to take them a year to get around this accursed island." I think everyone muttered something similar at the time, though Joseph and I mostly whispered to each other.

"Once we’re far away from here," he whispered. "I’m going to take you out. Just the two of us. We’ll have a big, fancy dinner, and I’ll protect you." I smiled back at him and snuggled into his chest as we walked. Had we been anywhere I would have fallen asleep but I kept walking. We all did until we reached town.

"Thank whatever deity that could even be partly responsible for this!" shouted Mitch as we entered the town.

It didn’t seem very welcoming or inhabited. Nearly everyone had poured out of their houses for the parade, and those who didn’t were locked away in their beds. We reached the hotel quickly. "I think we should grab our stuff and get out," I said. "There’s bound to be someone willing to sail their boat tonight." Everyone nodded sullenly. Joseph let me go but planted a nose on my cheek as we left.

In the room, Kat and I moved swiftly. We gathered together our discarded clothing and the items we had used to get ready for the festival. At the time, we had been in a hurry and didn’t bother to put anything away. How foolish that seemed now. I moved fairly quickly but most of the cosmetics, paints, and hair tools had been Kat’s so she still had a ways to go. I noticed her hands were shaking as she stuffed them into a bag. She seemed on the brink of breaking down into tears and I rushed over to her quickly. I enfolded her in a big hug and she started crying. I didn’t say anything, just let her get it out.

"I’m so scared Mel," she said. "Its worse now. Worse after the physical confrontation. I don’t know how the guys could continue on after they dealt with it before. When I saw you and Kyle…" she cut herself off with some heavy sobs and I comforted her like my mom sometimes did for me.

"Settle down Kat," I said softly. "Its going to be okay, its going to be okay."

"Thanks," she said weakly. "For everything. Your so strong Mel and you’re the best friend I could ever ask for." Strong? I didn’t feel strong. On the inside I was in worse shape than Kat. I just couldn’t let myself show it, for her and the others. A million voices screamed at me for being so foolish and taking such risks but I tried to shut them away.

Soon, Kat was done and we went outside where the guys were collected. Once again, they were under the same palm tree, but it was different at night and there was no one waiting in it to make a practical joke. Somehow I wished there were but there wasn’t. We looked so different than before. Mitch had thrown his jacket over his backpack and his shirt was untucked. He had lost his shades somewhere along the line and his hair was completely messed. Some of the dye had come out of Kyle’s hair so it was splotchy. Yellow here, half yellow there, and blond in another place. He hadn’t taken off his jacket but it was unbuttoned and his tie was around his head like a bandana. Kat’s beautifully painted sun was smeared and so was the rest of her makeup. Many of the charms were torn off of her clothes. Joseph seemed untouched, perhaps because there was little too mess but his spirits were far from the happiness he let come out earlier. I didn’t know what I looked like but I imagined my face makeup was everywhere and I had abandoned my boa back in the parade. We had a manner of injuries. I could feel a large bruise on my side that made me flinch when I stepped. Joseph enfolded me back into his arms and we set off for the harbor.

They were closed but there was a drop box for keys and we slipped our three sets in. Mitch and Kat were leaning on each other as we walked to the harbor and I was buried in Joseph. Kyle walked at the front, alone, and seemed to be absorbed in his thoughts. The dock was very silent but I noticed lights in a fishing boat that was moored to it.

"Lets check out that boat," I suggested.

"They’d have to be crazy to take us," said Kyle. "They probably think we’re avoiding the cops for drugs or something."

I shook my head but didn’t say anything and just walked toward the boat, Joseph with me. I peered in the window but didn’t see anyone. Behind me, Kyle stalked up and knocked on the window. Suddenly a face appeared and I jumped in shock. It was the face of a middle-aged man who looked Mexican. He indicated what at us and I gestured at the deck. He climbed up, grumbling, from what have must been a bed of some sort below and walked toward the door. "At least he’s complied this much," I said to my sullen companions. "Its a good sign." I walked over to the deck as our self-appointed representative.

"Que?" asked the man, in what looked like nightclothes.

"Hablas Ingles?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah," he said with a grunt. "What do you want?’

"We were wondering if you could get us off this island?"

"Huh? Crazy Gringo its the middle of the night!"

"I know! We just really want to leave."

"We are going to Mustique and Union Island tomorrow! Wait until then!" he finished gruffly and started going back inside.

"Please," I said, grabbing his arm. I quickly let go of it when he stopped, not wanting to agitate him. "Please, we really need to leave."

"There is a storm coming," he said with a frown. "As I have said, No!"

"We’ll pay you," said Kyle quickly, stepping up to the edge of the boat. The man stopped going inside and looked back at him.

"Pay?" he asked.

I glanced at the others, who nodded. "Y-yes,"I replied. "We’ll pay you."

"How much?" he demanded.

"Um," I looked back at them again. "Hold on."

I stepped out of the boat and went up to the four on the dock. "How much?" I asked.

"Well," said Kat. "I can’t give anymore than 50 US." We all added what we could and I started lower than our total.

"$50 US?" I asked. The man grunted and started back inside. "$200!" I called.

He came back out. "Now we are talking," he said. "But I am not quite sweetened to the deal."

"If only my cell worked," I said. "Mom would wire us her whole life savings if she knew what was happening."

"Then lets give more than we should now," said Kyle. "And we’ll wire your mom for money later."

I nodded quickly. "We’ll give you $500 US," I said.

He seemed to consider it a moment and then shrugged. "Alright," he said. "But I’ll need the money now and give me about a bit to wake the crew." I collected $100 in US dollars and their equivalents in VC’s from my friends. They all sighed to see their money go, except Kyle. I stepped on deck, my friends at my heels, and handed the money to the captain.

"My name is Roberto Montello," he said, shaking my hand. "And this here is La Nina." The name with the approaching storm did nothing for my good spirits.