It got to be close to sundown and still there was no sign of Caleb and Dylan, and also Rusty or Jewel. The camp collectively had a strange feeling wavering through it, something no one could put a finger on. It was a strong restlessness as well as a combination of settlement and boredom. The whole issue of this pirate adventure no longer had newness to it. It had lost its emotional edge. Three days into vacation and the group collectively had had enough.
Jim was still hanging on by a thread to his life. Just how Jim was doing it, no one knew. His was a situation that baffled the mind. Deep cuts, high fever, infection, dehydration all leading to his clinging to life. If there was a positive side to Jim’s condition, he wasn’t screaming for Dyane like he had at times through day two.
Alan had his moments. Huddled around Hunter James, who was finally starting to feel better after his concussion, and Summer through most of the day, he went from intense leader on how to get out of there to restless camper, like being a caged wild animal. Day three didn’t see the usual stoic Alan presiding.
The women stayed in groups throughout. Since there was no pirate intervention throughout the day, it was truly a boring day for the ladies. The young ladies sat on the beach and complained about a shitty vacation. They got a lot of tanning in, but it wasn’t the same as what they were accustomed to. They weren’t in their bikinis or swimsuits, they were still in their original clothes from the first day…and those clothes were dirty, dingy, and getting to be pretty malodorous. After three days, showers were a much needed thing.
The older ladies were in another group and they also bitched about a shitty vacation, but not as strongly as the younger ladies. Their greatest source of complaining was now the fact that they had spent a day there doing absolutely nothing. Their current fate had been accepted; they wanted to proceed with whatever was going to happen next. Their next great source of chatter was brainstorming their way to escape. They all came up with creative and colorful ways of escaping, though none appeared to be realistic in any way.
Then again, was anything they have experienced thus far realistic? Maybe the violence…no definitely the violence.
Mandy could attest to that. Her original clothes were torn up pretty good when Bones decided to make her chest a squeeze toy.
Anyway, it seemed as though collectively through the camp, the heightened emotions of being on life and death danger red alert had subsided down to almost a life as usual kind of green alert.
Alan couldn’t help but wonder where Dylan and Caleb were.
“I’m telling you Hunter, this has me worried now. What happened to Caleb and Dylan?”
“They’re probably on the other side of the island enjoying margaritas” replied Hunter “where we should be…”
Hunter chuckled. Alan looked intense.
“Man, you’ve got to relax some” he told Alan. “You look like you’re going to go volcano on us.”
“I can’t relax. This is ridiculous. Between Jim and all this shit around us, we have got to get out of here. I still can’t believe that Scotty’s gone.”
“Man, I’m sorry. In all of this, we have forgotten about him. I’m so sorry…”
“Can you believe this? Can you believe ANY of this? I can’t. It’s like we left for a trip that went straight to hell. Three deaths…including my brother. Jim is ready to be number four. Don’t even know about Dyane. That could be five. Man, inside I am just freaking out.”
“Yeah, I can tell. Al, you still need to do whatever you can to relax some. You’ve got to be able to think straight. There’s a way out. We just need to find it.”
“Well, hopefully we can find Caleb and Dylan again and they will have that way” Alan hoped.
“Agreed” responded Hunter.
•••
Back on the yacht, Dyane spent the afternoon still going through and re-going through everyone’s things in hopes of finding a phone, or anything that would help her situation. She had thought about raising anchor and just taking off to look for help, but her lack of sailing skills squelched that pretty quickly. That didn’t stop her from revisiting those types of thoughts though. Time was making her that much more restless as well. There were only so many times and ways one can go through a ship in search of help before starting to go nuts, and she was getting past that stage in a hurry.
She ventured back out on deck again and realized the pirate ship was actually gone. This was late afternoon. She hadn’t ventured on deck all day as she was so tied up looking for needed treasure below deck. Dyane looked around for the ship in all directions, but it wasn’t to be seen. So she proceeded to explore the deck area much more closely, this time getting past all of the blood stains.
It didn’t take her long to find something she hoped would be useful.
It was another cell phone.
While looking it over, she smiled and said a brief prayer.
“Oh God, please make this work!”
She flipped it open and checked for battery.
It was still charged.
“Thank heavens!”
She started to dial…it looked to be working…she started to smile and almost get giddy…
But then…nothing.
Wait, who could she be dialing? Nine one one? In the ocean? On the island? Coast Guard? What’s their number? Jim? Maybe Jim would have an answer…
She dialed Jim’s number. She got nothing. No sound, no ringtone…nothing.
She looked around.
She looked at the phone.
She finally realized that there was no service out there…no reception at all.
“Shit!” she said.
Then it hit her. All ships have a radio. That’s mandatory regulations in case of emergency.
“Why didn’t you think of this before? Dyane, you’re such a dumb ass!” she scolded herself.
So she went in search of.
She stayed on deck looking everywhere. She found another cell phone and repeated the same process as the earlier find. Still no signal from that one either.
So she went below deck looking for the ship’s radio. She didn’t remember seeing anything like it through her day plus of rampaging through every room and everyone’s things.
“Damn! I should have listened when the guy took us on the tour of the boat! Dyane, when will you learn?” she scolded herself again.
•••
While this was going on, Caleb and Dylan were going in for a closer look at the object that had tripped Dylan earlier. It was black in color and definitely metallic. It also looked to have the potential to be quite big and heavy.
Only a part of it was sticking out from the brush. Dylan moved quite a bit of sand from around it, uncovering more of a protruding arm or spike. They had no idea what it could be.
Their curiosity peaked as they continued to move some more sand, and then tried to pull out and move some of the thicket that was covering it as well.
“Now you believe me that I tripped on something solid?” Dylan played.
“Yeah, I guess I have to now. I don’t think you put this here just before you tripped” Caleb answered sarcastically back.
“I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s pretty solid.”
“Yep…just look at your toe” Caleb pointed out.
“What do you think?” asked Dylan.
“Well, it has an odd shape, that’s for sure. I don’t see any markings of any kind” Caleb noticed.
More sand was moved and jungle was ripped out showing off more of its size.
“Wow…never thought this would be that big” Dylan commented.
“Yup.”
The two guys dug deeper into the sand for more clues. The further they dig, the more strange it looked, until Caleb said…
“Stop!”
“What?” Dylan asked.
“Stop! Stop the digging” demanded Caleb with an urgency.
“What? What’s the matter? You know what this is?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay, what?” Dylan pushed.
“I think this may be a mine.”
“A mine?”
“Yes, A mine.”
“As in land mine? Are we gonna blow up?” Dylan asked all concerned.
“No, not a land mine. It kind of looks like a sea mine” Caleb replied.
“Huh? A sea mine?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the difference?”
“You mean other than one is buried on land and one is usually in the sea?” Caleb said mockingly.
“Dude, no need to get smart. I have no clue. But if you think my question about the difference was stupid, here’s another…what is a sea mine doing on the land, mostly buried under sand and heavy jungle shit?”
“Dylan, that is not a stupid question my friend. I have the same one at the top of my list. Then again, it may not be a mine.”
“Then what can it be?”
“I have no idea. I’m gonna go with the sea mine theory. Usually land mines are buried and we’d be blown up by now. This looks like a really old mine.”
“Then we should stop digging?”
“Yeah, for now. But I am curious as to finding any identification on it. I wonder how old it is and if it is still potent. If so, get the hell out of here…” he laughed with wide eyes.
Dylan moved some more earth from it trying to trace an outline to see how big it was.
“Well, it appears we can touch it without any issues” said Dylan with a grin.
“Well, you’re just touching it in the right area. If it’s an old contact mine used in the 40’s, there are certain spots that are more sensitive than others. So be careful you don’t touch something that looks unusual” he warned.
“Do you know much about this stuff?” asked Dylan.
“I know a little about mines but I am no expert. Mines were used back before you and I were ever thoughts to be. I tell you though, it is quite odd to find one here…if that’s what this actually is…”
Caleb circled the object and leaned in to examine it more closely. He noticed that there were several arms that protruded from it, each extending approximately eight to twelve inches.
“Yep…looks like a mine all right…one of those bottom contact mines used on sea floors. It looks way too simplistic to be anything else.”
“Really?”
“Well, that’s what it looks like right now…” Caleb said, scratching his head. “But what I don’t understand is if that is a bottom contact mine, what is it doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Those were used in Europe where submarines were used. The functions of those mines are to blow up subs that sit on the ocean floor. Well, we’re on an island. What the hell is something that’s used halfway around the world during World War II doing here buried in sand and jungle?”
“Holy crap.”
“Umm…yeah. But I could be wrong. It could be something else…” he said.
“Like what?” Dylan asked.
“I don’t know. If we dig more, we better be careful…that’s all I’m saying. It does look like a weapon of some kind. I’m sure of that.”
Both looked at each other. Neither wanted to make the first move to walk away or continue digging. The stalemate went about thirty seconds, then Dylan made the move.
“Screw it. We’re here. We’re screwed. Might as well have some fun…” he suggested as he uncovered more weapon.
“I’m with you brother. Just be careful…”
Within a half hour, the sweat was pouring off both of them, but each carried smiles as they uncovered some markings.
“Look at these hooks. This isn’t a bottom contact mine…oh no…” recognized Caleb.
“Then what is it?” asked Dylan curiously.
“This looks like one of those moored mines…but the question still exists…what is it doing here?”
“Wait a sec. A moored mine…is that more dangerous?”
“Oh yes, it can be. I’m no Navy man, but I know some things. Moored mines are like four hundred and forty pounds and they pack over a hundred pounds of explosives if I remember right.”
“Holy shit” declared Dylan.
“Yeah, those little hooks look like handles to attach them to buoys of some kind. Oh yeah, these are powerful.”
Dylan possessed a more scared look on his face.
“Don’t go weird on me. I’m just saying. These things sometimes have a shelf life, sometimes they don’t. Even though this looks old, treat it like it’s live.”
“Oh I will. I ain’t touching it no more” Dylan promised.
“I wonder if those pirates know it’s here. And I wonder just how long it’s been here. And I wonder if it’s live, or if we can detonate it somehow to help us get out of here…” said Caleb looking into Dylan’s eyes but staring through them.
“That’s a lot of wondering” Dylan replied with a chuckle.
“Hey, this may be our way out of here.”
“Cool with me. What’s the plan?”
“Plan? I don’t know. I wonder if we can find some sort of box or compartment on this thing that can answer some questions for us” Caleb said.
Just as Dylan was to comment, a seaplane approached from out of the north. It came sudden, like out of nowhere. It was low, like it was treetop flying with a purpose. It flew right over the heads of Caleb and Dylan and continued on. It was a one time thing. The plane was there and gone before either guy could react.
“You see that?” Dylan asked.
“Yes, of course I saw that” replied Caleb.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. I didn’t see anything on the plane that indicated it was friend or foe. So I really don’t know. But why would a plane be out here in the middle of nowhere treetop flying over a tiny island? I’m getting tired of all these questions. I really want some answers.”
“Yeah, I feel you” Dylan agreed.
Caleb went back to examining the mine. He was slow and meticulous in looking for any clues that could help him figure this out. Dylan went back to moving some ground, also slowly and carefully.
Another fifteen minutes passed with a small finding.
“See this?” Caleb pointed out.
“Yeah.”
“It’s a sensor, looks like a magnetic one. Looks like it doesn’t work anymore.”
“Does that mean the mine is a dud?”
“Oh no. These mines usually have two or three different types of sensors. Now that we found one, we know what it looks like. I want to find the others. I still think there’s a way of arming or disarming it…” Caleb said.
Five minutes later, they discovered more sensors. They looked like pressure sensors. Both stayed away from them.
With nightfall approaching, they had to make the decision whether to return to camp, if they could even find it, or continue to delve into the mysteries surrounding that mine. One thing was clear though, they still hadn’t found a way to know if it was armed or not…