It seemed like the footrace was on. Though Dyane really wasn’t aware of exactly who this character named Katmandu was after. All she knew was that this guy was pissed…mightily.
She stayed around the perimeter of the pirate village as she walked away from the part of the coast that housed the speed boats. It brought her back into the jungle a small ways, but once she had her bearings with the light from the village aiding her, she read the direction off of the body language and movements of Katmandu and was on her way.
Dawn was very much on the horizon. It was going to be a deep red sky.
Dyane took note of it.
“Hope the sailor’s adage doesn’t ring true today…” she said to herself under her breath in reference to “Red sky at night, sailors delight…red sky in morning, sailors take warning…”
Rusty and Briggs came fleeing out of Katmandu’s dwelling a fraction of a moment after he did. With him flailing his arms and screaming about Bones and killing, Rusty and Briggs went into damage control and attempted to delay Katmandu on his hostile next moves. They caught up to him and were able to gain his attention about a quarter of the way to the prisoner camp.
“Kat, this will solve nothing right now…” Rusty was heard screaming at him.
“The hell it won’t. Fucker killed Bones. Enough said” replied Katmandu.
“No, no, no…you have it all wrong” pleaded Rusty. “You weren’t there…”
“I don’t care what Bones did. He’s a pirate. He does anything that he wants. Look…I’m a pirate. You’re a pirate. What the fuck’s your problem? Why are you protecting them?” Katmandu yelled.
“We have killed already. They are innocent people. They have done nothing to us. We have screwed their lives forever. They have nothing that we can want or use. What’s the point?” Rusty continued pleading.
“What’s the point? What’s the point?” he argued back alternating looks between Rusty and Briggs.
Briggs shrugged his shoulders.
“We are PIRATES! Since when did we need any points?? Rusty you KNOW that! When did you get all soft? I know my brother didn’t do this to you!” he screamed.
“Leave him out of this Kat! He gave his life, our life, being a pirate. Now he’s gone! NOW HE’S GONE!” she cried heading into hysteria. “And, now for what?”
The dramatic scene unfolding pretty much in front of Dyane was touching, yes, but she didn’t stick around to see how it was going to end. She noticed the direction they were all going in and saw the camp in the distance. She carefully continued in that direction, leaving the three of them to finish their scene behind her. With all of the screaming and hysterics, the noises that Dyane were making as she traveled were not heard at all.
She could still hear them screaming at each other as she approached the enclosed camp.
Dyane noticed the pirates who were guarding the entrances to the area and paused to analyze.
As the yelling became even more intense behind her, she noted the guards were giving their full attention to it. As they chatted back and forth not really knowing what the arguing was about, they moved from their position aimlessly.
The whole camp was abuzz now with the noise created by Katmandu, Rusty and Briggs, who had entered into the verbal assaults. Dyane noticed that a couple of her friends on the yacht, Elaine and Karen, were outside the building where everyone was sleeping. The yelling had got their attention as well. They were up close to the fence, yet still about fifty feet or so from the guards.
Also outside but close to the building were Alan and Hunter, deep in conversation about what options were current and making plans. Inside the building that no one knew about was Jewel, Rusty’s daughter, who was snuggled up next to Gianna, looking for some comfort to what had just happened to her father, Bones.
Dyane took a second to feel a swelling of warmth come over her. The feeling was overwhelming to finally believe that she will be reunited with her friends, and ultimately her husband Jim. But a second was all that she had as the scene continued to intensify.
Katmandu, Rusty and Briggs were on the move heading toward the camp of captives. Whatever was said wasn’t getting through to Rusty. She was still pleading, loud and clear, through hysterical screams and whines. And she was now tugging on Katmandu, trying to keep him from the captives.
As Katmandu approached, the guards went towards him to meet up with him, leaving the front entrance open and unguarded. With all of the emotional chaos diverting any attention from the camp entrance, Dyane knew it was now or never to make her move and reunite.
Waiting never entered her mind.
Hesitation was no longer in her vocabulary.
In an all out sprint from the cover of jungle and into the dawning of daylight, she went for the opening…
…no doubt the longest twenty seconds of her life…
…it just went on…
…and on…
…as the screaming and chaos continued to build…
…it was deafening…
…and she heard nothing…
…as she focused on the opening…
…the longest twenty seconds of her life…
…hoping that no one would notice her as she sprinted into the open…
…almost there…
…not looking back…
…out of breath running in the sand…
…gotta get there…
…so…
…so…
…close…