Bum's Rush

Meg had been sitting next to me this whole time. I felt her lean against me and a snore escaped her mouth.

The chief looked at my sleeping sister and then at me.

He signed for the younger woman to return and she went to try to pick up Meg's pack.

She struggled a little but lifted it.

I got Meg to her feet and went to retrieve my pack as my zombie-sister stood with her eyes closed.

I showed the young woman how to place the strap over her shoulder and she flipped the pack around.

Once it was in place, she grinned at me, acknowledging that it was a lot easier to carry that way.

She took one side of Megan and I took the other.

She led us to one of the huts not far from the center of the village.

It was dark enough that I couldn't see very well - and the girl had not brought a torch or anything with us - so I could not see inside the structure.

I grabbed the flashlight out of a side-pocket on my pack and turned it on, playing it over the interior of the hut. It was mostly empty except for a two-person cot to the left side of the space that was roughly a ten-foot by ten-foot square.

The home's floor wasn't solid. Spaces between the bamboo and other poles, used as floorboards, appeared to allow cooler air to enter from below. Presumably, hotter air would be released through vents in the roof. I played my light above me but couldn't immediately spot them.

We steered my zombie-sister to the pallet-bed and I dropped my pack to the floor.

The village girl did the same and then left the hut, closing the reed-door behind her.

I felt the rough mattress with my hands. While not the quality of what we had at home, it was much better than being on the ridged flooring - or the pest-infested ground.

I dug my hammock out of my pack.

I got Megan to lie down, taking off her shoes & socks when she did. I took mine off and lay down as well, pulling the hammock over us like a light cover.

My pack was close - in case I needed to dig out my sweatshirt - but it was still pretty warm - and didn't feel like it was going to cool off much.

Megan snuggled up against me and I wrapped an arm around her to support her head & neck.

Within seconds, I was asleep as well.

Day 3

Shortly after the sunlight started pulling me out of Dreamland, I heard a tapping at the door of our domicile. Our hostess had returned. She signed that we should get ready for the day and then stood outside and waited.

Since there was nowhere - so far - to clean up, we kept yesterday's clothes on, threw on our socks & shoes, and shouldered our packs.

Outside, our guide led us back to the central fire, where several others were gathering.

In short order, the chief appeared and gave us tasks for the day.

Handing me the broken oar pieces, he signed that I should go with the team from yesterday - with six additional fellows. I assumed we were going to retrieve the dinghy - and probably whatever else they decided was useful.

That was fine with me. Obviously, our old campsite was no longer tenable - since the ship's crew seemed to have nefarious intentions on either my sister - or me - or both.

For now, it seemed prudent to stick with the villagers who had saved us without seemingly asking anything in return.

Megan was directed to follow the chief's wife.

This would be the first time we would be separated since we had started this adventure. I went to her and gave her a hug.

"Be careful," I whispered.

"I'll be fine," she replied, also in a whisper, "Grab anything we left behind that we forgot."

I kissed her cheek and released her.

Walking back to my team of coworkers, I noticed the chief nod slightly.

I nicknamed our crew-leader "Joshua" in my head. I started trying to figure out names for the other nine young men.

Each carried the same kit they'd had yesterday - a spear with a bone or stone head, a sling, a knife (some were a one-piece design - some were like a biface lashed to a wooden handle).

I estimated we'd traveled about halfway back to our old campsite when Joshua hand-signed that the team should get ready for combat.

The warriors were readying their spears and ignoring their slings so I wasn't sure what we were up against. I pulled out my mattock.

The young men started moving forward and quickly spread themselves out around their quarry.

Each warrior had their spears pointed at the big reptile - an eight-foot crocodile.

Nobody was stabbing it; they just appeared to be trying to keep it from escaping.

Joshua got his knife out.

I tried to figure out what they were up to. They had plenty of spears. They could easily turn this thing into a pin-cushion - assuming they could flip it over.

Instead, they were trying for some kind of critical strike.

I finally deduced that they were attempting to avoid ruining the hide any more than possible - which would reduce its usefulness.

I barked at Joshua and he looked at me. I made a sign of slamming the point of my pick down into the thing's head.

He looked at the mattock - at the beast - and back at me again - then put his knife away and grabbed his spear.

He signed to me that he would get the thing's attention and that I should try to jump on its back and bring the point down just behind its eyes as hard as possible.

I gave him a thumbs-up and he seemed to understand that I meant I was good with the plan.

Joshua and two others approached a little closer and the big reptile hissed at them and bit at their spears.

I leapt from near its right, rear leg onto its back and attempted the strike.

It moved its head as I landed astride of its body and my thrust glanced off the side of its neck.

I don't know if it knew what I was up to or not - but it didn't like me having the higher ground - and tried to wiggle me off.

Joshua lunged at its snout with his spear and jabbed a nostril - which sent its attention back to him.

As soon as it quit thrashing side-to-side, I brought the pick down as hard as I could.

The pick-point didn't go in very far - but it was enough to stun the beast.

I quickly yanked the weapon out and slammed it down again - trying to hit the same spot.

This time, it breached the tough hide - as well as the skull - and the monster stopped moving.

I hadn't noticed any of the young men carrying coils of rope but suddenly several appeared and the crocodile's legs were tied. I assumed it was a safety precaution - with which I whole-heartedly agreed.

Poles were gathered - or cut - and soon our prize was mounted on a carrying rack.

This rack was strung between two trees, not far off of our path.

After that, we paused for drinks from our skins and then we headed on to our original task.

An hour later, we arrived at the campsite.

The boat crew must have been mad about not getting their hands on Megan & me. They had torn up everything that was left at the old site - regardless of whether or not it had value.

They must have not been able to find anything else to bust up the dinghy with; the pistol-toter had simply fired all of his ammo into the bottom of the craft.

The other oar was broken in half as well. We collected it anyway.

I didn't see anything else to grab.

We used more poles and more rope and, soon, we were headed home again - six of us carrying the boat - while the rest of the team rested until it was their time to swap in.

When we got back to the dead reptile, it was still where we had left it.

When they lifted it, I took a position under its tail. Now, everybody had a burden.

We still rotated the load every 15 minutes or so. We shifted from right to left, from boat to crocodile, and back again.

My stomach was growling like I hadn't eaten in days when a runner met us.

Joshua signed to him. The scout turned around and darted off again.

We carried our cargo long enough to rotate one more time and a crew of fresh faces arrived to take our loads - and with new water-skins.

We sat for a quick breather - and refreshing drinks - before getting up to hike behind our reinforcements.

Almost a half-hour later, we arrived at the clearing at the edge of the village.

Once we were around the bend, near the first structures, our replacements halted and the members of our hunting party resumed our places, carrying our prizes into the camp.

The new guys piled in behind us, smiling.

At the central fire, we found the whole village assembled again.

We approached until we were ten feet from the chief and then we halted.

Joshua signed and we set our loads down.

Joshua approached the chief and stopped an arms-length away.

The old man clapped him on the shoulder.

Joshua turned and led the chief, and the elders, to the group.

He signed to the chief that we would need to repair the holes in the boat and replace the oars.

The chief seemed very pleased.

Approaching the crocodile, Joshua showed him the hole in the skull and pointed to me.

He signed to the front two carriers and they lifted the carcass to show that the hide was undamaged underneath.

Joshua made signs for me to show the chief the mattock - which he had seen before - so I pulled it out and held it across my palms.

The head elder nodded at me and then clapped me on the shoulder.

He turned and headed back to his normal place at the fire.

Joshua directed the teamsters to move the boat near one of the huts that looked to be some kind of crafting area.

The crocodile was moved to a different hut that looked to be a different kind of crafter - likely the butcher.

If their tanning process was anything like the middle ages, the tannery would be a good distance from where people with sensitive noses lived.

As we finished those tasks, Joshua led us back to the central fire - where we were given food & drink and allowed to sit & eat.

Megan assisted the young women as they followed the direction of the chief's wife and the other older women.

I really wasn't sure what I was eating - some kind of stew - but I was hungry enough that I wasn't complaining.

It seemed to have some wild onions and peppers - but not enough to make me think it would cause problems - just enough to give it a little flavor.

After the meal, I was assigned to weapons practice - first with the spears everyone carried - and then with the sling.

I seemed to do well enough with the spear to get a quick sign-off - but my instructor just used the extra time to make me focus on my sling-work more. By the time we were ready for the evening meal, I was still barely above acceptable with it.

When we got to the central fire for dinner, they had arranged for a few pairs of young men to wrestle in a circle made of rope, laid out on the ground.

When they were finished, Joshua approached and invited me to wrestle him.

Assuming it was not negotiable, I agreed.

I followed what I'd seen the others do and tried to keep from embarrassing myself.

I attempted to remember some of the stuff my old karate teacher had taught me - but that had been when I was just a kid and - apparently - it doesn't translate well to this kind of wrestling.

Within a couple minutes, Joshua pushed me outside of the circle without too much effort.

I was just glad he hadn't thrown me.

We saluted each other and looked to the chief - who nodded at both of us.

Back at our seats, the young women started passing out the food and drink.

As soon as Megan had finished her assignment, she came and sat by me, curling into my side, "I'm so tired," she moaned.

I snickered but realized I was exhausted as well.

I looked at her and nodded.

After dinner, there was a short contest between some of the teenaged boys on who could use their foot-sling to climb a coconut palm the fastest.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and woke to realize everyone was leaving the circle.

Our guide led me - and my sleepy sibling - back to what I had taken to calling the "guest house".

I, honestly, don't even remember undressing - but I didn't have anything but my skivvies on the next morning. Megan woke in just her sports bra and panties. She didn't remember taking her clothes off either. Although we had slept soundly, we were fairly sure we were headed into another grueling day.

Day 4

We met our guide as she was coming up the steps to our door. Wordlessly, she led us (as before) back to the central fire.

I hugged Megan before she headed off to her duties. She kissed the edge of my jaw - near my chin - it wasn't my mouth - but it wasn't my cheek either.

I turned to find that Joshua had assembled three teams of four warriors. He led the group as a whole - as well as the primary four-man crew. I was put in the second crew.

As we had traveled the previous day, I had tried to mimic the warriors' ability to pass through the heavy underbrush soundlessly.

One of the men on my crew noticed me watching and made an extra effort to emphasize what he was doing with his hands - almost swimming through the foliage. He also helped make my steps quieter by showing me things to avoid stepping on.

They were barefoot - which might have helped - but (at least for now) I was keeping my hiking boots.

After several minutes of instruction, my self-assigned coach gave me a thumbs-up and indicated that I just needed to keep working on doing those things.

By the time we found a small herd of wild boar, I was doing much better.

I was surprised the animals hadn't scented us. As I moved forward to my place, I saw that they were at some kind of spring-fed watering-hole - and were making enough noise to keep from hearing us. Their snouts were in the water - which was probably what helped keep them from smelling our team.

They had a kind of a scout off to one side - but we were coming in at a different angle and he hadn't noticed us.

Joshua pointed out the targets for each crew. He indicated to me that I should switch my spear to my left hand and wield the mattock with my right.

I nodded and got ready.

Once the teams were primed, Joshua gave the sign and we broke cover and spread out quickly - trying to keep our prey trapped between us and the water.

My team was on the left flank and our target was making a run for the jungle.

The angle of our approach helped trap the quarry for the middle group.

Joshua's squad was swinging wider to the right to chase down their fuzzy squealer - as he tried to dart toward the tree-line on their side.

I gave up attempting to track the other teams and focused on trying to do my part to support my crew.

One of our guys was quite a sprinter. He darted off and got enough of a lead on The Baconater to get him to slow - which gave the rest of us time to catch up and surround him.

The other three guys pinned him in until I could come up from behind and spike him like I had the croc. It only took me one strike this time.

We found a pole, trussed his feet together, and suspended him from it. We carried him back over to where the other teams were finishing their work.

Once everybody was ready, we refreshed ourselves from our water-skins and then refilled them at the little rock-covered spring.

We headed back for camp - taking turns carrying the wild hogs - as we had our loads the previous day.

I liked how this group seemed to make an effort to share any work that needed done - conserving everyone's strength in case we needed it.

We dropped our kills off at the butcher's hut and went to share in the noon meal.

After we had eaten, the chief took me to the other side of the village.

He found a vacant space in the cluster of stilted-huts - just off to the right of the main path. He gestured to me and then to the space.

I wasn't quite sure initially but - after he repeated his hand signs a couple times - I signed what I thought he meant and he nodded.

Our 12-man team from the morning hunt would be working to build a hut for me and Megan.

The chief left us at the build-site and headed back to his place at the central fire.

I held a finger up to Joshua and went and found Megan's hatchet.

It wasn't a full axe - but it had to be better than whatever they were going to use.

Joshua split the team into two halves - one digging a hole and another digging up a palm tree to transplant.

I was on the first team. The relocated palm would be equidistance between our hut and the next closest one.

Although my shovel should have been superior to the coconut shells they were using, they apparently had much more practice at this than I did.

I threw the shovel back over by my pack and took one of the shells. I kept the mattock nearby in case we hit something that needed persuading.

Soon enough, the six men on my team had a hole seven feet wide and about that deep.

We were working in pairs - one in the hole - and one emptying the coconut onto the pile away from the edge of the small pit.

Somehow, I kept expecting us to hit water - since we were on an island - but we never did.

When we were finished, we went to check on the other team. They were just finishing their excavation.

All twelve of us worked to get the palm tree out of the hole. We shouldered the 20-foot beast and carried it across the distance to where my home would be. There, we worked together to lower it into the pit.

Once it was upright, four men held it in place while the rest of us returned the soil to the hole - packing it around the roots and trunk with our feet.

When the surface was level with the ground, we started transporting the rest of the pile back to the place where we had removed the tree.

We used stretchers of woven palm branches to carry the loose soil - scooping it onto the rig with coconut bowls and our hands.

Next, Joshua led us to a stash of palm trunks that had all been cut to about the same length.

We transported four of these posts to the work-site and then started digging holes to place them as the corners of the hut - about ten feet apart - measured by knots on a length of rope that Joshua had.

That same rope - but obviously with a different set of knots - was stretched between the opposing corners - to make sure the layout was square.

Once those were in place, we headed back to the supply area - but to a different pile - to get twelve posts that were six feet tall.

These were half-buried in a grid pattern. The top of each was chopped into a slight "V". I dug out my tree saw - which helped that go faster.

Four 10-foot poles went into the top of the support to form the beams for the floor.

On top of those beams, we started lashing the bamboo poles and other staves or saplings that would form the floor.

While one team worked on that, the other half of the team was building the roof.

Once those two tasks were complete, the door - and the walls - which came pre-assembled from somewhere - went on quickly.

It was almost dark by the time we finished and - as we approached the central fire - it looked like everyone else had already eaten.

It had taken a lot of time - but we had finished it.

We ate our meal and then each of the eleven members of my home-building crew came and grasped arms with me again to congratulate me - and for me to thank them - for the work we'd done.

The chief and his wife approached with Megan in-tow. He led the way to our home.

When we arrived, he licked his thumb and gave the door his saliva blessing - then he came up and grasped arms with me.

The chief's wife hugged Megan and then they turned to a small band of young women who had suddenly appeared.

Each one was carrying either palm branches, the burlap-like skins from the palm bark, or other materials.

Megan held the door and they entered our home and assembled the bed.

When they were finished, the chief and his wife returned with gifts. The old woman carried a pair of deer skins - which she gave to Megan. The chief brought the head of the crocodile that I had killed. He anointed it with his saliva and placed it just inside the door, along the wall to the right.