Lottery Dreams Ch. 18: What We did on Our Holidays

Chapter 18: What we did on Our Holidays

When he awoke after drifting on the bow of the ship, Charley looked around to see where he was. Thankfully he had reached an island. The wreck had washed up on a reef, and to his delight, Charley found he could wade onto the beach and dry land.

He saw no one, once he came ashore, but could see that the island was large and so presumed there must be something inland. Walking for an hour, tired him out, and he was ready for a rest when he saw the buildings. Charley was so excited at having found civilisation, that he almost ran to meet them. But something stopped him.

Once again, he saw the oh-so-familiar signs of a slave camp. Frightened people staring out from behind wire fences, and a slovenly guard carrying a powerful gun.

Charley hesitated.

He crept around the buildings until he found one with an open window. Climbing inside, he discovered it was a kitchen, and realising he had not eaten since the wreck, he began searching for food. All he found was a cupboard full of chocolate bars, and a pantry full of tins. The chocolate was labelled: "Dog chocolate, not fit for human consumption."

After filling his pockets full of chocolate, Charley was just about to wander off, when he heard voices. Quickly he shut himself in the pantry and peered through the cracks.

"Let the damn dogs run around outside," said the man. "I'm sick of having their shit all over the place. The Son of a bitch bit me this morning. They are here to bite the lab rats, not us."

"Lock them back in the cells?" suggested another man.

"No, Dr Death wants the new arrivals put in there. You know? The porno Queen?"

"We are gonna have some fun with her!"

Both men sniggered like schoolboys.

"Let Moe and Curly just run about the place. They ain't going anywhere, and they always show up for meal times. What do I care."

With that, they left.

Just as Charley was coming out of the pantry, and wondering who Moe and Curly were, he made a terrible discovery.

There stood Moe and Curly. Two Doberman Pinchers, looking mean and lean, and ready for a fight. They were just about to start their act when Charley thought first.

Quickly he produced a bar of chocolate from his pocket, and after ripping off the wrapper, threw the pieces before the dogs. They wolfed the piece of chocolate down with relish. After the third bar, the dogs would not leave Charley alone, and he realised he had friends for life.

"Never knew a dog that did not like chocolate," he said out loud.

With the problem of the guard dogs out of the way, Charley began to explore this new place. Quickly he discovered that this was not a happy place. He came across cages where human beings were penned in like animals. Then he came across operating theatres where people were prepared for some type of operation. Finally, he came across the terrible truth.

Doctor Death was cutting people up for spare parts.

Livers; kidneys; hearts; lungs, and even arms and legs. In fact, anything you could strip from one human being and give to another, this place catered for it. It was a human breakers yard. An abattoir for the human race. Never had Charley even heard of such a thing. People being carved up like animals on a butcher's slab, and all to be sent back to the west, for money.

What would the good people back home make of this, he wondered?

Thankfully the victims were drugged first, and Charley watched a young girl being led into a room, and after a few slaps around the face, they began laying out needles and bottles. She fell back on the floor and turned her head to the window.

To his horror, Charley recognised her. It was Clare. The girl he had tried to rescue from the depths of the ship last night. The last he had seen of her, was clinging to the rope before it snapped. Now he could only suppose that she had washed up here and fallen into the hands of these evil villains. If he did not do something quickly, she would be cut up for spares. What should he do?

The dogs had thankfully wandered off, leaving him free to act without being seen. The only thing Charley found was an old bulldozer sitting in the middle of the yard. He climbed into the cab and looked at the controls. Charley let out a small laugh, as he realised what the machine really was.

On the control panel before him, were the words: Cobol.

It was one of their machines, and his heart sank when he remembered the problems with the controls.

It was only then that Charley realised he had no idea how to drive the thing. He remembered his time back in Cobol when a bulldozer was brought in to show the men how it worked. He had watched the driver operate it then, but the sequence of how to work the thing was lost to him now.

What was he to do?

He would have carried on dithering if not for the terrible screams of the girl. Charley knew everything rested on him now, so he had to act. He fiddled with the controls and tried to get it started, but nothing came and the monster remained silent. Just as he was about to dismount and try something else, the guards came out from the building and began walking over to the machine.

Charley leapt down and ran off into the bushes. He crawled back to the window to see how Clare was faring, and followed her progression into hell, through another bared window. Through this, he saw Natasha and Raj being snapped at by Moe and Curly. He was just toying with the idea of smuggling chocolate into the cell when he heard the engine start-up.

"Bang goes that chance," he told himself.

But as he made his way back through the bushes a strange sight met him.

Clearly, the workers were trying to get the bulldozer going, but something was very wrong. The engine raced away, and the operator began to wave his hands wildly. He was far from happy with the way the machine was running and began shouting excitedly at the guards gathered around it. Finally, it lurched forward, and the driver jumped down. The bulldozer was out of control, and he wanted no part in it. So the monster was left to run free on its own. All Charley could think of, was that he had jammed the controls, and locked them up, so anyone else mounting the bulldozer would not be able to control it once it fired into life.

The guards clearly wanted no part in trying to tame the beast, and simply let it run on. Of course, they all thought it would stall to a halt. Bulldozers often did, but not this one. It charged ahead with a full head of steam, straight towards the wire cages. These were flattened for the prisoners to realise this was their chance to escape. At first, the guards tried to quell the riot, by shooting a few of them, but after the bulldozer ploughed straight through the legs of a machine gun tower, they knew the game was up.

The tower crashed to the earth, throwing out the hapless guards inside. A great cheer went up, and the people rushed out.

The bulldozer might have headed out into the jungle, if not for a concrete bunker. It hit the bunker with one track and began grinding it and its occupants to dust when the free track began racing faster and spun the machine around. It now faced the cell blocks, and after mounting the remains of the bunker, ploughed on.

Charley could hardly look as it crashed through the walls, and presumably squashed the people inside. In fact, it only ran over the guards, who were busy watching a football game on satellite TV, and far too busy to take any notice of the outside world.

Charley ran to see if he could rescue anyone inside when he saw the dogs.

"So that's how we ended up here." Charley looked around as the fires began sweeping through the complex in familiar scenes to the island they had just left. "I don't fancy waiting around for another revolution, do you?"

"God knows who will come to sort this one out," said Natasha dropping her chains on the floor. Charley had found a small workshop and an angle grinder. The chains were poor quality steel and fell to pieces easily.

Raj edged nervously out around the dogs, not believing the chocolate theory.

"So where is the drive shaft with the lottery ticket in it?" asked Raj. "At the bottom of the ocean?"

"No, not at all. I left it bobbing around on the reef. Hopefully, it's still there, so if we can get some small boats, we can go and float it off."

Things would have gone the way Charley wanted if not for his heroic deeds catching up with him. Of course, he knew nothing of it, and maybe no one else would have stopped to even consider it, if not for Raj. They walked about the island and noted as before, that everyone was grateful for their new freedom. But as people began talking, they realised who Charley was.

"This is the man!" cried someone.

"The one who charged Dr Death with the bulldozer!" came someone else.

And so it grew. No one would even consider Charlie's side of the story, and things just slipped into legend. By nighttime, he was hailed as a hero. Raj did not help by saying he had done the same on the slave island under Rufus.

Now they all knew who Rufus was, and even his death did not quench his fear. Many had escaped from the island, and it was infamous amongst asylum seekers. So the man who had slain Rufus would be seen by them as a giant.

Charley was carried on the shoulders of the men around the old cell block. They dropped him when Moe and Curly turned up but rejoiced as they saw him tame even these terrible beasts with chocolate. A lesser man might have let this go to his head.

All this fame had a good side, and they now had plenty of help to float the drive shaft of the wreck of the ship. Slowly they all waded out into the blue surf and with great skill, constructed a raft from plastic drums. Charley showed them how to rig up a small derrick crane, and with lengths of rope, they lowed the drive shaft down and floated it on the raft to dry land.

"What the hell are we going to tell them?" said Natasha walking around the great metal totem, once it was on the sand.

"About what?" asked Raj, inspecting the groove, to make sure the ticket was safe and dry and still inside.

"About this thing? don't you think they will be curious as to what the hell it is?"

"I've told them it's a religious relic from a temple deep in the jungle. Charley had come out here to find it and take it back to England. To sell it for a lot of money."

"And they believe that?" asked Natasha, clearly unconvinced.

"Yes. He is their saviour, they will believe anything," smiled Raj.

"Good job they don't know him," was all she said.

The story could have taken an obvious route to more escapes and more adventures on the high sea, but for a curious twist of fate.

"Hey, you'll never guess what I heard!" Raj can rushing into the room where Natasha and Charley were studying a map.

"What's that? You found Elvis in the woods?" Charley had not wanted to face up to the fact that they would need another ship and did not relish the prospect of another sea voyage.

"Listen, I think I've found a way off this island."

"Aircraft?" said Natasha with excitement. She too dreaded the trip home.

"No, it's a ship. A cruise ship!"

"What?" Charley looked up from the map.

"The next island has a terminal for luxury cruises. It's a pick-up point for rich tourists to board the luxury cruise liner." Raj could hardly contain his words as the information came flowing out.

"What cruise liner?" asked Natasha. "We've never seen any liner around here?"

"Come outside and look!"

With that, they left the maps and came out onto the beach. There, ploughing slowly through the water, was a giant ship. Blue and white, against the ocean, she sailed on as if they did not exist.

"Where did you say it docks?" asked Charley watching the ship.

"The next island," replied Raj. "Do you think there is any way we could get on board?"

"There is one," Charley looked at the sand beneath his well-worn trainers.

"We have no money, and no chance of wiring any money," pointed out Natasha. "So Mr genius, how are we going to get on it?" She stuck her finger out at the ship as if to mock him, but Charley was not put off.

"There is a way, but it's a long shot. I'm not sure if it will work. The biggest problem is, what are we going to do with our friend here?" He kicked sand at the drive shaft laying on the beach. "Raj, if these people believed your story about a jungle treasure, why wouldn't others?"

"This thing? Jungle treasure?" Natasha laughed out loud. "Charley I've seen treasures in museums back in New York, and this sure as hell does not look like any treasure. It looks like what it is, a big chunk of iron."

"But they don't know that?" He stared out at the ship. "What if we can pull it off? What if we can convince them, it is a valuable totem pole from the deepest jungles? Remains of a lost civilisation? that's why I painted it, back on the island."

"So what?" Natasha turned away, hands on hips. "What are you going to use instead of money?"

"This."

All Charley did was reach down and pull off his shoe. In the heel was a small recess, and from out of that hole, he produced a credit card.

"You are one lovely boy!" shouted Natasha.

"Wait, I thought the bad men of the syndicate stole all your money?" pointed out Raj. "That is why they left you on the island with Rufus? How do you know that account has any money left in it?"

"I don't. But when I was in London, I opened a few accounts no one knew anything about. Squirrelled away a bit of money. My old man used to hide money in a biscuit tin in the garden back in Rutland. This is my biscuit tin."

With a small speed boat, the guards had moored up for fishing trips, they towed the raft behind them to the next island. It was so quiet and peaceful Charley had forgotten what the real world was like. No guards and no prisoners were looking out from behind the barbed wire.

They had looted the wardrobes back in Dr Creek's apartment, to appear before the booking office, as quite normal. The first thing Charley did was wave his credit card before them and begin his explanation as to why they were there.

The story was so convincing he almost believed himself. He told of hacking through the jungle and stumbling upon a jungle temple. Here he had discovered the great treasure of the lost tribe. "It's from the lost tribe of Tottenham Hotspur," he went on. "Lost to the outside world. And we have to get it back to England as soon as possible. Could we speak to the Captain, about storing it in your hold?"

Charley had no idea if cruise ships did such things, or even if the man understood him. But he was hoping for the international language of money, to speak across barriers.

So it did.

No sooner had his credit card been placed in the machine, when their faces lit up. From time to time, a senior crew member would come and take a look at the computer reading with Charlie's credit details upon it. Instantly, he was welcomed by all.