Chapter 2 - Left Adrift Too Close to Whirlpools

Chapter 2 - Left Adrift Too Close to Whirlpools

All that he was hearing was making his blood run cold. Colton couldn't believe his run of bad luck and how horrible it had become, even more so now. Since when did I have to be part of a group that became Monster Food?

He'd heard about islands infested with creatures that wanted human flesh. Colton was downright baffled now. Strangely, that was part of some book series. He couldn't remember the details right off the back of his mind. It didn't become part of a movie or animated series. Colton sighed because he finally remembered why it was only in book and manga form. Oh, that's right. Too many critics complained after having watched a pilot episode. Sometimes, he wondered why those episodes were even allowed since they could make or break the flow of a TV series. Something about it being too violent.

However, Colton had yet to learn that there were people who were more than willing to feed into the fearmongering. Now, he was getting an earful and a half. Seriously? They don't have anything better to do with their time? As he listened, he became more disgusted with the Leo brothers. What a waste of valuable resources. He could've sworn they were semi-decent fellows, even if they were loan sharks. They even have their weaknesses, right? Hah, what a mistake that was to believe them capable of decency.

The pirates and loan sharks made sacrifices to keep the creatures from leaving their islands and peninsulas.

Colton sighed in disgust.

Worse yet, he and four others, plus three women, were thrown onto a lifeboat without oars and sent into an area notorious for its whirlpools. It was also mentioned that the first of those islands harboring carnivorous monsters was nearby.

At that point, Colton passed out and didn't remember anything else.

*

The other passengers saw the black hair braided man slump to the floor of the lifeboat. They were horrified at the bloody wound on the back of his head. "Should we wake him up?"

"How bout we toss him overboard?"

"Nah, we'll just let him end up in the sun."

"For sure, he'll probably die from heat stroke or something."

A green-haired man with scarlet eyes glowered at them. "Don't even think about touching him," he growled softly. "If you do, I'll tear you from limb to limb and feed you to the monsters most willingly."

"Sheesh, we were only kidding, man."

"Take it easy. We were just joking."

One of the women harrumphed, "How about instead of making bad jokes, we try and figure out how to avoid those whirlpools?" She told them icily, "I don't know about you, but I don't want any of those pulling me in."

There was silence, and then the green-haired man sighed. "So, what do you propose, lady? We don't have much to work with."

No oars, no way to steer the boat.

So far, they'd used their combined weight to safely move the boat away from the whirlpools, but they'd barely squeaked past the smaller ones. There were at least four big ones, each twice the size of the two smaller ones combined.

The woman shrugged. "I dunno. Why do you all use your pea brains for once and get creative." She snarled. "Why should we women do all the work?"

There was heavy silence.

"For what it's worth. Only the men have been doing the work this entire time. All you three have been doing is bitching and whining." An elderly man snapped. "Now, all of a sudden, you're saying you've been doing something worthwhile?"

The woman who'd spoken first just stared at him. "Just who do you think you are?" She sputtered. "Obnoxious old fart."

"Viper-tongued old bitch." The man said tersely. "No wonder your man cheated on you with that wench." He indicated a small woman of indeterminate age. She had bleached brown hair, watery blue eyes, and pockmarked skin. "Guess they were desperate enough to escape you and the other old hag."

The other woman, who had short brown hair, rounded black eyes, a pale complexion, and a lusciously curved body, frowned at him. "Don't have a man," she sneered. "I don't need no male to satisfy me." She folded her arms and glowered at the old man.

"Lewd creeps." The other woman agreed. She gave the cowering female a cold stare. "maybe toss the cheater overboard instead?"

"No," the green-haired man snapped. "No one is going overboard unless it's you, bitchy wench, who won't shut up." He was focused on keeping the boat from flipping over.

"Why don't we head for that aisle?" He pointed out a tiny spit of land. "After we rest, we can take stock of what is on the island. Maybe we can work out our next bit of action."

Though he was skeptical about this working out.

The brash woman glowered at him. "Are you some kind of cosplay freak with your scarlet eyes and green-dyed hair?"

He snorted. "Nope, born with the eyes and hair." He folded his arms across his chest. "I'm Kellen Jaeger." He glanced at the man, still unconscious. "He's mine, nobody touches him." His eyes turned cold and deadly. "Otherwise, you'll soon learn the real predator here."

His open hostility silenced the others.

They all decided that going to the small island was far better than remaining with the creepy dude with green hair and scarlet eyes. Meanwhile, Kellen Jaeger hoisted the unconscious man into his arms. "Good luck," he told them calmly.

With those words, he dove over the side of the boat, nearly toppling it in the process, and began swimming for the island with solid and steady strokes.

Kellen made it to shore and carried his prize carefully to another part of the island where there was partial shade. There, he laid the unconscious Colton Malta, where he would either die or recover from the blow to his head.

However, before anything could be said and done, a nasty storm struck viciously, and everyone was electrocuted before they could even cry out in agony.

Everyone except for Kellen and Colton was on another part of the island.

They, too, were seared with burns from bright sunlight striking their bodies after water splashed over them.