Where Are We?
Presenting, the first chapter of Shipwrecked, the first outright collaboration between myself and Gideon Kalve Jarvis! It's his world, he just let me play around in it, and we wrote this story together. Technically, this is canon with his Morph universe, along with Woman's Best Friend, Human Bitches, and Morphtalk, though you don't need to know ANYTHING about those stories as this one takes place before. Much, much before. How this will come into play will be left to later installments.
In the meantime, do enjoy.
A woman lay on the sand, legs half in the water as she coughed up another lungful of sea. The air was still heavy with rain, though when she managed to look up, she saw the sun poking over the horizon. After a moment of reflection on the fact that she was alive, she crawled her way up the beach to the grassy area and some amount of shelter from overhanging trees. She was alive, and largely unhurt, though shaken. Being thrown off a boat would do that.
Turning to sit, she looked out to sea. The yacht she'd come here on was in bad shape. It was a nice boat, large, though now the bow crumpled in a very expensive way. She'd never be able to talk about that with Charles, the man who kept the boat for her. There was a lot of things that she didn't think she would be able to explain without quite a few stiff drinks, but there was that. More to the point, she needed to find a way to reconnect with her young charges.
Using a tree for support, the woman slowly stood, testing her legs. They would hold her. Good. One cautious step turned into two, which turned into five, which turned into a cautious gait more concerned with putting one foot in front of the other than anything else. She was cold, she realized. Rubbing over her arms, she wished that she'd had something else to wear other than the halter bikini top and boyshort swimwear. Absurdly, she noted how hard her nipples were, and entertained a brief thought about the impropriety of that before the business of surviving kicked back in. Food, shelter, the girls, in about that order of importance. She looked up.
There was dense forest all around her. She'd stepped on a root, so apparently this had been here for a while...but of course it had been: it was a forest. She knew utterly nothing about forests in general, nevermind specific ones. Was this a tropical forest? She couldn't decide. All she saw were plants and trees and smoke and the sky peeking out of the...smoke? Smoke meant fire, fire either meant lightning had struck on the island or there was somebody else human here. Which could mean the girls. There was another, nastier possibility, but at this point she didn't care.
The woman picked her way toward the smoke, which was more a lateral move in terms of the shore. She eventually arrived at cliff face back on the edge of the beach, and a few huddled figures in swimwear around it. It had to be them!
"Girls!"
She started running forward, calling again, as the figures turned. There was a moment of surprise before they started running toward her, one faster than the others.
"Mom!" The two met in a crushing hug, in equal parts laughter and tears. The older woman looked down at the younger, and soon found herself surrounded by various swimwear-clad girls.
"Mrs. Hill!" cried another. "Are you alright?"
Laura Hill smiled and tried to put her arms around as many as she could. "I'm alright. Maybe a few scratches but nothing serious." She did a quick headcount. "We're missing two of you, I only count four."
"Kelly and Banni went to go find food," Brittany said. "I think Banni made the fire."
"Let's go there - I’m quite cold," Laura said, and the group walked back toward the damp cave and the fire, where she sat down, letting out a sigh. "So, does anybody have the slightest idea where we are?"
-*-
"Cassidy?" Laura poked her head below decks. "What are you doing down here?"
"Checking the weather," answered the sandy-haired girl with her nose buried in a laptop.
Laura waited a moment before responding. "Are we in for rain, then?"
"Sort of, and not really. Storm coming up from the ocean, but shouldn't hit us until late night." Cassidy leaned back, crossing her arms before her grey maillot, partially covering up the long triangle of bare skin exposed by the cut of the swimsuit, which stopped under her navel. She got away with wearing something this revealing because she didn't yet have much of a bust; a bikini would have made that more obvious. The swimsuit did draw attention to the curves of her slender body, especially her long and shapely legs.
The older woman brightened up. "Well then! Perfect for our purposes, right? Come along, there's still some food left if you're hungry."
"I'll pass."
Laura's smile was insistent. "Oh come now. Everyone's looking for you, wondered where you'd run off to."
"Everybody?" The light from the screen reflected off of the rounded lenses of Cassidy's glasses.
"Kelly was, at least."
Cassidy sighed. "I'll be up in a bit."
"Splendid! See you in a moment, mm?" With the smile turned up full wattage, Laura turned to mount the stairs to the rest of the yacht. She paused at the top stair, hearing the running feet, and just barely caught sight her daughter, Brittany, and one of her friends - Kaori, Laura thought - as they ran past. Kaori was being chased and Brittany held a water gun, both girls squealing in delight as they lost themselves in innocent fun.
"Please stop running, girls!" Laura called after them, then smiled to herself. She was half-hoping they continued to ignore her, thinking back to the days of her own exuberant youth. After that moment of reflection, she turned toward the back of the yacht, where the girls had sprinted from. There, the rest of the party was milling around, talking excitedly to each other in a variety of swimwear. Laura checked the table that had been set up.
"Are none of you hungry? There's still plenty of cake and food, though you seem to have done in the fruit bowl. Would one of you like to help me get more?"
"Sure, no problem, Mrs. Hill."
"Oh! No no no no no." Laura put her hands on the dark-skinned shoulders. "Simone, you really mustn't. After all, it's your birthday, isn't it?" Another, more strained smile before she looked past the black girl. "Kelly? Could you be a dear and go get the fruit?"
"Sure, Mom." The two smiled at each other, the family resemblance quite clear as the daughter took the empty bowl with her.
-*-
The bank job was simple. Rush in, shoot the place up a little to prove they were serious, then get out. Jackie kept the getaway van running while the boys – Stress, Clyde, Scott, and Curly – ran in. Right on schedule, Stress led the group out, leaping into the shotgun seat while the other three piled through the side-sliding door. Before Scott’s huge hand had even managed to slam the door shut, Jackie floored it, and they were tearing their way through the streets of Redondo Beach.
Stress was the guy who planned it all out, of course. Stress was a criminal genius, or so he liked to think. Jackie didn’t feel like contradicting him, since he really was good at figuring out how to make these heists turn up all aces. It didn’t hurt that Stress was tall, dark, and very handsome, liked to wear these dark suits that made him look even better, and was actually more than decent in bed. Jackie also had to admit that when it came to getaways, this one was pretty close to genius.
The way Stress planned it, right after the bank job they’d hoof it to the docks. He’d learned through that scrawny wannabe, DD, that there was supposed to be some sort of party on a yacht, a thing being thrown by some friends on the local high school's cheerleading squad and their filthy rich mother. DD wasn’t quite out of high school himself, a white kid with delusions of criminal genius himself. He wanted to be a “muthafuckin' gangsta,” which came off as him dressing even more like a white wannabe than he already was. He thought he was hard because he had a record. Still, the kid’s information checked out, and Stress had everything timed around that information staying good on the day of the heist.
When the van squealed to a halt on the docks, DD and Scott’s cousin, Jamal, were waiting. The information was still good: there were seven rich preppy bitches on a yacht, probably getting ready to cast off to have some fun in the sun away from shore. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Oh yeah, there’d been some screaming, and the big-breasted blonde chick, apparently the mother of two of the girls on the boat, got these huge, terrified eyes when Jackie had stuck a pistol in her face. Once they realized what was going on, and who was in charge now, all the girls did just what they were told. Laura, the blonde MILF, almost didn't need Jackie's gun to her head to assure the coast guard when they came snooping around to find where Stress and his crew went. It was smooth sailing, as they headed further away from port. Jackie had to give it to her; she was pretty smart about not making it harder for her, probably to protect her kids. Though if the dumb blonde had any idea what Stress had in store for her and her brats, she might’ve resisted a lot.
First and foremost, Stress was a businessman. Criminal or not, he was always interested in the opportunities that presented themselves. While the girls were going to be a problem, killing them would just be a waste of potential profit, and he always wanted a chance to maximize profits while minimizing risk. Before he hit international waters, he contacted Sarkis. Sarkis was with the Armenian mafia, a real nasty piece of work. He had plenty of contacts outside the States, and didn’t think it was a problem getting Stress and his team somewhere to lay low for a while, provided the price was right. Seven fresh, healthy, and very beautiful American girls could fetch a profit.
Among his many other activities, Sarkis was also a slave dealer.
Things turned south just minutes after the yacht made it into international waters. Up top, Stress was greeting Sarkis, helping the Armenian onto the boat, while down below, Clyde was getting a little too frisky with the merchandise. Jackie overheard the greasy little sadist as he pushed his hand down the front of one of the girl’s boyshorts. She was the pert little redhead, a cute girl but obviously younger than most of the others, and Jackie thought she’d heard one of the other girls call her Brittany. They weren't saying much now, not since Stress had the rest of the boys tie up and gag them, leaving them sprawled out on the furniture in the belowdecks stateroom. She'd heard them because they were all making noises due to Clyde, and he definitely couldn't be more of a creep though; as Jackie walked in, he was running his tongue up the redhead's cheek.
“Oh yeah,” whispered Clyde. “You’re a tasty one. Y'ever been fucked before, sweet thing? I bet not, but I can show ya what it's like.”
Jackie couldn't believe him. Clyde, the stringy-haired freak, bent the girl over one of the couches, holding her in place with one hand on her wrists. The other was dragging the red boyshorts down, like he was actually going to go through with this.
“Once I get my dick out,” Clyde continued, giggling as he moved his free hand to his belt. “then I’ll make a real woman out of ya.”
“Seriously, Clyde?” Jackie said, making Clyde jump and look back. “You know what Stress said: Sarkis wants the girls to be virgins.”
“Aw, you know how it is, baby,” Clyde answered with a grotesque leer, still working his belt open, then going for the top button of his cargo shorts. “I gotta check the merchandise. These girls get started earlier every year. Not my fault if her rag got taken before I got here. I mean, don't these rich girls ride horses and shit, and that breaks 'em?”
In all honesty, Jackie wouldn’t have minded seeing Clyde pound a hot load into one (or two) of the girls. Actually, she’d have loved to watch Scott do the honors with his big dick – Jackie was a huge fan of big dick porn. And no condoms, of course; she never got along with rich, preppy types, and to give 'em a pregnancy scare would be a hell of a joke. As Jackie thought about it, Scott had quite a few kids by quite a few mothers, to hear him say it. But business was business, and she shook her head, fixing her face to disappointment. “Clyde, put that thing away before--”
"Before what?" a voice barked from behind Jackie. As if on cue, the Armenian shoved her aside as he came in the room, Stress right behind him. What they saw was Clyde with his shorts around his knees, his long, skinny dick rubbing against the redhead’s baby smooth bottom, leaving a trail of precum as the girl squirmed and made a whole lot of noises behind her gag. Clyde, that son of a bitch, looked straight back at his boss and grinned. “Melvyn!” he said to Stress, not a hint of guilt on his sallow face.
That’s when it all started to hit the fan, naturally.
Sarkis called down the boys he brought with him, while Stress yelled for Curly to bring everybody down. Sarkis started screaming at Stress about 'damaging the merchandise', and Stress yanked Clyde away from the girl by his throat, only partly because Clyde was close to ruining everything (the other reason was he hated his first name and Clyde, like an idiot, took any opportunity to call Stress by that). She dropped to the couch next to the black girl, and the room was suddenly filled with drawn guns, hard stares, and shouting from Sarkis. Nobody was pointing guns at anyone, but everyone was very focused on what was going on in this room at that moment: Stress tried to calm down Sarkis while keeping Clyde away from the girls.
This also meant that nobody was up top when the storm hit.
Out of everything that Stress had planned for, being in weather wasn’t one of them. He’d thought that a bit of a storm would help to throw off any Coast Guard pursuit, he was right. The problem was how unpredictable the weather could be, and how quickly a little tropical storm could turn into something a lot bigger fast.
Moments later, the boat started rocking very dangerously, and Stress and Sarkis came to enough of an agreement to move to the Armenian's boats, since this yacht didn't look like it could handle the waves. When somebody tried to get the girls, Stress should "Leave them!" As much as the cash from the sale of the girls would be great to have, Stress wanted to live more.
As Jackie was on her way out, she saw that the redhead had somehow managed to untie the black girl’s ropes. She also heard something break on the yacht, so she didn't trouble herself over the girls getting free – it wasn’t like those girls were going anywhere but to the bottom of the sea.
“Looks like we’re stranded here,” said Stress in his usual disinterested, masculine growl, walking up to where Jackie continued to lean against a palm tree. Behind him, the other men continued trying to set up some kind of camp. “Sarkis’ pilots are telling him their engines are shot, and there’s no parts for repairs."
"Any idea where we are?"
Stress shook his head. "Apparently Sarkis had some paper maps, but nobody's been able to figure out where we are on them. We’re not just stuck here, but we don’t even know where ‘here’ is. But there’s a ray of sunshine in all this mess.”
Jackie knew that expression. Stress had it whenever he'd come up with a particularly brilliant plan, and he wanted her to ask him about it. "Yeah?” she asked, not wanting to make Stress dangle for too long.
“Curly says he saw the yacht make landfall over on a beach off that way a few miles,” Stress answered, waving down the beach. “Guess those girls managed to make it through the storm. If their yacht’s in good enough shape, we can either use it to get out of here or break it down for parts.”
"What about the girls?" she asked.
"Tensions are still pretty high, but Sarkis and I came to an agreement. American girls are still pretty valuable, even if they're not virgins." Stress gave Jackie a look.
“So if we catch 'em,” she said with a predatory grin, “we get some entertainment while we fix the boat.”
Stress’ mouth quirked upward, ever-so-slightly. It was as close as he ever got to smiling. “Yes,” he agreed, turning away. “I’m getting a hunting party together for first thing tomorrow morning, after we’ve all gotten a rest. I assume you’re coming with us?”
“Oh yeah,” Jackie answered with a wicked laugh. "It's gonna be fun watching those bitches get fucked over!”
-*-
"Banni! Don't wander too far, okay?" Kelly called out.
The Indian girl responded in kind, picking her way carefully through the underbrush. The two had split up in order to better find something that looked edible, though without the pressing need of immediate hunger Banni allowed her mind to wander. There were so many unusual kinds of flora around that she stopped and smelled a few of the more exotic-looking flowers, shivering slightly. That was the odd thing about them, there was always some kind of unified element of scent about them, even though she couldn't quite pinpoint what, exactly, it was.
"You find anything yet?" Kelly asked, her voice a bit farther away.
Huh? Oh right, they were supposed to be foraging for food. "Not yet!" Banni took a few more steps and came upon what seemed like a likely bush, filled with berries that reminded her of blackberries. Picking one carefully, she sniffed, then popped it into her mouth. Again, she got that familiar-yet-not feeling, though in a much better way. "I hope you aren't poisonous," she told the bush, grabbing a few more berries. Looking around, she found a large leaf in which to put her bounty, and stripped about a quarter of the bush. "Maybe this'll last us a while," she mused to herself, standing to adjust the straps on her candy-cane monokini before a sound made her turn.
Banni froze. She hadn't realized it, but not very far away was some kind of... dog or wolf that was as surprised to see her as she was to see it, apparently. At least, she thought it was a canine, as she could really only see the head, the rest was in the shadow of a tree and hidden by a bush. After a solid minute or two of not moving, gradually Banni relaxed herself, because it didn't appear like the wolf-dog-thing was going to attack her. The creature had reached the same conclusion, as it seemed to lean forward, sniffing in her direction.
"Hello," she said, and the dog-wolf started, ears focusing on her. Maybe it was the brown eyes, but this creature reminded her of the dogs she'd seen back home, all of which she'd gotten along with pretty well. Even though the creature was tall enough to come up on her shoulder on her short, 5'2" frame, she lowered herself slightly. "Hey there," she said again, softly, gently, and held out a hand.
The creature's head tilted, and Banni heard it move forward. "You friendly?" she asked it. Again the eyes shifted upward to her face, and she was careful to look the dog in the nose rather than directly in the eye. If it was a dog, anyway. She reached forward, moving slowly as to not startle it, and seemed a few inches away... then an inch away, then half an inch, then...
"Banni?" Kelly's voice was closer than she expected, and both dog-thing and her reacted. She looked over toward the sound, only to hear the creature running in the opposite direction. Banni stood to get a good look at it, but she only got a flash. At least, she thought she did. Did that thing...?
"Banni! Oh, there you are." Kelly brushed back a bush and frowned. "Something happen?"
Saying she saw a dog-like creature that ran on two legs seemed absurd. "No, but I found some berries."