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I could hardly believe everything that had happened since I was attacked in Australia. Cat really scared me at first, but she turned out to be pretty cool. And Dr. Morris vouched for her, so that was a plus.

Flying was terrifying until I got used to it. By the time we arrived at the island I was sad to stop! It must be wonderful to have wings.

On the way over Cat had warned me about Jacob, so I made sure to keep my distance from him. He was pretty scary anyway, with the way he was always scowling. Especially at Cat.

Everybody else was nice, especially Jill. She does most of the woodworking on the island, and I ended up spending a lot of time helping her out. She's really cool! They don't have a lot of tools, but she still manages to do a lot. Vincent made her some tools out of rock and scrap metal that help.

One of the best things about living on the island, besides not having to run from mutant hunters or having to dumpster dive for food, is that I can swim in the ocean as much as I want! I'm a little envious of Greg, he can breathe underwater! Why couldn't I get a cool mutation like that?

I found out pretty quick that almost everyone on the island was either faster or stronger than normal humans, if not both. Jill and I are some of the only ones that aren't. I can tell that she's a little insecure about that. Especially since she used to be a guy. That was a shocker!

She was a totally straight guy, so she's only attracted to girls. That makes things kind of awkward, because most of the girls on the island are already involved with someone. The only unattached girls are Jill, Tina, and me. I think Jill and Tina get together sometimes, but just for fun. They don't seem to really fit together.

At first when Jill told me all that I was afraid she was going to come onto me, but she put that fear to rest right away. She says she's over thirty years old, even though she doesn't look much older than me! I made it clear I only like guys, though, just in case.

Another nice thing about living here is that I get my own place! They'd built these little adobe huts shortly after Cat arrived. Apparently she didn't get here at the same time as everyone else. They all had their own house at first, but then Cat moved in with Paul. They use Cat's old house as storage, but Leonard moved in with Sarah so I got Leonard's house.

I asked Cat if she still wanted me to watch for people attacking the island. She said not to worry about it right now, because she's going to be away a lot finding other mutants. Since it's her they're after, she figures they'll be distracted trying to keep track of her. I hope she's right, but I make a point of staying alert anyway. Especially at night, since most of the others don't have good night vision like me.

I spend most of my time now with Jill. We talk a lot, and she tells me what it was like working on a ship. It sounds like a lot of boring, hard work to me. Working with Jill is a lot better than that. She seems to like what she's doing a lot better now, too. She's taken to keeping an eye out with me. She only got cat eyes out of her mutation, but good night vision came with that. So we're the best lookouts on the island, other than Cat. And maybe Leonard, since he can fly and has super hearing.

After I'd been on the island a week or so Cat left for Japan to try and find another mutant to join us. I hope she finds a cute boy!

That night I saw a ship; it looked military and didn't have any lights on. "Shouldn't that ship be lit up at night?" I asked Jill, who was sitting with me on the beach as we had been doing for several nights now.

Jill frowned. "Yes, they should. I think this is trouble. Go back to the village and tell everyone what we've seen. I'll stay here and keep an eye on them." She said tensely. I was worried about leaving her alone, but she insisted.

I ran back to the village and started banging on doors. Most people were still awake, and a few weren't at home yet. Paul was, and he ran out to gather up the stragglers. Tina's house was the last one I got to. "Tina, Jill and I saw a ship with its lights off. She told me to come wake everyone up and tell them, but I'm worried about leaving her alone." I told her once she'd opened the door.

She nodded. "Okay, you tell everyone else; I'll go back to the beach and make sure she's okay." She said, then ran off to the storage house. She came out with a rifle over her shoulder and another in her hand. She was also wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a bag. She ran out really fast and I waited for everyone to gather.

I didn't have to wait long. I told everyone what was happening and that Tina had gone back to check up on Jill. Just then we heard gunshots! Paul sped over to the storage house and started handing out weapons, armor, and ammunition. Once everyone was armed he put together a bag of ammunition and stuff and handed it to me, after making sure I was wearing a vest. "I want you to stay under the cover of the trees and hand out extra ammunition and grenades to any of us that need them." He told me.

Once I'd nodded to Paul, we all started running for the beach. Gunshots were still sounding out, so at least they hadn't been caught or killed, I hoped.

When we got to the edge of the trees Paul pushed me down and told me to stay there and the rest of them ran out onto the beach. I couldn't see Jill anywhere, but Tina was crouched down behind one of the boats shooting at some men in scuba gear who were retreating back towards the ship. Greg ran over and dived down behind the boat and talked to Tina. Everyone else took cover and started shooting, too.

I was shivering in fear watching all of this. Greg, after a brief conversation with Tina, jumped up and ran into the water. Tina seemed to be trying to cover him, because she immediately started shooting with abandon. The men in the scuba gear ducked down in the water, but it was still too shallow for them to swim.

Leonard took to the air and I saw that he was carrying grenades! Tina started waving frantically at him and he came back down. I wonder what that's about?

Paul ran up to me and picked up some clips of ammunition from me, then ran them back to Tina. I guess she had run out of ammo.

Suddenly one of the men fell into the water. Only it looked more like he'd been pulled under. I turned away when I saw the water turn red! What's happening out there? Tears were streaming down my face, but I forced myself to look back. The men were now shooting down into the water frantically. I worried that they were shooting Greg, but I saw him pop back up several yards away pulling someone behind him.

Seeing Greg, Tina waved at Leonard again. He took off again and this time dropped a grenade on the men. I flinched at the explosion and looked away. I didn't want to see what that did to them!

I looked back towards Greg, and he was just picking up the body he was pulling behind him and carrying it onto the beach. That's when I realized it was Jill! There was a small oxygen tank strapped to her, and a breathing mask over her face, so I hoped that meant she hadn't drowned!

Everyone got up and started moving towards the men after the grenade blast. They shot at anything that moved until one of the men called out that he surrendered. Mike and Jacob moved forward carefully and took the weapons away from all of them, even the dead or unconscious ones. There was blood and other stuff I didn't want to know about floating in the water, so I concentrated on Jill.

Greg carried her up to me and laid her out on the ground. "I think she's okay, just knocked out." He told me before turning to join the others.

I looked down at Jill. She didn't look injured. I guessed they must have gotten the drop on her before Tina got there or something. With that oxygen tank I guess they wanted to take her alive. Then it hit me, that's why Tina waved Leonard off the first time, the grenade would have gotten Jill, too! I'm sure glad Tina knew about that!

I figured she didn't need the breathing mask anymore, so I took it and the oxygen tank off of her. There was a hissing sound coming from it, so I looked for a valve or switch or something and finally managed to close it off. Then I waited and watched Jill. She looked like she was breathing okay; I hoped she'd be alright!

A few minutes later I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and fell back, but it was only Paul. "Sorry for startling you, Shawna. I just came to let you know everything's okay now. We took all the weapons away from the survivors and treated their wounds. They're taking their dead back with them. As soon as the others catch up, we can go back." He said.

"Was anyone hurt?" I asked, referring to the other villagers, he'd already acknowledged that some of the attackers were dead.

Paul shrugged. "A few flesh wounds, nothing serious." He replied.

I sighed in relief and waited for everyone else. Once we were all together again, with Mike and Jacob weighted down with weapons, Tina picked up Jill and we returned to the village. I noticed Greg pick up the oxygen tank and breathing mask. He already had a couple of others slung over his shoulder.

We put all the weapons back in the storage house, along with the new stuff. Then Tina carried Jill over to the fire pit and Paul built the fire back up. We all sat down. "So what exactly happened?" I asked.

"They'd already knocked out Jill when I got there." Tina replied. "They were putting that oxygen tank and breathing mask on her. I told them to let her go, but they started shooting at me. I took cover and fired back, but there were too many of them for me to be able to get anywhere near Jill. By the time you got there they'd dragged Jill into the water. If you all hadn't gotten there when you did they would have taken her back to the ship by now."

"Thanks for going out and checking on her for me, Tina." I said and hugged her with tears in my eyes. If not for her, Jill would be gone!

"Hey, I should be thanking you!" she protested. She seemed kind of uncomfortable with the hug, or maybe it was the tears. Either way, I pulled back and that seemed to make her feel more comfortable.

"What about that ship?" Greg asked.

Jacob chuckled darkly. "They shouldn't be giving us any trouble. I gave a…message, to those guys we sent back. If they try anything else we'll sink 'em!"

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Mike.

Jacob shrugged. "I told them we've got some C4 we'd plant on the bottom of their ship and blow it." He answered.

"But we don't have any C4." Paul pointed out. Jacob just shrugged again.

"We do have grenades; I could rig something up with them." Greg said.

"Okay, but what about Jill? Why would they want her? I thought it was Cat they were after." Elaine asked.

Just then Jill stirred and started to wake up. She was groggy at first. "What happened?" she asked.

Tina told her everything that had happened. "We were just wondering why they were after you." She finished explaining.

"Why would you think they were?" she asked.

"Why else would they have knocked you out and tried to take you back to the ship?" Tina replied.

"To keep me from raising the alarm, or to get to Cat." Jill answered.

"A hostage?" Paul asked. Jill nodded. "That's not good. Cat will be afraid to leave when she hears about this. But we need more people here. And there are bound to be lots of mutants who would benefit from living here." He said.

"Like me." I said. Paul nodded. "But they didn't get Jill. Wouldn't that prove that it's okay for her to leave?"

"It was a near thing, and Cat's pretty protective. We'll have a hard time convincing her." He replied.

"It might be easier if we're better organized." Elaine pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

"Well, they probably would have taken us completely by surprise if Jill and Shawna hadn't taken it upon themselves to keep watch. We need to have a regular watch day and night. And they need to stay in pairs at all times, and be armed." Elaine answered.

The others agreed with Elaine and we discussed it for a while. It was decided that someone with good night vision would be with each pair of lookouts. Leonard would do flyovers during the day, which would cover the entire island. At night we'd have to concentrate on the area around the village and the beach. It was the easiest place to land because there were reefs and cliffs in most other parts of the island.

We set up a schedule of watches. Jill and I wouldn't have to stand watch for a couple of days since we were considered to have already done so tonight. The fact that Jill was injured, and I'm a minor, probably had something to do with it, too. Whoever had the watch would wear a bullet proof vest; carry a rifle with some extra clips, and a flare gun. That way they could alert us if something's happening, and where.

I wouldn't be using a rifle, because I'm so small. They said I should use a pistol instead. They had lots from the guys who had attacked before.

We all went to bed after that, except for Tina and Vincent, who would keep watch. There'd be three shifts, so everyone had a chance to get some sleep. Paul and Mike would take the last watch.

Paul had me practice with a pistol a bit the next day. Even that knocked me on my butt the first couple of times I fired it! Being tiny really sucks some times.

Things went more or less back to normal after that, until later that day. We knew Cat could be back as early as today, but had no idea if she would or not.

I was helping Jill fix the leg of a chair when we heard deep booming sounds. We ran outside to see what it was, and saw clouds of smoke up in the air. Weaving around them was Cat! It looked like the ship was firing at her! Greg saw this and stormed over to the storage house and retrieved a bag from it before running off towards the beach.

Everyone else had come out to see what was going on, as well, and we all ran to the beach to watch tensely as Cat dodged more smoke clouds. They didn't seem like explosions, there wasn't any fire and the smoke looked funny. "Some kind of gas." Paul muttered. I guess they were trying to capture her alive.

As she got closer we saw that she was carrying someone. I felt sorry for whoever it was, they were in for a rough ride!

Cat continued to dodge for a few minutes, slowly getting closer to the island the entire time. I figured once she'd landed she'd be okay. Whether that was true or not, we never found out. There was a dull thump sound from the ship. The firing stopped and there was all kinds of activity on it. After watching for a couple of minutes I realized it was sinking!

A moment later Greg emerged from the water with an empty bag. "What did you do?!" Paul asked in astonishment.

Greg grinned widely as he answered, "I stuck a bunch of grenades to the ship's hull, pulled the pins, and swam for my life!"

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 To Be Continued….
 

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« KittyHawk - Part 5 »