Desert Island

Chapter 17 : Desert Island Discs

When he awoke things were very different. First of all, there was the sound of barking, filling the air, and looking around, Raj saw the sight of two dogs snapping before him.

Suddenly he realised they were snapping at him, as his legs had been chained apart, for the dogs to strain on their leashes, only inches from his genitals. Desperately he pulled on the shackles binding his arms and legs. Who would have done such a thing to him, and why?

"Help me! Please!"

"What the hell is this place?"

Natasha sat up and felt the chain pull against her arms. Looking around the cell, she sat bolt upright, as she saw the predicament with the dogs.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked as the dogs snapped forward, and the boy pulled back.

"The more you try to struggle, the worse it gets." Doctor Creek walked into the cell, holding a syringe.

"What kind of set-up is this" Natasha wanted to know. "You making an S&M movie? Because I've been in a few, and this is a lousy set."

"I know where I've seen you now," Raj edged away from the dogs. "Dr Creek, or whatever you call yourself. You were called Dr Death in Iraq."

"The media! What do they know?" The good doctor toyed with the syringe as one of his assistants brought a tray of bottles into the cell. "For years the Americans mocked my work. Then when the Gulf wars began, I was in such demand, that we could not keep up. The lab subjects came thick and fast in those days. Now, I have to make do with refugees and asylum seekers."

"Is that what we are? Lab subjects?" Natasha knew a nut case when she saw one and realised things looked bleak.

"What the hell sort of experiment is this?" cried Raj, as the dogs bit on their chains. "I'm about to lose my most private parts!"

"You never miss what you're never had," laughed Natasha, nervously.

"I'll never get a chance now!" cried the boy.

"Keep quiet, they smell fear," said the Doctor.

"They'll smell something else in a minute!"

"Now look here buddy," said Natasha trying to negotiate with the man. "I have over a hundred thousand dollars in an account in California. I can wire it through, and no one need know what you have been up to here. How about it?"

"I don't do deals with hookers. Perhaps you would like to talk it over with one of your colleagues?"

Just then a guard dragged someone into the cell and threw them on the floor before Natasha. The face looked up to reveal a bruised and beaten girl.

"Clare, how did you end up here?" Natasha stared open-mouthed at the girl they had seen disappear beneath the waves.

"I got washed up on the beach, and these crazy people found me. Jesus Natasha, they are evil. Rufus was bad, but these bastards just cut people up."

"Shut her up!" snapped the Doctor to the guard.

"Don't you hit that girl!" shouted Natasha. "The whole world will be watching this place. We just left an island, that was about to be swamped by the world's press. They will be following our ship."

The Doctor hesitated. "How could they be following a bunch of runaways, in that old tub? Who would care?" He sneered now, knowing he had the upper hand.

"We had a satellite dish onboard. Charley always said that if we beamed a signal out, they could triangulate it, and pinpoint us anywhere on the planet."

"You're bluffing?"

"Am I? How do you know there's not a fleet of US warships looking for us right now?" Natasha wondered if he had taken the bait.

"Why should they be looking for you?"

"Not us. The guy who got us this fare was one of the multi-million-pound lottery winners."

"There are plenty of those, and they don't command the attention of the US navy."

"The double winning Euro lottery. Heard of them now?"

The Doctor stopped examining the tray of drugs and looked at the guard. "And where is he now? This double winner?"

"We parted company, but he never gives up, and I bet he'll be here soon. He's turned into some kind of campaigning angel for justice. That island back there was a slave camp. He was dumped there by a big syndicate that wanted him silenced, and now he's escaped, there'll be trouble."

Trouble there was.

"If this is a bluff, I can assure you, madam, that I will take particular interest in feeding you to Moe and Curly here." The Doctor pointed at the rabid dogs, trying to bite a part of poor Raj.

The Doctor was just about to turn to the guard when the girl crawled to Natasha.

"When did you last see Charley?" Natasha whispered in short breaths.

"I lost him when the rope snapped. Oh Natasha I'm in pain, and I'm very frightened."

"Stop them from talking!" shouted the Doctor to the guards.

He was just about to strike out at the girl when they heard the noise.

And noise it was.

The first Natasha heard of it was the roaring of a huge diesel engine. She thought it might be a large truck or something outside. But as the sound grew, she realised it was more than that. By then it had grown so loud that even the guards were worried. And the Doctor was just about to say something else when the sound of cracking wood filled the air.

The monster came crashing in through the wall. Concrete and wood crumbled, as it charged on. Smashing through the walls and smashing through the cells. Onwards it came until Natasha feared that they too would be eaten up by it.

Then the beast passed them by and charged on, to continue clean through the building. It did not stop, even when daylight shone through both sides of the building. In fact it never stopped and went down onto the beach and into the sea. Finally coming to a halt on the coral reef beneath the waves. In its wake, it left a terrible scene of devastation.

The consequence of all this was to free the captured refugees, being held by the doctor for experiments. Now they ran around the island, either trying to escape or looking for revenge.

The Doctor began shouting at the guards as the sound of gunfire filled the air. The guards ran off; the rest of the staff ran off, and even the two guard dogs: Moe and Curly, ran off. They had all seen the writing on the wall and knew their happy time here, was at an end.

The Doctor too knew he was finished.

"Whatever that was, beats me," said Natasha.

"It's Charley! I know it," laughed Raj.

"Where are your pals in the US navy?" The Doctor gave one of his worst sneers and produced a small pistol from his pocket. Slowly he brought it to bear on the girl, menace in his eyes.

"To hell with this!"

Natasha jumped up and pulled on the lengths of the chain. Now, maybe it was the sea salt in the air, but the bracket in the wall just flew out. Old and rusty, it now provided a weapon with which she could attack the doctor.

His eyes flared as he tried to fire the pistol, which jammed. Natasha wasted no time and wrapped the chain around his throat. In his last dying moments, the doctor let out a choking scream, which had the terrible effect of bringing the dogs: Moe and Curly, back into the cell.

They stood there now, growling with menace.

As their teeth flared they leapt at the Doctor, biting him firmly in the genitals. After dragging him by the balls around the cell a few times, they grew bored with that game and ran back outside. Doctor Creek died in pain.

There, silhouetted against the sky, stood Charley, the vicious attack dogs before him.

Just as Natasha was about to shout a warning, the dogs sat down before him. All Charley did, was to produce some bars of chocolate from his pocket and drop them before the dogs. They ate them up with gratitude.

"Strangest thing I've ever seen," said Natasha, looking around at the destruction. "So what kept you?" she dragged her chains over to Raj, still shackled to the wall.

"I had to jump out of a bulldozer," said Charley, spinning round as the sound of gunfire grew behind him.

"Why destroy the whole building? It nearly ran us over like road kill?"

"I couldn't stop it. I've never driven one before, but I knew how to get them started.