KISS in Paradise
Part 20 (by Des)


Eric came back from the Island in hopes that Des had 
come back. When she leftto go to Bruce's Island, he 
thought he would be fine with this, but he soonfound 
himself missing her. And now that Peter had come up 
missing and things not seeming right, Eric was 
beginning to worry. When he entered their tent, he 
noticed that Des' stuff was still gone and no sign 
of her return was evidenced. Eric decided to go for 
a quick swim and then he would make a run over to 
Bruce's Island and see if he could drag Des back 
with him. 


Bruce asked around for Lorie. He had not seen her 
since he came back and the thick fog had seemed to 
come back to take up permanent residence on his 
island. When no one could say they saw Lorie, Bruce 
decided to go search for her. He thought that 
perhaps she had gone to their special place again 
after the rain. 

Bruce noticed that in places along the trail, the 
fog seemed to thicken more, making it nearly 
impossible to see anything two inches from his nose. 
An eerie thought darkened his brain and he began to 
worry more. When he saw the remains of the mutilated 
monkey, Bruce couldn't stop the thoughts from 
infiltrating his brain of Lorie being in the same 
state as the monkey. Bruce noticed that there were 
two sets of footprints in the bloody pool that had 
formed around the entrails. Could those be Lorie's? 
Who was she with? Was it Des? Bruce decided to turn 
back and go find some help. There was no telling 
what he might find and he did not want to face it 
alone.

As Bruce cleared the brush, he saw Eric walking 
across the sand towards him.  "Hey man, have you 
seen Des?"

"Not since I got back. I met her earlier, but I 
haven't been able to find her nor Lorie. I think 
they may have gone swimming again after the rain let 
up. But, when I was just looking for Lorie I saw two 
sets of footprints back in the trees. Do you think 
the other set could have belonged to Des?"

"Could be. Des does love to swim. Let's go see if we 
can find them."

"Well man, we better hurry. I hate to worry you, but 
I found two sets of prints in a pool of blood and I 
don't like the feeling I am having right now. The 
women could be together and if they are, I have a 
feeling they are in trouble."  Eric and Bruce headed 
for the supply tent to gather a few things they 
might need and headed off in search of the women. 

Des and Lorie were having a good time at the falls 
when the fog began to roll in again.  "Dammit. I am 
getting pretty sick of this fog. I wish it would go 
away. I don't want to come across those damn red 
lights again. They looked way too much like eyes for 
my tastes."  Lorie shook her head in agreement with 
Des' statements. The red did look like eyes.

"Lorie, I'm getting scared. What do you think that 
was we saw in the mist before? Do you think whatever 
it was is the same thing that tore up that monkey? I 
just can't believe I talked you into taking me back 
to the falls again. Now we could be in trouble and 
no one knows where we are at."

"I don't know, but I sure don't want to find out. I 
just wish that fog would clear and maybe we could 
take a chance and head back to camp again. And don't 
blame yourself. I love this place and you didn't 
have to twist my arm to bring you back here."

Bruce and Eric headed back into the fog in search of 
the women. Bruce pointed out the footprints in the 
blood. Eric felt his stomach turn in knots, but 
fought back the urge to lose his lunch. Bruce was 
thankful that he remembered the way to the falls 
because he was sure that he would find Lorie there. 
He only hoped that Des was with her and that both 
women would be okay. Bruce and Eric moved on, never 
seeing the red eyes glowing at them from the mist.

Bruce heard the familiar sounds of the waterfall and 
knew they were getting close. If only the fog would 
clear and he could see the path. The ground was 
slippery from the water and he didn't want to fall. 
The mist cleared a little the closer they got to the 
falls and Bruce was able to see his destination. He 
said a small prayer that Lorie was there and that 
she was okay.

"Des. Someone's coming. I hear something." Des 
grabbed Lorie and they held each other in pure fear. 
The women saw a looming figure enter the cave and 
Des screamed. Bruce and Eric both jumped. 

"Who's there," cried Lorie. 

"Lorie. Is that you? It's me. Where are you?"

Lorie jumped up and ran to Bruce. She kissed him all 
over his face and held on to him so tight, he nearly 
quit breathing. "I'm so glad to see you. Des and I 
were swimming and the fog rolled back in. We didn't 
want to try to find our way back to camp again and I 
knew this would be a good hiding place.  Oh I'm so 
glad you found us."

Des approached Bruce who motioned to Eric that the 
women were inside. When Des saw Eric, she began to 
cry for joy. They had been found and they wouldn't 
have to brave the fog alone. 

Lorie let go of Bruce long enough to be introduced 
to Eric. Lorie grabbed Eric and introduced herself 
before firmly planting a thank you kiss on his lips 
for rescuing them.  "Now I think Des deserves a hug 
from you. After all, she is a fan and we did have 
the daylights scared out of us."  Bruce reached over 
and pulled Des into his arms for a hug. Eric pulled 
back from Lorie and looked to Des. Bruce and Des 
were both laughing at the look on Eric's face. Des 
broke free of Bruce's hug and walked over to Eric. 
"Now I'll show you a real kiss." Des pulled Eric' 
face to her waiting lips and proceeded to give him 
the biggest thank you kiss he had ever received. He 
reminded himself to rescue Des more often.

"Well ladies. I think we need to be heading back to 
camp. The sun will be setting soon and I do not want 
to be caught in that fog at night." Bruce grabbed 
Lorie's hand and Eric did the same to Des and they 
all left the little cave behind the waterfall.

Bruce took up the front as Eric covered the rear and 
the ladies were in the middle. The fog was even 
thicker than before. Lore grabbed Bruce's hand and 
held on for dear life. Des could feel Eric against 
her back, but that was little comfort for the great 
fear she was experiencing. Every hair on her neck 
was standing up and she noticed that there was very 
little noise coming from the jungle surroundings. 
Lorie let out an ear piercing scream. Everyone 
turned in the direction of Lorie's outcast hand and 
saw the two flaming red eyes staring at them from 
the fog.

Bruce and Eric grabbed the girls and tried to run, 
but the eyes got closer and seemed to surround their 
every move. Two massive arms reached out and started 
pulling Des free of Eric's grip. Bruce, Lorie and 
Eric tried to hold on, but the beast was stronger 
than they were and Des was pulled free. Des 
continued to scream until her voice was nothing more 
than a whisper in the dark. Bruce, Lorie and Eric 
tried to follow the screams, but the faster they 
ran, the smaller the sounds were and soon, they 
could not hear Des at all. The last thing they heard 
was Des' cry to Eric saying she loved him.   

They looked in every direction, but saw no clue of 
Des. They knew they were going to need help. A 
search party would need to be formed and more men 
would need to be brought in from the other islands. 
They hurried back to camp. While Eric was gathering 
men and supplies, Bruce hung the emergency flag in 
hopes that emergency crews would arrive from the 
other islands and Lorie gathered together medical 
supplies. She could still see the mutilated monkey 
in her mind and she was afraid they would find Des 
in the same predicament.

Des could feel her skin being ripped apart by the 
scaley claws and the only thing she could think 
about was how she had finally found happiness in her 
life and now that life was ebbing away. With her 
last breath she called out Eric's name and died. The 
creature feasted on her body with great pleasure. 
The thrill of the kill was good, but the taste of 
fresh blood was even better.