The Island, Chapter 16 - Sex Stories

The Island, Chapter 16

... named Rain, walked over to me where I was scrubbing at my teeth with my toothbrush. She was a young woman of maybe 18, and her blond hair was matted into dreadlocks. She had a pretty face, but I thought she could have done without the eyebrow piercing and the nose ring. She seemed to have a nice figure, currently hidden under an oversized hemp shirt and cargo shorts. She totally looked the part of a granola-eating tree-hugger, with downy blond hair on her unshaven legs, and Birkenstock-looking sandals on her feet. “Morning!” I said pleasantly. “It’s Rain, right?” “Right in one, Doc,” she said with a smile. “How’s the jerky?” “It’s good,” I told her, chewing. “Did you make it?” “Nah, Stu did,” she replied. “He figured we had to come up with some way to preserve the meat since we don’t have refrigeration.” “I don’t want to offend you,” I said carefully, “but I thought you guys would be vegetarian.” “We are normally,” she said seriously. “We had a long discussion about what to do here on the island. We’re not naïve enough to think that humans aren’t meat eaters in a state of nature, we just believe if you have a choice, you should spare the animals. On this island, we don’t have much choice anymore. As long as we can be as humane as possible, we will eat meat to stay alive.” She looked at me impishly. “Unless you find us a tofu tree, we’re carnivores for now.” She looked back at her friends for a moment, then turned again to me. “We wanted to ask you if you’re up for a little ...

... exploring hike? Our cooking shift is up today, so we wanted to check out the island. You look pretty fit; think you can keep up?” I laughed. “I think so. That sounds like fun. Let me get a shirt and shoes.” I left a message with Falani, who had arisen in the meantime and was poking around the fire pit. I made sure she knew who was on the hike, and that we intended to be back before dark. We took the game trail inward toward the big pool, then cut left, heading for the north end of the island. I was reminded uncomfortably of chasing the terrorist woman this way, but pushed the memory away resolutely. That was over and done with. We made small talk, getting to know each other. I learned they had gone to high school together in northern California, and rather than attend college had hiked a chunk of the Pacific Coast Trail. They had worked odd jobs along the way, and had settled in Portland for a few months to earn money for the Korea trip. I told them about my medical training, and recounted a few amusing anecdotes about weird patients I had treated, keeping them laughing while we ascended to the rocky plateau. “The cliffs are right there,” I said, pointing. “That’s where the hijacker jumped,” I said soberly. “Bummer,” said Stu. “That was some bad shit.” River wanted to look over the edge for her body, but Summer convinced him that was too morbid, so we pressed onward. The ground rapidly rose, working its way to a bare, rocky peak that dominated this end of the island. Rather ...