Chapter 21
Fifteen years ago, Julian and Noel ended up stranded on Skull Island. At the time, Skull Island had been developed into a refugee holding zone.
It wasn’t just refugees on that island–there were also fugitives hiding out after commifting serious crimes, as well as impoverished people from several countries. The government, aiming to clean up the cities, had rounded up homeless people and dumped them there too.
There was no water, no electricity, no internet, and no ships connecting the island to the outside world. The government would drop food supplies at intervals.
But whether it was due to the sick sense of humor of those in charge or not, every time they dropped food, it was only enough to feed about a tenth of the population.
So, fights would break out, people would die every day, and the corpses would be eaten by those who survived.
After Julian and Noel ended up on the island, Julian’s enemies apparently found out he was there and started bombing the place.
They were both injured and could barely mové, let alone find a place to hide.
Just when it seemed like the end, a filthy little girl appeared and led them into an underground cave to hide. That tunnel sloped downward for at least over 300 feet.
Later, they found out that the girl had spent five years digging it out with her bare hands. She had naively believed she could tunnel her way out of that hellish island.
After the bombing stopped, they came out of the tunnel. The entire island was in ruins–every plant and animal had been turned to ash. The dirt was stained red. The whole place reeked of death.
The people on the island had been blasted into pieces. Since it was summer, by the time they came out, the bodies had already started rotting and were crawling with maggots.
There was no way to survive on that island anymore. Even if there were no more bombings, the stench and toxins from the corpses would cause disease soon enough–or they’d die of hunger and thirst.
Back then, Noel had a piece of bread hidden on him. He originally planned to take it out and split it three ways. But the moment that girl saw the bread, she snatched it and ate the whole thing by herself.
After she finished eating, she went and took a dump, then turned to them and said, “One piece of bread split three ways isn’t enough for anyone.
“It’s better for me, the only one not injured, to eat it and get my strength back so I can go out and find help.
“But I did leave something for you guys. I pooped over there. You two can take turns eating it to survive. One of you eats it, then poops, then the other eats that and poops, and so on.
“If you keep doing that, you should be able to hold on for a while, If I manage to get out, I’ll call the cops for you and ask them to come save you.”
Then she dragged a log into the sea, climbed onto it, and started paddling away.
Noel and Julian were both stunned. They thought no human being should ever–could ever–say something that insane.
By the time they snapped out of it, the girl was already drifting off into the distance, leaving behind only that turd to keep them company.
Noel pulled himself out of the memory, his expression complicated.
After a while, it suddenly clicked, and he asked in disbelief, “My lord, you don’t mean to tell me the woman who’s keeping you is that little weirdo from back then, right?
“How is that even possible? There’s no way she swam across thousands of nautical miles of ocean.
“She might’ve been nine years old at the time, but she was tiny like a five–year–old. She was so petite. How could she have had the strength to make it that far?”
Back then, it was the Astorne Family who ended up finding and rescuing them–not because the girl had called for help. So they had always assumed she’d died out there on the ocean.
Julian even had a gravestone made for her, and kept a nameless memorial plaque at home in her honor.
