Everyone seems to do Gilligan eventually. Seven people stranded on a desert isle, perfect for various beasts to complicate matters, except no free water to speak of, that's why it's called a desert island. And of course you can't have too many dangerous creatures living there from the beginning, or the castaways would have bumped into them long before now, and there's not much to eat on the island either to support predators. Have you ever seen an animal on Gilligan's island, other than the occasional lion washed ashore in a crate? :) So, the islanders survive on coconut milk, fruit juice, and of course the Professor can figure out a way to distill fresh water from the ocean. What would the animals do, perhaps an underground stream of fresh water? Perhaps that's why they haven't bumped into the predators already. Or a few small rivers, but still no major predators to speak of. How big is that island anyway, and just how many animals could it support? Hey, they had a giant spider once, so there have got to be plenty of little critters for it to have eaten to get so big. I suppose we just never saw much in general animal life due to the low budget. So, I don't have the same budget problems, and may introduce some animal scenery. Anyway, little critters mean some sort of water supply, even if they mainly get water from the fruits they eat.
Gilligan's Island, The Snake Hunt,
7/2000, By Py,
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Now sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the Skipper brave and sure, 5 passengers set sail that day, for a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour, The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost, the Minnow would be lost. The ship set down on the shores of this uncharted desert isle, with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire, and his Wife, the Movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan's Isle.
1. The twin engine cargo plane wings it's way through the night sky, the horizon glowing with the fading sunset. "How's our zoo keeper and the cargo doing?" asks the pilot as the co-pilot returns. "Fine Dave, the gorilla is pacing in it's cage, the lion's are resting but on edge. The rest are about the same, including our passenger who's a bit airsick. She's having difficulty as a result keeping a close watch on them, I helped where I could, but I'm not opening those crates to check on the snakes, not in this lifetime at least!" Dave smiled as his co-pilot sat down, "I guess we should add one chicken to the manifest." The co-pilot looks at him, and playfully counters, "Oh yeah, you check out the snakes oh great pilot." Dave smiled, "Add 2 chickens to the manifest."
The navigator turns in his seat, "I've got a storm warning ahead." "Should we alter course and go around?" the pilot asks. The navigator considers, "It's not too bad, and the storm system is quite wide. We'd be an hour or more going around, I suggest we just go through Dave." The pilot looks at the many gauges before him, "Okay, we've got fuel, and those animals are restless. We don't want them to stay aboard in their cramped environments any longer than they have to." "I agree Dave." says the co-pilot. "But we're going to bounce around a little in the storm." "Can't be helped. The delay would probably be worse for them." said the pilot with a shrug, but you better warn our zoo keeper so she's prepared, and give her some airsickness bags."
Dark clouds envelope the plane, rocking it side to side, the storm increasing in intensity with each moment. The animals Howell their discontent as the plane pitches and rolls. Lightning flashes and one of the engines catches on fire. The pilot turns on the fire suppressors while the co-pilot shuts down the engine. While they try to control the plane with one engine in the storm, the navigator uses the radio to send out a mayday. "I'll keep trying, but I don't think they can hear me in this storm!" the Navigator says. The Pilot nearly shouts as he fights the controls of the descending airplane, "Keep trying anyway, we're going to have to ditch this thing.? He hesitates, "According to charts there's nothing out here, but if we find anything I'll try to land near it. Then we've got to get the animals out first! Paul, warn our zoo keeper, then get back here pronto!" The navigator gets up slowly in the plane as it pitches and rolls, "I'll tell her, but I think she's probably got the idea already!"
The pilot isn't sure, but after a while he thinks he sees an island at the limit of his vision. The co-pilot agrees, and they make for it, planning to ditch the plane as close to it as possible. When the navigator returns, he continues to send a distress call to anyone listening on the radio, but here's nothing but static in return, "I don't know if anyone's hearing me Dave, I'm trying to give our coordinates. I hope someone can hear!" Keep trying!" the pilot commands.
The right wing droops and hits the water first, the rest collapsing into the ocean almost immediately afterwards. The 3 men are thrown against their restraints, and a few animal cages break from their clamps. The woman who accompanied the animals had refused to leave them to strap into a seat, and was thrown against the bulkhead and knocked unconscious. The Navigator is first to revive, and he goes to the other 2 in the cockpit. The co-pilot is dead, his restraints having failed, allowing his body to be thrown forward into the windshield where his neck had broken. The navigator checks the pilot, who is unconscious, then awake but not fully aware.
After a few moments, both are up and moving to the cargo area. First they check their only human passenger, and find her unconscious but alive, with a large cut on her forehead. They move her to one side out of the way, and they hope she will be unseen if any of the animals give them problems. The pilot comments that they seem to be on a sandbar about 100 yards off shore, but there's no telling how long the plane will remain on it and afloat. He commands that they must free the animals, and let them swim to shore. Then they'll grab what they can and go also. "What about locals?!" says the navigator. "It's a small uncharted island." the pilot assures. "There's nobody living here or we'd have it on the charts!"
They begin carefully and quickly releasing the animals starting with the snakes, maneuvering the snake crates to the open door, then letting the creatures out so that they drop into the raging water. The plane is slightly tilted upwards at the open hatch, but still they use cattle prod type devices to insure that the serpents don't try to climb back in. The small and medium size ones give them no trouble, but there are a few large ones which need to be prodded and hit on the head with the prods a few times. Then they wait a while for the snakes to disperse before letting anything else go. They know that some or all may not make shore, but hope for the best. Other animals they manage in a similar fashion, watching the gorilla standing on the sandbar after it's release. Finally when all but the lions are gone, the cage which was damaged in the crash breaks open prematurely. The female jumps out and viciously attacks the gorilla in the water. The male charges the men. Dave blocks a blow with his arms but gets clawed across his body and face. While he is down the navigator attacks the lion using one of the cattle prods which they had brought for such possibilities as this. The lion roared and batted the cattle prod aside, and as he screamed the navigator was knocked to the ground and mauled. While the navigator was dying, the pilot crawled and then staggered off to the cockpit, where he attempted to barricade the door behind him.
Gilligan leads the Skipper and the Professor along the beach as they dragged a bamboo raft. "Tell me again what you and Mary Ann saw." asked the Professor. Gilligan points, "We were looking for coconuts, sometimes you find a lot on the ground after a storm. We didn't find much, so I climbed a tree, and tried to pull a few loose. Out on the sandbar I saw a plane. It wasn't there yesterday." "What kind of plane?" the Professor asked. Gilligan held out his arms, "A big one, with a propeller on the wing I could see, and a big open door on the side." The Skipper wanted to hit Gilligan on the head with his hat, but had his hands full pulling the vine attached to the raft they were dragging. The Professor just thought, "sounds like some sort of cargo plane perhaps. Let's hurry, there might be injured people, possibly a radio that will work, or at least other items we might want to salvage. That sandbar isn't stable, the plane might slide off and sink at any moment."
As they came within sight of the plane the Professor called for them to stop. He ran forward and looked at the beach, the others close behind, "Look at these footprints." "They aren't human, what are they?" asked the Skipper. The Professor pointed, "That is a lion print, that's another kind of cat, perhaps a medium size tiger. Over there looks like horse prints or something similar, and those ditch-like tracks in the sand, some sort of snakes, various sizes including a few obvious specimens from the general grouping of reptilicus giganticus." "Big ones too!" said Gilligan as he pointed to one. The Professor continued. "I'd guess they swam here from the plane last night." "Should I go back and tell the others?" Gilligan said eagerly. "Could they be dangerous?" asked the Skipper. The Professor stood, "Even if they're trained animals they could be highly dangerous. Especially considering we haven't a lot of prey animals for the predators to eat. They'll get hungry, desperate, and we're the biggest food around. We can hope they'll eat each other, but eventually some of them will try to....." "Eat us." Gilligan says with a gulp.
The Skipper commands, "Gilligan, the Professor and I must go to the plane. You run back to the huts, explain the situation to everybody. Then have everyone gather in the biggest hut, set a fire outside, and remember the one machete we have?" Gilligan nods, and the Skipper continues, "Get it, and use it to defend the hut. I'll think of a more permanent plan when we get back, now run little buddy!" Gilligan turns and runs into the jungle to take the shortest route to the huts, and the Professor and Skipper pull the small raft as quickly as they can.
At the huts Gilligan tries to relay the information to the others in his usual confusing manner. Eventually they understand the situation, except they believe that the tigers and lions are in the dozens, and that the snakes are as big as airplanes. They quickly gather inside the Howell hut, setting a fire a short distance beyond the door, and at Mary Ann's suggestion another behind the hut. Then Gilligan gets the machete from the supply hut, and they wait for the others to return. If any of the others had any doubts about Gilligan's story, they were convinced at the sound of 2 big cats roaring as they fought in the jungle.
The Skipper and the Professor push the raft out into the ocean as far as they can, then climb aboard and use paddles to direct it to the plane. It's an unwieldy craft, small and barely big enough for 4 people, but it's normally quite useful for their purposes, which most often is as a platform from which to dive for clams. As a vehicle of transport out to the plane it proves to be slow and hard to maneuver. At the plane the Professor quickly climbs inside and ties the vines just inside the open hatchway so that the raft will not float away. By the time he's finished the Skipper has managed to pull his large bulk into the aircraft, "Seems to have been abandoned, lots of empty cages and crates." "They probably realized the plane was eventually going to sink, so they let the animals go." The Professor agreed. "Probably they were concerned that the animals would all die if it sank, and at least this way they had a chance." "Wouldn't that make survival difficult for them?" the Skipper asked. "Probably." the Professor agreed. "But they most likely thought it was there duty to save the animals if possible. They could always move into the hills where animals would be less likely to bother them."
The Professor looked around a bit, "I'll check the cockpit, you finish here then move to the rear of the plane." With no further words they split up, the Skipper peeking into half open crates as he went. The Professor had to call the Skipper to help him as the cockpit door was stuck. Working together they managed to get it open, and both saw the terrible scene inside. The Professor pronounced one man dead with a broken neck, and that the other would die soon from excessive bleeding. "It looks like a big cat clawed him." commented the Professor. The Skipper took off his hat and placed it over his heart for a moment. The pilot stirred, and in a hoarse whisper he tried to speak, "Paul, and Jeff, are they okay." The Professor touched his shoulder, "Who's Paul?" The pilot spat blood, "We let the animals go, lion clawed me, then attacked my navigator." The pilot tried to sit but the Professor held him down, "The zoo keeper, is she alive?" the pilot gasped. "Zoo keeper?!" the Skipper asked. The pilot fell limp and the Professor pronounced him dead. "We'd better look around, there might be another survivor." said the Skipper. "Possibly, I doubt it, but we must look!" the Professor agreed.
Walking to the cargo area again they do a quick search for survivors elsewhere on the plane. The first thing they find is the shredded body of the navigator. They don't waste time with him and continue the search, looking into large crates and around them. As they came to the end of the cargo hold, fearing the animals had gotten the final person also, the Skipper rounded a large empty crate and saw a blonde haired woman laying on the plane's deck. "Professor, over here!" he called, and within moments the Professor was confirming that the woman was unconscious but alive. "She's lucky. I don't know why she didn't strap herself down, but when the plane hit she was fortunate enough not to break her neck." the Professor reported. "I think she struck the bulkhead shoulder first, she's probably going to have a bad bruise there, as well as the cut on her forehead." After moving her to the door, the Professor opened each of her eyelids individually, watching the pupil dilation, "I don't think she has a concussion, I hope not since we can't do much for that here."
They moved her closer to the open door, finished their search, and the Professor went back to the cockpit. The radio was dead, but he wanted to salvage as much of it as they could. They spent time trying to free it, but it was securely welded in place. So they found some tools in a toolbox they wanted, and placed as many parts of the radio in it also. They took the 2 cattle prod like devices, a survival kit with a machete and medicines, a flare gun, and they would have grabbed more except the plane groaned and shuddered as it moved. They didn't want to still be attached to the plane if it sank, and hoped to be able to return later. Loading everything onto the raft including the woman, they cut the vines with the machete and headed for shore.
Once on shore the woman began to stir, and she was briefly shocked at the sight of 2 strangers looming over her. The thinner man in white bent down to her, "I'm the Professor and this is the Skipper. We rescued you from your plane out there where it crashed on the sandbar." The woman was tall, with long slightly curly golden blonde hair, with greenish eyes and facial features that suggested Mediterranean heritage. As her hesitation grew the Professor wondered if she spoke English, then she nudged him aside to see past him, "The plane! Oh my god, how are the others? Are my animals okay?" The Skipper fumbled for words, "The other people are dead, well 3 that is. Did the plane have more than 3 other people? As for your animals, it seems while you were unconscious the crew let them out." She stood quickly, "They'll kill each other!" "The planes going to sink soon, they would have died by drowning if they hadn't been released." the Professor pointed out. As if on cue, the plane groaned, sliding forward and rolling slightly, a small amount of water seeping into the gaping cargo hatch. They were silent for a while, and the Professor added, "It won't stay afloat much longer, tonight or by morning at the latest." The woman sighed, "I feel terrible about the crew, but I can't do anything for them. As for my animals, I suppose your right, the animals have a better chance to survive loose here."
She turned to face them, "Thanks for rescuing me, I'm Carla, chief zoologist in charge of the Southern California Zoo, are you the only 2 here?" "No Ma'am." says the Skipper taking her hand in a gentle handshake, "We're 7 in all, 4 men and 3 women. We've been trapped here on this island since we were shipwreck some years ago." "You'd better warn your friends about my loose animals." she said with concern. "Already done thank you." he said with a smile. "Gilligan took the information to them as soon as the Professor saw the tracks in the sand." The Professor interrupted, "Why did you have such a large cargo with such variety, is it a big zoo." Carla looked at him, "It's a good sized zoo, but some of those animals were going to other zoos, some to circuses. There was even a crate of African frogs bound for some scientific labs, if they don't die in the salty ocean water you could find yourself with a small invasion of frogs on your hands. If so I wouldn't worry too much, they're supposed to be all the same gender so it shouldn't be a long lasting problem." A loud animal cry comes from the jungle, and the Skipper picks up the machete, "Everyone pick up something, we'll leave the raft here for now, it's high enough to be safe from the tides. I think it would be best if we were going." Nobody argues, and they head down the beach towards the lagoon.
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2. It had been a few weeks since the crash of the plane, and life on the island was largely back to normal, with the addition of the new castaway and zoologist Carla. They had spent a week living in a cave, sending parties out occasionally to hunt for food, and see how the situation was with the animals running loose on the island. Carla had hoped for a fast rescue, followed by a rescue of whatever was left of the animals, but every day had made that hope more distant in her mind. Now she was solely concentrating on their own survival, and in the back of her mind hoping maybe to save 1 or 2 of the rarer ones. To both of those ends she had the planes manifest, which had been rescued on the 2nd and last trip to the plane before it slid into the ocean completely. After the Skipper had settled arrangements for the night, and they had discussed what to do the next day, Carla, the Skipper, and the Professor had returned to the plane, finding the water level halfway up the cargo hold hatch. They had saved a few items, including the plane's manifest, a fire extinguisher, and several crates. Since the crates floated it was easy to tie them together and simply drag them behind the raft as they rowed ashore. They planned to dry the wood, and find uses for it later.
Carla first at the cave then back at the huts took in the daily count of dead animals found, including locations where they were found so as to try and avoid counting the same creature twice. Most of the large prey animals were reported dead already, by her count the ones still alive included the ostrich, a zebra, and a few others, and her gorilla was still out there also as far as she new. As for the predators the male lion was dead, as was a black jaguar, but the lioness was still out there, and the young Bengal tiger also. They had found plenty of dead snakes, although almost entirely smaller ones such as the cobra, bushmaster, and a pair of dead rattlesnakes, which Carla assured the others accounted for all the poisonous animals. Their were plenty of small ones still out there of the nonpoisonous variety, and having noted a decline in the frog invasion, she attributed it to them. As for the large dangerous constrictors, they had found 2 dead, a 20 foot reticulated python which had been torn to pieces and eaten apparently by one or more big cats, and an 18 foot boa constrictor which had been likewise torn apart. The 27 foot anaconda had been spotted in a river, and a few unidentified snakes had been seen from time to time from a distance. Carla was mainly concerned though about her accuracy in keeping track. She knew some animal bodies might wash out to sea, or if eaten by a snake their would be no trace. The smaller ones were too numerous to keep track of, as well as being almost impossible to locate after dead, where large animal corpses could be readily found by food gathering parties. Her biggest concern was for her gorilla, no body had been found in 2 weeks, also no footprints nor signs of any kind to indicate the gorilla was alive. She had fought for a year for the funds for that gorilla, and now it seemed to be dead.
Carla stood at the lagoon holding a machete, Mary Ann next to her with a cattle Prod. Ginger a few steps away with the other machete was testing the water with a toe, and Mrs. Howell with the other cattle prod stood next to her. The procedure they had been working with since the emergency had begun was for only one group at a time to leave the hut area, either as 2 or preferably 3, or even more, each carrying the best weapons available. Their hope was that there would be safety in numbers, and failing that they would have the best possible weapons to fight with. They had made some bamboo spears, a few with stone or hardwood points, and a few other weapons, including strengthening and duplicating a primitive ax they had made years ago. These were all easily available to anyone in the huts. Right now it would be all the men in the huts, as the women wanted to bathe, but the men were checking the bushes and lagoon surroundings first.
"So, what do I do, just stand here and watch for danger?" asked Mrs. Howell. "Yes." replied Carla. "And if you see anything like a strange animal call to warn everyone!" "If it attacks anyone your going to have to help fight it." said Mary Ann. "Oh heavens, fight the nasty thing?!" Mrs. Howell said in shocked amazement. "You mean hit it with this stick?" she said while making several thrusts into the air with the cattle prod. "That's the way." Carla said with a smirk. Ginger took her arm, "Don't worry Mrs. Howell, we probably won't even see any strange animals today." Gilligan falls out of a tree and lands on the sandy ground near them with a thud. Ginger releases Mrs. Howells arm and sighs, "Maybe I spoke too soon."
The men assemble with the women as Gilligan stands with Mary Ann's assistance. "All's clear!" pronounced the Skipper. "Not a single dangerous carnivore in the immediate area, and none have been here recently!" assured the Professor. "No big animals around either." added Gilligan. Mr. Howell raised his stone ax, "Just let them come, I'll cut them to pieces. Now let's get back to the huts men." "Be careful girls!" remarks the Skipper as the men begin leaving. "The huts aren't far if there's trouble." reminds the Professor. "Everything's clear and safe as can be!" says Gilligan in a confident tone. "There'll be no trouble here. If there is just call me!" "There leaving you behind Gilligan." says Ginger softly. "You wouldn't want the men to leave you alone and return to the huts without your protection, would you?! " says Mary Ann. Gilligan begins running, "Hey guys, wait for me." Mary Ann and Ginger giggle slightly while Mrs. Howell smiles. "I thought it was a temporary thing since the animals arrived." said Carla. "Please tell me he's not always like that." "You'll get used to it." replies Ginger. "He's harmless, and really good for gathering food." adds Mary Ann. "Poor boy, but he means well and just tries too hard I think." says Mrs. Howell.
A week later the last loud predator noise was heard, followed by days, then a week without further such noises. At a meeting of all the castaways both Carla and the Professor warned that this did not mean they were gone. "The majority of the dangerous predators might have moved to the other side of the island." the Professor said. "And there's still the snakes." Carla pointed out. "They don't make loud noises, so could still be in the area. It's not a huge island, anywhere is too close for any of these dangerous animals. Most of the snakes are too small to be a danger, but there are a few to be concerned about, and they don't need to eat very often." The Professor nodded in agreement. "They'll be a problem for some time to come, I'm afraid they might find life here comfortable and be a new and constant hazard. Carla tells me that they weren't as careful about sending only one gender with the snakes, so I suggest if anyone finds one we make a concerted effort to eliminate it before it reproduces!" "Are you suggesting we hunt them down?!" asked Mary Ann. "Yes, Carla and I think we must!" the Professor said while holding out his hands palms up. "The other predators seem to be gone, there's no other way to get rid of the remaining dangerous snakes other than starvation." "And there's enough food on this island for them to survive indefinitely." added Carla. "That's even before counting us as potential food." The Professor nodded, "We might get lucky, perhaps all the largest ones and those that could grow large enough to endanger us are gone already. However Carla and I feel we can't just trust to chance." The Professor tilted his head and raised a finger, "There's also the smaller snakes to consider as well, We are concerned that the major influx of small carnivores could deplete the islands natural resources to the point where human life becomes impossible, or at least more difficult with the reduction in our meat supply, and corresponding damage to the local ecology." "What?" said Gilligan. "Eat us out of house and home." says the Skipper. "Looks like we're going to have a snake hunt." says Ginger. "I met a lot of snakes in Hollywood but never had to kill any of them. Usually a flat refusal to do their movie, or whatever else they had on their minds was enough."
The next day they start early, having made plans the previous night who would go where, and seeing no reason for last minute changes now. The Howells had volunteered to guard the camp, "After all, some beast might break in and do damage if no one's hear waiting to defend the place, right Lovey dear." Mr. Howell had argued. "Absolutely, why they could get into all sorts of mischief." she replied. Unwilling to argue the point as everyone thought the Howells would most likely be hurt than do any good, it was agreed that the Howells would guard the huts until everyone returned.
The first day they split up into teams, they put Carla and the Professor on opposite teams as the people who knew the animals best, the Skipper with Carla, and Ginger with the Professor. This put Gilligan and Mary Ann together, and they all agreed that if things didn't work out they'd try switching the next day. Mary Ann and Carla got the machetes at least the first day, Ginger and the Professor each took a stone ax, while the Skipper and Gilligan each had a cattle prod, and the men each had a spear also. Weapons could change if they switched partners, or if things seemed better a different way later. The agreement was for the teams to try and stay within shouting distance of each other as much as possible, although they knew separation would be easy. Each team was to kill snakes they found if small enough to do so on their own safely, calling for help if it was too big. If no help came they were to remember the site and try to find another team, or continue on, and the next day a larger group could be sent to that area.
Things went smoothly the first few days, each team finding and killing several snakes, the largest one killed was a 17 foot boa which the Skipper had stumbled over and held in place, while Carla circled around to cut off it's head, and the Professor and Ginger had worked together to kill a python they estimated was about 14 feet long. Gilligan had fainted at the sight of a 12 foot snake hanging down from a tree, and had raised his head just in time to see the Skipper and Carla arriving, and as Mary Ann grabbed the snake near it's head, and with one blow from the machete cut it off. After that they discussed the possibility of making 2 groups of 3, but Mary Ann insisted things were fine, and Gilligan would do better next time. "I wouldn't have gone near it alone, except I heard help approaching. Gilligan was caught off guard, he rounded the tree and there it was hissing in his face. He'll do better next time!" "Yeah, I'll do better next time!" Gilligan agreed. "I couldn't help it this time, suddenly I'm face to face with this giant 30 foot snake hanging out of a tree and spitting venom at me, so I jumped out of the way and tripped."
The teams and weapons remained the same on most days, and usually someone was late starting as they helped the Howells gather firewood for the camp to use that night. Having found fewer snakes each day, Carla had explained one night why so many snakes had been on the boat, and why so many smaller ones. "Aside from the zoos and circuses that want them, there's also Hollywood which is making more movies involving snakes in one scene or another, so trainers and breeders are trying to get larger numbers and varieties of snakes these days." "I don't know if I'd want to do a movie with a real snake in it?!" Ginger had commented. "You wouldn't have to worry!" Carla soothed. "First of all they don't kill unless hungry or they feel threatened. Second, if the snake starts trying to kill an actor or actress, the directors will kill the snake if necessary. Handlers like me are always on the set during scenes with animals." She smirked, "I haven't lost an actor or a snake yet!"
After another few days they had gone the whole morning without killing any snakes larger than 5 feet long. They were traveling into less frequently used areas, and with more confidence allowing the teams to go farther from camp and each other. Gilligan and Mary Ann were entering a clearing on the far side of the island, when she stopped and her arms blocked his path. Gilligan stopped talking as Mary Ann signaled him to be quiet, and pointed to the far side of the clearing. Huddled by the carcass of what appeared to be some sort of small monkey, was a large lioness trying to strip some more meat off the bones. They crouched down, but the lioness lifted it's head and saw them. "Don't run, just slowly back-up!" whispered Mary Ann. The lioness stood, then with a roar began running towards them. "Run!!" screamed Mary Ann, but Gilligan hadn't needed to wait for her to say so.
In the rush of the moment they lost each other, but the lioness had quickly stopped chasing them, as it's badly infected leg wouldn't let it go far or fast. Mary Ann realized that she had lost Gilligan, and couldn't hear the big cat chasing her. She took a corner, and fell into a patch of island quicksand. Instantly she plunged to the waist of her denim shorts, and unable to move her legs much she began calling for help. Gilligan heard the calls of distress, "I'm coming Mary Ann!" he yelled as he left the path he was following to head straight for her. In the meantime Mary Ann threw her machete onto the solid ground so as to reach for a nearby vine with her right hand. She had quicksand up to her bare midsection as she grasped the vine and began pulling on it. "I'll save you!" Gilligan screamed as he burst from the jungle, stumbling into the quicksand, and falling across the vine causing it to break under the impact. Mary Ann and Gilligan each floated in the quicksand as she pulled in the vine, then looked at the broken end, "Gilligan!?" she said in exasperation.
They each tried but neither could reach anything to get them out. They called for help, but none came. When they were both about chest deep Gilligan excitedly said, "I've got an idea!" Mary Ann felt no cause for celebration, but asked what his idea was anyway. "You grab onto me, climb up, then I grab you and climb up, then we just walk away." Mary Ann sighed, then paused, "Almost right Gilligan, now hold still." With that Mary Ann climbed out of the quicksand using Gilligan as a ladder, mostly using her arms at first. Once her knees were on Gilligan's shoulders, she was able to fall forward, and reach a tree root to pull herself out with. By the time she had a vine ready, turning to the quicksand she saw only Gilligan's simple white hat floating there. Jumping back in with the vine tied around her waist, she pulled him up, and onto solid ground, where they both lay panting for a while.
A few minutes later the Professor and Skipper arrived, "What happened to you two, are you okay?!" The Skipper asked. "Fine Skipper." Mary Ann replied from where she and Gilligan still lay on the ground. "We ran into a lion back there, and while running away we found this quicksand." "Yeah, we would have been dead ducks if Mary Ann hadn't used me for a ladder then pulled me out!" pronounced Gilligan. After Gilligan and Mary Ann had tried to get as clean as they could, the 4 of them backtracked and eventually found the same clearing with the same lioness. It was walking around with a pronounced limp, clearly in great pain. "It's got an infection, it will die eventually, probably within a week." said the Professor. "The poor thing, can we help it?" Mary Ann asked. The Skipper looked at her, "It's a wild animal, if we cure it then we're dinner!" "We couldn't even if we wanted to." added the Professor. "We have no antibiotics, and if we could somehow subdue and amputate the leg the creature would still try to kill us, and in the current environment it would die anyway. Some other predator would kill it, or simply being unable to catch food would." "I know." Mary Ann said while biting her lip. "Back home we would always put such an animal out of it's misery, can't we do that?!" "Not without great danger to ourselves." said the Professor. "I think we should forget the idea, put our own safety first, and avoid this part of the island for a while." The Skipper nodded, "Absolutely!" "Hey, maybe we could poison it!" suggested Gilligan. The Professor's eyes widened, "Yes, we could do that. I've got some stuff I've made for eliminating pests that would do the trick, and we could kill some small animal to put it in for bait. I could do that tomorrow, she's probably so hungry she'll eat it without hesitation." The Skipper agrees and Mary Ann hugs Gilligan, making him blush beet red.
As they were leaving the area Mary Ann asked, "Hey, I thought you 2 were on different teams today, where are the girls?" "We switched this morning." said the Skipper. "We thought we'd try that today, and we never got a chance to tell you as you and Gilligan were helping the Howells. Ginger went with Carla, and Carla has my spear." Mary Ann furrowed her brow, "I hope they'll be alright." "They'll be fine." assured the Skipper. "They've got a machete, an ax, and a spear between them, and Carla knows the animals!" "Yeah, they'll be fine.......", repeated Gilligan as he fell into the quicksand again.
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3. "Thurston, Thurston, Help!!" screamed Mrs. Howell as she tried to leave the supply hut. Mr. Howell was at the other end of the clearing, but came at his fastest walking speed, "E'gad, Lovey it's a snake!" "I'm aware of that, now please help get it off me!" Thurston Howell III looks for a weapon in the nearest hut, then ducks into another nearby hut, returning to the supply hut carrying a spear with a pocket knife affixed to the end, a stone ax with bamboo handle, and a bamboo chair. Mrs. Howell is on the ground halfway through the door, the snake wrapping her legs and body in it's mottled dark green and black coils, as it seeks to slide more of it's body length toward her head and upper body. Mr. Howell holds the chair in his left hand like a lion tamer, his right holds the ax and the spear. With vicious sounds and the occasional 'Take that!', he jabs at the snake with the spear. Mrs. Howell shrieks and pushes against the coils, and the serpent slowly begins to unwind."
Drawn to the sounds the Skipper and the 3 others hasten there progress, and break from the trees in time to see Mrs. Howell getting to her feet, while Mr. Howell holds a large boa at bay with a chair. They make quick work of the beast, and all but the Professor join Mrs. Howell at the bamboo picnic table, where she decided to sit before she fainted. "It was huge, and it nearly ate my Lovey dear!" said Mr. Howl. "Oh, you were so brave dear!" replied Mrs. Howell. The Professor arrives, "It was about 16 feet long, not quite large enough to want to attack you for food Mrs. Howell." "Then what was it doing, just trying her on for size?!" said Mr. Howell indignantly. The Professor sat down, "No, I mean it's too small to attack her for it's normal prey. Probably she surprised it, so it attacked her instinctively." He paused, "It could have killed her, but firstly she's generally too large for it to swallow for food. It most likely was searching for food, perhaps pursued the scent of small animals in the supply hut, and when Mrs. Howell suddenly entered she surprised it and it attacked reflexively." He paused again, "Likewise your spear wasn't doing any serious damage, and the snake probably could have ignored you. However, the large prey combined with the erratic movements of Mr. Howell, and the jabs from the point of the spear, all combined to annoy it enough to release her and attempt escape. Snakes generally prefer to eat undisturbed, and if this one wasn't too hungry it would make it less aggressive also." "Annoy it indeed!!" Mr. Howell grumbled. "There there dear." soothed Mrs. Howell. "You saved me as far as I'm concerned." The Professor agreed, "Exactly, I didn't mean to imply that you didn't, only why it worked." "Next time maybe you should throw money at it dear." Mrs. Howell said. Mr. Howell laughed, "Works with the other snakes I do business with."
"Okay, time to circle around and head back towards camp." Carla said. Ginger ducked under a branch, "Sounds like a good idea." As they moved on Carla was watchful but still managed a conversation, "So, why do you wear that thing, it's some sort of evening dress, hardly suitable for the jungle?! I mean it's low cut, leaves your arms bear, and how can you move in that long skirt to your ankles, not to mention the thing is so snug all over." Ginger sighed, "Yes, but I didn't bring more than the clothes on my back when we were shipwrecked. Oh the others have made some wonderful things for us, and I have other outfits, but although they're much like this in design, they're made of whatever materials are available at the time, and they aren't as nice as this designer made outfit. As for snug, I worked hard for this figure, I'm not letting being shipwrecked stop me from showing it off." "I'm surprised it isn't ripped to shreds already by the jungle." Carla said. "It's more durable than it looks, and the jungle isn't very thorny or rough." Ginger pointed out. "I can move and even run reasonably well, although I can't wear my heals in the jungle, but can around the huts if I don't move too fast." Carla pushes a branch aside, "Watch your head." and Ginger avoids the branch as it springs at her, "The Professor makes all sorts of things for Mary Ann and I, even some nice make-up, and mirrors mostly from pieces salvaged from the Minnow."
Carla halts for a moment, "So, why do you do all that, are you trying to attract someone, perhaps someone in particular? I realize that you've already been here a while, and none of us may ever leave." Ginger hesitated, "Well, The Professor is somewhat attractive, but he's never said anything. The Skipper doesn't attract me much, and Gilligan,... well he's Gilligan. Mr. Howell's a married man, so you see where that leaves me. I pretty much maintain a good appearance because I like to, and don't forget if we ever do get rescued I want to look my best!"
"What about you?" Ginger asked. Carla thought, "I'd say we're in the same boat regarding choices. I do like the Professor's mind, he's quite clever at building things from what's around him. And he's not too shabby to look at!" The 2 of them Giggle, "May the best woman win!" says Ginger. "I will." replies Carla, which causes another round of laughter. "Wait, what about Mary Ann?!" Carla says as they begin walking again. Ginger smiles, "I wouldn't worry, who knows what the Professor might prefer in a woman, but Mary Ann only has eyes for Gilligan, even if she doesn't realize it yet." "You really think so?!" Carla asked. "I could be wrong, but I think I'm right. Remember I've been watching those two for years." Ginger replies. "Gilligan just needs to mature a little, then she'll see the light. She's always making special coconut cream pies or something, you'd think they'd both figure it out." Carla laughed, "If we don't get rescued soon I'm sure they will."
Nearing the huts they reached a small river a few feet in width. Carla stopped to look around, but Ginger plowed on ahead of her. "Stop!" Carla snapped. "Let me look around first." Ginger stood in ankle high water, "Sorry, I don't see anything here." An anaconda head shot from cover and teeth bit into Ginger, biting her leg through the dress just above her knee. The impact knocked her over backwards, and water splashed everywhere as she was rolled into the serpent's coils. Carla saw the ax go flying into the jungle, and dropped her spear as being of little use here, "That's the 27 footer we've been looking for." she said out loud in excitement. " "Just kill it!" Ginger spat out as she fought the serpent, followed by a scream.
Carla looked for the head, and found it between a coil around Ginger's hips and one near her knees, still gripping her with it's teeth. Carla looked along Ginger's length, finding a thick coil around her body, also trapping her left arm, and another dark green and black coil across her chest and over her left shoulder. Ginger's legs kicked and body squirmed, but Carla could tell that the snake had secured it's prey and the constriction was beginning. Carla was a bit confused, she knew that she had to get the head, but it was still biting Ginger's thigh, and not easily gotten at with the machete. "Help, do something! It's getting harder to breathe." croaked Ginger hoarsely. Carla saw the coils tighten as Ginger exhaled, and heard her squeak out something softly she didn't quite hear, and realized she had better act soon.
Carla jumped into the water near the beasts head, bringing her machete down on it's neck, trying to strike hard but not hit Ginger. She thought she felt the blade hit bone, but had no time to consider as lengths of serpent that were not wrapped around Ginger shifted, causing her to trip head first into the water. She rose almost immediately, her body wrapped in several coils, both her hands free, as she struck at the snakes body with the machete.
The serpent stopped constricting Ginger, even loosened it's grip somewhat, allowing her to gasp more easily for air. Ginger raised her head and saw the battle a short distance away, Carla on her knees swatting at coils with the machete, as another loop of serpent encircled her. Ginger realized that her life had been spared only temporarily, and that once the snake was done with Carla, they both would die. Somewhere in her mind she hoped for rescue, but consciously was only aware that they both were about to die in the coils of this beast.
Ginger saw Carla's struggles becoming weaker, heard her labored breaths as the coils constricted her, and began calling for help. "Help us, please help!" Ginger called out weakly. Carla slumped under the weight of the muscular coils around her, then gasping for air she toppled over into the river. Ginger could see a little as Carla's wide open mouth fought for air, her free hands pushed downward futilely on the uppermost coil which encircled her lower ribs. Suddenly Ginger was aware that the snake's movements had become more regular, and the coils around her were growing tighter again.
Carla stopped moving except for her head, and Ginger squeaked out another cry for help. Help didn't come and the coils grew tighter. Ginger thought Carla had stopped moving, but wasn't sure as suddenly she couldn't draw in any air herself. She screamed silently, and fought with all her remaining strength as blood pounded in her ears. Ginger reached a point where her body was refusing to move, her lungs strained but could pull in no air, and colors began to dance before her eyes. The colors filled her eyes as the pain filled her chest, she was vaguely aware of coils getting tighter, then her eyesight began growing dim and faded to black.
The Skipper and Gilligan along with Mr. and Mrs. Howell sat around the picnic table waiting. The Professor came out of the hut followed by Mary Ann, the others looking at him expectantly. He began, "She's going to be fine, no broken bones nor other complications. Her heart is beating normally, and her breathing is under control." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, "Will she be able to get up right away?" the Skipper asked. The Professor thought, "She could, but her vision may be cloudy for a few days, and her body will be weak. I want her to sit as much as possible, and have someone walk with her for a few days." "It's such good news, we should have a party to celebrate." said Mrs. Howell. "Not right away." said the Professor. "Let's wait a few days."
"I should tell her!" pronounced the Skipper. "I'm still Skipper here and it's still my duty." The Professor sat down, "I want someone with her all the time until she wakes, and Mary Ann has volunteered. She could wake-up anytime, today or tomorrow, hard to say. Someone can take over from Mary Ann occasionally, and she's also said she wants to break the news if possible." The others grumble but no one objects too strongly. A scream comes from inside the hut, and everyone runs to the door. Mary Ann runs in first, followed by the Professor while the others watch from the doorway and the hut's window.
Mary Ann holds Ginger down in the bamboo bed, "Easy Ginger, your safe now, the snakes dead, your safe." Ginger hugs Mary Ann and cries into her shoulder, and the others satisfied that she'll be okay begin to leave. Eventually Ginger sleeps with the help of a sedative the Professor had, and the following day they explain to her how Carla died, while she had fallen unconscious. "You both seemed dead when we arrived, and the Professor, Gilligan, Mary Ann, and I jumped into the river to save you hoping that you both weren't." commented the Skipper. "We barely got there in time to save you." the Professor announced. "Another 20 seconds or so and you would have been beyond help." "We killed it pretty fast, but it was difficult even for the four of us." added Mary Ann. "The Professor got the head while the rest of us helped." "What about Carla's body?" asked Ginger somberly. "We're going to take care of that so don't worry." says the Skipper. "The Professor has a nice spot in mind that's not too far away, yet not close enough to be a problem."
"What about the rest of the snakes?" Ginger asked. "There still a problem to be dealt with." said the Professor. "Although according to the manifest, that was the biggest and most dangerous one. There are doubtless still a few man eaters out there, but we've already done a lot to reduce the problem. Tomorrow we can resume with 2 teams of snake hunters if there's no objection. You can stay here with the Howells while you get your strength back." "And later I'll see what I can do for that small rip in your dress!" Mary Ann adds. Ginger looks at the tear in her skirt where some puncture marks show in her leg, then looks up, "It was horrible, I couldn't get away, couldn't breathe, and saw Carla dying." "And it squeezed and squeezed you two like a couple of tubes of toothpaste!" said Gilligan pressing his fists together and squinting his eyes shut. The Skipper took off his Captain's hat and hit Gilligan on the head with it.
The End
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By Py