Merian C. Cooper's King Kong (18 page)

Ignoring the cries, ignoring even the belligerent defiance of the triceratops, Kong curved both of his forearms under the log and strained upward with it. As soon as it tore free in an explosion of snapping vines and flying debris, he jerked it violently from side to side.

*   *   *

Driscoll's shouts, even the rocks he had hurled, had no effect. As Kong pried the log bridge free, Driscoll had to press himself back. Stone and soil rained down on him, and he thought the roof of the fissure he was in threatened to collapse under Kong's immense weight. He could only stare helplessly at the fate of his shipmates on the bridge.

As Kong rocked the log, two of the men lost their holds. One grasped madly at the face of a prone comrade and left bloody finger marks before he plummeted, tumbling into the stagnant silt at the bottom of the crevasse. He had no more than struck when the lizard flashed forward and seized him. Driscoll watched, hoped that the complete lack of movement meant that death had come immediately on impact.

The second man did not die from the fall. He was not even unconscious. He landed feetfirst and sank immediately to his waist in the mud. He thrashed and screamed horribly as three of the great spiders swarmed over him. Driscoll had to look away from the slaughter.

On the far edge of the ravine, the triceratops stamped the ground and retreated, snorting and grunting. Driscoll realized that Kong's rage, and his possession of a heavy projectile, had made the dinosaur think twice. With a last angry huff, it gingerly reared and wheeled around before lumbering away, vanishing beyond the trees.

The men closest to the root end of the log bridge scrambled, trying to leap to safety, but Kong now shook the log, and they went sprawling. Another man fell and became prey to one of the loathsome spiders. Another jerk and other crewmen followed. By now Driscoll could see twenty or more spiders, boiling out of their dark hiding places at the base of the opposite cliff, eager for blood.

Only one man remained on the log, hanging on with fanatical strength. Driscoll shouted vainly from beneath. Across the ravine, Denham hurled rocks at Kong, but they did no more damage than pebbles. Kong was not to be distracted. He wrenched the log again but could not shake the lone survivor loose. The clinging man shrieked.

The log moved even higher, and Driscoll realized what was about to happen. Kong swung the bridge sideways and dropped it. For a heart-stopping moment, the end caught on the very edge of the ravine. Then it slipped, and the screaming man, the log, everything, smashed down on the feasting spiders below.

Driscoll, staring down in horror, suddenly realized he was about to become a victim. A spider swarmed up one of the heavy vines torn loose by Kong's rage, a vine which now dangled nearly to the floor of the ravine. The climbing creature was so near that Driscoll could see his own reflection in its great black protruding eyes. With seconds to spare, Driscoll drew his knife and sawed desperately. The spider's fangs glistened. Driscoll's revulsion gave him speed, and he hacked through the vine, sending the spider creature plunging back into the ravine. It landed on its back, and one of its kind immediately attacked it.

Though shaking from repugnance and fear, Jack thought again of Ann. Where was she? Everything had fallen silent.

Across the ravine, Denham shouted: “Kong's gone, Jack! He threw the log into the chasm and then beat it. Are you okay?”

“I'm not hurt. Did you see Ann?”

“No. Kong must have left her someplace. Hang on, though. These vines give me an idea. Can you climb out of that hole?”

“I'll try.”

“Then you see if you can trail that hairy brute. If we're lucky, Jimmy and Morgan will get back to the Wall. I'll get together another rescue party, and we'll come back here as soon as we can.” Denham's head jerked up, and he suddenly yelled, “He's back! Watch out above you!”

Driscoll ducked just in time. Kong's great black questing hand snatched at the air, barely missing him. Driscoll realized that their shouts must have called the giant creature back. Now he seemed intent on destroying his last enemies.

His fingers stretched out, but Driscoll was ready with his knife. He stabbed shrewdly at Kong's dusty, hairless palm, and immediately the beast-god jerked away and roared. Denham threw a rock. Driscoll could not see where it struck, but he heard Kong grunt in anger before the giant hand groped down into the cave again.

This time he snatched quickly, missed, and got clear. He snatched again and missed again. Driscoll stabbed at the fingers, but Kong ignored the wounds.

Driscoll crouched against the back wall of the shallow fissure, stabbing at every chance. Twice huge, curving fingers brushed him; twice he dug his knife in and got away. Kong forced him to the side, cornered him. Crouching lower, making himself as small as possible, he gripped his knife tightly and hunted desperately for an opening.

Then, from not too far away, Driscoll heard a scream—Ann's voice.

A moment later, Denham yelled, “He's leaving, Jack! He must be going to check on her!”

“But she's alive!” Jack yelled back, hope rising in him once more. Ann was alive!

15

SKULL ISLAND
MARCH 13, 1933

What was at first a vague ache became a sharp pain, shocking Ann Darrow back to consciousness. The split branch held her in an uncomfortable grip. At first she saw only the bole of the tree, and above that a glimpse of sky. For long, foggy moments she had not the dimmest idea of where she was or even of what had happened to her. She was aware of being bruised and shaken, and a pall of fear lay heavy on her, but beyond that she could not organize her thoughts. Lingering on the edge of unconsciousness, she lay absolutely still, trying to gather her strength, remembering a vivid dream.

In the dream, Ann could feel the warm press of Jack's lips on hers, and the strength of his embrace made her feel completely safe. But now—groggy, Ann shaded her eyes with a hand against the overpowering light. Gradually, she became aware of the throbbing pain in her back and legs. The dank smell of rotted wood and steaming jungle vegetation filled her nostrils, while a thousand rioting insect sounds assaulted her ears.

Her uneasiness began to give way to terror. She forced herself to sit up and her head began to spin, not only because of weakness but also because of a shocking realization: she was thirty or more feet off the ground, perched in the broad notch of a once mighty tree. It was old and gnarled, and felt solid enough to have been rooted there forever. She was utterly alone. How could she possibly have gotten here?

Slowly, like the slithering, buzzing, chirping noises that had crept into her ears, memory began to steal back as well: Ann remembered screaming, screaming as loud as she could to block out some unimaginable horror … she fell back and the clouds whirled above her.

Abruptly, Ann sat bolt upright as the clear memory of Kong filled her mind. She remembered his hot, stinking breath in her face as he gazed upon her with a look that she could not describe. It was intelligent, almost human, but not quite. It was indescribably primeval. And that sent chills up her spine: realizing that it
wanted
her!

She gripped the tree on which she rested, looking hopelessly downward. The thick bole of the tree trunk soared bare and smooth from a tangle of dark underbrush, offering no handholds, no branches, no way down. But where was Kong? Why had she been left high up in a tree? Would the monster come back for her?

Her blood chilled at the thought. Nothing on earth seemed worse than such a fate. Her eyes darted nervously in every direction. She felt naked and vulnerable with nowhere to hide, nowhere to flee. Jumping from her perch would be suicide, and climbing down was impossible. She tried to calm herself, her heightened tension making her forget her aching limbs.

And then the sounds of the jungle sank to a tense silence. She heard a low rumble, then saw a huge, shadowy form that separated itself from the surrounding jungle and became horribly real. It moved like a bird, but on a grotesquely gigantic scale. An ammoniac whiff assaulted her nostrils. The creature's huge head slowly bobbed on a powerful neck. The deep-chested body was horizontally balanced on two heavily muscled legs, and behind the beast trailed a thick tail, held several feet off the ground.

Ann could sense a majesty about this animal, an aura of irresistible power. She felt like nothing in its presence, and in unconscious awe she covered her mouth with both hands. At her sudden movement the creature's head swiveled about, homing in on Ann. It looked directly at her.

She tried not to move, but her chest heaved, and her body trembled. The meat eater's lip curled on one side. Light glinted off teeth like huge, recurved daggers, gleaming with thick, ropy saliva. Its deep-set eyes fixed on her. A growl rolled into a slow hissing roar, and its mouth gaped into a toothed maw large enough to swallow her whole. Slowly, it rose to its full height and arched its neck. Despite her height in the tree, Ann could swear it was looking
down
on her! Suddenly the meat eater hunched back down and advanced toward her. She could feel the vibrations of its pounding feet through the tree trunk, and her screams filled the air as it loomed ever larger.

From somewhere behind, Kong hurtled past her toward the advancing dinosaur. The two behemoths collided with a heavy, cracking thud, both giving voice to deafening roars. Kong's back and arms strained to overcome his equally powerful opponent. Ann could not hear herself screaming, though her throat ached from the effort. She covered her ears to block out the thunder of combat.

*   *   *

The giants separated and stared each other down for an instant. Each refused to give way; each was unaccustomed to being resisted. Kong arched his broad back and rose higher than Ann's perch. He beat his chest in defiance. The great saurian bobbed for a moment, feinting to one side, and then pressed an attack with the swiftness of a striking snake, mouth gaping, teeth flashing.

Knowing that even one bite from that mouth could be lethal, Kong moved swiftly to the side, and the predator's jaws snapped on thin air. Kong's tremendously powerful arms clamped on the creature's head, holding the jaws shut. The dinosaur's two wiry arms dug like steel meat hooks into Kong's thickly furred wrists. Its neck strained against Kong's might, jerking the great ape's entire body from side to side before lifting him off his feet. Suddenly the dinosaur raised one of its legs and used its clawed foot to rake Kong's back. Kong growled in frustration and pain as he lost his grip.

As the meat eater reared back to gain leverage for another bite, Kong lunged forward, grasping his foe under the head with one arm and pounding with the other on its ribs with sledgehammerlike blows. Kong, infuriated by the wound on his back, relentlessly pressed his attack. His clouts forced the flesh eater to take several jerky steps backward, all the while hissing and growling as its jaws snapped constantly. It tried in vain to angle its mouth down to get at any part of Kong's back.

And then with one mighty shove Kong sent the saurian reeling backward. It lost its balance and collapsed on its side. Getting up was not easy for such a giant, and its body and head flailed in an effort to regain its feet. The beast-god stood over his fallen challenger and pounded his chest. Kong's enormous canines glistened in fury. But such tactics would not intimidate his opponent. The creature lashed out with teeth and tail, answering Kong's challenge with a deafening roar of its own.

Realizing the defiance of his enemy, Kong abruptly rushed forward again. The flesh eater, only halfway back on its feet, fell heavily onto its side as Kong rained more blows upon its body. Finally the saurian managed to wedge a huge three-toed foot between its own body and Kong's chest and kicked with all its might. The thrust flung Kong off his feet, and he tumbled backward. As he landed on his heels, the momentum sent him sprawling uncontrollably into the great trunk atop which Ann sat.

*   *   *

Ann held on desperately as the ancient trunk suddenly cracked, the deep roots creaking as if groaning in pain. Slowly, the tree began to topple. Ann clung tightly as the trunk smashed into the undergrowth. The impact jarred her loose and she rolled into springy, thick brush that cushioned her landing. A heavy, short spike of branch had thrust itself into the earth and now kept the entire weight of the trunk from crushing her like an insect. A rush of adrenaline helped keep Ann lucid. She still had a ringside seat, only now she was on ground level and the two combatants loomed above her.

The chest of each giant heaved as each took the other's measure and gathered strength. Kong broke the standoff first, lunging in an attempt to attack his opponent's side again. The saurian spun in an instant, its tail slamming Kong hard across his midsection. Kong caught it but the impact buckled his knees and he roared in fury. The meat eater then frantically tried to shake him off, but Kong held on.