Page 132 of Hunted

“You just don’t want to be the only one she named a lemur after,” Bower says with a laugh, startling Sam, who jumps back into the tree.

“You know me naming him Mo-Mo wasn’t an insult to you, right?” I ask, this not being the first time it’s been brought up.

“I know, darling, he’s just teasing me.”

“I just missed you, and he became my best friend here. Well… him and Steve.”

“You should be happy she didn’t call the rock Mo-Mo,” Bower says with a laugh.

Reece tries to smack him, but he jumps out of the way. Mo-Mo trills then jumps back beside Coco and hands her the baby. Her and Dean disappear in the tree as Mo-Mo turns back to face me.

“Eep?”

“Yeah, I’m going to be going again soon. This isn’t my home anymore. But we’ll visit again. I miss you little buddy,” I tell him, wiping a stray tear from my eye. He jumps up to give me another nuzzle then jumps back into the trees in the direction his family went without a backwards glance.

Kingsley puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me behind the others as we head towards the beach. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” I say, wiping the tears from my face. “Happy tears… mostly. I miss him, but I’m glad to see he’s doing well and has a family of his own. Does that make sense?”

“He probably feels the same way.” I consider that for a moment and decide he’s probably right. Mo-Mo definitely seemed happy to see me, but it’s clear his family is the most important thing to him now, just like mine is to me. Maybe me being gone allowed him to fully commit to his family, and that’s why they never had a baby before.

“Hey, what’s that?” I ask, pointing to a small structure on the other side of the woodpile that most definitely wasn’t there two years ago.

It is a thin metal frame with four posts that come to a point at about twenty-five feet up, almost like a tiny cell phone tower.

“That… is a beacon,” Reece says as we head in its direction. When we stop in front of it, I notice a large metal cabinet on the bottom with some words carved into the door.

I move closer and read aloud.

“Stranded? Open for help!”

I find the bolt holding it shut and open it up. A laminated piece of paper sits on top, and I pick it up to read it.

“Welcome to Danvers Island. If you should find yourself stranded here, don’t fear. Inside is a satellite phone to call for help. You’ll also find some rations, a flask for water, some emergency supplies, and a map.”

I look inside and see all the things mentioned, plus a wind-up lantern, a large knife, and a first aid kit. I pull out the map and see it’s pretty basic but points out the waterfall with fresh water, the boar territory, different places they’ll find fruit, the old camp, and a warning about Fang’s territory in the North.

“This is pretty in depth. You guys remembered all of this? You never even saw Fang.” I sniffle at the thought of all the effort they put into this. So nobody else would end up stranded here like I was.

“We each remembered different parts of it. We would have asked you, but we wanted it to be a surprise,” Kingsley explains.

“This way, nobody will ever be stranded here again,” Reece says as I place the map back inside and he latches it closed again.

“Wait! It’s missing something.” I run over the edge of the jungle and look around until I find what I want. It’s a small rock, smaller than Steve, but a good starter size. “Here!” I jog back over and show them the rock. “Anyone have a sharpie?”

“How about a knife?” Weston asks, pulling his switchblade from his pocket.

“Perfect!” I try to take it from him, but he pulls it back and holds out his hand for the rock.

“I’ll do it, tell me what name to carve.”

“Let’s name him… Steve Jr!”

He smirks and starts carving as I watch in excitement. I don’t know why this excites me. Knowing that this rock might be found by somebody who needs a friend at the lowest point in their life, maybe? But they won't be stranded here for long, thanks to the new tower and satellite phone the guys had installed.

“Are you allowed to build that here? Didn't you say this is technically owned by Madagascar now?” I ask, turning to Reece.

"Actually, that was another surprise we had for you.”