Free Castaways by Brian Keene Page A

slithering past them. She eyed the serpent's slender body, relatively large head and eyes, and conspicuous dorsal stripe. She was fairly certain it wasn't poisonous, but waited until it had disappeared into the undergrowth before picking up the dead branches.
    "Come on," Jerry urged. "We'd better catch up with the others. We don't want to piss them off."
    Becka shivered.
    "The temperature's dropping," she said.
    "Yeah." Jerry glanced up at the sky again. "Won't be long now. Tropical Cyclone Ivan is on his way."
    His words seemed to hang in the air like heavy storm clouds.
    Chapter Seven
    "Hey." With a big grin, Richard held up a thrashing fish. Its lips puckered and its gills flexed as it gasped in the suffocating air. "This one's got a real nice mouth on it. Reminds me of this one girl back home."
    "Why don't you stick your dick in it?" Sal's voice carried over the crashing waves. "Maybe I will." "I dare you."
    "How much will you give me if I do?"
    "I don't have to pay you to do it. You're so horny, you'd fuck the crack of dawn."
    "Who's Dawn? Is she pretty?"
    "You'd fuck a garden hose if there was enough pressure behind it."
    Richard appeared doubtful. "I don't know if I could fit inside a garden hose. I'm pretty big."
    "I bet that fish would be the best-looking piece of ass you've ever had."
    "Maybe. It's definitely prettier than my prom date."
    Laughing, Richard tossed the wriggling fish into
    a crude basket that the castaways had woven together from reeds and branches. Then he wiped his hands on his lime-green shorts. The fish flopped on top of the rest of their catch—four other fish of varying sizes. Seabirds circled ravenously overhead, daring to dart lower each time any of the men walked away from the basket, and then squawking angrily when Sal or Richard returned.
    "I never fucked a fish before. I wonder how it would feel."
    Sal strolled across the wet sand toward him. The surf lapped at his bare feet. Since their arrival on the beach, the tide had crept steadily closer, rising as the sky grew darker and the winds increased.
    "You say that like you've fucked other animals."
    Richard shrugged.
    "Oh my God." Sal snickered. "You have, you sick fuck! What was it?"
    "When I was about fourteen, I fucked a chicken. All my friends did. One after another. It was sort of a dare."
    "You fucked a chicken?"
    "Sure."
    "Why?"
    "We were bored."
    "You couldn't find anything better to do than to have sex with a chicken?"
    Richard shrugged again. "It was Kansas, after all."
    "You are one sick puppy, my friend."
    "Oh, like you never fucked something disgusting?"
    "Well," Sal admitted, "I fucked a fat chick once. I was shit-faced at the time. It was back in the eighties, after the KISS Asylum tour. Does that count?"
    "I don't know. How big was she?" "Well over three hundred pounds. I had to roll her around in flour just to find the wet spot." "I'd say that qualifies."
    "Maybe so," Sal said, "but at least I've never fucked a chicken."
    "I may have admitted to fucking a chicken, but I'd never admit to seeing KISS on their Asylum tour."
    "What, you don't like KISS?"
    "They're okay, but that era was terrible. Give me the band in full makeup any day."
    "You don't know what you're talking about. When they got rid of the theatrics, they were able to just focus on the music. That was a great era."
    "I don't know about that."
    "Just because you play drums, that doesn't make you an expert, Richard."
    "I'm enough of an expert not to fuck a fat girl after the show."
    They fell silent for a moment, each lost in his own thoughts.
    "I wonder how a fish would feel," Richard asked again. "Probably cold and slimy."
    "Go ahead and try it," Sal said. "Seriously, I won't tell anybody. You're stuck on this island without any pussy—who could blame you?"
    "That's not exactly true. We've got pussy here."
    "Not any that you're getting."
    "I think Pauline's pretty hot."
    "She is," Sal agreed, "and she's way out of our fucking league, dude. So was