chapter 2

1.
I turned back from the forest, my heart beating so fast I felt dizzy. The words Abram had just said echoed through my mind.

“No service. And we’re way out of range for the walkie.”

My breathing came in short bursts. My hands and knees shook, not to mention the fat belly I now sported. The last six months had made me too comfortable. Even though I had been fattened up 152 pounds I never felt like I was in immediate physical harm. Maybe it was the danger I had escaped when I first came on board all those months ago. When I finally got free of that I had allowed myself to relax, but now that I was in a similar spot again it felt doubly stressful. For one, I wasn’t in a big city with lots of hiding places. This wasn’t one ragtag team of loan sharks working as wannabe gangsters. Despite any assurances from Abram this was an island I was unfamiliar with, with a native population that was likely less than thrilled with our presence.

‘Checked with them before parties? Yea right,’ I thought, ‘just like he checked with me before the polar bear milk.’ On top of that I was helpless. All I wore was a purposefully too small Hawaiian shirt to show off my weight gain, and a pair of stretched out gym shorts. My feet were bare, my arms pushed out to the side by the diameter of my massive gut. Back on the coast I had at least been nimble and quick. Now, I could barely walk for more than ten minutes without losing my breath. The added bulk had come quick, and it would be some time before I was used to it. For now at least, I was a tub of lard.

‘And a sitting duck,’ I thought dejectedly. I looked out at Abram, still resting in the sand on his knees. His taut captain’s body strengthened by years of physical work. Brown weathered skin, dark eyes, salt and pepper beard. He may have been ruggedly handsome and great with his cock, but not for the first time I felt angry with him. He turned me into a fatty, and even worse his insistence in fucking one last time had gotten us into this mess. Abram would be much better off here that I would be with his muscled frame. He still had the ability to run, to hide. Apart from burying me in the sand I practically begged to be discovered.

Minutes passed, my unease growing as the ship shrank away. Any anger I felt disappeared in a wave of self preservation. This man might be morally grey, but he was the only one who could keep me alive. Like it or not, we were in this together. I prodded Abram’s shoulder.

“They have to turn around, right? Surely Paula will notice.” I asked. As if forgetting I was there Abram jolted up, eyes wide. He shook his head.

“The ship is advanced, it’s autopilot is already programmed to go right to Port City. They don’t need me for the last leg. I instructed Paula to leave us alone for our last few days before we docked. I had some… things we were going to do together,” Abram said, blushing, “Once we get there the ship docks itself. We stop for a while, then the crew reconvenes. It will be weeks before they even notice. But by then they might think we ditched them.”

Abram looked toward the sand. For once he didn’t want to match my gaze, which froze forward incredulously. All this technology we had at our disposal. It couldn’t stop The Stink, it couldn’t save the family business, and it couldn’t rescue me. We were stuck here, alone. Well, not quite.

The pair of eyes I saw in the forest. So green they nearly glowed, I only saw them for a flash before they slipped away into the dense foliage. The natives would know about us soon. Would they take us immediately, or let us starve on our own? I didn’t know which I preferred. I must have been staring off a while, when I came to Abram was back in the sand again, whimpering. I rolled my eyes.

“What, aren’t you this big strong man? Make us a shelter, grab some coconuts! We can’t just sit here playing with our dicks.” That seemed to wake Abram up a bit, but he still looked shifty, as if guilty for something.

“Well I… I usually have the crew do all that for me. We’re well funded, I haven’t tied off a knot in years.”

My eyebrow twitched. I didn’t have patience for this.

“And the rich wonder why us poors resent them so. Good lord.” Abram looked like a puppy being disciplined for pissing on the ground. I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to think. It hadn’t been long ago I was roofing and using my hands. The polar bear milk had drugged me, made it feel like I had lost four months of my life. The knowledge wasn’t too dusty. I scanned the beach for materials, the debris on the shore thick and varied. I found some pieces but as I went to step I felt the burden of my new bulk. My heavy belly jiggled along with my sides, messing with my balance. My foot sank into the sand, knees straining under the weight. Even if I managed to drag materials here, I would faint from exhaustion before we got anything over our heads. I looked to the sky, the full clouds that hung there unnerving.

“Abram,” I said, as forcefully as I ever had. He looked up with surprise, it almost looked like he expected the words to come from someone else. “I can make us something, but you need to bring me what I tell you…”