The Continuation of the Most Dangerous Game

Rainsford swam around the island because he was too tired and hungry to swim away into the sea not knowing if he was going to be saved or not.

He came up to the shore where the ship-trap lights were. He remembered that General Zaroff had a remote to turn the lights on. He thought if he could get the remote, he could signal a ship to come rescue him. But how? How could he get that remote? All of a sudden it came to him, he had killed Ivan with the trap he had set, and maybe Ivan might have a remote too.

What if General Zaroff had taken Ivan's body to "add to his collection"?

No, Rainsford thought. He didn't make that kill. I did.

He made his way into the jungle, looking for any tracks to lead him to Ivan. Rainsford made his own secret path so he remembered how to get back to the lights. He walked for awhile and found nothing. He did eat some fruit that he found in the trees but left no traces. He continued to look for the dead body.

Finally after searching for several hours, he came across something. The tree that Rainsford set up to fall, which injured Zaroff's shoulder. Then, he saw some footprints by both Zaroff and Ivan.

Rainsford followed them until he came to a stop. He smelled something horrible. He could not describe it, as it was like every single bad smell combined into one. That's when he came upon the body. The giant beast lay there dead with flies flying around it.

He thought to himself, Looks like his little companions never left him.

Rainsford was disguised. He had to hold his breath while turning Ivan over on is back. He finally turned him over and checked his coat. Rainsford was right, he did have a remote. He also grabbed the revolver Ivan had carried around.

When Rainsford was walking away, he thought about how General Zaroff said they were "civilized".

Rainsford thought, "How civilized is it to leave a dead body unburied?"

Rainsford followed his path back to the lights. When he got there it was dark, the perfect time to use the lights because General Zaroff, he assumed, was going to sleep.

He took out the remote and flipped the switch on. The lights were as bright as the sun. Rainsford flipped the switch off before he was blinded for life. He wondered how he would signal a ship with the lights without making the ship crash into the sharp rocks.

He turned the lights in a different direction, facing away from the rocks. Rainsford thought of a way to signal S.O.S to a passing ship by blinking the lights three times. He continued this all night. Then when it was getting deeper into the night, after many hours, he doubted himself. What if a ship never comes?

Fortunately, after several hours he saw a figure in the distance. As the figure came closer, his hope grew stronger. Rainsford was ecstatic, but he could not scream at the figure because he didn't want to waken Zaroff. The figure became more clear and in fact, it was a ship with a red and yellow flag.

Rainsford had to swim off the shore a little in order to reach it, but he didn't care because he was filled with happiness. Once he reached the ship, a rope was lowered down for him. When he reached out to grab it he paused, as if the whole world froze.

He asked himself, "What if they are like General Zaroff, murderers?"

It was too late to think about that now because someone from above yelled, "Hurry up! We are drifting to the shore!"

He grabbed the rope and gave it a tug to let them know to pull him up. Rainsford was relieved to be out of the salty sea. As Rainsford was being pulled up, he noticed a word on the side of the ship, "Mary Lou". When he made it to the top, everyone had their guns pointed at Rainsford. He was pulled up to the ship and told to let go of the rope. Then one man with a red curly beard stepped forward with his gun held high.

The man asked, "What is your name and what do you want?"

Rainsford said firmly, "My name is Sanger Rainsford and I was...I was..." He was trying to decided if he should tell them the truth or not because they might think he is crazy and kick him off the ship. He couldn't go back. He wouldn't go back.

"Well, spit it out boy!" the man screamed.

"I was stranded on the island. I was forgotten," Rainsford said in a hushed tone. He wasn't lying though, in fact no one had come to rescue him, not even Whitney.

"Aw... what a sob story. I would love to hear more," the man said sarcastically, "but the Captain wants to see you."

Two well-built men escorted Rainsford to a door with it engraved "Captain Monte". One of the men opened the door and said with a laugh, "Good luck." At that moment Rainsford's palms were sweating and he was quietly whispering to himself, "Nerve, nerve, nerve."

Captain Monte was short and plump. His eyes were red and had so many bags underneath them, they could barely stay on him. He had a gold watch hanging out of his shoe and wore an eye patch on the back of his head. Rainsford's guess was that the man was tired. He welcomed Rainsford in and told him to take a seat.

"Hello, my name is Captain Monte and I am the captain of Mary Lou," he said with pleasure. "I would like to welcome you to our trouble. You're not in any ship. Oh, I mean... welcome to our ship. You're not in any trouble. Sorry, I forgot to take my pills. Excuse me."

The captain took out a little jar and put four pink pills in his hand. He swallowed three of them and almost choked on the last one. He stood there for a second and he was frozen with his mouth wide open. Rainsford was getting uncomfortable because a fly had flown inside the captain's mouth. Rainsford waved his hand in front of the captain's face and the captain jerked so quickly it scared Rainsford.

Captain Monte repeated himself, "Hello, my name is Captain Monte and I am the captain of Mary Lou."

Rainsford realized the captain is not tired. He is crazy.

Captain Monte said, "I will let my co-captain find a place for you to sleep and work. Rena!"

Rena was the most beautiful woman Rainsford had ever seen. She was tall, thin, and fit. She had long brown hair that was pulled back to show the beauty of her face. She was a flower that just blossomed into his heart.

"My name is Rainsford and it is a pleasure to meet you," Rainsford said as he kissed her hand.

She snatched her hand out of his grip and said, "This way, loner." Rainsford guessed that was his new nickname because of his deserted story.

Rainsford followed Rena from the deck to the sleeping quarters. She threw a pillow and blanket at him and pointed to his bunk. He turned to thank her but she was long gone.

When he was getting ready for bed, a man came up to him and spoke to him.

He said, "I'm Burton and I'm here to help you anyway I can. But I can't help you get Rena. You have no chance with her, she is feisty."

Rainsford finally found someone he can really talk to, "I'm Rainsford, and for some reason my palms are sweating and my heart is racing."

Burton laughed and said, "That is love, my friend."

Rainsford felt foolish, "Oh well, I am not used to that." To change the subject, Rainsford said, "I am sure you have already heard my story."

Burton asked, "Yes, was that the truth?"

Rainsford considered what he should say. Then Burton said, "It's alright, you can tell me."

"No, it wasn't completely true. Someone was hunting me on that island and I had to get out of there. I lied so they didn't think I was crazy," Rainsford said.

"I believe you because I was faced with the same problem, I was surprised you survived General Zaroff," Burton said. "Before I came on this ship, I was on the another ship with my brother but it crashed into the island. I had been unconscious for a few days because I hit my head on a rock. When I woke up, I looked for my brother in the jungle because I didn't see him in the pile of dead bodies. I heard his cry and ran towards him. He was slowly dying from a bullet wound in his leg. He told me what had happened with his last few breathes. He had gone to look for shelter and that's where he met Zaroff and was trapped in his twisted game. My wish is to kill that man someday for what he did to my brother. He was too young to die. But I have my duties to attended to here."

"I am terribly sorry for your lost," Rainsford said sincerely.

"Thank you," Burton replied.

And on that note they turned in for the night.

A bang went off during the night! It rung Rainsford's ears so hard he sprung out of bed like a scared cat. It was not a gun shot. No, no it was much worse than that. A cannon shot.

The ship rocked hard and water began to flood in. Rainsford woke up Burton to alert him. Burton was up in a flash and took Rainsford to the row boats. Rainsford wanted to look for Rena, but Burton insisted that they should leave.

On deck there was a huge hole that was filling up with water quickly. They found a row boat hanging and heard the rest of the crew coming. Rainsford and Burton got in the row boat and lowered themselves down. Three other men hopped in quickly. The ship swayed when they were lowering the boat and one of the men fell out. He was sucked in by the mouth of the current and was swallowed. The rest of them hung on tightly from fear of being eaten.

When the boat hit the water, they began rowing but the current was too strong. The waves were rising and there was a boisterous storm above. Rainsford was getting sick from the rocking of the boat. Burton could tell from his look that he wasn't feeling well. One of the men took over for Rainsford and began rowing.

Rainsford was getting dizzy and saw an island they were rowing to. It looked so familiar to him. When they hit the sandy shore, Rainsford's eyes were closing for he was losing consciousness. Before he closed his eyes completely, he saw the image of a man who said to Rainsford, "Welcome back."

When Rainsford woke up, he was tied to a tree. General Zaroff was standing in front of him smiling.

General Zaroff said with a smirk, "Good to see you. Forgot to tell you that I never give up. I had some trouble getting you back here. You are quite a challenge. The lights as a signal were a nice touch though."

Rainsford said in surprise, "Wait, how did you know?"

"I had a little help. Come on out, dear," General Zaroff insisted.

Rena walked out and kissed Zaroff on the cheek. "This is my beautiful wife, Rena. You two have already met though," General Zaroff said.

"But wait... how did...?" Rainsford was stumbling over his own words, he was so heartbroken.

General Zaroff was expecting that, "Well, she found my note I sent her and she went to look for you. She was the co-captain so she could steer the ship. Then she saw your blinking lights, which made it easier for her, and she came to "help" you. She just circled around the island until I got her safely off the ship then I blasted a cannon. I am glad you didn't die there because I want to see you when you die."

"Thank you for your consideration," Rainsford said sarcastically.

Rainsford was shocked. General Zaroff turned to Rena and said, "Good job, sweetheart. I am done with you."

Rena asked, "Wait, what? I thought..."

In a split second, the knife from Zaroff's pocket was jammed into her stomach. She stared at the knife then collapsed to the ground with her eyes open as her whole life flashed before her. Her beauty still showed in her face and Rainsford thought, "What a great piece to add to Zaroff's collection."

"Now, it's your turn," Zaroff said as he pointed his pistol at Rainsford.

A shot was taken. General Zaroff fell to his knees, laughing. Burton was standing behind him and held a gun in his hand.

General Zaroff lost at his own game.