Deep In The Jungle Page 11

  “Did you ever see the movie The Mysterious Island?”

  “I don’t believe so.”

  “It’s about this group of people who get marooned on this deserted island. I watched it with my little brother. It’s got all these great Ray Harryhausen special effects where they’re getting attacked by giant crabs and humongous bees.”

  “So.”

  “Kind of like this place, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Let’s hope not.” Jackie took her stick and rolled the huge snail off the coals. She picked the cooked snake strips out of the fire and put each piece onto a platter-sized leaf as a serving dish. She fanned a piece before putting it in her mouth.

  Ryan used his stick, dug out a piece of snail meat, and took a bite.

  It wasn’t half bad.

  42

  Ben knew his time was up when he peered through the slit in the wall and saw a small group of pigmy men headed for the front of the longhouse. It was dark outside except for around the fire pit. The elders, women, and children were staring into the flames, their naked bodies aglow.

  He could hear the men removing the length of timber used to brace the door shut.

  Any second, and they would be entering the room to collect him.

  He wasn’t sure if they would kill him right away. Mostly likely it wouldn’t be in the trophy room, which meant they would drag him outside and display him in front of the entire village in a sacrificial, ritual beheading.

  The door swung open.

  Six small figures stood in the gloomy doorway. They began to enter the dark room, but as they did, they stumbled and fell over one another.

  Ben flicked the head on a match with his thumbnail and lit a large torch in his other hand. He touched the flame to the ceiling of the thatched roof.

  The pigmies kept falling over the mound of skulls and shrunken heads he’d piled in front of the doorway. Ben had even pulled some posts out of the ground and stacked them haphazardly making the crossing even more difficult.

  The fire spread quickly and licked down the walls in a bright blaze.

  He’d taken his shirt off and wrapped it around his nose and mouth for a mask as the room was filling up with smoke, which stung his already watery eyes.

  One of the warriors cleared the obstacles and came at Ben with a spear.

  Ben shoved the flaming torch into his face. The pigmy screamed and fell back onto the jumble of skulls, tiny heads, and posts, and added to the stumbling block.

  The frightened pigmies turned and clambered back in the other direction. Ben wanted to think it was because they had finally met their match—him being a fierce warrior—but knew they were just too petrified of being burned to death.

  Either way, Ben knew he had only one chance and this was it.

  Most of one wall was completely engulfed in flames and parts of it were already falling apart. The heat was intense and all he could see was smoke. If he didn’t get out now, he never would.

  Ben charged through the wall.

  And burst out the other side. He was covered with burning embers but there was no time to brush them off as he ran like hell.

  He wished there was time to search for his rucksack, but there wasn’t. He’d have to leave his supplies behind.

  He had to get as far away as possible. He could hear screaming and hollering behind him. Setting the longhouse on fire had been a wise diversion and would hopefully give him a good headstart.

  He could see in the dark and was thankful for the full moon even though it meant he’d be easier to find. Dashing through the evergreen rainforest, he swatted palm leaves and low hanging branches out of his way. Twice he almost tripped on exposed roots and fell, but he managed to stay on his feet and kept running.

  He had never once looked back and had covered some considerable ground when he had to stop because he was so winded. He leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees. Gasping, he took in a couple full breaths and tried to steady his breathing.

  He stood erect and listened. He heard the same insidious wildlife drone that always seemed to be playing, reminding him of background sounds for a meditation session.

  Accompanied by footfalls racing toward him through the jungle.

  Even though his legs felt weak and rubbery, he knew he had to keep going if he wanted to stay alive. He ran as fast as his tired legs could carry him. If he had to, he would stop and fight, even though to do so would be suicide.

  He pushed himself and stumbled forward.

  Then the ground went out from under him and he crashed through the leaves.

  43

  Luckily, Mackey had thought to bring along his penlight, which had been in his pocket. After taking it apart and letting the inside dry out, he put the battery back in and it worked like a charm. It gave off enough illumination to see maybe ten feet in front of him. Once in awhile, the silver beams of the full moon would filter down through the treetops onto the jungle floor.

  “How much farther to the resort?” Ally asked, walking behind him. She was carrying Dillon as he had fallen asleep.

  “You want me to carry him for a bit?” Macky stopped and turned, pointing the beam at the ground.

  “What if we just stop for a moment?”

  “Fine by me.”

  Ally set Dillon on the ground beside a large tree. As soon as she propped her little brother against the trunk, he woke up. “Are we there yet?”

  “No, Dilly.” Ally’s shoulders ached from lugging the sixty-pound boy. She shook out her arms to relax the muscles much like she would prior to a race at a track meet.

  “Well, now that Dillon’s awake, maybe we can pick up the pace,” Macky said.

  “You mean run?” Dillon frowned at Macky.

  “I don’t think we’ll be doing that.”

  Something moved in the underbrush.

  “What was that?” Ally said with alarm.

  They could hear it snorting and rooting about the ground.

  Mackey panned his penlight and frightened a brown, shorthaired animal enough to make it start squealing.

  “Hey, little piggy,” Dillon said and ran to grab the runt that couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds.

  “Dillon, no!” Macky yelled.

  “Macky, it’s only a piglet,” Ally said, suggesting Macky was over reacting.

  “You don’t understand, that’s not a pig. It’s a peccary. And peccaries generally travel in herds. I’m thinking this little fellow must have wandered off and got lost.”

  “Does that mean we can keep him?” Dillon said. He’d managed to grab the peccary by one of its hind legs, which made it squeal even louder.

  “Dillon, let it go before—” Macky turned to the approaching sound of hooves stampeding through the jungle. “Must be the whole damn herd.”

  Macky handed Ally the penlight. “Go, I’ll follow.”

  Ally took the small flashlight and went to grab Dillon’s hand but her brother was still wrestling with the baby peccary. “You heard Macky. Let it go!”

  Dillon released the screaming animal and it darted into the shrubs.

  “Run!” Macky shouted.

  They fled through the trees. Macky looked back over his shoulder and saw three large adult peccaries racing after them. They were slender-legged animals with powerful bodies, weighing about eighty pounds apiece, and were fast runners.

  Even though the peccaries were omnivores, they were still wild animals capable of inflecting serious injuries and were fierce when attacking as a group.

  He remembered Jackie telling him how peccaries sharpened their eyeteeth just by opening and closing their mouths and rubbing their incisors against their bottom teeth, giving them the ability to crush hard seeds and slice through roots.

  Macky knew they weren’t going to be able to outrun the murderous pack.

  “We can’t stay on the ground,” he yelled.

  Ally was running half speed so Dillon could keep up. She waved her hand she understood.

  Macky could h
ear the pack right on his heels.

  Ally shined the penlight beam onto a fallen tree that had uprooted and was leaning on another tree forming a ramp.

  “Up there,” Macky shouted.

  Ally pushed Dillon ahead of her as they hustled up the slanted trunk, grabbing branches as they climbed to get higher.

  Macky was right behind them. He scrambled up the moss-covered bark and almost slipped off but kept shimmying up.

  They kept climbing until they had reached a height of thirty feet above the ground.

  One of the adult peccaries tried to scale the fallen tree but the bark was too slippery and it slid off, falling on its side. The animal got back on its feet and shook its long-haired body.

  More peccaries appeared and gathered around the base of the fallen tree.

  Macky asked Ally for the penlight and he shined the beam down on the ground.

  He counted ten adults and a dozen small ones. By the way they were hanging around, he didn’t figure they were going to leave anytime soon.

  “I think we’re going to be here for awhile,” he said, as they tried to make themselves comfortable in an indentation between two large boughs.

  Dillon put his head on Ally’s lap. She stroked his hair as he went off to sleep.

  Macky looked down at the peccaries. “Ever get the strange feeling we’re not welcome?” He turned to Ally to get her reaction but she, too, had dozed off.

  He turned off the penlight.

  He stretched out the best he could and closed his eyes. He listened to the snorting peccaries tearing up the ground below with their snouts, and before he knew it, he had joined Ally and Dillon and had drifted off.

  44

  As soon as they broke camp it began to pour rain, and everyone ducked under the giant palm leaves for cover. The deluge lasted for more than ten minutes.

  Wanda and Frank were sharing the same leafy shelter. “You’d think after a good rain, it would cool things down.”

  “I know,” Frank said. “It just adds more moisture to the air and makes you sweat more.”

  James and Kathy walked over.

  “Did you guys get much sleep last night?” Kathy asked. “I sure didn’t.”

  “You think he’s crazy?” James said.

  “Diogo?” Frank shrugged his shoulders and looked at Wanda.

  “He definitely saw something that has him terrified,” Wanda said.

  “He wouldn’t stop jabbering,” Kathy said.

  “I think Ignacio was finally able to get through to him.”

  They looked over and saw Diogo standing with Ignacio. The resort guide had treated the man’s cuts and convinced him to come with them, which seemed to console Diogo, as he wasn’t as distraught and fretful.

  Frank cocked his head as a sound came faintly through the trees. He hoped it was the siren.

  “Did you guys hear that?” Kathy said. “That’s a macaw mating call.”

  “Okay everybody, time to head out.” Frank waved everyone forward.

  For the next two hours, they journeyed through the steamy rainforest. It was the hottest day since they had left the resort. And the going seemed tougher as now Frank and Ignacio had to use their machetes to clear a pathway through the dense jungle.

  Frank was relieved when he finally broke out of the thick vegetation and brought the group into a grassy meadow with robust flowers, bordered with surrounding fan-shaped palms.

  “Let’s take a fifteen-minute break,” Frank said.

  “Sounds good to me,” Wanda agreed and shrugged out of her backpack.

  James and Kathy took off their packs and found a place to sit.

  Ignacio and Diogo stood next to the gray-green trunk of a royal palm. Ignacio took a handful of nuts out of his bag and shared them with the Indian.

  A few minutes passed.

  Wanda waved her hand in front of her face to brush away a persistent swarm of gnats. She looked down at the ground and saw a parade of ants marching through the grass like they were off to pay someone a visit or perhaps returning back to their colony.

  She looked over at a tall patch of grass and could see that something was moving through the sedge. “Frank?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, rummaging in his bag for something to eat.

  “I think we’re being stalked.”

  Frank looked up. “What?”

  “Over there,” Wanda said and pointed.

  Frank slowly reached for his rifle.

  James must have overheard Wanda because he had picked up his shotgun and was standing in front of Kathy.

  “Ignacio!” Frank used the muzzle of his rifle to indicate that there was a predator in the tall grass. Ignacio closed the breech on his shotgun and thumbed back the hammers.

  The herbage slowly parted.

  Frank was familiar with the creature that stepped out of the grass as he had crossed paths with this particular species many times. Only this one was incredible.

  “Oh my God, Frank. What the hell is that thing?” Wanda gasped.

  “It’s an ant-mimicking spider.”

  “And they get that big?”

  “No, nothing like this.” Frank had never seen anything like it before. The arachnid was enormous and had to be four feet tall and at least eight feet long. It had four black-globed eyes and its body was covered with silver, bristly hairs.

  “Those aren’t antennae near its head,” Frank said. “Those are actually its front legs. Eight legs are typical of spiders. Ants only have six.”

  “But why pretend to be an ant?” Wanda asked unable to take her eyes off of the super-sized spider.

  “Just part of the natural design of things I guess. That and they can pretty much reclassify themselves as a predator, or prey for that matter.”

  “Is it going to attack?” Kathy said, hiding behind James.

  “I think we should be worried.”

  Diogo had been standing on the other side of the royal palm and hadn’t seen the giant spider until he stepped around the trunk. As soon as he laid eyes on the creature he immediately started to scream.

  “Ignacio, tell him to be quiet,” Frank snapped. He turned to Wanda. “Watch out, these things can—”

  The ant-mimicking spider jumped across the clearing in one swoop and came down on top of Diogo. The giant arachnid seized the small man and sank its fangs into his shoulder.

  Frank aimed his rifle and shot the spider through the head. Ignacio and James leveled their shotguns and blew gaping holes in its body. The spider collapsed on top of Diogo’s still body.

  Everyone gathered around for a closer look.

  Diogo’s eyes were bugged out and his face was swollen like a puffer fish. All the veins in his neck and chest bulged on the surface of his skin like a competing bodybuilder.

  “He was probably injected with enough venom to kill an elephant.” Frank looked at the others. “Well, I guess now we know what Diogo was so afraid of.”

  45

  Ryan and Jackie were standing on the bank of a stream, spear fishing in the shallow water when they heard the gunshots. They both turned and gazed at the large grove of rattan palms stretching back into the rainforest.

  “Those shots came from behind those trees,” Ryan said. “What do you think, hunters?”

  “That or poachers. If they are, we’re in serious trouble.”

  “What do you want to do? They could be our only way out of the jungle.”

  “I guess we have to go see.”

  “I agree.”

  They made their way through the trees, stepping around brown fronds that had fallen on the ground. Each palm tree had a straw-like skirt of dead fronds around its lower trunk.

  Soon, they heard voices and crept silently over to a hedgerow where they wouldn’t be seen. Ryan and Jackie crouched down and peered through the leaves.

  “I don’t believe it.” Ryan stood up, grabbed Jackie’s hand, and they pushed through the shrubs.

  “Oh my God!” Wanda yelled when she saw Ryan running t
oward her. They embraced and Ryan could tell his mother was crying.

  Jackie ran over to James and Kathy and the three hugged.

  Ignacio had a big smile on his face and clapped his hands.

  Frank came over and put his arm around Ryan and gave him a big squeeze.

  “I can’t believe you guys came looking for us,” Ryan said.

  “Ryan, you’re my son,” Wanda said, declaring that it was her duty as a mother and she’d do anything in the world for him.

  “How did you know where to find us?”

  “Let’s just say Ignacio and Frank are good trackers,” Wanda said. She looked over at Frank and he smiled back.

  Jackie came over, followed by James and Kathy.

  “So, we got your text about poor Miles,” Frank said.

  “We tried to revive him with CPR but it didn’t work,” Ryan said.

  “Ryan saved my life,” Jackie said. “Twice.”

  “Good for you, son,” Frank said. “So what happened to Ben?”

  “Don’t know,” Ryan said. “When our plane crashed into the river, he was the first to get out, but we never saw him after that. He must have drowned.”

  “Well, you’re safe now,” Wanda said. “Looks like you two made a pretty good team.”

  “Yeah, I guess we did,” Ryan said and smiled at Jackie.

  Ryan saw the humongous dead spider. “Jackie, check that out.”

  “So that’s what you were shooting at,” Jackie said, and walked over with Ryan to get a closer look. That’s when they saw the man pinned under the giant spider’s body.

  Ryan turned to Frank, “Is he dead?”

  Frank nodded his head.

  “We had a similar encounter,” Jackie said.

  “Oh, and what was that?” Wanda asked.

  “A giant praying mantis.”

  “Yeah, it was as tall as me,” Ryan said. “It tried coming at us but when it saw we meant business it flew off.”

  “I don’t get it,” Wanda said. “You look around, there’re normal-sized insects everywhere, so why the giant ones?”

  “That’s a good question,” Frank said.

  “Do you think it might have something to do with the earthquakes?” Wanda asked.