by catt dahman
In the distance, he heard strange noises: roars and squeals. The reverberations were so unfamiliar and eerie that his arms broke out in chill bumps. What kind of creature made those sounds?
As Littleton started to wonder about everything he had been told, he grew more afraid. Disbelief was far easier; reality was going to terrify him.
Someone in the ruins of the yacht wept, making John Littleton feel less alone, but also more frightened, and it was a long time before he slept.
Chapter 3: Rescue Party
Scott dug his boot into the sand, covered it, and then shook it clean as he tried to restrain his anger. Alex and he had already cursed and demanded answers, but nothing helped their concern. After everything they had been through, how could a group simply walk into the jungle without taking a few who could protect them?
He and a few others had late guard duty and slept later to make up for those hours. While they slept, some of their group made unthinkable mistakes.
“Tyrese went with them,” Stu said. “Isn’t he the so-called leader, now?” His voice dripped with sarcasm, irritating Scott.
“I told you to go,” Tom told his brother. He rubbed the stump of his arm, somehow knowing what his brother would reply.
“You aren’t the leader anymore,” Stu said. “You were replaced. It’s too bad this group doesn’t want anyone with brains to lead.”
Tom sighed. It was as he expected. From the time they crashed, until recently, he had stepped up as a leader,his friends and attempting to fight anything that threatened them, since he had invited them on the cruise.
After Tom’s arm became infected, Kelly removed it, despite his protests. Now, he was no longer seen as a leader; he was the one-armed man who was ignored. It was curious how an infection took his arm, his position, and his worth. “Brains? I only wish.”
“Scott, you can’t boss everyone in camp. Tyrese is the leader, and he went with the group,” said Kelly as she rolled her eyes. She didn’t want more drama and derision in the group.
“I’m not saying I’m the boss, but this isn’t right.”
“How many times have all of you been to the spring for water? Why are you so upset?” Kelly asked.
Alex answered for Scott, saying, “First, most of those people have never been in the jungle, so they are inexperienced with the shit that’s out there. Second, Littleton and Benny just landed here and they are not healthy. They have injuries, and of all people, Kelly, you should appreciate that. Third, can’t you hear the noises?”
Kelly tightened her lips. Alex had a point. Because of the recent rains or because of something else, the animals were far louder than normal: hooting, snorting, roaring, and stamping. She thought Alex was right about all of his points, but she disliked being wrong. “Maybe they got lost or are taking their time.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Those two possibilities are exactly why I’m worried. Both are dangerous.”
“So is everything else we do right here!” Kelly snapped at him. “We have to be able to gather fresh water, or we will have a huge problem.”
Scott said, “We can get water but not until people are better prepared to go into the jungle. We have trouble almost every time we go.”
Helen used her fingers to mark off each person’s name. “Pam, Sue, Shonna, Littleton, Benny, Tyrese, Durango, and Davey? Eight. Of those, two are prepared. Unreal.”
“Sue is maybe the third most dependable. Really, Tyrese and Davey are all they have for protection,” Alex agreed.
“I didn’t send them,” Kelly said, and went to finish her work. She was rubbing oil into Amanda’s back, hoping that the burned flesh and deep cuts would loosen so Amanda was no longer forced to arch her back.
Although the healing had gone well and fast at first, it had been too fast, and now, Amanda was suffering. Kelly felt guilt tugging at her and knew that was why she snapped at the others. She was using medical alternatives she didn’t understand. She also was the one who cauterized Amanda’s back instead of letting her die of the wounds. Nothing was easy.
Sometimes people were angry when Kelly couldn’t save them, but other times they were upset over Kelly’s methods. No one had given Kelly answers about how to work or who to save. She was a nurse, and at this point, she figured that she was a poor excuse for one.
“They should have been back. I have a bad feeling,” Scott said. He watched the line of trees where the jungle ended and the beach began, hoping to see the other group coming back. Since they had landed and found dinosaurs, he protected everyone, learning how to fight with sticks and knives.
Davey, Tyrese, Helen, Alex, and Scott had fought as a team several times and had a sort of routine formed. Without the team, Davey and Tyrese had a disadvantage. Adding Benny’s excitement and Littleton’s suspension of believability was a definite liability.
“Dad is stronger, but he isn’t right. He is weak mentally since hitting his head and receiving the head injury during the storm and then the wreck,” Tom said. He worried about his father, Durango.
“Durango has trouble with his vision, too,” Scott agreed. “I think we will have to search for them.”
“I say we wait,” Stu said. He didn’t want his younger brother, Vaughn, to go looking in the jungle where there was danger. Tom still didn’t venture far, and Stu’s mother and sister didn’t bother to do much more than complain. If Vaughn wanted to go looking for their father, then Stu had a problem.
“I say we can’t wait,” said Scott as he glared. Stu and he had fistfights before, but Scott didn’t want to fight again because he might not win, but he wasn’t going to be bullied either.
He saw the way Stu’s eyes looked over to Vaughn and understood the issue. “You, Tom, and Vaughn can hold things down here, right?”
“Sure,” Stu said as he narrowed his eyes. It gave him a way to protect his brother.
The island was beautiful with pristine white beaches licked by warm and gentle aqua waves. The lush, plump green foliage and blooming flowers in all colors were abundant in the jungle. It was obscene that the island was inhabited by feral children, dotted with wreckages that were confusing to find, and was populated by dinosaurs. Even the word dinosaur felt unreal.
As bad as that was, or as juxtaposed as the elements were, some of the people with Scott made him just as angry. At times, it felt that some of them worked separate agendas or enjoyed being assholes. Kelly was over-worked and emotional, and Tom was angry and injured, but Scott didn’t really harbor any anger towards either of them.
Stu was another issue altogether. Even in the face of other evidence or opinions, he was aggressive, insisting he was always correct, but tended to stay out of the action except to cause more problems.
Scott nodded and said, “Then, we’re good.”
Stu shrugged, “Whatever you think, I’m staying here to protect my sister, mom, and brother.”
“I don’t need ya, Stu,” Tom said.
“I meant my other brother.”
“He’s okay staying here. I feel better that way,” Scott told Tom.
“You don’t trust me?” Stu asked.
“I do as far as you trust me,” said Scott as he carefully chose his words. Kelly chewed her bottom lip with concern.
Lately, she and Stu, formerly almost enemies, were getting closer. Before the shipwreck, she almost had been engaged to Tom, but now, Tom was close to Joy who had made the rounds of the camp, sleeping with almost every man in the group before she settled down with Tom. The drama was enough to cause Scott’s head to ache, and he wished they would draw a diagram of all the changing relationships.
It pissed Scott off to have to worry about the group’s dynamics. He asked, “Alex? Sorry, but…”
“I’m with you,” Alex agreed. He swallowed a tiny lump of fear. He had always been the smart man, the brainy man, or the studious man, but now, because of circumstances, he had to be a fighter. He was lucky that he learned to swing heavy bats and stab with knives.
When h
e wasn’t fighting for his life, like right now, he was kind of proud that Scott asked him to be his second. He never thought he would be trusted as a protector.
“I know I can depend on you. You think on your feet.”
Alex flushed and said, “Thanks, I try.”
Scott asked Air Marshal Lynn to remain at camp, mainly because he was the best bet the survivors had if Stu did something stupid, or if anything attacked. Scott had to think three steps ahead.
Lynn seemed to understand, so he winked and said, “I have this under control. Nothing is going to come knocking up close.”
Joe laughed, breaking the tension and said, “If it does, I hope the marshal kills it so we can have steaks. Smoking them and eating them sounds good. Kill it, and I’ll cook it.”
“What about me?” Helen asked. She knew Scott worried about her, but he always trusted her to have his back, literally. She was loyal and in love with Scott, something she discovered on the island. Despite their feelings, she didn’t want him to pamper her. She could fight when needed.
Worried about her safety, Scott agreed that Helen should come with them, but was also sure that she was one of the most reliable people on the island. In his view, she was amazing. The priest, Father Robert, or Bobby as they called him, and RJ, finished out the team. They were strong fighters as well.
With knives and sticks, the group looked less than formidable, but they moved quietly and quickly into the tree line, unnerved by the noises. They were a good team.
“Be safe,” Kelly called.
“Why is everything so loud?” Scott asked Alex. He jumped each time there was a loud roar or an echoing snuffle. Thrashing and cracking sounded as if a war were being waged.
“I’m not sure. Usually the animals and birds get quiet if something is hunting,” said Alex as he thought it over.
“So there might not be a pack hunting here? I hear all the snorts, though,” Helen said.
As Alex nodded, he said, “I didn’t explain well. I mean if a pack is hunting, ordinarily the rest of the critters get quiet. I’m afraid there is more than one pack running around this morning. That might account for all the noise. Instead of stealthy work, the packs could be clashing. It’s all I can think of to explain the noise.”
“Why would that happen? Why would several packs be drawn here?” RJ asked.
“Oh, because we’ve disrupted the eco-system each time we have killed a meat eater or a plant eater. May be the storms, or may be eight people that went blundering into the jungle. May be all of those reasons at once.”
Alex pointed. The trail was packed down, and vegetation grew away or was pruned back by the passing of humans and animals.
Sometime, instead of walking in a line, a few people walked together, breaking and mashing the foliage. Leaves were bruised, and branches randomly were broken, causing sap to ooze.
Scott knelt and said, “I see that Tyrese’s boot prints are in the center of the trail and that sneaker prints are all over the place. Ty wouldn’t have thought about it because we normally walk in a line. They had to make a lot of noise coming through here.”
Coming up to the spring of fresh water was the most dangerous, because it was where packs of predators hid in order to ambush plant eaters or smaller meat eaters. Tyrese and Davey knew that, but evidently, the rest didn’t listen because the footprints scattered farther, making it clear that some of the group had rushed to the water without watching and listening first.
Scott felt Tyrese must have been pulling his hair out by the time they got this far. He knew Tyrese would have been furious, but it wasn’t easy to boss around this group of people.
Enormous, wheezing grunts and snorts filled the jungle. A roar cut away to loud snapping sounds. Scott and his group knew the sounds and what they meant. A large beast was feeding, and the cracking noises were the snapping of bones. Goose bumps formed on their arms.
Alex made a motion, indicating they shouldn’t go forward, but needed to wait. It was too dangerous to try to get to the water. He jerked his head to one side where it looked as if someone had gone off the path. He put a finger to his lips.
The canopy of the jungle was not only the top of trees, but it also was comprised of a majority of the foliage: mosses, vines, ferns, and algae that grew twined through the branches of trees. The trees struggled for sunlight, blocking the lower areas that were below the hundred-foot canopy.
As soon as the members of the group saw the tiny clearing, they froze, listening for sounds of a predator and trying to make sense of what they saw.
Many of the ferns were mashed deeply into the ground and were covered by heavy splashes of bright red blood. A man lay on his side, and several seconds passed before they realized the bloated, greenish figure was Durango, his skin beginning to turn greyish black.
Scott felt sick with fear and loss. For years, when he was around Tom and the family, Durango was like another father to him, always supportive and kind. He had been strong and loud, a bigger-than-life personality that changed after his head injury. Scott had not mourned the loss because Durango was still alive, but he was just a different Durango.
“Durango,” Helen whispered, “oh, no.” She also loved the big, brawny man who took the time to tell her about the ocean and teach her as they sailed. She loved Tom’s father. He was like Tom and Vaughn in temperament, but loud like Stu.
Durango didn’t move. He was obviously dead, yet, the reason why the scavengers hadn’t started eating his flesh was confounding, a confounding question and an unknown. It would have been horrible to see him being eaten. Scott looked at Alex who shrugged and shook his head as they crept forward.
“Stu and Tom are going to lose it,” Helen said. They were the only ones with family on the island. Durango had commanded the yacht, and Tom had invited his college friends to go along, but Stu, their mother Connie, his other brother Vaughn, and sister Vera, had been along for the trip, but not around the rest as much as Tom and Durango had been.
Everyone liked Durango. Helen felt hurt and asked, “What happened to him?”
The second body lay close to Durango and was barely recognizable, as Sue, a pretty Asian woman who had not only been scared by the creatures on the island, but also fascinated to see them for herself. Before Benny came, she was the only person who enjoyed talking about the types of dinosaurs with Alex.
“Sue? Oh no, not Sue,” said Alex as he caught his breath and tried to stay calm.
Hearing her name, Sue shivered violently and tried to roll over, whining as she did so. Her sweet, intelligent face was grotesquely swollen and was set into a mask of pain and fear. Her eyes leaked watery blood, and her swollen lips struggled to form words. She was barely recognizable.
Helen wanted to comfort her, but Sue’s skin was blistered and leaking blood, so touching her might have hurt her. All around Sue’s head was blood-soaked vomit.
As Helen looked around, she decided that whatever killed Durango had caused Sue’s condition, as well. “Sue? Can you hear me?”
“Helen?” asked Sue, whose usually soft eyes were shiny and roved madly as she tried to focus, blinking away bloody tears.
“I’m here. It’s Helen. You’re with friends now.”
“Alex? What’s wrong with her? The compys aren’t bothering her or Durango’s body. That’s strange.” Scott heard the compsognathus chittering as they danced, almost hidden behind the trees, but they didn’t come close. Usually, they were curious scavengers.
Alex watched the little dinosaurs. Being the size of large chickens or turkeys, they were always the first to find a free meal and didn’t care if the prey were dead or dying. Normally in a pack, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack Sue and Durango, but now, were nervously avoiding them. Even with other packs hunting nearby, they were likely to sun, grab a few bites, and retreat, but they didn’t bother anyone or anything.
Scott looked at Sue carefully and jerked back, his eyes wide. He looked around and stomped his feet. “Hell, no, look at her.”<
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Helen was perplexed and asked, “What?”
“Snakes. Sue, were there snakes?”
She nodded, tears running down her face.
Helen saw the fang marks and understood the blistering. The marks were small and numerous. “Baby snakes? A nest?”
“Vipers, fer-de-lance,” said Sue as she gasped. She slurred the words, but they were clear enough to make sense. She was a smart woman and had identified the type of snake that had bitten her.
Alex frowned. He took the information in and tried to process what Sue was telling him. “No shit? Vipers?” Sue’s determination to tell them the information, despite blistered lips, was chilling.
Sue opened her hand, and there in her fist lay a dead baby viper. She had crushed it as it bit her several times on her palm, so swollen that it looked ready to burst. The snake was muddy brown with a pale, creamy yellow belly. It wasn’t snake-shaped as people thought of snakes, but had a separate head from its body. It was like a sock that had a ball in the toe with an indentation right before the head began.
The little snake was young, yet its head was broad, and it had a lot of venom. It was likely that Sue and Durango stepped into the midst of a nest of the creatures.
“The fer-de-lance isn’t natural to all islands with jungles. I can’t say it’s a mystery why they are here, yet, it seems strange to find them here, very unique,” Alex said.
“Very strange?” Helen asked.
“Not supernatural. Unusual is all.”
“No stranger than dinosaurs,” Scott said. He raised his feet anxiously, watching for the brown snakes to slither from the leaves, but the area was clear as far as he could see. He used a branch to turn the leaves over and look under sticks. “I don’t see any.”
“They left.”
Helen looked into Sue’s eyes and asked, “The snakes and the others?”
