by Dan Decker
Why did I come?
The wind made the canvas awning shift overhead, creating a rubbing noise against the aluminum poles that sent chills down my spine.
My heart leaped inside my chest, threatening to escape on its own if I did not have sense enough to run. As I took several deep breaths to calm myself, I forced my feet to move so I could get close to Jill before speaking. Luckily, I did not see any sores on her exposed skin.
Where are Sandy and Erik?
Both their tents were quiet and undisturbed.
“Can you hear me?” I asked, feeling sheepish as I went to a knee beside Jill while wondering if she could still be alive. Her torso was torn in several places and a chunk of her throat was missing, making me think she had been attacked by the lizard.
The movement I had seen appeared to be an involuntary muscle spasm.
Her eyes sprung open as she roared, hands lunging for my neck.
20
I jumped back and lashed out with my machete before I realized what I was doing. My blade missed her hand by inches but I was already out of reach, having sprung backward further than I thought possible.
“Sorry…”
The words died on my lips as Jill roared again and chased me. I ran, knocking over a stack of coolers. As they tumbled over, the carefully packed body of the small lizard spilled to the ground.
Take that Sharon.
It felt like sufficient revenge for Sharon’s theft of the eggs though I recognized the loss would hurt me as well.
The thought was gone in an instant as I pushed past the undergrowth and soon left the camp behind. Jill had not followed, or if she had, it had not been for long.
If it had been five minutes or an hour, I could not say, but I soon turned to face the direction I had come from, grasping the machete while struggling to catch my breath.
I listened, expecting to hear sounds of pursuit, but did not hear anything to indicate Jill was coming after me.
Zombie.
What else could she be?
Her throat had been torn open. The bleeding had largely stopped yet she still moved. I had a sinking feeling in my chest when I thought of how Jill had been wounded.
It had to have been Sandy or Eric.
They had changed to zombies.
It had been more than four days since Sandy and Erik had holed up in their tents. Jill had been with us all day and had become a zombie in a matter of minutes upon returning to camp.
I was missing something.
I don’t know that Sandy and Eric are zombies, maybe it was all in my mind.
When I heard branches breaking on my left, I raised my machete. Even after I saw it was Mike, I did not lower my weapon as I examined him for wounds. His bags were gone.
At least he dumped the lizard eggs, I thought, hoping they had all been destroyed in the confusion. Regardless of what had happened to Jill, Sharon was going to insist on taking back those eggs.
“Are you bleeding?” I asked.
“No.” He swallowed. “I saw Jill attack you.”
I shook my head, offering no comment or criticism about how he had hidden when I had gone into camp, it had been the smart thing to do.
“Have you seen the others?”
“No. Jill looked like a zombie to me. Is that how she looked to you?”
I don’t know, I was too busy running for my life.
Sarcasm was not going to help. It certainly was not going to get us home.
I nodded toward camp. “We need to call out. Did you see a radio?”
We had two: a primary and a backup. None of us had seen the backup, but Sharon had told us she had one in her personal belongings. The primary was kept in a box by the generator near the coolers. I could not remember seeing it when I knocked them over.
“I didn’t think to check. When you ran, I circled round.” He gave me a scrutinizing glance. “Glad you made it away.”
“We have to go back.” I looked at him. “Do you have a weapon?”
“I dropped my bags near camp, my machete was inside.” He fished a knife out from his pocket and held it up, unfolding it to show a three-inch blade. I kept my mouth shut, deciding that reprimanding him for dropping his machete was not going to do us any good.
“That is where we start. Your bag. You must have a weapon.”
He gave a nod and followed me into the undergrowth.
Mike was a decent fellow. Perhaps he was smart enough to recognize I had not asked about the eggs.
Hopefully he did not put it together until after we found his belongings and I had stomped the cooler until there was nothing left.
21
Mike managed to get ahead of me. He now pointed the way forward as he stopped to crouch beside a thick plant that probably hid him from the oncoming direction. I crept up beside him and looked over the top of the bush, spotting his bag on the other side.
I swallowed when I noticed the cooler was missing.
“Where are the eggs?” I asked in a voice that was much louder than I intended, wishing I had taken a moment to collect my thoughts before speaking. If he had not thought I was coming after the eggs before, he did now.
He shrugged as if confused but also relieved. “Gone. I left them here.” He glanced at me and must have figured out I was furious. “Probably works out better that way, seeing as how you did not want us to keep them.”
I nodded but did not voice my thoughts. Even though there was no sign of Sharon, I assumed she had taken them.
We don’t want them to leave the Amazon.
“Let’s get your machete.”
I motioned for him to go first and followed after, checking all sides as we moved to make sure nothing was waiting to come at us from out of the brush. When he arrived at his bag he pulled the zipper. A small sound, innocuous enough that on most days I would not have given it a second thought.
My heartrate increased as I waited on high alert, afraid the zombie would hear.
A clanging came from camp, but nothing charged us. The sound stopped a moment later. Sweat formed on my forehead but it was not because of heat or exertion.
I slid forward while Mike rummaged through his bag. I did not know why he did not have the machete within easy reach, perhaps he had been more concerned about keeping it dry. I had done something similar but it now seemed unthinkable to me to not keep it at hand.
I would never repeat that mistake.
The clanging started up again, sounding like an alarm. I doubted a zombie would have the presence of mind to make that sort of noise, at least for the purpose of communicating.
I edged forward, only looking back when I heard Mike approaching.
He had a machete in one hand and a hatchet in the other. I gave him an approving nod, not bothering to wonder why he had left both behind, I just wished I too had a secondary weapon.
When we arrived at camp, we found Sharon beating a wooden spoon against a pot. She motioned for us to get closer without missing a beat.
“It’s safe!” Sharon cried when she spotted me, as if there were not a zombie nearby. “Come on back!”
As we came around the side of a tent, I saw she stood over Jill’s headless corpse.
There was a hurling noise from behind and I turned just as Mike emptied the contents of his stomach into a bush. I remembered the shifty looks he and Jill had exchanged. I could understand his discomfort, even if I did not respond in the same way.
Sharon thrust the pan over her head and increased the tempo before resting it on the plastic camp table behind her.
I nodded at Jill. “Your work?”
Sharon gave an affirmative nod. Despite our circumstances, and the dread and horror, she appeared to handle the situation without a problem.
“Was not easy, either.” She pointed at a nearby ax that was covered in blood. I shook my head but did not comment on that or the mess on her shoes. Hopefully, the zombie causing contagion could not be transferred through skin contact.
I approached Jill�
�s body. It was in almost the exact same place it had been when I had first discovered it.
“You saw me?”
Sharon nodded. “I came at her from behind when you fled.”
From behind. Figures.
I nudged Jill’s leg with my foot while holding the machete ready but the corpse was still. I was not oblivious to the note of scorn in Sharon’s voice, I just decided to ignore it. Pointing out that she had not warned me about Jill was not going to get us out of the jungle.
“The radio.” I went to the spilled coolers and rooted around, carelessly tossing them aside along with our non-perishable food supplies.
“Gone,” Sharon said, “I think one of the others took it.”
“The backup?”
“I’ll dig it out if we need. The others will have to return, there is no place for them to go.”
“We must call out.” As I spoke I noticed the soft cooler beside Sharon’s tent.
Less than ten steps and I can smash every single egg.
Sharon must have guessed my intention because she moved between me and the cooler. I did not let her action phase me.
“What happened when you arrived at camp? Was that Jill screaming?”
Sharon nodded. “She was attacked by Sandy, but you already suspected that, didn’t you?”
“Where is Sandy?” I looked around. “And Erik?”
Sharon cracked a wicked smile. “What haven’t you told me? I have a feeling that if I had not followed you, I would never have learned about the spaceship.”
For a brief moment I considered telling her the truth, opening up about the zombie baby capybaras and the large lizard, but I dismissed the urge when I remembered how Sharon had witnessed Jill’s attack and done nothing to help me.
I did not owe her anything.
That sick little smile of hers during this most unusual time was enough to remind me of that.
“Get the backup radio,” I said. “I have a feeling the others are not coming—”
A disturbance from the undergrowth drew our attention as a figure stumbled out, hand in front of their face as if to shield it from branches.
Bill looked from Mike to Sharon to me. “Am I glad to see you g—”
Something attacked from the shadows, jumping onto his back. It grabbed his hair with one hand, the other going toward his neck. It opened its mouth and took a bite, pulling out a chunk of flesh from between his neck and shoulder.
Sandy.
I barely recognized her. The lustrous dark brown hair had fallen from her head in clumps. There were cracks and sores all over her skin as if flesh rotted on her still moving body.
She had wide eyes, but they were bigger now, their doe like appearance reminding me of something from a horror movie.
She growled, her teeth dripping in blood.
I brought up my machete. Mike held up his hatchet. Sharon fumbled for the ax, the handle slipping from her hands. She moved to grab it but it fell through her grasp.
We all looked at Sandy as she perched on top of Bill like a bird of prey. I expected her to go for Sharon next as she was closest.
I shifted, wondering what I would do if she did.
I need Sharon for the radio, I thought more reluctantly than I wanted to admit. I also had a feeling that if I let Sandy attack Sharon without trying to intervene, I would regret it.
Sandy roared and charged Mike, who at first looked like he was thinking of running for it but decided to meet the attack, his hatchet held up and his machete out.
“Stay back!” Sharon yelled, but it was too late. They were on a collision course from which there was no return.
Mike swung down as Sandy tackled him.
By that time Bill was on his feet and looking around as if hoping to find a weapon. He was in the shadows and I was not able to assess the damage he had suffered.
Mike’s hatchet fell from his hands as Sandy went for his neck. I stepped forward, intending to intervene, but hesitated. Sandy held Mike down as if he were light as a feather though he was bigger than me and Sandy was the smallest in our group, her hands latched onto his arms and held him in place though she was half his size.
What can I do?
He struggled to throw her off but it was vain, he could not move. It was as if he had been nailed to the ground.
I took a step backward, keeping a careful eye on Bill as well as Sandy, while trying to decide how I could best help Mike.
Bill had found a metal cooler. He held the heavy box over his head, aiming for Sandy’s back.
I shook my head. “That’s—” A hand went around my mouth.
“Forget about them,” Sharon hissed in my ear. This was surprising to hear from her, given the rumor about her and Bill. “They are as good as gone. Jill was bitten too.” Sharon made a ticking sound. “A few seconds later and she was a monster.” She motioned with her head at the corpse.
I nodded but had not given up on finding a way to deal with Sandy or rescue Mike. I tried to avoid looking at what Sandy had become; every time I saw her appearance I was shocked anew. With great difficulty I put aside the turmoil I felt at seeing her in such a state, at least for the time being.
Sharon released me when she believed I was not going to intervene.
Looking from the plastic folding table to Sandy, I considered my chances of using it to leverage her off Mike. It was flimsy but if I came at the right angle it might just work.
I took a step forward and Sharon grabbed my arm, pulling me back toward a tent as Bill almost attacked Sandy but stopped at the last moment. He had waited and was obviously struggling with something.
Was it a moment of indecision or was he in too much pain to throw the cooler?
His eyes followed Sandy.
“Stop gawking,” Sharon hissed, trying to pull me again. “They fight now, but they’ll soon all be on the same side.”
I tore my eyes from the scene unfolding before me and yanked my arm free. “Still believe we’re going to find the other radio?”
Sharon bit her lip. “Good point.” She went toward her tent.
As she disappeared I eyed the cooler with the eggs.
My assumption was accurate that she would prioritize them, but she had forgotten them in the heat of the moment.
Keeping a careful eye on Sandy and the others while also checking to make sure Sharon was not about to step outside, I edged forward until it was right in front of me. My intense focus on destroying the eggs distracted me from any thought of rescuing Mike.
Bill still hesitated, his eyes no longer on Sandy as he stared into the distance, seeing something that was not there.
I brought up my foot.
Do this and you’ll destroy one of the most significant discoveries—
The thought came from the back of my mind but I ignored it as I snapped my boot down, satisfied by the cracking eggs underneath. I stomped several more times until it was impossible any survived. Broken egg leaked out the sides.
I jumped on it twice more for good measure.
Afterward I spun and lunged for the table, but Mike no longer moved. He was covered in blood.
I was too late.
Sandy was still on top of him, but I did not dwell on the situation for long.
I should have done something. There had been a few seconds where I might have helped but I had hesitated.
I would not make the same mistake again.
Unfortunately, that would not help Mike.
Bill’s face changed.
It was difficult to describe but I knew in my gut he was no longer the man I had barely known.
I disappeared into the shadows, hoping the new Bill monster would not be right behind with Sandy and Mike fresh on his tail.
22
I scratched on the back of Sharon’s tent in what I hoped was a quiet attempt to get her attention, listening for the monsters as I did. Sandy roared and somebody scrambled. It was followed by a crash.
Did Mike escape? Guilt swept through me. I though
t he was dead.
He could not have long. Had I given up on him too soon? I felt bad for not going to the rescue and hated that I had already written off both him and Bill.
Had that been a mistake?
“Are you there?” I asked through clenched teeth and in as quiet a voice as I thought Sharon could hear. I did not receive an answer right away and was about to head into the undergrowth when she spoke.
“It’s gone,” she said quietly, her voice showing more anxiety than I had heard from her before. “Gone!” This last had been louder than was safe and I figured she had just drawn the attention of the monsters.
“What?” I cringed at the volume of my own voice and wondered if it was indeed time to run.
I pressed my machete into the tent, watching it indent the fabric as I did.
“I’m coming in,” I whispered as I grabbed a handful of the material. After I pierced the lightweight fabric, I made a slit big enough for me to step inside. It might have been faster to hack my way in with a chopping motion but that would have made more noise.
“Where is it?” I demanded, tearing the hole bigger as I did.
Sharon’s tent was a mess, her clothes had been tossed all over. The cot was one big jumble of suitcases and bags.
“It’s gone.” She held up a bag. “It should have been here but it’s gone.”
Judging by the state of her tent, I was inclined to think this was true. I had only caught a peek inside once before and her space had been immaculately kept.
I peeked out the door.
Bill had disappeared. Sandy looked like she was distracted by something. I nearly jumped when I saw Mike moving in the shadows like a human.
How was he alive? He had been covered in blood.
I backed away from the door not wanting him to see me, fearing he would shortly turn to a zombie.
“We don’t have a minute to waste,” I said, grabbing her arm as I spoke inches from her ear to keep my voice as quiet as possible.
She glanced at me and for the first time I saw fear on her face. I was uncertain how to respond to the raw emotion. She had always been in control, seeming to know what to do and how to act.
