Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

by Philip R Benge

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  Many things appeared in the skies of Calamity when they cut the power supply to the wormhole, such as huge rocks, ones dragged from asteroid fields in other planetary systems. These now crashed down onto the planet, causing damage across the planet, amid a massive thunderstorm that had been scooped up by the wormhole. Some other things rushed through the atmosphere of Calamity, such as a storm of meteorites that burnt up in the atmosphere of the planet, and one small aircraft, battered and falling fast towards the ground below.

  Reuben was on the verge of losing consciousness when the fresh air of Calamity rushed into the aircraft bringing him around, and like a cork from a champagne bottle the aircraft burst forth from the clouds and there was light, natural light, normal light, light that was not supernatural light, but unfortunately the small aircraft was losing altitude fast.

  Rueben could see that they would either crash into the ground, or into the towering cliff face ahead; both were coming nearer with every second. The two boys screamed out in fear, but Reuben now recovered from his state of shock, he realised that he had to act quickly to prevent the aircraft from crashing into the ground below, a ground filled with a waiting jungle! However, there was no time to wonder about the presence of the jungle, for with a stuttering engine, pondering such matters was not high up on the list of priorities. As more and more jungle filled his field of vision he did the only thing he could, he pulled back on the joystick, and then he remembered his video game, of course the engine needed more power. Reuben now pushed the throttle forward to increase the power to the engine, and it roared back into life just as Jasper took hold of the joystick and helped to pull it back, and the aircraft slowly began its climb away from the ground. But the battle was not yet won, for with the cliff face looming ever closer, it was in the lap of the gods as to whether they would live through the next few moments. They could now plainly see every detail of the rocky cliff face that was fast approaching them. Time and space were rapidly running out, and just as it seemed as if time had indeed run out, blue sky suddenly appeared before them as the cliff face disappeared from view. The aircraft had somehow managed to find an updraft of warm air and gain enough height to clear the top of the cliff and get them to safety. Reuben and Jasper both screamed with delight, but it all seemed premature, for the aircraft shuddered as it hit a particularly solid piece of the vegetation that covered the top of the cliff top. A loud thud rang through the mortally wounded aircraft, telling of untold damage to the lower portion of their now stricken aircraft.

  Smoke began to pour out from beneath their speeding aircraft, and all they saw around them was ‘wall to wall’ jungle, which spread out beneath them like an Amazonian rain forest. Reuben looked over to Jasper.

  “This cannot be real; surely we must have died and gone to hell”

  Jasper looked over at Reuben and smiled. “Well it seems very green to be the fiery depths of Hell, Reuben, more likely one of us is having a nightmare, and if it is you will you please wake up.”

  Reuben gave a half grin to Jasper. “We will have to find somewhere to land, and fast, for we don`t have all that much fuel left Jasper, and I think that the aircraft is very badly damaged, there is a great deal of smoke streaming out behind us.”

  As if to reinforce this view, the engine began to cough and splutter again, and the nose of the aircraft dipped sharply towards the waiting jungle.

  “You`re right Reuben, the engine doesn`t sound too good, do you think that it will last long enough to get us down safely?” Jasper cried out in desperation.

  “It`s not over yet Jasper, look, look, over there, a meadow.”

  In front of them, a pocket-handkerchief sized meadow slowly grew in size as they approached it until Reuben was sure it would do, if he were as good in real life as he was when playing computer games.

  The Miles Finch, for this was the make of the aircraft, answered the question for them, when it`s engine finally gave up the battle. This forced Reuben to use all his skills as a computer game pilot just to keep the aircraft airborne long enough for them to reach the meadow, and the hoped for safety that it offered.

  The meadow was not very large by any standard, but it was maybe just large enough, and it did look flattish, anyway flat enough for their desperate needs, but what was the point in worrying now when the aircraft had made the choice for them? The aircraft skimmed over the tops of the trees, Reuben had no need to lower the wheels of the Miles Finch as it had fixed wheels, Reuben just hoped that they hadn`t been damaged when they had hit something a minute earlier. The stricken aircraft was now falling quickly towards the waiting meadow, and it needed all of his skills as a computer game`s pilot to keep the nose of the aircraft up, and then they were clear of the trees and over the meadow. Reuben had almost brought the aircraft down onto terra firma, but it was still not all over, for the jungle was rushing towards them from the far end of the meadow, but he finally got the craft down and they now bounced along this short improvised runway. In fact there followed a series of bumps and bangs that jarred their entire bodies, causing Jasper to cry out in pain, as for Reuben, well he needed all his concentration just to keep them alive. The craft was down though, with the long grass of the meadow flattening out beneath them, leaving a long crushed strip as the aircraft rushed along through it at what seemed a suicidal speed. The tall grass blocked their view; it gave the appearance that they were moving through a long green tunnel where the wall in front of them was rushing along ahead of them, as if to stop them from running over it.

  Rueben managed to slowly reduce their speed, it was down to a more sedate rate when the grass in front of them disappeared, and ahead of them appeared a massive rock wall with a large cave inset into it, and they were approaching it far too fast!

  “I don`t think we can stop in time.” screamed Jasper.

  Then Fate took another hand in the events when one of the wheels struck a large boulder shearing it from the aircraft and spinning the aircraft so that it finally came to a rest with a large crash that almost destroyed the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft had ended its days at the back of the large cave that they had been tearing towards just moments ago, and with no sign of whatever had been burning, and leaving a trail of smoke behind them. Reuben had hardly had the time to react to all the events, they had all happened so quickly, so he did not bother to try as he slowly let out a sigh.

  “Well, it was not what I would have called a really smooth landing Jasper, but… I suppose it will do.”

  Both of them broke down in a fit of laughter, after all the stress of the last hour it was nice to be down in one piece, and finally safe. They both opened the doors of the aircraft and stumbled out, or maybe it was they fell out, onto the ground, happy to feel something firm beneath their feet.

  From outside the cave, rocks hurtled down out of the sky keeping them a prisoner within it, but they finally let up allowing Reuben to walk out of the cave. Just as he was about to take in the view, two long spears hurtled from the sky and pierced the ground, one either side of Reuben, and with a very loud thud. Reuben`s heart began to beat just as loudly as he looked at them, one had been so close that it was actually touching one of his shoes. Inside the cave Jasper looked on in disbelief, and for all of two seconds before reacting, then he grabbed his young friend and pulled him safely back inside of the cave.

  They looked at each other, and then at the two spears. “That was far too close Reuben.” Jasper said and the two boys laughed, surely Reuben`s luck would see them through whatever lay ahead of them.

  The cave was rather smelly, and they now noticed a pile of bones at the rear of the cave, which did not make them feel any better. “We really do need to get out of this cave Jasper.” Reuben said in a very quiet and shaky voice.

  First though he looked through the wreckage of the aircraft for anything that might be of help to them, the only thing he found was a silver cigarette lighter, obviously lost by the pilot during the storm, he picked it up and put it into his
pocket. They only had to wait two more minutes for the meteorite storm to finally peter out, then they left the cave, eager to be away from it before the owner returned. As they left, they each pulled one of the spears out of the ground, just in case they met a savage animal before they found their way back to civilisation. They found themselves at the edge of a large meadow, and to head into it seemed appealing, until Reuben remembered the second Jurassic Park movie, in that movie the people who had run through the tall grass had died, however, to their right there seemed to be a narrow animal track that went deep into the jungle.

  “This way Jasper.” Reuben said and moved off along the track with Jasper close behind him.

  They had been walking for ten minutes when they entered into a small glade, but then up ahead of them, and also entering the glade, an extremely large black furry animal resembling a bear ambled towards them. Jasper`s first thought was to escape; unfortunately he seemed to have two left feet, and he got them tangled amid a vine that ran across the floor and up the trunk of a nearby tree. He promptly fell flat on his face knocking most of the wind from his lungs and losing his grip on his spear, what air remained in his lungs Jasper used up with a loud cry of terror. The animal thankfully was not as quick as a bear, but even so, it was making short time of devouring the space between it and the two boys. Reuben quickly pulled complaining Jasper to his feet and almost pushed him to a nearby tree that looked climbable. Reuben stopped at the base of the tree and helped his young friend, whose feet franticly searched for footholds, and Reuben propelled his friend up towards the safety of the tree`s branches, but it was slow going. This meant that Reuben spent valuable moments shoving a puffing and complaining Jasper up to safety instead of finding some for himself.

  Unfortunately, the beast was too near now to allow Reuben to scramble to the safety that Jasper had found, and so Rueben did what was natural to him, he fought back. He threw his spear at the large animal, unfortunately, it only raked the hindquarters of the animal, it did not stop it, but it did make it very angry, as Reuben could tell from its loud roar directed straight at him. Reuben felt like fainting, but he did not, instead he picked up a section of a branch that was behind him, a victim of a recent storm, and with the bear almost upon him, he spun about and caught the bear a blow with the heavy branch. However, he had almost mistimed it for it only caught the beast a blow on its stubby snout, but the beast stopped its charge abruptly and howled out in shock and pain. Reuben followed this up by jabbing the branch into the animal’s stomach, which made it give ground before him. Unfortunately, the animal then stood its ground and lashed out at the branch with its massive fore feet. It should have sent the piece of wood flying across the clearing, but Reuben found that he possessed more strength than he thought he had. He was able to not only keep a hold on it, but spinning around again he brought the added momentum into play, and with great satisfaction brought the branch crashing round against the beasts head. The blow knocked the creature to the floor and stunned it long enough to give Reuben time enough to head for another young tree some fifteen feet away, and here he was able to scramble up it to safety.

  The bear like animal was now back upon its feet, or to be precise it`s two back feet. It stood fully ten feet tall upon its hind legs, it was very mad at missing its dinner, and very angry at the treatment it had received at Reuben`s hands, so it roared its displeasure at the two boys far into the night. It had been a close thing though, for in a final attempt to get it`s dinner it had made a try at grabbing Reuben`s feet, but thankfully it`s claws just missed their target, brushing Reuben`s left shoe as he quickly drew his foot up to the safety the rest of his body enjoyed. For a while, the bear pounded against the trunk of his tree, as if attempting to knock him down, but tiring of this, it then continued to roar its displeasure, and Reuben who was just a little way above the savage beast, could smell its fetid breath as it complained to him about missing its dinner.

  “Thank you Reuben, you saved my life without a thought for your own safety, you are a true hero.” Jasper called across to his brave friend in sincere thanks and admiration.

  “Shucks, it weren`t nothing.” Reuben said copying a phrase that he had heard on Looney Tunes, he then smiled at his young friend. Reuben was very glad to come through their ordeal in one piece, and without turning completely to jelly, and so he said a silent prayer to god for saving him.

  “You stopped to help me to my feet even though a two ton bear was bearing down on us.” Jasper continued with his thanks, and in awe of the bravery shown by his friend.

  “Bearing down on us, well what else would a bear do?” Reuben said laughing, but now feeling a little self-conscious at all of the praise being heaped upon him by his friend.

  The night soon passed, and without either of the two boys being able to get very much sleep, Reuben almost fell from his perch once, only just grabbing hold of another branch to stop himself from providing dinner for the bear like animal, but as the sun rose so the animal left them to search for a more cooperative source of food.

  The two boys eventually scrambled down and went in search of food and water, with their precise location once again the main topic of conversation, although the large ringed planet that also rose with the sun did stop their idle chatter as the two boys stopped still and looked at it in wonder, plus a little fear.

  “Reuben where did that planet come from?” Jasper wondered fearfully.

  “Jasper, I don`t think we are on Earth any more, we must have travelled a little further than we thought, maybe that giant mouth was the entrance to a wormhole.” Reuben replied in a stunned voice.

  It was now that their luck changed, for they came upon a small mountain stream, and they used it to relieve their thirst, though their stomachs were rumbling now, complaining about the lack of food.

  Ahead of them was a large clearing, the grass well-trimmed by the creatures of the jungle, and Jasper started to move across it, even after Reuben had advised against it, for should another hungry beast appear there would be no safe retreats. It was now that a giant ostrich appeared, known to the locals of the planet as a Magi. On seeing Jasper foolishly walking across the meadow, it let out an unholy screech and charged towards him. Jasper froze for a moment, but then turned to run back towards Reuben who had wisely walked nearer to the trees. Poor Jasper must have really been born with two left feet; for he tripped again, and fell sprawling to the ground, the air knocked out of his lungs, again.

  Reuben could see that his friend was in dire trouble now, and so he rushed forward and put himself between the giant bird and his friend, and when the bird reached him Reuben brought his spear up to defend himself. He lunged forward with the spear, feeling it bite into the giant bird, the sharp metal spearhead forcing its way into the breast of the Magi and tearing into its vital organs, the momentum of the bird`s charge adding to the strength of Reuben`s earthly muscles, for Calamity had a lower planetary mass than Earth. The Magi did not die though, although it was really mad now, its head on the end of its long neck lunged towards his head, and that would have finished things had it reached him, but Reuben managed to leap to one side and so he kept away from its vicious beak. The Magi squawked its protest at its prey as Reuben grabbed his spear, that was still sticking in the bird`s breast, and pulled it free, and then he pushed it forward once again into the breast of this gigantic bird. The bird roared out again in pain, and again it lunged at him but he was too fast for it. The bird`s small yellow beady eyes glared out a hatred that Reuben almost felt, and it wasn`t finished yet. Reuben withdrew the spear again as the bird moved its neck snake like, moving it from side to side as it looked for an opening to continue the attack with its huge beak. At this range, one successful kick from its feet could easily finish the battle, but thankfully, it did not unleash this particular article of its arsenal yet. Reuben didn`t have time to think of this, or much else as he fought for his life, and maybe that of Jasper`s too. Reuben, used his spear to parry each of the bird`s attempts to reach him with it
s large beak, but the bird almost succeeded in getting through his defence more than once. Repeatedly he caught the bird a sharp knock against the side of its head or neck when its head darted in towards him, desperately trying to find a way through to his own head or body. Blood was running down its neck from these blows, down onto its bloody breast and the Magi was beginning to tire, so the bird changed its tactics. It almost finished Reuben off there and then, for now it did let loose a terrific kick towards him, Reuben only just succeeded in leaping aside, the birds sharp talons lashed towards him raking his side, and had the blow connected it would have been fatal. However, with the bird having lost so much blood its final attempt to kill him was slower, and so Reuben managed to survive it. Reuben jumped to his feet and thrust the spear into the breast of the Magi once again, now the bird could only stand there and let cry with another terrific squawk, as it began to retreat away from Reuben, but in a direction that would take it near to Jasper, who was now coming to his feet. Jasper rushed forward to aid his friend and thrust his own spear into the bird`s knee joint sending it crashing to the ground. The head and long neck crashed down just inches away from Reuben, who thrust his spear down for the last time to spear the giant bird through its head, finally killing it.

  The two boys looked at each other in triumph, and when they finally got their breathing under control, Jasper once again thanked his friend. Reuben merely shrugged and began to talk about the battle, and how he and Jasper had finally put paid to the monster bird. Jasper`s stomach chose now let out a very loud noise, reminding him just how hungry he was, and making the two boys laugh. Looking down at the bird Reuben had a good idea. “Jasper, let`s eat the bird, well some of it.” Reuben declared eagerly.

  And so the two boys decided to make up a fire, Reuben remembered seeing a small ring of stones not far from where their dinner lay, for during the fight he had almost stumbled over them. When they investigated them they found that the ring of stones was an old camp fire, one that was filled with ash from previous fires, and there laying in the grass was a metal skewer along with two metal uprights, a spit, left there by someone in a rush to escape a Magi bird perhaps?

  “You know what this means Jasper, there are people living on this planet, and all we have to do is find them.” Reuben declared, feeling much better now they had proof that help was not too far away, hopefully.

  They then collected some wood from the forest, and dry grass from the meadow, for their fuel. Then using the blades of their spears, the two boys cuts four large fillets of meat from the dead bird`s breast and pushed the skewer through them. Reuben then lit the dried grass and added small twigs to get a small fire going, adding fuel only when needed, so as to ensure the fire did not get out of control, that and to also ensure that they did not burn their dinner rather than cook it. The resulting meal was not as good as the meals cooked for them by their mothers, but it did drive away all of their hunger pangs, although it had a definite smoky taste to it. They ate two steaks and saved the other two for later, not wanting to leave the area of their kill without a supply of food, so they wrapped the meat in their cotton hankies, ones that their mothers had insisted they carry, and saved these two portions of roast ostrich for later.

  Jasper finally noticed the line of blood seeping through his friend`s shirt. “Reuben, you are hurt!” He exclaimed loudly.

  Reuben looked down and saw the blood stain. “That bird did it just before we killed it.” Reuben explained as he pulled his shirt out of his trousers to see how bad the cut was, thankfully it was not deep and had already stopped bleeding. Therefore, he tucked his shirt back in and decided to forget it until they came across another mountain stream in which to clean his injury.

  “We should probably head off, away from the bird Jasper, before that bear catches the scent of its blood and comes here after a free meal.” Reuben advised his friend who agreed, for he did not want to meet the bear on open ground, not after the way Reuben had treated it.

  So the two boys now decided to walk off their meal, they moved off down another jungle track that finally took them to a part of the planet that was very rocky, hardly any vegetation grew here. However, Reuben was still feeling up after their defeat of the giant bird, and so they decided to investigate this part of their new world. One hour later, and with aching feet, they found a shady spot to rest up in, and with the warmth of the day, and after their long walk, they both fell asleep, it was just as the sun began to set.