Luxuria

by Fuller, James

  “Oh good, we were getting worried and about to come check on you.” Mark sat back down by the small fire and stirred it with a stick.

  Josh eyed them both with a smirk, “So, you two both look nice and clean.”

  “Unlike little boys, girls aren’t afraid or ashamed to get naked in front of each other to bathe.” Melanie countered without hesitation.

  “I knew we should have gone to check on them,” Josh’s grin grew broader, “could have had us a little peepshow before bed.”

  “You are such a pervert, Josh.” Jessica scowled. “Just because women are naked around each other doesn’t mean they’re making porn.”

  “I know…it’s such a shame.” He pouted. “The world is a cruel place.”

  “We should get some sleep…we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow.” Melanie told them. “No one is to wander off far to go piss in the middle of the night, or a jungle cat is likely to make a meal out of you.”

  “Great, that is just what I wanted to hear before falling asleep.” Dustin complained. “That’s fine I’ll just piss myself then.”

  “Whatever you need to do.” Melanie muttered, crawling into her sleeping bag.

  They woke at first light, stiff and sore from a night spent on the ground, but eager to continue on their adventure after a quick breakfast of eggs and oatmeal.

  “So this place ‘Where the Darkness Hides’ …what do you know about it?” Mark called up.

  Melanie chuckled. “You don’t want to hear what I know about it.”

  “Why not?” Josh asked. “Is there some old ominous superstition like ‘Mortals beware’?” He laughed, but was the only one.

  “Yes, something like that.” Her machete arched down, cutting through several hanging vines blocking their route. “All I know about this area is every year a half dozen groups go into it searching for some treasure and either they come back empty-handed, or not at all.”

  “What do you think happens to the ones...” Jessica paused, “...who don’t return?”

  “Clearly the Boogieman got them.” She said, and the others stopped in their tracks. She turned to regard them. “Fuck me,” she muttered, “sorry for trying to share in your youthful sense of humor.”

  “So, you do know how to relax and have fun?” Josh said. She smiled wolfishly, before turning back to the path in front of them.

  “So what do you think actually happened to them?” Dustin probed his interest piqued now.

  “Jungle cats, snake bites, infection, greed…” she shrugged, “who knows.”

  “Aren’t you worried?”

  “Wouldn’t matter even if I was? I need that money or I will be on the streets, whoring myself out like half the women in the city.”

  “I’m sorry.” Jessica said.

  “For what?” Melanie spat back.

  “I don’t know - for your situation and all. I know the sting of poverty too.”

  “Don’t be, it’s my own fault. Gambling’s a horrible addiction and comes at a high price.” She sighed looking at her. “Higher than you know.”

  “I hate to break up the ABC family night special, but what the hell is that?” Josh pointed ahead of them to the large, menacing carved stone pillars jutting out of the ground.

  “They are warnings.” Melanie explained running a hand over the chipped surface of one of the grotesque pillars.

  Jessica pulled out her camera and began taking pictures. “Now this is cool and deserves remembering.”

  Mark walked around the pillars, eyeing the strange beasts carved onto the surface. “What are these creatures?”

  “Demons of the underworld. Many of the tribes did not worship the gods in the sky. They believed they were cast into the shrouded gloom of the jungle’s canopy to hide them from the gods above, as if their very existence was somehow a shameful sin. So they prayed to the gods that shared in their world of darkness and gloom.”

  “Fascinating,” Dustin whispered, examining the stones closely as he walked around them. “Do you know what tribe made these?”

  Melanie inspected the pillars closely. “It is hard to say for certain, there were dozens of tribes that lived in this area, but my guess would be the Tupari.”

  “Who were they meant to warn?” Jessica asked snapping one more picture.

  “Other tribes mostly - this would let them know that the hunting grounds beyond were spoken for and to go further would result in death, capture or all-out war.”

  Mark stared at twisted beast on one of the poles. “For some reason, I think death would have been preferable to capture.”

  “The end result was likely the same either way.”

  “What do you mean?” His brow rose.

  Melanie smiled. “Most of the tribes of old were cannibals and ate the flesh of their enemies, believing it gave them their strength and wisdom. If they didn’t kill you outright, they saved you for later.”

  Dustin used his inhaler nervously. “The tribes still around don’t still practice that do they?”

  “Not openly. “ She smirked. “We should keep going, we have a long way to go and only a few hours of usable light left.”

  Dustin woke with an audible yawn and a long stretch. The sun shot spears of light through the canopy above onto their small camp, littering the earth with brilliant shapes. The last lingering wafts of smoke drifted from the dead fire and mingled with the morning.

  He sat up and looked around, everyone was still sleeping contently. He looked down at his watch confused. It was almost ten in the morning; they should have been up and hiking long before now.

  “Guys,” he shook Mark gently, “guys wake up… something’s wrong.”

  Mark groaned as he rolled over rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What is it? It can’t be time to get up already?”

  “It’s almost ten.”

  “What?” Mark sat up, checking his own watch in dismay.

  “Melanie should have woken us by now.” Dustin murmured, waking Jessica and Josh.

  Mark looked across the camp to where Melanie had been sleeping. “A better question would be, where the hell is she?”

  “You’re fucking kidding me!” Josh growled, scrambling out of his sleeping bag and to his feet, searching the camp.

  “I doubt she just left us here.” Jessica told them hopefully, a hidden guilt hitting her as memory of the night before came back to her. “Maybe she just decided to let us sleep and to scout ahead or something.”

  “Then why would she have taken her belongings with her?” Dustin pointed out dourly, noting that nothing of the guide remained.

  “That bitch! I’ll kill her!” Josh screamed, kicking his pack.

  “Calm down Josh, maybe she is coming back, maybe this is just some bad joke…you know to scare us or something.” Mark said but even as he said that words he knew them to be wrong.

  Josh glared out into the jungle. “She isn’t coming back and I know it.”

  “How?” Jessica probed.

  “Cause my damn wallet is gone.” He cursed again. “She damn well robbed us in our sleep.”

  Dustin grabbed for his inhaler.

  Jessica moved over to his pack and began searching through it. “No, that can’t be true; she wouldn’t do that, she couldn’t.” She dumped the pack onto the ground, feverishly going through Josh’s things, praying he missed something in his search. “There’s got to be an explanation!”

  Dustin took another shot from his inhaler, hoping it would help him calm down. “Ya there is, we got robbed and left out in the jungle to die.” Dustin muttered. “Just like I said was going to...” Josh cut him off.

  “I don’t want to hear it Dustin! I don’t want to hear it.” He ran his hand through his messy brown hair. “We aren’t going to die, we can get out of here we just need to follow our path back to the road, it’s that simple.” They turned and looked around, trying to find where they had come from. But the jungle had reclaimed itself already, leaving no trace of the path they had cut.

 
; “And what path would that be?” Mark sighed bitterly.

  “We’re going to die out here,” Dustin cried looking around anxiously. “I knew this was a stupid idea.”

  “No we’re not Dustin,” growled Josh, “we just... we just need to get moving again until we find help or something.”

  “In this kind of situation, aren’t we supposed to stay put until help find us?” Jessica said.

  “And what help would that be Jess? No one knows we are out here aside from that bitch that robbed us and left us here.” Josh countered. “I have a very hard time believing that when she gets back to the city that she will be letting anyone know we are out here.”

  “We just can’t be stuck out here...” she began, searching the perimeter of the camp. “Our path has to be around here - it couldn’t have just disappeared.”

  “Josh is right. We can’t stay here or we will end up something’s lunch.” Mark said grimly. “Nor will we have any hope of finding help if we are hidden under the jungle’s canopy. We need to find some place wide and open so we might be able to flag down a plane with that flare gun or something.”

  “And in what direction do you think we should just start our death march?” Dustin threw his arms up in frustrated anger.

  “This way...”

  Jessica looked around, confused. “Did you guys just hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Josh snipped refilling his pack.

  “I thought I...” she shook her head. “Nothing, it must have been nothing.”

  “...come this way...”

  Jessica looked around again and spotted something sparkling in the growth. “Hey, there’s something over here.”

  Dustin followed her into the brush. “What is it Jess, what do you see?”

  “Holy shit guys,” she called out to them, “you aren’t going to believe this!”

  They pushed their way in to stand beside her and stopped at the notably ingrown rocky path before them. Their eyes locked onto the golden, gem-encrusted statuette within her hands.

  “No way...” Mark muttered, “is that thing real?”

  Dustin moved closer running his fingers across its surface. “Is that gold?” Jessica handed it over and Dustin nearly dropped it from the weight of it. “I think it is!”

  Josh pulled the ingot from his pocket. “Let me see that.” Josh took the statuette and looked it over comparing the two, his eyes growing wider with each pass. “Do you know how much this thing might be worth? The weight of gold in it alone is likely over a hundred thousand.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Jessica mumbled, her eyes wide with possibility. “We could be set for life.”

  “How much you want to make a bet at the end of that pathway are the ruins we came looking for and a lot more of this?” He held up the statue. “We could be rich beyond our wildest dreams.”

  “Gold and gems are useless if we can’t get out of here alive.” Mark pointed out.

  “As much as I hate to say it, where else are we going to go?” Dustin said. “Maybe at the ruins we will find help…or a way out of here. In the very least we could build that signal fire.”

  “Might be safer shelter there too.” Jessica added, her eyes still on the statue, reveling in what such a find could do for her and her mother.

  “Then it’s settled, we follow the path and make the best of it.” Josh beamed, his mood lifted.

  The stone path was hard to follow, centuries of erosion and the overpowering hunger of the jungle had destroyed or buried most traces of it. But the further they went, the more signs they found that they were still on the right course. Twisted stone creatures and markings began to line the outer sides of the roadway, thier shapes and features damaged by the passage of time. Soon, the dense jungle began to let up and the pathway became clearer and easier to follow.

  “You know as crazy and scary as being lost in the jungle is, this is pretty exciting too.” Jessica said, as they watch Josh getting further ahead of them.

  “It’s turn into a real adventure that’s for sure.” Mark added trying not to sound too dower. “Let’s just hope is has a good ending, where we are all still alive and possibly a little bit richer.”

  Dustin took another shot of his inhaler. “I can’t believe you guys are just so calm and casual about all this.”

  “You seem to be worrying enough for all of us.” Jessica pointed out.

  “Am I the only one who sees the level of shit we are in?”

  “No, but you are the only one who seems to think it’s going to end badly.” Mark countered.

  “Also the only one who seems to thinking worrying about it is going to solve anything.” Jessica added.

  “I got a good feeling - we are getting closer.” Josh called back, a hundred feet in front of the others as he disappeared around a bend.

  “Slow down Josh, we should be careful.” Mark called to his friend. “We don’t know what is around here.” He trailed off.

  “He won’t listen - you should know that by now.” Dustin said. “He never listens.”

  “I know… he’s an idiot.” Mark said, snorting into his hand.

  “That idiot still has the flare gun,” Dustin pointed out, “something that might very well be our savior. Maybe someone else should carry it.”

  “Why you don’t trust he will use it when needed?” Jessica asked.

  “No, I am worried he will lose it or use it when it’s not needed.”

  A loud scream for help ripped through the air and they all cursed knowing something bad had just happened.

  “Josh! Josh!” Mark yelled out as they rounded the bend they had last seen him at. “Josh where are you?”

  “Help me!” Josh bellowed out from somewhere near the edge of the path.

  “Where are you?” Jessica screamed.

  “Down here!”

  The trio moved over to the side of the pathway where a hole in the ground was freshly exposed. They looked down and saw Josh lying at the bottom, a vicious bamboo barbed spike gleaming red through his thigh.

  “Jesus Christ!” Mark gasped. “What the hell is this?”

  “It’s a pitfall.” Dustin replied his eyes wide with terror reaching for his inhaler again as his chest began to constrict. “I knew it... I knew something bad would happen...”

  “A what?” Mark questioned as he searched the edge of the pit for an easier way down.

  “A pitfall - it’s a trap people use to make to kill animals and enemies.” Dustin explained trying to calm himself down but having little luck.

  “Shut the fuck up Dustin!” Josh screamed from below. “Someone just fucking help me!”

  Mark edged himself over the pit and slid himself down to his friend.

  “Be careful Mark,” Jess told him, eyeing the sharpened bamboo lining the bottom of the pit.

  Mark inspected the injury - the only way to get his friend out was to pull the leg off the spike.

  “What are you waiting for?” Josh growled.

  Mark licked his lips nervously. “I am going to have to pull your leg off the barb.”

  “Well, hurry up about it!”

  “Okay... okay.” Mark leaned down and gripped his friend’s leg carefully. “When I lift the leg it’s going to hurt but I need you to stay as still as possible.”

  “It already fucking hurts, Mark!” Josh hissed. “Just get me out of this fucking hole!”

  Mark nodded and looked back to the leg. Bracing himself, he lifted up as fast as he could. Josh’s scream echoed through the jungle.

  Dustin and Jessica helped pull Josh from the pit and onto the pathway. The wound in his leg was grievous, blood flowing out freely from the large, gaping hole.

  “We have to stop the bleeding somehow.” Jessica cried out, looking around hysterically.

  “I got it.” Dustin pulled his belt off and wrapped it around Josh’s leg above the wound. “I am sorry but this is going to hurt... a lot.” He pulled hard, ignoring his friend’s cries of protest as he cut off the steady flow of blood as
best he could.

  “What the hell were you doing over there?” Mark asked watching as blood slowed to a sluggish ebb.

  Josh grimaced as he fought back waves of anguish and nausea through gritted teeth. “I was just going to take a piss and the next thing I know I am lying at the bottom of a hole with a spike in my fucking leg.”

  “I told you to stay with the group.” Mark scowled.

  Josh turned an angry eye on his friend. “Really Mark - you going to do this now?”

  “I need water - I am all out. We have to clean the wound out or else it will get infected and fester quickly in this heat.” Dustin explained. “God knows how long that pit has been there and what bacteria has grown on those barbs.”

  “Don’t tell me that!” Josh growled, a sheen of sweat already glistening on his face.

  Jessica handed over her canteen. “It’s only got a mouthful or two left.”

  “Same here.” Mark handed his over as well.

  “Mine has lots left.” Josh grunted, his voice weak.

  Dustin looked around for it. “Where is your canteen?”

  “Guess...” Mark muttered looked back down into the pit.

  Dustin got up and looked down with Mark and saw Josh’s canteen had been pierced by one of the wicked spikes. “Of course,” he cursed and noticed blood dripping down from Mark’s arm. “You’re hurt.”

  Mark looked down at his arm and saw the long gash. “It’s nothing… just a scratch I got climbing down. I’ll be fine. How much water do you need?”

  “A lot more than we have to be effective.”

  “What do we need to do?”

  “Why are you asking me?” Dustin said nervously. “I am not the leader.”

  “Face it Dustin, you are the smartest one among us - you are Josh’s best chance.” He told him, honesty making his voice crack. “Now what do we need to do?”

  Dustin looked back at their friend and watched Jessica cradle his head, his face was paling noticeably. “We need to find some water and soon. A needle and thread would be helpful too, but if not, we will have to cauterize the wound closed. But I need to clean it first or he will have no hope – it’ll be impossible for him to stave off infection.”