Bug Island

by R. G. Cordiner

  ... BOOMP!

  The whole ground shook as the creature smacked the large protuberance on its head into the ground. The hollow sounding noise echoed through the jungle.

  PLLMP

  Another plopped out of its cocoon a short distance away.

  The first creature suddenly rushed at them and leapt with its claws outstretched.

  "AAAGH!"

  CRRNCH

  ...

  Soon there were five giant centipedes skittering out of the cave. Wayne kept running through the jungle, ignoring the branches that ripped at him and staggering over the multitude of tree roots that seemed to constantly trip him up. He was panting heavily and he risked a glance over his shoulder. Nothing.

  He paused to catch his breath.

  It was then that he saw her.

  Another survivor!

  "Hey!" he yelled, "Over here!" She was further off into the jungle to his right. He waved. She waved back and started to walk towards him.

  He grinned. Finally. He wasn't alone on this rotten island!

  WSSHH

  It was the slightest of sounds and normally most people would not have noticed it. Whether it was his previous military training or his heightened senses from his encounter with the giant centipedes, Wayne did notice it.

  He looked up to where the sound was coming from.

  And he stopped and stared.

  There striding above the woman as she was walking towards him was another creature. It was standing on six giant spindly black legs that stretched up almost to the canopy. The body of the creature was oval and brown in shape with black and white stripes down its sides and a pair of giant pincers. Its eyes were on two stalks and the whole body was covered in spikes along its half metre length. Had Wayne looked more closely he may have realised that it was, in fact, a harvestman. Of course, the fact that it was at least twenty times larger than any harvestman in his garden and that looking more closely was not high on Wayne's to do list right now, meant that he only saw it as something very, very dangerous.

  "Run!" He screamed out.

  The woman stopped still.

  "Run!" He sprinted towards her.

  She looked at him puzzled.

  The creature suddenly bent its legs and dropped down fangs extended.

  The woman screamed as the creature landed on her.

  Wayne had almost reached her when ...

  WHMMP

  Out of nowhere a giant centipede skittled through at tremendous speed, raised half of its body in the air and then landed on the other creature.

  RRRIII

  The two creatures were tangled together and attacking each other.

  RRIII

  Wayne caught a glimpse of what was left of the woman and realised that there was no helping her now.

  RRII

  He started edging backwards, willing his body to be quiet.

  CRRNCH

  The giant centipede bit the other creature in half, spraying green and red fluid in a wide arc.

  It then grabbed what was left of the woman and swallowed her whole.

  SKKTTL

  As quick as that, the centipede was gone.

  For the first time in many years, Wayne was trembling.

  Chapter 7

  Crunch Time

  Mary, Fiona and Sarah were getting tired. They had been walking along the beach for quite a while now, pausing only to check if anyone else was alive or to retrieve something that they thought may be useful later. So far they had accumulated quite a useful hoard. Mary stopped.

  "Look girls, I need to sit down, my feet are killing me. Let's just take a break under that tree over there."

  They wandered off the beach to the edge of the jungle and all three collapsed under the giant tree.

  "Let's see what we have," suggested Fiona.

  Sarah tipped her collection out of the backpack that she had discovered in the surf.

  Mary leaned back against the tree and shut her eyes. She was more exhausted than she had let on to the girls but she knew how vital it was that she remained strong. She gratefully took a sip from one of the precious soft drink bottles they had managed to find.

  The girls jabbered away as they explored the plethora of odds and sods that they had collected - small knives, rope, a sheet, a lighter, a teddy bear, a ...

  PLLSH

  Mary opened her eyes.

  "What was that?"

  The girls looked at each other.

  KERBOOSH

  A short distance out in the ocean a giant stream of water, tinged with red and brown sprayed up in the air.

  The three survivors slowly got to their feet.

  "Something exploded out there," Fiona commented.

  "Really, you don't think?" The sarcasm dripped off Sarah's voice and pooled in the sand.

  Mary ignored her. "I wonder if that was what happened to the ship?" she pondered.

  Sarah caught herself before she unleashed her next sarcastic barb. She pondered, "Maybe there is something in the water, like a mine or something. But what made that one blow up?"

  "It.."

  PLLSH

  "Hey - did you see that? Something popped out of the water there. It was ginormous, like a whale or somethink," Sarah pointed.

  Mary looked at her. Somethink? At times she forgot that Sarah was just a kid - some of the things that came out of her mouth and yet here she was like a child at the zoo.

  Fiona walked out from the cover of the trees and started across the beach.

  "Is it a whale?" she called back over her shoulder.

  Sarah chased after her as Mary watched.

  "Hey," Sarah began, "it's a little small for a whale, maybe it's a baby."

  Sarah frowned as she walked closer to the waves, straining to see more of the shape.

  Fiona was still further ahead, the waves lapping at her shorts.

  "It looks the wrong colour - it's a yellowy brown," she exclaimed.

  Mary was starting to get worried. She got up and started down the beach. "Girls," she called out, "hop out of the waves hey?"

  The girls paused and turned back to look at Mary.

  Just then the creature, which had been slowly swimming towards the shore, burst out of the water, spread its wings and flew over the top of the girls and landed on the beach. The girls shrieked. Mary froze in shock.

  The creature turned around. It had an armoured shell over its back, like a beetle. Two bulbous eyes jutted out from either side of its head and an enormous curved proboscis protruded from its head like a hooked scimitar.

  Its eyes swivelled rapidly as it surveyed the beach.

  "AAGH!" Sarah let out an ear piercing scream. Fiona quickly covered her mouth.

  But the bug had already heard her.

  It immediately flipped over on its back and lay still.

  Sarah stopped screaming. Mary put a finger to her lips and beckoned the two girls to join her.

  The large creature was still.

  The girls crept over and joined Mary under the tree.

  "Is it dead? How did I kill it by screaming?" Sarah whispered.

  "No dear, it's not dead," Mary replied, "it's just pretending. It was a good scream though. But," she shook her head, "I've never seen one that big before."

  "One, what?" Fiona asked.

  "One of those." Noticing the girls' confused expressions, she added, "It's a toe-biter."

  The toe-biter flipped itself back upright and then flew a bit further along the beach. It found one of the bodies and then raised its sharp proboscis.

  SLLRP

  The girls all turned away.

  "That's gross," Sarah commented.

  "It's amazing," Mary replied, "to think that there could be one that big. They normally are only about, what, fifteen centimetres long, but this one ... this one must be at least three metres." She shook her head.

  "How do you know all this?" Fiona asked.

  "Well, I don't know. I guess I saw one ... must have been twenty years ago. My brot
her got bitten! I grabbed it and yanked it out of the water and it played dead - just like that one. After a while it just flew away."

  "Could one of those cause the explosion?" Fiona asked.

  "Don't know - they don't explode if that's what you mean. But something under the water certainly did."

  "Can we go now?" Sarah asked, peeking through her fingers.

  They slowly made their way into the jungle as the toe biter jumped from victim to victim along the beach.

  SLLRP

  ...

  CRRNCH

  Henry and Tracy started to breathe again. The large creature began to climb the tree behind them, its claws gripping the bark. They slowly started to back away from the tree whilst ensuring their eyes never left the creature. It paused and then unfurled a long, needle thin proboscis which it then stabbed into the tree and started to drink the sap.

  "That's the weirdest peanut bug I've ever seen. Not to mention the largest," Tracy commented.

  "What on earth are you talking about?" Henry frowned.

  "That. It's a peanut bug, I'm sure of it - I saw them once on some nature show on TV. That growth on their head looks like a peanut. They're harmless - they just eat sap."

  "Harmless?" Henry looked up at the enormous bug that was slowly sucking the life out of the tree. It then unfurled its giant wings and with a simple flap, soared out over the canopy. "Yeh, right it's harmless. Look, whether it wants to be my new best friend or not, it's gone now and so should we be. Who knows what else is out here?"

  ...

  A beautiful blue and yellow bird flitted through the canopy, dancing from branch to branch. It paused to hover over a flower then it continued on, chirping quietly to itself. The dappled sunlight seemed to shimmer on its wings as it gracefully ...

  ... SHMMP

  The giant centipede, which had been watching carefully, unfurled so quickly the bird never stood a chance. The bug hung upside down on the branch and then its multitude of legs quickly grabbed the hapless bird and shoved it into its mouth.

  A single feather floated down to the ground.

  The centipede slowly curled its body up into the canopy to await its next meal.

  ...

  Wayne crawled closer to the dead bug. He was sliding along through the undergrowth on his stomach. He had seen two different types of these lethal creatures and he didn't want to be surprised by any more. Nevertheless he believed it was important to get some idea what you are up against. He reached the dead harvestman. It was only the top half but it still looked familiar. His eyes took in the sacs either side of its head that it could presumably use to spit something, the sharp spikes around the top half of its body and the spindly legs. It looked like the type of bug you would see in the garden. So did the centipede for that matter. But both were clearly way, WAY bigger than usual. Wayne had no idea why there were these freaks of nature roaming the island, and to be perfectly honest, he didn't care. Only good bug is a dead bug, he mused. Satisfied, he carefully crept along the forest, occasionally pausing, always watching, smelling, waiting for any sign of more trouble.

  ...

  "Are you alright?" Mary asked.

  Sarah blinked twice and then looked at her, "Hmmm? Sorry what did you say?"

  "I asked if you were ok - you've been strangely quiet recently. I was getting a bit worried."

  "Yeh, I'm alright. My legs are sore," she said, but noticing Mary's expression she added, "not that I'm complaining though. Um ... are you ok?"

  Mary smiled and ruffled Sarah's hair, "Yes, dear. I'll be alright."

  Fiona shuddered. "I still can't get over the size of that bug. It was enormous! I mean how did it get so big?"

  "I know," interjected Sarah, "it was like freaky, mutant big ..."

  "Freaky, mutant, ugly, massive, superginormous big..." retorted Fiona.

  "Freaky, mutant ..."

  ...

  Melanie was taking a lot of punches ... and they hurt. Her conscience was slowly ripping her to shreds. Why had she not left the safe haven of the tree trunk and gone out to help? Why? Would she not have expected others to help her if she was in trouble? Then why couldn't she do the same? Surely they were scared too. Surely ...

  "...like freaky, mutant big.."

  Melanie stopped.

  Humans!

  "Freaky, mutant, ugly, massive, superginormous, big..."

  Melanie made a decision.

  "Freaky, mutant ..."

  She stepped out from the trunk.

  "AAGGH!"

  ...

  Sarah struggled to get out of the bush. Fiona reached out a hand and helped her up. Melanie was back inside the tree trunk, shaking.

  Mary walked over and peered in, "It's ok. We're scared too. You just took us by surprise, that's all." She smiled.

  Melanie tentatively clambered out of her safe haven.

  The four of them stood awkwardly.

  Fiona outstretched her hand. "I'm Fiona, and this is Mary and Sarah."

  Melanie shook her hand. "Um, I'm Melanie. Look sorry for scaring you before. It's just that it's the first time I've heard friendly voices so I thought I'd come out - I didn't mean to frighten anyone."

  Sarah blushed, "That's fine - you didn't scare me - I just tripped over one of those tree roots back there."

  "Oh ok... um, are you guys it? I mean, have you met anyone else?"

  "No," Mary responded, "we spent a while on the beach but couldn't find anyone. Then we saw a giant bug - it was massive - you wouldn't believe how..."

  "I saw one go by," Melanie interrupted, "and it had hundreds of long orange legs."

  Mary frowned, "That sounds different to the one we saw."

  Melanie's eye widened. "You mean there are more?"

  Fiona nodded, "The one we saw was an enormous toe biter- it was way bigger than us."

  Melanie shuddered, "Oh, that sounds terrible. How are we ever going to get off this awful island?"

  Chapter 8

  Plain Terror

  "Be careful!" Henry strained to see Tracy in the fading light as she clambered up the tree.

  "You know," he continued, "I still reckon you rigged that."

  "How do you rig paper, scissors, rock?" her voice carried down, "Besides which, I told you I've always wanted to try and collect a coconut."

  "Yes, but I wante ..."

  "Watch out below!" Tracy yelled out.

  PKKSHH

  An object bounced off one of the branches

  SHHMP

  The coconut landed in the leafy undergrowth.

  Soon Tracy had clambered back down the tree and the two of them started bashing at the coconut with a rock.

  RRRR

  The noise was very faint...

  RRRRRR

  ... and getting louder.

  Tracy grabbed Henry's arm.

  "You hear that?"

  RRRRRRRRRRRRRR

  "Yeh," he replied.

  RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

  They looked at each other.

  "PLANE!" they both cried.

  RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOW

  The small aircraft flew over the island.

  "HERE! OVER HERE!" Tracy and Henry screamed and waved their arms as if the pilot could see them in the jungle.

  Henry quickly shoved the coconut in his backpack and they started running.

  ...

  Anne Marie took off her bright pink sunglasses and frowned.

  She could see the wreckage of the cruise ship in the water as she flew over the island. As if that hadn't shocked her enough, the wreckage was off the coast of a fairly large sized island that she had never seen before. She was pretty sure that it wasn't on any of the charts. Anne Marie turned the plane around and prepared to fly in closer to the island to get a better look.

  The furrows in her brow increased.

  That's odd, she thought, the instruments are all going haywire.

  She started to worry. The last time this happened was in the Bermuda Triangle and... she shook her head. No
time for that.

  Anne Marie tried again to radio through her position, but only heard static in reply. She wasn't too concerned as her radio was only intermittently useful anyway and besides, with a vessel that big crashing there would surely be rescue teams arriving shortly.

  As the plane turned, she marvelled again at the extent of the destruction of the cruise ship - there seemed to be very little left that she could make out in the fading light.

  RRRR

  She flew lower over the island.

  ...

  SHPPLSSH

  Sergeant Wayne Alter sank deeper into the mud until his head disappeared beneath the viscous muck.

  The only sound was the trickle of water nearby that once would have been a waterfall but now was merely a pale reflection.

  PLLP

  Wayne's head appeared out of the mud. He wiped his eyes and slowly emerged out of the slimy pool.

  He felt much better now. A fresh drink and now a mud bath - what more could anyone want? He was fairly confident that his scent would be harder for those bugs to follow, let alone see and ...

  RRRR

  He didn't bother to look up.

  Wayne started to run.

  ...

  The brown, cylindrical eggs hung precariously from the top of the canopy.

  They began to wobble.

  KERRSSH

  A black arm covered in fine hairs poked out from the side of the egg. More of the arm emerged. The upper part was a vicious, vibrant red in colour.

  KERRSSH

  More arms emerged and slowly two antennae poked out and soon the black head of the creature came out, eyes swivelling in all directions.

  KRREET

  It made a chirping sound.

  KREET KREET

  More began to come out of the eggs, each creature about half a metre in length. Twenty yellow bellied bee assassin bugs started to fly out of the canopy.

  ...

  "We need to work out where we are going to sleep," suggested Mary.

  Fiona shook her head, "I don't think I'm going to sleep at all."