River of the Damned

by Aiden James

  “From where?” I admit to feeling a sudden pang of paranoia, since I had only considered our crazy shaman as pursuing us invisibly. The legends of the Jivaro from ages past tell of this secretive and reclusive people being able to track their enemies as undetectable predators, until ready to pounce.

  I expected her to indicate the area behind us…. But she motioned ahead, to the hillsides on either side of the jungle we were steadily descending toward. At present, it wasn’t possible to detect anyone hiding amid the lush vegetation.

  “But as to ‘what’ or ‘who’ is trailing us? That is something else… we should hurry,” she advised.

  That’s comforting. Not to mention, Ishi heard her last admonition, looking back at Mayta and me for another sign of assurance all would be okay. It wasn’t there this time. Not after I watched Tim and Rick caution everyone up front to be careful as the first of the group reached the edge of the jungle.

  “They feel the others’ presence, too,” said Mayta. “But it is better to keep moving. Sitting still will be worse. I can’t tell you why I know this, but we must keep moving….”

  She mouthed that she would soon return and ran up to where the burly guys were discussing what to do next with Dr. Pierce. Everyone else gathered around them until Mayta pulled the big guys with her and moved to the very front. The trio disappeared into the thick foliage and everyone else soon followed.

  “I guess this means you and me are pulling up the rear, huh, Nick?” said Ishi, smiling nervously, and pulling on my protective instincts to make sure he remained safe. “Are we the only sane ones here?

  “Sure looks like it, kiddo,” I told him, gripping his shoulder and offering my best Hollywood smile. Still, I made sure he remained ahead of me. I allowed myself one last glance behind us and then we picked up our pace to catch up to the others.

  * * * * *

  Moving through the jungle pathway that had been forged first by Dr. Pierce’s team and then widened by Ishi and me, we made surprisingly fast progress. I began to feel the ever-present creepiness might be related more to an overactive imagination than a living threat... or five living threats, to be exact, and possibly six if the entity we had encountered back in the cave was truly Shuratu. That confidence grew upon reaching the dozen smaller waterfalls and the pristine lagoon they fed.

  But as our twenty-member human caravan prepared to exit the jungle, five diminutive figures stood in a slight arc waiting for us to emerge. All were indigenous in appearance and stature, and all carried spears and dart shafts… loaded dart shafts, no doubt. The only difference between these Jivaro warriors and the others we had dealt with was their modern attire. All were dressed in shorts and T-shirts, with one guy wearing a blue polo shirt.

  Mayta and the others stopped, and when she began to try to engage the apparent leader of this small band, my heart leapt into my throat. She probably assumed they embraced the more modern culture of the Shuar, but if so, why were they here, and with an aggressive posture? I prepared to launch into a sprint to come to her rescue, taking the first step, when a menacing voice from behind startled me severely enough to send me tumbling to the ground. When I stood up and whirled around, a figure began to appear behind us, becoming more solid as the long, purposeful strides came up fast from the jungle’s other entrance.

  Shuratu?

  It didn’t matter if he was solid or only his disembodied spirit for the materialization to be frigging creepy. A murmur spread throughout the group once they noticed the figure’s approach, and it gained strength when it was clear that Shuratu was the dude running toward us. His left hand hoisted a spear ready to launch, and his right hand pointed a gleaming machete at yours truly.

  “Nick Caine? Prepare to die for your mockery of the Jivaro ways!” he roared. The echo of his voice carried an eeriness that made it sound inhuman… like a Vulcan god approached instead of a crazy mortal shaman. “All of you prepare to die!”

  Shuratu finished his materialization, and soon appeared solid. Solid in the flesh, I should say, while picking up speed. In panic, the tandem of Rick and Tim attacked the warriors, apparently thinking they were the weak link here. Both men were promptly shot with darts, soon dropping to their knees in response to the darts’ neurotoxins. From what I could tell, the arrows were sent to the pair’s extremities, as if these warriors were reluctant to kill the pair. Immobilization seemed to be the goal… or so I thought.

  As for the witch doctor who wouldn’t die? I had no doubt his intentions were far from altruistic. The rage in those sunburst eyes told me the bastard was in a very foul and murderous mood. Me, being the immediate target for his ire was likely due to waking up the group that had since made it to the brink of freedom…. But this realization didn’t stop Ishi and me from running like scared rabbits to catch up to the others, who had made it to the white sand beach bordering the gorgeous lagoon and its sapphire water.

  No sooner had we reached the beach, Shuratu’s spear slammed into the sand between my legs from behind. I looked around at the terrified faces of Dr. Pierce’s exploration team, as well as the writhing bodies of their protectors, Rick and Tim. Their collective fear pulled on my heart… but not like the frightened looks upon Ishi’s and Mayta’s faces. And, I detected something else in Mayta’s expression....

  Does she expect for me to be the hero here? I mean… really?!

  The glint in her eye spoke of hope and admiration, and if I hadn’t pictured the death of those very qualities by any expression of cowardice, I might’ve cowered with them all. But I couldn’t that day.

  I turned around to face him. Shuratu’s pace slowed once he closed to within ten feet, as if he wanted to savor the moment of victory. He wielded the machete menacingly.

  “I should’ve killed you the moment I first saw you!” he snarled, crouching in preparation for his next attack. “I won’t delay the missed opportunity any longer!”

  There wasn’t anywhere to go, but I backed up when he flew through the air, swinging wildly at me. Everyone moved out of the way—including the five guys I assumed were Shuratu’s surviving henchmen. To keep him at bay while my mind raced for some way to get the upper hand or means of escape, I removed my Bowie knife and held it out before me.

  He laughed.

  “What have you got there, Nick? Our women carry knives bigger than that to cut flowers!” he taunted, swinging the machete as he lunged again.

  He barely missed my chin as the blade nicked my shirt near the right shoulder. It took a moment for blood to seep through the cotton, but the adrenaline was flowing too powerfully for me to guess the severity of the wound. I took the slow saturation to indicate a surface wound only. Meanwhile, I had stepped back to where another foot would send me sprawling into the water. In fact, I began to think that might be my only escape, although it would merely prolong my inevitable demise.

  “Ahhh… would you like to quit?” he teased. “You can spare the rest of your friends agonizing torture by surrendering to me now. Or, we can continue our contest. But I have already foreseen how this will end, Nick, and one way or another, your head is going to be a wonderful addition to my belt!”

  He motioned to his warriors to come stand behind him, forming a new arc that separated me from Ishi, Mayta, and the others and also prevented any of them from coming to my aid. Then Shuratu dove at me again. This time, the shaman completely missed his mark, and I struck pay dirt with the Bowie knife, though the gash I delivered to his left forearm wasn’t life threatening. It did manage to seriously piss him off, and he leapt into the air. He floated higher than what seemed humanly possible, and then somersaulted over me.

  I instinctively ducked, and his knee hit me in the face. In surprise, I fell backward, and before I could recover I found myself pinned on my back in the sand. The steady purr of the waterfalls emptying into the lagoon seemed louder lying like this, joined by the rush of water from the other falls pouring into the stream that also fed the azure pool. Surprisingly, the steady churn of water brought
me an unexpected feeling of peace… almost like the proverbial Heaven on Earth. If this was going to be the place and moment of my death, I was hard pressed to picture a more alluring scene… unless it also included me lying in the arms of a fair maiden like my dear Marie, or the new potential flame that had captured my heart’s attention, Mayta.

  But I couldn’t see either one. Not in my mind or in my physical field of vision. In fact, I could see nothing but the monstrous mug of Shuratu, grinning wickedly from just inches above my face. The menacing smirk and soulless eyes, inhumanly orange, took every ounce of courage to not pull my gaze away from them. If I was going to die, I would face my killer with courage and not give him the satisfaction of knowing he had defeated my soul in addition to my body.

  I would….

  But my silent declarations were suddenly interrupted by a look of horrific surprise suddenly appearing on Shuratu’s face His eyes grew wide, and when he opened his mouth to what I assumed would be another demeaning threat against my person, a shrill shriek was all that escaped. Then, for the second time that day, Shuratu was lifted off of me. This time, however, my rescuer wasn’t another human being. Something else had come to my salvation.

  “It’s not over, Nick Caine!” he screamed, while his fingers dug deep into the white sand less than a meter away from where I crouched, too stunned to move. “I will be back! I will find you—I swear!….”

  An anaconda the length of a school bus had its tail wrapped tightly around Shuratu’s legs, and the witch doctor’s machete had fallen out of reach after making a sizeable wound in the snake’s lower extremities. But the cut wasn’t severe enough to get the monster to let go, and instead seemed to anger it into more aggressive behavior.

  Where the snake came from, God only knew. It hissed angrily, regarding me with dead eyes as it bared a wide mouth filled with long sharp fangs. Then the deep blue water claimed the anaconda’s dark thick body, and it pulled the evil witch doctor down under the surface with it. Shuratu’s words became an empty stream of bubbles. Carried down to the bottom of the shallow pool his fist rose defiantly out of the water, until the fingers loosened their expression of anger and the hand went limp. Still, none of us—Jivaro and otherwise—took a step until the last appendage disappeared in the water and the shaman’s feathered headdress floated empty upon the surface.

  Chapter Fifteen

  An awkward moment followed as the five beleaguered followers of Shuratu kept their weapons trained on everyone… everyone but me, that is. Not sure if they were planning to deal with me later, or if I had gained free passage after their leader’s demise, but they ignored me just the same.

  It wasn’t until I spoke up that they seemed to remember I was standing behind them. The guy in the blue polo shirt was their apparent new leader in Shuratu’s place. He nodded shyly and then spoke to his companions, who soon wore similar sheepish smiles while lowering their weapons. Then they scurried as a group into the jungle, disappearing from view in a matter of seconds.

  “Hmmm… that was interesting, and more exciting than I care to go through again,” said Dr. Pierce, as we watched the five modern warriors be absorbed by the near-impenetrable foliage. “We need to get help for Rick and Tim.”

  He moved over to the pair of bodyguards, where his wife was already assessing their condition. Surprisingly, the men waved off their offer of assistance, claiming to suddenly feel better. I looked back at the spot where the Jivaro men had disappeared, wondering now if they were any more real than the others that had vanished earlier. If they weren’t completely based in our reality, then neither would their poison-dipped darts… right?

  A cool breeze suddenly moved across the basin from where they disappeared. I couldn’t honestly deny I half-expected Shuratu to suddenly rise up out of the lagoon like a 1950s ‘creature-feature’. Hell, if the damned giant anaconda were to emerge in Shuratu’s place, I’d willingly bet my present net worth that everyone—including Dr. Nathaniel Pierce—would be hightailing it to where the canoe was hopefully still parked, instead of standing around as if we had all day to decide what to do next.

  “We should get the hell out of here,” Ishi suggested, stating what seemed obvious.

  “Ishi’s right… we should go,” Mayta agreed. “However, I believe Shuratu is finally gone. “ Her casual survey of the area around us portrayed confidence, but the wariness in her eyes betrayed deeper doubts.

  “You sure the bastard isn’t actually a cat in disguise, with nine lives?” I replied, unable to resist a playful jab. “He has had at least one resurrection that we know of, and you’ve seen how everyone picked up their pace when passing the headdress bobbing near the shore to ensure they didn’t come in contact with the cursed thing. I guarantee nobody else would be shocked if he suddenly reappeared.”

  “And he promised to come back for you, Boss,” added Ishi, motioning for us to hurry and catch up to the professor’s team that was finally exiting the basin and moving into the jungle that separated us from Mayta’s canoe.

  She, Ishi, and I pulled up the rear of this ‘camel train’, and soon followed the path we had widened the previous afternoon. Admittedly, I kept an eye out for a certain witch doctor to begin his third incarnation, inspiring a series of chills to race up and down my spine. But, nothing followed us… at least nothing I could see, hear, or feel.

  After our ascension to the top of the ring of waterfalls, and before we descended down the pathway that would lead us out of this unspoiled corner of the Amazon, I paused to take it all in one last time. The waterfalls descending down into the basin, with the lush and endless wilderness as a backdrop in the morning sun was one of the most incredible sights I had ever witnessed in this continent. There are places more dramatic and famous throughout South America, but none pulled upon my heart and soul as this spot did. And as I touched on earlier, it must have had a similar effect on the ancient peoples who witnessed comparable beauty eons ago. The chances of Ishi and I ever getting the opportunity to come back here was quite slim, and I tried to create a lasting picture of it all in my mind.

  “There is no other place like this on earth, Nick,” said Mayta, dangerously close to invading my personal space again. I’d be lying if I stated I didn’t want her to linger a little closer. “Maybe you should stay in Ecuador for a while… to see all the sights.”

  “Maybe I should,” I agreed, meeting her smile with my own.

  “I’ll visit you in jail,” Ishi quipped, sending me an admonishing look before turning his attention to her. “Maybe you could visit us in the States, no?”

  She nodded thoughtfully and then shrugged. “Who knows?” she said. “But we better catch up to the others, to make sure we get them out of the jungle without any more excitement.”

  But there was excitement… just not the dangerous kind. More along the lines of a Prima Donna episode featuring Dr. Pierce having a meltdown moment when finding his vehicles submerged in murky water up to the windshield wipers. Apparently, he either didn’t believe what Mayta advised earlier about the seasonal rains that had taken over the dry terrain he and his group had traversed through in November, or he was still not ready to accept that it was Christmas season and the opportunity to enjoy turkey and dressing in North America had passed.

  “This is just great—just fucking lovely!”

  Maybe we weren’t so similar after all. The professor was definitely a “glass half empty” kind of guy, since his journal and main cameras were intact. The rest of what was missed could be reconstructed, and the lost vehicles were likely fully insured or the provisions of a wealthy benefactor who would have a much better excuse for a hissy-fit.

  “Hey, Doc…. I know you’re frustrated, and admittedly I wouldn’t be pleased if I encountered a sight like this—and in fact, we have before,” I said, pointing to Ishi, who nodded supportively. “But you have done what no one has been able to accomplish since the Spanish first set out to plunder the region’s gold resources.”

  He eyed me curiously
, and I soon regretted sticking my nose into the effort to coddle his arrogant ass.

  “Who asked you, anyway, Mr… Mr. Caine?” he snapped.

  “Hey, just trying to find a way to keep you from losing your shit over something that might prove to be less problematic than waiting—”

  “Exactly my point!” he seethed. “We could be out here for a day or two, without suitable shelter from the rain… and what do you suggest we do for food?”

  True. He had me there, and the more I thought about it, I really should’ve stayed out of it. I glanced at Mrs. Pierce… Marianne, and her daughters. They eyed me with compassion, which told me Nathaniel must often be a bear to deal with. I thought of Marie, and felt a twinge of guilt for feeling she was high maintenance… and perhaps she would still be considered as such. But assuredly there were worse examples….

  “Nothing to say, Nick?” persisted the professor.

  “Let’s just hope Mayta’s Jeep is still where we left it,” I said, fighting to keep my forced but amenable smile from deteriorating into an irritated smirk. “If hers is up shit’s creek, too, then pray her radio isn’t submerged. It might be the only thing that keeps us from having to hike over to Logrono and call for assistance from there. Not to mention, she’s got a sizable first aid kit with anti-venom that might be a match for the tree frog venom used in the darts.”

  Mayta had recently left with a guy and gal named Charles and Rita. These assistants were of slight build, Mayta’s canoe could hold the trio safely, and in case there was a delay for their return to us, she left the supplies we had stored in the canoe—roughly enough to sustain the rest of us for at least a day.

  As for my mentioning the anti-venom so casually? Rick and Tim had truly made a remarkable recovery since the Jivaro quintet left our presence. But just in case complications arose later, it was best to have the anti-venom on hand, where hopefully it proved to be a match for the dart poison used.