by Jon Mills
She wasn’t sure how long they had been listening to him drone on about how others were blind to the truth. One, maybe two hours but when she heard the commotion behind her, she feared the worst.
One of Castillo’s men pushed April out into the glow of the fire. She stumbled and fell to her knees in front of him.
“Found her emptying food into the river.”
Castillo gazed at her. April had her head down. He bent at the knees and grasped her face with one hand.
“Is it true?”
She spat in his face. Those around gasped. The very thought of anyone going against Castillo was blasphemy, but to strike him with spit! Castillo wiped it from his face with the back of his hand. He didn’t strike her. He knew better than that. But there would be consequences for what she had done.
“Have I not given you a home? A sanctuary? A safe place from the horrors of your past?”
“What you are doing here is wrong. It is murder.” April still on her knees looked around at the others. “Can’t you see what he’s doing? He’s a murderer.”
He stood up and walked slowly around the fire observing her like a lab rat.
“Does anyone here agree with her?”
Silence fell over the crowd. April’s eyes darted to Danielle. She wanted to speak but her mouth wouldn’t open from fear. She had seen what had happened to the first group of people that spoke out against him.
“Your words of accusation do not hold weight here.”
“You cannot hold me here. Tell him, Danielle.”
Oh my god, she couldn’t believe she had dragged her into it. Castillo’s eyes darted over to her.
“I don’t know what you are on about?”
April got up but was shoved to the ground by the same man that brought her over. Castillo bent down, taking her face in both hands.
“Your mind has become blurred by the world, my child. But I can help.”
She slapped away his hands. “Don’t touch me.”
“There is only one thing that can clean your mind.”
Everyone around began to chant quietly. “The holy fire. The holy fire. The holy fire.”
Panic spread across April’s face, she struggled to her feet and tried to run but was brought back and forced to the ground by a knee. Another woman took a hold of her arm and yanked it out. She braced herself against her with one foot to keep her arm outstretched. Meanwhile the chanting continued. Castillo went over to the fire, paused for a second and then reached down and grasped one of the thin logs of wood that had a glowing end. The heat made it burn a deep orange, like an iron maker’s branding tool. Castillo brought it over to April. She screamed. At first her screams were mixed with anger, then they changed to cries for mercy.
“I will give you mercy, my child. Let the flame cleanse you.”
Right then in front of everyone, they stripped her of what little clothes she had on and laid her out on the ground. Castillo brought the golden flame down upon her skin and moved back and forth along the edge of the arms, then the back of her legs. All the while her screams cut into the night and the group chanted with enthusiasm. When the ember started to go out, he would reach for another stick. Her skin became red and black, a charred mess that Danielle refused to look at. She was still alive but had suffered burns beyond anything that Danielle had ever seen.
When Castillo was done, he had them take her down to the river and tie her to stakes in the ground so that her body was partially submerged. Then they walked away. Everyone was told that if she was alive the next morning, she would experience a rebirth of new skin. She would be a new woman. Of course this was all smoke and mirrors. She wouldn’t survive the night. If she hadn’t died already, the crocodiles would feed upon her flesh.
As Danielle returned to her lodge, her hands were shaking. She couldn’t get the sight of April being burned or the smell of her flesh from her mind. When she entered her hut and laid down for the night, she cried realizing that this was it. This was where she would die.
Half an hour passed, maybe another. There was no sense of time in the jungle. Castillo didn’t allow any technology in the camp. No phones, watches or computers. They were heavy weights that tied them to their past, the very thing that enslaved mankind and kept them in a state of unconsciousness.
As she lay there, the material that covered the door parted and in came Castillo. He was dressed in white and for a moment under the light of the moon, he might have looked like he was more than human but that wasn’t the case.
“Stand up,” he said.
Danielle knew not to question him. He walked around looking at her and moved in close to smell her hair.
“You look afraid.”
She shook her head.
“Why did April say your name tonight?”
Danielle shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Are you having doubts, my child?”
“No, Castillo.”
He came up behind her and moved her hair to one side so he could place his lips on the back of her neck. His other hand reached around and slid up her neck, then his fingers strummed over her breasts.
“Has the Sage spoken to you?”
“No.”
“Then you must seek her more diligently. We will increase your intake of the holy medicine to four times a day.”
He acted as though he was a doctor, able to determine the deep inner problems that a person had. His answer was always the same. Consume the holy medicine. How could people not see how crazy he was? Over the months, many that had spoken out were now dead, somewhere at the bottom of the river. April had been one; another girl before that and several other couples. Each of them had paid a price. Those who agreed were few in number.
She could feel his hot breath against her neck as he continued his line of questioning.
“Are you willing to do whatever is required?”
“Yes, Castillo.”
She felt her top being torn from behind. When she was stripped bare, he laid her on the bed and she knew what was about to happen. He had done it to others, to April and those before. In that moment she shut down and let her mind drift off to another place. Somewhere far from him, far from the jungle, far from the nightmare that was her life.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bright and early in the morning Isabel made her way down to the square. With the little information she had to go on from the café owner, she spent the better part of the morning drinking coffee while watching young Peruvian girls come and go. Occasionally she would ask the owner if he recognized the one that was with Winchester but all her questions were beginning to frustrate him.
“So how’s it going down there?” Cooper asked over the phone.
Isabel stirred her coffee with minimal enthusiasm.
“I had him in my sights.”
“And?”
Before she could reply, Cooper had already jumped in to say he got away.
“I told you. The guy isn’t human.”
“He’s human alright and it’s only a matter of time before he slips up and I’ll be there to bring him in when he does.”
While she was on the phone, the café owner behind the counter waved to get her attention. He pointed out the window to a young girl that was chatting to someone slightly older. He nodded his head.
“There she is.”
“Gotta go,” she said to Cooper and then hung up. She nearly ran out without paying. She tossed a few notes on the table and rushed out the door. By the time she made it to the older-looking girl the other one was already walking away. Isabel spun her around and looked for her necklace but she wasn’t wearing one. The older girl shouted something in Spanish and then raced off. Isabel cast a glance to her right and saw the younger girl. She was looking back but had an expression of concern on her face.
“Hold up.”
Before she could reach her, the young girl began running. She dashed between people, threading her way through the early morning crowd. Taxis honked their horns as she ran
out into the road and nearly got hit. It didn’t take Isabel long to catch up to her. When she grabbed her, the girl began yelling for her to get off.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to harm you. I just need to talk to you about a man. Jack Winchester.”
The girl stopped struggling in her arms.
“Jack?”
“You know him?” Isabel asked.
At first she didn’t nod, she just stared at Isabel. Her eyes caught sight of Isabel’s piece in its holster beneath her jacket.
“Are you police?”
“Something like that.”
“Is he in trouble?”
Isabel stared back at her and nodded. “He could be. I want to help him. I need you to tell me where he went.”
“I shouldn’t say.”
Isabel exhaled hard and then released her grip from the girl while remaining crouched down. She reached into her pocket and brought out a set of keys. On it was a rabbit’s foot. She took it off and handed it to the girl.
“What is it?”
“For luck.”
She thought she might as well give it to the girl as she hadn’t had much luck since being assigned to this case.
“What is your name?”
“Mia,” she said holding the rabbit’s foot in her hand.
“Mia. Jack could end up hurt if I don’t find him. I’m a friend of his and I want to help him. You understand?”
She hesitated before nodding.
“Now where did he say he was going?”
When the girl finally told her, she thanked her, gave her a hug and handed her some money. Isabel didn’t wait around, she returned to her hotel immediately. She arranged a taxi to take her to the airport where she would fly to Puerto Maldonado and then make the transfer to Tambopata Reserve. The thought of entering the jungle terrified her. She had spent her entire life in the city. But if that’s where Winchester was heading, so was she.
Jack awoke to the sound of what he thought was a snake nearby. His head twisted to the right to see a chameleon staring at him from beyond the netting. He didn’t want to imagine what the thing might have done had the netting not been between them.
Outside, the sun was up and he glanced over at the clock. He had slept in. Shoot! He flipped the net off him and padded across the room to the bathroom. A quick shower, shave and he was ready to go, even though it meant crawling back into yesterday’s sweaty clothes.
Jose was already up. His bed was made and the door was closed. Jack ventured out and found him down in the main dining area drinking coffee and talking to Eduardo. The moment Jack came into the room, Eduardo gave a nod of his head. Jose got up and was cheery, overly cheery, in fact. Jack barely could muster a smile when he was tired.
“How did you sleep? Good, eh?” he answered his own question.
He had slept well. Perhaps it was the jungle air but it had been the first night in weeks that he awoke feeling fully rested.
“We are running late,” Jack muttered as he scooped up a plate and helped himself to some hot scrambled eggs, black beans and grits. Jose tossed a sliced sweet potato on his plate and Jack stared back at him.
“You will need it. It will give you energy.”
It wasn’t that. It was the fact that he’d handled it with his hands. Once he grabbed a cup of coffee he joined them at the table and looked around at the tourists who were busy talking about what they were going to do that day.
“You ever have any casualties?” Jack asked.
“From bites, you mean?”
Jack nodded scooping egg into his mouth.
“A few but we have a medic on staff. Unless it’s critical it can be treated here with anti-venom. On the odd occasion we have had to get a helicopter in here but that’s rare.”
“Good to know.” Jack quickly polished off his breakfast.
“You should slow down,” Eduardo said. “You can taste the food better.”
“Don’t have time,” Jack said getting up from the table.
“Don’t have time. Don’t have time. You know how often I hear tourists say that when they come here? No wonder so many end up with diseases. You rush around like chickens with your heads cut off. Go here. Go there. For what?” he paused. “To end up in an early grave, that’s what.”
“He’s right,” Jose said, before sipping on some juice. “You should slow down. Take deep breaths and allow your mind to become one with Mother Nature.”
All the woo-woo was starting to grind on Jack’s rear end. All he wanted to do was get in, get the girl and get the hell out of here. To him this wasn’t a place to come and relax, it was full of danger, surrounded by creatures that could end your life in a matter of hours, even minutes. How could anyone relax knowing that they could wind up as an anaconda’s supper? At least in the city, even with all the noise of taxis, you could shut the windows in an air-conditioned Hilton and enjoy peace and quiet. Here there was non-stop bugs biting his skin.
It didn’t take long to pull Jose away from his fourth cup of coffee. Had Jack not reminded him how much he was paying to have him as a guide, he probably would have sat there all day. They all seemed to function at a slower pace, and maybe that might have been alright if he knew that the girl was safe or that Agent Baker wasn’t breathing down his neck.
Jack thanked Eduardo for his hospitality. When he left, Eduardo placed into his hand a vial with a piece of leather around it.
“What is it?”
“It is the venom of a blue arrow poison frog.”
“What am I meant to do with that?”
“Hang it around your neck.”
Jose chuckled at Jack’s confused expression.
Eduardo continued. “It is said when one is in fear of losing their life, carrying that which can kill many lives, can give one courage.”
“Oh yeah? Well there’s a saying back in New York.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re full of shit.”
With that said, he tossed the vial to Jose, who caught it with an expression on his face as though he was holding a stick of live dynamite.
Within ten minutes they had loaded a few small bags in the boat and set off. Outside the sun was already beginning to bear down on them. It was going to be another blistering hot day.
“How long do you think it will take to get there?”
“An hour by boat. Then probably two hours by foot. It’s not far from here.”
“Three hours and you say that’s not far?”
“We’re in the jungle,” Jose said gripping the outboard motor and powering them forward.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The rainforest was so humid it felt like Jack was in a sauna with clothes on. Warm air pressed against his skin making his shirt stick to him. It was hard to breathe and beads of sweat trickled down his chest as they pressed forward. They had been hiking for over an hour and even though it was daytime, it was unusually dark due to the dense canopy of leaves and trees overhanging. It smelled like he’d entered a greenhouse. So many aromas of vegetation, moisture, soil, wood and decaying plants attacked his senses. The whole place was alive with life. All around him was the constant buzz of insects, monkeys and parrots.
Jose pushed forward through a landscape of trunks that rose up like upright fingers. All over them and spreading into the earth below their feet were buttress roots, at least that’s what Jose called them. To Jack they looked like thick varicose veins.
“I imagined there would be more animals.”
“They’re here. They hide or live high up there,” Jose said pointing towards the treetops. “Here, stop.”
Jack paused and listened. After a few minutes he asked what they were waiting for.
“Look.”
He pointed towards trees where butterflies and leafcutter ants were visible. As they continued walking Jose stopped again as a creature the size of a small cat shot out and disappeared into the brush.
“What the hell was that?”
“The agouti. A
rodent.”
A rodent the size of a cat? Jack had seen big rats in New York but nothing compared to that.
“Don’t worry. It won’t attack. It feeds on fallen seeds.”
All around were rivers, creeks and streams. While most of the sun was blocked out, Jose had insisted Jack wear a hat, sunscreen and knee-high boots. He said the heat was very deceiving and he had known many an American to pass out from heat exhaustion or get burned by the sun’s rays. Jack didn’t have to ask him why the boots. Within minutes of entering the jungle they were wading through thick brown streams, mud and nearly treading on venomous snakes.
“How far now?”
“Oh not long. Maybe another twenty minutes.”
“That’s what you said twenty minutes ago,” Jack muttered as droplets of rain began to fall.
“Here, catch.”
Jose tossed something over his shoulder and Jack let it drop to the ground. He gazed down at a giant snail shell. It was empty but he didn’t even know snails could grow to that size; then again everything was massive here. The trees were unusually wide as they were tall. Some grew spikes for protection, most had fungi. Everywhere he turned it was an ocean of green with a splattering of color from flowers, and exotic frogs.
Jose stopped and pulled out a bottle of water. He chugged it down and gazed back at Jack who was having trouble getting through a cluster of trees
“You hungry?”
Jack shrugged.
Jose dashed off into the forest. After a few minutes he returned holding what looked like a baseball. On the outside it was dark but once broken open, it contained a juicy white fruit. Along with that he had a handful of leaves.
“You expect me to eat these?”
He smiled. “It’s no Big Mac but trust me, it’s tasty.”
Jack tried it and strangely enough he was right. He couldn’t imagine living off that but in the middle of the forest you couldn’t be picky.
