Stripes of Gehenna

by Lara Hues

  As we loaded into the cable car, we did so silently. Bryce didn’t talk to me, and Shardul took his place in the back corner once again, hedged in by the huge men. I had nothing to say despite my thousands of questions. There seemed to be a trust factor lacking, and while I would have trusted Shardul, he had expressed a lack of interest in communicating with me. He spoke in riddles. And he never wrote to me.

  "Heading back?" The speaker crackled next to Bryce. Richy’s voice startled me.

  "Yep, just leaving." Bryce pressed the button and spoke loudly.

  "Good, see you in a few minutes." Richy’s voice faded, and our car jolted into motion again. Standing by the door I looked out, hoping to see the beautiful tigers again. Perhaps their beauty would erase the scarring image of baby Habib, but I doubted it. It was likely that I would carry the image of the misshapen paws of the should-be majestic cat to my grave.

  The ride seemed tense and awkward as Bryce eyed me through his thick-rimmed glasses several times and shifted his weight around frequently, which rocked the car and made my stomach reel. We were just in sight of the observatory when I heard glass break, and the car lurched to a sudden and complete stop. I fell forwards, knocking my head hard on the glass and gasping. A corresponding thud from the back told me that Shardul had done something similar. We were the only two that hadn’t been able to absorb the abrupt stop.

  Reaching with one arm to rub my head, I was stopped as large fingers grabbed my wrist and gruffly forced me forwards to my knees, smashing them into the floor. The throbbing in my head stopped as pain was re-directed to the pressure on my arm, on my shoulder, and on both knees.

  "Wha-" I tried to turn my head to see my attacker, but I didn’t need to turn. Bryce spoke immediately to me.

  "Don’t move or I’ll kill you.” His threat worked. I didn’t move.

  I listened as the intercom crackled, and Richy’s voice came on. I peered into the distance and could barely see his outline as he stood in the Observatory. "What happened? Did you pull the emergency brake?" Richy bellowed.

  "Richy." Bryce cleared his throat. "I’m sick of your games. I want out. I’ve warned you. I’ve asked you kindly and I’ve played along. Now, I’m done. I am getting out of here. I pulled the brake, and I have Kat here. I’m going to open the door and hold her outside until you gather together my passport, a firearm, and some GH10 for the road."

  Richy’s rich laugh came over the speaker with a sardonic tone. "Oh, is that all? So, you’re the one who went snooping in her room. Find anything interesting?"

  "You know I did, but not enough." he assured. "Now go get those things while I open this door and try to be quick or she may slip."

  I didn’t attempt to move as I knew it was futile. I was a fly in a web or a bug in a jar, and although my breathing was not restricted, my lungs began to work as though the oxygen was low. Even if I used all my strength coupled with an adrenaline rush, I would get nowhere. Even if I escaped his grasp, which I couldn’t, I had nowhere to run.

  "None of the rest of you are going to interfere?" Richy asked the question that I had also wondered. There were many on the car that could have helped, but they didn’t move. "I see."

  Bryce reached over my head and wrenched open the door with one hand. The gesture was enough to reassure me that I was helpless.

  There was nothing fake about my defenselessness now. I was truly at the mercy of Bryce and Richy and fate.

  "Why are you-" I began, but was thrust outside and held only by one wrist. Bryce stood in the doorway of the cable car, dangling me by one arm. The air, warm and muggy, stifled my senses. The canopy below seemed much farther than it had from inside, and I kicked my legs. The motion was automatic much like how a dog when held over water will mechanically kick and swim. The difference was, I was not moving anywhere and I was not about to swim through the air.

  My heart and mind raced. My shoulder and wrist began to monopolize most of my pain receptors and I was unable to process the sudden burst of fear that spread over my skin and through my core.

  Everything moved quickly and slowly. I was able to look down and see a river not far to my right. Perhaps if I were to land in it….but then I remembered the tigers. Even if I landed in the river, I wouldn’t survive an attack from a normal non-drugged tiger. Attempting to block that image from my mind, I looked for Richy. He wasn’t in sight so I hoped he was cooperating with Bryce. I had to hope that I would be safe in a few minutes and that Bryce would be on his way back to wherever he was desperate to go.

  "Bryce, you are making a horrible mistake." I could barely hear Shardul from his corner in the back of the car. The other men easily blocked him, physically holding him back though it took minimal effort on their part.

  "Kathryn played no role in your captivity here."

  Captivity? I strained to hear.

  "She’s not even--"

  "Man up, Shar! I’m not doing this because I want to. I have no choice. It’s in my nature to fight for freedom."

  "Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults." Shardul’s voice was gentle the way I’d heard patient young mothers trying to compromise at store checkouts with toddlers.

  "You want me to drop her?" Bryce shouted. "Then shut up and hold still." His voice revealed a degree of fear. But what did he fear? Richy?

  The idea that Shardul had at least made somewhat of an attempt to get me back into the safety of the car was reassuring, though there was nothing that would be able to give me reassurance as much as having real earth underfoot again.

  It was a long wait as I dangled over the canopy, looking from the river to the trees to the observatory. It was long enough for me to gather my wits and breathe normally. I couldn’t maintain the level of fear from before and my pulse slowed. I was still terrified, but with nothing to do besides look over the trees and at the bottom of the car, my breathing steadied but my head still spun. The crackle of the intercom snapped my attention, and I listened as I narrowed my eyes to look for Richy in the distance. His silhouette was tiny, and his voice seemed almost as distant as he was.

  "I have something to tell you." Richy sounded maniacal. "I was going to wait until you got back to break the news, but I guess now is the time." I could see a second silhouette now and by the looks of his outline, his hand and legs were bound with rope. "Did you think someone would actually disappear from my compound without me noticing? I guess your brother wanted to go running. Well now I'll let him go running. With the tigers. I’ve been running low on deer anyway."

  Bryce gasped and his grip tightened around my wrist. I could feel his body shaking with his unsteady breaths. "But I have your passport and your firearm." The glass door far ahead opened and Richy stepped to it. He yelled into the intercom now. "But you bring my daughter into this thinking that I will let you just walk away, and you have another thing coming! Go to hell!" Richy became hysterical. The shots from the gun made my whole body tense and I felt Bryce nearly drop me in surprise. Several bullets ricocheted off the metal sides of the cable car clanging and I had to shut my eyes.

  "You idiot!" Bryce yelled. "If you hit anyone, it’s going to be Kat!"

  He was right. I dangled out of the car, and while Bryce stood in the open door, I was a much easier, albeit, smaller target. Shots fired again and echoed in the jungle. The clanging of the bullets on the car coupled with the shattering of glass brought my heart and lungs into my mouth. Every muscle in my body wound tight and tense. Life was slow motion as I heard metal tearing, looked up to see the cable snap with the pop from the gun, and felt a sudden release of pressure from my wrist.

  Chapter Twelve: Smell the Blood

  I woke up in the water, when my feet hit the muddy bottom. A few rocks bit sharply in my butt and shoulder. I ached everywhere and fought for the surface as the water tore around me.

  Bobbing to the top, I gasped for air. My body was in shock, and I didn’t know which part of me to assess for injury. I was alive. I was floundering. I w
as swimming. Fear took control of me. Behind me, partially in the water and partially on the bank, rested the cable car. Bullet holes in the sides and smashed windows made it impossible for me to look away. The water near the car swirled red. I didn’t want to see the source but fascination and the current pulled me closer.

  I floated past the open door, staring, unable to process what I was seeing. Sliced motionless arms peppered with shards of sharp glass. Shoulders and backs dripped blood from small, fatal bullet holes. One of the men made eye contact with me, gurgled out a gasp, and dropped his head with a crash onto the glass. Blood from several bodies poured into the water. Dark red, it floated towards me and immediately I threw up. The current pushed the blood and vomit towards me, and I ducked underwater, frenzied to get away.

  Bryce lifted an injured man at the back of the car. He coughed and I turned away, desperate to avoid him. On the other side of the river, Shardul spat up water and sat pulling glass from his leg. Seeing him flooded me with relief. He’d swam to shore. Bryce and I locked eyes. Terrified, I called out to Shardul. "Help!" I pleaded. My arms felt like they would hurt less if I didn’t have them at all.

  Bryce reached into the water, caught hold of my wrist again, and dragged me to the bloody bank. I slapped at him but with no reaction at all he pulled me closer.

  "You okay?" he asked and I tried to get back into the water. "Stop fighting me. I’m trying to help you." I dug my hands into the mud in a struggle to get away. "I'm not going to hurt you. I never wanted to. Believe me, if I wanted to kill you I could have done it on the run. Or I could have left you with Habib. Or I could have crushed you or drugged you--"

  I crab-walked back down the bank, preferring the bloody water to the terrifying images Bryce’s words elicited.

  "Sorry," Bryce muttered. "I used you to try and get away. Now that Richy isn’t here or watching, you have no reason to freak out. I’m not a murderer." At this he stepped back. I scurried into the water and swam across to Shardul. Regardless of his intent, he’d almost killed me. That was a very good reason to fear him.

  "Are you hurt?" Shardul asked, as I panted onto the bank.

  "Am I hurt?" I repeated. "Of course I am." I laid my head into the mud trying to breathe. Why had I survived? Incredible luck. Incredible, unfair, luck spared my life and took the lives of the others. My arms shook. My head swam and swirled trying to process what happened. Desperate to wake from the nightmare.

  "Where?" he said, visually assessing me.

  "Where? I hurt everywhere. I don’t know where I’m hurt." I had gashes on my arms and legs. But It was hard to tell which of the blood on my body was my own. While it felt like everything was broken, it appeared to be only bruised.

  "I see no severe lacerations," Shardul concluded.

  On the other side of the river Bryce was talking to a few of the other men from the car that were not killed in the fall.

  "We need to get out of here!" Bryce yelled from across the bank.

  "Yes," Shardul said. "The tigers will smell the blood."

  He said it so matter-of-factly that it seemed surreal, but he was right.

  Bryce shouted again, "We should head back the way we came. Richy has no way to get to us there."

  "There is no food or water there, and that path would only take you deeper into the cage." Shardul replied. "We need to get to the back door beneath the observatory."

  "I can’t go there," Bryce reasoned. "Richy will shoot me on sight."

  "He may, but you face certain death if you head back to where we came."

  A deep growl shook my frame and I knew the tigers weren’t far.

  "They are communicating." Shardul said. "One smells the blood. He wants his mate to come also. They are coming."

  I wanted to run.

  I wanted to hide. Where would I go? Where would they not smell me out? I knew I wanted to be far away from here, not just because they were coming, but because I didn’t want to watch what would happen to the men in the cable car whose names I had never taken the time to learn.

  "We should get in the water to mask our scent." Shardul said.

  "Tigers can swim!" Bryce shouted, and I could tell he was becoming very afraid.

  "Yes, but they can’t track what they can’t smell. They aren’t bloodhounds--we can lose them in the water."

  "Tigers are known for being good swimmers," Bryce repeated.

  "I do not have time to argue this. You are free to take whatever path to whatever destination you feel is best. I will personally be following the river up to the back door beneath the Observatory, and I will be leaving immediately." Shardul waded into the water and turned to me. "Feel free to go wherever you want."

  The decision wasn’t difficult. Bryce had been the cause of the nightmarish situation. He had threatened my life, and I would be absolutely moronic to suddenly trust him. The other option was venturing on some path all alone. This was perhaps less appealing to me than following Bryce, and that was saying something.

  The water flowed gently around my feet as I hurried into the deeper water. It was tempting to take off my shoes as I kicked and I felt them filling with water and creating lots of drag, but while bare feet would serve me well in the water, I didn’t anticipate that our journey would simply consist of a short lap down the river. My body was in shock from the drop, and I tried to focus on some part of me that didn’t hurt.

  My ears didn’t hurt. My hair didn’t hurt. It was a strange thing to think--hair hurting. But it was something I tried to focus on as Shardul led the way up the river and I followed, making my strokes as quiet as possible. I dipped my arms into the murky water and each drop of water that dripped onto the surface seemed to echo. Various creatures bumped into my legs as I swam. Fish, snakes, or maybe just branches. I had to remind myself that whatever I risked meeting in the water was preferable to the tigers. I switched to breaststroke, attempting to keep myself under the water as much as was feasible to avoid any sounds.

  Behind us we heard another growl, this one much louder, following by the crunch of glass…or bones. My arms pulled the water faster and my legs kicked with renewed determination. I sprinted through the river with little control over my arms. They moved mechanically out of terror. I could feel the tigers’ presence close behind. My lungs drew in fast breaths and I had to focus very hard on not hyperventilating. I could imagine the crack of the bones they were smashing in their giant, dinosaur teeth. I had nothing to think about except that even all of the huge men who had fatally fallen from the car to the jungle soil would not be enough to satisfy their enormous appetites.

  I don’t know how long we swam up the river, but as the river widened we were able to follow the shoreline until the mud became deep. I followed Shardul’s lead as he stepped out of the water and began trailing through the thick black mud and sand mixture on the shore.

  I'm not one to exaggerate, so believe me when I say that I have never been more frightened or felt so small in my entire life. I was also certain with full confidence that if I were to survive this experience, adventures would never hold the same appeal. This was no adventure. It was a death-trap. I'd become a sacrifice.

  I stood waist-deep in mud, my stomach ached with hunger, since I threw up my lunch, and despite my desert dry throat, I could not bring myself to drink the river water. Not yet anyway. Not after all the blood I’d seen.

  Take deep breaths. Trudge on slowly. Don’t make sudden movements. Don’t make any sounds. I had to focus on one step at a time and will myself forward slowly, despite my rapid pulse. Perhaps it was all the blood rushing through my arms that drew the hundreds of bugs to my body like a magnet. But it wasn’t the bugs’ thirst for my blood that made my heart race full out of my body; it was the tigers’.

  The heartbeat that thudded against my skin, the constant reminder that I was actually still alive was a comfort. It served as a reminder that despite having been dangled out of the cable car, shot at, falling into a river, and swimming away from steroid-injected tigers,
I was not dead yet.

  I was not dead yet.

  Thick foliage cocooned us. Wide, woody vines wound their ways up into the canopy before drooping back down like green curtains. The sounds of scurrying rodents and lizards served as a constant reminder that we were not alone.

  ***

  The darkness that came over the jungle as soon as the sun set was deeper than any darkness I had ever experienced. It had been warm all day, but now I had goosebumps all over my arms and on my legs. My wet clothes clung to my body. A misty fog rose from the river and meandered its way around us, making it hard to see even more than a few feet in front of our faces.

  Sometimes at night, when I would lie in my bed back home and struggle finding sleep, I would imagine being wrapped in a huge black sheet of velvet. The image had been so comforting and comfortable to me then. As I shivered on the bank of the river seated next to Shardul, the image was much less appealing.

  I could have snuggled into a sheet of velvet for warmth, but I cringed at the thick, heavy darkness and the concept of sleep. As I thought on it, dying in my sleep may not be a bad way to go.

  The arrival of nighttime awakened a new group of creatures. New insects. New rodents with little eyes like beads of flashing lights in the darkness.

  We sat silently on the bank listening to the water, birds and bats in the air, the buzzing of bugs, and the occasional gurgle from each other’s empty stomachs, too afraid to speak for fear of what might be listening.

  From the cable car, we’d looked so close to the Observatory. But now that we were on the ground, we didn’t dare take the direct route to the back door. The direct route would take us through the big field where I’d seen the deer meet their demise. We had to skirt to the outside of the enclosure and add a few miles.

  We could have kept walking since sleep was the furthest thing from my mind, but without any light, night time travel was too dangerous. Besides, tigers like the nighttime. I knew that from Shardul’s science fair project. Our best bet was to find a place to rest and remain there in silence until we could see well enough to continue our trek to the back door.