by Tara Ellis
Leaning back, Davies eyes never left her as he studied her face.
“What about Peta and the others?” she asked, before he could push the subject any further. “What will you do with them?”
His eyes didn’t waiver. “I will kill them.”
The pain in her temple subsided, and the voice was buried deep within the fragmented remnants of her mind.
Madeline stared back. “We will kill them.”
Chapter 7
PETA
Tan Presi Rutu
Suriname, South America
The sun was just starting to rise above the ruins of Tan Presi Rutu as Peta and the others were led inside the relative safety of its crumbling walls.
A fine layer of mist covered the ground, in response to the warmth of the first rays to break through the opening in the jungle canopy. Without the normal backdrop of droning insects and tropical animals calling to each other, it had a rather ominous feel to it, and Peta wouldn’t have been surprised to see jerking, rotting corpses staggering out from around the vine-covered structures.
Instead, the handful of Lokono gathered around a large central fire preparing what had to be breakfast, scattered ahead of their arrival. A mongrel-looking dog ran over to excitedly greet Marty, and the two of them sniffed at each other while the courtyard emptied of all but their group of rescuers.
Peta caught a faint whisp of sulfur, and found it reassuring in spite of its furthering the “gates of hell” aspect. It meant the hot spring was close, and then so was the Libi Prani. They had to find the plant. Everything depended on it.
“Your arrival is unexpected,” Viresh explained as he approached the fire. Gesturing to a cleared area next to it, he spoke in their native language to the men carrying Jason.
Peta watched as they gently laid him down, and she was relieved when Jason moaned in response. At least he was conscious. Rushing to kneel next to him, she smiled when he looked up at her, but his eyes were so glazed that she wasn’t sure if he even knew who she was.
“I must see my mother,” Akuba demanded, limping over to Viresh.
There had been very little talking during the hour or so hike to the settlement, as they all struggled to keep moving. Viresh had seemed reluctant to engage Akuba in any official sort of discussion regarding the Lokono and if they would be welcome there. Jess had explained to Peta in a hushed conversation that while he was seen as a sort of leader amongst the people because of his age, Viresh wasn’t an elder, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate for him to speak for them.
“Sit,” he directed, pointing at the fire. “Get some nourishment while I explain to the elders what has happened.
“I can explain!” Akuba shot back.
Jess moved forward and placed a hand on Akuba’s shoulder. “We have medicine that can help Akuba’s mom, Captain Mohan,” she said quickly, trying to prevent an argument. “Slaider told us she was sick.”
Slaider had already taken a seat next to the fire, favoring his knee, and was pouring himself some water from a pot. He wasn’t from the original Lokono tribe, and it was obvious by his demeanor that he wasn’t going to try and interfere with however the leaders chose to interact with them.
Jess was referring to Akuba’s mom, and Peta was reminded once again about the strict hierarchy of the Lokono. Getting there was only half of the hill they still had to get over. It was going to take a lot of convincing not only to allow them to stay there as outsiders, but permit them to harvest the leaves of the Libi Prani, something the Lokono saw as sacred and protected. They all needed to proceed cautiously, and seeing Akuba so close to being overcome emotionally was a clear sign that they were starting the process already on dangerous ground.
Devon approached Akuba from the other side and wrapped a protective arm around her. “Akuba,” he said gently. “Don’t you think we should let Viresh go wake everyone up, while we catch our breath?” He guided her to a group of wooden chairs positioned around a rough-hewn table. The furniture looked like it had been recently made and blended well with the rugged setting.
Sitting heavily, Akuba accepted the water Slaider brought her, before turning to look sheepishly at Viresh. “Of course. I’m sorry if I appear ungrateful.”
Verish moved forward and knelt in front of Akuba before taking her hand in both of his. “All will rejoice to hear that you’ve come to be with us, Captain.”
They continued to speak briefly in their local dialect, and most of the tension had eased by the time Viresh walked away. However, it wasn’t lost on Peta that he intentionally left the other four of his remaining men behind, and they hadn’t taken their eyes off Jason. Bringing someone sick with the Kra Puru to them wasn’t going to be well-received.
The other dozen or so Lokonos who had found them stayed behind near the border of the Tan Presi Rutu, no doubt to guard it. Looking around at the size of the ancient city, Peta was surprised at how wrong she’d been in her expectations. She’d conjured up images of small, primitive dwellings and maybe a few stone alters or something. Instead, it was a vast network of once well-organized buildings constructed of either quarried rocks, or molded clay. While a good portion of the ruins were only remnants of what they used to be, there was enough left of the overgrown stone features to leave a clear impression. It had once likely been home to thousands of Lokonos, just as Akuba had described, and it was easy to envision a bustling society that once flourished, perhaps trading goods and congregating in the central courtyard where they were sequestered.
Feeling the unnatural heat under her hands, Peta’s attention was drawn back to Jason. They had to get his fever down. “Tyler!” she called to the teen who was lingering awkwardly at the edge of the fire area. “Come help me get his shirt off.”
Together, they wrestled Jason out of half of his clothes while Jess talked one of their guards into helping her track down some cool water. Jason was aware enough to move his arms on command and shifted his weight as they stripped the shirt off, but he was in obvious pain and groaned with every movement of his head.
“Here,” Devon said, handing Peta a bottle from his pack. “I know those last few Tylenol won’t be enough, but it’s got to be better than nothing.”
Taking the medicine, Peta met Akuba’s watchful eyes. She didn’t need to tell the other woman what Jason really needed, but it wasn’t something Peta could ask for out loud. Not yet. Not in their present company, without risking defeating the whole purpose of being there. While Jess had been permitted to drink the sacred beverage, she was a rare exception due to her unique relationship with Akuba and years-long role in helping tend to the Libi Nati hot spring. Asking to share it with a total stranger, one who was sick with the disease that terrified them, would have been insulting and likely disastrous to laying down the groundwork they had to establish.
With a grimace of understanding, Akuba staggered to her feet with Devon’s help and approached the men who were clearly assigned to supervise the strangers she’d brought with her. “I need some Libi Prani,” she said, gesturing to her leg. The days-old wound inflicted by the cats back at the preserve had split open and was still actively bleeding. Her pantleg was saturated with blood, making the injury obvious. According to their culture, the healing tea was commonly given to anyone from the tribe who was ill or injured, so it was a reasonable request for a Lokono to make.
With a nod, the man didn’t hesitate before walking away to retrieve the revered plant. Going to the fire, Akuba moved the pot of water from the edge and closer to the flames to bring it to a boil.
“Is this cold enough?” Jess called out as she jogged back. Her feet kicked up dust while she ran through the tamped-down clearing and she struggled to carry a heavy, tightly-woven basket that was dripping with water.
Peta gratefully took the container and set it next to Jason’s chest, feeling the water with her fingers before nodding. “Perfect. Thank you, Jess. Can you help me pour it on him? We’ll concentrate on his neck and arm pits. That’ll be the best way to c
ool him down.”
Slaider found more wooden cups and they used them to scoop the water out and methodically poured it over Jason’s flushed skin. It pooled beneath him to create a bed of mud, but Peta wasn’t concerned about any indiscretion in messing up the workspace. That was something easily fixed. Gooseflesh rose and he began to shiver, which Peta took as a good sign.
Running her fingers over his shoulders and arms to help spread the water, Peta hesitated when she felt the raised scars she encountered in several spots. Larger than gunshots, the ragged marks had to have been the result of some other traumatic type of injury. Raising a hand to her own face, she traced the prominent scar on her left cheek.
Thinking of what Jason must have experienced while in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to everything he’d gone through since the earthquake in Washington state, caused an upwelling of renewed determination for Peta. She’d do whatever it took to save him. He wasn’t going to die that way, not when it could be prevented.
Glancing over at the man returning with the requested plants, Peta gritted her teeth impatiently as Akuba prepared it by mashing the leaves before adding it to the boiling water. It had to work. He’d improved with the small dose the day before, so she was fairly certain it was just a matter of keeping a high enough amount in his system until the infection was completely purged from his body.
In addition to saving Jason’s life, his recovery could also be used to prove to the Lokono elders how the Libi Prani worked, and speed up the negotiation process. Not to mention it would be further confirmation that they were standing on the literal precipice of a breakthrough treatment to get to the CDC. The small quantity Paul had taken with him was barely enough for Garrett to study back in the lab in California, and it certainly wasn’t enough to effectively treat even one person, let-alone hundreds… or thousands.
As Akuba busied herself with making the tea, she also started preparing plates of food from whatever had been left cooking by the women who’d retreated. Tyler collected more cups and then handed out water to everyone, along with the food. By the time the tea was ready, and she brought it to Jason along with her own serving, the men watching were clueless as to what he was drinking, and would have no reason to suspect or worry that Akuba would even give it to him.
Peta wasn’t certain they would have made a real issue of it, but Akuba must have thought so, or else she wouldn’t have been so secretive about it. As she held the steaming cup to Jason’s lips, the observation troubled Peta. The other woman’s lack of confidence in her own ability to persuade her people was concerning. They’d been relying on the fact that Akuba would be readily accepted as their captain due to her mother’s illness, and would be willing to listen to what she had to say about the Libi Prani, and follow her. Based on how things were going so far, it was possible that the extreme circumstances and belief in their ancient prophecy might override their normal etiquette.
Akuba made the choice to stay behind at the preserve, and it could be seen that she’d abandoned her people when they needed her the most. Captain or not, Peta suspected Akuba had some work to do to regain her people’s trust. Unfortunately, time wasn’t something they had a lot of, and Davies wasn’t going to wait around while they smoothed things over.
A random macaw screeched from one of the nearby trees encroaching on the ancient city. What should have been a normal sound made all of the people in the courtyard jump, both the outsiders and Lokono. In the vacuum of silence, the cry was both forlorn and frightening, a mirror of what was growing inside the walls of the city, and threatening to devastate them all.
Chapter 8
JASON
Tan Presi Rutu
Suriname, South America
His lips felt thick as Jason tried to part them, and his eyes refused to open. The air was humid, tinged with an eggy smell, and oppressively stagnant. He had no idea where he was.
The jungle. He remembered running through the jungle, the jaguars, and deafening gunshots as he and Peta tried to hold off the cats and Davies—
“Peta,” Jason croaked, sounding more like a whimper than a word.
Hands grabbed at him and he became aware of a soft fabric under his bare skin. Why was his shirt off? Attempting to open his eyes again, Jason was rewarded with a painful dose of sunlight. Wincing, he tried to turn his head away from it, and the motion brought on a wave of vertigo and nausea.
“Jason! Jason, can you hear me?” Peta’s voice was laced with a fear that broke through some of his remaining haze. “If you can hear me, open your eyes.”
She must have leaned over him, because a shadow fell in front of the light, encouraging him to force his lids open the rest of the way. Blinking, Jason focused on Peta’s smile. It was a nice smile.
Where was he?
“Jason?” Peta repeated, and then moved away.
As her face disappeared, Jason saw a patch of hazy sky, outlined by jagged rocks and a rough-thatched roof with holes in it. They were inside some sort of rustic structure, in the jungle. He remembered the jungle.
Peta returned with a damp cloth and pressed it to his face. “I think your fever broke,” she said, glancing somewhere off to her left. “You had us worried there for a while.”
The cool compress felt good, and Jason closed his eyes again, concentrating on it. His whole body felt flushed, and like he’d just gotten done serving as a tackle dummy to a whole offensive line. His mind began to drift back to scattered memories of other times he’d been hurt or disoriented and vivid, grotesque images flashed through his mind. With a sharp intake of breath, Jason opened his eyes in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors of his own shattered experiences.
A cold nose pressed into his hand, and Marty pushed until he was completely under Jason’s arm. Resting his large, furry head on his chest, the dog stared at him intensely before slowly licking his chin.
Marty. His friend had been wary of him…he’d known Jason was infected with The Kuru and had been trying to warn him. Or rather, The Kra Puru.
Details of the past three days started rushing back into focus. His illness, their mad dash through the jungle as they were pursued by the jaguars. Davies.
Reaching up to pat reassuringly at Marty’s head with his left hand, Jason sought out Peta. She was crouched next to the dog, watching him. “Where am I?” he whispered. His mouth was so dry that his tongue stuck to the roof of it when he spoke, making his words garbled. At Peta’s concerned expression, he scrunched his face up in denial. “Not slurred…thirsty.”
A cup was immediately at his mouth, and although it tasted horrible, Jason swallowed it eagerly. He recognized the taste of the tea, and understood what was happening. They were treating him. They must have made it to the Tan Presi Rutu.
The fluid, along with the boost of encouragement from the revelation, lent him enough strength so he could manage a small smile. Turning his head, he took in their surroundings, and saw that Jess, Tyler and Devon were also there.
It was a small stone structure with crumbling rocks in several places, exposing dense trees beyond its walls. Vines and other vegetation grew through several of the cracks to lay claim to the ancient building. Jason got the distinct impression they weren’t near any other villagers. He couldn’t hear anyone, or hardly any other sounds that normally accompanied the Amazon. Certainly not the activity you’d expect in a community of close to three hundred people.
The room lacked a working door, and just beyond the only square opening stood two Lokono men. They were positioned back-to-back, like they were guarding the structure. What wasn’t clear to Jason was if they were meant to keep danger out, or them inside.
He tried to sit up, but was rewarded with another wave of dizziness. Allowing his head to fall back on the sleeping bag he’d had stowed in his own pack, Jason settled for a conversation while on his back. “Where are we?” he repeated, looking for confirmation that they’d reached their destination and weren’t instead being held by Davies.
“We’re in
the village,” Devon answered, though he didn’t sound too excited about it. “What do you remember?”
Peta brought the cup to his mouth again, and Jason drank eagerly that time, feeling more confident he would keep it down. The last tendrils of confusion evaporated as he stroked Marty’s head, and the room came into sharper focus.
He was in the Tan Presi Rutu. He remembered fighting the jaguars, and vague snippets of the rescue by some Lokonos. It had been close…too close. “The last thing I remember is having cold water poured all over me. It was cold, and I thought I was drowning.”
Devon threw his hands up in the air in one of his classic displays of mock seriousness. “Yeah, I had nothing to do with that one, Jace. It was all Peta. Personally, I think it was just an excuse to get your shirt off.”
Rolling her eyes, Peta scoffed at Devon but then smiled. “That was almost two hours ago. You’ve been pretty much delirious since then, but I think the tea is already starting to work.”
“You’re doing better,” Jess said with a serious tone, clearly not in the mood to take part in any comedic distraction tactics.
“Jess,” Jason said with more strength, turning his head to look directly at her. “You okay?”
Scooting over from where she’d been sitting on the dirt floor, Jess came alongside Peta and leaned in close over Marty, studying his face. “I’m fine. How’s your head?” She pulled at his right arm that was still lying by his side, and lifted it a few inches into the air. “Any stronger?”
Clenching his hand into a fist, Jason turned it over before flexing his fingers. “Yeah, I think so. And my head has a single drum set beating in it at the moment, instead of a whole high school band.”
Smiling nervously at the lame attempt at a joke, Jess rocked back on her heels while still watching him closely. Jason realized then that she had to be worried he might have become a Cured, rather than being healed by the tea. That both her biological father as well as the one who raised her had been lost to the disease. She must have been terrified over the past two hours, wondering what was going to happen when he woke up.