The room in which Gerallt found himself wasn’t big and was really just an elbow in a tube which seemed to continue upward. His mental bet was that if he climbed the tube he would wind up near the pool he and the el Tigre had been in before their fall. He had no idea how the cougar had gotten in the base pool but that had proven there was a connection between the pool inside the mountain and the two outside. Proof that the room had been found by others was a coiled half-inch hemp rope attached to a spike that had been driven into the floor at the back of the room. The rope was long enough to reach the pool and probably provided access for those unable to climb the pipe. Undoubtedly kids, he thought, who would have fun diving or jumping through the falls and landing in the pool. One thing he found was a towel probably used to dry off. It was big enough that he could fashion a loin cloth with a length of the hemp rope used as a belt. The other find was even better. It was a stick about six feet long, fairly straight and, most important, solid. With a little work and a strip of cloth from the towel, he could turn it into a spear.
“You zink he be dead?” Ramiro asked.
“Horus, what do you think?” was Issaack’s response.
“I am sorry to report that all life functions on this contestant have ceased,” Horus said.
“Zorry? Why he zorry?” Ramiro asked.
“Horus…” Issaack began.
“I am sorry because he was in a contest he didn’t choose to be in,” Horus said. “Just as I am sorry that each of the other animals died and will be sorry that each of the remaining animals might have to die.”
“What’z about my zoldierz?” Ramiro said.
“They are here by choice unlike the animals” was Horus’s answer.
Chapter 9
It didn’t take Gerallt long to realize that he didn’t have the tools necessary to make a spear using the knife as the blade because he had no way to securely fasten the blade to the stick. Both ropes he had were too big, and the hemp one was fragile, and the towel pulled apart when he tried to use it. So he sharpened the end of the stick to the best of his ability and would make it harder when he had a fire. Then he dropped the rope down the hole and climbed down. Once in the water, he prepared by taking several deep breaths and then he submerged, exited the tube, swam to what he thought was the part of the pool in shadows, and slowly surfaced. Although he had erred a bit and wasn’t in the darkest shadow, there was no one around, either human or predator. Swimming to shore, he exited the pool and headed toward the west side of the island because he thought it best to be along water that he could enter if any of the predators showed up. As he jogged along, he kept his head swiveling looking for anything that moved and somethings that didn’t. Suddenly the stillness of the morning air was split with a loud animal sound. It wasn’t a roar, but something different and he knew that it was from one of the big cats. It didn’t sound close, so he didn’t pay any heed. But very soon thereafter there was another call just like the first and almost immediately this was answered by a definite roar and that was not too far distant. He stopped and looked in the direction where he judged the second animal to be. At first, he saw nothing and then he saw a big male lion heading in the direction opposite to the way he was moving. He watched it for a moment until another call from the first cat came and he saw and heard the lion answer.
“Something going on there, but I don’t know what,” he said to no one and then continued on the way to the water’s edge.
“Hey, everyone. Looks like the lion and tiger are going to duke it out.”
In this casual manner, Horus announced one of the more important confrontations in the Deadliest Predator contest. In a manner of minutes everyone had gathered in the meeting room with its mega-sized television which covered the stage end of the room. On it were clearly visible the lion and the tiger. The video was shot from above by one of the many drones tracking the contestants. Since there was one drone for each animal, Horus was picking the best view to use and kept switching.
The two big cats were circling each other in an open area.
“She’s been there for some time, pacing, pissing and roaring. I don’t know what else to call it. It wasn’t a roar. More of a Yar Yar Yawl.”
Monica giggled. “You’re not much of a sound effects person, are you, Horus?”
“I’ve never had reason to be until today,” Horus replied.
The circling went on for several minutes and then suddenly Simba the lion attacked. He raced up to Cleopatra the tiger, who instead of counterattacking appeared almost to be willing to sacrifice herself and lay down on the ground. Simba grabbed the back of her neck and then basically moved behind her all the while keeping a grip on her neck.
Monica gasped. “He’s mounting her.”
And indeed, that was obviously the case.
Everyone watched in awe as the “lovemaking” progressed to its conclusion which was indicated by Cleopatra snarling and reaching up to bite at him.
“That didn’t take very long,” Waldo said. “Where’s the enjoyment in that?”
“It was a quickie,” Monica said, and to Gloria, “That’s what Shelia said when we first saw Cleopatra. PMS.”
“Right,” responded Gloria. “Have to find a way to let her know she was correct.”
“According to what I found on the internet, that is the common practice,” the voice of Horus intoned. On the screen came the following:
Male lions check whether a female is on heat by sniffing her reproductive organs; when the females enter oestrus, they do so for four days, and mating will occur several times an hour. If the female doesn’t conceive, she goes back into oestrus two weeks later. During a mating bout, lions will have sex 20 to 40 times a day for a couple of days.
“Wow, that’s got to be tiring,” Gloria said.
“Maybe,” Harvey Gladstone said. “But it’s slam, bam, thank you, ma’am.”
This said as Simba again mounted Cleopatra and it was as Harvey predicted.
“That doesn’t look good for our survival of the fittest,” Issaack said.
“Maybe they’ll have a lover’s quarrel,” Phil said.
But they didn’t.
Gerallt reached the shore and turned right heading for the rainforest which he could see in the distance. He knew that the parachute was in the northeast corner and the fastest way there was to skirt the rainforest itself but that would keep him in the open and he didn’t want that. So he chose to continue along the coast and go along the western boundary of the rainforest to the top and then cross the top to where the parachutist might be visible.
Chapter 10
The midday sun was high in the sky when Gerallt reached the western edge of the rainforest. And there, as promised, lying at the base of a big kapok, was the rope. It was not nicely coiled as he remembered it when the drone had flown off with it but looked as though someone had picked it up and then carelessly dropped it. He didn’t think that the drone would have done that. If that were so, he thought, whoever it had been was not looking for him but just curious because otherwise it would be lain neatly as it would have been dropped. And he knew that the drone could have – sensed, would have – left it coiled neatly as a message. Still, just in case it was a trap, Gerallt checked it carefully before touching it and found nothing amiss other than the rope itself. It was hot and Gerallt preferred to be moving around in the cool and preferably in the dark since there were at least two forces at work who wanted him dead: the predators for food and man for … whatever. He looked at the tree and knew that it was easy to climb and could see a satisfactory spot up amongst the leafy branches where he could rest for a few hours unseen but still be able to see those that might come looking for him. He picked up the coil of rope and put it over his head so that the coil rested on his right shoulder and under his left arm.
As he started to climb the tree, he heard a rustling above and looked but saw nothing, so he resumed his climb. Then there was the sound of branches and leaves hitting each other and he looked again but
saw nothing. He had no idea what creatures were native to this small rainforest, but he didn’t think they would be dangerous to him. But again, there were animals on this island that were not native to it and were, in fact, as unfamiliar with the island and the rainforest as he was. Just in case, he pulled his knife from where he had put it in his rope belt, clasped it between his teeth where it would be handy and resumed his climb. In less than five minutes, he was settled and dozing off, secure in the knowledge that he was unseen and alone.
In neither of those was he correct. Sleeping peacefully in her leafy bower, the caracal had been awakened by her innate security alarm and had seen Gerallt – whom she thought of only as man in our understanding – at the base of the tree. She watched only semi-interested until the man started to climb the tree in which she was. That meant danger and she immediately moved higher in the tree. Pausing and looking down she saw the man looking up but not at her. When the man started moving again, the caracal moved out on a branch stretching toward another tree and then jumped to a branch of that tree, made her way to the trunk and then repeated the process to get to a tree further in the rainforest and away from the invading man. Even then, when she had once again settled herself on a branch to her liking, she found it difficult to get to sleep but after five minutes, she was once again sleeping or at least catnapping.
Gerallt found nothing unusual in his climb up the kapok to a limb which he felt suited his needs. No sooner had he settled himself in a restful pose than that annoying hum stirred him at least to open one eye. He could see movement outside the expanse of the kapok’s foliage and he watched with interest as a drone, smaller than the one which had helped him earlier, made its way between the leaves and branches until it settled itself on a branch above his head and out of his immediate reach.
“Who are you?” Gerallt asked.
“A friend,” replied the drone or at least that is what Gerallt heard coming from the drone.
“No, I mean who is the person who is speaking?”
The drone was silent for a moment.
“Well,” said Gerallt irritably.
“You could say I am a parakeet,” said the voice of the drone.
Gerallt laughed.
“You talk a lot for a parakeet.”
“Well, I guess I could be a scale-crested pygmy tyrant.”
“A what?” Gerallt almost laughed again.
“A small bird which catches insects for food and lives from Costa Rica to Peru on the west coast of South America and to Venezuela on the east coast.”
“You're a little bit out of your range then, if I am where I think I am.”
“Where do you think you are?”
“São Rochelle.”
“Well, then we can agree on something.”
“Still I would like to know who you are.”
“I don’t know who you are.”
“Then why are you helping me?”
“Because I don’t like the man who is trying to kill you.”
“You mean that mab i ast (son of a bitch) Esteves?”
“Precisely.”
“Okay, as long as you are on my side. I guess I’ll just call you ‘Tyrant’.”
“Fine. If you want to find the dead man I told you about, you should get a move on it.”
“Why?”
“Because there is a black panther on the other side of this rainforest who is sleeping off a kill. When it is dark, he will go on the prowl again and he has already tasted man.”
“Anything else?”
“There are two bears, but you needn’t worry about them.”
“Bears! And why shouldn’t I worry about them?”
“Because they are quite satiated by the plants around here. Bears are more herbivores than carnivores and won’t be in the contest until late.”
“What contest?”
“To see who survives.”
“I thought so,” Gerallt said.
“Of course, your contest is bigger, and might I say, more interesting and at least for the time being, more lopsided.”
“Why so?”
“Because you have at least thirty-one armed men who will want to stop you from getting to Esteves. That is your primary goal, is it not?”
“Other than survival. Yes. I want to kill him.”
“Well, to better help you, I recommend you find the dead man in the kapok in the northeast corner of the rainforest.”
“You mean the one who has armament to help me?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the best way to get there?”
“North then east. The panther is about the one third of the way down the east side, and the grizzly bear is in the middle third of the east side and the black bear in the middle third more to the west.”
“Then going on the diagonal is faster.”
“Except for plants, and spiders, and snakes.”
“SNAKES!”
“Yes, there are sure to be snakes in the rainforest. Sorry but I don’t know what kinds or where. I have just seen birds and monkeys.”
“What kind of monkeys?”
“Green.”
“Seriously.”
“Yes, it is an Old World monkey but apparently some of its ancestors were brought here and thrived. We could find no record of how or when?”
“We… you said ‘we.’ Who else…”
But Tyrant the drone wasn’t listening. It started its engine and made its way down following the trunk and then out from under the foliage and disappeared. Taking the hint, Gerallt started down the tree.
Chapter 11
On the floor of the rainforest, Gerallt moved quickly but silently to the north. The foliage was thick but not impenetrable and while it slowed him down, it wasn’t a barrier. Overhead, unseen and unheard because of singing of the birds and green monkeys who made their home here, moved Hyma, the caracal, a tree or two behind Gerallt. Hers was a trip of curiosity as is often the way of felines, even the big ones. Spear in one hand and knife in the other, Gerallt’s senses were alert and he paused every few steps to listen more carefully than he could while moving and to look around to spot any adversaries, human or otherwise.
On about the fourth of these security pauses, he heard a faint snort and recognized it for animal, not human. He knew by the sound that the animal was big and the first thing that popped into his head was bear because Tyrant the parakeet/drone had mentioned them. He had seen bears in zoos but never in nature. He didn’t think they were man-eaters although they were omnivores but preferred plants and berries. The drone had amplified that thought. How many bear edible plants were there on this small island? And there were two bears, black and grizzly. Which one was this?
He switched to holding the spear in both hands, sticking the knife into his rope belt, out of the way but handy. The spear wouldn’t kill the bear because it would have difficulty penetrating the fur and then the heavy hide. But he didn’t relish the thought of close contact fighting with a bear. He had seen their claws and wanted no part of them. As prepared as he could be and needing to get to the tree with the corpse and its treasures, Gerallt moved stealthily forward pausing every two steps to listen.
There, another snort and this one closer, ahead to the right. Moving ever more cautiously now, he paused beside the trunk of a strangler fig and peered around it toward the depths of the rainforest. Ten feet away, back to him, was a black something, its rear end wiggling with the efforts of its front legs undoubtedly digging for something. Sensing that the bear was totally preoccupied, Gerallt moved past the bear staying as far away as he conveniently could. The bear’s preoccupation with its digging didn’t change and Gerallt was quickly past it and pursuing his path.
Moving slowly because he was on the alert for predators as well as soldier types, it took an hour for him to reach the northeastern side of the small rainforest. In the growing dimness of the day, he was faced with finding his quarry. He looked up trying to spot the white he had seen from the top of the rock and it didn
’t take him long before he was looking up the trunk of a big kapok and saw a bit of pink. He knew immediately that it was the color of the evening’s sunset on the parachute. Now the task was to climb the tree and this one didn’t look as easy as the other with a bigger trunk and the first branch about twenty feet up. He took off the rope coil and made one attempt throwing it up before he knew that was impossible. It got within two feet of the limb, but he had to get it over and back down so that he could grab it. That seemed impossible without a weight, so he started searching the area under the tree for a stone. Despite the rocky nature of the island, his search proved futile.
In desperation, he gathered the rope to make another attempt when a familiar buzzing came to his ear. He looked up and saw Tyrant, the small drone, hovering about eighteen inches above his head. As the drone moved side to side, Gerallt noticed a small hook, in fact an S-hook, with one end hanging on a piece of the drone’s frame. Quickly fashioning a loop in the end of his nylon rope, Gerallt hung it on the hook and then feed out rope as the drone flew up and over the tree limb. Once over the limb, the drone flew away pulling the rope and then it headed back toward Gerallt stopping almost where it had started. Reaching up, Gerallt removed the loop from the dangling S-hook but in doing so he accidently removed the S-hook from the drone’s frame and it fell to the ground. He bent over and picked it up and when he straightened, the drone was gone. Now he had another piece of equipment but no pocket to put it in. However. the hemp rope he had around his waist was loosely woven and he was able to hang the hook by one of the cords.
Then he pulled the loop end of the rope until he had about ten feet on the ground. Grabbing both pieces of the rope he shook it until part of the rope over the limb was against the truck of the tree. Then he dropped the long end of the rope and walked around the tree with the shorter end. Picking up both ends, he pulled the rope taut, leaned back with his bare feet against the tree and began to walk up the tree moving his hands up the rope as he did. It was slow work and he was exhausted when he reached the limb. Holding the ropes with his right hand, he threw his left arm over the limb. He hung there a moment but only enough to catch his breath, and then pulled himself up on the limb. Once on the limb it was easy to climb up to the next limb to where the parachutist was hanging three feet from the trunk. Gerallt was used to dead bodies, but he wasn’t used to the ants which had already found this one and were beginning to take what they wanted. He could reach the body by standing on a limb but tied the rope around the tree and then to himself just in case. Familiar with the parachute’s rigging as well as the man’s gear, he first removed the rifle because that was the one thing he didn’t want damaged in the drop to the ground, and that was what he was going to have to do to get at the gear. He was about to release the man from his harness when he stopped and looked down.
Predator Island Page 24