“Stop him!” Mia called out, tear-streaked, and paralysed with fear.
Harris saw the machete in Robert’s hands and recognised the blade was his. The wounds inflicted, the pain and suffering, his burden to bear. And yet he too was immobilised.
Robert was a lost cause, too far gone into madness to bring him home safely.
Rodney was dying.
Lewis and Steph were weaponless. They could not approach Robert.
Cooper was once again faced with a killer and his victim, a monster with no conscience and the body he decided was done with living.
The next moments unfolded in Cooper’s mind, a discourse of engagement, with possible events resulting in probable outcomes. Cooper scanned his premonitions for the right one, forming a lucid plan of motion to keep the victim’s life from bleeding out. He envisioned action precise and graceful like a ballet, but the reality came hard and fast, with teeth, like rabid dogs going at each other over scraps of meat.
He saw the scene unfolding in slow motion, and as Robert raised the machete to hack into his brother a second time, Cooper charged at him and bowled him over, sent him tumbling through the dirt away from the wounded detective.
They wrestled for the machete while the others watched, stunned, at a distance from the two men. When they rolled a little farther from Rodney, the others rushed to his aid, applying pressure to his wound, telling him he was going to be okay.
There was a lot of blood loss, but the wound could have been deeper. The machete could have done a lot more damage. They put the pressure on and kept it on. He winced, but at least he wasn’t dying right away.
Robert was wild and strong. It seemed the infection had energised him with fury. He had no idea who he was or where he was or what he was doing. Only blind confusion and rage compelled him.
Cooper ripped the machete away from Robert, clutched it in his hands, and received a frenzy of fists smacking every inch of his body that Robert could reach. Robert grabbed at the machete, clutching the blade, cutting deep into his fingers, screaming no more than he had throughout this illness. He didn’t care. He felt no pain and showed no sign of weakness, letting up only when Cooper wrenched the blade from his hands and brought it down on his head once, twice, three times.
Robert’s skull split open, his brain bisected. It leaked dark fluids and released a foul stench into the air. His blood pooled around his head, which lay there on the canyon floor, motionless.
With the scent of death hanging thick in the air, the bloodhawks would be raining down on them any moment now.
The others helped Rodney to his feet, a torn t-shirt wrapped crudely around his shoulder, strips tied tightly to apply pressure. He saw his brother lying there, cracked open like a human piñata. He felt the anger peel away. He knew a brother couldn’t do this to another. He knew that man in those last moments was not his true twin but a monster who couldn’t be recovered.
THORNELIUS REX VS. BIOMEGA
Lewis and Mia supported Rodney between them. He was hurting and moved slowly, and it seemed there would be no way they could get him up and out of the canyon. The group focused then on putting some distance between themselves and Robert’s body. They didn’t want the bloodhawks coming down on them, too, if they could help it. Getting away from the corpse served as a distraction. It bought time and allowed a moment to breathe. To stop, let Rodney rest, catch his breath, regain a little of his strength.
The edge of the canyon, the vehicles, they were right there for the taking. So close, yet so far away. Time and energy were draining from the survivors. They were caught in a dilemma: should they seek shelter or attempt escape?
Biomega was looming over the canyon, and her giant beasts of a feather flocked to cast great big shadows down over the red earth. There came also the lumbering boom-shake of footsteps emerging from the east from the giant lizard-beast, Thornelius Rex, his sights set on a direct collision course with Biomega, bringing the swarm of jingo lizards with him to tear up the canyon and leave no bird unbroken.
The group hoped they wouldn’t get caught up in the crossfire but knew surely, somehow, as fate would have it, they would. They hoped the madness which had infected Domino and Robert would not affect the rest of them. Those two had tasted the blood rain, but it had soaked into the others’ clothes, their hair, their skin. What if that madness would possess them all in time?
Biomega reared her head and breathed white hot flames into the darkening sky. In the distance, Thornelius Rex stood up on his hind legs and slung giant blades from his arms into the sky towards Biomega.
The group had gravitated towards the rock face of the canyon. They would either have to hide out in another cave or try to make a climb for it. They walked slowly; they were tired. Their feet dragged through earth, their shoulders hung heavy. Their losses had left their minds and bodies fractured.
“You didn’t need to kill him like that,” Harris said. “You could have stopped him. We might have been able to save him.”
“You did nothing to help,” Cooper said. “There was no stopping him.”
“You’re so impulsive. You don’t listen. You’re selfish, arrogant, aggressive. I never should have taken you in.”
They stopped walking. Cooper and Harris faced each other.
“Yeah?” Cooper said. “You’d rather that Rodney were dead, too? How about Lewis? How about Steph? We never would have found them if I weren’t here. I’m here to help these people. You’re the selfish one here. You blame anyone else for your own mistakes.”
“You really think so? You think it’s my fault you dragged Mia into this? You had no right to control her like that.”
“Dad, please …” Mia said.
“Yeah, I do think it’s your fault. You’re the reason she’s so distant. You can’t read people for shit. She’s not some object to be controlled or manipulated. You can’t strip her of her free will and say it’s for her own good, or that it’s for her own safety. That’s just not how it works. No wonder you’re a terrible parent. You don’t understand a thing about your daughter; you probably never truly understood your wife. Do you ever stop and listen to the people around you?”
“You leave her out of this,” Harris yelled.
“Do you ever stop and listen to yourself?” Cooper asked.
A fist smacked Cooper in the jaw. Mia shook her hand and stepped back.
“You’re an asshole,” Mia said.
Cooper turned to face her, feeling his mouth for blood.
“You just can’t say shit like that,” she said. “You’re not wrong. But you don’t get to say it. He’s my father. These are my issues. Not yours.”
“Honey, please,” Harris said. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Shut up,” she said. “I came here for me. I came here for them. I didn’t come here for you or him.” She gestured towards Cooper.
“He’s pulling us apart! He’s toxic. Can’t you see? He’s gone mad. Look into his eyes, he’s turned.”
The earth shook and rocks tumbled down around them. The giant beasts collided; talons and claws, beaks and jaws, flames and thorns came together. There was an earthquake tremor like nothing they’d felt before.
Harris charged at Cooper, knocking him down, ripping the machete from his hands.
“What the fuck are you doing? I’m fine!” Cooper yelled out. “You’re mad!”
Harris punched him in the face. “You’ve got no respect for rules.” Punch. “No respect for order.” Punch. “For authority.” Punch. “For the sacred bond of family.” Punch.
Mia screamed something at him, but he couldn’t make out the words.
He stood up, swaying, laughing, crying, screaming at Cooper, a lumbering maniac pointing and waving the machete around. “Get up,” Harris said.
Cooper’s face was bloodied and was rapidly blooming into bruises. He rolled onto his hands and knees and spat blood. Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet. His left eye was swollen to a slit.
For a moment the other
s thought the blood-rain infection had taken over Harris, too. He was mad, yes. Enraged. Fired up and angry. But this was just madness caused by extreme deprivation, stress, and fear.
Biomega blasted a bright hot flame into Thornelius Rex’s face. The beast roared and jerked his head back, grabbed in his claws a lizard the size of a dump truck and tossed it at Biomega. The bird swooped aside, flying straight into Thornelius’s jagged fist. She screeched and fell. Her flock, fighting amongst the swarm of lizards, broke off from them and attacked Thornelius Rex instead.
Cooper ran from Harris. He bumped into Mia and pried the machete from her shaking fists. “Stay back,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
She stepped back and Cooper turned around. Harris stood there, machete raised, and he brought it down on Cooper to find it caught on a horizontal blade. Cooper kicked him in the gut, sending him stumbling backwards. He charged at Harris and swung his machete at the blade which now hung limply at Harris’s side.
Harris was blinded by rage; his thoughts were clouded; his reactions were slow. The blade clanged and his arm jerked away.
With his free hand, Cooper clutched Harris’s arm and, with his machete-wielding fist, punched the asshole in the face.
Harris’s head jerked back violently with each punch, and Cooper kept on punching, holding Harris’s arm tight, keeping his body close, with each punch trying to knock the senselessness from him. Harris dropped the blade, and Cooper let go. He kicked the machete aside.
“Cooper, stop!” Mia yelled. “That’s enough.”
He nodded and approached Harris no further. Harris sat down, blood dripping from his face, his coordination lost, his mind jostled to jelly. He giggled softly on the ground.
Mia made to approach her father, to examine his wounds and help him to his feet. She wanted to try to let him know where he was and what was going on, what the poor, desperate fool had done to himself in trying to hang on to his pride.
She tried to approach him, but a bloodhawk landed between them. She screamed. The thing was a giant, at least twice as tall as they were. It crowed at Harris and clawed at the earth. Another one landed, then another, then another.
“Harris,” Cooper called out. “The time for games is over. Get up and grab your machete.”
“Get up, Dad, please!” Mia begged.
Harris rolled and stumbled. He fell towards the machete and struggled to wrap his fingers around it.
Cooper slashed at the bird nearest to them, hacking into its back. It screeched and jerked its head towards him, and he sliced at its chest. It pecked at him, and he tumbled away, giving Harris the time to grip his own machete and stand up.
Lewis approached them with the third blade raised, trying to take down the same bird Cooper had attacked. It was frenzied, pecking wildly at them and flapping its wings so aggressively that the creature became unapproachable. Harris hacked at its tail and did little harm. Cooper and Lewis kept out of its pecking distance, relying on their peripherals to keep from getting pecked or swooped or clawed by any other. They swung their blades blindly, hoping to hit the creature’s beak or neck, should it stretch close enough to try to peck their eyes out.
Mia and Steph huddled with Rodney, praying hard that the other bloodhawks wouldn’t see them, wouldn’t think to approach them while the others were causing all the chaos and noise.
Then, below the high-pitched bird sounds, came the unmistakable call of the lizards, “jin … go, jin … go,” followed by their thorned bodies, razor-sharp claws, and powerful jaws. These beasts outnumbered the birds, and outsized them. They snapped and lashed out at the bloodhawks, ripping them into pieces like the humans never could. And everything the lizards did to the birds, they could do to the humans, too.
“Harris,” Cooper called out, watching the delirious man miss by metres as he tried to hack and slash at the birds. “Harris! Come on, we have to get out of here!”
The lizards and the birds crowded the area, but unless the group made a run for it now, they wouldn’t escape. It was likely there wouldn’t be another chance. Cooper ran over to Rodney and the girls, helped them lift him up. Behind them, Lewis slung his blade at the looming beasts, trying to keep them at bay. Harris, however, was still in battle mode, hell-bent on cutting every one of them down.
“Come on, Harris! We have to go! Now!” Cooper yelled back.
“Dad, please don’t do this!” Mia said. “Please! Don't be a hero. Come on!”
More bloodhawks and jingo lizards came between them. Harris tried to swing his blade, but his energy was waning. The bloodhawks descended on him and began to rip the poor man to shreds.
Mia tried to wait for her father to pull through, but Cooper grabbed her arm and led her away. They had no time to spare for sympathy here.
Out in the open, Thornelius Rex and Biomega thrashed and clawed into each other, ripping a bloody mess into the terrain, gouging deep crevices into the earth. The lesser giant beasts, the bloodhawks and the jingo lizards, attacked each other in a giant monster turf war, ripping the bush apart, ripping the canyon wider with each collision. This terrain wouldn’t hold much longer. The giant beasts showed no sign of conceding to the other. Once they were done with this place, there would be nothing left. They would move on to destroy new territory.
In spite of the chaos of their escape, the group managed to help Rodney hobble as fast as he could. Mia and Steph carried him along while Cooper and Lewis hacked threateningly at the air, at the monsters lurking nearby. They yelled and clanged their machetes on the rocks, hoping the noise would make them seem bigger and more dangerous, mad creatures to avoid. They slashed at any beast which came near them, and for any beast they injured, there were countless others nearby waiting to leap upon the wounded and rip them apart.
Hurt and dead humans were just collateral damage. The earthquakes were just collateral damage. The nameless town of one hundred burned to smouldering ashes, just another casualty. The monsters were bigger and stronger and more violent. They needed no weapons or technology. They needed only awakening in order to rule the canyon, and then they could spread their limbs and rule the wild, slaughter beasts better than any human ever could, eliminate the humans from their towns and keep expanding outwards.
These beasts were creators of a violence which could be stopped only with bombs.
The humans were near, but the bombs were distant.
It was a lizard-eat-bird-eat-lizard world right here.
THE SUICIDE FOREST, PART II
The group reached the edge of the canyon, escaping the destruction by the beasts. They wasted no time in climbing the rock wall, fearless of the thought of it crumbling in the earthquake rumble which came from the warring beasts. They could have remained below and been pulled apart, or climbed and fell and been pulled apart; instead, they climbed and made it to the top as survivors.
Their energy was beyond depleted. They ran on fear; their fuel was the thought of avoiding a painful death.
Even Rodney, who was pale from blood loss, barely able to move his arm without suffering, had that same saturation of adrenaline coursing through his body. At least the climb was not so steep, and he could pull his way up one-handed most of the way.
At the top, he collapsed, exhausted, and one by one the other four rolled over onto the flat earth, each incredulous that the vehicles were still there. Lewis fished through Rodney’s pockets for the keys and, with Steph, helped him up and laid him out across the back. They left Cooper and Mia to their Land Cruiser; the pair lingered back a moment to process the extraordinary situation they had just been through.
“Look at your face,” Mia said, touching the bruising gently.
He winced. “Is it really that bad?”
She nodded. “You’re banged up pretty good.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About your father. I shouldn’t have punched him up so hard.”
“Stop it,” she said. “We were all there. I saw it, too. I was so scared, I didn’t know what was going on.”
>
“I should have held back. I could have saved him. I just … I don’t think I wanted to.”
“Stop it,” she pressed. “Don’t do that to yourself. Yes, it’s … fucking awful. But he shouldn’t have been so hard on you. He is … was a foolish, foolish man.” She leaned into Cooper, sobbing and sniffling.
He patted her gently and held her close.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish I had had the chance to know him better. This whole experience has been fucked up.”
They sat up on the bonnet of the Land Cruiser, held each other in their arms, staring out into the brutal landscape of the canyon. The stars brightly illuminated the monsters within; they could see the silhouettes of the beasts fighting relentlessly, Biomega and Thornelius Rex cut, bruised, and broken, but not letting up. It seemed as though they would be warring with each other forever. It seemed so surreal, so distant.
“It was because of him,” Cooper said.
“What?” Mia asked.
“It was because of him, your father, that we could escape. If he hadn’t kept fighting like he did, they wouldn’t have been distracted by him. They would have got us all.”
Mia sobbed and sniffed and agreed. She slid off the bonnet.
“You ready to go?” Cooper asked.
She nodded.
***
They sat in the Suicide Forest, Cooper and Mia, Lewis, Steph, and Rodney at the bar, the “CLOSED” sign lit up, lights on low.
Rodney had had a minor infection, which was treated easily, and his shoulder healed up as well as he could have hoped. The scar tissue kept his movement in that joint restricted, but he could learn to live with it.
Steph and Lewis leaned into each other, trying to find in each other some comfort for what they had lost out in the canyon.
The ghosts hung coldly across the bar. There would be no more hunting trips. There were countless empty spaces in all their homes, small and quiet, but resonating largely and loudly inside them, following forever wherever they went. The guilt of reaching out to others for help, knowing that they were undeserving of that help, that they should have stayed behind where their other halves remained.
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