Savage Jungle

by Shea, Hunter

  Austin spun around. If they did what Henrik had encouraged them to do, they’d end up back in the jungle with more dinosaurs and who knew what else. They would have to circle around Gadang Ur to find the trail that had gotten them there. There was no way of knowing what was lying in wait for them in the deep, unexplored bush.

  Then he looked to the city itself. Though overgrown, it was still pretty wide open. To the left of the unholy skirmish were a series of narrow, winding alleys. Mostly demolished buildings littered the way with heavy rocks. It wouldn’t be easy, but it also looked free and clear…for the moment.

  He pointed to the nearest alley. “We could take a chance and hope it cuts right through the city. If anything, the further we get from here, we’ll come across more friendlies. Maybe others would help us like Lucille, Luke and Dragline.”

  Austin wondered where the Orang Pendeks had gone. Were they crushed as well, or had they been able to flee?

  Surya gave a quick nod, spoke to his men and they started for the alley without a moment’s hesitation. Austin looked one last time for any sign of Henrik. It would be a miracle if he were still alive. Where he’d stood was a mountain of bodies. A rhino galloped headfirst into a dinosaur’s side, the shock sending the Orang Pendek on the rhino’s back flying. It slipped under a pair of elephants as they fled the scene, a geyser of blood marking the cryptid’s final resting place.

  “I…I can’t believe we’re leaving Henrik behind,” Natalie said.

  Austin made sure she ran ahead of him so he could cover their rear.

  “He wouldn’t want us to stick around and die, Nat.”

  But would he have tried harder to find them?

  Austin shoved the doubt from his mind. This wasn’t about him or Henrik. He needed to find a way to get Natalie the hell out of here.

  Unfortunately, the alley they’d chosen was dark and treacherous. Their feet kept getting tangled in loose rocks, ankles close to snapping.

  “Next time, I pick which way we go,” Natalie said, grunting as she extricated her leg from between two slabs of stone. She gave a final tug and screamed. Her ankle came back bloody and raw. In just the quick glance that he got, Austin thought he saw bone.

  “Be my guest,” Austin replied. He let go of his gun and picked her up, cradling her the way a groom would carry his bride over the threshold. “Until then, just hold on and let me do the walking.”

  “You don’t have to carry me. I can walk,” she protested, though weakly.

  “Don’t worry. When I get tired, you can carry me for a while.”

  She almost cracked a smile. “I’m gonna need a crane for that.”

  He flexed his pecs as he navigated over the ancient rubble.

  “Ugh, please, not when I’m right on top of them,” Natalie said.

  Good. Keep her from realizing how badly she’s hurt, Austin thought. He looked down and saw her blood spattering his pants.

  “Hey, these muscles might tame the savage beast and be our ticket out of here.”

  “They’ve done wonders for us so far.”

  “We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

  “Aaaiiieeee!”

  Saharto fell to his knees, cradling his head.

  Surya and the others scattered, looking for cover.

  Austin saw the heavy rocks raining down on Saharto like hail. One of them clipped the side of his head, taking his ear and a part of his skull with it. The porter’s screams died in his throat and he collapsed onto his side. More rocks dropped from the sky, burying him in less than a minute.

  Natalie tightened her hold around Austin’s neck.

  He looked up at the two buildings on opposite sides of the alley. Each roof was lined with Orang Pendeks, each hurling heavy stones on Saharto. The others had quickly gotten out of their line of fire. Austin and Natalie were too far away to be hit, unless one of them had the arm of a first class quarterback.

  “Going down,” Austin said, lowering Natalie to her feet. She winced, hopping on her good leg.

  He fired several rounds along the rooftops. Two cryptids flipped over, falling to the ground near Saharto. The rest disappeared.

  “Okay, run!” he said.

  Surya, Hengki and Ridwan emerged from the shadows, hustling as fast as the uneven alley would allow. Austin slipped a hand around Natalie’s waist and absorbed most of her body weight, his other hand on his rifle pointed above them.

  “You see anything, shoot it,” he said to Surya. The guide merely nodded, more intent on running.

  They ran past the pile of stones under which Saharto lay. Austin wished to hell they didn’t have to leave his body here, but wishes had no place in Gadang Ur.

  Chapter Forty

  The sounds of the fracas by the pit had started to die down. Natalie didn’t know whether that was because they had put too much distance between them, or that things had gotten under control. She hoped it meant the formerly penned in dinosaurs had squashed every last one of the orange fuckers.

  Her ankle felt like it was on fire, but she made it a point not to complain as they wove their way down the seemingly endless alley. She was grateful Austin was propping her up, because without his help, she was pretty sure she’d be dead meat.

  “This way,” Surya said, finding a wider road that looked far less rocky and dangerous. For one, there were no tall structures ahead, so they didn’t have to worry about getting caught in a storm of stones.

  Yeah, but what other surprises do these things have in store for us?

  The problem was, if they found a way out of the city, these cryptids who knew the jungle like the back of their hairy hands would follow them with ease. How the hell were they supposed to hack their way through it before they were overcome again?

  The stitch in Natalie’s side felt more like a sword, but she gritted her teeth and willed her legs to keep moving.

  “Where are all these friendlies you talked about?” she asked Austin.

  His face was red from straining to keep up with the added burden of a one hundred thirty pound sister glued to his hip.

  “I don’t know. When we made our way to where they had you, they seemed to be everywhere, watching us. Maybe when they heard everything go tits up, they took off.”

  Natalie still found it hard to believe that there were Orang Pendeks that could be considered ‘friendlies’. Sure, when she had first awoken in the city, she had come across ones that didn’t seem to want to rip her into pieces. In fact, they were more curious than anything else. But, just because something didn’t want to murder you didn’t make it a BFF. And she couldn’t deny that one of them appeared to try to stop that Orang Pendek army from outright stomping them into a mushy paste.

  Then there were the ones in the pit with her, pitiable examples of the strange race that ruled Gadang Ur.

  Something clicked into place.

  “Austin, what were the good ones you saw like?”

  He shot her a quick, confused glance. “Uh, they didn’t try to kill us, for one.”

  They had to leap over a ragged fissure in the cobblestone street. The pain that rocketed up her leg on impact made Natalie’s periphery go black for a moment.

  “No, I mean what did they look like?”

  “Little, orange, hairy. Well, most of them were kind of orange.”

  “Did they have any distinguishing marks or something that didn’t seem right?”

  Ridwan fired his rifle at something they couldn’t see. They all paused for a moment, resuming only once they realized the way forward was clear.

  Austin said, “They did. A lot of them looked sick, crippled, some just plain old.”

  As they ran through the deserted city, Natalie explained what she saw when she woke up in the pit. “I don’t think they have the best medical care out here. And even though they’ve done wonders with the place, it’s still dangerous as hell. It looks to me like the healthy ones are using the sick and crippled as fodder for their twisted games. It’s like a fucking genocide meets the UFC.�
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  Austin grunted, lifting her over a narrow stream.

  “I would have told you twenty-four hours ago you were out of your mind, but that was then. They have no use for any that aren’t in top condition, so they found a way to thin them out and have some entertainment to boot.” She felt him shiver. “They’re seeming more and more human to me.”

  Surya and the two remaining porters turned a corner and were out of sight for a moment. When Austin and Natalie made the same turn, they crashed into Ridwan’s back.

  “Holy moley,” Natalie said, feeling her jaw unhinge. Her lower jaw ended up somewhere around her knees.

  They’d made it through the city all right. In fact, it looked like they were at the same open square where Natalie had first found herself. It felt like it had happened days ago, not hours.

  Now, they faced a wall of Orang Pendeks. A hundred or more stood in stony silence, not startled by their presence, as if they’d been waiting for them all this time.

  “Ah, there they are,” Natalie said. Hengki lifted the gun and fired. An older Orang Pendek fell backwards, causing the crowd to gather round it in tense agitation.

  “No, stop!” Austin said.

  To her surprise, the Orang Pendeks didn’t charge them. Several knelt by the dead cryptid while the rest resumed their otherworldly vigil.

  “Hey, is that…”

  “Yes,” Austin said, “that’s Lucille. And Luke. Not sure where Dragline is.”

  The female with the bandage on her arm emerged from the pensive crowd.

  “What do we do?”

  “I guess we go talk to her,” Austin said.

  Natalie patted her pockets. “Damn, I left my English to Orang Pendek dictionary back at the camp.”

  “Surya, just keep an eye out for us,” Austin said.

  “And you do the same for us,” the guide said.

  Austin and Natalie cautiously stepped toward Lucille. Almost face-to-face, no words were spoken, no foreign grunts made. For once, Natalie didn’t have anything to say. She simply looked into Lucille’s eyes and saw the desperation. But there was also a twinkling of hope, a spark in the Orang Pendek’s stare that took her breath away.

  Lucille tensed, her gaze fixing to a point over their shoulders.

  “We have a problem,” Surya said.

  A crowd of Orang Pendeks were making their way down the street. This time, they weren’t mounted on any animals, modern or prehistoric. Most looked like they’d seen better days, fur matted with blood and bits of stuff Natalie would rather not define.

  “They don’t look as happy to see us as Lucille and her friends,” Natalie said.

  “That they don’t.”

  Natalie saw the bulky pack on Hengki’s back and hobbled to it. All she had was a handgun. That wasn’t going to cut it.

  “Should we run?” Surya asked, his voice shaking.

  Austin said, “Only place to run to is the jungle. Once we get in there, they have a total advantage over us. Looks like this is where we make our stand.”

  Hengki jumped when Natalie grabbed the pack. She patted his back. “Just need to see what I can use.” She ripped open the flap, her eyes widening at what was inside.

  Of all the videos Henrik had given to her that night back at the spa, this was one of the few she’d watched because she thought it was cool. She quickly assembled the device, hoping she’d gotten it right.

  It wasn’t good for long-range combat, but she had a pretty good feeling it would be just what they needed.

  Austin hadn’t been paying attention, all of his focus on the advancing Orang Pendeks. He said, “I’m sorry I got you into this, Nat.”

  “You didn’t get me into anything. I’m a big girl, even if I’m a couple of minutes younger than you. Besides, we have this now.”

  She showed him the small flamethrower.

  “Wanna bet they’ve never seen fire before?”

  Austin almost smiled, the tension in his face loosening for just a fraction of a second.

  He said, “It’s a good last resort. We don’t have a lot of ammo left. I’d give away everything I own for one more grenade.”

  “Well, this should do, but it doesn’t have a ton of juice, so I have to be smart about it.”

  The Orang Pendeks, in their impatience, walked right into a choke point. Dilapidated structures blocked both sides of the street, offering no place to for them hide. Even Natalie knew there was no better opportunity than now to hit them with everything they had.

  Austin put himself between Surya, Ridwan and Hengki. “Stay behind us and please don’t pull that trigger until we’re completely out of the way.” Then he turned to Surya. “Okay, keep shooting until you have nothing left.”

  Natalie could see the sweat pouring down the back of Surya’s neck. Hengki was actually trembling. Only Ridwan seemed to be made of steel.

  Austin shouted, “Now!”

  The bursting of gunfire was immediate and deafening. Natalie jumped back, almost hitting into Lucille. All of the Orang Pendeks behind them went into a mild panic, flinching with each shot, chattering and twitching, but miraculously, holding their ground.

  The warrior Orang Pendeks were mowed down but also continued to advance. As each line fell, another took its place, stepping over the shredded bodies, howling madly.

  Hengki’s gun clicked empty. He ran blindly, looking for a means of escape devoid of Orang Pendeks. He ended up going the wrong way, dashing into the waiting arms of a dark-haired Orang Pendek more than eager to crush the life from him. Natalie screamed as the porter’s head flopped to the side in a way that no neck should bend.

  “You son of a bitch!” Surya yelled in English, followed by a slew of Indonesian. He shot the Orang Pendek in the face. Natalie was sure he also hit Hengki in the process, but there was nothing he could do to the dead porter that would make things any worse.

  Hengki’s death seemed to invigorate the men, slamming home fresh magazines and resuming their assault. Natalie thought she saw some of the Orang Pendeks toward the rear of the procession peeling away to places unknown.

  “It can never be easy.”

  She looked to her left and right, where there were dark, open roads, finger at the ready on her flamethrower. She’d bet her life that they were gathering out there, waiting for their moment to attack from a new direction. She gave the flamethrower a quick burst, just to make sure it was working. It scared the living daylights out of the throng of friendly Orang Pendeks. This time, they did scatter, many taking to the safety of the jungle.

  Well, that proves one thing, Natalie thought. They are afraid of fire.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Austin and Ridwan ran out of ammo at the same time. Surya was close behind, spitting out invectives as he tossed his rifle at the remaining Orang Pendeks. Overall, they’d thinned the herd considerably.

  “Nat, time for plan B”

  He turned around to see his sister with her eyes peeled to her left.

  “They’re coming,” she said.

  “Shit.”

  All they had left was the flamethrower and their knives. Austin didn’t like their odds in hand-to-hand combat. These beasts were strong as hell.

  Less than a dozen were scrabbling over the bodies of he fallen, but that made it four to one. Not good odds. Plus, they weren’t close enough for the flamethrower…yet.

  “You think you could show them what you got?” he said. “Maybe it’ll make them think twice.”

  Natalie stepped forward, nudged Austin aside and belched a long tongue of flame. The Orang Pendeks shrieked, falling into the bloody remains of the ones at their feet.

  “That worked,” Austin said.

  His eye caught Lucille sprinting to the area Natalie had been watching. She was quickly thrown to the ground by a pair of Orang Pendeks that pummeled her face. Luke rushed to her aid but was easily thrown aside.

  “Nat.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Natalie shot a blazing arc over the heads
of Lucille’s attackers. They shrank back, running back to the shadows.

  Austin found himself in the weird position of helping Lucille up. Her face was already starting to swell.

  “Crap!” Natalie yelled.

  While they were busy helping Lucille, the others had rushed for them. Ridwan and Surya pulled their blades out. Natalie limped as fast as she could, waiting longer than Austin felt he ever could have, and pulled the trigger. Five of the cryptids were engulfed in flame, running in circles, wailing in agony.

  His sister pursued the remaining ones that were caught in the miasma of their fallen comrades.

  She showed no mercy.

  “Look out,” she shouted.

  Austin turned just in time to catch an Orang Pendek’s arm before it brought a huge rock crashing down on his skull. Struggling against the savage beast, he realized the muscles he’d worked tirelessly on attaining were no match. The Orang Pendek roared, dipping its head forward and biting him in the chest. The pain forced Austin to let go of its arms.

  He didn’t see Ridwan creep up behind it, only the Bowie knife as it sliced across its throat. Blood gurgled from the wound, which opened wider and wider until he could see parts of the cryptid he wished he’d never seen. It collapsed in a twitching heap.

  “Thank you.”

  Ridwan nodded, his expression grave.

  “I’m not waiting for more to pop up,” Natalie said. “And I’m already running low. I think it’s time we got the hell out of here.”

  Austin couldn’t agree with her more.

  Lucille and Luke rejoined the few crippled Orang Pendeks that had remained after Natalie’s initial flamethrower display.

  “There can’t be many left,” Natalie said. “A handful maybe. But I want to make sure they don’t follow us.”

  Before Austin could ask her what she had in mind, she unloaded the flamethrower on the dense vegetation. Despite the damp humidity, the chemicals in the flamethrower had no problem igniting everything in its path. Though night was beginning to fall, they were bathed in a bright, orange light. Roiling black smoke rose into the sky.