Bug Island

by R. G. Cordiner

  Aleisha took off her headphones and swivelled the chair around to face the room.

  Eight pond skaters looked back at her.

  CRRK

  CRRK

  "AAGHH!"

  Less than a minute later some of the skaters were crawling up the walls, some were still eating and one crawled into the Captain's chair and paused.

  The rescue ship was now under bug control.

  ...

  Zosimo walked back over to the remains of the harvestman that were oozing out over the forest floor. He bent down and put his finger into the liquid gunge and then put it to his lips.

  Tracy covered her mouth.

  "Woah!" Henry cried, "That's pretty gross."

  Zosimo frowned, "No - not gross- pretty tasty actually. A bit slimy but it tastes like ... hard to say."

  "Why are you even eating a dead bug?" Tracy asked as Zosimo licked his lips.

  "Why not? I haven't had much else to eat for long time. Some food came when the ship crash but not all of it was any good. This," he licked his fingers, "this is not bad."

  "But if you are happy to eat bug, why did you not eat those cocoon things?" Henry asked.

  "I try once, but it was messy and it stank so I didn't eat it."

  They continued to walk in silence, with the exception of Zosimo who was humming as he skipped.

  Tracy turned to Henry, "You ok?" she asked.

  "Hmm?" Henry scratched his beard, "Oh. Yeh, I guess. I feel a bit sorry for Zosimo. I mean, it's great that he's happy, but he seems totally insane. And I just can't help wondering how we are going to get out of here."

  "At least he's happy. Maybe he'll be a bit better after he's spent some time around people for a while. You keep touching that locket I notice," Tracy commented.

  "Yeh, we only ever saw each other on the ship. But those eyes ..."

  Tracy smiled, "Well, I'm sure we'll find her."

  Zosimo suddenly stopped and turned around.

  "We're almost there. Just around this hill."

  ...

  "Mary, wake up!"

  Fiona tried to lightly shake the old lady but there was no response.

  Sarah paced back and forth.

  Fiona looked up at her.

  "Sarah, stop moving around. Help me here."

  She stopped. "This is so unfair! Why did this happen to me! I.."

  Fiona stood up and grabbed Sarah's shoulders.

  "Sarah stop it. I don't like it either. Do you think I wouldn't want to be back on that ship? We are stuck here for the moment and have to make the best of it. Now are you going to help me with Mary or not?"

  Sarah pouted, "It's just that you seem so calm about it. Why aren't you like, annoyed or upset or something? It's almost like you think it's fun! It's not fun for me! I miss my mum!"

  She started to cry.

  "Sarah! Stop! Snap out of it!"

  Sarah sniffled.

  "Look it's not fun for me either," Fiona frowned, "It's just that ... I guess, well I don't have a dad and my mum is never around so I'm used to being on my own and I have to do a lot of stuff for myself. I rarely get to spend any time with kids my own age. So that's why. Now, whether you help me or not, we need to try and get Mary to wake up. Otherwise we are going to have to try and move her. It's probably not safe for us to stay here for too long."

  Fiona bent down and examined Mary again.

  Sarah stood for a little while and then joined her.

  Chapter 12

  Reunion

  Raj clenched his eyes closed and braced himself for the worst.

  PCHW

  His eyes instinctively opened as he heard the noise.

  He saw the centipede's giant pincers almost at his head, the saliva dripping down. The fangs scraped down his shirt and he yelled as he fell backwards. The centipede kept falling until it lay still on the ground.

  Despite his considerable pain, Raj frowned. He slowly got to his feet, his tattered shirt flapping in the breeze as blood slowly dribbled down his trousers. Raj tentatively walked closer to the twitching corpse of the giant centipede. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice the figure running towards him.

  "Are you ok?" Karl asked.

  Raj looked up in a daze and then back at the giant centipede. He noticed a large gaping hole in the side of the bug's head. Brown and green fluid slowly oozed out.

  Captain Marshall holstered his pistol as he came closer.

  "That's a big bug. Let's hope it wasn't the baby!" he grinned.

  Raj couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he looked at the gigantic creature. Karl bent down to get a closer look. Tyrone slapped Raj on the back.

  "Close call, Raj! I see it nicked you a bit." He pointed at the trembling man's tattered, blood stained shirt.

  "Don't worry - it's only a scratch. We'll get you patched up back at the ship."

  Raj just stared at him.

  "Captain," Karl beckoned Tyrone towards the bug.

  "What is it?"

  "Look, the legs, the armor, the tail ..."

  "Yep, it's ugly, I can see that," Tyrone smiled.

  "No, no. It's a giant centipede," Karl explained.

  "Well, it's pretty obvious that it's big, that goes without saying."

  Karl sighed, "Sir, a giant centipede is normally about thirty, forty centimetres long. This one is probably at least twenty times bigger than that. This is unique. It's never been seen before. What other creatures or things could be on this island? I think we should get back to the ship and radio in some reinforcements. We should also call the museum or some scientists or something, because this is amazing!"

  Tyrone stared at him. Raj leaned against the tree.

  "Karl," the Captain put his hand on the sailor's shoulder, "I appreciate your ideas, I really do. But let's not forget I'm the Captain. We are here to see if there are survivors, not to go on a bug hunt."

  "But, sir ..."

  "Karl, enough. It's just a stupid bug. Let's go. Raj.... Raj?"

  He walked over to Raj who had slid down the tree and was lying slumped against the trunk. Tyrone kicked the man's boot.

  "Raj, c'mon mate. Quit mucking about."

  He bent down and lifted the sailor's head up. Raj's face was covered in sweat and his eyes were rolled back in his head.

  "Raj?"

  The Captain knelt down and pulled open the stricken man's tattered shirt.

  Tyrone stepped back and covered his mouth. Karl gasped.

  The two long scratches made by the giant centipede had become two giant, red, throbbing welts running down his chest. They resembled two pulsing snakes writhing on his chest.

  ...

  Zosimo skipped ahead a little further and then stopped. He dropped face first on the ground.

  "Zosimo!" Henry shouted as he and Tracy rushed over to him.

  They bent down.

  The wild haired man was lying in the mud with his head to one side, staring at the dirt.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Fog," Zosimo replied.

  "What are you talking about?" Tracy asked.

  The crazed man pointed.

  Sure enough, close to the base of the nearest fern, tiny tendrils of fog slowly curled and twisted their way forward.

  "I don't get it," Henry frowned, "It's fog. So what?"

  "I think I understand. You forget that Zosimo has basically lived his whole life in fog. Then we arrive and the fog lifts and now it is returning." Tracy nodded to herself.

  "Yep, still not getting it. Who cares? Maybe it was a gap in the fog."

  "Look, Zosimo," Tracy tapped him on the shoulder, "I'll bet that there wasn't any fog when you came to the island."

  Zosimo raised his eyebrow, "It was so, so, so long ago - I can't really remember - I think it was foggy when we came and then it lifted for just a bit and then returned. I'm with Henry - it is sad to see the fog come back but I am used to it. No biggie."

  Tracy shook her head.

  "Neither of you are getting it. It's li
nked to the bugs."

  Noticing their puzzled expressions she pushed on, "Look, Zosimo when you first arrived I'm guessing it was foggy because the bugs were asleep. The fog lifted and they woke up or they woke up and then the fog lifted - I'm not sure about the order of that bit. But anyway - when the bugs are awake the fog is gone, I'm guessing so they can eat or something and then it comes back when they go back to sleep."

  "Tracy," Henry began patiently, "it's a great theory. But the bugs are still awake. Besides which, why would fog be linked to the bugs? And how? What, is there like a weather bug?"

  "I can't really explain it. It just makes sense," Tracy shrugged.

  "Not to me," said Zosimo, "but anyway we can say hello to weather bug later. Let's get to the base."

  ...

  "We're going to have to move her," Fiona sighed.

  "How can we?" Sarah argued, "We're just kids!"

  "So? Let's work together and just give it a shot." She reached down and put Mary's limp arm over her shoulder. "Well? Are you going to help me?"

  Sarah hesitated and then grabbed the other arm.

  The girls grunted under the weight as they slowly pulled Mary along, her feet dragging along behind in the mud.

  Sarah stopped, panting.

  "Fiona, I don't think I can do this. She's too heavy."

  "Sarah, we can't just leave her."

  "Why can't we just hide her somewhere and come back for her?" Sarah argued.

  "What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? There is no one else, Sarah. No one to complain to, no one who will help us. So we leave her and then what? We need to keep mobile to avoid the bugs. There's no point trying to get up a tree because there's no way that we can carry her. So we just ...," Fiona paused.

  Sarah saw Fiona staring and then turned around.

  The ferns in the distance were rustling as the distinctive ridged, armoured back of the giant centipede scurried along. It was heading in their direction.

  Sarah looked back at Fiona.

  The red haired girl saw her fear. She looked down at Mary's still unconscious body. Fiona made up her mind.

  "Sarah, look after Mary."

  "What do you mean? What are you going to do?"

  "Sarah I'm going to distract it."

  "No, no, no. You can't do that, you'll be..."

  Fiona grabbed the near hysterical girl by the shoulders.

  "Sarah, you need to do this. If that bug gets here we're all done for."

  "Run, let's just run," she insisted.

  "Sarah, we don't have time to argue. It'll catch us. Just do this, ok?" Fiona implored.

  Sarah swallowed, "Ok."

  "Stay with Mary."

  The black armoured plates smoothly glided forward, heading closer to their position.

  Fiona started running back the way that they had come.

  She paused.

  The centipede had not changed direction.

  She stomped on the ground.

  "Hey!" she yelled, "Hey ugly! Over here! Come get some!"

  The steady flow of the black menace paused.

  SKTTL

  Almost instantaneously it changed direction and zipped forward at an alarming pace.

  Fiona turned and sprinted as if her life depended on it.

  It did.

  ...

  The fog started oozing out of the cave.

  All around the island, near the caves and water sources, the grey soup started rolling out.

  It was time to return.

  ...

  "Maybe we should just leave him," Karl suggested. "He's very heavy."

  They sat down for the third time and wiped the sweat from their brows. Raj had not moved the whole time and seemed to have lapsed into some form of coma. The swellings on his chest, where the giant centipede's pincers had cut him, had turned a purple colour. They were even larger now and pulsing.

  Captain Tyrone Marshall shook his head, "Maybe he's been poisoned or something?"

  "I reckon' we leave him, Captain. We can get back to the ship faster and then we can get a medical team back here."

  The two men looked at each other.

  Tyrone finally nodded.

  "Ok, let's go."

  They propped Raj against a tree trunk and, glancing over their shoulders, they slowly walked off.

  ...

  "Nearly there!" Zosimo called over his shoulders and he danced through the forest.

  Tracy suddenly stopped.

  Henry turned around, "What is..?" He paused as she put her fingers to her lips.

  "Shh"

  Even Zosimo stopped his humming and turned around. He tilted his head to one side.

  "Do you hear that?" Tracy whispered.

  "huh uh uh snff"

  "That's someone crying," Tracy started to run, her compatriots closely following behind.

  Branches scratched at her legs and face, but Tracy continued blindly on, staggering over tree roots, only pausing to check for the sound.

  "Huh Uh Uh Snff"

  She rounded the next tree and then dropped to her knees.

  Sarah stopped crying and looked up.

  "Mum!" she screamed.

  Tracy stumbled and fell into her daughter's arms. They both were crying and laughing.

  Zosimo grinned at the reunion as Henry walked past the delighted pair and bent down to take a look at Mary. He reached into his muddied pocket and rummaged around for a little while before emerging with a tiny rectangular packet.

  Zosimo wandered over, swinging the shotgun around as if it were a walking stick.

  "What's that?" he pointed at the little package that Henry was opening.

  "It's like smelling salts. We kept it with us on the cruise just in case."

  He waved it under Mary's nose.

  "KUGH! KUGH!"

  Her eyes opened.

  She frowned.

  Sarah went over to her. "It's ok Mary," she explained. "My mum's here! She's ok!"

  Mary managed a weak smile.

  "Um, I'm Henry," the first officer began, "This is Zosimo, and of course, Tracy."

  A babble of conversation started up as the two groups of survivors started to catch each other up.

  Zosimo stood and watched the verbal barrage for a little while.

  He looked down at the fog starting to creep through.

  Zosimo glanced up and frowned as he noticed movement in the canopy in the distance.

  "OI!" he yelled.

  Everyone froze and looked at him.

  "We need to move. Talk as we walk."

  ...

  SKTTL

  The centipede's orange legs moved in a blur as it sped through the undergrowth.

  Fiona ducked and weaved as she ran.

  The centipede was closing the gap.

  It was almost upon her.

  SKTTL

  Fiona willed her legs to go faster.

  The centipede's giant pincers opened.

  SKTTL

  She sprinted past Raj's slumped body without even noticing.

  SSK...

  The centipede was almost past the tree when it suddenly stopped. It looked back at Raj and then at the rapidly retreating form of the girl.

  It paused and then turned to face Raj.

  The centipede carefully grabbed his body between its two giant pincers and then it turned and smoothly glided off.

  The body hung like a rag doll in its grip.

  ...

  Captain Marshall and Karl emerged from the forest onto the beach.

  Tyrone frowned.

  "Where's my ship?"

  Karl squinted.

  "What are those things coming across the water?"

  Both men watched as the specks came closer and soon their jaws dropped.

  There must have been at least fifty pond skaters sprinting across the ocean surface. The creatures hesitated closer to shore and then they ran up the top of the waves and stood on the crest.

  Some mistimed their approach and were caught in
the froth of the waves and their bodies could be seen churned up and tumbling around.

  As the waves crashed down on the shore the pond skaters jumped and flew the remaining distance to land in front of the astonished sailors.

  Tyrone and Karl kept their eyes on the bugs as they started to walk backwards into the forest.

  The pond skaters walked slowly towards them.

  The two men stopped as they stepped back and hit a tree. Karl put his hand behind him and felt ... smooth and warm.

  He turned.

  It wasn't a tree.

  The two bulbous eyes of the toe biter examined the two men.

  Tyrone Marshall fumbled with his gun.

  PCCHW

  The toe biter slumped to the ground.

  The pond skaters leapt.

  He shot the nearest one.

  It exploded in a multi coloured splosh.

  But there were too many.

  "AAAGH!"

  The rescue attempt had met its end.

  ...

  Fiona heard the gunfire ahead and stopped running. She changed direction and continued through the forest.

  ...

  Tracy, Henry, Sarah and Mary followed Zosimo into the clearing. He spread his arms wide.

  "Welcome friends," he said, "to the military base!"

  They stopped and stared.

  Chapter 13

  The Hunt

  The military base, if it could be called that, was a series of tiny crumbling buildings in the middle of the clearing. Years ago they had been painted green, presumably to blend in to the jungle, but the peeling paint revealed an odd pink coloured concrete underneath.

  Zosimo had already skipped ahead to the buildings. Mary was still feeling groggy and so Henry was supporting her as she slowly shuffled into the clearing. Tracy gripped Sarah's hand tightly. She was simply happy to see her daughter. It did not bother her that no one has seen Mark or John. The fact that Sarah was alive - that alone gave her hope that her son and husband may have survived somehow. Besides which , she had already started to accept that she may be the sole survivor from her family. To learn that she was wrong.... it was the best feeling. She smiled as she entered the clearing. Tracy didn't care what happened now. As long as Sarah remained safe that was all that mattered.