by Russ Watts
“And us?”
“And we go back to the day-job like this never happened. For now, I guess we just roll with it.”
Karl put both hands on the vine and pulled himself up off the ground, using the tree’s trunk to brace his feet.
“Karl, what are you doing?” asked Phoenix.
“Getting a better look,” grunted Karl as he hoisted himself up to the nearest branch. It was only a matter of seconds before he managed to get himself on a sturdy branch. “I have no interest in falling and breaking my back, trust me. I’m just going to try and see a little further. Give me five minutes?”
“Karl—” Phoenix watched him begin to climb the tree higher. It must be a boy thing. She knew that he would be up and back in no time, so she turned around to her unit. They were still looking around for clues, their waning interest in the job all too evident. Max was digging furiously at the ground, but Alex appeared to have given up and was sitting in the dirt checking his weapon.
“We done here, Private?” asked Phoenix as she approached them.
Alex holstered his gun and jumped up. “Haven’t found nothing, have we, Doc?”
“You haven’t found anything, Alex.” Phoenix looked down at the doctor. He was poking around in the dirt like a schoolboy. “You mean you haven’t found anything.”
“No, ma’am, dang it, I gone done and ain’t not found nothing.”
Phoenix let it go. Alex had a glint in his eye and had learnt from Darius that you could get away with being cheeky only so often. She decided that this was one of those times. “I’ll save the grammar lesson for another day, Alex. What about you, Doc? Anything?”
Max grunted and looked up at her. “Actually, I think I have something. It’s buried deep, but there’s something here.”
“Another bone?” asked Phoenix optimistically. She instantly felt bad for hoping he’d found another bone.
“Another tree root?” asked Alex sarcastically.
“No, something far more useful,” replied the doctor as he finally managed to pull out what he had been digging for. “A radio.”
Phoenix watched as Max slowly extricated a battered-looking hand-held radio from the ground. It was covered in dirt, and Max sat back as he pulled it free before immediately brushing it with the loose hem of his shirt.
“I thought you were shitting me when you said you’d found something,” said Alex incredulous. “Damn, here, give it to me.”
Alex ripped off his bandana, opened his flask, and poured a small amount of water onto it before offering it to Max.
“Good idea,” said Phoenix as she watched the doctor use the damp cloth to clean the radio up. She whistled and signaled for Darius and Justin to come over. “We got something.”
“It was close to where Karl found the bone,” said Max as he carefully examined the radio. “It was just a lucky find. I thought I saw something metallic beneath the surface, just a tiny corner of something.”
“Darius, can you get it working?”
Max handed the radio to Darius. He turned it over and studied it momentarily. “It’s intact. It might work. Give me a moment.”
As he looked at the radio, Phoenix turned to Justin. “You two find anything?”
Justin shook his head and turned up his nose. “Not a thing, ma’am. I’ve been around this whole clearing with Darius and there’s nothing here. It looks like there is some sort of a path over there in the general direction we want to go. The long grass is shorter for several feet at least. It looks like someone may have cut it down, but I can’t be sure. The trail just heads into the trees and we didn’t venture too far. I don’t know where it leads. Apart from that, no sign of life.”
“Tell me it still works.” Max let Alex help him up. “They had two radios with them. If it works, we can contact them. We might be able to figure out where they are.”
“Don’t get your hopes us.” Darius turned to Phoenix. “This thing is pretty messed up. I need to get into it and clean it out. There’s nothing happening with it. I can’t get any power. Maybe if I can check the internal wiring, I might be able to get something, but until then, it’s as dead as Hillary’s presidential run.”
“Great.” Phoenix suddenly became aware that they were all looking at her and waiting for orders. They wanted to know what to do next. The problem was she wasn’t really sure. Until she knew any differently, it still seemed reasonable to head for the island’s peak and higher ground. “Okay, let’s ship out. Justin, we may as well take that path you found. If it’s a dead end, we’ll figure it out soon enough. If not, then at least we might save ourselves from wasting energy. I’m sorry, Doc, but it looks like we’re drawing a blank here. I can’t say if that bone was from one of your team or not, but we’re not going to figure it out standing around here with our thumbs up our asses. Darius, keep working on that radio. With any luck, we might get through to whoever has the other one. We’ll just give Karl a moment and be on our way. Everyone, drink some water. It’s going to be a hard day.”
Phoenix looked at Karl. He was thirty feet in the air, and if she didn’t know he was there, then he would be invisible. His uniform blended in with the green foliage and only his black boots were visible beneath a huge leaf. She went closer to the base of the tree and looked up at him. “Well, Robinson Crusoe, what did you find?”
Karl didn’t answer but appeared to shuffle around and then his face poked out from behind a thick vine. He looked down at Phoenix and grinned. “Nothing. I can’t see over the tops of the trees.”
“Then what the hell do you look so happy about?”
Karl shrugged. “I like climbing trees.”
Phoenix didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Okay, well time to go. You good to get down? We found a radio and Darius is going to get it working. For now, I want to get to that peak and—”
The ground beneath Phoenix’s boots trembled and vibrations crawled up her legs. “What the fuck was that?” she asked quietly. She looked up at Karl, but if he had felt it too, then he didn’t give any indication. He was swiftly descending the tree, skillfully using the vines as ropes.
Phoenix felt the ground tremble again. She looked down expecting to see the cause of the unusual sensation running up her spine, yet the ground was just plain, flat, and dirty. Dead leaves had been squashed underfoot, and there was nothing to suggest they were experiencing an earthquake. She cast her eyes around the clearing but nothing was out of place. The dead tree in the center was still there. Alex and Max were drinking from their flasks. Darius was toying with the radio while Justin cleaned the machetes, sharpening the blade with a stone. A single leaf fell beside her, casually touching her shoulder on the way down. It landed silently.
“Alex, you feel that?”
“I ain’t felt nothing, not me, not nothing.”
“Now is not the time,” said Phoenix as she walked toward him. “And remind me to give you a lesson in English when we get back to base.”
“Sorry, ma’am. You mean that little shudder? Nothing to write home about.”
“Pack up. We’re leaving.”
Phoenix turned around to see that Karl had stopped. He was ten feet from the ground and staring at her.
“We have a deadline, Karl,” she yelled up to him. “Today, please.”
Karl raised his index finger to his lips slowly and then pointed above her head, at something behind her.
“What the hell is he doing?” asked Alex.
“I think he’s trying to tell us to shut up,” said Max. “But what he’s pointing at, I don’t know.”
Phoenix followed Karl’s finger and studied the trees. Alex and Max did the same, curious to know what he had seen. Yet the trees all looked the same, just with slightly different shades of green.
“Hey, Darius, you see anything over there?” called out Alex.
Darius looked perplexed. “See what? There’s nothing here.”
Phoenix saw it. Karl had been pointing at it, but they hadn’t been looking high eno
ugh. They were scanning the jungle for something, but they should have looked higher. Right at the top of the trees, she saw two blue eyes looking back at her. It was bizarre yet unmistakable; she was looking right at them. The eyes were rather like dish plates, large and circular with black dots in the center. What they were attached to, she didn’t know. Whatever it was, the head and the body were smothered in the jungle’s foliage. Was it some kind of ape? She remembered Karl joking about an elephant, but right then, it seemed completely plausible. What color eyes did monkeys and elephants have?
“Alex, there’s something in the trees over there beyond Darius and Justin,” said Phoenix calmly and quietly. She took out her gun slowly. “Take the doctor to Karl.”
“For real? I can’t see shit.” Alex took his gun out and told Max to start walking slowly toward Karl. “What is it?”
“Just go,” hissed Phoenix. “Stay quiet and be ready.”
“For what?”
“For anything.” As Alex and Max walked away, Phoenix tentatively stepped toward the dead tree. “Darius. Justin. Keep your voices down and come here. Quickly.”
At the sound of her voice, the two men turned to her and something seemed to shift in the trees. It was as if a breeze had suddenly come up. The vines moved and twisted, and several large deep green leaves shook. There was a faint tremor in the ground, and Phoenix remembered sitting in the bunker outside of Mosul, knowing she was going to die. The ground had shaken then too from the explosions all around her. This was different. Something in the jungle was causing the ground to shake. This was no elephant.
Darius and Justin began to trudge toward her. Darius shoved the radio into his pack and saw her draw her gun.
“What gives?”
Justin carried the two machetes and looked at Phoenix with reproach. “Ma’am, with all due respect, I’m kinda tired of this. It’s hot and funky in this jungle, and—”
Phoenix saw the two blue eyes close, and for a second, she lost it. It was like a mirage. The animal in the trees disappeared and then it was back. First its head appeared and then its arms and body. The creature was as tall as the trees, and when it moved, the ground trembled in fear. There was no sound, no warning call or indication it was even there. If she wasn’t looking right at it, she wouldn’t have known it even existed. Darius and Justin were no more than ten feet away, and completely oblivious to it. Phoenix studied the creature. Her immediate thought was that she had gone insane. What she was looking at didn’t exist. It looked like a dinosaur, like the Tyrannosaurs that she had grown up watching in films and reading about at school. Was it really possible she was looking at one now in the flesh?
“What is that fucking thing?”
Phoenix whirled around and saw Alex grappling with his gun.
“Jesus Christ!” Alex yelled and pointed his gun at the creature.
“No, don’t fire,” ordered Phoenix. She was hoping that if nobody made any sudden movements, they wouldn’t spook it. She wanted to believe that they could turn around and walk out of the clearing, away from it. They had intruded on its territory, and if they slipped out quietly, perhaps it would let them go. There didn’t need to be repercussions. They could all walk away. Phoenix saw the fear on Alex’s face, but he hadn’t fired. The doctor was cowering behind him and Karl had gotten to ground level. His gun was raised too, aimed squarely at the creature. “Don’t fire,” repeated Phoenix. “Wait.”
She turned around. The thing wasn’t looking at her anymore but at Darius and Justin. They had stopped walking and were looking up at it in amazement. It had managed to sneak up on them almost unnoticed, and now they were captivated. This was the moment. This was when it would be decided if today was going to be a good day, or a bad day. She raised her gun and told Darius and Justin to come to her. She had to get them away from it.
As they turned around, the monster opened its huge jaws and uttered a roar that sounded like all the bombs and explosions Phoenix had ever heard in her life sounding at once. It echoed around her head and she dropped to one knee as she opened fire.
“Run, now. Go!”
CHAPTER 6
The ripple of gunfire sparked Darius and Justin into life. They burst into a sprint, running away from the creature as it also sprang into action. Phoenix sensed they were going to be too slow. Considering its formidable size, the monster was evidently light on its feet. Perhaps it had to be to catch its prey. The monster roared again, and Phoenix clambered up onto the dead log. She unloaded her gun and knew the rest of her unit was doing the same. Some of the bullets had to be hitting it, yet it wasn’t slowing or stopping. All around her she saw the trees ripped apart, spewing shards of bark and leaves that fell to the ground like downed helicopters. The jungle was torn apart under the constant barrage, and yet the creature kept coming, not caring if it was hit or hurt.
“Justin!” Phoenix yelled at him as he approached. “Toss me a machete and keep running! Get out of here!”
Running at full speed, he threw a machete that landed a few feet short of her. She jumped down off the dead tree and reached for it. The ground was shaking and it was hard to stand, but she grabbed the machete and stood up as Darius and Justin fled past her.
“Let’s see how you like this, bitch.” Phoenix tucked her gun in its holster and charged at the creature. Never had she seen anything like it. It was terrifying and yet magnificent. The thing towered at least seventy feet above her. It had two short legs, full of muscle and power that carried its huge body. Its skin looked similar to a snake’s, dark and shiny, and it was covered in a kind of downy fur or feather. It had two upper arms, shorter in length than its lower legs, and each arm ended in three sharp claws. Its head was the size of the boat they had arrived at the island on, and its jaw was elongated, full of sharp teeth.
Phoenix dodged its snapping jaws and sprinted right underneath the creature. As she darted under it, there was a rank smell, a musky odor that reminded her of the time she had found a dead dog with her sisters. It had been hit by a truck and crawled off to the side of the road to die. Its festering, maggot-riddled body had expanded and exploded in the Oklahoma summer heat, and by the time they had discovered it, the poor animal was barely a dog anymore. The smell of that dead creature hit her nostrils again as she got within a few feet of the monster above her. She sensed it trying to stop and turn, and she rammed the machete into one of its legs. The blade penetrated the thing’s skin and then snapped. She had succeeded in getting it barely six inches through its thick hide. The machete simply snapped leaving her with nothing but a useless handle in her hands. She tossed it aside and skidded to a halt.
“Phoenix, get out of there!”
She heard Karl yelling and looked back. Darius and Justin had made it to the far side of the clearing. They were lined up firing their weapons and Karl had a grenade in his hand. He wouldn’t risk using it while she was in the line of fire, yet there was no way past the thing to safety.
“Move!” yelled Darius.
Phoenix looked up at the creature that had interrupted their operation. In seconds, it had destroyed any notion she’d held that the island was a pristine paradise. The island was more deadly than she had imagined. She had felt something when they had approached but shrugged it off as fear of the unknown. Now she knew better. She tried to catch her breath, aware she was in danger of panicking. When she had been pinned down outside of Mosul, she knew she was going to die. Yet facing this thing that loomed over her and the jungle, she felt different. She was still afraid, and she had no idea how to fight it. But death was far from her mind. She still had a job to do and her unit to protect. She had been wrong before and had to admit she had no idea how this was going to pan out.
“Go,” she yelled. “I’ll find you. Go to the peak.”
There was no way past it. There was no way to fight it. The only option that meant she might live to see another birthday was to run. Phoenix turned on her heels and ran for the jungle. She could sense the monster behind her, charging
for the trees. If it beat her, then she would make for a nice snack before it turned and went after her men. She had to make it. Phoenix ran, focusing only on getting to the jungle where she could hide.
As the bullets flew over her head and tore apart the jungle, she felt the ground rumbling. The monster was close. Phoenix didn’t look back. She knew better than to waste time looking at her enemy. She ran and made it to the trees, instantly sweeping aside a curtain of low-hanging vines and hurtling into the jungle. Instantly, the sun was blocked out by the thick trees and the ground underfoot became clogged with bushes and greenery. She pushed ahead, forging a rough path. Branches and leaves slapped her face and body as she ran, small bushes and plants trying to trip her up with every step. Her heart pounded as she ran through the jungle, and the sound of the gunfire dissipated with every second. Soon, she had put enough distance between her and the clearing for the sound to stop completely. She risked a look back over her shoulder, expecting to see the giant looming over her, those huge jaws ready to snap her head off. Although she could hear it charging through the jungle and the sound of trees being uprooted, she couldn’t see it. She also knew that just because you couldn’t see the enemy didn’t mean they weren’t close by. As she turned her head to look in front of her, she tripped over a rotten log and ended up sprawled out over the jungle floor. Her hands found a wet mulch and the ground was boggy. Had it been harder, she knew she might’ve broken something or twisted an ankle, so she was thankful for her soft landing. She could take being dirty and wet any day of the week over a broken limb.
Her breath came out in quick gasps, and she knew she had to control her breathing. She forced herself to take shallow breaths and listened. She needed to know if the monster was still coming after her or had returned to the clearing. She was certain that Karl would lead her unit toward the peak and try to rendezvous with her later. As her chest rose and fell, she listened intently to the jungle. There was no birdsong. There was no rustling of leaves around her. There was only the sound of the monster following her.