This is the seventh chapter of Oceanus, a sci fi novel. If you’d like to catch up, you can see the previous chapters here:
Chapter 7
It had been twenty four hours since Anthony had last slept, or so he thought. The sun had disappeared hours before. The birds and their varied calls had changed. The scurrying shadows of small rodents shot across the floor of the jungle and darted up various trees with a swish. The crackling fire had provided much needed warmth for the travellers as they dozed. The glowing heat had warmed Anthony’s back through the night as he sat, holding his knees and looking out into the darkness, but no longer.
This was not the first time he had had strange dreams. This was not the first time that he had been in a jungle. This was not his first time in a hostile place. It was, however, the first time he had been left alone with his demons.
The other survivors in the incongruous jungle had taken it in turns to sleep and take on the watch. Anthony stayed on watch the entire time, whether it was his turn or not. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken. His hair was standing on end after countless finger strokes. His heavy jaw remained shut. He did not know how long he had been there but suddenly he noticed that the chill of early morning was upon him and permeated through the camp, causing those sleeping to stir and those already stirred to shiver.
Why am I here? What has brought me to this hellhole?
Deep in his heart, he knew why. He knew that his career and his success had come at a cost. A human cost. He did not want to think about that right now. The jungle was an alien place. He must be on guard. He fought back the intrusive thoughts. Thoughts can’t kill you.
The fire that Trin had made was dying, stifled in the dampness of the pre-dawn gloom. He started to shiver uncontrollably.
Stay awake. The sun is coming. We can regroup and get out of this place. Stay awake. Stay the hell awake, man. For God’s sake; no. Don’t fall asleep.
A dull pang punched him hard in the gut. He looked up and could not see anything but black, as though he had been transported away to a damp, dark cave and hadn’t noticed. He could still hear the shuffling of his sleeping companions and the occasional scurrying of the jungle’s nocturnal creatures.
Anthony’s eyes were pinned to a shadow sitting directly across from him. The shadow, he realised, did not belong to him. It couldn’t have belonged to him; It had eyes.
Dread sat heavy now. In his new state of terror, Anthony tried to move a finger. Nothing. He was paralysed.
Even when Trin and Seb had started moving around, dressing and rolling up their sleeping bags, Anthony could not call to them. His mouth was fixed shut.
You’re asleep. Wake up. Come on, wake up!
Anthony tried in vain to fight against the fatigue, eyes remaining open. Eyes remaining fixed on the shadowed figure in front of him.
“Murderer” it whispered. Its hiss was seeping into his body like the venom of a snake.
Anthony tried to move away but his legs remained set in stone. Helpless. His head, rendered immobile. A phantom hand forced him to face the shadow.
“Murderer” it was talking to him now in a man’s voice. A voice he felt he recognised but could not think to place. “Murderer,” its hoarse accusations grew louder . “Murderer!” The shadow grew larger with every second that Anthony didn’t fill with a response. It opened up its wings and hovered over him, swamping him in cold, heavy darkness. Anthony gasped for air as the apparition smothered him with its freezing, black emptiness. His lungs wouldn’t open.
You’re not real. You’re not real.
“Murderer,” it repeated, enveloping him in a chilling abyss. Anthony still could not move away, fight himself free or look anywhere else. He closed his eyes as a final act of protest.
“You’re not real. Go away. Go away. Go away,” he wanted to cry. The beads of sweat rolled down his nose and cheeks. Unable to scratch or wipe the sweat away, it was itching him all the more.
The shadow grew even larger than before, consuming him. Anthony tried with all his strength to wave it away; his arms would not do as he wanted.
You’re not fucking real. Fuck off.
“I am real.”
Its hands clenched his neck within an iron grip. He thought of his mother and another face that was not hers but the face of someone else he had once loved. He was a little boy again, playing football with another little boy in a green back garden with goal posts and a garden hose. A brother. He stifled a sob. His muscles were going into a convulsion.
Please, no.
“Sir?” It was Trin, shaking him gently. Anthony opened his eyes with alarm. Trin and Seb were standing over him as he lay on the floor, their brows furrowed with concern. “Are you alright? You were shouting in your sleep. We thought you were having a seizure. We had to wake you,” Trin could not unsee the look of terror in Anthony’s eyes. He was pale, shivering and barely able to get a fix on his surroundings.
“I wasn’t asleep! Anthony looked straight at Trin, his eyes bloodshot, “I’ve been awake all night.” Weakly, he stood up and dusted himself off.
“Sir,” Trin’s voice was soft and sympathetic, “you’ve been asleep since we made camp. We didn’t want to wake you after the incident,” she said quietly. “Ade suggested you should rest as much as possible.” Her amiable, freckled face made Anthony feel even more ridiculous than before. She placed a hand on his arm. He was trembling.
“Oh,” Anthony felt his face flush crimson, “this place is like a nightmare” he reflected as he sat back down again. “We have to get out of here,” his eyes were large and desperate.
Seb and Trin each gave a receptive nod. Seb woke the others and the party packed up their camping equipment.
“Sir, we’re going to get out of here.” Trin had come to help him gather his kit and pack up. Her kindness hurt him deeply. He felt that he was not worthy.
“Don’t worry Trin, I can take care of this.”
“Sir,” she spoke firmly this time, “let me help you” was a demand more than a polite insistence. He did not have the strength to argue with her and held up his hands in surrender. “You know, I used to have this sleep paralysis thing,” she said in a low voice while rolling his mat up, “people thought I was crazy. I just couldn’t sleep.”
“How did you stop it?”
“I made peace, mostly. My doctor said the trigger was unresolved issues. Things I’d said, done or people I’d hurt, that sort of thing.”
“Trin, I refuse to believe you’ve ever hurt anyone,” he smiled. Despite his wild look and sleep deprivation, Anthony had remained a handsome man, somehow retaining his youth and vigour despite his maturity. His dark hair was lightly peppered with grey but his tanned skin was supple and well maintained.
“Oh I have, sir.” She gave a guilty grin and shook her head.
“A heart breaker, I see,” he smirked. In her surprise at never having seen him so jovial before, she giggled like a schoolgirl.
“Come on. We’re leaving,” she helped him up, resting her shoulder under his underarm and holding his waist as he weakly stumbled along with her.
When everybody was ready, Owen asked them to gather around the largest tree in their camp. “We will mark this tree, this time. Right here.” Owen took his swiss army knife from his pocket and carved the roman numeral I in the centre of the trunk. “You all see that I did this and I marked one tree.” Everybody nodded on seeing the tree markings. “The next tree I mark will be the numeral for two, then three, then four and so on,” Owen turned to Anthony and nodded.
Anthony cleared his throat and addressed the group, “we must not separate. This is an alien world to us. We cannot assume that it’s the same as a jungle on Earth, or Atlantis, or New Botswana, or anywhere else. Yesterday, we were naive and the jungle made it clear to us that we do not know what’s what around here.”
“If we do get separated by some means, just stay where you are,” Owen added. “Do not eat anything unless you’ve scanned it first. We really can’t afford to lose anyone when there aren’t many of us to begin with.”
“Sir, I’m not sure what’s happened,” said Trin, rummaging through her satchel. Her round, freckled face was red.
“What is it?” Owen raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve lost my compass. It’s gone.” She looked up like a deer in the headlights.
The heaviness in Anthony’s gut returned. “Don’t worry,” he said, forcing a reassuring smile, “if we have a day like yesterday we’ll see it again in an hour.”
They headed towards the sunrise.
We have to get out of here. If that sun goes down again, I’m a dead man.
Four hours later, the team found themselves at the bottom of a damp, dark hole in the ground.
“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we didn’t break anything,” observed Ade. He had checked on the team in semi darkness and determined that no bones had been harmed in the drop.
Anthony was furious. He threw his satchel into the darkness with a cry of frustration.
“On the bright side, at least this is different from yesterday,” chirped Trin as she retrieved it and brought it back to him. “Maybe we did actually get somewhere,” she forced a smile. Anthony, calming down now and switching from fury to embarrassment, paled and received the satchel gratefully.
“Hopefully somewhere isn’t the local tribe’s pitfall trap,” said Owen.
Seb looked around. “If this is a trap, I’d hate to see what they’re used to catching.” The drop was too high for them to reach without a grappling hook. “There’s nothing to stand on, either. Not even a few rocks. Fucking hell,” Anthony snapped. If there had been a rock nearby, Seb felt that Anthony would have kicked it.
“It’s got to be a trap,” insisted Trin, “we didn’t see it.”
“Interesting how it only opened when we were all on it, though.” Owen rubbed his chin. “Surely a conventional trap would have buckled with just one of us on it.” They looked around with their scanners, measuring the perimeter.
“Owen,” Anthony whispered, “it’s a snake pit.”
“What?” Owen asked impatiently. He looked around their feet and saw nothing but dirt. “There’s nothing here,” he said.
“It’s a snake pit and they’re crushing my legs!” Anthony started to shake and grabbed Owen’s arm.
“Anthony, there are no snakes.” Owen, growing concerned, held him fixed and tried to get him to stand up. He was convulsing and his eyes rolled back.
“They’re killing me!”
“Anthony, please calm down.”
“Help me!” He cried and grabbed Owen by the collar of his shirt. “They’re everywhere!”. Owen tried to restrain him. The team looked around earnestly but could see nothing. “It’s empty!” he was screaming like a madman and writhing in pain. “It burns, it burns. Get them off me!” he jerked as though he was burning at the stake. “It’s empty!” he cried once more.
“What’s empty?”
“Hell is empty,” he was frothing at the mouth now. Owen’s eyes widened as his friend looked him straight in the eye and for a moment, seemed still and calm. “The devil, Owen.” He immediately returned to jolting with uncontrollable muscle spasms once more. “He’s here!” Anthony screamed.
“Ade! Give him a sedative!” instructed Owen as he wrestled with his friend.
Ade obligingly and calmly opened his case and pulled out the sedative. With a quick jab, he pushed it into the side of Anthony’s broad neck. Owen and Ade held him down while he cried and threw himself around, thrashing his legs around and recoiling. Trin and Seb huddled, looking on helplessly in horror. Trin was crying.
His raw strength finally having left him, he passed out and lay limp on the ground. Owen removed his jacket, rolled it up and dutifully placed it under Anthony’s head.
He then sat back alongside him and placed his head in his hands.
“Something could have bitten him,” Ade suggested, unbuttoning Anthony’s shirt and looking for any spots or bites on his torso. He then inspected down his arms, in his ears and around the back of his neck. Nothing.
“This place is driving him mad,” Owen glowered up at the hole. “We’ll be next.” The sun was beaming down into the pit, highlighting their lack of exits. It was midday.
Nobody, not even Owen, was willing to acknowledge or talk about the fact that they were ten feet underground in a jungle they had never been to before. They had no map, no compass and no hope of escape.
I do like the little touches of humour in this one...
I am really intrigued to know what happens there. Thank you for a great read!