Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (6 page)

Chapter 6 Surviving

Jungle that evening

Later, he didn’t know how much later, he heard Julian whispering his name. It was dark, but hell, it was always some level of dark here under the thick canopy and impossible to judge the passage of time. One day ran into the next.

“Julian? Are you all right?” Kyle struggled to sit up.

“Move slowly, doctor. I am fine, but you are injured.”

At first, the stabbing pain in his side prevented him. Taking his time, moving slowly, inch by slow painful inch, he lifted his head and rolled to one side. He did a quick body check, evaluating his pulse and his vitals. The evaluation didn’t improve his mood. It told him he was in big trouble.

“How long have I been here? What time is it?”

“It is almost evening.”

“I can’t make it, Julian. Get help before nightfall.” Kyle was growing weaker. “The search party went in the direction of the river.”

“No one will come, doctor. The sound of the jaguar travels in the jungle. The village men are all too afraid. We must find shelter. I will stay with you and see you through your change.”

“What change? What are you talking about?”

“You survived the attack. You will sicken and turn. You will now be
jaguar
and shift like my people—like my father.”

“Your father? You believe your father is a jaguar?” Kyle recalled Carmen’s OR stories. The superstitions. Right. The boy had been raised on them. Although Kyle didn’t believe in them, this had turned into some nightmare he struggled to escape. Too bad the pain felt so real.

“You are thinking I mean the jungle cat.” The boy’s expression showed humor. “No. I am speaking of something entirely different.”

“That’s a relief.”

Julian wiped Kyle’s brow and lifted his head. The kid was stronger than he looked. All Kyle could do was listen and cooperate.

“These who I speak of are men. Men with powers who live apart from other men. The men of the
jaguar
tribe are born shape-shifters.”

Kyle moaned, “Not that again.”

“Sometimes our bite can infect another.” The boy pointed at him. “Like what has happened to you. Until the dark one came and changed some of them, none of the jaguar people were dangerous. You must leave before she finds you and changes you, too.”

“The dark one? Y-you mean the woman in the camp. The directress?” A cold shiver traveled up his spine despite the heat. After his experience in camp, Kyle could believe almost anything of her. “But she was here. She ordered the cats to stop attacking me.”

“You are in great danger. She has an evil purpose. Amyra de la Santiago, the dark one is vampire.”

Oh hell, this just gets better and better.

“The jaguar men and women she infected are now deadly, out of control, and do only her bidding, but still she is not satisfied. She is looking for something else. My father and his friends are fighting her and her crazed pack.”

His father and his pack, whatever they were might be able to help him. “C-can you reach them? Get help from your father?”

The boy shook his head. “I cannot contact him in his jaguar form.”

Great! His one hope couldn’t help because they were jaguars.

“The full moon approaches,” the boy pointed to the break in the jungle canopy where a small shadow of light filtered through, “and my father has gone into the jungle to prepare to protect the village from her. The rogue jaguars will hunt the human villagers, and they do not usually leave their prey alive the way they did with you. When they do spare them, their victims soon die, anyway. It is said, if the victim survives, as in your case, he will suffer through a painful transition that will leave him maddened. The dead are the lucky ones. If you survive your wounds, she will come to claim you before the full moon wanes. You must hide.”

This was surreal. Kyle couldn’t understand how these people believed the local legends. “Julian, I need medical help before I bleed out.” He felt like he was living through some freaky ‘B’ movie as he tried to crawl to the edge of the path. His vision grew hazy, spots danced through the dim light.

“You are still bleeding.” Julian came to his side and checked his neck. “But, you will not die.” He applied pressure to the worst of Kyle’s wounds and asked, “Where is your backpack?”

“I-I must have dropped it, back in the clearing where I was attacked.”

“Can you hold your hand here? Firmly! I will return.”

Kyle nodded, not sure he could stay conscious long enough to keep from bleeding to death before the teen returned with his supplies. The drizzle began shortly after Julian disappeared into the vegetation. Returning moments later with a handful of plant leaves, he chewed the leaves into a thick paste, spit it out
, and packed it into Kyle’s wounds.

If he didn’t die from the blood loss, what chance did he stand of surviving some damned staph infection?

“This will help slow the bleeding. Stay still.”

Kyle obeyed, unable to do any different. Within seconds, the pain leveled out and the bleeding practically stopped. Julian finished packing the lesser wounds with the plant paste and wrapped his larger ones with his torn shirt.

“I know a cave nearby where you will be safe for a while. It will keep you dry, and I will make a fire to keep the animals away. Then I will go look for your supplies. Pray the dark one does not find you while I am gone.”

“It won’t matter. I think the neck wound bled too much.”

“It is merely a trickle now, doctor. Your wounds will be okay, temporarily, but we must leave this place before the dark one returns to take you.”

“I think I may have already lost too much blood.” He felt nauseated and dizzy, too weak to stand on his own—all signs he was going into shock from the blood loss.

“Drink the water. The property in the plant will strengthen you and stop the blood flow soon. Wait here, while I gather more plants.”

Too weak to argue, Kyle closed his eyes to rest.

~~~~

“Doctor, you must wake up.” Julian shook his shoulder.

Somehow, Kyle had survived until Julian returned with more leaves and his backpack.

“Julian, can you find my medical supplies in the bag?”

“Not here. It is too dark, doctor. And too dangerous. We must get you to shelter, and then I can risk using this flashlight.” The boy spoke very softly.

When Julian helped him to his feet, he whispered, “Lean on me, doctor. It is a short distance to the cave.”

Kyle was thankful for that and for the assistance. There was no way he could support his own weight. Good thing the kid could.

Stumbling through underbrush and tangled vines, he wondered how the boy had the strength to support him. Despite having such a thin, wiry build, the teen was remarkably strong, and Kyle’s legs felt like over-cooked pasta. Everything he saw told him the kid believed what he said was true. Jaguar shifters and vampires, and lord knew what else actually roamed the jungle. One day, Julian would shift into a jaguar like his father. And because Kyle had been bitten, he was going to shift, too.

Hollywood would love this.
Ridiculous.
He would have laughed if he’d had the breath.

Instead, he must have grunted because Julian whispered, “Keep very quiet, now. It i
sn’t far. Just beyond that tree there is a small opening in the rock. You can rest when we get to the cave, and I will build a small fire to keep the animals away. It will be safer to defend one position.”

Kyle kept his voice low. “Good thinking.”

A few steps more. Then Julian swept aside the vines and helped Kyle into the small outcropping in the rock wall. He never would have known it was there, but he was relieved he made it that far. He sighed as he sank to the floor. There was just enough room for the two of them and a small area to make a fire by the entrance. Kyle wondered if they dared risk it.

“Maybe we
should hold off on a fire if we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.” He didn’t believe Julian’s story, but he didn’t like the woman who commanded those jaguars, whatever she was.

“It is safe. I will cover the front. Vines also cover the small holes in the roof, but they are sufficient to draft the fire. If the dark one comes, she will stay away from the fire and so will the cats.”

“If you say so.” Kyle sat with his back to the wall. “Hand me my bag will you, please?”

Julian turned the bag over to him, and he rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. He ripped the light metallic paper from the stick and snapped it. The bright light made him blink.

“This is better than the flashlight. You’ll need the flashlight to find dry kindling for the fire.”

“I will return shortly,” the boy said, and disappeared into the dark hole of the jungle.

A fever blazed inside Kyle while he cleaned his wounds in the artificial green light, but after a few moments, he began to feel better. The glow stick wouldn’t last long, and he remembered to have another at hand for when this one burned out.

It was hard to believe, after experiencing the attack, that his wounds didn’t look as bad as he’d imagined. Now that they were cleaned and he could see them, most were
superficial scratches. The neck bite was the worst, but even that one didn’t feel as serious as he thought when it first happened. There had been so much blood. The wound should have been more damaging.

Perhaps the jungle plant did have healing properties. He should send it back to Max to research. He was feeling stronger already.

“Doctor, I have returned.” The sound of Julian’s voice startled him because he hadn’t heard the boy approach. Not a twig or brush of a vine revealed his presence. He moved like the cat he claimed to be.

“There are some power bars in the bag. Go ahead and help yourself.”

Julian grinned and dug around until he pulled two out. “Here, you must build your strength and prepare for the change.”

“The change?”

“Yes. You will begin to feel feverish...”

Kyle scrubbed his face with his fingers. “I am hot.”

“Ah, you are already feeling the heat?”

“It’s probably an infection from the bite.”

“It is the jaguar fever.”

“Tell me about the plants you treated me with.” The wounds had stopped bleeding. He was feeling better and healing quickly despite the fever.

“It is called the jaguar bush. The plant heals the jaguar. It is working on you. Your small wounds are almost gone.”

The kid was right. Kyle watched the scratches slowly fade as his body temperature rose.

“Until you, only those with shifter blood have survived the bite. You will begin the change, soon.”

“Change? Into what?”

“There is no need to be afraid. I will give you my family’s special remedy. I have seen many of my older friends experience this.”

The concept was ludicrous—like some bad late night movie. Although Kyle wanted to snort, he wouldn’t insult the young man who’d risked his safety and been so supportive. Instead, he winced through a painful smile. “Then, I won’t worry.”

The boy smiled back at him and straightened his shoulders.

Kyle tried to swallow, but his mouth felt parched.

“I think I need water.” He was dehydrated and needed fluids after all the blood loss. “There should be a container in the bag.”

Julian handed him the canteen. When Kyle offered him a sip, the boy shook his head. “I will drink from the plants and refill the bottle. You drink your water. Rest. I will guard the entrance.”

“Okay. Julian? Thank you.” He made a pillow out of his bag then had another thought. “Julian, when will you turn?”

“In the spring. You will not recognize me when I return from the jungle.” He chuckled. “I will have to introduce myself.”

“Why wouldn’t I recognize you?” Kyle frowned wondering why he pursued this fantasy. “Will you look like a jaguar?”

“You do not believe me or the stories. But you will.” The boy smiled patiently at Kyle. “I will emerge from the shift with a man’s body, no longer
a child.”

“When you shift into the jaguar does it trigger your human growth change?”

“Yes. I will change into the jaguar, and when I shift back, like the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, I will be a fully, grown man. Until then, I look just like any other child. My people keep the jaguar children safe from predators and the dark one. If we are to survive, the dark one must be defeated. I will fight her as my father and his brothers do when I am ready.”

“Yes. Yes, you should,” Kyle said before he nodded off. Was he already trying to come up with ways to explain the local legends and the boy’s strange claims or just passing time?

~~~~

Kyle awakened with his joints aching and severe abdominal pain. His heart pounded in his ears, and although he’d removed all his clothes except his boxers, his skin felt too tight on his body. “Water?”