Read Pray for Darkness: Terror in the Green Inferno Online

Authors: James Michael Rice

Tags: #FICTION / Horror, #FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense

Pray for Darkness: Terror in the Green Inferno (4 page)

BOOK: Pray for Darkness: Terror in the Green Inferno
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Slowly opening his eyes, Cooper looked at him and shrugged. “I’m supervising,” he said, cackling. “You’re doing a wonderful job, by the way. I might just give both of you a promotion.”

Ben chuckled in spite of himself. “Man, you are one lazy dick, you know that?”

Cooper reciprocated with a smile that was all teeth.

“What should we do with the passports and all the other stuff?” Auggie asked, handing Ben a plastic bottle of insect repellent and a tube of sunscreen.

“Might as well leave them in your bag. There’s no sense unpacking everything,” Ben said, taking the items and placing them on the shelf.

Cooper cocked his head. “Why not?”

Auggie groaned. “Here we go again.”

“Huh?”

“This is just a one-night stop on our way to the research center,” Ben explained slowly. “You know about that.”

A shadow of suspicion passed over Auggie’s narrow face. “I gave you a copy of the daily agenda I created for us. Did you even look at it?”

“Well, of course I
looked
at it. It’s not like I memorized the damn thing.”

“Anyway,” Ben said, “we’ll just have to make the most of our one night here.”

“It is sort of a shame, though,” Auggie lamented. “This place is pretty awesome.”

“Hey, no argument here, but the research center will be even better.” Ben paused to let this sink in, and continued in his usual, confident way. “It’s the most remote lodge in the Amazon, which means fewer tourists and even more wildlife. A real adventure. You’ll see.”

Cooper tucked his hands behind his head, gazing outside as he lost himself in the jungle’s song. He rubbed his temples distractedly, a nagging headache catching him unawares as it pierced through the fog of exhaustion. A short time later, Ben and Auggie retreated to their beds. All the days of constant travel had finally caught up with them, and the two boys grew increasingly quiet until sleep delivered them to darkness. Feeling increasingly unwell, Cooper silently slipped out of the hammock, ducked under the curtain, and padded out of the room in search of a bathroom.

Three

Ernesto came to collect them later. Standing on the walkway, he called out to them from the other side of the curtain, waiting patiently for someone to respond.

“Hey, guys?”

Little by little, Ben emerged from the depths of sleep. Opening his eyes, it took several seconds before he remembered where he was. Even then, his mind was cluttered with the remnants of dreams, fragmented visions of the places they had seen during the course of their adventure so far, and the fellow travelers they’d befriended along the way.

Now Ben found himself looking up at the bottom of the mosquito net platform, which dangled from a rope just a few feet above him. The net itself was still neatly folded on top of the platform, as yet untouched. He had fallen asleep on top of the sheets, still dressed in the same sweaty clothes as before, and the room seemed slightly darker than he remembered it.

His eyes were drawn to the open wall, where the yellow sunlight squeezed in through the railing slats, creating alternating bars of shadow and light across the floor. A galaxy of dust motes and sand flies whirled within these sunlit beams, hovering precariously on the edge of darkness. Far off in the jungle, something—presumably a bird, though Ben couldn’t be sure—made a series of ululating cries that ended in a sorrowful, drawn-out note. The sound made Ben imagine that such cries were the animal kingdom’s version of a party line. Only, in this case, it appeared as though there was no one there to take the call. The creature tried again and again, and still there was no response. The unfortunate caller, apparently deciding there was no similar creature out there to answer its cry, suddenly fell into a brooding silence. It was late afternoon in the rainforest.

Ben sat up and saw that both Cooper and Auggie were still asleep, Cooper on the hammock and Auggie on one of the beds. Cooper was sprawled carelessly, one arm hanging over the edge of the hammock, fingers dangling above the floor. Auggie was curled into a near-fetal position; even in sleep, he looked restless and meek. Ben watched them for a few seconds and they didn’t move. For some reason, it crossed his mind that his friends might be dead. His muscles tensed. He held his breath, and in the dreadful silence that followed he had time enough to wonder if perhaps something venomous had bitten them while they were sleeping, causing a cardiac arrest or some other dreadful condition from which they would never awaken. In the span of just a few agonizing seconds, Ben had already imagined an entire scenario in which he must call each boy’s parents to deliver the heartbreaking message. What would he say?
I’m sorry, but your son is dead
, just didn’t seem to cut it. Would they blame him for dragging their sons along on this adventure? Then Auggie’s mouth popped open with a soft exhalation—Paaaaah!—and Ben knew in that instant that the notion was ridiculous. He breathed a long sigh of relief, silently chastising himself for such foolish thoughts.

Auggie’s paranoia is starting to wear off on me
, Ben thought with a touch of amusement.

A voice said, “Hey, guys?”

Ernesto lingered on the walkway, waiting patiently. Ben could see his small sneakers in the space between the curtain and the floor and called out to him, but it appeared that Ernesto was too polite to enter the room, even upon invitation. Snatching up his Red Sox hat from the bed and placing it backwards on his head, he stood and stretched before heading outside to greet Ernesto.

When Ben returned a few minutes later, his friends were still sleeping peacefully and he called out to them until they were awake. Rummaging through his backpack for a change of clothes, he announced that they were to meet Ernesto at the lodge entrance in fifteen minutes. Following Ben’s lead, the boys exchanged their civilian clothes for their jungle gear: long-sleeved shirts with hidden mesh for ventilation, lightweight hiking pants, and hiking shoes. As they were changing clothes, a strangely musical chirping sound came from somewhere inside the room.

“What the hell is that?” said Auggie. Then, turning to the other: “Did one of you idiots put a bird or something in my backpack?”

Cooper only shook his head and shrugged.

Ben chuckled, holding up his arm to show them his wristwatch. “I set it this morning so we’d remember to take our pills.”

Auggie was nonplussed. “Damn,” he sighed. “I never even thought of that.”

Cooper grinned. “That’s why we got Benny with us, so we don’t have to think of those things.”

Ben tossed him the plastic bottle of Malarone tablets. “I already took mine while you guys were asleep. Might as well dose up now, before we go hiking.”

Cooper snatched the bottle out of the air with one hand. “How many should I take?”

“Just one. Technically, I think we’re supposed to take them in the morning, but we already missed today’s dose.”

“Actually,” chimed in Auggie, “we already screwed the whole thing up. We were supposed to start taking them days ago, before we got here. I also read you’re supposed to take them at the same time every day.”

Ben shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it now.”

Cooper was holding a pill up for inspection, examining it closely. “What’s this for again?”

Ben smiled benevolently. “Anti-malaria. The doctor explained it to us, remember? If you forget to take it and the wrong mosquito bites you, you’re fucked.”

Cooper popped the pill into his mouth and gulped it down. Auggie took the container and shook a pill into his palm. Tossing it into his mouth, he swallowed it dry with a look of disgust.

Ben glanced around the room, taking inventory of their scant belongings. “I figure I’ll bring my pack, so we can carry all our cameras and shit,” announced Ben. “There’s no use in all of us bringing one.”

Cooper slipped on his sunglasses. “Sounds good to me, amigo.”

“We can take turns carrying it if you want,” offered Auggie.

As they dressed, Cooper babbled excitedly about seeing jaguars and pumas in the wild. He rambled on, mostly to himself. “Maybe I’ll get close enough to pet one,” he finished at last.

“You never know…” Ben said. He shot a conspiratorial glance at Auggie, who rolled his eyes.

Cooper turned his head to the crush of vegetation just outside the open wall. “That,” he whispered, “would be so fucking cool.”

***

On their way to the dining area, they found the lodge mostly empty, save for an amorous young couple nuzzling against each other at the bar and an older man dozing in one of the hammocks with a tattered paperback draped across his chest. There were two water coolers attached to the railing, each on opposite ends of the dining area. Ben poured a few ounces into his bottle. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he drank. The water was cool, not cold, and it tasted as delicious as any Ben had ever had. When he was finished, he filled the entire bottle to the brim.

“How is it?” asked Auggie.

Ben moved aside for him. “It’s fine. Make sure you fill up.”

Auggie did. He had not realized just how dehydrated he was until he took his first sip and his stomach lurched in greedy anticipation. By the time Cooper was done filling his own bottle, Auggie had already polished off half a liter and felt as though he could finish the rest and then some. After refilling the bottle to the brim, he secured the cap and put it in the side pouch of Ben’s backpack.

Cooper clapped him on the shoulder. “You good?”

Auggie wiped some excess droplets from his chin. “Yeah.”

“You sure?” Ben persisted.

Auggie’s smile was as sharp as a scalpel. He didn’t like being treated like the weak link, and he was surprised by the sudden revelation that he was just as eager as they were to see what the jungle had to offer. “I’m good,” he said through gritted teeth. “Really. I’ve got plenty of water. Now let’s get going. Ernesto’s probably wondering where we are.”

Retracing their steps through the dining area, they passed rows of empty tables, crossed a short catwalk, and then entered a small lounge area that consisted of several couches and wicker chairs set around a coffee table. They could see Ernesto waiting at the entrance, his small frame etched against the afternoon light. A high, musical voice grabbed their attention just before they reached the main foyer.

“Coo-per! Hey-ay, Cooper!”

The three boys stopped.

Two girls were lounging on a couch near the bar. They waved their hands in a come-on gesture.

“Oh, hey!” Cooper was already doubling back to greet them when he remembered his friends. He called over his shoulder, “Be back in a sec.”

Thus abandoned, Auggie and Ben looked at one another and shrugged.

“So…” said Ben.

“So…” Auggie agreed.

Ben walked over to the railing and Auggie followed. Ben gestured toward an unremarkable patch of flowers outside and turned to Auggie. “Hey, snap a picture of these flowers.”

“Why?”

“So it doesn’t look so obvious that we’re spying on Cooper while he chats up the chicks.”

Auggie considered this for a moment and then nodded decisively. “That makes sense.”

After what seemed like a long time, Cooper trotted back to the spot where Ben and Auggie were still feigning interest in the trees. Even as his footsteps sounded on the wooden floor behind them, they pretended not to notice him.

“All set?” Cooper asked.

“Oh, hey. You ready?”

They continued in silence toward the entrance. Ernesto was still waiting patiently, looking at the jungle as one might admire a great work of art. “You should wear these for the walking around,” he said, motioning with his hand toward a rack of sturdy-looking rubber boots.

Ben grabbed a pair of boots, measured them against his hiking shoes, and sat down on the stairs to make the switch. As the long-haired boy sat beside him, Ben looked at him and said, “Alright, spill it.”

Pulling off a shoe, Cooper gave him a baffled smile. “Spill what?”

“Who were those chicks you were talking to?”

“Oh… you mean Janie and Brooke?” He spoke their names with an air of familiarity, as though they were already old, dear friends. “They’re volunteers from Georgia Tech. They’re here to study parrots. I
think
they said parrots. Anyways, they’ve been here for over a month.”

Plopping down beside him, Auggie gestured impatiently with his hands. “And you know this because—”

“Oh, I met them earlier.”

“Earlier today?” Ben said slowly. “I thought you said you went to the bathroom to puke or something.”

“Yeah. I did. I mean, I was. I had the worst fucking headache, and I thought I was totally gonna puke. But then I realized I was just really dehydrated, so I went back to the main lodge to find that Juice Lady. That’s when I met the girls.” He smiled vaguely, as if savoring the details of some cherished memory from long ago. “Anyways,” Cooper continued, already sounding bored with the topic, “they gave me some Excedrin, and I feel great now.”

Auggie flashed Ben a conspiratorial grin. “The Cooper Effect,” they said in unison. Ben clapped Cooper on the back and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Cooper wanted to know.

“You are,” Ben said.

Cooper looked at him questioningly but said nothing.

“Okay, guys,” Ernesto said. “Now we go for jungle walk.”

“How long will we be?” asked Auggie.

Ernesto puckered his bottom lip. “Mmm. About a couple hours.”

“Will we be back before dark?” asked Auggie. He was already drenched in sweat.

“Uh-huh. Maybe. We’ll try, yes?”

Ben nodded as though he’d expected this all along. His blue eyes took on their mysterious shine, and his jaw muscles flexed as he tried to conceal his delight. A night hike through the Amazon? That would really be something. Taking a quick mental inventory of his backpack, he was glad he had remembered to pack the extra batteries and memory card for his video camera.

Try?
thought Auggie. Something inside him clenched at the word and all that it implied.
Try?

Ernesto looked at each boy in turn and was met with eager eyes and anxious smiles. He was used to this look, the look of the uninitiated and unfamiliar. The look of the
turista
. Eventually, he knew, they would grow accustomed to their surroundings. They would adapt to the slow pace of jungle life, and the anxiety would dissipate—if he were lucky. If not, they would remain skittish, and that always made his job more difficult, trying to get a bunch of worrisome foreigners to open up to the jungle and all it had to offer. But first, he had to earn their trust, show them there was nothing to fear.

“Hey, Ernesto,” Ben said casually. “What’s that for?”

In their nervous excitement, neither Auggie nor Cooper had noticed the knife that was strapped to Ernesto’s belt. Roughly eight inches long from butt to tip, the handle was made of a dark wood; the blade concealed inside a tooled leather sheath.

“This?” Ernesto asked, looking down.

Ben nodded.

“Mmm,” Ernesto replied. “Is for just in case.”

As they continued through the tall grass, Auggie tapped Ben’s arm. “He’s joking, right?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Ben flashed his friend a wild grin.

Ernesto started into the jungle, and the three
turistas
followed

BOOK: Pray for Darkness: Terror in the Green Inferno
6.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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