Pray for Darkness: Terror in the Green Inferno (5 page)

Four

They heard the little bird before they saw it.

Its cries shattered the stillness, a piercing wolf-whistle that echoed on and on through the treetops.

WOOOT!-wooooh!

Cooper laughed delightedly. “What on earth is that?”

“This is Screaming Piha,” Ernesto explained. “Is very nice bird. One of the loudest birds in the world, uh-huh. Let’s see if we can find.”

With their ears as their guide, they walked for several more minutes before Ernesto stopped and raised his binoculars. The bird let out another blast of sound, and Ernesto pointed to the lower limbs of a thin copse of trees. “You see?”

The boys searched the trees. High above them, the canopy was a roof that blotted out the sun, and the foliage was a curtain that kept its secrets hidden. After a minute or two, they looked at one another and shrugged. Ernesto had anticipated this. Placing two fingers in his mouth, he produced a high, piercing whistle. Though he could not quite match the volume and the intensity of the Screaming Piha, the mimicry was uncanny.

Almost immediately, the amorous bird replied with a series of long blasts:
WOOOT!-wooooh! WOOOT!-wooooh! WOOOT!-wooooh!

“That’s amazing,” Auggie uttered in disbelief. “It actually answered you!”

Ernesto removed his binoculars and passed them to Auggie, who was standing beside him, eagerly awaiting a photo opportunity.

Auggie squinted through the eyepiece, adjusting the focus wheel until at last he spotted his quarry. The unassuming bird was small and plump, with a whitish underside and a spiky crest. It sat quietly for several seconds before its head jacked back and its beak opened wide to reveal the bright orange interior of its gullet.

WOOOT!-WOOOOOOOH!

“Hey, Auggie-dog,” Cooper said, “I think it likes you.”

Studying the bird for a few more seconds, Auggie passed the binoculars over to Cooper. Ben was busy filming, and Auggie wanted to capture a few stills, perhaps even record a short video clip of his own. The boys passed around the binoculars until they completed the circuit in Ernesto’s hands.

Ernesto raised them to take one last look at the Screaming Piha. “Is very nice bird,” Ernesto repeated. Lowering the binoculars, he surveyed each of the boys in turn. Their faces glistened in the gloom, and their clothes were wrinkled and stained dark with perspiration

Ben nodded appreciatively.

Auggie stepped up beside him. “A Screaming Piha, you said?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Cool,” Auggie said. “I’ll have to remember that for my journal.”

A short time later, Ernesto stopped on the trail and motioned for the three young men to gather around him.

“This tree,” he said, resting his hand upon a tall, gray sapling, “is for to make the raft. My father, he show me when I was boy.”

Auggie, his small eyes blazing with curiosity, walked over and rubbed his hand along the smooth bark. The solid reality of the tree seemed to ground him. It was the first thing he had dared to touch in the forest, and it somehow helped him to accept, without any sense of fear or apprehension, that the jungle was not his enemy. “What kind of tree is this?”

“Is called Balsa, this tree. Uh-huh.”

“How long would it take you to make the raft?”

“Mmm. If I can find this tree? A few hours, maybe.”

They stood amidst the massive tangle of the undergrowth, grinning at one another in honor of the moment. Ernesto nodded, secretly pleased by their enthusiasm. Without a word, he turned and continued down the path, and they followed him with newfound vigor.

It was Cooper who first spotted the unusual insects. Ernesto was showing them the empty shell of a Brazil nut when movement on the path ahead caught Cooper’s eye. At first he thought his mind was playing tricks on him because hundreds of wedge-shaped leaves were floating across the path, as though caught in an invisible current. It took him a moment before he realized a wide corridor of ants was manipulating the leaves.

“Check this out.”

The others gathered around.

Ernesto said, “These are Leafcutter Ants. You see—there?”

Through the trees, about ten yards from the path, was a thick stump. Denuded of its bark, the stump squatted above a wide hole that bristled with movement.

“Is that their nest?” asked Cooper.

“Uh-huh. They brings the leaves to the nest. For the food.” With his hand, Ernesto made the universal motion of bringing food to one’s mouth.

Ben’s eyes followed the corridor of ants. “There must be thousands of them. Do they bite?”

Ernesto shook his head.

“What about Bullet Ants?” This from Auggie, who was readying his camera. “I read that those things can be pretty nasty.”

Ernesto shrugged. “Mmm. Only if you bother the nest.”

“Bullet Ants?” Cooper asked incredulously.

“Largest ants in the world,” Auggie supplied. “Their bite is so painful they say it’s like getting shot by a bullet.”

“That’s fucked up,” Cooper breathed. “How the hell do you know all this shit?”

Auggie took this as a compliment and shrugged modestly.

Ben turned to Ernesto. “Have you ever been bitten by one?”

Ernesto shook his head again. “No, but is very painful.”

“What do you do if one gets on you?”

Ernesto shrugged. “I do like this.” He made a sweeping motion with his fingers, thus demonstrating how one calmly flicks an insect off the back of one’s hand.

Ben chuckled. “That’s it, huh?”

Auggie squatted down with his camera to take a close-up while the others waited patiently. When at last he stood, his face was glistening from the effort. “Does anyone have some extra water?”

Ben shrugged off his backpack and opened one of the compartments. The Nalgene bottle was still cool to the touch and beaded with moisture. Ben handed it to Auggie, who took several long swallows and handed it back to him. “You good?”

Auggie smiled wearily. “Yeah, thanks. Just a little dizzy, that’s all.”

Ben turned to Ernesto. “He gets dehydrated pretty quickly.”

“I just need to rest a minute…”

“Sometimes he faints,” Cooper added helpfully. “Just drops. Boom! Like that.”

Auggie fired him a sharp look. Then he lowered his head. “I haven’t done that in a long time…”

Ernesto nodded thoughtfully. “If want, we can rest here and then go back to the lodge.”

After a few seconds of deliberation, Auggie shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine. Let’s keep going.”

“You sure?” Ben’s brow was knitted with concern.

Auggie didn’t so much mind the heat or humidity, or the cramps that were forming in his hamstrings, or even the cloud of mosquitoes that were happily taking advantage of this forced inertia; no, what bothered him the most was that he, Auggie, was the weakest of the group, and that the others might pity him, perhaps even resent him for it.

You can do this
, he told himself.
Look how far you’ve come already.

Auggie nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. But I might need some more water in a bit.”

“No problem.” Ben was watching him steadily. “Whatever you need.”

An hour later they arrived at the scaffold tower, which rose high above the jungle floor and disappeared somewhere beyond the canopy.

“It looks like a giant Erector Set,” Auggie murmured, tilting his head back to follow the metal skeleton into the treetops.

Ernesto gripped one of the crossbars in his hand and tried to move it. “See?” he said. “Very strong. Very safe.”

Cooper had already started for the ladder when Ben cut in front of him.

“Race you to the top,” Ben said.

“Okay, let’s go!”

The tower rattled and groaned as the two boys scrambled for the top.

***

This must be what the world looked like before mankind came along and fucked it up
, Ben thought.

He was standing with his video camera on the canopy platform, and all around him was an undulating sea of green as far as the eye could see. Unspoiled and beautiful beyond description, the jungle was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Ben had never considered himself the crunchy type, but it saddened him to think that man had already destroyed countless places like this one, only to replace them with steel and glass and honking horns. Even more depressing was the revelation that, someday, this amazing place would be no more, forsaken by man in the name of progress.

A commotion beneath the platform drew his attention, and he turned the camera just in time to film Auggie’s safari hat as it appeared at the top of the ladder, followed by a forehead that glistened with sweat. Next came the familiar, deep-set eyes, now comically round with apprehension. Finally, the small mouth, lips pressed firmly together to form a straight line.

“What took you so long, Auggie-dog?” teased Cooper.

Auggie’s upper lip curled upward in consternation as he pulled himself up onto the platform and rolled onto his back with a dramatic grunt. For a moment, he lay on his back, grimacing at the sky. “Just give me a minute,” he said between breaths. After a few seconds, he rolled over onto his knees and forced himself to stand on trembling legs.

“It’s perfectly safe.” Cooper rocked back and forth on his feet and the platform rattled noisily. “See?”

Auggie spoke through his teeth. “Please—don’t—do that—again.”

Ben appeared by Cooper’s shoulder. “He looks like Bambi on ice.”

Cooper threw his head back and laughed at the sky. All round the tower, small birds exploded from the foliage, alarmed by the sound of these perceived predators.

Auggie gripped the railing with both hands. “You guys aren’t helping,” he said through gritted teeth. The familiar blush began to creep up from his neck and into his cheeks, a blotchy red the color of hives. “Do you see how far up we are?”

“Is okay,” Ernesto said, climbing up onto the platform with ease. “Have been many time and is very safe.”

Auggie nodded. He took a deep breath as he slowly released his death-grip on the railing. At last the majesty of the view stole over him. “This is—wow. I feel like I could just walk across the treetops,” he said dreamily.

Cooper raced to the other side of the platform. “Look at those trees,” he said, marveling at the towering height of the nearby trees. “They look like giant pieces of broccoli.”

“What are the tall ones over there?” Ben asked.

Ernesto nodded. “Those are Brazil nut trees I show you before. Very tall for to gather the sun.”

“That is so cool,” gushed Cooper.

Auggie carefully made his way sideways to the railing. The jungle was so vast; it was overwhelming. From this bird’s-eye point of view, he found it both enchanting and strangely ominous.

All around them, the jungle buzzed and clicked and screeched. Surrounded by the alien landscape, the three boys stood on the precipice of the tower platform, and now all the childhood fantasies came rushing back to them. They were explorers on the verge of discovering a brand-new world, scientists in search of new medicines to cure mankind’s greatest illnesses, heroes ready to plumb the ruins of lost civilizations for hidden treasures and forgotten knowledge. Each boy found it easy to imagine himself in the role of the hero, the clever explorer, the very fabric from which legends were born. Even Ben, who was normally so grounded, found himself being willingly swept away by these delusions of grandeur.

“We should get a picture of us,” he suggested. He wanted to remember this moment, this euphoric childlike feeling that anything was possible.

Making a quick adjustment to the setting dial, Auggie lifted the camera strap up and over his head. “Ernesto?” he said, holding up the camera, “would you mind taking a picture of the three of us with those trees in the background?”

Ernesto backed up a few feet and looked at the three boys on the screen. They stood shoulder to shoulder by the railing with Auggie in the middle, his safari hat slightly askew. Ben had his arms folded across his muscular chest, and Cooper was posing in an at-home way with both arms on the railing. With the sweat pouring down their faces and not a care in the world, they were the best of friends at that moment.

“Say ‘cha-eese.’”

The three boys readily obliged, and Ernesto took the shot.

After, they gathered round to look at the photo. Auggie had changed the camera’s setting, and the photograph had the weathered, grainy look of a bygone era.

“Cool,” breathed Cooper. “How did you get it to look like that?”

Ben rested an elbow on Auggie’s shoulder as he leaned in to see the viewing screen. “It looks like it’s a hundred years old.”

“It’s called sepia,” Auggie said helpfully.

It was a moment frozen in time: three healthy young men in the prime of their lives, each smiling in varying degrees, but smiling in that careless, easy way limited only to the young and the young at heart. In the background: the unknown world. A rippling sea of green that went on and on into oblivion—a mere suggestion of the mind-boggling 1.7 billion acres of tropical rainforest that stretched far beyond the horizon.

Five

Night fell like the guillotine.

It was nearing full dark by the time the three Americans and their Peruvian guide emerged from the trees, briny with sweat but still in high spirits. Yellow twinkling lights appeared in the darkness. Stepping out of the encroachments of the jungle, the illuminated lodge represented a familiar world, one of straight lines and geometric angles not found in nature; a manmade world the three boys associated with comfort, convenience, and safety.

The pulsating sounds of the jungle diminished as they crossed the yard, their headlamp beams pooling on the ground ahead of them. Now they could hear the steady thrum of a diesel generator, the clink of silverware, and the chatter of conversation punctuated by the occasional peal of laughter. By the time they reached the entrance, the boys could see the other guests milling about the bar and lounge areas while several Peruvians in matching collared shirts were busy setting tables.

Ernesto guided them back to the boot rack, which was now illuminated by two tiki torches.

“Do we eat soon?” asked Cooper.

“Mmm. In little while will be dinner.” With his accent, it sounded like
deener
.

Ben looked at his wristwatch. “Okay. Do we have time to shower and change?”

“Yes. About half-hour. When the dinner bell rings, is very busy. Is better to get there early.”

Ben pulled off a boot and put it on the rack. “Will we see you there?”

Ernesto nodded. “Yes. I will meet you at the table, uh-huh.”

Auggie was slipping on his hiking shoes. “Man, I can’t wait to take a shower.”

Ben shrugged off his backpack, rotating his shoulders to work out the knots. “That was awesome, Ernesto. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Yes?”

“Yes,” replied Cooper. “I can’t believe how many cool things we’ve seen already.”

A smile curled the corners of Ernesto’s small mouth. “We will see many more anee-mals. Much more of the anee-mals in the jungle, mmm-hmm.”

Ben’s face glowed with healthy color in the torchlight. “I can’t wait to see what’s next!”

Ernesto giggled; the sort of high, girlish
tee-hee
often associated with young children. There was a round of friendly, unregulated laughter as the three
turistas
joined in with their guide.

The interior of the lodge bustled with movement as the cooks prepared a buffet table and the guests flocked around the bar. A smaller crowd was gathered in the designated smoking area in the corner of the lounge while several others rocked lazily in the nearby hammocks. Glasses clinked; accented voices mingled with laughter around the bar; others drifted out from the bamboo kitchen, which also sat on stilts and was connected to the dining hall by a short walkway. A teenage girl slouched in an armchair, her freckled face illuminated by the laptop computer that rested on her knees.

Ben felt a stab of disappointment. Since leaving the ramshackle dock back in Puerto Malaka, he’d begun to think of them, all three, as great explorers on the fringes of some undiscovered territory, but the grand illusion was now shattered. It could not survive the presence of teenagers in their trendy clothing; the availability of creature comforts and modern technological wonders did not conform to the image of great explorers using little else but their skill and wit to survive the perils of a savage land.

As they cut through the lodge, they paused a moment to quench their thirst at the water tank.

“I don’t think I’ve ever drank so much water in my life,” Auggie said, panting.

“Me either,” said Cooper. “I can’t believe it’s still this hot out. It’s what—” He glanced at Ben’s wristwatch. “Practically seven?”

Ben held up his arm. “Quarter past.” He shrugged. “We’ll probably get used to it soon enough.” He led the way in his confident stride, backpack draped across one shoulder, admiring a few pretty faces that hovered round the bar.

Cooper was glancing about as though expecting to find someone he knew. His gray eyes finally stopped on a trio of girls, all of them blonde, sitting at the corner of the bar. They were laughing, taking pictures of each other while sipping brightly colored drinks from margarita glasses.

“How you doin’, ladies?” Cooper drawled.

The girls stopped what they were doing and smiled amiably.

Stealing a few backward glances, the three boys continued through the lodge and onto the walkway. With only two small lanterns stationed at the halfway point, the walkway was much darker than the interior of the lodge. Apparently, the generator’s power was limited to only the common areas.

“Holy shit,” Auggie said when they were a good distance away. “They were hot!”

Ben grinned at them both. “We’re coming back here after dinner. We’re going to get smashed, and we’re going to find those three blondes.”

Cooper chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”

They were nearing a remote part of the guest area, and it was now so dark that Auggie and Cooper were forced to turn on their headlamps. They scanned the room numbers, counting them off as they had done on their arrival. By now they were far enough away that they could no longer see the lights or hear the sounds of the main lodge. The nearby rooms were silent, apparently vacant, their occupants having gravitated toward the dining hall in anticipation of the dinner bell.

“It’s so different at night,” murmured Cooper.

“Spooky, isn’t it?” asked Auggie.
Spookier
was closer to the truth, though there was little need to elaborate. Ben and Cooper were already nodding in perfect understanding; yes, the jungle was
spookier
at night. They arrived at Room 10, now dimly lit by a single kerosene lantern that rested in a small alcove above the table. Dancing behind the lamp’s glass chimney, a tiny flame threw shadows that made the room appear to rock to and fro, like a ship at sea.

Ben tossed his backpack onto his bed. “I don’t know about you guys,” he said, “but I’m friggin’ starving. Let’s get our stuff so we can shower and get back to the dining hall.”

Auggie shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

Cooper shook his head. “What a day, huh?”

The shadows accentuated Ben’s dimples. “I’d say we’re off to a damn good start.”

In the sickly light, the three boys looked at one another and grinned.

“Okay, let’s go,” Cooper said. “I’m starving and I don’t want to be late for dinner.”

***

The dining hall was a chaotic affair, full of colorfully dressed tourists and the buzz of conversation. The boys scanned the crowd and found Ernesto waiting for them, as promised. He was sitting alone at an empty table, taking tiny sips from a glass of mango juice and watching the tourists go loudly about their business. Ben noticed that Ernesto was still wearing the same outfit, which was remarkably clean in spite of their afternoon hike. He wondered how it was that Ernesto never seemed to perspire, or become winded, or show the slightest discomfort in the humidity. Upon seeing the glowing complexions of the three freshly-scrubbed
turistas
, Ernesto lifted a hand and waved them over.

“You should eat,” he said, gesturing toward the line that was forming to one side of the buffet table.

“What about you?” Ben asked. “Did you already eat?”

Ernesto shook his head mournfully and sat down. “No tonight. Tonight is the lasagna.”

“You don’t like lasagna?”

Ernesto made a sour face. “Mmm. I don’t like-it the lasagna.”

“Okay, we’ll be back in a minute.”

“How can anybody not like lasagna?” Auggie asked as they joined the line. His eyebrows were knit in consternation; the very notion seemed to baffle him. Lasagna was delicious; didn’t everyone love lasagna?

Ben shrugged. Cooper was busy examining the buffet table and did not even hear the question.

The boys picked up their trays and plates and moved along the buffet table, scooping up hefty portions of the maligned lasagna. Soon they arrived at a container full of a lumpy, yellowish food.

“What’s that stuff?” asked Cooper.

One of the waiters happened to be standing nearby. He leaned forward and spoke in rapid-fire Spanish. “
Papa a la Huancaína.
”

Cooper blinked in surprise. “Papa a la, what?”

The man smiled and spoke again in perfect English, “Potatoes with sauce.”

Cooper nodded gratefully and scooped a healthy portion onto his plate.

Behind him, Auggie and Ben looked at one another in amusement.

Cooper looked back at them, grinning. “What?”

“Nothing,” Ben said, shaking his head a little. “Just keep going, man. You’re doing great.”

A few minutes later, they returned to the place where Ernesto was sitting, their plates laden with a variety of entrees and side dishes. The humidity and exertion of the hike had left the boys famished. They were silent for a few moments as they sampled their chosen dishes.

Ben looked over and saw Cooper taking delicate sips from a coffee cup. Ben gestured with his chin. “What are you drinking?”

Cooper swished the liquid around inside his mouth for a second or two before he finally swallowed it. Smacking his lips with a satisfied
Ahhhhh
, he looked at Ben, grinning. “Coca tea,” he said cheerfully.

Ben snorted. “You love that stuff.”

“Hell, yeah,” said Cooper. “It’s the balls.”

“Is very good,” chimed in Ernesto. “Is good for the—” He moved his hand in a circular motion around his midsection as he sought for the proper words.

“Good for your stomach,” Auggie said helpfully. “For altitude sickness.”

Ernesto nodded. “Mmm, yes. You have this drink before?”

Cooper was too busy chowing down, so Ben answered for him. “Yes, back in Cusco.”

“Mmm,” said Ernesto. “You stay in Cusco?”

“Yes,” Ben said. “We stayed in Cusco for about a week. Then we went to Machu Picchu for a couple days, and then back to Cusco for a few days more before we came here.”

Ernesto nodded. Ben had just outlined the typical tourist itinerary. “Did you like Cusco?”

“Yes,” replied Auggie, in an effort to join the conversation.

“Yes,” Ben said. “We liked it very much. But it’s not like here, you know?”

Ernesto nodded in perfect understanding. The city was not at all like the jungle.

“So,” started Ben, scooping a piece of lasagna onto his fork, “what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” said Ernesto, “we wake up early and go for a walk through the jungle before breakfast. Then we head to the research lodge.”

“So, we should probably pack everyth—”

A bright flash interrupted them. They turned their heads and saw Auggie with his head bowed over his camera. He had taken a photograph of his dinner and was studying the result on the playback screen. Sensing their eyes upon him, he looked up at them and shrugged.

“So,” Ben continued, “we should probably pack up everything tonight, right?”

Ernesto nodded. “Yesss. No too much time for the packing in the morning, uh-huh.”

Ben picked up his video camera. “Hey, do you mind if I film you for our movie?”

Ernesto shrugged noncommittally.

Ben turned on his camera and angled it toward at Ernesto. “And you said the research center is, what, about four more hours upriver?”

“Yes,” Ernesto said carefully, “but river is very low.”

“We’re going to be deep inside the rainforest, then?” Ben grinned behind the video camera. He seemed energized by this news.

Ernesto nodded thoughtfully. “Mmm, yes.”

Ben leaned across the table, using his elbows as a tripod. “So, tell us about the research lodge. What kind of animals will we see?” He recalled Ernesto’s fancy binoculars and added, “Will there be lots of birds there?”

Ernesto’s face lit up, instantly youthful. “Many kinds of birdess, uh-huh.”

Cooper glanced up from his plate. “Cool,” he said, still chewing. “Like the ones we saw today?”

“Uh-huh, and many different parrots and macaws.” He pronounced the word
mack-oz
. “They come to feed on the clay in the morning. Uh-huh. Lots of birdess all coming at once.”

Auggie smiled, remembering the documentary he’d watched about parrots and macaws eating clay: the minerals providing a vital but mysterious element of their diet. He vaguely remembered it had something to do with neutralizing the toxins acquired from other parts of their food.

“Are there any native tribes that we can visit?” asked Auggie.

Ernesto shook his head. “No. The big companies have taken the land for the construction, so now the tribes live another places. Many back in Puerto Malaka, for the jobs. To make money. For the families. Now the people, they try to stop the companies to protect the jungle and the animals, but is difficult to guard all the land, is so big.”

The kerosene light flickered across Ernesto’s face, and all at once his youthful vigor seemed to vanish. In its place was the life-worn face of a bitter old man.

There was a moment of quiet reflection. Ben shut off his video camera and respectfully placed it on the table. Cooper had been following the conversation while happily shoveling forkfuls of food into his mouth, and now he paused mid-chew. The fork clanged as he dropped it on his plate with a look of disgust. “That sucks.”

Ernesto bit his lip, nodding, and the boys found it difficult to look him in the eyes.

For the remainder of the dinner, the boys went out of their way to engage their guide in lighter conversation. What was the other lodge like? Would there be hiking opportunities? Was it possible to go fishing for piranha? Were they difficult to catch? The boys picked their plates clean as they listened to Ernesto’s slow, hypnotic voice. Shoving the final forkful of rice into his mouth, Cooper pushed his empty plate away, stood up from the table and stretched. He mumbled a vague explanation, something about going to the bathroom, and left.

He did not return.

“We should probably go find Coop,” Auggie suggested eventually. “He could be wandering around the jungle for all we know.”

“Right.”

“What time do we meet in the morning?” asked Auggie, getting up from the table.