Chapter Eleven–TOOTH AND FANG

 

 

The insects did not know it was the fifth day of the fateful countdown. Those active by day added their winged instrumentation to the sounds of life in the wild. Ari awoke to their song, looking at the shadowed shifting trees by dawn’s pink light. A day died; a day was born. The insects still conducted their many-legged orchestra.

Face was out of sight. Yu still slept soundly. Ari thought she looked uncomfortable wearing her headgear, like a queen of yore asleep in her gold spiked crown. The elegant device was far more powerful than any sovereign. Ari thought how much more powerful it could be. When amplified by a spacecraft or an anti-gravity bubble, it was one of the greatest forces known.

Chill hung in the air. Arius walked around the campsite to stretch his muscles. As soon as he was on his feet, he felt compelled to act. Deciding to look for Face, he walked until he neared a small stream. Something in his fertile spirit drew him to the wellspring. The water rushed past small rocks, plunking, swirling in intriguing rhythms. Listening to the playful, joyful sound, Ari considered how resonating showers had made washing with water obsolete ages ago.

He bent down and immersed his head, his long hair flowing out in the stream, a shimmering blond current. The cold water enlivened him. He flipped his head up, whipping the strands back, shaking it vigorously.

As he turned back to camp, he stopped short at the sight of a monstrous footprint in his path. Some creature had displaced nearly a cubic meter of mud.

Arius felt the heat of the monster’s breath on his neck before he heeded its roar. The ear-splitting screech made him jump blindly into the stream. He swam, pummeling the water madly, without daring a look back.

He was panting hard and elbow-crawling rapidly up the other side. He shot a fast look over his shoulder. A toothy crocodile head with a boney red horn on its snout grinned at him. The beast's head was nearly twenty meters off the ground. It swung idly from side to side, a terrifying pendulum.

The gray pebbly-skinned killing machine weighed at least ten tons. Ari darted wildly into the bush, glad to put the stream between them.

He heard it again right behind him. They’re amphibians! What difference does the stream make, fool? He's so big he can wade it!

A good athlete, with unbelievable genetically engineered prowess, Ari could run in long sustained bursts.Although he knew that he couldn’t outrun this doom, he had to try.

The flesh-eating beast was gaining. Arius dodged trees and underbrush. The monster plowed through, destroying everything in its way. Small trees crashed and splintered. The wailing animal's screeching cries echoed endlessly in the forest. Its bellowed wrath sent swallows skyward in an explosion of feathers.

Arius lost his slim lead when he had to take in gulping breaths. The ugly swinging head instantly appeared above him.

Arius realized his only hope was to reach Yu’s protection. In his blind run he lost track of camp. The deadly animal closed in tighter. The hot blast of its breath hit him.

Without thought, Ari turned in a wide arc. The monster stayed right behind him. As he ran, he remembered that the stream must flow to the sea and the sea was East. He glanced up at the morning sun, figured roughly where the stream was, and picked up his pace, buoyed by hope.

When he saw crushed foliage which the beast had trampled in front of him, he knew he was going in the right direction. Exhausted, he kept a few slim meters ahead of the gnashing jaws.

He felt more confident when the stream appeared. He plunged in. His flailing arms could barely carry him across. The beast gained on him.

He plunged headlong into jungle brush and fell flat on his face. Momentarily stunned, adrenalin pumping, he frantically tried to get up. A root grabbed his ankle.

The blast of heat down his back collided with the shiver that ran up it. He was afraid to turn. The monster's victory roar echoed across the jungle. Ari’s last thought was of Drom.