Cursed Jungle

 

            Theo dipped his paddle into the water as they headed down the river. He had a good feeling about this trip. The sun shone brightly, and the river was peaceful.

            Not bad for the cursed jungle, he thought idly. I don’t understand why people are so afraid to come here. He looked around at his team. His team consisted of seven men with Theo as the leader. They were spread across two large canoes. His men laughed and joked as they meandered along the river. The only one without a smile was Taki, a local whom they had persuaded to be their guide. His face was deadly serious, and his eyes were constantly moving, surveying everything around them.

            There’s nothing to worry about, Theo thought. From the way the locals went on about this river, Theo would have thought that they would have more trouble, but everything was still. He thought about the legendary cabin, where Taki was leading them.

            More than 100 years ago, there was a famous explorer, Tom Jones, that came into this jungle to seek a legendary treasure of the Takarites, an ancient indigenous group of people. The story went that Tom found the treasure, but he angered the ancient Gods by moving it. He made it to a cabin before they had to abandon their mission. No one knows exactly what happened to them, but Tom was the only man who made it out alive. He swore that their expedition had been plagued by evil demons and spirits. The ancient treasure was left in the old cabin in an effort to appease the Gods, but through a series of accidents, nearly everyone in their group had been killed.

            Of course, many would-be adventurers, treasure seekers, and archaeologists had tried to recover the treasure, but no one ever succeeded. Theo wasn’t worried by this, though. He had studied the ancient Takarite civilization thoroughly. He had finished several successful archeology expeditions around the area, and his survival skills were top notch. He trusted his team, and they trusted him in turn. They were going to find this treasure, no matter what.

            A cool breeze blew past the group as they entered a shaded section of the river. Theo looked up at the sky where the sun had gone behind some clouds that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. The talking and laughter stilled as the temperature dropped. The current of the river slowed so that they had to use their paddles to get anywhere.

            They rounded a bend in the river, and Taki yelled out in shock. Theo looked ahead and saw the problem. The river was blocked by a mass of fallen tree trunks and debris. The canoes were now floating in a fair-sized pond.

            Theo took stock of their surroundings and saw that they were in a natural bowl-shaped depression. With the river blocked, the water started to flow back and fill the surrounding area. So many trees and debris had fallen into the river that they couldn’t see where the river started again.

            Taki had everyone paddle to the shore of the small lake. The men grumbled a little because they knew that they would have to carry the canoes around this mess somehow.

            Reaching the shore, Theo hopped out to get a better look at the natural dam. There was enough bare ground for them to beach the canoes, but jungle grew thick around them. Theo groaned when he got closer to the mess of limbs and branches. This was not going to be easy to get around. He went over to talk to Taki.

            Their current predicament had noticeably shaken Taki. At first, he refused to continue to lead them, but Theo eventually persuaded him with a sizeable bonus. Machetes were taken out of packs, and they started trying to hack through the jungle. There weren’t any trails, so they had to make one for themselves. Theo wanted to bring the canoes with them, but that proved impossible.

            According to Taki, the cabin was about 20 miles from where they had left the river. That day, they were only able to cover two miles before they were forced to make camp.

            The men were tired as they cleared an area big enough to set up a few tents. Suddenly, one of the men gave a strangled cry. Theo looked towards him as he fell to the ground. “It’s a snake!” another man, Dale, shouted. “It got Corbyn on the leg!”

            Theo quickly got out the anti-venom kit from his pack and ran over to Corbyn. Corbyn thrashed, his face contorted in pain. “What kind of snake was it?” asked Theo, trying to remain calm.

            Dale pointed to where he had chopped the snake with his machete. It was the strangest snake Theo had ever seen. It was a violent purple color with neon orange diamonds along its back.

            Theo had researched the known wildlife in the area, and he didn’t know what this was. He hoped his anti-venom would work. He applied it to Corbyn’s bite, and Corbyn seemed to relax a little.

            They all continued to set up the camp, but were surprised to find more of the strange snakes. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, though Theo thought that would be impossible with their bright colored skin. Three more men were bitten by the creatures. Theo administered the anti-venom, worried now that he was going to run out of it.

            The next morning, the four men with snake bites were found dead in their tents. After some intense discussion, Theo convinced his remaining three men to continue to the cabin. Taki, however, flatly refused to lead them any further. Theo convinced him to return to the village with the dead while the remaining men continued to the treasure.

            Four men set out with their machetes. They hadn’t gone far when they ran into some more creatures that Theo wasn’t familiar with. They looked like some kind of monkey, but their fur was a bright green. Seemingly unafraid of the men, they ran among them, trying to steal their packs and equipment. They successfully made off with three of the men’s packs.

            The men now grumbled loudly as they continued their journey. The monkeys hadn’t been gentle. All the men bore bruises and scratches from the green creatures. Making camp that night, Theo knew that they wouldn’t be able to make it to the treasure. The men cheered when he told them that they would be heading back the next day.

            With most of their equipment now gone, they slept under the stars. In the morning, they awoke to a new problem. It seemed that the path they had cut yesterday had grown again overnight. It should have been easy to go back the way they came, but none of them were sure what direction that was.

            Eventually, they set off in the direction that most of them thought might be the right way. All day, they toiled through the dense jungle. By nightfall, it became evident that they were hopelessly lost.

            And, so it went. They came across more unique creatures as they desperately searched for the way out. Two men were killed by dark blue panthers, and another man died shortly after coming into contact with a strange yellow plant with orange spots.

            After three days of wandering in the jungle, Theo found himself at the natural dam where they had beached the canoes. One canoe was gone, so Theo figured that Taki must have gotten the others back okay. Theo was desperate to get out of the cursed jungle. He hurriedly pushed the canoe into the water and set off up the river by himself.

            Theo was nearly delirious with hunger and shock by the time he made it to the village three days later. No one wanted to help him when he tried to tell them what had happened. As soon as he mentioned that he had been in the cursed jungle, the locals ran away from him as if he had the plague. Eventually, Theo got himself back home.

            Everyone wanted to know what had happened to Theo and his team. Theo would try to explain, but no one believed his stories of neon snakes and green monkeys. Theo retired from archaeology soon after that. He never wanted to do anything that would anger the ancient Gods again. Once was more than enough.