Living Legends

11) In the Jungle

There was a flurry of excitement on deck.  Passengers ooh’d and ahh’d at the magnificent island in front of them.  It was certainly larger than the previous isles, but this one also had a mysterious air about it.  The shimmering golden bay, fringed by white sand, tapered off into a lush jungle that swallowed up the rest of the island.  Hayley couldn’t make out anything else other than towering cliffs in the background.

            No sooner than The Queen Francis anchored, passengers were already cramming into the rowboats to go ashore.  Everyone was given directions not to wander off.  Hayley snorted.  Yeah, not like it’s the company’s problem if someone gets lost.  We all signed emergency waivers.

            Squinting against the glare of the sun, Hayley waited her turn in line until there was a vacant rowboat.  She squeezed in next to a tanned young couple and fingered her camera strap anxiously.  She watched The Queen Francis grow smaller and smaller while the island grew closer and closer.  Still, the only things she could make out were dense foliage and large cliffs.  The jungle looked especially dark and forbidding close-up.  Why did we come here? she wondered.

            Fortunately, her spirits brightened once she set foot on the sandy, white shore.  She blinked and looked at her surroundings like someone long accustomed to seeing deserted islands.  She realized, with a sudden hint of embarrassment, that though this island was bigger, it was just like all the rest.

            Hayley fell into her routine of sunbathing, taking pictures, and wading in the cool water.  A group of teenagers wandered near the jungle, but they were quickly called back by one of the crew members who patrolled the shore.  Hayley was so caught up in watching them that she didn’t see another group slinking into the jungle behind her.  At least, she didn’t until she heard a stifled cough.  She whirled around, surprised.  She thought she’d been sitting farther down the beach than anyone else.  She preferred solitude, after all.

            She narrowed her eyes.  There was no one there.  “Great,” she muttered.  “My mind’s playing tricks on me again.”  She remembered distinctly the times she had heard footsteps on the boat.  She was a little nervous about the idea of someone following her.  Was someone still trying to sneak up on her, even on an island in broad daylight?

            Hayley gasped and shot to her feet.  She got a glimpse of three—no, four—shadows moving through the dark foliage of the jungle.  So someone was out there.  And by the looks of things, it was probably that surly group of men.

            Hayley pulled on her shirt and shorts but left her towel.  She made sure her camera was on and ready in one hand.  I knew they were trouble.  A single picture can prove that once and for all.

            If the men were going for a bathroom break—which was a horribly disgusting thought—then Hayley was overreacting about nothing.  But if they were doing something dangerous, maybe even something illegal, then she was totally underestimating the situation.

            With one fleeting look over her shoulder, Hayley made her decision.  She broke out into a jog towards the foliage.  Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, her mind chanted, chastising herself for her rash decision.  Her cheeks flamed, but she pushed forward anyway.  Just one picture, she told herself.  She could alert the crew later.  The men would be too far away by the time she turned around, convinced the crew what she had seen, and got help.  The escapees would be long gone to who-knows-where doing who-knows-what by then.

            Hayley picked up her pace.  She wasn’t even breaking a sweat despite the thick, humid air.  The dense brush and jagged roots on the jungle floor forced her to slow down.  She swept her gaze from side to side, but the men were nowhere to be seen.  All she knew was that they had gone in this direction.  I think.

            She glanced over her shoulder and groaned.  Now the beach was no longer in sight either.  She had broken an occasional branch here and there to leave a trail for herself, but it was still scary to be left in the middle of a humid jungle on a deserted island.

            Snap.

            Or not-so-deserted island.

            Hayley’s eyes widened.  She jumped into a fighting stance, still holding her camera.  She waited for a few tense minutes, but she heard nothing else besides the buzzing of mosquitoes.  Not even the glimpse of a man’s shadow graced her vision.

            I’m officially crazy, she decided, rolling her eyes at her own impulsiveness.  Might as well go back to the beach before I get myself lost.

            Hayley let out a sigh and started walking.  Her senses were still on high alert, however.  It took all her willpower not to flinch when she heard something snap a few yards behind her.  Keep walking.  Her heart pounded like an incessant drumline.

            She closed her eyes.  On the count of three.  She ticked off the numbers in her head, then whirled around and broke out into another fighting stance.  Unlike her plan, however, it wasn’t her pursuer who had been caught off guard—it was herself.

            A face, half-hidden by one of the fronds of a dwarf palm, stared at her through the foliage.

            A human face.