The other contestants gasped.
“You know the rules! That’s grounds for immediate forfeit.”
“Man, fuck you and fuck the game! Have you seen tracks like these before?”
The cave smelled fetid. Shonette and Heather crept forward, past several branching tunnels. The two crewmen shuffled along behind.
“Can we leave now?” Heather whispered. “There’s nothing in here.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“I don’t know,” Heather replied, nudging her with an elbow. “Seriously, we need to get back. If you want to explore it more, we can come back tomorrow.”
“Maybe I’ll bring Antoine with us.”
“See,” Heather accused with a grin. “I knew you wanted this for a love nest!”
Their giggles echoed off the cavern walls—
—and continued after they’d stopped. A soft, dry laughter seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
The cameraman turned the light back the way they had come. “What the he—”
The throaty laughter turned into a brittle hiss.
There was someone behind them. Several someones.
The light flashed on something white and slick, with skin like the belly of a dead fish. A snouted, brown-haired face scowled, then opened its mouth and snarled.
The girls screamed, scrambling backward. The cameraman watched through the lens as a powerful hand swiped downward. He noted in amazed detachment the black, curved talons on each finger as they swung toward him, and then he knew no more.
The camera shattered against the stone floor. The light went out, plunging them into darkness.
The thing pounced.
“This has got to be part of the show,” Larry scoffed. “Think about it. They scare us and film our reactions. Makes for great drama back home.”
“That’s no special effect!” Troy pointed to the muddy print.
“So what,” Marcy exclaimed, “you think it’s Bigfoot?”
“I don’t know what the hell it is,” he admitted, “but I don’t like the looks of that footprint. Claws like that could rip us apart.”
A soft whimper escaped Becka’s throat. Jerry put his arm around her. “It’s okay.” He squeezed her waist. “Larry’s right. The whole thing is a hoax. This is just some new twist on the game. Anything for ratings.”
A savage, screaming howl answered him from deep within the jungle. “Then what the fuck was that?” Troy shouted.
“Look,” the lead cameraman said, all pretense of playing the game put aside. “Let’s all go back to the beach, find the other players, and I’ll radio back to the ship and see what they say.”
“Permission to speak?” Antoine asked him.
“Go ahead. The game is halted.”
“Can you radio the crew that went out with Heather and Shonette? I think we’d all feel better knowing they’re okay.”
“Sure,” he nodded, pulling the radio off his belt. “Team One, this is Three. Do you copy?”
There was a shrill burst of static, then a grunting sound.
His brow furrowed. “Team One, I didn’t get that. Say again.”
Heather’s scream ripped through the speaker, followed by a wet, slapping sound.
“OH GOD! OH GOD, IT HURTS! SOMEBODY HELP US! PLEASE HELP MEEE—” Her scream turned into a high, keening wail that cut off abruptly. This was followed by a barking growl.
The radio went dead.
Another howl erupted from the trees, followed by several more. Something crashed through the foliage toward them.
“Everybody back to the beach!” the lead cameraman screamed.
The branches parted and a massive, hairy creature lunged forth. It looked like a mutant ape; its body was covered in thick brown hair, except for the belly and chest, which were white and hairless. It was snouted like a pig, and the beady eyes looked all too human, flashing with malevolent intelligence. It sprang onto the lead cameraman’s back, and he collapsed under its weight.
Troy ran. Jerry seized Becka’s hand and pulled her along. The three remaining crewmen split up, equipment forgotten. One ran with the contestants. The other two held their ground.
“GO!” Antoine screamed, shoving Larry and Marcy, who stood frozen, watching the cameraman being torn asunder by one of the raving monsters. Its sharp claws shredded his clothes and flesh. The creature growled in wicked delight and pulled forth a gray, ropy prize from his abdomen. It began to eat.
The bushes rustled as five more sprang forth.
Larry shoved Marcy out of the way and dashed into the jungle. She fell to the ground, unmoving.
Antoine put himself between her and the advancing creatures, and drew his knife.
“C’mon, you ugly muthas!”
The first thing ignored his taunts, its snout buried deep inside its victim’s chest.
The others bore down upon them.
“Home Base, Home Base do you copy?”
Branches whipped at them as they fled.
“Where the fuck is the beach?” Troy shouted.
“Keep going straight,” Jerry panted, clinging to Becka’s hand.
“Home Base, this is Two. Answer me, god damn it!”
“Craig, what is your malfunction,” Roland’s voice chastised him. “You know better than to speak that wa—”
“With all due respect, Mr. Thompson, shut up! This island is hostile! Repeat, this island is hostile! We’ve got dead and injured and we need to evacuate! Meet us at the drop zone in ten minutes!”
“What do you—”
“NOW!”
A creature crashed out of the greenery directly in front of them. With a hideous roar, it swiped out with one clawed hand, catching the cameraman in the face. His cheek and scalp were flayed open, revealing his teeth and skull. Screaming, he dropped to the ground. The beast attacked, tearing and slashing.
Troy, Jerry and Becka ran, the sounds of pursuit getting closer.
Jerry ducked under a branch, pulling Becka along with him. He spied the beach, and farther out, the ship. The helicopter rose from the flight deck, floodlights burning in the darkness.
Becka caught the branch with her chin and winced in pain as it drew a red welt across her cheek. She ducked and it snapped back, knocking Troy’s hat off.
“My hat!”
“Forget about it,” Jerry urged. “They’re coming!”
Troy scrambled after his cap, just as one of the creatures jumped forward.
Antoine quickly felt for a pulse, relieved that Marcy was alive.
The monsters tore through them. They pounced upon the first cameraman, ripping his arms from their sockets with a wrench, and then used them to club the second.
Antoine charged the fifth one, thrusting upward with the knife. The blade sank into the slick flesh of its belly, and the beast grunted in surprise. Its foul breath blasted his face. Warm, sticky blood ran over his knuckles. He jerked the knife free and stabbed again, feeling the blade go deep. The creature shuddered, then collapsed. A long, pink tongue rolled out of its mouth, then it lay still.
The others stopped ravaging their kills, and glared at him with yellow eyes. Slowly, they circled him.
The biggest of the four moaned. Antoine glanced at its waist.
The creature was erect. Its penis, staggering in size and covered with rugged contours and bulging black veins, bobbed in the air.
Something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. A great weight pressed his shoulders down, crushing him. Black nails clenched his hair, yanking his head up. His shorts were torn away in one swipe. Talons pierced his skin, holding him down as something long and oily and hard pressed against his tightly clenched buttocks, and rammed between them.
Marcy woke to Antoine’s screams.
She watched helplessly as a beast raped Antoine from behind. Another drew its penis to his up-stretched face. She stared in disbelief as the creature thrust forward, plunging its member into Antoine’s eye. It grunted, shoved, and then sank it to the hilt as the membrane in his eye socket burst. Antoine jerked, arms flailing wildly, then lay still. Both creatures continued thrusting.