“On your back.” Walt shook his head, his brows up real high. “A fucking beauty.”
“What’s on my back?” Ben suddenly felt some extra weight there — like a large soft hand. “What the hell is it? I can feel it.”
“A fucking spider bigger than your head.” Walt angled his gaze. “Wowee; that’s one big mother.” He pulled back. “It’s looking at me.”
Ben turned a little more, getting pissed off. “Get it off.”
“I ain’t grabbin’ that thing; looks dangerous.” Walt’s grin widened. “Besides; it might decide to run for it and head to higher ground, you know, up to your head and face.”
“You bastard.” Ben couldn’t help grinning himself. “I’ll get it myself.” He began to look for a stick or something to reach back and wipe it away. But when he bent lower, he felt the thing move. Suddenly, he felt the first if its bristly legs against the skin of his neck. Instead of the soft finger-like touch he expected, he felt the pinprick sharpness of tiny hooks.
He slowly straightened. “Little help here.”
“All right; will you hold still?” Walt retrieved the stick Ben had been reaching for. “Now don’t move a muscle, a-aaand…”
Ben gritted his teeth, waiting.
“Fore!”
Walt swung, connected, and suddenly the weight on his neck and back was gone. There was the sound of an impact out in the jungle, but then a mad scrambling.
“That’ll be ten bucks, buddy.” Walt’s grin was wider than ever. “Anything else I can help you with?”
Ben shook his head. “Put it on my tab. And while you’re at —”
The crack of a rifle made him flinch, and then spin to the noise.
CHAPTER 31
Emma took a cloth, dipped it into the stream, and then used it to wipe her greasy brow and neck. The humidity made it feel like they were in a warm bath, and she felt dog-tired.
Steve loitered near a tree, shotgun cradled in his arms. Jenny crouched by a pool in the stream and stared into it, captivated by some fish, bug, or other aquatic animal. And the creepy Janus Bellakov glanced at each of them, his dark eyes like windows on a dead soul. The guy gave her the creeps.
“These fish; I think they’re Arowana,” Jenny said, frowning down into the water.
“Yeah, I was going to say that.” Steve grinned.
Jenny looked up and chuckled for a moment before turning back and pointing. “But seriously, these guys have been around since the Jurassic.”
“Uh-hu.” Steve tilted his head. “More importantly, can we eat them? Raw is fine.”
Jenny bobbed her head. “Probably; but they’d barely be a mouthful. Especially for a mouth as big as…” She looked up again and the smile froze on her face.
Emma swung to look at her and saw the woman’s wide-eyed stare. Her eyes darted to where Jenny faced as she realised Jenny she wasn’t actually looking at Steve but at something above him.
Emma’s eyes moved upwards, following the scaly tree trunk, and further up into the paddle like fronds above him. Steve must have seen the expressions on their faces and began to look confused, and then fearful.
“What… what?”
Jenny began to make a tiny guttural noise in her throat, as no words would come. She lifted an arm to point.
In the canopy above Steve was the flicker of movement — a tongue, forked, and as thick as a man’s arm. It had come from a diamond-shaped head, easily four feet across, with two glass-like eyes. The monstrous muscular body, twined within the branches of the tree, but also disappeared further back into the dark jungle. The thing was enormous and easily longer than a bus, or even two buses!
From the corner of Emma’s eyes, she saw Bellakov, standing there, watching, but not making any move to help even though he had a rifle cradled in his arms.
Emma fumbled for her handgun as Steve finally looked upwards. The man reacted, first with alarm, and then by swinging the muzzle of the Mossberg shotgun up at the colossal snake hanging over him like an evil apparition.
Perhaps it was the movement, or the chemical signals of fear the man started to give off, but at that moment, the monster struck.
The V-shaped mouth sprung open, revealing hundreds of backward-curving teeth, each longer than Emma’s hands, as the head shot forward, striking hard and driving Steve to the ground with a whoosh of his breath. The shotgun discharged, blasting into the trees as the coils of the snake piled down on top of him.
Steve was gripped from shoulder to groin in the mouth, his face more shock than pain as he was then lifted from the ground, and the coils began to wrap around him.
Emma pointed her handgun, but her hand shook like she was receiving an electric shock. She knew if she pulled the trigger she’d more than likely hit her friend instead of the snake.
“Shoot it,” she screamed, but from the corner of her eye, she saw Bellakov ease back into the jungle a few steps, his gun up, but not aiming directly at the giant reptile.
Another shot rang out as Jenny stood, legs planted wide and two hands on her gun. She fired again, and this time must have hit the snake, as it jerked a bit and the massive knot of scaled muscle began to unravel. But instead of dropping its prize, it started to slide into the jungle, taking the now screaming man in its mouth with it.
“Hey!” Ben appeared with Koenig at his shoulder.
“Sn-nn-naaake.” Emma turned, pointing. “It, the snake, it’s got Steve.”
Ben ran past her, sprinting into the jungle, with Walt right at his shoulder. Both men fired their guns, but even as they flew past, Emma saw that the massive creature had already vanished, gliding and shooting through holes in the jungle the men couldn’t possibly follow. Horrifyingly, Steve’s agonized voice could still be heard, but growing fainter by the second.
Emma sat down hard, her hands on her knees and gun pointed at the ground. She burst into tears, feeling helpless and empty, and scared shitless. She wiped her eyes, and then after another few moments, another emotion boiled to the surface.
With her teeth grit, she turned to where Bellakov loitered. “What the fuck?” She stood and marched up the opposite bank towards him. “What’s the matter with you? Why didn’t you help?”
Bellakov’s eyes were half-lidded and unflinching as he stared back. “I might have hit him. Same reason you didn’t fire.”
“Bullshit,” she spat. “You’re a hunter; you could have taken a shot.” She bared her teeth at the man. “And that thing was over 50 feet long and as thick as a horse. You could have hit it anywhere. You’re supposed to be a crack shot.”
Bellakov inhaled, making his chest swell. His lips turned down as he looked over her head. “You misunderstand my position here, girlie. I’m not here as your fucking bodyguard. Best you remember that.” He lowered his eyes to her, and all she saw in them was contempt.
“You fu…” Emma glared, but bit her lip. He was right. The guy was an asshole, and probably been in on the Ben beat down in the UK. She had nothing to gain by thinking he was actually part of their team. “Fuck you.” She turned away and waded back across the stream to where Jenny still sat in a daze.
The woman smiled tightly, but her eyes were brimmed with tears. “It was probably tracking us the whole time.” She wiped at her nose. “I should have known when I encountered the first one — there’s obviously a breeding population here.” She looked up, real fear in her eyes. “We have no idea how many there are.”