Sometimes you should trust your instincts...
~~~
The moon loomed overhead, bathing the massive expanse of the forest with its light. The scent of damp grass wafted through the air as fireflies sparkled in the darkness of the forest. Kuntal Mondal, the forest ranger, silently made his way through the forest, his eyes scanning the environment. In one part of the pines and firs, a small clearing could be seen. Within the clearing stood a bunch of weathered tents. They were marred with yellowish stains, while the bonfire beside the tents danced with the breeze.
Kuntal squinted after noticing that many things were scattered around the clearing, including clothes, sticks, beer cans and also, a solitary walkie talkie. He was frustrated with the whole thing. Not only had these people illegally camped in the forest but they had also left a mess. Kuntal took slow, calculated steps towards the walkie talkie, making sure he didn’t make a sound. He pocketed the walkie talkie, hoping that someone could reply from the other end. “Is anyone there?” he said through the device, eyeing the trees around him. He could have sworn that he saw something there. “I repeat, can anyone hear me?”
Suddenly, a Pit Pat echoed from the depths of the forest. Pulling out his handgun, Kuntal jerked himself towards the direction of the sound, expecting someone to lunge out of the depths. Sweat trickled from his forehead as he heard more Pit Pats in front of him. He gasped as a strange figure materialized from the distance.
The creature towered over Kuntal, its massive bulk casting a long, ominous shadow across the clearing. Its body was disproportionately large, with thick, muscular limbs that seemed capable of crushing anything in their path. It crawled on all fours, its limbs all twisted and contorted, while its slimy skin filled the air with a horrid stench. Its massive mouth opened, revealing many protruding, jagged teeth, ready to engulf Kuntal.
He wasted no time before firing his handgun, yelling loudly for help. The creature was taken aback by the gunshots that pierced its body, but it made no signs of retreat.
With no other choice, he took out a flare, lit it with blurring speed, and held it up, his hands trembling. The creature stopped momentarily, recognizing the heat of the flare, but it continued towards Kuntal with a deafening high-pitched scream. Kuntal took a few steps back before throwing the flare directly into the creature’s mouth.
In an instant, the creature’s screams filled the air as it scrambled helplessly all over the place. Kuntal gasped as he saw the belly slowly expanding. Kuntal did not want to experience the sight anymore. He wheeled himself around before running full-speed into the forest, not heeding the pain in his hips. He did not know where he was going but as long as he was out of that thing’s reach, it was alright.
As he ran through the forest, avoiding bumping into trees, he heard a deafening explosion from behind which was followed by sounds of many things dropping to the ground, each impact making a gross, slimy sound. Kuntal looked behind him and gagged, the creature had blown up into a thousand pieces, its slimy remains scattered throughout the ground, some even stuck on tree branches. More slime oozed out of the scattered pieces, filling the air with a stench akin to one of rotten eggs. “That thing exploded,” Kuntal said, grossed out by the whole ordeal. He was glad to be alive, for he had only heard stories of other rangers encountering the beast but he had never faced it himself.
Kalikan Forest was known for stories regarding strange creatures like whatever Kuntal had faced. But skeptics had never believed stuff like this, always countering the tales by questioning the absence of carcasses, photographic evidence, and successful expeditions meant to find these creatures. However, Kuntal knew better, as did the other rangers of the forest. They were well aware that these creatures were intelligent, capable of hiding themselves when necessary. The lack of photographic evidence was mainly due to the fact that no one survived encounters to take pictures, and even if they did, they never returned to share them. Furthermore, if these skeptics denied the existence of these creatures, then nothing could explain the cause of the many disappearances throughout the years. Still, Kuntal had only been here for a week, so encountering something like that put him off quite a bit.
Kuntal had run quite a long distance before he aligned himself with a trail, a mud path leading to a watch-tower in the distance. It loomed over the forest, casting a long shadow across it. This was Tower Moonshine, one of the three ranger towers in Kalikan forest and this one belonged to Kuntal.
He rushed to the watchtower, brushing the sweat off his face before starting to climb the spiraling staircase that led to the viewing deck of the tower. “I have to warn the others,” he thought as he raced through the stairs, his hips begging him to stop. “I should have never gone there alone.”
When he had finally reached the top of the tower, he took in deep breaths, trying to cleanse the memory of what had just happened, his heart pounding on his ribcage. He took a brief rest, letting his hip pain subside before he went into the interior, turning the doorknob with his sweaty palms.
The ceiling lights cast a glow over the room, illuminating it. A small bed was tucked away in one of the corners while a large table was placed on another side. On it lay a computer, a large radio and a coffee machine while many crumpled sheets of paper lay scattered on the floor, mingled with soda cans and water bottles. Kuntal booted up the radio, its static buzzing through the air. “Is anyone there? This is Tower Moonshine, come in,” he began with a shaky voice. “Is anyone there? I got bad news.”
“This is Ranger Tower Riverine. What is the problem, Kuntal?” replied a voice through the static. Kuntal let out a sigh, glad that someone had responded. “Mike, the camp I went to search, it was empty,” Kuntal said, recalling the strange sight. “And then, this happened”.
He proceeded to explain the whole encounter with the creature; even recalling the memory caused him to tremble. The other ranger calmly listened till he had finished.
“Are you sure that you have not lost your mind?” Mike said, his voice carrying the tone of worry rather than skepticism. Kuntal answered rather angrily, “No, and if you doubt me then I have wasted your time.” Kuntal was simply frustrated. He feared that nobody would believe him but he had to try.
“Look, I do not doubt you,” Mike said sadly. “I was simply concerned. Plus, we already knew that stuff like this roams around the forest. Now if what you say is true, then we have to warn Pralay. Did you bring any evidence of the fat boy? It will be harder to convince the Pralay without it considering that he’s new.”
“Fat boy? Mike, this is serious!” Kuntal said, his anger rising. “And no, I did not get any evidence. However, I did get a walkie talkie from the campsite.”
“Have you tried to get a reply from the other end?”
“I tried, but that’s when the ‘thing’ stepped in. Let me give it another shot. Hold on.”
Kuntal took out the walkie talkie and said, “If anyone can hear me, please reply! Come in, can anyone hear me?”
Shivers went down Kuntal’s spine as a shaky, gravelly voice came from the talkie, “Hello? Derek, are you there? What the hell happened?”
Kuntal hesitated for a moment before saying, “This is not Derek, we are the forest rangers. Tell us where you are, we saw your bonfire near the camp but no one was there.”
“Where is Derek? How do we get to the den?”
“Just tell us where you are. We will come and find you. And what is this den?”
“If we knew where we were, we would have got to the den already. Screw you, man. We are gonna try to get back to camp.”
“Wait, no! Don’t return to the camp!” Kuntal yelled desperately, but the connection was cut, leaving the room in silence except for the sound of the wind beating at the windows. “Well, that did not go well.”
Mike let out a audible sigh. “I’m gonna warn Pralay, Good night Kuntal.”
“Good night,” Kuntal said grimly, putting his hands over his forehead. He thought that he could have handled that conversation better. Fear crept over him as he retired to sleep. It had been a long day, and despite all of the things that had happened, he quickly broke into a deep slumber.
Dreams swirled in his mind; dreams of a strange creature, akin to the one he had seen before, with the only difference being that the creature was smaller. There were numerous of them, looking towards him curiously. Slowly, they closed in around him leaving him no chance for escape. He let out a scream as the creatures lunged at, tearing him into pieces. He scrambled around, before suddenly, he fell into the void.
Kuntal woke up, realizing that he had fallen onto the floor. His heart was beating at a intense speed while his brain was still processing the meaning of the nightmare. The sunlight crept in through the window, grasping Kuntal with his warm hand. Birds chirped noisily outside, mingled with the gentle rustle of leaves. The combined scent of grass and flowers filled his nostrils, immediately easing his heart. Nature was the only thing keeping him going in this strange forest.
The peace was short-lived however, as the radio started to beep. Kuntal rushed to turn it on, filling the air with static. “This is Ranger Tower Moonshine, what is it?” he said, waiting expectantly, but no answer came. “This is Ranger Tower Moonshine, come in.”
“This is Ranger Tower Riverine. Kuntal, what is it? You woke me up, man!”
“No, I did not broadcast the signal, Mike. Was it you, Pralay?”
No answer came. “Come in Ranger Tower Hillside, are you there? Pralay, are you there?” Kuntal said, once again receiving no answer. “If he does not pick up the radio, I will slap him when I see him next time.”
“He’s probably sleeping,” Mike said, laughing at Kuntal’s outburst. “Anyways, did you get anything else out of the walkie talkie?”
“I slept early yesterday,” Kuntal said, shivers going down his spine. He did not want to recall the dream again. “But who was broadcasting to the radio?”
“I dunno, it probably picked up some random frequency”
Before Kuntal could reply, a shaky and gravelly voice spoke through the radio. “We have found the den, Derek! We stole the ranger’s stuff and it was enough for supplies and Martin helped us with it. I hope you are hearing this, Derek. Please come to the den quickly, its just beside the river we discussed about in camp. I will leave you a map at this tower if you are lost.”
The connection cut off before anyone could reply, leaving Kuntal to be puzzled. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
There was a long pause. Kuntal did not like this at all. Not only were these people avoiding them, they had also apparently stolen supplies from rangers. Mike finally broke the silence and said, “We need to check on Pralay. They said something about stealing stuff from rangers. Meet me at Tower Hillside”.
* * *
Later that evening, Kuntal had reached Tower Hillside, which was a couple of miles away from his tower. There he met Mike, standing near the staircase leading to the viewing deck. He was looking up at the tower with a gun in his hand. Kuntal took out his own gun before looking up at the tower.
The tower’s light came through the windows, illuminating the surroundings slightly. A bone chilling mist raced through the air, making Kuntal shiver.
“Something isn’t right,” Mike said sniffing at the air. Kuntal had not realized it before but a horrid smell wafted through the air, resembling the stench of rotten eggs. “Come on, Kuntal. Stay behind me, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“No, I will lead,” Kuntal objected, but Mike had already started ascending up the stairs. With each step, Kuntal grew increasingly alarmed, tightening his grip on the gun. When they finally reached the viewing deck, Mike stopped Kuntal with his arm stretched out.
“Stay there,” he said before taking slow, deliberate steps towards the open door. Shivers went down Mike’s spine as he looked inside the room. The bed cover was torn apart, with cotton spilling from the pillows.Yellowish stains marred the walls, and the chair lay upturned, one of its legs broken. The tables, usually equipped with radios and a computer, were completely devoid of these things. However, a strange piece of paper lying on the floor caught his attention. “Kuntal! You might wanna see this!”
Kuntal gasped entered into the chaotic room and wanted to comment about it, but Mike stopped him and handed him the piece of paper. Kuntal furrowed his brows as he realized that it was a map of the forest, with a particular point near the river marked with a red dot.
“This must be the den that they were talking about,” said Kuntal, stroking his chin, but Mike was concerned about something else. Where was Pralay? Surely, he did not let himself be captured by whoever ravaged the place?
“Pralay must be in that den and so are the thieves,” he said to himself. “Should I really risk going there or just leave it to the authorities?”
“No Mike,” Kuntal replied, shaking his head. “Bringing the authorities into this mess means bringing questions to us. And we already know that they ain’t going to believe a single thing about my story.”
Mike let out a deep sigh before stepping out onto the viewing deck. Suddenly, a small creature, very similar to the one Kuntal had seen before popped out of the shadows, lunging at Mike with terrifying force.
Mike got knocked over, and he started to wrestle with the creature. “SHIT!” Kuntal cried, aiming his gun at the scrambling creature. It was too risky to shoot, he could hurt Mike. “Hold still, Mike!”
The creature enlarged its mouth, revealing the set of jagged teeth, slime oozing out of its body. Kuntal’s heart skipped a beat as he shot at the creature, hoping that it would not hurt Mike.
The bullet found its mark, piercing through the slimy body, yet it seemed relatively unfazed, only giving a glance towards Kuntal. But in that very instant, Mike used all his strength to lift the creature up and drop it onto the ground below. How he managed to lift it up, he did not know himself. It exploded into many pieces on impact, its slimy parts splattered all over the ground. Kuntal let out sigh, relieved to see Mike safe.
Mike snarled as he brushed off the oozy slime off his shirt. “This is a mess. How did it even get up here?” he said, eyeing the creature’s decrepit corpse
“Are you hurt?” Kuntal asked, not heeding Mike’s question.
“No, don’t worry about me, Kuntal. We have to find Pralay and see what these fools are up to. We need to investigate that den. It is our duty to save him.”
“No!” Kuntal said, raising his voice.”Mike, don’t you see how dangerous this is? It will be foolish to even try something like that. Let them be. I am going away from here. I will be giving my resignation tomorrow morning.”
“After all we have been through,” Mike began, clenching his jaw. “You decide to leave me here, alone?”
“Why? Are you not resigning too, Mike? Surely you understand how unsafe this is!”
“Yes,” Mike said, glaring at him. “I understand how dangerous this is. But it is our duty to save Pralay, we can’t just leave him out there!”
“We don’t even know if he’s alive, Mike!” Kuntal cried. He did not want to spend a day more in this forest after seeing all these attacks. “Let’s just leave, Mike. Do you remember when we signed up and the employer said that the last rangers only lasted a week? What’s to say that they met the same fate?”
There was a short pause. Mike stared at Kuntal, lowering his brows. “I will go to the den. That’s final.”
Kuntal shook his head slowly. “As your friend, I can’t leave you here. I will come, but if we can’t find Pralay, then we go back immediately.”
“Then let’s begin!” Mike said, starting to descend down the steps.
* * *
The moon was shrouded by dark clouds, thunder reverberating through the air. Small drops of rain showered on the forest, creating many puddles of water throughout the ground. The rain created constant ripples on the river flowing beside the forest while frogs croaked loudly, singing their song.
The rain splattered on Kuntal’s face, brought by the chilly wind. Mike was in front of him, scaling through the environment and getting his feet stuck in the muddy ground. “Damn the rain!” he cried loudly, receiving a angry ‘shush’ from Kuntal. As they got closer, they could see a small opening on the side of a large rock-face sticking out of the ground. Kuntal’s heart fastened its pace as he saw drops of slime dripping from the top of the opening. He wanted to turn back but kept going, lead by Mike’s undying fire of determination
Mike entered the cave, while Kuntal followed hesitantly. As soon as he stepped inside, his shoe got stuck in the slimy ooze splattered on the floor. He struggled to get it out, eventually leading him to leave the shoe and carry on barefooted. They cautiously moved past the slimy mess before they were greeted by the darkness. Mike took out his flashlight and the the beam of light further into the cave.
Mike narrowed his brows as he the flashlight revealed a long tunnel, with more slime stuck on the ceiling. They barely fit into the tunnel, making their way through it half bent. Kuntal felt the wall closing in on him, tight spaces were not kind to him. His breath felt labored while his ears seemed to catch strange Pit Pat noises mingled with the Drip Drop of water.
As they made their way, the tunnel got increasingly humid with sweat trickling from their faces, their shirts more wet from their sweat than the shower of rain they had been through before. “If Pralay is here,” Kuntal thought. “He won’t be alive”. He looked back at the way he came from and felt a pull towards it, yet he kept going. Suddenly Mike stopped, leading Kuntal to bump into him.
“What is it?” Kuntal whispered, his voice echoing through the air. “Why did you stop?”
Mike turned back, his eyes widened, he held out the badge of Pralay, the embossed copper gleaming under the flashlight’s influence. “He must be here somewhere,” whispered Mike, pocketing the badge. He proceeded to walk through the tunnel, but Kuntal was hesitant. Not only was the tunnel growing increasingly smaller, it was also getting hotter. Still, he went on.
After what felt like hours of stumbling, they finally reached the end. Little did they know that the opening would lead them to the most sinister place imaginable.
Mike swiftly crawled out of the opening, followed by Kuntal. Kuntal panted for a while. It had not been easy, crawling through that tunnel. But instead of inhaling fresh air, a horrid stench greeted him instead. Kuntal stumbled back as he saw what the flashlight illuminated. Dozens, no… hundreds of spherical blobs were clustered throughout the cavern. Slime hung on the ceiling in thin strands, their nets supporting more clustered blobs. Kuntal gasped as he noticed that the blobs housed tiny creatures which were a miniature version of the creatures they had encountered before. Mike simply stood there, frozen in place, with his hand covering his mouth.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a familiar voice said. Kuntal and Mike took a few steps back, noticing a young, blonde-haired lady, her voice was the one they heard from the walkie talkie. “So, Derek did not come. It was a shame, really.”
“Who are you?” Mike demanded, his hands near the gun strap. “And what is all of this?” added Kuntal.
“Oh, this?” she said casually, pointing to the clusters of blobs. “Why, they are eggs of course!”
“Eggs? You mean that this is the home to those damn creatures?” Kuntal said, feeling frustrated himself. “And what hand do you have behind all of this? Why did you come here?”
“I thought that was quite clear?” she said, her voice musically toned. “I wanted to visit Derek and all of his friends. So, I set out with a couple of my friends to visit him.”
“Who is Derek?”
“Well that is what saddens me,” she said, her smile turning into a frown. “You killed him. Blew him up with that flare, or at least that’s what his brothers say.”
Mike and Kuntal stood there, frozen in shock. The silence intensified, the sound of multiple splotchy footsteps reaching their ears. Kuntal’s breath caught in his throat as he saw numerous of the small creatures surround them, their fat, slimy bodies glistening under the flashlight’s influence while their teeth shone brightly.
“No….this can’t be,” Mike stuttered, looking at all of the creatures. “What have you done to Pralay?”
“Oh, Pralay? You mean the ranger? Well he was the payment for Derek’s death. Here he is!” The creatures brought out a twisted, contorted body with its organs exposed, blood spewing out of the body. The blood mingled with the slime, inflating strange blobs of slime, their cells interchanging with each other to form clusters of blobs. “One death gives the rise to many lives,” the lady said, smiling menacingly.
Kuntal gagged, feeling his heart drum intensely while Mike said, “I feel dizzy”. The creatures ran upto Mike, encircling him completely.. Mike was surrounded by the creatures, as they circled around him with great pace, slowly closing in. Mike was frozen in place only saying, “I feel sick.” Kuntal let out a horrified yell, as the creatures extended their jaws, tearing Mike apart in a thousand pieces. Hundreds of blobs sprouted out of Mike’s decrepit corpse as tears streamed down Kuntal’s cheek.
“This is where your story ends, ranger. You’re just a pawn in a much bigger game. I’ve been tending to these creatures for years, and they’ll only get stronger. Your role may be over, but you’ll still serve my purpose. You’ll help me spread these mutated creatures far and wide.”
Kuntal yelled desperately, as the creatures closed in upon him bringing him to his demise. And with his death, his story remained unfinished, with no echo of his memory remaining.
* * *
That was not everything. The lady collapsed onto the floor, her eyes widened. Hundreds of the tiny creatures tore out of her body, slime oozing out of her nostrils and ears. More creatures came out of Mike’s decrepit corpse. The creatures met in the middle with them rhythmically speaking in a high pitched voice. They spoke in their own language but I will tell you what they said.
“You have done well,” the group that came out of the lady’s body said to the other group that came out out of Mike’s body. “What was the ranger’s name again? Oh, right Mike. Yes, Mike did well, we controlled his mind just enough to bring the other ranger here. Anyways, once they hire the next ranger, make sure to settle yourselves on one of their minds.”
The other group eyed the lady’s corpse, “We really fooled them. A shame that Derek died before he got to us, but we have avenged him. Soon we will take over the forest, from there we will prosper.”
They proceeded to chant in a chorus, their voices echoing through the air.
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