Deadly Passion, an Epiphany (9 page)

They came to a verdant green veld. Jonas shaded his eyes against the sudden bright sunlight. The veld stretched quite far, so far that the mountains in the distance looked miniature. They were beautiful. So green, they looked as if they were covered with emerald colored velvet. “How about we cross this and then take a break?” he called to the men behind him.

“I’ve got the feeling we’re never going to find civilization, whether it be human or alien,” Tom grumbled. “And if we don’t head back to the river, we’ll end up spending the night out here. It looks endless. Let’s be honest, this place is weird. We haven’t heard a sound, seen nothing in the sky resembling a plane or a helicopter and no animals in that jungle.”

“I vote we continue,” Jonas said. The other men agreed.

The grass was quite tall so with seven men walking through it, they left a clear trail as their feet flattened it. They’d walked for about two hours judging by the sun when they suddenly came to a halt to gaze down a steep cliff. At the bottom of it were a sandy beach and a calm blue lake. Shading their eyes they gazed at the far shores but saw nothing, no houses, buildings, or boats.

“Maybe this is a better place for us to camp. What do you think?” Jonas asked, turning to the men.

“Man, we need to get back to civilization. We’re not on vacation, for God’s sake,” Richard said.

“Let’s sit for a bit and talk about our situation,” Jonas said. He sat on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling. The men followed his example. “Let’s be realistic. Judging by what we’ve seen, we’re not on Earth. Nothing here resembles anything at home, not even the Amazon.”

“So if we were transported here by aliens, where the hell are they?” Tom said.

“I don’t know. I’ve never believed in UFO’s and aliens, but I’m starting to wonder now. If we were kidnapped by some alien species, surely they wouldn’t just dump us here and abandon us completely?” Jonas frowned, his mind fighting with the thought of the possibility.

Sirus nodded. “I’ve pretty much accepted that we’re on some alien planet.”

Gordon and Bill nodded. Gary and William still looked doubtful. “I don’t know,” William said. “Such an alien race would be more technologically advanced than Earth. Surely there’d be cities? Settlements of some kind?”

“I’m wondering the same thing myself,” Gary said.

Gordon put in his two cents. “Maybe they don’t want us in their cities. Maybe they had a reason for dumping us in the middle of nowhere. As far as I can see, there are no signs of any structures. We’d be hiking for days. We have no boat to get across the lake so we’d have to hike around it and then cross those mountains.”

“We can always build a raft,” Gary suggested.

“And carry tree trunks across that veld? And how do you propose to cut down trees for that? Did you have an axe on you at the club?” Jonas laughed at the thought of anyone going to a nightclub for a night out carrying an axe. “We’ve got nothing except some pocketknives and a jackknife.”

“True,” Sirus said. “I second that we camp by the lake, though we need to find out if there are any fish in it. We need to survive.”

“I’ll climb down,” Tom said. “I’m into climbing. Do it all the time.”

“It’s quite steep,” Jonas warned. “And it looks as if cliffs like this surround the lake, at least for most of it. Too far to see the other side. It will be quite a task to get everyone down the cliff. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. Also, the jungle is a couple of hours across the veld. It would take us half a day to go and get nuts and fruit.”

“We can make nets from those vines we saw in the jungle. Put a net on two poles and we can carry quite a load,” Gordon said.

“Good idea. I suggest two of us head back to the river to guide the other people. We’ll head back to the jungle to get vines so we can make ropes to lower people that can’t climb. Gordon and Sirus, why don’t you head back to the river. Cut vines and find some strong branches to make the nets and poles to put them on. When you come back, make sure everyone picks fruit and nuts to last us for a few days,” Jonas told them.

“What about the other scouting group?” Sirus asked.

“Hopefully, they’ll be back at the river when you get there.”

“They went a different direction. What if they found civilization?”

“Then you come back and tell us.” Jonas sighed. He felt as if the world’s responsibilities had been heaped on his shoulders. He’d never been a leader, had never had ambitions to be in such a position. For some odd reason the people had automatically chosen him to be in charge. “You’ll make faster time going back.”

“It took us most of the day to get here. We can’t make it back tonight,” Gordon said.

“That’s okay. We’ll camp here for the night. If you leave at daybreak, you should be back at the river by lunchtime. You’ll make faster time going back because we didn’t hurry coming here.”

“What if the other group isn’t back tonight?”

“Damn, I don’t know. I guess someone will have to stay at the river to wait for them,” Jonas said, impatience lacing his words.

They headed back to the jungle, this time walking much faster. When they got there, Jonas started cutting vines while the other men looked for suitable branches for poles and Tom knotted the vines into a net. He made two nets with loops on the long sides that they pushed the branches through. Next they gathered large leaves for night cover, fruit and nuts before heading back to the cliffs.

Disappearing companions
…

Cassie and Georgia hurried to join the two men that emerged from the jungle. “Where’s Jonas? Where are the others?” Cassie worriedly asked.

“They’re fine. We found a large lake with beautiful beaches. Jonas asked us to fetch everyone and lead you back there,” Sirus said. “Has the other scouting group returned?”

“Not yet. How far is it?” Georgia said.

“It took us until about two in the afternoon. At least, that’s the time I estimated. But we didn’t walk all that fast and we had to cut through quite a few thick foliage spots. It’s too late to go now. It’ll get dark soon, by the look of the sun. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning,” Gordon told them.

“Does the lake have fish in it?” Cassie asked.

“Yes. We made sure of that first,” Sirus said.

Cassie sighed. “If you haven’t found any sign of civilization, how do we ever find out where we are? How can we survive? We have no clothes, nothing.”

“I don’t know. More important, how did we get here in the first place? That’s what I’d like to know.”

Gordon nodded. “Yeah. After traipsing through that jungle, we’re pretty much convinced that we’re not on Earth. I saw stuff I’ve only ever seen on TV, Star Trek and scifi movies. Ah, there’s Russell and his team. Russell, what did you find? Anything? Where’s the rest of your team?”

Cassie noticed the somber expression on the men’s faces. “What’s wrong?”

“We found diddly squat. Two of our men were killed,” Russell said.

“Killed? How? Wild animals? Aliens?”

“Lightning. It was unbelievable. A clear blue sky and suddenly lightning came from nowhere. Burned both of them to a crisp. We covered their bodies with leaves and were going to bury them when we returned. When we got back to that spot, they were gone.”

Sirus shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t need any more convincing that we’re on alien territory.”

“Some of us women went looking for fruit. Marlene, one of the women, was plucked up by nothing. There wasn’t a thing above her. She just hung there, suspended in midair. Suddenly she was gone. We haven’t told anyone. I don’t want a panicked crowd on our hands.”

“People will ask questions. They know how many men were in the two scouting groups. We’re going to have to tell them. I suggest we get everyone’s names and do a headcount.” Sirus raised his voice and shouted, “Everyone, quiet for a minute please.” He waited for the people to stop talking. “Come and gather together here! I’d like everyone to stand. If you arrived here as a couple, please stand together. We need to do a headcount.”

“I’d like to know what you found out there,” a young woman yelled.

“Let’s do a count first and get everyone’s names. It’ll take a while to remember everyone, but since it looks like we’re stuck here for a while, we need to become familiar with each other. Does anyone have a pen? Some kind of paper?”

Cassie chuckled. “Look at everyone’s torn and tattered clothing. I doubt anyone brought their purse or notebooks.”

No one spoke up. Some men and women stood next to each other, indicating they were together. “Cassie, you count the women and I’ll count the men.”

When they were finished, they had counted forty-five men and thirty-three women, including the four men that had stayed at the lake. One by one they yelled out their name. Several of the couples were husband and wife, and some of them were engaged. There wasn’t a person there over fifty.

“Sit down everyone.” Sirus waited until they all sat. “Altogether there are seventy-eight of us. We’ve found a huge lake just beyond a large grassy veld. Its beaches are pristine and there’s plenty of fish in the lake. We didn’t see any sign of civilization of any kind, no buildings, no boats. What we did see was a lot of foreign flora, and with foreign, I mean alien. We found a lot of fruit and nuts, again, nothing like we know. Between us, we’ve decided we’re not on Earth.”

An older man jumped up. “Bullshit. I don’t believe in that kind of nonsense!”

“Neither did I, but there is no other explanation for the alien fruits, the alien flora, and also, we’re not safe. Two of the men from the second scouting party were killed and one woman has disappeared,” Sirus said.

Cassie put in her two cents. “She disappeared like a puff of mist. Gone in seconds.”

“Something must have done it. Yanked her into the trees or something,” a woman shouted.

“Then how do you explain lightning zapping down from a clear blue sky and incinerating two men in seconds? If we move to the lake, we’ll have a clear view over the veld. We can see anything coming for miles from all sides. We’ll be better off there,” Sirus said. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning after we’ve eaten.”

Cassie was glad Georgia had stayed with her that evening and slept close by, though Cassie noticed Georgia was as restless as she was. Who could help having nightmares, reliving the horror of the explosion and fire at the club, and worrying about loved ones and friends that weren’t among the survivors. Every now and again, she got up to throw more wood on the fire. Its flames and crackling were comforting, though she still heard the rustling in the jungle.

Dawn was about to break and the sky was slowly becoming lighter. Cassie had lain awake for quite a while thinking about Jonas, then found her thoughts drifting off to the abortion she’d had and the baby that could have been. What would the baby have looked like? She, a redhead and Jonas so very black—it made for an interesting combination. Shrubs at the edge of the jungle rustled. Startled, Cassie leaned on her elbow and peered at the jungle’s edge. The little girl stood there again, the doll dangling from her hand, this time she wore a pretty yellow dress.

“Georgia, Georgia, wake up,” Cassie whispered.

Georgia sat up in a second. “Girl, you scared me. What’s wrong? It’s not light yet. I feel like I’ve only slept five minutes,” she whispered back.

“Look at the jungle. Do you see that little girl?”

“What little girl? Cassie, you’ve been dreaming.”

Cassie rubbed her eyes. When she removed her hands, the little girl was gone. “I guess so. She seemed so real.”

“Well, it’s almost light. I need to go pee.” Georgia stood and headed for the shelter of the jungle.

“Wait. Don’t go in there by yourself,” Cassie said, and ran after her.

“I’m not afraid,” Georgia said. “I’m lost without my Harry and my family anyway, so if those alien critters get me, I don’t care.”

“I care. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Megan would never forgive me.” Cassie needed to go urgently herself so she quickly squatted and relieved herself.

“We don’t know if Harry and Megan survived the blast,” Georgia said wistfully while appearing from behind the bushes.

“We did, somehow. Maybe the aliens abducted everyone and stuck us all in different locations.” She watched a spark of hope light up Georgia’s eyes. Cassie stood and joined Georgia. She studied her for a moment and saw the pain mirrored in her eyes. Still beautiful for her age, she was an older version of Megan. Cassie hugged Georgia briefly. “And maybe they weren’t abducted and are still safe on Earth.”

“You truly believe we were taken by aliens?”

“It’s the only plausible explanation.”

“Do you think they caused the explosion?”

“I wish I had answers for you. Maybe they did, to create panic to divert attention away from what they were actually there for.”

“If it’s true, they put us in a nice, tropical place, but why kill some of us?”

“If this is an alien planet, it could have a strange phenomenon that doesn’t agree with humans. I thought a lot about it during the night. What I don’t understand—why dump us here with no supplies, no shelter, nothing?”

“I hear voices. People are waking up. We’d better go back. We’ll be leaving for the lake as soon as everyone has had some fish and fruit,” Georgia said.

The guilty one
…

Azim ran his hands over his body. Where had the bomb gone? It had been strapped around his stomach, hidden by his shirt and dinner jacket. It should have gone off. He remembered triggering it clearly. Yet here he stood, in one piece, and the explosives had disappeared from his body. Yet his clothing was tattered, hung in shreds. Where was Izzy? They’d been dancing when he’d triggered the bomb.

A moment of regret attacked him. He’d really fallen in love with Izzy, much to his mother’s chagrin. His mother wanted him to marry a girl from his own country. Izzy— Isabella, really—was second generation Italian and a devout catholic. Their religions clashed, their ethnic background so different, but it didn’t matter to her or to him.