Crimson Coils

Chapter 1

Location: Sunderland Rainforest

—/—

A team of 10 men can be see gearing up at the edge of the rainforest. Having passed through
the village, locals pleading them to turn back now and to not anger the "beast".

"Beast my arse" A thick Australian accent pipes up. "Prolly just some fat ol' ape"

Chuckles reverberate from the rest of the men, safe for one.

The Australian (Xavier) rolls his eyes "Oi Malcolm, Lighten up mate will ya?"

No response, just a sharp glare and a huff as Malcolm turns away from the group and marches
straight into the rainforest.

"Or just walk into the rainforest with no plan. That works too!" Xavier yells exasperatedly as he scrambles to grab his electric baton and chase after Malcolm, the rest of the group sharp on his heels.

—/—

"We've been walking forever!" One of the men whines. "My feet are starting to hurt"

"Mile's if you don't shut up about your feet, I'm going to make that the least of your worries."

"Phil I didn't realise you were so kinky-" Xavier chimes in, playfully nudging his shoulder. It works to lighten the mood as most of the men laugh.

"Why don't we split up, surely it would make this whole mission quicker." Miles questions.

"Bad Idea" Malcolm immediately cuts in.

"I don't see the harm, all in favour of splitting up say aye." A chorus of 'aye's' follow Xavier's statement. "Sorry big man, seems like you're outnumbered" Xavier pats Malcolm on the shoulder and winks.

Malcolm roughly shoves his hand off and glowers at him "I warned you."

"Okie-dokie, that's not ominous at al', teams of 2 people quickly pair up. let's meet 'er in an hour, everyone keep your radios on and lets check in every 20 minutes." Xavier waves the pairs off as they begin to split of in every which direction. Spinning on his heel he comes face to face with Malcolm. "That leaves me 'nd you!" He smiles.

"F*@king fantastic" Malcolm sarcastically grunts.

Xavier's grin just grows.

—/—

Xavier and Malcolm wander aimlessly in search of the rest of their group after their radio check in's were no longer being answered following the groups 'smart' idea to split up.

"This is so stupid! There's nothing out here, all I see are trees, trees, trees and oh you'll never guess what? More TREES!" Xavier groans as he exasperatedly waves his arms about.

"Shut up"

"It speaks, you've not said a word for the past 40 minutes! What are we even looking for anyways? Bit difficult to find something when you won't even care to share what it is.''

"You'll know."

"Bit vague don't cha think. Why are you speaking in riddles?"

Malcolm once again doesn't even bother with a response.

Suddenly a violent scream echos close by, disturbingly close by. Both men perk up and cautiously begin to walk towards the sound.

Hacking through vines and overhanging leaves the men find a clearing, the forest now deathly silent. Cautiously walking into the clearing the first thing they spot are several bodies littered across the grass, their blood painting a vivid picture of what happened. 4 corpses decorate the clearing.
They approach the nearest body, one of Xavier's men (or what's left of him).

"I think I might be sick-" Xavier announces as gargling and attempted sputtering interrupts him from another body.
Xavier immediately rushes over to aid the man. "Phil?!" He grabs his shoulders and tries to hold the man up.

Malcolm crouches down next to Phil.

"What happened here." Malcolm urges.

"E-everything happened so fast. It came out of nowhere and jumped Miles; there was nothing we could do. He was gone i-in seconds!" Phil is in now in hysterics, muttering under his breath. "Then Zac and Ewan showed up, they tried to help him b-but, it was just too strong.."

"What was 'it'?" Xavier quietly questions Phil.

As Phil looks up to respond his eyes widen with fear and all he can do is weakly lift a shaky arm up to point a finger behind the men.

Malcolm and Xavier lock eyes as the rustling of leaves can be heard.