The Jungle

Chapter 7: Macbeth

Later that night, back in the compound, Caroline lay trembling in the dark. It was cold in the room and she had a feeling that if there was light, she’d be able to see her breath. She held the comforter wrapped tightly about her body as huge tremors of cold and fear wracked her body.

She could hear the quiet breaths of Macbeth and her two other roommates, Juliet and Portia. It was odd to be in this room at night. She hardly ever slept without either Caesar or Hamlet by her side. The feeling of loneliness was so intense that she accidentally cried out softly out of cold, pain, and emptiness.

A light flicked on. “Caroline?” asked Macbeth’s soft voice. “Caroline, are you okay?”

“I’m f-f-f-f-fine,” Caroline said, teeth chattering.

The girl’s head peeked up above the bunk and looked her in the eye. “Crap,” she hissed. “Portia, Juliet, wake up. We have a problem.”

“What? What is it?” Caroline begged. There was fear in her voice because of the look Macbeth was giving her.

When Portia, a skinny brunette with large, almond-shaped eyes, looked into Caroline’s face, she gave a small squeal and shook her bunkmate, a middle-aged blond, awake. “We’ve got another case, Juliet,” she said urgently. “This one has the fever just like the last one.”

“The f-f-f-f-fever?” Caroline stuttered.

“Basically, we don’t know what causes it, but it can sometimes occur after prolonged exposure to radiation and is most often seen on this island. You see, what we think we know is that there’s some source of radiation on this island that flows from the center of the Earth. If you go out into the jungle too often, you have a chance of developing it. However, that’s just speculation. We really aren’t sure what causes it but we can treat it.”

“You can t-t-t-t-treat it? How?” she asked as the women helped her get down from her bunk and put her arms over their shoulders.

“Macbeth showed us how,” Portia answered.

Tears began to pour down Caroline’s face. “I’m so c-c-c-cold,” she stammered.

“No problem,” Juliet replied, pulling a hypodermic needle from a hidden compartment in the wood of her bed’s headboard. She pushed it into Caroline’s upper arm and pushed the plunger. Almost instantly, the room warmed up. But then, Caroline became aware of a dull, aching sensation in her major muscles.

“It hurts,” she said.

“Well, no medicine is without side effects,” Portia answered. “We need to get you to the fridge for treatment. You’re burning up.”

The three women helped Caroline down the perfect, white hallways to the wing that held all the labs. Once in the main biolab, they helped her into a wheelchair-she couldn’t stand on her own-and pushed her out a door and down a sloping ramp that went on for ages. By the time they stopped, Caroline could tell they were deep underground. It was cool and wet here, and the halls were no longer white. Instead, they were a damp, earthy brown. She reached out weakly to touch the walls as she wheeled by. They were made of packed earth; not something one would make a medical facility out of.

“Where are we really going?” she asked.

The women didn’t say anything. They just kept pushing her on in the dark. When they reached the end of the hallway, there was nothing but a flat, blank stretch of bare earth plugging the passageway. “Juliet?” Macbeth implored.

The blond walked up to the wall and shoved on it with her shoulder. It slowly creaked open and they pushed Caroline’s wheelchair inside. Portia closed it behind them. The room in front of Caroline was a huge, natural cave whose walls and floor had been made smooth. In fact, the only things that gave it away as a natural cave were the huge stalactites on the ceiling. They sparkled brightly in the light from huge floodlights attached to the cavern’s walls that lit it up. In front of Caroline was a huge natural table with three chairs around it. The fourth side, however, was empty of a chair. This was where Macbeth wheeled the wheelchair. “You’ve brought me here to talk about something,” Caroline guessed. “This definitely isn’t radiation sickness. You guys work with all kinds of drugs and weird jungle plants. No telling what you gave me.”