The Explorer's Quest

Blood on the Water

Johnny awoke on the shore of the river barefoot and coatless. Him and the others hung their coats on a nearby tree branch and laid their boots on a large rock they found, so that they could dry. They had rested all night after they had crawled out of the river. Luckily it had been just warm enough outside that they didn't die of hypothermia.

There was something abnormal about the tigers. Johnny had never seen a tiger that large in his entire life. In fact, it felt almost a bit supernatural for the tigers to be that big. All five of them were puzzled by this topic all night, but they never said a word about it to each other.

Hugo walked over to the tree branch and grabbed his coat. "You know, we should probably go back and retrieve our backpacks," he said, as he put his arms through the sleeves.

"Why would we need to go back?" asked Aryan. "We didn't bring anything important, did we?"

"The journal is in my backpack."

"Oh, right. Well I suppose we do need to go back then," said Grant.

Aryan got up off the ground and grabbed his coat off the branch, and then sat down on the big rock to put his boots on. "Well, what about the tigers?" he asked.

"We didn't have any trouble with them during the day, right? So I would suppose that maybe they are nocturnal," said Johnny.

"Just because they didn't attack us during the day does not mean that they are nocturnal! We almost died last night and if Johnny had not thrown the torch we would probably be dead. It's far more risky to go back than it should be," stated Aryan.

"And what about continuing further? Whether they're awake or not, we still need to go back. We cannot venture any further than the Scorpion Temple without that journal!" argued Grant. "Do you still want your share of the gold?"

Aryan hesitated. Reluctantly, he said, "Yes."

Johnny felt the need to end this argument before it got worse and quietly said to Grant, "Hey, you know, let's just leave him. We won't have to deal with his annoying ass anymore, and we'll each get a bigger share in the gold." Grant nodded, agreeing with him.

Aryan overheard, and got offended, but instead of saying something rude back he decided to add an extra detail to the picture. "You forgot. You all need me to find the Scorpion Temple. I'm just as important as the map."

It was Vanessa's turn to step into the argument. "How hard can it be? You really haven't helped us out all that much, have you now? I'm sure if we just stay on the path we'll eventually get to it."

"If you leave me out of this expedition, you're never finding the Scorpion Temple!" Aryan was not only being oblivious to the fact that he wasn't needed, he was also being stubborn and persistent to get his way.

Johnny, now incredibly irritated with Aryan, shouts, "Fine! We are going back to get our things, and you are not coming with us! We can find the Scorpion Temple without you!"

Aryan threw a small rock at Johnny. Now he really crossed the line. It was a mistake, because Johnny bent down and grabbed a larger rock. He threw it at Aryan, hitting his arm and bruising it. Aryan grabbed the same rock to throw back at Johnny but was stopped by Vanessa before he could. He dropped the rock with the look of a toddler who just got told 'no'. Almost immediately afterwards, though, 

"If we stand here and fight all morning, we'll never get anywhere! Now all those who are going back to retrieve our backpacks come with me now!"

Johnny and Aryan stopped arguing and followed Vanessa across the river. The river was not too deep, only about five feet and it was thirty feet across the whole thing.

As they were walking through the river, Johnny felt as though something were moving through the water. There was a creature, which none of them knew about, swimming through the river. It would not make itself known at that moment, but after the group returns from their camp with their things it will reveal itself to them.

The walk back to the camp was shorter than Johnny had expected it to be, taking about a half hour of walking distance. No one said a single word to each other for the entire walk, the ambience of the jungle being the only sounds they heard.

When they had reached their camp, they found nothing to have been touched. It seems that the tigers did not disturb any of the items that had been left out for the night. Even the package of Luckies had not been moved.

Johnny grabbed his backpack and the others grabbed theirs, each checking that they had everything, and then Johnny said to Aryan, "Lead the way."

Aryan led them through the forest slowly. He would stop every now and then to check a specific tree that which he carved a directional marker pointing in the direction he would go next.

They came to a tree that had a marker pointing to cross the bridge that had once been there. "We should throw our backpacks to the other side before crossing the river so that our backpacks don't get wet," said Aryan. He immediately took off his backpack and thrust it over the river. The others did the same, and then they walked through the river.

It is at this moment that the crocodile lurking beneath the still waters of the long river revealed itself to the men. It rose up out of the river and attempted to bite Hugo but missed as Hugo ran straight out of the water and was the first to touch the shoreline.

Johnny and Grant made it out of the water safely, but Aryan was not as lucky. Right before he reached the shore, he was dragged into the water. He struggled to escape, but the gharial's grip on Aryan's leg was too strong.

Aryan screamed in terror, while Johnny watched as Aryan's leg was being ripped and torn. "Help me! Heeeeee-yyyyelp me!" The surrounding water begun to turn bright red. The two wrestled into an aggressive bundle. Johnny could hear the crocodile's heavy breathing over Aryan's screams and wails.

"What are we doing! We need to help him! We can't just stand here and watch him die!" shouted Hugo.

Johnny grabbed the large rock he had thrown at Aryan earlier and threw it at the crocodile. It crushed the croc's eye, but it didn't stop it Johnny turned to Grant and Hugo and said, "Use your revolvers!"

Grant pulled out his and loaded it. Vanessa did the same. Hugo, however, just stared at his revolver blankly and tossed it to Johnny. Johnny loaded the revolver and fired a bullet at the gharial. Aryan was trying to beat the gharial with a stick. Hugo threw stones at it.

Finally the large reptile let go of Aryan's leg, and Johnny, Hugo and Grant scrambled to pull him out of the water. When Aryan was fully onto the shore, they all realized that the creature had not let go of Aryan. Aryan's leg was gone. It was in the stomach of the gharial, which had disappeared under the blood-stained river.

Grant, being a doctor, knew exactly what to do. He pulled bandages and gauze out of his backpack, and wrapped Aryan's leg as quickly as he could. Aryan moaned loudly. His lower leg was completely missing, nothing but a small part of his bone was left.

Aryan grabbed the area where his left shin should've been and began to shout, "My leg! It's gone!" Blood was slowly leaking out of his wounds, like water leaking out of a hole in the bottom of a jar. He leaned back and screamed in agonizing pain.

Johnny and Hugo helped Aryan stand up. "Aryan, will you lead us to the Scorpion Temple as soon as possible? The faster we finish our objective, the faster we can get help," Hugo said. "Those bandages won't hold the bleeding forever."

Aryan was exhausted. He had lost significant amounts of blood and nearly escaped death to a giant crocodile. "Go up there," he said drearily, pointing up a steep hill to a high, tree-less area above the shore.

They climbed the steep hill, struggling not to drop Aryan because he was surprisingly heavier than he looked. The patch of land was not large, only about twelve feet in diameter, but it overlooked one important thing. The group was standing not too far from the Temple of the Tigers.