Authors: Jack Challis
Dublin sees Chevez and Maria; he watches the couple approach. It is only when Maria is closer that she recognises Dublin, the man who would have killed her husband in cold blood at their first meeting.
‘Top of the morning to you – how she cutting?’ smiles the Irishman between clenched teeth – you are supposed to be dead, Chevez!’
‘Señor, how can we help you?’ Maria asks, looking at the SAS trooper’s horrendous wounds.
Dublin nods towards the bottle of Jack Daniels lying a few feet away.
‘Señor!’ exclaims Maria, ‘you have a stomach wound – you should not drink alcohol!’
Chevez realises the Irishman is dying and grants his last wish, holding the bottle to the SAS soldier’s lips. Dublin gulps the fiery liquid – all three then watch the liquor spill through Dublin’s open stomach wounds. The Irishman grimaces as the strong alcohol burns his mangled innards.
‘What can we do for you, Señor?’ repeats Maria.
‘Give me one of your home-made bullets in the head now – Jesus, the pain is getting worse – and make sure this time the shot does not misfire!’ Dublin demands, looking straight at Chevez. Chevez acknowledges Dublin’s request with a nod.
Dublin fumbles in his pocket, brings out his rosary and mumbles the Hail Mary. A distant, peaceful look comes over the Irishman’s bloody face. He hears a faint sad lilt of Irish pipes and the soft laughter of women; he turns to look for them – when a home-made bullet from Chevez’s rifle smashes into his head, shattering the Irishman’s nostalgic and last distant memories! Dublin slumps forward. Chevez and Maria cross themselves.
The spirit of the Irish exile had now returned to the green fields of Wexford in the beautiful Emerald Isle, where he could only return to in spirit.
Chevez and Maria remain silent for a moment, each with their own thoughts. Chevez breaks the silence.
‘Maria, we must go - other soldiers will come soon to this place.’
Maria does not answer but picks up an entrenching tool and hands it to Chevez.
‘First, bury him,’ she orders. ‘He has given us a chance of a new life and kept his word – the Madonna is waiting to greet his soul!’
Chevez does not argue: he knows his wife – that’s why he married her. There is also a possibility Chevez has a sneaking admiration for the Irishman.
Chevez places his rifle in a handy position and starts to dig. While Chevez is busy, Maria collects all the scattered US equipment that may prove useful in their future life deep in the isolation of Brazil’s Matto Grosso.
Maria fills kit-bags with medical supplies and food. She also finds valuable cartridges for her shotgun.
When both have finished their respective tasks, they drag the heavy body of Frank Dublin into the shallow grave, and bury him. They place heavy stones on top to stop wild animals from digging up the body. Chevez finds Dublin’s Pit-bull revolver, with spare ammunition, and gives it to Maria. The couple leave, heavily laden.
Jack Lacy is in good heart, totally unaware of his fortuitous escape from the man-eater and the bushmaster! To the young rookie SAS trooper, the jungle is not such a frightening place. After all he has spent the night alone, unarmed and has survived. He has not yet seen a single E-type spider and, wrongly, considers himself jungle-hardened.
The young SAS trooper is good at one thing – navigation – and he works out he will reach the Rio Negro River the following day. From then on it will be simple. Lacy fills his water bottle at every opportunity and always makes sure that he has a full canteen before retiring at night. He still has two days’ rations left. Nevertheless he still has one fear; crossing the Rio Negro. He knows the dangers of a crossing a river alone. Apart from crocodiles (caimen are less dangerous) there are piranha, anacondas and the little fish that love to swim up the ‘one-eyed trouser-snake’. Lacy does not fancy that at all, besides, he has no condoms left. He will have to protect his genitals with one hand – as the indians do. However this will not be easy while swimming!
Keeping to course, Lacy works out he is fifteen kilometres from the river; he begins to look for a place to spend the night. The young SAS trooper looks for another strangler fig, similar to the one that gave him safe shelter the night before.
Twenty-six kilometres away, Chevez and Maria are moving through the jungle but in the opposite direction to Lacy. They are heading deeper east into the wilderness to build a new home and a new life. Suddenly Maria stops and puts down all she is carrying! Chevez quickly does the same to free his arms; he rams a shell into the breech of his old Mauser.
‘What is it, Maria?’ Chevez asks urgently, looking around for the potential danger. Maria does not answer but places her finger to her lips.
‘Be quite, Chevez,’ Maria replies, standing perfectly still and looking all around, her senses on full alert! Chevez is a little confused but remains on guard. ‘Maria,’ whispers Chevez, ‘what’s the matter? – I see nothing – where shall I look?’
Maria sniffs the air. ‘Be calm, Chevez – we are not in danger. I can sense my people – they are here – watching!’
Chevez relaxes; he has learnt to trust his wife’s judgment. Maria begins to look around, as if playing some game with her tribe, the Kier Verde – the Invisible People. Her eyes then settle on a patch of jungle, her smile turns to a grin. Chevez follows his wife’s gaze.
‘I can still see nothing!’ says Chevez.
‘Chevez,’ answers Maria, ‘I have taught you all I know – and you still know nothing. Just half-close your eyes and look through the leaves.’ Chevez squints and stares hard, then… ‘Ah, now I see – the Invisible People – but how did you know, cara mia?’ Chevez asks.
‘I sense them first – I feel their presence and then I smell the River Orchid – my people use it on their bodies – only we Kier Verde are sensitive to the orchid’s fragrance.’
Groups of warriors appear from the jungle, lowering their masks. With the warriors are Rondo and Apari.
‘Why are you here?’ asks Maria, her eyes searching the group for her sister, Tapia, and her child, who are not present. ‘Why are you not protecting our village? Where is Tapia and my child?’
‘We sent the women and children with the other warriors deep into the jungle,’ replies Rondo. Tapia and your child are safe, Maria. We must find out what the soldiers want and which way they are going. Yuma is watching them and will be here soon – to report.’
‘Where are you going, Chevez?’ Rondo asks.
‘We are going deeper into the jungle to build a new home in the land of the Kier Verde – I must protect Maria and the child from the Cat-people.’
‘What about the soldiers?’ Rondo asks.
‘The soldiers will not bother us anymore!’ Maria answers. ‘We must now worry about the Cat-people who are still in our land. We must drive them back across the Japari River.’
‘What has happened to Manus Xingue?’ Chevez asks.
‘We captured Manus Xingue,’ answers Apari. ‘He was behind you and Maria on the track this morning – ready to kill you!’
‘Gracias, amigos – did you kill him?’ Chevez asks.
‘No,’ answers Apari, ‘we gave him the sleeping death poison. We were taking him to the Rio Xingue to kill him in the river, to let his blood and spirit return to his own land.’
Chevez shakes his head in disbelief, his small bullet-eyes flashing. ‘You have to kill a man like Manus Xingue whenever you get the chance – he is only flesh and blood, his spirit cannot harm you.’
‘Maybe the soldiers killed him.’ Rondo adds.
Yuma returns and hears the conversation. ‘No, the soldiers did not kill Manus Xingue – they thought he was dead and left him on the track. The heavy rain helped him to recover and he got away – I saw him leave but I could not kill him – the soldiers were so close.’
‘Chevez!’ Maria exclaims, ‘the jaguar that walks on two legs I saw last night was Manus Xingue!’ Chevez is exasperated at the Kier Verde’s superstition.
‘Look, amigos – I will prove to you that Manus Xingue is just a man – not a jaguar spirit. The man-eater and Manus Xingue are two different beings.’
The Kier Verde indians and the newly converted Maria are not convinced.
‘The Bible says that man has a spirit soul,’ argues Maria. ‘Manus Xingue’s spirit soul is the jaguar who walks on two legs, and eats man-meat!’
‘Look,’ answers Chevez, not wanting to get involved in a religious debate with his wife, ‘I will prove to you Manus Xingue is only flesh and blood.’ Chevez turns to Yuma. ‘Which way did he go?’
‘Manus Xingue went west,’ Yuma answers.
‘West?’ repeats Chevez surprised.
‘Yes,’ answers Yuma, ‘he followed one of the white soldiers that ran away from the Americans – one of the soldiers that followed us – the one with yellow hair!’
‘Did the soldier with the yellow hair have a gun?’ Chevez asks.
‘No,’ answers Yuma, ‘the Americanos took his gun away!’
‘Manus Xingue must be killed,’ announces Maria. ‘He has come to our land to capture me!’
‘Yes,’ adds Apari, ‘and his tribe, the Cat-people, have followed his trail here.’
‘I will have to kill Manus Xingue,’ says Chevez. ‘He knows the secret crossing now!’
If Manus Xingue is not killed,’ adds Rondo ‘the Cat-people will keep coming to our land – I will come with you, Chevez, and help you kill the cat-spirit.’
‘No!’ Chevez replies, ‘all the warriors will be needed here to fight the jaguars that walk on two legs – who are just men dressed in the skins of jaguars – nothing else. I will go after Manus Xingue – look after Maria.’
‘No!’ Maria shouts. ‘Manus Xingue will kill you – your gun will not save you – he is too clever for you in the jungle.’
‘You have a child to look after!’ Chevez protests.
‘I also need the child to have a father, and me a husband,’ answers Maria. ‘We both go now – just take what we need. Manus Xingue has a good lead but he is in our land now. I will use trails only we Kier Verde know – maybe we can save the life of the young soldier with yellow hair – he saved your life twice, Chevez!’
Chevez does not argue. He helps Maria distribute what they had salvaged at the crash site to the Kier Verde, only filling their shoulder bags with essentials for their pursuit of Manus Xingue. The Kier Verde watch the couple leave; then disappear, merging back into the jungle foliage.
About two hours before darkness, Jack Lacy finds what he is looking for – another strangler fig. However, Lady Luck is not smiling on him this time; Jack Lacy’s choice of shelter is unfortunate and will endanger his life during the night! On this occasion, the parasitic fig has already done its work. The host tree has collapsed under the weight and the constriction of the creeping tendrils of the fig. This only leaves a fifteen-foot hollow trunk to which the strangler fig still clings. Lacy climbs as far up as possible, to about ten feet and makes himself comfortable.
The young SAS misfit adjusts the branches of the strangler fig and soon conceals himself from the jungle floor. He considers himself relatively safe from ground predators; just one small thing bothers him. A strange pungent smell rising from the depths of the hollow tree-trunk! Jack Lacy is not to know that the unpleasant smell coming from the hollow trunk signifies a danger to his life!
Even before Jack Lacy has finished his first roll-up, there are excited stirrings deep within the dark hollow tree-trunk, caused by his arrival. Stirrings and high pitched squeaks beyond the young SAS trooper’s hearing range! If he manages to survive the night, he will bitterly regret his choice of sleeping quarters the next morning – for any man with intimate knowledge of the jungle would not choose this night’s lodgings.
Jack Lacy is tired and, just before the light fades, he looks at the money again. After a light snack from his rations, he falls asleep. Waiting for the last rays of light to fade, the creatures within the depths of the hollow tree-trunk begin to leave their shelter - stealthily crawling upwards with ungainly movements! They will not have to travel far this night – to seek the only sustenance they can digest - warm blood!
Jack Lacy has unwittingly stumbled upon a coven of blood-sucking vampires. The bats carefully stalk their victim, seeking out the exposed and vulnerable flesh. Delicate sensors in their snouts detect where the most productive veins are. Razor-sharp fangs slice into Lacy’s exposed flesh and open veins as expertly as any surgeon’s scalpel! An anaesthetic anti-coagulant is introduced to the wound at the same time. Lacy feels no pain and, as he continues to dream of his newfound wealth, his blood flows – eagerly lapped by the thirsty bats. The coven of vampires feasts by the light of a waxy moon!
After losing sight of Lacy, the man-eater follows his nose in a westerly direction. The big cat has to eat soon – six days have passed since it has tasted blood and flesh. Although human meat is the most desirable, any meat will have to do now. By instinct and coincidence, the man-eater also heads in a westerly direction - for the Rio Negro River!
With luck, washed-up carrion may be found on the river’s sandy banks, for the man-eater is not above scavenging. Maybe even a live human could show up to collect turtle eggs – he has killed humans there before! Reaching the river, the man-eater searches the bank fruitlessly; there is no carrion, turtles or egg collectors to be found. The burning sun soon forces the big cat to take shelter under a small tree; there it waits as only a cat can wait. Something will turn up soon – and it does, the very next day – Jack Lacy!
The next morning; predawn, Lacy awakes earlier than usual; his dreams that night have been disturbed! It is still semi-dark; he feels hot and sticky, very thirsty and unusually weak. Feeling around his body, at first he thinks he has sweated like a pig during the night – or pissed himself! ‘Fuck me!’ he swears, ‘and I haven’t even had a skin-full.’
It is only during the false dawn that Lacy discovers, with shock – his body is covered in his own blood! A slight movement on the brim of the hollow tree catches his eye – one of the night feasters has been a little late leaving the table.
Lacy watches the bat crawl back into the darkness, its muzzle covered in his blood.