Titanoboa (22 page)

He twisted around to fire, but several more of the serpents
lunged after him. He couldn’t hit them all, but maybe he could take one down with him. Just as he raised the rifle, a truck came roaring around the corner. It hit one of the serpents, and the animal swiveled on the ground, coiling up as a defense and capturing one of the other animals behind it.

Riki
drove right past Mark, who jumped onto the truck, his arms over the edge of the bed as he tossed the rifle in. In one final burst of strength, he hauled his legs up and rolled into the bed, collapsing onto his back. Behind him, the serpents had grouped together. They were shooting after the truck like missiles, coming in from every angle. One nearly got into the bed. Mark lifted his rifle and fired several times, hitting the serpent in the body until it pulled back.

The truck rumbled through the camp and to the road leading up to the city. Behind him, the serpents slow
ed then stopped. They had speed but not endurance. They didn’t have the stomach for a long fight. He crumpled backward, his eyes to the stars as the truck raced up the dirt path, kicking up clouds in the dark.

41

The closer they got to the city, the worse Mark felt, as though all the adrenaline was leaving his body and pain took over the vacancy. The bouncing of the truck wasn’t helping. He pounded on the back window and motioned for Riki to pull over. Once she had, he crawled out of the bed of the truck and staggered over to the passenger door. He got in and shut the door with a groan. He had never been more aware of his body than he was right now.

“You okay?” she said.

“No, definitely not. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop at the hospital.”

She leaned over suddenly and kissed him. It wasn’t erotic in any way, nothing sexual, just a small token of her affection. He wished he’d had the strength to kiss back.

She pulled away and drove again. Mark watched the passing jungle before them, dark and foreboding. He wondered what ancient people thought about it, whether it was a place haunted by demons or a source of a beauty and wonder. He didn’t know much about the original inhabitants of Fiji, but Kalou Island boasted one of the oldest civilizations in the world. They lived in unison with the jungle, taking only as much as they needed. They must’ve known about the snakes.
How could they not?
And again, he wondered if they were feared or worshipped. Perhaps both.

Mark closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, hoping he would be able to open his eyes again.

A calm, floating sensation overtook Mark. He saw himself as a young child of about seven or eight. He was playing at a house, but it didn’t appear like any house he remembered from his childhood. Perhaps somewhere buried so deep inside his mind that it was akin to forgetting it altogether. As he played, he hummed something, though he couldn’t tell what the tune was.

Mark’s eyes fluttered open.
The lights of the city were near. Relief as he’d never felt before washed over him. He lazily rolled his head to the side and watched Riki. Her face was stern, determined. She didn’t seem to want any distractions or conversations. She had one goal and focused completely on it. He could see her that way in every facet of her life. A pit bull’s determination once she’d decided on something. That must be why she came all the way out here, why she made up elaborate lies and risked her life and reputation exposing lies she deemed greater than her own. Mark decided that despite her lies and manipulations, at her center, she was a good person.

“The hospital’s not far,” she said. “If I remember right.”

They entered the city limits, and Mark felt like he could weep if he allowed himself, but he didn’t. It would add nothing and wouldn’t even be cathartic. Nothing would be, other than lying somewhere quiet for as long as humanly possible.

“Do you notice something off?”
Riki stared out her driver’s side window and the windshield.

Mark surveyed the buildings and cafés as they passed. Everything looked to be in order
, until he noticed there were no people. Not a single one.

The windows of
one of his favorite restaurants, a Nepalese place with posters of Mt. Everest on the walls, had been shattered. Food still sat on the tables, and a television was playing on the wall, but no one was inside. The streets were empty as well. Though very late at night, there should’ve been groups of drunken tourists trying to soak up as much of the city as they could before having to leave.

“Stop the truc
k and turn the engine off.”

“Why? The
hospital’s—”

“Now,
Riki.” The agitation in his voice surprised even him. “Please.”

She did as
he asked. She parked on the side of the road and turned the engine off. They sat in silence a moment before she said, “What?”

“Look.”

As though invisible shadows dotted everything within the city, the buildings began to shift, as did parts of the surface streets. Riki’s mouth opened, about to say something, but she changed her mind. Mark watched one particular portion of the street farther out, beyond some of the streetlights, that appeared to move. It advanced closer to the light, and he caught just a glimpse of the serpent as it slithered across the street and into another building.

Riki
swallowed and leaned back in the seat. “How is that even possible?”

“Craig was wrong.
We didn’t disturb them. They’ve declared war on us.”

Now that they knew what
to look for, they saw snakes everywhere. In doorways, crawling down from rooftops, in dark alleys, and wrapped tightly around themselves on the floors of shops. They had taken over the city.

“All those people…” she mumbled.

“There’s too many of them to kill all of them. They must’ve fled.”

“Where?”

Mark thought a moment. “The ocean. They probably took as many boats as they could and fled to one of the other islands.” He looked at her. “We need to do the same. There’s nothing here now.”

“How many of them do you think survived?”

“I don’t know. We can think about that later. We have to get off this island.” He peered out the windows again. “The truck’s too loud. We have to move quietly. Or we can gun it down to the docks and see if we can make it.”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ll be getting out of this truck for anything.”

He looked out the passenger side window into a café. It appeared clear, nothing inside. “This place has a backdoor that goes right to the hotel. We can lock ourselves up in a room there on one of the higher floors. Figure out what to do next.”

She shook her head. “I think we should just stay here.”

“I don’t know that much about snakes, but I’m guessing eventually they’ll figure out we’re here with those damn tongues of theirs. I’d rather be in a hotel with small hallways and only one window in the room.”

They were
quiet for a long time, watching the city before them writhing in the darkness.

“Okay,” she said.

“Come out on my side.” Mark, as slowly as possible, pulled the interior door handle. When the door loosened, he pushed it open inch by inch until there was enough room for him to get out. He slid off the seat and touched down lightly with his shoes. He held the door with one hand and with the other beckoned for Riki to follow. She hesitated at first then followed him out.

Once they were both outside, he pointed to their shoes. He slipped his off first
, and she did the same. They walked as silently as possible into the café.

The interior was airy and
lit well, belying the horror that must’ve happened here. Old drinks and plates of food littered the tables. Whatever had happened here occurred at least a day ago.

They
sneaked around to the kitchen, and it appeared empty. The chrome countertops glistened in the light.
The light
. The electricity—if the snakes had attacked the plant as well, they wouldn’t have it for much longer. The last place in the world Mark wanted to be was in the middle of a darkened city with those things.

They hurried past the kitchen, and Mark froze in his tracks.
Riki was about to say something, but he held his finger to his lips. Slowly, his gaze drifted to the other side of the kitchen. A thick, black snake curled up tightly near the oven. Not as large as the other ones, perhaps ten or fifteen feet total and the width of a basketball. A baby.

A
protrusion that looked like had swallowed a sack of bricks swelled the middle of the body. But through the thin translucent skin, Mark made out a hand and five digits pressing against the flesh of the snake, a motionless posture of the dead. The snake had eaten recently. But as Mark had seen, they would regurgitate their food in order to eat again. He didn’t understand why or care right now. All he cared about was getting past it without that thing moving.

“One step at a time, slowly. Don’t run,” he whispered.

They headed for the door. The tiled kitchen floor was cool through Mark’s socks, and he felt every crack and imperfection, as though the entire world became one large sensory experience of which he couldn’t ignore any part. He was acutely aware of the beads of sweat rolling down his back. Of the pain in his hips, back, and legs. The throbbing in his head that hadn’t gone away. Even his teeth had started to ache.

And as his
gaze locked with the monster in front of him, all of that went away.

The snake’s eyes were the size of tennis balls
, and they took him in passively. They displayed no emotion at all. Not even apathy. Just two black holes in the snake’s head that exhibited nothing. No personality, no soul, just an empty darkness that revealed nothing to the outside world.

Mark and
Riki had reached the door when the snake’s tongue flicked out for the first time. Immediately afterward, as though it had opened its eyes for the first time, the snake began to uncoil.

“Run!”

They slammed through the doors and into the pantry. Riki inadvertently crashed into a shelf of pots, pans, and dishes, several tumbling to the floor. The noise, forgotten immediately as a minor inconvenience under normal circumstances, was deafening.

T
he pure horror of it widened her eyes as she realized she would be attracting the attention of others. Mark grabbed her hand and pulled her away. They jumped through the back door. Mark didn’t look around, didn’t survey what was near him and what was not. He had the hotel in his sights, and he intended to focus only on that.

The façade of the hotel was normal, nothing out of the ordinary.
As though it were just another business day. Mark was all the way to the door before he heard the harsh hissing behind them, but he didn’t turn around. He opened the door, pushed Riki through, then followed, slamming it shut behind them. He held the door a moment, but nothing happened. He let go, and they raced through the lobby to the elevator. Mark hit the button going up then scanned the hallway. Nothing.

The elevator opened
, and they hurried on. They headed up to the eighth floor, as high as they could get. When the elevator doors opened, Mark poked his head out and looked down both sides of the hall. Empty. Several chairs and couches were arranged in front of the elevators. Without planning it, Mark collapsed onto one. Complete exhaustion was eating away at everything, even his thoughts.

“What’re we going to do?”
Riki asked.

“I don’t know. We just need somewhere safe that we can think for a minute.”

Riki sat down across from him. No sooner had she done so than they heard a thump from down the hallway. They stared at each other a moment, then Mark grudgingly stood up. He eased past the elevators to where he thought the noise had come from, a set of double doors marked MAINTENANCE and a knob. Mark touched the knob, feeling the smooth metal in his hand, then turned. It clicked open and unlocked. He took a deep breath and opened the door a crack.

A
t least ten people huddled as tightly as they could in the small space. They must’ve been in there for some time, with the single lightbulb turned off, because most of them were shielding their eyes, unused to anything but darkness.

Mark recognized one of them. It was the man he had interviewed about Stanley’s disappearance. Miguel something.

“You guys all right?” Mark asked.

Miguel rose
from the floor. “I remember you.”

Mark nodded. “Is there anyone else on this floor?”

“We don’t know. Those things attacked, and we jumped in here.” He swallowed. “We heard… terrible things. Screaming and crying.” He looked at the floor as though embarrassed. “But we couldn’t do anything. We just hid in here.”

“There was nothing you could’ve done. Right now, though, we need figure out a way to get off this island. Didn’t you say you had a boat?”

“Yeah, but it’s at the docks. We’d never make it with those things. You should’ve seen how fast they took over the city. It was like…”