DBTBW: Into the Jungle

There were four of us. I was the only woman in the group and I was there to support my boyfriend, who simply loved to explore. He and I rode together in one truck with an older man who was a professor trying to further his research. All three of us were led by a man in a second truck who knew the wilderness better than all three of us combined. Wilderness man was the largest of the men and sported red, untamed facial hair.

We followed wilderness man as he drove through a narrow path in the woods. It wasn't a paved road, but we trusted he knew where he was going. Others had tried the same path, so while it wasn't paved, it had been traveled before. Funds were apparently limited because aside from our phones, which didn't get any reception in the area, we only had a one-way monitor radio (like a baby monitor).

For the duration of the ride, the receiver was with us while the transmitter was with wilderness man. It got dark fast and we were driving even faster. I was behind the wheel. We couldn't see a thing anymore and surrounded by trees, I was afraid we would hit something, but wilderness man didn't show any signs of slowing.

The transmissions coming through the radio were disturbing. We couldn't tell what was happening on the other side, but we could hear the rustling and bumps indicative of this man's speeding through the woods. He was saying something, but we couldn't make it out through all the other noises. It was pitch black. I tried the lights on the truck and the high beams, but none of it worked. At best, the light reflected back at us, further blinding me from what might be ahead in the road.

Eventually, it was clear that wilderness man was too far for the radio to pick up his transmission. We'd last heard him yell something, as if at someone or something on the road other than us. I let up on the gas, afraid I would hit a tree or a ditch, or worse. As the truck slowed, I turned right instinctively and as we came to a near stop, I picked up speed again.

As fast as it had gotten dark, the light started coming through again and we could see the tree line again. While the men in the vehicle with me had expressed some doubt about my decision to make a turn in the dark, they now gave each other pleasantly surprised looks, as if I'd earned my place among them.

As it got brighter, we arrived at a swamp-like location and passed many parked trucks, not much unlike ours. The transmission started coming through again and we could hear wilderness man saying we made it to our destination. We saw him in the distance and I followed again until we made it to an old house in the woods where our exploration was set to begin, but not without first taking note of all the empty vehicles, the emptiness of the place in spite of that, and a single old woman dressed in a white gown walking around with the receiver side of a radio much like ours. She talked to the radio even though it had nothing to say in response and the men in the group seemed to pay her no mind. I was concerned, but feared losing my newly earned place among them if I said anything, so I pretended I didn't see her just like they did.

We got to the house and rested that night. The professor and wilderness man each got their own rooms while my boyfriend and I got a room together. In the morning, I slipped out early with a lame excuse and I won't tell you what I did because you'll find out soon enough.

By 10am, we'd had breakfast and were off exploring on foot. We didn't go very far, but we did run into the old woman again. No one said a word about her again, but my concern grew when I saw her in the same clothes and with the same demeanor as the night before. Something seemed different about the place, but aside from the time of day, I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Wilderness man went one way and we went another with the professor. We started with the area around the house. There were puddles of dark yellow-brownish water everywhere and we avoided them because we were far from civilization and this place had a bad rap for people disappearing.

We noticed there was a back part to the property that had largely succumbed to the elements. The roof was gone and it was mainly skeletal remains of the back of the building. I followed the professor in through an opening. He was following my boyfriend against my meek protests of concern.

We walked around to the front of the house where our rooms were and back. We split off in the house and that's when I noticed that water was seeping into the house through the back. The professor walked in to see the same and I asked him if we should be concerned. He agreed and we both went off to look for my boyfriend, who found himself in another room that was also slowly flooding, but he wouldn't respond when we called him. I walked to the back again and noticed a mosquito where we'd previously seen no sign of life other than the old woman.

I started complaining about how my boyfriend wasn't listening and we were going to meet our fate in this old building when the professor finally broke his silence and confronted me. He took me into the room where we'd left my boyfriend, which was now empty, and told me how maybe his change of demeanor had something to do with me sneaking out at 6am to have some fun with wilderness man. It was then that I noticed the receiver radio in the room. It was receiving transmission from the other end, which wilderness man still had with him. I was embarrassed.

My boyfriend came back in and we could hear wilderness man calling us outside. Boyfriend and I made quick eye contact and I knew a conversation awaited us if we ever made it out of here, but we wasted no time with that and found our way out. The room we'd entered through was now filled with water and we questioned the professor about whether we should even try to go through it. Professor lead the way through the same opening that had been our entrance and we took our chances with the dirty water. I told them about the mosquitos and the professor picked up his pace without saying anything.

We walked around the building and I yelled, "Ape!"

There was an ape/bear-like creature pounding its chest after the old woman we'd seen earlier. I shouldn't have yelled because at that moment, it turned towards us. I'd brought a gun along against boyfriend's advise. I probably should've brought bullets along too because after a couple of futile shots, I was out of amo.

The creature walked upright towards us with what looked like a smile on his face. It started picking up speed and when it was only a few feet away from us, we heard two shots. It froze in place, its smile slowly melting away before it fell. We looked over to the right and at the far end of the building was wilderness man with some kind of automatic weapon by his side and a huge smile on his face.

We collectively decided to get out of there before anything else happened and I woke up.