Honeybee

Chapter 8

The sun’s rays shone through the trees in solid columns of light as Jason and Natalie reached the spot where the hikers had reported the sighting. The undergrowth had been trampled and the soil had been disturbed but there was no sign of wild animals. In fact, there was no sign of anything that could have flattened the undergrowth. Jason shivered again, something wasn’t right but he didn’t know what. The forest was too quiet, it had never been like this and still that feeling of being watched was eating into his soul.

‘I don’t like this one bit’ He finally said, pulling himself back to reality ‘Why is it so quiet?’

‘Do you think something scared the wildlife away?’ Natalie said.

‘I have no idea. I’ve never known anything like this before.’

Moving on, they continued to search the immediate area. It was the same all around, some trampled parts, some undisturbed parts, but all of it silent. They walked further into the forest, their eyes scanning every inch of ground in front of them.

‘I think I’ve got something’ Natalie said excitedly.

Jason sprinted over to her and followed her gaze. He couldn’t see it at first, the blood blended with the dark soil, but then it became apparent. A fox lay on its back, its skin open and its insides sprawled across the ground.

‘What are we dealing with?’ Natalie asked.

‘I have no idea’ Jason said as he reached into his bag for the tranquiliser darts and loaded his rifle.

They moved on. Slowly. Treading softly so as not to disturb whatever was in the forest. They became aware of an unpleasant smell in the summer air, the smell of rotting flesh. And then they saw the carcasses of dead birds scattering the ground all around them, all in a severe state of decomposition.

‘What the hell happened here?’ said Jason.

A sound echoed through the forest before Natalie could reply. A growl or a screech, it was hard to tell. It was unexpected and momentarily numbed them both.

‘Ok, new question. What the hell was that?’ Jason said as he checked his rifle for the second time.

Again, before Natalie could answer, the screech thundered through the forest. It wasn’t like any animal either of them had heard before, it was almost human.

‘Could be kids messing around’ Natalie finally managed to say.

‘Why would kids kill a fox and over a hundred birds?’ Jason replied ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

‘Well, whatever it is, we need to stop it before it kills anything else’ said Natalie.

Heading in the direction the sound came from, they came across more dead birds and the occasional dead rodent. The sound happened again, this time louder. They were getting closer. Jason signalled Natalie to stop, with the palm of his hand. He could hear a faint rustling of leaves ahead of them but couldn’t see anything. They watched, waiting patiently for any sign of the animal in front of them.

A shadow passed behind the trees.

‘Did you see tha...’ Natalie said, but was cut off.

‘Shhhh’ Jason said as he aimed the tranquiliser gun.

The shadow appeared again followed by the screech. It was hard to see at first but as Jason looked down the sights of his rifle he could see the shape of a figure, perfectly camouflaged in the woodland. The eyes were clearly visible. And then he could see the face, its mouth open as though ready to screech again.

‘It looks human’ he said in surprise.

He moved closer to get a better look. He had to be sure, he couldn’t shoot a tranquiliser at a human, he’d be fired and sued for every penny he had. Its shape was that of a human but either there had been huge advances in camouflage or the figure had wrapped every part of the undergrowth around its body. Its veins were green, its skin was a mottled brown and leaves and shoots sprouted from all over its body. It looked like a plant but moved and acted like a human.

‘I have no idea who or what it is’ he said as he moved beside Natalie ‘But I don’t like it.’

‘I don’t either. Everything feels wrong’ Natalie replied.

The figure screeched again, only this time it stared directly in the direction of Jason and Natalie. The look on its face was that of evil as it began to charge towards them. Jason immediately aimed the rifle and took the shot. The dart stuck into the beasts shoulder and it flinched before continuing to charge at them. Jason reloaded another dart and took another shot, this time he hit it in the abdomen. The figure staggered but continued on. Natalie could see that the darts had made little difference to the approaching creature and began to panic.

‘Do something.’ She screamed ‘Shoot it again.’

His next dart shot through the air and hit the creature in the temple. If it had hit anywhere else on the head it would have probably hit bone and bounced off but it sank into the soft flesh of the temple. The beast fell but got straight back up and lunged at Natalie. Jason grabbed the barrel of the rifle and swung at the creature, slamming the stock into its head. It fell onto the ground beside Natalie and Jason let out a sigh of relief.

‘That was a close one.’ He said.

‘You’re telling me.’ Natalie said ‘What is it?’

‘I don’t know but we need to get away from here before it wakes up.’

As Natalie began to get up off the ground, the creature stirred and then its eyes opened. Before Natalie could move away, its arm reached out and grabbed hold of her leg and pulled her close. A flower sprouted from the creature’s chest and puffed a fine haze into Natalie’s face just as Jason plunged his hunting knife into its head, killing it instantly.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘A little shaken,’ she replied ‘but otherwise, I think I’m okay. What the hell is that thing?’

‘I have no idea, I’ve never seen anything like it, but we need to inform the authorities as soon as we get back. Come on,’ he said, as he helped her up, ‘let’s get you to the truck.’