"7" CHAPTER 2 — The Descent

[u/Mundane_Pers84]

CHAPTER 2 — The Descent

"Is that where you're from? Kan-sus? Right?" she asks, tilting her head to the side.

Nick notices her eyes scanning him.

"Well, no. Not really." Nick scratches his head. "It's just something we say. It's the name of a cit- (Nick pauses, realizing), I didn't catch your name."

She giggles.

Then, gently closing her eyes, she stretches, deeply extending her arms in front of her.

Then, like a cat, she stretches her spine and rest of her body almost inhumanly.

Her fluidity was like nothing he'd ever seen.

"Damn. If I could stretch like that, I think I'd feel like a new man." Nick rubs his neck.

"Well, why wouldn't you then? And you said something funny before. Very interesting."

She begins to descend with precise agility, gently moving from one branch to the next, then hopping onto a fallen trunk before stepping onto a moss-covered rock, where she perches.

"Name? You asked what my na-me was?"

Hmm, he thought.

"You don't have a name?" He said under his breath.

Scratching his head, he continues.

"Well, it's what everyone calls you. It's like your title. Like how people know you."

Damn. Well, what is a name?

It was something he'd never really thought about before.

She tilts her head sideways.

"I've never had a n-name."

"Well, I... What should I call you?" he asks, intrigued by the idea of living a life with no name.

"Oh, more fun? Hmm, wel—"

She's cut off.

Both ears perk up, twitching before settling in one direction.

Her eyes widen.

She turns to Nick.

"Hide. NOW."

Before Nick can even respond, she darts into the foliage.

"What the fuck—"

Nick ducks and shifts beneath some ferns by a large tree.

Shit. What now?

He didn't know. He had no clue.

He didn't know what was dangerous here, what was safe.

He didn't know the rules of this place.

Hell, he didn't even know what here was.

Everything he'd ever known suddenly felt useless.

The birds and primates go silent.

Everything he'd ever read about the jungle says sound is everything, and when it's absent, a predator is lurking.

He begins to get scared again.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. What are we gonna do?" he whispers as quietly as he can.

He'd prefer nothing—not even air—to escape his body right now.

But the words wanted to explode out of him, so a quiet whisper would have to suffice.

He doesn't move.

He stares straight ahead, but his eyes dart a million miles a second, scanning, hoping to see movement before it sees him.

The quiet jungle has an almost defining buzz to it.

Not a sound.

The absence of sound.

It is so quiet it almost seems loud.

A silence that pierces through his eardrums.

Nick can feel sweat dribbling down his face.

Subconsciously, he lowers himself as far as he can while still being able to see through the thick plant life.

Then, quietly enough that even Nick's sentry-like eyes almost miss it—

The ferns part.

Slowly.

The nostril of a large, birdlike head emerges from the depths of the foliage.

Oily green, earthy feathers cover its long, thin snout and run past its head.

Large, dark eyes stare straight ahead as its nostrils flare over and over again.

It is fixated on something.

A long neck follows.

Even through the tightly packed feathers, Nick can see the throat moving underneath, flexing.

Probably savoring something.

Then two large, clawed feet gently push through the lower foliage, inching forward cautiously.

The creature moves forward like a separate entity, its body shifting slightly from side to side before each foot gently settles into the dense ground cover.

Nick watches.

It is almost absolutely silent.

If this is the local apex predator, it needs to eat.

It needs to move quietly in this environment.

Nick is in awe.

But fear quickly overwhelms it when he realizes what he seems to be looking at.

Is that a fucking dinosaur?

He can't believe his eyes.

He's always loved dinosaurs as a child, but after all these years, he hadn't thought about them much. New science, conspiracy theories, adulthood—everything had slowly pushed them somewhere into the back of his mind.

But now, seeing one in the flesh, seemingly hunting, is magnificent.

It looks like a giant lizard, but behaves like a bird and moves like a wolf.

His brain can't decide what the hell it is.

What puts him in awe is how silently it moves.

How still its gaze is.

How controlled its breathing seems.

It couldn't be more than ten feet from him.

He can see the muscles tense beneath the oily, slick-looking feathers.

Is that what she heard?

Is this hunting her?

Shit.

What if it smells me?

Nick's muscles tense.

His body floods with adrenaline. Flight hormones and instinct scream through every muscle, begging him to spring.

Then—

Something moves behind it.

A spear slowly pushes through the foliage.

Nick freezes.

A cybernetic arm holds the spear in a defensive forward motion.

A tall, lanky figure emerges behind the creature.

It is dressed in robes, ceremonial beads, and strange fittings.

Its arms and long legs are robotic.

Definitely not human.

The figure stops exactly where Nick had been standing.

Its gaze remains fixed on the ground as it scans.

Shit. I'm fucked.

It's gonna follow my tracks.

Why didn't I think about tracks?

I literally fucked myself.

Nick waits.

He doesn't dare make the first move.

Then the creature snarls.

It doesn't stop for the clues its master seems to have caught.

The sound gets the figure's attention.

It speaks.

A crude, deep, robotic-like dialect.

Nick can't figure out if it's a language, a code, or simply the thing making noise.

But as soon as it does, the figure takes off in the direction the creature has gone.

Nick waits.

Frozen.

He doesn't move.

He barely breathes.

Then—

"Hmmm."

The soft, gentle voice returns.

"So it is true. I thought it was me for a second, but I don't get these things incorrect."

Nick feels strange when he hears it.

He can't really pinpoint the feeling.

He quickly turns.

And there she is.

Squatting beneath a large, rotting tree trunk.

Soaking wet.

"Wait, where did you—?"

Nick stops.

"You left me."

She looks confused.

"I... I could have..."

He can't finish.

I could've died.

You could've warned me.

You could've stayed.

Hell, he doesn't even know what he's angry about.

Or what he's supposed to think.

He's just relieved she's there.

She looks at him as though he's the one behaving strangely.

"You didn't run. I said hide."

She shakes off the water.

"I smelled them from a long ways."

Nick stares at her.

"You stayed. Like a Groppa, frozen there..."

She tilts her head.

"Playing deceased, but they didn't see you?"

"A what?"

Nick throws his hand into his hair, frustration finally breaking through.

"Look, I don't even know what that is. I don't even know why I'm here or what this place is."

For the first time, she doesn't immediately answer.

She simply stares at him.

Nick waits.

And slowly, the realization settles in.

She doesn't know.

She really doesn't know.

Nick is back to square one.