The World's Next Plague by Colten Steele Read Free Book Online Page A

a small
amount of the potent and precious liquid to one end of a strip of
hard beef jerky he had pulled from his pack a short while ago. The
shaman had told him four drops would knock out and eventually
pacify the Jombi. This was the amount he was attempting to
administer. Once the jerky was ready, he recapped the bottle and
stowed it again in his large jacket pocket.
    Pulling his pocket knife from his belt,
Pauley snapped it open. He was close enough now that his brother,
still lashed to the crude frame, had resumed his frenzied
struggle.
    Careful to avoid any teeth, Pauley moved
behind the frame and reached his arms through two of the larger
holes. With the left hand he pulled back the fabric, and with the
right he sliced through the thin green canvas material covering his
brother. The cloth parted easily to the sharp blade, and the
thrashing helped to quickly expose his brother’s head.
    Pauley gaped at the diminished features. The
skin was pulled tight against the skull and was streaked with black
veins. The flesh around the eyes was sunken so completely the
eyeballs appeared to bulge from their sockets, enormous and
gruesome. Somehow in the struggle the previous day, the nose had
started hemorrhaging. The dried black remnants of blood left a dark
trail down over the upper lip, and into the mouth, where it covered
the teeth with brittle crusty scales and flew from the snapping
jaws in small flakes.
    Pauley positioned himself facing away from
the camp once again and lifted the jerky up to his brother’s mouth.
As soon as the jaws were within range, they snatched the offering
from Pauley’s grip and the creature gorged on the thin strip of
meat.
    Almost immediately, the potion from the green
bottle started taking affect. The thrashing quickly subsided.
Pauley swiftly lifted the handgun, pointed it in the general
direction of his brother’s head, and fired a single shot into the
empty jungle behind him.
    His brother’s eyes were still eerily open,
but the body was limp. Pauley had decided he could not handle his
brother’s death, and had come up with the only solution he could
think of. He was not sure exactly how much of the potion he had
administered, but he hoped it was enough to allow his brother to
remain here peacefully for any years he had left.
    Pauley cut his brother from the rack,
removing the tents and the rope. The unmoving body fell to the
ground and there lay without any movement.
    Pauley turned around and went back into the
camp. He avoided talking to anyone, and the others kept their
distance out of respect. Secretly he was pleased with the solution
he had come up with. He walked with his head down, staring at the
ground, not wanting anyone to realize he was not as dejected as he
should have been.
    Looking over at his brother on the opposite
side of the large clearing under the deep shadows of the jungle
canopy, all Pauley could see was the desiccated body lying on the
ground. It was not possible to tell from this distance if there was
any life remaining there.
    Pauley pulled his pack over his shoulders. He
looked around the area to make sure he was not forgetting anything,
and headed east out of the camp, following the same path they had
arrived from. He knew the others would follow soon.
     
    ~ Chapter
XII ~
     
    Manon watched Pauley walk out of camp alone.
Having never lost anyone close to him, Manon could not imagine the
loss and sadness. Not knowing what to say to comfort Pauley, he
kept a respectful distance.
    There was one more thing to do before leaving
camp. They group had multiple empty hard plastic containers which
originally had carried food and coffee. These containers stacked
into each other, so as food was used, the packs became smaller and
lighter. The team always carried anything man-made out of the
jungle with them and Manon counted six empty containers available
to be used.
    He washed out three of these containers. He
was not sure if the spiders needed to be able to breath, but