The Book of Elsewhere Ch. 01

Rachel looked over at Jack. "She's our best chance...." she said looking between the two of them. She just had a good feeling about Talia. She looked so confused and scared and out of sorts. She supposed that Talia could be making something up but she didn't see it. Her clothes looked too....modern. Her story was too sad. If they were going to be ambushed it would have happened by now.

"Let's follow her," she said moving slowly yet surely. If it was dark then they wouldn't be safe anytime soon. All it would take was the sun going down and they'd be nearly dead. "Does it rain here at all? Any bad weather of any sort?" she asked. The humidity was starting to get to her and any change in weather would be appreciated. Maybe if she knew what the weather was like she could come up with where they were. Certainly in the Tropics but where?

They walked in relative silence for about twenty minutes or so when Rachel stopped. "What's the sound?" she asked.

Rachel heard the faint sounds of drums and chanting. She couldn't really explain why but she felt drawn to it. "Have you ever heard that before?" she asked listening to the voice through the jungle. She wouldn't make out what they were saying but they were certainly loud.

"It does rain. I mean it has rained once or twice while I have been here. But its sporadic. You can't really predict when or if it will. It just happens." Talia said leading through the dense foliage and the tall trees of the forest. "It is hot mostly but I haven't really experienced any bad weather. At least not yet. It's the things out here you have to watch out for."

Jack wasn't so sure about following a stranger. Granted, he had no clue where they were. He still didn't trust Talia. Something just didn't add up. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket but found that he had zero signal. He sighed and shoved it back in his pocket. "Figures. Hope there is someone looking for us. " Neither Talia or Rachel answered him. He walked on after them in silence until both women stopped. "Hear what? I don't hear-"

"Shh. Listen." Talia said. All three stood deathly still and listened. Jack looked at either of them. He didn't hear anything at first. But then he heard drums.

"Who's drumming?" Jack asked.

"No, I have never heard drums or heard of anyone talking until you." Talia said, answering Rachel.

Jack continued to listen, miffed that his question was ignored. He could hear voices now but he couldn't understand it. Slowly, he stepped closer toward the sounds. Something about them made him feel strange. Like he wanted to get near it with each step.. Branches and leaves crunched and crinkled beneath his feet as he made his way through the green and got closer to the drumming. He could tell it was louder. Jack felt whatever or whoever it was just beyond. He felt the sounds were calling to him. Jack parted rather thick bush and stepped through.

"Wait!" Talia called, following them.

A part of Rachel said to listen to Talia, she had made it this long but on the other hand she was almost dead and she just had to see what that drumming was. It turned out that she would have a perfect view. Pushing her head through bushes she looked down into a valley and found a tribe of some sort. The first thing that Rachel noticed was that they were mostly women, there were a view strong looking men around but the ones playing the drums and dancing were women.

They had pale white skin and long blonde hair. That threw Rachel for a loop. She thought in tropical climates everyone had dark skin to adapt to the UV radiation. They were also mostly naked, a few wore loin clothes but their breasts were free and bouncing in the air. Most of them were young and a few older ones sat off to the side. There was a large fire going and the huts seemed to be well built, meaning they stayed in the same place.

Rachel couldn't help but watch as they danced and chanted something odd.

"OOM OOM SOMNA! OOM OOM SOMNA!!!" the villagers chanted..

Talia had joined her at this point. "Have you ever seen these women before? Are they friendly or....." she asked trailing off.

Talia just shrugged and looked scared. "I...I've never seen them but most locals....aren't friendly," she said and started to back up a bit.

Jack watched the women chanting and dancing in the valley below. He found it strange that the women seemed invigorated and full of energy while the few males that there were seemed docile, subdued almost. The sound of their chanting filled his ears almost drowning out the beat of the drums.

"Well if they're not friendly, maybe we should go." He said to his sister. He looked at her and she just seemed to be standing there like she hadn't heard him at all. He looked to talks who was already stepping back away. "Or maybe we could go ask them where we are.."

Jack could feel something come over him as the drums and chanting continued. It took greater effort to pull himself away and step back than he expected. "Rachel, what do you think? Rachel? Rachel?"

Rachel watched Talia back up and looked back at the dancers. She looked over at her brother who seemed to be all gung ho. She bit her bottom lip. She didn't like this at all. Her body was shaking slightly. Her brother stepped back and her heart was racing like crazy. She was sweating now, only instead of the heat it was being caused by fear. She could feel herself clamming up.

"I...I...I...uh..." she stuttered out taking a few seconds to regain her composure. "I think.....if they're friendly the best they can do is defend us from those things we saw earlier but if they aren't friendly I think that we'll be fucked," she said looking over at Talia for support. The other woman seemed to agree with her thinking.

"Most natives....don't know English and we barely escaped from a group of men.....maybe they'll be okay but most things here want to kill you," she said in a low voice. She was sniffling and Rachel's sense of danger was increasing.

"I think....let's keep going where we were going," Rachel said starting to move away slowly so they wouldn't be found out.

Jack didn't have any evidence to sway his sister, Talia, or even himself from her line of thinking. Strange it was, but he agreed with her. He followed both women away from the village and back into the deep forest. Even as the canopy around them darkened, the humidity still held. Jack wiped his forehead for the fourth time in so many minutes." Geez it's hot.." He said, breaking the silence. Seems to be getting darker but not any cooler."

No one said anything but they kept going until they came up on a break in the tall bush and grasses. Jack stopped, finding in front of him the strangest looking tree. It's branches were at odd angles and the surface of its bark seemed less rough than other trees they had seen. Jack stepped closer, and as he got a closer loo, he discovered quite a few weird things about the tree.

For one thing, jack noticed its surface was smooth and unblemished like a tree usually was. Furthermore, there was a slight odor to it that didn't seem natural. Jack stepped coward and noticed it only had two branches and no leaves. It's smaller branches, if they could be called that, were short and stubby, sometimes curled. Almost finger like, jack thought.

Curious, he reached out to touch the strange new plant. Jack held his breath S his hand slowly came closer to it, ready for something to happen. His fingers were mere inches from it surface when he heard Talia call out. Jack turned away for a second to see what was a matter.

"What?" He asked.

Talia pointed to the far left of where jack was standing." There's more of them over there."

Jack's eyes followed where her finger pointed, finding two more of the strange trees. One of them was bent over, almost as it was reaching toward the ground with its two main branches.

"How odd. " Jack turned and started to move toward the other two. It was then he heard his sister scream and then felt something cool and slick grasp his wrist. Jack turned back to see what it was, only to cry out in terror as the tree he had almost touched had grasped his wrist somehow. His heart began to thump rapidly in his chest and a cold shiver crawled up his spine as the trees surface flowed, rippled and became amorphous. It's surface shifted until it resembled a face.

Jack's terror grew as the face became human. He pulled away or rather attempted, but the "tree-thing" held fast. It wasn't until Jack tried to move when he realized those weren't branches but arms. Rubbery, cool, onyx black fingers gripped his arm tightly. The face stared back at him with empty sockets. Jack continued to struggle.

It opened its mouth and let out a long, mournful moan.

They walked for a little bit, Talia leading the way. She seemed to know this area somewhat although not perfect. She felt better then running around blind. Rachel was afraid they'd run into a giant bee hive or spider web. "You sure there's nothing like that around here?" she asked Talia.

Talia shrugged. "I haven't seen anything like that. I suppose it's possible but I'd like to think if they did I'd have found them but I've also generally avoided unknown areas when possible," she said keeping her eyes open and constantly looking around. It was like she expected something, anything to come out and kill them. What kind of place was this that this seemingly normal woman could become so paranoid.

The two women were so focused on each other that they didn't even notice that Jack had gotten distracted. Talia looked scared and Rachel looked on with concerned at what was going on. Suddenly everything seemed to come alive at once and Jack was picked up.

"JACK!!!" Rachel shouted and Talia pulled her back.

"Leave him! Here's nothing we can do..." she said and started to back away. Rachel shook her head right way.

"That's my brother! I won't leave him," she said and ran up to him. It was a little hard to reach him but once she had she started pulling at him to try and get him away. From the thing. Talia for her part found a few rocks and started to throw it at the tree-thing. One of them hit it right in the eye. It let out a roar and let Jack go so it would rub its eye. Rachel was able to get them a safe distance away and Talia just glared at him.

"This place is not safe, do not touch things you don't know," I she growled.

Jack stumbled backwards and hit the ground hard when the creature let go of his arm. He scrambled backwards in fear while the thing was stunned. He looked at where the thing had grabbed him. There was no wound or visible harm done but jack could still feel it's rubbery, slick grip over his flesh. Goosebumps flowed over his skin and he had to suppress a shudder.

"Rach- wait!" He called out seeing her run from the thing. Trees and bushes rustled around them. To their collective horror more of the rubbery tree beings began to come out and stalk toward them. One got close to Talia and swiped at her face. Only a split second fall backward saved her from the impending blow.

Jack got to his feet and they began backtracking. The things followed close in almost a semi circle. More and more of things were coming out through the foliage. " what the heck are these things?" Jack screamed. He felt Talia grab his arm and lead him further back. When he looked to her to see where they were going she said," This way. I know of some caves to the north."

Jack didn't question her. He just ran. His courage had been stolen from him by the touch of the thing. He looked back as he ran, seeing Rachel following close behind. The forest seemed to close in and was much darker the more north they went. Jack hoped Talia knew what she was doing. Luckily, they came out of the end of a hollow and soon we face to face with the rocky wall of a mountain side. The ground seemed a bit darker. The soil had turned to a sharper, harder stone surface. Jack looked around but saw no caves, only the face of a cliff wall that shot almost totally vertical up past the trees. The sky seemed to rumble and Jack could smell a sour, rotten egg like smell in the air.

"Ugh! What is that?" Jack struggled not to gag. " Have you been here before, Talia?"

"Once.."she said leading them along the wall of rock." This way..I think." She lead them up an incline that slowly grew steeper as the went.

A loud,thunderous bellow filled the air and made them all stop in their tracks. Jack looked to his sister. What was that, his eyes said. Jack kept going though he wondered how Talia knew of this place and if it was safe.

Rachel didn't bother stopping. When things started to come at her she knew that she had to run. It was like she was on autopilot. She didn't know what this place was but she knew that it was a horrible place that she didn't want to stay. She didn't know how she made it. She had never been truly fast or in that great of shape but apparently pure adrenaline was enough to take her to safety.

When she reached a place where she could stop to catch her breath she almost wished that she didn't need to do that. It smelled horrible and she made a face. She looked towards Talia who seemed to have a pretty god clue as to where they were. She followed because there was nothing else that she could do. Talia had been able to save them once so she might as well stick with her for as long as possible.

As they continued up the slope the thunder sound was bothering Rachel's ears. She had always had sensitive hearing and this thunder was not good for her. Still she hugged the rock wall as much as possible and followed.

After about five or ten minutes they reached and opening and Talia took them inside. "We should be safe her, for a bit," she added.

Jack had ben the more athletic of the two but even he was panting when they entered the cave. He wasn't sure what the strange smell was but it overwhelmed his nose and made him dizzy. He found however that once he was inside, he could not smell anything inside the dark cave. It was if the cave itself sterilized the air and did not permit anything from the outside in. Jack leaned against the rock wall and found it to be very coarse and rough, almost like sandstone though the color of the rock that he could see from the light in the cave mouth was a deep purple shade.

"What the hell were those things?" He asked when he had caught his breath. "It was almost like a person. I could see it eyes. they were empty.."

Talia shook her head and sat down on the floor of the cave. She gave no answer because she had none. "This place is very unreal. I don't even know all the things here. I have never seen those things before today." Another rumble of thunder filled the sky though there was no lightning or clouds that would indicate a storm.

Jack nodded and slid down to sit against the wall he had been leaning on. "So what do we do now?" He looked to Rachel then Talia, who was semi covered in the gloom of the cave.

"We wait here and rest. We are safe here . I think." Talia answered.

"No, you're not. If you think that then you're fools." Came a male voice further back in the cave. Everyone spun around to see who had spoken. the sounds of feet being dragged along the ground echoed in the cave as they watched a man wearing an old aviator's jacket, torn white dungerees, and olive colored shirt walked out of the darkness. In his right hand , was a pistol. It's barrel gleamed as a bit of light struck its surface. His eyes were wild but sane. They were the color of the sea, a deep blue.

Jack tensed as they all must have, seeing the gun. He saw Talia had stood and backed away , standing closer to Rachel now.He saw once the man was in more of he light that there was a puckered, pink scar that covered most of the man's right cheek. The man's hair was yellow like the color of straw though bits had started to gray. His face was covered in thick stubble, like one who hadn't shaved in awhile but hadn't developed a beard yet.

"Who are you?" Jack stammered, his eyes wide with fear.

"I am Captain Jonathan Harlow." The man with the gun answered. His voice was soft yet carried a commanding demeanor. "At least, I was until I came to this horrid place three years ago."

Rachel didn't feel safe, not really. Still at least being in this cave gave them some protection and as long as they didn't draw attention to themselves they'd be fine. Rachel stayed mostly silent. She wasn't really sure what she could say. They had been in the warm safety of the house earlier today and now they were on an island and she had seen things that should not have existed.

Rachel simply stayed close to Talia and when she heard another voice in the cave her heart stopped and a chill ran down her spine. She looked but didn't move at all. She was too scared too and she didn't see the point in it. She nibbled on her lower lip as he talked and once he was down she let out a sigh and stood up slowly.

"Okay Jonathan....it's obvious from the way we all look that we're not here to harm you," she said surprising herself by talking. She rarely talked this way, much preferring everyone else to take the lead but Talia and Jack didn't seem up to it at the moment.

"So maybe just point the gun at the ground? Jack and I have only been here a little while. Talia has been here a bit longer but she's been able to make it and you've been able to survive," she said. "Obviously it's possible and there has to be a way off this island. If people can get on then they can get off. We just need to figure out how big it is and work our way around this," she said.

As soon as she stopped talking there was a loud screech and her blood ran cold. "Was that inside or outside?" she asked afraid of the answer.

"Who are you?" Jonathan asked back. The hand that held the gun lowered slowly and jack blew outa sigh of relief. Harlow's gaze when to the gun when he saw their reaction. "Oh this thing? This isn't for you. This is for them." He pointed it past them towards the entrance to the cave. Jack tensed again. The man's ease and casualness with the weapon unnerved Jack. Harlow didn't seem to notice his actions were scaring them however. He just shook his head. "You're not safe here. Not safe anywhere on this island. Not any of you." He repeated.

"What does that mean?" Talia asked, looking very tense herself around the weapon. Her eyes did not leave its gleaming barrel. Jack could see she knew what a weapon like that was capable of. "You said you were here three years? You're a captain. So you have a boat that we can get to so we can sail off the island right?"

Harlow shook his head. "Not that kind of captain. I fly planes. And don't think I haven't thought of that. I haven't seen any shores anywhere near. And before you ask, the answer is No. I cannot fly out of here. My plane is in fifty damned pieces all over where I crashed. " Jonathan sighed and his eyes went downcast, as if defeated. "Not that I can remember where it was that I crashed anyhow." His head snapped up, wide eyed as they all heard the screech. "That was definitely outside!"

Captain Harlow ran to the opening of the cave and looked out to see what it was that made the noise. Jack followed, doing his best to be strong though he couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear at what the source of it might be. It was then when he followed Harlow out that he saw the man was barefoot. Jack could hear Talia coming up behind him.

Rachel tensed but felt better when the man said the gun was for protection from other things. At least he didn't want to kill them and maybe they'd be able to work together. When Jack talked Rachel just rolled her eyes. "If It had been a boat I think he could have been able to repair it and leave. He's still here so obviously he doesn't have one," she added in. She knew she shouldn't have been annoyed with Jack but she couldn't help herself right now.