Tricks
It had only been raining for a few moments, and Hayley was already soaked to the skin. At least her clothes were getting a good wash. She had been stranded here for almost forty five days, without real food, clean clothes, or a bed that wasn't on the sand. Her plane had come down for an emergency landing on the closest land it could find; a deserted island in the south Pacific. One of the engines had broken, the communication had failed in the emergency landing, and the pilot had no way of repairing it for takeoff. No one knew where they were, and the passengers had no idea when they'd be rescue or if they were going to be rescued.
It had been sunny just a moment before, not a cloud in the sky. As soon as her new friend, Scott, had gone back to their hopefully temporary camp on the beach to bring back the bananas they had gathered, the rain started. Hayley enjoyed the rain, so she stood on the ledge overlooking the jungle for a moment longer, then set off to hopefully find more food for the people back at camp. Just as she turned, she thought she saw something move down in the jungle from the corner of her eye. She did a double take, saw nothing, and concluded that it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.
When Hayley reached the bottom of the ledge and got back under the cover of the trees, the rain stopped as abruptly as it had started. The sun was shining once more. As Hayley started looking for the fruit bearing trees, she made her way into the deeper, unknown of the jungle. The trees had been picked clean far into the jungle to feed a population of almost one hundred people, so Hayley was trekking into the jungle for at least a half an hour before she came to trees with any sign of fruit on them. As she was picking the mangos, a bird flew overhead, cawing. To Hayley, the bird sounded like it said something, but she couldn't figure out what it sounded like.
The sun had been getting lower in the sky for about half an hour. When it got dark on the island, things got dangerous. Normally, Hayley would have been out picking fruit with someone, in pairs, but Scott had gone to bring the bananas back early. He said he'd follow Hayley's trail and help her pick more. It should have only taken him an hour tops, and Hayley had been out there for at least two.
Finally, Hayley had decided she had enough fruit for now, and began to follow her trail back out of the dense jungle. Something seemed off to her as she walked, but she couldn't place exactly what it was. The sun was going to set in ten minutes, and Hayley still had another forty of walking at least. She'd have to be extra careful.
Like the last time, the rain came quickly. The ground had not dried from the previous rain, so it quickly turned into a mud pit. This would add another good twenty minutes onto her journey back to the beach. As she turned the corner around a tree, she saw something about five yards ahead on the ground. It looked like a person.
Hayley ran up to the shape on the ground, but was instantly greeted by the smell of death. It was a human corpse, and it was covered in blood. She held her breath, rolled it over, and screamed. It was Scott. He had deep gashes all over his body, the blood that had spilled out now dried on his dead body. He was barely recognizable. Again, the rain stopped suddenly, and Hayley realized what was so eerie before. It was silent in the jungle. Not one leaf rustled. The birds and the bugs were silent. The only sound Hayley could hear was the sound of her own breathing.
Suddenly, something erupted from the ground, like an explosion. Hayley screamed, dropped Scott's body, and ran as fast as she could away from the thunderous sound. As she turned around a tree, she slipped in the mud, crashing to the ground. She could hear something moving through the jungle, coming closer and closer with each passing second.
The rain had started again, and as she got up, she saw it. There were no words to describe what it looked like, and how incredibly terrified it made Hayley feel. She knew this was the end. This was how Scott must have died, as well, she thought. What strange things to think about before I die she thought. The moment before everything was gone, she thought about that strange bird she had heard early in the day. She had finally figured out what it had said.
It's coming.