I was but an eleven year old lad when my mother and I were marooned at sea after the ship on which we traveled went down in a storm. The only survivors, we drifted alone in a small lifeboat amid the trackless blue infinity with but a small supply of food and water we had managed to procure before the ship broke apart and was lost. We held each other, hoping and praying rescue would find us before starvation did.
It was with the rising of the sun on the third day of our ordeal that, on the distant horizon, we both saw the growing dark mass of the island and our hearts leapt at this sight of possible salvation. As we drew steadily nearer my mother told me that, even should it be empty of human life, there would likely be fresh water and food we would sorely need were we lost for very long. For myself, I was anxious to be off the lifeboat and the sea and on dry land.
When we were finally close enough, we both climbed into the water and, with all our might, hauled the boat up onto the sand of the beach. Then, hand in hand, we stood and observed the dense wall of verdant jungle before us. The trees and ferns stirred slightly in a soft breeze from the sea; from nearby in the greenery the exotic call of some bird rang out to us. We looked at each other and my mother, still holding my hand, smiled reassuringly at me. And so we walked carefully up the beach and passed into the shade of the trees.
We had only walked a short distance into the jungle when we started at a rustling sound un the tangled undergrowth to our left. We waited tensely as the seconds ticked by, and then gasped in relief as, from out of the bushes, darted a small grey rabbit. Despite myself, I laughed, and then mother did too, at our hving been afraid of such a harmless thing. But then mother's laugh stopped; she went tense again, looking round at the trees. "What is it?" I asked her.
She shivered slightly before answering "I'm not sure...just an odd sensation...of something close by, watching us...We should keep walking." I lingered just a second and peered closely all about, but could detect nothing, and hurried after my mother.
Several minutes later we pushed through a bank of ferns and beheld in a small clearing, sparkling magically in the sunlight, a clear pool of water. So entranced were we by the wonderful sight that we quite forgot any possible dangers and rushed forward, kneeling down in the grass and earth to gratefully drink the water we cupped in our hands. The taste and coolness of it flowing down our throats was unforgettably sweet. Looking upwards, we noticed succulent looking fruit hanging from the trees, and I felt a faint rumbling of hunger in my belly.
All thoughts of food vanished, however, when our ears caught the sharp sound of a branch snapping behind us. Spinning round, we both cried out in sheer horror and terror at what we saw: From out of the jungle had emerged three creatures of the most hideous nature. Two were like wolves, similar to those I had seen in London Zoo; the other was much like a bear, yet also bore two horns on its' head like those of a bull. But that was not the most horrifying thing about them. As we looked closer, we saw there was something disturbingly man-like in their physical structure, like they were beasts which had somehow been crossed with human beings! Snarling, the monsters eyed us evilly, saliva dripping from their fanged mouths, and they began closing in on us.
My mother and I were crying and holding one another, far too terrified to attempt to flee. The beasts were just inches from us now, the stench of their breath hot and naseous in our faces. The nearest, its' fangs glinting in the sunlight, tensed its' quasi-lupine limbs as though to spring upon us. And that was when, despite my terror, I noticed a peculiar thing: Between the wolf-monster's yellow eyes appeared three small red points of light in a triangular pattern. The creature, seeming to sense then that something was amiss, glanced sharply up beyond us...and in a split second, amidst a brief flash of something like lightning, its' entire skull was instantaneously reduced to a cloud of blood, charred bone and brain matter which spattered sickeningly upon our faces.
The other two animals were howling and moaning in alarm now as the headless body of their comrade lay twitching on the ground. For a second I felt a sensation as of something rushing through the air above our heads, though we could see nothing; then the empty space behind the two creatures seemed to writhe and shift strangely. The beasts noticed it too and growled at it, and I heard my mother whisper "My God" as a frightening new figure formed there. Though shaped much like a man, it was a giant, towering to at least seven feet in height. It wore little in the way of clothing, save for pieces of bizarre armor here and there and a black mesh over its' mottled, vaguely reptilian skin. Upon its' face was a mask or helmet of dull grey metal, and falling about the shoulders and over the back of the head were a multitude of long black coils, much like hair, but which seemed to glisten slightly. From a gauntlet on its' wrist protruded two wickedly sharp and jagged knives.
As we watched in fear-induced paralysis the newcomer faced our snarling would-be killers and, throwing its' arms wide, let out a deafening, unearthly roar, as though issuing a challenge. If that was the intention, it did not have to wait long for a response, for the wolf-thing lunged at the demon with a howl of rage and fear. In the next second it was sprawled in a dark red puddle, its' throat slashed wide open by the blades of the fiend which had materialized from empty air. With a frightened whimpering the bear-bull-thing took to all fours and plunged into the undergrowth, making a great tumult as it rapidly fled.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I huddled with my mother by the pool, fighting the urge to scream. As for the murderous apparition, it now looked straight at us, its' expression unreadable behind the mask it wore. It made an ominous clicking sound and raised its' gore-smeared blades as though to strike, and my mother wailed as I squeezed my eyes shut in horrid anticipation of a grisly fate...a fate which mercifully never came. Very slowly I opened my eyes and saw the otherworldly being, dragging the carcass of its' second kill behind it, disappearing into the green depths. In a few seconds the only indications of its' presense here were the trail of blood on the grass leading into the bushes, and the still faintly twitching corpse of its' first victim lying near us.
For a while we just lay there, not daring to speak or move. Then mother let out an anguished sob and, looking tearfully into my face, asked if I was alright. I could only nod dumbly. "We have to leave this island," she said. "It is an evil place." We slowly and carefully got to our feet and, never once taking our eyes from the jungle of horrors, fearfully made our way back to where the boat lay on the beach. We would rather risk the sea than the nightmares of this hell.
The following day, having left the island, we were rescued by a passing steamer. Of the island of monstrosities we said nothing, for fear we would be thought mad. And so we have kept silent these last eight years, not even speaking of what we witnessed to ourselves. But it is only recently that a story has been brought to light which helps me to understand at least some of what I experienced. According to the account of an Englishman lost at sea in the same general vicinity as myself and my mother, he found himself on an island whereon a scientist, via strange and loathsome means, had transformed numerous animals into semi-human beings capable of speech and thought. But the scientist was eventually killed by one of his half-finished creations, and the Englishman only just managed to escape the island's inhabitants as they reverted back to their savage natures, just months before my mother and I were lost.
With this knowledge I am now certain as to the origin of the three brutes we first encountered. But the fourth creature, that appeared from nowhere and slew two of the first three, I am still unsure of, just as I have no explanation for why it spared the lives of myself and mother. It did not resemble any of the beings described by the Englishman in his narrative. It is quite likely I will never know, and perhaps that is best, for my own sanity.