LotRseer3350-Thank you again for your reviews. I'm not very good with Internet slang and acronyms. What is "OOC"? Oh, well. Hopefully the Quatermain in this chapter is the one we all know and love.
ThePet – It's always good to hear from a new reader. Welcome aboard for the ride. Again, you're going to need to help me out with these Internet terms. What is a "Mary-Sue"?
Allan Quatermain had to admit the sight was amusing. He had spent the last few hours watching the thick jungle foliage slashed down by a machete that seemed to be swinging itself. In fact, Quatermain grew so used to being led forward by the moving machete that once the machete stopped swinging upon reaching a clearing, he forgot about the weight of the invisible man swinging it until he collided with him.
"Oomph! Watch it, will you, Mr. Q?"
Skinner moved forward and took his seat on a large rock, flinging the knife into the ground in front of him.
"We've been marching for hours. Can we take a break yet?"
"Sure you can't go any further?" asked Quatermain, entering the clearing and rotating, taking in his surroundings.
"I'd much rather not."
"We've been hiking long enough," admitted Quatermain. "We'll catch our breath here." He lowered himself to a sitting position on the ground across from Skinner. For the first time, he noticed a strange mist across the air where Skinner's face would be. A veil of sweat.
"How much further?"
"The island is much larger than I would have thought," said Quatermain. "I've no idea when will reach the other shore at this rate."
"Sure you haven't gotten us lost?"
"Trust me, Skinner. I don't get lost that easily. We've been marching for approximately seven hours in a straight line. We've barely entered this jungle yet. A few days more, and we may have to worry about getting lost."
"Days?"
"As I said before, this island is a bit larger than I would have imagined. But, don't worry. As long as we keep marching forward in a straight line, this trek should go quite smoothly."
"That is, providing we don't run into certain someone's."
"I'd rather you hadn't reminded me of that, Skinner," said Quatermain. At that moment a low, pitiful wale was heard across the island. "Besides, it may not be just your zombies we have to worry about."
"What was that?"
"A wild animal," said Quatermain. "I'd say a great gray wolf. And I'm sure that if he's here, he's not the only one." Quatermain surveyed the ground for any type of tracks. "I'd say we don't have to worry about that until we go deeper into the jungle."
Skinner laughed nervously.
"At least I don't have to worry about the beasts seeing me," said Skinner. "I just sit back and watch you be devoured..."
"Oh, no, my boy," said Quatermain. "I'd say we're both fair game. Animals rely on things beside their eyes. Their instincts. And smell. The smell of fear. The smell of sweat."
Another cloud of mist was forming in the air. It turned into thick droplets that flew across the air and cascaded to the ground as Skinner quickly wiped the moisture away.
"This is going to be a fun outing," Skinner said ironically.
"We can continue on as soon as you're ready," said Quatermain.
"No time like the present, I suppose," said Skinner.
The floating machete began to move once again.
> > > > > >
Victor Frankenstein willed himself to be unusually calm and subdued as he listened to Quasimodo's usual, long, agonizing report. He nodded slowly and then, still sublimely calm, spoke.
"The League has more perseverance than I had expected," said Frankenstein. "I can't believe they've had the drive and courage to keep going."
"Sh-h-h-aaaaa-ale weeeee d-d-d-eeeeee-s-s-s-tr-ooooy theeeemmmm, mmmma-a-a-ssss-terrrr?"
"No, Quasimodo," replied Frankenstein. "I will send small platoons to meet our invaders, but I want the Extraordinary Gentlemen brought to me alive."
"Aaasssss yooooou wi-I-ish, mmmma-a-a-ssss-terrrr."
As Quasimodo slowly pushed himself away from Frankenstein's chair, the young man still was amazingly calm. In fact, a satisfied smile began to form on his lips.
> > > > > >
Tom Sawyer was silently compiling a list of the names of young females in his head, in alphabetical order. He was doing this simply because he had no other way to amuse himself on his long hike.
He had tried making conversation with Dr. Jekyll. He had succeeded at first. Jekyll was a good listener, and he seemed to enjoy Sawyer's accounts of his exciting and sometimes humorous childhood misadventures. Jekyll himself was, however, much less open about his past. Sawyer respected that. He knew Jekyll would open up in time. Meanwhile, Jekyll was too ashamed of himself to admit he had a past, and he especially didn't like to think of the events leading up to or following the creation of Mr. Hyde. Eventually, a deep silence fell between Jekyll and Sawyer.
"Rebecca... Samantha... Tina..." Then Saywer hit "U." The silence became even deeper as Sawyer tried to solve the puzzle. He opened his mouth to invite Jekyll in on his game, but then he quickly closed it. In the deep silence, he had heard something. Sawyer quickly held out his hand, motioning to Jekyll to stop.
If there had been a deep silence before, it now fell from deep to unbearable. There was no sound of anything living. Neither human nor animal. Sawyer began to doubt he had heard anything himself. His eyes darted from one end of the beach to the other. He then heard the sound again. A faint rustling in the jungle foliage. He moved away from the beach towards the plant life. He neared a clump of the foliage and then stood still, just listening.
A creature suddenly appeared in front of Sawyer. The young man was knocked to the ground by the combination of surprise and unpleasant odor. He could smell the odor of rotting flesh.
Sawyer quickly crawled backwards on his hand, trying to distance himself from the zombies that began to emerge from the darkness of the jungle. Even in the afternoon sunlight over the beach, the creatures were a disgusting and menacing sight.
Jumping to his feet, Sawyer drew his twin pistols and, taking one in each hand, he began to fire at the attacking monsters. The creatures stumbled and dropped, but seemed ultimately unharmed. Sawyer continued firing until he was out of bullets. Still, none of the zombies showed any signs of bleeding or other injury. Sawyer looked back at his companion, only to notice he was gone.
Jekyll was a coward and he knew it. The guilt brought tears to his eyes as he hid behind a large rock and watched his friend being mauled by the creatures. He felt a strong desire to help his young friend. The desire was overcome by fear. He saw the zombies getting closer. Right now, they were distracted by Sawyer, but it was only a matter of time before they turned to him.
Then, deep down inside, Jekyll heard the familiar voice of Edward Hyde, begging to be released...
Saywer began to fight the zombies off with his bare hands and feet. His weapons may have been emptied, but he could still throw a pretty mean punch. The blows did, at least, seem to cause the things pain, though it seemed to Sawyer at this time there was no way to kill or disable them. He threw one last glance back towards where Jekyll had been standing, hoping his companion would back him up as he was intended to. Saywer was relieved when he saw Jekyll going through his slow and painful metamorphosis to Hyde.
The giant orange beast attacked, grabbing the zombies two at a time off of Sawyer's back and flinging them into a jungle. The creatures were persistent. After being knocked to the ground, they would regroup and swarm at Hyde and Sawyer again. But now there were two targets. Saywer began running down the beach, trying to lead some of the zombies away from Hyde. A few did, but after suffering a few punches from Sawyer, they would break off and run for Hyde. Saywer stopped and turned to watch the zombies grab and claw Hyde. Hyde seemed irritated, but he was as hard to disable as any of them. He could go on for a long period of fighting without ever showing a sign of pain.
Sawyer was so distracted watching the battle that he didn't notice the creatures behind him. Until he felt a cold, slimy hand over his mouth. And then it was too late. The monsters pulled Sawyer to the ground and began to drag him away.
Hyde looked up and saw Sawyer sliding across the beach into the jungle. He moved forward to help his companion. Then he felt something sting his leg. A small sting, like an insect bite. But as he moved forward, he began to lose feeling in his legs. He collapsed when he could no longer feel them. The numbness began to spread over his whole body. He didn't mind the physical numbness as much as the mental one that began to cloud his brain. As darkness began to sweep over him, he caught a glimpse of the tiny dart jutting out of his enormous leg. He wondered if he had been poisoned to death.
Then everything was black.