CHAPTER 310

The human skull was posted in front of a large building on a thick branch that had been anchored firmly into the earth.

"This is obviously the work of a witchdoctor," Reuben declared as he circled the cranium with an inspecting hover, his watch dangling near his face, and his Luger at the ready. "Poor bastard had his brains cleaned out. We're dealing with savages here, and that's the end of it!"

Sparrow was standing on the other side of the skull with her aviators resting up in her hair. She shook her head over and over. "What the hell is this?" Her eyes went up. "Marty?"

He was staring at the skull, his spine stiff with chills. He muttered quietly to himself, "the branch is jammed straight up the foramen magnum…"

Out of the hole at the bottom of the cranium dangled strands of palm fronds that had been stuffed into the skull to keep it snug on the branch.

"Dr. Guitierrez?" Sparrow shook him.

He looked at her. His face was nothing but troubled. His skin was beading with sweat, and his breathing had turned short. "I'm a biologist. I have no idea what this shit is."

"Savages, man!" Reuben reiterated as he straightened up.

Sparrow's eyes were squinting into the orbits of the skull. "You were talking like this was some sort of animal experiment, but it's looking more like The Temple of Doom."

Marty was silent. After several eerily quiet moments he murmured, "you don't know the half of it."

Sparrow shifted her eyes up and saw both Marty and Reuben gawking at the nearby building with fright.

She turned.

There were broad concrete steps leading up to a moderately grandiose set of double doors. The face of the building was covered in large glass windows, but many of them were either broken or cracked. The concrete supports around the windows were scarred with bullet hole divots. Already it was clear that there had been a gun fight here.

Sparrow's gaze went back to the doorway. The two double doors were hanging open exposing the lobby beyond. It was shadowy within, but there was something there, and Sparrow couldn't understand what it was.

"What the hell?" she whispered.

Curiosity took her, and she approached the steps. Her feet began to climb, and the closer she got to the door the more the details of the object beyond came clear. Sparrow stood atop the steps, her jaw slack. The thing before her was like a totem pole built out of human bones and firearms. It was conical, being broad at the base and more narrow near the top. The object loomed over her and almost touched the ceiling. The bones and guns were interlocked and woven together in a very stable fashion with blood stained skulls peering out throughout.

Sparrow stepped through the doorway, reached forward, and touched it.

Marty appeared at her right and Reuben at her left.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Reuben pulled her back. "You'll place a curse upon your family for God knows how long!"

"Have you seen enough?" Marty said to Sparrow. He was dabbing his sweaty face with the hem of his sleeve and looked like he was growing ill.

Sparrow looked around the decimated lobby. Water dripped from the ceiling. It was dark and damp like a cave. "Nothing adds up."

Marty replied, "we don't want it to. I for one don't want to find out, because if we do, we'll likely end up like them!" He pointed a trembling finger to the stack of bones. "Nothing good can come of this. Now can we get the hell out of here?"

Reuben said, "I've gotta agree with Martin on this one. My Grandfather doesn't like the man's beard, his face, or the cut of his jib, but he's right. We've seen enough."

Marty looked at him with an increasingly sickly droop in his cheeks while continuing to mop his face with his sleeve. "You know I'm standing right here, don't you?"

"What's your god damned point?"

Marty shook his head. "Look, we just need to get out of here now."

Sparrow was wandering further into the lobby. She scanned the broken chairs and overturned tables. The floor was littered with bullet casings and bloodstains.

"Who the hell were they fighting?"

"Hey, can we go?" Marty raised his shuddering voice at her.

"Mother of God," Reuben said out of nowhere.

"What now?" Marty turned to him.

Reuben pointed to the skulls that were imbedded in the bone structure.

Marty looked at them closer and noticed that the blood markings upon the craniums were not random splattered spots but intentional images. They were well placed hand prints, but unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Three long broad fingers and a narrow palm formed the print.

"Goblins!" Reuben exclaimed.

Marty shook his head at the absurdity of the comment. "Do you always resort to the least likely of possibilities?"

Reuben mumbled to his pocket watch, "he knows nothing."

Marty threw his hands up. "I'm trapped with crazy people on murder island!"

Sparrow had rejoined them. "It's like a cave marking."

"Sure," Marty said. "Whatever. It could be an ancient grocery list for all I care. We just need to get the hell out of this creepy shit show. Now can we please go?"

Marty heard a rattling sound and saw Sparrow pulling a cigarette out of a pack she had slipped from her pocket, but when she stuck it between her lips he saw that it was in fact a candy cigarette.

"Great." Marty had the whole front of his shirt mopping at his face. "Just great. We're probably about to be boned like fish, and you're eating candy."

Sparrow shrugged without shame, "what? I'm trying to quit." She chewed on the sugary stick with a crack. Seeing Marty's ceaseless perspiring and his trembling limbs she said, "Jesus, Marty." With a sigh she continued. "Alright Reuben, let's head back to the chopper before we're all boned like fish."

Sparrow put a hand on Marty's sweat soaked shoulder and said, "relax man. We're not going to die on my watch."

The three of them turned and made motions toward the door but stopped cold when they saw what was waiting for them outside. The trio shared a moment of sheer petrification as their feet stammered to a halt at the top landing of the stairs outside. Shock and bewilderment struck them all.

The last drifts of a lifting fog made their way through the compound around them. Wooden structures surrounded an open dirt area, and in the background stood a tall fence that formed a protective enclosure.

The three of them had seen all this before entering the large building, but now there was more. They were no longer alone.