Return To Primordial Island, Rick Poldark [top non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

one of the others stepped toward her, jabbing its spear at her but falling just short of actually piercing her side.

Mary retained her grasp on the orb. ‘I’m your insurance policy for when you find him, aren’t I?’

The lizard man pulled the orb away from her, thus severing the connection. The others corralled Mary away from Jason.

“We just can’t leave him here,” she shouted at them. “He’ll die.”

Jason reached up for her as she was shoved away from him. “Mary…wait…where are you going? Mary…”

*

Jason watched as Mary was led away. His muscles ached, and his body felt as if it was on fire. The whole thing seemed like a fever dream to him. As he lay back, his mind swimming, waiting to die, something approached him.

In his current delirium, he no longer cared if he lived or died. It loomed over him, looking down at him, but Jason’s vision was so blurred and his mind so incapable of processing what he saw, it might as well have been a hallucination.

The wraith lowered itself to his level in a single, deft, fluid motion, as if it were made of smoke. ‘Jason, the great hunter.’ The voice was like fog in his mind, empty, reedy, and haunting all at once.

“Wh-what? Who…?”

‘I am here to help you, Jason.” It said his name in an odd kind of hiss, like air escaping. “Your friend has left you.’

“Mary…Mary, come back. Please…come back.”

‘She has abandoned you for the one named Peter.’

“No…she wouldn’t…Peter is my friend.”

‘Would a friend leave you alone to fend for yourself? Would a friend, who has the power to heal you, leave you here to rot on the jungle floor?’

Jason started laughing and singing to himself. The infection had taken hold and was affecting his cognition. His blood was poisoned, and now he was dying.

‘I would never leave you in such a state,’ hissed the voice. ‘I can help you, right here, right now.’

“Pl-please…please.” Jason hummed musically to himself, choking on his own laughter as if he was drowning in it.

The wraith wrapped itself around him and infused itself in him, entering his eyes, ears, nose and mouth simultaneously. He felt it coursing through him, and as it moved throughout his body, he felt the infection yield to it. However, he wasn’t quite being healed. Rather, this entity had placed the infection on pause. Within minutes his mind and body cleared. As he felt his body recover, the entity left him, swirling and reforming outside his body until it stood over him once more.

Jason lay on his back, his clothing drenched in his own sweat. He sat up and looked around. His mind and vision were clear. Yet, when he saw the wraith standing next to him, it remained shrouded in smoke and fog.

‘Peter is not the only one with power. I have spared your life, and I seek only one thing in return. Peter must go to the Temple of the Simian King.’ The idea swirled around like vapor in his mind, and the apparition dissipated in the sunlight, carried away on the island breeze.

“The Temple of the Simian King,” repeated Jason to himself. He had no idea what that even meant, but he knew it was imperative he make it happen.

Jason heard a whisper. ‘I will always be with you,’ but he swore it was the island breeze playing tricks on his mind. It was only the breeze.

* * *

Susan slipped into the river, letting the current take her south. The lizard men who took Mary and Jason had a lead on her, and the only way she could make up the distance was to let the river take her. She would move swiftly while conserving energy—energy she’d need to mount a rescue.

* * *

Tracey pulled the handle and slowly opened the back door to the armored truck, bracing it with her other hand grabbing the edge. It creaked, regardless, but her efforts mitigated the noise. The ambient noise of the river hopefully drowned out the sound.

She slipped out, Peter and Marcy right behind her, followed by Nielsen and Collins, all wearing backpacks. The driver’s side door, facing the jungle, creaked as Castillo stepped outside. The others froze, ears pricked for any sound and eyes on the jungle to their right.

“Crap,” was all Peter could get out when the Tyrannosaurus bolted out of the jungle and descended on Castillo. The driver managed to raise his rifle and get off a single shot before he was snatched up in its jaws. He cried out as foot-long teeth pierced his camo and body armor like a hot knife through butter.

“Run!” shouted Collins.

The group dashed for the river as the T. rex chomped on the poor mercenary, his blood dripping from its jaws as it swallowed the pieces of meat. Peter and Tracey dove in first. He heard splashes behind him, but he didn’t dare look as he pumped his arms and legs furiously, swimming for the other side. Rather, he kept his eyes on the river for large shadows.

As he and Tracey swam with all their might, the river carried them southbound, so their trajectory was more of a diagonal. Past the halfway mark across, Peter heard the T. rex roar behind him, but he was fairly certain it wouldn’t cross. He kept one eye on the opposite river bank and one on the water below, praying there wasn’t a Spinosaurus lurking about.

When he reached the opposite side with Tracey, they both stood up and slogged their way, splashing in the shallows until they reached the other side. They stopped, panting, catching their breath as the others joined them on the river bank.

Peter saw the T. rex pacing back and forth on the other side, furious they eluded it. It roared a couple of times and stomped off, disappearing back