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

“What are you doing?” cried Susan.

The siamang snatched the locket off her neck and leapt to a nearby vine.

“That’s mine,” demanded Susan. She dashed off after it, outraged.

“Susan, wait,” cried Tracey after her.

“It has my kid’s picture in it,” shouted Susan over her shoulder.

*

Susan darted through the underbrush and hanging vines, pursuing the little thief who pilfered her locket. “Get back here, you little klepto!”

Branches hit her face, scratching her cheeks as she gained on the little crook, only for it to narrowly evade her grasp. It swung from vine to vine, staying low to the ground, stopping as if it waited for her to catch up, taunting her. Susan heard the others calling after her, but she was too livid to hear their warnings.

Suddenly, she burst into a clearing where a bunch of much larger primates all sat. She skidded to a stop in the dirt and stood still, placing her hands out defensively.

What looked like a small group of chimpanzees sat in a circle, each holding a rock. At their feet sat broader, flat stones with crushed nuts sitting on the surfaces. They had been cracking the shells of the nuts and eating until they were interrupted. The small young cringed behind their mothers. They all gazed at Susan with eyes that appeared all too human.

Forgetting about her locket, she started to back away when one of the chimpanzees cried out. Susan froze again. She heard her friends calling for her, searching the jungle. It dawned on her how far she’d separated from the group.

Now, most of the chimpanzees called out, and within seconds there was an answer. The jungle erupted with deeper calls and chest pounding—males. Bushes and branches rustled all around Susan as the larger males rushed into view, jumping up on tree trunks, pounding on them with their fists. They saw her as a threat.

Susan’s skin went cold, and the primitive, fight-or-flight part of her brain cried out, ‘Danger!’ She was surrounded.

*

Peter ran forward with Jason, who clutched his knife, as the jungle around them exploded in percussion.

“That’s chest beating and tree pounding,” shouted Mary, running behind them with Tracey. “Those are larger primates. Susan’s in trouble.”

“She’s invaded something’s territory,” panted Tracey, dashing alongside Mary.

“That’s right,” said Mary.

“Susan!” called Jason, desperate. “Susan, where are you?”

Peter closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, his chest glowing under his shirt. He could feel the jungle in his mind. He found Susan. “She’s just ahead. Jason, she’s surrounded.”

Jason doubled his efforts. “Susan! Susan, get out of there!”

They slowed as they approached the clearing where Susan stood, surrounded by several male chimps. They glared at her, and she stood frozen.

“Susan!” cried Jason.

She turned and looked at Jason, her eyes wide and pleading. A single tear streamed down her cheek.

The chimpanzees rushed her, tackling her to the ground. They pulled at her clothes as she screamed.

Jason dashed forward, but Peter grabbed his arm. “Jason, no.”

Jason turned on him, imploring him. “Do something, Peter! Use the death orb! Do it now!”

Peter closed his eyes and dug deep, reaching for that wall of frost within his chest. However, as he extended himself toward it, it only receded from him. It was too cold, too distant for him to even touch. He heard Mary and Tracey cry out.

He opened his eyes to find Susan being bitten and torn apart by the male chimpanzees.

Jason squared off with him, his eyes feral. “Give it to me! Give me the death orb!”

“I-I-I don’t know how.”

Before Peter could register what was happening, he felt the death orb leaving his body. He looked down at his chest in disbelief as it passed out of him and drifted across to Jason. “No, wait…” Off in the bushes he thought he saw a young boy smiling, extending his hand. It was as if he was pulling the death orb out of Peter’s chest through sheer will. Nazimaa.

The death orb passed into Jason’s chest, illuminating it with an icy blue glow. The hunter’s eyes blazed white, his irises disappearing altogether as he was possessed with the power of death.

He turned on the chimpanzees that ravaged Susan’s body and shouted at them. He tensed his body and a wave of blue energy emanated from his body, enveloping the murderous chimps. They simultaneously dropped like stones, crumpled on the ground, dead.

Something literally taken out of him, Peter dropped to the ground, feeling weak. Mary and Tracey were by his side, comforting him, asking him if he was all right.

Jason ran to Susan’s gored body and knelt beside it, wailing. She was torn to pieces. Jason wept into his hands.

“Peter, what happened?” asked Mary. “What did he do to you?”

“He took the death orb,” said Peter, gasping for breath. “He took it right out of my chest.”

“How is that even possible?” asked Tracey.

Peter looked over to where the young boy had stood. He was gone. “Nazimaa. She helped him.”

Jason stood and wheeled around, pointing an accusatory finger at Peter. His eyes were back to normal, but there was something different about him. “Why didn’t you do something to save her?”

“I tried,” muttered Peter. “I couldn’t do it.”

“You’re weak,” bellowed Jason. “You didn’t deserve to wield the death orb. It wasn’t meant for you.”

Peter stood with the help of Mary and Tracey, who regarded Jason with suspicion and horror. “Is that why you were asking about the orbs? Why you were asking about the death orb?”

Jason’s chest heaved. “You don’t respect death. You treat it like an enemy, rather than the ally it could be.”

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t…”

“And now Susan is dead because of you.” Jason’s face contorted with disgust. “You don’t even have the power to bring her