Chapter 9
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Anaconda Island
Anaconda Island by Asmaa Nada
Chapter 10
Returning to Antoine and Elizabeth, after they left Alice behind, they approached an empty square of large trees, but it was full of weeds and weeds that deer eat freely from, not paying attention to any danger surrounding it. There was a group of deer in different areas inside the square, and there was a small deer standing. Far from them, near a small lake in the middle of the square, and a few steps away between the large trees, Elizabeth positioned herself in a position from which she could shoot the arrow directly into the heart of the deer, but Antoine whispered to her.
“Wait, Elizabeth, there is something in the water moving, but look at the far side of the lake there is another deer. I think she is in a safer place.”
Elizabeth said, "That's right, we catch that one, it's bigger, and we leave the little one for that crocodile. I think it's a crocodile."
At the same time that Elizabeth shot the arrow into the heart of the deer, which was standing far away, a huge marine creature rose slightly with a head that resembled a snake, but it had front feet. It was able to pin the little deer to the ground on the lake shore. Then it planted its fangs in its body for a few seconds, and after raising its head with a simple movement, it was able to remove the head. The deer then pushed it away into the stream of water, then swallowed the deer’s body completely. At the same time, Elizabeth was standing in amazement at what she saw. She had never dreamed of seeing something similar, even though she followed the television channels that broadcast what was happening in the forests. She was alerted by this condition that had struck her. In Antoine's voice
“Move, we must return before that creature notices us. I brought the deer.”
"Did you see? He has four fangs in his mouth," Elizabeth said in a faint voice.
Antoine said, “So, we know who cuts off deer heads.”
He left her behind him and moved while carrying the deer to the direction in which they had left Alice, but they did not find anyone and found traces of blood on the ground. Then they heard Alice’s voice coming out from between the trees on the opposite side of them. Alice was holding in her hand only the tail of an animal and said:
“The rabbit with the long tail approached me, and when I caught it and was playing with it, it was cut by the knife and tried to escape, but I was able to catch it. Anyway, it can be eaten with that deer.”
"Elizabeth, are you okay? You're holding that thing's tail, and there's no rabbit with a long tail."
Alice looked at her hand and then broke down crying and said
“It is a rabbit. It was a beautiful shape and had a long, large tail. When it was injured and tried to escape, I tried to catch it, but a head resembling a turtle’s head came out from inside a huge rock there inside, and it swallowed the rabbit and left the tail in my hand.”
Antoine: “It is good that that turtle had enough of that rabbit and did not devour you. Did you at least collect some fruits and vegetables?”
Alice opened the shirt she had tied around her waist, smiling, and said, “I collected a lot.”
Elizabeth said, “Is time suddenly passing quickly and darkness has begun to prevail?”
Antoine looked at him and then said, “Damn, that creature that was in the lake is moving nearby, but I don’t think it sees us.”
Antoine grabbed the ropes tied to the mattresses and then began pulling them slowly until he hid them among the fruit trees. Then he pulled Alice and Elizabeth's hands so that they could hide among the short trees behind them. They all tried to hold their breath, when this giant creature with the head of a snake and a body resembling the body of a crocodile with a long neck passed by. It was carrying Between his mouth the head of a deer.
After the crocodile-like creature with the head of a snake passed by and disappeared among the trees, Antoine moved, pulling the bed and whispering:
“We will go back to the beach and put that deer there. You clean and cut the deer, and I will come back and collect the wood.”
Elizabeth was moving behind him but suddenly stopped and said
“Antoine, stop, where is Alice?”
Antoine turned and looked at her, then looked behind her. He left the ropes on the ground and returned to where they were hiding. He did not find the girl, but he found traces of her body on the ground. He said
“Damn, how did she get pulled from next to us and we didn’t feel it?”
"She was holding me down until I got up and started moving behind you," Elizabeth said.
Antoine said, “Can you drag the brushes with the gazelle to the beach and I will search for them?”
Elizabeth looked at the deer and then said, “I will pull the deer out alone and leave the mattresses here, and after I put the deer inside the wooden tent and close it, I will come back and search with you as well.”
Antoine moved behind the traces caused by Alice's body being pulled. The traces ended after three meters at a huge rock. He looked around and did not find any other traces. He turned around the rock. There was nothing. The girl had arrived here and disappeared. Her body evaporated. He stood there looking at another. Al-Athar was astonished, then put his hand above his head and whispered
"Where did she disappear? Did she ascend to heaven?"
With a spontaneous movement, he raised his head to look at the sky and found Alice's body hanging from a tree branch while she was unconscious. He quickly climbed the tree until he reached that branch, and when he approached her body, he found her feet tied with ropes made of small branches from the branches of the tree itself. He took out the knife and tried to cut those branches. Strong screams rang out in a female voice. Antoine quickly removed his hand and looked at Alice’s face. He found her unconscious, so he said in a loud voice:
"Elizabeth, were you the one who screamed just now?"
He did not receive any answer, and despite the feeling of fear that gripped him, he held the knife tightly and cut the branches off Alice's feet, and did not pay attention to the screams that rose every time a part of her was cut. Then he grabbed Alice, placed her over his shoulder, and began trying to get down from the tree, but he noticed that The branches began to move and form into something. He did not wait to see what was happening or the cause of those screams, and he started running in the same direction from which he had come. While he was running, Elizabeth was coming to him, so he shouted to her.
"Run, don't look behind me."
Elizabeth said, “Who is that girl behind you?”
Antoine grabbed Elizabeth's arm without looking back and started running and she ran with him until they reached the beds. What was strange was that the beds were full of branches and there was a group of cats standing at a fairly far distance but in the middle of the road leading to the beach.
Elizabeth said with bated breath, “What do we do now?”
Before he could answer, the cats turned into a group of foxes, then the foxes stood up aggressively, and in an instant, the foxes moved quickly towards them. At the same time, Antoine grabbed Elizabeth's hand and ran towards the path that the crocodile-like creature had taken. The foxes jumped high over the bodies of the young men. She pounced on that woman, who had grown in size and had the form of a woman made of tree branches. She had many arms with which to hit the attacking foxes, and she screamed with screams that shook the nearby trees.
While the foxes were busy attacking the transformed woman, Antoine returned and grabbed the mattress ropes, and quickly pulled him and Elizabeth towards the beach. Perhaps minutes or hours, Antoine sat looking at Elizabeth, who examined Alice’s body. Then she tied up the wounds she found on Alice’s ankles, and then she helped Alice. Who woke up to drink the last bottle of water that was inside Elizabeth's bag, then sat next to Antoine and said
“Thank you for cutting off parts of the deer after skinning them. Where did you learn that? And what are you looking at now?”
Antoine said, “Look there, the foxes have returned to the form of cats, and are standing next to the trees. I am thinking, why did they not attack us? Why did they attack that thing that was shaped like a woman? And who collected all those branches?”
Alice said, “Those are not cats, but lion cubs, and when they turn into foxes, foxes do not attack unless they are hungry, the same characteristics as lions.”
Elizabeth said, "Why didn't you scream when you were pulled out?"
Alice said, “I felt a prick in my foot like the prick of a needle, then I lost consciousness. I don’t know what happened after that.”
Antoine said, “This explains those marks on the ankle. Perhaps they are anesthetic needles used by that creature.”
“Time flies on the island,” Alice said. “Why haven’t they come back?”
Elizabeth said, “Maybe they found a better place than the beach, and someone will come to take us. Antoine, tell me where you learned slaughtering and skinning, and also how to make a barbecue out of wood.”
Antoine said, “Concerning slaughtering and skinning, my father has a farm with a place designated for slaughtering sheep and cows and selling meat, and as for making this for cooking meat, my big brother used to take me on camping and hunting trips in the forests, and after we hunted a rabbit or an antelope, we would slaughter it and cook it like this.”
Alice said, "My father used to take me to the lake near the town and teach me to fish. This, of course, was before he left us and left."
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mark and Marie running carrying clay pots filled with water. Antoine shouted in astonishment and said:
"Where are Clark and Tina?"
Mark said, “We separated to mislead the thing that follows us.”
Mary said, "I told Clark not to go near the waterfall, but he didn't listen to me."
“Tina came alone,” Elizabeth said, pointing in a distant direction. “Hurry, Mark, and you too, Antoine. She’s pulling that brush on her own.”
The two went to Tina and took from her the mattresses, which were largely filled with tree branches and wood and had tied the ends with large logs of tree trunks that had been uprooted from the ground. After they reached the rest of the group, Mark and Antoine moved to distribute the wood among the remains of the burnt ashes in the circle and began trying to Light it, while Tina sat near the fire and her body was shaking violently, Elizabeth approached her and said
"Where are Clark and Raymond? The sun has set and darkness has spread."
Tina cried, “That crazy person, I let him fight a huge animal so I could grab those things and get away.”
Before any of them could speak, Raymond was emerging from between the trees, dragging behind him a huge bowl filled with water, and shouting at the top of his voice.
"Come help me, then light the fire. Clark came with that anaconda that swallowed the huge crocodile behind him."
The circle was already on fire and a small part of it remained, so Mark and Antoine rushed towards Raymond and pulled with him the ropes that he was tying around the pot until they were able to pass inside the circle, while Elizabeth and Mary were throwing the rest of the wood to close the circle, Clark appeared running towards them, then he jumped inside and Raymond got up. They set fire to the rest of the wood until the circle was completely closed, and the
n they all turned to look at Clark, who was sleeping on the sand and bleeding from many
different wounds on his body.
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