"There is definitely something following us," Vicky shrieked in a high pitched voice.
"Will you chill out, it's probably a rat or something," Katie returned trying to calm Vicky down.
"Rat? Ewww I hate rats," Vicky shuddered and continued to inspect her surroundings, keeping her arms tucked tight into her chest, "I friggin hate rats," still muttering under her breath.
"Watch out for these thorns," Katie stepped over the thorny entanglement at the last second, holding out her arm she helped Keeley step over the razor-sharp growth. Vicky meanwhile was only half paying attention, catching the toe end of her brown hiking boot on the braches and tripping herself over. Vicky fell flat forward and was partially stopped by Keeley mid-fall, the thorns dug into Vicky's leg as she stumbled, tangling her up in a spikey mess.
"Shit! Damn thorns, fuck, get it off me," Vicky struggled and tried to wriggle free, Katie quickly knelt and grabbed Vicky's knife, "Hold still your making it worse," She held her friend's knee trying to stop her from moving her leg around. Katie carefully cut the troublesome vines and freed her friend's leg, Vicky cussed and plucked the thorn heads that had remained stuck in her leg, "I've had enough of this shit, first the tour guide buggers off, then Edith storms off in a sulk, and now we are trudging through a shitty jungle with no idea how long it will take us to get back," Vicky began to sob in a dramatic bout of self-pity. Keeley had to restrain herself from giggling, Vicky certainly had confidence with most of life's matters, but occasionally the diva crown would slip and childlike tantrums burst out of her like a pan boiling salted water on a gas hob.
"Cheer up Vick, could be worse?" Keeley sniggered. Vicky scowled at the youngster as she padded a tissue on the small wounds to her leg, "Not funny Keel, how about helping me up instead of sniggering, eh?"
Keeley's smile was wiped and she held out her hand to help Vicky up, she was hauled up by the youngster and the trio continued on their journey, but it wasn't long before Vicky was moaning again. "What the fuck was that?" She almost jumped out of her skin, which in turn scared the life out of Katie and Keeley.
"What now?" Katie was losing patience with her friends diva-like theatrics. "Something touched my leg, I swear girls something is behind us," Vicky was cowering and becoming incredibly tense. Katie ushered her friend between herself and her cousin, now Vicky had protection from her two friends, in front and behind. "I'm not making it up, something was stroking my leg, I swear," Vicky pleaded seeking assurance. "Okay, well you should be alright now, I'm in front of you and Keels is behind you."
"How long do you reckon until we reach the village?" Vicky grew curious, Katie stopped walking again and pulled out the waterproof map, scouring the paper with her index finger Katie tried to estimate a time scale. "We would need to set up camp for the night about here which I reckon is-" Katie was interrupted as suddenly Vicky slumped to the ground in a moment of confusion, Kelley stumbled back unsure what had even just happened and Katie dropped the map and reached down to grab Vicky's hand in a moment of instinct. But Katie saw the fear and confusion in Vicky's eyes, a moment in time where it all seemed to happen in slow motion, Vicky's eyes pleading to her friend and Katie unable to respond amidst the chaotic split second.
Vicky was dragged away like she had been snagged to the back of a truck pulling off at high speed, she screamed her high pitched squeal and it drifted off in a matter of seconds as she fizzed away feet first into the leafy terrain. Katie hadn't even given it a second thought, she ditched her backpack and chased after her stricken friend. Vicky's screams could still be heard and Katie followed the terrible howl of her distraught friend.
Keeley tried to make up ground, but she was now a long way behind lugging her backpack. Katie was steaming through the jungle growth at speed, but Vicky's cries were getting fainter, she was being pulled in different directions and this only confused Katie, she began to lose track of Vicky's screams and soon enough the jungle fell silent. Katie paused and listened out. There was nothing, no rustling, no screams. She caught her breath trying to figure out which way to go, which way Vicky may have been taken. A few more agonising moments passed and Katie didn't know what to do, she turned around several times hoping to see or hear something. And then, there it was. The high pitched blood-curdling scream that was most defiantly Vicky, it was far away and she could be heard screaming the word "No, no, nooooo," followed by an ear-piercing screech which seemed to be cut short.
Katie gasped and was frozen solid with fear, whatever had taken her, seemed most likely to have taken her life also in those shuddering few seconds. Katie barely had time to take it all in when a loud rustling of leaves approached her at speed. There wasn't time to wait and see what it was, there wasn't time to run, she simply held out her hands and winced bracing for the potential danger.
Katie was knocked to the floor with force, the object barging through the leaves and crashing down on top of her.
"Katie, there you are," Keeley apologetically stood up and helped her cousin up from the floor. Katie rubbed the back of her head, the fall sent her to the ground with a mighty thud, "Geez Keel, you could have watched where you were going."
"I did, I mean... I was, I just, panicked I guess and I was desperate to find you, I couldn't see a thing through these huge leaves," Keeley looked around from side to side, "Do you know which way she was taken?"
Katie grimaced and slowly pointed in the direction she heard the grisly screams, "Yea, that way is where I last heard her cries." Keeley grabbed her cousin's hand and pulled her in that very direction, "Come on then, let's go, what are you waiting for?"
Katie pulled back and halted Keeley on her tracks, "No! We can't go after her,"
Keeley was confused and tugged Katie's arm once more, "What are you talking about? Come on,"
Katie still refused, "Listen, Keeley, I heard Vicky, I heard her call out and I heard those screams, if she is out there we might not want to find out what happened to her, it sounded awful and I dread to think what we may find. We need to get out of here, and get out fast."
Keeley looked down at Katie's waist, "Have you tried the walkie talkie?" She pointed to the small grey device hooked onto Katie's belt. The device was clicked on and Katie spoke softly, "Hello, Vicky, are you out there? Over."
The static crackled wildly as the women waited patiently for some kind of response, "Is anyone receiving this? Over." The crunch of static burst out once Katie removed her thumb from the button again.
Keeley looked into Katie's eyes, terrified that their friend was indeed gone, just as Katie had predicted.
"This is madness, we need to go and find her or we need to call for help, we have to do something," the youngster stormed away but was pulled back by Katie's grip, she turned the volume down on the device and hooked it back to her belt, "Keeley, listen. We are on our own in a strange and unfamiliar place. You saw what happened as did I, Vicky was snatched right before our eyes. How do you explain that? I didn't see anyone, and the speed in which she was dragged away, and the fact she was continually dragged a very long way away, suggests that whatever is out here, is not human. Do you really want to go venturing further away from safety, with a risk of both of us suffering a similar nasty fate such as Victoria's?"
Keeley murmured a half reply, unable to answer Katie's poignant question, until at last proper words came from her mouth, "I-I don't know, but we have to do something, we cannot just walk away."
They stood in silence, guilt rushed through Katie's veins. If Vicky was out there and needed help, then could Katie live with herself knowing she could have helped her rather than run scared? Or was it just one bad idea after another. Katie and Keeley could be the next ones screaming in horror if things turned sour. The decision began to weigh heavy on her mind, and now Keeley was looking to her older cousin with pleading and terrified eyes. "We go take a look, if we can't find her quickly then we must abandon the idea and get moving, we don't want to be trudging to the village in the dark." Keeley nodded agreeing that they needed to be quick.
The pair headed a short distance in the direction Katie last heard the cries of their friend, cautiously they crept through the large growth of leaves, tangled vines and tall ferns created numerous obstacles, but the area became less overshadowed by the mighty tall trees. Some of the plants had bright-coloured flowers sprouting from the tangled vines, others were bulbous and opened outwards into a sort of star shape at the top.
Katie continued to try a call through to Vicky's walkie talkie, there was still no response. They reached an area where many of the tall leaves had been flattened down, maybe even trodden down. Keeley saw something under the leaves and leant down to see what it was.
Katie tried again on the walkie talkie, she heard her own voice and when she had finished the same crackle of static, "Keeley, her walkie talkie is close, did you hear it?" Katie scoured the area walking slowly around trying to locate the device.
Meanwhile, Keeley began to stammer and called out to her cousin, "K-K-Katie, is this Vi-"
But she wasn't listening, focusing too much on the sound from the walkie-talkie. She soon realised the device was not low down, it was not on the ground, it seemed to be, it seemed to be at eye level. Katie's attention now turned to the thick green trunk of a tall bulky plant, the plant seemed to bulge along the trunk.
Keeley snapped her fingers trying to grab Katie's attention, "Katie, look at this," she lifted a large green leaf to reveal a brown boot, the laces loosened and untied. "Is this? Is this Vicky's?" Keeley's voice faded a little when she spoke her friend's name.
Katie's eye's grew larger, the astonishment overwhelming her thoughts, Katie took a deep breath and exhaling as she turned back to the trunk of the plant. She ran her eyes up along the length of the silky smooth green trunk, it was now clearly visible that the bulk was thinning out towards the top, maybe the shape of a tall vase, or a body with its head facing down towards the ground.
Katie gulped in horror and turned to Keeley, who was also now on the same page as Katie, they had both now envisioned the shape to be a person inside the plant, most likely Vicky.
Katie pushed and released the button and the walkie-talkie again crackled, it was inside the tall trunk. This was more than enough evidence to back away, and carefully at that. The women slowly stood and gazed towards the top of the tall plant, they saw the star-shaped tip curl and retract like a banana skin flopping down on the sides of the plant. It moved as slow as a snail and seemed unaware of their presence. Keeley whispered and clutched at Katie's hand, "Let's get out of here, like, now."
Katie shuddered, again she thought about the terrible possibility before her. Vicky was inside the green trunk of the plant, swallowed headfirst by the looks of things, and surely unconscious or dead at this stage.
Keeley tugged her cousin's hand again, trying to coax her away from the scene.
The pair cautiously began to wind back along a dirt path, getting out of this awful nightmare had become even more desperate.