Jase & the Deadliest Hunt (9 page)

YOU OPEN THE RED DISH,
revealing numerous red and green peppers you’ve never seen before mixed with a broth that contains several kinds of seafood, like fish and shrimp.

“And what is this?” you ask Count VanderVelde.

“This is our variation on a wonderful clam boil.”

You take a whiff and your eyes start to water. “It smells . . . spicy.”

“Yes. We call it the Blister Boil.”

You take a deep breath, then pick up your spoon.

“Men have been known to black out after eating that,” the count says.

“Wonderful. Great.”

The first bite feels like molten lava poured into your mouth.

The second bite and you lose all sensation below the waist.

“An adventurous spirit!” Count VanderVelde shouts. “I love it!”

The third bite contains a bit of lobster. That and a forest fire. Such a great combo.

You wipe your head and feel dizzy. “This is definitely
 
—”

But you can’t take any more. You jump up and run out of the room and out of the lodge, then dive into the pool just outside.

You swim underwater with your mouth open. For a long, long time.

Go here
.

THE TWO JEEPS DRIVE YOU
up the winding mountain road early the next morning. You pass the cave and remember the massive red bear John Luke managed to take down. After another ten minutes, you reach a closed gate blocking the path.

“Rest of the way is on foot,” your driver says.

All of you get out and walk around the rusted gate.

“So we hike this to get farther up the mountain?” Cole asks.

You nod and shrug. “Only one way to go, and it’s up. So yeah.”

After you’ve been walking for ten minutes, drizzle starts coming down. It feels good because the weather is so warm and sticky.

“Is this one of those tropical storms?” you ask the guys.
“Comes in for an hour, and then it’s sunshine for the rest of the day?”

“Those clouds don’t look too sunny to me,” Willie says.

His words seem to be an omen of sorts. The light sprinkle turns into a steady rain, which then becomes a downpour. Soon you forget how hot you were this morning as every inch of you becomes pruny and wet.

“Tell me something,” Willie begins as you all keep slogging uphill on the dirt trail. “Has it rained a drop this whole week?”

“Not one,” you say.

“This is making up for it,” John Luke adds.

At one point you all try to seek shelter under a tall tree along the trail, but it offers little. The wind has picked up and the rain is shifting, blowing first in one direction and then the next.

“Maybe there’s shelter closer to the top of the mountain,” you suggest.

“Something tells me there’s not.” Willie’s the one disagreeing, of course.

“So you want to stay here getting soaked?”

“Not really.”

“At least if we move, we stay a little warmer.”

Willie looks like a wet mess. So do John Luke and Cole. You can only imagine what a sight you are. At least you’re wearing a cap that’s blocking some of the rain.
Some
of the rain.

The farther up the winding dirt trail you go, the more you realize it’s becoming less of an actual trail. Grass and brush cover more and more of it the higher you get.

“Hey, check this out,” John Luke calls from the side of the path.

You walk over to see what he’s pointing at
 
—bones scattered on the grass.

“Looks like some kind of animal.”

“After someone finished feasting on it,” Willie says.

You adjust your cap as raindrops spill off the brim. Your cheek still aches and throbs, but thankfully you took some heavy pain medication earlier.

A few minutes later you see another set of bones. Then another soon after.

“I hope these aren’t the animals we’re supposed to be hunting,” you say.

“I hope the animal we’re supposed to be hunting isn’t doing this.”

Willie has a good point. And you have the sword you’re carrying. You figure you have to use it eventually, right? But the swords might not be enough.

The higher you walk, the darker the sky becomes. The rain is starting to hurt because you’re so cold and so wet.

“I think it’d be awesome if at the end of this we saw an allibeaver,” John Luke says.

“You and your allibeavers.” Willie shakes his head.

“They’re real.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Ask Papaw what happened at Camp Ch-Yo-Ca.”

“Yeah, right. I’m not making a fool of myself.”

“Hey, you guys, hush for a minute.” You hold up a hand. “Hear that?”

The sound comes from overhead somewhere and resembles a vicious scream.

“What was
that
?”

It sounded like a noise from a horror movie.

Then it rings out again, morphing into a higher-pitched mew this time.

“I think that’s some kind of cat,” John Luke says.

Willie snorts. “A cat can’t make a sound like that.”

You glance at your brother and have to laugh. “You’re a sopping mess, you know that?”

“Be quiet,” he says. “I forgot my hat at the lodge.”

“I think that was a mountain lion,” you say. “Or this island’s version of a mountain lion.”

“Well, we are on the
mountain
.”

You keep walking, hopefully getting closer and closer to your objective. The path soon ends, and there’s only a sharp, rocky incline left to climb. Trees and brush cover all of it but the very top, which consists of jagged stones.

Willie points up the slope. “Who wants to be king of the mountain?”

“I’m gathering that you don’t,” you say.

“You’re gathering correct. That’s a little too steep for me.”

John Luke steps forward. “I’ll head up there.”

“I’ll go too,” Cole says, joining him.

“Keep your swords in their sheaths,” you say. “We don’t want any more
accidents
.” You look at Willie when you say that.

It’s still pouring as John Luke and Cole begin to head up the final stretch of mountain. They disappear into the trees, then reappear for a while as they hike up the rocky terrain.

The wild, high-pitched wailing sound rings out again. You shoot Willie a look. “Think we should go up there too?”

“They’ll be fine.”

The wildcat sound rips through the woods, closer now.

“Maybe we should go,” you say.

Willie nods. “Yeah, maybe.”

So you follow the boys’ path.

As you ascend the slope, you hear some screams, then a commotion ahead of you. You rush forward, and as you do, here come John Luke and Cole, straight toward you. Falling, stumbling, running.

Their swords are nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on?” you shout, but soon John Luke and Cole are flying past you.

“Get out of here! It’s coming!” John Luke yells.

You steady your sword and hold your ground. Willie does
the same next to you. You don’t hear anything, but that doesn’t matter.

Then you spot it. About twenty feet above you, crouching on the edge of a boulder, is a massive cougar. It’s just . . . immense. Its fur is silver gray, its face round, its ears erect. The animal stares down at you before unleashing a wicked, ripping roar. Fierce and high and cackling.

“That’s a big cat,” Willie says, holding his katana with both hands.

“It’s a cougar,” you correct him.

“I think it’s a mountain lion.”

“Yeah, same thing.”

“Or maybe it’s a puma.”

“Well, yeah,” you say.

“Or maybe a catamount.”

You give Willie a look. “Yeah, it’s a big cat. I know.”

“Maybe a panther.”

“Would you be quiet?”

All of a sudden, the cougar leaps from the rock to the ground close by you, and that’s when . . .

Wait a minute. It looks like Spider-Man.

The mountain lion doesn’t jump with all four paws. It leaps the way a man would leap.

And now it’s standing on
two
feet, right in front of you.

Now you notice what John Luke and Cole probably saw.

This is no ordinary mountain lion.

“That’s a dude,” Willie stammers.

It sounds crazy, but he’s right. This is some kind of big mountain lion–meets–man hybrid.

I’m losing my mind. I gotta be losing my mind.

“Hello, gentlemen.”

You look at Willie and know you’ve lost it.

“Did you say something?” you ask.

Willie shakes his head and points toward the creature. “He sounds exactly like the count.”

“That mountain lion didn’t just talk to us.”

“Guess again,” the voice says.

Then it rips out another ferocious roar.

You’ve seen and heard enough. Time to sheathe the sword and start running.

You think you hear Willie’s footsteps behind you, but you’re not sure. Brush and branches strike you in the face until you finally make it out of the trees and back onto the dirt path.

John Luke and Cole are standing there, waiting for you, arms hanging at their sides. The rain still pours.

“Did you see it?” John Luke asks.

“Yeah. But I don’t know
what
I saw.”

“It’s like a human mountain lion,” Cole says.

“No, it can’t be.”

“It’s like an allibeaver,” John Luke explains. “Half-alligator, half-beaver. Except this is half–mountain lion, half-human.”

“Half–Count Chocula,” Willie adds as he joins you, out of breath and doubled over.

“This is crazy,” you say.

Rain falls steadily as you wait a few more minutes. You stare up the slope again and draw your sword, just in case. But nothing comes.

“Did you see how it jumped?” Willie asks you. “It was like some weird-looking thing from a comic book.”

You nod. You’ll leave the island but will be forever haunted by the cougar-man.

The weirdest animal you’ve ever encountered.

The one that thankfully got away . . . until something pounces on you from behind and you’re knocked out cold.

Your story continues in “Cat’s Cradle” in
Si in Space
.