Birds chirped rhythmically in the distance as leaves floated gracefully to the forest floor. The subtle rain misted over branches and bugs. Due to the temperature; the conditions were perfect to create a thick mist, reducing the visibility of those on the ground below.
“C’mon, come on!” Chris shouted at the expedition team’s recently deceased jungle jeep. He shoved the key in and turned it repeatedly to no avail.
“Yeah I’ve got a bit of noise but I’m gonna declare this engine dead. Looks like your guys are gonna have to push,” Zach spoke calmly, peaking his head out from the hood.
Chris slammed his hands on the steering wheel and threw himself out of the jeep, “Y’know treasure hunting is exciting and all but this shit costs money! I haven’t seen a dime since we started this goose chase so I apologize for being a touch fed up.” He got intimidatingly close to Zach, “Is your goal just to make me waste as much money as possible?”
“I didn’t make you hire twenty armed machine-gun-wielding maniacs. I’m sure they were much more expensive than a few rented jeeps and a couple of tickets to Brazil.”
Chris took a step back and took a deep breath, taking in the swampy smell of the jungle. He heeded the words of his close friend, trying to keep calm. He had just recently gotten his thirty-day slip from anger management, “Well if this treasure is as heavily guarded as you say, I’d rather have them around. Wouldn’t you?” Without letting Zach respond, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and called for two mercenaries at the back of the line to start pushing. “I don’t doubt you but I want you to be sure you know where we’re going before we waste more time and money.”
“We’re extremely close I can assure you,” Zach said with incredible confidence. He turned away from the broken jeep, pulled out his paper map, and continued onwards.
The line of jeeps hummed as they slowly crept deeper into the forest. It didn’t take long for them to reach a break in the tree line, revealing a lake and more than enough room to set up camp.
“I told you we were close!” Zach jogged over to inspect the water.
The dense fog made it impossible to see the other side of the lake. Instead, all they could see was a menacing half-circle of deep navy blue water. The water at the edge of the fog was rippling, sending small waves over to where Zach stood. The more he stared into the shifting water, the more it seemed like the lake was breathing.
Chris grabbed Zach by his collar and pulled him backward, “Are you crazy? I thought you said there was a monster in there!”
A huge smile crept across Zach’s face, “I’m pleasantly surprised that you believed me. You’re always the one preaching how ‘seeing is believing’. In any case yes you’re right, the legend surrounding this lake states that a gracious and politely territorial beast protects the treasure in the depths below. However, it also states that if this beast looks into your soul and thinks your heart to be pure, it will choose you to receive the treasure and return to its cove without any hassle yada yada yada.”
Chris gave his only friend a skeptical look. However, after a few minutes of explaining that nothing bad would happen to him so long as he followed the rules, they began to set up camp.
After a few hours, the hired muscle had unloaded the jeeps, set up four tents, loaded over one hundred fifty magazines, and equipped Zach and Chris with a full set of scuba gear.
As one of the mercs handed Chris a harpoon gun he shot Zach another terrified look.
“It’s just in case something goes wrong. But the beast should be able to tell that we mean it no harm. Just remember, don’t touch anything unless you are chosen. If it doesn’t choose one of us, we pack our shit up and leave empty-handed.”
Irritated, Chris opened his mouth to retaliate but stopped himself. Just focus on this, we can worry about money later.
The two friends instructed the hired help to stay on the shore and be ready should anything go wrong. Then, they took their first few steps into the lake and sunk down into the depths below.
The water was incredibly murky making it almost impossible to see. Zach grabbed Chris’ arm and confidently led him deeper into the water. Chris clutched his harpoon gun tightly as he was blindly led into something he’d seen in his nightmares.
Suddenly, a small light could be seen. Excited to be able to see anything, Chris wriggled out of his friend’s grip and began swimming faster. Slowly, the light got bigger and bigger, until the murkiness of the water seemed to fade away entirely. Zach and Chris floated in a dome of light, staring down at the treasure they spent so much time and money searching for. A glowing metal claw sat at the bottom of the lake. Mayan words and symbols were expertly etched into the side of the claw. The claw itself looked like a human hand whose fingers had been turned into knives. Four gems were socketed into the knuckles, creating the glow the two explorers found themselves in.
Without hesitation, Zach dropped his harpoon gun and swam toward the artifact. He haphazardly grabbed at the claw, poking one of his fingers. He motioned to Chris and turned to swim back towards the surface.
You weren’t chosen! Where’s the monster? Chris thought, horrified.
The two emerged onto the shore and ripped their helmets off. Zach excitedly pondered his artifact.
“I thought we were supposed to wait for a blessing or approval or something!” Chris yelled, angry and concerned. The hired help began gathering around the two, curious as to the source of the light in Zach’s hand.
“Oh, there’s not a literal monster. I was just messing with you,” Zach inspected Chris’ face, surprised he didn’t find his joke as funny and relieving as he had hoped, “What do you live in fantasy land or something? That’s just an ancient Mayan story they made up so no one would steal their stuff that’s worth a ton of money. We’re gonna be rich by the way.”
Zach raised his hand up for a high five but was surprised to see the claw attached to his raised hand. Just as he went to get a better look at it, the fingers on the claw contorted, stabbing through Zach’s fingers. He screamed out in pain and Chris reeled back in fear. The claw continued to contort, bending all of Zach’s fingers to their breaking point. It contorted even more, stabbing into his wrist. His entire arm was shrouded in blood, but the claw was unsullied. Quickly it stabbed clean through his arm, causing his backward fingers to touch his wrist.
“Do something you fucking dunces!” Zach screamed at the mercs. Two of them ran forward and attempted to pry the claw out of Zach’s arm. As they tried, Zach’s head began to warp and his mouth snapped open, causing his jaw to touch his throat. He fell to his knees and screamed in agony as massive teeth began sprouting out of his mouth. His skin looked as though it was melting as it shifted, slowly hardening and turning to scales. His legs snapped, but now instead of crying out in pain, he lunged forward and jammed his new teeth into the head of one of the mercs trying to help him. The mercs arms went limp immediately. Zach’s head shifted more, causing his nose to horrifically transform into a snout.
“Fuck!” one of the mercs screamed as he loaded his rifle. Without approval from Chris, he began to unload 7.62mm rounds into Zach’s morphing body. The bullets swiftly tore through his transforming skin and he fell over. With terrifying speed, Zach slithered into the water, disappearing from sight.
Chris turned and stared at the wet pile of blood and guts that used to be one of his hired guns. He screamed to the living help to load their weapons and be at the ready.
The water in the lake slowly turned a dark, crimson red.
From beneath the waves, a massive Lovecraftian monster emerged. It looked like a ten-story tall sea serpent except it had hundreds of tentacles emerging from its body. Chris craned his neck and saw the claw, pristine and clean, dug into the creature’s head. The monster looked down at the people below and took a moment to blink its massive, reptile eyes before it lunged at the mercs. Seven of them were instantly swallowed up in the creature’s gaping maw, the rest of the survivors only got a few shots off before the monster’s tentacles sprung forward, squeezing their victims until their spines split in half.
In just a few seconds Chris was the only survivor. Slowly, the monster descended, now at eye level with its prey. But instead of devouring him, it simply sunk deep into the lake, taking the claw with it.
I really hope you enjoyed reading this week’s post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read what I have to say.
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