(no subject)
[From here]
Roxton knows he’s pushing Challenger and Malone, but they have no time to waste. If they don’t mind Lento before moonrise, Summerlee will die. Roxton won’t let that happen. They already almost lost one person today. That was more than enough. Tellingly, Challenger and Malone aren’t complaining and follow quietly.
An apeman roars not far off and Roxton stops the group. The last thing they need right now is to run into those creatures. The apeman roars again, this time in pain, long and drawn out. Roxton looks at the others. “Come on.”
There’s a small fern-filled clearing where they find the apeman’s body. Roxton looks him over, checking for wounds. “Not a mark on him,” he tells the other two. And the body’s still warm, so Lento must be nearby. He starts looking for a trail.
“How the hell did Lento do this?” Malone says, looking upset and determined all at once. He’s going to have to have a chat with him about his earlier actions, but it’ll have to keep for now.
“This way.”
“Looks like he went through here,” Challenger points out another trail. Roxton frowns.
“Wait.” And a third one?
“This way, too,” Roxton scowls as he checks Malone’s trail. Dammit. This is going to mean trouble.
“He wants us to split up.” Malone sounds disgusted and Roxton doesn’t blame him.
“We’re running out of time,” Challenger says, looking up at the setting sun. “I don’t think we have a choice. Each one of us will have to take a trail.”
“Not even a shaman can be in three places at once. Fire a shot if you see him, then wait for the others. Don’t take any chances.” Roxton gives Malone a pointed look. “We don’t need any dead heroes.” Malone looks mulish a moment, but he nods and starts down his trail. Roxton turns back to the one he found and follows it. Deeper and deeper into the jungle it goes. Suddenly, the jungle around him bursts into sound, insects buzzing, birds calling, monkeys screeching, and the roars of several dinosaurs. Rifle up, he turns to face the Rex only to find nothing’s there as he’s hit by a strong sense of vertigo. Raptors hiss behind him and he whirls, nearly falling, but the jungle is barely moving.
Roxton stumbles back and snaps a taut vine with his boot. A small log drops from the canopy, swinging on vines into his chest and throwing him off the ridge he didn’t even realize was there. He grunts as he rolls down the hillside, bushes clawing at him, and drops his rifle along the way. He lays still a moment for damage control, but he’s not too badly hurt. He looks up the hill in time for his hat to finish its own trip and flop in front of him. His rifle is nowhere to be seen. Stifling a groan, Roxton climbs to his feet, only then realizing that the jungle’s gone back to its usual sounds. So that was what Yura meant by turning the jungle against them.
He doesn’t have much of a chance to think it over. Someone’s screaming in pain, and Roxton slaps his hat on his head and dashes back of the hill, looking for his rifle. The yell comes again. Dammt, where is it? There! He snatches up the weapon and runs, practically slamming into Malone as he gets near the apeman’s clearing.
“Challenger?” the lad asks worriedly.
“Let’s go.” Together, they run down Challenger’s trail. He screams again and they come upon Lento kneeling over the ginger with a knife point just starting to enter his chest. Roxton stops short and lifts his gun. The bullet hits Lento in the shoulder, and he falls back with a cry of pain. Then he runs, disappearing into the jungle. Malone’s already running to the professor, who panics.
“It’s alright, Challenger, it’s us,” says Malone, helping him to sit up.
Roxton glares out after Lento, but doesn’t give chase. “Are you all right?” he asks the older man.
Challenger’s shaking. “I can’t see,” he tells them, still frantic. “I’m blind.”
Lento is forgotten. It looks like Challenger’s pupils have eaten his irises. “What happened?” Roxton asks, slinging his rifle across his back and coming around to Challenger’s side.
“Lento blew some sort of powder into my eyes. I should have shot him the moment I saw him!”
“Easy man,” Roxton says, putting one hand on his shoulder. Malone digs out his water and a handkerchief, wetting it down. “We need to rinse your eyes out. Put your head back.”
Roxton lets Malone take over after that. The sun’s starting to go down and he’s certain Lento isn’t that far away. If only his shot had been a little more accurate, just a few inches to the right…
“Any better?”
“I’m fine,” Challenger says. Roxton goes back over to them.
“Really?” He crouches in front of Challenger, waving his hand in front of his eyes. Challenger doesn’t react. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” the man answers quickly.
Roxton sighs. “Sorry.”
Challenger shoves against them as he gets to his feet. “Enough games!”
“We can’t leave you here,” Roxton tells him.
“And we can’t give up on Summerlee, either,” Malone reminds them both. As though Roxton could have forgotten.
“Dammit, we’re running out of time. Even if we catch Lento, we won’t make it back to the village before moonrise.” They’re quickly running out of options.
“Moonrise. The baby!” Challenger reaches out for one of them, and Roxton offers his arm. “Lento said no one would supplant him. He must have meant the baby.”
Malone turns to leave. “He’s circling back to the grove.”
“Where are you going?” Roxton calls after him, stopping him short.
“After Lento.
“Oh no, not alone,” says Roxton firmly.
“Somebody’s gotta stay here with Challenger. I need to finish this.”
“And if he kills you?”
Malone looks down, then meets Roxton’s eyes. “Well, then it will be your turn.”
The lad’s been taking lessons from Marguerite. “Just be careful, Malone. The whole grove is full of booby traps.”
“I know.”
Challenger’s still holding on the Roxton. “Just slow him down. We’ll try to get back to the altar before him.”
“Just protect the child.”
Roxton peels Challenger’s hand off of him and grabs Malone before he can leave. “Have you ever killed anyone before?”
“I was in the war.”
“Answer the question.” Malone’s so young, so naïve. Roxton can tell the answer is no.
“I’ve seen death,” he insists stubbornly.
“You’re just a reporter, Malone. Killing an animal is very different than killing a human being, to look him in the eye and know you are about to end his life.” He puts a hand on the lad’s shoulder. “Just remember: Lento, he isn’t human anymore.” It’s the secret that all soldiers learn to in order to be able to do what they must. He wishes he didn’t have to tell it to Malone.
“Roxton?” Challenger’s holding out his arms, trying to find him. Roxton steps within reach, grabbing his shoulder.
“Come on, Challenger, it’s getting dark. I want to reach altar before neither of us can see where we’re going.” Stupid of them to not bring torches but they left the rest of their things with the balloon.
“Was that wise, John? Sending Malone?” Challenger interrupts his thoughts, stumbling a bit.
“He was right, George.” He steadies the other man. “Lento is his responsibility. How are your eyes?”
“They’re fine,” Challenger says dismissively.
“George.”
“They’ve stopped burning, at least.”
“Summerlee will probably have a treatment he can make for them.”
Challenger snorts grumpily as Roxton was hoping he would. “He’d better after the past three days of looking for his damn plants.”
The sun sets as they’re walking, forcing Roxton and Challenger to slow to a crawl. They’re still a ways away from the grove and the jungle’s nearly silent around them. Roxton’s worried for Malone. What if Challenger’s right? But there’s nothing he can do for the lad except pray.
There’s a single shot in the night. Roxton stops and Challenger staggers next to him, blinking in the darkness. “Malone?” the professor asks.
“Must be.” Roxton waits a minute longer, but the sound doesn’t repeat. Whatever happened, it’s done now. He hopes Malone is okay. They keep walking.
A woman’s scream breaks the air, and Roxton swerves them slightly towards the torches he can now see glowing in the distance. They’re almost there, but he can’t tell if Malone is back or not. Summerlee he hears first, ordering the villagers around with various herbal remedies to help Asu. He hears a baby crying next and his heart lightens a little. Summerlee’s alive and the baby’s here; Malone must be safe too. “Hello there!” he calls out, a little jovially.
“Ah, Roxton, there you are. We were starting to worry,” the old professor responds as one of the villagers bring them a torch. “Is Challenger with you?”
“I’m right here,” Challenger replies loudly before muttering just loud enough for Roxton, “you old goat.” Roxton chuckles.
“Come on, Challenger. Summerlee, can you help him? Lento blew some sort of powder into his eyes. He can’t see.” Well. So much for the cheerful atmosphere. At least Asu and the baby seem healthy. Malone’s standing next to them, cooing over the little one.
“Really, George, how do you get yourself into these messes,” fusses Summerlee as he grinds up a plant.
“By trying to get you out of them,” Challenger grumbles back as Roxton guides him till he can lean against the altar.
“Lento’s dead, then?”
“Malone arrived a few moments before the baby was gone. His body’s over that way,” Summerlee gestures while pouring the plants juices onto a cloth. “There, this should help a bit.” He applies the compress over Challenger’s eyes and forces him to keep it there for a minute. “Is that any better?”
“Good enough, thanks,” Challenger says, pulling the cloth away. Even in the dim torch light, it’s obvious his eyes are still black. The baby cries again. “Where is he? I want to see the baby.” At least he’s not in pain.
“You mean this baby?” Malone looks to Asu for permission before bringing the child to Challenger.
“The new shaman, your new healer. He must be a handsome fellow,” Challenger smiles.
“Yes. She is. He is a beautiful baby girl.” Carefully, Malone hands the baby to Challenger, who smiles again. Slowly, he lifts her up to his cheek, snuggling her face against his. She reaches out and snags his beard. He gives a soft chuckle, then gasps. Roxton and Malone both step forward, worried, but Challenger’s beaming now. His eyes are clear.
He can see.
((Dialogue mostly from The Lost World))
Roxton knows he’s pushing Challenger and Malone, but they have no time to waste. If they don’t mind Lento before moonrise, Summerlee will die. Roxton won’t let that happen. They already almost lost one person today. That was more than enough. Tellingly, Challenger and Malone aren’t complaining and follow quietly.
An apeman roars not far off and Roxton stops the group. The last thing they need right now is to run into those creatures. The apeman roars again, this time in pain, long and drawn out. Roxton looks at the others. “Come on.”
There’s a small fern-filled clearing where they find the apeman’s body. Roxton looks him over, checking for wounds. “Not a mark on him,” he tells the other two. And the body’s still warm, so Lento must be nearby. He starts looking for a trail.
“How the hell did Lento do this?” Malone says, looking upset and determined all at once. He’s going to have to have a chat with him about his earlier actions, but it’ll have to keep for now.
“This way.”
“Looks like he went through here,” Challenger points out another trail. Roxton frowns.
“Wait.” And a third one?
“This way, too,” Roxton scowls as he checks Malone’s trail. Dammit. This is going to mean trouble.
“He wants us to split up.” Malone sounds disgusted and Roxton doesn’t blame him.
“We’re running out of time,” Challenger says, looking up at the setting sun. “I don’t think we have a choice. Each one of us will have to take a trail.”
“Not even a shaman can be in three places at once. Fire a shot if you see him, then wait for the others. Don’t take any chances.” Roxton gives Malone a pointed look. “We don’t need any dead heroes.” Malone looks mulish a moment, but he nods and starts down his trail. Roxton turns back to the one he found and follows it. Deeper and deeper into the jungle it goes. Suddenly, the jungle around him bursts into sound, insects buzzing, birds calling, monkeys screeching, and the roars of several dinosaurs. Rifle up, he turns to face the Rex only to find nothing’s there as he’s hit by a strong sense of vertigo. Raptors hiss behind him and he whirls, nearly falling, but the jungle is barely moving.
Roxton stumbles back and snaps a taut vine with his boot. A small log drops from the canopy, swinging on vines into his chest and throwing him off the ridge he didn’t even realize was there. He grunts as he rolls down the hillside, bushes clawing at him, and drops his rifle along the way. He lays still a moment for damage control, but he’s not too badly hurt. He looks up the hill in time for his hat to finish its own trip and flop in front of him. His rifle is nowhere to be seen. Stifling a groan, Roxton climbs to his feet, only then realizing that the jungle’s gone back to its usual sounds. So that was what Yura meant by turning the jungle against them.
He doesn’t have much of a chance to think it over. Someone’s screaming in pain, and Roxton slaps his hat on his head and dashes back of the hill, looking for his rifle. The yell comes again. Dammt, where is it? There! He snatches up the weapon and runs, practically slamming into Malone as he gets near the apeman’s clearing.
“Challenger?” the lad asks worriedly.
“Let’s go.” Together, they run down Challenger’s trail. He screams again and they come upon Lento kneeling over the ginger with a knife point just starting to enter his chest. Roxton stops short and lifts his gun. The bullet hits Lento in the shoulder, and he falls back with a cry of pain. Then he runs, disappearing into the jungle. Malone’s already running to the professor, who panics.
“It’s alright, Challenger, it’s us,” says Malone, helping him to sit up.
Roxton glares out after Lento, but doesn’t give chase. “Are you all right?” he asks the older man.
Challenger’s shaking. “I can’t see,” he tells them, still frantic. “I’m blind.”
Lento is forgotten. It looks like Challenger’s pupils have eaten his irises. “What happened?” Roxton asks, slinging his rifle across his back and coming around to Challenger’s side.
“Lento blew some sort of powder into my eyes. I should have shot him the moment I saw him!”
“Easy man,” Roxton says, putting one hand on his shoulder. Malone digs out his water and a handkerchief, wetting it down. “We need to rinse your eyes out. Put your head back.”
Roxton lets Malone take over after that. The sun’s starting to go down and he’s certain Lento isn’t that far away. If only his shot had been a little more accurate, just a few inches to the right…
“Any better?”
“I’m fine,” Challenger says. Roxton goes back over to them.
“Really?” He crouches in front of Challenger, waving his hand in front of his eyes. Challenger doesn’t react. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” the man answers quickly.
Roxton sighs. “Sorry.”
Challenger shoves against them as he gets to his feet. “Enough games!”
“We can’t leave you here,” Roxton tells him.
“And we can’t give up on Summerlee, either,” Malone reminds them both. As though Roxton could have forgotten.
“Dammit, we’re running out of time. Even if we catch Lento, we won’t make it back to the village before moonrise.” They’re quickly running out of options.
“Moonrise. The baby!” Challenger reaches out for one of them, and Roxton offers his arm. “Lento said no one would supplant him. He must have meant the baby.”
Malone turns to leave. “He’s circling back to the grove.”
“Where are you going?” Roxton calls after him, stopping him short.
“After Lento.
“Oh no, not alone,” says Roxton firmly.
“Somebody’s gotta stay here with Challenger. I need to finish this.”
“And if he kills you?”
Malone looks down, then meets Roxton’s eyes. “Well, then it will be your turn.”
The lad’s been taking lessons from Marguerite. “Just be careful, Malone. The whole grove is full of booby traps.”
“I know.”
Challenger’s still holding on the Roxton. “Just slow him down. We’ll try to get back to the altar before him.”
“Just protect the child.”
Roxton peels Challenger’s hand off of him and grabs Malone before he can leave. “Have you ever killed anyone before?”
“I was in the war.”
“Answer the question.” Malone’s so young, so naïve. Roxton can tell the answer is no.
“I’ve seen death,” he insists stubbornly.
“You’re just a reporter, Malone. Killing an animal is very different than killing a human being, to look him in the eye and know you are about to end his life.” He puts a hand on the lad’s shoulder. “Just remember: Lento, he isn’t human anymore.” It’s the secret that all soldiers learn to in order to be able to do what they must. He wishes he didn’t have to tell it to Malone.
“Roxton?” Challenger’s holding out his arms, trying to find him. Roxton steps within reach, grabbing his shoulder.
“Come on, Challenger, it’s getting dark. I want to reach altar before neither of us can see where we’re going.” Stupid of them to not bring torches but they left the rest of their things with the balloon.
“Was that wise, John? Sending Malone?” Challenger interrupts his thoughts, stumbling a bit.
“He was right, George.” He steadies the other man. “Lento is his responsibility. How are your eyes?”
“They’re fine,” Challenger says dismissively.
“George.”
“They’ve stopped burning, at least.”
“Summerlee will probably have a treatment he can make for them.”
Challenger snorts grumpily as Roxton was hoping he would. “He’d better after the past three days of looking for his damn plants.”
The sun sets as they’re walking, forcing Roxton and Challenger to slow to a crawl. They’re still a ways away from the grove and the jungle’s nearly silent around them. Roxton’s worried for Malone. What if Challenger’s right? But there’s nothing he can do for the lad except pray.
There’s a single shot in the night. Roxton stops and Challenger staggers next to him, blinking in the darkness. “Malone?” the professor asks.
“Must be.” Roxton waits a minute longer, but the sound doesn’t repeat. Whatever happened, it’s done now. He hopes Malone is okay. They keep walking.
A woman’s scream breaks the air, and Roxton swerves them slightly towards the torches he can now see glowing in the distance. They’re almost there, but he can’t tell if Malone is back or not. Summerlee he hears first, ordering the villagers around with various herbal remedies to help Asu. He hears a baby crying next and his heart lightens a little. Summerlee’s alive and the baby’s here; Malone must be safe too. “Hello there!” he calls out, a little jovially.
“Ah, Roxton, there you are. We were starting to worry,” the old professor responds as one of the villagers bring them a torch. “Is Challenger with you?”
“I’m right here,” Challenger replies loudly before muttering just loud enough for Roxton, “you old goat.” Roxton chuckles.
“Come on, Challenger. Summerlee, can you help him? Lento blew some sort of powder into his eyes. He can’t see.” Well. So much for the cheerful atmosphere. At least Asu and the baby seem healthy. Malone’s standing next to them, cooing over the little one.
“Really, George, how do you get yourself into these messes,” fusses Summerlee as he grinds up a plant.
“By trying to get you out of them,” Challenger grumbles back as Roxton guides him till he can lean against the altar.
“Lento’s dead, then?”
“Malone arrived a few moments before the baby was gone. His body’s over that way,” Summerlee gestures while pouring the plants juices onto a cloth. “There, this should help a bit.” He applies the compress over Challenger’s eyes and forces him to keep it there for a minute. “Is that any better?”
“Good enough, thanks,” Challenger says, pulling the cloth away. Even in the dim torch light, it’s obvious his eyes are still black. The baby cries again. “Where is he? I want to see the baby.” At least he’s not in pain.
“You mean this baby?” Malone looks to Asu for permission before bringing the child to Challenger.
“The new shaman, your new healer. He must be a handsome fellow,” Challenger smiles.
“Yes. She is. He is a beautiful baby girl.” Carefully, Malone hands the baby to Challenger, who smiles again. Slowly, he lifts her up to his cheek, snuggling her face against his. She reaches out and snags his beard. He gives a soft chuckle, then gasps. Roxton and Malone both step forward, worried, but Challenger’s beaming now. His eyes are clear.
He can see.
((Dialogue mostly from The Lost World))