CREEPERS Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Vanessa came to with a jolt. The blood pulsing though her head a drum beat of pain. Nauseous and disoriented and it took her a few seconds to realize she was upside down, hung like a spider’s prize, her face so close to the ground that her strawberry blond hair splayed onto the sand. A bodice of tightly laced lianas was slowly squeezing the life out of her.
Tucking her chin she looked up and saw that she was suspended by a single vine from the dense canopy above. Time slowed, the seconds couldn’t keep pace with her pulse. How long have I been here? Where am I? She caught the scent of the sea on the weak easterly breeze that grazed her cheek. There was a dim glow in the sky. Is it dawn or dusk? She was on the verge of losing consciousness again, blood was pooling in her upper body and pounding in her skull. The living bonds constricted a notch with every breath. Tiny thorns scored her flesh with beads of blood. Something jerked her head. She screamed when she saw a green, ape like foot standing on her hair.
“Finally you’re awake.”
Vanessa couldn’t see its face. All she saw were thick green legs with dirty ape like feet. “I can’t breathe.”
Roundtree reached down, laced his fingers into the tendrils and lifted her up to his face as if she were made of papier-mâché. His breath reeked of rotten vegetation, damp earth and blood. He laughed. “You’re what they sent to stop us? How’s that working out for you Miss Fullbright?” He shouted to someone out of sight. Get her down. Throw her in the pit with the others. Tonight you feast.”
Without warning he dropped her, her face slammed into the ground, nearly breaking her neck, everything went black for a second, she bounced, blood dripping from her nose and mouth as she swung. Her hair swept the sand in lazy circles painting the ground with streaks of red.
On the slow arch of the third swing her body twisted to the right. She caught a glimpse of a man. He was sitting at the base of a tree. His arms bound and his legs splayed out in front of him.
She swung back and saw the two creeps walking away, “Aren’t they going to cut me down?”
Her body swayed and turned back again and she caught another glimpse of the man’s ashen face he was covered in deep scratches and caked with dried blood and sand. His head hung limply on his massive chest. He didn’t seem to be breathing.
Another slow swing, as her vision cleared Calvin? Is that Calvin? Oh my God is he dead? She tried to call out to him, but her voice was too weak, she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs to scream and she was afraid the creeps would hear her. She risked it anyway. In a feeble voice she called to him, “Calvin, Calvin! Please God, don’t let him be dead. Wake up Calvin. Please Wake up. Calvin!”
Calvin was closer to death than life. He thought he heard his name being called from far away. He looked up and a cloud of blue light materialized, an old man stood within it.
A sense of peace washed over him, warm waves lapping at his body. Suddenly he was free and standing, he saw his father who’d died long ago, beckoning him. Calvin began floating towards him. His father was backlit by a pulsing rainbow of warm light. Again Calvin heard someone calling his name. The voice seemed familiar. In a somnolent state he turned to see who wanted him, wondering what could be so important. When he looked back he was astounded to see himself, bound to a tree. If that’s me . . . who am I? Not overly concerned but curious. Guess I’m dead. No surprise there. The concept didn’t bother him. Again he heard his name, the voice was female. He hadn’t realized that.
“Calvin!”
There was a sense of urgency, but she sounded so far away. The voice echoed in his head, rolling around like a marble in his muddled mind before the words made sense to him. Remembering his father, he turned to ask him what was going on, surely he would know.
His father pointed, “It’s not your time Calvin. Save her son, you must save her.” Then he was gone like smoke in the wind and the pain returned.”
“Calvin, please! Help me!”
His eyes fluttered open and the world spun. His chest was bound in green barbed wire. It took all of his strength just to lift his head. When his vision cleared he saw Vanessa hanging upside down. Suddenly the life force flowed back into his body like an injection of adrenaline. He struggled to break free but even in his prime Calvin wouldn’t have had the strength to break the sinuous strands that bound him.
Vanessa hung silently, shouting had caused her to pass out again. Her back was to Calvin, he couldn’t see her face and he didn’t remember if she had actually called out to him or if it had been a delusion. His head throbbed. The vines were so tight he could only manage shallow breaths. Like a thousand snakes he felt the vines constrict every time he exhaled, soon he would be unable to breathe. Slowly he was being asphyxiated. The cold blanket of death descended on him again and he lost consciousness, a blessing that would spare him the agony of suffocation.
Roundtree had given orders to bash Calvin’s skull in if he came to. But he looked dead to the creeps who came for him. One ran its claws over the vines that bound him and they grew loose and fell away. The two creeps grabbed a leg each and dragged Calvin into the jungle, his head bouncing over rocks, roots and thorny vines.
At the edge of the Everglades they’d discovered another sinkhole, not as large or as deep as Newl’s but it would do. It was twenty feet in diameter and around ten feet deep with concave sides of crumbling sand, shaped like a fishbowl with two feet of stagnant water pooled at the north side. Several creepers hung a few feet over the edge heavy with blossoms. The bottom was limestone with a few inches of sand, leaves and dead things that had fallen in and drowned when the water was higher, hundreds of dead bugs floated on the oily surface, some dead some in the final throws of death. A few snakes lay coiled in the refuse, including an eleven foot boa that had survived for years living off of whatever fell in. The two creeps threw Calvin into the north end of the hole, he hit the water with smack, made a huge splash and went under hitting the sandstone bottom hard, he sunk beneath the water for a few seconds then slowly bobbed to the surface face up.
Minutes later the two creeps dragged Vanessa by her hair with her hands bound behind her back to the edge of the pit screaming and struggling in vain. She had no idea what was in the hole. When they finally threw her over the edge it seemed like she fell forever, but it was only a second. She hit the shallow edge of the water with her left side absorbing the force of the fall. It took her a second to realize that the water was less than two feet deep. If she didn’t panic she wouldn’t drown. She twisted her knee badly and sprained her ankle in the fall, it was dark. Gasping for air she rolled onto her back and used her legs to push herself to the edge where she collapsed in pain and began to sob. She rolled over and saw Calvin floating just a few feet from her. She was certain he was dead but she called out to him anyway. “Calvin!”
“Vanessa! Vanessa! Over here, we’re over here.”
“Momma?” She rolled over and was stunned to see her mother huddled in the dark, her hands and feet wrapped in vines. Then she saw her father, his face and clothes covered in blood and sand. The lower half of his body was submerged at the far end of the muddy pool, he lay motionless face down in the sand. A snake was coiled next to him, licking the air with flicks of its tongue. Her father looked dead. “Oh, my god. . . Daddy! Daddy! How did you . . . is he?”
Rosa looked over at her husband and her eyes welled with tears. “He fought for me Vanessa, an old man with one leg and he fought for me. He was willing to give his life for mine. I tried to run, he told me to run, but I couldn’t leave him honey, I just couldn’t. It took three of them to subdue him. They beat him Vanessa, they beat him senseless and then they beat him some more. He hasn’t moved since they threw us down here, it’s been hours. I don’t think, he’s . . .” She choked back tears. “Losing him like this is . . . but now you, my precious child. I can’t lose you too. They can kill me, I don’t care what they do to me, but not you, not you too, please God not you.” Rosa broke down under the weight of the catastrophe destroying her family. She knew the monsters above were not through with them. Soon they would come back and then . . . . all she could do was sob.
“Momma, please, we don’t have much time. We have to get out of here” In desperation she tried to break free but the more she struggled the tighter the vines grew cutting deep into her wrists and ankles. She fell over face down into the water again and had to roll onto her side to breath. She called out to the one person she knew could save them. “Calvin! Calvin please, I love you!”
The two creeps who had thrown Calvin into the sinkhole assumed he was dead or so far gone that he would never regain consciousness so like Michael Fullbright, they hadn’t bothered growing restraints around his hands and feet.
Calvin had come to while they were dragging him but he’d played dead, it took all of his will to allow himself to be thrown into the pit but he knew in his condition it was his only chance, he was too weak to fight. So he made no attempt to break his fall as he plunged into the stagnant water. When he hit bottom the lights went out again.
“In his fog of consciousness he heard, ‘I love you! It was like a shot of adrenaline, suddenly he gasped and filled his lungs with warm swampy air, his shoulders were partially propped up by a submerged branch, when he opened his eyes all he saw was a black sky filled with spinning stars. He felt like he was floating in the middle of a lake, his body rising and falling on gentle swells, the sky seemed to be getting closer, then he realized that it was he who was moving towards it. His body had no weight and he felt like he was lighter than air. It was peaceful and pleasant, he wanted to just keep floating up but then he heard his name again, annoyed he thought: What do you want? Just let me be! But the voice was persistent, and there was a sense of urgency and familiarity to it. Vanessa, it’s Vanessa! Calvin tried to move but he didn’t have control over his body, he thrashed around like he was in a nightmare. His body shifted and suddenly he rolled over face down in the stagnant water, he floundered and rolled onto his back gasping for air and sat up. He saw two older people, a man who appeared dead and a woman bound and crying. Then he heard her voice again. “Calvin!”
As his eyes slowly adjusted in the dark he pulled himself over to the edge of the pool and saw Vanessa bound and bleeding, lying in the sand, he crawled to her and held her in his arms. “Are you okay baby? I thought I had lost you forever. Let’s get these off you.” He tore the tangled vines from her ankles and wrists and wrapped his arms around her, still unsure of where they were and how they got there. He looked over at her mother. “Is that your mother? Mrs. Fullbright?” Yes, please help us.
He struggled to his feet, but collapsed in pain, his mind muddled, he crawled over to Vanessa’s mother. “Let’s get these damn things off you.”
She smiled at him through tears. “Thank you, I’m so glad to finally meet you.”
“Me too, he turned and crawled over to Mr. Fullbright, Calvin placed two fingers on Michaels’s neck. “He has a pulse, but it’s weak.”
Rosa sobbed, “Thank God.”
Calvin rolled Michael over onto his back and made a mound of sand to prop his head on. He dipped his handkerchief in the water and wiped the blood from his face.
Michael Fullbright’s eyes fluttered open and he gasped when he saw the giant leaning over him in the dark. His arms shot up and grabbed Calvin’s shirt, ready to fight again.
Vanessa cried out. “Daddy no, it’s Calvin.”
“Hey it’s okay, Mr. Fullbright, I’m on your side.”
Michael released his grip, his eyes focused on Calvin’s face. His first thought was that Calvin looked as bad as he felt. He tried to speak but nothing came out. With great effort he managed a whisper. “Looks like you went a few rounds with those bastards too.”
“Yea, but I don’t remember a thing, one second I was having ah. . . . dinner, with Vanessa and the next I was tied to a tree, feeling like I’d been hit by a train.”
Rosa crawled over to Michael and hugged him. “It’s going to be alright honey, I promise.”
Michael patted her knee. “Yes, together we will get out of this mess.” He tried to sit up. Calvin took his arm and helped him to his feet. “Any ideas on how to get the hell out of here?”
Calvin looked up and shook his throbbing head. The light was fading but he could still make out the rim of the sinkhole, four feet above his head. Then he glanced at his fellow captives. “There has to be a way.”
Calvin thought that maybe he could get Vanessa out and perhaps her mother, but he and Mr. Fullbright were screwed. There was no way the women could pull him or Michael up.
Vanessa studied the far side of the sinkhole. “Calvin if you can lift me up on your shoulders I think I could grab a vine and pull myself up. Then maybe I can find something up there to lower down.”
Calvin looked up and agreed the far end of the pit was their best chance, the rim looked a few feet lower and two thick creepers were dangling over the edge. “Okay, baby let’s give it a try.” He took her hand and led her over to the crumbling wall. Calvin leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips then he put his hands on her hips, on three, put your foot in my hands and I’ll throw you up as high as I can.”
Calvin easily lifted her and in a smooth move she put her foot into his cupped hands. “Okay, one, two, three!”
He heaved her up as high as he could. He spun around, stepped back from the wall and when he looked up. She was gone. “Vanessa?”
Her bruised but smiling face peaked over the side, “I’m fine, you almost launched me into orbit.”
As usual Calving didn’t know his own strength: he had easily heaved her out of the pit, she’d landed three feet from the edge. “Mrs. Fullbright, your next.”
Rosa got to her feet and came over she was wearing a dirty sundress and knew exposing herself was probably a given but she felt hopeful. Vanessa was out. She wanted to tell her to just run for her life and forget about the rest of them. If Vanessa could escape that would be the answer to Rosa’s prayers. But her woman’s instinct told her that this giant of a man might be able to save them all.
Calvin put his hands on Rosa’s hips and smiled thinking Vanessa’s mother had almost the same figure as her daughter. He looked into her cobalt blue eyes and saw where her daughter got her strength, determination and beauty. “Okay, Mrs. Fullbright on three.”
“Please call me Rosa.”
“Okay Rosa. Ready to join the circus? One, two three!” And just as smoothly as Vanessa, Rosa flew up and over the edge. “Two out and two to go.”
Calvin motioned to Michael, “Your turn.”
Michael looked up, nice work Calvin, but I don’t think we can pull this off as gracefully as the girls. I only have one leg. Maybe we should just tell them to make a run for it.”
“Look, I know about your leg and it doesn’t matter, how much do to weigh Mr. Fullbright?”
“175 why?”
I bench press 450, I curl 200 and I can leg press 600 so I’m pretty sure I can toss your scrawny ass out of this fucking hole. So get over here and let’s do this.”
Michael limped over to Calvin and stood as he had seen Vanessa and Rosa, but he was weak and in terrible pain from the beating he’d endured. “I did some acrobatics in my youth, when I was in theatre and had two strong legs. Try not to launch me into space. I just need to make it to the edge. What about you? How are we going to get you out?”
“I’m counting on the Fullbright Family to figure that out for me. By the way, I’m in love with your daughter. If I get out of this alive I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“Hell of a time to ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage son.”
“Okay, on three, one two three!” Michael Fullbright’s launch was not as smooth as his wife’s, his one good leg bent when Calvin heaved him up, so he didn’t get enough momentum to clear the edge. He his belly hit the rim and he slid back before Vanessa and Rosa could grab him. As he fell he instinctively grabbed at anything. The only thing close enough was a creeper he caught it with his left hand, as he slid back the thin vine slipped through his fingers leaving a track of black thorns embedded in his palm. He hung on by one arm a foot below the edge of the pit his feet a foot above Calvin’s head.
Calvin grabbed the foot of Michael’s good leg and shoved him up as high as he could. “Hold on, don’t let go.”
Vanessa and Rosa reached down and grabbed Michael’s wrist and together they managed to haul him over the edge and into a sandy clearing a few yards away where he lay gasping for air. He hadn’t told them that the creeps had broken two of his ribs. Every breath felt like he was being run through with a sabre. With the help of the women he got to his feet. So how are we going to get that giant of a boyfriend of yours out?”
Vanessa looked around in desperation, she knew the creeps would be coming soon. She spotted a fallen tree thirty feet away, it was a foot in diameter and about twenty feet long. “Let’s try and drag that dead tree to the pit, maybe Calvin can use it to climb out.”
Her father agreed. “Worth a try.”
The three of them tried to lift it but it weighed more than they expected, they couldn’t even budge it.
Suddenly they heard a rustle and raspy voices. Rosa whispered, “Oh God their coming.”
Vanessa panicked. She leaned over the pit and saw Calvin looking up, his eyes glistening in the moonlight. “Calvin, they’re coming back, what should we do?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Run baby run!”
Michael leaned over the edge. “Calvin listen to me, play dead, when they come for you don’t move let them get you out of there. We’ll hide close by. If we run they’ll hear us.”
Calvin’s first thought was to argue to tell Michael to take his family and run for it but something about his plan made sense. “Okay, hide.”
Michael quietly led Rosa and Vanessa away. He saw the terror in Vanessa’s eyes. “Don’t worry baby, he’s going to make it. We’re not leaving him behind.” He picked his way through the jungle to a small river fifteen yards from the sinkhole. “Come on in the river we’ll keep our heads down and hide in those reeds over there. We’ll be able to see them, if we’re lucky they won’t see us.”
Vanessa didn’t like the idea. “What about alligators?
Her father hadn’t thought about that. “Right now if I’m going to be eaten alive, I’d prefer to be killed by a gator than those bastards. I’ll go first.”
When Calvin heard them coming he waded into the pool and lay face down with most of his body in the water and his head in the sand. He calmed his mind and slowed his breathing and lay still.
Roundtree was the first to reach the sinkhole, he saw Calvin and assumed the others were down there somewhere hiding in the shadows. “Okay, get the ladder and get them out of there. I promised you a feast and tonight you’ll have one. Tonight we celebrate the defeat of our enemies by drinking their blood and feasting on their flesh.”
Four creeps brought an aluminum ladder to the edge of the pit and lowered it down. Roundtree gave his orders. “You two get down there, bring the women up first. He swung Calvin’s sword in in the air. We’ll chop em up, so everyone gets a piece.”
The two put the ladder at an angle and made their way down into the pit. They looked around bewildered. “Roundtree, the women aren’t here, only the big dead one!”
“What! You fools! I told you to bind them!”
The two creeps who had thrown Michael and Rosa into the pit came forward, the man was dead and the women were both bound, someone must have come for them.”
Roundtree was furious and worried, had someone come for them? “The big one’s dead but he’s still food, you need your strength to fight. Get him up here. Feed quickly, then find the others, they can’t be far.”
It took the four biggest creeps fifteen minutes to haul Calvin out of the pit. He didn’t move, he barely took a breath, he was dead weight to them. They dumped him at Roundtree’s feet.
Roundtree gave Calvin a solid kick in the side to make sure he was dead. He didn’t budge. The dozen creeps that were with him gathered around. Roundtree handed the sword to the one he called Gallum. Galum had been the one who’d knocked Calvin out when he and Vanesa were captured.
“I’ll let you have the honors. Make sure everyone gets a chunk.”
Gallum took the sword, reached down, grabbed Calvin’s arm and rolled him over. He raised the sword with both hands and swung it down as hard as he could to sever the head in a single blow. But the blade stopped in mid-air. Suddenly he realized the big man was not dead, he’d caught him by the wrist. Before Gallum could react Calvin ripped the sword from his hands, sprung to his feet and lopped off the head of his would be executioner.
Michael, Rosa and Vanessa watched the battle in the light of the moon, the creeps surrounded Calvin like a pack of wolves but every time one of them lunged for him they lost a limb in the effort.
Calvin was a warrior, a UFC champion and even though he was beat up and hadn’t fought in years his training came back to him. His speed stunned them. Calvin slipped between them like a ghost, effortlessly slicing off heads and arms. In seconds five creeps lay dead on the sand, three others were bleeding out staring at their severed arms twitching in the sand. One survivor suddenly attacked Calvin from behind, wrapping itself around his back and trying to wrench the sword from his hand. But Calvin swung back with his left hand with a mighty blow, into the creeps’ open mouth, shattering its jaw then flipped the creature onto the ground and plunged his sword though its chest. Then he spun round and severed the head of another creep so cleanly that it took a few seconds for it to fall off into the hands of the victim who looked up in bewilderment at his headless torso before dropping to his knees still clutching his severed head.
“Retreat! Back to the town now, run!” Roundtree didn’t wait to see how many were left. Fear was an emotion he still felt and the big man was terrifying. Only three creeps survived the attack they fled into the jungle and never looked back.
Calvin was covered in sticky black blood that reeked of rotting compost. He stood alone in the clearing by the sinkhole, taking deep even breaths of the humid air, alert, ready for the next assault, for him fear didn’t exist. The two-hundred-year old samurai sword had come to life in his hands. He finally understood what the master had meant when he taught him how to fight with it not as a weapon but as a comrade.