THE RED LADY (PART I)

 

“Target at 12 o’clock, Welkin. It’s a damn fine brute.”

 

Jonathan’s voice can’t hide the adrenaline that now pulsing in his vein as he spotted first our game for this evening. We are lucky that on our first night in this secluded forest, we can actually relish quickly an easy quarry in the form of a handsome stag deer exhuming a regal presence along with the emerald leaves that surround it as if it is his royal carpet in this verdant kingdom he dwells upon.

 

“Ok. Take it easy. Let’s approach it silently. Check the forest floor and avoid those dry leaves or twigs.” Gilbert instructed with such a hushed voice that I didn’t manage to catch up with his last few words. Between the 3 of us, Gilbert has only the patience to pore over thick manuals about animal hunting and proper handling of rifles. He serves as our “encyclopedia” that provides essential information when it comes to tracking down our game as well as our go-to guy on how to survive the forest. Jonathan, on the other hand, is the antithesis. If Gilbert is the mind, Jonathan is the muscle. As a star player in our Rugby Team before and a self-proclaimed gym rat, he is a natural athlete with outstanding stamina, strength, and speed. A complete beast in all of its physical aspects.

 

As for me, I am the regular guy between these two. I possess such an encyclopedic brain like Gilbert nor the athleticism of Jonathan. In short, I am the one who manages our supplies and the unofficial “backpack” of our group of wannabe hunters; carrying the guns and other kits need for the hunt.

 

Despite this disparity among us, we share a common longing for adventure. Growing inside the cloister of the concrete jungle, we run out of things to do now that we are all both working in the corporate world. We’ve tasted everything the city has to offer and now we are itching to see what lies beyond the shadow of towering skyscrapers that surround us everyday.

 

That is when Gilbert handed us this limited edition copy of National Geography that features that thrilling tales of forest rangers and hunters; of how they manage to survive in the wild and enjoy the limitless adventures it brings especially game hunting.

 

It took us 3 months to decide and prepare for our first excursion in the jungle. Since we don’t have any means to have any trial and error sessions on how it feels like to be in the jungle, we focus instead in documentaries and online tutorials which we watch religiously every single night; taking notes and remembering the dos and dont’s.

 

Since this is our first time wearing the shoes of a hunter, we decided to make our location a little bit special. We found this secluded forest in a far-flung archipelago in South East. Tourists didn’t know about this and a few natives of the said archipelago only wanders it for foraging.

 

But in essence, the forest that goes by the name of Kalikam is virtually empty of human dwellers. It’s a lush, piece of land without an owner besides the exotic flora and fauna that surround it along with the gigantic trees that look like giant skeletons at night if your imagination runs a little bit wild than usual.

 

And of course, it has a lot of beasts which is the reason why we choose it as the place to baptized ourselves as newborn hunters.

 

“Are we really going to kill it?” Upon looking at the great stag, a sudden gush of guilt probe my conscience as both of my comrades ready their 7MM MAG. and pull its bolt as we position ourselves between these prickly bushes.

 

“Come on, Welkin. We are in the forest, it’s the survival of fittest here, damn it!” Jonathan spit the cigarette in between his teeth in disgust to my words as he starts to lie prone and aim at the head of the unsuspecting stag.

 

“Agree. We need its meat for our dinner. But I need his antlers for our trophy. It’s our first kill and it's worth bragging. Just look at it. It’s like a crown made of branching thorns. Like a messiah in a forest.” Jonathan added as he adjusts the scope of his customized rifle.

 

“And a messiah is supposed to die, Welkin.” Jonathan can’t help but laugh at his own stale joke which, unfortunately, reached the earshot of our game. Its head quickly turns towards our direction. There is a dire fear on its two eyes the resemble two shining onyx stone the reflects nothing even light.

 

It’s animal instinct in and with a burst of speed, it runs as swift as the wind.

 

“OH SHIT!” Jonathan cursed so loud and forget our rule that we will opt for stealth since we might encounter something that our rifles might not be able to handle. Furious to his own error, he ran after the stag without any second thoughts; just another mad bull on a rampage and charging without any qualms on the fact that we are in an unfamiliar territory filled to the brim with surprises. Most of them are plain nasty.

 

“Tsk..there goes our game. That stupid Jonathan! Come one, Welkin. We need to follow that dimwit!”

 

The sky that time above us is patches of gray clouds that veils the star and the waxing moon which makes it hard for our travel along the endless maze of trees that shed their vivid green as the night becomes darker that even our electric torches, surprisingly, is having a difficulty in penetrating the thickness of the shadow that swallowing the whole forest.

 

“He went that way. Look, the prints of his boots. And there are even broken branches here and there.” Gilbert with his huffing breath try to explain things he learns from books as we changed our direction that leads us toward a nearby grove.

 

“Don’t state the obvious, smartass,” I whisper as we continue to drag our feet into kick more dead leaves along the way as we head on towards a sloping path.

 

But before we even reach the end of the slope, a gunshot coming from the grove started both me and Gilbert.

 

“Looks like our boy will bring the bacon eh?”

Yet something off happened as we get nearer and nearer. Apparently, Jonathan is having a hard time giving the killing shot to his prey which makes him pull the trigger not just twice; he actually emptied the 20 bullets that both of us possess individually.

 

“Is he blind? Can’t he even shot the deer with one or two bullets?”  Gilbert vents all his frustration to Jonathan in branches that block our path as he swipes them with so much gusto with his machete.

 

When we arrived, what we saw put us all in complete shambles. Gilbert, who always has the answers to any question, froze and found himself mouthing something but no words came from his that keep on running out of fear when we saw what Gilbert actually wanted to put his bullet on.

 

It’s not a beautiful stag deer but a different creature that I don’t know whether it is actually a native of this place or some sort of a freak done by nature itself and made this forest its own paradise.

 

It’s human but I can’t put it entirely in the standards of a real man due to the color of its skin that shimmer in dirty red from head to toe.

 

“Jonathan! That’s not an animal you fool! Why are you shooting?”

 

But Jonathan is not responding. Perhaps the roots of terror have already reached his mind at that moment wherein he just keeps on pulling the trigger even if he is out of ammo. His whole body is shivering and his eyes speak of fear that he can’t put into words; as if his scream becomes frozen right at the tip of his tongue before he can spit it out.

 

“Cut it out, buffoon. That’s a man you are trying to kill not an animal!” Gilbert snatches the gun from Jonathan's hands which prompts the latter to finally fall on his knees and continue to look blankly in front of him.

 

What actually gives me the creeps is that this is the first I saw Jonathan in such a state as if he actually saw the devil himself in flesh.

 

To add more of this nauseating feeling that hangs over the air, the individual we saw who is garbed in red is now totally gone. Without any trace or sound.

 

“What kind of animal is that?” Jonathan finally said something that confirms that he is alright but the horror in his eyes never leaves. It was embedded on them like a sharp thorn stuck on flesh and digging right through it as deep as possible. Right into his quivering soul.