Asiatica 5679

ACT TEN

Venerada Village, Northern Beach, Kakete Island

Jennifer draws the tent flap, the bright morning light shining into her eyes. She squints and raises her hand. The encampment is quiet, though people still sit all around. Some cook over campfires, others have quiet conversations. The camp is dormant. 

The Venerada Village is currently populated with 15 people. Across the island, in the other two pockets of civilisation, the other 30 living students are also just beginning their second full day on the island. Jennifer walks forward, through the camp, towards a fire which has a crab roasting over it. A few of her friends stand around it. 

"Jenniferrrrr-" Abigail pounces towards her. "Do you like my club?" 

Jennifer looks down at the wooden weapon in Abigail's hands, "Very nice."

"I made it out of a cycad, and then wrapped it in shrapnel to make it more deadly." Abigail has whittled the palm trunk she found down into a slim, effective bat, and as she says, filled it with pieces of metal to make it more effective. 

"What... exactly do you need this for?" Jennifer asks, curious yet confused. 

"I'm going to go hunting. Some of us aren't content to eat a psychopath's crabs for breakfast," she sneers at Florence. 

Florence opens her mouth and tilts her head, "Excuse me, it's a prime catch!"

"Yeah whatever Fleur," Abigail continues. "Anyway, do you want to come? We can catch some breakfast."

"Sure," Jennifer responds. Abigail collects her things, and grabs her hereto unnamed bat, and they set off towards the jungle outside Venerada.

Abigail and Jennifer walk for a short while, sighting monkeys, insects, parrots, and seabirds alike. "I wonder what is supporting all this life here," Jennifer says as they walk. "What could be hunting them? What is providing them with all their food? It just doesn't make sense for an island of this size."

Abigail steps over a large log, and readies her bat as she spots a monkey sitting just away from her. "Well I don't think there isn't much hunting them, the monkeys don't seem to be too afraid of us." The small animal scampers away. Not in a frightened fashion, but in a more playful fashion. "Right, that one there. I'm eating him!" Abigail announces with a joking laugh. Jennifer laughs but frowns, thinking of the poor primate. 

As Abigail attempts to slowly move towards the little animal, a rustling can be heard in the foliage to her left. She stops just in time for a flash of fur to sprint past the monkey, and take it screaming up into canopy above. With a snarl, the monkey's mystery predator vanishes from sight. Abigail and Jennifer stay silent. The carnivorous creature is gone, but still, the shock remains. Abigail retreats to Jennifer, and Jennifer in turn retreats back to the beach.

The two sprint from the trees, past one of their fellow classmates, who stands by the water on the beach, and straight back to the village. "What the fuck?!" Abigail pants, out of breath. "What was that?"

"I don't know!" Jennifer protests. "You ran so I ran."

Abigail laughs nervously. "Did you see it?"

"Not really, I just heard it."

"I saw it, a big cat. It moved faster than I could even make out, but it was huge."

Cecilia approaches the two of them. "Why are you so out of breath?" she chuckles.

"Cecilia you would not believe what we have just seen." Abigail blurts out. "There is a fucking tiger on this island with us."

"What? That's bullcrap."

"I'm serious! Jen even saw it."

"Okay I did not," Jennifer defends. "I heard a snarl and suddenly the monkey she was hunting was gone."

"She probably ate it then," Cecilia says, finding the whole scenario to be a huge joke.

"Cecilia!" Abigail yells. "I cannot believe you two. You saw that fucking tiger Jennifer I know you did, you are a liar and a scoundrel I say."

"I heard something, but I doubt it was a tiger." 

"That's it, you people are haters." Abigail crosses her arms. "I'm going to find that thing, and kill it. To prove to you that it exists." 

"Sure, if you say so," Jennifer retorts. 

"It was probably just an ocelot or something then," Cecilia reasons.

"What is this? Minecraft? Get a grip, Cecilia. There is a tiger on this island and you can't deny that."

"Alright, if you say so..." Jennifer laughs. 

Julian watches as Abigail and Jennifer sprint down the beach. He says nothing, but is certainly confused about what is going on. He walks back up towards the forest. He had been getting some fresh air away from everyone in the village, but now finds himself enthralled by what it could be that the two girls had been fleeing. He heads into the jungle, searching for any sign of what they were oh so desperately trying to escape.

The thought crosses his mind that maybe he too should be running out of an abundance of caution, but yet he finds himself still searching for whatever it could be they were running from. As he proceeds into the jungle, he finds a mangled monkey carcass strewn across the ground before him. He screws up his face and wonders. Could this be it? Could this be what they were running from? A dead monkey? 

But then he wonders, what could have done this? It would have taken some amount of power to tear apart this monkey. Maybe they were running from whatever did this.

His train of thought is cut short, as an arrow flies through the trees and strikes him in the throat. He grasps it, and blood seeps between his fingers. His vision blurs, and all too late he realises the fatal truth that his arrow has pierced his carotid artery, effectively cutting off his brain's oxygen supply immediately. He falls to his knees, his hands still firmly grasping the arrow. 

He falls forward into the mud, and haemorrhages almost immediately. 

Curiosity may have found the cat, but alas it has killed Julian.