Chapter 12
The Petty Kingdoms
Sharine and Kevin were confronted with the more ape-looking creatures inside the room. They looked like the naked, hairy, dirty old men. They had round bellies and shallow cheek bones; there were feces all over their asses. With their hollow looks, they stared blankly at Kevin. The room was filled with candles and sculptures made out of woods and bones.
“Wrong room,” he said and started shooting at them. Sharine pulled out the pistol and shot them too. They started snarling and ran toward them madly but they were all shot down. The ground was covered with their juicy fluids. The guns fumed smoke as the powder burned.
Drenched with sweat and blood, Sharine and Kevin quickly examined the room. There were strange drawings and a goat skull hanging on the wall. Under it, there was a table full of dissection tools and glasses containing blue liquid. In the corner, there were baskets full of mushrooms and the cage full of live bats, fluttering and shrieking.
“What were they doing in this room?” Sharine frowned.
“I don’t know…” muttered Kevin, picking one of the red mushrooms.
“Do you think these are humans?” said Sharine, looking at the corpses. “Maybe they just covered themselves with paints…”
“I don’t know,” muttered Kevin.
“There is nothing here but some wooden toys…” said Sharine, looking at the wooden figures standing on the ground. The bat screeched on the corner, bashing against the cage. “And those things…”
The bats made screeching noise at them. There were bunch of bat shits on them and around the cage.
“It would be very nice if we get out of here,” said Kevin, feeling sick. Sharine cleared the table, the glasses and other miscellaneous tools fell on the ground. She went up to the shelves, pulled out a bunch of scrolls and put it on the table. The dusts fumed and few of them bounced on the table. She examined them one by one, untying the string and spreading it open. Seeing that it contained the symbols and words, she discarded it and opened another one.
“Is your arm alright?” murmured Kevin.
“Yeah, it’s just a bone,” said Sharine.
“…”
“Would you mind?” said Sharine, handing him the scrolls.
“Oh Uhh… yeah, of course,” said Kevin.
“Find a map,” said Sharine, spreading one, and throwing on the ground again. They coughed due to dust in the air; finally on a ninth one, she found a depiction of the island.
“Bingo,” grinned Sharine. She folded it over and tucked it inside the back of her pants.
“Seemed like they have their petty world,” said Sharine, stepping over the corpses. “I think those skeletons outside were other cults living in the island. Few of the scrolls were some sort of treaty…”
“From who?” asked Kevin.
“I’m not sure,” said Sharine.
“These people are originally slaves from various nations,” said Kevin.
“You mean they are not the natives?” said Sharine.
“No, when Ricky made a village, he made so-called ‘secret rooms’ inside the tunnel and granted the protection for specified individuals. But as those people didn’t like to be ‘fed’ by us, they brought bunch of other slaves from the traffickers for their plantation,” said Kevin.
“So are you just feeding them?” asked Sharine.
“It’s to ensure that there are no conflicts in the island, it is better to keep peace by feeding them.” said Kevin. “But if they act separately and make plantation for them to gain power in the island, he will release the creatures to ruin their crop. That was an agreement between us and the people dwelling in the secret rooms.”
“You mean you villagers are farmers?” asked Sharine.
“Yeah, couple of them… although I’m a hunter,” grinned Kevin.
“Do you know about Veron Komer, or the underground production facility?” said Sharine.
“No, not really,” said Kevin, shaking his head. “All I know is that secret rooms are extremely well hidden. Although after few years, they started going out in the forest to be independent from the village crops… That is why there are many creatures jumping around in the island.” said Kevin.
“Huh… That’s why there was an attack in the southern sea,” murmured Sharine.
“There was an attack?” inquired Kevin.
“Well, that is the reason I’m here,” said Sharine, smiling. “But that’s that, continue your story,”
“They cultivated the land above, had a conflict among themselves, and subdue others as slaves. Ricky got mad and released the creatures in the island; but as the creatures attacked them frequently, it appeared to them as some type of gods. So they sacrificed their own kids and friends on the altar to ease their anger.” said Kevin.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Sharine, walking toward the stairs. “But if they were from the outside world and had a war amongst one another, why would they run away from us?”
“… What do you mean?” said Kevin.
“Don’t you think it is strange?” said Sharine, stepping down on the head of the corpse.
“Maybe they are just slaves or maybe they are some local rulers sent by those secret roommates,” said Sharine, tapping the corpses with her boots. “But if they had a conflict serious enough for Ricky to release the creatures, where is the army that caused it?”
Before Kevin answered the question, they heard the bomb going off from a distance. Kevin and Sharine looked at the dark stair.
“Is that your trap?” said Kevin, his eyes widened.
“Presumably,” said Sharine.
“Hurry!” said Kevin. They ran up the narrow and sloppy stairs.