Parasite

PROLOGUE

Three year old Jackson runs to his Daddy and gives him a great big hug. Night Daddy.

Good night little buddy, sleep well.

I will, Daddy.

Becky and little Jackson disappear into the tent while Thom throws some more logs on the fire. Within a few minutes, Becky comes out of the tent, zips it up, and takes her normal place sitting between Thom’s legs in front of the roaring fire. Tonight will be their last night at Katherine’s Gorge before they return home to Perth after a seven day vacation. The night is perfect and thousands of stars are suspended in the black sky.

I wish we could stay longer, Becky says looking up at Thom’s chin.

Me too, but we need to check on your Mom before I go to work on Monday.

Yeah, I know. I’m glad we’ve decided to spend the night with her because I know she gets lonely out there on the sheep station.

The conversation ends and they remain still cuddled, enjoying the fire and quiet. Little Jackson is a sweetheart, but he can’t be quiet for longer than five seconds. Thom glances at his watch and decides it’s time to turn in. Morning will come soon, and their flight for Perth departs Darwin at noon.

Around 2 a.m., Thom hears something outside the tent. He sits up and grabs his boots while listening to the commotion by the jeep. He unzips the tent and sees a couple of dingoes sniffing around the back of the car. Becky wakes up and sees Thom peering out the tent.

What is it, Honey?

It’s just a couple of dingoes. I’m going to scare them off. Be right back. He exits the tent and quickly moves toward the dingoes, waving his hands in the air, Get outta here dogs, shoo!

The dingoes don’t flee like expected, but look Thom square in the eye and pounce on him. One dingo has Thom’s arm in his mouth, and the other dingo has his teeth buried in Thom’s right thigh. Thom yells, Becky jumps in the tent, looks outside and sees Thom flat on his back with two dingoes viciously biting him. She doesn’t worry about putting on her shoes; she runs outside and starts screaming at the dingoes to leave him alone. Before she has a chance to take another breath for the next wave of verbal threats, a dingo jumps on her from behind and starts biting her back. She lifts her head to look at Thom and he is motionless and covered in blood. The two dingoes are dragging him away from the campsite and there is nothing she can do about it.

The only thing going through her mind right now is her son; he is alone in the tent. She needs to get this dingo off her back, but she can’t get up because the dingoes have ripped her shoulder blade muscles and rendered her arms useless. Out the corner of her eye, she spots the two other dingoes coming toward her. She feels a sharp pain in her neck, her head turns to the side, and she can’t move it at all now. The dingoes have bitten her head almost completely off.

Little Jackson is still fast asleep in the tent when the smallest of the three dingoes goes inside the tent. There is crying and screaming, Daddy, Daddy.

Silence…

Chapter 1

…seven days earlier

Day 1

I slowly open my eyes only to see total darkness. It is pitch black and I can’t see anything. I feel a little woozy like I have been drugged. I open and close my eyes rapidly trying to clear my head. I am tied to a tree, bound at my feet, midsection, and neck. I try to scream, but I can’t. Something is tied around my mouth, like a handkerchief or a scarf. As I struggle to get free, I hear something coming from the darkness right in front of me. THEY are coming, I hear the twigs breaking on the ground and I can just sense it…getting closer.

I jump as I awaken from the dream to realize that I have fallen asleep on the airplane. The turbulence is bouncing the airplane around a bit and the Captain has the seat belt sign on so we can’t move freely about the cabin. I put my head back against the seat and start smiling because I am remembering my wedding, the wedding that happened about 28 hours ago. I am here on this airplane with my new husband Derrick, bound for Australia.

We have always dreamed of visiting Australia and thought it would be the perfect place to spend our honeymoon. There are so many wonderful places to explore; I seriously don’t know where to begin. So, I’ve focused of the Northern Territory and the western part of the country. Kakadu National Park, Ayers Rock, Purnululu National Park, Litchfield National Park, and Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater are just a few of the places I want to go. We will rent a place in Alice Springs and fly to Perth for the final leg of the trip. There are a few spots around there I want to visit before we fly back to the United States. Trip duration is scheduled for four weeks.

Derrick would like to identify and catalog some of the most venomous snakes in the world, and quite a few of them are located in Australia. We decided that hiring a guide would be the best and safest option for us since we have never been there before. Not only do we want a good guide, but we want one who knows a thing or two about snakes. Derrick is a Zoologist and amateur Herpetologist back home at the St. Louis Zoo.

The Captain comes over the airplane speaker, Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We should be landing in Darwin in about 20 minutes and would like to thank you for flying with us today. Enjoy your stay here in Australia and we look forward to you flying with us again. I know the flight attendant will be coming around in a few minutes to check everyone’s seat, so I might as well upright my seat now.

I turn my head, glance out of the window, and there is Darwin looking as

beautiful as I anticipated. The skies are clear and the ocean is a breathtaking turquois blue with sugary white beaches. Final approach is taking us just to the left of downtown Darwin. I can see the tip of Darwin off in the distance fading into the bay. It is just gorgeous. I see the flaps extend as the pilot starts to slow the airplane down so he can lower the landing gear. I reach over and grab Derrick’s hand and can’t believe we are almost here and about to start an adventure of a lifetime.

Derrick, look at the water. It is so blue.

I know. It’s unbelievable!

He gives my hand a soft squeeze and says, I love you, Mrs. Kobi Reed.

Ooh, I like the sound of that…Mrs. Kobi Reed. It’s got a nice ring to it.

The flight was unbelievably long and very tiring. I feel like a zombie getting out of my seat, gathering my belongings and heading down the aisle for the exit. My legs feel heavy and stiff, but I know we need to walk to baggage claim and collect our mountain of suitcases. We had to pack for a variety of climates because we will be in the mountains and the desert. Finally, all the bags show up, so we head over to the car rental company and pick up the SUV we have reserved for the trip.

We are both starving, so we leave the airport and head straight for Hanuman, a restaurant known for its Thai and Indian cuisine. Darwin has a very tropical climate this time of year, with warm, pleasant temperatures in the mid 80’s. After a late lunch, we head to the hotel, check into our suite, unpack the essentials, and decide to rest for the remainder of the day. It is early afternoon in Darwin, but my internal clock is telling me something different. I don’t think I am going to have any trouble falling asleep. In fact, I’ll be surprised if my head even hits the pillow before my eyes close.

I must have fallen asleep because my eyes are slowly opening, it is dark, and I look at the clock on the nightstand and see the time is about 11:30 p.m. I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train; I am so sore--everywhere.

Flying that long on an airplane, and being confined to a seat most of the time wears you down. I get up and slowly walk to the living room and realize that I am hungry. I call the front desk only to learn that the hotel kitchen is closed for the night. I guess I will have to wait until morning to eat something. Hopefully, I will be able to fall asleep again in a little while. It will take several days to get my internal clock readjusted to local time.

Day 2

Derrick and I wake up feeling still a little tired but excited about the day ahead. We are meeting our guide Dane at noon in a small town about 70 miles south of Darwin called Adelaide River. Dane lives just off the main road in this tiny town of 190 people, in a very simple, one story house with a windmill in the front yard--not the kind of windmills they have in Holland, but the simple kind that pumps well water. The house is a bit rundown, to say the least. The front porch sags, and the roof looks as though it may fall at any moment. The weeds have taken over the yard and appear to be consuming the house. It does have electricity with the help of a generator. There is an open shed on the side of the house with a lot of old farm equipment in it—none of which appears to be in working order. Rust is feasting on the rundown tractor with two flat tires. The rest of the stuff in there could be donated to a scrap yard.

We are getting out of the car when I catch sight of a man exiting the front door of the house. I am assuming this is our guide, Dane. He is a very tall man with strong features. He has a chiseled jaw and piercing light sky blue eyes. His hair is almost pitch black and very long for a man. He pulls it back in a ponytail which hangs half way down his back. His skin is dark from the sun and he is wearing crocodile skin boots. I wonder if he killed the crocodile himself. I’m guessing he is in his early thirties.

Dane invites us in and offers us a cool beverage. He seems like a great guy, and appears to be very smart. He is not a native of Australia, but has lived here most of his life. His mother married an Englishman and moved to a little town just east of Cambridge, England called Newmarket. A few years later she had Dane. But, she was very unhappy in England, hated the weather, and missed her family back home. So she packed up one-year-old Dane and headed back to her home near Darwin. Dane grew up around these parts and moved out of the big city just after his mother died when he was 19 years old. His father still lives in England, but he has no contact with him.

We decide to spend the day here at Dane’s place so we can organize our trip. Dane will drop us off in Alice Springs after we have traveled around the Northern Territory and part of Southern Australia. I have a rental plane reserved, a multi-engine Piper Navajo. I will just need to fly with an instructor for a few hours before they will allow me to rent their airplane. We chose to fly from Alice Springs because it’s a long way to the coastal part of Western Australia, and the territory is mostly desert and extremely harsh. It’s an unforgiving environment should the car decide to break down, so we opted to fly instead of drive. Dane will drive back to Darwin and return the rental car for us.

Dane has acquired all of the camping gear we will need for the trip. We have tents, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, and lots of bottled water including a 500 gallon mini water buffalo that sits on its own trailer hitched to the SUV. Water buffalo is a slang expression for a large container of water shaped like a over-sized oil drum. He also has quite a collection of knives he will be taking as well as a shotgun just in case we run into trouble. The plan is set, so all we need to do now is sleep. We’ll head out at first light.

I close my eyes and smile because I am so excited about getting on the road and seeing all of the sights. Go to sleep, Kobi. This is your last night in a real bed for a while, so you might as well get the most out of it, I say out loud to myself. I can hear the wind howling outside. The windmill in the front yard needs oil because it is squeaking louder and louder with every gust of wind. I am lying there, humming a song, keeping time with the squeaking windmill. I can’t fall asleep. Anxious and frustrated, I decide to get up for a glass of water. I am surprised to see Dane at the table sharpening his knives.

What’s the matter Dane--can’t sleep? I ask.

No, I am usually a little restless before I head out on a tour. There are so many threats here in Australia, especially in the outback. I am responsible for the two of you, and I always anticipate trouble; so it causes my brain to overthink everything which keeps me from sleeping.

I’m sure everything is going to be fine. I’ll see you bright and early. Good night, Kobi.

Chapter 2

Day 3

I’m up sharply at 8:00 a.m. I get cleaned up and dressed, and wake up Derrick so he can do the same. We both head for the kitchen and are pleased to see that Dane has prepared a small feast. I think he cooked everything in his refrigerator mainly because he is planning to be gone with us for a long time, so everything that will spoil needs to be eaten. We will need to stop at a store on the way out this morning for some canned goods and other essential camping food. The SUV is full of gear, so there isn’t a whole lot of room for groceries.

Derrick and Dane are loading up the SUV, and I decide to throw a little snack bag together with the leftovers from breakfast. It’s a shame to let all that food go to waste. Our first stop is Kakadu National Park which is located about 170 kilometers Southeast of Darwin; from Dane’s house it is only about two hours away.

Kobi, are you ready to hit the road? Derrick yells from the SUV.

Yes, I am. I call back to him. I’ll be out in a minute.

Dane will be doing the driving, so Derrick and I will be free to look around. What a perfect, beautiful day it is today--clear blue sky and a temperature of 83 degrees Fahrenheit. We pull into Kakadu National Park about 1:00 p.m., and stop by the Bowali Visitors’ Center to pay the park fees and get the latest on the monsoons and what effect they have had on the park. If it rains too much, some of the park closes due to flooding. Hopefully, the park will not be too affected by the rains.

Kakadu National Park is the largest National Park in Australia. It is believed that the Aboriginal people have inhabited the park for over 40,000 years. We are planning to visit Jim Jim Falls, a gorgeous waterfall that should be perfect this time of year. Dane applied for permits weeks ago to take four wheelers into Arnhem Land, which is just to the east of the park.

We arrive at the Garnamarr campground located about 10 kilometers from Jim Jim Falls. The campground is located right next to one of the most prominent landforms in this part of Australia, the Arnhem Land Plateau. This plateau is a vast escarpment covering approximately 300 miles of the east side of the park. The cliffs are near vertical and appear to be about 1000 feet high. Below the plateau there are acres of low lying hills covered in grass and woodlands. Our campground is in a wooded area, but offers a good view of the Plateau.

We decide to unload everything out of the SUV because we’re planning to

stay here about three nights. Dane gets to work on the shelters, and Derrick and I go searching for firewood. Wood is a little scarce around the camp site, so we need to spread out farther to find enough wood for the next three nights. We finish getting everything set up at the camp site and decide to take the next couple of hours to drive up to the visitors’ center again so we can scope out the area.

We get back about 5:00 p.m. absolutely starving, so I throw a can of beef stew in a pan and heat it up. Derrick has made a huge, roaring, fire which will produce a lot of hot coals for quick cooking. It doesn’t take very long for the stew to get warm, so we serve ourselves a nice bowl and grab some bread to soak up the gravy. I don’t know why, but food always tastes so much better when it’s cooked on a camp fire. We use the water from the water buffalo to wash the dishes.

The three of us decide to sit around the fire for a while because it is such a beautiful night. I think you can see every star in the night sky, especially out here, because there aren’t any lights to distort the starlight like there is in a big city. The temperature is perfect, just a little chilled, but the fire is keeping me nice and warm. We have packed a nice bottle of Scotch and decide to break it out and share a few glasses around the warm fire. Wow, what a perfect night.

Dane starts talking about the Aboriginal people and some of their customs. They are a very private people with a long history, and a lot of their customs and rituals can’t be discussed without a local Aboriginal person present. He assures us that we will learn more about the local people as the trip progresses. He also tells us that there are some roads, especially when we are travelling in Aboriginal country, that we are not allowed to venture off of. We have permits to drive on the highways, but leaving the roads to sight-see is not permitted. After chatting for a couple of hours, we decide it’s time to hit the sack. We’re going into Arnhem Land tomorrow on four wheelers, so we need to turn in early. The plan is to get up and leave around 7:00 a.m.

Derrick and I retire to our tent and Dane to his. We are on our honeymoon after all, so we enjoy our privacy. It is very quiet out here under the Australian sky. I can just barely hear the water splashing down at Jim Jim Falls and it is very hypnotic and peaceful. I kiss Derrick good night and quickly drift off to sleep. Something startles me around 3:00 a.m. I sit up and listen--not sure what it is. It sounded like a distant boom and I felt a slight vibration. It almost felt as if something hit the ground nearby. I decide to poke my head outside the tent to see if I can see anything. I glance around the campsite, and everything looks normal. I throw another log on the fire and just happen to glance up at the night sky and am lucky enough to see what appears to be a falling star or a meteor. I wonder if a meteor hit close by; maybe that’s what woke me up earlier.

I return back to the tent and lay down with every intention of falling back to sleep, but I sit up in the tent and just listen. I notice that it is really quiet. When I went to bed earlier, I heard the typical night noises from the nocturnal animals in the trees and the insects making their usual sounds. The really strange thing is the insects are very quiet now--no chirping sounds. There is no noise at all in the nearby forest.

I reach over and tap Derrick on the shoulder to wake him up.

What’s up babe? he whispers.

I don’t know. Listen to the forest. Do you hear how quiet it is? I am looking for reassurance from Derrick right now.

He closes his eyes, listens for a minute and says, Yeah, it’s real quiet.

Yeah, I know that--that’s what I just told you, I jokingly say.

There is probably a predator walking around out there, and all of the other animals are being quiet so they don’t become dinner, Derrick says.

That seems logical I guess, it’s just weird all of a sudden. I heard something else, like something hitting the ground and I felt a vibration. What do you think that was?

"I don’t know, Honey. Try to go back to sleep because we have a big day

planned tomorrow," Derrick says as he kisses me goodnight again.

I know the question was a rhetorical one, but I was hoping he would offer some kind of explanation for the noise and the vibration, but he had none. I lie back down and try hard to turn my mind off so I can get some more sleep.

Day 4

Derrick wakes me up about 6:30 a.m. I get dressed and go outside and find Dane getting water and food loaded onto the four wheelers.

Dane, did you hear or see anything strange last night? I say.

What do you mean strange?

I don’t know--it was like a far off clap of thunder followed by a slight vibration, I explain, then it got really quiet in the forest. I came out of the tent and looked around; the skies were clear. It was just weird.

No, I didn’t hear anything at all. We should get going. Kobi, this ATV is yours--it’s an automatic. We have a long day in front of us, and I really want to get started so we can be back here before dark.

I have never been on an ATV, so I am very excited about driving one. Dane takes the lead with me in the middle, and Derrick is bringing up the rear. The drive to Jim Jim Falls only takes about 40 minutes and proves to be even more breathtaking than I could have imagined. As we emerge from the wooded area, we get the first clear view of the falls. The waterfall cascades off the escarpment almost 700 feet into a deep pool of water. The areas around the pool are heavily wooded and almost impossible to drive through. We decide to sit on the four wheelers and admire the beauty of the falls for a while before heading deeper into Arnhem Land. From Jim Jim Falls we head east up steep hills and heavy bush. That keeps us busy for the rest of the day. After a full day of sightseeing, we arrive back at the camp right at sunset. Exhausted and starving are the only two words in my vocabulary. I get a bowl and head to the water buffalo for some clean water so I can take a sponge bath. I got really dusty riding on the trails today, so I would like to clean up before dinner.

Tomorrow will not be quite as busy as today was. We will take the SUV

down to Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls for a relaxing day of swimming and snorkeling. Swimming is not allowed at Twin Falls because of the crocodiles, but Jim Jim has a real nice swimming area, and I imagine it will probably be crowded; but I don’t care. I am looking