so bad it made me gag. But he had lost. With a final bellow of frustration, the beast pulled his arm out and gave up. I suppose he went back and got the bloody arm as a consolation prize.
I lay inside the dark space, breathing hard, trying to get my head back together. Now that I was safe, the reality of what had happened finally hit me. I had picked up a human arm and used it as bait to save me from getting eaten. How disgusting was that? I looked down at my leg and saw three long scrapes that ran from my knee to my ankle. I gingerly touched them and found that, luckily, they weren’t very deep. They would just sting for a while. Eelong was shaping up to be a nasty place.
I had to figure another way out of this tree. I wasn’t about to stick my head out of that hole. For all I knew, Little Godzilla was waiting outside, munching his arm snack and waiting me out. As much as I wanted to flume out of there, that wasn’t an option either. I had to get away from this tree, away from the quigs, and find Gunny. So I got on my hands and knees and started to crawl around, pushing my way through the dangling vines, looking for another escape route. I figured there had to be one. If not, where did the guy come from who poked his head out of the hole? He hadn’t been down in the flume cavern when I was there. And for that matter, whowasthat guy?
I passed by the hole that led down to the flume and continued crawling with one hand out in front in case I hit a dead end. But that dead end never came. I kept crawling deeper and deeper into the tree. What I first thought was a small space was actually a tunnel that brought me into the very core of this behemoth tree. As I crawled along, I saw that it was actually getting lighter. Of course, that didn’t make sense, but when did something silly like “making sense” matter? I soon felt confident enough that I no longer held my hand out in front of me. Up ahead I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. I hadn’t been crawling for that long, so there was no way I had gone all the way through to the other side of the tree. It was way too big for that. But I didn’t stop to wonder what to expect; I’d see for myself soon enough.
When I reached the mouth of the tunnel, I crawled out and stood up to view an incredible sight. The tree was hollow. Or at least, this part of it was. I found myself in a huge space that had been carved out of the core of the immense tree. I was kidding before about being able to live in this tree along with cookie-making elves, but this room proved it was possible. The walls were made of, well, of wood. Duh. Light came in through cracks that ran up and down and all around, like veins. I’m not sure if the hollowing out was natural, or done by hand. If it was by hand, then it had to have been done a long time ago, because everything looked aged, with bits of green moss growing everywhere. Looking straight up was like looking into the mouth of the flume. There was no ceiling. For all I knew, this tree was hollow all the way to the top. I saw multiple levels and ledges that led to other tunnels, like the one I just crawled out of. I wasn’t sure how you got from one level to the next. I suppose you could climb the vines that clung to the walls… if you were Spider-Man.
Now that I was safe from the quig outside, I began to wonder who the people of Eelong were. Going by the look of that hairy guy who poked his head out of the hole, they didn’t exactly seem to be a race of advanced mathematicians. I figured they were a primitive, tribal society who lived in these incredible trees. If they were more advanced than that, they certainly didn’t prove it with the clothes they made. Besides, I had yet to see any sign of tools or buildings or anything else you’d expect to see from a society that had advanced beyond the Stone Age. I was beginning to think I would have to deal with cavemen. Or treemen.
“Hello?” I called out, my voice echoing. “Anybody here?” All I got back was the gentle groaning of the tree. I glanced around, trying to figure which tunnel I’d take to find another way out…when I was shoved from behind with such force, it nearly knocked me off my feet.
I spun quickly and came face-to-face with the guy who’d peeked out of the hole before. He was short, probably no more than five feet tall. His hair was long and tangled. So was his beard. In fact, I think his head hair was tangled up in his beard hair. Not a good look. His skin was white and filthy, and he wore the same kind of rags that I had on. The guy was crouched down low and breathing heavily. A line of drool ran from his mouth and through his gnarly beard. He may have looked human, but he was acting more like a wild animal.
“H-Hello,” I said, trying to calm him. Iheld my hand out the way you hold your hand out to a dog that you want to show you’re not a threat. “My name is-“
BeforeIcould say another word, my arm was grabbed and yanked to the side. Ilooked in surprise to see that a vine had been thrown around my arm like a lasso. Holding the other end was another person, looking just as hairy and gnarly as the first. Iopened my mouth to say something, when another lasso of vine was thrown around my shoulders from behind. It pulled snug around me, locking my arms onto my sides. I looked back to see a third guy yanking it tight. Another vine whipped around my ankles. This one was pulled so hard it yanked my feet out from under me. I hit the ground square on my back. Ooof.
“Wait…wait…” I gasped, trying to get air. I wanted to use my powers of Traveler mind persuasion, but things were happening so fast, I couldn’t think straight. “I’m a friend!” was all I could get out. I know, not exactly convincing, but what else could I say? A second later it didn’t matter, because one of the guys leaped at me and jammed a fistful of cloth into my mouth, making me gag. Not good. I didn’t think any of these dudes knew the Heimlich maneuver. I figured they must have seen me as a threat. An invader. I needed to show them I meant no harm, because they seemed ready to put some serious hurt on me.
The guy who jammed the cloth in my mouth sat on my chest, staring down at me. I was pinned, unable to move. I looked up into his eyes and saw something that made any hope I had of reasoning with these people fly out the window. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before, but I didn’t. Now it was too late. The lizard beast that attacked me outside may have been deadly. It may have been trying to eat me. But there was one thing that it wasn’t. Its eyes should have told me. Its eyes were red. Quigs didn’t have red eyes. Quigs had yellow eyes. And as I looked up at the guy who was sitting on my chest, I saw that his eyes were yellow. And vicious. He opened his mouth into a grotesque smile to reveal rows of sharp, blood-stained teeth. A thin line of drool ran from his lips and fell onto my cheek.
In that one instant, the horrible truth hit me: The quigs on Eelong were human.
JOURNAL #16
(CONTINUED)
EELONG
Iwas pinned to the floor with this foul-smelling quig-human sitting on my chest. He leaned down, inches from my nose, and I got a good look into thedark, soulless depths of his yellow eyes.
“I…won’t hurt you,” I stammered out weakly.
Yeah right. I thought maybe I could use some reverse psychology and not let him know that I was totally at his mercy. His answer was a steady stream of drool that fell onto my cheek. My bluff didn’t work, no big surprise. I ignored the vile spittle and asked, “Do you understand me?”
The quig shrieked something that sounded like a monkey screaming in pain. I guessed that meant “no.” These quigs may have been human, but there was no sign of intelligent life lurking between those hairy ears. These were Saint Dane’s animals, and they only knew one thing: killing. My mind groped to come up with a way out. I thought maybe I would be okay, because I was a human too. But then a quick, unpleasant memory of the quigs on Denduron shot to mind. When one went down, the others ate it alive. Quigs were cannibals. That meant here on Eelong, being human didn’t even come close to getting me off the hook. It probably made things worse.
The other two quigs held down my arms. They sniffed at me like, well, like animals. I actually hoped they’d be grossed out by the smelly rags I had on. It was a totally idiotic thought, but hey, I was desperate. I kicked my legs and tried to pull away, but the quigs held me tight and laughed. At least I thought it was a laugh. It sounded somewhere between a hyena howl and a pig grunt. It made my skin crawl. The quig on my chest raised his head and let out a horrifying howl. When he looked back down at me, his eyes were sparked with an insane fury. He was firing up for the kill. I feared my strange life was going to end right then and there. In that horrifying moment, I did the only thing left to do: I closed my eyes.
I heard another shriek. It didn’t sound as if it came from the quigs, though. It sounded more like an animal roar. I opened my eyes in time to see the quig on my chest turn quickly to look behind himself. The other two quigs fled in fear. I was still flat on my back and didn’t dare look up because I was sure another horrifying beastie had
