Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

heart-stopping moment on the railing.
     Everyone leapt to help him as he hung precariously, arms down, closer to the water.
    Riley caught his belt buckle while Annabel reached over the side to grasp at his arms.
     The moment Annabel leaned down, arms covering Weston’s, the water came to life, boiling
     like a cauldron, flashing silver with muddy patches of red.
    “Mom!” Riley cried, reaching for her mother, still holding Weston. His weight was
     pulling them all forward.
    The others rushed to help as Annabel slipped farther toward the dark, reed-choked
     water, now boiling with frenzied piranha. There was no blood in the water so the turmoil
     made no sense. To Riley’s horror the fish began to leap out of the water, hundreds
     of them, narrow bodies and blunt heads shooting from the river like rockets, the triangular-shaped
     jaws with razor-sharp teeth snapping open and shut with terrible clacking sounds.
    Although the stories of piranha frenzies abounded, Riley knew attacks on people were
     quite rare. She’d swum in the water with them on several occasions. This bizarre behavior
     was extraordinary, as unnatural and unsettling as the La Manta Blanca attack. And
     just like with the Manta Blancas, it seemed clear the piranha were bent on reaching
     her mother, not Don Weston.
    It was Jubal who caught Annabel and yanked her back away from the rail, practically
     throwing her into Gary. Then he caught Weston and hauled him back on deck, too. Instead
     of being grateful, the engineer slapped at Jubal’s hands, cursing and sliding down
     to sit on the deck, his breath coming in great gasps. He glared at Pedro and the two
     porters as if the three men had deliberately tried to murder him.
    The guide and porters both stared at Annabel with a look that made Riley wish she
     had a concealed gun close at hand. Before anyone could speak, the boat nearly ran
     aground, and the two natives turned back to their work. A low branch overhead dipped
     down, and a snake dropped onto the deck with a thud right at Don Weston’s boots.
    “No one move,” Jubal hissed as the snake stared at the engineer. “That viper’s extremely
     poisonous.”
    Pedro, the guide, turned back, catching up the machete that was always close. Before
     he could take a step, the viper did an abrupt spin and launched itself at Riley. She
     stumbled back into her mother. The snake flashed between her legs heading straight
     toward her mother. Gary Jansen yanked Annabel off her feet and twisted around, holding
     her in the air while Jubal shoved Riley aside, yelling at the guide, hand up in the
     air.
    Pedro tossed the machete and in one smooth movement, Jubal slammed the sharpened blade
     across the neck of the viper, severing the head. There was a moment of silence as
     Gary lowered Annabel to the deck, holding her steady so that she didn’t fall.
    “Thank you,” Riley breathed softly to both researchers. She didn’t try to hide the
     fact that she was very shaken.
    Her mother stared at her with stricken eyes. Riley’s world crumbled. Capa, Raul and
     Pedro looked at her mother with the same look they had on their faces when they’d
     first seen the viper. They were in real trouble if the guides and porters became hostile
     toward them. She reached for her mother’s hand and held on tightly.

2
    N ights were hell in the jungle. Right at sunset, the buzzing started. It wasn’t as
     if the insects were silent—they were producing a constant steady drone—but Riley could
     push the sound away. This was something altogether different—a soft, persistent noise,
     a low frequency that jangled every nerve in the body. She’d awakened to the strange
     noise the very first night they entered the rain forest.
    Strangely, Riley couldn’t identify the low, irritating buzz, nor could she tell if
     it was outside or inside her head. She’d observed several others—including her mother—rubbing
     their temples as if their heads ached, and she feared that same low frequency of whispers
     one couldn’t quite catch was invading insidiously, adding to the danger of their travel.
     During the day the whispers were gone, but the effects lingered.
    Her senses, since entering the rain forest, seemed to have blazed to life and were
     working overtime. She noticed every little suspicious glance toward her mother. Jubal
     Sanders and Gary Jansen were armed to the teeth and she was very envious of their
     weapons. The two moved in silence, kept to