SWARM

Minotaur

Chapter 10

Nathan and Raymond's waterfowls and sweaters are removed; not remembering where they could have cast them to get their body cool against the humid climate. The swarm of insects is far behind now, and the weather's heat begins to get punishably noticeable as they walk further away from where they exited. Nathan's dirty mesh hat is replaced with his shirt tied around his head in a durag, leaving him shirtless. He kept his jean and the same sneakers against the ground they walk upon which is also warm. Raymond, on the flip-side, gets around to keep his furry earflap hat with his khaki thermal long sleeve shirt; the same goes with his pants and hunting boots.

Nathan smirks at Raymond's cap. "Aren't you hot?" he asks.

"It's my lucky hat," Raymond replies. "Then he tosses his hat away."

"I thought you said it's your lucky hat?"

"I'm not feeling lucky... damn, what's with this heat..." and he gazes on the landscape where there are no paths. "Something is not right." He feels as though his hunting ground has been misplaced to another part of the world. He felt the hot weather before but not this kind of humidity. Nathan and Raymond are not far from where they used to call home; just time has changed. Both now are distant away to the future. The two have entered a doorway that has taken them to the year ad 29269.

Around the field they got lost from is the deep, broad ocean. Sounds of lizards from the shore are like grunts of massive walruses, and birds hanging from the steep sides of rocky cliffs tweet like elephants while flapping their broad wings, similar to fantasy dragons. Far distance away, apes are screaming, followed by crackling wooden branches, and all sort of bullfrogs hiding from the ponds and hidden in tall brushes are all around. The rest are various kinds of animals that are mystical creatures only in fairy tales. It's getting dark, and the two lost cousins kept walking. Thus far, the swarm of insects Nathan and Raymond escaped from were noticeably oversize insects; others they see around now are dragonflies and mayflies reminding the secret marsh back home, just a lot larger. "This is not making sense..." Raymond says again.

"I know, but where the hell are we?" Nathan ask.

"I don't know."

"I'm tired and a little hungry."

"Yeah me too. Let's figure out where the hell we are later. Let's find shelter first."

"Sounds good."

They were exhausted after they finished building their shelter; the two crashed into the little dwelling full of moss they made and didn't care for the rest of their worries. And when they woke up, it's already dark. Realizing the skies are much different; constant meteors are constantly falling from the sky, it's the same bright moon just like from the country that lights up the landscape, and the far distance they see little flickers of lightning from clouds followed by afar noise of thunder. "Purple clouds," Raymond said, and he remembers the smoke and helicopter propelling near the windy pastured ground back in Vietnam. The sweats from his arms remind him of a once horrible experience. Raymond looks at the scars on his hands and thinks again of being rescued. The same noisy critters overwhelm the shelter, but they are too tired to be bothered and return to sleep.

David is not far from Nathan and Raymond; the same bright meteors and the full moon guide him towards the unknown forest. He is tired, but he doesn't trust to rest. Just like his two friends, he also wonders where he is. His bag of shotgun cartridges had fallen away, making him feel lighter from being fatigued. The waterfowl and sweater are also out from his body to cool himself from the overwhelming humidity, just his white tee-shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and his Boston baseball cap.