Chapter 73 – Split or Die
The jungle was no longer something you moved through.
It was something you survived.
Branches tore at their clothes. Mud swallowed boots. Roots twisted underfoot like they were trying to trip them on purpose.
Behind them—
They heard a loud Crash.
Another tree snapped like dry bone.
The mud anaconda wasn't slowing down.
It wasn't hissing anymore.
It wasn't roaring.
It was just coming to devour them.
Jean-Daniel didn't look back again. He'd already made that mistake once and nearly tripped over a fallen trunk.
"Guys! Don't slow down!" he shouted.
Wilkens darted ahead in quick lightning bursts, boots crackling green as he scanned for stable ground. "Left side's clearer! Avoid the sinkhole near that dead tree!"
Kemi ran beside Jean-Daniel, one arm pressed to her ribs where the snake's tail had clipped her earlier. She was breathing hard but steady.
"I guess You two always train like this, huh?" she asked between breaths.
Jean-Daniel snorted. "Usually with less giant snakes trying bite our arsses off."
Behind them, the ground erupted.
Mud exploded upward as the anaconda's head smashed through a row of thin trees.
Its red eyes were locked forward now.
Not scanning.
Not evaluating.
It was on a Hunt.
It wasn't looking at Tèt anymore.
It was watching Jean-Daniel's team.
Like it knew they were getting tired.
Wilkens felt it first.
That shift of a new target.
"That's not good," he muttered.
"What is not?" Kemi snapped.
"It changed targets."
Jean-Daniel's jaw tightened. "Damn it! I wonder Why?"
Wilkens didn't answer immediately. He didn't need to.
He just knew that the snake can tell how they're slower than the other group.
Also The snake's gaze had lingered longer on Jean-Daniel earlier. On the earth armor. On the hammer strikes. On the damage.
And maybe…
On the scent of the crystal that had once been in the rhino.
"Guys," Wilkens said, voice steady but urgent, "it wants us."
The snake lunged again.
Its massive head slammed down barely meters behind them, jaws snapping shut where Jean-Daniel had been a second earlier.
Kemi shoved him forward. "Move!"
They dove through brush and rolled down a small incline, sliding through mud before scrambling upright again.
Behind them, the snake coiled and adjusted, angling toward their new position.
Tèt's voice echoed faintly from the left. "It's not following us!"
Jean-Daniel didn't look over. "That's because it's following us!"
They met for a split second at the edge of a shallow clearing.
Everyone breathing hard.
Everyone covered in mud.
Everyone realizing the same thing at the same time.
Tèt spoke first.
"Let's split up, this will give us a better chance at escaping."
Rolo blinked. "You mean, Now?!"
"Yes, now!" Tèt snapped. "It can't chase two groups at once."
Kemi glanced at Jean-Daniel. "You good with that?"
Jean-Daniel nodded once. "If it wants us, we'll do our best to drag it away."
Wilkens swallowed. "That's… comforting."
Lobo wheezed from behind Tèt. "You sure that's not just suicidal?"
Tèt grinned grimly. "Suicidal would be staying together."
The snake's body crushed another line of trees behind them.
They didn't have time to debate.
"Alright," Jean-Daniel said quickly. "Wilkens with me. Kemi since you're already next to us, are you fast enough?"
She smirked despite the situation. "You're about to find out."
Rolo stepped toward Jean-Daniel instinctively.
Tèt grabbed his shoulder. "No bud, You're with me."
"Wait! What?!" Rolo protested.
Tèt leaned in close. "Trust me it better that way."
That was enough.
They split in team of 3 again.
Jean-Daniel, Wilkens, and Kemi veered right into denser terrain.
Tèt, Lobo, and Rolo sprinted left toward lower swamp ground.
For three seconds—
The jungle held its breath.
The anaconda rose slightly, head tilting.
Red eyes scanning.
Then it chose.
It surged right.
"Fantastic, it's still on us" Wilkens muttered.
"Run!" Jean-Daniel barked.
They sprinted.
The terrain changed quickly.
Less thick trees.
More scattered brush.
More open space.
Worse cover.
Wilkens flash-stepped ahead and then skidded to a halt.
"We got some Beasts ahead!"
A pack of mud wolves burst from the undergrowth—seven of them, all one-horned, teeth bared.
"Damn it! We don't have time for this!" Kemi shouted.
Jean-Daniel swung his hammer once, cracking the ground in front of them.
"Let's just Make time!"
The wolves lunged.
Wilkens moved first.
Lightning flickered under his boots as he blurred sideways, daggers slicing through the throat of the first wolf in one clean motion.
Blue flame ignited briefly as the blade cut.
The beast dropped.
Kemi spun and launched a tight arc of flame, catching two wolves mid-leap. Their mud armor hardened under heat and then shattered as they landed badly.
Jean-Daniel stepped forward and brought his hammer down like a falling wall.
The impact crushed another wolf instantly.
"No drawn-out fights!" he shouted.
Wilkens carved through one more, then ducked under snapping jaws.
Behind them—
The jungle cracked again.
The snake wasn't slowing.
Kemi blasted the final wolf aside.
"Go!"
They didn't even stop to collect crystals.
They ran.
A few meters ahead, Wilkens risked a glance over his shoulder.
The anaconda burst through the clearing they'd just left, crushing the remaining wolf corpses beneath its body without even noticing.
Its speed hadn't dropped.
If anything—
It was faster.
"Okay," Wilkens said breathlessly, "it's definitely faster."
Jean-Daniel gritted his teeth. "No kidding man."
They ran downhill this time.
The ground grew rockier.
Less mud.
More exposed stone.
The snake's body scraped against rock now, sparks flying occasionally where hardened scales met sharp edges.
Kemi glanced back. "It's not slowing on rock either. That's unfair."
Wilkens laughed weakly. "Yeah, I'm filing a complaint later."
"To who?" Jean-Daniel questioned jokingly
They reached a narrow pass between two tall stone formations.
Jean-Daniel skidded to a halt.
"Through here!"
They squeezed through.
The gap was tight.
Barely wide enough for Jean-Daniel's armor bulk.
Wilkens slipped through easily.
Kemi followed.
Behind them—
The snake didn't slow.
It slammed into the stone edges and forced its body through anyway, rock grinding loudly against scales.
Chunks of stone fell as it muscled past the choke point.
Wilkens' eyes widened. "That was supposed to buy us time!"
Jean-Daniel huffed. "It bought us three seconds!"
They cleared the pass and burst into a larger basin.
And froze.
Ahead of them—
A cave entrance.
Massive.
Dark.
Carved naturally into stone.
Cold air drifted out from it.
Kemi stared. "You've got to be kidding me."
Behind them—
Crash.
The snake cleared the choke point fully.
It didn't hesitate.
It kept coming.
Jean-Daniel made the decision instantly.
"Get in, Beggars can't be choosers!"
Wilkens blinked. "We don't know what's inside!"
"We know what's outside!" Jean-Daniel snapped.
That was enough.
They rushed into the cave.
Cut – Bus Site
Jano leaned against the bus, rifle resting across his lap.
The jungle around the vehicle had gone strangely quiet.
His team had returned minutes earlier.
No sign of Tèt.
No sign of Jean-Daniel's squad.
One of his men paced nervously. "Where are the other team! You think they're dead?"
Jano didn't answer immediately.
He scanned the tree line slowly.
"No," he said at last. "Those guys aren't easy prey."
Another member shifted uncomfortably. "That's not comforting."
Jano adjusted his grip on the rifle. "If something big was hunting them, it would still be loud."
They stood on guard in Silence.
Then—
Far off in the jungle.
A distant roar.
Everyone stiffened.
Jano's eyes narrowed. "That's not a bear."
"Should we go?"
He shook his head slowly. "Not yet."
He stared into the trees.
"Give them some more time I'm sure they'll pull through."
Back to the Cave
Darkness swallowed them almost immediately.
Wilkens' helmet flickered as its green crystal adjusted to low light.
Shapes sharpened.
Shadows clarified.
The cave wasn't empty.
It was alive.
Thin streams of water trickled along walls.
Strange fungus clung to stone.
And deeper inside—
Movement.
Kemi exhaled slowly. "Please tell me this is just a tunnel."
Wilkens swallowed. "It's not just a tunnel, It's more like a dungeon like in those video games or anime series."
Behind them—
A massive shape blocked the cave entrance.
Red eyes glowed in the darkness.
The anaconda slid inside.
Stone groaned under its weight.
Jean-Daniel stared. "It followed us in."
Wilkens nodded slowly. "This thing won't give up, it want us dead."
The cave sloped downward.
And the deeper they moved—
The more they realized.
This wasn't just a cave.
It branched.
Left.
Right.
Downward.
It was a maze.
And something else moved inside.
A low growl echoed from the darkness ahead.
Kemi groaned. "You've got to be kidding me."
Wilkens tightened his grip on his daggers. "We don't stop."
Jean-Daniel raised his hammer slightly.
"Stay close. Kill fast whatever small fries that blocks out path. And, Keep moving."
Behind them, the snake's body scraped against stone.
Relentless.
Patiently hunting its targets.
And deeper inside the maze—
Something else waited.
End of Chapter 73