The Narrator
A frog by the side of the jungle trail croaked in excitement after it caught sight of a fly. Using its tongue, it tried to catch that fly, but the fly seemed smarter.
The fly lingered by a flower for a while, before flying across the trail to the other side.
The frog, being hungry, began to hop towards the other side of the trail.
Beep! Beeeeeep!
The frog was stunned as it saw a big animal approaching it. It just stood there, without moving. It didn't know what to do.
That animal that it saw was a strange animal that didn't walk by moving its legs like how ordinary animals moved their legs. Its legs were round and they were rolling up and down.
Before the frog was able to hop, after being stunned for a while, it was smashed by the wheels of a jeep which was speeding through the jungle trail.
Sergio's eyes kept alternating between the speedometer, the fuel level indicator, and the windshield as the vehicle charged like a raging bull that sought to trample the closest living creature in proximity to it.
"It'll all be fine, Michael. Don't worry," said Christina Seagale as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Gallagher was disturbed. He was worried about many things. The United States in recent months had been cracking down severely on illegal immigration. They have tightened rules surrounding the entry of foreigners into the United States. In that situation, even if he genuinely lost his passport (and was not making an excuse) he would be suspected by the United States Customs And Border Protection. He needed that passport. His entire life was based in the United States. He had no home in Ireland, even though he had the citizenship of Ireland. His mother, brother, and sisters had all migrated to Philadelphia.
Sergio's feet were firmly placed on the pedal. He wanted to be able to drop Michael and Christina at Roboré, as soon as possible, so that he could return to the camp where the children were left alone, with Rodriguez. The vehicle was continuously shaking as it was driven at an unusual speed. The vehicle broke low hanging branches as it passed under them.
It seemed like as if it bounced onto the road when the vehicle got out of the jungle trail onto the road (which was elevated). Sergio slammed the breaks to avoid being hit by the many vehicles which passed by. He then spun the steering rapidly and brought the vehicle into a lane, on which he could drive safely. The radio crackled into life, as soon as the jeep entered the highway.
Roboré was 50 kilometers far from where they were on the highway. Sergio drove as quickly as possible, overtaking as many vehicles as he could until he entered a traffic jam.
Rain began to pour heavily. Christina Seagale stared intently at the radio stack as the song See You Again by Wiz Khalifa was playing on the radio.
Christina loved that song. Charlie Puth was her favorite artist, but that song wasn't the song she would play in that car at that time. The song caused a gloomy mood in that car. Christina began feeling heavy.
Christina's head slammed into Michael's chest, as Sergio suddenly swerved unannounced into an exit on the left side of the highway.
"Man… Sergio?" asked Gallagher, coming to senses after his head slammed into a metal pole at the back of the jeep.
Sergio slammed the gas pedal even harder when he saw jeeps following him, and took another sharp turn, causing Christina's head to hit against a metal bar.
Sergio could see a coffee shop in the distance. He saw Eduardo Rodriguez running towards him. He slammed the brakes, and let Eduardo get inside, before slamming the gas pedal and accelerating wildly down the road.
Christina who was subconscious could only perceive the vehicle shaking violently on the road. She and Michael were injured.
Eduardo kept looking back and saying something inaudible to Sergio, as Sergio drove that jeep down an unknown road. Soon the jeep entered another part of the rainforest.
Sergio drove for about 45 minutes at a very fast speed down that road which went through the forest.
He saw that the jeeps were still following him.
Sergio didn't know what to do. In desperation, he spun the steering wheel and steered towards a jungle road, and went down the road.
The jeeps were still behind him, inching closer.
Sergio's feet shook as he reached for the gas pedal, looking back at the jeeps which were coming behind him.
He then pressed a pedal which was the one closest to his feet.
Before he was able to look at what was in front of him …
Thwack!
His nose smacked into the steering.
Michael and Christina were slammed onto some metal in the jeep with a thud.
The sound of someone being impaled at the back of the jeep, along with that of metal being crushed, was heard. Sergio's neck was broken.
They crashed into a rock at a very high speed, before the brakes (which Sergio accidentally pressed) were able to slow them down.
That rock fell from the hills during a landslide and covered the road.
Michael moaned in pain. Even his neck was broken because of the impact.
A truck was descending a sloping road to the left the jeep. On the right of the jeep was another rock. Sergio was immobilized, without being able to do anything.
Juan Alberto typically drives boulders on his truck down that sloping road to the left of the jeep. It was the private road of an estate. He thought the drive down the slope would be a normal one until he saw a car in front of him (smashed into a rock), with a rock to its right. He didn't even expect the rock that was in the middle of the road because of the landslide.
He wanted to stop the truck, to avert an accident.
If the truck went down, it could sandwich the car and the people inside it into a thick paste, grinding them against the rock to their right. If he turned to the left, on his descent he would smash into the rock that the landslide brought down onto the road.
So without making any turn, he just tried slamming the breaks, but the more he pressed them, the faster the truck traveled.
The boulders on the back of the truck caused the truck to descend even faster.
That's when Alberto looked down, to see what the problem was.
That was when he realized that it wasn't the brake pedal that he was pressing the whole time.
********
Meanwhile, far away in Roboré, Eduardo muttered, "Oh no," after realizing that he gave Sergio the wrong pill when he went to deliver the supplies at the camp.
He confused the pills that he had to give Sergio (Sergio needed to take a certain pill every morning) with the pills he had to deliver to some researchers.
Those pills he had to deliver to the researchers were to bring animals to a sub-conscious state. If humans ever consumed one of those tablets, it could cause them to dream dreams that they would mistake for reality. Because those who consume those pills would be in a subconscious state, they would take drastic steps, believing that the dreams they dream (after taking the pill) were real.
Eduardo's worst fears certainly came true, but he never knew that they came true. He was left with a fear which was worse than the fear of something which already happened: the fear of the unknown.
There were no jeeps that followed Sergio.
Sergio didn't see Eduardo at a coffee shop that whole day.
And the coffee shop Sergio saw wasn't even real!
Sergio was hallucinating the whole while, except for the truck which was coming down the sloping road. Because of the hallucinations, he failed to see the rock which the landslide had brought down onto the road until it was too late.
Eduardo, not knowing of the accident, called Sergio multiple times wondering why he didn't pick up.
The phone did ring, but it did amidst a pile of huge boulders and smashed flesh.
Not knowing what was wrong with Sergio, Eduardo headed towards his jeep.
That was when even he was killed by someone who slit his throat and stole his phone and wallet before running away.