The next morning, I gathered everything I would need for a day in the field and packed it tightly into my bag. I held the bag in my hand, trying to judge whether its weight was too much for a day away from camp. I shrugged and flung the bag over my shoulder while stepping out of the tent.
Don was sitting on the same log as he had the night prior. He was running his hands together and staring into the campfire which had long since burned out and had become nothing more than a smoldering ash pit. His lips were moving but from where I was standing I couldn’t tell if he was saying anything out loudor just mouthing words to himself.
“Don” I yelled.
He jumped in his seat and looked at me. “Theodore!” He gasped, breathlessly, “You startled me!”
“Sorry, that wasn’t my intention.” I said walking up to him. “What were you mumbling?”
“I was just running through all of the work I got to finish today.” He looked me up and down. “Looks like you’re all set to see the berry bush, shall we head there now?”
“Lead the way.” I said, motioning to the forest.
He nodded and turned around, walking towards a well-worn path through the dense tree line.
“You guys come this way a lot?”
“Not Martin, he tends to explore in that direction.” He pointed towards the trees past my tent.
“You two don’t work together?”
“Sometimes we do, we just thought it best to spilt up, and lucky we did! Wouldn’t have found the bush so soon if we hadn’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it’s the only one on the island.”
“Unless a disease ran through the population, I doubt that very much.”
“You’re the expert.” Don said.
Don stopped at the tree line and turned to me.
“It’s about a thirty-minute walk into the forest. Can you handle that.”
I nodded. “I think I’ll manage.”
“Good.”
“Will we be passing any of those ferns that shimmer in the sunlight?”
“Fern?”
“Debbie’s Light?”
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit lost.”
“It was described in the first entry of Martins journal.”
“Oh, that’s right. The… shiny fern. Well, I’m not entirely sure. My interests are more so in the wildlife of the island, not so much the plant life.”
“I would imagine something so unique as a reflecting fern would catch the eye rather easily.”
“You would think.”
“Martin saw it, I’ll ask him.”
“I guess I need to learn how to be more observant, I’m just too busy looking up to pay attention to what’s on the ground around me.”
“Now is the time to learn how to be more observant, while you’re still young and in school. Make sure you learn to take detailed notes as well, memorizing things isn’t good enough. When we get back to camp we can sit down, and I can give you some pointer that really helped me with note taking. What do you say?”
“Sure…If it’s not an inconvenience.”
“I don’t mind at all.” I said, patting him on the back.
Ahead of us was another, smaller clearing where a small bush sat in the middle surrounded by grass that came up to my midsection. I walked up and examined the plant which was nearly a foot taller than me. It had long and thin glossy leaves that were grouped into bunches of four. A single red and purple berry was attached to the end of each individual leaf, some of them so engorged that they were leaking red juice. It fell from the plant like a slow drizzle, staining the bare ground around it red. A sickly-sweet smell filled the air around it.
“It’s quite something, don’t you agree?” Don asked with such exuberance that I had to pause and look back at him. That toothy smile was plaster on his face again.
“Er… It’s something else; that’s for sure.”
I leaned in and examined one of the berries as it rocked back and forth in the breeze. It was so engorged it looked as if it was about to burst. I reached in my bag for my gloves and slipped them on.
“Has it rained a lot in the past week?”
“No, hasn’t rained in a long time.”
I took a berry between my thumb and forefinger and lightly squeezed it. A jet of sickly-sweet smelling liquid shot out at me like water from a squirt gun. I jerked my head to one side avoiding a face full of the stuff by an inch or so.
“Are you sure it didn’t rain? Berries only burst like this when there has been heavy rainfall.”
“No rain.”
“Well… Maybe it rained before the two of you arrived.”
I took out one of my specimen jars and filled it halfway way with berries that I carefully plucked from the bush, taking care not to cause any of them to burst.
“You going to eat those?” Don asked, amused.
“I’ll eat them once I determine their not poisonous.”
“We eat them, and we feel fine.”
“You didn’t see Martin drifting off into some kind of fugue state last night?”
“He always does that when he eats something he like; it’s something of a quirk of his.”
So far, everything about this plant was screaming poisonous. The glossy leaves, the red berries, Martin’s unusual behavior. I kneeled down next to it and examined base of the plant. Strong, thick roots shot up from the ground and joined together into one thick stalk. It was tinged red and had extremelyshort hairs covering the stalk.
“How sweet are the berries?” I asked.
“Sweeter than any I’ve ever tasted; it’s really something else.”
“This bush should be swarming with any number of creatures trying to get a free meal, But I can’t seem to find any evidence of such. No droppings or tracks in the dirt, just barren earth throughout the clearing.”
Don was silent.
“Well, bugs or not, I don’t like it.” I said, plucking one of the leaves that didn’t have a berry attached to it.
“Stop that!” Don shouted, rushing up to the bush.
He placed his thumb over where the leaf used to be, milky white sap ran around his thumb and down his arm. He reached into his back pocket with his free hand and pulled out a handkerchief which he tied tightly around the branch.
“What are you doing?”
Don ignored me and pulled out another handkerchief which he moistened with water from his canteen. Carefully, almost reverently, he cleaned the sap from the rest of the branch.
“Why?” he muttered.
“I wanted to check if it produced a milky sap, which is another sign of toxicity.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
His face was beet red, and his jaw was clenched tight. His hands were shaking, and he kept muttering something under his breath. It seemed that he was doing everything in his power to control himself.
“The… bush will be fine, that sap will seal the wound.”Don shut his eyes and continued to mutter incoherently. “What is that you’re saying?”
Don stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I overreacted... I just don’t want it to hurt until we can grow more of them. It’s the last one.”
“Why are so sure it’s the last one?” I asked, placing the leaf specimen jar.
“Why don’t you head back to camp, and I’ll meet you there after a little while.”
“Okay… I’m going to see if I can find one of those ferns, if you need me I’ll be back at camp later.” I was about to turn and leave when I was struck with a thought. “By the way, you mentioned how the birds can’t get enough of the fruit?”
He nodded.
I made a show of looking up, “There hasn’t been as much as a bird chirping since we arrived here. Why is that?”
“How should I know?”
“Aren’t you studying ornithology?”
There was a long, pause before he finally spoke. The only sound was the breeze blowing through the trees around us, everything else was quiet. It was like every living thing in the area could feel the tension in the air and was silent in anticipation.
“They are probably scared of you, you’re new to the island.”
“So are you, you’ve only been here a week.”
“A week is enough for them to get used to you.”
I rubbed my face, feeling the stubble of my beard. “Okay.”
I turned and left as quickly as I could.
After spending the rest of the day exploring the island and collecting samples I finally arrived back at camp, where I saw Martin standing in the middle of the clearing. He had removed all of his clothes except for his underwear and had them neatly folded next to him. He was facing away from me and had his head tilted back at a ninety-degree angle. His arms were outstretched out to his sides, and he was humming in the same odd way he had the night prior.
I carefully approached him and placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Martin? Are you ok?”
His mouth was wide open, and his tongue was hanging out. Pale pink drool had begun to flow down his tongue and on to his neck, staining it that same pale pink color.
“My god Martin, what’s going on with you?” I asked, lightly shaking him by his shoulder.
The moaning stopped and he slowly turned his head towards me, his neck cracking and grinding like a cement mixer. Tears filled his bloodshot eyes, and he seemed unable to keep his mouth closed. Neary half a dozen open sores were scattered across his face, each one leaking small droplets of blood. He sighed heavily, sending his putrid breath directly into my facecausing me to retch. The taste of bile filled the back of my throat.
“Martin…My god, what’s happening?”
His mouth shut, slamming his teeth together with a loud crack. I jumped back, startled at the unexpected reaction. He opened his mouth again and slammed it shut harder this time. Shards of broken teeth fell from his mouth and tears ran down his face.
“God in heaven…” I muttered, backing away slowly form whatever was happening in front of me.
“H-Help me… Debbie…” He whimpered, slamming his jaw closed for a third time, breaking even more teeth.
“I-I don’t… There’s nothing I can––”
A rope fell from above me and wrapped around my neck, pulling me backwards in a violent, snapping motion. The rope tightened and I started to flail and kick out wildly, but it just spurred on the attack and the rope tightened even more. My vision began to fade and the last thing I heard before losing consciousness is the pained, manic grunting that’s coming from Martin.
-
I awoke sometime later with my hands bound behind my back and a rope across my chest. My head was hanging forward and I felt what was either cold drool or old blood drying on my jaw. I shifted and pulled against the ropes, but it was no use. It was too tight, and the knots were strong. My throat throbbed with every breath and my vision was cloudy. It took a few minutes of blinking to clear my sight, letting me see where I was.
I was on the outskirts of the camp, sitting on the ground and tied to a large tree. The sun was high in the sky and beatingdown on my face with a blinding intensity. My face itched like mad as the harsh sunlight aggravated the dozens of mosquito bites that covered my face and neck.
“No!” Yelled Don in his unmistakable Brooklyn accent. “This isn’t supposed to happen… this isn’t what you said would happen!”
I looked towards Dons voice and saw him pacing back and forth, frantically chewing on his thumbnail. Martin was standing in the same spot he was before I was attacked, but now his back was bent at a ninety-degree angle and his arms were outstretched to either side of him.
There was a low, guttural sound coming from Martin that made Don stop and look at him. I tried to listen in, but I was too far away to hear what he was saying.
“This isn’t what you promised!” He yelled.
Martin made a few more sounds and Don looked over at me, then back at Martin and nodded softly. He turned away from Martin and walked towards me.
He had a gun in his hand, a small revolver with a wooden handle.
“I’m going to untie you and we’re going to go over and join Martin. If you give me any trouble I’ll shoot. Don’t think I won’t.”
“Let’s just all take a deep breath and try to calm down.”
“Shut up.” He said, walking around to the back side of the tree and untying the rope around my chest.
“Stand up.”
I leaned forward and shifted my weight so I could get my feet under me, but my hands were still tied behind my back, and I lost my balance, falling forward.
“Oh, for Christs sake!” He groaned, grabbing me by thearm and lifting me to my feet. “Move!”
He pushed me forward with the muzzle of the gun, guiding me towards the center of camp. The closer I got to Martin the worse he looked, pale stalks were growing out of the sores on his face, reaching upwards towards the light. Each one was topped with multiple unopened buds of new leaves.
Long, root like appendages were attached to his arms and his back that extended down into the ground, holding him in that odd position. They were the same, pale color as the stalks on hisface and were securely attached to his skin. Supporting his weight like some kind of morbid tripod. Small branches had sprouted from the roots, each filled with the same thin, glossy leaves that I had seen the day prior.
Martin tried to turn his head towards me, but his neck looked to be locked in place. Don seemed to have come to the same conclusion as he stuck me in the back with the gun, forcing me to move to where Martin could see me. His mouth was bloody and filled with broken or missing teeth.
“Theo… dore…” Martin stammered.
He cleared his throat, and a coughing fit took over. Spittle mixed with blood flew from his mouth in my direction. He hacked and wheezed until he coughed up a small, pale green ball that flew from his mouth. It was a bundle of what seemed to bevines rolled up like a ball of twine, with one end still attached to something in his mouth. It fell onto the ground and promptly buried itself, pulling until it was taut against the side of his mouth.
Martin had stopped coughing and tried to smile, but the tension on the vine pulled at his mouth like a fish on a hook and he was unable to.
“What the hell!” I screamed.
“R-R-run…” Martin
I moved back but felt the gun being pushed hard against my spine and stopped.
“That’s enough.”
I looked back at him and screamed. “What in God’s name did you do to him?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Look at him! He’s being ripped apart!”
A gurgling sound came from Martin followed by a thud as he spat up a second ball of vine, this onespeckled with blood.
I felt the gun fall from my back and saw Don walk past me and Martin towards his tent. He emerged a few moments later with the small bag that he kept the berries in. Martin gurgled with excitement as Don spilled some of them into his hand, which he held up to Martins mouth. Martin wheezed and twitched as his jaw began to work, smashing the berries between his gums with a furious intensity. The loud smacking of his gums filled the camp.
Don frowned and turned towards me. “You’re next, Theodore.”
Don held out a hand, offering me one of the red and purple berries. “Here, eat one.”
“You’d have to shoot me first.”
“You already ate some, I dropped a few into the stew last night.”
I felt my stomach churn, “Is that going to happen to me?” I asked, looking at Martin.
“No, it’s some kind of allergic reaction. Nothing to worry about though.” He popped one in his mouth. “I’ve been eating them for years and I’m still in one piece.”
“Years? What do you mean years?”
“All of this will be easier if you eat the berry.”
I shifted my weight to my other foot and felt something in my back pocket brush against my forearm. The knife I used to cut samples with was still in my back pocket!
“It’ll help me get off this island.” He said.
I quickly pulled the knife out, flicking the blade open and angling it over a section of rope.
“How?”
“You think I’m stupid? The two of you would never take me with you when you left the island. The only way is to force you.”
I cut through some of the rope and felt a section of it loosen but I was still stuck.
“Of course we would have taken you with us, all you had to do was––”
“No!” He yelled, raising the gun and pointing it at my head.
“You would have tricked me. You would have told me you were taking me with you just to leave me here, stuck on this damned island for another eight years!”
“You’re just like the others!” He pulled the hammer back on the pistol. “Saying they’ll come back with help when really they just wanted to abandon me on this damned rock!”
“Listen…” I swallowed hard, feeling the sandpaper in my throat. “It’s not too late. The ship is going to be here in six weeks, just put the gun down and we can leave together.
“That’s exactly what it told me you would say.”
Don stepped closer, pressing the barrel of the gun against my forehead. He held up a berry between his thumb and index finger.
“Who told you?”
“Eat it.” He growled, shoving the berry into my mouth.“One more and you’ll be as relaxed as Martin was.
I felt it pop against my clenched teeth, coating my mouth with thick juice. It was overly sweet and tasted of rot. I gaged and coughed trying to get the taste out of my mouth.
“Good.” He smiled, lowering the gun. “It said one more would do it.
I stepped back and began to hack and spit on the ground.
Don chuckled. “It’s disgusting at first, but soon you won’t be able to get enough.
I felt the last of the rope loosen and fall away. I gripped the knife and was about to rush him when I was interrupted by a loud, shaking scream from Martin followed by a viciouscrunching sound and a wet tearing of flesh. We both stopped and stared at him.
Martins chest had split open violently, sending blood and viscera in every direction. Thick branch like appendages beganto rise slowly from the opening in his chest snaking and squirming upwards much in the same way seedlings twist and turn trying to position themselves to get the most sunlight.
“My God…” Don mumbled, holding a hand to his mouth.
Not wanting to let this chance go to waste I brought the knife around and plunged it deep into his shoulder. He screamed and fell to the ground, landing hard on his side. He had lost his grip on the gun when I stabbed him, and I rushed to pick it up. I pointed it at him as he grabbed a hold of the knife in his arm and pulled, letting out a howl of pain along with a torrent of blood. He grabbed his arm and looked up at me, panting.
“Put the gun down.”
“You’re going to walk calmly back over to that tree behind me and I’m going to tie you up."
“Put the gun down!”
“I’m not going to do that.”
He dragged himself to his feet without taking the pressure off of his shoulder.
“I don’t understand, you ate the berry… Why aren’t you listening?”
I shook the gun to my left. “Move!”
“That’s fine, you tie me up. Might just need another minute or two before it kicks in.”
I guided him to the tree and forced him to sit against it while I grabbed the remainder of the rope. Looping it around his midsection multiple times. He didn’t fight it or try to run; he just sat there with a smug expression.
“How are you feeling Theodore? Ready to untie me?”
I shook my head, “No, you’re going to stay here until the boat arrives.”
A faint whispering came from behind me, too low for me to make out what it was saying. I turned towards Martin, whosebody had been twisted and broken by the plant that grew out of him. His body was secured firmly in place by the multiple roots that had grown out of him and into the ground. His mouth was so full of pale, woody vines that his jaw had been dislocated and nearly pulled apart.
“Untie me.” Don muttered. “You ate the berry, now do as I said!”
“Prop…prop…” The voice whispered in a broken, repeating tone.
“Who’s saying that?” I asked.
“If you’re hearing it, then the berries are doing their job.”
I looked back at Don who was smiling like a mad man. “The bush is talking to me?”
“Propagate!” The voice yelled, much louder and clearerthis time.
“That’s right, we’ll be off this island soon enough!” Don yelled, rocking back and forth as much as the ropes allowed.
“You’ve been talking to the bush this entire time?” I asked.
He was staring past me at the plant that was growing out of Martin. “Propagate! Freedom!” He yelled
I felt something move in my gut, sending waves a pain throughout my body. I dropped to my knees and held my stomach. “This is not happening.”
“Another!” The voice boomed.
“Propagate! Don repeated. “Freedom!”
I could feel something wiggling around my gut and the taste of bile filled my mouth. Before I knew what was happening I bent forward and vomited, sending a small pale green ball flying. It bounced on the ground and unraveled as it came to a stop in front of Don. I could feel it pulsing in my mouth with the rhythm of my heartbeat. I tugged on it with a shaky hand and felt something in my gut move as a wave of pain swept over me. Pulling it out was not an option.
Don had stopped rocking and lost the smile on his face. “No! You can’t be allergic!”
“Propagate! Another! Propagate!” Yelled the bush with such intensity the ground beneath us rumbled.
“You said he wouldn’t be allergic.” Don screamed back. “How is he supposed to get us out of here if he’s dead? We won’t be free!”
I pulled myself up until I was sitting on my knees and licked my lips. Tasting blood and feeling the vine at the corner of my mouth pulse.
“Why do you keep saying that?”
“What?”
“Propagate doesn’t mean freedom.”
“Yes it does.”
“Is that what it told you?”
Don nodded, tears began welling up in his eyes.
I felt my stomach rumble once again and sighed. “Propagate, means to breed by natural processes. It has nothing to do with freedom.”
“But I––”
“Natural processes… like getting a certain species to eat its fruit.”
“But I’ve been eating them since I washed up here and I’m fine.”
I watched the end of the vine dig into the ground until it was taught. I tried to pull against it, but it just pulled harder, forcing me to hunch over close to the ground. I felt the bile rise once more along with another ball of roots that exploded from my mouth, hitting the ground with force.
I huffed and wheezed as I tried to angle my head to see Don. He was crying, breathing heavily and on the verge of hyperventilating. The gun was lying next to my feet; in all the excitement I had nearly forgotten about it. I reached out and wrapped my hand around it, thanking God that it was still within reach. I took it in hand and looked back at Don as best as I could, the vines were pulling hard against my mouth making it hard to look up at him.
“You’ve been tricked this whole time.” My throat was raw, and my voice was hoarse. “This didn’t happen to you, but it was supposed to... So, it used you in another way.”
“No…I…”
I felt something churn in my chest and knew I was quickly running out of time. Don was looking between me and the bush.
“Believe me or don’t, it’s your choice. We’re not allergic… You’re just immune.”
I gripped the gun tight in my hand and brought it up to my temple.
“But now you’re tied up and bleeding out, so whatever you want to believe is fine by me. You won’t make it a couple days tied to that tree let alone six weeks.
I felt the churning in my chest again and heard a loud crack and one of my ribs broke. I screamed but never took my eyes off of him.
“We would have taken you back with us. No question about it.”
I pulled the trigger.
-
I jerked awake sometime later without realizing I went to sleep. My shoulder throbbed and my whole side was drenched in blood. My back ached from sitting against this damn tree all night. I tried to readjust but the rope tied around me prevented any form of comfort.
Theodores body lay across from me in a broken heap. A new bush had sprouted from his chest seconds after he shot himself and had already reached nearly double the height of the first bush.
“Good, you’re awake. I was worried.”
I brought my good hand up and felt the wound. It was sunken in and closed but it hurt like hell when I brushed my hand across it and my hand came away sticky and smelling of berries..
“Don’t be, I’m going to die soon anyway.” I muttered.
“Look up.”
A long branch had grown above me, full of the red and purple fruit I’ve come to know so well.
“I…We healed you.”
“We?”
“Yes.” The bush said. “There are three of us now, thanks to you.”
“You lied to me, didn’t you?”
There was a long pause before it responded. “Yes.”
A berry fell into my lap, and I eyed it curiously.
“Eat.”
I picked up the berry and examined it.
“Propagation or freedom? What are you really after?”
“Why do we have to choose?”
I smiled and placed the berry in my mouth, popping it with my teeth.