Chapter 17 Call For Obedience

Matt and Alejandro frantically swum across the river. They could no longer hear Adrianna's screams but that didn't stop their adrenaline rush. As soon as they hit land, they sprinted through the forest—jumping logs and slapping branches away. Matt cocked up the AK47 in his hands and Alejandro did the same with his shotgun.

They came to a gigantic tree and up above was Adrianna; wrapped up in a tight squeeze. Her face turning purple and her eyes were wide open. The creature drew closer to her, and opened its big mouth of razor sharp jaws. Its tongue licked Adrianna's face from her chin up and left a trail of sticky saliva.

Matt opened fire at the creature’s back. It hissed furiously and charged at him. With the corner of its eye, it saw Alejandro fire his shotgun. The bullet hit on the side of its head and gooey blood splashed from the other side.

The hold on Adrianna loosened, and she let out a long gasp for air. She fell to the ground and landed on her back.

Despite the wounds inflicted upon it, the creature was still going strong. It charged at Adrianna with part of its head blown off. Adrianna pulled herself up, but she fell back down to her knee.

She watched it get closer with its mouth spread wide open. Adrianna pulled out the dagger strapped to her leg and threw it at the creature. It pierced into its throat but that still didn't slow it down.

The creature was just about to bite Adrianna when it felt a tag on its tail. It turned back to see Matt and Alejandro pulling it back with all their might. The creature hissed demonically, and raised its tail in the air.

It whipped it back and the men were sent flying into the trees. Alejandro arched his back gnashing his teeth in pain beside a tree. Matt on the other hand, had the luck of only crushing through branches.

He sprinted back to the creature. It saw him come and attacked him with its tail again. Matt jumped over it and ducked. He tucked and rolled over to the ground—snatching Alejandro's shotgun. Laid down on his belly, Matt pulled the trigger but missed.

The creature speared itself at Matt. He cocked the shotgun and fired again. This time, he hit its shoulder but that only slowed it down. It went at him with everything it had when Fernanda appeared suddenly in front of Matt.

"Stop in the name of Jesus!" she commanded and the creature skidded to a halt.

It looked at her with wide eyes and slowly closed its mouth. The creature started to chuckle as it swayed side to side with its wide hips. Fernanda bravely stood her ground eye balling it. Adrianna took the opportunity to at least hide somewhere. The creature saw Adrianna move and it shifted.

"You are not going anywhere." Fernanda commanded it again.

"Servant of God, why must you interfere with my meal times?" the creature spoke in Spanish.

"And why must you interfere in God's work?" Fernanda asked it back in English.

"This is my territory!" it screamed in Spanish and raised itself high.

"No territory belongs to you, daughter of Lilith. God of Elijah, rain your fire down in the name of Jesus!"

To Matt and Adrianna's shock, fire appeared out of nowhere and set the creature ablaze. It shrieked in terror. Nothing caught fire as it slid destructively through the forest. Jose jumped back in fright and fell down on his bottom when he saw it go into the river with a huge splash.

Matt got back to his feet. Adrianna went to Alejandro and helped him up. Fernanda scowled at all of them, and made her way back. They all said nothing but looked on surprised. It took not more than five minutes for her to get rid of the venomous creature that they struggled with almost to the point of losing their lives.

The three of them walked back, each wincing at their wounds. They joined Fernanda in watching Jose and Mark salvage what they could from the wrecked ship. They pulled out bags and tossed them to Diego at the river bank.

Adrianna gasped at Stephanie on her knees and beside Paulo who appeared to be unconscious. She rushed to her aid and frowned at the cut on Paulo's head. The sound of cloth ripping caused her to abruptly turn away from him. She watched in silence as Stephanie carefully wrapped the wound. Paulo’s groaning brought a smile to Adrianna's face.

"I thought you were unconscious." Adrianna mirthfully said.

"I'm still here, cuz." Paulo weakly replied, he slightly opened his eyes to look at Adrianna who was still smiling at him.

Matt and Alejandro ran to assist Diego in checking what the bags contained. They pulled out flashlights, and some food supplies. Unfortunately for them, none of the bags contained any guns. Matt zipped back a bag that contained Adrianna's blades.

Alejandro tossed a bag away in frustration. Matt heard him curse underneath his breath. Turning away, Matt straightened his back to see if everyone was there. Only one person was missing in his sight.

"Where is Roy?" he asked and heads turned to him.

"He didn't make it." Mark voiced out as he walked out of the river.

Matt glanced towards Alejandro, "What do we do now?" he asked.

"I don't know, man. I can’t even think straight right now." Alejandro confessed to Matt’s dismay.

"You should have listened to me when I told you to forge ahead." Fernanda broke her silence and clenched her fist. She sprayed daggers at everyone. "This is the evil forest. Not everything you see here is always what it seems. This is why you have to be cautious." she took in the silence that followed with a scowl. "That creature is known as a Lamia. They come to people in all sorts of vulnerable disguises. Once you give them way in, they attack you but if you ignore them, they don't."

"Well, you should have fucking said that in the first place." Adrianna angrily retorted.

"Would you have believed me?" Fernanda asked her back with boldness to which Adrianna faced away annoyed. "Ever since we got here, you have been hostile against me. I don't know what anger you have towards Christians but what I do know is that we have to work together if we are to get out of here alive. Put aside your resentments and misguided hatred."

"Excuse me, how dare y-"

"Adrianna, shut the fuck up. In case you haven't noticed, all this is your fault!" Jose screamed at her and waved his hand back. "Look at this! We have lost almost everything and now we are fucking stuck here." Jose kicked a rock and sat down annoyed.

Matt shook his head. "Now isn't the time to fight amongst ourselves. Let's not waste time bickering but instead strategize on how best we can complete our mission." he suggested.

"How are we possibly going to find Ruth? I have lost control of my drones." Mark pessimistically added.

"The same way God led the Israelites to the Promised Land is the same way he will lead us to Ruth. What I need is total obedience from all of you." Fernanda pointed to the south. "We head that way."