The World to Come by Dara Horn

Author:Dara Horn [Horn, Dara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780393329063
Google: KNAldjspvlIC
Amazon: 0393329062
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2006-10-01T07:00:00+00:00

THEY STALKED THE darkness in the jungle all night long, wearing seventy-pound packs with all their supplies, walking for hours without traveling very far at all, moving in circles. Daniel was surprised to find himself more frightened of tigers than of the enemy, scanning the buzzing forest for glowing animal eyes. When the rain lifted and the sun began to rise, light spilled in between the trees like rivers of gold, and it was decided that they were too vulnerable in their long line of men. They were told to separate into pairs to secure the immediate area, and then they would continue on through the Pass of the Ocean Clouds. The line was divided. Daniel split off with Tim, and stiffened his limbs as he realized that Tim was keeping his promise, moving a fraction of a step behind him as the two of them walked on together.

Daylight glistened on the jungle floor. In the long new shafts of light, Daniel saw spiderwebs stretched between the trees, large enough to trap a person—vast nets that vibrated with each of his footsteps, transparent but for the tiny raindrops clinging to their woven tapestries of threads. Daniel tore them down reluctantly, afraid of leaving a trail. But staying unnoticed was almost impossible. No matter how quiet he and Tim tried to be, every step they took resounded like cannon fire, a blasting crackle of leaves and branches exploding underfoot. Without speaking or thinking, Daniel and Tim began to take their steps at the same time, with Tim moving closer until he was moving right beside Daniel, matching their heartbeats. Now the only sounds they heard came from the buzzing of insects, and from their perfectly synchronized steps. That made it easy, half an hour later, to hear when something else—something too big to be any animal but a tiger or a man—began to move behind the trees.

The two men froze. They stared into the trees in the dim gray light until they both saw someone standing about thirty feet away, half obscured by trees and plants. Daniel’s breath caught in his throat. All he could see was the top of the man’s head, covered by a helmet he didn’t recognize, and part of his leg. But then the man shifted in his place so that they could see his hands, and Daniel saw that he was fumbling with something that looked about the size and shape of a stick grenade.

Tim elbowed Daniel, a little too hard, and silently raised his rifle. Daniel crouched over his weapon, trying not to breathe. It seemed that Tim had been bluffing earlier about putting Daniel on the spot. But as Daniel watched the man’s hands through the leaves, it became clear that the man was simply waiting for the right moment to pull the pin. Had he seen them? Or was he aiming for someone else? Daniel began to raise his rifle, but then Tim elbowed him again, urging him on, and the gun slipped in his sweaty hands.

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