《Seeker of the Lost》


 Chapter 1

    Ezekiel''s head turned as heard rustling and thumping coming from just off the trail signalling yet another mob of kangaroos or wallabies ahead. All the animals he had seen or heard today had been acting strangely. Usually the kangaroos at the national park were relaxed enough around people, that you could get within 10 metres or so of them before they started to react to somebody''s presence, used to all the people that visited Wilsons Promontory National Park for a chance to see the Australian wildlife in their natural habitat.


    He had come late october and was planning on to spend a week camping before the work started to get crazy leading up to christmas. The weather was usually just starting to warm up without it being too hot outside yet or without it being packed with tourists and other campers like the summer months were. He had checked the weather in the weeks leading up to his camping trip hoping it would hold good and despite some cloud cover the weather should be good. Ezekiel was using this time to unwind and destress to help him get through the Christmas rush.


    Despite the near perfect conditions for his trip he still felt a bit off about it since he woke up. He had woken with a splitting headache which he had hoped would go away after taking some medicine and drinking plenty of water, his headache had lessened but remained.


    Even the drive out had set him on edge. The animals he drove past were acting strangely, the livestock he drove past were either running around in the paddocks or huddled together in the corners with heads held high reacting to the noise of his car as if expecting danger rather than the normal slow, uncaring attitude they seemed to have while eating grass. He also saw more kangaroos hopping near the road which he usually wouldn¡¯t have seen till he arrived at the park despite knowing they were present in the area; they were most often seen around dusk or dawn. Not the late morning when he was driving. Even the birds were reacting to the slightest noise, quickly taking flight into the air when they heard the sound of his car.


    It was starting to make him nervous thinking of all the documentaries he had seen that talked about how animals often reacted first to earthquakes or volcanic eruptions before people did. Ezekiel wasn¡¯t too concerned about earthquakes or eruptions due to the few volcanoes in Australia being dormant or extinct and not being near any tectonic plates making earthquakes uncommon and weak when they did occur. While he had experienced several tremors in his life, they usually rattled the windows for a couple of seconds and that was the worst it got.


    Ezekiel considered whether a storm might be blowing in. It was unlikely with him keeping an eye on the weather forecast leading up to this trip but was still a slim possibility. Once he got to the top of Mount Oberon he would hopefully be able to get some reception to confirm the weather report. If it was going to storm he would rather wait it out at the carpark near the store and ranger station than be stuck halfway to his campsite hungry, wet and cold in a sudden change of weather. He was here to relax and enjoy himself and his time away from people, not spend it shivering and wet in a hastily constructed tent.


    He was just approaching the top of Mount Oberon when a single wallaby came jumping out of the bushes startling him. It almost felt like the animal had been waiting for him to get close before jumping out but it was just acting as all the other animals he had seen today had been, hiding or running.


    Reaching the top he took off his heavy backpack and hat, placing them on the ground grateful for the relief before continuing the hike. It was a relief to take off the backpack, he was reasonably fit, going to the gym several times a week but the backpack with all his camping supplies would still be relatively heavy no matter how fit he was and he had just walked up the mountain which while not the steepest or largest mountain still added to the difficulty of carrying the pack.


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    Running his hands through his short red hair he shielded his blue eyes from the sun that had just peaked out from behind some cloud cover. Taking a moment to look out over the view of the National Park that was the most southern point of mainland Australia, and the ocean that disappeared over the horizon.


    Wishing the lingering headache had cleared up already Ezekiel took out his phone, checking that he definitely had reception he looked up the weather report which still showed the same as the days leading up to his camping trip, cloudy for a few days before clearing.


    Before putting his phone away Ezekiel considered whether he should take a picture of the view or not. It wasn¡¯t his first time nor would it likely be his last time at this spot and he nearly always considered the same thing. He was never quite able to capture the view as it truly was on a camera or his phone and trying to get the perfect shot took away from his experience of it. Not that there weren¡¯t amazing photos taken by talented people out there but he was not one of those people. He had always tried to imprint the views and the important moments of his life in his memory.


    Ezekiel sat enjoying the view for 10 minutes. He felt like his concerns were disappearing as he looked out and took in the moment, he just wished his headache would clear. Picking up his pack he set off down Mount Oberon towards his campsite. He still had a couple hours to go before reaching it and he wanted to be able to relax for a while after setting up his tent and carrying his pack for several hours.


    He had just started heading down the path when all the birds in the surrounding bushland created an almost deafening amount of noise and took flight. Massive flocks of a wide variety of birds creating chaos in the air. Soon after, he heard animals rustling and moving in the surrounding bushland. While none seemed to be moving towards him at the moment he was sure he would still have them cross his path sooner or later with the way the day had been going.


    Feeling the creeping tension come flooding back after the sudden noise and flight of the birds. Despite his logical mind assuring him there was no immediate danger he still felt the need to get out of there as quickly as possible. He had always been observant and good with animals, quick to pick up their cues and seeing the way the animals had been acting all day had been setting him on edge and to see them all react close to the same time was enough of a warning for him. If animals were acting strangely it was usually a good sign to get out of the area before whatever was going to happen, happened.


    He had been heading back for a few minutes when he heard a ramble, like distant thunder which slowly got louder building into a deafening roar till it felt like his eardrums would burst. Suddenly the noise cut off, making him wonder if his eardrums had burst due to the sudden lack of noise, but he could still hear the birds screeching in the sky.


    A few seconds passed before he saw trees in the distance begin to move as if caught in a mighty gust of wind. Ezekiel started sprinting down the path, if the weather was going to be this extreme and quick to change then he didn¡¯t want to be caught out in the open or in the middle of the forest. He wanted to be either inside a building or his car.


    The wind hit him just after he started to run down the path. He didn¡¯t feel like he was getting blown back by the wind, but when it hit, he felt as if all his strength had been taken away, not due to the wind but his body just couldn¡¯t move forward despite how much he willed it too. It was like he had hit the wall when exercising at the gym despite his mind being willingly his body couldn¡¯t go further. It was with shock that he felt an overwhelming rush of energy flood through his body as he felt both exhausted and more alive than he ever had in his life. It was with this contradictory feeling running through his mind and body that he collapsed backward unconscious.

 Chapter 2

    Ezekiel woke up to the feeling of something heavy landing on his body. Before he even opened his eyes he could feel whatever it was moving up his body. It took him a minute to process the feeling as he was feeling groggy from passing out, when he finally realised that something was on his chest he opened his eyes to see too many legs and fangs too close to his face for comfort, he jerked his arm in surprise knocking it off his chest.


    Quickly scrambling to his feet, heart pounding from waking up to what must be a nightmare. He couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the spider in front of him. Being Australian, he was used to seeing his fair share of spiders both big and small. This spider was on a different scale even by Australian standards.


    The spider''s body was about the size of a cat with legs that spread out making it almost 3 times bigger due to how long they were. It had fangs easily the length of his fingers. The spider was varying shades of grey and brown with an almost blue shimmer to them.


    The spider seemed  to be watching him a little too intently for him to feel comfortable though it was hard to tell with the 8 eyes. He wasn¡¯t sure he could easily squash this spider like the ones that invaded his home and as he took a step back the spider took several steps closer to him.


    Slowly turning his head, trying not to make any sudden moves, he tried to see if he could spot a decent sized stick or something to use as a makeshift weapon on the ground around him while keeping the spider in his sight. Not seeing anything that looked big enough or strong enough to help. Ezekiel slowly started slipping out of his backpack and took three slow steps back hoping the spider wouldn¡¯t follow him.


    As he took the third step the spider started quickly advancing towards him. In disgust and self preservation Ezekiel swung his backpack around and down onto the spider. Unfortunately the spider had slowed just as he swung his bag so instead of getting the spider he only got 2 of its legs, causing it to awkwardly rear up baring its fangs at him threateningly.


    Not giving it another chance he quickly swung his pack, awkwardly hitting the spider''s front half down and into the ground half squashing its head and another leg. Swinging his bag down again onto the spider''s head properly. He was about to back away from it thinking the fight was over when he saw the unbroken legs twitch.


    ¡°AHHH!¡± he yelled as he kept swinging his bag till the spider''s body was completely crushed.


    ¡°Gross!¡± he exclaimed, trying to wipe off some of the spider''s blood from his face. Taking several steps back looking at what was left of the spider. Feeling a rush of adrenaline running through him at the close call with the spider ¡°What the hell kind of spider was that?¡± he asked himself.


    Pulling out his phone to take a picture as evidence, the screen lit up before turning black. Trying again the screen flickered for a second before turning off completely. Knowing nobody would believe his story about a giant spider attacking him without some evidence he did a quick search of the forest around the path. Breaking off two decent looking branches from a tree.


    Approaching the remains of the spider, using the sharper end of both branches he managed to break off one of the spider''s legs off its corpse. This would be his ¡®trophy¡¯ to prove to others that his giant spider was real. He briefly inspected both branches. Seeing the end of the branches covered with the spider''s insides he hurled them into the bushes.


    Breaking another branch from a tree and dejectedly looking at the disgusting state his backpack was in, he opened it trying his best to avoid any of the spider guts on it and pulled out some rope to tie the leg onto his backpack. As he was tying the knots, he remembered eating tarantulas in Cambodia and he briefly considered what the spider would taste like. He wasn¡¯t quite at the point where he was willing to try cooking and eating his ¡®trophy¡¯ or any of the remains, especially with a backpack with actual food to last him several days in it.


    Pulling his backpack on he briefly looked for his hat and not seeing it anywhere set off down the track once more, hoping his trip back down to his car and the rangers station wouldn¡¯t involve anymore spiders.


    While he not quite power walked down the path he checked over his shoulder and his surroundings regularly trying to keep an eye out for another spider or something else that might decide he was a meal. He would need to warn the park rangers and anyone else he saw on his way down to the station and warn people of spiders like that being a possibility.


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    As he walked he started to notice more insects on the path and in the bushes around him. There were always bugs and spiders around, usually flies that would buzz around you while you were walking and other insects just flying or crawling around. He noticed them this time because there seemed to be much larger insects than he was used to, while not the size of the spider he woke up to, they were still noticeably bigger than he remembered some of these insects being. While these insects weren¡¯t anywhere near the size of the spider there were enough around that were two or three times larger than he thought they should be.


    As he continued down the track, keeping his head on a swivel to try and spot any danger he hadn¡¯t thought to look up as something hit him directly on top of his head. He turned around quickly, stick raised ready to hit something and looking into the sky to see if he could spot anything. There weren¡¯t many branches overhanging the path so he had a clear enough view of the sky overhead and couldn¡¯t see anything.


    Looking down he noticed a round gray ball near his feet. It was roughly the size of a tennis ball and from how his head felt, quite hard. Looking around and not seeing anything strange he tapped it a couple times with his stick.


    When nothing happened he bent down to get a closer look at the ball which seemed to be segmented strangely. Poking it again with the stick he saw a crack appear and suddenly a multitude of thin legs came out as it unfolded. Without thinking Zeke stood up and swung the stick as hard as could, hitting the creature into the surrounding trees.


    The ball filled with legs hit a tree before falling to the ground, looking once more like a ball. Watching it and waiting for it to uncurl again, it couldn¡¯t have been more than 5 seconds before the creature uncurled and getting his first proper look at it he realised it was a giant roly poly or pill bug. The bug, seemed unfazed by being hit by his stick, didn¡¯t seem interested in him. It briefly waved its antennas around for a few seconds before it slowly started to walk away from him further into the forest.


    After watching the pill bug walk off into the bushes Ezekiel turned around and continued down the path making sure to look up as well this time. He had probably only walked a few metres before, despite keeping an eye on his surroundings something smacked him in the back of the head.


    Quickly spinning again he saw what he hoped was a different pill bug on the ground, rolled up as a grey ball. It looked a little bigger and darker than the previous pill bug, so he didn¡¯t think it was the same bug as before. Hoping it wasn''t the same pill bug and that this one would be just as uninterested in him, he hit it softly off the path and into the plants beside the path with his stick.


    Being slightly suspicious of the bug he watched it unroll and instead of going into the bushes this one walked back across the path. This one showed as little interest in him as the previous one had. In case they had somehow learnt to fly or fling themselves through the air to attack people he kept watching till it was well out of sight in the bushes.


    Glancing around a final time he hadn¡¯t gone more than two steps when something hit his backpack which felt much bigger than the pill bugs and he could feel that it was moving about as it hit him.


    Dropping his pack as quickly as he could he spun around to see a giant bull ant the length of his forearm. He had been bitten often as a kid by these ants when he tried collecting them or happened to play near their nest accidentally and knowing how painful their bites could be, he didn¡¯t give it a chance to try and bite him and swung his stick down multiple times till it stopped moving. Ezekiel once again felt a rush like he did when killing the spider, not quite as strong but still noticeable. This was a bit concerning to him as usually he was the type to try and avoid killing any animal or bug where possible and to feel the way he did after killing them. This made him wonder if maybe he had hit his head when he fell earlier and caused himself some sort of brain damage. Especially considering all the giant bugs he was seeing, it would explain a lot if he had happened to fall and hit his head.


    Knowing either way answers and questions could be found and asked at the rangers station he decided to wait questioning his health till then.


    Inspecting his backpack to ensure it wasn¡¯t damaged by the ant, he inspected both his stick and the ant. Seeing his stick had held up well and wasn¡¯t too covered in ant he decided to keep it instead of replacing it trusting it to once more do what he needed it to.


    Taking a deep breath he yelled ¡°Is someone out there? Stop throwing bugs at me and come out! I know these bugs can¡¯t fly, and this isn¡¯t funny, show yourself!¡±


    Laughter rang out from the trees just off the path to his right. Being determined to catch whoever was messing with him, he ran into the forest to confront whoever was doing this. Seeing small movement between the trees and bushes, he ran after whoever it was throwing bugs at him. Hoping no other large bugs or spiders would cross his path while pursuing this person he ran deeper into the forest after them.