The Howling Valley

"Thanh, we need to make a torch of some kind," he said, "I have my lighter, but that won't be enough, so we gotta go look outside for something to light."

They got lucky-a fallen tree nearby was just rotten enough to where Scotty could wrench off a sizable enough branch. He sacrificed one of his two shirts, wrapping it around one end and pouring a small amount of lighter fluid from his kit onto the fabric. They returned to the cave, and Scotty used his Zippo to ignite the fabric. It wasn't much, but it was enough. They moved forward, and discovered that, near the center of the cave was an eight foot wide natural pillar that stretched from the cave floor to the ceiling. Other than that, it looked like a normal cave: it was solid rock, and went back around twenty-five feet. What was truly interesting, however, was the discovery of what was on-and leaning against-the right wall of the space, just across from the pillar.

"So that's where he went," Scotty whispered, his meager torch barely illuminating the scene before him.

It was-almost certainly, anyway-the remains of the U.S. serviceman who had fled the crashed Huey they had found several days earlier. There was little left of the man himself other than a skeleton and some worn, heavily tattered bits of a uniform. Next to him were the equally decayed remains of an M-14, whose wood furniture had mostly entirely rotted away, and whose action was almost entirely locked up with corrosion and rust. The weapon lay at a skewed angle next to the pile of bones, and upon closer inspection, Scotty could see that a sizable portion of the top of its' skull had been blown away. It didn't shock Scotty as much as it seemed to shock Thanh; suicide was something that he'd had some experience with-a man on base or somewhere else in country would occasionally just snap and ventilate himself every once in a while, and while the brass would always call it a tragedy, Scotty knew that it could happen to anyone. You never knew who was on the edge of calling it quits, and it seemed that their mystery man here had reached the end of his rope. But in this place...? Scotty couldn't entirely blame him, really.

The walls told an equally bleak story. On the floor were the remains of a combat knife similar to Scotty's, but the blade had been worn and chipped to hell in service of a series of shallow etchings that stretched over ten feet across the cave wall. Hacked crudely into its' rough, uneven surface was a faded caricature of a large, semi-humanoid form with long arms that reached above its' head, ending in a pair of hands tipped with wicked, scythe-like claws.

"This looks familiar," Scotty muttered.

"Yes. Yes, it does."

Next to the caricature of the valley's overlord was a large, bold etching of several words that screamed in all capital letters: 'I AM MARTY COHLE, PVT 1ST CLASS, U.S. ARMY, 1962, BILOXI TN. I LOVE N MISS YOU MOM N DAD'. Next to this phrase, in smaller (but still entirely capitalized) letters was the phrase, 'R.I.P. THEODORE 'TEDDY' BEAUGARDNER, PILOT, STAFF SGT U.S. ARMY, YOU R NEVER FORGOTTEN BRO'. So the skeleton back in the chopper had a name.

And lastly, past these crude memorial carvings was a series of vertical dashes, seperated into groups of four apiece, with a horizontal slash cutting through each grouping. He’d been counting the days he’d been trapped-and, after a quick count, Scotty had a number.

“Sixty-four days.”

“What?”

“He was here for sixty-four days before he gave up.” Thanh did not reply, she only stared at the etchings in silent contemplation.

They did find the former cave occupant's rucksack, but it contained nothing of any real value other than a preserved bottle of lighter fluid that Scotty pocketed for use later. No notes or journal either, just some half-rotted clothing and other basic supplies that weren't fit to use, as well as ammo that, even if it had been the right caliber for Scotty's weapon, was useless as it had been eaten through with rust.

"We can use the scraps of cloth for torches," Thanh said, "or to make a fire."

"Good thinking. Want to stay here tonight?"

"I've already slept next to one skeleton, I can sleep next to another," she said grimly.

And so, they settled into their sinister, yet functional shelter for the evening. Scotty managed to build a crude firepit out of stray rocks on the cave floor, and, after using fuel found in a nearby bamboo thicket that had yielded broken stalks which were dry enough to hack apart and burn, built a respectable fire using Private First Class Cohle's ruined pack and clothes as kindling. Scotty lay some of his clothes down as makeshift bedding, and they sat next to one another, staring into the flames. Thanh, after a few minutes, was the first to speak.

"I find you extremely attractive, Scotty."

Scotty skipped a beat. "...What?"

"You heard me. I didn't respond in kind back at the river that day because I wanted to tease you a little. Now, I feel like being blunt."

"Oh. Wow."

"That's all?" She glanced over at him, the fire illuminating her expression, which was one of sarcasm and playful irritation. "I expected more than 'wow', to say the least."

"I'm sorry, I just...you caught me off guard, that's all."

"I really don't mean to be insulting when I ask, I really mean that...but I'm guessing you're not much of a ladies' man."

"You're right, it is kind of insulting. It's also true."

"Oh. Well then, that makes everything simpler."

Her hands found his cheeks, and she pulled his face to hers. The kiss was long, loving and deep, Thanh leaning into the act and slipping her tongue into his mouth, flicking and caressing his own. One of her hands slipped to the back of his head, her fingers exploring his hair. Scotty, for his part, had been shocked at first, eyes widening and almost pulling away before he ultimately accepted it and returned the favor. Her lips were sweet, soft and almost savory; her kiss passionate and earnest. He may not have been a maverick with the ladies, by his own admission, but it didn’t take a detective’s deductive reasoning to figure out that she was genuinely into him.

Before he knew what was happening, she’d pushed him down onto the makeshift bed made up of Scotty’s clothing and mounted him. Leaning down, her hands still on his face, she slipped her tongue back into his mouth. She began to grind and twist against his crotch, and in no time he was hard enough to cut diamond. Feeling the change in his pants she moaned softly and ground harder. Scotty slowly pulled his face away from hers.

“Thanh-“

“We might die tomorrow, Scotty,” she whispered, “everything that has happened leads me to believe that we may not escape this place. If that is the case, I’d like for something pleasant to happen beforehand. I can’t think of anything more suitable than having sex with you.”

“I...why me?”

She chuckled. “Because I think that you are handsome, kind, and a wonderful protector? Because you’re here? I could go on, but I would rather take off my clothes and make love to you right here by the fire.”

“I don’t know, you seem okay at taking care of yourself.”

Another chuckle, before she leaned back and swiftly removed her tank top and let her breasts fall free. What size they were, Scotty wasn’t sure (not small, not huge...? Who fucking knew?), but he didn’t give a fuck. They were soft, supple and capped with a pair of small, dark nipples that he immediately began to massage with his thumbs. She gasped and began to moan softly, her eyes closed and her mouth agape. He applied more pressure and rubbed faster, her back arching forward and her hair falling in front of her face, partially obscuring her features. Her moans became louder and more insistent, her own hands tightly clasping his wrists as he continued his ministrations.

“Scotty...please, I...let me give you...”

He stopped, she slid down to his legs, and began to undo his pants. His erection sprang free; by now it was almost painful. She smiled, her expression illuminated by the firelight, and leaned down to slip her mouth around his engorged head. She began to make long, slow, almost tortuous strokes up and down his length, her tongue twisting around him with loving and caring precision.

She worked him for nearly fifteen minutes, stopping to occasionally kiss his head or lightly nibble the skin on his shaft, making him gasp in surprise and pleasure. Before long, he could feel that old, familiar sensation of an orgasm beginning to build up-his balls felt as if they were beginning to boil, ready to desposit his seed into her warm, waiting mouth.

“Thanh, I’m gonna-“

The response was immediate. With a light ‘pop!’, her mouth left his cock and his ejaculate receded. She sat up, smiling as she did so.

“Good?”

“Yeah,” he breathed, “good.”

“We aren’t done, you and I,” she whispered, “I hope that you’re up to the task.”

She rose to her knees and undid her pants, slipping them off one leg at a time. Now she was fully nude, and with one fluid motion she grabbed his own and yanked them off of his legs. A hunger filled her eyes as she settled onto his lap again, rubbing her bare slit on his shaft. Scotty moaned as she leaned down again, silencing him by slipping her tongue back into his mouth. After a moment, she pulled away, gave him a sly smile, and then reached down to grab him-whereupon she slid him inside of her.

She sank all the way down onto him, his full length disappearing into her body. She gasped and emitted a brief ‘huh!’, as her head reared back, eyes closed and biting her lower lip. She let out a long, drawn-out moan, cupping her own breasts as she began to slowly twist her hips in a clockwork motion, grinding him deeper into her passage.

Scotty was overwhelmed, almost to the point of sensory overload. He’d had a few girlfriends before, as well a handful of one-night stands, but none of them compared to Thanh. She was tight, incredibly so, and she clamped down on him like a vise. She was soaking wet; he could feel her fluids leaking slowly from her opening and down onto his crotch as she twisted around on top of him. She leaned forward and began kissing him again as she began to slowly work his length in and out of her body, moaning as she did so.

Scotty felt as if he was being wrung out like a wet towel. This woman wanted what he had, and she was making that fact clearer by the second. Her gaze never left his own; that near-predatory hunger burning as bright and as hot as the fire in the deep, brown depths of her eyes. That look seemed to impart one thing, and one thing only: I am going to make you mine; from now on you will belong to me alone.

“You are incredible,” she whispered hoarsely as she gazed into his eyes, “you’re all I had hoped for and more.”

“Fuck, Thanh...”

“Are you close? Hmm?”

“Getting...there...”

“Good, I need it, I want it so badly...”

He decided to up the ante. He reached down and grabbed her hips before beginning to slowly but steadily ram himself up into her, sliding his hips up and sending his head into her cervix. She arched her back and cried out, her hands on his chest. These high-pitched cries and mewlings only drove him crazier with lust as he sped up his thrusts, her vagina now drooling more fluid than ever before.

That feeling was back: that swelling, tingling feeling that had crept from his balls to his shaft: he was about to blow, and it was going to be one for the ages.

“Thanh, I’m gonna-“

Her tongue was back in his mouth, and then it was out again as she hissed “Don’t you fucking dare take it out!”

He did not care to protest. He let out a cry as he thrust upwards one final time, sending what felt like a torrent of his seed into her loving, waiting womb. She drowned his cry out with an even louder one of her own as she felt Scotty’s warmth spread throughout her most intimate reaches. Her body suddenly spasmed, her hips bucking as her body was sent into a racking orgasm. After it subsided, she collapsed onto him, kissing him slowly and softly.

It was several minutes before Scotty spoke.

“Thanh, that was...you were...”

“Amazing? Thank you, so were you. You are a fantastic lover, Mister McKinley.”

“Again, that’s my father.”

She lightly punched him on the shoulder, then nuzzled his neck with her nose.

“What if you get pregnant, Thanh?”

She looked at him, and shrugged. “We may not live long enough for it to matter. But if we get out of here alive...well, I can think of worse things than being the mother of your child, Scotty.”

“What? Really?”

“Really.”

“Just...jeez. Well, shit...of anyone I’ve ever been...well, romantically involved with, you’re one of the few I wouldn’t mind having my kids.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” she purred, “be careful, I’m already dangerously close to falling in love with you, and if that happens...know that I’m not going to let you get away.”

“I can think of worse things than settling down with you, Thanh.”

“Mmm.”

*****

“It’s light out now.”

“Mhm.”

“So shouldn’t we get moving?”

“I’d rather have you inside me one more time, and then maybe eat another durian.”

“Jesus, you like fucking me that much?”

“The threat of violent death at the hands of some bizarre monstrosity brings it out of me, I suppose. Take me again, Scotty, but on top this time.”

And so he did, slipping back into her warm, welcoming passage for the second time in twelve hours. She gasped and moaned as he began to slowly stroke in and out of her. Her hands found his back, and she dug her nails into his skin, dragging them slowly across. They did not break the skin, but he could feel the red marks that they were leaving behind as they traveled across him.

They moaned together as they made love again, Thanh moaning his name as he plowed her. Maybe it was his imagination, but he almost felt as if she was clenching him even tighter than she had the night before. It only intensified as they continued, their bodies melting together in the throes of shared passion and desire for one another. Their kisses grew more desperate, their embrace tighter. As Scotty felt that tightness again, he knew that this would be one to rival the night before; he did not slow down or relent in any way. He thrust faster and harder, Thanh nearly shouting in pleasure. He whispered in her ear that he was about to finish, and she moaned “do it, give it to me!”

And give it to her he did. He almost saw stars in that moment.

Thanh, upon feeling Scotty’s seed spill inside of her, immediately orgasmed herself. Her hips bucked upward onto his shaft, her tunnel squeezing it greedily so as to milk out every last drop he had in him. They collapsed into a panting, sweaty pile, reeking of exertion and sexual fluids.

Later, as they ate, Scotty found himself thinking that durian had never tasted so good.

*****

“Holy fucking shit,” he muttered to himself, “that’s fucking it!”

He scrambled down the branch of the tree and began to work his way down, using each limb as a rung. Finally, after he landed feet-first on the ground, a smile lighting up his face, Thanh asked “wait, did you see something?”

“A pass,” he said, “it looks a little steep and it’ll be rough traveling, but it’s there. Probably a few miles southwest, we gotta move! We might actually get out of here!”

“The final stretch is usually the most difficult,” she warned, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Scotty.”

“Right, of course.” She was probably right, obviously. They still had plenty of ground to cover, and who knew if round two with that freakish beast was still to come? Might it have licked its’ wounds already; was it stalking them as they spoke? Maybe it was outside the cave right now, just lying in wait...

But it was not. The sky was grey, thunder was rumbling in the distance. He could smell the rain in the air, the moisture was almost palpable...but the beast was elsewhere. Hopefully, Scotty thought, lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

As Scotty and Thanh followed the mountain range, however, they were again tailed by a presence that stuck to dark cover of the jungle, slinking through the shadows, observing their every move. It watched them more cautiously than it had before; these intruders were aggressive, unpredictable. They had harmed it, to a degree that it had not experienced in an extremely long time. Its’ wounds had begun to scab over, and no doubt several would scar in time, but it did not care in the slightest. It would drag them both away soon enough, and...finish things, for lack of a better word. It was still lord of this realm, and its’ dominance would be reasserted soon enough.

The rain began to fall sometime after the intruders had left the cave, and the cool moisture was a welcome change. It helped to soothe the aching, shooting pains that coursed through its’ many injuries. This helped it to concentrate on moving even more quietly than usual, slinking among the trees like a snake as it watched...and waited.

*****

“Can we even climb that?”

“We have to try, Thanh.”

“Obviously, but I’m just afraid of breaking my neck in the process. You cannot tell me that I’m being unreasonable.”

The pass, stretching out above them, was far more intimidating up close than it had been in Scotty’s binoculars. Rock formations jutted out every which way like stone daggers, plants and vines growing from many of them. It looked to be a tough climb-but it wouldn’t be impossible. That was the important part.

“Go, go. Let’s start climbing,” Scotty whispered. They both charged toward the foot of the mountain, and began to make their way up into the jagged canyon. It was only around ten feet wide, the rock walls on either side of them jutting out like inquisitive fingers. The ground was rugged and uneven, the rain making the effort an even more arduous one. More than once, both of them either almost slipped or lost their grip on a piece of rock, nearly sending them tumbling back to the valley floor below.

Scotty heard the loud snapping sound come from below after they had made it approximately thirty feet up. He stopped to look back, Thanh doing the same. He could have sworn that his heart actually skipped a beat when he saw what was standing at the edge of the jungle.

“Oh no,” he heard Thanh whisper.

It stood totally unmoving, thirty feet tall, the hands on the end of its’ impossibly long arms flat on the ground, claws digging into the rocky soil. Scotty noticed, unlike the night before, that its’ skin was a sickly, corpse-like white in hue and leathery in a similar fashion as an elephant’s, its’ fresh injuries and scars standing out grimly against this pallid background. At the bottom of its’ torso were two short (in comparison to its’ arms) and stocky digitigrade legs, which ended in four-toed, birdlike feet capped with claws that rivaled those on its’ hands. A series of short, sharp spines ran down its’ back, accentuating the massive horns on its’ head. And Scotty had been correct in his assumption the night before: its’ eyes were pitch black. And, while he could never be entirely sure as to where it was looking, he was sure that, at the moment, it was looking directly at him.

It stared at them, they stared at it. Scotty felt like Clint Eastwood squaring off against Lee Van Cleef, as they waited to see who would make the first move. He knew immediately what he had to do, however, and the first thing was to get his second grenade out and primed...

It was now or never.

His hand shot to his belt, and he reached for the explosive. The monster saw this and howled, the sound seeming to envelop the entire world, as it darted, almost ape-like, to the cliff, where it began to tear up the passage and toward them, screaming and roaring as it came. Scotty’s hand found the grenade and he yanked it up and out, his left index finger finding the pin and yanking it out of the assembly with a metallic ‘clink’. Another loud ‘clink’ as the safety lever was dispatched-it was going to blow.