The Oldest World

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So not a horror story this time, or really any genre! It’s an anomaly. Enjoy 😉

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“We were left here long ago, by the people you don’t want to meet.”

That’s what the islanders told us when we first stepped foot on their shores. They stared at us, with hollowed-out eyes and starved faces. For years, we’d been looking for them. Sailing around from coast to coast, always watching in the distance for an island yet undiscovered. They didn’t know we were coming, and they didn’t know why we were there.

“Who left you here?” I asked the old man, sitting across from me in the dimly-lit hut. There was a table between us, empty except for a small bowl made of a coconut shell that the chief used to drink from.

“It was long ago,” the man said darkly. His eyes rolled up into his head, as he thought deeply of days far past.

“You already said that,” I snapped. “Just tell me who. It’s important to some people. Some very important people.”

“They were… tall. And they had things to shoot us with. Lots of them. Dangerous, dangerous men. Cruel men.”

“That describes a lot of people in this world,” I said. “Some would say that describes you.”

“We are not,” the chief scoffed. “We have merely survived. We killed from necessity. Not of lust for blood and flesh.”

“You’re trying to tell me that the bodies hanging outside on poles were for necessity?” I asked. “They have spears driven through their entire body. In through the top, out from the bottom. How is that survival?”

“That was punishment. Justice. These ideals are also necessary for survival.”

I leaned forwards, over the table, and stared at his dark face. The shadows cast a harsh light on both of us. “I have seen and done cruel things. We are both men here. Tell us what has taken place on this island, and I will take you back to society.”

“We are not of society, and we will not be children of commercial enterprises. We have lived, and thrived, apart from you all.”

I folded my arms, still glaring at him. “Punishment is necessary. And so you will be punished, if you don’t tell us what you’ve done.”

“You think we are criminals? We are scavengers.” He grinned widely. “We are the real people of humanity. The originals.”

“You, too, were part of society,” I reminded him. “When we were both young, you were normal. We grew up together. Our father taught us the same. And yet you-”

“I was taken by the men you call savages. I call them heroes. They have rescued me and taught me.”

With a great thrust, I stood up abruptly and threw the table over, where it smashed against him. Without blinking, the chief stared at me, ignoring the wooden planks broken and scattered across his side of the room.

“If my guards were here, they would kill you,” he warned.

“If my gun was here, I would do the same to you.”

“They brought me here, and they left us here. We were all children back then. There were 30 of us. Half boys, half girls. And over the many years, we had more children. Until now. Half a century later. You expect us to go back to society? We do not want to. We have been here our entire lives, living alone, and now you want us to be happy and return to ‘normal?’ I think not.”

“I didn’t come here to ask you to return, brother. I came here to demand it.”

“I will not return. I will not leave this island.” The chief turned away, with his back to me.

“Then you will not live.”

I walked out of the hut and saw the large ship in the distance. My helicopter was waiting on the beach, and I quickly approached. I boarded in a flash, and we rose up into the air as I saw my brother on the beach, staring up at me.

All around him was herds of people. They crawled on all fours, with blood pouring from their mouths. Dead bodies hung on poles, 15 feet tall, and little by little they were eaten away. The people were animals, climbing up the poles and taking bites out of them.

The people on the poles were alive, writhing in pain, until they bled or were chewed to death.

“Radio back to headquarters,” I said to the pilot. “Tell them to send in the planes and the bombs. Let’s blow these monsters to high heaven.”

“Disgusting, the things we saw on that island,” the pilot said.

His copilot sat beside him, not saying a word. Both of them were helmets, covering their entire faces, with thick fireproof suits on.

“They’ve gotten worse since the last time I came here. It’s so hard to find my way.” I sighed. “They’ve multiplied, too. There were only a few hundred last time. Now there’s nearly a thousand. All of that over 10 years.”

“It’s about time that we kill them all,” the pilot mumbled. “Sickens me.”

He glanced over at his copilot. “You aren’t saying much. You alright, Jimmy?”

Jimmy glanced over at his friend. And then he turned his attention back to me. He smiled, blood running from his lips and over his uniform.

“That’s not Jimmy…” I said quietly. “That’s not-!”

Blood squirted all over the pristine, leather seats as not-Jimmy tore us both to shreds with his claws and teeth. He crawled on all fours over to the seat, and expertly maneuvered it down to the ship. As he landed, the bodies of the sailors were piled up on the aircraft carrier, each of them impaled with sticks.

Crawling around the boat were herds and hoards of blood-soaked, dripping, starved, and excited creatures. They weren’t humans. They weren’t part of society. But as their leader slowly made his way to the ship, wearing his chief outfits and swimming through the water, peacefully.

They were making their way to the shore. And after all 3,000 of the monsters were on board, they started sailing.

To humanity’s society.