Meet The Inland Tribe

By the river, Nick washed his face. Seeing the reflection of his face in the murky water, he saw failure and a bad future. It's been many days, Nick wanders with Mehmet, do missions and find their friends. Often he thought of Jess. His appearance is now almost unrecognizable. Nick and Mehmet survive by eating the fruits that grow in the forest. Living in the forest is not easy. Various kinds of difficulties came in succession. That's what makes them look stronger.

"Nick!" Mehmet's voice interrupted his thoughts. Nick walked over to Mehmet.

"You got it?" Nick sees something in Mehmet's hand.

"Yeah, this is the first time after I got piranha more than twenty times." Mehmet shows off his quarry.

"Good, at least you got a cork even if it's just one!"

"Yeah, at least we can make this food by tomorrow." Mehmet sat at a place some distance from the river, following Nick, who had finished making a fire with twigs.

In a few minutes, the cork fish, which is estimated to weigh one kilo, is blackened and ready to be eaten.

"You remember your wife?" asked Mehmet, digging for information.

"Like you always remember your girlfriend. I also remember my wife and the baby in her womb," replied Nick.

"Is Jess pregnant? How many months was that?" Mehmet stopped his mouth activity for a moment.

"Entering the ninth month."

"That means now, your child has been born. Sorry, Nick!"

"I don't know if it's a girl or a boy. Either way, I'm so sorry I left it. I should have listened to my wife's words."

"Everything has happened. You have to accept reality. We're trying to find our way home after all, aren't we? Come on, Nick, you better eat your fish because after this we need a lot of energy."

After finishing their food, they continued their journey through the river. They rowed their homemade boat in the calm current. Several hundred meters passed, and the boat rocked. Something hit the hull. Nick peered around, but he found nothing but waves of water from their path. Nick instructs Mehmet to continue rowing, but again, the boat rocked. They caught a glimpse of the fish behind them.

The two men rowed faster to avoid any possible danger. When challenged, the fish they thought were bigger also swam faster and in one fell swoop, suddenly their boat flew into the air. A bull shark heads a boat. Nick and Mehmet are thrown into the water. The waves created make it difficult for them to breathe. The state of the broken boat can no longer be used. The river current was a little strong, they saw the big fish turning around. One danger was gone. They tried to reach the river bank with all their might. However ….

"Nick!" Mehmet screams, he can't swim because of the extreme current of the river.

"Mehmet!"

Nick could only see because he was trapped too. They were swept away by the current. Even so, they tried to keep their heads on the surface to get some air. When it reaches the peak of the current ….

"Whoa!" Within seconds, they fell into the river pool. It turned out to be a waterfall. They immediately rose from the crashing water and immediately rose to the surface.

The two men straightened their legs and caught their breath by the pool, when suddenly Nick saw something in the bushes where Mehmet was leaning his head. A surprise that made Nick's face change.

"What is it?" Mehmet, who noticed the oddity on Nick's face, immediately found out, the boy with the beard followed the direction of Nick's index finger.

"Ha?" Mehmet was astonished to see the human heels under the pile of dried coconut leaves. Nick parted the dry leaves, he tiptoed to see whose corpse was behind it.

"Sanskar!"

"What do you mean?" Mehmet asked, he walked over to the body that startled them.

"So, right?" Mehmet closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Nick! Don't you think Sanskar's corpse is exactly like Gaffin's corpse?" said Mehmet.

"You are right! Their bodies were both blue and their genitals were severed." Nick looks closely at Sanskar's corpse.

"This is exactly as Jacob informed. Tourists die in these conditions." Nick explained.

"If this is the work of the inland tribe, by what means did they kill him?" Curiosity welled up in Mehmet's heart.

"I don't know," replied Nick, covering Sanskar's waist with the remaining cloth he had. Nick was about to stand up, but suddenly a two-meter-long poison chopstick flew up. Nick ducked so fast that the chopsticks fell to the ground.

Immediately after that, a group of men dressed in typical outback clothing came to surround and arrest Nick and Mehmet.

The people with long hair led them and took Sanskar's body to a place. There were wooden buildings in that place, and it was crowded with similar people. Nick and Mehmet are brought before an old man who is burly and dashing. Judging from the gesture, the white-haired man seemed to be the leader or chief of the tribe. The man looked at them expressionlessly.

"Who are you?"

"We're a community of explorers from Brasilia," Nick replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"Tourists' deaths in the woods," said Nick.

"And some of our members who died mysteriously," said Mehmet.

"So, for that?"

"Then why are you two with the corpse? In this forest, it is not allowed to kill harmless people."

"That's Sanskar, our friend whose cause of death is unknown." Nick answered simply. The wind shook his hair. His eyes glanced at Sanskar's body. The wind blows slightly, the cloth wrapped around Sanskar's waist is revealed. The people of the interior tribe saw him wide-eyed.

"Go home, if you don't want to suffer the same fate as your friends."

"Why did it happen? Who did that? Is it your tribe or another tribe in this forest?" Nick's question managed to ignite the temper of the stern-looking old man.

"You will get an answer if you want, but along with it death will come. Go away, don't enter the foggy area! Because it will damage your eyesight."

"What do you mean-" The men immediately herded them out of the area, ignoring Mehmet's question hanging in the air? They walked back to the rubber plantation.

"Why is everything so complicated? Nick, what do you think that person's words mean?"

"Seeing his attitude earlier, I'm not sure those tribes killed tourists while so far we haven't encountered any other inland tribes."

"You're right, Nick. Jacob said, there were indeed many indigenous tribes. But as of this moment, there is no sign of them."

"Even if there were, maybe they weren't as bad as we thought." The sun's rays narrowed Nick's eyes.

"Nick, there may be other creatures here, and we don't know."

"Mehmet, how many times do I have to say, ghosts only exist in fantasy worlds."

"There are supernatural beings, and they are written in the book of my Lord!" Mehmet's intonation went up a few octaves.

"I don't know your God, and I don't believe your bullshit, Mehmet. You'd better try watching other genre films, so you don't have to hallucinate."

"Hallucinating, you say? I have faith in belief, so what about you? In fact, you do not believe in the existence of God. How do you live your life?"

Mehmet's words burned Nick's head. Nick clenched his fist and landed it on Mehmet's face. Mehmet was dumbfounded then erased the red line at the corner of his lips.

"Fuck! If you keep bragging, we'd better find our own way. If you really believe in your God, surely, He will help you, right?"

"Okay, see you at home." Mehmet's answer, ending their bickering.