Fan Fiction ❯ Chosen ❯ Kishi ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chosen...
Author: Byakko Rei


Chapter 6
Kishi

Kishi whistled a merry tune and lit a cigarette before she set the last camera case into the cargo hold of the rented houseboat. They had started their shoot from Brazil's Belém and were headed farther west along the Amazon River and deeper into the rainforests towards Manaus where they would finish filming their documentary on the subject. She was to meet Mariko and Hachi near Manaus at the Ariau Tower Hotel. The couple would be coming from Peru on a cruise as bird watching enthusiasts. Manaus was a half-way point for both parties.

Kishi noted the frequency of 'Pro Amazonia' police patrolling the river, but weren't stopped by any of them until the team approached the Trombetas River. They were stopped about three times after that to have their boat searched for drug trafficking. Kishi was beginning to lose her temper during the latest intrusion and asked in broken English why they were stopped so often. The curt reply was, "Because they were in a private boat and not part of a designated cruise."

Kishi decided to go up the Trombetas to film a small village and that's when things started to go awry. Despite all of the precautionary measures taken, one of her crew members was bitten by an insect and had an adverse reaction from it. They had to stay at the village a little longer than anticipated while they waited for the antidote to work. During their stay, some of their equipment turned up missing and Kishi's tiny sense of humor was all but gone. Only some cute village kids managed to save her from losing it completely. She was amazed at how some people could have so little and be so happy!

A week went by before Kishi's camera man was fit enough to resume their mission. They were about a mile away from the Amazon River, when some fishermen in a small boat flagged them down. It appeared their outboard motor had become cantankerous and they were being swept uncontrollably into the Amazon river. Kishi groaned and had her skipper stop.

They suddenly found themselves surrounded, then, by an array of small boats with weapons pointed at them. Kishi cursed like a professional sailor as a few burly men boarded their house boat with guns, knives and small burlap sacks. She and her crew were held at gunpoint while a padded bench was sliced open at a seam and the cotton batting was replaced by the sacks. The seam was re-sewn as her skipper was led off the ship and supplanted by one of the drug runners.

Of course, the Pro-Amazonia police stopped them as soon as Kishi's boat entered the Amazonian waters. Kishi felt her nerves begin to fray as the officers made their search, then heaved a huge sigh of relief when they left. They weren't as fortunate when they finally docked at Manaus; the Port Police brought dogs aboard with them.

All hell broke loose as the dogs barked loudly at the offending bench top, officers shouted back and forth, then gunfire cracked as the self-appointed 'skipper' tried to bail out. The bench top was lifted and the contents in the space beneath it were strewn all over the deck. The dogs continued to bark at the bench, so a female officer took a knife and stabbed it into the padded seat top. The blade was removed and the officer grinned when she observed that the tip was covered with a fine white powder. Kishi and her photographers were handcuffed and delivered, sans questions, onto the police boats.

Kishi and her crew were taken to a Colombian prison in Bogotá where torture was expected... and received. The fact that all of the captives had the same answers, no matter how many 'ways' they were questioned, seemed to irritate the authorities further. It never occurred to the interrogators that they were being told the truth! Kishi and her crew were shoved roughly into tiny individual cells that were overrun by vermin, then shackled. They were left to await death from being slowly eaten alive.

Kishi had to try and stay awake at night to ward off her silent little attackers. After several days of sleeplessness her eyes and mind began to play tricks on her. The evil rats began to take on monstrous proportions. They had beady red eyes that glowed, long yellow picks for teeth, human-like shrieks for voices and snake-like tails.

Kishi could feel the rats' incisors gnawing her toes off and laughed insanely at the loud buzzing noise they made in her ears. She alternated between delirious babble and prayers for death until she finally succumbed to unconsciousness....


To be continued....