Chapter 1
COCOS ISLAND, COSTA RICA
A breeze whistled through the heart of the island, chilling Manuel Ortiz with an icy wave of adrenaline. The hormoneโsecreted by his adrenal glandsโramped up blood circulation throughout his body and fueled his muscles with nervous energy, charging them for exertion. As he ran, darkness pressed in around him, seeping through the gaps in the maze of palm fronds and coconut trees. The humidity was suffocating. His breath squeezed through his throat in short rasps, and his heart pounded at the eerie high-pitched sound carrying through the treetops. He stumbled through the rainforest, glancing behind him as the creature stalked him, its yellow eyes aglow under the soft moonlight peeking through the clouds.
Rain saturated the island, but the storm had moved out by midnight. With the system gone, steam issued from the jungle floor and evaporated in seconds. Water droplets dripped from the wide leaves above Ortiz like drainage spouts, splashing flickers of coldness on top of his head. The rivulets snaked down his round face and soaked the collar of his park ranger shirt. Even in the jungle heat, he felt death trying to wrap its icy claws around him and wring the life out of him. With each splash, the chill rushed through his body and caused his teeth to chatter. Mixed with his bodyโs sweat, it raised gooseflesh on his arms and neck.
He chanced another look behind him. Covered in oily fur, the creatureโs elongated back slithered through the dense vegetation with a casual creepiness. Its enormous snout ducked under limbs and nudged aside ferns in the undergrowth. It moved with its tail bristling in the humid air as if it was the essence of the jungle, a natural part of its life force. A black wraith in the shadows.
A killing machine.
Earlier, Ortiz hid behind a hut on the outskirts of the camp. He trembled in his boots while the apex predator stormed the park ranger station cloaked in darkness. It appeared from nowhere. He had hiked most of the ten-square-mile island and had seen nothing like this creature. It was ungodly. Savage. And demonic.
He had left his rifle propped against the front porch while he stepped away to relieve his bladder. Thatโs when the creature attacked. It showed no mercy as its canines tore into the flesh of the other rangers, ripping apart tendon and sinew, and crushing bones in its powerful jaws. As if it couldn't control its appetite, it fed insatiably. Its gut seemed to crave more. More meat and more bone. More blood. Another meal.
An image flashed in his mind of his elderly mother, his only living relative. Heโd hoped to make her proud and promised to make something of his life after a childhood spent in poverty in their tiny coastal village. When he was a child, his mother told him about the legend of El Tunchi, the spirit that slew those who harmed the Amazon Rainforest. Maybe thatโs why it was here? Maybe they should leave the island? That might appease the spirit. The monster was supposed to be a myth, but now Ortiz believed. Heโd seen it with his own eyes. Heโd witnessed its unnatural behavior and ravenous hunger. Now, El Tunchi haunted the island too.
No one knew what it looked like, but all El Tunchiโs victims heard a strange whistle moments before their death.
It could have been the wind. A coincidence. Or something else entirely.
Ortiz had nowhere to hide on this end of the island. The terrain flattened as he ran west, a dense jungle in the middle of the ocean. He couldnโt jump into the river and get swept away to safety. The river was in the other direction. He couldnโt climb a tree either, because of the creatureโs embedded claws. It would just follow him up the trunk. And there were no cliffs to jump from, only a tangling wad of green foliage to camouflage his body from the beast which had locked onto his scent.
He sprinted as fast as he couldโbut the creature leapt ten meters in the air to make up the gap between them. El Tunchi landed in a mud hole and crept through the damp soil calmly and purposefully.
Ortiz stumbled over dead limbs and tripped a time or two, emitting strangled cries as he regained his feet and pushed on. Still, he couldnโt help but check behind him as he fled. The creature slowed to a nimble trot, creeping along. It had slaughtered six other victims, and even after gorging itself until its stomach sagged beneath its heavy frame, it still pursued him as he broke into a worn out trail under the jungle canopy.
He fell again, and his ankle snapped like a twig between two rocks. The bone-shattering pain shot up his shin and raced up to his thigh. He yelped in agonyโscreaming and clutching his foot with both hands. Now, he sensed his fate... felt it breathing down on him as it unfolded.
There would be no hope of escape.
The creature drew near, a growl rumbling from the center of its being.
โEl Tunchi,โ Ortiz wailed, his prostrate form writhing on the damp earth. โEl Tunchi, El Tunchi.โ
The predatorโs yellow eyes and dilated pupils lingered on him, possibly questioning its next move, or maybe savoring the moment. It snorted at the air and roared so loud that Ortiz screamed until his voice cracked and tears streamed down his cheeks. He wiggled on his stomach and dragged his ruined foot behind him, trying to get awayโฆ but to no avail.
The creature pounced on his back, squashing his shoulder blades with two monstrous front paws.
Instantly, the pain in his body fell away into nothing as Ortiz stared to the side, unable to move anything but his eyes after the spine crushing blow. His head bobbled on his neck as the creature tugged and gnawed on his body. Ortiz could only imagine what was happening to his back and legs, unable to turn his head, or twist his neck, or make any attempt to escape. But then, visible out of the corner of his eye, as if a warning triggered an alarm in the creatureโs brain, the hulking beast raised its head to the sky like it detected something imperceptible to the human eye.
As Ortiz breathed his last breath, with a burst of power from its hind legs, the creature propelled itself down the beaten trail and vanished into the shadows from which it came.
