Chapter 1
A jaguar lays on the floor, the apex predator of South America reduced to a carpet to be wiped by the feet of men. The hunter who killed it purely for sport, laughs and smokes a thick cigar. His name is Elijah Bronson, a man who has hunted and killed every large animal in the world, from lions to tigers to bears to orcas. Be it on land, sky, or sea nothing is safe from him.
Bronson puts a cigarette in his mouth and yells at his assistant, Muhammad,"Go on, tell me how I impressed the villagers."
Bronson, an Essex-born Brit, is proud of his heritage. With his passport, he can freely enter any country, but he only knows English, despite traveling to every continent and having lived in Africa for 10 months, he never bothered to learn a single phrase of foreign language.
"Come, doc, I ain't got all day."
"For the thousandth time, Elijah, I am a professor, not a doctor," Muhammad adjusts his glasses. He has known Bronson since high school and is fluent in 11 languages. Bronson relies on him at all times.
"So, what do they say?" He lets out a puff and confidently smirks.
"They call you a man with an inflated ego, that you're not even half the man of the protector of the rainforest."
Bronson stands up, knocking over his chair, "And who the hell is that fellow who could possibly be better than me!?" Muhammad talks to the locals and turns to Bronson.
"Well?"
"He... no one knows his real name, but he is almost like a spirit to these people." Bronson gives a cold laugh and puts the cigar in his mouth, "He's just another local who's all bark and no bite. He'll fall like the rest."
Capter 2
Brazil contains 60 percent of the Amazon Rainforest. The rainforest has puzzled humanity long before science was founded; however, not even science can explain a lot of the Amazon. With jungles so thick that almost no sun touches it, and when it rains, it takes several minutes for a single drop to bypass the vegetation and touch the ground.
The year is 1987, and an intense flood occured, with half the village submerged in murky water. One man is fishing and catches a 52-kilo red-tailed catfish, a common sight of the Amazon.
The man returns back to the village. He stands at 188cm, has shoulder lenght black curly hair, and is a Native American. The man's parents were among the last people to be assimilated into American culture. Despite nearly a century since the event, the man still passionately cares for his roots.
He brings the fish to the locals, only taking a small piece, which will be his dinner. The guardian of the Rainforest, as they call him, is still a man made of flesh and blood. He did not choose this role; he hates violence. However, since 1984, there has been intense deforestation of the Amazon, which makes way for cattle. The people who do this are referred to as the forest mafia. Eighty percent of illegal logging in the world is committed by them, and they are hostile to the locals, putting a bullet in their heads with pleasure.
The man, disgusted by their actions, is in a constant one-man war, forced to use guns and knives to kill. He served in the Vietnam War and moved from the States to Brazil in 1972.
The man enters his cabin, turns on his old gramophone, and listens to classical music. He gives food and water to his pet, a scarlet macaw, another regular sight of the Amazon and a popular pet. In his first conflict with the forest mafia back in 1973, many animals were killed, but one survived - the scarlet macaw. However, her left wing was torn in two. He felt for the creature and took it in.
The man sits down and drinks coconut water, but an armed man enters his home. "Quite a nice place you got here," Elijah Bronson enters with Muhammad.
"So, is this how you live? Sit your ass all day, do basic fishing? Is that what the guardian of the Rainforest does?" The man doesn't speak; he walks to his bed and tidies his clothes. "Oh, doing a woman's job, huh?" The man pays no attention. "You know," Bronson walks right behind him, "I know your real name." The man slowly turns and looks at Bronson in the eyes. "Yeah, it's true," Bronson grinned and continued, "your real name is... Rambo Amadeus!" He starts to laugh loudly,Muhammad was not amused and the man returned to tidy his clothes. It was not the first time he was called that name, as many foreigners called him that due to his resemblance to John Rambo and love of classical music.
Bronson spoke again, "look at you, Tarzan, you're so hairy you might actually be the missing link." He laughed again; Bronson continued, "what other names do they call you, boy?"
"I have no use for names, they are meaningless," the man finally spoke while looking at Bronson in the eyes. "Oh, and here I thought you were mute," he laughed and said, "listen here... you might have the physique, but mine is superior, you might know this land better than me, but I've experienced every land on earth, nothing surprises me, and your gimmick of not talking and not caring for names," Bronson poked him on the chest, "it makes you look silly, you're not really a man, you're simply," he paused, lit a cigar, and blew the smoke in the man's face, grinning, "you're a boy in a man's body," he laughed. The man simply stared.
"Listen here, wild man, I have a proposition for you," he inhaled the smoke and spoke, "you and me will be transported into the Rainforest, and we will hunt each other as prey, who yields or dies is the loser, what do you say to that, boy?"
The man broke eye contact, walked away with his back turned. Bronson chuckled, "Afraid?"
"No, your challenge is simply too easy."
Bronson stared bewildered for a few seconds before anger seized him. "What!?"
The man turned slightly. "The Amazon will get you long before I do."
Bronson walked towards him, but Muhammad gripped his arm. As Bronson turned, he saw the entire village had surrounded them; they all stared with bows in their hands. Bronson scoffed and walked away.
The following morning, the guardian of the Rainforest was fishing. He had caught a tambaqui, or as it's known, the black-finned pacu, a relative of the piranha. However, it mainly eats fruit and nuts that fall into the river; on occasion, it eats insects and small fish.
As he's in his small boat, he sees a black shape approaching him. He squinted his eyes and realized what it was. A black caiman, 2 meters in length. The man slows down and doesn't move a muscle. The caiman shows no fear of humans; in most places, it is humans who spy on the wildlife, but in the Amazon, the wildlife eyes humans.
The caiman is dangerously close to the boat; the man, using his oar, splashes the caiman. The animal slowly backs away but decides to approach again. He splashes it again; the caiman seems to lose interest and goes in its own direction.
As the man reaches the shore, he inhales the fresh morning air and hears screams. A loud noise erupts; it came from the village. He runs immediately, forgetting to tie his boat.
Upon reaching the village, he sees his place set ablaze. He runs inside, his eyes hurt from the flames, he goes to find his scarlet macaw, sees her laying on the desk. He puts her in his arms and holds her up to his chest. He runs outside, coughing, and is brought to his knees, he opens his arms to see the scarlet macaw, she suffocated from the smoke.The man looked up and saw Elijah Bronson laughing.
Chapter 3
The man lit up candles in the secluded room. In front layed the deceased body of the scarlet macaw. He performed a prayer and washed her with yucca before burying her body. At night, he placed a dream catcher on a wall and drifted off to sleep.
Sunrise came and the man went outside, walking directly towards Bronson's camp. The village elder, his stomach covered in scars of a near-fatal caiman attack, stood in front of him. He put his hand on the man's shoulder and shook his head left and right while not losing eye contact. A Pause.The man then walked past him.
Upon reaching the camp, he saw Bronson smoking a cigar, feeling smug, and standing the entire time, waiting. The guardian of the rainforest walked closer, Muhammad joined in and laid a map of the Amazon and began to explain, "You will be dropped by a helicopter on opposite sides with a 5-kilometer distance between you two. You will play the game and try to hunt each other. Once you start, you will have no weaponry, however, along the way several weapons are hidden for you to find. The game does not end until one either concedes or is killed. Any questions?" There were none.
The entire time, the man stared at Bronson, unblinking and breathing heavily through his nostrils. Bronson was merely amused. 15 minutes later, the helicopter carried them to the Amazon. The two of them parachuted down and the hunt began. They were thrown into a rainforest containing over 3 million species of animals and plants, and many more are yet to be discovered. As nearly every week, a new species of either animal or plant is discovered. Some animals, such as the bush dogs, were first found from their fossils and were thought to have been extinct until they were found alive and thriving deep inside the Amazon.
As Bronson landed, he spoke to himself, "Ha, that little hairy monkey thinks he can beat me. Like hell, you are. You don't know where all the weapons are located exactly." Bronson pulled out knives and a machete from a fallen tree branch.
"I can take my AK-47 and finish you off easily, but some knives will do fine," he chuckled to himself and walked quickly through the rainforest.
Elijah Bronson had spent a total of 4 jaguar hunts in the Amazon, all of which were successful. He was still experienced with the Amazon and to him, he saw no threats.
"The biggest threats in this damn place are bugs," he laughed. "The caimans are just little reptiles, and the jaguar? He's afraid of humans, rarely ever attacking people let alone hunting them."
Bronson knew that he didn't even have to fear the uncontacted tribes. While highly probable that they will attack, they will do so only if felt threatened. There are no tribes that would hunt and kill a person in the Amazon. Cannibal practices are done when a member becomes deceased and therefore is consumed and will remain part of the tribe forever.
Bronson sliced through the thick jungle with his machete, grinning nonstop, however, he was constantly irritated by the loud singing of the screaming piha, the loudest bird on the planet. What's more, is that there were 5 of them. Bronson yelled at them and would throw knives at them but missed each time.
On the opposite side, the guardian of the rainforest didn't bother to chase Bronson. He would wait until Bronson came to him. The man built his own bow and arrow and spear. He looked up to the skies and saw the black clouds forming. He quickly went to build protection from the rain with wood.
As he finished, he sat down and waited patiently. He saw the harpy eagle carrying a monkey by the head. Its talons were the same size as a grizzly bear's. It is arguably the strongest bird on the planet, and like many of the Amazon inhabitants, it has zero fear of humans. The eagle flew through the rainforest quickly to the nest and handed the prey to its young.
As he layed back against the tree, he felt something. Eight legs touching his shoulder. An arachnid measuring 30cm in length. It goes by the name goliath bird-eater. It gripped the man's shoulder. He put his hand near it, and the spider slowly walked to his arm. The man put his arm to the ground, and the spider walked away. Despite its fearsome reputation and having a powerful venom, the goliath bird-eater is relatively harmless to humans. Its venom has no effect on people.
The guardian of the rainforest looked up as drops of rain came down, and quickly it engulfed the land. Elijah Bronson didn't care the least bit about the rain, but he strayed away from the thick vegetation, and the intense rain poured on him entirely. He felt cold chills run down his body. He turned back but couldn't move. Mud was everywhere, his feet deep inside, unmoving. Bronson was as helpless as a koala.
Chapter 4
The night set in, and a half moon illuminated the jungle. The rain had stopped, and Bronson was crouching and shivering. He was in a fetal position, trying desperately to warm himself. His breath was cold, but he knew that at night, there was no use to move; it's too risky.
Elijah let out a cough, placed his hand on the ground, and breathed heavily. He relaxed a bit until he felt a sharp pain. As he looked down, he saw hundreds of bullet ants, five of them crawling on his hand. Bronson swiped them with his hand. He only endured one bite but let out a loud scream that was heard throughout the rainforest. Bronson went down on his back, gripping his hand, "Oh God, oh God!" Bronson had endured several bullet wounds in his back from the war. He knew the sting all too well, but the sting of a bullet ant wasn't like that at all. It was the equivalent of being run over by a car.
Bronson stuck his hand deep in the mud, but the pain only grew stronger. A horrifying realization hit Bronson for the first time in years; tears went through his eyes. He let out an angry, beastly yell and began to move through the rainforest against his better judgment.He gripped his machete; he was going to kill his rival.
The bullet ant is also known as the 24-hour ant, as that's the amount of time it will take for the pain to go away. Bronson couldn't wait that long; the pain right now is still bearable, in an hour it will be so strong that a man wouldn't be able to move, let alone fight. Bronson swiped at the vegetation but stopped to a halt once he heard the bush rustling.
He stared at it, his mouth wide open. Elijah gripped the machete with both hands and pointed it directly at the bush. He bit his cheeks to bear the pain. The bush rustled even more until several more bushes rustled. Sweat dripped from his forehead. And then… silence.
Whatever it was, it seemed to run away. Bronson continued to move until he abruptly stopped at the sound of a broken twig. He looked up, and in the tree, a jaguar stared at him.
They both made eye contact, not moving. It felt like an eternity, despite lasting just a few seconds. The jaguar, a subadult abandoned by its mother and forced to fend for itself; however, a man without a gun is easy prey for it. Most cats bite the throat of their prey to kill it, but jaguars bite and crush the skull.
Bronson raised his arms to appear bigger and screamed at it. The jaguar walked back a little, hesitating. Bronson caught his breath and slightly lowered his arms.
The jaguar pounced on him.
As Bronson fell down, he felt nothing; he saw blood on the mud until he heard a growl. The jaguar miscalculated and ended up biting his shoulder. Bronson screamed; the pain was like getting hit with a steel pole. The jaguar sunk its hind claws into his legs and its front claws into his chest; the machete was two meters from reach.
Bronson punched the jaguar on the side, the cat didn't flinch. Elijah then gripped its neck, pulling the skin. The jaguar didn't care. Bronson then put his hand on its head, trying to find the eye; he found it and began to squeeze it. The cat let out a spine-chilling roar and went for Bronson's head. It was pure reflex without thinking when Bronson shoved his hand in the jaguar's mouth. His hand was about to be sliced in two.
Without thinking, Bronson shoved his hand further down the cat's throat; his arm halfway inside, the cat began to scratch his arm and chest flesh was torn. The cat attempted to scratch his face, nearly slicing his eyes. Elijah's forehead started to bleed slightly. The jaguar hissed until and was choking and then it fell down lifeless.
Bronson pulled his hand; he was covered in blood from his head to his pants. He began to run far away; he tripped and fell down. Bronson took deep breaths, put mud to cool down, opened his eyes slowly, and was face to face with a nine-meter long green anaconda. He stared at it in shock as the snake came closer until it slowly passed him. It slithered to the jaguar and began to devour it.
Chapter 5
During the morning, the guardian of the rainforest caught a bird and ate it. He thanked the gods for the meal, then wrapped the feathers and bones together, making sure not to waste a single part of the animal. He stared at the vegetation, at this point he was doubtful of Elijah Bronson's survival.
Not far from him, the body of Bronson was on the ground. Breathing hard, he was still alive. Bronson was covered in mud and blood, his mouth dry and hunger setting in. The pain from the bullet ant was still present, just bearable enough. Bronson continued to walk, grunting and dragging his feet. After several minutes, he stopped, coughed, and gasped for air.
An arrow pierced his shoulder. Bronson fell down and crawled back on all fours. He looked up, it was the guardian of the rainforest. The man aimed his bow, Bronson began to run but fell down in the mud. He tried to run faster but couldn't move. He looked down and realized it wasn't mud at all, but quicksand. Within mere moments, he was waist-deep in it.
The man approached Bronson and sat on a rock, staring at him. Bronson felt intense anger; he was being looked down upon. He breathed rapidly through his nostrils, then wiggled his feet and layed on his back in the quicksand. He fully relaxed his muscles, but his heart rate skyrocketed.
In quicksand, one must be completely relaxed. One incorrect move, and Bronson would die instantly. Breathing needed to be normal, but with such pressure, it was difficult. Bronson closed his eyes and tried to remember the time when he first learned how to swim. Before he knew it, he felt the ground. Still perfectly calm, he slowly exited the quicksand. On the other side, the man waited for him. He pulled Bronson up, but Elijah saw this as the man pitying him. He immediately punched the man square in the jaw.
The guardian of the forest made the face of one that only a wild, cornered beast could make. He returned the punch to Bronson; it was three times stronger. Bronson fell down; he tasted his own blood. For a second, he thought his jaw was broken.
Elijah stood up and tackled the man. He was too tired as the man held him back easily. Bronson gave him several punches to the ribs. The man groaned and threw Bronson to the ground. Elijah ran away into the bushes. He stumbled down to a fallen tree, "Is this it?" He frantically searched it and saw a mark cut with a knife resembling the Roman numeral 2. He moved the tree a bit, and under it, there was the AK-47. His face lit with joy.
A wooden knife nearly sliced his ear. Bronson then threw his knife at the man's face; he dodged it effortlessly. Bronson took his machete, waving it like a madman. He managed to slice his opponent's shoulder, but the man kicked his shin. Bronson went to his knees, and the man kicked him across the face, sending Bronson back.
Elijah grabbed the AK-47 and began firing blindly. The guardian of the rainforest was shocked. He began to run instinctively and prepared his arrow, but a bullet hit his ankle. He fell down and crawled behind a tree. Elijah lost sight of him, he looked left and right, no sight.
He began to speak, "What do you think you're doing, wild man? Do you think you're so brave, living in this hellhole? This place is for animals! Purely animals live here; it is no place for man. Our only role here is to kill big game!"
The man spoke, "We are animals."
"Bullshit! We're gods dammit! The world revolved around humanity for thousands of years; animals are one with nature, humans are not. After all, you think that you abide by your ancestors' roots? Don't make me laugh; humans destroy and kill. There is no such thing as wilderness; everything is a park and yada yada. Would you call that wilderness? No, after all, everything will be a park. The Amazon is the only wild place largely unexplored by people, but in a century, it will be turned into a park like the rest of the world. So that's why I make it my mission to hunt big game and see the wild world. In a few decades, it will all disappear. I mean hell, the prehistoric beasts that existed just 10,000 years ago. Can you imagine the wonder it would be to hunt them today? We can't, as humans killed them. Humans will kill every other large, great animal soon. I am merely here to experience the last of a dynasty."
The guardian of the rainforest saw a slippery slope down by the river, he grabbed a rock. He raised his hand slowly and threw the rock. Bronson was startled, staring in the direction of the rock, giving the man time to escape. He went down, his skin being scratched from the speed he was going. Bronson realized what was happening and began firing. The man plummeted into the Amazon River just in time.
Submerged inside, it was murky and impossible to see anything more than mere 200cm away from you. The water gave off a reddish-black color. The Amazon is the second largest river on the planet, behind the Nile, although it has the largest discharge volume of water in the world. Over 5,000 species swim in the river.
He held his breath and saw his blood flow from the scratches. Piranhas had already swarmed him. Piranhas aren't as fierce as their reputation implies. Swarms of red-bellied piranhas can easily strip a victim to the bone, but it requires a combination of their prey already being heavily injured which the man was not. However, if one piranha decides to take a small bite, others will follow, and it might get too dangerous.
The piranhas disappeared as quickly as they came, something bigger was lurking in the water, but with the murkiness, it was impossible to tell until it touched him. He felt a nibble on his legs as two of the creatures directly passed him and touched him. They were pink river dolphins, the regular predators of piranhas.While harmless in appearance and lacking any strong jaws, the're designed to only eat fish, the pink river dolphins have heads so strong they could knock out a great white.
They were checking the man out with playful behavior. It was time to leave. He began to swim but one of them nudged him a bit roughly with its head, and the man had a mouthful of water. He went up and coughed the water out. Elijah Bronson, directly seeing his head, aimed his gun at him and then grimaced. "Too easy," he threw the AK-47, put a knife in his mouth, and began to swim. The guardian of the rainforest picked up the pace, enduring the pain of the gunshot, knowing that even more blood was coming out.
Bronson was gaining on him, but the man had a tricky plan. In front of him, he saw a family of river otters, despite being small, they were highly territorial, known to even kill caimans and even scare off fully grown jaguars. He began to swim towards them, Bronson following unaware. The man planned to engage the otters by crossing their territory and as they attacked, he would go underwater and the otters would pounce on Bronson. However the plan failed before he could put it into motion, the otters ran away, what could possibly have scared them off? The man's heart went into his mouth as he started to swim as if he had never swum before, the pain in his leg was hellish.
He barely made it to shore and quickly looked back, seeing a dorsal fin. River dolphins don't have a dorsal fin, so it couldn't be them. No, this was much worse... a bull shark. A shark that has eaten more people than any other shark combined, the only shark that can enter and thrive in freshwater. It went directly towards Bronson.
Elijah stopped and faced the shark, hoping it wouldn't engage, but the bull shark sped up. Bronson submerged himself as the shark approached, punching it in the gills.If there was a second delay, he would have lost his head.
The shark lost interest, and Bronson swam to shore. The man had made some distance between them. He had no weapons on him, so he had to regroup. As he was thinking of a plan, he saw a path of cut down trees. Only the tree stumps remained. As he got closer, he heard voices. He hid in the bushes and saw a group of men cutting down trees.
Several species of monkeys and birds were killed and hanged upside down. They drank and laughed as they cut down the trees and played poker with jewelry that belonged to the villagers. It was the forest mafia.
Chapter 6
He stared at all the nature being cut down, watching the men laughing and cutting the trees. They especially enjoy cutting the old trees, seeing them as weak, even though the old trees produce 28 percent of the earth's oxygen. The guardian of the rainforest went closer, eyeing them. He waited for them to start cutting again so he could take their guns. Loud coughs were heard.
Elijah Bronson crashed down, completely exhausted. The men noticed him and their leader yelled, "Quem diabos está aí?" The guardian of the rainforest looked down. He hid well, knowing it was best to lay low. Whatever happened to Bronson was on him, but he couldn't keep his head low. He knew the forest mafia would kill him swiftly and he didn't want Bronson to be finished off so easily. He began to head towards him, but the sharp pain from the bullet struck him like a train. He stumbled and was uncovered.
The two men were tied together and thrown at the center of the camp. The leader smoked a small beaten cigarette, took off his sunglasses, and spoke, "Well, well, what a catch today." He then made a joke in Portuguese, his men laughed. Bronson opened his eyes, looked around, saw the devastation of vegetation. "W-What is this? What are you doing?" he breathed heavily. The leader approached him, grabbed Bronson's chin. "What do you think, Yankee?"
"I'm British," the leader laughed. "Same shit!" He slapped Bronson and turned to the other man. He grabbed him by the hair. "Finally, I get to see your face. You killed 58 of my men."
"You killed over 10 million trees and over 10 thousand animals for sport. In this year alone." The leader laughed in his face. The man spat directly in his mouth. The leader slapped him. He yelled at his men. They brought a rope and began to slash over the man's back viciously.
Bronson was on his stomach, his entire body hurt. He just wished for it all to end. He felt like in his teenage years when he tasted the dirt after losing in a wrestling match to a strong and experienced opponent. Rage suddenly grabbed him. One of the men looked at the whipping. He was carrying a machine gun. Bronson used his legs and swept the man off the ground. He quickly went over him, grabbing the knife and slicing the rope.
The other men noticed, but it was too late. Bronson began to fire. Several men were filled with bullets, the bullets piercing through their skin. In horror, they all ran as Bronson fired blindly and screamed. The guardian of the rainforest grabbed a fallen knife, freed himself, took an AK-47, and fired as well. Bodies and bodies were on the ground; a few hid behind big jeeps and fired back. Both the man and Bronson fired directly at the gas tank, causing the jeeps to engulf in flames.
It took mere minutes before they were all dead. Bronson collapsed on his knees. The guardian of the rainforest looked at the dead bodies, searching for the leader, and he saw him. He was up on the hill, staring in horror, and he began to craw away, he had an injured leg.
The man went for him but stopped and looked behind him; he and Bronson made eye contact. To Bronson, it felt like an eternity. The guardian of the rainforest was lost in thought. He simply nodded and pursued the chase. A helicopter was heard; it flew next to Bronson.
From it, Muhammad came out. "Elijah, what happened? Are you alright?" He dragged Bronson to the helicopter and gave him water to drink. "What happened here, Elijah? What caused this mess? Where's the guardian of the rainforest?" Bronson drank an entire liter of water and spoke, "He's back home; we're finished here." Muhammad leaned back, looking at Bronson skeptically. "Did you win?" Bronson leaned on the helicopter, staring blankly, his mouth half open, and said, "He won."