Page 7 of In Darkness and Dank

Zimm looked positively green, and Bissell shoved the arm at him and then went lumbering back into the pool.

“Come here, Prof,” Kittisak urged when he saw the bloodstain on Browning’s knee had grown. “Let’s get your leg bandaged up.”

“Oh!” Browning shook his head. “I hadn’t even noticed.”

Kittisak and Hutte helped Browning sit down on a nearby fallen log, and Kittisak kneeled in front of him. He took off his backpack to get the first aid kit while Hutte rolled up Browning’s pants leg.

“I’m not quite sure what I hit.” Browning frowned when a large laceration was revealed, zigzagging across his left knee. “Oh, goodness me.”

Paiva whistled low. “That might need a stitch, old man.”

“Nonsense.” Browning scoffed. “I’ll be fine.”

Kittisak passed off the first aid kit to Hutte. “Are you sure, Prof? Because it looks pretty nasty.”

“I promise you that it’s fine,” Browning insisted stubbornly. “We’re not turning back now. We still haven’t found the lagoon!”

“Which could still be days away,” Hutte scolded. “This wound could get infected—”

“I’ve had much worse than this, thank you!”

Kittisak took a few steps back to escape the building argument. He didn’t dare risk getting in the middle of it, and he glanced back into the pool to watch Bissell digging around.

“Got somethin’!” Bissell dragged out a giant case woven from thick vines and leaves nearly as big as he was, and he grunted with effort as he dragged it up on the shore.

Kittisak’s heart twisted because he knew what it was before Bissell even opened it.

It was a casket.

There was a hole in the side, probably where the arm had come from, and the top was sealed shut with intricate knots.

Kittisak was nauseated as Bissell hacked it open with a machete to reveal the corpse inside, and he hated how wrong this felt. It didn’t have anything to do with the monstrous body within, but everything to do with the offense of desecrating what was obviously a grave.

Hutte and Browning had both fallen silent as well, looking on helplessly as Bissell tore open the woven casket to fully reveal its contents. Paiva crossed himself, murmuring some kind of prayer under his breath as he turned away so he wouldn’t have to see.

Immediately, Kittisak knew it was the same kind of monster as the one from his dream. Even in a stage of advanced decay, he recognized the prominent crests and broad shoulders. There was something glittering around the monster’s neck, and Kittisak grimaced as Bissell snatched it off the body.

“Gold!” Bissell shouted excitedly. “Look! The Yucka-tuna has some fuckin’ bling!”

“Why is it smoking?” Zimm quirked his brows.

The gold was a crude necklace with square-shaped beads, and it was indeed smoking.

“Ah, fuck!” Bissell dropped it, and it disappeared into the water. “It was, like, fuckin’ gettin’ ate up by somethin’.”

“Stop,” Browning said quickly. “I need to take samples from the body at once.”

“Why?” Denninger challenged.

“Because there are no naturally occurring substances known to man that can dissolve gold like that,” Browning retorted.

Hutte had finished cleaning and bandaging up Browning’s leg, and he frowned as he stuffed Browning’s pants back into his boot. “You’re thinking there’s royal water down there?”

“What else?” Browning stood, already hurrying back down the shore toward the body.

Hutte and Kittisak both rushed to help steady him, and Kittisak asked, “What’s royal water exactly?”

“You’re gettin’ real good at that English, Kitty,” Bissell remarked. “Nice!”

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