You are walking through a lush, green forest. The pitter-patter of raindrops falling from the heavens taps playfully upon the dense foliage that surrounds you. All morning the air has hung heavy, weighing you down, but now the falling cleansing rains are cooling you. As you have been instructed, you are wearing adventure pants that fully protect your legs from the perilous plants and vicious bugs. On your top you have donned a white t-shirt under a short sleeve tracker's shirt. You have dispensed with a bra. After all, this is a vacation and the oppressive heat of the day encourages you to dress as lightly as possible.
As refreshing droplets speckle your face, you reflect upon your good fortune. You had only booked this vacation a week earlier and it is a trip you have always wanted to make. For years you had tried to persuade Bud to bring you here but he had always resisted. However, now that your divorce has been finalized, Bud is in your past. He can fuck his silicone-enhanced secretary to his heart's content and you can relish your freedom.
There is only thing that would make you happier than you feel at this moment. And that is Sex. The delicious give and take of satisfying sex. Celibacy does not suit you. It is true that there have been dates since your divorce. There has even been the consolation of fucking Mike, Bud's best friend. But, as you lay beneath him, winding your legs around his flanks, urging him into you harder and relishing the pleasure of a man between your thighs again, you opened your eyes and saw him intent, not upon you, but upon himself in the wall length mirror of your bedroom, admiring his technique and the arcing movement of his own body. That is when you decided you needed to get away.
And here you are. You tell yourself that you have come for the history of the region, for the enjoyment of nature in all its primitive beauty, for the satisfaction derived from physical exertion; but, admit it, you also hoped that you might be lucky: that there might be an eligible man in your group and that you might even get laid. Alas, the other dozen or so travelers are in couples. Only Manon, the local guide is single and he must be ten years younger than you. Besides he speaks no English and barely knows how to use a knife and fork. Still, he is swarthily handsome, with piercingly dark eyes, and moves as gracefully as any beast of the jungle. And he does seem to like you. You have noticed how when the route is clear, he will fall back and walk beside you, how he clears the large leathery fronds from your path, how at the evening campfire he sits next to you, accidentally brushing against your thigh. At last you understand that this is the real reason you have dispensed with your bra: so that when the heat of the day surrenders to the afternoon rains and your t-shirt clings to your still slim body, Manon can admire your full, firm breasts and your temptingly taut nipples dimpling the cotton.
This is the fifth day of your vacation. Ahead of you, Manon effortlessly wields his machete, cutting a swathe through the jungle as he has done so many times before, and his father before him. Behind him, you all walk in single file. Anxious not to be left behind, you have chosen a position in the middle of this group. The chatter of voices around you fills the air, as excitedly you point to exotically hued birds in the towering trees and listen keenly to the myriad sounds of strange creatures, high and low. Deeper and deeper you penetrate the forest. Manon has promised you, in halting Spanish, that he will lead you to an old ruin where the natives of long ago worshipped the blood gods and made their offerings. For reasons that you cannot explain, even to yourself, the bloodthirsty history of the site stirs some primal bloodlust in you. You imagine Manon, dripping with sweat, dirt and blood, laying you across the temple's stone altar, ripping your clothes from you as you offer yourself to him in sacrificial surrender.
But you are not there yet. The dense jungles have swallowed the temple centuries ago when Inca society fell prey to invaders. Meanwhile, the rain falls upon your face and you lift your head back and greet the cool, fat drops of water that splash upon your cheeks.
Up ahead, in the distance, you see a clearing and the faint outline of a tall stone temple with tiered sides. Manon turns around to face you all. You bunch together to listen to what he has to say. His discourse is conducted in gestures and broken Spanish. Imelda, a small Mexican woman, translates as best she can. But you understand the gist. It is very important not to disturb the ruins and to respect the old temple. He tells you that some of the locals resent outsiders coming to this place. He turns to lead you out of the jungle into the clearing. As he turns, there is shriek from one of the women in your group. You scan the direction in which she is facing and almost faint. Half a dozen natives are charging towards you, waving machetes above their heads.
There is panic and chaos. Your heart is pounding in your chest as your eyes dart back and forth. You look to Manon for help. But he is only grinning. To your astonishment, he grabs one of the husbands and swings his machete. The blade bites deeply into the man's thigh and he cries out in bewildered pain. A gush of crimson blood pours from his leg. You scatter, all of you, in different directions. Get away, you tell yourself. Away! And so you flee along an obscured path to your left and angle your way parallel to the clearing. As you glance back, you can see that the attackers are ignoring the women and chasing their husbands.
You catch a glimpse of one older man stumbling and, as he lies prostrate, a raised blade swings hard and falls upon him. You feel your gut wrench in terror and you sprint as fast as you can. Get away! Your ears pulse with the pounding of your heart. The only other sound is of the plants slapping against your pant legs as you crash through the undergrowth.
Behind you come the screams of women, hideous shrieks that fill your ears. But the sound fades as you struggle along the leaf-laden path. Coming to the clearing from another side, your eyes are greeted with the glare of the raw-red sun, no longer shielded by the jungle trees. You don't halt but dash madly for the edge of the temple and briefly look back. There is no one and you feel a moment of relief. You charge across the open space to the temple faster than you have ever run before. Your lungs burn from the effort and the hot, choking air.
Sweat pours from you and your t-shirt is soaked as you lean against the temple wall for a brief rest. Quickly you make your way to the corner of the temple to hide yourself from view. Once there, you turn around and peek back cautiously. To your horror, you see the six men emerge from the jungle, led by Manon. In front of them are the other women from the group. You count four of them and two men. The men are bloodied and limping.
The captors are yelling at the terrified group and urging them on to the temple. One man falls, holding his neck, which is bleeding. An attacker swears at the man and swings his blade and the man lies still. The women are screaming helplessly but start jogging to the temple and disappear through an opening into a dark tunnel. You hold your head in your hands and the sickening shock hits you. But you cannot stay here. You have to know what is happening to your companions. You have to help if you can. To your right you see stairs that ascend the outer wall of the temple.
You claw your way up them, hoping to find some way into the temple from where you will have a vantage point. You reach a mid level tier that levels out and find an entrance to another, higher tunnel. Slowly you creep along the tunnel. At first you can see nothing but the cool air mixes with your sweaty t-shirt and it feels good. Your skin has goose bumps and your nipples press hard against your sodden t-shirt. At the end of the tunnel is a balcony that overlooks the center of the temple. A hole off to one side towards the top of the chamber admits a shaft of sunlight. Another shaft of light comes through a portal opposite and the two meet, casting a spotlight in the chamber below.
The floor is made of dirt. The walls of the chamber are wet with moisture and moss. Vines, thick and fibrous, hang down from the portals above. In the middle of the temple chamber is a stone platform that is three steps high, and about 40 feet long by 20 feet wide. At the center of this rectangular slab of granite is a stone circle that is about four feet high and rests on two thin pillars. You crouch low to the ground and peer down to find out what is happening. As the group clatters across the chamber, their footsteps echo around the vast space. So do the sobs of the women, the groans of the wounded man, and the bullying chatter of their attackers. The men herd the group up to the platform at the center of the chamber. Some of the women are holding each other's hands for comfort. The captors are shouting and snarling angrily, but none in the group knows what they are saying.
The sole surviving male from your group, an older man who is called Alan, is pulled away from the women and shoved around by his captors until he collapses to the ground, weak from his ordeal and wounds. The natives begin to kick the fallen man repeatedly until his body is nothing more than a moaning wreck and bloodied mess. The women are howling with shocked outrage at the violence playing out before them and are paralyzed with fear. You cover your mouth to stifle your own cries of anguish at the spectacle that is unfolding before you. Manon walks away from the melee and approaches the women menacingly. As he crosses before the pillars of stone, he falls to one knee and bows his head in reverence. Then he counts the women, pushing them about as if to see whether there are any others hidden behind them. He shouts to the others but they only shrug. Manon is angry and, calling one of his fellows to him, swipes his face with the back of his hand.