Part 2<\/p>\n
Darkness enveloped us, but the survival instinct of a former U.S. Marine wouldn’t allow me to give up. As the Gulf Clan leader tightened his grip around my neck, I used my last ounce of strength to pull out the titanium-sheathed dagger hidden in my ankle and plunged it into his bicep. He screamed in pain and loosened his hold. I fell, grabbed my Remington, fired a shot that ripped through the night, and dashed down into the underground bunker, dragging my family to flee straight into the gateway to hell on earth: the Darien Gap.<\/p>\n
The Darien Gap \u2013 a jungle strait over 60 miles long separating Panama and Colombia \u2013 is the only deadly fault line on the Trans-American Highway. There are no roads here, only deep mud that swallows all machinery during the rainy season, and ferocious rivers that constantly change course like giant serpents. We ran frantically through the night, treading on tangled tree roots under a torrential jungle rain. The Gulf Clan was close behind with hunting dogs and heavy weaponry.<\/p>\n
I had to use every survival skill I had to keep myself and my migrant family from dying. I remembered the Tsimane tribe in Bolivia, who have the healthiest cardiovascular systems in the world thanks to their constantly active lifestyle; I pushed myself and the two migrants to keep moving non-stop, even though our feet were bleeding. As we crossed the Atrato swamp and approached the “Death Mountain,” I seized a few minutes to open my military tablet, trying to decode the remaining data on the “Project Bison” hard drive.<\/p>\n
And then, the truth came out, freezing my blood. This wasn’t simply a smuggling operation by a local cartel. Behind this entire network was the Apex Biomedical Corporation and a dark force right in the heart of Washington \u2013 led by Senator Thomas Sterling, my former mentor and superior whom I once respected most.<\/p>\n
The shocking twist lies here: The reason the U.S. government refused to fund the completion of the Trans-American Highway in 1978\u2014due to concerns about the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle northward\u2014was a perfectly orchestrated geopolitical charade. They deliberately kept the Darien Gap a lawless zone, a “gray area” outside of any international conventions. Why? To turn it into a giant living laboratory. They abducted people from isolated tribes around the world: from the Siberian Nenets, who endure temperatures as low as -50\u00b0C, to the Himba with their secret skin protection using red earth, to the Hadza and Tsimane. They isolated their genes and ruthlessly experimented with genetically modified serums on tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who disappeared in this forest strait each year, aiming to create a generation of super-soldiers with long lifespans for the American elite.<\/p>\n
A ghostly buzzing sound from above interrupted my thoughts. Apex’s thermal drones pinpointed the location. Before we could react, a series of loud explosions rang out. Apex’s high-tech special forces swooped down from the helicopter, surrounding all escape routes. The Venezuelan couple screamed as they were overpowered and dragged away by the armed group. I tried to rush to their rescue, but my feet suddenly sank into a muddy pit up to my waist, immobilizing me.<\/p>\n
At that moment, a terrifying sound erupted from the bushes directly in front of me. A Velvet Serpent (Fer-de-lance) \u2013 the most vicious venomous snake in the Americas, with venom that rots flesh and bone \u2013 raised its triangular head, less than thirty centimeters from my eyes. I was trapped between the muzzles of the traitors to America and the fangs of the jungle’s deadly predator.<\/p>\n
If you’ve read this far, don’t hesitate to leave a like and comment before reading part 3. It makes us as happy as reading a complete story! Thank you. \ud83d\udc4d\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Part 2 Darkness enveloped us, but the survival instinct of a former U.S. Marine wouldn’t allow me to give up. As the Gulf Clan leader tightened his grip around my neck, I used my last ounce of strength to pull out the titanium-sheathed dagger hidden in my ankle and plunged it into his bicep. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":89724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-purpose"],"yoast_head":"\n