Excerpt: Shimmer

Joshua walked on through the jungle, following the course laid out for him by Sage. He had tried to avoid as much direct sunlight as possible, sticking to the scant cover provided by the trees. Silence had stayed with him the entire way, peppered with the occasional directions over the radio. He had travelled over halfway to the Firre's location, and had now come to a clearing in the jungle.
He started out across it, stepping into the sunlight. He squinted against the glare and continued on. It was only a little extra heat, he told himself. Just one last last patch of suffocating warmth to cross against, and from there it would be easy. He looked up toward the cave, and noticed something moving in the distance. A small animal, a long-snouted bilby, scratching into the dirt on the other side of the clearing. Joshua stopped to admire the creature, and it looked up. Maybe at him.
“There are definitely animals here, Sage. There's some sort of rodent about fifty metres in front of me.”
“Do you need an alternate route?”
“No, no. I'd like to get a closer look at it anyway.”
He headed toward the creature, slowly moving his legs forward inch by inch. He felt the heat burning against his face, and the sensation of his breath escaping him. He narrowed his eyes to shield his eyes from the brightness, but still he felt dazzled by it's strength.
“It's hotter than I thought”, he whispered to himself, taking care not to startle the animal.
With slow, deliberate movements, he opened a pocket on the satchel and removed a water bottle. The taste of it was like a sweet nectar, the quenching nature of it convincing his tastebuds it was liquid sugar. As stray streams dripped from his mouth, trickling down to his body, he felt a cooling effect, making him a little less delirious. The glare still affected his vision, making what he saw appear as though it were distorted by a fine film grain that he only noticed when he thought about it.
There was still plenty of water in the bottle, as well as more in the satchel, so he poured a little over his head. The water cascaded down, splashing against the parched ground. The animal's head poked up, curious. Joshua wiped his hands back through his hair, opened his eyes, and smiled.
“Hey. Hey little friend, are you thirsty?” he asked it.
He crouched down, and held the bottle out toward it, allowing a little to pour out onto the ground so it could see what he had. It tilted it's head to the side and hopped out toward him, but stopped at the edge of the shadow.
“Come on. Look... water. It's okay.”
It moved back and forth, looking for a way to across the shadow that didn't cross into the sun. The behaviour puzzled Joshua, and to entice it further, he crept forward, still crouched, bringing the water closer. As he came within thirty metres of it, it looked from side to side, and finally took a hop forward into the light. It's strange manner started to worry Joshua, and he stopped moving toward it. It took another few hops in his direction, and he began to see something shimmer on the animal's body.
He could have imagined it was just a trick of the light, but there was definitely something on it. Something bright. The same bright worms he had seen before were creeping over the creature's fur, tracing strange paths. At first it seemed as though there were only two or three, but as it continued hopping along the ground, faster and faster, getting closer with every bound, more of the worms stood out. Joshua could swear that they were spontaneously appearing on its body. It let out a yelp and tumbled, falling to the ground. A paw reached up in a fractured motion, as though struggling against some invisible force, though it suddenly coined what that might be.
The worms enveloped the paw, a critical mass of seething, and it let out another cry for help. Joshua didn't know what to do. The only thing he had to even attempt to intervene was the bottle of water, so he splashed some over the animal's paw. The worms scattered, mostly disappearing, though a few remained. Another splash, and it was free. The creature limped closer to him, whimpering.
"Easy now" he said, trying to soothe it.
He offered it some of the water, which it readily lapped at with an elongated tongue.
"No wonder you stick to the shadows. Those little... parasites looked just like sunlight. Let me take a look at you."
Joshua took the satchel off his shoulder, and slowly placed it on the ground. Medical, he thought to himself, I wish I'd paid more attention in class. A bandage was the most he thought should be given. Simple enough to not handicap the creature when it had healed.
“Wait... I wouldn't be around to remove it.”
He took out a container of anaesthetic cream, and applied it to the paw. It winced when he press against it, but Joshua knew it would help. It persevered, seemingly understanding that he was trying to help it.
“Better stay clear of those things, though.”
He gave it a little more water, and stood back up. The animal made a quizzical noise, arcing it's tail up, then trailing after him as he continued across the clearing.
“Sure, come along.” he said, waiting for it to catch up.
The thing made him smile. It was some good news, and worth telling Sage about. He reached for the radio transmitter and clicked the button to speak, but the first thing Sage received was another yelp from Joshua's new pet.
Where before it had been the strange slivers of light tracing over it's paw, they had come back in greater numbers, enveloping more of the animal's body. Joshua tried to douse them with water again, but they were more driven this time, determined to do what they had already intended to do. The animal tried to hop away from them, rolling on the ground, scampering toward the shadow at the edge of the clearing. Joshua poured the rest of the water over it, and dropped the bottle to the ground.
It made it a few steps and then seemed to fall. It happened so quickly that Joshua doubted what he had even seen, that the sights his eyes had taken in could not have happened, and could not be possible. The animal seemed to fall into nothing, disappearing. He stared at the space where it had writhed, where only barely damp ground now was. The only indication that it was ever there.