Context: You've been exploring for most of your life, including some pretty dangerous areas. The Australian mangroves, well, Australia in general, has proven to be some of the most challenging adventures of your life. Today, you're setting off into the mangroves with your friends to see if you can conquer even one more inch of the unexplored, raw wild. This time, however, something else is telling your story and this thing... is not kind.

Setting: Australian Mangroves

Tags: [MMMF4A][Yandere(?)Eldritch Monster Speaker][Friend Speakers(Gender-Flipping OK!)][Brave Listener][Supernatural][Monster Presence][Horror][Fourth Wall Breaks][Radio][Body Horror][Predicting Death][Australian Wildlife][CW: Murder/Death/Disturbing Implications]

Usage: You may tweak or record this script. Gender flipping is OK! Please credit me if you use this script in any of your projects. If you would like to use this script for a paywalled recording please DM me first. Thank you :3

***

[J] = Josh

[S] = Susan

[B] = Brad

Italicized text = the Radio

***

And all who hear that wicked, wretched sound

My wretched speech, Hellward bound

The stage is set, the actors here

Not knowing that, soon,

They’ll disappear

[Scene opens in the Australian mangroves]

[SFX: Radio chatter and crackling]

[Pause?]

[Your friend Josh frowns and messes with the radio until it turns off]

[J] “No, I don’t know why the radio just acted up. Did you hear what it said? Sounds like one of those creepy readings or whatever.”

[Pause]

[Brad and Susan, your other friends, both shrug]

[B] “Psh, I mean we’re in the mangroves of Australia. The fact that we’re picking anything out here up is amazing.”

[S] “Yeah, turn it back on for a second or two, Josh. We’ve only got an hour until we make camp and the mangroves have been relatively chill.”

[Josh shrugs and turns it back on]

Their expedition started out fairly uneventful. The four were having a fun time exploring, following along with the group leader, Scout, who was noted to be excellent at what they did.

[Your group stops, uneasy]

[S] “...Scout?”

[B] “Dude… That’s your nickname, what the Hell?”

[You shrug, feeling a chill run down your spine]

However, they would unfortunately experience something extremely traumatic before they even had time to realize that the ground near them had come loose from previous rains…

[J] “Wait, wh-?”

[SFX: The ground coming loose and all actors falling into the river]

[You plunge into the brackish water and, by instinct, grab on to a mangrove tenderil. Blindly groping out, you feel Josh’s hand and grab him before you pull him out, Susan following shortly. She glances around in a panic:]

[S] “Where’s Brad?!”

[You glance about and see Brad swimming with all of his might from the middle of the river]

[S] “Brad! Sweetie, c’mon, we’re here to catch you!”

[SFX: The radio crackling back to life]

Three of them managed to grab on to the mangroves and pull themselves to shore. Bradley, on the other hand, forgot the most important thing to remember about Australian rivers… Namely, saltwater crocodiles.

[As you watch, a massive croc comes up under Brad, seizes him in its jaws before he can even scream, and dives again]

[S] “BRAD!!!!”

[J] “Turn off the godamned radio! NOW!”

[SFX: The radio chatter dying]

[J] “F-Fuck…fuck… C-C’mon, we need to get to base camp.”

[S] “BRADLEY!!”

[J] “SUSAN! There’s nothing we can do for him now! C’mon, we… w-we have to go. Scout, chuck that fucking radio in the river and let’s go.”

[SFX: A splash and footsteps hurrying away]

[The three of you hurry down the path in stunned silence, save for Susan’s sobbing. By the time you get to base camp, it’s dark]

[J] “We’re here! We made it! W-We… Oh god… the radio is here…”

[You look and the old radio is, indeed, perched neatly by the fire pit]

[S] “J-Jesus Christ…”

[You get them sat by the firepit and get the fire going. Josh cowers by you, the three of you pressed tightly together]

[J] “...T-Turn on the radio.”

[S] “Are you insane?! The last time we did that, the fucking thing predicted Brad’s death!”

[J] “...I’d rather go out knowing. Turn the fucking thing back on.”

[With a pause, you turn the device back on and it screeches to life]

The three explorers huddled around their little fire. They were cold, hungry, and traumatized from seeing their good friend ripped apart by a saltwater crocodile…

[Susan barely holds back a gag, tears pouring down her cheeks]

They were hoping that someone would notice their group was gone by now. That help would arrive soon. It was pitch black in the mangroves, save for that fire. This is probably why Susan didn’t notice her leg. It had been hurting for some time and she’d been feeling lightheaded but thought, surely, it was because of the adrenaline. Unfortunately, it was-

[Susan screeches at the top of her lungs]

[S] “LEECHES!!!”

[You look down and wince. Her leg is coated with the foul creatures and you quickly take one of the flaming sticks and jab it into each leech]

Leeches. Her friends did their best to help but Susan leapt to her feet, flailing around in fear and pain!

[Susan does indeed leap to her feet, slapping and flailing at the unbothered leeches]

[You catch Josh’s eye and both of you grab for either of her wrists as she wails]

Susan would unfortunately…

[SFX: Radio static]

[The radio snarls for a moment before the voice returns, colder now]

…unfortunately be saved from stumbling into a Gympie Gympie tree. For those that don’t know, a single touch from the Gympie Gympie tree can cause a sting so powerful that many consider it the most painful sensation on Earth… If she had stumbled into it, it may just have distracted her from the pain of the saltwater crocodile that was racing toward-!

[SFX: A crocodile running full tilt, hissing, and Susan screaming]

[You don’t think about it - you dart between Susan and the crocodile, arms outstretched to block her]

NO! Not that one!

[The crocodile stops, jaws still open and eyes burning through your soul]

…The crocodile stopped before the group’s brave leader, no one sure why. It backed slowly back into the water… for now.

[The crocodile does exactly as the radio instructs, albeit with an irritated hiss]

The leader got exceptionally lucky. It wouldn’t be the first time. They were considered brave, beautiful, cool-headed in the face of danger, and so many other things… It was hard not to love them, some would say…

[S] “Jesus, glad you have a fanclub, Scout! Nngh, ooh I hate you, you bitey tube socks! Get OFF!”

[You and Josh help get the leeches off of her and toss them into the fire]

[S] “...Thank you. You saved my life, three times over…. Why did the crocodile stop, though? They’ve all been incredibly aggressive, but that one backed off…”

[You see Josh staring at you]

[J] “...It’s because it likes Scout.”

[Pause???]

[S] “Excuse me?”

[J] “It likes Scout. The radio shouted “No! Not that one!” and the fucking crocodile stopped. I-I think… I think it wants Scout specifically…”

[...]

[Your friends look at you, torn and wild-eyed]

[S] “...If we give it Scout…do you think it’ll let us leave?”

[J] “...I don’t know, but… we’re out of options.”

[You protest but you’re very quickly knocked to the ground and tied up]

[Pause!!!]

[S, sobbing] “We’re sorry! We’re so sorry!”

[Josh is more stoic but you can see tears streaming down his face]

[J] “...I’m sorry, Scout. W-We’re gonna leave you tied up, OK? If this thing wants you… C’mon, Susan, we have to go…”

[You shout, you plead, but your “friends” ignore you and hurry deeper into the mangroves]

[SFX: Hurried, fading footsteps followed by faint, terrified screaming]

Josh and Susan came to a terrible, horrible decision together. They thought some sort of supernatural entity must be at fault, PUNISHING them, or their folly. Well… they might have found themselves almost proud to realize they were right mere SECONDS before they ran right into a bed of crocodiles. One must wonder if Scout felt any satisfaction from hearing those snapping jaws and the occasional whimper before it went silent…

[SFX: Everything going silent]

Scout didn’t know it but that entity… was real. That the vines beneath them were drawing them oh-so-slowly to the creature that had been stalking them…

[The being before you is almost incomprehensible. There are certainly some human male traits folded into an origami nightmare of glowing eyes, mangrove tendrils and abyssal river water]

The story took an interesting turn when the brave leader was faced with a monster of some kind. It…he… stood tall over them and waited to hear…what…they…would…say….

[Pause]

The leader noticed the water before them was incredibly…brackish… No way to see what could lie beneath the surface. Their friend’s bodies…? More crocodiles? Or worse. Despite all of that, dear little Scout faced the being before them and asked, rather politely, “What are you?”. The being before them answered with a calm “I am the god of these rivers. A maneater that punishes those foolish enough to try and tame me”.”

[Pause]

[The creature cocks his head and, you think, smiles]

It took them a moment to realize what they were staring at. So many bodies in that abyss of a river, all that it had collected over thousands and thousands of years, a riverbed of poor, bleached bones… And Josh and Susan, well, Scout felt the incredible dread of knowing that their betrayal hadn’t worked out so well for them as they watched what was left of their bodies drift gently by in the jaws of the crocodiles.

[Pause]

Scout was exhausted. Beaten. Surely facing the end as the monster wrapped viney tendrils around their waist, picking them up so gently and drawing them close. How confused must they have been before something claiming to be a god? Their heart must have been pounding the closer they came…

[You are inches from the face hidden beneath all of that nature and insanity. He smiles an ear-to-ear, crocodile-like grin and eyes glow in places they shouldn’t. He pulls you close and you can hear radio static the closer you come to him]

[Pause]

[SFX: Laughter filtered through radio static]

I learned how to talk just like you landwalkers. At first, I was trying to warn you to stay away by outlining how you would die if you didn’t turn back. But… humans never listen. So my warnings became prophetic. I grew stronger from so much sacrifice… Do you like it? My tendrils?

[Pause]

[The “god” giggles]

[SFX: Vines squeezing together a bit]

[Pause…?]

What will I do with you, now? I’ve never seen a human I didn’t loathe… But you… I don’t want you to leave my grasp. Never.

[Pause…]

[SFX: Radio static]

[The “god” lifts you up into his “arms” with his Eldritch smile]

No one knew what happened to the party that entered that portion of the river. We only have their journals to go off of… and speculation. One has to wonder if the river god took Scout to their final resting place, if the crocodiles got all of them, or if they all…simply…vanished.

[SFX: The radio static fading under water]

[The End]