Julie and the Monkey Witch

Chapter3

A good night's sleep was enough to make the effects of the Spirit Water go away. Julie's trip on the stuff was over by the time she woke up in the morning and on her way to the research camp, with Kainak in tow, taking the jungle route.

While Julie walked, Kainak effortlessly climbed through the trees, very much looking like Mowgli (NOT the Disney version, but the original Kipling version) and Tarzan. She looked on, impressed at how effortless it was for her boyfriend—er, mate—could go from human to feral. It made her jump up into the trees and start doing what he was doing.

He was navigating them so effortlessly that should couldn't keep her eyes off of him. She loved him, and she couldn't quite describe how much. She's here, after all. But she also loved the idea of him. He was wild and free, a real-life Tarzan/Mowgli, and he was successful at it. She didn't have a sad, sob-story life, but let's face it; modern civilization can be stressful. This was her escape.

For Kainak, it was survival. While the Teo adopted him, he spent much more time in the wild, becoming the real-life Tarzan and Mowgli. It would be easy for him to resent her for wanting to live out some girlhood fantasy, but his admiring expression, watching as she also successfully navigated the trees, told otherwise.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked.

"You," he replied.

"Quit joking around," she said, stopping on a branch but staying in her crouched stance. "Someone's dead."

"I was just trying to make it better," he said, sitting down on the branch and watching her pull her knees up to her chest and look at the ground with the guiltiest expression he'd ever seen. "Hey, it'll be alright, okay?"

"Then why do I feel guilty?" she asked.

"But you shouldn't," he replied. "I don't know why you'd be guilty, but it's not your fault. Whatever it is, something else is behind this. And we'll figure it out, okay?"

She looked up and smiled at the Manitoban wild man before standing—er, crouching—back up. "You're right," she said. "Let's keep going."

Kainak nodded, and the two pressed onward from the trees. Julie wanted to stay in them so she could become as effortless as he was. She had some difficulty jumping from tree to tree, and she watched him do the same with a little bit of envy. But she found one tree and effortlessly jumped onto it, landing in a perfectly crouched stance. She sighed and jumped to the next tree, and climbed up to another. I'm getting the hang of this! She thought.

She's getting the hang of this, Kainak thought proudly.

It took a few more minutes for the two to reach the research camp, where a researcher was waiting for them, holding some modern clothes. Julie groaned, but took the shorts, preferring to keep her animal-skin top. But Kainak gave the researcher an eye-pop, making him back down. At which point, Julie tossed the shorts aside.

"Not this time!" she said.

Prof. Ishida's tent was cordoned off by police tape, and a forensics team had been flown in from American Samoa. Flashbulbs burst inside Prof. Ishida's tent while people wearing hazmat suits walked in and out, carrying pieces of evidence. Some of the researchers were still going about their business, but others stood around to watch the proceedings. Many of them looked stiff and nervous, shifting their eyes around.

The whole place felt stiff and nervous. Julie could see it in their eyes; it was just like the Teo tribe yesterday. She could even feel the tension in the air, thick enough to cut it with the colloquial knife.

"Hello, Wild Children," Gina said as she strode up to the both of them. It may have been a bit derisive-sounding, but Julie saw right through it.

"Gina, I'm so sorry," Julie said, holding her hands out and trying to comfort the Kiwi researcher. "Especially for my Trip last night."