Julie and the Jungle Girl, chapter 10

Just as Kimi had suspected, Julie and Kaitan were setting out to rescue her.

But first, they had to get their new steeds on their side.

Katian pulled the attacker (Logan) along with him, bound in rope vines and stripped of his Mad Max armor. Julie had already taken to his wrist guards with aplomb, which she combined with her taped-up wrists and ankles in anticipation of having to fight the bad guys. Kaitan shoved Logan in front of one of the deer that they intended to ride, albeit with some concerns and nervousness. How Julie had so easily gotten the deer to like her was beyond him. But he suspected that the deer emphasized with her struggle, and decided to help.

He walked up to the first deer, about as tall as he was, with his hand held out. The deer watched him while chewing on the grass it—er, he, because of the buck’s pretty good-sized antlers—had already started to take a liking to. Kaitan was confident in his abilities, but he was a little nervous, and it showed. He respected the buck, walking up to him slowly, but confidently, giving him the same confident expression he gives to all the animals of Greystoke Island and it worked. The buck nuzzled his hand and his chest, allowing the Jungle Dude to pet him.

Julie’s mount had already taken a liking to her, as it eagerly ate the corn pieces out of her hand while she petted him. Kaitan also pulled some seeds out of his belt and fed them to the deer, which it also gladly accepted. “Were you nervous?” Julie asked.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s a deer.”

Logan, the bad guy, rolled his eyes before Kaitan mounted his new steed and then grabbed him and pulled him up onto the back of the deer while sitting his spear on his lap. Julie also proceeded to mount, and kept her sword from falling off her waist, as she had not done this yet. She adjusted herself in her seat while she waited for Kaitan.

And now the preparation was complete. They kicked the sides of their mounts and set off.

Julie already knew the route through the jungle to the Southern Grassland, so she led the way for the first part of the journey. They passed the spring she and Kimi came across, led the deer mounts through the river and finally into the wide expanse of the Southern Grassland.

The remains of Logan’s comrades were in a state of decay and being picked apart by scavengers. A wild dog that had wandered over to the site was chased away by eagles that found a deer carcass to be too good to pass up. Some more of those scavengers ripped Logan’s comrades apart and looked up at him before getting back to their little dinner. Logan gulped as he remembered that nature was sometimes—no, not sometimes, ALWAYS—cruel.

Kaitan turned and pulled on the warrior’s binds and said, “Alright, buddy. You’re the guide, so start guiding us.”

“To the northeast,” Logan replied.

“Generally, or is it due northeast?” Julie asked.

“Generally,” said Logan. “I will tell you when to change direction.”

“Perfect,” said Kaitan. “So… now what?”

“Kick the deer in the side and act like it’s a horse,” said Logan.

“Horrorshow. Let’s go!” Julie said, lightly kicking the deer in the side, spurring it into a brisk, stable trot. Kaitan did the same, and his deer followed suit as they rode to the northeast in the direction of Kimi and the Paradise Village.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The thing Kimi hated most about playing cult acolyte was the part where she had to learn the cult’s ridiculous theology. The “teacher”, if she could be called that, yammered on and on and on to kids a lot younger than Kimi was about how The Captain saved them all, they owed their lives to him, etc., etc., etc. Her voice was so aimed at juvenile minds that sounded completely inane and vapid to the relatively more mature teenager sitting in their midst.

Her so-called teacher seemed to notice this, if the glares she sent Kimi’s way were any indication. She just knew the teacher was suspicious of her. The bored expression she displayed certainly didn’t help her case, and neither did the times she rolled her eyes at some ridiculous claim the teacher made. In a way, it made her think that this might be what Christianity looks like to outsiders. Then she remembered that the teacher was glaring at her again, and thus she sat up straight in her seat. The other kids laughed, which felt embarrassing, to say the least.

“Well, Kimi?” the teacher asked. “What do you know about The Captain?”

“Um, he was a good captain?” Kimi asked. “You said something about him being in the Navy?”

“Yes, I repeated that!” the teacher huffed. “Were you even listening?” Kimi nodded frantically, if only to get the teacher to back off for now. It seemed to work, because she turned her usual blank, brainwashed smile back to the other kids. “Remember, children: The Captain saved us ALL. And he loves us all.”

That’s the fifth time she’s said that, Kimi thought. The teacher wouldn’t know she thought that, because she was sitting straight up and pretending to pay attention. One of the little boys next to her seemed enthralled not by the teacher, but by Kimi. And the boy’s staring was incredibly awkward and just as distracting as the teacher’s boring and banal lecture. The teacher noticed this too, and stopped her lecture to confront the boy.

“Michael?” she asked. “Does the new Seeker interest you more than the story of The Captain?”

“I was just curious!” he said.

“About what?” Kimi scooted away from the boy, feeling incredibly awkward and nervous about the entire situation. The gears in the teacher’s head began to turn, as if she was coming up with some new idea to indoctrinate Kimi. She didn’t notice the guards in their Mad Max outfits approaching Kimi. But she had her target right in her sights.

“Tell me, Kimi,” said the teacher. Kimi had already begun to scratch her nose before quickly reverting back into high school mode and sit up straight. “I heard you were living in the jungle before you Sought us out. What was it like?”

Kimi could see right through the teacher’s intentions with that question. And now it was time to turn the tables. “It’s dull,” she said sarcastically. “It’s nothing but swinging through trees, acting like a monkey and you don’t have anyone telling you what to do.”

Obvious exaggeration is obvious.

But her plan worked. The kids couldn’t tell she was obviously being sarcastic and got excited about the possibility of having no one to tell them what to do. “No one?” Michael, the inquisitive little scamp from before, asked.

“No one,” Kimi replied. For the sake of it, she did not include Julie.

“What else do you do?”

“Hunt. Fight animals. Be wild.”

The kids were getting excited. And Ms. Indoctrinator was getting angry. Or at least cross, since her eyebrows were furled, but her posture hadn’t changed a bit.

“So you take pride in your savagery,” said the teacher. “No wonder you came to us.”

“Yeah,” Kimi replied. “I was getting REAL bored with freedom.”

The teacher narrowed her eyes and focused on the petulant Kimi. This got worse when she said, “And I know Julie the Jungle Girl.”

The kids all gasped and chattered. The teacher had enough and grabbed Kimi by the arm and dragged her away.

Then, the Mad Max blokes walked up to her and grabbed Kimi, then wrapped a blindfold around her eyes and a gag around her mouth. While Kimi tried to fight back, they tied her wrists behind her back. “WHAT are you DOING!?”

“We’re taking her away,” said the leader.

“Leo, this is madness!”

“Captain’s orders!”

“What?”

“I said, Captain’s. Orders.”

The teacher back down and nervously gulped. “I understand,” she said, her voice quivering. “Be on your way, Harold.”

The lead goon—er, Harold—nodded and dragged the still-struggling Kimi over to his deer and mounted it, where he sat her in front of him and set off.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Julie bit down into the fruit and ripped the piece of like she would with raw meat. As she chewed, Logan watched her with several shades of disgust and revulsion. This made her glare at their hostage as well. She had little time for his judgmental opinion of her.

The tree they rested under was the only one in the field for a long distance, save for the tree line in the distance. Claw marks showed where cats had climbed all over it, and a few birds’ nests housed some eggs that Kaitan was inspecting. “Those birds are hearty,” he said to himself before jumping down onto the grassland.

“How can you live like this?” Logan asked.

“Like what?”

“Like savages!”

“We do not!” Julie replied. “We don’t live like savages, we ARE savages!”

“For lack of a better term,” said Kaitan. “Also says the guy wearing grass armor.

Logan glared at the both of them, still apparently unable to comprehend the decisions they made. “And the girl you took was my apprentice,” said Julie. “Unless you already knew that.”

“You said that,” said Logan.

Julie grimaced and looked away. Until she saw how he was looking at her up and down, that is. A mischievous grin appeared on her lips as she could see a mile away that this cult had a few issues with sex and sexuality. So she stretched out, showing off her fit, toned, sexy body while Logan looked away in embarrassment and shame. Kaitan could see what she was doing, and rolled his eyes, while smiling as she flaunted her sexy body to the cultist. She winked at him, blew him a kiss and gave him a seductive look.

“I will not let myself be tempted!” Logan strained. “What are you doing!?”

“I dunno,” she said as she slipped part of her bra strap down her shoulder.

Logan turned away and started to run, but Kaitan tripped him up. After he fell flat on his face, the Jungle Dude put his foot on his back before pulling him up and taking him over to the deer steed. “Julie, we should be going again,” he said.

Julie dropped the juicy fruit and mounted her deer steed.

They set out and continued riding for what seemed like a long time. The expanse of the Southern Grasslands, with few trees and other markers, made it hard for them to really tell how far they’d gone on for. The island itself is rather large, of course, estimated to be either the size of the Big Island or the same area, but not shape, as Long Island. They were used to this, of course.

After some time, they could see something in the distance. They stopped at the top of a rolling hill where Julie pulled a looking glass out of her belt and looked off in the distance. “I see… five of them,” she said. “Looks like they’re moving fast and in our direction.”

“Is it a herd?” Logan asked.

“They’re in some kind of formation,” said Julie. “I think they might be a herd.”

She watched them for a little while longer. As they got closer, she could make out the shapes and the formation. “They’re deer… and someone’s riding them. And they’re wearing the same thing our friend is wearing.”

Logan stirred, and his expression made it clear he didn’t know what was going on. His shrug confirmed this suspicion, but Kaitan and Julie exchanged skeptical glances. Julie started her deer steed in the direction of the incomers, with Kaitan following right behind her. And as they got closer, they could see that they were indeed the same men who attacked Kimi and Julie the previous day.

Speaking of Kimi, she could already tell that she was sitting in front of her captor, but couldn’t exactly seer that, since she was blindfolded, bound and gagged, but she could feel something like the neck of a deer in front of her, and straw armor behind her while holding her in place. But it gave her time to think of a way to get out of this situation as soon as they stopped. And, to her surprise, she felt them coming to a stop so fast they almost threw her forward. The stamping of the deer could be felt, and she waited for it to stop.

“There they are!” the man holding her, Leo, said, with almost sadistic glee. “It’s Julie and Karza!”

The Jungle Couple rode up to the troupe of goons and stopped in their tracks about 5 yards from the enemy. Logan, sitting behind Kaitan, was surprised, but not unhappy. Kimi was blindfolded and gagged with her wrists bound sitting in front of the lead deer with the leader

“Give Logan back!” Leo, the leader, called. His demand this early in the negotiation didn’t give Julie much confidence in what the negotiation held.

“Why do I get the feeling he’s going to try and double-cross us?” she asked Kaitan.

“Give us the girl, first!” Kaitan replied. “We don’t want your friend with us anymore!”

“HEY!”

“NO!” Leo snapped. “Logan, first!”

“WHY?” Julie asked.

“Mind your own business!”

To say this was stupid was an understatement. Hell, even the man’s companions weren’t happy with his defiant antics. One of them even whispered something to him, but he just rolled his eyes and said something to him about not questioning him. “Leo!” Logan called. “Just give them the girl! It’s our fault to begin with!”

“See, even HE knows!” Julie said.

“NO.” Leo said firmly. His mates groaned and one threatened to whack him.

“What’s the point!?” Kaitan asked. “Trying to sound tough or something!?”

“Shut up, Karza!”

“It’s Kaitan!” he snapped.

Julie’s already thin patience was wearing even thinner. “I rode halfway across the island for this?” she muttered to herself.

Even Kimi was getting impatient. While this ridiculous non-negotiation went on, she did her best to try and free herself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t entirely successful. The binding on her wrists were tight, and her hands were positioned in such a way that made it hard for her to even move her hands and wrists, much less pick at the knot. Her low, but audible growl caught Leo’s attention and he grabbed her hair and pulled it back. “Quiet, you little brat,” he growled. “Don’t even think about trying to escape!”

“HEY!” Julie called out while drawing her sword. “Touch her again and I’ll come over there myself!”

“I DARE YOU!”

“What an idiot,” Kaitan muttered. Out of frustration, he grabbed Logan and shoved him off his deer mount. Logan WAS tempted to yell at him, but he saw it a better idea to just run over to his fellow cult members, where he was greeted happily.

“Alright, you got your buddy,” said Julie. “Now give up the girl.”

“Changed my mind!” Leo replied.

Julie was angry. Not a surprised angry, but her suspicions turned out to be true, and that’s what angered her. She kicked her mounts sides and charged at the bad guys, brandishing her sword at them. They immediately turned and ran as soon as Logan was on one of his comrade’s steeds. And Kimi sat on the front of her captor’s steed, struggling to get herself off as best she could.

An idea crossed her mind. She slumped forward, almost hitting her head on the deer’s. When Leo bent down, she promptly sat back up and whacked his head with hers. Leo screamed in pain while she jumped off the steed, landing in a ball as Julie rode past her.

The enemies turned around and charged back to get Kimi. Julie held her sword out and swung it at Leo. She missed as Leo ducked. Kimi could hear them coming towards her. She started to run in the direction she thought was to Kaitan, but the Jungle Dude got to her first. He quickly grabbed his knife and cut her wrist binds before removing the blindfold and gag. Again, she groaned at how bright it was, but was relieved to finally be free of the binds.

Unfortunately for her, Kaitan kicked his steed’s sides and rode in the direction of the attackers. He lowered his spear like a lance and rammed it into the straw armor of one of the oncoming attackers. The spear didn’t penetrate his armor, but he was knocked off the deer steed as it kept running towards Kimi. The Australian girl did jump out of the way in time, and the deer came to a stop somewhere close to her. She watched the deer, and the deer watched her. And watching the Jungle Girl and Jungle Dude do battle with her kidnappers on deerback, she got an idea.

Julie had yet to teach her how to communicate or work with animals. But there’s always a first time for everything and if she had to start working with animals, it might as well be now. In her haste, she lunged at the deer, but its flinching stopped that idea.

To make matters worse, a cult member rode up to her, scaring the deer away until its original rider chased it down and got back on. Kimi was more disappointed and annoyed at her luck than despairing. Especially since Julie rode up to her and stopped right next to her. “Get on!” The Jungle Girl ordered. That was enough for the Australian, and she climbed up onto the back of the deer.

Julie’s skin was soft, but soaked with sweat, and it was awkward having to hold on tightly to the Jungle Girl’s midsection. “Have you ridden a deer before?”

“A horse!” Julie corrected. “It’s close enough!”

Kimi didn’t have time to respond. Julie rode into the melee and slashed at a cult member to knock him off his deer.

“Julie, let’s go!” Kaitan shouted as he rode past his mate. Julie kicked her mount’s sides and followed close behind.

“DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY!” Leo shouted, despite his comrades’ annoyed expressions and they gave chase. With their headstart, the Jungle Trio rode back in the direction they came from, with the cult members in hot pursuit.

Kimi’s heart pounded, and she could feel Julie’s pounding as well. More sweat caked Julie’s skin and Kimi’s buckskin top. She looked back to see the cult members in hot pursuit. Kaitan let Julie take the lead. She urged her steer on. He ran as fast as he could, despite Julie’s efforts and urging, and could not go any faster. Julie angrily hissed not at the deer, but at her misfortune at the gaining cult members while Kaitan looked back and groaned as well. He urged his deer steed on as well and caught up to Julie.

But it didn’t take long for the cult members to catch up to them. Leo rode up to Julie’s right side and reached out for Kimi. Julie pushed his hand away, but he reached for her again. The deer weaved away from the pursuer and got a little burst of speed from the decline in the ground and the wind blowing into its back. Leo shouted at his steed and he followed not long after with the same decline and gust of wind pushing and pulling him closer to Julie and Kimi.

One of the other cult members rode up to Julie’s left side and grabbed Kimi’s wrist. The screams of the Australian girl were right in Julie’s ear and she turned to her left to shove the attacker away. He let go of Kimi’s arm and that allowed Kimi enough time to thrust the heel of her palm into the attacker’s nose, hard enough to destabilize him on top of the deer and he nearly fell off. Kaitan lowered his spear and using it like a lance, knocked the attacker off his mount.

Julie drew her sword and swiped at Leo. He reached back for her sword. She pulled it away and whacked him in the armor, almost knocking him off, had he not had a tight grip on his reins. He angrily reached for Julie’s hair, grabbed it and pulled hard. She screamed as he tugged hard on her long, messy hair, and he would have ripped her right off if she didn’t have a tighter grip on her reins. Kimi instinctively grabbed the man’s arm and bit him.

He screamed as she let go and spit out some of the bits of dead skin she’d got, but no chunks of actual skin. He looked and noticed she hadn’t broken the skin, but the bite marks were deep and hurt like hell. He angrily drew his knife and tried to stab at Kimi. But not before she actually stood on the back of the mount and jumped on top of him, knocking him off his steed.

The others dashed to avoid Kimi and Leo, who faced off in the middle of the field. Julie stopped her mount and turned around. She slashed at one of the cult members and knocked him off his steed. Kaitan followed, raising his spear up to thrust into Leo’s body, but Julie held her hand out to stop him. Looking at Kimi and Leo, he could see why.

Kimi bared her teeth and glared at Leo, all while on all fours in a feral and wild manner. This made Leo gulp in nervousness and Julie and Kaitan watch with pride. It was obvious that modern civilization was becoming a thing of the past to her. And though she wasn’t exactly there just yet, there was no turning back for her. Still, Julie could see a little bit of fear, nervousness and doubt in her eyes as she circled the opponent.

“Don’t be afraid!” she called out. “Let instinct take over!”

“Ha!” Leo scoffed as he drew his knife. “This should be easy!” He lunged at her. She braced herself, but he knocked her over and thrust his blade down upon her face. She grabbed his wrist and struggled to push his arm away. As this went on, Julie and Kaitan re-focused their attention on the other cult members, who’d attacked them. But, Julie did ride past Leo and kicked him off Kimi.

That allowed Kimi to savagely growl and jump on top of Leo. She bit, clawed and stabbed at her former captor, turning from a gentle Australian girl into a bona fide, feral jungle girl. Now Leo’s eyes were filled with fear as he desperately tried to get away from her savagery, but she was not letting him.

Julie pulled her sword out of a cult member’s armor and let loose a mighty roar at the surviving cult members, one of whom was still fighting Kaitan. The Jungle Dude let his own roar loose that spooked his opponent, prompting him to turn and run away as fast as he could. The Jungle Couple roared triumphantly before turning their attention back to Kimi.

She was stabbing at Leo repeatedly without letting up for a second. He struggled to get away in vain, as in her feral state, she was in no mood to show him any mercy. This worried Julie and Kaitan, despite seeing her in this state. But once he started to wrestle with her, things change. It was obvious that he was a better wrestler than her, as he grappled her and shoved her to the ground, where he attempted to pin her and stab her. But Julie and Kaitan rode up to him and knocked him down off of her.

In the finishing touch, Kimi rushed to her feet and scratched the man’s face. He screamed until she tackled him and bit down on his neck before thrusting her knife into the other side.

Julie pulled her off and hid her eyes from the grisly scene. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go home.” She lifted Kimi up onto her steed and rode off.

Their pace was slower now, and it gave Kimi a chance to collect herself after what had just happened. She felt sick to her stomach and let loose a liquid laugh before she knew it. Julie could feel her shuddering against her back. “Hey,” she said. “Are you okay?”

“I just killed a man,” she said with her voice quivering. “I just took a man’s life!”

Julie brought the deer to a stop and dismounted. She pulled Kimi off of the deer and hugged her tightly in an effort to calm her down. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Just let it out. It’s hard, I know. But you did good otherwise.”

She waited until Kimi had finished crying before she let go. “There, feel better?”

“A little,” Kimi replied. “How’d I do?”

“You did great!” Julie said with pride. “You really showed them!”

“Am I a jungle girl yet?” Kimi asked.

“Not yet,” Julie laughed. “But you’re getting there!”

Kimi was happily relieved as Julie threw her arm around her in a sisterly fashion and then helped her up onto the mount.

Though Kimi had passed a major test, her problems were not over just yet. And her first, big problem was heading in her direction on board a cruise ship at this very moment.