literature

Julie and the Monkey Queen, chapter 1

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Resting in a tree branch, Julie Vidic looked out at the green foliage that extended out as far as the eye could see and thought to herself, this was paradise. This is why she decided to stay on Greystoke Island one-and-a-half years after she came with a research team.

Even when things were dull and unassuming, she always felt that the sheer beauty of her new home was more than enough to remind her that she’d not only made the right decision, but this was the best decision she ever made.

The island, roughly the size of the combined land area of the Hawaiian Islands, plus Long and Staten Islands, was untouched by modern humans only until recently. The only way to find it was to, well, FIND it. You should know that in the jungle girl genre, there’s a lot of crazier things to find than a hidden island.

Today would be one of those days. She just didn’t know it yet.

The 22-year-old Santa Barbara, California-born jungle girl stretched and stood up. A feeling of excitement began to swell inside her. The sun shone on her slightly tanned skin, which covered a slightly toned frame. Slightly disheveled hair in a medium-length pixie cut (because it had gotten a bit too unruly) covered her head. Her face was slender, and framed a par of brown eyes that were filled with excitement. She had gotten to into the whole “jungle girl” thing that she wore the standard-issue jungle girl outfit of an animal skin bikini and loincloth.

She wanted to get moving, so she grabbed a vine began to swing. It had taken some getting used to, but thanks to her boyfriend Kaitan—a young Canadian man about her age who’s been a Tarzan clone since he was 15 on this island—she got the hang of it. It wasn’t exactly like the grand, Johnny Weissmuller-like swings of those old movies. But it got her around the jungle quickly enough.

It was when Julie heard some monkeys chattering that she became curious. They were swinging around the place, heading off in one direction. What the hell was going on? Well, she wanted to find out. Grabbing another vine, she changed directions and began to swing towards the monkeys.

She kept her distance. This did not look good, and that usually meant something bad. She had to deal with things that were bad, so she had to follow. It looked like they were going somewhere. Normally, this would be well, normal, but this was different. Julie noticed how they were acting as if something was drawing them. “The hell?” she asked herself.

The monkeys all jumped down to the ground but she stayed in the trees. She let go of the trunk and started to walk along one of the branches, mimicking the movements of a cat and a monkey. As she got closer, the façade of a stone building could be seen.

“What the hell is a stone temple doing out here?” Julie asked as she approached. She’d never seen anything like this on the island. The Teo Tribe never mentioned anything like this before. While she liked new discoveries, she wasn’t too sure about this.

But it was the place the monkeys were going. She stopped and watched as they surrounded a girl who looked like she was in the Teo tribe… and one woman standing on the top of the building.

The older woman darted about, waving her arms like one of the monkeys. Through the foliage, Julie could see the woman’s dress. She also looked Teo, but the exact nature of the outfit that disturbed her. It was the skin of an orangutan. Now Julie has eaten the animals on the island before. But an orangutan was off-limits. She brought her hand to her mouth and choked.

She decided to stay where she was and watch and wait.

The woman, whom Julie assumed to be like a queen, walked up to the poor girl and slapped her. Julie gasped. How dare she!? She began to seethe in her hiding spot, making some feral sounds that unfortunately for her, caught her target’s attention.

The queenly woman, who was Polynesian, just like the native Teo Tribe, circled around the poor victim, whacking her in her back, hands and legs. “Come on!” she said, “Transform!”

“Oranta, please!” Her victim pleaded. “Stop this!” She too was Polynesian and wore a dress much like a Maori woman would wear. But she was young, perhaps around Julie’s age, if a bit younger.

“But we’re not done yet!” her captor laughed. “It’s only a matter of time until you become a monkey!”

“But I don’t want to be a monkey, Oranta!” her captive pleaded. “How many times do I have to tell you!? PLEASE, let me go!”

“Oh, come now, you must be joking, Unaki!” Oranta replied. “Why should I let you go into the wild, you know it’s dangerous! You are—” she stopped and turned towards the source of the sound. In the distance, she could see a palewoman hiding in the trees. She chattered at the girl, sounding like some of the monkeys that were native to the island.

Okay did the queen lady see her? But Julie wasn’t about to fall for that. Instead, she stayed right where she was and sank among the leaves to hide herself. No decent hunter would expose themselves after being called out. That’s just what their prey wanted! Her next breath was deep and slow. But her heart began to beat faster and her skin, already moist from the humidity, began to sweat a little more.

She heard chattering behind her. A monkey walked up to her. Instead of attacking her though, it looked curious. Julie was caught off guard by the monkey because she was staying still like a predator. She grabbed the monkey and tried to keep it quiet, but instead, she fell out of the tree.

She reached out, grabbed a vine and slowed herself down. But the vine snapped, as it was weakened by her falling. Even after slowing herself down, she still hit the ground hard. But now she found herself surrounded by monkey guards. But she sighed. Things never went easy.

She grabbed her Bowie knife and looked around at the guards surrounding her. More of them came out. They were like something out of Planet of the Apes, half-human, half-ape/monkey mutants who didn’t belong in a zoo, so much as the wild. And there were a lot of them.

“Oh, shit,” Julie muttered under her breath. Fifty monkeys wasn’t exactly something she wanted to see. She needed another strategy.

“HEY! What’s going on here!?” she called out. “Who are you?”

Ortanga stormed down the steps of the temple, fuming at Julie. “How DARE you interrupt us!” she bellowed. “GET HER!”

The monkey guards swarmed her. Julie was caught off guard by their numbers. She fought as hard as she could, but in the end, the numbers game was her downfall. She tried to get her knife from the small monkey, but she was unable to get it. The guards’ superior numbers was enough to bring her down. They forced her to the ground and grabbed her arms, dragging her over to their leader.

She fumed while the monkeys brought her to their queen. She glared at the queen and ripped her head away from her. “What are you doing with her?” Julie asked, since the queen had not asked for her name.

“You have some nerve, palewoman!” Oranta snapped. “Tell me your name this instant!”

“NO!” Julie replied.

Oranta huffed and gestured to one of the guards. Julie felt the sting of a slap to her right cheek, but she looked back up at Oranta even more defiantly. “What do you think you are doing, wild girl?” Oranta asked. “Trying to play hero like those Teo Tribe legends?”

“I guess you could say that,” Julie replied. “When I see someone in trouble, I’ve gotta do something. And I’m going to help that girl.”

“I was merely trying to help her,” Oranta replied. “The jungle is dangerous, she needs to be controlled. Who knows what she can do with those abilities of hers? Now then, it looks like I might have some use for you as a slave, you feisty little human! What is your name?”

“Slave!? Aw hell no, you monstrous bitch!” Julie shouted while struggling against the monkeys. “No way in hell am I telling you my name, and I will not be your slave!”

She had enough and backhanded one of the monkeys, and the other. She jumped up and put up her dukes and threw a punch at Oranta.

“My name is Julie!” she said defiantly. “I may be new here, but don’t assume I’m some weakling!” She threw an impressive kick that struck Oranta in the cheek and followed it up with a punch to the monkey queen’s gut. “You there!” she called to Unaki. “Are you alright?”

Unaki moaned. Julie found an opening and ran up the steps of the stone building to where Unaki was laying on the ground. She was covered in tattoos—temporary, from what she could tell by their smudged appearance—and a few bruises. “I’m sorry,” Julie said. “Hold on, I’ll get these ties off.”

Getting them off was surprisingly easy. The knots weren’t too tight, so it was like untying a shoelace. When she got the girl free, she lifted her up and threw her arm around her shoulder to keep her steady. “Can you stand?” she asked in the Teo language.

The other girl looked at her like she’d just seen the Virgin Mary. “Yes,” she replied. “I think so.”

“Then stand,” said Julie. She let the girl back on her feet. And to Julie’s relief, the girl was able to stand without any help.

Several monkey guards ran up the steps of the temple. Julie punched and kicked them away, leading the girl down the steps. When they got to the bottom, the girl started to run away, but not before Julie called out for her to stop.

“What are you—”

“Not without my knife!” Julie said as she grabbed her knife and kicked Oranta in the side. “LET’S GO!” She and Unaki took off, running from the mass of monkeys that were following them. But the two were faster on land.

“Any escape ideas?” Julie asked.

The girl looked around. They were now in the mass of trees surrounding the stone temple, which were thick enough for the monkey guards to lose them in. The girl was in a considerable hurry, but Julie tried to keep her charge calm. “Hey,” she said. “Calm down.” She gently touched the girl’s shoulder. It was when the girl looked at her, she finally grasped the situation about how frightened and maybe traumatized she was.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said. “But I need to get away from Oranta as fast as I can.”

“Oh, so that’s her name?” Julie asked. The girl nodded.

“She has some… terrible ideas,” she said. “Do you know where we can go?”

“There’s either a village or a research camp around here,” said Julie. “But I may have lost my bearings.” She looked around to try and find either one. But then she remembered something. “Oh, jeez, I’m so sorry! I didn’t get your name! My name’s Julie, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Unaki,” the girl replied. “I am of the Paea tribe.”

“Paea?” Julie asked. “I think I’ve heard of them. Come on, we need to go.”

She grabbed Unaki and took off running. The two dashed through the foliage, occasionally splashing their bare feet in the water to get rid of their scent in case Oranta had someone following them. Soon, Unaki started to lead Julie in a different direction. The NorCal girl didn’t say anything, but kept following Unaki until they stopped in a clearing.

“What is this place?” Julie asked. “I don’t think I’ve even been to this part of the island!” It’s not surprising, given how big the island is.

“But there are bees this way,” said Unaki.

“Bees!?” Julie shouted. “I hate bees! But now that you mention it, there might be someone among the researchers who might be able to help!” She looked around, trying to find something—anything—familiar. She smiled once she found it.

“That tree!” she said, “I know where we are! Come on, we’re going to meet some friends of mine!” She took Unaki by the hand and began to lead her in the direction she was talking about.

“Are we going to the Teo Tribe?” Unaki asked. “Are you sure that is a good plan?”

“Yes, the Teo Tribe,” Julie said once the two stopped. “Don’t worry, they’re wonderful people. If I explain things to the Teo Tribe, they’ll leave you in peace. I already know someone who lives in the jungle, and they don’t care regardless.”

“Are you sure?” Unaki asked, her uneasiness showing.

“Don’t worry,” said Julie. “Come on, let’s take the trees!” She climbed up in a tree and waited for Unaki to follow. When the other jungle girl had followed, Julie grabbed a vine and began to swing in the direction of the Teo Tribe’s village.
Okay, so Julie the Jungle Girl is sort of my attempt at reconstruction/giving a new twist on the classic pulp genre, the jungle girl. Basically, I'm bringing it into the modern era while removing elements such as the girl growing up in the jungle (if you knew anything about feral children, you'd know what could happen) and potentially problematic elements (just guess).

Julie is sort of like a modern-day Jane Porter. She's from California--Santa Barbara, to be exact--and really likes living in the jungle. But she also uses body care products, because she's used to them. But, whatever.

So this is sort of the opening chapter of one of these. I know it's a little rushed, but I wanted to get this out. Let me know what you think of it, okay?

And also, if you're looking for any shit that I feel is "disgusting", like what Oranta was trying to do to poor Unaki, FUCK OFF!!!!
© 2015 - 2024 BigD1987
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kaaslave's avatar
Personally, I think IRL jungle girls (and boys) would be really hairy and stink to high heaven.