Jungle Habitat Part II

Tulip Springs Scout Arena sits nearby the same abandoned amusement park – bivouacs sit scattered between trees as well as tethered teepees. A fire is burnt out between several tents. William and Sam, two mischievous12 year old boy scouts, play with a sharp knife, scraping the bark off of a tree – something momentarily catches their eye. They both look up to see a beautiful blonde college girl run by in messy clothes; tight black leggings, a hooded sweatshirt.  

“Yo, check out that hot chick…” William excitedly says with his jaw dropped.

          “I can’t wait to finger girls…” Sam eagerly replies.

          “You wouldn’t even know what to do…”

Their scout leader appears behind them and grabs the knife out of Sam’s hand. “Guys, come on,” he disappointingly says, “don’t rip bark off of a living tree. You wouldn’t want a tree to rip your skin off, would you?” The two look to the nerdy scout leader bothered as he walks off towards the other young scouts.

          The sun is high in the sky and gives a beautiful glow off the full and vibrant trees. Moments later, the scouts are guided by their leader on a tight and unassuming trail. William and Sam lag behind and then quickly scurry off to hide in the woods. They’ve left the pack to venture off and truly explore.

          The boys playfully run between the sheltering trees – they fight with sticks pretending they’re swords. They approach the rusted gates to the abandoned safari drive-thru. The two inquisitive boys stop and look to each other, then running between the towering rusted gates, and climbing through the small hole within the fence. Sam walks passed an old booth decorated as a treasure cove with monkeys. He sees a glimmering sword on the ground; it beholds emerald within its golden handle. “No way,” Sam smiles ear to ear while picking up the sword as its glossy steel glimmers off of his whimsical face. “William! Check it out!”

          William looks down to him from high above the trees while walking upon a canopy highline. “That’s awesome!”

          “Get down from there – this place is old!” Sam yells to William as he runs along a dilapidated bridge causing splinters and dust to fall to the ground around him. William climbs down the wobbly ladder and then meets with his sword-wielding friend. Crows caw in the trees nearby – their shrill call grows louder and louder.

          “Those monkeys are creepy as hell…” William looks to the tarnished ceramic monkeys decorated on and around the booth – the eyes vividly stare back to them. William looks to the sword, “Can I see it?” Sam ignores him and excitedly runs away to a large tree in the distance. “Come on, Sam – let me try!”  This tree isn’t like any of the others surrounding it; its thick trunk and bare branches hold a sense of darkness, even with the brightest amounts of sun shining upon it a shadow still exudes from within.

          Sam heroically swings the sword, chipping away dense bark from the desolate tree – as it falls to the ground it begins to melt into a viscous puddle and then dissolves back into the soil, becoming one with the habitat. William peers to the tree befuddled – Sam stops swinging and attempts to catch his breath, too perplexed. “What do you think it is?”

          “It’s a door to something…” William replies.

          “No shit. But why’s there a door in a tree?”

          “Maybe the Keebler elves live there…” William quickly whips his bowl haircut from his face as a gentle gust of wind blows.

          “Ow!” Sam cries out. He looks to his arm and there’s a large scrape. “Why did you do that?!”

          “I didn’t do anything…” William defiantly says. A creak causes their ears to stand up – the door to the thick-based tree opens up a crack. The boys nervously look to one and other – Sam inquisitively steps closer to the doorway of the tree. William stares as the branches of the tall shadowy trees sway in the wind like some sort of synergistic ritual-like dance that breaches Nature’s cyclic tendencies.

          Sam opens up the door all the way and then turns back to William. “There’s nothing in there,” he says confused. “It’s empty…”

          The hole that sits within the tree becomes even darker – William notices this and looks to Sam in fright as a leering shadow appears over him. “Funny.” Sam foolishly reads his friend’s face with joking intentions. A decrepit monkey zombie hovers over the boy, foaming from its fanged mouth as the gusty winds that muffle all of the sounds around them begin to calm and all becomes irksomely silent. Scars cover the face of the beast – it’s as if acid was poured upon one side of its mouth – the tendons around its jaw remain visible and connect to its black gums that house the living-dead monkey’s blood-stained fangs.

“Sam, run!” William cries. Sam now feels the fierce breath upon the back of his neck, and before turning around he’s distracted by the quickly lowering branches of the trees in his view, looking to them puzzled. Sam quickly turns around to see nothing and then turns back to see William running off towards the trees that form a cave-live enclosure.

“William, wait!” he screams while looking to the tunnel of the trees getting smaller and smaller – Sam begins to run off but gets stopped by a branch that wraps around his frail arm – he pulls it free and nervously stares in awe. More branches swoop down and begin scratching him, whipping him – they’re taunting him with malicious tendencies. “Stop!” he pleads. “Let go!” Ropes of thorns rise from the ground and entangle him, tightening against his skin and piercing it with each pull of earthly tension, exuding teardrops of blood to pool around the razor-like thorns, only to seep into the vibrant green, vein-like ropes, feeding upon him by way of cannibalistic photosynthesis. “Sam!” he cries for his friend, but William is long gone. Sam’s screams abruptly become halted as small vines impale his lips, stitching them shut.

William runs through the dark trail in fear – he looks over his shoulder and sees the rabid monkey trekking behind him through the woods, panting and drooling, hungry for tender flesh. Upon approaching the booth donning ceramic monkeys that he once verbally shunned, a doorway within it appears to be his only means of potential freedom. He runs to it, opening it and slamming it behind him. Hiding in the darkness he tries to regain his breath through his muffled hands as tears begin to stream down his fearful face. William hears the hungry breathing of the ferocious beast; the sound of the flailing nostrils attempting to sniff out the young boy’s scent sends chills down his spine, but this doesn’t stop him from peeking out through the fine vents of the doorway, only to see the beast standing upon the tabletop like a fierce gargoyle. His nerves and exhausted breath are frantic; for his life depends upon temporal composure. He covers his mouth with his hands. The rabid beast hungrily looks around, spinning its head like an owl; seconds feel like hours as William barely breathes with the hope of not being found. The monster jumps down to the hard ground and then runs off. William eagerly listens as the beast’s pouncing steps grow fainter and fainter. He remains hidden but knows he cannot stay there forever.

“William!” Sam’s voice echoes throughout the forest. William peeks through the doorway and then timidly opens it, poking his head out, and then finally exiting. Sam’s fearful voice continues to echo throughout the woods.

William screams, “Sam! Where are you?” foolishly forgetting that he was just being chased by a wild beast a few moments ago.

Sam hangs from the branches of the tree, wrapped up like a cocoon as his feet drag against the dirt ground. His lips are bloodied and the stitched vines still remain intact despite painfully breaking his lips free from their vice. “I’m at the tree!” he cries.

William anxiously looks around the area as Sam’s voice bounces off of the confines of the forest, not knowing where to look because he now stands at the very tree where Sam was. “So am I!” He frantically looks around him and then sees Sam imprisoned by the vines of the tree in the distance. It’s a mirror of his own vision, watching himself frantically looking around as Sam is tortured by the demonic tree. William’s ears perk up as the door within the tree opens up once again – he quickly turns around to see the inescapable beast. William leaps to run away but the monkey’s long, scarred arm extends and grabs his leg, pulling him to the doorway of the tree; William’s fingernails dig into the dirt. He grabs the sword that they once played with as he’s dragged and the monkey opens its daunting mouth revealing its pulsing fangs that hunger for his blood. William shoves the sword right down its throat – the animal cowers and chokes. William anxiously crawls away and then rises to his feet, running, and then closes his eyes in fear as branches cave around him forming a blackened tunnel. He stops and pants – and then reopens his eyes to see all is normal: daylight, the same strange and deceased amusement park – the tree is just as it is – no sword – no door – just simply an old thick-barked tree. William momentarily stares in shock and then quickly runs off.

Sam watches his friend run away as he himself is trapped in a void of time. “William! William! Help! Help!” he screams as the branches tear into his skin, ripping his flesh, skinning him alive and dropping his outer layer onto the ground, seeping the young boy’s blood into the soil, fertilizing its dark way of being, feeding this mysterious void in reality – all becomes silent.

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