I worked on this in my spare time and it is finished. All of it. I'll put up one chapter this week and then add another next week.
I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own the 2007 movie. I do own my OC's.
[This has been edited thanks to the help of rookblonkorules]
Light shines through the dry straw ceiling as the sun rises in the jungle. Melissa opens her eyes when open drifts over her eyelids. She sits up on the wooden frame and thin mattress. The house is small and cramped, but it is what the villagers had lent her and her group for the night. She stands up and selects her jacket from the chair in the corner and walks across the dirt floor to the door. She opens it, walks out of the confined space, and stretches her sore muscles.
Houses like the one she was in dot the cleared space in front of her. Larger buildings for other purposes are seldom, since each family does their own things in their houses. Villagers are already bustling about their daily lives. Melissa looks up and sees the sun peeking over the tall jungle trees to the East of the village.
Melissa and a group of her friends have been traveling the Central American jungle. They are all experienced hikers and in their mid twenties. Each village they come to, they stay for a day and continue on. This village, like the last one, have been warning the group about staying too long. But Melissa and her friends will risk it, since the next stop may not be as nice as this one.
Melissa sees her group under a tree a few paces away. The her house is near the edge. She walks over and greets them, "Alice, Melchora, Brandon. How are you all doing?" Melissa looks around, noting someone is missing, "Where is Felipe?" She asks.
"We don't know. He's probably frightened of the snake he saw before heading off to bed last night," Melchora suggests. Sometimes they wonder why Felipe even came. He has been jumping out of his skin the whole trek, and they've already been out here for a week. They started in the south and are trekking up to the north, with a friend that didn't want to come waiting to pick them up in Mexico.
"This whole thing is exciting! But Felipe puts it in perspective for all of us. It is dangerous out here," Alice says, ever the optimist. She stands up for anyone, seeing the good and bad of every situation.
"Did you guys here the stories around here? A few people mentioned.. la Fantasma de la Selva," Brandon whispers the Spanish name.
"The ghost of the jungle?" Melissa asks, translating, "I don't think it exists."
"Why not? I heard the last village we passed say something like it. They were attacked and then something, mysterious, showed up and saved them," Alice adds.
Melissa rolls her eyes, "Did any of them see this 'ghost'?" Alice shares a look with Brandon before they both shake their heads. "Right. No evidence. Well, I'm going to get Felipe out." She walks away and her friends start talking again about the food, or the ghost again. Something.
Melissa walks to the building next to her house. This one is larger than hers. She would have stayed there too, but there wasn't enough room for an extra person. She walks through the door and sees the three sleeping bags on the floor her friends were using. There is a curtain going to the one bedroom, which Felipe had claimed.
She pushes it back and steps through. "Hello?" Felipe asks, looking up with half lidded eyes. Melissa rolls her eyes for the second time this morning.
"It's Melissa, Felipe. Gotta come out now. You are the last, again," she sighs. He shudders at the thought of going back into the jungle.
"I'll be right out."
"Why did you come, Felipe?"
"..I wanted to be near you. We've always been close to where the other is.. I didn't want to wait until you got back."
"I love you too little brother," Melissa calls as she walks away. Felipe is her younger-by-one-hour twin. Her mother remembers that well. Melissa hears a bang come from the main yard when she enters the main room again. "Felipe, stay here."
"But you said-"
"Trust me." Melissa walks to the door of the house and pushes it open. When Melissa steps out, there is a gun pressing against her temple. "Who are you?" She asks in Spanish.
"Protection, you?" He asks. She grabs the barrel of the gun and shoves it away. It goes off, not harming anyone. She kicks him in the stomach, using the gun as balance. He lets go of the gun and she tosses it away. She elbows him hard in the chin. He drops to the ground, groaning.
"Just visiting," Melissa answers.
"We don't need problems," another person says behind her, also in Spanish. He grabs her arms and pulls them behind her back. She uses her free foot to kick him in a very soft spot. He groans audibly, but doesn't let go.
"Feisty," Melissa looks up at a big guy. He's obviously the leader of this band of thieves. He has a jungle green cap on and his jacket matches the color. His beard is scraggly and dirty. She glares at him. "You are, American, yes?" He asks, with a limited English vocabulary. She just glares at him. He comes closer. She readies her foot for an attack, but he steps on top of her toes before she can do anything. "You are pretty, senorita," he comments. She struggles to get away. His breath is right in her face and she doesn't like it. "Look in the houses," he commands, reverting back to Spanish.
Three guys, including the one that Melissa had socked, go through the village with guns. They find food, valuables, and anything else that they think is of any use. They pile it by a truck. The villagers don't do anything. They just watch and hold their children close.
'Why don't they do anything?' Melissa wonders.
"No! Let go of that!" One of the women of the village is tugging a vase away from one of the men.
"Mama!" Her little boy in a brown cowboy like hat runs over to help. But he's grabbed and pulled away. "Mama! Help!" The thug with the vase grabs the woman's wrist and drags her with him.
"'Ey boss," one says. The big guy walks away from Melissa, and she puts up a struggle more now that she has her feet free.
"Let go!" The woman is tossed into the center of a loose circle made by the scared villagers. The thugs laugh.
"We thank you for the generous donation for the continued protection of your village," the leader says, smirking. He eyes a gold necklace around her neck, "After all-" he swipes the jewelry away, "-the jungle can be a dangerous place," and chuckles as the final pieces are put in their truck. The boy is let go and he runs to his mom.
"Mama!" Melissa kicks the guy holding her again and he let's go this time. She runs at the leader to force him to give the necklace back. But two of his men turn on her with their guns and shoot. Melissa hears screams and she looks down at her body. There are two new holes, one on her left bicep, the other through her right shoulder. The pain is distant at first, but then it rushes onto her and she collapses. One of the thugs picks her up and she's tossed over his shoulder.
"Melissa!" Felipe yells. Melissa wants to tell him to stay back, but she can't. The pressure on her shoulder is too much. She hopes the others are alright. They all get on the truck and she is thrown in the back with a couple of the thugs. They tie her wrists together, not like she'll do anything. Then they drive off. Melissa struggles against the pain, but soon she becomes uneasily warm and faints from blood loss.
I added more to the beginning scene of the movie. Figured that it would be an interesting idea.
It came from, 'What if there was a tv show about Leo's time in the jungle?'
They should have continued those movies, and given us fans a jungle story. We don't know what happened out there. It must have been quite an adventure.