Into the jungle
Summary: A team of reseachers has vanished in the jungle of the Federal Republic of the Kongo. Scully, Mulder and a few others are sent to look for them. But soon their search for the team turns into the search for an ancient secret.
Category: Adventure plus UST or maybe even MSR.
Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me, I just borrowed them to play around a little. Of course, no infringement is intended.
A/N: This story is also available in german, but it has a different title – "Tshuapa". Don't get scared away, if Mulder and Scully don't appear right from the start!!! They'll be in the story from chapter 3 on!!! Hopefully, you all enjoy accompanying Mulder and Scully into the jungle!
Enjoy!
1. Camp of an american expedition party/ Kongo basin, Federal Republic of the Kongo/ Saturday 9.34AM
Oh my gosh, it's so hot! Thought Phillip McCarthy and took off his hat to wipe away some beads of sweat off of his forehead. He was sitting in front of his laptop, feeding it with the latest data about their current findings concerning the behaviour of Kongo's mountain gorillas. Next to him, Chucky, a tame squirrel monkey and the expedition's mascot, was playing with some of Phillip's pens. Phillip and his group have been in the Kongo basin since three months now, and everyday was like the first day – there was always something new to discover.
The background sounds of the green rainforest surrounding him, have yet become an ever existing usualness. But he looked up and scanned his surroundings, nevertheless. He was sitting in front of his laptop, surrounded by a forrest so much older than the technology that kept his little computer running. He finished writing his report about research results and started to draw up the daily report he had to sent to the expedition's sponsor Net Technology and to the university of Berkeley in San Francisco. Like everyday. He hated doing it. He'd rather spend time with his colleagues close to the gorillas, studying and documenting their behaviour and social structures. Phillip sighed and wiped again some sweat off of his forehead. But as the leader of the expedition, there were also tasks that were more administrative. His heart made a little extra jump as he send the daily reports via e-mail to the United States, so maybe he could still join his friends. But too late … as he got up he heard their voices in the distance.
Not even a minute later, they appeared in the clearing and walked towards the camp. Frank Blackwood, Phillip's best friend and veterinarian of this expedition, headed straight for one of the cold boxes to grab himself something to drink. Right behind him were Jenny Levinson, the official photographer, Walter Chairman, the paleobotanist, Mara Dales, the anthropologist and Geoffrey Potter, the represantative of Net Technologies, followed by some of the local kongolese leaders and bearers.
Chucky jumped up onto Phillip's shoulders, as he was approaching his exhausted friends. "Hey, you're here already!" He said and looked into their faces.
"Yep!" Answered Frank, straightened his strangely colored hawaiiian shirt and took another sip from his water bottle.
The others passed Phillip and headed straight for the fire and cooking place.
"Why are you already here?" Phillip asked again and looked after them.
Jenny got rid of her camera and placed it next to her on the red soil. "The gorillas have been really restless today. I don't know why." She said and got hod of a plate only to fill it with today's soup.
"And in addition, Buttercup is missing!" Stated Frank and came to a halt next to Phillip.
The others nodded.
"She wasn't with her group?" Phillip enquired.
Mara shook her head no and started to fondle Chucky. "No. No trace of her so far." She said and strolled over to eat something as well. "We assume that Buttercup's dissappearance has something to do with the group's unrest."
Phillip joined the others on the ground. "Maybe she's back by tommorrow. Let's be happy, and think of it in a positive way … you're done with work for today." He reached out and grabbed a piece of bread, chewing on it pleasurably, as Geoffrey addressed him.
"Phillip, did the investors mention a date, when we have to terminate the expedition?"
"No. I just sent the daily report and asked that myself. We'll know more by tommorrow."
Mara sighed clearly audible and everyone looked at her at the same time.
"What is it?" Asked Phillip.
"Oh … nothing … I just … imagined me being in a hot bathtub, fully covered with bubbles, using shampoo and conditioner and …!"
Jenny joined Mara's sighing and brushed through her short blonde hair. "Oh yeah!"
The guys were just shaking their heads. Women!
The tents of the party members were set up around the center of the camp, the fire place. Lots of boxes and cases filled with equipment and food were standing without any order everywhere within the camp. This expedition was financed by the university of Berkley and a huge firm from Silicon Valley, hoping to enlarge the knowledge of the mountain gorillas living within the Kongo basin. It hadn't been a very easy task to get a permission for this expedition to the Kongo basin for the kongolese authorities were more than distrustful towards foreign expedition parties. But at long last, their trip had been granted.
Some time later
Phillip combed his thick black hair with his fingers as he took a look at the photos Jenny had given to him. She was lying in his arms, stroking his chest, because they were not only partners concerning work. "Jen, these pictures are very good!" He looked at the next photo – a shot of Buttercup – und thought he was seeing something in the background, hiding behind some shrubs. "Jen, what's that?"
Jenny brought herself to an upright position and took the photo from him. "What do you mean?"
Phillip showed her what he ment, what he thought he was seeing. "That's what I mean! Looks like another gorilla."
Jenny shook her head in disbelief. "No way. The group consists of 8 animals. Elvis, the only alpha male, would never accept another one into his group! It has to be a reflection of light or some kind of shadow from a tree on this picture, Phillip!"
Phillip nodded, because he knew Jenny had to be right. A gorilla male like Elvis would instantly kill an intruder. Jenny snuggled closer and he stroked her blonde hair, not only to calm her but himself as well. "Yeah, probably."
The camp was quiet by now. Mara and Geofrrey had gone sleeping and Frank played cards with Walter. The locals, always forming an own group, were sitting in the distance, talking quietly. Just the sounds of the forrest and its animals was louder than their whispering. Colored birds were sitting in the trees singing their songs and the last sunrays formed interesting patterns on the red soil, while the thick and heavy odour of the humid earth was everywhere.
Finally, there was some action within the "local group". Some Kongolese stood up and headed for the river.
Only a short time later Nadu Nkebe approached Phillip. Nadu was able to speak english and was one of the local leaders employed by the expedition. For an african, he was quite tall and muscular and a very positive character trait was his calmness in precarious situations. But now, he was running exitedly towards Phillip. "McCarthy!"
Phillip got up and Jenny joined him, both waiting for Nadu to speak. "What's up?"
"The men … they wanna go! They say, they're afraid, this place frightens them, they have to get away quickly!"
Phillip shook his head in disbelief. "Why? Tell them that we need them. On top of that, we already paid them!"
"You don't understand, McCarthy! These people are very superstitious. They think something bad is gonna happen."
"Okay, so tell them, they won't be paid anymore."
"Even money won't bring them back."
With panic in his eyes, Phillip watched as the last men dissapeared from the clearing and stepped into this impenetrable green walls. "Nadu, you have to talk to them! They'll listen to you. Without them we're stuck here."
Nadu understood. He turned around and rushed off towards where the last men had entered the rainforrest, leaving Phillip and Jenny alone.
Mara and Geoffrey, awoken by the trubble and noise Nadu had caused, creeped out of their tents and headed over to Phillip, Jenny and the others. "Hey, what's going on?" Asked Geoffrey and pulled his shirt to the right places.
Phillip nodded towards the direction of the river. "The locals … they're pushing off!"
"Why?" Did Mara want to know, catching her brown hair with an elastic ribbon.
"Nadu says, they're afraid." Explained Jenny.
"But afraid of what?" Asked Geoffrey back, but all Phillip could do was shrugging his shoulders in return.
"Hopefully, Nadu can bring them back. Without any bearers, we won't be able to get our whole stuff back." Phillip sighed, casting an eye over the scattered boxes.
In the meantime, Frank and Walter had joined Phillip and the others. The camp had been abandoned. It wa just them and everything seemed so quiet and unbelievably calm. But then suddenly a loud scream sliced through the silence, coming from the direction of the river. Jenny and Mara winced and Walter ran over to where his rifle was lying.
"What was that?" Walter asked.
Everyone was shrugging their shoulders and looking into each others eyes, as suddenly Nadu appeared on the dar end of the clearing, waving towards them and signaling them to come. "McCarthy, hurry, come on!"
They all ran towards Nadu and followed him into the primeval forrest.
"What the hell is going on?" Asked Frank, who had reached Nadu first.
"Look for yourselves!"
After a few hundred metres of running through green lianas, trees and shrubs, they stepped onto the bank of a jungle river. They could all see the gathering of the locals only a few metres ahead. Mara and Walter exchanged worried looks and as they reached the spot, the locals made way, so they could look at what the river had washed up the shore. Lying there were Buttercups bloated and disfigured remains.
Jenny looked away. There was not much left of the gorilla female. Just a few intact bones, the skull, but the rest had been beaten up badly.
Frank kneeled down and took a closer look at the remains. "That's definitely Buttercup."
Walter shook his head. "But … who did this? Who could have done this? Just look at the remains. Just yesterday we have seen her with the group, and now?"
Frank nodded in agreement. "Phillip, do you know an animal, that does something like that? Attacking a fully-grown gorilla?"
Phillip shook his head no.
"But there has to be some kind of animal that did this. It weren't humans." Mara stated, still looking at the once so fascinating gorilla girl.
"And how do you know that?" Asked Phillip. His first thought had been poachers.
"Humans catch gorillas to lock them up in zoos. Why should they kill them? They have nothing of value like ivory or an unique fur. So why? Why should it be humans?" Mara asked the others, running her hand over her face.
"Maybe something went wrong while catching her and they had to kill her." Walter threw into the circle.
"No." Nadu raised his voice.
Everyone was looking at Nadu. But Geoffrey was the first to speak. "Sorry?"
"We would have heard the shot. Surely." Answered Nadu.
Jenny swallowed and looked around. "But why did the poachers kill her right under our noses. We could have caught them. Poachers would never risk that."
Frank nodded in agreement. "Jen is right. So, we agree that this had to be done by another animal!"
The locals in the background mumbled and shot frightened and mistrustful glances over to where Buttercup was lying.
"But there is no animal around here that attacks gorillas." Phillip said.
"So it was her own group. Maybe she was hitting on another gorilla male and Elvis finished her off." Walter conjectured but got kicked to his rips by Mara.
"Oh stop it. Gorillas are meek. They would have expelled Buttercup but they would have never killed her." Mara defended herself and Buttercup.
Everyone layed their eyes back onto Buttercups remains that Jenny covered with her shirt. "But it had to be someone and we should better know who, because maybe there are not only gorillas on his list!" Jenny said and look into every face.
Late afternoon
They had buried Buttercup close to the camp and were now sitting all gathered around the fire place. The sun had started to set and they were just waiting for Nadu to get back to them, telling them the decision of the locals. Everyone was silent, minding their own business.
Geoffrey started his videocamera and repaired something with a little screwdriver. Chucky was hopping and jumping from box to box, grabbing a banana, as Nadu appeared from somewhere. Walter and Phillip got up.
"So? Are they going to stay with us?" Asked Phillip.
Nadu didn't need to say something, his face told the story. "No."
Phillip threw his hat angrily down to the soil. "Damn it, but why?"
"McCarthy, you don't understand. They think they know, who killed Buttercup and want to get away."
Now, everyone was looking at Nadu.
"They know, who killed her?" Asked Geoffrey and got up.
Nadu nodded.
"Who?" Mara looked into Nadu's eyes questioningly.
"They believe it were the bad spirits … and that you have awaken them."
"Oh boy, that's nonsense!" Phillip called out.
"Just because you don't believe in it, doesn't mean it is nonsense, McCarthy!" Nadu glared at Phillip.
"Who cares about who is responsible or if this is nonsense. Fact is, we'll lose our bearers. And without bearers, no departure!" Stated Frank and rubbed his face with his right hand.
"Then I tell Berkeley and Net Technologies with our next mail that they should take care of the bearer-problem and get us new ones, after all …" Phillip was interrupted by a loud and heart-wrenching scream, coming from the river.
And right after that they heard screams of fear. Everyones heart stooped beating.
"What the hell is going on?" Asked Jenny and closed the distance to Phillip.
"It's coming from the river!" Said Walter and once again reached for his rifle.
Everyone was looking into each other's eyes and then they all headed for the river again, only this time nearly everyone was carrying a weapon or at least an anaesthetization gun. But as they reached the shore they could see nothing. Everything was strangely quiet and calm. Too calm. The birds had stopped singing and nothing was going on. Everything was holding their breath, even nature. There was the packed boat of the locals ready to dock. But no trace of the locals. Their hearts were racing fast.
"What happened?" Whispered Frank and exchanged glances with Nadu, who was keeping an eye on the edge of the forrest. "How can 12 people just vanish?"
Nothing happened. Everything stayed quiet. No wind, no noise, as if time stood still.
"Walter, Nadu, Geoffrey and I are going to check out the suroundings. Jen, Mara and Frank, you stay here!" Ordered Phillip and released the safety catch of his gun.
The river floated by steadily, as Jenny, Mara and Frank used the shrubs for cover.
"That's not good." Said Mara and searched Jenny's eyes.
"Be quiet!" Ordered Frank.
Time passed but Phillip, Walter, Geoffrey and Nadu didn't come back.
"Damn it, where are they?" Asked Jenny, while her body and voice were trembling heavily.
"We have to look for them!" Suggested Frank and creeped out of the shrubs.
The women nodded and also left their coverage.
"We'll follow the river." Whispered Frank and approached the shore.
Still, nothing had changed the strange silence. The loudest noise was the crackle of sand underneath their shoes. Frank always looked over to the edge of the forrest, while Jenny and Mara looked everywhere else. Dead calm, which made Mara's horrible scream even more horrid. Frank and Jenny winced and whirled around to see what had happened. Mara's eyes were directed towards the river and that's when Jenny started screaming uncontrollably, too, falling to her knees.
Four lifeless bodies were floating in the river, passing them by. Even Frank had to swallow hard and dropped his rifle as he recognised Phillips black hair. Next to Phillip were Walter, Geoffrey and Nadu.
With Mara's and Jenny's hysterical screams, they didn't notice the danger lying in wait. Not far away.
It slowly crept towards them and took Frank first, striking him so hard that his neck broke. He was dead in an instant. Jenny and Mara screamed to the top of their lungs. They were alone. And now it was there, coming to kill them. Mara and Jenny started to run towards the camp. But it was right behind them and it was faster. Mara stumlbe over a root and was suddenly yanked into the jungle. The last thing Jenny heard of her was a dreadful scream.
Sobbing and running, Jenny arrived the camp. Insane because of the fear, she reached for Phillip's laptop and started it. She looked over her shoulder … but nothing was there. As if nature was once again holding its breath. Everything was quiet again. She started crying uncontrollably, begged and prayed for help. And once again she looked up to make sure nothing was there. But there it was again. Running directly towards her. She was lost. Jenny didn't even notice as her skull cracked.
- End of chapter 1 -
A/N: Well, what do you think? I'll post the next two chapters right away, so you can all decide whether or not it's worth writing on. I'd really like to hear your opinions, either good or bad. I'm apologising for my language, I'm not a native speaker.