Yo hope you enjoy chapter 2 :) i am working very quickly to get my ideas down so please do review and feel free to ask questions :3


After a very uncomfortable night's sleep with Lya jabbing her knees, elbows and Saxophone into my side (honestly she even sleeps with the flipping instrument) I was quite cranky when I decided to get out of bed. It had also been extremely humid in the tent with two bodies in it and I felt icky from sweating buckets. Looking round the room my gaze caught sight of my reflection in the crude mirror; I saw how dreadful I looked

"Ugh." was all I could grunt at myself. Looking like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards was an understatement for sure. Hair sticking oddly in awkward directions that defy gravity and my pyjamas were plastered to me in a disgusting manner. Ripping my eyes away from the horror of my appearance I peeked out of the tent to check if anyone was awake. No sign. It was still early morning and the sky was a mixture of pastel yellows and blues. The jungle, ever restless, rang with songs and activity from all sorts of animals waiting to be studied. I let out my trapped breath and breathed the scent of the magical place I was in, fresh and thick with vegetation. Quickly I kicked of my pyjamas, washed myself with a flannel and a bowl of water before putting on my swimming costume, nothing flashy just a black plain costume, shoving on some shorts and my converse to finish.

"You really wanna get out there don't you?"

I span to see Lya siting on the edge of the bed like sleep had the best cat nap in the history of man. At least one of us had a good night's sleep. She just lay there as chilled as a cucumber, fiddling with her precious instrument. Threading her fingers over the pads of the sax before playing it to make sure the instrument was still working. I tried to tame my mane at the time, enjoying the sound of the jazzy saxophone in the early morning.

After the eighth attempt of shoving my hair up I managed to tame it into a ponytail. Lya had finished playing and gotten changed. "You know I think Dad likes the hot weather. The sax is…. Buttery, yeah, totally rad to play." Lya nodded in her spaced out mumble while tapping the pads.

"Come on, your starting to sound like a sixties throwback." I chuckled "Were supposed to be finding Gorillas today. I'm so excited!" I wasn't lying either. My stomach was writhing with the excitement of seeing wild gorillas in their natural habitat! All too soon I was dragging my dreamy friend out of the tent to see Dad and Mr Clayton already prepared.

"Morning Janie, Lya. Are you ready?" my father asked. He was also perky with the thought of adventure.

"Dad, I'm not 5 years old. I'm Nineteen! Don't call me that," I whined as I heard Lya giggling behind my back. Granted we weren't the most mature people in the world but still using babyish names was embarrassing.

"Oh sorry Darling; forgot you're not my little girl anymore." He teased while stroking his white moustache in contemplation. I rolled my eyes and, for the first time this whole trip I was thankful that Mr Clayton butted in for us to press on into the jungle.

Ok, I like a good story just as much as anyone but Clayton was really getting on my nerves, slicing his way through the jungle without a care that it may affect the wildlife at all and bragging about how Africa was made for-.

He stopped talking. A miracle! Then I heard a gunshot. If I followed the cut path it would take me longer to reach my father and that blithering idiot than just cutting through the intact bamboo. I tucked my sketch book under my arm and plowed strait through the uncut vegetation.

"Professor don't move!" Clayton ordered after my father had started going off into some drivel about Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus.

"Daddy?" I managed to push and shove my way through the Bamboo to see my father in a very wonky, frozen figure "Daddy what's all the hullabaloo about?" I raised an eyebrow at my father before feeling the force of the bamboo come back with a vengeance. With a twang it flung me back onto my arse. I got up and burst through the annoying vegetation to get to my Dad stubbornly. "What is it Daddy?"

He shushed me before going on to explain "Mr Clayton asked me not to move. He saw something," he whispered, his wobbling was gradually getting wilder. I frowned and it took all my composure to keep myself from yelling at the pompous buffoon. I stormed over and just herd my father fall with a thud to the floor.

I tapped the man, who was poking about some vegetation on the back nervously, trying to catch his attention "Er, Mr Clayton, sorry, 'scuse me but my father, friend and I came to study animals in their natural habitat and-" I was cut off but the man with the gun giving me a snooty look. All of the annoyance seemed to back away, leaving me to feel stupid.

"Dude, what she's trying to say is that the shootin' is scaring off the squeakers." Lya popped out of nowhere to sling her arm around my shoulders in a droopy hug as she referred to the animals in her own, dopey way. She was good at saying things I couldn't as bluntly as possible. I smiled and hoped that he had gotten the message.

"You hired me to protect you, your family and friends Miss Porter and protect you I shall." He declared. How thick was this guy's skull! He pointed the gun in our direction and I felt my partner stiffen from her sleepy state.

"And you're doing a marvelous job of it," I replied almost sarcastically and poked the barrel of the gun away from my friend, "but we only have a few weeks before the ship returns and-" my rant was cut off by my father who had started hooting in excitement.

"Jane- I mean Jade, Lya! Do you realize what you're standing in?" he pottered over towards us and gestured towards the ground. "A gorilla's nest!" My father dropped to the ground and I knelt for closer examination before noting in my sketch book. Lya kept standing in her dreamy state and Clayton was behind me, I imagined him rolling his eyes but he seemed to take a genuine interest, kneeling beside me.

"At Last! Our first sign in days." Slightly dramatic but ah well. Maybe he wasn't as thick headed as I thought.

Lya shook my shoulder gently "Jay." She whispered but I was busy investigating.

"Do you think the beast could be nearby?"

Nope! I rolled my eyes at Clayton, the fully redeemed buffoon; oh he was a hunter all right.

"Jade," Lya shook my shoulder harder more urgent for attention "there's a weird dude behind Clayton!"

"Not now." I whispered back to her as my Dad picked up a leaf.

"Could be, there is the evidence." My father muttered, I looked around and gasped at the sight.

"Look daddy, Lya! Over there and there!" I gasped as I shook both of them.

"Yes, more nests!" my father cried victoriously.

"This is amazing sight of an ecosystem!" I felt like leaping up and dancing, this was an amazing discovery indeed. I remembered Lya and looked up "What was that about a man?"

Lya sighed and crossed her arms in a huff, "He's gone now, you missed him." She did have the tendency to have an overactive imagination so I didn't pay much attention. She looked around and noted the surroundings "Hu, Family groups. That's quite cute."

Clayton Laughed "Cute? Excuse me but these are wild beasts that would sooner tear your head off than look at you."

"On the contrary Mr Clayton it is well known that gorillas are highly social creatures-" I began to explain, he looked bored for a second but in a flash he had blasted two holes in the jungle canopy. Birds flew away in a panic, cawing in fright at the gunshot noise.

"Mr Clayton, please," I reminded myself to hold onto integrity while talking to our 'protector' "what if it's a gorilla?"

"It's no gorilla." He murmured while scanning above. We were all quiet for a nervous second before he lurched back into chatting. "Perhaps we should press on." And with that he carried on walking.

"I think I'll stick around here for a while then go chill in camp," Lya yawned "need to catch some z's." the Professor nodded before trotting off behind Clayton. I started following but was hit on the head by something. I jumped,

"Ow," I hissed and rubbed the top of my head.

"Hey it's raining Mangoes." Lya teased dopily before pointing to the fallen fruit on the ground. A little baby Baboon followed is and sat down right in front of us to munch.

"Oh your what's all the fuss is about." I sighed and admired the adorable little thing before opening my sketch book and drawing it.

"Jay I told you it was a dude!" Lya persisted from her previous topic, sounding slightly bored.

"Yeah sure," I replied, to busy concentrating on the Baboon but when I looked back he was gone. I felt a weight on my shoulder and looked over to see the baby. "Here ya go. What do ya think?" I asked the baboons opinion. It seemed to enjoy admiring himself in the sketch before snatching the book and running off. "Hey!" I cried and went after it.

"I can see this now 'The Great Baboon chase'." Lya groaned sarcastically while following me.

"Ya know this is starting to sound a lot like a Disney film." I huffed while collecting papers.

"Shit."

I turned to Lya with a stunned expression "What?" I asked, alert for anything else unexpected today.

"Well it certainly isn't a Disney film now." She explained bluntly, which oddly, made a lot of sense "Shit, shitty, shit, shit." She carried on like an overly chirpy stuck record as I rolled my eyes and followed the trail of paper to find the baby taking apart my sketch book. I picked up the papers around it and frowned.

"Give me that." I demanded the last sheet of paper off it. It waved me away before hugging the sheet. I was not impressed anymore by its adorableness. "Oh come on now enough of this, I want this paper on the count of three. One," is started like a peeved of primary school teacher.

"Girl you're talking to a baboon," Lya chipped in "and you say I'm bonkers?"

"Two," I carried on, realizing this wasn't going to work I pointed behind it and cried "Oh look, bananas!"

The baboon turned and I snatched away the paper laughing a little. It whined and reached out for the paper which I had shoved in my belt "I can't believe you fell for that one."

It stared wailing.

"No, No don't give me those crocodile tears. What would your parents say?"

"Oh shit." Lya repeated.

"You don't have to swear anymore Lya I get the drift-" I started but turned to see a pissed off hoard off baboons, all glaring at me.

"You see I told you they'd be cross." I gulped backing away from them before turning on my heel and sprinting away.


Yo i know our ape-man hasn't been seen yet but he will be in the next chapter i promise :)