Okay, here is the second chapter of "Wild Jungle", I promise more action in future chapters… I just need to get the story straight before I really start anything. And thanks to 'halospartain' for the review, don't worry, this story won't turn into a drama/tragedy… too depressing for my taste…

Anyway! Enjoy the new chapter, and I'll upload chapter 3 as soon as I can!

Chapter 2: First meeting

Cornelia and Emilia had been running around for the last hour, showing the new flute to every single person at the camp site. Even Henry, who had complained about wasting money and simply walked off in the same irritated manner he always did after having a conversation with the young girl.

Though most girls wound be sad about is reaction, Cornelia had smiled and told her mother that Henry had been jealous of her. The comment had made the woman through another fit of giggles and Henry had sent a deadly glare back at the little girl, as it seems he had heard her remark.

Looking up at the sky, Cornelia began to grow anxiously aware of the fact that darkness would soon be spreading across the jungle. This would mean that she wouldn't be able to go explore the area if they didn't go soon. The seven-year-old wanted to see if she could spot some of the animals her father had told her about, like the Parrot, the iguana and maybe one of the different types of butterfly that lived here.

"Mommy! I want to go exploring now!"Cornelia shouted at her mother in an urgent manner, she wouldn't miss this chance and wait until the next day and her mother should have known that. "Yeah, I guess we can't wait much longer." Emilia agreed while looking at her wristwatch. "Could you wait here while mommy goes to get the other sweetie?"

The girl nodded eagerly, she wanted to go with her mother, but it would go faster if she didn't have to keep track of Cornelia while collecting her co-workers. While waiting, Cornelia lifted up her flute from where it hung around her neck and held it up in front of her. Studying it, she turned it from side to side with a light smile on her tugging on her lips. She really loved her gift; it was really pretty and the fact that her mother had gotten it for her made her love it more.

After about five minutes, Emilia came back together with five of her co-workers, one woman and three men. "Cornelia this is Sarah, Rodney, David and Miles." Her mother introduced all of the people behind her as they all either waved or nodded to Cornelia as their name was said.

Sarah was a tall woman with natural red hair that was tied up in a pony tail just like Emilia's and was gifted with a rare pair of green eyes, which were shielded behind a thin pair of glasses. Rodney had a dark toned skin and looked like he was older than the others, maybe about fifty years in age. He also had an aura about him that told all in the camp respect him, either for his wisdom or his strength. David, a younger man about twenty-five years old, had dark brown hair. He looked the most laid back guy among the people in the group, with his hands in his pockets and his eyes only half-open.

Last in line stood a tall guy that was almost at the same height as Rodney, who reached up to 6,2 feet when standing straight. Cornelia had to cock her head a long way back to see his face, seeing as she was roughly four feet tall. He had messy dark blonde hair and a grin on his face that indicated his child-like attitude… Cornelia smiled to herself; she was going to like this one.

"Nice to meet you, little lady," Miles greeted before he turned back to Emilia. "We were allowed to wander around the area, but we had to be back within one hour before it gets dark."

The woman nodded in agreement and turned to her colleagues with a serious expression, "Okay, You all know the rules; we stick together and don't go wander off on our own. Is that clear?" After every person had called out a "yes", Emilia turned her head down to Cornelia "That goes for you too, don't go wander off on your own." Cornelia saluted to her mother in a serious manner that made the other grow-ups smile.

Emilia nodded with a familiar smile placed on her face, "Okay, let's go."

It had been forty-two minutes since "The wild and free explorers", as Cornelia had named them, set out on their little journey. So far they had encountered multiple birds and small animals, Miles had even spotted a chameleon inn a tree, and now he and Cornelia was chatting together like excited kids. Cornelia could be excused, since she was a kid. Miles on the other hand was surprised to be twenty-nine, but acted like an easily amused child.

"It was probably three feet long! Did you see how it changed the colors on its skin?" Miles exclaimed towards Cornelia on his right side who replied with an even louder voice, (if possible,) "Yeah! It was 'this' big!" She shouted holding out her arms as far as she could while keeping her eyes on her new found friend.

"No way, Shorty! It was at least 'this' big!" the Dark blonde man replied holding his hands further out than her own hands could reach. Cornelia calculated the reach between her arms and soon got an annoyed look on her face. She then tried to reach her hands out further, something her short arms weren't capable of. Miles snorted, desperately trying not to laugh out loud, something that would definitely offend the girl.

Sarah and Emilia was walking side by side in front of the two 'children' in their group, discussing different subjects, mostly about their work while they were stationed out here and what plants and animals they were hoping to see. David was walking behind the others with the same bored expression he always seemed to have, glancing at the surroundings from time to time.

Rodney, who had been walking in front of the group suddenly halted and put his hand up as a sign for the others to stop too. Doing as requested, all the members of "The wild and free explorers" stopped in their tracks, sending a confused glance toward the elder man's back. He tilted his head right and left in a slow observing manner.

"Why did we stop?" Cornelia voiced out what every person in the group was wondering. Rodney tilted his head to his left, looking back over his shoulder to look at everyone behind him, "Don't you hear that?" he asked in serious tone which made everyone look around while trying to locate what they were all supposed to hear.

Miles suddenly tensed and took a protective step towards Cornelia as all humor fell from his face and his body fell into a defensive position. "The animals in the area have fallen silent, meaning something is nearby…" the blonde explained for the others that hadn't noticed what the elder man had been trying to say.

David had dropped the lazy attitude and fell into a defensive position like the blonde and turned his back to Miles to be ready if whatever they were expecting came from behind. Rodney backed up a little so that there were less space between him and the women in their party. Sarah and Emilia stood tense; the worried mother cast a glance behind her to look at her daughter who was now holding a tight fist around some of the loose fabric of Miles's pants at his left side. Cornelia was beginning to worry, and her eyes darted to all sides, trying to find what created the tension around them.

Rodney suddenly shifted his hand to his left hip and unbuckled the safety of a holder and slowly dragged out a tiny black gun which he held with both hands and lifted it up in front of his right shoulder, ready to use it if necessary. It was the only real weapon for protection they had at the moment, except the pocketknives that the two other men carried around with them. But they wouldn't take the chance of dropping their stance, to pull them out from the pockets.

Nobody moved for a long time. Minutes seemed to go by as nothing happened, but none of the men dared drop their guard. All of them knew that the moment they did that, whatever they were waiting for, would strike. The jungle was still silent and tense, and most of the plants and trees cut off the groups view and provided excellent cover.

Cornelia shifted slightly beside Miles as her head turned to both sides before looking up at the man towering above her and the torturous silence was finally broken: "Is it gone?"

Just as the words had left the girl's mouth the sound of a snapping twig made them all jerk their heads to the left where the sound came from. Rodney, who had pointed his gun in the same direction just as the sound had reached his ears, held his finger tightly on the trigger, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

A roar suddenly sounded in the opposite direction, Rodney turned hundred and eighty degrees on reflex and was about to pull the trigger, but was hit by a strong force and was tackled to the ground by something large. As the tall man hit the ground he let out a surprised cry and every person turned their full attention to the creature which now was on top of the dark man, pinning him to the ground.

Quickly shifting his eyes to look upon the creature he reacted on pure reflexes as a set of sharp teeth came down aimed at his fully exposed neck. Both hands flew up and caught the jaws in a tight grip before they could come any closer. The creature roared again as its green eyes kept still on its pray, the paws with fully extended claws dug through the top and into the delicate human skin, drawing blood. The fur was in an orange color and a long tail waving in the air behind the creature.

"It's a jaguar!" Sarah exclaimed in panic backing up two steps before tripping and falling on her butt. Miles was about to leap past the girl and try freeing Rodney from its grasp, but stopped as David suddenly called from behind him. Turning at the sound of his name he saw a second jaguar leaping right at David who twisted out of its reach, which lead it to land right before his feet.

Remembering the spooked girl that was standing behind him he called to her before the new arrival could make another move "Cornelia! Run! Take cover in the jun-" The words didn't finish leaving his lips before the jaguar struck his left leg with its claws, tearing through the fabric and creating three deep cuts. Miles had to bite his teeth together so that a pained cry didn't leave his mouth, instead he shouted "Cornelia, go!"

The panicking girl didn't hesitate any longer before she darted to her left and through some green plants and past the tall trees. The girl's mother had been about to run after her daughter, but realized she had to help Rodney, who was desperately trying to fend off the first jaguar which were determined to set its fangs into the older man's neck. Miles and David were desperately trying to fend off the second cat. Sarah was frozen in terror while sitting on the ground unable to move or utter any noise aside from her panicking breath.

Emilia shook her head and made up her mind. Cornelia would be able to take care of herself for a few minutes. Wasting no more time, she leaped towards the jaguar.

Running through the green leaves and plants, Cornelia ran as fast as she could, darting slightly from side to side to avoid the trees that were towering above her. She finally slowed to a halt and turned her head, looking back over her shoulder. There was no movement or sounds she could detect, she was too far away from the others to hear them now.

The girl leaned back onto a tree behind her, holding her head up high while she panted loudly. She had run a long distance in her panic to get away from the attacking animals. Her head fell down slightly as she looked to the direction she had come from. Cornelia couldn't help but wonder; would her mommy be okay? And what about Miles, the first friend she had made out here?

She could feel hot tears forming in her eyes and she was about to slide down the tree frame and sit there as distress captured her. But she never got that chance as a now familiar growl reached her ears. Cornelia snapped her head to the left and felt her eyes widen in surprise. There was a third jaguar, standing about fifty feet away from her, and it was staring at her with hungry eyes.

Suddenly the head of the big cat fell slightly and its body tensed. Panic rose within Cornelia's mind and before she knew what she was doing the young girl was once again running, though this time it was with a big hungry cat behind her.

Seconds after, Cornelia darted into a small clearing where the ground was more open, seeing that she wouldn't run into trees in front of her, she took the chance to look over her shoulder at the approaching threat. Her actions turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Cornelia's foot suddenly jerked into a hidden root, causing her to lose her balance and fall flat onto the ground with a 'thud'. Recovering from the fall, she quickly turned her head to look back at the jaguar that was now only ten feet from her.

Shocked and terrified, Cornelia stared back at the cat as time seemed to slow. She was scared, the jaguar was going to hurt her and she wouldn't be able to defend herself from the fangs or claws. However, the sharp claws never made contact with her soft skin.

The jaguar suddenly stopped up, skidding to an abrupt halt that tore some of the different plants out of the ground. This left a one inch long drag mark in the dirt. The determinate expression the big cat had, was replaced with something that may be something in the direction of… fright? Its ears turned backwards and bared its teeth while it let out a threatening hiss. It was no longer paying any attention to the little girl on the ground, but had its gaze fixed upon something up in the trees.

Deciding that the girl was no longer worth any more of its time, it slowly backed away with its tail between its legs. Without further ado the jaguar left the clearing and darted away like its life had depended on it. Cornelia laid in silent for a long moment with her head turned in the direction her attacker had escaped. Panting slightly from all the excitement, the seven-year-old turned her head back in front of her as she pushed her upper body off the jungle floor and sat back up on her knees.

Ever so slowly, Cornelia's head lifted and fixed her blue eyes to stare at the same spot that the jaguar had, before it had left her all alone in the clearing. She didn't see it at first, but she soon noticed what it was that had scared the big cat. On a tree branch, roughly sixteen feet over the ground, stood a tall figure looking down at her.

Strangely enough, she could see right through it, and it seemed like ripples in the air formed the figure which made it hard to see it if you weren't looking for it. What she could see however, was that it had arms and feet, and a slightly bulky figure. It was tall… probably seven to eight feet in total height. She could also make out something that looked like a big mask covering its face.

Cornelia stared up at the creature in complete silence, and the creature seemed to do the same. It wasn't moving, but she could tell it was watching her with interest. After about three minutes the young girl relaxed in her position as the adrenaline going through her body seemed to slowly disappear.

Blinking a few times, Cornelia decided to break the tension which was building up and then did something that normal people would have stared at her for, what she would do in this kind of situation…

"Hello."

She greeted it.

To be continued…