Disclaimer: Only Jenny is mine. Everyone else is somebody else's.
A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing! You are all so wonderful…
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Making an Escape
Roxton fired off one last shot as the remaining cannibals retreated back to the forest and tucked his smoldering gun back into its holster. Lifting his hat to wipe his brow, he began to check the rest of his group, surveying them for any injuries. Marguerite. As always she was his first thought, but she was fine, running her fingers through her tangled curls with an annoyed expression on her face.
Jenny...he frowned. He had told her to hide if the situation got out of control, but surely she knew that the fight was over. Where was she? Whipping around, he scanned the area. There was Finn, retrieving cross bolts; Veronica cleaning a cut on Malone's head; Challenger, standing and talking to himself…where was the bloody girl?
"Jenny!" he shouted abruptly, interrupting Challenger's theory on why the cannibals would come out so much farther than they usually did. Everyone looked around in alarm, suddenly realizing that they, too, didn't see the youngest member of their group.
"Jenny!" He fell silent, listening. There was no response. With a curse, he turned to his friends. "Spread out," he commanded. Nodding silently, they went.
"Roxton," Veronica said urgently, moving to his side.
"What?" Roxton asked absently, bending to look behind rocks. Something wet landed on his cheek. As he lifted his hand to wipe it away, another drop fell on his arm. With dark eyes he looked at Veronica, comprehension dawning quickly.
"It's starting to rain," she said softly. As if her words were a cue, the skies opened up and released a torrent of rain with incredible swiftness, a phenomenon that can only occur in a rainforest.
Growling angrily, Roxton dashed about the clearing, his sharp eyes scanning the forest floor, searching desperately for any sign of Jenny before the rain washed it away….but it was no use. Within a matter of seconds, the ground had been reduced to a swampy marsh.
There was no sign of her.
Marguerite's sorrowful eyes met his before he turned his back on them, unwilling to let them see the look of fear and anger he knew must be expressed on his face.
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Jenny awoke groggily to a pounding headache and an uncomfortably wet, unstable, world. What the…! she thought in puzzlement. She spotted the black and white body underneath her however and groaned- how could she forget being clonked on the head by a grunting savage?
She closed her eyes tightly, trying desperately to think of something - anything! - that could get her out of this situation. But her mind went blank as she was carried roughly along over his shoulder.
If Roxton, or Challenger, or even Malone were in this, they would figure out a brilliant plan, Jenny thought ruefully. Probably something involving explosives.
A brief image of herself using magically produced explosives to blow up the native flashed through her head, and she almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
New plan, Jenny! Now think, what would Roxton do?
He would have shot them before they got anywhere near him, that's what he would do.
Arrggh! Think, silly! Before you end up in someone's stewpot!
Her overactive imagination took over reality once again as she imagined herself being lowered headfirst into a large pot of boiling water.
Suddenly panicked, Jenny jerked, arching her back stiffly. Her unexpected movement surprised the smelly cannibal and he lost his grip. Seizing the opportunity she thrashed about, kicking and punching anything she could hit kick or punch.
Within seconds, Jenny and the cannibal came tumbling to the ground in a tangled heap. Jenny gasped as the man's foot drove into her stomach. The cannibal attempted to stand, his hand going to his waist. His knife… Moving quickly, Jenny lunged, slamming into his legs and bringing him to the ground once again. His foot snapped out and connected harshly with her head.
Stunned, Jenny fell back as her head exploded with pain. On his knees, the cannibal sneered as he drew his knife. Jenny watched hazily as he lunged forward, aiming for her heart. Move! her head screamed. Sluggishly, she obeyed, falling to the side. The knife missed.
But not completely.
Jenny screamed as the blade slashed across her upper arm. Almost instinctively, her body aching, she kicked high, aiming for the more sensitive area of his anatomy. And apparently her aim was better than the cannibal's, for her foot connected.
Hard.
He fell to his knees and Jenny kicked again, this time knocking the knife out of his hand. Her arm was throbbing and running with blood, her head was pounding, and she was mad. With her good arm, she reached out and grabbed the largest rock within reach, bringing the stone down upon his head with all the strength that she could muster.
It smashed into his temple and he collapsed lifelessly. Jenny stared at his limp body, breathing heavily.
Now what? Standing awkwardly, she looked at her right arm, watching dully as the blood dripped off her fingers and onto the ground. Her shirt sleeve was soaked completely through. Bringing her good hand to her forehead, she struggled to think through the pain. What do I do?
Stop the bleeding, she thought hazily; already she was feeling faint from the blood loss. Carefully ignoring the cannibal's body – Was he dead? – she spent the next couple minutes struggling to rip her left sleeve out using only her left hand. Finally, she accomplished getting her sleeve free from her shirt and paused, breathing heavily. She had barely begun folding the material when it began to rain. Pressing the cloth to her wound, Jenny stumbled to her feet.
Which way is home? Blinking as water ran down her face, Jenny stared at the trees helplessly. She had no idea. We came from…that way, Jenny thought uncertainly, looking to her left. Or, was it the other way?
Blinded by the rain and dizzy from pain, Jenny stifled a sob and staggered off through the jungle.
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A/N: Sorry if the whole fighting scene thing was bad; I'm not very good at them.
And the cannibals are the black and white people, right? I couldn't really remember…
Anyway, thank you for reading! If you want more, I'm not greedy: I only need one review!