~ Chapter IX
Surviving in the Rainforest
Alfred packed a backpack, throwing in two pairs of pants, two t-shirts, food, a picture of Alice, and a knife. He had rented a jet for £158,196 ($239,999 or €185,901 or ¥24,563,913), and he planned on going to Brazil for five days – with an unwilling partner. Yet first, he had to find a way to take that unwilling partner without making a disturbance.
He got in his car, driving to location that Mathias was. He pulled up in Mathias' neighborhood, parking on the street across from his home. Knocking on the door, he waited patiently with the drugs he made using his knowledge of science – fifteen hour sleeping pills. Mathias finally came to the door. He didn't get a chance to see who was at the door before he felt a hand shoving what felt like pills down his throat. His body shut down, causing him to fall.
Alfred dragged Mathias to the car, driving to the airport where his jet was located. Fortunately for him, no one was there, so he carelessly threw Mathias in a random seat in his NAMC YS-11. He sat himself in a seat in the cockpit, buckling his seat belt. He knew how to fly a plane, but all the labels were in Japanese, seeing as it was a Japanese plane. He pushed a random button. Suddenly, the airplane started talking to him.
"Kore wa NAMC YS-11 desu. Ima anata no shitoberuto de Sutorappu o shite kudasai. Jido hiko no tame ni, midoriiro no botan o oshite kudasai. Jibun de tame ni wa me no akai botan o oshite kudasai. Botan o oshita baai wa, beta-ban no gamen ga poppuappu hyoji sa remasu. Anata ni ikitaite iru adores o nyuryoku shimasu. Hoka no gengo ni kore o henkan suru ni wa, ima dewa onsei komando no supika ni mukatte hanashimasu," a very humble woman's voice came out of the speaker. On the screen in front of him, a speaker was displayed.
Alfred scratched his head. He guessed he had to make a voice command now. "Translate to English," he declared into the speaker.
"Translating to English. Loading…" the female voice said. Turns out Alfred made the right move.
"This is NAMC YS-11. Please strap in your seat belt now. For automatic flight, press the green button. To fly by yourself, press the red button. When you have pressed a button, a beta screen will pop up. Enter the address in which you would like to go. To translate this to any other language, speak into the voice command speaker now," the voice repeated in English.
Alfred pressed the green button, staying silent. As promised, the beta screen showed up. He entered his address, and then sat back. It was to be an eleven hour flight, as the program predicted. That gave him four extra hours to do whatever he needed. He sat back, crossing his legs and relaxing.
As the program said, they were in Brazil in approximately eleven hours. He parked the jet near the airport, and then he rented a car from the dealership across from the airport. He drove to the outskirts of the Amazon, and abandoned the car on the side of the road. He dragged Mathias as deep into the jungle as he could, bringing him to a random cave he found. That took him an hour or so, so he only had three more hours. He went straight for about a mile, and positioned himself in a tree. He would go back to the cave the next day to play out his plan, but for right now, he had to survive on his own.
Three hours later, Mathias woke up. He felt around, feeling nothing but soil under his fingertips. He stood up; finding himself in a cave in what looked like… the Amazon? How drunk did he get, and how the hell did he get to Brazil without knowing? Right now, that was the least of his problems. How would he get food and water? How would he get out of the endless jungle? He guessed he just had to do the best he could to survive in a place he's never been before.
He turned toward the inside of the cave, walking more in to the cave. Suddenly, he tripped over something that felt like a rock. He turned over to see what it was. Scooting over to it, he picked it up. It was a Prussian blue-colored book labeled "Journal" in gold, Old English-style lettering. Around the edges of the book, there was a golden, vine-like lining. He opened the book. A black and gold ball-point pen fell out of the middle. He picked it up, hooking it on the cover. He flipped to the first page. In the margin, the words, "Day One" were handwritten in the margin. The rest were written in cursive in the remaining spaces on the page. Deciding that he didn't want to read this person's personal things, he flipped to the next clean page. Taking the pen he found in the book, he wrote "Day One" in the margin like the previous owner had. He started writing in the book.
"Okay, so here I am, in the Amazon all the way in Brazil. How did I get here? I have no idea. I'm expecting someone to at least answer that question. Besides that, I'm here without food or water, and I have no idea how I'm going to get out of here. I guess I have to live here for a while before I find myself out of here. In the meanwhile, if someone finds this, call someone that can help me. If no one here speaks English, then I'm really screwed," he wrote. He tucked the pen inside the book, putting it under a random rock.
He stepped out of the cave, looking for a source of water or food. Once looking around to find out that there were no sources to be found (that were probably not poisonous, but he didn't want to take a risk), he entered the cave once more. He lied on a nearby rock, curling up to it. It wasn't so much as he was cold, it was that he was afraid. He was afraid what would happen to him in an environment like this; an environment so unknown to him that he couldn't find a way to survive in it. He prayed he wouldn't die, and that he would find a way out. There had to be a way, right?
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
Hours passed, and dusk turned to dawn. Mathias stretched, his eyelids fluttering open. He would almost forget where he was if his back weren't hurting or his face wasn't located on a rock. Then he would most definitely forget where he was. He stood, massaging the lower part of his back. He cracked his neck, rolling his head around. He stretched his legs by walking in circles a few times, then he sat down, knees to his chest and resting his arms on his knees. He sighed, wondering how in the world he would make it back to England. He closed his eyes, his mind racing.
Suddenly, he heard heavy, fast-pace footsteps nearing him. His eyes shot open, searching for the intruder. He turned his head to see a man wearing black pants, a black shirt, and red converses carrying a red backpack running towards Mathias. He frantically waved his arms to get his attention.
"Oi! Over there! If you could help me take this here tiger down, you and I would have food for weeks!" the man shouted with a British accent. Mathias jumped to his feet, ready to help the man that was now by his side. He didn't know who this person was, but what he did know that the sound of food was quite appetizing, considering he hadn't eaten in over twenty-four hours. The man handed him a knife from out of his bag as he, too, got a knife for himself.
A tiger then lunged out of the bushes, focusing on the two men. It swung a paw at Mathias, who ducked just in time. Mathias jabbed his knife at the animal, aiming for its heart while the mysterious man aimed for the tiger's head. The both of them penetrated the tiger's skin, managing to damage the animal's important internal organs. The two panted, and sighed in relief as the tiger fell, telling the two that it was most definitely dead. They sat on either side of the cave, facing each other. There was silence for quite a while. The only thing that could be heard was their constant intake of breaths and the sounds of nature. Mathias then had the courage to speak up.
"So who are you? How did you end up here? Are you from England?" Mathias asked, his voice scratchy.
"Oh, me? I'm just another human being, mate. I'm Alfred F. Jones, and yes, I am from England. I have no idea how I ended up here. I was on a plane heading to Australia to see my mother, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the rainforest. Bloody mad, I thought I was. Then I figured out it was reality when that there tiger chased me and nearly killed me," the man explained. "I'm just glad I found you, mate. If I didn't, I'd probably be dead by now."
"Yeah, no problem. I'm Mathias Køhler, and I'm from Denmark, but I live in London, England. I have no idea how I got here. Last time I checked, I was sleeping in my bed in London, and now here I am, in a place I've never been before," Mathias sighed, introducing himself.
"Yeah, I feel you mate. I feel so lost in this huge forest. Do you happen to know your way around? I know it's a fat chance but you're my only hope of getting out of this place, now," Alfred scratched the back of his neck.
Mathias shook his head. "No. I have never been here before, and I woke up in this cave. I refuse to leave this cave unless I find a way out, though. Sorry, but I can't help you."
"Oh well. Maybe we can both stay here for the time being and try to survive together? We've got about 277 kilos (500lbs) of meat right here, so that should last us about two weeks, if we eat it rationally, am I correct?" Alfred smiled.
"Yeah, that should last us some time. It's a deal. But we have to find some water around here or we're going to get dehydrated," Mathias pondered.
"Mate, it's the rainforest. There's a reason why they call it a rainforest. It rains year round. Just grab a big leaf or make a cup out of clay and catch the water when it falls. It's that simple," Alfred said smartly.
"Oh. I kind of forgot about that," Mathias mumbled, running a hand through his once clean hair.
"So are we making a deal? Are we going to survive here together?" Alfred asked, a hopeful look on his bruised face.
"Sure," Mathias said simply, extending his arm to shake Alfred's hand. Alfred took his hand and shook it.
"Awesome!"
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
For the next couple of days, the two went hunting, searching for a way out, and learning about the wildlife. They had enough food to last them about five weeks. So far, they had not found any way out of the rainforest, and it was slowly making Mathias go mad. The fact that he had no idea how he got there in the first place was also a factor that caused his piece of mind to slowly ebb away.
Mathias massaged his temples. Alfred was out searching for a water source while Mathias was getting some rest. Alfred had noticed how fatigued and bothered Mathias looked, so he decided to leave him alone for the day. Mathias was about to fall into a deep sleep, if it weren't for Alfred randomly running up to him and shaking him.
"Hey, Mathias! Wake up, mate! I found something cool! Come on, it's right over there!" Alfred shouted, shaking Mathias out of his thoughts. Mathias warily stood, following Alfred to whatever it was that Alfred wanted to show him.
"Come on, you're moving too slow. It might be gone by the time we get there at the pace you're moving, mate!" Alfred said, grabbing Mathias' wrist and basically dragging him through bushes and around trees. Alfred pretended to bring Mathias to a very 'awesome thing', while in reality, he brought him there for absolutely no reason. Alfred stopped, pretending to realize that they were lost.
"So where's this thing that you wanted to show me?" Mathias asked, huffing.
"Um… mate, I think I may have lost it… and I think we're lost…" Alfred confessed.
"We're… what?" Mathias growled.
"We're lost, mate. We're lost," Alfred spoke more clearly, shifting his gaze to a random tree to avoid the glare Mathias was giving him.
"You… idiot! I am seriously going to kill you! Do you realize what you've done? Now we've lost the only shelter we had and our food source! You complete idiot!" Mathias shouted in Alfred's face.
"Well if you had gotten of your lazy arse and did something useful for a change instead of making me do all the work, maybe this wouldn't have happened!" Alfred retorted.
Mathias growled, pushing Alfred. Alfred pushed back, adding in a punch to Mathias' stomach. Mathias tried to fight back, but he felt so disorientated that he couldn't build up the energy to. Alfred then pushed him into a large, seven foot (2 meters) deep pit. The pit was covered with a net and leaves, but as Mathias fell into it, the net broke. In the pit were about fifty hungry boa constrictor snakes. They all leapt at the opportunity of food. About five of the snakes strangled the life out of him. He tried to call out for help, but no sound came out. As he took his last breath, every single snake went for him, devouring every part of him.
Alfred gave a triumphant smile. Yet another victory, he thought to himself as brushed the dirt off his pants. Taking a hike back to the cave, he grabbed his back pack and followed the stakes he had planted in the ground, making his way back to his rented car. Strapping himself in, he drove to the airport to turn in his car and walk towards his jet. He went straight to the cockpit to drive the Japanese jet. The program's voice sounded as it did five days before, saying the exact same thing. He buckled his seatbelt, pressing the green button for an automatic flight. He laid back in his comfortable captain's seat, putting his arms behind his head and closing his eyes, resting himself on the long flight back home. He dreamt about celebrating his third victory, and about Alice finally dating him. Yes, yet another victory was sweet bliss.
(A/N):
Hey people of the Internet! It's me! I'm back again with another long-awaited chapter. It's surprising to me; this chapter is over 2,500 words! And it's all for you, my lovelies.
I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. Between school and final exams and all that jazz, I haven't gotten enough time to work on this, but now that it's summer time and school's out, I should be able to update quicker. I'm not making any promises, though. I might still be busy going places and doing things to even think about writing. But don't worry, I won't forget about you!
Thank you to all who read this or any of my other stories. I truly appreciate the support that all of you give me, every single one of you, from the U.S. to Japan. I love the fact that you guys favorite and follow my stories. It makes me wanna cry tears of joy. ;3
Please review and tell me what you think! Until next time!
Dewamata, watashi wa daisuki.