A/N: Hey everyone! See, I told you the next chapter wouldn't take long for it to release. Speaking of which, the rest of the chapters should probably come out in quick succession. It will most likely take even less time for the rest to be released. Also, this isn't really a warning but a notice to all who have been reading this. This story is actually going to be coming to a close within the next few chapters, and then work on the sequel to this story and The Jungle Book: The Story Re-Told will begin. I am really excited for the sequel and it will contain many exciting moments, it will be emotional, and it's probably going to be one of the most viewed stories on my profile. Anyways, enough of my babbling, please enjoy chapter six! - KaijuCrazy02
(Chapter 6: Strike One)
He could hear it, the pheeal as the animals of the jungles of India called it, but the animals of the Congo jungle called it the "harrowing wail." Animals of all kinds were getting burnt as they tried to flee, as Tarzan swung closer and closer to the blazing inferno that was a big chunk of the jungle, he could see them fleeing the smoldering brush with embers attached to their body.
Tarzan could hear every cry of pain, and every growl of confusion and sorrow.
"You have to help us!" A lion cub cried out as it ran with its pride away from the fires. Tarzan landed on a log and looked down at the cub. His throat was a knot when he tried to swallow and he could feel his cheeks growing hot, but he couldn't tell if it was because of the intense heat or because of his emotions getting the better of them.
A few tears streamed down the cheeks of the ape-man as he nodded his head.
"I will." Tarzan wept. "I won't let them get away with this."
Tarzan continued through the jungle, getting deeper into the blaze. The smell of smoke forced him to hold his breath for long periods, making this journey even more uncomfortable. A fiery haze was spreading through the jungle and choking any other form of life that stayed behind to die with it, embers of the large flames flew aimlessly through the air as the breeze blew in every now and then.
"Tarzan!" A little voice cried out, and the ape-man scanned around the dark but burning environment in desperate efforts to locate the origin of this child-like voice.
"Tarzan!" The voice cried out again before suffering from a coughing fit, finally, the ape-man would see it. An African Civet trapped under a fallen log, it was a young one, probably just a month old. The tiny body of the little creature squirmed and writhed, but it was hopeless.
"I've got you, little one." Tarzan announced as he grabbed the log, and without any effort, tossed it aside, loads of embers were launched in the air and towards them, and the ape-man would use his meaty body as a shield to protect the innocent Civet, holding the tiny creature close to him. The viverrid looked up at Tarzan, whose face had scrunched up from the pain of the embers as they burnt against his skin. A growl of agony was heard from the ape-man, his teeth were gritted, and his eyes were squinted tightly shut.
"Go, little one. Head in the direction of the others, I will stop the flames." Tarzan spoke, his voice as soft as a feather as he gently stroked the fur of the little civet. The two of them watched as several other various animals darted past them and away from the danger.
"I will, thank you so much, Tarzan." The civet said, her voice was still filled with fear, but her heart was filled with relief now that she was safe from the fire. Putting all faith in the ape-man that the blaze would be put out before the day was out.
Seconds felt like days as Tarzan ran through the inferno, the smoke burnt his eyes and blasted his nostrils every time the ape-man ran through a cloud of it, and the wind would frequently blow embers against his skin, dealing Tarzan stinging pain and forcing him to bat them away and off his body. Several animals continued to run past him, but when his nostrils picked up the stench of burning flesh, he knew what he would soon see, and the mere thought of it made his heart hammer against his chest at an irregular pace. His heart was already thumping faster than it ever had in his entire life, but now it was becoming a health hazard. He tried to let out his signature yell, but his voice was shaky due to his hitched breathing.
He would start to see smoldering carcasses of animals that didn't make it, but not just them, he would also discover bamboo trees that were bunched up closely together. It was these trees that surrounded the Porter Family and Clayton's tiny camp, and now he knew he was close.
"Jane!" Tarzan called out, the only noise he received in response was the crackling of the fire and the groaning of wood before a tree nearby collapsed.
"Jane!" He called out again, still to receive no response as he carefully moved through the cracks in the fire, walking on selected paths between separated flames. Sometimes he had to duck under a burning log, other times he had to jump.
"Jane!" He called out a third time as he jumped from bamboo tree to bamboo tree, after fifty seconds of non-stop jumping, he would finally make it into clearing. He would see the tents and all the objects of the small camp, but there was still no response.
"Jane, please!" Tarzan cried out; he could feel tears starting to swell up in his eyes. When all hope seemed lost, there came his name from a fearful female voice.
"Tarzan!?" Jane replied, Tarzan believed her voice was coming from the tent. The ape-man rushed towards the tent and burst through the opening to see that Jane and Professor Porter were both bound. Jane came close to fainting when Tarzan burst through the tent. Professor Porter was dressed in white pajamas and Jane was wearing a white tank top with a brown skirt, her hair wildly ran down over her back, and she wore no shoes or socks. Clayton, as per usual, had his hunting gear on.
His body covered in sweat, giving his body a glistening shine as he stood in the fire, the glows of orange reflecting off his wet body. His hair flowing down over his shoulders and his powerful stance made him seem like that of an angel of vengeance, coming to rescue those that were wronged.
"Who done this to you…?" Tarzan asked as he kneeled beside of her, gently holding her head in his arms.
"I-It was Du-Dupont…" Jane replied, Tarzan looked up and saw that Clayton was slumped over against a pole that held the tent up. Professor Porter was struggling and trying to speak through tape covering his mouth.
"Clayton tried to protect us, but he was knocked unconscious." Jane explained as Tarzan freed her from her bounds, and then he moved onto Professor Porter.
"I see." Tarzan replied as he removed the tape from Professor Porter's mouth.
"Tarzan, my goodness, you don't know how long it has felt before you arrived. We both accepted death!"
"I was starting to run out of hope too, Mr. Porter."
Jane moved over towards Clayton and shook him repeatedly, after his entire body was jolted around for a fifth time, his eyes blinked open with a groan trailing from his lips.
"What is going on?" Clayton asked as he was jolted awake completely when sweat dripped down into his eyes, giving him an unpleasant gift of stinging pain.
"Jacob is trying to burn the jungle down; Tarzan has come to save us!" Jane announced, Clayton looked up at Tarzan, who was reaching his hand out to help him up.
"I doubt this will be the last time you save our hides." Clayton grumbled as he accepted Tarzan's offer to help, speaking as he was pulled up.
"Well, hopefully this will be the last time. I fully intend it on being so." Tarzan replied. "Come with me, we need to get out of here."
The four of them left the tent right as embers latched onto the cloth and began to eat away at the fabric, some of the items within the tent were already beginning to burn.
"How are we going to get out? We're surrounded by fire!" Jane cried as Tarzan held her in his arms, keeping her standing.
Suddenly, the sound of breaking wood was heard, and several trees were seen falling over towards their West, a large patch of jungle was flame-free, and the ape-man would see why. It was Tantor, he had arrived with a few elephants, spraying water from their trunks to douse the flames.
"Tantor!" Tarzan cried out.
"We've cleared a path, run!" Tantor bellowed.
"Let's move." Tarzan said, the three others followed behind him as fast as their legs could carry them. Tantor stood in the path, making sure no fires would retake the area that Tantor and his small gang of pachyderm cleared out.
"Tantor, I want you to rally as many elephants as you can into one gigantic herd. Get in a line that blocks off as much of the flames as it can and move inward. We can't let the flames continue to sprea—" Tarzan's sentence was cut off by a loud blast, Tantor grumbled in pain and took a few steps back. The three turned around to see who was responsible, and Jacob Dupont was seen near the tent which had been devoured by the flames.
"I'll handle Jacob, keep moving." Tarzan requested.
"Tarzan, someone has to help you!" Jane protested.
"It's too dangerous, Jane! Go with Tantor and the others. I'll regroup with all of you shortly." Tarzan commanded, Jane whimpered, almost bursting into tears before reluctantly agreeing with her lover, running into her father's arms and crying into his shoulder.
"Please be careful, Tarzan." Professor Porter begged before following Clayton and Tantor through the pathway that had been provided for them.
"Tarzan!" Dupont let out a ruthless cry as Tarzan turned towards him.
The fight was on.
The ape-man could see Jacob loading another round into his rifle in the distance, and when he lifted it up to take aim, Tarzan ducked behind a crate right when the round was heard bursting from the barrel with an explosive boom. The miniature globe that was on top of the crate broke and fell behind the crate, various pieces littering the ground around Tarzan.
"Your refusal to surrender has brought destruction to your home and friends!" Jacob cried out again as he started to load another round into the rifle, keeping his eyes peeled for movement.
Tarzan emerged from cover and began to move towards Jacob while moving around and in between various other objects that were on the campgrounds, keeping a close eye on the Belgian as he loaded his weapon. When Jacob aimed upon Tarzan again, the ape-man took cover behind a large chalkboard.
The boom came again, and the shell punctured the chalk board, pieces of debris fluttered towards Tarzan's head.
"Even if I surrendered, you probably would have done this anyway!" Tarzan screamed towards Jacob as he moved out of his cover and continued to get closer to Jacob, who was within ten yards away at this point.
"You can surrender now, and we will all work together once more to put out the fires!" Jacob barked, offering Tarzan terms of peace as he dug into his pocket to pull out another round.
Taking a risk, Tarzan emerged from cover and began to sprint towards Jacob while letting out his signature yell. He had made it to Jacob right on time when he took aim, his finger was moving for the trigger when the ape-man knocked Jacob to the ground with a thud.
"I don't believe in surrendering." Tarzan growled as Jacob rolled to a knee and took aim again, but before he could fire, the ape-man kicked the rifle from his arms, the weapon slid across the ground and into the flames.
"No!" Jacob cried out before turning his head to face Tarzan again, who was running at him. Jacob brandished his golden ornamental saber and went for a slash to the throat of his enemy, Tarzan managed to stop himself and move back, but the blade still slashed across his upper chest, forcing a shout of pain and surprise from Tarzan.
A psychotic smile came to Jacob's face as he stood back up, keeping his eyes locked onto Tarzan like a bird of prey.
"Then you don't believe in the protection of your home and friends!" Jacob screamed with wicked laughter as he charged towards Tarzan, slashing and hacking at the ape-man with the golden blade erratically, forcing Tarzan to dodge and fall back from the attacker.
Tarzan would trip over his own feet and collapse against a crate, Jacob launched his saber towards the ape-man's head, and Tarzan narrowly avoided it, a few strands of his long hair was clipped as the blade zipped by him and punctured the box. Tarzan stopped for a second to take a breath of relief, but when he looked back towards Jacob, he was nailed in the face by a nasty right hand that forced him to roll over onto his stomach with a grunt of pain.
Tarzan would hear the ripping of wood and he would look over his shoulder to see Jacob hoisting the blade over his head, preparing to stab his lower back. The Belgian let out a battle cry as he went for the killing blow, but Tarzan again moved away and time and swung his foot over to smack Jacob in the face with it. Jacob grunted and wobbled to the side, his grip on the sword loosened by the kick. When Tarzan went to press the advantage, Jacob regained his senses and took another slash at the ape-man to keep him at bay.
Tarzan moved back, as Jacob wanted and precited, and this would give the Belgian the confidence to charge at the wild man again, this time looking to hack his head in half. Tarzan would sidestep and the blade would get stuck in a crate, when Jacob tried to rip it out, he was socked in the face by a punch from his enemy that knocked him to his back.
Jacob watched in horror as Tarzan grabbed his saber, but then an idea came to his mind that made a sinister smile creep onto his lips. The Belgian looked down at his military uniform and saw that there was quite a few embers that were burning away at his clothing, he would dig his fingers into the charred holes and rip his uniform to pieces with the exception of his pants and boots.
"This is my home, you are not welcome here…" Tarzan growled as he approached Jacob with his own weapon in his hand, his movements slow and stalking like a villain in a slasher film.
"Please Ta-Tarzan…Ha-have mercy…" Jacob begged as he backed away, his torn clothing in his hands as he scooted on his behind to get away from the wild man, seeing a patch of flames coming up to his left.
"I-I'll do anything…"
"Run…Run away Jacob, and never return…"
Tarzan was looming over Jacob, pointing the blade towards his heart with cruel intentions if the Belgian didn't yield.
"Y-Yes…as you wish…your MAJESTY!" Jacob yelled as he took his clothing and waved it towards Tarzan, the embers being flung from it and into the face of the ape-man. Tarzan dropped the blade and stumbled away, yelling in agony as he clutched his face and frantically patted away the embers that were caught in his hair.
"This jungle belongs to those that have power over it." Jacob gloated as he began to approach Tarzan from behind, retaking the saber with a proud smile on his face.
"You are a coward, Jacob…" Tarzan growled as he crawled on all fours, trying to find something to help him up, or so it seemed. He was eying a piece of flaming board that had a few nails sticking out of it, and a smile began to creep on Tarzan's face.
"It's not called cowardice, Tarzan…It's called superior intelligence and combat prowess…"
He got closer, and so was Tarzan near the scorching 2x4.
"It figures, considering since the very day you were born, you've been raised by these wild beasts and savage tribes instead of living with civilized men."
Tarzan grabbed hold of the board where it wasn't burning much, and stood up with a jerky movement, spinning around to smash the flaming board right into Jacob's face!
Jacob howled in pain and fell to the ground as Tarzan dropped the board, shaking some embers off his hands and even rubbing his muscular torso to get rid of them. He noticed that Jacob had once again dropped the blade.
"You were saying?" Tarzan asked as he pointed the saber towards Jacob.
"UMGAWA!" Tarzan roared as Jacob stood back up and lunged towards the wild man in a fit of rage only to have the saber pierce through him.
"Too bad I've been spending time with one of your women…" Tarzan whispered to Jacob as he then took the saber out from the body and slashed the throat of the Belgian, Jacob collapsed to the ground, dead.
While the fight against Jacob was over, there was still work to be done as the fires were still raging on around them. As a matter of fact, the flames had crept even closer than ever before during Tarzan's fight and were within five yards of where he stood now.
Tarzan looked to where Tantor had cleared a path and would see that there was just enough space for him to fit his body as the fire began to overtake it once again. Following the elephant tracks in order to locate his allies.