(Chapter 11: Strike Two)

(That night)

"Percy!" Clayton called out as he approached the camp, seeing the old Englishman smoking a cigar while sitting on a tree stump.

"Ah, Clayton. It's a pleasure to see that you are alive, lots of good have came our way as of lately. Tarzan has gone missing and we've undoubtedly put pressure on his allies." Percy revealed to the hunter, who grinned as if he had something to say.

"Good…good. I've brought some of my own news about Tarzan." Clayton announced.

"Oh really? Have you found his corpse? Did you blow his brains out?"

"No…I know his real name. I know where he comes from."

The silence that fell upon the surrounding area was deafening, you could hear a pen drop and land in the grass. It would be Percy who would break that silence.

"Y-you what?"

"His name is John Earl Greystoke; he comes from my mother's side of the family. He is…my own blood. He's my cousin. My aunt and uncle went missing in the Congo many years ago, everyone in my family was so distraught. Now that I've found my cousin…I intend on bringing him back home."

A loud horn was heard that echoed across the large field, Percy and Clayton looked towards where the sound had originated from to see a decent sized ship out in the water of a nearby river.

"Good Heavens, have they arrived already?" Percy asked himself as he gazed upon the ship.

"No," Clayton answered. "My men have arrived to assist us in capturing John. Have you called in more men to attack the jungle?"

"Yes, I've asked for additional reinforcements in case the animals try to attack us again. Tarzan's elephants have proven to be a fearsome adversary." Percy said before turning his head to face the hunter.

"When did you do this?" Clayton asked.

"A few days ago, they should be here at any time."

"Well with the plan I have in mind, I doubt that we'll need reinforcements." Clayton spoke with arrogance oozing in his voice.

"Clayton…do you feel that?" Percy questioned as he looked around the camp, he could feel the ground beneath his feet starting to tremble.

"I do…" The hunter replied before leaving turning around to try and figure out what was going on, the ground rumbled more and more as time went by.

"It's a stampede!" A Belgian soldier cried out as he ran for his tent to retrieve a gun.

"Elephants!" An English troop was heard screaming at the top of his lungs.

"We must get to cover!" Percy yelled at Clayton before taking off towards a trench in the ground, Clayton would run for his ship as he heard the angry roars and trumpeting of the elephant herd as they came smashing into the camp with vengeance on their minds.

Percy leapt into the trench and grabbed some shrubbery to toss it over his body while he laid inside of the ditch, making sure that he had covered himself enough so that the elephants wouldn't be able to see him.

His heart raced as he listened to the destruction that was unfolding. He could hear the cloth and fabric of the tents tearing as the elephant's tusks pierced through them. He could hear gunshots and men screaming before being silenced, as well as the roars and angry trumpeting of the herd that was laying siege to their base of operations. Amid all the noise, he thought he could hear Tarzan's yell…

Peeking from the cover he would see that several fires had been lit due to explosive barrels being set off, and due to oil lamps burning at the tent's cloth. He shook his head in disbelief as he felt his heart sink, helplessly watching as the enraged elephants laid waste to his camp and slaughtered every single trooper that remained.

This can't be happening… Percy thought to himself as he watched as the siege slowly came to an end as there was nothing else left to destroy, he looked towards the ship to see that Clayton was still hurrying towards it.

When the elephants left, Percy emerged from his cover and began to wander through the ruins of what he once called a camp. His right eye began to twitch at the sight of all his dead men and Belgian allies, knowing that they would never return home.

"You!" A voice challenged aloud; Percy looked around a large flame to see the silhouette of Tarzan watching him.

"What more do you want!? Do you want our souls!?" Percy screamed furiously as he noticed an axe wedged inside of a tree stump.

"I want you to leave, and never come back…" Tarzan growled as he approached Percy, his eyes locked onto the Englishman as he advanced.

"No…I can't leave…not after what your friends done to my men…my innocent men…" Percy replied as he ripped the axe from the tree stump, baring his teeth towards the ape-man.

Tarzan's eyes widened when he heard the words "My innocent men" and memories of the jungle burning flashed through his mind. Memories of seeing Jacob slash at him psychotically with his golden saber appeared in his vision again. The wild man growled hatefully at his enemy.

"What do you know of being innocent!?" Tarzan yelled. "'Your men' tried to burn down my home, 'your men' tried to kill me on multiple occasions. This entire war could have been prevented if you tried to settle it with peace at the very beginning! 'Your men' manipulated the tribes I have acquainted with and turned them against me with false promise of weaponry and gold!"

"You don't have an idea, Tarzan. You've been misled by your animal friends. Those same tribes needed the Belgians help from the Arabs, and those same tribes tried to get them to leave once the war was over. This war began because your stupid savage friends were ungrateful bastards that bit the hand that fed them! YOU were the one that made this conflict into what it is now! You started it, and now I'll end it…" Percy retorted before launching the axe towards Tarzan, who dodged the weapon.

The Englishman rushed towards Tarzan as fast as his old legs allowed him, unsheathing his ornamental golden saber before pointing it towards the ape-man who picked up a rock and ran up a fallen log to jump off it.

Percy smiled and prepared to go for the fatal stab with his blade, but Tarzan anticipated this and launched the rock into the Englishman's head. Percy grunted in pain and stumbled back, dropping the sword in the process as Tarzan pounced on him to begin the assault. Shot after shot rained down into the head of Percy, who responded by grabbing the small rock that Tarzan threw at him, using it to bash it into the side of the ape-man's head, allowing the Englishman to roll them over and mount him.

"You're a fool, Tarzan! A bloody fool!" Percy screamed as he took the rock and began to bash it into the wild man's face over and over, when Tarzan was inevitably stunned by the ground n' pound, Percy stood up and approached his golden blade with a smirk.

"Tarzan!?" Jane was heard screaming, her voice lighting the eyes of the ape-man who looked up to see Percy with his back turned towards him. Tarzan groaned as he turned his head to see a stake in the ground that originally belonged to a tent, he would grab the stake and roll towards Percy.

"If you promise that you and your tribal tosser of a husband to leave us alone, then I'll spare all of you and end this war on a peaceful no—GAAAGH!" Percy went to speak before he felt something sharp pierce into his ankle.

"You big…dumb…. dosser!" The Englishman wailed as he tried to hack his blade down towards Tarzan's head, but the ape-man would deflect his arm and knock the weapon out of his hand before smashing into Percy, wrapping his muscular arms around the soldier's body as he charged him forward towards a pile of wooden logs.

One of the logs had a jagged edge due to being broken apart by a raging elephant from the stampede that occurred. Tarzan let out his signature yell as he continued to charge Percy towards the makeshift spike.

"Wait, Tarzan! Tarzan think about this, TARZA—" Percy pleaded until he would see a piece of blood-soaked wood pierce his body.

"This war is over…" Tarzan growled before leaving the body impaled as he approached Jane to lead her back into the jungle.

Clayton rushed towards the body to see if he could still speak with Percy while he still held on to life. The hunter gasped as he stood before the gruesome scene.

"Cl-Clay…Clayton…" Percy groaned, his eyes squinting shut with his teeth clenched.

"Y-yes…?" The hunter stammered out, his lips trembling, his chest feeling jittery within.

"Yo-you m-mu-must…fi-finish th-this…" The Englishman struggled to speak before coughing some with a moan at the end of the fit.

"I will…I will defeat John and bring him back home…"

"Th-the others…they—" Percy stopped speaking, his eyes began to glaze over as his hand reached out for something or someone that was unseen to Clayton's eyes.

"Meredith…Oh Meredith, it has been too long my darling…"

With those words, Percy's arm fell limp and his head dangled over.

"Rest well…Percy, I will win this for you and for my aunt and uncle." Clayton whispered as he wiped his fingers down over the eyes of the Englishman, closing them for eternity.