Emerging Compassions

Chapter 15: Trying To Survive the Jungle

(Carl's POV)

"Oh, GREAT!" Cindy groaned, "If I'm not back by 5pm, my mom is gonna KILL me!"

"What is it, Cin?" Libby wanted to know.

"Ugh... I'm gonna miss my piano recital if I don't make it back home by 5!" she snapped, utterly annoyed with herself.

"Cindy," Jimmy firmly told her, "Our only transportation is heavily damaged, and we're halfway around the world, 12 time zones ahead. We may never get back if we don't act now!"

"So, what are we supposed to do, Jimmy?" I asked him nervously.

Ever the impatient guy, Sheen interrupted by saying, "We should get on the monkeys' good side so the monkey god will be pleased and help us get back!"

"Oh, PLEASE! What good is that gonna do, Ultra-Freak? There's no such thing in the first place!" Cindy barked at him, highly annoyed with him.

As if on cue, Sheen started acting all monkey-like, screeching like crazy while trying to get their attention and dancing funny.

"Libs, control your boyfriend, PLEASE!" she urged her friend.

Libby walked up to him and grabbed his wrist while saying sternly, "Sheen, would ya knock it off, please?"

"Sorry," he muttered under his breath.

"That was creeping me out, anyway, Sheen," I put in, my arms folded.

"Guys, focus!" Jimmy urgently informed us, "While we're here, we might as well set up camp. I can tell we're gonna be here for quite a while." With that, he pulled out his hypercube-thing and pressed a button on it, sending out a bunch of camping stuff, food, and extra clothes. Then he added, "Always be prepared for any eventuality!"

"Let's just hope the monkeys don't get our food, Neutron," Libby said, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry! I've coated with an edible spray that we like and we can eat but the native fauna won't be able to and will hate it from the start. And no, Carl, it's nothing you're allergic to," Jimmy additionally told us.

"Whew!" I breathed with a sigh of relief, wiping my brow.

"Besides, if they DO try to get it, Goddard will scare them off!" he said.

"That's great an' all, Neutron, but it is SO humid here, and it's not doin' my skin any favors! I feel like I need to to go take a dip somewhere...," Libby sighed, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and looking around.

"Wait a minute! Is that a waterfall somewhere nearby, Jimmy?" Cindy gasped, putting a hand to her ear.

After listening himself for a few moments, he exclaimed, "Leapin' leptons, it IS a waterfall, and where there's a waterfall, there's bound to be a lake underneath it! C'mon, guys!" He then led us, following the sound, to where the water source originated, just several hundred feet away from camp.

Then Cindy protested once we were there, "Um, what exactly are we supposed to wear? None of us brought swimsuits!"

"NO problem!" Sheen proclaimed excitedly, and ran behind some shrubs and trees nearby. We heard some rapid rustling in the brush, then saw him run up an inclined rock that jutted out a few feet over the lake, and he yelled, jumping into the lake in a "cannonball", "BANZAI!"

The splash from his dive got all of us soaked to the quick, triggering Cindy to holler angrily at him, "Hey, WATCH it, Ultra-DORK! We're soaking WET!"

"Then ya might as well come in! Besides, it's really hot and humid out, so let's take a refreshing dip, shall we?" he yelled back at her after he'd resurfaced.

"Sheen, are you NUTS? No! Are ya even wearing anything?" Jimmy shouted at him.

"No," he replied, "Just c'mon already! Or are you guys just 'chicken'? Bawk, bawk, bawk, buck-awk!"

"Grrrrr! I'll show YOU I'm not 'chicken'!" Cindy growled furiously, and did exactly as Sheen did a few minutes before, making a large splash, as well.

"Girl, you're crazy!" Libby shouted at her, then thought to herself some. Then she shrugged and muttered, "Ah, what the heck? Hold on! I'll be in in a minute!" A few minutes later, she too jumped off of the rock and into the water with Sheen and Cindy.

"Wait for me!" I hollered, and mimicked the others' actions several minutes before. Then I ran breathlessly and jumped off the rock into the lake, as well. After I resurfaced, I muttered, "Ow, my scapula..."

We looked to the shore again and saw that Jimmy was by himself, fanning himself with Goddard's assistance. Then I called after him, "Aren't ya coming, Jim?"

"If you think I'm insane enough to perform such an inane stunt-," he started to snap, but only to have Cindy playfully snap back at him, "Jeez, Neutron, are you gonna do it or are ya just gonna be 'chicken' about it?" She then proceeded to make squawking noises about the whole matter.

I could tell that made him pretty annoyed, because he firmly responded, "Okay, okay, ENOUGH of that! Fine, I'll do it!" Then he walked into the brush and came running out in the buff a few minutes later and jumped into the lake with us.

After he'd surfaced, Sheen asked us, "Now, doesn't this feel refreshing compared to the hot, hot air?"

"Yes, it does, but if my mom knew I was skinny-dipping with boys my age, she'd have a FIT!" Cindy put in. I could tell she was kinda nervous when she said that.

"I do admit; this IS rather refreshing, but we need to focus on what we need to do here. There's no telling what Calamitous and Gorgeous are up to by now...," Jimmy informed us firmly.

"Well, Cindy's the one who brought it up," Sheen told us, trying to be helpful, "The lake, that is."

"Wha-?" she started to hiss at him, then admitted, "That is true..."

"Yeah," Libby agreed.

Then, suddenly, some screeching was heard from a short distance from the shore.

"I know that noise!" Cindy exclaimed, then pointed into the jungle ahead of us with her hand shaking, "M-M-M-Monkeys!" She then ducked under the water until only her nose, eyes, and hair were visible.

Shading his eyes and squinting, Jimmy muttered, "They're not doing what I think they're doing, are they?"

"I hope not, Jimmy! Hey, is that my shirt?" Sheen exclaimed, pointing at one of them making off with it.

"And are those my JEANS? Those are designer jeans they're making off with!" Libby shrieked in shock.

"I'm glad it's just us here...," Cindy muttered, "I'd be utterly HUMILIATED if any of our friends saw us here!" Then she shouted, "Get those MONKEYS!"

Seethingly mad for the first time in my life, I ordered, "CHAAAAAARRRGE!"

"After them!" Jimmy demanded, charging after them with us swiftly following close behind him and Goddard.