Survive the Monster and Breed Chapter 2

Another scream pierced the air, and I gestured for Sarah to follow me as I rushed through the foliage toward the sound.

“It sounds like a woman,” Sarah said, and suddenly, she was right next to me running through the trees.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “She’s in trouble.”

“How many of us are there?” Her dark, worried eyes flashed to mine.

“I have no idea,” I said.

The woman screamed again, and I suddenly felt like I was in a horror movie running directly toward the killer. I stopped for a second to orient myself, but then I waved Sarah along to the left as I followed the sound.

“Help!” the voice shrieked, but the end of the word became muffled as if they were being suffocated.

Leaves and branches hit my face and chest as I rushed through the foliage, but after a moment, I burst through a large bush and came to a small clearing.

A black-haired woman was on her knees, and wrapped around her was the largest and most fucked up snake I’d ever seen. It was matte black, with raised, diamond-shaped scales and a triangular head. I’d been around enough snakes in my life to know that meant it was venomous, but there were very few venomous snakes that were also constrictors, and I didn’t know of a single one that got this large.

The snake spiraled around the woman’s body and pulled tightly so its belly squeezed her neck. Its bright yellow eyes locked on mine, and then it darted its tongue out and reared its head back as if it were waiting to strike.

“Help,” the woman mouthed as her face turned red, and she grabbed at the snake in an attempt to pull it away from her throat.

“Oh my god,” Sarah breathed. “We’ve got to do something!”

My heart pounded faster in my chest, and my palms grew sweaty as I assessed the situation.

Then a rustling caught my attention, and I looked up to see yet another woman step through the foliage on the other side of the clearing. This one was short in stature with blonde hair, and her dark eyes were already on mine, but I quickly looked back to the woman being strangled by the snake.

I needed to do something, and fast.

The black-haired woman’s face was getting more red by the second, and it was clear she couldn’t breathe, but the snake was monstrous. It was at least twice as long as she was tall, and half as big around as she was. The fucker’s fangs were as long as my index finger, and I was sure there was venom inside just waiting to be released.

A memory flashed through my mind of my father camping out with me. There was a rattlesnake in our tent, and he used a stick to get it out.

What did he do, what did he do?

I clenched my fists as I tried to remember.

The back of the head. It couldn’t bite if I had it by the nape of the neck.

My eyes searched the ground for a large enough stick, but I didn’t see any, so I ran over to the nearest low-hanging tree branch.

“What are you doing?” Sarah hissed. “She’s fucking dying!”

“Hold on!” I called, and I snapped a piece of the branch off about the size of my arm, and then I held the stick out in front of me as I stepped toward the snake.

As my boots carried me forward, I felt all eyes on me.

The snake reared back and tried to strike, but I used the branch to nudge its face away from me.

The woman on her knees let out a little, panicked whine, and I glanced down to her dark blue eyes and tried my best to give her a look that told her she could trust me. Then I lifted my boot just barely off the ground and took another step toward the snake.

This time, the beast came at me even faster than before, and it went straight for my face.

I dodged to the left and thrust my makeshift club down on its back so its body hit the ground, and then I stepped on its back to hold it in place. The creature was huge, though, and it was wriggling out from under my boot, so I reached down and grabbed the back of its neck as I got on my knees behind it and straddled its massive body to keep it from getting away.

In the tussle, the snake must have released the woman, because she started coughing and choking in breaths.

Sweat dripped down my face as the snake’s tough, scaly body wiggled beneath me. He was pure muscle, and he was determined to get away. He was also too big for me to snap his neck, and the semi-sharp rock I had been using to mark my path was in my pocket, which felt like a long way from my hand.

I tore in a ragged breath as my eyes darted around the ground next to me. Finally, I saw a dark brown rock that was nearly the size of my fist, and I lowered myself down so I could put my left forearm on the snake’s back.

The creature thrashed left and right as he tried to get away, and I held on tightly with my boots as I put all the pressure I could on my forearm. The rock was just an inch from my fingertips, and I stretched as far as I could, but it was just out of reach.

Suddenly, Sarah rushed toward me to help. The snake saw her and tried to strike, but she quickly kicked the rock just close enough for me to reach it before she jumped back.

Sweat dripped down my face as I grabbed the rock and felt the weight of it in my palm.

Just then, the snake flipped over and tried to strike my face, but I caught it on the side of its head with the rock, and I didn’t stop there. After the first hit, my vision went red, and I felt like I was outside of my body watching as I brought the rock down on the snake’s head over and over again.

Blood splattered on the ground around it, and then it began to pool beneath the mushy pulp of scales and meat where its head used to be.

Only once its head was completely unrecognizable did I actually stop.

Sweat poured down my face and chest, and I sat up and looked around as I caught my breath. My dark hair had fallen into my eyes, so I pushed it back into place with a shaky hand. Then I dropped the rock, stood up, and backed away slowly.

The snake’s body was all sorts of twisted, and as I stared at it, I realized there was a large, tapering fin on its back. It looked like the same sort of fringe lizards with winged necks had at the base of their throats. But this wasn’t a lizard, this was a snake, and a venomous one at that. If anything, it should have fins coming out the sides of its neck, not running all along its back.

What the fuck kind of snake was this? Had we just discovered a new species?

Slowly, the blood rushed out of my ears, and I was able to hear normally again.

“Are you alright?” Sarah asked as she took a step toward the dark-haired woman who was still on the ground.

“Well, I’m just peachy, darlin’,” the woman gasped snidely, and she stood up and rubbed her throat as she pointed to the dead snake. “That damn thang just tried to eat me! Do I look okay to you?”

“Yes, we saw--” Sarah started, but the woman wasn’t done ranting yet.

“Where the hell am I?”she screeched, and tears welled in her dark blue eyes as she looked at the three of us. “And who fuck are you people?”

“I’m Sar--” my redheaded friend started again, but the woman ignored her as she paced back and forth in the clearing.

“One minute, I’m at home watchin’ Charmed, drinkin’ wine, mindin’ my own damn business, and the next thing I know, I wake up here.” Her eyes went wide with realization. “Oh, my gawd. Mr. Tibbs!”

“Who?” Sarah asked.

“Mr. Tibbs!” the woman yelled, and she crouched down and rubbed her fingers together like she was trying to call something to her. “Here, kitty, kitty. Oh, my god, where is he? Tibbs, baby, I’m here!”

“Where is who?” Sarah asked.

“My damn cat, obviously,” the black-haired woman snapped. “The poor thing can’t fend for himself, he’s too much of a wuss.”

“We have bigger problems here than your missing cat,” Sarah scoffed.

“Maybe you have bigger problems than that,” the black-haired woman said, and she stopped, put her hands on her hips, and stared at each of us in turn. “I want to know where the hell I am, where my damn cat’s at, and who in the hell y’all are. Now, somebody here is gonna start talkin’, and it ain’t gonna be me.”

Sarah, the random blonde woman across the way, and myself were all completely silent as this insanely gorgeous woman with the southern accent stared at us with one perfectly sculpted eyebrow lifted to the center of her forehead.

I’d thought Sarah was the most beautiful woman I’d seen, but whoever this woman was, she was just as gorgeous. Her long, black hair hung down to her mid back in beautiful, huge ringlets that framed her high cheekbones, slender nose, and full lips. She was a couple inches shorter than Sarah, but what she lacked in height,  she made up for in amazing curves. Her breasts were full, and her coveralls were unzipped to reveal a nice cleavage line I had to force myself to look away from. She wore the same dark green jumpsuit as the rest of us, but hers was cinched at the waist only to pull outward with her large, child bearing hips.

Her piercing, deep blue eyes caught mine, and she cocked her hip to the side and crossed her arms over her full chest.

“Alright, tall glass, start talkin’.”

“Um, what do you want us to say?” I asked.

“Well, tellin’ me where the hell I am would be a good start, honey,” she said in that sexy southern accent of hers.

“I-I don’t know,” I said honestly.

“Is that right?” she asked, and she cocked her hip out even farther. “Well, where did y’all come from? You seem to have just come out of nowhere. Maybe I should just call for help again. Help! Help! Anybody out here?”

The woman started screaming, and everything in my being told me that was a bad idea.

“Stop!” I hissed.

“Why should I?” she asked and then raised her voice again. “Anybody out there?”

“That’s exactly why,” I said, and I rushed over to her and grabbed her wrist to get her attention. Then I looked directly into her dark blue eyes. “We don’t know why we’re here. We shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. We could be in danger.”

“Alright.” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, but then she nodded, and her shoulders lowered just a hair. “I’ll trust you, for now. You did just save me from a snake and all.”

“Thank you,” I said calmly, and I let go of her wrist. “We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

“And just who’s ‘we?’” she asked, and she looked me up and down.

“I’m Jake,” I repeated, and then I gestured to the redhead behind me. “That’s Sarah. We woke up here just like you did.”

“You don’t know how you got here, neither?” the black-haried woman asked warily.

“No.” I shook my head.

“The last thing I remember was being out at a bar with my friends,” Sarah offered.

“I was at a concert,” I added, and I searched her dark eyes for any signs of recognition. “What do you remember?”

“I-I don’t remember much,” she said, and she looked down at the ground as her plump lips pulled together. “Like I said, I was watchin’ Charmed with Mr. Tibbs. When I first woke up, I thought maybe I had too much wine before bed, but this doesn’t look like any place round where I’m from.”

“And where is that?” I asked.

“Macon,” she said.

“Macon… Georgia?” I asked.

“That’s right,” she said, and her dark eyebrows pinched together as she studied my face. “Y’all ain’t from around there, though, are ya?”

“I’m afraid not,” I said.

“Oh, Jesus Lord,” the black-haired woman said, and she started to pace back and forth again. “We’ve been abducted by those god damn aliens. They probably killed Mr. Tibbs. I ain’t gonna make it to my sister’s weddin’ on Saturday. Oh, no, no, no…”

The woman’s voice grew low, and her breathing started to get more ragged. She stopped walking and placed her right hand on her chest as if she were having a panic attack.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” I said, and I stepped in front of her so she had to look at me. “I’m right here, okay? You’re going to be alright.”

“How do you know that?” she gasped, and her dark blue eyes locked on mine. “What are we all doin’ out here?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But we’re going to figure it out. Let’s focus on something small, okay.”

“Okay.” She gulped and nodded.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“My name?” she repeated, and a look of horror came over her face. “Oh… I … I don’t know. I don’t know my own name.”

“It’s alright,” I assured her. “Can you do something for me?”

She nodded.

“Check your pocket,” I instructed.

“My po-” She stopped talking as she shoved her hand into the seam on her hip and something crinkled. “Oh, my god. What is this?”

The small piece of paper shook in her hand as she held it up for me to see.

“Read it,” I said. “It should tell you your name.”

“How did you know this was here?” she demanded, and she stepped back a few inches.

“I got one, too,” I said. “I didn’t know my name until I read it.”

“Me, too.” Sarah nodded.

“Da,” the blonde-haired woman spoke for the first time, and all our eyes shot over to her, but she just shrugged and leaned against a tree. “I have one, too.”

Was that a Russian accent I was hearing? So far, we had someone from Utah, Georgia, California, and now Russia?

“I…” the black-haired woman stared at the blonde for a second. Then she unfolded the note and read aloud. “Devonna, survive the monsters. Find the strongest male you can and breed. The future of the human race depends on you.”

Her dark blue eyes flashed to mine, and I held them for a moment as I shrugged slightly.

“Mine said the same thing,” Sarah said, and she stepped forward and held out her own note. “The exact same thing. Except for the name.”

“Da.” The Russian woman said, and she walked over to the rest of us. “We all received the same note.”

I hadn’t realized how small the blonde woman really was until she was right next to me, but she was absolutely tiny. She probably weighed a buck ten soaking wet, and her petite, slender frame wasn’t nearly as toned as Sarah or Devonna’s. Unlike the other two, her hair was cut incredibly short, which only accentuated her plump lips, huge gray eyes, and sharp chin. Her delicate, soft features were at complete odds from her harsh, sexy accent and stoic attitude, and I suddenly found myself staring at her and wondering how I’d possibly ignored her presence a moment before.

“And just who are you?” Devonna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Natasha,” the blonde answered in her thick accent.

“Wait, we couldn’t have all gotten the same note,” Sarah said, and she looked at me and cocked her head to the side. “Was yours the same?”

“No.” I shook my head and pulled mine out of my pocket.

“What’s it say?” Devonna asked, and she lifted up onto her tiptoes to try and see the paper even before I opened it.

I cleared my throat nervously. “It says: Jake, survive the monsters. Breed with as many women as you can. The future of the human race depends on you.”

“Oh, my god, seriously?” Devonna asked with an eye roll.

“Typical.” Sarah shook her head and pursed her lips as she looked out into the jungle.

“What?” I asked, and I noticed my voice was high-pitched with nerves. “I didn’t write it.”

“No, but a man clearly did,” Devonna scoffed.

“Yeah, why else would your note tell you to ‘breed’ with as many women as possible?” Sarah asked, and she cocked her hip out to the side. “But ours say we gotta find one Mr. Wonderful and give ourselves over to him and only him? Meanwhile, you’re supposed to pump your baby batter in all of us. Ugh. Such bullshit.”

“Is science.” Natasha shrugged.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“Excuse me?” Devonna said at the same time.

“There is phrase for this in biology,” the blonde woman explained. “Men pair widely, women pair wisely.”

“I’ve never heard that phrase before,” Devonna said, and she raised a dark eyebrow at the blonde.

“No?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah, what does that even mean?” Sarah scoffed. “Is that, like, an excuse for men to cheat?”

“To some degree,” Natasha agreed.

“That’s ridiculous!” Sarah protested, and her mouth fell open with shock. “So, it’s okay for men to be horndogs and fuck anything that walks just becuase it’s ‘science.’”

“I don’t think that’s what she’s--” I started to say.

“Oooh, somebody’s been burned before,” Devonna said in an aside to Natasha.

“I heard that,” Sarah growled.

“Is biology,” Natasha clarified. “Men are selfish pigs because they are biologically programmed to be. This does not dismiss their actions, it only explains them.”

“Now, hold on a second,” I tried, but the women didn’t appear to hear me.

“Well, when you put it that way,” Devonna snickered.

“I can agree to some degree,” Sarah snorted.

“Alright, I don’t agree, but I’d just like to say that I want no part in this note,” I said as I waved it in the air.

“Well, damn right,” Devonna said, and she eyed me as if she were offended I’d even acknowledged what was written on the paper. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m a good Christian girl, and I ain't ‘breeding’ with anybody. Especially not somebody I don’t even know. I’m not a damn cow, for cryin’ out loud.”

“Yeah, these notes are creepy as hell.” Sarah’s face pulled into a grimace as she looked at the paper. “It actually says ‘breed.’ I mean, who writes that?”

“Someone with a very specific kink.” Devonna nodded once to accentuate her point.

“The use of the term ‘breed’ is not inaccurate, biologically speaking, but it does seem to imply an animalistic aspect,” Natasha mused and tapped her lip in thought. “Perhaps whoever wrote this believes humans are less civilized than they think.”

“And just who might that be?” Devonna asked.

Natasha shrugged. “Who put the notes in our pockets?”

We were all quiet as we looked at one another.

“Who did put them there?” Sarah asked, and she looked down at her jumpsuit. “They changed us, put these notes in our pockets, and left us out here in the middle of the jungle. But why?”

“And why the four of us?” Devonna asked. “I mean, we’re not even from the same place. How’d they get us all here overnight?”

“I was in California,” I said. “Sarah was in Utah, and Devonna, you were in Georgia. Those are all in the United States. But what about you, Natasha?”

“I was in my office in Moscow,” the blonde said.

“There’s no way they could have taken us all and gotten us here within a day.” I shook my head.

“No, is impossible,” Natasha agreed.

“Well, maybe we were all taken together because we knew each other?” Devonna asked.

“Jake and I were thinking the same thing earlier,” Sarah said. “But we were so far apart that it doesn’t make sense.”

“One of you could have been my patient,” Natasha said.

“Patient?” I asked.

“I am neurologist,” she said seriously, and her full, pouty lips pressed together as she thought back. “I was in my office going over MRIs, and next thing I know, I woke up here. In jungle.”

“Okay, so we can all remember what we were doing the night before we ended up here,” I said. “But what about before that?”

“Devonna couldn’t even remember her name, like, five minutes ago,” Sarah pointed out.

“Oh, and I suppose you know exactly who you are, miss smartypants?” the southern belle countered with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Sarah admitted with a frown. “I barely remember anything about my life except the night before I wound up here.”

“Same here,” I said. “I get little glimpses of memories, but nothing really solid. Everything feels fuzzy.”

“We could have amnesia,” Natasha said.

“All at the same time?” Sarah asked.

“Not unheard of.” The blonde woman shrugged.

“If we have amnesia, then why can we remember what things are?” Devonna countered. “I thought amnesia meant everything you knew was just, poof, gone.”

“This is common misconception,” Natasha explained. “Most people with amnesia can remember basic things like math, writing, etc. Often, it is people or specific events which they cannot recall. There are different forms of amnesia. Some prevent people from making new memories, others cause memory loss, but usually people are able to remember some events from their lives.”

“What about who they are?” Devonna asked. “Do people usually remember who they are?”

“They do,” Natasha confirmed.

“Then it’s not amnesia, right?” Sarah asked. “Because none of us remember who we are.”

“There are different types of amnesia,” Natasha repeated. “Perhaps this one is drug induced.”

“You think someone drugged us?” Devonna asked, and her mouth parted as she brought her hand up to her heart.

“Is likely.” The beautiful blonde nodded.

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘likely?’” the southern woman asked with a look of newfound horror.

“Given our current circumstances, I believe so.” Natasha nodded.

“So, not just a possibility anymore, huh?” Devonna looked at Sarah and me. “It’s likely we’ve been drugged. Not possible. Likely.”

“Yeah, that makes sense to me,” Sarah said. “How else would they have gotten us here?”

“You think they poisoned my wine?” Devonna asked in a whisper.

“That would be easiest way.” Natasha shrugged.

“You seem to know a lot about drugging people,” Devonna said, and her eyes narrowed on the Russian woman.

“I study the mind,” she replied with a small smile. “Is my job to know how drugs affect it.”

“I guess that checks out,” Devonna said. “But you’re still on my radar, missy.”

“It seems less important to me that I am on your radar when we are all clearly on someone else’s,” Natasha said.

“Good point.” Devonna pursed her lips. “So, what do we do now?”

“Let’s start with what we know,” Sarah said, and she held up her index finger. “Or, rather, what we don’t know.”

“We don’t know where we are,” Natasha offered.

“Right.” Sarah put up a finger. “We don’t know each other.”

“We barely know ourselves,” Devonna scoffed.

Another one of Sarah’s fingers went up.

“We have no idea what day it is, either,” I said.

“Or what time of day,” Natasha said. “The shadows tell me nothing here.”

“Yeah, the jungle is thick,” I agreed. “I walked for about an hour and still never got a view of the sun.”

“We can see some blue from the sky through the trees,” Devonna pointed out. “That’s gotta mean it’s daytime, at least.”

“Yes, but morning or afternoon?” Natasha asked.

“Does it matter?” the southern woman countered.

“If we knew what time of day it was, we could maybe tell how long we’ve been out,” I said. “My guess is that it’s afternoon, though.”

“Ah, but afternoon on what day?” Natasha asked. “They took me from Russia, there’s no way it’s only been a few hours and we are all here together. A flight from Russia to California is half a day’s trip, at least.”

“Okay, so maybe the time of day doesn’t matter right now.” Sarah frowned. “But if we’re going to figure out how to get out of here, we need to know something. Right now, it feels like we have no information at all.”

“The best way to get from point A to point B is a straight line,” I said.

“You know where we’re headed there, Tall Glass?” Devonna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No.” I shook my head. “But if I could get a better view, maybe I could figure it out.”

“How are you going to do that?” she asked.

“When I woke up, I was near a small waterfall,” I explained. “I was trying to get to the top of it to get a look around, but the rocks were too dangerous to climb. But there’s more trees where we are now. If I can climb to the top, I may be able to see a way out of here.”

“Are you crazy?” Devonna asked, and she pointed to a large tree on our right. “That snake fell right out of that damn tree. There could be more up there.”

“Unlikely.” Natasha shrugged one shoulder.

“And just what makes you an expert on snakes?” the beautiful, black-haried woman demanded. “I thought you were a people doctor.”

“I am.” Natasha smiled. “But is not rocket science. Snakes are predatory animals, and that one was quite large. I doubt there are others in the same tree. If there were, that beast probably killed them a long time ago.”

“She’s got a point.” I nodded. “I doubt there’s another one of those snakes just hanging around here.”

“What kind of snake is it, anyway?” Sarah asked as she stared at the large, windy body of the reptile.

“I have no idea,” I admitted. “It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before. At least, not that I can remember.”

“It has strange fin-like thing on its back,” Natasha said with a point at the creature. “This does not appear normal to me.”

“Me, neither,” I agreed.

“You think that’s one of the monsters the note was talking about?” Devonna asked in a low voice.

“Oh, come on,” Sarah scoffed. “That note is a crock of shit. Some sicko fuck obviously created it to scare us.”

“Well, they’re doin’ a damn good job of that,” Devonna said, and she held up her note. “You mean to tell me you think we should just ignore this monster thing?”

“We’re ignoring the breeding part, aren’t we?” Sarah asked.

“Well, yeah.” Devonna nodded. “But the monster part seems a bit scarier, in my opinion.”

“Scarier than the breeding with Hulk-men thing?” Sarah asked.

“What part of the word ‘monster’ don’t you understand?” Devonna cocked her hip to the side.

“Monsters aren’t real,” Sarah said.

“How do you know that?” the southern woman countered. “Up until this mornin’, I didn’t think waking up in a strange place with different clothes on was a real possibility, but here I am.”

“The dark-haired one has a point,” Natasha said calmly.

“Thank you, Natasha,” Devonna said, and she turned to Sarah and lifted her nose slightly.

“Look, I may not remember a lot,” Sarah said as she brushed back her orange hair. “But I do know that monsters don’t exist, just like I know we’re standing on the ground right now and that thing Jake just killed is a snake. Monsters are make-believe.”

“Honey, look around,” Devonna said with a shake of her head. “We’re in somethin’ make believe.”

“Alright,” I calmly interrupted. “None of us are snake experts, so we don’t know if that one over there is normal or not.”

“Does not seem normal to me,” Natasha repeated.

“Me, neither,” I said. “But we can’t say that for sure.”

“Thank you,” Sarah sighed with exasperation.

“But we also can’t say this note isn’t real,” I added.

“Thank you,” Devonna said.

“Oh, come on,” Sarah said at the same time.

“Until we know what’s going on here, we need to be cautious,” I continued. “We should stick together and consider ourselves in grave danger. Does everyone agree?”

“That sounds like a working plan to me,” Devonna said.

“Great.” I nodded. “So, we’re in agreement. We stick together?”

“Da,” Natasha agreed.

“Yes,” Sarah said.

“Count me in,” Devonna added and faced me head-on. “But listen here… you might be a tall glass, but if I even catch you tryin’ to breed with me, I swear to all that is holy--”

“Yeah, I know,” I chuckled. “But to be fair, I don’t think you should be worried about that. I already told you this note is bullshit to me, too, and you all have me outnumbered right now.”

“And don’t forget it,” Sarah said, and her threatening glare made me instinctively step back.

“Alright,” I muttered. “So… at least we know we have each other now. That’s something, right?”

“Is better than no one,” Natasha said with a playful smile.

“Right,” I chuckled, and for a split second, I felt my body relax with the knowledge that at least I wasn’t in this alone. “Now, I think it’s time we start trying to make some progress.”

“You really think you can climb one of those trees?” Devonna asked. “The leaves are real thick up there.”

“It’s our best shot at finding a way out of here,” I said.

“Then I’m going with you.” Sarah reached back and grabbed her ankle to stretch her leg out.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said.

“I thought we were supposed to stick together.” The redhead smirked.

“You did say that,” Devonna agreed.

“Da, you did.” Natasha nodded.

“Alright,” I said, but my eyebrows pulled together with concern. “Are you sure you’re up for this? It might take a while to get to the top. We don’t know exactly how tall the trees are.”

“I was born ready.” Sarah grinned. “I’m a fitness trainer, remember?”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“Lead the way.” She smiled and gestured for me to go ahead.

I walked over to the largest tree in the clearing and grabbed a low-hanging branch. Then I swung my feet up and grabbed hold of it with my ankles to pull myself up.

These new muscles I had were already coming in handy. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that before. At least, I didn’t think I could. Sarah seemed to remember that she worked out, but I didn’t remember going to the gym at all, so it must not have been a normal occurrence.

I had no idea how it was possible that I’d gained muscle definition and bulk if I’d been drugged for any length of time, but I’d worry about that later. Right now, I was going to use whatever tools whoever brought me here gave me and find a way out of this hellhole.

I reached up and grabbed the next branch above me, and then I pulled myself up and watched as Sarah leaped up to grab the branch below. The redhead quickly got to her feet below me, and then she looked up and raised an eyebrow at me to let me know she was ready to continue.

I nodded and grabbed another branch. The tree had plenty, and while they weren’t the largest and sturdiest, they were close enough together that I was making decent time.

Still, it was hot as hell, and sweat dripped down the back of my neck as I climbed. The jungle was humid, and the branches were slightly slippery from the dampness, so I made sure to place my hands and feet carefully so they didn’t slip.

Before long, I couldn’t see Devonna or Natasha any longer. Sarah was a few branches down, but she was moving quickly, so I kept pushing upward.

We had to be nearly thirty feet high by then, but the leaves surrounding us were only getting thicker. I couldn’t see through them at all, and I had to wonder just how tall this fucking tree was.

A loud snapping sound made me whip my head back.

Sarah was at least ten feet below me, but the branch under her feet had just broken, and she was holding on with only one hand.

“Sarah!” I shouted as my heart raced with panic. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

“I can’t…” she said through gritted teeth as she tried to grab the branch with her other hand. “It’s too slippery.”

With a loud, terrified scream, the redhead fell downward and out of sight.