Chapter 14 Deadly Exploration 2

I saw a troop of chimpanzees baring their teeth at the group. Some chimpanzees had picked up sticks and were hurling the sticks at them. The chimpanzees in zoos often appeared amusing, but here, without the protection of barbed wires, the savage nature of these animals was frightening. Seeing their enrage reactions, I quickly understood why the banana plants were so neatly distributed, almost resembling a plantation. It might have been planted by these chimpanzees. I remembered reading that chimpanzees could wield simple tools, and their intelligence was second only to humans. Chimpanzees were the most closely related to humans out of all animals. A small group of scholars even believed that humans were considered a subspecies of chimpanzees. Hence, it was no surprise that they could plant a whole banana farm. It was apparent that we had severely compromised their benefits by picking the bananas, so they were chasing us off. I strode toward the group and cautioned in a low voice, “Stop shouting!” After their screams dwindled, I shouted, “There are less than twenty of them, and we have the same number of people! These chimps are shorter than us, and they have no weapons. If we cower away from them, we’re a disgrace to humankind!” I scanned the group and saw guilt written on their faces. Brandishing my axe, I commanded, “Continue to pick the bananas! Ignore the chimps! If they dare to approach you, just kill them! We need some leather anyway.” My pep talk seemed to inspire them, so the group dutifully went back to picking bananas. The pile of bananas steadily grew. Seeing this, the chimpanzees became furious and howled loudly while banging their chests. It was a rather comical sight. Upon realizing that the primates would only try to intimidate from afar, their anxiety subsided. Some even taunted the chimpanzees by making funny faces. Distraught, the chimpanzees made a ruckus up in the trees, but none of them moved to attack. Seeing this, we let our guard down. However, we soon realized how ignorant we were. Unbeknownst to us, the number of chimpanzees had increased, so the troop was now two to three times its original size. When I finally noticed this, my heart leapt to my throat. “Let’s go!” I immediately roared. The group belatedly raised their heads to look at me, but I had already turned to leave. Allie grabbed my arm and matched my fast pace. “Do you... still want the bananas?” Someone piped up. His witlessness flabbergasted me. “I don’t want anything other than my life!” Just as I finished speaking, a low rumble sounded ahead of us. A hulking chimpanzee dropped from a tree and blocked our path. Standing at around two meters, the primate was far taller and brawnier than any of us, and it had a powerful build that was to be reckoned with. It stared at me coldly, its gaze almost human. I felt dread roil in my stomach. The chimpanzee let out a string of noises akin to low grunts. The leaves on the trees rustled as other chimpanzees dropped to the ground and slowly surrounded us. “Spread out!” I yelled and bolted. The number of primates was already more than I could take on, so there was no doubt that I would be trampled underfoot with King Kong as their leader. The image of my body being ripped to pieces by the chimpanzee flashed across my mind. I heard the leader of the chimpanzees let out a series of grunts behind me. At that, the chimpanzees split into groups of three and approached us. They even knew how to get into formation! I watched a trio of chimpanzees roughly pick up a woman and drag her into the underbrush. Vexation suddenly replaced my morbid wish for them to die for our common enemy. “Let go of her!” Axe in hand, I charged toward the underbrush. I swung the axe forcefully and decapitated a chimpanzee in an explosion of crimson blood. The primate’s dying howl had attracted even more chimpanzees. Numerous furry hands thrusted in my direction as they tried to get hold of me. I thrashed around in a crazed manner, and I lost all reason as my survival instincts took over. I yanked the woman to her feet and told her to run. Then, I brandished my axe and continued a deadly dance with the chimpanzees. Heart-wrenching cries rose around me. The sounds of distress were like a punisher’s whip, lacerating my heart. Clenching my jaw, I slashed the surrounding air with the axe to clear a path. I was trying to save the man that was closest to me when suddenly, someone pushed me from behind and knocked me to the ground. Almost instantly, a rock the size of a watermelon hurtled over my head. I broke out in a cold sweat when I realized that my head would have been smashed to a pulp if not for the fall. It was Allie. She had been tailing me all this while. If she had not showed me out of the way earlier, I would have died. I pulled Allie flush against me and rolled on the ground. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the chimpanzee leader weighing a huge rock in its hand, looking at me with contempt. It seemed to have discerned that I was the largest threat, so it’s eyes were following my every move. I watched it swing its arm, and the rock whizzed toward me with astounding accuracy. Tensing my abdomen, I leapt forward on my belly like a snake, narrowly avoiding the rock. It slammed into the ground behind me, stirring up a cloud of dust and grass. The chimpanzee leader hoisted another rock and strode toward me. Although it was massive, its sheer size didn’t affect its speed. Its movements were agile as it swiftly approached me, moving so fast it resembled a tornado. I jumped to my feet. Allie, who had been clinging to me, was pulled up by this motion. I promptly threw her over my shoulder and sprinted away. I swore I used up every ounce of energy in my body. The whooshing sound of the wind filled my ears. I ran with no direction as I darted between trunks and branches, choosing the narrowest route available. The chimpanzee leader was unexpectedly persistent. It was hot on our heels and would have caught up to us had I not chosen narrow paths. I had completely lost my sense of direction. I scurried under some aerial roots of banyan trees and was welcomed by a sight that filled me with dismay. A clearing appeared before my eyes. It was another wetland! Anguish rose in my heart. The chimpanzee could easily maul us in such an open space. However, it was already too late to stop. Spurred by momentum, I barreled forward like a snowball rolling down a slope. As I ran, I suddenly realized that something was amiss. I could no longer hear the chimpanzee’s footsteps behind me. I stumbled to a stop and looked behind me. The leader of chimpanzees was standing at the edge of the forest, looking at me strangely. At the same time, I felt a weird sensation beneath my feet. The ground I was standing on began to sink. In the blink of an eye, my ankles were already buried, and I could feel a force pulling me deeper. F**k! This was a swamp! No wonder the chimpanzee stopped chasing me! I hastily lunged forward, so I was sprawled on the ground and spread my limbs out. Allie, who was still on my shoulder, was flung onto the ground by my motions. Fortunately, the ground was soft. Aside from streaks of mud on her face, she was uninjured. This woman’s perseverance was beyond my expectations. She didn’t scream or shriek. Instead, she calmly smoothed her hair from her face and tilted her chin to look at me with a suggestive look on her face. It was undeniable that her eyes were alluring, and her lustful gaze tickled my heart. However, I was completely spent. Pinching her cheek, I panted, “Rest for a while. Aren’t you tired of keeping up the act?” Allie grinned. “I don’t know why, but I get the urge whenever I look at you. Maybe it’s because you’re a true man!” “You have good taste!” I chuckled. Just then, I saw the chimpanzee leader raise its arm and hurl a rock our way. This time, the rock missed us by a mile. It landed in the swamp behind us with a plop and sunk into the mud. What was going on? I was seized with a sense of foreboding. Turning my head, I saw the swamp start to bubble as what looked like pieces of driftwood surfaced from the murky water. They slowly crawled out of the marsh, their numbers growing incessantly. “F*ck!” My face twisted into a grimace, and I nearly wailed in despair. They were crocodiles! This swamp was crowded with crocodiles! The menacing chimpanzee leader must have known of this. The rock it had thrown earlier was to signal the crocodiles that their dinner was here. F*ck, the story of the monkey and the crocodile was actually real! Primates and crocodiles really had a symbiotic relationship! The chimpanzee folded its arms across its chest and looked at me goadingly, its mannerisms bearing an uncanny resemblance to humans. Behind us, the crocodiles had not noticed our presence. It seemed like they had just awoken from a deep slumber and were still in a daze as they slowly crawled out of the marsh. While they might be ignoring us for now, I did not want to risk it. “Follow me. Crawl,” I told Allie in a soft voice. I rolled on the ground and covered myself in mud to camouflage myself. Pressing my body to the ground, I moved on all fours and slowly crawled in the opposite direction of the chimpanzee. The chimpanzee leader was clever. When it realized that we had escaped the crocodile’s notice, it lobbed another rock in our direction. The rock landed in front of us, splashing muddy water everywhere. This caught the crocodiles’ attention, and they slowly turned to look at us. Perhaps they had quickly discerned that we were edible, so they swam quickly in our direction. “Run!” I pulled Allie up, found some ground that would hold our weight, and started running for our lives. I would rather drown in the marsh than be gobbled up by these horrendous reptiles. I pulled Allie along as we ran, stumbling and tripping all the way. I suppose Lady Luck was on our side today. We managed to avoid sinking into the swamp and outran the crocodiles. We found ourselves at the edge of another forest. The leader of chimpanzees did not think I could escape the swamp. Outraged, it roared and ran towards us in pursuit. The crocodiles were also displeased that their dinner had gotten away. They wriggled their scaly bodies and cut across the water, making a beeline for me.