The New World - Ch. 2 -- *Mike*

Chapter Two:

After three days on the raft John lost fifty pounds and was a skeleton when he crawled off onto the strange land. The temperature was humid and steamy, and it was raining. John was immediately confronted with the biggest trees he'd ever seen. They had to be atleast 750 feet tall and 60 feet in diameter. They rose straight up into the sky, and it seemed no matter how far John was from one of the trees, the top couldn't be seen. Their huge black, buttressed trunks flaked off to reveal shades of white, green, brown, and maroon. The limbs and branches on the trees were covered in long dark green, pine-like needles that were carried singly rather than in clusters, unlike the trunk, the heavy limbs and branches, some as big as a full grown sugar pine, were covered in smooth white bark. The branches drooped from the heavy weight of the thousands of orange, basketball-sized nuts that hung from them. The canopy of the trees were spreading and irregular, much like that of a eucalyptus. The trees were covered in epiphytes and twisting, spiky vines with maple-like leaves, and huge tulip like flowers mostly in reds and purples. The undergrowth consisted mainly of towering tree ferns, some of which were over 100 feet tall, equally tall palms, and lower down, shrubby plants no more than 3 to 6 feet tall, with poplar-like leaves and rose like flowers. The shrubs gave off a strong camphor-like odor when brushed up against. There were also tons of seedlings of every type of plant that could be seen. One of the basketball-sized nuts from one of the gargantuan trees above that had landed on the ground had a 3 foot shoot which had sprouted from it. It already had several brenches covered thickly with needle-like leaves.

John slowly walked deeper into the jungle, his feet sloshing through mud. The sounds of strange and unknown animals and birds filled the air. Flight from birds and bats the likes of which probably have never been seen before could be heard above. He was stranded God knows where, there was not any sign of human habitation. The closest people were undoubtedly thousands of miles a way in Australia. Somewhere deep inside himself he instinctively knew that he was the first person to ever stumble across this strange new land somewhere between Australia and Antarctica. He had no means of contacting someone to rescue him, and even if he did, they would surely not be able to find him or the strange land he stumbled across. He wondered if he ended up here merely by chance, or if it was somehow his destiny to be the first man ever to see this strange and completely unexplored place.

Soon the rain stopped and the sun shined in filtered halos through the canopies of the gargantuan trees. His stomach rumbled as it had been ever since he started to leave the sunken ship and its drowned passengers long behind. He had to find something to eat. He instinctively knew he had to get something to eat or he would surely die soon. Either from starvation or he would be racked with a terrible tropical disease that would mercilessly torture him in his last days until he convulsed and bled from every orifice.

Suddenly John heard movement in the undergrowth. He turned to where he thought the source of the sound was, and saw a five foot shrub shake violently and settle back again. A pair of large, yellow, cat-like eyes peered at him through behind the shrub. He heard a series of low, angry growls. He heard more rustling and turned his head in the opposite direction and saw a huge animal which he assumed was some type of buffalo. It was no more than 100 feet away. It stood atleast 6 1/2 feet at the shoulders and weighed atleast 3,000 pounds. It was browsing on some of the poplar-like leaves on one of the shrubs, oblivious to the danger. He stepped back, he didn't want to be in the middle of what he assumed was about to happen next.

He turned back to the "cat-eyes" in time to see a huge cat slowly and silently come forth out behind the shrubbery. It was black, with white spots all along its body. It was the size of a grizzly bear. It approached slowly with common feline grace, licking its chops and blinking its yellow eyes once. It had no interest in him. It was preparing to launch a surprise attack on the buffalo. The buffalo continued to browse on the leaves unaware of its enemy which was less than 70 feet from it. Suddenly the cat launched with a surprising display of speed, had to sprint up to atleast 40 miles an hour. The buffalo looked up just in time to see the cat leap upon it. In seconds, it was on the buffalos back. It tore into its neck with its huge canines. The buffalo screamed in immense pain as the cat tore into its jugular. It was all over in 30 seconds, the buffalo's neck went limp and blood gushed all over the place. It immediately started tearing into its prey. Obviously being the top predator, the cat didn't have to worry about any competition, nothing else was going to dare venture near it! The huge cat fixed its gaze upon John and roared louder than any animal he ever heard before. It was warning him not to come any closer. John backed away quickly. He decided he would wait around a while, at a safe distance, and see if the cat might be kind enough to leave him some scraps, if not, he would try the leaves the buffalo was munching on, or maybe even one of those huge nuts from one of the trees.

To Be Continued...

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