Undiscovered: Book One: The New Jungle

Chapter 9

"Hey let's go to the river, we could check out our surroundings." Randal said.

The group then took off in the direction of the river. Once they reached the river they began talking.

"Wow, this place is beautiful." Christine said.

"I think it would be a good idea to go swimming. So I'm going to do that now." Chris said.

"But what about animals in the river. Randal said those monster fish could get up to six feet long." Christine said trying to sway her friends plan.

"Theoretically." Randal corrected.

"Well, I already had my swimming trunks on instead of shorts, and if you look closely you can notice the fact that I'm already in the water." Chris joked as he waded through the water.

"But what about other things. I heard in the Amazon here are little fish that will swim up your..." Christine started.

"I would stop there. Yes, that is a kind of fish. Candiru, it's a tiny type of catfish that is one of two species of catfish of the same name. This fish kills larger fish by, along with several other candiru, swimming into its gills and feeding on its breathing organs. They find prey by smelling a chemical in the water fish exhale. The problem is the fact that that same chemical is also in human urine. One man was swimming in the Amazon and decided to relieve himself in the water while submerged from the waist down. A candiru smelled the chemical in his urine and swam up the stream until he reached the man, and you can infer what happened next. The only thing is, there can't be candiru here, this place doesn't have normal animals." Randal stated off the top of his head.

"Wait, what is that?" Christine shouted.

"Chris, get out of the water." Randal said, matching Christine's tone.

Chris ran out. Luckily as well. The water was arching over the back of a strange blue-grey animal.

"Is that a dolphin?" Christine asked excitedly.

"No, no dorsal fin, in fact, no fins at all." Randal said confused. "Wait I think that's a snake."

The snake was very big around and about seven feet long. It had a horizontal tail paddle to help it swim, and that was something it did very well. It didn't swim like most snakes, a side to side motion, it swam like a whale, it's head going up and down while the rest followed in a wave.

"Get away from the river." Randal hissed to the other two. "Snakes are deaf, but if vibrations from our footsteps get into the water it will look up and see us and we'll be screwed. Just back away from the water, we could maybe come back later."

As if on cue the snake looked up from the water and began swimming to shore. The three stood in shock as the huge animal lumbered onto land. The snake was clearly made to swim, not to slither on land. The snake raised itself to strike. Without a second thought Randal grabbed a thick branch and smacked the serpent on the side of the head. She snake hissed, shook its head and dove back into the water.

"Okay, why is it that the kid with a nature encyclopedia where ever he goes is such a boss in the rainforest?" Chris shouted.

"Well, it's just convenient knowledge." Randal replied modestly. "I had to tame my garter snake and any time she would try to bite I would tap her on the head with a little stick. Snakes mouths are so full of teeth and jaw muscles that they have hardly any room for a braincase. They learn quickly when head trauma is added into the mix, that snake probably won't mess with us for a good while."

"Are you sure you aren't showing off." Chris said.

"No, I'm not showing off." Randal replied. "Either way we should get back to camp."

The group began to start their trek to their camp. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky and the group was close to camp when the got the fealing of being watched.