The Jungle

Chapter 5: Caroline

(A/N: Here's a bit of Caroline for you guys :D This is my first chapter that doesn't take place int he jungle, so feedback is welcome. First three to comment get a dedication!!!!

Caroline paced about the hall in worry. Inside, she could hear Hamlet and another man named Caesar talking in hushed voices. Out of her mind with worry, she pulled at her long, wavy hair and checked her phone every ten seconds, praying that Warren had texted her.

The stupid, little idiot had gone out into the jungle all by himself and it was all Caroline’s fault. She should have known he would have been squeamish about their kind of entertainment. He spent all his time fighting crime and catching murderers, not killing for sport. He thought of her as a monster now. She knew it. In her mind, she knew she had become the very thing he tried so hard to fight.

Her baby brother. Her Warren. Gone.

At long last, the smooth, white door glided open. Hamlet stomped out, Caesar in his wake.

Caesar was a representative to the Metropolan council from the province of Mexico. His eyes and hair were black and his skin was the color of a rich cup of coffee.  He was a regular visitor to the island and he had a huge trophy room in his mansion filled with taxidermy of the trophies he’d shot. He had three elephants, two rhinos, uncountable deer, six buffalo, and a single, solitary Kupata.

She did not agree with the practice of the taxidermy of Kupata. They were so much like humans that it seemed morbid to her. She and Caesar were in a relationship, of sorts (Warren called them fuck buddies), and she had been to his mansion several times and walked past the Kupata’s head. Its blank, green eyes stared blindly at her, watching her every move, begging her to explain why it had been killed. It was a pregnant female, Caesar had boasted. She had been lured out of their village by the need to go for a walk, born from restless tendencies.

Somehow the knowledge that she had been pregnant sickened Caroline a bit. But the Kupata were genetic experiments, right? They were not human. At least, that’s what Hamlet said. She was inclined to think he was right.

All of the Kupata were freakishly tall. Their average height was rivaled only by Hamlet, and he stood a full foot taller than Caroline’s five feet and eight inches. Their hair was always thick and blond. The women braided it and kept it soft, but the men let it grow long and shaggy. It hung down in mats to the elderly men’s waists. Their eyes were piercing green. Always green like an emerald. They had long legs and strong arms. Their torsos were strong and broad, perfectly balancing out their long legs. They had fine cheekbones that were beautifully crafted to be amazingly attractive. The ones they’d captured on hidden cameras were pretty downright sexy, Caroline thought.

“Caroline, I’m afraid we need to show you something,” Caesar said gently, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She looked up in horror, brown eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “Is it him?” she asked, looking frantically from Hamlet to her partner’s somber faces. “Tell me. Is he dead?”

“We don’t know if he’s dead, but it’s likely he could be. The D Pack was down near the fence this morning. We caught them attacking someone on camera. Remember Amanda McAllister? She had been trying to get through the fence when they came upon her and attacked her. Jefferson and I went down there as quickly as we could to provide backup fire, but she was already dead.  The wolves tore her to bits before we could gun them down,” Hamlet explained slowly.

“Why do you want to show me?” Caroline asked. She had never even spoken to Amanda, much less formed a bond with her. The damn scientists ran away all the time. What was one more death to her?

“There were already two dead wolves when we got there. Amanda wasn’t armed. When we performed examinations on the two that we didn’t kill, we found they had been shot. The bullets matched the ones from your brother’s pistol. Our guess is he tried to help her and then ran away like a pussy when things got a little tough for him. He left it up to us to kill D Pack without any kind of backup,” Hamlet replied. “He’s still out there somewhere. He stayed away from any of our hunting trails. We believe he’s in Kupata territory.”