Julie and the Monkey Queen

Chapter 1

Resting in a tree branch, Julie Vidic looked out at the green foliage that extended out as far as the eye could see and thought to herself, this was paradise. This is why she decided to stay on Greystoke Island one-and-a-half years after she came with a research team.

Even when things were dull and unassuming, she always felt that the sheer beauty of her new home was more than enough to remind her that she'd not only made the right decision, but this was the best decision she ever made.

The island, roughly the size of the combined land area of the Hawaiian Islands, plus Long and Staten Islands, was untouched by modern humans only until recently. The only way to find it was to, well, FIND it. You should know that in the jungle girl genre, there's a lot of crazier things to find than a hidden island.

Today would be one of those days. She just didn't know it yet.

The 22-year-old Santa Barbara, California-born jungle girl stretched and stood up. A feeling of excitement began to swell inside her. The sun shone on her slightly tanned skin, which covered a slightly toned frame. Slightly disheveled hair in a medium-length pixie cut (because it had gotten a bit too unruly) covered her head. Her face was slender, and framed a par of brown eyes that were filled with excitement. She had gotten to into the whole "jungle girl" thing that she wore the standard-issue jungle girl outfit of an animal skin bikini and loincloth.

She wanted to get moving, so she grabbed a vine began to swing. It had taken some getting used to, but thanks to her boyfriend Kaitan—a young Canadian man about her age who's been a Tarzan clone since he was 15 on this island—she got the hang of it. It wasn't exactly like the grand, Johnny Weissmuller-like swings of those old movies. But it got her around the jungle quickly enough.

It was when Julie heard some monkeys chattering that she became curious. They were swinging around the place, heading off in one direction. What the hell was going on? Well, she wanted to find out. Grabbing another vine, she changed directions and began to swing towards the monkeys.

She kept her distance. This did not look good, and that usually meant something bad. She had to deal with things that were bad, so she had to follow. It looked like they were going somewhere. Normally, this would be well, normal, but this was different. Julie noticed how they were acting as if something was drawing them. "The hell?" she asked herself.

The monkeys all jumped down to the ground but she stayed in the trees. She let go of the trunk and started to walk along one of the branches, mimicking the movements of a cat and a monkey. As she got closer, the façade of a stone building could be seen.

"What the hell is a stone temple doing out here?" Julie asked as she approached. She'd never seen anything like this on the island. The Teo Tribe never mentioned anything like this before. While she liked new discoveries, she wasn't too sure about this.

But it was the place the monkeys were going. She stopped and watched as they surrounded a girl who looked like she was in the Teo tribe... and one woman standing on the top of the building.

The older woman darted about, waving her arms like one of the monkeys. Through the foliage, Julie could see the woman's dress. She also looked Teo, but the exact nature of the outfit that disturbed her. It was the skin of an orangutan. Now Julie has eaten the animals on the island before. But an orangutan was off-limits. She brought her hand to her mouth and choked.

She decided to stay where she was and watch and wait.

The woman, whom Julie assumed to be like a queen, walked up to the poor girl and slapped her. Julie gasped. How dare she!? She began to seethe in her hiding spot, making some feral sounds that unfortunately for her, caught her target's attention.