Welcome to Gaia! ::

Thick, humid air wraps around you the further you venture into the dense foliage. Combined with the sweltering tropical heat, the effect is overbearing, leaving most who are unaccustomed to the climate lightheaded. The majority of the island is covered with thick vegetation that seems to thrive here, eating up the warm sunlight and the rich soil. Unlike the rigid, artificial nature of the village or the facilities, the jungle is primal and untouched. The locations of the man-made facilities were literally carved out of the jungle and the jungle seems to be virtually fighting to reclaim what should be its territory.

Strange whoops and calls of birds and other animals that reside in various levels of the canopy call out all around you, and the closest things there are to paths are small animal trails that meander through the thick underbrush. It seems that the wild jungle areas are seldom frequented by the staff of the Island.
The natural wildlife of the jungles tends towards those animals normally found in South American or Caribbean jungles: tropical birds such as parrots, brightly colored songbirds and hummingbirds, bats, snakes, iguanas and other smaller lizards, sloths, a few scattered monkeys, small jungle felines, rats and mice (and a few of the giant capybaras), a few small forest deer, large wild pigs, and of course multitudes of myriad different insect species.

Madison lay sprawled out on her bed reading a romance novel. Suddenly she threw it across the room, hitting the opposite wall and into the trash bin.

"Dammit! What the hell?! That book was utter garbage!" she yelled and got out of bed.

It looked like such a nice day to be wasting it indoors. She glanced out the window and saw a rainbow parrot! Excitedly, she grabbed her binoculars and headed outside to follow it.

The parrot flew deep into the jungle up ahead and she could no longer see it. It looked so dark and overgrown so she hesitated to continue following.

Madison heard a twig snap behind her so she whirled around. There, plain as day, was the Dude! She was so happy to see him because she sure did not want to go into the jungle alone.

There was probably loads more beautiful birds to watch within. She felt underdressed with her short shorts and sneakers compared to his sweatshirt. Still, it was pretty hot outside so she wanted to stay cool.

"Hello there, Dude! I'm so glad to see you. Do you want to explore the jungle with me?" she smiled at him.

((I got to go to class but I'll be back on later. smile ))

Madison saw the Dude look her up and down, which caused her to blush a little. There still wasn't any sign of a path but on the left side was an area with not as much trees.

"This way, Dude. We can get in through here" Madison motioned for the Dude to follow her.

The Dude was right, it was way too narrow. Some fig trees bloomed at the right, boasting their ripened fruit. She eyed the fruit hungerly, but it was out of her reach.

Looking up higher into the fig tree, Madison spotted the parrot perched on a branch.

"Dude! Look up there. It's the parrot I was following" she shouted, pointing a finger.

The bird squawked at all the excitement and fluttered away in a rainbow haze. It disappeared in the canopy as Madison watched. She shrugged her shoulders. There was other birds in this jungle, probably even prettier. She just had to keep a look out.

Madison turned away from the departing direction of the parrot and gazed up again at the figs, licking her lips.

Madison nodded to the Dude's good advice. She sure hoped there wouldn't cross the paths of any snakes..she hated them!

Up ahead as she walked, a twisted vine brushed up against her leg and caused her to jump. 'Ahh..why did the Dude tell me to be wary of snakes?' she thought to herself. She did like animals, just not snakes because of their 'ickiness'. Madison made sure to watch her step every second.

It gave her a great feeling to be alive, just being inside this jungle. Beauty was everywhere and so much life. Not like the dirty polluted city of New York. She took long breaths of the fresh air.

"So, Dude, where are you from? Do they have places like this where you live?" she asked him.

Madison cringed at the Dude's response. She sure would hate to meet up with a gator..or anything slimey. Back when she lived in Louisiana, there was tons of gators but they usually kept to themselves unless you crossed them.

"Hmm..sounds interesting! I used to live near a swamp too, so I know what you mean" she remarked, looking up at him.

Suddenly, she froze in terror. Right above the Dude's head was ..was...was.. a..SNAKE! eek Madison just stood bug eyed and motionless, trying to choke out some words to warn the Dude.

Instead, she just pointed up over his head. He had warned her before of loud noises and she did not want to make this snake feel threatened. Madison had never been up this close in open air to a snake before and she could see it flick out its forked tounge repeatedly.

Aubrey was sitting in the monitor room, reading a rather intense (*cough cough*) part of the romance novel she was reading. Every now and them she would look up at the monitors like her was susposed to. Ambrose and Greer were playing with their swords in the village, most of the other subjects were in their rooms, and Dude and Moreau's cousin were off in the Jungle.

But ever since Damien had surprised the Lady Rosemary in the stables, Aubrey had been rivited to the page and hadn't looked up for several minutes.

Finally, Aubrey came up for a breather. Wow, it was suddenly very hot in the video room. Putting down the book to go get a glass of water, she noticed a flurry of action on one of the Jungle camera. Was the Dude bleeding??

Aubrey flipped the sound on for that camera and zoomed in. Oh yeah, that was definately blood. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath and ran out towards the Jeep.

Quickly checking to make sure the first aide kit was there, she pulled off towards the jungle, radio-ing Mr. Duvert to ask him to cover her observation shift.

Just a few minutes after the bite, the rumble of a four-wheel drive could be heard crashing through the jungle. Speeding up was Aubrey behind the wheel, a worried expression on her face.

She slammed on the breaks near Dude and jumped out, hauling a large first aide kit with her.

"What happened?" She asked, pulling out a rag and some alcohol from the kit.