2 The Jungle
While walking barefoot in the middle of nowhere toward my destination, I couldn't take my eyes off my hands.
'Just what the hell did that thing do to me?'
My hands were much smaller. Hell, everything was smaller. Not only that, but my hair was different too. It was much longer than it originally was, with blue streaks going through it like I was some kind of emo.
Analyzing my entire body, I had to come to the conclusion that all of the muscles I worked hard for in the gym had faded away. The creature… It changed me. But to what extent? And why?
I couldn't understand why it decided to erase the names and faces of everyone I knew while still allowing me to keep my memories of everything that happened in my life, including the torture that it put me through. Presently, its actions were just beyond my comprehension.
I thought it had destroyed the earth and everything on it, and yet, here I was in some kind of jungle full of wild animals, butt naked and absolutely defenseless in the body of a toddler.
Behind me, I could hear a whole bunch of different kinds of creatures moving through bushes and grass. From hearing some of the sounds that a few were making, they didn't seem so friendly. One even sounded relatively close to me. It nearly scared the life out of me when I heard a thick branch break, but when I turned around, I didn't see anything that stood out.
That probably meant that whatever it was was further away than I initially anticipated, but still, I didn't want to be food… again, anyway.
What was odd was that I was pretty sure that I could smell the wildlife nearby—I could also smell that they were good at marking their territory, which made me wanna gag but also made me aware that I still wasn't safe. Needless to say, it made me a whole lot more eager to get to the camp up ahead.
'Well, at least I don't feel pain in my knees anymore. I can run if I have to.' I thought to myself.
After I had been walking for a while, I realized that I wasn't fatigued at all. I knew that my legs were tiny now, but even accounting for that, I felt like I had walked at least 3 miles minimum. Surprisingly, I felt no aches or pains in my feet or my legs. In fact, I felt great.
'The cabin's getting closer, but was the pit really that far away? I mean, if it was, then I shouldn't have been able to see it, right?' I asked myself. But even then, I understood that that was yet again going to be another question that went unanswered.
Stressfully sighing, I continued walking past the incoming trees. Even though I was worried about my well-being, I did take note of how naturally beautiful this place was. I felt like I was strolling through the set in a nature documentary, walking over logs, seeing wild fruits growing on trees, and seeing colorful birds eat them.
To my surprise, there were even monkeys swinging on vines. I even heard a family of elephants near… which made me think to myself once again.
'Where the heck am I because this is certainly not Washington. Especially not with all these butterflies and nature.'
Mindlessly walking forward, I hopped over another log, and as I did, my heart dropped to my stomach while my eyes almost popped out of my head.
"Oh heck." I whispered.
Before me was a giant python coiled up. Because I was currently so small, I wasn't even able to tell how large it was. All I knew was that it was capable enough to eat me.
Unfortunately for me, it heard my outburst and locked eyes with me.
*Hiss*
'Heck-heck-heck!'
In a panic, I looked around in search of a rock or anything that I could use for protection. But while I was searching for a weapon, it was getting closer.
'Crap!'
I was kid-sized. If I ran, it would probably catch me. If I was just bigger, maybe I would somehow manage to kill the thing in front of me. As it got closer to me, I froze in place.
'If only I was just bigger, I could run from it. No, if I was bigger, I could kill it.'
I was praying for a miracle to happen. I just needed that prayer to work just this one time.
'God, if you are listening, save me. Have a meteor come down. If that's too much, have an elephant just pop up out of nowhere and stomp this motherfreaker out.'
As that last thought left my mind, I felt my body convulsing. I began to shake violently as my skin began to darken continuously until it was void-pitched; blacker than any black I had ever seen.
Feeling something was off with its prey, it was the snake's turn to freeze out of fear.
Blue electricity started to pulsate underneath my skin while my back began to hunch over. My fingers and arm began to mold into one digit-less limb while also increasing in size. The same thing began to happen to my legs.
Tusks began to eject out of my face while I felt my teeth shift inside my mouth.
My nose began to extend continuously until it resembled a vanta black elephant trunk.
My ears grew larger, and so did my hearing capability. I heard sounds that I would have never been able to hear as a human being.
Everything became smaller and smaller until the snake before me looked like a worm that I was now towering over. I was now even capable of looking over a few tall trees.
"Woah." I voiced, but that's not what came out.
*PAWOO*
Instead, what came out was a vociferous screech of an enraged elephant that shook the trees around, causing the birds resting in them to retreat.
'I'm… I'm an Elephant right now. I changed into a goddarn elephant! And all I needed to think about was elephants?' I pondered in shock.
'I'm like Beast Boy from The Titans! This is so darn cool!' I felt strong. I felt powerful. Looking at my trunk, I looked powerful too.
My nose was the darkest black I had ever seen. Light didn't even reflect off of it. At the same time, it looked like I had blue lightning moving through my top layer of skin making me look even more intimidating.
Even though I barely had a point of reference for my size, intuitively I knew I was abnormally. I Definitely was like Beast Boy, but better. Or at least from what I saw in the comics.
The snake that had initially intended on eating me began to slither away in terror.
"Ha. Where do you think you're going, you little crap. Didn't you just try to eat me?" I voiced, but in reality, all that came out was
*PAWOOOOOO*
At my voice, a few trees fell over. Every other animal that I heard in the distance began to run for their lives. All except the one in front of me that was paralyzed by fear.
Lifting Up my right foot, I began to charge the snake that was trying to run away. It didn't even have time to turn its head before I stomped on it.
The loud squish it made was enough to give me the chills. Looking down at its corpse, I felt a strange sense of accomplishment. I just killed something with my foot.
I felt so empowered.
And with my new form, I knew that I would have to be careful about the forces that I wielded. If I was too careless, I might just end up destroying the very thing I wanted to protect.
At the sound of my voice, a few trees toppled over, and every other animal in the distance fled for their lives, except for the one in front of me, paralyzed by fear.
Lifting my front leg, I slammed it down.
*Crunch-Boom*
And just like that, I squished it as if it were a piece of red popcorn on the floor.
With my victory, I took a deep sigh of relief, which rustled the leaves of the trees in front of me.
'This—This is insane. How is this happening right now?'
One moment, I was about to be killed, and the next, I turned the tides. I had powers. Real-life superpowers, and I was excited… but then I remembered the price, which took all of the excitement away.
'These powers probably have something to do with that monster… First, I need to figure out where I am, get home, then— well, I don't know.'
I had to work one step at a time. Now was part of the first step.
As I did when first transforming, I began to think of a human. If I showed up at the cabin with my current form, the person living there would probably have a heart attack.
Rather easily, my body began to shrink as the changing process began to reverse.
A few moments later, I was back to normal… Well, I wished that was the case, anyway.
*sigh*
Not only were my feet now covered in snake guts, but I didn't look the way I wanted to.
"Still small," I mumbled, looking down at my hands in disappointment.
Looking forward, I still had a ways to go. Although I could, I didn't want to walk all the way to my destination, but then, I found my answer in the sky as the birds flew over my head.
'Alright. Since I can change into animals, let's try a fast one.'
I didn't know much about animals, but I knew enough to get me by in a situation like the one I was in.
'Think falcon. Think falcon. Think…'
The image of different species of falcons started to flow through my mind. I knew the names of none of them, but I saw at least 3 in my life which I hoped was enough to transform into one.
Luckily, it was. My body began to convulse once more. My feet began to morph into ones with 4 digits and talons so sharp that they pierced through the ground with ease. My arms began to shift into wings with a 12-foot wingspan while my nose converted into a beak that I was pretty sure could crack a diamond.
"Ha! It worked!" Of course, my outburst didn't sound like that to the human ear.
*Screech*
'I really gotta figure out this human speech thing later. But for now, I gotta figure out how to work this body.' I thought, embarrassed at myself. I then observed my body. Once again, I was now a void-pitched black color all over while I had blue electricity arcing through my body.
'Alright… Time to learn how to fly.'
Spreading my wings, I shook my tail feathers and adjusted my feet. Vanishing all doubt in my mind, I then jumped up in the air high as I could, flinging myself into the air with unbelievable strength and speed, knocking into a couple of tree branches.
*Whoosh*
I hadn't just jumped; I rocketed into the sky.
I didn't know what kind of weird changes were going on with my body, but I was strong. Way stronger than the average bird.
'I don't know how I got these powers, nor do I really know how they work, but I'm 90% sure that they were enhanced by whatever that tentacle monster was.' I thought as the momentum of my jump started to slow down.
Not only did the power I exerted make me think this, but as a falcon, I was huge and dense. Assuming that I was around 3 feet tall in my human form, in my bird form, I was easily 6 feet now. My vertical jump was a jaw-dropping 13 feet.
*Flap-flap-flap*
*Screech*
(Haha! It's working)
*Screech*
(It's really working)
I was screeching with joy, flapping through the sky. For a human being, to fly was a fantasy. Now, I was actually living it. It felt like the higher I got in the sky, the more invigorated I felt.
The higher I ascended, the fresher the oxygen in my lungs seemed. Looking down, the world seemed so small, and yet I felt like I could see everything. Transforming into something other than a human being… It felt amazing.
My senses… everything was multiplied by 10. I could see at distances I would usually need binoculars to see. I could see and hear rodents and bugs on the ground while I was hundreds of feet in the air. As I flapped my wings in place, I realized that this experience was truly life-changing.
…
*Screech*
(Oh shit! How do I stop!!!)
*Bonk*
Crashing headfirst into a tree, my entire body went limp. Not because I had gotten knocked out, but because of sheer pain. I then plummeted towards the ground, hitting every tree branch possible on the way down as I flapped my wings in panic.
*snap*
"Shit"
*Screech*
*snap*
"Fuck!"
*Screech*
*snap*
"Bitch!*
*Screech*
*Poof*
"My back!"
*Screech*
Finally hitting the ground and slamming my head on the ground I began to roll around in pain on the forest floor.
'Damn it!'
As I continued to make a ruckus, I heard a rustling in a bush nearby.
*hiss*
Pushing myself up with my wings, I got ready for whatever was coming my way.
'I'm sick of these goddamn snakes in this goddamn forest… but maybe, I can use this chance to get used to my transformations.' I thought, preparing for battle.
With my enhanced vision, I saw what looked to be a green viper snake stalking me in the bush a few feet away from me. It was pretty big, judging by the size of its head, but I was bigger. I was pretty certain that I was faster too.
Judging from its hesitation, It probably was thinking the same thing… that, or it was sizing me up, seeing if I was injured enough to eat.
With this in mind, I began to limp in the opposite direction to lower its guard.
'Let's see if it's gonnafall for it.'
Tripping over a couple of times, I made it appear as if I was struggling to stand up.
It had good instincts for a snake… but mine were sharper. Although it was trying to be stealthy, even slowing its breathing and moving gently through the grass and dirt, I heard it all. Maybe it could trick another bird, but not this one.
*Hiss*
The snake finally decided to attack, but it was just too slow for me. I hopped back as it struck, then hopped forward before it could coil up and grabbed it by the neck, pinning it to the ground.
As it tried to squirm, I quickly ended its life with a surprisingly minimal amount of strength, severing its head with my talons.
Its body began to spasm, flipping and turning and splashing blood all over me.
'Gross.' I thought.
I then looked up at the tree that I crashed into in astonishment. The pain I felt was intense, but it had now vanished. I was honestly surprised that I had survived the crash. I didn't know how fast I was going, but I was pretty sure if another bird had done what I did, its head would have exploded, proving the viper that I killed with a free snack.
Glancing over at the snake, I took a deep breath in relief. I felt that with powers like these, I wouldn't have to worry about my life being in danger for a while.
'Sorry snake… it's just the circle of life.'
I then got ready to fly in the air once more.
*Whoosh*
…
After running into trees a few more times, surprisingly not breaking any bones, I finally got the hang of flying. Next, I practiced landing. After my crash-landing course was finished, I had officially graduated from bird school. It was time to make my way to the cabin, and in no time, I arrived.
Quickly transforming back into a human, I was now a naked boy on the steps of a random stranger's porch. Right before I knocked on the door, I came to this realization.
"Crap." I whispered.
Looking around the area, I noticed some clothes hanging on a line that looked like they belonged to a family of 3 that consisted of a mother, father, and a boy.
There were also a few toys laying around and a few vehicles parked outside which probably meant people were here.
'I hope they don't mind it, but I need to borrow some clothes.' I thought, taking down some cargo shorts and a white button-up with a name written on the pocket. I didn't even think twice about it though. I was more concerned about whether or not they fit me. After adjusting a little, surely enough, they did.
Walking up to the front door, I was about to knock, but hesitated trying to figure out what I would say to these people.
'Screw it… I'll just wing it.'
Before I even got the chance to raise my arm to knock, the door opened.
*Creak*
The door gently pulled back revealing a man who stood at around 6 feet tall. He had blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a distraught facial expression. The man wore a green shirt which had the top button undone that revealed his white undershirt.
"Hm? Excuse me young man, but can I help you with something young man?" The man asked, crouching down to my eye-level, which is something that I wasn't used to considering I used to be a lot taller.
"Uh… yeah actually. I'm kinda lost."
I voiced awkwardly.
"Well, that's not good. I'm kind of lost myself right now, but my situation looks like it's gonna take a little more time to solve" He spoke with concern, putting his hand on his chin as if confused.
"Well, where's your parents?" He asked which honestly confused me.
"My what now?" I raised a brow.
"Your parents. Do you remember the last place you saw your parents? I'm assuming you're American, right? You speak English well, so I'm assuming your parents must be staying in a research facility nearby."
"To the first thing you said, yeah, I'm American. What else would I be?" I asked, still confused as to what was going on here.
"Well, from the outside, you look rather… let's go ambiguous," The man stated, rather uncomfortably which made me frown.
"… You mean like, racially?"
The man rubbed his neck nervously while I raised my eyebrow.
"Well, it's a little more than that. I mean, your eye color and your hair is just…" The man stuttered.
"Uh-huh…" I trailed off crossing my arms.
"You know what, never mind." He chuckled.
"Anyway, you wondered if I was American, what else would I be? Like I said earlier, I'm really lost." I asked.
"Wow… yeah, we really need to find your parents. It's really dangerous for you to be out here. But to answer your question, I thought that there was a possibility you were a native of Guinea which is where we are right now. But judging from your reaction, that doesn't seem to be the case haha." He chuckled nervously.
"Wait-wait-wait… you mean, Guinea, as in Africa?"
Speculatively nodding, to my question, the man looked like he had his own questions to ask. Meanwhile, my eye was about to pop out of my head.
'HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST! HOW DID I GET HERE?' I screamed internally as things started to click in my head.
"Hey. I think that it would be a little easier to converse with one another if we were to exchange names, don't you think? My name is Mark Logan. You can call me Mr. Logan. Mark is also fine. Do you have a name?" He asked, bringing me back to reality. He said, stretching out his hand
"Yeah. My bad. We probably should've started with that. My name is Ken." I stated, meeting his hand with my own.
"Holy Cow, do you have a grip on you, Ken!" He said in shock, pulling back his hand.
"Nice to meet you." Mark smiled, massaging his right hand.
Honestly, I had no intentions of calling this guy Mr. Logan. He looked younger than me, seeming to be in his mid-20s; on top of that, the way he said it kinda made me feel patronized. At the same time, I was well aware of how I looked, so I just shook his hand while he looked at my shirt strangely… and he continued to look for an awkward amount of time.
"Hey, You said your name was Ken right?" He said with a smile of concern as if something was bothering him.
"Yeah. Been going by that name for about 30 years now." I said, making a dad joke to ease the atmosphere. It was the truth, but I knew no one would take that seriously right now.
"So, is Garfield your last name or something?" He asked, pointing to the green letters stitched onto my shirt.
"Huh? What are you—" looking down, I noticed what he had. I didn't even realize that the clothes that I snatched had a name on it. That's when I realized the thieving life wasn't for me
".
"Uh… no. See, my clothes were, um— dirty, so I just kinda took the ones that you had hanging up over there. I hope you don't mind. I didn't have anything to wear. I mean, if you want 'em back, I can take them off, but you're gonna have a butt-naked toddler running around this place. I'm pretty sure you don't wanna have to deal with the FBI at your door, do you?" I asked while pointing to the place I got the clothes from.
"Huh?" Mark looked confused for a moment as if he was unaware of the clothes belonging to him.
"Oh, right... Those…. Sure, I don't mind. I don't think the owners are coming back for those clothes." He stated.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"Isn't this your place? You're not a squatter, are you?"
"What? N-No. This is my place. It's actually my research facility."
"Your research facility? What are you researching?" I asked.
"Well, a few things, actually. But the primary reason for this trip was that I was looking into something called reverse evolution. My work involves reviving ancient animals from prehistoric times, giving them the opportunity to live once again in the modern day." He said with mild excitement.
"So… You want to make Jurassic Park?"
"Jurassic Park?" He questioned, which surprised me.
"You–you never heard of Jurassic Park? Ya'know, the movie about dinosaurs going on a rampage? The one where they eat everybody."
"Uh… I haven't gotten the pleasure. Is it a newer film?" Yet again, my eyes almost popped out of my head from his words.
"You mean to tell me that you have never seen the movie, or heard of it. The mega-blockbuster that went down in histo–" Judging by his facial expressions, his answer was an obvious no.
*sigh*
"Never mind. Anyway, continue telling me about your work, please. Sounds real interesting." I said rather frustrated with him not understanding my reference.
"Well, I'm surprised there's already a movie on it considering how new the concept of de-evolution is, but moving on… Not a lot of research has been done on it, but I was about to make a breakthrough." His eyes then drifted to the ground.
Mark sounded rather passionate about his line of work. I could tell that me being a pretentious film snob had knocked him down a peg which made me feel a little bad.
"My bad, Mark. I didn't mean anything by what–"
"Don't worry about it. If a smart ass toddler's words could get to me that easily, then I wouldn't have made it to the point I'm at in life right now."
'Oh this mother fu–'
*sigh*
"Then what was it? Why was it almost a breakthrough instead of an actual one?" I asked.
Smiling, Mark looked me in my eyes and tilted his head curiously.
"Ya'know, Ken. You may be kind of a little jerk, but you'd probably make it to where I am in half the time. You got a good intuition for a kid. How old are you really?" He asked, which made me wanna bang my head against a wall.
*sigh*
'I'm gonna have to deal with a lot of this a lot, Aren't I?' I thought, whipping my hand over my face.
'Fuck it, I'll just say a random number.'
"10," I mumbled, defeated.
"10?"
"Yeah."
"Uh… you're kinda small for 10, aren't ya?" He chuckled.
"You're kinda small for being a grown man, aren't ya." In reality, the guy was fit for a science nerd, but I was defensive and insecure right now.
"Haha. Sorry. I was small when I was your age too. I used to get bullied a lot too. But all that changed when I got my growth spurt. I'm sure you'll get yours soon too bud."
"Jesus Christ, Can you continue on with what you were saying please?" I raised my voice which caused the man to jump, clearing his throat.
"Alright. I'll stop teasing." Massaging the back of his neck, he continued his thought.
"Like I was saying, I was on the verge of making a breakthrough in my research, but for some reason, I began researching a disease called Sakutia. I wanted to save someone who was suffering with it."
"Sakutia? What's that? I never heard of it."
"I'm not surprised. It's a really rare illness. Not too many people have."
"Well.. Can you explain it? It's not like I'm in a rush anywhere."
"Really? Don't we have to go looking for your par-"
"I don't have parents. I'm here alone."
"... Ken, I'm–"
"Mark, don't overthink it please. I don't want to talk about that now."
"But, don't you have a guardian or something that you need to—"
"Mark. I'm here alone. I'm an orphan. Matter of fact, I don't even have an orphanage to stay at so you can barely call me that, but let's talk about that now. I'm genuinely curious about what you have to say."
After a few seconds of silence, the man nodded his head and slowly stood up.
"Alright then. How about we go inside, huh? I got some snacks and drinks if you want. We can sit down and talk in there," he said, pointing towards his couch.
Shrugging my shoulders, me and Mark walked inside, sitting across from one another, and boy, was it uncomfortable not being able to reach the ground with my feet. I was 6'2. Now, I was fun-sized.
Looking around the cabin, I noticed something off about the man's residence. It was clean, yes, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Mark seemed to have had family photos hanging on the walls… The thing was, he was the only person in those photos.
It was odd, the photos looked like they had just enough space to fit 2 other people in the frame, yet, it was just him in them, making weird poses.
In some, it looked like he was wrapping his arms around an imaginary person, in others, he pretended like he was holding hands with someone.
'Did I just walk in the house of a cereal killer? I mean, if worse comes to worse, I can turn into probably any animal that I can think of to defend myself, but this shit is still really eerie.'
"So Ken, you wanted to know about the Sakutia Virus, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Tell me about it."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Tell me about it."
"Alright then. Let me start off by saying that the Sakutia virus, also known as the green fever, is lethal. Very much so. In fact, the only species that's been recorded to show any signs of immunity to the disease is the West African green monkey. It's also known as the Green Fever."
As I leaned forward in my seat listening to Mark, for some reason, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
"Now, this disease, as I have mentioned previously, is extremely rare. That's because its host usually dies before it gets the opportunity to progress further, which could be looked at as a blessing and a curse." Nodding my head, he continued.
"The Sakutia Virus attaches itself to the DNA of a human host and begins to rewrite their genetic code. As this process begins, said human hosts begin to show more signs of primitive behavior, relying on their animalistic instincts. As the process continues, the host actually gains the almost supernatural capability to morph into other animals."
What he was saying sounded unreal… as if it was ripped out of a comic book. I could now transform, and I felt like a comic book character. The man had a family that mysteriously vanished. He didn't say it, but all evidence pointed toward that direction.
'Oh… oh no.' I began shifting my eyes to all the pictures in the house, then, I looked down at the name on my shirt. The dots were once again connecting, albeit slowly.
"Sakutia Victims also suffer from another side effect," Mark uttered.
'Don't say it. Don't you dare say it, Mark.' I thought, literally at the edge of my seat.
"And what is this side-effect?" I asked with a straight face, hiding my trembling as much as I could.
"Well, after about 14 hours, it turns the host's skin and hair green."
'Fuck!'
I couldn't keep ignoring facts anymore. The truth was in front of me. All of a sudden, I was in West Africa. I ended up crash-landing in the forest. I gained the ability to transform into animals… Mark Logan, and Garfield Logan… I was in the DC universe. I killed Beast Boy and his mom.
Now, I was in their home wearing Garfield's clothes. I ate them. I don't know how, but I know I did. The monster that tortured me didn't while my memories of my loved ones, it whipped them from reality. I had done the same thing to two other people.
I was anxiety-ridden, on the verge of freaking out. But as this was happening, I felt a weird sensation, moving throughout all of my body as if I was about to transform. This was the same feeling I felt when the monster and all of its tentacles ingrained inside of me.
I needed to force myself to relax. And with all of my willpower, I somehow managed to do so.
"Ken?"
Taking a big gulp, I replied.
"Huh? Oh… sorry. I got distracted by something."
"It's fine. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He smiled.
"…"
"…"
"Mark. I got a question to ask."
"What do you need?" He asked.
"I need to get back to the US. When are you leaving?"
