Chapter 2

Shirley put on safari clothes and took a plane ride to Africa. Once she arrived, she headed to the jungle and looked for the animals. Shirley pushed away leaves from the plants to walk through the jungle. Shirley pulled away some bushes and saw a yellow vine. Shirley touched it with her hand; it moved away; a lion turned around and saw Shirley. Shirley tripped and fell to the ground, and the lion looked down at her. Shirley looked away, scared, but the lion put his face in the grass and ate it like a zebra. Shirley said, "Lions don't eat grass and vegetation." Shirley looked up and saw a cheetah heading for a bunch of bananas. The cheetah took a banana, peeled it, and ate it like a monkey. Shirley said, "This is out of control." Shirley went to a clearing and thought the case through. Shirley said, "No roaring lions, vicious cheetahs, not even a dehydrated camel. What kind of world is this?" The mysterious figure was up in a tree and heard what Shirley said. The hooded figure said, "One that's to my liking."

The mysterious figure saw a gorilla climbing a tree towards a bunch of bananas. Shirley looked up, saw the hooded figure take out his ray, and climbed up the tree to stop him. The hooded figure opened his ray, loaded a microchip, closed it, and tried to blast the gorilla with it. Then Shirley pushed the mysterious figure. He fired his ray, missed the gorilla, and hit a zebra. After getting hit, the zebra headed for a watering hole and stood on one leg like a flamingo. Shirley and the mysterious figure stood in the trees and fought. Shirley tried to take the ray from the hooded figure, but the mysterious figure slapped her hand away. Then Shirley attempted to punch the hooded figure, but the mysterious figure kept walking backward and blocking her punches.

Shirley said, "You might want to look out." The hooded figure said, "Silence." The mysterious figure swung his leg at Shirley and kicked her off the tree. Then Shirley grabbed a vine so she wouldn't fall entirely. The hooded figure said, "That takes care of her." The hooded figure walked further into the trees and off the branch he was on. The mysterious figure fell off the side and grabbed the branch that he walked off with his hand. Then Shirley swung back into the trees and saw the hooded figure hanging onto the tree branch. Shirley quickly ran up to the end of the branch and grabbed the mysterious figure's hand. The hooded figure looked up at Shirley, and Shirley looked down at the hooded figure. Then, the hooded figure slipped from Shirley's hand and fell into the river. Shirley said, "Oops."

Shirley climbed down from the tree and walked to the river. Shirley used her binoculars to look for the mysterious figure but couldn't find him in the river. Shirley said, "He probably crawled out when I dropped him." Shirley saw an elephant behind her, and it grabbed her with his trunk. Then he set her on his back, and she rode him through the jungle. The elephant took Shirley to a watering hole, where she saw many animals. Shirley walked in the water, and a gazelle emerged like a hippopotamus. Shirley said, "Oops, sorry." Shirley stepped out of the water and saw a hedgehog laughing his heart out like a hyena. Shirley wrote down all the animal combos on her notepad and thought she could figure out a connection. Shirley said, "Lion is to Zebra, Cheetah is to Monkey, Zebra is to Flamingo, Gazelle is to Hippo, and Hedgehog is to Hyena. I don't see any connection or pattern. The animals don't have anything in common or against each other."

Shirley got back on her elephant, but the elephant ran off, hid behind a tree, and squeaked in fear like a mouse. Shirley said, "Not him, too." Since riding the elephant was out, Shirley walked through the jungle by herself. When nightfall came, Shirley set up her tent and built a fire to stay warm. Then Shirley heard rustling from the bushes and saw a zebra walk out of them. Shirley said, "It's just a zebra. Then the zebra roared at Shirley like a lion." Shirley said, "This could be very bad." Shirley got up, and a herd of animals surrounded her. Shirley said, "Yep, this is bad." Shirley ran for her life, and three hyenas hopped after her like kangaroos. Shirley said, "You may think you're kangaroos, but kangaroos can't climb." Shirley climbed into a tree and thought she was safe. Then a zebra jumped in the tree like a lion." The zebra roared at Shirley, and Shirley ran for her life. The zebra jumped in front of Shirley and had her cornered. Shirley slowly walked back, and the zebra slowly walked up to her. Shirley looked up behind her at the zebra and had an idea. Shirley ran up to the zebra, and the zebra tried to jump her. Shirley jumped, grabbed a tree branch, and the zebra fell into a watering hole. Then, a monkey came out of a hole in the tree and hissed at Shirley like a raccoon. Shirley said, "No way I'm gonna mess with an angry raccoon."

Shirley looked down and saw a herd of animals waiting for her to drop. Shirley thought about what to do and had an idea. Shirley jumped into the tree, and the monkey jumped at her. Shirley hit the deck, and the monkey attacked all the animals waiting for Shirley. Then, all the animals ran off, and Shirley waited for them to leave. When they left, she climbed down from the tree and got someplace safe. Shirley set up her tent and waited for morning to come. Shirley said, "Ok, so animals around the world don't act like themselves; a herd of African animals just tried to kill me, and the microchip I found can mix animal DNA. What does it all mean?" Shirley thought the mystery through and decided to go someplace else. Shirley said, "Something tells me I'm not going to get answers walking around the jungle; I have to find real evidence." When morning came, Shirley left the jungle and took a plane back to Australia.