Prologue
Dr. Madison Turner was an anthropologist from England and highly regarded by her pears. She had long hazelnut hair, big green eyes, a petite face, and a very attractive figure, but was to shy and introvert to show it off. She needed big glasses to see properly and was usually wearing boring, high-necked clothing, hiding most of her natural beauty.
Despite her lack of social skills however, she was brilliant in her field, and after long years of hard research, she had published a fascinating paper about close relatives of the homo sapiens and how some of them had migrated to South America and survived there up to rather recently (recently in evolutionary terms that is). Propelled by that success, she was able to persuade her superiors to fund an expedition, which would allow her to search for hard evidence for her theories.
Chapter 1.) Lost
Madi woke up with a heavy headache. She felt exhausted and weak, her muscles still burning from swimming for so long. How long since she arrived at the beach? The sun was shining, so at least a couple of hours? The waves where still crashing against her in their somber rhythm, but she could feel the sandy shore under herself. Still dazed from the trauma, she slowly lifted her head and looked around. Thick Jungle right in front of her, the ocean behind and seemingly endless cliffs to her left and right.
She had been on a small plane, exploring the region from above, as a weird storm had hit. It had only taken minutes to change from somewhat windy into a nightmare. The pilot had done his best to keep them in the air, but it was all for not. Madi could barely remember the crash itself, but her fight against the raging see was horrifyingly clear in her mind. It felt like she was in the water for days, before she finally arrived on this beach and as she was ashore, she fell asleep from exhaustion.
Slowly getting up on her feet, Madi groaned in pain. She felt like every muscle in her body was crawling with ants. She also had lost her glasses, which made everything beyond a couple of meters a blurry mess. But worse was the realization that she was stranded. Stranded in the jungle in one of the most remote regions of the world and no equipment to help her survive...
Chapter 2.) Into the Jungle
After Madi had overcome the immediate shock, she began to think. Searching for civilization by foot was out of the question. There where no settlements for hundreds of miles and she had no equipment to help with orientation. Her best option was to wait for rescue. Her colleagues would notice her absence and search for her. But it was a giant region they had to search, so Madi reasoned it would probably take a while before somebody would find her -- if at all. She would need water, shelter, and food.
So, Madison began to search the beach, defying the exhausting plaguing her. Despite working for the entire day, she had not much to show, however. A little bit of trash which had ben washed ashore, but nothing useful, and a few berries Madi could not know if they were edible. For shelter the young women could only use a big rock and a few big leaves, to modestly protect herself from the elements.
Day two and three where only mildly better. Madi had found water inside of big leaves, but it tasted funny, and gave her cramps -- better then dying of thirst, but surely not good either. A few clams to eat and an improvised shack made of branches and leaves. It wasn't looking great at all.
In the morning of day four Madi noticed something atop one of the surrounding cliffs. For a second she was sure there was somebody standing and looking down at her. But the silhouette was gone only a moment later. Awash with a mix of hope and panic, Madi ran up tot the cliff and began to scream for help. But it was no use. Nobody answered or showed themselves.
Still, encouraged through the sight, Madi ran into the jungle. If there was somebody, she MUST find them! Fighting her way through thick underbrush, vines, and mud, Madi soon was deeper in the Jungle then she had ever been. Despite the early hour it was dark, and the heat was damper and heavier then at the beach.
Brushing a big leave to the side, Madi suddenly had to stop. A big, green snake was hanging right in front of her face, its tongue licking dangerously close to her. Not able to hold still, Madi screamed and turned to flee, only to feel a painful bite into her shoulder. Screaming in shear panic, Madi ran away, but after only a few steps she felt a funny fuzziness in her limbs. A few more steps and she fell to the ground, losing consciousness soon after she had hit the ground.
Chapter 3.) You call that help?
As Madi awoke, it was dark and cold. At first, she could not remember what had happened, so she tried to stretch out and look around, only to find something was holding her arms and legs pressed against the floor. Something was lodged into her mouth, gagging her, and oozing something sweet into her mouth.
Realizing that something was wrong, Madi started to breath heavy while looking around. She could feel sand under her belly and hear waves nearby. So, she thought she was on the beach again. Her arms and legs were spread out and fixated to the ground, forcing her to stay in that position. To her left was a light flickering in the dark. Fire! Somebody had made a bonfire!