Azalea took Dakota's advice and took the rest of the night off to prepare for their trip, and to recover, as much mentally as physically, from that night's ordeal. Dakota had not only offered to cover for her shift, but handled the employees who had gathered around the locked practice room door and came up with some story to explain what those screams had been. Azalea never caught the full details of the cover story, but while it left the staff with more than a few unanswered questions, it was enough to get them to leave it alone. She tried not to think about how much of a disaster that night would have been without a friend like Dakota to help her out.
That was the last of the mischief she had from her pasties for a while. It was almost as if her plan to return to the temple the next day had satisfied them, or at least stayed their wrath for a moment. That freed her up to pack for the trip, excuse herself from her many obligations for the next few days, and to jot down what bits directions and landmarks she could remember from her first trip over. She wasn't one hundred percent confident she could retrace their steps at all, but they had to at least make the attempt.
Otherwise, things were only liable to get worse, with no foreseeable end in sight. What her fiasco with the stripper pole had happened on the actual stage, in front of all the patrons? She couldn't even bring herself to imagine how that scenario might have played out. It was like her brain shorted out if she even considered playing out that hypothetical.
Just as promised, Dakota showed up in her Jeep at first light, all packed for an excursion away from civilization for several days. Even a hard charger like Azalea was impressed that she had not only managed to cover a double shift on stage last night, but had fully packed her Jeep for a few days in the jungle, and had shown up first thing in the morning. She even seemed full of energy.
Azalea gave her directions to the best of her ability. The highway they had taken out of the city was easy enough to follow, and she even remembered the turn off the highway. However, the map she had drawn the night before turned out to be wrong, and they lost about an hour or two exploring the smaller roads with nothing more to go on than her memory.
But luck was with them, and they were able to find the last town her group had passed through before entering the jungle two weeks ago. She instantly remembered the run-down general store where they had made their final resupply before driving off into the wild. Dakota and Azalea did the same, stocking up on water and food, and ensuring the gas tank and each spare can were filled to capacity.
Fifteen minutes later brought them to a small, dirt lot just off the side of the road. On the far side of it was a wide break in the foliage. By now, Azalea was driving, since Dakota's extraordinarily busy night was finally starting to take its toll.
"This is it. This is where we left all modern human civilization behind. We'll be at the mercy of nature after this. Are you ready?"
"You bet!"
Azalea eased down on the gas pedal, and they were off.
Not five minutes later, Dakota seemed to lose what tiredness she had been showing earlier. This adventure was exciting her!
"You know, if we won't be passing through any more human civilization for the next few days..." she said with a grin.
"Huh?"
Without further word, Dakota pulled her shirt and bra up over her head in one swift, practiced motion, and tossed them both into the back seat. She grabbed her elbows behind her head and stretched, lifting up her breasts in front of her. Dakota's breasts were quite a sight! They were every bit as large and perky as Azaleas, but her nipples were encircled by more tattoos, a radial star pattern that began at the edge of her areolas and extended outward. Her nipples, though not tattooed themselves, were just as eye-catching. They were easily the pointiest nipples Azalea had ever seen! Even on the warmest days, they never seemed to do anything but stick out straight and proud. They had to be her third most striking feature, right after that voluminous mane of red hair and the floral tattoos that covered half her body. Of course, that was from another girl's perspective. Who was she to say if the boys assigned their own priority to those features when they watched her dance?
"Ahh, yeah. That feels good! Come on, Azzy, try it! The breeze feels great on your bare skin!"
"You'd better put on some more sunblock if you're going to go like that. That white-girl skin of yours is going to sizzle in this heat!"
"Haha! Don't I know it! I have to use the vampire-grade SPF down in these latitudes."
"HSSSSSS!" Azalea hissed, baring her fangs in a silly snarl.
Strangely, despite the graveness of their mission and the horrifying situation they had to figure out how to fix, they were both in wonderfully bright spirits. At the moment, they were two best friends on the adventure of their lives.
Making their way off-road through the jungle seemed to be as much like navigating a ship as driving a truck. Azalea kept her eyes on the features of the horizon as best she could, and kept track of the sun's position to make sure they were oriented how they thought. In a couple of hours, she had her first success. She had driven them to the small river that they had followed to their left for most of the first day. For the next few hours, at least, she could know with certainty they were going the right way. Without too much trouble, she was able to locate the spot where the river widened and shallowed enough for them to cross over. Dakota insisted on trying this part, being far more familiar with off-roading in this vehicle.
From here, Azalea directed Dakota to head due west, following the setting sun. That wasn't so easy, seeing as in the backwoods, the path forward was anything but straight. She also kept her eye on a couple of the mountains she believed they had been heading toward the last time.
After another hour, the light was finally fading, so they decided to make camp for the night. Unfortunately, that was also the moment the weather decided to turn on them. Rainfall started coming down without warning, and within minutes, it was hammering them hard, practically a monsoon. They scrambled to get the Jeep's canopy raised before all their precious provisions could get waterlogged.
They managed to avert any critical damage to their supplies, but by the time they were done, the girls were soaked to the bone.
"Oh, God dammit!" Azalea complained. "Don't tell me we're going to have to set up the tent in this mess! Or do we sleep in the Jeep? My clothes are already drenched!"
"I wouldn't worry about it," Dakota answered, reassuringly, nearly needing to shout to be heard over the pounding rain. "It'll pass as quickly as it came. Hey, grab the soap from the toiletries kit next to you. Let's take this opportunity to have a shower. I fucking need it, and I HATE the feeling of climbing into my sleeping bag with sunscreen still on."
With that, Dakota peeled of what few garments she had been wearing: a pair of short khaki shorts and her hiking boots. Azalea passed her the bottle of soap, then got to work peeling off her own saturated clothing.
By the time they had finished scrubbing themselves clean, the rain was still coming down. The rain was surprisingly warm, and neither of them were uncomfortable in it now that they had cast off their clothing.
"Well, no sense getting dressed until we can dry off first," Dakota said.
"We just wait around naked, then? Or we could dry off in your Jeep."
"What's your hurry?"
With that, Dakota started dancing. She performed a few of the moves she would normally do at the strip club, those that didn't require a pole. She swayed her hips and moved her hands along her body sensuously. The fading light of day shone through the rain in a way more majestic than Azalea had ever seen. By now, the rain hitting the hot ground had created a blanket of steam that further added to the surreal visual effects. This graceful creature, only more beautiful with the nature motif tattooed across her body, swayed and twirled about in a display the likes of which Azalea had never seen.
What could she do but join her? So they danced back to back as they had before on stage, but with no audience but the trees and flowers surrounding them, and waited out the rest of the most blissful rain storm either of them had ever experienced.
"I feel like there was some nineties pop song that described something like this," Azalea suggested.
"Don't you fucking even!" Dakota retorted, with a laugh.
***
At about noon on the next day, Azalea took her next turn behind the wheel. They were following a valley she was fairly certain they had passed, but she saw what looked like a traversable path up to the top of the ridge, and decided to take it. This would provide them with an opportunity to scan the area from a bird's eye view, and maybe compare it to the map.
"Wait!" Dakota cautioned. "Before you turn, let's check our position again."
"Right. So, it looks like we've gone another ten kilometers west by southwest." Then she read their current coordinates so Dakota could pencil them in on the map. The map wasn't so much to help them find the temple, as to help them find their way back. This far away from the nearest cell phone coverage, if for whatever reason Dakota's GPS receiver went out and they got lost, it would be a survival situation. In a way, this excited Azalea. There was real danger, but they were keeping control of it.
"Marked. All right, let's head up and see if we can't have a look."
At the top of the ridge, Azalea found herself with at least a 180-degree view of the horizon. It was the first time that day they were able to get a clear look at any part of the horizon, which was useful. But it was almost one of the most beautiful sights she could remember seeing in a long time! The mountains she had been tracking as land marks were much closer now, and that much more majestic as they loomed seemingly just off the horizon. The vibrant jungle stretched in all directions, hiding what plethora of life only God himself knew. She should see all the contours of the land formations: ridges and valleys, rivers and basins.
And suddenly, Azalea lost control. She laughed. Not a little chuckle, but the heartiest, most jovial laugh she had experienced in a good while. And she couldn't stop. This must have continued on for a minute or two.
"What?" Dakota asked, confused, but not judgmental.
"I... I don't even know..." she answered as soon as she was able, wiping a tear from under each eye. "That's a really beautiful sight, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's pretty nice out here..." she agreed, though sounding like she had questions.
"I'm sorry, I just... Oh, I don't even know."
"Hey, whatever," Dakota said, comfortingly, as she wrapped her arm around Azalea's back. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. You do what you need to do, okay?"
