Short Story: Ruckus In The Jungle

The trees loomed above me, the vines tangles around me as I stretched through the dirt. The thick jungle contained dangers I was still waiting for.

My journey through exploring islands and jungles led me here from discovering the ancient myths. There was supposedly a treasure here that no one had yet found.

I breathed in the dirty air as I searched, but I never found a temple or anything of the such. There was nothing telling of a treasure.
It was just a jungle.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, including the screaming laughter of a monkey that I hear echoing through the trees. It’s strong lungs carrying the sound as I listened to it getting closer. The ruckus in the jungle began to scare me. It wasn’t something that was new in my solo adventures, but something this time was different.

I could hear the monkey swinging closer to me, but the birds were also coming with the same amount of force in their squawks.
And so I took off, running as fast as my legs could carry me as I grew my bowie out of its sheath.
I watched every direction as I ran from the sound, the laughter had now left me only the sounds of the jungle as a guide.

Suddenly, I saw the large monkey swing from the vines beside me. He eyed me as he followed, until it started to move ahead of me, the birds flying through the same direction as if they were leading me through the jungle.
I felt the fear from the danger start to leave me as I felt overwhelmed with the feeling of having to follow them. Though the fear of something being wrong never left me as it clenched down on my chest.

So I charged after them. A deadly idea, sure. But I just had to.
The monkey started a faster pace upon seeing me following, the birds came down beside me and helped to guide me.
They took me through the trees until a small opening came into view. A small opening filled with homes.

The huts were built of twigs and leaves, vegetable gardens and firepits were scattered across the area. The most unnerving thing for such a humanless jungle, there wasn’t a soul in sight.

The monkey jumped down from the vines and slowly approached the huts, the birds cautiously perched and seemed to be scanning the area.

The monkey stopped to look back at me, waiting for me.
I swallowed down my fear as I stood beside him, his eyes moving back over to the small village.

According to the dirt kicked up, the arrows sticking out of it and the few huts that were torn down. The old civilization seemed to only have disappeared moments ago.
The animals were begging for help.

I pulled out my walkie-talkie and quickly called for help, it took a few moments before I finally got a response from a nearby aircraft.
Help was soon to come, for who and by what, I didn’t know.

All I knew was that the jungle needed help, and I was the only one capable of doing it.

Who knew the treasure was a civilization?
All of this finally told me the truth about humanity.
If there’s something unknown, it’s either deemed a danger, or a treasure.
But never what it really is.