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“The Greatest Discovery”

Part Three

A short story based on the WB Series, “Tarzan”

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this: the characters, story, series, or part of the idea. I'm not selling, or making any kind of profit off of this story I've written. No infringement is intended. This is solely for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.
Want it?: You can have it.. but I'd appreciate it if you'd email me before you take it anywhere. (tfelicity39@hotmail.com).

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Jane almost had to run to catch up with John. Finally she did, grabbing a hold of his elbow and startling him in turn. “What’s the rush, where are you going?” Jane questioned. The look on John’s face told her that he was still very much in a state of shock. She even wondered if he realized what he had been driven to do. “John, do you realize the enormity of what just happened with you and your uncle?” He cocked his head to the side and stared at her. She was unsure as to why, whether he didn’t understand what she said, or if her really, truly didn’t realize what had taken place back there. Without a word, John began to walk away. Jane merely followed. Did she realize the enormity of what happened back there? She had made him chose between her and himself, and he had chosen her. It seemed as if something changed right there and then. Was this the person that Sam had warned her about some time ago? John’s temper had taken him, like a drug addict with a new ‘fix’. Was it possible for John to survive the concrete jungle?

Jane followed John back to Kathleen’s home. Instead of climbing up the side of the building, she chose to go through the front doors. John needed some quiet time and she needed to inform Kathleen about what had happened this night. Kathleen greeted Jane with some trepidation. “You’re alone, didn’t you find John yet?” Jane entered the apartment and began to relate the story to Kathleen. Unbeknownst to both of them, John sat at the top of the stairs listening to them talk about him. He recalled the evening, seeing it through Jane’s eyes. It was primal, savage. John had reached the end of his patience and did not know what direction to go. The law of the jungle he was raised in, was simple, kill or be killed. There were few instances when any mercy had been shown, compassion a rarity. Here in Jane’s concrete jungle, it seemed the same. He saw it every day since he had found his freedom. There didn’t seem to be much compassion or mercy in this world either. People were mean to each other, and it still seemed as though it was a kill or be killed motto at work here too.

He lifted her up by one arm, she was very light. Her eyes were brown, almost as brown as the ape’s eyes, her long hair the colour of some of the apes, a dark brownish red colour. She had been following him, chasing him over rooftops, but she had lost her grip on this last jump. Even though he saved her life, she stood before him and pulled a gun. Before she could finish speaking, she fell limp into his arms. She was like nothing he had ever known before. Her hair smelled like fresh flowers, and it felt as soft as breeze. He carried her away from the edge and lay her down, propping her head up. Like the apes do, he felt her skin with the back of his hand, tracing the front of her blouse down to the opening at her navel. Her skin was soft, hairless like his. She was beautiful. Finally waking, she reacted to him by pushing him away, but he thought it was more playful. He continued to touch her, stare at her, to connect with her. For moments it felt as though he knew her. Then the wind blew too strong and the lights shone too bright and he was hit by darts that made him fall asleep. When he awoke, she was not there, he had been captured again. All he could think of was the beautiful creature with the long hair and the soft skin. He sat on the floor of his room and continued to rock to the silence, trying to remember her features, recalling the softness of her, the lightness of her weight as he carried her. Still, he felt as if he knew her.

“Have you been there long John?” Kathleen questioned, sitting beside him on the top step. Instinctively, she opened her arms to him and wrapped them around him, drawing him close to her. “Are you all right?”
John allowed Kathleen to hug him for a few moments. He stared up at her and then looked down a few steps to see Jane standing there as well. Jane’s puzzled look caused him to ask, “What’s wrong?” She stepped up a couple more steps and sat down sideways in front of him. “I am worried about you John.” She had every reason to be worried. He was losing his grip on the reality that he had thought that he was starting to understand. He shook his head and nothing came out of his opened mouth. Kathleen let go of him, but held onto his hand. “If you need me, I will be in my study. If you want to talk later, you know.” She smiled a small crooked smile and stood to walk back down the stairs, holding John’s hand until her reach was maximized. He retracted his hand and looked away, not wanting to look at Jane. She dragged herself up a couple of steps until they were on an even keel. Jane’s long fingers traced a line from John’s ear to his nose and then from his chin to his throat. He couldn’t help but to look up at her. “I am sorry Jane.” His words were sincere, heartfelt, and the hardest words he had ever said to her. She grinned and placed a small kiss on his cheek. “We’ll get through this John, if you will just trust me.” He looked deeply into her brown eyes. There was no one in the world that he trusted more than he trusted her. She had done everything in her own power to make things right, she had tried all of the options that she could think of, short of killing Richard, but what could she do now? Was all hope not lost? And now that he had attacked Richard, surely there would be more police coming to try to take him away and put him in a cage.
John stood and walked down the hall to the atrium. “Perhaps he belonged in a cage after all.”

Visions of ripping the flesh from the tiger’s bones and eating the meat raw, without remorse, came flooding back to John. Tanning the animal skin, softening it with his own teeth, being covered in blood most of the time. He hadn’t washed much, never knew what soap was. He had learned how to swim in the lakes and rivers and had spent much of his time there. He had become adept at catching fish with his hands and spear fishing. He had learned to eat meat raw, and cold. There had come a time when he discovered that he could create fire. By watching the villagers, at a fair distance, he had learned how to use the flint stone to make a spark on dry grass. In learning this, he also learned that meat tasted much better when it was heated on the fire and the blood was not dripping from it. There were times when his patience for creating a fire had out done him, and he would revert to raw meat, but as he grew, his patience grew and his hunger abated somewhat. His boyish frame and grown into the torso of a man, his arms were strong, his legs were fast. He could chase a cheetah, if the cheetah was running through the jungle, but once it hit the savannah, he could no longer keep up. The security of the jungle kept him safe, the savannah was too open, with no safety. He was not the fastest; therefore to keep from being some animal’s dinner, he stayed away from there. He learned the hard way.
The cheetah had chased Tarzan into the thick of the jungle, but had somehow managed to elude him, heading straight out to the flat land beyond the jungle trees. Tarzan had never been on the savannah, but he longed to see the animals that grazed there. This would be the day that he would see the animals for himself. Following the cheetah out of the jungle and onto the flat grazing land, Tarzan could see for what seemed miles. There were animals of every species there. Water buffalo, gazelle, eland, rhinoceros, elephant, hyena, lion and many others. Without thinking, Tarzan left himself wide open to the charge of the cheetah. She did not waste time dawdling as he did, she went straight for him, dragging her claws through his left shoulder, opening the skin and exposing the bone. Pain seared through him like never before, and blood poured from the three large open wounds. The cat was not done, she wanted more. She wanted to play with him until he could play no more. Tarzan knew that his only chance was to get back to his lair and cover the wounds so that the blood wouldn’t attract any other animals. With his strength greatly waning, he picked himself up and began to make his way, carefully to the treed area. The cat lay in wait as he moved as stealthfully as possible. Having already let his guard down once, he would not do it again. Upon reaching the beginning of a path, he quickly climbed a tree and took hold of a large, thick vine and swung himself away from the open, and found one of his lairs to rest in. Once settled, where he knew that cat couldn’t reach him, Tarzan tried to cover the open wound, wrapping some thick leaves over the huge gashes and ripping off a piece of his clothing to keep them in place. Upon completion of this task, following the loss of much blood, he passed out, cold.
He did not know how long he had slept; he only knew that he felt weak and thirsty. He didn’t have any water with him and he was too week to climb down from the aerie that he had built, to get some fresh water. He took some leaves and he chewed them, hoping to get some of the moisture from them. It would suffice for the time being, until he could gather his strength. The cat knew that she had wounded him; she wouldn’t travel too far from him now.

“John?” Jane was trying to get John’s attention, but he just sat up in the perch and stared out to the plants in the atrium. Finally he grabbed hold of some bars and he swung himself down, landing firmly on both feet, inches away from Jane. “I have realized Jane, that I have lived in a cage all of my life.” She looked at him questioningly, but waited for him to continue. “I have always lived in fear for my life, always. Though I learned to protect myself, I always had a fear of something.” He pulled his left shirt sleeve up to reveal the wound marks left by the cheetah. Jane traced the marks with her slender fingers, still silent, waiting for John to finish. “The cheetah, she wanted dinner, I was supposed to be dinner. I almost was. I didn’t outsmart her Jane, I out-waited her. I tried to outsmart Richard, but maybe I should have out-waited him. I just didn’t want to be afraid anymore.” John pulled the shirt sleeve back down, and dropped his hands to his sides. Jane took each of his hands in her own and squeezed. “John, you are not alone in this. You have me, Kathleen, hell you even have Sam and Nikki and there are others too.”
John walked away, pulling their hands apart as he spoke, “Richard is counting on that too Jane. He wants to hurt everyone that I care about. I cannot live like this.”
Jane, determined not to be cast aside, even in thought, rushed to John’s side, grabbed both of his arms and jerked him around to face her. “No, you can’t live like this, and you shouldn’t have to, that’s why I want to you to trust me. I promise, I will make it better for you, somehow. John, the truth isn’t always cut and dried, the judge will know that. Allowances can be made.” He still looked so sad. She just wanted to take him into her arms and hold him, all night long. He was not up for her company. He was finding it difficult to just be in the room with her.
“I will go John. I am making you uncomfortable. But I promise you, if you show up tomorrow in court, I will do my utmost best to work things out for you, so that you won’t have to worry about Richard.” John pulled away from her grip. “That’s not possible Jane; Richard will always have something to hold over me, as long as I care for you.” He jumped up into one of the trees and disappeared into the foliage. Jane sighed as she walked to the door. Turning around, facing the emptiness, Jane spoke. “I know you don’t think that I can take care of myself, but I can, I have been for years. You can’t let Richard rule how you work, you have to take control of your life and not let him have it. Every time you get angry with him, or try to physically hurt him, you are hurting yourself more. Be the hunter John, exercise patience, just a little longer. “With that she left the room, and left John sitting there pondering what she had said. He could afford to have a little patience right now. In fact he could use a little sleep. The days events had taken all of the good out of him and he was exhausted.