JUNGLE FEVER, Part 2
By Merz
Hot Pursuit as Two Women Muscle Their Way Through an African Adventure:

In the gray dawn Julie Hunt, Renee Armstrong and a teenage boy from the 
village piled into the Land Rover with their equipment.  To 
assure it remained in one piece for the return trip the youth 
would stay with the vehicle for a few days after the women 
headed toward the mountains on foot.  Renee drove as fast as 
the ruts and washouts allowed but could average little more 
than twenty miles an hour.  Noon found them at the head of a 
distinct trail leading toward the mountain pass that had served 
travelers on foot for centuries.

Before shouldering her light pack Julie removed her long 
sleeved tropical shirt and put a baseball cap firmly and 
squarely on her head.  Renee studied the Amazon in front of 
her, dressed now in light nylon pants and a light blue muscle 
shirt - appropriately named with Julie's massive shoulders 
erupting from the arm holes.  Distinct nipples tented up atop 
large, rounded pectoral muscles above her tight waist.  Renee 
was startled by the power Julie's physique demonstrated.  The 
blonde woman had worn long pants and loose, long sleeved shirts 
in the few days since she had arrived at the village clinic.  
Renee now realized this was out of self-consciousness at the 
extreme size of her arms, the breadth of her chest and back.  
And now that her beltline wasn't hidden by the long hem of a 
shirt Renee noticed that Julie's legs were short in proportion 
to her upper body, short with thick muscular thighs that 
stirred and bulged in her pant legs when she crouched or 
walked.  Hoisting her own pack Renee remarked with a smile, 
"You know these mountains are a gorilla refuge. That's one of 
the reasons Parker has been studying the area.  You better be 
careful you don't charm one of them down out of the trees or he 
might carry you off to his honeymoon suite."

"Just because I'm not in uniform doesn't mean I'm like those 
guerillas.  I'll behave just like a regular soldier," Julie 
told her between clenched teeth.  Renee grinned and picked up 
her hiking staff before leading the way west into the trees, 
toward a row of mountains looming gray above the forest.  In an 
hour the women were hot and sweating freely from a fast hiking 
pace in the humid jungle.  Their route had been gradually 
uphill, but now the trail steepened. 

"We'll take five minutes," Julie said and sat on a nearby log.  
She took a small sip from her water bottle.

"Tired already?  I expected a real soldier could march all day 
and not need to rest."  Renee leaned her pack against a tree 
trunk and drank deeply from her own water bottle.  She studied 
Julie's broad, powerful chest highlighted in all its details by 
the thin wet fabric clinging to it.  

"I can walk all day.   But I need to be rested and ready in 
case we run into something.  I don't know how fast those 
guerillas are.  We might catch them here on the trail so we 
shouldn't wear ourselves out.  We'll take five minutes each 
hour."  Julie lapsed into silence for the rest of their brief 
break then rose to resume the march westward and up toward the 
mountain pass.  

As the afternoon sun sank behind the hills the women's trail 
intersected another, narrower path.  "This is the way the 
raiders would have come," Renee said, stooping to study the 
ground.  

Julie squatted next to her.  "I don't know much about reading 
footprints or that sort of thing.  And this ground is pretty 
hard.  They could still be coming or maybe they're up ahead."

"Yeah, that about covers the possibilities.  Let's go."

The route grew rockier and the vegetation more sparse as they 
neared the notch in the mountain wall late in the afternoon.  
At the edge of the trees where hardy brush replaced the last 
spindly trees Julie called a halt.  "We'll camp here for the 
night.  I saw enough footprints where that stream crossed the 
trail that I'm sure they're up ahead, but not far.  How far to 
these camps?"

"We've passed three small ones that I noticed already, 
camouflaged back in the trees.  They'll have more about the 
same distance from the pass on the other side, I would guess.  
Maybe one mile to the top, then two miles down on the other 
side to small ones like we passed, with bigger ones for a 
couple hundred soldiers and their families a ways farther 
along.  About an hour away if we move fast like today.  But I'm 
just guessing.  Should we go back where the trees are better to 
get fire wood?"

"We aren't building a fire.  Too easy to spot.  Too easy to 
smell.  The raiders would probably know it wasn't anybody local 
camping out.  Most folks would time their trip to be down to 
lower country by nightfall.  We'll bed down over there.  Don't 
tramp down the underbrush too much.  It's getting dark quickly, 
but someone who knew this place might spot our path and check 
it out."  

"Well, at least we should go back to that last creek and wash 
off the dust and sweat.  My shirt is soaked and so is yours.  
If we hurry we can get changed and back here before it's 
completely dark."

Dropping their packs and grabbing clean tops the women hurried 
a hundred yards back down the trail and knelt by a thin stream.  
Renee pulled her shirt off over her head and released her bra, 
watching Julia for a reaction as her chiseled upper body came 
into view.  Julia glanced, then looked away, looked back and 
finally plunged her face into the cold water.  Renee smiled and 
began a quick wash with her handkerchief and waited for Julie 
to remove her own tank top.  Finally, with a look of 
embarrassment and hesitation Julie removed it and began dabbing 
at her own chest and underarms. Renee nearly gasped seeing the 
bared chest and back, even though she had been studying most of 
Julie's incredible physique all day.  Without the thin garment 

the musculature seemed even more phenomenal yet more alluring 
as she watched arms, shoulders and back working together to 
perform the quick ritual bathing.  Renee almost sighed in 
disappointment when Julie slipped on her dry shirt and stood to 
lead the way back to their packs.  Walking carefully Julie led 
the way a few dozen yards off the trail and set her pack down 
behind a low thicket.

"Maybe one of us should stand guard," Renee suggested as she 
set her pack next to Julie's.  She looked about at the tree 
line below, the dark crags above.  "There are wild animals 
around as well as the raiders.  I don't mind sitting up.  
Really I don't."

Julie began rummaging in her pack for a blanket and warmer 
clothes but now looked sharply at Renee.  "We'll be fine.  
Nothing big will bother us, and we'll just wrap up in our 
blankets so the bugs and snakes can't get at us."

"What do you mean nothing big will bother us?  Leopards and 
some of the other cats hunt at night.  Jackals and hyenas hunt 
at night."

"It wouldn't seem like many animals would hunt up this high 
when there's a jungle just a little lower with lots of animals 
to eat.  I told you I can feel what's inside people sometimes.  
I can feel what they want.  Right now I know that you don't 
want to sleep by yourself.  You know there's nothing out there 
that can hurt you, but you don't want to sleep alone tonight.  
Maybe because of how I look you want to sleep with me and have 
me hold you.  Then you'll be able to sleep.  I feel kind of 
like that, too.  I'd kind of like to sleep holding you 
tonight."  Julie spoke quietly, in her low flat voice, not 
meeting Renee's eyes.  Renee simply nodded and pulled her 
jacket and a thin blanket from her pack.  Julie sat with her 
back against a rocky outcrop and hugged Renee's hard body close 
against her.  Soon Renee's breathing grew deep and slow as she 
slept.  Julie sat awake for hours, her strong arms wrapped 
gently around her companion,