JUNGLE FEVER, Part 3 By Merz The Pursuit Nears a Climax for Two Strong Women Next morning at the first hint of light Julie Hunt rose, looked about carefully, then removed her jacket and shirt as she began a series of stretches and calisthenics. Renee Armstrong sat watching Julie do several series of situps, varieties of pushups, knee bends and other exercises for fifteen minutes. She rummaged in her pack for fruit and hard bread as she watched the ritual. "Don't you think hiking all day with a pack was enough exercise? Even if nothing else happens we'll get that same workout today heading back." "I do my exercises every morning, even if I did exercises at night before bed. I just need to feel my muscles working and then see them. Until I made myself strong on the outside I wasn't able to be strong enough inside to be a soldier. I guess it's still like that. I need to make my muscles big in the morning before I can make myself do anything else. It's like in the olden times when they had to put on suits of armor to go fight. I know my muscles aren't armor, but it feels like I'm safe inside them after I exercise. Then I can be like George Washington in the Civil War, going off to battle in my armor and not be afraid." "Like George Washington in his armor, fighting the Civil War? Maybe my head does have too many things to empty out for me to ever become a soldier." Renee watched Julie finish her workout, eat a light breakfast and quickly pack up to begin the day's march as dawn turned the sky pearl gray. The blonde woman's arms pulsed with strength, her thick chest rose and fell as her breathing and heart rate returned to normal following the workout. Thick muscle rolled up each arm whenever she bent it to tend to the routine tasks. Renee found herself staring in fascination, the stirrings of desire distracting her from thoughts of their mission. "Say, Julie, is this anything I should be concerned about?" She swept off her own shirt and stepped close, pointing to an insignificant insect bite below her breast. She removed her bra and expanded her chest. Julie hesitated, admiring the solid musculature and firm breasts Renee was displaying. "Does it feel hot to you? I don't want it to get infected or anything." Renee stepped still closer. Julie extended a trembling hand and ran a thick finger over the area Renee indicated while she met the shorter woman's steady gaze. "It doesn't feel any different." She dropped her hand and looked away into the trees, drawing a deep breath. Renee turned and hunched her back, spreading the muscles wide as wings. "Anything there I can't see? I appreciate your checking it out. Maybe I should check you before we start, too." "No, I don't see anything. I think we better get started if we're going to." Julie's soft voice caught in her throat and she turned away to complete her packing. Renee smiled to herself, dressed again and gathered up her own pack and hiking staff. The west side of the mountains got more rainfall than the east. Past the ridgeline their trail became muddy and was cut by frequent creeks. The jungle rose out of the morning mist higher and thicker. As they approached a wide creek Renee suddenly stopped and pulled Julie back into the trees. "I think a small camp is just ahead. I see lots of footprints around the water here, and I heard voices. I can't be sure, but I think I saw some buildings just down stream and on the other side. Now what do we do?" Julie turned to her with her placid, wide face. "What do you mean? This is why we came, to get our husbands back. We'll need to check the place out, get an idea how many there are. Come on, we can move in the creek and not be spotted." Through the thick brush along the creek bed the women saw a circle of ten shabby buildings dominated in the middle by a wood and grass tower about twelve feet off the ground. While several men came and went about the business of breaking camp and continuing their march, two others with automatic rifles kept watch from the tower. Others kept weapons close by but seemed casual about their business. Most of the camp's occupants had stacked their rifles near the middle of the compound. Having marched hard for the past three days to attack the clinic and make it back across the border the raiding party was making a leisurely morning before rejoining the larger band of rebels at a lower camp. "Look," Julie whispered into Renee's ear, pointing as a door opened on one of the shacks. Parker Ragland and Joseph Hunt, hands tied in front of them, were led out into the clearing in the middle of the compound. Julie drew Renee back up the creek and behind a large tree. "I only see about a dozen, and no signs of more being around. We'll need to take out the guard tower first, then hit them quickly." Julie began drawing a diagram of the buildings with the tower in the middle. "Take it out? With what? I can throw a basketball but not a hatchet, and that's the only weapon we have. God, I hate being this size. I feel like you and I are just Hobbits and nobody will take us seriously. I mean, look at the size of those guys. If one of them is six feet tall the others'd consider him a runt. I'm only five feet tall now, and you aren't much more." "Come here. We need to get you in your armor. You're stronger than I am, and I'm not afraid of them. Let's go back up the trail to where you can get yourself ready. You need to see yourself like you really are inside. You're missing the important part." "Do we really have time for this? If we're going to go in there, shouldn't we just get it over with?" "Not like you're talking. We need to exercise, like I showed you this morning. Okay, let's start with pushups. Do thirty with me. Now do some with just your right arm. Now the left. You do them real easy. See how our arms are getting bigger? How about pushing up off the ground and clapping. See how our muscles are growing? That's the armor you have to trust." "Okay, I get it. Look, after my . . . change I found out that climbing was a better workout than I could get in a gym without drawing a lot of attention. And this shirt and these pants are already getting snug from this much exercise. You're going to be amazed at what happens when I give my muscles a workout. Give me fifteen minutes to do my own workout and I'll be ready to go. I promise." Without waiting for a reply Renee stripped off her shirt, shoes and shorts, then turned and sprinted to the closest mature tree. Julie watched as Renee virtually ran up the trunk, pulling herself up hand over hand to a branch twenty feet above the ground. From there she began a series of leaps and swings between branches and between trees. Her movements were only vaguely apelike because she had an average human's relative arm and leg span. The performance looked more gymnastic, graceful and smooth with only a slight hint of the power needed for a person to sprint up a sapling using arm strength alone or to catch a branch by one arm following a ten foot leap. Julie became lost to the passage of time as she watched Renee's version of exercise among the trees. Renee returned to the ground in the fifteen minutes she had promised, her breathing deep but showing no signs of fatigue. "Man, Renee, you look like you're made of steel now. I've never seen muscles like these. I can see every muscle fiber, and they're all trying to bust out of your skin." Julie was astounded by the transformation Renee's exertions had made on her physique. "Go ahead, feel them. It's like the muscles from several people are crammed into my skin and there isn't room for them all. I know what you mean about that armor. When I'm pumped up like this I always feel like I can do anything. Say, you really like what you're feeling, don't you? Parker goes crazy whenever he sees me after a workout." Julie blushed as she ran her hands over the dense flesh, the muscles huge and engorged with pulsing blood. "I'm married now. I shouldn't think about other people like this, but sometimes I just can't help it. Sometimes I just want to be closer and know somebody better than I should. I'm just not strong enough to stop it." She dropped her hand and stared at the ground. With a giggle Renee grabbed Julie under the arms and lifted her high overhead. "Even in your armor you aren't strong enough? Maybe nobody can be that strong, then, or maybe it's something you shouldn't try to stop. I'm not going to get dressed again for this fight. We can both show off our pretty muscles. Let those men think I'm some kind of jungle creature while I'm beating them up." She set Julie back on the ground, but Julie remained standing motionless, looking at the ground a moment longer. "Before when you said I might get grabbed by a gorilla you meant one of the monkeys, not one of these raiders. I knew that. I just look like this because I was a soldier. I don't expect people to like me, but I can't help feeling the way I do when I see some other women with muscles." "Oh God, Julie. I was being a jerk. I'm sorry I said that. Come on, show me how big you can flex those beautiful arms so I can get the rest of my juices flowing and get this over with quickly. And show me your pretty smile, too." She ran an appreciative hand over Julie's rounded biceps until Julie rewarded her by bending the arm and displaying the thick, corded muscles and flashing a smile of pride. After a final rub of the biceps powering up above Julie's shoulders Renee stripped off her sports bra and panties, the last clothing she was wearing. "Come on, help rub some of this creek mud on me. It's a little darker than I am. Yeah, make some big streaks and patterns. Those guys won't know what's hitting them. Leave the tower to me. If you can circle around to the other side and make some noise I'll be up in the tower before they know what's happening." The women hugged and separated to put their plan into action. Julie was to swing wide around the camp, staying in the forest and avoiding the trail that was certain to be watched. Renee loitered about for a few minutes then crept with agonizing care to the eastern edge of the surrounding foliage. There she waited, freeing her mind from further planning or considering of any alternative actions. Instead she admired the great balls of her biceps and felt the steel muscles of her own legs. "My armor," she thought with a smile, "like George Washington."