My mind breaks and bursts in between consciousness. My memories blur with dreams of a storm. I see Jack's panicked face as he reaches for me, calling my name. Then I see Jewel whimpering and curling up in a ball weeping. A warm sensation as a paw hits my back. Then this weightlessness of falling. Jolting sideways I gasp for air, the memory of my landing just behind this splitting headache. I fall forward and have to yank my head back up as I hit something wet and gross. Spitting and coughing it takes a long time for the disassociating fuzziness to fade. 

Once the ringing in my ears ends, I can hear my surroundings. Birds flirting toons above, bugs trilling rhymes, and thunder rumbling warnings in the distance. I blink, looking right into a muddy water pile beneath me. Shakily I dig my frosty fingers into the warm mud wobbling as I sit up. 

I'm a complete mess. My favorite shirt and yoga pants are scratched up, soaking, and covered in mud. My braided hair is twisted with sticks and leaves throughout it. 

A cough tickles my throat, fighting it I look around for my handkerchief. The cough breaks past my defease and I end up spitting blood into my dirty palms. Wobbling, I struggle to my feet looking around for my stuff. I struggle to stay still as dizziness nearly knocks me off my feet.  

Able to look around, I let out a stun gasp full of admiration and wonder. The storm just dropped me into a movie scene! Like those where treasurer hunters outsmart villains with world domination in mind. Tall wide trees covered in moss and vines, with roots wrapping around other plants and pulling them together like yarn to form blankets of green and brown overhead. Everywhere I look, my view is blocked by trees thicker than skyscrapers and just as tall. All around like artwork are flowers of different shapes and sizes blinking like stars on a bursting night. 

Bright colorful birds fly above me darting from nest to nest singing songs. Bugs lazily hover drinking nectar from the flowers. Some are not lucky and get eaten by small flytraps and pitcher plants. I've heard of them before, a friend from school had a few as pets and would go around collecting flies for them and everything. I see a few small orange and brown monkeys, however, they stay at a distance and make no move toward me. 

I do not recognize where I am. There's no rainforest close to home, so unless a Tornado can toss me to another continent I shouldn't be here. Shaking my head, I rub my forehead to keep a headache from forming. I should focus more on the now, and not the how. 

I glance down and freeze. I'm on a fucking leaf! A huge one that slowly sways in the wind. I thought I was just dizzy. Carefully I sit back down, patting my chest trying to get my heart pumping. I lean over the edge peeking down and letting out a sigh. I'm only a few feet from the ground, so had I not noticed I'd only fallen and sprung an ankle or wrist. Still, I need to be careful. 

Sliding down I hit the ground my toes sinking into deeper warm mud. Squealing in disgust I dance a bit, "Where?" I lift my bare feet, no sandals. Shit, the storm must have taken off with them. My special rabbit, my iPod, my meds, my inhaler, and now my shoes. Can this day get any worse? 

 

"Jack! Jewel!" I shout into the area, the noise drowning out my voice. I can't even hear much because of them. If they are nearby there is no way they can hear me. I have no choice but to find a road and get to the nearby city. Knowing Jack he's doing the same thing. Jewel on the other hand will be restricted by every snake, rat, or creature that crosses her path. I can only hope she's not stupid enough to get close enough to get eaten by a snake. 

Speaking of snakes, don't rainforests have some of the scariest largest creatures on Caggaod? Like leopards and bears and boa constrictors and such? Unlike Jewel, I was never interested in animal documentaries, so I can only base my knowledge on movies I've seen and what Jewel told me. 

My spine tingles, the hair rising all over. The noise that's been driving me insane has quieted to a bare whisper. All motion has stopped, even the bugs that once sang have all vanished. Jewel once told me when prey senses a predator nearby they immediately hide to avoid being seen. Does this mean I should hide too? A wild cat? A huge snake? A bear? I sink down into a bush, keeping quiet. 

To my left trees groan and snap some falling to the side. A low painful moan sends ice down my spine, it's like a moose and a lion had a child with a rough cold. I'm almost sent into a panic as my entire body quivers in fear. I need to get higher. I find a climbable tree looking for a sizeable leaf up high. Luckily I spot a hole large enough for me to hide in. Wiggling into it, I ignore the abundance of bugs and sap that cover my mud-covered body. 

The moan rumbles again, panic sending me into an asthmatic attack. I fumble for my rabbit pouch, cursing as I remember I don't have it. Clutching my chest I mentally told myself to breathe in and out until my lead chest and tight throat loosened enough for me to take a deep breath and not pass out. I have to fight my instincts every time I hear the moan as it coils around me in utter terror. I think other creatures are fighting just like me because there are soft cries of animals as creatures fall from trees landing dead on the ground. 

From the misty depths of the rainforest, a pair of long arms slither over the ground making this mud-sucking sound as its matted fur clogged an area. It doesn't have hands but a pair of sharp-looking scissor-like claws it uses to grip a tree. Then with strength that should not exist in its stringy sloth-like limbs, it pulls its main body forward, the weight bending the tree backwards. A huge creature as big as a whale, flattened as a manta ray, drags its raccoon body across the mud coating its dark purple-blue fur. Trailing behind it like a dead fish is a spiraling lifeless tail. 

A flat head pushes into its shoulders, and where a neck should be is a pair of fluffy black bat-like ears. At the top of its skull rests a pair of clear black eyes staring unblinkingly into the canvas above. If something fell into them, a long slimy pink tongue slipped past its huge mouth acting like window wipers. 

What is this thing? I don't have any memory of something like this existing. It doesn't look like a regular animal, it's more like a monster from a storybook. 

 The ground sloth lets out another low-blowing moan, and from the trees, a monkey falls crying out in shock as it loses its grip. 

Even with my close watching, I almost didn't notice the flash of claws as the sloth let go of the trees and tore into the canopy. Sunlight bursts through leaving me blind. Noise erupts as birds, monkeys, and large cats run in all directions.  I want to run too, but I instead cover my mouth from my scream and watch the scene before me in horror. 

All along the forest ground are bleeding animals, some getting up to escape. But before they can, the creature swings its claws forming a blockade around them its claws locking together. There's a low moan coming from it as its neck bulges and it suddenly opens the top part of its mouth completely up like the lid to a trashcan. It then shoves all the creatures, plants, trees, and more into its mouth.  Snapping it close it makes this sickening chewing noise that grinds and gurgles. A black-purple goo seeping past its lips, the liquid bubbling and boiling anything alive it touches. 

Closing my eyes I try to stay sane as my mind races with a million questions. The ground sloth just ate an entire chunk of forest creatures. If I get noticed by it, I will die just as quickly. I hope Jack and Jewel won't get close to it... I think Jewel would have a better chance against this thing than Jack, seeing how she knows a lot about animals... I wish I could imprint her knowledge into me. 

I peek again, the thing's full mouth has shrunk in size. A slurping straw sound echoes in between the crunching and bubbling. It's eating them all up so quickly, that its saliva must be corrosive. I have no choice but to wait for the thing to finish its meal. It rumbles and lets out the moan again, its long arms pulling it further away until the noise of the forest returns. 

I carefully crawled back down, looking left and right. It may be the only ground sloth here, so I might want to follow its trail in the opposite direction. I took a step and felt something muddy and fuzzy. Looking down I let out a cry of relief picking up my rabbit. It's crushed a bit, but everything inside looks functional. And best of all not covered in mud. 

Shoving it into my braw, I take one last look around before jogging to safety.