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Tarkel Jungle

April 3, 1984 RE

Things had been going pretty well since our stop at Elbridge. We had not encountered anything especially dangerous in a few days and the weather had been pretty nice so far. There had not been any giant monster attacks or signs of enemy soldiers in a while. Things between me and Tracy had been coming along nicely and I finally realized that I really was her boyfriend now. That came as a relief to Tracy. She had figured that out a while ago and had been waiting for me understand that. It really came as no surprise that things finally started to get interesting again.

We were not suddenly attacked or anything like that. What we encountered was an entire section of the forest that had quadrupled in size. Not everything had grown, but a significant amount of the plants, animals, and other non organic things seemed to have been affected. I had been talking with my team and somewhere along the line we had come up with a little theory. As far as we could tell, whenever some piece of ancient technology failed it had very little effect on civilization. Sure, the oceans were in a bad enough condition that there was no chance all of the continents were going to be in contact with each other any time soon, but nobody was in serious danger because of it. After all this time it seemed like there would have been some sort of disaster that would have done some serious damage by now.

That had never happened as far as we could tell. We may be isolated to a small part of the world, but we do have a means of communicating with other parts of the continent. Some areas still had to rely on horses to send messages quickly, but they could still send messages. Even though most of the continent was a mystery to us we could still get news to and from areas as far north as the ruins of Quebec, as far east as the Atlantic coastline, within about 50 miles of the Colorado River in the former state of Colorado to the west, and down to Lake Ilopango in the former country of El Salvador. We used to be able to reach as far south as Columbia, but the conquest of a reasonably friendly kingdom by a much less friendly empire put an end to that. That was a lot of land we were in communications with and we thought we would have heard of at least one disaster if any of them ever occurred.

Now, with this giant jungle surrounding us it seemed to confirm what some of us had thought. There was something in control of the technologies that were failing. That something was probably trying to keep these disasters from affecting civilization too aversely, but this growth problem seemed to be beyond its control. It looked like it was trying to isolate the growth incidents as far away from civilization as it could with the occasional slip causing things to grow much closer to major population centers. It seemed the anthros were far more susceptible to those slips than humans were. At least half of our little expedition had been affected by growth spurts by now and with the exception of five humans, all of the ones affected by the spurts had been anthros. If things kept getting worse as we proceeded to get further away from civilization we wondered how large they were really going to get.

There was something else that contributed to that theory. For some reason, the things people were carrying or wearing at the time of the growth spurts tended to grow with them. There did not seem like there was a good reason for that to happen. Most of the soldiers were carrying dozens, maybe hundreds to thousands of different items if you counted all the individual parts. Everything growing at the same time just seemed like too big a coincidence. The incidents with the Colonel's pants proved that not everything had to grow at the same time. If we could make it to the facility and then in to space, I had to wonder what we would find there.

I was personally fascinated by the sight of four foot long rodents that kept running by as well as the sight other even larger creatures. Nothing seemed to want to bother us though. We were in too large a group for most of the local predators to want to mess with at the moment, especially with even larger predators like Col. Miller wandering around among us. That made me grow a little overconfident. I barely noticed that Tracy was herding me back into the group every once and a while as I wandered toward things I found fascinating at their enhanced sizes. Most of my team was receiving the same treatment from the Colonel's troops.

Somehow, we managed to stumble onto something dangerous or something dangerous had been stalking us. It didn't really matter which way it really was. All that really mattered was the fact that a jaguar over 20 feet long burst out of the giant jungle foliage. It took a swipe at one of my teammates while biting down on a seven foot tall rat soldier at the same time. The scientist went flying and landed in a broken heap and the spray of blood and lack of struggling indicated that the soldier was already dead. That all occurred within 20 feet of me. It was obvious that the jaguar had determined that we were all small easy prey in its primitive mind and it was going to try and make at least one more kill before running off with its meat. I froze momentarily as the jaguar locked eyes with me and charged.

It moved with hideous speed. There was no way I could have avoided getting caught by a normal sized jaguar that was this close to me, a giant one like the jaguar I was looking at was capable of making an effortless snack out of me. It raised its paw in what I knew was going to be its attempt at batting me to death. Then I found myself in Tracy's arms as she quickly moved to get us out of the way. She was fast, but not quite fast enough. The paw hit her and knocked us about two feet through the air. Tracy curled up around me and used her body to shield me from the fall. We both grunted as she landed roughly and rolled a little across the ground.

Tracy looked like she was knocked out, or worse. The jaguar was still on us too. My instincts told me to run and leave Tracy behind. My heart had already gotten attached to the attractive tiger woman though. It would not just let me do nothing and leave her there to get carried off by the jaguar to become a meal. I tried to drag Tracy away from the other feline stalking toward us, but she was over seven feet tall and I was not even six feet tall. It was obvious the jaguar was going to get us both.

Then the jaguar was broadsided by a large blur of motion. Before the jaguar could recover, it already had a large anthropomorphic cousin atop it. Col. Miller may not have been as large as the feral jaguar, but he had a training and intelligence to make up for the difference in size. It also helped that he had actual arms to wrap around the other jaguar's neck. There was something that sounded sort of like a thick tree trunk snapping and the feral jaguar went limp. I had not really paid much attention to that brief battle among titans. Tracy was the center of my attention at the moment.

Her eyes looked a little glazed over and I wondered how bad the hit was. She was not bleeding, but that did not mean much. Then her eyes snapped back into focus almost immediately and her gaze fixed directly on me. Tracy snarled and bared her fangs at me before seizing my face with one large hand. Her fingers dug painfully into my face and I felt her claws extend slightly, nearly drawing blood from me. I was tugged down within an inch of her face and I wondered if the sense had been knocked out of her and if my life was in danger.

"Larry, I appreciate the heroics, but if you ever stick around and attempt to throw your life away for no gain and somehow manage to survive I will tear you apart myself. Got it?" Tracy practically snarled at me.

I gulped and said, "Yes ma'am."

"Good," Tracy said as she tugged me down to her face and delivered a long hard kiss to me. Then she released her grip on my face and left me breathless.

"I'll be holding the private to that," said a deep voice from behind me, causing my heart to skip a beat for the second time in so many seconds. Col. Miller was right behind me and if I didn't know any better, I would say that he was suppressing a smile. Any hint of that smile soon disappeared when he turned back to look at our deceased comrades. The Colonel immediately started giving orders to his men to organize a quick burial. That kind of dampened the joy over my recent kiss.

After that was done with we continued on. My team stayed in a much tighter group that no longer needed to be herded together by the Colonel's troops. The jungle around us had ceased to be so fascinating as we all realized how easy it was for just about any predator to abduct us now. The larger soldiers formed a perimeter around us and the smaller soldiers up until it was time to break camp. Things were a little solemn as the night started out. Tracy and I were able to get a tent to ourselves again. Since I was technically the ranking person left who was able to fit into a tent, I received the best one.

Tracy seemed like she was in a slightly better mood than I was. There was something worrying her though. "Larry, I didn't hurt you earlier did I? When I grabbed you like that it was a heat of the moment thing," said Tracy, the concern obvious in her voice.

"No, I'm fine," I responded soothingly.

Tracy moved right up to me. It was surprising how she could manage not to be the least bit intimidating when she towered over me like she was doing now. "Are you sure? That was a tight grip I had on your face. I hope you aren't mad at me?" asked Tracy as she gave my face a careful inspection.

"If I were mad at you that kiss would have made up for everything Tracy," I said, smiling and laughing lightly at her.

Tracy smiled back at me and we locked eyes. It was one of those special moments. We looked deep into each others eyes and I saw myself spending the rest of my life staring into those beautiful yellow eyes of hers. The next thing I knew we were kissing once more. That kissing soon led to other things. Those things did not allow me to get much rest that night, but I wasn't complaining.

Tarkel Jungle

April 4, 1984 RE

I was exhausted by the time dawn came. That was probably why it took a while for me to notice anything unusual. I had fallen asleep wrapped up in Tracy's arms as she cuddled with me. When I felt movement on my back I thought Tracy was just cuddling with me again as she woke up. That was not the case. My eyes slowly fluttered open and I thought what I was seeing was caused by sleep fogged eyes. Tracy's arms looked like they were getting larger.

As I realized what was going on I tried to shake a still slumbering Tracy awake. She just nuzzled me with her expanding muzzle and said, "What is it Larry?"

"You're growing Tracy," I said softly.

"I'm what," Tracy said, confused. Her eyes quickly widened as she noticed me diminishing within her large arms. She loosened her hold on me but she did not seem to want to let me go. This was obviously a big growth spurt for her. She was already a foot larger than she had been and she was still getting larger. I could see the worry on her face and I held onto a finger and squeezed it to show my support for her. She smiled weakly at me as her body just kept growing. Her expanding body forced bits of equipment out of her way and soon her paws were sticking out of the tent. By the time she finally stopped growing I would say she was somewhere between 20 to 25 feet in height.

Tracy tried to carefully extract herself from the tent while carrying me. She did a pretty amazing job of not destroying the tent even if she did look a little awkward. When we were outside I could see some of the other anthros standing around looking a little confused. Tracy was not the largest one in camp. I could see Col. Miller walking around getting his troops organized. He still looked like the largest one around. I would have to say he was a good 40 feet tall right now.

Tracy sat me down next to her and said, "Perfect timing, isn't it? What are we supposed to do now Larry?"

"You did say you like your men small. It can't be all bad can it?" I asked jokingly.

Tracy scooped me up in one hand and brought me up to her face to deliver what was a little kiss, to her at least. "Thanks Larry, you do look awfully cute," Tracy said then her eyes widened with sudden realization. "Sorry Larry, I didn't even bother to ask. You don't mind me handling you like this do you?"

"It's alright," I said thinking back on the time she tackled me to get to a grenade, leaving a good deal of my body swollen and bruised. "I can think of worse things than getting picked up and kissed by my dream woman."

I was pleased to hear Tracy laugh, but the Colonel was soon calling her over to him. She was about to put me down, but the Colonel called me over too. Col. Miller was bringing everybody together to see just who had grown. There was not a single anthro that had not been affected and there were eight humans that had been affected as well. The tallest human, Sgt. Taylor, was ten feet tall. That may have been impressive for a human, but he was just plain dwarfed by a 43 foot tall Col. Miller. There were two other anthros above 40 feet in height, 20 of them were above 30 feet in height, a staggering 45 of them were over 20 feet in height, and there were an additional 17 that were over 10 feet tall. My team had somehow managed to remain virtually untouched by the growth spurts and of the 21 soldiers and scouts left under ten feet tall, all but two of them were humans. That coincidence was lost on no one.

There was some good news that emerged from all of this. All but one of the troops that had grown had also had their clothes grow with them. That meant my team was small enough compared to the soldiers to actually ride on them. If the soldiers did not use all of their pockets we could actually ride in their pockets. The Colonel partnered my team up with soldiers to carry them and I was a little disappointed to find out that he wanted to carry me.

I asked, "Colonel, do you think I can hitch a ride with Tracy instead?"

He looked over at Tracy and said, "Private Stone?"

"I don't mind sir," Tracy said without the slightest hint of emotion in her voice.

The Colonel just looked at me, then at her, and I thought I saw that hint of a smile on his face again before he said, "Very well, but you are to stick close to me private."

"Yes sir," Tracy responded.

She picked me up and sat me on her shoulder. At the moment she was not displaying a lot of emotions. She usually didn't when everyone was around and listening. At her size it meant that just about everyone could hear her now. That did not stop me from getting close enough to her cheek to lean against it. It would have been barely perceptible to anyone else, but she leaned her cheek against me as well. These daily walks had just become a bit more pleasant. They had become much faster as well. Not only did we no longer have to worry about our slower members, but the soldiers and scouts did not seem to be the least bit affected by their size. They moved just as gracefully and efficiently as they normally did. Being on the shoulder of one of these giants and watching the rest of them move quickly, yet stealthily through the jungle was a thing of beauty.

There was not a single predator hungry enough to pick on such a large group of creatures. That did not mean the predators were the only things we had to worry about though. At around noon one of the scouts approached the Colonel with some interesting news. The scouts had found paw and hoof prints in the ground. That was not that unusual in and of itself in a jungle, except for the fact that the scouts were certain those prints belonged to creatures that walked on two legs. They were also larger than normal too. The scouts estimated that the largest set of prints belonged to something that stood between 22 to 26 feet in height. It was possible that they could have concealed other prints, but the scouts did not think so.

I don't know why I felt more comfortable knowing that we had the larger soldiers. Everyone, including them, probably had weapons. It was not like they all had to fight each other with swords and spears when the huge size difference might have meant something. Most of the ammunition had not grown unless the soldiers had it on them when they had grown. I'm just glad that I suggested to the Colonel that the men sleep with their ammunition on them on few days back after a discussion with my team about what was causing these growth spurts. As a result, most of the soldiers had been sleeping with extra ammunition on them. The majority of the ammunition that was still packed away was still normal sized though. When the soldiers ran out of what they were carrying they were going to have to rely on hand to hand combat. If the other side ran out of ammunition first then my side's size advantage would come in handy, but that was a big if.

After that little discovery the Colonel had us moving a lot more stealthily. We were not certain who was in the jungle with us, but we did know a Firanel craft had crash landed in the jungle. Those prints may have belonged to wild anthros, but nobody was betting on that one. Especially since the prints were headed in the same direction that we were. One way or the other, we were probably looking at another confrontation in the near future.