© Imangi Studios

Chapter One: Trapped

I swore when I tripped. I could hear their footfalls running behind me, and their ragged breath. I cursed the damned creatures to hell. They were gaining on me, I had been running for who knows how long already, and now it was catching up with me. I jumped over a tree root, but my foot got caught on it. I heard a snap, and I knew I was done.

I backed quickly against the temple wall, my breathing already coming out in gasps due to my exhaustion and my broken ankle. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as the monkeys turned to look at me. One sniffed, and if demon monkeys could smile, it'd be grinning like a cheshire cat.

I sent up a prayer that the others were alright, and that they'd be safe from these beasts. I didn't know who had the idol anymore, but I wanted everyone to get out safely. Zack, the football star, who had quickly been rising to fame, Francisco, the Spaniard, who was the funniest person I knew, Barry, who had a family to get home to, who didn't deserve to die, Montana, who had a reputation to live up to, Karma, my new best friend, who needed to return home to her company, and Guy.

Oh, Guy. As much as he was a smart ass jackass, I couldn't help but hope he was alright too. Despite his cold, uninviting exterior, he was actually quite charming, and, oh God, there's only one word to describe him: gorgeous.

Of course, all of these thoughts ran through my head in about a millisecond, as I was more focused on the fact that I was about to be eaten by monkeys. Not the way I had planned it to end...

I felt around for my dagger, which I kept on my person at all times. Grasping the hilt, I slashed at the closest monkey's face. It drew back, but the others kept coming. Even if I dealt with these ones, I wouldn't be able to get out of this death trap of a temple.

Padding footsteps caught the monkey's attention for a moment. They looked up, sniffed, and watched as none other than Guy Dangerous leapt over the same tree root that had been my downfall. There were six monkeys chasing him, and he looked happier to have the challenge.

His monkeys stopped, however, when they saw me lying on the ground. They snarled and stalked towards me. Guy stopped as well, looking around for the demons. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second and I saw one emotion: pity.

I thought he was going to leave me. I really did. For all I knew, he had the idol, and that was our main priority. I sighed softly and pulled myself up higher on the wall, dagger in hand, ready to take the monkeys.

A yelp caused all of them, and myself, to look around. Guy stood, smiling, with a dagger deep in a monkey's chest. It stopped moving and fell, limp, to the ground. He looked up at me, smirked, and pushed his way through the monkeys towards me. They were slow creatures, and didn't register that their prey was getting away until after Guy had picked me up and carried me back out of the pack.

"Sit tight, sweetheart," he said, setting me down on the other side of the wall, so I wasn't blocked in, and took my dagger. The pain in my ankle was almost unbearable, but I ignored it, watching Guy deal with the monkeys.

The second last monkey fell, and then the last, the very last, jumped him. I cried out too late, and the monkey slashed his arm. He barely winced, and threw my dagger at the creature, killing it instantly.

"Guy," I began, but he shushed me, pulling my dagger from the monkey's fur. He stood up straight, wiped it off on the corpse and handed it back to me. I stood, aided by the wall, and tried to go to him, but nearly collapsed when I put weight on my foot.

He caught me and, smirking, picked me up, bridal style. We had to get out of there, I knew that as well as he did, but with us both being injured, we wouldn't go very fast. More monkeys would be on the way, they were drawn to the scent of blood and fear. Who knew fear smelled?

We were both covered in blood, both ours and the monkey's, and I noticed Guy was walking with a slight limp.

"Here," he said, stopping next to a large rock. Bigger than large. Huge. I stood up on the edge of the wall and jumped to the rock. There was a ledge large enough for him to walk along, just feet above the dangerous waters, and he edged around the rock, to the back. There, I noticed the cave.

"How did you know-" I began to ask, but he shook his head, smiling.

"You should know by now, Scarlett, that I know everything." I rolled my eyes. He lifted me into the cave mouth, and then pulled himself up. "Let's see what I can do about this ankle of yours, shall I?" he asked, pulling my boot off gently.

It was swollen to at least two times the regular size, and it was a funny purplish green colour. He retrieved two narrow pieces of bark and a length of vine from a corner, and used them as a splint. First, he straightened my foot, which made me gasp with pain, and then placed the bark along the inside and outside of my ankle. Tying it tightly with the vine, he sat back in a crouch to admire his handiwork.

I looked up at him. "Guy," I started, and this time he didn't cut me off. "Thanks," I said, smiling.

"No problem, Red," he said, smiling. He rolled his shoulders as he stood up, as the cave was high enough for him to stand in, and I saw him wince with pain.

"Sit, let me look at your arm," I said.

He paused, and I rolled my eyes, grabbing his wrist and pulling him down. There were three long gashes on his upper arm, quite deep too. I looked around for my pouch and pulled out a wad of bandages.

"Take your shirt off," I instructed. "And hand me that pot of water." He laughed.

"Scarlett..." he said, winking.

"Oh shut up and do what I ask," I said, feeling my cheeks grow hot. He smiled and pulled the torn shirt over his head. My previous statement of 'gorgeous' was an understatement. A huge understatement. For just an average explorer, he was tanned, toned and, well, drool-worthy. He handed me the water, smiling.

"What do you prefer?" Guy asked. "To fix my arm up or a shag? Because, I'd be happy with either." He smirked.

"You know, Mr. Dangerous," I began, using a cloth to clean the wound, and then applying a paste I had made weeks ago that helped disinfect wounds. "You really are an over-confident bastard." Taking the bandage, I wrapped his arm, all the while feeling taut muscles under my fingers.

"Well, Miss Fox, I think that my being an over-confident bastard is a turn-on for a certain young lady I know," he replied in the same tone as me. I looked up at him through my lashes, and he was smirking.

"Do you now?" I asked, ripping a piece of tape off of the roll with my teeth and fixing the wrap to his arm.

"Yes," he said.

I raised my eyebrows. "There, finished," I told him, and he looked down at his arm.

"Not bad, Red, not bad at all." It was silent for a moment.

"Have you heard from the others?" I asked. He began to shake his head, but changed his mind.

"I saw Montana yesterday, I think, and Karma was the one who showed me this cave," he said. "They're both fine, and they say that the others are too."

"I hope so," I sighed, leaning back against the cave wall.

"I know so," a thick, Texan accent said from the mouth of the cave. Montana Smith was standing there, dripping wet. "Anyone fancy a swim? The water's lovely," he said, smiling.

"You were in the water?" we both asked. From what we knew of the temple's waters, they were filled to the brim with flesh eating fish, animals and insects.

"The damn monkeys chased me in. I slipped on something and," he made a motion with his hand of going over something. "In I went. It wasn't so bad, quite refreshing, actually."

I laughed and he entered the cave, tipping his hat to Guy before sitting beside me. After all this time, he still had his hat.

"And what happened to you two?" he asked, looking between us with raised eyebrows.

"Guy saved me from monkeys, after I broke my ankle," I said.

"And I brought her straight back here, and that's all that happened," Guy added quickly. Montana had acted as my father as soon as he met me. He gave Guy a piercing look.

"So, why are you half naked?"

A/N: Please review!