In Reply to Nathan

So the Center of Odd Manifestation of Abnormal Sleep (still a weird name) put me on a helicopter enroute to the thick jungles of southern Venezuela. I've never really handled heights well and unfortunately I couldn't close my eyes, so I decided to distract myself by making small talk with the pilot. "Hey!" I shouted over the loud whirring of the helicopter blades,"have you ever flown down this way before?" The man looked at me, he was a middle aged man wearing a helmet with a headset and goggles. He shouted,"I've flown down here a few times, yeah!" He looked back at the console and focused on flying. "So what do you know about this rabid monkey I'm supposed to find!?" I yelled back at him, still desperately trying to distract myself from the thousands of feet of void below me. "Listen, buddy, I just fly the helicopter! I don't know all the specifics of your journey! I think the boss left a pamphlet for you in that compartment under your seat!" He motioned toward my seat, I looked and found that there was indeed a pamphlet. Apparently I was looking for the rare Purple-Spotted Leopard Monkey, thought to be extinct until a few were found living in the jungles of Venezuela. Now there is only believed to be one left in existence, preserved by the local savage tribe also once believed to be extinct until just recently. My history lesson was cut short when my pilot shouted,"Alright! Here's your stop! There's no place for me to land, so you're gunna have to jump!" What? I had to jump!? Was he crazy!?  I was afraid of heights, I could never do something like that! "Are you sure jumping is the only way!?" I desperately asked him. "Yep!" he quickly responded,"you're going to miss your landing zone if you wait any longer!" I grabbed a parachute, said a quick prayer, and jumped out of the helicopter. As I was falling I heard the pilot yell,"Oh! and make sure that you don't *muffled* because *far away* might die *inaudible yelling*!" As my luck would have it, I missed almost every word he said save for something about don't do something and might die... yay...

I eventually pulled my parachute and began my descent into the middle of the jungle. At this point I began compensating for my inability to close my eyes by screaming my head off like a madman. This distracted me from the fall; however, this distraction also caused me to not pay attention on where I was about to land. My parachute got caught in a large tree, and I was left hung in the middle of thick foliage lord knows how high off the ground because I couldn't see through the plants and trees under me. I began trying to rationalize what I could do to get down, when I heard a hissing sound coming from right behind me. I turned my head and saw a massive snake with it's eyes locked on me, rearing backwards as though it was about to strike. I didn't have a moment to waste, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pocket knife and quickly cut the strings holding me to the parachute. I rapidly fell through the thick foliage cutting, scraping, and bruising myself in multiple places on the way down. Finally I broke through, landed on the ground, and immediately fell flat on my face. Fortunately my condition kept me conscious, but I almost wish I had been knocked out from all the pain I was in. I pulled myself up and started making my way through the forest in a random direction.

Luckily the direction I chose led me to a small village right next to a river. The village people were very friendly... well at least I think they were, I don't really speak Spanish so who knows what they thought of me. At least they didn't attack me, so I counted that as a plus and started searching for places that I could purchase supplies. Eventually the villagers would begin whispering about me more and more until I had somehow gathered a small following of curious village people. They circled around me and closed me into a small space surrounded by them on all sides. At this point, I started to panic a little bit, I tried to tell them that I meant them no harm, but soon remembered that they didn't understand me. Suddenly the villagers made room for a small white man to come to the circle with me. "Hello, good sir!" He said in a kind tone while brightly smiling,"my name is Doctor Reverend Leonard Holton III Jr. and I am a missionary living among these kind people." I introduced myself to him and briefly explained my situation to him. "I see, so you are in need of the Purple-Spotted Leopard Monkey's saliva... well, I can't say I've seen one around these parts for quite some time, but nevermind that, come with me. I run a store here with my wife and children, you can stay with us while you're preparing for your journey." I followed him to his wooden hut and met his wife and children. His wife had the complexion of the natives, whereas the children seemed a little more mild. "I take it you married into the culture, Dr. Holton," I stated as his two sons ran around me screaming and playing like little kids typically do. "Ah, yes!" the doctor said proudly,"my wife, Yelitza was born in Caracas, but fled far south with the rest of her family and many of the other villagers here to escape Chavez. That's why this village is actually very civilized compared to many others. You'll find that my stock is full of plenty of food, supplies, and anything of the like. The villagers live modest, yet free lives." The children decided to try to tackle me this time around. I resisted as long as I could, but eventually fell due to shear force. The doctor laughed heartily and said,"I see you've met my children, they're quite a handful aren't they?" I grunted as they began pulling my hair,"Not at all!"
"No need to be polite, my friend! We're all family here, we're used to each other's antics. My wife gave birth to my first daughter a few weeks ago, she's sleeping right now in the other room, and that's my entire family!"
The doctor spoke fluent spanish and was able to translate all that I needed to say to the towns folks. He was not lying, almost everybody there (save for the children) were refugees hiding from Chavez. The doctor taught Yelitza a little english, so I spoke with her a little bit. Unfortunately, all I could really get out from her is that she believed that guardian angels were protecting the villagers from Chavez. That night, I rested comfortably in the extra room that the doctor set aside for me (still unable to sleep).

I thought over all the events that happened that day, and something just didn't add up. If these villagers were so afraid of Chavez, what was the thing that was stopping Chavez from coming and making an example out of these people. I remembered that Yelitza believed in her guardian angels, but I wasn't really one for the supernatural, so that explanation wasn't enough for me. That morning there was a large commotion outside. I went out the front door and was immediately greeted by men in dark uniforms wearing gas masks and holding machine guns. The leader among them wore no gas mask, but had a red sash across his chest and wore an officer's cap with a silver angel on the front. He was very muscular and had blood red eyes, he grabbed me by the arm and threw me aside saying,"Out of ze vay!" I toppled over to the side of the house out of the way of the door; the man and his men walked inside the house and started looting the place. I looked through one of the windows to see the doctor talking worriedly to the leader. "I thought you said you weren't going to come this month... I don't have all the supplies you asked for just yet-"
"Vat!? You mean zat after all zis time dat I gave you, you still do not have ze goods you promised?"
"No! I had a whole other week, I promise I'll have the drugs by then!"
"Yes you vill! Und to make sure zat you do, I vill take everyzing in ze store! You heard zat, boys! Take everyzing! Including ze voman und her children!"
"NO! PLEASE! THEY DID NOTHING TO YOU, THEY'RE INNOCENT!"
The leader slapped the doctor across the face and sharply called him out. The doctor fell to the ground broken heartedly. The men took everything in the store and took the doctor's wife and children hostage and flew away in a helicopter. I went to the Doctor,"What just happened!? Who were those guys!?" He looked at me, tears in his eyes,"Oh, my dear friend! They've taken everything! How will I ever survive without my family!?" He threw his arms around me and sobbed into my chest. He eventually told me that they were a military organization known as the Guardian Angels who offered to protect their village in exchange for a rare drug which can only be grown in the area around the village. The drug heightens the senses of it's user exponentially and allows people to notices things that they wouldn't ordinarily be able to notice. They need this because the leader of the group, a man named Englebert, had the same problem that I did, so he would give his troops the drug and have them search the jungle for the Purple-Spotted Leopard Monkey. Realizing this would be a good opportunity to save the people of this village, the doctor's family, and cure my ailment all at once, I decided I would go and get Englebert. As I was leaving the doctor grabbed my arm and said,"Wait! I'm going with you!" He stood up, reenergized, and went to the back of the store and opened a secret compartment where he stowed away two handguns, a machete, a flashlight, a few days rations, and a lighter. We divided the supplies between the two of us and set out for our journey...