of nurture’s wildness: a novella (book 2, ch. 1)

by Tom Stuckey

I

The hidden video images were grainy, the lens marred by moisture which made them low quality, but it definitely revealed a wild tribesman of the Amazon (with another just out of shot), still untouched by the rest of mankind. The clip further revealed the man finding a machete and smelling it for a scent before inspecting it and then around him with amazement. He could not see the hidden camera, and if he could have, it may of been considered otherworldly, or more likely, to have belonged to the ‘out there.’ What they did not know about the out there was everything, only vibrations that altered the plants, animals, and rivers, giving glimpses into what the elders and wise men of the tribe had fearfully imagined. They did not know about TVs, guns, fake breasts, phones and social media, skyscrapers that touched the skies, religion, religious wars, religious pedophilia, the man in the sky who hates us, advertising, racial wars, gender wars, drug wars, cyber wars, the rise of AI, cosmetic testing on animals, abattoirs, porn (she fucked 1000 men in a day!), or the nuclear bomb—the latter probably impossible to be put into words even if one tried. They did not know any of these things, but they also did not know about music, literature, beaches, or all the other things people loved; Having exhausted the possibilities in her mind, Lisa could not think of more. What were the things that we both shared? she wondered. In a moment of clarity, Lisa could only think of one, and it was above her and was as black as the deepest, darkest hole except for the glitter balls and occasional ice rocket that shot across it. In a few hours, it would be fiery, burning the darkness away as it turned into a bottomless ocean blue.    

As she peered into its vastness, captivated, her mind thought of another one, SEX, and with it came a fantasy. It contained one of the men depicted in the images in her files, mostly the eyes, eyes that contained an animality, a vigilance, like a cat’s. Most of her fantasy’s began and ended in the same way, but this one had the elements of excitement and mystery of the unknown as the man smelt her, making her reach her climax quicker than usual, orgasming with the fire at her feet and the stars above.

Lisa could not recall the reason why she explored, but she did remember running from home to the local woods when she was just five years old. In the woods, she climbed the trees and found local water and sewer networks, climbing into one of their openings and along a long pipe with water running down between her hands and knees until she reached a large underground dome where she remained for quite a while until she then began wondering again what else was out there. She had never considered herself to be like other girls, preferring activities traditionally reserved for boys. After returning home, she also remembered her mother threatening to smack her if she ever ran off again; her mother also warned her about the strange men that lurked out there in the woods that liked to take little girls…like her.

Her fearlessness, however, did not mean she wanted to be, or to look, more like a man. Far from it. In fact, she was teased in school when some of her classmates found some images on the backweb of a video game character, Lara Croft, from the 1990’s with whom Lisa shared a striking resemblance. This, coupled with the fact that she had become quite the explorer by her 16th birthday, led to a lot of envy from the other girls and an all-out boycott from the boys, who did not want their bravado diminished in the budding adventurer’s shadow. She didn’t mind though, and quite liked the way she looked, eventually introducing herself to strangers as Lisa Croft.  

Getting to the tribe was a difficult task in and of itself, but global travel, being what it was, meant that risks would not begin nor end there. Lisa had to bribe many officials and guides up to that point, which was a ferry ride from the airport in Manaus. She had to overpay a guide, who she hoped would be her last, to take her to the entry point of the forest where her research had indicated the tribe to be. The tribes in the area, however, were known to migrate each season, so luck became a crucial element of Lisa’s mission, one she was never quite sure she could fully count on. If her information was accurate, and this specific tribe maintained a consistent pattern to their migrations, she could be there by nightfall…she hoped.  

*Read Tom Stuckey’s next installment of Of Nurture’s Wildness (Book II) on July 29, 2025, at 6PM CST.

Photo of Tom Stuckey

BIO: Tom is a writer from Devon in England.  His work can be found at A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Bristol Noir, Nut House Press, and Pulp Magazine. He is the author of The Canary in the Dream is Dead and The Sun Marches upon Us All. Learn more about Tom Stuckey at www.tomstuckey.com.