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We felt more comfortable talking quietly surrounded by the jungle. We walked several yards down a different path, then slowed our pace so we could discuss our plans. "Working around the cameras is a pain," I said. "I think we can manage for communicating quick, easy answers, but I don't think we can make a plan that way."
There was a lot to discuss. Did we try to find a way to send out a communication? If so, who would we direct the message to. We talked about what punishment we or the guys might suffer if our efforts were discovered. Now that we knew there was a local village nearby, we talked about one of us trying to go there to get a message out or enlist aid in freeing all of us from our captors. We had no way to know if they'd help us or if they would be loyal to Dr. Braun because he provided jobs to some of the villagers.
There was a lot of talk about one of us going for help. Gracie Layne thought she should be the one to go because she might not be missed for a while. I could see the logic in that, but she was the least likely to be able to survive in the wild. Cassie said she should be the one to go, because she was less important to their studies than I was. True again, but that didn't mean I'd be supportive of sending her out into the jungle alone. Our most popular idea was to free Jared and Chance so we could all make our escape. That wasn't an option unless the guys were healthy.
We were in the midst of another series of "but what ifs" when the knocking started. At first it didn't register. "Shush. Listen," I said.
"Is that..." Cassie asked.
"I think so."
"Doesn't that mean the natives are restless or something?" Gracie Layne asked.
"You've been watching too many voodoo movies," I said. "It's how bigfoot communicate in the woods." We listened. It sounded really close. I'm not sure why, but I started following the sound. As we walked, the pounding got faster. I was listening with my head down watching where I stepped so I didn't trip over a root or step on a snake. I knew nothing about the critters that live in the jungle other than what I'd seen in movies and on TV. "Cassie, do you know if there are bigfoot in South America?"
"I have no idea. BITES only has jurisdiction in the US. The one hunt we did in Canada required jumping through a lot of hoops. I'm sure they have some kind of cryptid, but I don't know if bigfoot would find this environment tolerable."
She was right. I'd always thought of bigfoot as sort of a cold-weather cryptid. Of course, the dingonek is a warm weather cryptid who seemed to have adapted just fine to living in the mountains of Idaho. I stopped abruptly when I came face-to-face with a fence. It was taller than my hand when I stretched my arm over my head. "Is this keeping something in or out?" I asked.
"Let's follow it and see if we can find out," Cassie said. We walked along the fence line keeping our eyes on the other side. We came to a corner post and continued on. We'd been so focused on the fence, we hadn't noticed the cameras mounted on the fence posts.
"Stop, a male voice called from behind us. It was Blank. We turned around to face him. Tattoo stood beside him with his muscular arms folded over his chest. "You've done enough exploring for today. The jungle around here can be dangerous. You ladies should stick close to the lodge."
They herded us back inside. I was curious to know if any of the others had seen what I saw just before the guards approached us. I went to my room and washed my face before walking across the hall to Cassie's. "I feel like there's an insect bite on the back of my neck. Can you take a look?"
"Sure, come on into the bathroom where the light is better. Once the fan was on and the door closed, I asked, "Did you see the creature?"
"Yeah. It was different than our bigfoot, but similar," she said. "If they have their own bigfoot specimens in captivity, I'm wondering if Dr. Braun was doing some experimenting of his own."