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Leslie heard the sounds of the jungle and felt the softness of the bed under her. She was still at the resort. The ship hadn’t even left yet. The breakdown had only been a dream. Except, when she opened her eyes she was lying on the thickly carpeted floor of the lounge, and the sounds were coming through the open door to the outside deck.
Soft snoring came from a few of the sleeping forms in the room. The morning sun was coming over the horizon, and a dense fog was wrapped around the trees. Even with the door open to the outside, the air was stale and felt too warm. Soon, the inside of the ship would be baking.
She grabbed her things and headed to her cabin. The small windows in the cruiser threw a little light to see by. She changed into some clean clothes, brushed her teeth, and headed back to the lounge.
Now, there was a flurry of activity. Everyone was helping Cesario move portable grills and food out onto the beach. Soon, Cesario was serving up ice cream, grilled steaks, and a pot of coffee.
When John emerged from the ship, all attention moved to him.
“What are we going to do, John?” came the query from Jessup. “I know everyone here needs some answers.”
John looked at the expectant faces around him. He sat and leaned his chin on his hand. The lines and dark circles under his eyes belied a hard morning. “Jessup is right. You all need answers. I can’t say that I have any real ones. But I can say that we need to make plans to move out of here by this evening and get as far toward civilization as we can before nightfall. Whatever is wrong with this ship can’t be fixed with what I have.”
Samantha jumped up from her chair, her food dropping to the sand. “Can’t be fixed? You mean we could be stuck here? I just, I just assumed we’d, well, that you’d be able to fix it.” Her voice became more high pitched with each word.
Cesario dashed up to Samantha and put his arm around her and glared at John. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Walk, through this?” He pointed at the thick jungle. “I’m a cook. I don’t hike.”
John nodded and replied calmly. “This is the worst possible scenario. The one that was never supposed to happen. I know this is not right and that I promised you all something better, but this is the situation, and we just have to find a way to deal with it.”
“So our options are either stay here or go through the jungle?” AJ asked. “How long would we have to be here before we could expect help?”
John shook his head. “Staying here isn’t an option. No boat can make it this far upriver. There are no locals here to come to our rescue. There are some local tribes, but they have no way of getting us out of the jungle other than on foot. No one is going to realize that something is wrong for at least six days. Then there would be several more days before anyone would do anything about us being late. There’s not enough food to last that long, especially without refrigeration.”
“This is unacceptable.” Frederick glared at John.
Leslie remembered saying just the other night, “I don’t do jungle hikes.” Sounded like she was going to eat those words. She looked over at Devan. Could he have fixed this? Forced them to make the trip? But certainly, he wouldn’t do that. As if on cue, he spoke.
“Hike back through this?” Devan waved his hands toward the jungle.
Leslie rolled her eyes. Sure, he wouldn’t want to hike through the jungle either.
Then Devan took a deep breath. “It does sound scary, but we need to all stay calm. I’m sure the captain knows what he’s talking about. I’m no fan of hiking through all this either, but we need to stay together on this.”
Cesario shook his head. His face was turning bright red. “So, we’re supposed to just walk into the jungle and out the other side!” He stalked back to the ship and dashed up the gangplank.
John watched him go. “I’ll talk to him in a minute.”
AJ was quietly listening, her brows low. Leslie went up to her and whispered, “Don’t worry, AJ. We’ll get home.”
AJ nodded.
Jessup spoke up. “Miguel, you and your brother have made the trip a few times. What are our chances of getting out of here to somewhere safe?”
Miguel took a slow sip of coffee. “My brother and I survive because we’re cautious. If we can all keep our heads about us, we’ll make it out of here.”
“What do we do now?” Devan asked.
John stood up. “Right now, eat. I’ll have Miguel and Leslie organize this move. And Sun, if he ever comes out of his cabin. Miguel, Leslie, I need to speak with you for a moment.”
John turned to them as soon as they were inside the ship. “I want everyone to get a good breakfast, but then we need to get out of here.”
“Why the rush?” asked Miguel
“Yesterday, I went across the river on an adventure of my own. I was curious about the lack of trees. Turns out it’s a cocaine farm.”
“This far out?” Miguel’s voice reflected surprise.
John nodded. “And there could be more going on. I spotted several armed guards and a few Jeeps. Whoever’s farm is out this far is doing one hell of a job trying to hide it. They’re certainly not going to take kindly to anyone bringing news of it with them. I want to get out of here before they discover us.”
Miguel nodded and headed back out the door.
Leslie decided to broach her concern. “John, I’m worried about AJ. Her feet are blistered with open sores. We’re going to have to take special care getting her out of the jungle.”
He reached out and touched her arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she was injured. I’ll make sure we have all the medical supplies that she might need. What about you? Are you okay?”
“I’m a little freaked out, but we have to do this. So, I’ll calmly get all of these people ready to take a hike, and they’ll never know that I’m worried or maybe a little scared.”
He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she knew she had an ally. Then he pulled her into him. She fell into the hug then felt a shock go through her when she kissed him softly.
He nodded. “I guess I’m going to have a problem with you.”
Leslie took a deep breath to steady herself. “You’re the one who started it.”
“Yes.” He finished off with a bear hug and then turned to go.
“Is it okay if that happens again?”
As he stepped down the hallway, he said, “Yes.”
She’d look forward to that.