Wish my comm worked.
Or that Mitzy’s dragonfly drone had come with me instead of Brady and Booker. I don’t belabor the point. With scores of men in hot pursuit, they needed the drone far more than I did.
To be honest, I’m surprised no one’s following Rosalie and me. When she mentioned climbing into the trees to escape, I wasn’t sure.
Meaning, I didn’t think it would work.
My idea of climbing into a tree is the first day of hunting season when dawn is hours away and the temperature is a brisk ten degrees. I’d climb into my deer stand and enjoy the smell of pine and the wind whispering to the trees.
I’m an excellent shot with a rifle, which is unfair to the deer. They stand no chance against me, but even with my bow, if a deer gets within range, it’s mine.
As a city boy, I knew nothing about nature growing up. The steel jungle was my playground, but when I joined the Navy at seventeen, it was as if the entire world opened to me. Like most things, I took what I learned to extremes. The guys like to rib me about being a survival junkie, but I take pride in being prepared for anything.
The one thing I’m not prepared for is the beauty sleeping in my arms. She was out in less than a minute and has been asleep for hours. I should’ve woken her before dawn, but I didn’t have the heart.
Not to mention, the exact timing of dawn is iffy in the jungle, considering most light is filtered out by the time it reaches us. Down on the forest floor, it’s nearly pitch black.
When Rosalie stirs, I shift away. A perfect gentleman, I kept my hands to myself, but damn if I don’t love the way she fits against me.
“What time is it?” Rosalie wakes and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.
“A bit after sunrise.”
“I slept the whole night?” She looks at me with her brows tugged together. “You were only supposed to let me nap.”
Leaning forward, she breaks the connection between our bodies. Rosalie peers up at the canopy overhead, then glances down into the dark depths below us. She rubs at her throat and winces.
That’s when I see the angry red surrounding her wound.
“Shit!” Forgetting about not swearing around her, I grab her rougher than I intend and lift her neck to look at the cut.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s infected. We need to clean it.” Patting the pouches of my vest. “Shit, my med kit is missing.” I lift her chin and twist her face left and right to assess the infection fully.
“I was afraid of that.” Rosalie isn’t as concerned as me.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I move to squat beside her. “We need to get out of here and get someone to look at you ASAP.”
Her delicate fingers feel at the cut. “It’s warm and slightly tender, but we’ve got time.”
“Time is exactly what we don’t have, luv. I will not go to all this effort of rescuing you, only to have an infection do you in.”
“Do me in?” She cocks her head and gives me a look like I’m an idiot. “It’s not that bad.” She feels along the cut.
“We’re getting out of here.” I reach for a green vine hanging overhead to pull myself to my feet.
“Not arguing about… STOP!” Her screech draws me up short.
“What…”
“No sudden moves, but you need to crouch down and come this way.” She scoots out of our little resting spot.
“What’s wrong?” Not knowing what the hell is up, the warning in her tone says no questions.
I lower myself into a crouch.
“Slowly, make your way to me.”
“Okay, but what’s wrong?”
“Just keep moving…” She inches back, gesturing for me to do the same.
I slowly make my way to her, stopping only when the fear in her eyes fades. When she breathes out a sigh of relief, I do the same, although I don’t know why.
Glancing back, I see no sign of danger. Rosalie gives me a good once over, then looks back at the hollow.
“Do you have all your gear?”
“Sure do.”
“Good, we’re leaving.”
“Why? What did you see?”
“That branch you were about to grab?”
“Yeah?”
“That was a two-striped forest pitviper.”
“What?” I glance back at the tree, but see nothing.
“Let’s just say you don’t want to be shaking hands with one. Other than pain and swelling, a bite from one of those makes you bleed and makes you dizzy.” She points downward. “Not something we want.”
“Damn, it looked like a vine.” I should’ve seen it.
“It was probably snuggling in to sleep for the day. They’re active at night and curl up in the vegetation during the day to avoid predators.”
“I guess I’m lucky you saw it.” If not for her, things could’ve been very bad.
“We should probably get going.”
“Agreed, and we need to take care of that cut on your neck. I don’t like the way it looks.”
Glancing around, and up and down, there’s no quick way out of this place. A conservative estimate says hours, if not a day or two.
“Ok, luv, how do we get out of here?”
She feels at the red and swollen skin with her delicate fingers. “I know it’s infected, but it’s not that bad.”
“Well, it’s not gonna get any better if we sit around here and chat all day. We need to get out of these trees.” And I need to get her to a pharmacy. Not to mention, back in contact with my team.
“Or…” She raises a finger.
“Or, what?”
“You give me a few minutes to search for a Tawari tree.”
“What kind of tree?”
“Tawari, its bark is used to treat infection.”
“Its bark?”
“That’s right.”
“Or... Not to be too contrary, we find a village with a pharmacy.”
“I can make a poultice.”
“No. We don’t have the time.”
“Why? You said your team has already left. I’m assuming that means an extra hour or two won’t matter?” She props her fists on her hips and stares me down with those angelic eyes of hers.
Damn, she’s cute when she gets fired up.
“And where do we find one of these trees?” The Guardian in me says any delay only increases the risk of capture, but the survivalist in me knows about natural remedies.
She’s not wrong. We have the time.
“It grows best near water. We’ve been mostly following that stream. Hard to see from up here if it’s any bigger, but follow the stream and we’re bound to come across one.”
“Like you said, it’s hard to see from up here. I say it’s time to head to the ground.” We’ll make quicker progress on the ground.
“So you’re okay with it?”
“As long as we continue along the stream bed, I’m okay.”
Water flows downhill, and streams eventually converge into rivers. Follow the river and we’ll meet up with civilization at some point. Hopefully, someplace with access to the internet, or cell service.
Since I began this mission with no electronics on account of the EMP, we’ll have to rely on others to get in contact with my team.