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My heart thundered in my chest, and the loose rocks beneath me made every movement hell on my aching limbs.
Halfway down to him, the river came into view. The black water was flowing fast. Way too fast for us to swim across. It somehow glowed. Maybe the moon was giving it that light.
Each time I called to him, I hoped for movement, but he didn’t give me anything.
Finally, panting and sweating, I reached him and knelt at his side. “Hey.”
He groaned.
“Oh, thank God.” I scooped his head into my lap.
“Wake up.” I shook him and his body wobbled.
His skin was cold and clammy, and my heart clenched as my brave savior lay in my arms.
Moonlight bathed us in a silvery glow, allowing me to see the large lump on Hunter’s forehead. Hopefully, it was his only injury.
“Jesus. You got lucky. The river is right there. You could have tumbled right over the edge.”
Barely five feet away was a sheer drop to the raging water.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
Hunter groaned. He had survived those crippling burns to his body. He’ll recover from this in no time. But with him woozy like this, it was up to me to make sure we made it through the night.
I cupped his cheek. “Just rest, okay?”
The only reply was the buzzing insects in my ears and the roar of the rushing river. All day we’d been surrounded by dense silence and oppressive heat. Whilst it was refreshing to be somewhat in the open, we were still in for a rough night.
I slipped Hunter off my lap, scooped loose rocks out from under his head and rested him down.
His eyes fluttered and he released a truly sorrowful moan. My heart broke to see him so groggy. But I’d seen him like this before, in hospital when he’d been loaded up with painkillers and fighting for his life. Seeing a man in his prime so broken was gut-wrenching.
“I’ll get some things sorted, okay?” I touched his cheek, grateful to feel his warm flesh.
A small headlamp was around his neck.
“I’ll just borrow this for a sec.” I pulled the elastic strap over his head, flicked on the light and the beam was swarmed by moths and mosquitos within seconds.
Damn it.Tonight is going to be hell.
The mosquitos in this jungle could literally kill a human. I’d had every immunization possible to protect me from yellow fever, dengue, and malaria, and the mud covering my skin would provide some protection. Was Hunter immunized? In the navy, he would have been. But are his needles up to date? Fortunately for us, mosquitos liked stagnant water, so hopefully we wouldn’t be bombarded.
My biggest worry was the other creatures: snakes, spiders, killer frogs, and I hoped like hell a jaguar didn’t come our way. I pulled Hunter’s light onto my forehead and treading carefully, so I didn’t slip off the edge, I searched for somewhere we could use as a shelter.
I found another Kapok tree and as I headed toward it, I picked up a stick in case I needed a weapon.
The buttress roots on this tree were taller than me, and the tree was one of the biggest I’d seen. It was probably about three hundred years old. I jabbed the stick between two of the enormous, exposed roots and pulled out the dead leaves that had accumulated in that space over time. Last thing I needed was to make our bed on top of an ant’s nest, or worse a lancehead snake or some other killer that liked to hide amongst dead foliage.
With that done, I tossed palm fronds into the gap between the two buttress roots. As I worked, the sounds of the jungle came alive and I talked to Hunter as if he was awake, letting him know what I was doing, just so he knew I was there with him. It was a habit from my volunteer work at the hospital where sometimes it was impossible to tell if a patient could hear me or not. I would rather that than clinical silence which would make them feel so alone.
Adjusting the light so it didn’t shine in his eyes, I knelt at his side and draped my hand over his arm.
He groaned and his eyes fluttered.
“Hey, there you are,” I said.
His eyebrows bunched together, and he struggled to drag his eyes open. When he blinked at me, he seemed disorientated.