Page 10

Chapter nine

Darla

K neeling in the shallow water, I start covering my arms and body with mud.

I hate to get this dirty, but I need to get closer to those men without them seeing me.

They are speaking so quietly now that West has arrived, that I can't hear them anymore, and it makes me nervous. His eyes constantly scan the jungle, looking for threats. Maybe it was time to find a new home? I shake my head. No, I’m not ready to leave just yet.

These men intrigue me, and I don’t know what to make of them yet. Especially West. He seems cautious and cunning. But he also seems to treat the other two with kindness, despite my initial fear of him.

Last night I slept high up in my tree and my nightmares seemed worse than ever. To top it off, I was afraid of calling out in my sleep and them hearing me, so I tossed and turned all night.

I pull my braid around and cringe as I slop some mud on it, making sure to cover the entire thing, including my head and my face.

“Blah!”

I spit out some mud that gets in my mouth and hear an “Eep!” come from nearby .

“Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up, Mo-Mo! You’ll be next if you’re not careful!

” I toss a hunk of mud in his general direction before standing up to make sure I’m fully covered.

I step out of the water and throw some mud on my feet before moving around to the side of the pond, where a rock hangs out over the clear surface.

I glance down and my bright green eyes stare back at me, surrounded by an unrecognizable blob of mud.

I head to a tree and climb up, knowing I can’t take the paths anymore with these men walking around everywhere.

I climb onto a branch and just as I grip a vine, planning to swing to another tree, I hear footsteps and freeze.

It’s too quiet to be all three of them. It could be a boar, but the sound has a distinct human gait to the steps.

I crouch down where the branch meets the tree trunk and find a position where I can see the water's edge, where I had just been standing. It’s West, and he’s alone.

He looks around the tree line before he starts stripping off his clothes.

Geez, why am I always here when these men decide to bathe?

I know I should close my eyes, but I tell myself it’s not wise to take my eyes off my enemy.

Nope. Not wise at all, and I’m super smart, so it only makes sense for me to watch him in all his naked glory.

I mean his naked—My brain short circuits when he drops his boxers.

Sweet baby penis, he’s big! The girth on that thing is enough to have me sweating as I try to fan my face with my hand, but the mud on my cheeks doesn’t let the breeze penetrate my skin. Stop thinking about penetration, Zee!

I squeeze my eyes shut for a minute, hoping not seeing him will calm my rising temperature. Am I getting sick or something? Why am I suddenly overheating? It must be the mud . Yeah, that’s it .

When I open my eyes, he’s swimming through the water and I let out a breath of relief. For the next twenty minutes or so, I watch, like the perv I probably am, as he cleans himself under the waterfall. I notice he has tattoos on his left bicep and arm, and wish I could get closer to see them.

Finally, he swims back to the shallow end and as he steps on to the dry ground. He stares down at the mud beside him and freezes. His brows furrow and his head tilts to the side. Then his gaze slowly lifts. At that moment, I realize I’m a complete idiot and left a muddy trail for him to follow.

I want to run, but I’m positive he’ll see the movement as he’s facing this direction now, so I hold my breath and watch. He follows my trail around to the rock where I stood to look at my reflection, then his gaze moves along the ground to the tree I’m hiding in.

Slowly, his eyes lift, until they seem to be looking straight at me.

I freeze, afraid to even blink. And when he takes a single step towards me, his eyes still connected with mine, I flee.

I jump up to the next branch before leaping through the trees, climbing higher and higher as I go, until I can’t see the ground at all anymore.

Then I sit on a branch, hug the tree and try to calm my racing heart, listening for sounds of his pursuit.

Can he climb trees like I can? He looked strong, I bet if he knew where I was hiding, he’d be able to climb up here.

I listen intently for any movement, but only the normal sounds of the jungle reach my ears.

I must have lost him. Releasing my death grip on the trunk, I turn myself to lean back against it.

I let out a long breath as I think about what to do next.

What was the point in this muddy disguise if he was still able to see me?

I should’ve closed my eyes, they probably gave me away.

Did he get a good look at me? I’m not even sure that he tried to chase me, I was too freaked out to see if he was actually in pursuit.

Memories of being held by strange men start to creep into my mind and I smack myself in the forehead, trying to snap myself out of it.

I can’t afford to have a panic attack right now.

I’m high up in a tree and if I pass out, it’s a long way to the ground.

I shiver, despite my best efforts, the feeling of hands all over me makes me scratch at my arms, and when I feel the mud under my fingernails I grimace. I need this mud off me. Now . I rub at my arms, making some of it flake off, but it’s not enough.

“Get off me!” I cry in a panic, the mud reminding me too much of being touched. I quickly realize I can’t get clean this way and head towards the ocean, knowing I can’t go back to the waterfall right now.

I have to head pretty far inland, so I’m not anywhere near their raft when I come out on the beach, in case they’re there. But I’m halfway there when my vision starts to dim.

“Eep!” Mo-Mo chitters from somewhere nearby.

“Mo-Mo! Guide me to the ground! I can’t—I can’t see!” I cry, with tears rolling down my cheeks. I’m terrified. Terrified of passing out, of hurting myself, of someone finding me, of my memories that are pressing in.

A little fuzzy hand grip my fingers, leading me somewhere. I get a glimpse of Mo-Mo’s striped tail and gratefully follow him, blackness pressing into the edges of my vision and I stumble down from branch to branch.

When my feet hit solid ground, I release Mo-Mo’s and drop to my hands and knees, trying to take in deep lungfuls of air. That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

Something touches my face and I slowly open my eyes. Mo-Mo’s head tilts as he stares down at me. He grunts as he reaches out to touch my cheek again and I groan, making him jump in surprise before he starts making a mass of noise.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” I groan as I roll on to my back and stare up at the trees above me.

I take a few deep breaths as I let myself remember what happened and how I ended up here. Crab sucker, that was a bad panic attack. Remembering part of what set it off, I lift my arms to take a look.

I’m still covered in mud, but where I managed to scrape some of it off, my skin looks raw. It hurts, too. I push myself to a seated position and look around, making sure it’s only me and Mo-Mo here.

When I glance up, three more sets of eyes stare back at me, making me smile. “Sam, Dean, Coco, hey guys. Coco, I haven’t seen you in a while, are your boyfriends keeping you busy?” I ask, making Mo-Mo jump up and down as he trills at me angrily.

“You’re such a prude, Mo-Mo. I know what the three of you get up to with her.”

“Eep!”

“Don’t even try to deny it. Besides, what do you care if I know?

I don’t judge, buddy.” I say the next part a little quieter.

“Just like you don’t judge me for taking a random nap in the middle of the jungle, right?

” I reach my fist out to him and he fists bumps it with his little hand, making me smile.

I push myself to my feet and turn in the direction of the beach. “Well, I guess it’s time for a little swim. Care to join me?” Mo-Mo makes a screeching noise before jumping up to join his family in the tree, making me smile at his hatred for water.

I quietly make my way to the edge of the jungle and carefully step onto the sand, looking down the beach for any signs of the other humans. When the coast is clear, I quickly jog to the water, not wanting to chance being caught by being out in the open any longer than necessary.

As soon as I’m in waist deep water, I dive under. It feels amazing to wash away the mud, but my arms sting, so I stand up to assess the damage.

I hiss when I get a good look. “ Sweet baby scratches , you idiot, Zee,” I mumble, looking at my left arm, the worst of the two.

I’ve actually broken the skin in my haste to get the mud off.

An open wound out here can lead to infection, I need to clean it as best as I can.

Now I regret not taking Bower or King’s soap when I had the chance.

But I’ve survived fifteen years without soap, and I’ve had plenty of injuries, many worse than this one. I survived those, and I’ll survive this too. I just need something to wrap around it to keep it clean.

Deciding that will have to wait, as I have nothing handy.

I take the time to untie my hair and scrub the mud from every part of me.

I keep having to move when the water around me turns brown, but eventually, I feel clean again.

I try to finger comb my hair under the water, where it’s easier to work through the knots, then I roughly braid it.

Knowing I’ll have to do that all again once it’s dry .

When I’m finally done, I quickly make my way back home.

The sun is setting now and there isn’t much daylight left, making me extra quiet as I approach the camp.

I make sure to stay high up in the trees.

The sounds of their murmuring reaches my ears and I move a little closer so I can see what they’re doing.

I glimpse the three of them eating guava near the fire pit and settle in to watch them.

They speak quietly to one another and I shake my head at myself.

The whole point in covering myself in mud was so I could get closer to them, to hear what they were whispering about.

I wasn’t able to do that once. In fact, doing it was the whole reason I got caught in the first place, stupidly leaving a trail of mud on the ground right to where I was hiding.

Realizing I’m not going to hear anything tonight, I quietly make my way up to my hammock, high in the tree. My clothing is wet and rubbing against me uncomfortably, so I decide to remove it, hoping without it I’ll sleep better tonight. I barely slept at all last night and I’m exhausted.

Once my skirt and top are hanging over a branch to dry, I remember my new possession and smile to myself as I pull out the ACDC shirt.

I slip it on and sigh at the feeling of the soft fabric against my skin.

It’s been so long since I’ve felt anything like this.

I lift the material to my nose and smell.

“Mmm, what is that?” The smell settles something in me as I climb into my hammock. I grab the leaves and twigs I use to clean my teeth and start cleaning them as I stare at the partial sky above me. I’m so high up that half my view is of leaves and the other half is the darkening sky.

I watch as the sky turns black and the stars come out. Something about that makes me feel small and invisible. There is such a large universe out there and I’m a mere speck. A speck nobody even knows exists .

Sometimes I wonder what the point is of me being here. Mo-Mo’s the only one left in existence who cares for me. But even he isn’t here right now. My mind wanders, wondering what he’s up to. Does he ever miss me?

Noises below distract me and I listen carefully to what the men are up to.

I hear the creak of my main hut and assume they’re going to bed, like me.

It gets quiet pretty quickly and I sit up, tossing my teeth cleaning stuff away and make sure McStabby and Steve are close at hand.

Thankfully, I found I hadn’t misplaced him, he was in my bag the whole time.

When I close my eyes, memories flood in, like they always do, so I open them again, seeing Steve staring back at me. “Are you scared, Steve?” I whisper to him.

“It’s okay if you are, I promise I won’t tell Kevin.

I know how judgy he can be.” When he doesn’t respond, I reach out and grab him, hugging him to my chest tightly.

“It’s okay, you can sleep with me tonight, if that makes you feel safer…

What do you mean I’m doing this for me, not you?

You better shut your toe trap right now or I’m tossing you from this tree! ”

Was it crazy to have a one sided conversation with a rock? Not at all. Crazy was talking to yourself because you were slowly going mad, and that. Wasn’t. Me.