“Holy shit, this is good!” she laughed.
“You’re right, I bet the soup is good too, when it cools, we can share it. Maybe this survival thing won’t be as bad as we thought. I think we can hang for two months. I’m glad you’re my partner and I promise, I won’t let you get hurt and I’ll watch your back.”
“I promise too, no matter what, I’ll watch your back, and when we win, I’ll even take you out to dinner.” She laughed at the look on his face, and then he laughed at her.
¤¤
Sarah was easy to talk to. He’d felt better for speaking of Becka. Sarah was right, it wasn’t a dirty little secret. He’d no reason to feel ashamed. She’d understood and had been compassionate about it all. It had been odd, speaking of Becka after so long a time. It didn’t hurt as bad, when he told Sarah. Smiling softly, he looked over at her. It was dark, but he could just make out her form from the dying fire. She was asleep and snoring softly. She’d slept at his back the night before. She’d put off a lot of heat.
He scooted closer to her. It was nice having her form next to him. He sighed and tried to get his head comfortable. He was tired. It had been a good day, a productive day. This hidden place had potential. No wonder the Chinese didn’t want foreigners coming here. It was like Eden. No people, but a few. No pollution. No mechanical noises. Just the wind and animals and insects.
His mind drifted and he scooted a little closer to Sarah. He could now feel her body heat. It felt good against his back. He smiled when she shifted closer to him. He closed his eyes and gave into slumber; it would be a long day tomorrow. They had to find Carol. He hoped the woman was okay. He didn’t like her, but he’d not want to see her hurt.
CHAPTER FOUR
Everyone huddled around the main camp fire, and Marla held her coffee in her hands. It was chilly and damp out and she wondered how Carol had fared during the night. She looked at all the faces, some more haggard than others. She could tell by many faces that they’d not eaten. So, the game began, they’d have to buckle down and look for food or catch it.
They only had several extra meals for the losers, and for the four-day trek back. The porters would bring the food in five days, and bring the extra meals for the following week’s losers. There was just too much to carry for the four-day trek, it had been decided to break up the supplies to a weekly delivery. Thus, also ensuring the porters were paid a good sum to bring it and to guide them back and forth. There had been a lot of palm greasing and a lot of Chinese politicians to pay off in order to get this. It was such an elaborate set up, Marla wondered if perhaps she had dared to reach too far.
All would have been fine if her satellite phone hadn’t crapped out and now this stupid girl had gone missing. There wasn’t much help for it, they had five days until they could get back across the gorge. If it became too much of a problem, she’d scrap the whole thing and they’d all head back in five days. It was her call, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Okay folks, listen up, I know you’re hungry and tired, but we need to look for Carol. While you’re looking of course, look for food and what else you feel your team will need to survive the next two months. We’ll be with you looking as well. If you find her, bring her to the main camp. Also, shout out if you do find her, and that way, we can all get back to our survival hunting and so on.” She said and watched as everyone got up, she watched Grayson, who seemed ambivalent about it all. Nice guy, she thought and snorted.
¤¤
Carol lay by the pool, her pants down at her ankles. She had cramped and crapped all night, with no let up. She was so weak, she could barely lift her head up. She kept drinking the water, she was so dehydrated and had also started vomiting. Her butt was raw and every time she evacuated, she cried, it felt like she was on fire down there. She didn’t even try to wipe herself, because it felt like sandpaper.
Her long blonde hair was covered in bile, because she’d had nothing to vomit up. Breakfast yesterday had been a very long time ago. She could make out shapes now, it was getting lighter out. She’d stopped crying, she didn’t have any more tears left. She retched up once more and then crawled a bit and sipped out of the small pond. Her throat was so raw from the bile.
She’d fallen asleep for a bit, but then the cramps in her bowels would start up again and she’d crap a long painful stream of hot acid water. Then she was so exhausted, she’d lay her head back down, ignoring the stench around her. It was sometime later, she couldn’t even tell how long, time had lost its meaning and she heard someone calling her name. She tried to lift her head, but could not. Then she tried to call out, “Here, I’m here.” But it was a squeak. She drank more water and tried again, this time louder.
“I’m here, someone help me, I’m here.” She called and then tried to pull up her pants. She was pulling them up when another cramp
