The Ruins

Jeff turned to Mathias, who'd been waiting through all this, the unlighted match pinched between finger and thumb. 'Go ahead,' Jeff said.

And then they all watched as Mathias coaxed the little fire into life.

Stacy was just a few yards away; she could see everything.

Jeff started on Eric's abdomen, enlarging the original wound, tugging gently at one of the tendrils as he sliced. He didn't have to go far-a couple of inches, no more-before the plant came free. Then he began to cut in the other direction, pulling on the second tendril. Again, it was only two or three inches before the vine slipped easily from Eric's body. It must've hurt, of course, but Eric just grimaced, his hands tightening into fists. He didn't make a sound.

Jeff handed the knife to Mathias, took the needle from him. Mathias had heated it in the tiny fire; he'd even threaded it for him. They didn't seem to have to talk, those two; somehow, they just knew what the other wanted, and did it. Like Amy and me, Stacy thought, and nearly broke into tears. She had to shut her eyes to stop herself, clenching them-clenching Amy's hand, too. The heat from her own body had warmed Amy's skin by now; if Stacy hadn't known better, she could've imagined that Amy was merely sleeping. But no, that wasn't really true. Already, an odd stiffness had begun to set in, the fingers curling slightly in her grasp.

She opened her eyes. Jeff was mopping away some of Eric's blood with the little towel, bending low, clasping the needle in his other hand, ready to begin his stitching.

Eric lifted his head slightly, stared. 'What're you doing?'

Jeff hesitated, the needle poised an inch above Eric's abdomen. 'I told you. We have to stitch it closed.'

'But you didn't get it all.'

'Sure I did. It came right out.'

Eric gestured with his hand. 'Can't you fucking see? It goes all the way up my chest.'

Jeff examined where Eric was pointing-across the left side of his rib cage, then along his sternum. 'That's just swelling, Eric.'

'Bullshit.'

'That's how the body reacts to physical trauma.'

'Cut me there.' He pointed at his sternum.

'I'm not gonna-'

'Do it and see.'

Jeff glanced toward Mathias, then Stacy, as if hoping one of them would help.

Stacy tried, weakly. 'Just let him stitch it up, honey.'

Eric ignored her. He reached his hand toward Mathias. 'Give me the knife.'

Mathias looked at Jeff, who shook his head.

'Either cut me or give me the knife and let me do it.'

'Eric-' Jeff began.

'It's inside me, damn it. I can feel it.'

Jeff wavered for another moment, then handed the needle back to Mathias, took the knife from him. 'Show me,' he said.

Eric ran his finger along the left edge of his sternum. 'Here. Where it's puffy.'

Jeff bent over him, pressed the blade into his skin, then drew it downward, carving a line three inches long. Blood spilled out of the wound, ran down Eric's rib cage.

'You see?' Jeff asked. 'No vine.'

Eric was sweating, his hair clinging to his forehead. It was the pain, Stacy assumed. 'Deeper,' he said.

'No way.' Jeff shook his head. 'There's nothing there.'

'It's hiding. You have to-'

'If I go deeper, I'll hit bone. Know what that'll feel like?'

'But it's in there. I can feel it.'

Jeff was using the towel to blot at the blood. 'It's just swelling, Eric.'

'Maybe it's under the bone. Can you-'

'We're done. I'm stitching you up.' Jeff handed the knife back to Mathias, took the needle from him.

'It'll start to eat me. Like Pablo.'

Jeff ignored him. He kept swiping the blood away with his towel. Then he bent close, started to stitch.

Eric winced, shutting his eyes. 'It hurts.'

Jeff was hunched low over Eric's body, stitching and blotting, stitching and blotting, tugging at the thread to tighten it, drawing the wound closed. Very quietly, so softly that Stacy had to lean forward to hear him, he said, 'You've gotta get ahold of yourself.'

Eric was silent, his eyes still closed. He took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. 'I just…I don't want to die here.'

'Of course not. None of us do.'

'But I might-don't you think? All of us might.'

Jeff didn't answer. He finished with the cut on Eric's sternum, knotted it off, then returned to the wound at the base of Eric's rib cage.

Eric opened his eyes. 'Jeff?'

'What?'

'Do you think we'll die here?'

Jeff was starting to stitch, concentrating on the task, squinting. 'I think we're in a hard place. I think we have to be really, really careful. And smart. And alert.'

'You're not answering me.'

Jeff considered this, then nodded. 'I know.' It seemed like he might add something further, but he didn't. He stitched and blotted, stitched and blotted, and when he finished with Eric's abdomen, he reached for the knife once more, shifting downward to the wounds on Eric's leg.

When it was over, Jeff let him drink some more tequila. Not much, not enough, but some. And he gave him aspirin, too, which seemed almost like a joke. Eric laughed when Jeff held out the bottle. Not Jeff, though, not the Eagle Scout-he didn't even smile. 'Take three,' he said. 'It's better than nothing.'

The stitches hurt; everything did. Eric's skin felt too tight for his body, as if it might begin to tear at any moment. It scared him to move, to try to sit up or stand, so he didn't attempt either. He lay on his back in the clearing, staring up at the sky, which was a startling blue, not a cloud in sight. A perfect day for the beach, he thought, then tried to imagine their hotel back in Cancun, the bustle going on there, how he and the others would've occupied themselves on a morning like this. An early swim, perhaps, before breakfast on the veranda. And then, in the afternoon, if it hadn't rained, maybe they'd have gone horseback riding: Stacy had said she'd wanted to try it before they left. Amy, too. Thinking this, Eric turned to look at them. Stacy kept pushing Amy's eyes shut, but each time she did it, they eased back open. Amy's mouth was hanging open, too. The vine's sap had burned the skin on her face; it looked like a birthmark. They'd have to bury her, Eric supposed, and he wondered how they'd manage to dig a hole big enough to accommodate her body.

It was his hunger he noticed first, not the smell that aroused it. He had a tight, crampy feeling in his stomach; his mouth was pooling with saliva. Reflexively, he inhaled. Bread, he thought.

At the same moment, Stacy said, 'You smell that?'

'It's bread,' Eric replied. 'Someone's baking bread.'

The others were lifting their heads, sniffing at the air. 'The Mayans?' Stacy asked.

Jeff was on his feet, trying to track the scent, which was growing stronger and stronger, a bakery smell. He moved slowly along the periphery of the clearing, inhaling deeply.

'Maybe they've brought us bread,' Stacy said. She was smiling, almost giddy with the idea; she actually seemed to believe it. 'One of us should go down and-'

'It's not the Mayans.' Jeff was crouching now at the very edge of the clearing, with his back to them.