“I’m fucked,” Quinn said, his humor now gone. “I dimmit mean it. Help me. Please don’t let him take everything. I’m sorry.I’m so sorry.” Quinn tugged on Rafa’s shoulders, pulling him down like he was trying to drown him in his pool of self-pity.
“Okay, we’ve got to get going. Quinn’s delirious,” Rafa called out to Miri.
But she didn’t flinch. Instead, Miri stared off in the distance. The scene unfolding in front of Rafa’s eyes was like an adventure movie gone horribly wrong. People crying. A mysterious forest awaiting them. The decision-makers incapacitated.
This can’t be happening. What have I done?
“Miri…Miri…” Anissa said, giving Miri a soft tug on her arm, snapping her out of whatever trance she’d been trapped in. “We need you to make a decision,” Anissa followed up.
“Well…” Miri paused, and for a moment, Rafa worried that she was going to zone out again, but she quickly rallied and scanned the group, appearing to calculate her options in her head. “We’ve got a ten-passenger van—”
“How many people will that fit?” Felix asked.
Miri shot a glance to Rafa. “Ten,” she responded with a straight face.
Relief overcame Rafa as he snickered under his breath. Glad she still had her sense of humor through all this.
“But we won’t all fit. Not with all our gear,” she continued.
“So we leave the gear,” someone chimed in.
“Do you want to be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment left on the side of the road?” Miri responded.
Beneath all those nerves, Rafa had to admit—Miri had sass.
“How about this? I’ll stay with the gear while the rest of you take that van.” She pointed to everyone. “Then you can take Dr. Quinn to the hospital, drop the crew members at the boat launch so you can still get to our base camp tonight, then sendsomeone to get me and to pull this behemoth out of the mud pit. If you hit the road now, hopefully I can still make it to base camp by this evening.”
Rafa straightened. Leave her here? Alone? “That’s a terrible idea,” he said.
“Do you have a better one?” Miri said, placing her hands on her hips.
“Send a few people with Quinn,” he said, lifting Quinn in his arms as if needing to remind everyone of his condition, “and they can send help to the rest of us.”
“And what if they’re delayed? We can’t all sleep out here overnight,” she said.
“Imma stayin’,” Quinn mumbled.
“No, you’re going to the hospital,” Rafa said.
“An leaveherm’charge?” Quinn said, thrashing his arm in Miri’s direction. “She’ll just fu-gid all-up!”
Miri’s nostrils flared. “You mean, like howyoufucked up your hand playing Captain America? You’re leaving,” she said, pointing at Quinn, “I’m staying, and that’s the end of it.”
“Then I’m staying with you,” Rafa said. “It’s not safe for you to be out here alone.”
Before Miri could protest, Anissa chimed in. “He’s right. What if something were to happen?”
“I can stay, too,” Felix chimed in.
“Same,” Logan offered.
Miri glanced at Rafa as if cycling through a variety of scenarios, sending a few running through his head as well. Picturing them alone in the jungle, keeping each other warm by the campfire. But something flickered in her expression, and as if brushing the thought away, she shook her head.
“All right,” Miri said, walking around Rafa and Quinn toaddress the group. “Felix, Logan, Rafa, and I will stay here. The rest of you, load into the van and get to the hospital. You’ve got the other satellite phone, right, Anissa?”
Anissa nodded.
“Okay, then keep us posted if there are any other hiccups or delays. Otherwise, we’ll be waiting here until you send help.”
