Page 34 of Last Destination

My heart felt as jumpy as Nikki’s hands when the black eyes of the man who could kill me without a second thought continued to stare at us with unrelenting scrutiny. Whatever the fuck happened, I hoped we wouldn’t need to sacrifice our last bullets on this guy in a firefight we couldn’t possibly win.

When his gaze swept past mine to Marley at my back, I stiffened, but his face showed no emotion whatsoever.

“This journey is hard for women and children. She will be okay.”

Another man in a vest shouted from the other side of the camp, and our inquisitor shouted back a response, but I didn’t catch it over the pounding of blood in my ears.

“This is the last stop before the boats.” His Spanish was rapid and clipped, with the casual air of someone who couldn't care less if we lived or died. “Tomorrow you will walk a few miles to the river, and the Guna tribe will take you to Yaviza. If you do not have money for passage, you will not get on.”

The bills tucked into the lining of my back pocket felt hot against the fabric. We would get on. We would leave this world behind and then... I didn't know. One step at a time.

Time stood still as he held us under his stare for a minute longer, almost as if he was committing our faces to memory. Fuck. Holding the fetid, disgusting air in my lungs like a lifeline, I waited. This was no different from my business deal with Ravi in São Paulo. Watch and wait with confidence.

Apparently satisfied, finally he turned to deal with whatever the other guide had been calling about. I nonchalantly turned toward Marley still tucked into Nikki’s hold, her back to his front. Her face was so streaked with tear tracks and dirt she resembled a cute zebra in mourning. She shot a watery smile in my direction and drew in a shaky breath.

“What now?” she asked in barely a whisper.

“Now we rest.” Madman’s response was a command, not a suggestion, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I dropped to the wet ground and took the squashed banana and unripe avocado out of my bag, staring longingly at the laptop that had long gone dead in its protective case. A relic from another time.

I zipped the bag closed, barely audible over the hum of people moving all around us laying tarps and building tents for their last night’s sleep. Two weeks ago, I would have considered a feather duvet and 800-thread count sheets a standard of living. Now, I looked out at the polyester tarps and tents as if they were the epitome of luxury, one we didn’t even have access to.

Tonight would be another night exposed to the elements, with nothing at all for comfort but each other.

“Come here, ángel.” Madman sat at the base of a large palm tree, his legs wide. Marley limped over and sank to the ground. He wrapped beefy arms around her tightly. A twinge of jealousy flitted through my heart, even though I knew he was the best man to absorb her pain.

Nikki took up the same position against an adjacent tree and caught my eye, patting the ground next to him. His brow raised in invitation. Too tired to resist with an eye roll or asshole comment, I gave a barely visible nod. I was soaked, sore, and so fucking exhausted every bone in my body felt like it would shatter.

I crawled the few feet to him and settled into the spot, equally uncomfortable with the rocky ground made only a bit more bearable with his presence. Jamie kept moving closer to Tessa, and she kept scooting away from him in a mildly entertaining geriatric cat-and-mouse.

“Tessa, can I get closer to you? Madman doesn’t want us to be too far awa—”

“Fuck off, Jamie.” Tessa’s scathing response could have stripped paint. “I’m fine right here.”

She was out of arm’s reach of me, and at least two arm’s lengths from Jamie. I cocked a brow at her, but she shook her head, pursed her lips and glared at her smashed avocado instead of responding.

We ate in comfortable silence — as comfortable as this situation could be. Gradually the rain waned entirely and the sky grew dark. Tessa came closer, grazing my leg with her foot as if confirming another human being was by her side.

It was another black night, but the flashlights from several of the migrants flashed across our vision while we waited for sleep to take us. The deep fissures of the tree bark made impressions in my skin and the rocky ground cut into my tender muscles like jagged little knives, but the images of gangs slitting our throats, or new, weirder bugs eating me from the inside out kept me awake.

I wanted to plan out the day, prepare for the worst-case scenario, but I didn’t have a single brain cell to spare. Before my eyes succumbed to the gritty sand of sleep, a warm, rough hand with long fingers interlaced with mine in a tight, but gentle hold.

Nikki’s touch was the final nail in my coffin. Within seconds, I lost all consciousness, hoping I’d wake up tomorrow.

Ascream echoed through the forest, forcing the remaining birds in the trees to take flight. It was my voice, but it wasn’t coming from my throat, and a piercing chill dipped my entire body in ice before I took off running.

It hadn’t been long. Maybe twenty minutes? I hadn’t been walking at a strong pace, too angry and secretly hoping Charlie would come around and run up behind me at any second to apologize. That was as likely as Papa showing up with an apology and a birthday cake, but I still allowed myself the hope as I dawdled down the stream wasting precious time.

My legs pumped as fast as my tired, weak body would allow, stumbling over tree roots and jutted rocks along the stream’s edge in my slippered feet. Time lost all meaning as I ran as fast as my heartbeat, my thoughts racing even faster.

Had Charlie fallen in the water? Was the cry for attention?

Nothing prepared me for the sight beyond the final copse of trees. Charlie’s body lay flat in the dirt, a black mound of fur on top of her, tearing into her neck with its mouth. Terror gripped me so fiercely I froze in my tracks.

Charlie’s lifeless eyes stared back at me, but she was a great actress — far better than me.

She was playing dead.

She had to be playing dead. When the bear lifted its narrow head, its beady black eyes held a savagery reserved for monsters. Its tapered muzzle snarled in my direction. A female.