by Eric Walters
We came up to the first corner, and I stopped and peered around. I was disappointed—and relieved—that I didn’t see the gate. I had noticed that the jungle on that side of the compound was much, much farther away. I thought I knew where we were.
“The runway is over to that side.” I gestured. “That means the gate is just around the next corner of the wall. Can you get to the path now?”
Instead of answering, she started to lead me. She angled us out toward the open expanse of the runway. Away from the wall, I felt even more exposed. She led, and I looked and listened. The only sound I could hear was our feet moving through the field. It seemed loud, and I wondered how far away we could be heard.
The end of the runway was past the corner of the wall of the compound. The gate was just down that way and—some men came out of the compound! I knocked Alejandra down and then fell on top of her.
“What are you—”
“Quiet. Men,” I whispered. “They just came out of the gate.”
“We need to get into the cover of the jungle before they see us.”
“Don’t move and they won’t see us.”
“No, we need to—”
“Shut up,” I hissed in her ear.
I put my head down but kept my eyes on the three men. They had turned in our direction and were walking toward us. They were still far away, but they were closing the distance. Had I made the wrong decision? Should we have run into the jungle? If we were caught, it was because I’d made the wrong decision. The only thing worse than being captured would be hearing her tell me that it was all my fault.
Closer and closer they came. I could hear them talking, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying and I wouldn’t have understood it anyway. I couldn’t see their faces, but I could see that all of them were carrying rifles. If I could see them so clearly, how could they not see us? Maybe it wasn’t too late to get up and run. We had a head start, and they’d have to react, and they couldn’t possibly get to us before we reached cover. Then again, we couldn’t outrun a bullet. We just had to stay put and hope.
They came to a stop at the corner of the wall. It was good that they weren’t coming closer but bad that they weren’t going any farther away. Suddenly there was light—one of them was holding a flashlight. The beam skimmed across the runway. I pressed myself lower, pushing down on Alejandra, as the beam swept toward us, soared over us and then followed along the edge of the runway to where it gave way to the underbrush of the jungle.
I watched as the light continued to sweep back and forth. It lit up the far reaches of the wall and started back, passing the toolshed. It stopped and went back to the toolshed, aiming right at the shed—at the open door of the shed!
One of the men yelled something, and the three of them started toward the toolshed. They were moving quickly, looking away from us.
I rolled off Alejandra and got to my knees and then onto my feet, still watching them. I reached down, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to her feet.
“We have to go now, fast, quietly. Get us to the path.”
She led, still holding my hand. I kept looking back at the three men. They were almost at the toolshed. That open door had caught their attention, and they weren’t looking anywhere else. I guessed it was just lucky that we’d left the door open. All they’d find were some knocked-over tools and…wait—we had closed the door to the tunnel, hadn’t we?
Alejandra was moving fast, and I had to work hard to keep up. It was even harder because I was looking over my shoulder as I ran. We reached the cover of the jungle, and I ducked to get underneath the overhanging branches. I bumped into Alejandra, who had come to an unexpected stop.
“I think we’re—ouch. Why did you punch me?” I hissed.
“Because you deserved it!” She punched me again. “You threw me to the ground and jumped on top of me!”
“I didn’t want them to see us.”
“And you told me to shut up. That is so rude!”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I didn’t want them to hear us.” I stopped myself. “Maybe we should be quieter now…please…if that’s okay with you.”
“I will be so quiet that I might not talk to you ever again,” she snapped.
That didn’t seem like a bad idea right now. I had the urge to ask if that was a threat or a promise.
From the other side of the brush I heard yelling and the sound of feet running fast. I had to fight the urge to burrow farther into the jungle. We needed to know what was happening out there. I moved back to the edge of the clearing and dropped to the ground. Almost instantly Alejandra was at my side.
Two more men with big blazing flashlights in their hands had just come through the gate. They followed their beams of light around the corner and to the toolshed, which was already illuminated by bobbing flashlights.
“Do you think they know we got out?” I asked.
“It depends. Did you seal up the door to the tunnel?”
“Me? I wouldn’t know how to do that. Did you seal it up?”
“I was not the last person out. You followed me, remember?” she asked. “But I think that maybe I did…maybe.”
“And if you didn’t, if we didn’t seal it back up?”
“Then they will find it and go back through the tunnel.”
“And find out that we’re not in the safe room and know we’re out here,” I said.
“Maybe yes, maybe no. They will only know that we are not in that safe room.”
“There is more than one?”
“There is one other. As my grandfather would say, it is better to be safe than sorry. We need to get to safety. Come on. We will get onto the path down from where it starts so that we cannot be seen by anybody at the gate.”
Slowly, trying to move as quietly as possible, we moved through the undergrowth. The gate—and I assumed the path—was to our right. It was hard to move quietly as the underbrush was thick. It was so dark and shadowy under the thick canopy that I could hardly see Alejandra, who was just a couple of meters in front of me.
My mind was filled with thoughts of men with guns in the clearing and jaguars and snakes in the jungle around us. We were sneaking through the underbrush because one was a certainty and the other a possibility. We had seen the men. That made them scarier and less scary all at once. Sometimes things you imagined were even worse than things you could actually see.
We broke through another layer of brush, and it took me a few seconds to realize we were in a clear area. We’d reached the path. In one direction, almost within sight, were the compound and the gate. In the other direction was the river, our way to freedom.
“Good, we found the path, that’s good,” I said. Really, I was talking more to myself than to Alejandra.
“We must move quickly.”
“And quietly,” I added.
“For a little bit. Then we will move and try to make noise.”
“Why would we do that?” I asked.
“If we make noise it warns the snakes, and they will get out of our way. We do not want to surprise them.”
“Surprising them isn’t what I’m worried about.”
“You should be. It is a surprised snake that is dangerous, because it bites you.”
“In that case, I can make lots of noise,” I said.
“But not too much.”
“Yeah, of course we don’t want to let the men know we’re out here.”
“That is not the problem. Soon we will be far away and the men cannot hear us. It is other things I am worried about,” she said.
Instantly I knew. “Jaguars.”
“Sí. They have good ears. They hunt by sound and scent. If they hear us, they will try to kill us.”
“Great. If they hear us, we’re dead.”
“We are not defenseless.” She lifted up her arm. There was a pistol in her hand. I hadn’t realized she’d taken it out of her pack.
“You could shoot a jaguar?” I asked.
“If I had the opportunity. They are very quick and very stealthy, and they always attack from the back.”
Instinctively I looked over my shoulder for the jaguar that I was sure was just behind me, getting ready to pounce.
“Maybe I should walk first because you have the gun.”
“Oh no, you should be in the back. If it jumps you, I might have a chance to turn and shoot it and save you. If it jumped me, you could not help.”
“Wait, I have a gun too. You said you were going to teach me how to use it.”
“Yes, but not now. There will be time for a lesson when we are farther away.”
She turned and started walking. I fell in behind her. Prime spot for a jaguar attack. I fought the urge to walk backward so I could keep an eye to the rear. Really, though, what good would that have done me, other than my being able to see my death coming?
NINE
Time blurred with the darkness and the danger. I pulled out my phone to check the time again, but the battery was dead. Using the flashlight app had drained it completely. It would have been nice to know. It would have been nicer to have made a phone call to Grandpa or the police or even my mother, but even with a charge, that couldn’t have happened. When I’d last checked, there hadn’t been any cell reception. I didn’t expect that would change.
The path was clearly marked, and we were making good progress. Almost always the path was narrow, the jungle pressing in on both sides. It was worst when the trees overhung the path. They blocked out the moonlight and fueled my imagination. Every overhang could be where the jaguar was sitting, waiting to drop down on us.
A continual chorus of noise rose from the jungle. Bugs and frogs sang and called out. There were louder noises too. Birds and monkeys yelled and moved through the trees—at least, I hoped it was birds and monkeys.
Alejandra stopped, and I bumped into her. Even in the darkness I could see she looked annoyed.
“Sorry.”
“We are far enough now.”
“Far enough for you to teach me to use the gun?”
I’d been thinking a lot about how much better I would feel if I was holding the gun instead of it being buried in my pack.
“Far enough for this.”
She turned on her flashlight, and the space around us became bright. I pulled mine out of my pocket and turned it on, doubling the light. I let the beam play in a circle around us. There was nothing on the path behind us—not jaguars or people. Ahead, the path disappeared around a curve. On both sides the jungle pressed in, blocking the light from going any more than a few meters.
“I have been thinking about the gun you carry,” she said.
“So have I. Can you teach me to use it now?” I started to take off my pack.
“No, I am thinking it is not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“You said you have never even held a gun before. Giving you a loaded gun could cause mucho bad things to happen.”
“Even worse than me being eaten by a jaguar?” I asked.
“Oh yes. You could shoot yourself, or even worse again, you could shoot me.”
“I wouldn’t do that!”
“Not on purpose, but accidents happen. You are tired and scared and it is dark. Does that sound like a good time to be taught to use a gun?”
I had to admit that she was right.
“How about if we wait until the morning?” I suggested. “At least it won’t be dark.”
“Perhaps when we are in the boat I can show you.”
“When we’re in the boat, won’t it be too late?”
“Not really. Jaguars also swim,” she said.
“Great.”
“But do not worry. That is rare.”
At least that was a bit reassuring.
“Usually they do not swim where there are caimans. Jaguars are rare. Caimans are common. We will see many of them as we move downriver.”
“In that case, I think I do want that lesson. How far away is the river?”
She shook her head. “I am not sure. In the dark it is hard to tell. It could be around the next bend or another hour’s walk. Either way, it will not be coming to us.”
We started moving again. I was happy to keep going. Each step forward was one step farther away from the mansion and one step closer to the city.
There was a loud cry from the jungle, and I jumped. I noticed Alejandra did the same.
“Did that scare you?” Alejandra asked.
“We both jumped, so I guess it scared both of us. What was that?”
“It was a howler monkey.”
“It sounded like he was just above our heads,” I said, looking around to try to find him in the trees.
“He could be very far away. Their cry can be heard from kilometers away. It is good that it makes noise. Jaguars eat monkeys, so they will likely travel in that direction.”
“If crying out like that attracts predators, why does the monkey make that loud noise?” I asked.
“Monkeys are just like men.”
“Well, I guess through evolution we’re closely related.”
“I am not talking about evolution. I mean that even when it puts them in danger, both men and monkeys love to hear their own voices.”
“And that’s different from—” I was going to say you but stopped myself in time. There was no point in saying that. It would have been rude, and she would have just used my words to prove what she was saying.
“Men talk and talk and talk and talk and talk,” she said. “They all think they are so important.”
“Isn’t your grandfather really pretty important?”
“Yes, he is. You know that. Isn’t your grandpa important in your country too?”
I shrugged. “He’s important to us, and everybody knows him in our neighborhood, but I think that’s about it.”
“I believe we are now close to the river,” Alejandra said, changing the subject.
I shone my flashlight down the path. “I can’t see it.”
“Neither can I, but can you not smell it?”
I inhaled deeply. There was a musty quality to the air, different from the dampness that was just a normal part of the jungle. Then I realized it was getting even more damp. It had started to rain.
“There is a little shelter at the river. We should hurry to get there,” Alejandra said.
We doubled our pace along the path. Rounding a curve, I caught sight of the river, the light from my flashlight bouncing off the surface of the water. The light also captured the falling rain, which was getting heavier.
We picked up speed, pulled by the downhill slope and pushed by the desire to get out of the rain. The sky was lit up by a burst of lightning, followed almost instantly by a clap of thunder. A second and then a third bolt of lightning and claps of thunder followed.
“Let’s get to the shelter!” Alejandra yelled.
We ran down the slope as the rain started to come down even harder. The river was right up ahead, and just off to the side was a small building. We raced over and skidded to a stop. The structure had a roof but only one wall, and the wind was blowing the rain partway in. We moved to the center of the wall to find a place that wasn’t getting wet.
“I was hoping for a little more shelter,” I said.
“At least there is a roof.”
I walked over to the edge of the shelter and looked out toward the river. The first thing I saw were two aluminum boats. They had been pulled up onto the shore and were held in place by yellow ropes tied to a tree. They weren’t big, but each had a small engine on the back. Each could easily hold the two of us on a trip downstream. Beside them was an overturned canoe.
I let my flashlight shine along the river. It was certainly larger than it had appeared from the air. The current looked strong, and the jungle pressed in closely on both sides the same way it did along the path.
“Are we going to wait until the rain stops?” I asked.
“We will wait until first light. It is not wise to
move on the river at night.”
“Sure, that makes sense.”
And then my flashlight caught something reflecting back at me. Eyes—shining, eerie yellow eyes looking at me from the opposite bank of the river. My first thought was that it was a jaguar, and my second was that Alejandra had said jaguars can swim. Then a second and third set of eyes appeared—one set moving slowly through the water. I knew they weren’t jaguars.
“Caimans. There are caimans,” I said under my breath. I turned toward Alejandra. “There are caimans.”
She stood up and came to my side. She’d taken off her pack but was still holding her gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other.
“I told you there would be caimans,” she said.
“I’ve seen some in the river and on the other shore.”
“Why would you think they are on the other shore of the river but not on this side?” she asked.
“Um…it’s just that I see them on the other shore.”
“Just because you do not see them does not mean they are not there.”
“They stay close to the river, right?” I asked.
“They would travel this far from the water for food.”
“Food…like us?” I asked.
“They eat everything that can get down their throats.”
“Should we go farther away from the river?”
“This is the only shelter. We both should sleep, but not at the same time. We can take turns standing guard,” she said.
“You can sleep first,” I offered.
“That is very gallant of you.”
“Thanks.” It was okay for her to see it that way. I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep anytime soon.
“Shouldn’t I take the gun or get a quick lesson with mine?” I asked.
“Definitely not. If there is a problem, you should wake me.”
Again, I thought she was probably right, so there was no point in arguing.
Alejandra sat down in the one little dry spot in the shelter. She turned off her flashlight and put it and the gun down beside her. Using her pack as a pillow, she stretched out and lay down. She rolled over and away from me. All she needed was a blanket. Wait.