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“You okay, Lorna?” Amy Hunt asked. The research assistant was her best friend, and the reason Amy was here in the Amazon shooting a documentary film.
Lorna clutched her stomach. She did not look good as she shook her head. “I think I’m about to be sick.” She brought her hand up to cover her mouth. “No. I’m definitely going to be sick.”
Amy pointed toward a trash bin in the center of their encampment. Lorna made a run for it as Amy followed. She gathered her friend’s hair, keeping it off her face as Lorna doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach.
Snapping the rubber band on her wrist, Amy then tugged it off and captured Lorna’s hair in a ponytail.
“I’m sorry,” Lorna managed to get out in between heaves. “You have to go on without me.”
“Don’t be,” Amy patted her friend’s back. Their friendship was the reason Amy was here in the first place. Unease settled in the pit of her stomach. A bad omen? She reached for the silver dollar necklace given to her by her brother and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger. For the briefest moment, she thought about its twin and the man who now owned it. Then, she tapped three times on the now-attached dog tags, trying to decide what Garrett would have told her to do. If he were here. If he were still wearing the dog tags.
“Go on the mission,”he would have urged. Strange how she could still hear his voice so clearly.
“I’ll catch up to you guys the second I can,” Lorna promised, drawing Amy’s attention back.
“Is there a reason we can’t wait a day or two for you to get better?” Amy was out of her league, traipsing through the jungle. A literal jungle. Not a metaphor. This was the real-life Amazon where half a dozen creatures small enough to hide in a shoe could end her life—not to mention all the jaguars and other top predators she needed to watch out for. Lorna was supposed to be her lifeline during the anaconda documenting expedition and was the only reason Amy had agreed to the pro-bono gig. Shetried not to let the old saying,no good deed goes unpunished,derail her.
“Budget, for one,” Lorna said. “Donnie has this planned to a T. He won’t wait.”
Amy twisted her face in surprise. “I thought the two of you were serious about a future together.”
“We are, which is why I wouldn’t ask him to stay back and burn through valuable days and budget,” Lorna said before she turned sheet-white and immediately turned back to the trash bin.
Amy didn’t like the idea of going out to only God knew where into territory she’d never experienced without Lorna. But Donnie was a skilled naturalist and they had an amazing guide in A.J. No one knew the pulse of the Amazon better than him, according to Lorna. Since Amy trusted her friend, against better judgment, she would go along with the decision to move forward if Donnie agreed.
Donnie, who’d been hovering over a map with A.J., walked over a little too casually for Amy’s taste. He was tall, lanky. The twenty-eight-year-old’s shoulders seemed to live up around his ears, as if he were permanently hiding something. A knife with a nine-inch blade was strapped to a thigh holster on his leg. He would look like a mercenary if not for the fact he reminded her so much of Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons.
It was late, getting dark, and Amy was tired. Theinitial smell of vegetation, moisture, and soil combined with decaying plants was being overpowered by the stench in the trash bin. The jungle smelled of life, she’d read. To her, it smelled more like dark mud and bad coffee. “What do you think about waiting until morning to see how Lorna feels? Maybe she’ll be better by then. Miracles happen.”
Donnie was already shaking his head before she finished. Tiny balls of sweat beaded on his top lip as he checked his watch. “We leave tonight. Soon.”
This might not be a vacation, but Amy hadn’t received a schedule of events. “What’s the rush?”
“Funding,” Donnie said, not bothering to offer comfort to Lorna other than to ask if she would be okay with him carrying on.
“Go,” she urged. “I’ll figure out a way to catch up when I can.”
“You want us to go now?” Amy had thought she would have a minute to sit down, maybe restock supplies and gather her courage before trekking off into the unknown. A shiver rocked her body. She might be from Texas, but she’d grown up in the suburbs. “I haven’t unpacked.”
“There’s no time to get comfortable,” Donnie said with derision. He shot a look at Lorna. Was he mad at her for recommending Amy? For a split-second she considered not following through on the film.Film. Amy realized she should be documenting this moment too.
She pulled out her camera, uncapped the lens, and pointed it at Lorna, who put a hand out to shield her face. Amy mouthed an apology but kept rolling.
“Minutes before entering the jungle to track anacondas, research assistant Lorna Pratt is succumbing to a mystery illness that will sideline her for the start of the expedition.”Amy paused.“The team of Donnie Michaels, a guide known only as A.J., and me will continue on to document the existence and length of the giant deadly green snakes.”
Amy panned over to Donnie. The man finally attempted to comfort his girlfriend with an awkward pat on the back. She cut off the camera before she was the one to vomit at his fakeness.
“I’ll double-check my backpack,” he said before turning to walk away.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait with you?” Amy asked her friend.
Lorna braced herself using the sides of the trash bin. “No. You go.”
“It’s still safe out there without you, right?” Amy’s apprehension was well gained. Snakes scared the bejesus out of her.
“As long as you have A.J., you’re better than fine,” Lorna reassured. “Plus, I know where you’re headed.I’ll meet you there once I’m better. I can’t go in like this.”
