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Standing up, Lizz offered her extended hand to me. “Well, we’ll just get out of here and back to safety before any bad effects happens to either one of us.”

I reluctantly took her hand, nearly pulling her down when I tried to pull myself up. I forgot about my leg for a brief moment, putting it down but I quickly drew it back up when the “pins and needles” pain reminded me of the injury. I could see Lizz out the corner of my eye, analyzing my moves. “Lizz, please don’t worry, I promise I won’t have a seizure, okay?”

“Like it’s something you can control,” she scoffed.

“I’m gonna do my best,” I defended.

“Come on you two, we have to get ahead of them!” Kevin urged as he tossed an annoyed look back at us.

“Any ideas of where we go then ‘O Wise Elder?’” I mocked. I was getting so damn sick of Kevin’s authoritative attitude. It got us nowhere lately and here he just up and takes charge of everything like he even has a clue of what we can do to save our skin at this point.

“Take a left here!” AJ yelled, cutting off the glare in Kevin’s eyes when he addressed my challenge.

With Lizz on my left side, the steel bar propped on my right, I hobbled along as best as I could, knowing that we were losing our group because of my inablility to run. When I stopped suddenly, it took Lizz by surprize when she took several steps without me at her side.

“Nick? What’s wrong?”

I leaned against the wall. “I.. I can’t keep up the pace. You run and catch up with the rest of them. I will be okay, you find a way out and then you can come back for me.”

“You must have lost it, Nick...listen to yourself!” Lizz insisted as she stood there staring at me, her hands on her hips.

“I can feel it coming,” I whispered.

“Feel what?”

“Those seizures. I mean it’s not gonna happen right now, but I can tell something’s gonna happen eventually and I don’t want to drag everyone down with me and the burden I’ve been saddled with because of stupid choices I made in the past with the overdose.”

I wasn’t looking at Lizz but I knew she was staring at me and giving me those sad puppy dog eyes. “Lizz, don’t try to talk me out of this. I want you safe, just go.”

“Oh yeah, okay....leave you to have a freakin seizure and possibly die right here in this fricken cave? Are you nuts?”

“I guess I must be cause you’re going,” I demanded.

“I’m getting Kevin, he can’t be that far ahead of us,” she stated as she quickly turned around.

I was shocked to see her turn and run. This wasn’t a typical Lizz reaction, but then again what has been typical from the beginning of this trip? Pulling myself back up, grabbing the bloodied pole, I turned myself around and headed back in the direction that we came from. I was going to ensure my friend’s safety and the only way I could do that was talk the natives into leaving us alone for good.

Using the wall as a brace along with the rod, I inched my way along the sandy path, literally following the blood stains - my blood - as the guide back to the pit.

“STOP!”

Looking wearily over towards the direction of the voice, I was met with the stern look of the Chief, a man that looked extremely pissed off with dried blood on his forehead and cheeks.

“Take me and leave the others alone!” I requested in a shaky, yet determined voice.

“And your sudden change of heart tells me what?” The chief asked.

“That the creature has already gotten a taste of me, and you needed a human sacrifice and once you get that you will leave them alone. I’m only slowing them down and you would have caught all of us eventually so I’m making this easier on you. Take me.”

A smile played across the chief’s broad, tanned face as he clapped his hands several times. Two natives grabbed me on either side and hurried me along the path.

“Okay, I said I was coming willfully, you don’t have to push,” I snapped.

One of the men replied to my comment in his native tongue.

“Booga booga to you too, fella,” I mumbled.

I was expecting to be led into the packed arena, but instead they took me to the medicine woman’s hut. The chief exchanged hasty words to Lelani and she nodded and took a large bowl and started to dump carefully measured powdered ingredients into it. After pouring a measured amount of water into the the mixture, she stirred it methodically and then placed it above the fire in the hearth.

I sat there watching her busy herself with other mixtures, wondering where this was going to be leading to. I was thinking that maybe she was making a salve for my chewed up leg so I was definately surprized when she poured the liquid into a mug and then held it out for me to take.

“Drink this!” She urged.

I stared at the greenish colored liquid with what looked like grass clippings floating ontop. I looked back up at her. “I don’t think so.”

“YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD, SLAVE!” the chief boomed.

Okay, remember how your parent’s always give you that lecture about not taking drinks from strangers at parties? I had that sick feeling as I took the mug from Lelani and took a sip of the bitter tasting liquid.

“ALL OF IT!” the chief boomed again.

Screwing my face up, I closed my eyes and gulped the liquid down. I was praying that this was something to heal my leg. I was beginning to realize that this was something other than that when I started feeling dizzy and weird.....