I couldn’t stay on my knees like a sitting duck. I jumped to my feet only to be knocked back down with a sharp blow to my stomach. Trying not to cough, I failed as I tried to catch my breath, the blow knocking the wind out of my lungs.
“Nick!” Lizz yelped.
I cast a quick look over at her and hoped she read my mind when I was trying to convey that she needed to stay quiet.
“Why not him?” I managed between gasps for air.
“Our population is getting too closely bred and we need new breeders and he looked like something we would be interested in,” the chief boomed.
My head whipped upwards as did Lizz’s.
“Breeders?” we asked in unison.
“Yes.”
“Whoa, man, not Brian, he’s not the type,” I corrected. AJ’s face popped into my head and I quickly brushed the image away. “You’re crazy to think you could get someone to do something like that.”
“Then I shall take you both in exchange for that man’s life,” the chief replied with authoriety.
“You can take us to save Brian’s life but we’re no way in hell going to do something like that!” I managed a sideways glance at Lizz and I could see her face had grown pale. She was just as sickened as I was about the whole thing.
“You have decision to make, you either do as I ask or you will become slaves in exchange for his life, working from sunrise to sunset as our workers.” After the chief made his statement, he clapped his hands together, loudly. Four natives rushed towards our side and put a tight grip around my arms, forcing me to stand.
“What about Brian? He can’t die!” Lizz gasped.
“The light haired one will be taken care of, he will not be disposed. You must have your decision by sunrise. I will expect one option or the other. He can still be poisoned if we have to as well as you.” With a nod of his head, both Lizz and I were ushered off, past the hut where Brian was and then shoved into a small hut three places away.
I landed onto the packed dirt floor, hard, knocking the wind out of me.
Fun, twice in one day.
I looked over just as Lizz hit the ground, she cried out in pain and quickly rolled over and sat up, blowing on her skinned knee.
“Shit, we are in a world of shit,” I stated as I looked around the hut we were thrown into.
“You can say that again, what the hell are they thinking about breeding? Are we animals or something?” Lizz snapped.
I nodded absently.
“Okay Nick, what are you thinking about?”
“The green backpack and our meds.” As I answered Lizz, I heard her gasp. “Yeah, not a very good situation, is it?”
Lelani knelt quietly beside her charge in the medicine hut. Her mother was a skilled medicine woman and Lelani had learned all of her trades from her mother shortly before she died. She had practiced on removing the poison from animals many times and was successful, but working on a man proved to be a greater challenge for her. He was sweating profusely, softly moaning.
“You must drink this,” Lelani stated in a soft voice as she offered the man a drink made from banana tree bark. She placed the bowl next to his lips and slowly tipped the bowl towards him.
As Brian tasted the mixture, his face scrunched up from the foul tasting liquid. Some of it went down his throat causing him to start up in a coughing jag.
Once Lelani was satisfied that the man had drank the proper doseage she placed a cold compress on his forehead and quietly left the hut to gather more ingredients for the next step that she had been instructed to do on the man.
“Do you feel like we walked on the set of a bad movie?” I muttered to Nick. We were both sitting side by side against the wall of the hut.
“Ya think?” Nick managed a half smile for my benefit.
“Ya know, this is the kind of thing I would expect to find deep in the Amazon jungles or something.” I thought outloud.
Nick gave me a funny look. “Amazon jungles? Where you getting that?”
“Seriously, this kind of stuff exists. They have these native Incan tribes out there that most people never see. And the ones that do usually never make it back. Before this trip I looked up all kinds of stuff about Fiji on the internet. I’m glad you finally got a new laptop by the way and shocked it hasn’t been thrown across the room yet. Anyway, like ancient Fijians were really savage. They sacrificed people and were kinda violent and stuff. That was hundreds of years ago. Maybe these guys are descendants or something.”
“Probably, because normal Fijians are supposed to be really nice and hospitable. Unlike these freaks.” Nick rolled his eyes.
“Maybe they aren’t even Fijians. Who knows? Fiji’s main language is English, but they also speak Hindu and Fijian. I had a good friend that lived in India for awhile and she would tell me stuff in Hindu and what that native leader guy yelled out wasn’t Hindu. So maybe it was Fijian?” I continued.
“Lizz, you’re giving me a migraine. Where do you get all this crap?” Nick said wearily.
“Books.”
Nick snorted. “You and Kevin and your damned books. We are still up a shit creak with no paddle. The guys are probably worried sick about us and we need our meds. And the natives are going to come for us by sunrise for an answer.”
I sighed. “We don’t have a choice. We can’t let Brian die.”
“I know.” Nick bowed his head forward on his knees.
I rested my hand on his back. “What?”
“They’ll make us slaves. Maybe they will trade him for just me. Even though you got the lung transplant, you still have to be careful. Working from sunrise to sunset will make you sick.”
“And you don’t think you’ll have problems with that? Especially without your meds. I don’t think they will go for that anyway because he said the trade was for both of us. Besides,” I added quietly, “I am not leaving you.”
“So what do we do?” Nick lifted his head and looked at me.
I sat quietly for a moment. “Okay, I got it. We make the trade, Brian gets healed, and do what they say. Soon the rest of the guys will find us and rescue us. Then we get out of here and get rescued by search planes.”
Nick shook his head. “You got it all figured out, don’t ya? I don’t think it’s going to be that cut and dried.”
“Have faith Nick.” I smiled.
Again he shook his head, but concern filled his eyes now. “You’re acting sort of funny. Like you should be freaking out here and you aren’t.”
I shrugged. “I guess I must be in shock or something. It doesn’t feel real to me.”
“It’s real, Lizz.” Nick said somberly.
Lelani returned to the hut and back to her charge. The man was asleep now, but it wasn’t a restful sleep. He tossed and turned and moaned softly. Even sleep wasn’t an escape from the pain of the poison. Lelani rested a hand on his forehead. A frown appeared on her delicate features. She didn’t want this man to hurt and the fever was still strong.
Whispers were rippling through the village about these strangers. It was being said that her light-haired charge was desired for mating. The two others, a darker-haired taller man and a smaller blonde woman were with him. They objected to the chief’s decision and were left with the choice of taking the light-haired man’s place. Lelani secrectly hoped that the other two would not accept. Even though she was quite a few years younger than this man, she still hoped that she would get to be his mate. The other two were younger than this one, but still older than her. It was a possibility since her mother had been of the same blood as the chief.
Brian moaned again and blinked at the cool hand on his forehead. When his eyes focused he saw a young dark-skinned girl standing over him. “Where am I?” He whispered.
The girl’s face lit up. “I will heal you. Do not worry, you are safe. What is your name?”
“Brian.”
“Brian.” She repeated softly, liking the sound of it.
“My friends?”
Lelani dropped her smile. “I do not know. It is up to my uncle.”
Brian shut his eyes again, uneasy. He wasn’t sure what was going on and he was worried about Nick and Lizz. Not to mention he felt like crap.
“Yeah, the sun set hours ago and they haven’t come back. What if they are lost? What if something is wrong?” AJ added. He hadn’t moved from his spot against the palm tree. His arm had settled to a dull throb and his anxiousness over the missing three was making him even more irritable.
“They don’t even have a flashlight or anything. Maybe we should look for them. Kevin?” Howie glanced up at the eldest.
“I don’t know!” Kevin exclaimed, exasperated. He had been pacing back and forth for the past half hour it seemed. “If we go look for them, we could get just as lost. Dammit, why did I let them go off?!”
“Don’t blame yourself Kevin, it isn’t your fault.” Howie said reasonably.
“Sure, how the hell do they always manage to get into so much trouble?” Kevin grumbled.
AJ just sighed. Hadn’t he already said that?
Suddenly Kevin froze in his tracks. “Did you guys hear that?”
“What?” Howie and AJ asked at the same time.
“A noise.” Kevin said, his voice hushed.
He turned his head towards where the trees started. AJ and Howie followed his gaze, holding their breaths. Without warning something whooshed through the trees and flew overhead.
All three gasped and then AJ started laughing. “It was a bat! Holy shit are we paranoid or what? It was a damned bat!”
They all laughed nervously at their jumpiness. That is until a ring of light quickly surrounded them. Lights that eventually became torches. Torches that were held by people. People that didn’t look very friendly.
