Page 52 of No Questions Asked

Suddenly one of the men approached me, holding out a small fruit and half-cooked fish. The fish hadn’t been scaled, but its skin had been split from the heat. I could see the white, greasy meat in the firelight. My stomach revolted at the sight, so I refused the fish, but took the fruit. I ate it gingerly, and it made me realize how thirsty I was. After I finished the fruit, I motioned like I was drinking, and asked for water. A few minutes later, another man brought me a leather gourd that I hoped contained water. I knew that drinking the water was a bad idea for my digestive system, but I had little choice. I had to drink something or I’d die of dehydration.

The water was warm and brackish, but wet. I took small sips, trying to drink only the minimum. I was thirstier than I thought.

My neck was still throbbing from where I’d gotten hit by the dart. I decided it was time to find out what was in store for me.

I stood and walked over to the chief, lifting my hands in a questioning gesture, as if to ask why I was here. The chief and the other men simply stared at me without saying anything. I tried a variety of different pantomimes, but they either had no idea what I was trying to say or weren’t inclined to answer.

I asked for the satellite phone, but the chief refused. Finally, he indicated it was time to sleep. While another guy banked the fire for the night, I was instructed to go back to the spot where I woke up.

I sat down in my spot, resting my chin on my knees. I contemplated trying to sneak off while everyone was asleep, but I had no idea where I was, and figured they would hear me as I stumbled around in the dark. Plus, darkness brought out scary predators I did not want to face on my own. As much as I didn’t like it, the logical thing was to stay with the group and see what they had in mind in regards to my welfare. At least, for the time being, they didn’t seem inclined to hurt me.

I scooted a little closer to the fire and curled up with my back to it. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep with all the strange jungle noises and the mosquitoes buzzing, but perhaps due to the heat and the residual effect of the drug from the dart, I quickly fell asleep.

Chapter Thirty

Lexi

I was roused by a foot.

I sat up and massaged my neck, which hurt from the dart and sleeping on the ground. The jungle was still dark, but a glimmer of dawn touched the sky. The men were packing up and preparing to leave, and it was clear I was going with them.

They gave me some more water before we left. Unfortunately, wherever we were going was mostly uphill. Since I wasn’t accustomed to this steady uphill walking, and whatever drug they had given me sapped my energy, I asked them to stop frequently. Apparently, that disappointed them. Several of the men argued with the chief, probably over the value of keeping me. While I didn’t want to be stuck with them, I certainly didn’t want to be left alone in the jungle either. When the chief convinced them not abandon me, I breathed a sigh of relief.

As we climbed, the air and humidity became a little less oppressive. I didn’t realize that the Amazon Basin had such drastic elevation changes, but I should have. We were on the far eastern slopes of the Andes, the mountains that funneled the water to the Amazon. So that made sense.

At one point, we diverted from the path and clambered up a steeper slope following a small stream. We stopped at a flat area with a crack in the rock where water was bubbling out. I guessed this was a spring that they used, and decided this was as good a water source as I was going to get. I drank as much as I could and got out of the way as the men filled their gourds from both the springhead and the stream that flowed from it. The water wasn’t cold, but it was much cooler than the air temperature and it felt good in my mouth and throat.

Since I could, I washed some of the dirt off my face and hands. Some of the men sat down, so I assumed we were taking a break. I found a spot away from the men so I could watch them.

They sat around, animatedly talking about something, occasionally pointing at me. I had no idea what was going on.

Our break was shorter than I would have liked, but we returned to the trail and resumed the climb. Shortly after midday, the slope began to descend. Interestingly, the men who had been loose and chatty became increasingly wary and silent. One of them moved closer to me, keeping pace with me so that he was just a step away.

Clearly, there was some sort of danger here.

The trail was hard to traverse. I saw snakes everywhere, in the trees, on the path and lying on the rocks. Soon everything started to look like snakes. I tried not to freak out, even when I stumbled over uneven roots that looked like snakes. At some point, even the chief began to shadow me, catching me by the elbow to make sure I didn’t land face-first. It seemed stealth was super important, which made me increasingly nervous. After two hours of this intense, silent traverse, the men started to relax. Whatever the danger was, we were apparently past it.

Looking down at my feet as I carefully stepped over the thousandth tree root of the day, I spied a large spider on my leg just below my knee.

Not again!

With a strangled cry, I jumped backward, right into the chief, knocking him down.

At that exact moment, the other guys suddenly whipped out their bows and darted off in the trees, leaving us alone.

“Hey!” I said, coming to my feet. “Where’s everyone going?”

Maybe the chief thought I was going to follow them, or maybe he thought I’d make a run for it, so he grabbed me from behind, holding me tightly around the waist.

It was the first time any of them had gotten physical with me, and it scared me. “Hey!” I said, twisting in his grip. “Let go.” When he didn’t, I began kicking and thrashing.

I gave it everything I had, so the chief had a hard time holding me. My Krav Maga self-defense training started to come back to me, so I began to apply it, using my elbow to jab his throat and face. At one point, I kicked my legs out hard and connected with a tree. To my astonishment, a large snake fell out of a tree and landed on his left shoulder.

He grunted and his grip loosened on me. I took the opportunity to twist out of his grasp and made a run for it. I’d only run a few steps when one of the other guys materialized out of the trees and grabbed me by the arm. When I whirled around, baring my teeth, he let go of me and stepped back, staring in surprise over my shoulder. Confused, I turned around and saw the chief holding the snake over his head, chanting something.

Everyone turned to look at me like I was poison or something.

Slowly, the men ringed me, effectively locking me in but not touching me. They started talking in a low voice and a couple of them kept looking upward worriedly as if somehow I would cause more snakes to fall from the trees.

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