Page 58 of In Darkness and Dank

“We spent days looking for you. Denninger and his fellows tried to track you and the, uh, Rife, but they lost your trail in the water. We had a bit of a squabble as to what to do after that, and Paiva, bless his soul, fell down into a ditch and hurt his ankle. We fear he broke it.”

“Shit.”

“Yes, very much a shit situation.” Browning sighed. “Hutte took Paiva back to the boat, and when Denninger insisted on staying behind to look for you, I wanted to come along.”

“With your hurt leg?”

“It wasn’t that hurt at the time.”

“Uh-huh.” Kittisak smirked. “Stubborn old man.”

“Watch your mouth, my boy,” Browning scolded playfully. “You’re still my student, thank you very much, and I am responsible for you. I didn’t trust Denninger to have the same care. I do believe he was much more interested in hunting the Rife. I wasn’t very happy with him. He and I had words over it, and two days ago, heh, I woke up to find he had left with Bissell and Zimm.”

“What the fuck?” Kittisak scowled. “He just left you alone in the middle of the fucking Amazon?”

“Indeed.” Browning rooted around his backpack. “I’m afraid I’ve been a bit lost, but I was able to find the river again. I thought I was headed back the way we’d come, but it seems I got turned around somehow.”

“How did you find me?”

“The smoke!” Browning gestured to the fire. “I saw the smoke and followed it here.” He offered Kittisak a pair of white briefs and a shirt. “Here, my boy.”

“Uh, thanks.” Kittisak helped Browning get into a sitting position there on the shore before losing the leaf to get dressed. The clothes were a little saggy but clean, and it was strange to wear anything after going naked for so long.

Browning stretched out his legs, and he visibly grimaced in pain.

“Professor? What’s wrong?” Kittisak frowned at the dark staining around Browning’s left knee. “Is it where you fell?”

“It’s absolutely fine,” Browning argued, trying to swat Kittisak’s hands away.

“Let me look.” Kittisak already knew it was infected by the smell, and he rolled up Browning’s pants leg to get a look.

There were some bandages wrapped around the wound, but they were soaked in foul grossness that had seeped into Browning’s pants. The entire area was swollen and red, and Kittisak could practically feel the heat radiating off from it.

“Oh, Prof. This is bad.” Kittisak frowned. “Like, really fucking bad.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Browning argued stubbornly. “I just haven’t had a chance to clean it up, what with being lost for days, and…” He finally seemed to notice where they were. “Wait. Is this… is this the lagoon Paiva told us about?”

“Uh.” Kittisak grinned. “So, yeah, it might just be. It’s pretty amazing, huh?”

“It’s beautiful,” Browning crooned as his eyes got as big as dinner plates. “The water! It’s so clear! Is it, is it blackwater? Have you found any evidence of acidity? Does the Rife know of any bacterial—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Kittisak laughed. “Slow down! If you have any of your equipment with you, I will happily test all the water you want, but first we gotta get that leg taken care of, okay?”

“My boy, we might be on the verge of a scientific miracle, and we… oh!” Browning flinched. “Oh my word.”

Shu was back, lumbering out of the water with a large fish in his claws. He froze when he saw Browning, and he bared his teeth, growling low.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay!” Kittisak bolted to Shu’s side, and he put his hand on Shu’s chest. “This is Professor Browning. My teacher. He’s a friend.”

“Friend?” Shu echoed.

“It talks!” Browning gasped.

“He talks,” Kittisak corrected.

Shu growled again.

“Browning is a friend,” Kittisak repeated firmly. “He got ditched by the assholes that shot me, and he’s hurt.” He gestured to Browning’s knee. “Can we help him? Please?”

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